When is enough, enough, and one gives up fighting a battle. Since 1968 or earlier there has been a struggle to end military training (ROTC) on campus at Marquette University. I have traced some of that history, since 1968 on the struggle to end military training on campus. See history of this resistance from 1968. In Marquette’s official history book it says: “By May 1968, the university issued a second set of rules, this time for ‘Faculty Participation in Disruptive Demonstrations.’ By then a key target was the Reserved Officers Training Corps, a fixture at Marquette since before World War II.” (Milwaukee Jesuit University, Marquette 1881–1981 by Thomas J. Jablonsky p. 329) This web page needs updating but the resistance to ROTC on campus is at least 46 years old.

Today I received a 2nd anonymous letter from a Marquette University student telling us how foolish and terrible we are for protesting military training on campus and how no students supported us. We do not have students supported the movement at present but it was student organized movement. Without looking at the research behind our statements he criticizes us for making statements like the military training teaches killing without conscience and violates Gospel values. I can point out that Marquette or military has never denied these statements, which come from military manuals and how our Catholic catechism teaches us to put conscience over military training. But I doubt if it will do any good for the modern young persons, as many in America, are not interested in facts, research or truth. Everything, even faith and values, is reduced to that is your opinion and I have my opinion. I often used the phrase “Do you own thing” to summarize modern morality.

Does this mean the few of us left should give up the struggle to get military bases off this Catholic Jesuit University? I do not think so but it does challenge our tactics.

Looking back in history and in our times at people of conscience I admire I found Gandhi, Martin Luther King Jr. Dorothy Day, Fr. Jerry Zawada, Franz Jägerstätter, Lorenzo Rosebaugh, Roy Bourgeois and many more. Many of these suffered from living their conscience and values, we called names and insulted and many were killed for what they stood for.

Wait a minuet! This is Good Friday when we look back at Jesus, fully God and fully human, who was insulted, rejected and died for what he believed. We now call this man, strip naked and put on a cross, our savior, and many try to follow the way of Jesus.

I will write the Marquette student back again thanking him for his rejection of our message. At least he took the care to respond. There seems to be no way around it or avoid it, we must bear the nonviolent cross to be who we are.

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