Search the Episcopal Press and News

Angel Honors Work of Episcopal Peace Fellowship

Episcopal News Service. December 15, 1999 [99-191]

David Skidmore, David Skidmore is director of communications for the Diocese of Chicago, and editor of Anglican Advance., Meigan Thiel, Meigan Thiel is a candidate for priesthood in the Diocese of Chicago.

(ENS) Chicago, birthplace of the nuclear age, is now host to a peace plaza guarded by a nine-foot-tall bronze angel.

The Angel of Peace sculpture, by New Hampshire artist William Kieffer, was dedicated at the Episcopal Church Center plaza November 11, Veterans Day, in an observance marking the 60th anniversary of the Episcopal Peace Fellowship. An ecumenical prayer service, which preceded the dedication, brought together 200 peace activists and religious representatives at St. James Cathedral for prayer, song and reflections on peacemaking.

"We have an angel evidently on the property now, signaling the uneasy status of the churches before the prospect of world disaster," said Daniel Berrigan, Jesuit priest, poet, and peace activist, in his reflection on Psalm 46, which served as the inspiration for Kieffer's creation. The angel, he said, is "telling us in very simple, biblical terms of God's hope for the world," that human misery and "this misuse of the world in service of death is not God's will."

The angel is also a reminder, said Berrigan, "of our humanity in an inhumane time." While society has taken a detour from its calling to be a force for justice, the church has remained a steadfast witness for human rights, he said.

So I take the angel as a profoundly anti-cultural figure, reminding us of our anti-cultural status before God and one another," said Berrigan. Psalm 46, which paints a picture of God radically different from the image in Kings, Chronicles and other Old Testament books, is "a little jewel," he said, that transmits a message "perilously and wonderfully close to the message of Christ himself."

Justice was also highlighted in the reflection of the Rev. Gregory Dell, the Chicago North Side pastor who was suspended by the United Methodist Church last year for presiding at a commitment ceremony of a same-sex couple.

"Peace without justice," said Dell "is empty tranquility and is not worthy to be called peace."

Dell, who now heads In All Things Charity -- the non-profit organization working for inclusion of gays and lesbians in church life, said all religious communities, through "polite intolerance," share responsibility for the violence committed against gays and lesbians.

"Issues around sexual orientation bring great pain and difficulty for many within the religious community," he said. Justice is possible for all persons "if we can in fact extend charity toward one another even in the midst of our pain and indifference. Let there be peace not only on the earth," he said "but within our religious communities."

Also offering reflections were Lauren Brown of SHALVA, a Jewish organization working to prevent domestic violence; Virginia Albaneso, executive director of Chicago's Peace Museum; Patricia Simpson Turner, chair of the Diocese of Chicago's Commission to End Racism; Bill Davis of Vietnam Veterans Against the War; and Amer Smajkic, a member of the Bosnian Refugee Center in Chicago.

The liturgy included songs and hymns by a diocesan children's choir and St. James Cathedral, and a liturgical dance performed to the song "Hiroshima" by Chicagoan Jim Croegaert.

William Davidson, retired Bishop of West Kansas and a life-long member of Episcopal Peace Fellowship, noted that the organization has grown from "a little group of like-minded people to gain identity and recognition within the church." Paul Colbert, Episcopal lay minister and member of EPF's National Executive Council from Las Vegas, spoke movingly of the EPF's embodiment of Anglican incarnational theology.

"Being together with others of like minds refreshes us. We are God's arms and legs in the world. We work as if it depends on us and pray knowing it depends on God, for 'it is God who makes war to cease in all the world'," said Davidson, quoting verse 10 of Psalm 46.

The bronze angel, a gift from Kieffer to the EPF, was installed on the plaza in September, and kept under wrap until the dedication. The six-foot statue, positioned on a three-foot concrete base, stands with its arms outstretched in supplication; at its feet are a shield and broken bow and spear.

At a discussion following the dedication, Kieffer said he aimed for a dynamic tension in the angel's posture. "Placed too far forward, the angel appears to take off. Placed too far back, the angel appears to be landing. Installed on perfect balance, the ambiguity is preserved. The angel touches earth with perfect agility. I hope you all will take that spirit of agility into your peace work."

William Persell, Chicago's new bishop, noted having children and "old peacemakers like Dan Berrigan" together provided a wonderful opportunity for a connection between generations. "It is a great honor for St. James Cathedral to have been chosen," he added. "It is a wonderful message to the world from the cathedral that we must be serious in our efforts for peace and justice."

Deacon Sunny Lopez, convener of the Chicago EPF and a member of the EPF's National Executive Council credited Persell's support and enthusiasm as a major factor in the council's decision awarding the sculpture to Chicago. A little over a year ago Mary Miller, executive secretary of the EPF, asked the group to enter into discernment about placing the gift of the peace angel sculpture. In addition to Persell's support, Chicago was chosen for the symbolic value of placing the Peace Angel in the city where the atomic bomb was developed, the existence of a strong local EPF chapter, and a strong inter-faith peace organization.

"To some, this probably seems like deck chairs on the Titanic," said Miller. "But if those of us with hope don't give and share, no one else will have hope. If hope can't come from the Church, then where will it come from?"

[thumbnail: An angel of peace finds a...]