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WHEREAS, in 1963, as a member of the Catholic Interracial Council of Pittsburgh, Molly Rush began a lifetime of activism using non-violent protest as a way to speak out against injustice; and,
WHEREAS, during the Vietnam War, Molly Rush and Larry Kessler co-chaired Catholics for an End to Asian Slaughter and Exploitation (CEASE) following Pope Paul’s call for laymen to take necessary steps toward justice and peace without waiting for orders from the clergy; and,
WHEREAS, in 1972 Molly co-founded The Thomas Merton Center and served as director from 1973-2005 and now sits on the board, where they continue to non-violently fight for peace and social justice, resolving issues of war, poverty, racism and oppression; and,
WHEREAS, on September 9, 1980 as a member of the Plowshares Eight, Molly, a wife and mother of six, joined seven other activists, including the late Father Daniel Berrigan, to walk past guards into a General Electric plant in King of Prussia, PA, where they hammered on un-armed warheads, poured blood thereon and waited to be arrested. They were found guilty and sentenced to jail. The convictions were upheld, and Molly explaining her protest said, “I did the action to show others that ordinary people can have an impact”; and,
WHEREAS, continuing her activism throughout the 1980s, Molly helped to organize the River City Campaign, which challenged local nuclear weapons production at Rockwell and Westinghouse and protested during the construction of CMU’s Pentagon funded Software Engineering Institute; and,
WHEREAS, in the 1990s, Molly staffed the Thomas Merton Center’s local chapter of the Citizen’s Budget Campaign, which educated the public and lobbied Federal, state and local officials to address budget priorities including bloated military spending and the impact on struggling families; and,
WHEREAS, in 1995, as a member of the Pennsylvania chapter of Peace Links, a group dedicated to making the world safer for children by linking people world-wide who seek alternatives to war, Molly traveled on a Peace Train from Helsinki to Beijing for the United Nations Fourth World Conference on Women; and,
WHEREAS, Molly is currently a member of the W.PA chapter of Healthcare 4 All PA; and,
WHEREAS, on Friday September 9, 2016, the 36th anniversary of the Plowshares Eight action, the play “Molly’s Hammer,” by Pittsburgh playwright Tammy Ryan and based on Hammer of Justice by Pittsburgh author Liane Ellison Norman, will be professionally read at Chatham University’s Eddy Theater at 7:30PM, hosted by Chatham University’s Women’s Institute and sponsored by Thomas Merton Center; and,
WHEREAS, Molly Rush, one of Pittsburgh’s greatest peace and justice activists, and her husband Bill Rush have six children, ten grandchildren and four great-grandchildren.
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NOW, THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED, that the Council of the City of Pittsburgh does recognize Molly Rush for her lifetime of achievements and activism; and,
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that the Council of the City of Pittsburgh does hereby declare Friday, September 9, 2016 to be "Molly Rush Day" in the City of Pittsburgh.