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RSCJ - Society of the Sacred Heart In 1948, when Anne was 22 years old, she entered the Society of the Sacred Heart in Albany. She made her first vows in 1951 and her final vows in 1956 in Rome. Upon entering the Society of the Sacred Heart, each and every Religious of the Sacred Heart member are called to make four vows. The first three vows are common religious vows, poverty, chastity and obedience. The fourth is a vow for education, not necessarily meant that one must teach but is more focused on sustaining the heart of an educator. During this time, Anne gained a deep respect and affection for the RSCJ. Anne taught ministry in many Sacred Heart classrooms. She taught at the Covenant of the Sacred Heart in New York City from 1959-1969. She also taught at Street Academy of Albany in 1970 where she experienced the challenges faced by the poor and African-Americans. In 1975, after working with African-Americans, Anne began educating children with learning disabilities. After that, in the late-1970s, she returned to New York City to work with high school dropouts in East Harlem. In the late 1970s, Anne found a passion for providing peace and service to the most vulnerable and standing as a witness to the Gospel. She joined the Catholic Worker House in New York which was part of the Catholic Worker Movement that was going on. This movement aimed to “live in accordance with the justice and charity of Jesus Christ”. She was also a part of the Little Sisters of the Assumption in East Harlem which is a group that “strengthens and empowers vulnerable families and children by meeting their basic needs for food, healthcare, education and a safe home, in the belief that affirming families in their own dignity improves the entire community.” She did ministry work and she was a big advocate for peace. She is known among peace communities in America as someone who was determined to disarm nuclear weapons using nonviolent tactics.

Activism Plowshares Movement In 1980, Anne joined the Plowshares Eight which was an anti-nuclear weapons and Christian pacifist movement. The movement often consisted of members calling for the abolition of nuclear weapons. Some members of the movement damaged nuclear weapons and military bases to directly disarm the facilities. Anne was among the first that were arrested for these acts, and serve time in prison. In 1987 Anne helped write and edit a book titled “Swords into Plowshares” which is about the nonviolent direct action for disarmament, peace, and social justice. In 2009, when Anne was 83, she participated in the Disarm Now Plowshares. This act involved 5 people who walked four hours to reach the border of a nuclear weapons base in Washington. The group poured their own blood around the perimeter of the base to symbolize the blood split by the weapon. They also held banners that read “Disarm Now.” Anne served over three years in prison for these acts of witness.

Witness to Peace In the late-1970s, Anne became a member of the Christian Peacemaker Teams (CPT) which is a group that helps amplify the voices of local peacemakers. She also became a member of the Pax Christi which is the national catholic peace movement. Throughout the 90s, Anne served as a witness to peace during times of conflict in Iraq, West Bank, Hebron, and the Balkans. In January of 1991 protested against the US bombing Iraq. She supported the Gulf Peace Team Camp on the Iraq-Saudi border which was there to provide a nonviolent presence before and during the initial stages of the war. In 2000 Anne fasted for a month to show her disapproval of US support for the UN sanctions against Iraq. These sanctions killed a million Iraqis and 500,000 children. She was also very concerned about confronting the sin and crime of torture. In 2005 she was a witness against torture. She participated in a 70-mile walk and a four day fast and vigil. She fought for the closing of the Guantanamo Naval Base, the end of torture and indefinite detention, and the justice of prisoners. The U.S. Naval Base of Guantanamo, Cuba, is known as a prison camp for convicts of both Afghanistan and Iraq in 2002. The base was known for mistreating inmates with methods of sexual humiliation, waterboarding, and scaring prisoners with dogs. Also many inmates were held without a trial prior to their placement on Guantanamo. Sister Anne Montgomery said the following regarding her peace activism: “civil disobedience is, traditionally, the breaking of a civil law to obey a higher law, sometimes with the hope of changing the unjust civil law. … But we should speak of such actions as divine obedience, rather than civil disobedience. The term ‘disobedience’ is not appropriate because any law that does not protect and enhance human life is no real law” (National Catholic Reporter Online).

Late Life and Death In 2012 Anne won the Courage of Conscience Award from the Peace Abbey in Sherborn, Massachusetts 1 week before her death. Anne died on August 27th, 2012, at the age of 85 at Oakwood in Sacred Heart, Atherton, California. Works Cited https://www.ncronline.org/blogs/road-peace/disarm-now-plowshares https://kingsbayplowshares7.org/plowshares-history/ http://peacemagazine.org/archive/v07n2p08.htm https://www.nukeresister.org/2012/08/28/anne-montgomery-rscj-presente/ https://www.ncronline.org/news/people/memoriam-anne-montgomery-doer-word https://rscj.org/about/memoriam/anne-montgomery https://sojo.net/articles/voice-day-sister-anne-montgomery-rscj http://www.cny.org/stories/sister-anne-montgomery-rscj,8071? https://littlesistersfamily.org/mission-and-history/ https://www.catholicworker.org/cw-aims-and-means.html https://rscj.org/our-mission-lived https://www.pbs.org/now/shows/220/guantanamo-bay-history.html