FRENCH COUNTRY PRIEST--DESERTED WAR

When I was in 8^th grade thinking of becoming a priest, I read a short book on the life of St. John Vianney, the Cure of Ars.  He was a simple parish priest in France, and a child at the time of the French revolution, who was a mediocre preacher, yet sought out by a multitude of pilgrims to his remote parish, for his compassion and advice in the confessional, and as a counselor.  He’d spend 12-16 hours a day giving absolution. 

That was all I knew of him, a good solid unassuming model for the priesthood.  Today I’ve learned on his feast day, that he was also a conscientious objector to war.  This wasn’t mentioned in the book, or any of the other articles I’ve read on him through the years.  Our Sunday Visitor [a national Catholic publication I’ve come to respect for its balance] has a short note on him as their saint of this week:  “His studies were interrupted when he was drafted into the army to fight in the Napoleonic Wars.  Deserting, he returned home and when to Lyons seminary.”

There are so many saints who’ve chosen to follow the way of Jesus out of the fog of war, “Put away the sword.”  We’re seldom told the full measure of their stories.  The duty of defending the countries of the world is redeemed by our God who comes to earth saving us by dying on a cross, rising  beyond all worldly kingdoms, defeating death by loving and forgiving the enemy.  Death is not the end.  Do you believe?  A young man, who was to become a small town priest in war torn France, visited by multitudes for his straight forward wisdom, knew the answer.

 More recent conscientious objectors

Jane Kopecky, author or "World War II Conscientious Objectors Germfask, Michigan, The Alcatraz Camp", next to the Camp Germfask CCC camp sign. (Photo: Susanne Barr

A recent article in Times Herald, and Detroit Free Press tells of a little known camp in the U.P. for conscientious objectors in WWII—and mentions there were 151 of these work camps throughout the country, with some 12,000 C.O.s interned.  

Sol Gadol, New York, hauls fuel wood into one of the buildings at the camp- Wood cutting was one of the important jobs at the camp- Photo Escanaba Daily Press handout.

Because of good example and encouragement by many, including a priest in a rural parish with farmers and migrant farmworkers, I became a C.O. during the Vietnam War. 

References

https://www.franciscanmedia.org/saint-john-vianney/   This is the usual biography, made more complete by the Our Sunday Visitor entry in their Aug. 2-8, 2020 issue.

https://www.freep.com/story/news/local/michigan/2020/07/12/germfask-michigan-american-siberia-world-war-2/5168666002/