Catholic Worker Peace Witness outside the Cleveland National Air Show

-at the Rosenbaum Plaza (“warplanes plaza”) between the Burke Airport terminal building and the gates to the Air Show.

10 am - 12 noon Saturday and Sunday

For more than two decades, the Cleveland Catholic Worker has held a peace witness or protest outside the gates of the Cleveland National Air Show over Labor Day weekend. We object to the glorification of weapons of war presented as family entertainment. While we can appreciate the fascination and wonder at the miracle of flight, we strongly object to the overwhelming military presence at this event—both the military recruiting stations and the presentation of military aircraft (designed and used to bomb and kill) as entertainment. Then, of course, there’s also the cost. One fighter jet can cost upwards of $30 million of our taxpayer dollars. Imagine what we could do with that money for healthcare, education and other human needs.

As a Catholic Worker Community, we seek to be peacemakers by taking care of the physical and spiritual needs of those around us and by opposing all preparations for war. We support the “works of mercy” rather than the “works of war.” We believe that each of us is called to take personal responsibility to improve the well-being of others and to create a more peaceful world.