They Arrested Us. I Hope It Brings An End To Nuclear Weapons.

About 50 people protested April 15 outside the Kansas City National Security Campus, a plant run by Honeywell, calling for an end to nuclear weapons and criticizing a proposed expansion of the facility.

By Thomas C. Fox, National Catholic Reporter

With nuclear powers like Russia, Israel and near-nuclear Iran entrenched in conflict, the threat of atomic destruction should draw public attention. Or so I thought when I joined some five dozen Catholic Workers who gathered at Kansas City’s sprawling nuclear weapons manufacturing plant in the southern part of the city. It was bonding, yet I left unexpectedly saddened.

Along with my wife, Hoa, and daughter, Catherine, I came to protest — the Catholic Workers prefer to use the word “resist” — the building and the planned plant expansion. The April 15 gathering followed a two-day retreat during which the Catholic Workers renewed vows of nonviolence, prayed together and planned the dawn resistance event. They had met at the Kansas City, Missouri, Jerusalem Farm, an “intentional Catholic community dedicated to prayer, service and simplicity.”

In an Orwellian twist, the plant refers to itself as the “Kansas City National Security Campus,” as if its primary purpose is holding educational seminars. Under the Department of Energy, the plant is run by Honeywell, whose motto is “the future is what we make it” and whose 2023 net profit was $5.65 billion. The Kansas City plant’s operating budget is roughly $1.3 billion, providing 7,000 jobs for workers who build or process 85% of the U.S. non-nuclear weapons components.