“Sister Megan Rice, a Roman Catholic nun who was arrested more than 40 times for protesting America’s military industrial complex, most spectacularly for breaking into one of the world’s largest uranium storage sites, died on Oct. 10 at the residence of her religious order in Rosemont, Pa. She was 91.”

Both the Washington Post and New York Times ran features about the activist’s life, that featured details about her participation in non-violent, direct action protests at military sites, including the Y-12 National Security Complex in Oakridge, Tennessee in 2012. At 82, Sister Megan joined two others and broke into the world’s largest uranium storage site to bring attention to the site and voice their convictions to the world.

Her commitment to disarmament was unwavering, even in the sentencing courtroom, where she faced up to 20 years behind bars for her participation in the 2012 protest. Clay Risen of the New York Times highlighted a story published in the paper in 2015, when Sister Rice was quoted saying, “Please have no leniency on me,” Sister Rice said during the trial. “To remain in prison for the rest of my life would be the greatest honor you could give me.”

Her commitment to destroy all nuclear weapons may have stemmed from her uncle’s stories of horror – after witnessing first hand the destruction of nuclear bombs on people in Nagasaki, just after the US bombed the city in 1945. She was also a part of a powerful sisterhood of Roman Catholic nuns who oppose war and the use of weapons of mass destruction, and take part in protests and vigils around the world.

Specifically, according to the Washington Post, Sister Rice pressed on the American nuclear arsenal.

From WaPo, “But calling attention to the funding, possession and refurbishment of nuclear weapons — the United States is currently spending over $1 trillion to modernize its nuclear forces — was the capstone of Sister Rice’s lifelong commitments to education and anti-nuclearism, which took her from rural classrooms in Nigeria to desert peace marches in Nevada.”

Sister Rice was born on Jan. 31, in 1930, in the Morningside Heights section of Manhattan in New York City. Both her mother and father were active in the Catholic Worker Movement, and, according to the New York Times were close friends with its founder, Dorothy Day.

Peace House honors the life and esteemed work for peace of Sr. Megan Rice. We continue to work with the International Fellowship of Reconciliation to support campaigns that promote peace as opposed to militarism — and address the impacts on people and our planet from the military-industrial complex.

We hold her steadfast commitment to press for an end of the use of nuclear weapons close to our hearts, and find fond reflection to her sentiment, voiced in an interview when she said she would have been happy to serve a longer sentence:

“Good Lord, what would be better than to die in prison for the antinuclear cause?” – Sister Megan Rice