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Jim Mang’s service (livestream)
January 12, 2021 @ 11:00 am - 12:30 pm EST
Livestreamed via Ginnane Funeral Home’s website. Featuring a mass from St. Joseph’s University Church, Jim’s home parish.
Also included below is the wonderful write-up by another previous Executive Director – and current Chair of the Environmental Justice Taskforce – at the WNYPC, Dr. Charley Bowman, that speaks beautifully to Jim’s devotion to the cause(s), courage to speak Truth, and Love in caring for People and the Planet. You stand as a true example for all seeking Peace and Justice, with moral integrity and universal solidarity. We’ll miss you, Jim!
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Former Executive Director of the WNY Peace Center, Jim Mang, passed on Friday, January 9, 2021
Jim was director for 20 years. A former priest, Jim and several other priests were arrested in the US Capitol Rotunda in 1969 during a anti-Vietnam war demonstration. For his peaceful actions directed against the halls of power, Jim was temporarily suspended from the priesthood by the Buffalo bishop. Mang was confined to the rectory and ordered not to engage in any social justice-related work — even in his spare time. He obeyed the bishop’s command for 8 years, but then resigned from the priesthood to follow his calling to work for peace. In 1980 he assumed directorship of the Western NY Peace Center and remained until 2000. See Dec 17, 2000 Buffalo News “Gentle Warrior”: https://buffalonews.com/news/gentle-warrior/article_db8d38ce-a12e-5ae1-8b73-14173502cc31.html
I now understand why no Buffalo area priests spoke out against the Afghan War in 2001 and the Iraq War in 2003. Total silence (at least publicly) from the Catholic clergy remembering the horrific treatment of Jim Mang. Fortunately, the Buffalo Nuns are another story in this regard.
When Buffalo native Tim Russert came to Buffalo in 2003 or 2004 and spoke about the Iraq War to an crowd of about 1,000 people in downtown Buffalo, I recall Jim Mang standing up during the Q&A lambasting Russert for his journalism effectively supporting the war. Thank you Jim! Recall that Russert’s journalism was heavily colored by the opinion polls supporting the war: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tim_Russert
You did good, Jim. R.I.P.