Anti-war activist Cindy Sheehan was awarded the 2007 Thomas Merton Award last night for her… Anti-war activist Cindy Sheehan was awarded the 2007 Thomas Merton Award last night for her work within the peace and justice community. Sheehan was unable to attend the ceremony at the Sheraton at Station Square, but accepted the award in absentia.

Sheehan began her career in activism after her son, 25-year-old Spc. Casey Sheehan, was killed during a mission in Iraq on April 4, 2004.

Since that date, Sheehan has called for the country’s leaders to end the war, recall U.S. troops and hold themselves accountable for the decisions that sent the troops to Iraq.

Sheehan was forced to cancel her appearance at the ceremony at the last minute because of the death of a family friend. Sheehan’s close friend and compatriot, retired Army Col. Ann Wright, spoke in her stead and accepted the award on her behalf.

Wright has also been an outspoken critic of the Iraq war and resigned in protest from the U.S. foreign service in March 2003.

In accepting the Thomas Merton Award for Sheehan, Wright offered a few words of advice for her audience.

“We need more people to protest,” she said. “While people such as Cindy and I are willing to protest, younger protesters should take up the mantle of protest.”

In a video presented to the audience Sheehan urged people to demonstrate against the government’s policies.

“Keep up the good work for peace – never give up,” Sheehan encouraged.

The sentiments expressed by Sheehan and Wright were echoed by members of the Thomas Merton Center in attendance.

The Merton Center was founded in 1972 and its mission can be summarized in a quotation from Thomas Merton, an influential Catholic writer in the early 20th century: “I am against war, against violence, against violent revolution, for peaceful settlement of differences, for nonviolent but nevertheless radical changes. Change is needed, and violence will not really change anything: at most it will only transfer power from one set of bull-headed authorities to another.”

As a means of promoting this vision, Kevin Amos, the spokesman for the center, encouraged the audience to reach out to others.

“To encourage peace and justice, we must inform people. Everyday, if everybody in this room e-mails and calls several friends, we can easily achieve this goal,” he said.

Also in attendance at the ceremony were members of the Pittsburgh chapter of Raging Grannies, who brought along their own unique brand of peaceful protest.

In a set of songs, with such titles as “No More War” and “Let’s Impeach the President,” the Raging Grannies embodied the decidedly anti-war mood of the ceremony.

Darlene Pilirski, a nursing graduate student at Pitt, agreed with much of the content of the ceremony.

With a nephew serving in Iraq, Pilirski noted that “Cindy Sheehan’s inspirational message appeals to me, especially since I am a mother and I have a nephew in Iraq now,” she said.

In an ominous warning, Samuel Hazo, director of the Pittsburgh International Poetry Forum and emeritus professor of English at Duquesne University, echoed the sentiments of the writer Albert Camus, saying, “The people must oppose what is corrupting the government and the country because the people are the government and country. A person does not know who he is until he knows what he can say ‘no’ to.”