Participants of the Journey of Repentance do not presume to speak for all American people, but individually wish to express our repentance for the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

We also speak for the signers of the petition who believe that acknowledgment of, and sorrow for, the bombings is the first step in turning America away from the path of nuclear terrorism.

Joined with this repentance is our desire to listen to the stories of the survivors and to learn how to witness against nuclear weapons as world citizens.

The survivors do not seek to place blame or to retaliate. They hope to awaken compassion in us to care for our human family.

Their message is simple: Please don't let this happen again. Learn to live without nuclear weapons or face annihilation through nuclear exchanges.

Martin Luther King Jr. affirmed this by saying, "It is no longer a question of violence or nonviolence; it is now a question of nonviolence or nonexistence."

Over the centuries, the hierarchy and establishment of my Catholic Church have failed to faithfully teach and live out the non- violence of Jesus. Though I believe this is improving, as a priest in this church I stand in need of forgiveness for the violence which I did nothing to prevent.

My journey is undertaken with hope for a conversion to a deeper following of Jesus' nonviolence as practiced by Francis of Assisi, Oscar Romero, Gandhi, King and Dorothy Day.