Rev. Carl Kabat, a Roman Catholic priest whose work against nuclear weapons led to a lifetime of arrests nationwide, has passed at age 88. Ed Shanahan covered the loss in The New York Times.

Kabat, ordained in 1959, believed his ministry necessitated action against a globally hawkish arms race whose players included the U.S.

His message was often wrapped in high-profile acts of civil disobedience.

One of his most notable incidents unfolded at General Electric’s Missile and Space Vehicle Department at the Valley Forge Space Technology Center in King of Prussia.

On Sept. 9, 1980, he and seven other protestors sneaked onsite and entered the building surreptitiously. They then damaged the nose cones of Minuteman missiles with a hammer and ruined blueprints by defacing them with blood, smuggled inside in baby bottles. They were caught, charged, and, in 1981, convicted of a list of crimes that included burglary. Kabat served 10 years in prison for the action.

But his jail time didn’t dampen his enthusiasm or commitment.

He launched similar protests, with resulting punishments (arrests, fines), in 1984, 2006, 2016, and 2019.

In a 2009 interview, Kabat explained his life’s work, saying, “You can’t just kill babies and children and old people indiscriminately. It should be unreasonable for every human person to accept nuclear weapons.”

The cause of his passing was not identified by the priestly order to which he belonged.

The New York Times full obituary of Rev. Carl Kabat details his life’s work against global destruction.