Martha Hennessy

Martha Hennessy is a retired occupational therapist, grandmother of 9, and seventh grandchild of Dorothy Day. She volunteers at Maryhouse Catholic Worker in New York City and works on the family farm in Vermont, where she raises self-sufficient crops with her husband. Martha has traveled to Russia, Iran, Iraq, Egypt, Israel/Palestine, Korea, and Afghanistan to educate herself on the effects of United States foreign policy and war making on countries and families around the globe. She has been arrested and served prison time for resistance to torture used in Iraq and Guantanamo, the use of weaponized drones for long distance killing, the use of starvation as a weapon of war, and the production and use of nuclear power and weapons. She speaks on the issues of war and poverty, the need for prison and nuclear weapons abolition, and the practice of the works of mercy and Catholic Social Teaching.