KEY POINTS:
As parishioners were filing into Parnell's Holy Trinity Cathedral yesterday, Father Peter Murnane waited outside, showing images of deformed Iraqi children.
Father Murnane has been protesting against depleted uranium weapons in Iraq and Afghanistan throughout the pre-Easter season of Lent outside the United States consulate in Auckland.
He chose Good Friday to make a statement about the metal, which can cause birth defects and cancer, as a parallel between Jesus' crucifixion and the devastation in Iraq.
"Jesus says, 'Whatever you do to the least of my people, you do to me'," said Father Murnane, a Dominican friar at St Benedict's Church, Newton.
"The whole country of Iraq is being re-crucified today with weapons of mass destruction."
It is not the first controversial protest for the activist priest. In March 2003 he and Catholic worker Nicholas Drake poured a 1m cross from their own blood on to the carpet in US consul Douglas Berry's office. The move was in protest against the Iraq war.
Worshippers attending the service yesterday were surprised at Father Murnane's banners and flyers, but many were supportive.
Lyn Gorman said: "It's a good cause. Maybe someone out of the millions will stand up and do something about it."
Father Murnane said he hoped showing the images of severely affected children, including those born with eyes on the outside of their heads, would highlight the cause and "help people worship more deeply on Good Friday".
He hopes to take his petition to the US Congress.
Depleted uranium is a poisonous radioactive metal used by the US in shells and bombs in the Gulf War and the 2003 Iraq war. It can increase the risk of birth defects and cancer.
