Kara Speltz passed away on January 13th, 2025 at the age of 87. Born to Agnes and James McGill on July 29th, 1937, in Detroit, Michigan, Kara was the middle child of three.

In her late twenties, Kara was introduced to the “Catholic Left” during the Vietnam War, sparking what would become a life-long commitment to justice and peace. When she was twenty-eight, she married Francis Speltz. Soon after their beloved son James was born.

Kara worked closely with Father Philip Berrigan and the Catholic Left in Washington, DC. She lived in a townhouse shared by members of the Catonsville Nine, a group of Catholic activists famous for burning draft files in 1968 to protest the Vietnam War. During this period, she became the coordinator of the DC Nine Defense Committee, a role that placed her at the heart of the anti-war movement. Throughout her life, she demonstrated an unwavering commitment to nonviolent civil disobedience, even if it meant facing jail time on multiple occasions.

As Kara’s devotion to justice deepened, she moved to Boston, which had become a new hub of the Catholic Left, and began supporting a network of housing cooperatives across the city. At odds with the limitations of the Catholic Church, she drifted away from Christianity in her mid-thirties. Embracing a new phase in life, she changed her name to Kara—a name that she later discovered means “soul-friend” in Gaelic. Around this time, she also came out as lesbian and became instrumental in establishing a multiracial, working-class, lesbian community in Boston, creating a space where marginalized women could live and thrive in solidarity.

In the mid-eighties Kara moved to Oakland, seeking to be closer to James. She ran a flower shop in San Francisco called In Bloom Again, where she nurtured her love for nature and brought beauty to the lives of many.

Kara’s commitment to justice extended to LGBTQ rights. During the HIV/AIDS epidemic, she sold her flower shop and devoted herself to supporting friends with the virus. Later she joined the staff of SoulForce, an organization dedicated to ending the religious and political oppression of queer people. During this time she traveled throughout the U.S., protesting discrimination by Christian churches.

Accepting an offer from the Christian Peacemakers, Kara traveled to Iraq at the outset of the second Iraq War, witnessing firsthand the destruction wrought by American military action. Moved by what she saw, she spoke to the press upon returning to the U.S., determined to expose the effects of military violence on Iraqi civilians.

Back in Berkeley Kara discovered the Newman Hall-Holy Spirit Parish, where women held positions of leadership and the community was inclusive of all people. Inspired by her renewed faith, she became a regular parishioner and founded the Newman Nonviolent Peacemaking Group.

Kara’s final project of love was her participation in Newman’s “Night on the Streets,” a Catholic Worker program. Diagnosed with colitis several years before her death, she found joy and purpose in offering breakfast to the homeless every Sunday morning.

Over the course of her life, Kara embraced an eclectic spirituality shaped by the teachings of the Huna tradition, Ram Dass, and His Holiness the Dalai Lama. She learned to listen closely for communication from God and understood her ministry as a calling to compassion, service, and solidarity. Writing her obituary with the help of Preston, a volunteer at Hospice East Bay, Kara was reminded again and again how blessed a life she had lived.

Kara is survived by her son, James and daughter-in-law, Christina; her grandchildren, Angel and Zachary; her nieces and nephews, Anaya, Michael, Laura, David, and Arturo; her brother, Barry; and many others whose lives she touched profoundly. A memorial service will be held on Saturday, February 8 at 2:00 in the afternoon at Newman Hall-Holy Spirit Parish in Berkeley, California. In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to Night on the Streets in her honor. 

Send to someone

Share this obituary with others

https://everloved.com/life-of/kara-speltz/obituary/

Copy