Activists deplore bishops approval of military force
Many Catholic peace activists at the annual protest against the
Armys School of the Americas reacted with disappointment and frustration
to the U.S. Catholic bishops statement giving their moral seal of
approval to the countrys use of force to stop terrorism.
In a statement approved Nov. 15 at their meeting in Washington,
the bishops affirmed the right and duty of a nation and the international
community to use military force if necessary to defend the common good by
protecting the innocent against mass terrorism.
Maryknoll priest Fr. Roy Bourgeois, founder of SOA Watch, said he
was saddened by the bishops statement, which criticized U.S. foreign
policy, but allowed for the use of force in Afghanistan. I have been
very, very disappointed in our leadership, Bourgeois said. The vast
majority of our spiritual leaders, our bishops, have become corporate
executives. They have become cheerleaders for the government.
The bishops statement, called A Pastoral Message:
Living With Faith and Hope After Sept. 11, said nonviolent responses to
the threat of terrorism were also necessary, such as strengthening homeland
security and a persistent effort at negotiations.
The message urged the United States to work for a more just world,
including an end to sanctions against Iraq, measures to combat poverty
worldwide and a reduction in weapons build-up and the global arms trade.
No injustice legitimizes the horror we have
experienced, the statement said. But a more just world will be a
more peaceful world.
Dave Robinson, national coordinator of Pax Christi USA, praised
the fact that the 15-page statement included 14 pages of analysis that go
to the root causes of terrorism and call for a new foreign
policy. However, he said, the endorsement of the use of force was a
letdown.
The bishops tend to work in a just war framework,
Robinson said. Were disappointed that they couldnt move
beyond that. Well keep doing what we do, giving support and encouragement
to those bishops that are willing to stand up and say theres got to be
another way.
Benedictine Sr. Anne McCarthy, director of the Center for Social
Concerns at Gannon University, said the bishops statement was not
surprising. The nonviolent alternative was marginalized and not given
credence, she said. Its very difficult for any bishops
conference in a nation at war to go against that nation. Its very rare.
It has hardly ever happened.
Brian Terrell, who lives with his family at Strangers and Guests
Catholic Worker Farm and serves as director of Catholic Peace Ministry in Des
Moines, Iowa, said the bishops support for war is denying the
gospel.
When our leaders claim, in the name of God, that its
permissible to kill innocent people, we need to absolutely, unequivocally and
clearly as we can say no. They do not speak for us.
By their statement the bishops have rejected both pacifism and the
just war principles, Terrell said. There cant be a just war when
you say, Theres no negotiation as President Bush said. What
theyre teaching now is outside anything that resembles traditional
Catholic teaching unless you want to go to the tradition of the Crusades, which
is not our shining moment.
Bourgeois said his hope comes from the grassroots movement that is
working to shut down the School of the Americas. Change will come from
the bottom up, not the top down.
Bourgeois said its time for the bishops to speak with a
collective voice against all violence. Its a moral issue, he
said. Its not complicated. Its about men with guns, about
violence. Its about the suffering poor. Its all about the gospel,
and what we should be doing in the midst of all this violence, suffering and
death. Jesus was a healer, a peacemaker, an advocate of nonviolence.
Whats the problem here?
-- Patrick ONeill
National Catholic Reporter, December 7,
2001
|