Thousands rally to break silence on
war
By PATRICK ONEILL
Washington
As Catholics from throughout the nation joined others for four
days of antiwar protests in the nations capitol, it was clear that the
shadow cast over the church by the sex-abuse scandals was at least a
distraction as Catholic activists tried to direct attention toward what they
see as another scandal -- the U.S. bishops approval of the war on
terrorism.
The sex abuse scandals have a relationship to the churchs
blessing of the war in Afghanistan, according to Jesuit Fr. John Dear, one of
the organizers for the days of peace that drew an estimated 75,000 people to
Washington in the largest peace presence since the war began last fall.
As long as the church leaders are supporting the just war
theory, rejecting the gospel, the Sermon on the Mount and Christs way of
nonviolence and blessing the bombing of Afghanistan, youre going to have
all kinds of other aberrations including these horrific scandals of child abuse
that were seeing, Dear said. The bishops supported the
bombing of children in Afghanistan -- they blessed it -- which is massive child
abuse. And the culture and the media and even church people still dont
see that. Its all forms of violence and child abuse, and until the church
rejects war and violence it will never, never move toward reforms, or healing
or ending the scandal. The church has got to embrace complete
nonviolence.
Fordham University philosophy student Mark VanHollebeke, who held
aloft a sign saying, Da Bronx: Real People for Real Peace, said the
sex-abuse scandal is omnipresent, but the people working for peace remain
vibrant.
Its a hard time for the institutional church,
said VanHollebeke, standing near the Washington Monument. Its not a
hard time for the body of the church. The people of the church are alive and
well. Its just amazing to see so many folks walking down the street here.
We all stand for peace, all the different colors, all the different creeds, and
we all stand together.
I dont think that true Catholics are waiting for the
bishops to lead. I think that true Catholics are always in the lead, and the
bishops will follow us where we take them. The spirit of the church is with the
people, not with the clerics, not with the institution. I think thats
evident right now.
Suzanne Shanley of the Agape Community in Massachusetts said
Catholic activists are experiencing a tremendous sense of outrage
at the bishops pro-war position, which is in contrast to the Vietnam War
when the institutional church, for the most part, chose silence over overt
support.
Silence is better than a vote of such overwhelming,
scandalous proportion, she said, quoting peace activist Jesuit Fr. Daniel
Berrigan.
Many voices of dissent are being heard in the church, Shanley
said. Catholic women are beginning to speak with one another, and to say
as Catholic women we have a voice.
Shanley said the Catholic peace community has its hands full
trying to get the attention of a church mired in the pedophilia
scandal.
At the rally, Shanley circulated a petition to the bishops titled:
A Catholic Call to Peacemaking in a Time of War.
The challenge now is to get the bishops and the church -- if
the bishops have any credibility left at all -- to say something about their
vote [in support of the use of force against Afghanistan], and to undo the
vote, to write a new pastoral, she said.
At an April 20 rally on the Mall, Martin Luther King III and peace
activist Philip Berrigan were the only speakers with name recognition on the
program. Dear said he invited 40 other celebrities; all turned down the
invitation to address a rally that also included strong opposition to Israeli
attacks on Palestinians. Dear said fear likely kept the Hollywood folks away.
These are really good people who have done a lot of good
work for peace and justice, but the times have changed, and theyve paid a
price for speaking out, Dear said. I suspect a lot of people are
afraid to speak out because it might hurt their careers because this war is so
popular, and the celebrities dont want to appear unpatriotic.
Before taking the stage, King said the signs of the times are
ominous, and peacemakers must make their voices heard despite a press bias in
favor of war. Sept. 11 made us as a nation kind of grow silent,
King said. And those who have been willing to speak about peace have been
blacked out by the U.S. media.
I want us to rid our world of terrorism, but I disagree with
the approach that weve taken, the strategies, the bombings, King
said.
While the crowd was large, King said it wasnt large enough.
It should be even bigger, he said, because its so
serious. ... Were on the brink of destroying our world.
Berrigan asked the gathering, How can the No. 1 terrorist
nation wage any sort of realistic war against terrorism? What do we do about
this can of worms? Well, we love God and we love our neighbor, and we strive to
identify our enemies, which are not sisters and brothers abroad, but our own
barbarian people -- those at the top.
Patrick ONeill is a freelance writer living in Raleigh,
N.C.
National Catholic Reporter, May 3, 2002
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