Memorial of Saint Peter Claver, Priest
For I want you to
know how great a struggle I am having for you and for those in Laodicea and all
who have not seen me face to face, that their hearts may be encouraged as they
are brought together in love, to have all the richness of assured
understanding, for the knowledge of the mystery of God, Christ, in whom are
hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. Colossians 2:1-3
Then Jesus said to
them, “I ask you, is it lawful to do good on the Sabbath rather than to do
evil, to save life rather than to destroy it?”
Looking around at them all, he then said to him, “Stretch out your
hand.” He did so and his hand was
restored. But they became enraged and
discussed together what they might do to Jesus. Luke 6:9-11
Piety
Father, let our
souls rest in you because our minds are troubled by the vexing decisions of
today. You are the source of hope. Help us to trust in you at this time when
once again, the hammers are being forged for war. Pour out your heart so that we can choose to
give peace a chance.
Study
Who can know God’s
counsel, or who can conceive what the LORD intends?
How great a struggle we continue to have
over the first commandment. Plus, we continue
to ask, “Is it lawful to do evil to achieve good?”
Some people say there is no such thing as a
"just war." War is
just...well...war. As we come away from the weekend of fasting and prayer for
peace, let's remind ourselves of the four conditions of a just war in Catholic
Doctrine (Jus Ad Bellum). The current
Catechism of the Catholic Church (n. 2309) defines the four conditions for
determining the justice of a war as:
- The damage inflicted by the aggressor on the nation or community of nations must be lasting, grave, and certain;
- All other means of putting an end to it must have been shown to be impractical or ineffective;
- There must be serious prospects of success;
- The use of arms must not produce evils and disorders graver than the evil to be eliminated. For example, this includes factors like proportionality and immunity for non-combatants. Proportionality means that the strike “back” cannot be more damaging than the original attack.
“No individual can justly be attacked unless he
has, through his own action, surrendered or lost his basic human rights. However, because individuals with combatant
status forfeit some of these basic rights when they become soldiers, their
death can be morally justified. Civilians, on the other hand, have not
forfeited these rights, and are never
permissible targets of war. Houses, places of worship, and schools should
be immune from attack as well. Thus, the principle of non-combatant immunity
suggests that war is a fight between combatants, and that only military
objectives are legitimate targets of attack. Many believe that noncombatants
may never be subject to direct, intentional attack, even if one is fighting on
the just side of the war. (Emphasis added.)
Further, she goes on
to explain:
The
principle of proportionality deals with what kind of force is morally
permissible in warfare. It suggests that the injury caused should be
proportional to the objective desired, and that the extent and violence of
warfare must be tempered to minimize destruction and casualties. Restriction of
means aims to protect all involved from unnecessary suffering, to safeguard
human rights and to "restrict the amount of damage likely to be long-term
extending beyond the period of hostilities."
These are hard conditions to fulfill; the
Church teaches that war should always be the last resort if ALL of these
factors are met. I ask you: can all of
these be met by the kind of action being proposed in Syria?
I have no knowledge of what the intelligence
will reveal. I have no knowledge of the
battle plan but with the most powerful military in the world, let’s assume it
will be swift, efficient, and effective.
Even in the “best case scenario,” can all conditions be met?
My concern focuses on conditions two and
three and four. The use of chemical
weapons by Syria on its own citizens is reprehensible. If the evidence shows that occurred, this clearly
meets condition of factor one -- once the evidence is shared with the
international community.
But have all the other means be
exhausted? The Pope, Congressman Chris
Smith (R-NJ) and others are urging negotiations. The United Nations – the forum established
for airing out such grievances – has yet to share details of what its
inspectors found. Even a threatened veto
by certain members of the Security Council should not be used to short circuit
that forum before moving to other options.
Can there be reasonable prospects for
success or are there plausible scenarios in which we can see the action
spiraling out of control perhaps even involving counter-attacks on Turkey or
Lebanon or Israel or prompting Syrian allies like Russia or Iran to get
involved.
Even if the counter attack only
concentrates on military targets, can we be assured that non-combatant
civilians will not become “collateral damage?”
Even if we don’t miss the targets, what if Syria uses its citizens as
“human shields: a concept also used elsewhere?
Before I entirely DISMISS the war option,
let’s imagine that it occurs exactly as planned. At some point, to end the war and bury the
hatchet, there will be “peace talks.”
Growing up – before I knew exactly what they meant – I heard news of the
Paris Peace Talks which brought an end to the Viet Nam War. Sometimes wars end in surrender and then we
must figure out how to go forward after Yorktown or Appomattox. Or after decades of apartheid and violence in
South Africa, a Peace and Reconciliation Commission sought the means to bring
the sides back together as citizens of the same nation. The late Richard Holbrook was the master
diplomat behind the Dayton Peace Accord which provided a framework agreement
for peace to end the war in Bosnia and Herzegovina.
If peace talks are threshold that we must
cross to get to the real end game, I have a modern-day modest proposal –
apologies to Jonathan Swift. Let’s SKIP
THE WAR. Do not pass go. Do not collect $200. Go directly to the peace talks.
This is NOT a utopian view. Think about the change effected by the
Solidarity Trade Union in Poland.
Without buying any bullets, they brought down the communist regime there
and paved the way for the fall of the Berlin Wall and the opening of Eastern
Europe. Peace without war can
happen. It has happened in our lifetime.
As Rich Rubenstein
has noted: “Peace is the goal in Syria, which, heaven knows, deserves
security, prosperity, and freedom after losing more than 100,000 of its people
in an atrocious civil conflict. Peace is not an impossible dream, if all
parties concerned determine that serious peace talks must be attempted before
any new attacks on the Syrian regime are launched. We can still remedy the
tragic flaw in American foreign policy by insisting that peace is the means as
well as the end, and that no military action can ever be considered a last
resort without going all out for conflict resolution.”
Action
If you agree to skip the WAR and go
directly to PEACE, let your member of Congress know. If you are a practical Catholic, concentrate
on convincing the Catholics in Congress to share this viewpoint. Where I live, one senator (Tim Kaine) and the
member from my home district (Gerry Connolly) are both Catholics. Let’s urge them and all of our legislators –
Catholic or not -- to exhibit a consistent ethic of life. They are part of the second largest religious
block on the Hill: 163 out of 535
members of Congress are Catholic. The full breakdown is here.
Let’s ask them to make a decision based on
a seamless adherence to principles of that uphold and support life – principles
that go beyond party and politics. Ignore
Lenin and focus on Lennon, great poet-philosopher of our day who urges us from
beyond to “Give Peace a Chance.”
Who can know God’s
counsel, or who can conceive what the LORD intends? For the deliberations of mortals are timid, and
unsure are our plans. For the
corruptible body burdens the soul and the earthen shelter weighs down the mind
that has many concerns. And scarce do we
guess the things on earth, and what is within our grasp we find with
difficulty; but when things are in heaven, who can search them out? Or who ever knew your counsel, except you had
given wisdom and sent your holy spirit from on high? And thus were the paths of those on earth
made straight. Wisdom 9:13-18
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