Bishops to discuss efforts to end war in Iraq with House Democrats

By Catholic News Service

WASHINGTON (CNS) -- The U.S. bishops have agreed to meet with a group of Catholic House Democrats to discuss how to pursue the goal of a "responsible transition" to end the war in Iraq.

They also reiterated their call for members of Congress and the Bush administration to break the political stalemate in Washington and "forge bipartisan policies on ways to bring about a responsible transition and an end to the war."

"The current situation in Iraq is unacceptable and unsustainable," wrote Bishop Thomas G. Wenski of Orlando, Fla., chairman of the bishops' Committee on International Policy, in a July 17 letter to Rep. Tim Ryan, D-Ohio. A copy of the letter was released July 18 by the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops.

Bishop Wenski's letter was a response to a June 28 letter Ryan wrote to Bishop Wenski and Bishop William S. Skylstad of Spokane, Wash., USCCB president. Ryan's letter, sent on behalf of himself and 13 other Catholic House Democrats, urged the bishops to increase their involvement in efforts to end the war in Iraq.

In the July 17 letter, Bishop Wenski said the bishops "share your deep concern for the dangerous and deteriorating situation in Iraq," and would welcome the opportunity "to meet with you and other policymakers to discuss ways to pursue the goal of a 'responsible transition' to bring an end to the war."

"Too many Iraqi and American lives have been lost," he wrote. "Too many Iraqi communities have been shattered. Too many civilians have been driven from their homes."

He also added that the "human and financial costs of the war are staggering" and that church and government officials should use their "shared moral tradition" to guide their dialogue with other leaders in seeking a way to "bring about a morally responsible end to the war."

The bishop noted that, prior to the war in Iraq, when "too few members of either party in Congress opposed authorizing the use of force," the U.S. bishops, along with Pope John Paul II, "repeatedly raised grave moral questions about military intervention in Iraq and the unpredictable and uncontrollable negative consequences of an invasion and occupation."

"Sadly," he added, "many of the tragic consequences we and others have feared have come to pass."

In his letter, Bishop Wenski also pointed out that the bishops' conference had hoped that the report of the bipartisan Iraq Study Group would "lead to candid assessments and honest dialogue that our nation needs to find a responsible way to end U.S. military engagement in Iraq."

He also said the bishops have expressed concerns for the Iraqi population and in particular for Christians and other minority groups who have suffered in the aftermath of military action in Iraq.

"Our conference is under no illusions regarding Iraq," he added. "None of the alternative courses of action are without consequences for human life and dignity. There is no path ahead that leads to an unambiguously good outcome for Iraq, our nation and the world."

But he added that the United States must "have the moral courage to change course in Iraq and to break the policy and political stalemate in Washington so that we can walk a difficult path that does the most good and the least damage in human and moral terms."

Ryan's June 28 request for a meeting with the bishops sought their help to "mobilize Catholic opinion" on "one of the most critical issues of our time."

"We have taken great comfort in the prophetic words of many Catholic leaders, relied on them for inspiration during our deliberations and welcomed them in helping shape policy," he wrote.

Ryan said that he and the other House members requesting the meeting understand that "peace cannot simply exist as an idea" but that efforts must be "accompanied by actions as we embrace teachings of peace and justice."

"Throughout our nation's history Catholics have been at the forefront of the fight for social justice. Now, at another critical moment, we respectfully urge the USCCB to join with us in mobilizing for Congress's efforts to end the war," he wrote.

Besides Ryan, signers of the letter included Reps. Rosa DeLauro, Connecticut; Jim Moran, Virginia; Jose Serrano, New York; James McGovern, Massachusetts; William Lacy Clay, Missouri; Bart Stupak, Michigan; Anna Eshoo, Hilda Solis, Joe Baca and Grace Napolitano, California; and Marcy Kaptur, Dennis Kucinich and Charlie Wilson, Ohio.

Catholic Members of Congress Send Letter to U.S. Bishops

Dear Friends of Ohio Catholics for Peace,

Recently, Congressman Tim Ryan and 14 other members of Congress sent a letter to the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops about ending the war in Iraq. Congressman Ryan’s press release and a text of the letter are below.


Catholic Members of Congress Ask U.S. Catholic Bishops to Help Congress End the War in Iraq
Request meeting with the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops to discuss issue

(Washington, DC) – Fourteen Members of Congress including Congresswoman Rosa DeLauro (CT-03) and Congressman Tim Ryan (OH-17) sent a letter to the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) last Thursday, calling on the Bishops to increase their involvement in efforts to end the war in Iraq. In the letter, which was sent to Bishop William S. Skylstad, President of the USCCB and Bishop Thomas Wenski, International Justice and Peace Committee Chair, the Members of Congress ask for a meeting with representatives of the USCCB to discuss ways that Congressional Members and the clergy can work together to mobilize public action to end the war.

“Throughout our nation’s history, Catholics have been at the forefront of the fight for social justice,” said Congressman Tim Ryan. “We are proud to see that the USCCB feels as strongly on this issue as we do and we are prepared to work closely with them to reach out to fellow members of the faith.”

“As Catholic Members of Congress we stand in unison with the Catholic Church in opposition to the War in Iraq. Yet to attain the ideal of peace, we must not only speak the words, we must take action and that is why we are reaching out to the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops to work with them to bring an end to the War in Iraq,” said Congresswoman DeLauro.

The full text of the letter can be read below:
###
June 28, 2007

Most Reverend William S. Skylstad
Bishop of Spokane
President
United States Conference of Catholic Bishops
3211 Fourth Street, NE
Washington, DC 20017

Most Reverend Thomas Wenski
Bishop of Orlando
International Justice and Peace Committee Chair
United States Conference of Catholic Bishops
3211 Fourth Street, NE
Washington, DC 20017

Your Excellencies:
As Catholic Members of Congress, we find ourselves increasingly disheartened with our country's presence in Iraq, with the manner in which the war is prosecuted, and with the many injustices that continue to occur there. We write today to urge you to help mobilize Catholic opinion on this, one of the most critical issues of our time. To that end, we respectfully request a meeting with representatives of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops to discuss ways in which we can work together in pursuit of our shared goal of ending the war in Iraq as soon as possible.
We have taken great comfort in the prophetic words of many Catholic leaders, relied on them for inspiration during our deliberations, and welcomed them in helping shape policy. If we understand the Catholic tradition correctly, thoughtful Church leaders around the world do not believe that the war in Iraq meets the strict conditions for a just war or the high moral standards for overriding the presumption against the use of force. We agree and seek an end to this injustice.
Our concerns are rooted in both the political realm and in our faith and manifest in our efforts to enact legislation that will bring an end to this war. Pope John Paul II framed the moral question well when he said: “When, as in Iraq in these days, war threatens the fate of humanity, it is even more urgent to proclaim with a strong and decisive voice that peace is the only path for building a society which is more just and marked by solidarity. Violence and weapons can never resolve the problems of man.” We recall with no small measure of sadness the failed efforts of His Eminence Pio Cardinal Laghi, sent in March 2003 as the Special Envoy of the Pope, to plead with President Bush for a renewed effort at negotiations before this war began, or simply for a delay in commencing hostilities because of the personal intervention of the Holy Father. Though treated politely, Laghi was rebuffed even as he provided the administration with valuable insights from the Iraqi bishops’ conference and Vatican staff in Iraq. Iraq and its people would be in a far different place today had President Bush heeded the advice of Cardinal Laghi and Pope John Paul II.
In our own education in the faith, we find the testimony of the Scriptures compelling, and although we have no illusions about the complexities of our current situation in Iraq, we have come to believe that peace cannot simply exist as an ideal – our efforts must be accompanied by actions as we embrace the teachings of peace and justice.
We have deliberated with great care, and our consciences calls us to act with conviction and compassion. Throughout our nation’s history Catholics have been at the forefront of the fight for social justice. Now, at another critical moment, we respectfully urge the USCCB to join with us in mobilizing support for Congress’ efforts to end the war.
Sincerely,

Rep. Tim Ryan
Rep. Rosa DeLauro
Rep. Anna Eshoo
Rep. Marcy Kaptur
Rep. Jim Moran
Rep. Jose E. Serrano
Rep. James McGovern
Rep. William "Lacy" Clay
Rep. Hilda Solis
Rep. Bart Stupak
Rep. Joe Baca
Rep. Grace Napolitano
Rep. Dennis Kucinich
Rep. Charlie Wilson


cc: Dr. Stephen Colecchi, Director,
USCCB International Justice and Peace Committee

Please visit our website at http://ohiocatholicsforpeace.blogspot.com If you have any comments for us, or names and emails of friends and family that would like to receive our message, please drop us a line at ohiocatholicsforpeace@yahoo.com

From Congressman Tim Ryan: In late May I voted against the White House compromise with Congress that stripped the Iraq Supplemental of its timelines for withdrawal. Please be assured of my continuing commitment to bringing our troops home. I cannot allow the administration to continue its failed policies in Iraq. It has become clear that the only real way to support the troops is to bring them home as soon as possible. I can’t give the President another $120 billion without enforceable benchmarks and a timetable for withdrawal.
It is sometimes very discouraging, but I ask you to stay active in your communities and in your churches. Ending the war in Iraq is the great moral dilemma of our time. Thank you very much.
Sincerely,
Congressman Tim Ryan

Congresswoman DeLauro Joins Fellow Catholics In Call For Peace

DeLauro Joins Fellow Catholics In Call For Peace
By DAVID LIGHTMAN

Washington Bureau Chief

4:34 PM EDT, July 3, 2007

WASHINGTON

Rep. Rosa L. DeLauro and 13 other Catholic members of Congress today released a letter calling on Catholic bishops to help end the war in Iraq.

"As Catholic members of Congress we stand in unison with the Catholic Church in opposition to the war in Iraq," the 3rd District congresswoman said in a statement. "Yet to attain the ideal of peace, we must not only speak the words, we must take action…"

As a result, she and her colleagues sent a letter to the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops urging them to "mobilize Catholic opinion on this, one of the most critical issues of our time."

The members want to meet with key Catholic officials, reminding them that "throughout our nation's history Catholics have been at the forefront of the fight for social justice. Now, at another critical moment, we respectfully urge the USCCB to join with us in mobilizing support for Congress' efforts to end the war."

DeLauro has been opposed to U.S. war policy from the start, and she was joined by Rep. Tim Ryan, D-Ohio, Dennis Kucinich, D-Ohio, Jose E. Serrano, D-N.Y., and others in this letter.

Sister Mary Ann Walsh, director of the USCCB media relations office, said Tuesday the bishops "just received the letter," and noted "the bishops have voiced concern for the conflict in Iraq repeatedly since the war began and have repeatedly called for a responsible transition.

"As the bishops have stated," she said, "our leaderse have a moral obligation to examine where things genuinely stand in pursuing justice and peace in Iraq, to assess what is actually achieveable there, and to evaluate moral and human consequences of alternative courses of action and whether they truly contribute to a responsible transition."

Last fall, USCCB President William Skylstad said that "the search for genuine justice and peace in Iraq requires moral urgency, substantive dialogue and new directions."

And, he noted, "The Holy See and our bishops' conference have repeatedly expressed grave moral concerns about military intervention in Iraq and the unpredictable and uncontrollable negative consequences of invasion and occupation."

He hoped the United States would move beyond the political rhetoric that characterized the 2006 election season, and urged the White House and Congress "to engage in a collaborative dialogue that honestly assesses the situation in Iraq, acknowledges past difficulties and miscalculations, recognizes and builds on positive advances and reaches agreement on concrete steps to address the serious challenges that lie ahead."

The members' letter recalled those concerns.

"If we understand the Catholic tradition correctly," they said, "thoughtful church leaders around the world do not believe that the war in Iraq meets the strict conditions for a just war or the high moral standards for overriding the presumption against the use of force. We agree and seek an end to this injustice."

They also cite scripture.

"In our own education in the faith," they said, "we find the testimony of the Scriptures compelling, and although we have no illusions about the complexities of our current situation in Iraq, we have come to believe that peace cannot simply exist as an ideal -- our efforts must be accompanied by actions as we embrace the teachings of peace and justice."

Contact David Lightman

Copyright © 2007, The Hartford Courant

'Tonight We Begin to End the War'

The following is adapted from Jim Wallis' presentation at the March 16 Christian Peace Witness service in the National Cathedral in Washington, D.C.

Four years ago, my son Jack was born—two days before the war began. I always know how long this awful war has gone on. The war in Iraq is personal for me. It's personal for you, too, or you wouldn't be here.

It's personal for the families and loved ones of the more than 3,200 American soldiers who have lost the precious gift of life. The stories I hear every day on the radio and TV break my heart. They are so young to die, and it is so unnecessary. When I look at my son and celebrate his birthday, I think of all the children whose fathers or mothers won't be coming back to celebrate theirs.

It's personal for the tens of thousands of service men and women who have lost their limbs or their mental and emotional health, and who now feel abandoned and mistreated.

It's personal for all the Iraqis who have lost loved ones, as many as hundreds of thousands. What would it be like to wait in line at morgues to check dead bodies, desperately hoping you don't recognize someone you love? I can only imagine. And when I look at my son, I think of all the Iraqi children who will never celebrate another birthday.

This isn't just political; it's personal for millions of us now. And for all of us here, the war in Iraq is actually more than personal—it has become a matter of faith.

By our deepest convictions about Christian standards and teaching, the war in Iraq was not just a well-intended mistake or only mismanaged. This war, from a Christian point of view, is morally wrong—and it was from the very start. It cannot be justified with either the teaching of Jesus Christ or the criteria of St. Augustine's "just war." It simply doesn't pass either test, and it did not from its beginning. This war is not just an offense against the young Americans who have made the ultimate sacrifice or the Iraqis who have paid such a horrible price. This war is not only an offense to the poor at home and around the world who have paid the price of misdirected resources and priorities—this war is also an offense against God.

And so we are here, simply and resolutely, to begin to end the war in Iraq—not by anger, though we are angry; not just by politics, though it will take political courage; but by faith, because we are people of faith.

This service and procession are not just another political protest, but an act of faith, an act of prayer, an act of nonviolent witness. Politics led us into this war, and politics is unlikely to save us by itself. The American people have voted against the war in Iraq, but political proposals keep failing, one after the other.

I BELIEVE IT will take faith to end this war. It will take prayer to end it. It will take a mobilization of the faith community to end it—to change the political climate, to change the wind. It will take a revolution of love to end it, because this endless war in Iraq is based ultimately on fear, and Jesus says that only perfect love will cast out fear.

So we say, as people of faith, as followers of Jesus, that the deep fear that has paralyzed the conscience of this nation, that has caused us to become the kind of people that we are not called to be, that has allowed us to tolerate violations of our most basic values, and that has perpetuated an endless cycle of violence and counterviolence, must be exorcised as the demon it is—this fear must be cast out!

And to cast out that fear, we must act in faith, in prayer, in love, and in hope—so we might help to heal the fears that keep this war going. We march not in belligerence, or to attack individuals (even those leaders directly responsible for the war), or to use human suffering for partisan political purposes. Rather, we process to the White House tonight as an act of faith, believing that only faith can save us now.

Ironically, this war often has been cloaked in the name and symbols of our faith, confused American imperial designs with God's purposes, and tragically discredited Christian faith around the world, having so tied it to flawed American behavior and agendas. Millions of people around the world, sadly, believe this is a "Christian war." So as people of faith, let us say tonight to our brothers and sisters around the world, as clearly as we can—America is not the hope of the earth and the light of the world. Jesus Christ is! And it is his way that we follow, not the flawed path of our nation's leaders who prosecute this war. As an evangelical Christian, I must say that the war in Iraq has hindered the cause of Christ, and we must repent of this war!


SO LET US MARCH tonight, believing that faith is stronger than fear; believing that hope is stronger than hate; believing that perfect love can cast out both hate and fear; believing that the peace of Christ is stronger than the ways of war.

Let us say to a nation still captive to fear but weary of war, "May the peace of Christ be with you!" Let us, as Dr. Martin Luther King told us in another magnificent house of worship 40 years ago this spring, "rededicate ourselves to the long and bitter—but beautiful—struggle for a new world."

And then let us return to our homes and generate a flood of public pressure that can wash away the blind intransigence of our White House and the cautious procrastination of our divided Congress.

All of this must be wrapped in the power of prayer. Because we believe that God can still work miracles in and through our prayers—and that prayer followed by action can turn valleys of despair into mountains of hope. God has acted before in history, and we believe that God will act again through us. We leave this cathedral humbly hoping to be God's instruments of peace and the earthly agents of the kingdom of God.

It sometimes appears that the light of peace has almost gone out in America, but tonight we relight the candle and take the light of peace to the White House. Tonight, by faith, we begin to end the war in Iraq.

Jim Wallis is editor-in-chief of Sojourners.

Pope Benedict XVI Easter Message, 2007

Dear Brothers and Sisters throughout the world,
Men and women of good will!

Christ is risen! Peace to you! Today we celebrate the great mystery, the foundation of Christian faith and hope: Jesus of Nazareth, the Crucified One, has risen from the dead on the third day according to the Scriptures. We listen today with renewed emotion to the announcement proclaimed by the angels on the dawn of the first day after the Sabbath, to Mary of Magdala and to the women at the sepulchre: "Why do you search among the dead for one who is alive? He is not here, he is risen!" (Lk 24:5-6).

It is not difficult to imagine the feelings of these women at that moment: feelings of sadness and dismay at the death of their Lord, feelings of disbelief and amazement before a fact too astonishing to be true. But the tomb was open and empty: the body was no longer there. Peter and John, having been informed of this by the women, ran to the sepulchre and found that they were right. The faith of the Apostles in Jesus, the expected Messiah, had been submitted to a severe trial by the scandal of the cross. At his arrest, his condemnation and death, they were dispersed. Now they are together again, perplexed and bewildered. But the Risen One himself comes in response to their thirst for greater certainty. This encounter was not a dream or an illusion or a subjective imagination; it was a real experience, even if unexpected, and all the more striking for that reason. "Jesus came and stood among them and said to them, ‘peace be with you!’" (Jn 20:19).

At these words their faith, which was almost spent within them, was re-kindled. The Apostles told Thomas who had been absent from that first extraordinary encounter: Yes, the Lord has fulfilled all that he foretold; he is truly risen and we have seen and touched him! Thomas however remained doubtful and perplexed. When Jesus came for a second time, eight days later in the Upper Room, he said to him: "put your finger here and see my hands; and put out your hand and place it in my side; do not be faithless, but believing!" The Apostle’s response is a moving profession of faith: "My Lord and my God!" (Jn 20:27-28).

"My Lord and my God!" We too renew that profession of faith of Thomas. I have chosen these words for my Easter greetings this year, because humanity today expects from Christians a renewed witness to the resurrection of Christ; it needs to encounter him and to know him as true God and true man. If we can recognize in this Apostle the doubts and uncertainties of so many Christians today, the fears and disappointments of many of our contemporaries, with him we can also rediscover with renewed conviction, faith in Christ dead and risen for us. This faith, handed down through the centuries by the successors of the Apostles, continues on because the Risen Lord dies no more. He lives in the Church and guides it firmly towards the fulfilment of his eternal design of salvation.

We may all be tempted by the disbelief of Thomas. Suffering, evil, injustice, death, especially when it strikes the innocent such as children who are victims of war and terrorism, of sickness and hunger, does not all of this put our faith to the test? Paradoxically the disbelief of Thomas is most valuable to us in these cases because it helps to purify all false concepts of God and leads us to discover his true face: the face of a God who, in Christ, has taken upon himself the wounds of injured humanity. Thomas has received from the Lord, and has in turn transmitted to the Church, the gift of a faith put to the test by the passion and death of Jesus and confirmed by meeting him risen. His faith was almost dead but was born again thanks to his touching the wounds of Christ, those wounds that the Risen One did not hide but showed, and continues to point out to us in the trials and sufferings of every human being.

"By his wounds you have been healed" (1 Pt 2:24). This is the message Peter addressed to the early converts. Those wounds that, in the beginning were an obstacle for Thomas’s faith, being a sign of Jesus’ apparent failure, those same wounds have become in his encounter with the Risen One, signs of a victorious love. These wounds that Christ has received for love of us help us to understand who God is and to repeat: "My Lord and my God!" Only a God who loves us to the extent of taking upon himself our wounds and our pain, especially innocent suffering, is worthy of faith.

How many wounds, how much suffering there is in the world! Natural calamities and human tragedies that cause innumerable victims and enormous material destruction are not lacking. My thoughts go to recent events in Madagascar, in the Solomon Islands, in Latin America and in other regions of the world. I am thinking of the scourge of hunger, of incurable diseases, of terrorism and kidnapping of people, of the thousand faces of violence which some people attempt to justify in the name of religion, of contempt for life, of the violation of human rights and the exploitation of persons. I look with apprehension at the conditions prevailing in several regions of Africa. In Darfur and in the neighbouring countries there is a catastrophic, and sadly to say underestimated, humanitarian situation. In Kinshasa in the Democratic Republic of the Congo the violence and looting of the past weeks raises fears for the future of the Congolese democratic process and the reconstruction of the country. In Somalia the renewed fighting has driven away the prospect of peace and worsened a regional crisis, especially with regard to the displacement of populations and the traffic of arms. Zimbabwe is in the grip of a grievous crisis and for this reason the Bishops of that country in a recent document indicated prayer and a shared commitment for the common good as the only way forward.

Likewise the population of East Timor stands in need of reconciliation and peace as it prepares to hold important elections. Elsewhere too, peace is sorely needed: in Sri Lanka only a negotiated solution can put an end to the conflict that causes so much bloodshed; Afghanistan is marked by growing unrest and instability; In the Middle East, besides some signs of hope in the dialogue between Israel and the Palestinian authority, nothing positive comes from Iraq, torn apart by continual slaughter as the civil population flees. In Lebanon the paralysis of the country’s political institutions threatens the role that the country is called to play in the Middle East and puts its future seriously in jeopardy. Finally, I cannot forget the difficulties faced daily by the Christian communities and the exodus of Christians from that blessed Land which is the cradle of our faith. I affectionately renew to these populations the expression of my spiritual closeness.

Dear Brothers and sisters, through the wounds of the Risen Christ we can see the evils which afflict humanity with the eyes of hope. In fact, by his rising the Lord has not taken away suffering and evil from the world but has vanquished them at their roots by the superabundance of his grace. He has countered the arrogance of evil with the supremacy of his love. He has left us the love that does not fear death, as the way to peace and joy. "Even as I have loved you – he said to his disciples before his death – so you must also love one another" (cf. Jn 13:34).

Brothers and sisters in faith, who are listening to me from every part of the world! Christ is risen and he is alive among us. It is he who is the hope of a better future. As we say with Thomas: "My Lord and my God!", may we hear again in our hearts the beautiful yet demanding words of the Lord: "If any one serves me, he must follow me; and where I am, there shall my servant be also; if any one serves me, the Father will honour him" (Jn 12:26). United to him and ready to offer our lives for our brothers (cf. 1 Jn 3:16), let us become apostles of peace, messengers of a joy that does not fear pain – the joy of the Resurrection. May Mary, Mother of the Risen Christ, obtain for us this Easter gift. Happy Easter to you all.

Catholic, other religious leaders call Bush's Iraq War policies 'morally bankrupt'

By Chaz Muth
2/23/2007
Catholic News Service (www.catholicnews.com)

BALTIMORE, Md. (CNS) – Baltimore Christian leaders used the backdrop of Ash Wednesday and props of a dead soldier's combat boots as they called President George W. Bush's Iraq War policies immoral and urged Marylanders to take part in an organized anti-war rally in Washington.

The 13 religious leaders from varying Christian faiths – including Auxiliary Bishop Denis J. Madden of Baltimore – chose the first day of Lent Feb. 21 to launch their collective anti-war platform, because it's a penitential season.

"The time has come to confess our mistakes and wrongdoing and withdraw our troops" from Iraq, said the Rev. Peter K. Nord, head of the Presbytery of Baltimore, part of the national Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.).

"The Jesus we follow prays for peace and so do we," Rev. Nord said at the news conference at City Temple Baptist Church in the Bolton Hill neighborhood of Baltimore. "I'm troubled that our commander in chief neither shares this prayer nor listens to his people."

In an effort to pump up the volume and force Bush to hear their opposition to his war policies and troop surge, the group urged Maryland Christians to travel to Washington March 16 and surround the White House in a nonviolent, candle-lit demonstration.

A group called Christian Peace Witness for Iraq is hosting a 7 p.m. service March 16 at the National Cathedral in Washington. Following the service, they will march the 2.5 miles from the cathedral to the White House for the rally, which is expected to run from 9 to 10:30 p.m.

A major anti-war rally is planned for the next day in Washington, organized by the Act Now to Stop War and End Racism Coalition to mark the fourth anniversary of the war, launched March 20, 2003, in Iraq.

The Baltimore religious leaders often used harsh language to express their disgust for the U.S. invasion and occupation of Iraq and said Bush's goal of keeping terrorist activity out of that country backfired and instead created a haven for violent radical groups.

They called the president a "naive politician" and "morally bankrupt" and said it was their duty to rally their congregations to protest this war.

"We cannot remain silent while American men and women in increasing numbers are being sent to Iraq to kill and be killed," said United Methodist Bishop John R. Schol of the Baltimore-Washington Episcopal Area. "While thousands of Iraqi people needlessly suffer and die, ... poverty increases and preventable diseases go untreated."

The morning of the press conference, the United Kingdom announced it would begin to withdraw 40 percent of its troops in Iraq in the next year, an example the Baltimore Christian leaders would like Bush to follow.

"Our leaders have a moral obligation to honestly examine where things really stand in pursuing peace in Iraq and to assess what is actually achievable there by our continued presence," Bishop Madden said. "May this day and the march that is to follow be enlightened by the great splendor of truth and aid us on the path to peace."


- - -

Copyright (c) 2007 Catholic News Service/U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops

Living Nonviolence in Today’s Reality

This is an excerpt from a speech given by Bishop Thomas Gumbleton the summer before the Iraq War began to the Pax Christi USA 2002 National Assembly.

And in our church, even though there’s no way we could begin to even pretend that we are a so-called peace church: If we look at what is happening within the tradition, taking us back to the original tradition, how the first Christians understood the message of Jesus and lived it for about 300 years, we find that in our tradition, we’re moving back, although many of us in the Church ignore this.

But you go back to 1963. Pope John XXIII made one of the most extraordinary statements, I think, about non-violence and the rejection of war, that we find anywhere in Catholic teaching. He wrote that encyclical Pacem in Terris. It will be the 40th anniversary of this most important encyclical next year. And in that encyclical, which is really a pattern of how to build peace in the world, a real pax Christi, he makes the statement:

“In our atomic era it is irrational any longer to think of war as an apt means to vindicate violated rights”

In this era of total war, which includes nuclear weapons, it’s irrational, immoral, goes against our humanness, goes against God, even to think of war as an apt means to vindicate violated rights. The just war theology disappears with that one sentence. We need to listen to that.

Pope Paul VI 1976 Peace Day statement deplored what had happened at Hiroshima August 6, 1945. For the first time the most clear statement about what an evil that was. He called it a butchery of untold magnitude. And he went on to say, who is the model for our times, this time in which we live? When the reality is so grim, who is the model? He says the poor, weak man, Gandhi, the Hindu who understood better than most of us Christians what Jesus really taught, pax Christi. He justified us. That’s the model for our time.

John Paul II in 1980 in a Peace Day statement urges us: “I invite all Christians to bring to the common task of building peace the specific contribution of the gospel, the specific contribution of Jesus.” And in light of that gospel, he says, “I now repeat, violence is a lie for it goes against the truth of our faith, the truth of our humanity. Do not believe in violence. Do not support violence. It is not the Christian way. It is not the way of the Catholic Church. Believe in peace, forgiveness and love. For only these are of Christ.”

It’s hard to be any clearer that our tradition is reaching back to where we started. And we must begin to make that tradition our own once more.

Again, Pope John Paul II, in 1991 condemned war in the most clear words possible. He wrote, “I, myself, on the occasion of the recent tragic gulf war in the Persian Gulf repeated the cry, ‘Never again war! No, never again war!’”
And he gives some reasons why the just war theology, any theology that justifies violence is wrong: because it destroys innocent lives. Every war does. And it teaches how to kill, depriving those who kill of their humanness by learning to hate and to kill. And it throws into upheaval even the lives of those who do the killing. And then always, it leaves behind a trail of hatred and resentment, making it all the more difficult to find a just solution of the very problems which provoked the war. Our tradition is calling us always to reject war. Pax Christi says no to violence, no to war, no to killing, for any reason whatsoever. (extended applause, 16 seconds)

Thank you. That’s important, because I’m just getting to the point where I’m going to ask us to do something. (laughter). So I’m glad you agree so far.

Last November just before the bishops’ meeting when we were going to discuss the U.S. Catholic bishops’ response to 9-11 and to October 7: Just before that meeting I got a letter from a young woman in New York whose brother had been killed in the World Trade Center. It’s a powerful letter.

She says, “I’m writing to you today to offer support and encouragement for what I hope will be an ongoing discussion among the bishops. My brother, William Kelly, was killed on Sept. 11th at the World Trade Center. There is no scale on which my family can begin to measure our loss. Nor are there any words adequately to express our sorrow. My family is quite clear, however, that we would never want another family, whether Afghani or American, to feel the way we do now.”

Then she goes on. But further on she says:

“I adamantly oppose the bombing. I have no other argument than it is not Christ-like. I do not know what Jesus would do in current times, but I am certain he would not advocate the bombing of anyone. The deepest, truest part of our collective heart knows this truth. You and I and my family live in a very human world, however; so how can we reach this true place?”

She says, “One stumbling block seems to be the lack of choices given the American public concerning our response to September 11th. Our country seems to see no other way, because we have been presented with no other way. So this is my urgent request of the bishops. Can you begin the discussion of the other way — Christ’s way? Could you help provide moral guidance to a majority that is voicing support for a bombing campaign?”

On her behalf I made that plea to the bishops last November, and it was rejected. We did not present another way. We supported the bombing. The Catholic bishops of the United States supported the bombing, the war. And I’m very sorry to say it continues that way.

I was utterly appalled on January 29th when President Bush was giving his State of the Union message outlining our plans to attack the “axis of evil” and continue to glorify our response, violent response to September 11th, two Catholic cardinals sitting in the audience jumping up to clap with everyone else.

Another cardinal after September 11th and after October 7th wrote a letter to President Bush. I won’t take the time to read it, but it’s a letter congratulating him on how well he has responded in this just use of violence.

Just a couple of weeks ago another cardinal was present with President Bush when some protesters were in the audience, and they were booed down. And President Bush repeated his cry to use violence; and everybody in that audience except those few protesters applauded. The cardinal was sitting there. I don’t know if he applauded or not, but certainly he was endorsing what the President was saying.

I tell you all of this only because it becomes very clear to me that Colleen Kelly’s request is not going to happen soon, but that the U.S. bishops are not going to show us the alternative way. It’s going to be up to you, and anyone in this country, who really understands pax Christi, who really is ready to reject pax Americana

So we must be the ones that will begin to show the new way. And so at this point, I ask you, — and I want you to respond:

Will you reject the claims of evil pax Americana, no matter how sensible and attractive they may seem? (Crowd shouts, Yes)

And will you believe what Jesus says, and follow him, now matter how strange it may seem? (Crowd shouts, Yes).

Then we have a job before us. There are various ways we can carry this out. One of the first things we can do, and I hope everyone of us will: sign the pledge of resistance. Dave mentioned it last night; it’s being circulated. Sign it. The war in the Persian Gulf in 1991 was an unjust war, condemned by Pope John Paul II. Any new war against Iraq will be an unjust war. We must say, No (20 seconds of applause)

But there’s more. Signing a pledge is one thing. But of course, when you sign that pledge you really are saying, “I am ready to get out in the streets and do civil disobedience if they attack.” (10 seconds of more applause).

There are about 600 of us here, and if every one of us signs the pledge, that would be very significant. But what would be even better if every one of us goes home and gets 10 more people to sign the pledge, or 20 more people to sign the pledge. We’ll have thousands and thousands; and other groups are doing the same thing. So, we must do this.

But I also suggest, we need to do something like the School of the Americas Watch does. They have identified a place, Fort Benning, Georgia, where the School of the America takes place. Every November they are getting thousands and thousands of people to come and protest that very evil institution that has trained people to do some of the most gruesome and evil killing that has gone on, especially in Latin America and Central America. And they get these thousands of people because they focus on that one place.

My hope is that we might determine a place like Oak Ridge, Tennessee, for example — where Dave and I were last summer on August 6th — and that we might begin to invite Pax Christi groups to come there every year around that weekend of August 6th, and that we make a larger and larger presence protesting the development. There’s where they are making the new nuclear weapons that we will be preparing to use. We must go there, have our bodies there, do civil disobedience there, say no to nuclear weapons in a very dramatic way. (15 more seconds of applause)

And I thought that maybe next summer — it’s too late for this summer, but it gives us a year to prepare — we could start on July 16th. That’s the date when we exploded the first nuclear device: July 16, 1945, in the desert in Nevada. I don’t know if you’re aware of it — how these people that make these things always give it a code name. They called that one “Trinity.” That was the code name for the first explosion of a nuclear weapon.

And another way of looking at the choice that I’m asking us to make today was something that Archbishop (Fulton J.) Sheen said a long time ago in a talk he gave against nuclear weapons. He said it all comes down to a choice: Which
Trinity will you believe in? The Trinity of mass, energy, and velocity? Or the Trinity of a loving God — father and mother, a son who gives his life for us, and a spirit who lives in our midst.

July 16th I think is an important date. The date in which people make their choice of which Trinity will you put your faith in. So I suggest we might start a fast on July 16th and go until August 6th — 22 days of fasting. Then on August the sixth, try to have a large gathering of Pax Christi people from all over our country to protest, and to demand the end of the development of nuclear weapons.

I believe that if we really committed ourselves to this kind of action, we could be the ones that would lead our Church and our nation away from pax Americana and to pax Christi, the only peace that really is peace. (15 seconds of applause).

I thank you for that response, and I leave you now with some very sober words, that will perhaps linger in our consciousness and help to continue to motivate us. The words were written, again by that Indian novelist Arundhati Roy, who is leading the way of India protesting against their nuclear weapons development. And at the end of the article which she writes deploring and protesting these weapons, she says this:

“The nuclear bomb is the most anti-democratic, anti-national, anti-human, outright evil thing that human kind has ever made.” and then she says, “If you are religious, believe in God, then remember, this is our challenge to God.” It is worded quite simply: “We, we, God’s creatures, have the power to destroy everything You have created.”

A very evil challenge that a religious person would make to God. It’s blasphemy:

“We can destroy everything You, God, have made — the God who made everything out of love, we can destroy out of our hate.”

But then she goes on to say, "If you’re not religious, then look at it this way: This world of ours is 4,600 million years old. It could end in an afternoon."

Let that thought: if you are religious, that we do not want to offend God with that blasphemy. Or, if your faith doesn’t move you, the thought that we can destroy our world in an afternoon, let that move us to try with all that we can bring to it to reject pax Americana and to embrace pax Christi. Thank you.

What the rest of the world watched on Inauguration Day

This post was written by Sr. Joan Chittister on the day of George Bush's second inauguration in January, 2005.

Dublin, on U.S. Inauguration Day, didn't seem to notice. Oh, they played a few clips that night of the American president saying, "The survival of liberty in our land increasingly depends on the success of liberty in other lands."

But that was not their lead story.

The picture on the front page of The Irish Times was a large four-color picture of a small Iraqi girl. Her little body was a coil of steel. She sat knees up, cowering, screaming madly into the dark night. Her white clothes and spread hands and small tight face were blood-spattered. The blood was the blood of her father and mother, shot through the car window in Tal Afar by American soldiers while she sat beside her parents in the car, her four brothers and sisters in the back seat.

A series of pictures of the incident played on the inside page, as well. A 12-year-old brother, wounded in the fray, falls face down out of the car when the car door opens, the pictures show. In another, a soldier decked out in battle gear, holds a large automatic weapon on the four children, all potential enemies, all possible suicide bombers, apparently, as they cling traumatized to one another in the back seat and the child on the ground goes on screaming in her parent's blood.

No promise of "freedom" rings in the cutline on this picture. No joy of liberty underlies the terror on these faces here.

I found myself closing my eyes over and over again as I stared at the story, maybe to crush the tears forming there, maybe in the hope that the whole scene would simply disappear.

But no, like the photo of a naked little girl bathed in napalm and running down a road in Vietnam served to crystallize the situation there for the rest of the world, I knew that this picture of a screaming, angry, helpless, orphaned child could do the same.

The soldiers standing in the dusk had called "halt," the story said, but no one did. Maybe the soldiers' accents were bad. Maybe the car motor was unduly noisy. Maybe the children were laughing loudly -- the way children do on family trips. Whatever the case, the car did not stop, the soldiers shot with deadly accuracy, seven lives changed in an instant: two died in body, five died in soul.

BBC news announced that the picture was spreading across Europe like a brushfire that morning, featured from one major newspaper to another, served with coffee and Danish from kitchen table to kitchen table in one country after another. I watched, while Inauguration Day dawned across the Atlantic, as the Irish up and down the aisle on the train from Killarney to Dublin, narrowed their eyes at the picture, shook their heads silently and slowly over it, and then sat back heavily in their seats, too stunned into reality to go back to business as usual -- the real estate section, the sports section, the life-style section of the paper.

Here was the other side of the inauguration story. No military bands played for this one. No bulletproof viewing stands could stop the impact of this insight into the glory of force. Here was an America they could no longer understand. The contrast rang cruelly everywhere.

I sat back and looked out the train window myself. Would anybody in the United States be seeing this picture today? Would the United States ever see it, in fact? And if it is printed in the United States, will it also cross the country like wildfire and would people hear the unwritten story under it?

There are about 25 million people in Iraq. Over half of them are under the age of 15. Of the over 100,000 civilians dead in this war, then, over half of them are children. We are killing children. The children are our enemy. And we are defeating them.

"I'll tell you why I voted for George Bush," a friend of mine said. "I voted for George Bush because he had the courage to do what Al Gore and John Kerry would never have done."

I've been thinking about that one.

Osama Bin Laden is still alive. Sadam Hussein is still alive. Abu Musab al-Zarqawi is still alive. Baghdad, Mosul and Fallujah are burning. But my government has the courage to kill children or their parents. And I'm supposed to be impressed.

That's an unfair assessment, of course. A lot of young soldiers have died, too. A lot of weekend soldiers are maimed for life. A lot of our kids went into the military only to get a college education and are now shattered in soul by what they had to do to other bodies.

A lot of adult civilians have been blasted out of their homes and their neighborhoods and their cars. More and more every day. According to U.N. Development Fund for Women, 15 percent of wartime casualties in World War I were civilians. In World War II, 65 percent were civilians. By the mid '90s, over 75 percent of wartime casualties were civilians.

In Iraq, for every dead U.S. soldier, there are 14 other deaths, 93 percent of them are civilian. But those things happen in war, the story says. It's all for a greater good, we have to remember. It's all to free them. It's all being done to spread "liberty."

From where I stand, the only question now is who or what will free us from the 21st century's new definition of bravery. Who will free us from the notion that killing children or their civilian parents takes courage?

The Time Has Come to End This War

Whenever I hear people talking about freedom, patriotism, supporting our troops in Iraq and Afghanistan--I feel an immediate disconnect between their words and the reality that we all know as the Iraq War. Mark Twain once said: "Patriotism is supporting your country all the time, and your government when it deserves it." This is a war that should have never started--and it will do no good to write about all of the mistakes made by this Administration in the conduct of the war. Let's just say--Enough is enough. END THE WAR. How do we do that? I do not have a definitive answer--but I have a clue. Ohio's Catholics need to be accounted for. Ohio's Catholics need to stand and say: END THE WAR. That is what this site is about. I hope in the coming weeks you will join us as we give our hearts and our labors to the great moral issue of our time--ending the war in Iraq.