2/11/2010
There is no just, unjust war; there is just war
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Letter to the Editor
To the Sentinel:
In his report on the spiritual wounds of warfare, Ed Langlois quotes Father Michael Drury, a former military chaplain from Montana, who reminded a group of war veterans on a weekend retreat dealing with war and healing that there is such a thing as a just war in Catholic teaching. It's a fight "when there is an unjust aggressor who cannot be stopped by any other means."
This "just war" theory initiated by Augustine and Aquinas, expounded by countless others over the ages, referred to in encyclicals, attested by the Catechism of the Catholic Church, updated in bishops' Pastoral Letter on War and Peace has left me questioning.
Jesus came to fulfill God’s will that we all live together in the divine peace and good that surpasses all understanding. Jesus shows us that war is never a response condoned by the Prince of Peace.
War wounds not only the "combatants," it wounds innocent bystanders and destroys lives. I served in Vietnam with the Marines during Tet, 1968. I was in my freshman year of college at St. Joseph's Franciscan Seminary. I gave up a 4-D classification and enlisted because I thought it was my duty. It went against my Franciscan spirit, but it was an American war and my Church seemed to offer its tacit approval I was wrong. The war was unjust and a grave offence against the Fifth Commandment.
I am saddened that our pastors still are unable to proclaim the full message of peace that moved God to become Emmanuel. I get the sense that this aspect of God's will is too radical, too revolutionary, too challenging to be the central point of our social teaching.
It is much easier to make abortion, suicide and euthanasia the rallying points of pro-life, while leaving the death penalty and war as valid pro-choice issues.
There is no such thing as a "just war" or an "unjust war." There is just war. A while back, WWJD was a popular saying, "What would Jesus do?"
As our country wages war on two fronts and deals with armed insurgencies in various areas not only in the Middle East, but everywhere else as well, we should update this slogan to WWJK, "Who would Jesus kill?"
Rolando Rodriguez
Port Orford
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