Catholic Peace Fellowship Off to the Vatican

Just as Dorothy Day and the early organizers of Pax Christi USA traveled to Rome in 1962 to meet with members of the Second Vatican Council, a delegation from the Catholic Peace Fellowship will shortly be off to Rome as well to meet with members of the Vatican including the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faithful. Dorothy Day and her delegation were successful in having the following lines inserted into Gaudium et spes (The Church in the modern world):

“Every act of war directed to the indiscriminate destruction of whole cities or vast areas with their inhabitants is a crime against God and humanity which merits firm and unequivocal condemnation.”

The Catholic Peace Fellowship will be asking for clearer statements in the Catechism supporting conscientious objectors. See below for their specific objectives.

Please pray that the upcoming CPF trip is successful. For more information on the Catholic Peace Fellowship you can go to www.catholicpeacefellowship.org

From March 12 - 21, a Catholic Peace Fellowship delegation will be in Rome to share with Church officials our experience working with conscientious objectors and to push for even stronger support for them and their opposition to war.

The delegation will consist of Tom Cornell (who, along with Jim Forest, co-founded CPF in 1964), Mike Griffin, CPF Education Director, and Joshua Casteel, Iraq War veteran and Catholic conscientious objector.

The three will meet with officials from the Vatican Secretariat of State, the Pontifical Council for Justice, and the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith. It now seems possible that we will have a brief encounter with Pope Benedict XVI. We will help lead a conference in Assisi, and will meet with Catholic movements like Sant’ Egidio.

Please pray for the success of our trip. Pray that those who went before us, like Dorothy Day, who made a pilgrimage to Rome during the Second Vatican Council, be with us as we seek to fulfill our objectives:

-to ask for even clearer public statements that conscientious objection is a central tool by which the Church can resist war and be a sign of peace.

-to ask for a future addendum to the Catechism section on war, making clear that just war doctrine is more than “a tool for statecraft” and can be applied by soldiers.

-to address problems that arise when the chaplains are supposed to act both as agents of the military and as ministers of the Church.

-to urge Church leaders to call for the legal protection of selective conscientious objectors. Absent such protection, we will urge that the Church advise pastors and youth leaders to counsel extreme caution toward an enlistment which gives one’s conscience to the state.

How can you help? Since our trip takes place during Lent, you can offer your prayer, fasting and almsgiving for this pilgrimage. Also, we are still raising money to cover the costs of this trip. If you are able, simply go to our secure site for donations, and send us an email letting us know that your donation is earmarked for the Rome pilgrimage. Or send us a check in the mail!

Lastly, we welcome any ideas you'd like to share with us before we go!