Catholic Legislators Appeal to the Bishops to End The War

From the August 17th edition of the National Catholic Reporter:

Catholics in Congress appeal to bishops to help end the war

By EMILIANO HUET-VAUGHN

A group of Catholic members of the U.S. House of Representatives has approached the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, asking them to mobilize Catholic opinion in support of an expedited end to the war in Iraq. A meeting between the members of Congress and conference representatives to discuss Catholic leadership on the issue is expected to take place following the August congressional recess.

In a letter requesting the meeting sent by 14 members of the House, all Democrats, the representatives said they took strength from the fact that “throughout our nation’s history Catholics have been at the forefront of the fight for social justice.” They urged the bishops to follow in this tradition by “mobilizing support for Congress’ efforts to end the war.”

“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,” the representatives wrote. “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.”

In a letter of response, Bishop Thomas G. Wenski of Orlando, Fla., chairman of the Committee on International Policy for the bishops’ conference, welcomed a meeting with the House members “to discuss ways to pursue the goal of a ‘responsible transition’ to bring an end to the war in Iraq.”

“Our conference is under no illusions regarding Iraq,” wrote Wenski. “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. It was for this very reason that we raised serious moral questions regarding military intervention in Iraq in the first place.

“Nevertheless,” the letter continued, “our nation 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.”

The communications were short on specific steps the church might take to mobilize Catholics, but Ohio Rep. Tim Ryan, one of the signers of the letter, said he hopes the meeting with the bishops will result in the church’s sending “a shot of energy down to the local parishes, saying talk about this, organize, communicate to the local members of Congress, your senators, to try and bring a responsible end to this war.”

In addition to Ryan, others who signed the letter include presidential candidate Dennis Kucinich and Marcy Kaptur of Ohio; Jose Serrano of New York; Joe Baca, Anna Eshoo, Grace Napolitano and Hilda Solis of California; Rosa DeLauro of Connecticut; Jim Moran of Virginia; William Clay of Missouri; James McGovern of Massachusetts; Bart Stupak of Michigan; and Charlie Wilson of Texas.

Emiliano Huet-Vaughn is a frequent contributor to NCR.