• Bulletin Board, Announcements, Calendar
• Welcome and Website Protocol
• Editorial - Op Ed
• Article Archive

Print this page

Article Categories

• Book Reviews
• Open Letter
• Editorials
• Notes, Quotes & Comments
• Pastor's Study
• Project Millstones
• Sidebar Comments
• Weekly Message

Links

AMERICA Magazine
A balanced Catholic weekly magazine published by the jesuits of the United States for an intelligent Catholic readership. Go online to subscribe.

Liturgy
This link will keep 'parishioners-at-large' in touch with current creative liturgy sources and resources that respect a variety of 'traditions' within the Church.

Voice of the Faithful
A 'movement' of lay Catholics 'inspired' by the abuse scandal calling for greater accountability of bishops to 'Catholics in the Pew.'

Survivos' Network for those Abused by Priests or Religious
A National Network of self-help support groups for people abused by clergy or religious.

Bishop Accountability
Vital information about the disclosure of sexual abuse and related issues affecting Catholics in the pew and the manner in which Bishops continue to exempt themselves from accountability

National Catholic Reporter
A national Catholic lay newspaper covering events not usually covered or presented with a clerical bias in the local diocesan press or but of concern and interest to Catholics.

COMMONWEAL Magazine
A 'lay' Catholic weekly publication with an accent on an intelligent analysis and commentary on curent issues, trends and concerns of interest to Catholics.

Search

Daily Scripture

+ 7th Week of Easter

We are to be consecrated in truth.

Readings: Acts 20:28-38 Psalm 88:29-30, 33-36 John 17:11b-19

Consecrate them in the truth. Your word is truth. As you sent me into the world, so I sent them into the world. And I consecrate myself for them, so that they may also be consecrated in truth. [John 17:18-19]

Read the Gospel very slowly and if possible, out loud and if necessary, three times! Although John’s literary style is quite complex, the farewell prayer of Jesus is as powerful as is Paul’s farewell message in Acts.

It is not likely that these passages are the actual words of Paul and Jesus. They are compositions that Luke and John or whoever wrote in their name and are based on the oral tradition of the sayings of Jesus and the preaching of Paul. They were written in the style of farewell addresses of prominent leaders of their times in order to win the attention of early believers to whom the message of truth was entrusted.

The ‘truth’ that is being proclaimed is not from a catechism nor is it a defined doctrine or dogma. It is the core truth about the God who spoke through the prophets and then through Jesus about the universality of God’s love.

During this time of immediate preparation for Pentecost, we are invited to think about our own responsibility to pass on the ‘truth’ of God’s goodness entrusted to us in Christ and how we are to live that truth in our daily lives, each in our own unique way. No one of us can do this alone and so we much join hands literally and figuratively within the community of believers everywhere.

To live the ‘truth’ is to live in the Spirit of Jesus Christ the fruits of which are charity, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, generosity, gentleness, moderation, self-control, reverence, etc. I’m sure you memorized these ‘fruits of the Holy Spirit.’

These are the true ‘marks’ of our authenticity as believers.

The Iraqi Quagmire

Tuesday June 20, 2006

I published the following commentary in our parish bulletin several weeks prior to the United States preemptory strike against Iraq in March of 2003. The tragic news of the discovery of two of our service men savagely and ritually massacred moved me to return to my files. How tragically accurate were my premonitions.

This coupled with the news of national guardsmen moving into New Orleans makes me wonder if our nation is on the right course and ponder at the direction of our leadership.

Calm Before the Storm

Was it my imagination or was the traffic lighter than usual and moving more slowly along Route 24 on the Tuesday and Wednesday following the president’s ultimatum? The grieving seemed to have begun even before the launch of the first missile and subsequent loss of life or limb.

I was saddened by the president’s words not necessarily because I disagreed with the ultimatum. At that point, along with most American citizens, I was so frustrated by the obstinacy of Hussein that I actually began to experience sympathy with the call to arms, forgetting for the moment the costs of war.

Immediately after viewing his statement, I watched a special presentation of “Frontline,” a two hour PBS chronicle of the events that in the mind of the producers contributed to the president’s decision to attack Iraq.

The program was unraveling and disturbing. It clearly demonstrated the barbarism that has characterized the Hussein dynasty and surely left no doubt about his deceptive control and violent regime. It was a shocking account of what no civilized person of any moral persuasion can justify under any circumstances. The comparison of Hussein with Hitler is not extreme. Indeed, there is strong reason to believe that his anomalous behavior is attributed to his devotion to the ruthless Joseph Stalin.

That having been acknowledged, this chronicle could not dissipate the cloud cast by the threat of immanent war. The external calm before the storm surely belied the turmoil within the soul of fervent believers and even of the most patriotic of citizens. How does one explain religious fervor in the face of battle? How does one justify patriotism and yet shrink from the preemptive unleashing of weapons of mass destruction by “good people” to prevent the initiation of the same by “bad people.” Although intended to be redemptive are they in fact retaliatory.

Moral confusion abounds against the calm façade of cold ultimatums. Does the end does justify the means after all? Have we been mistaken about the therapeutic — read “preemptive”—attack on a child in the womb for the sake of a greater good? Where does respect for innocent life begin — and end? No, not Hussein’s life but the innocent women, men and children soon to become collateral damage. If he is still alive, he has surely taken leave of the safety of his own people subjecting them to the worst fate imaginable.

I for one did not find the thought of tons of ammunition triggered by hi-tech controls aimed only at targets with pin-point accuracy emotionally consoling or morally assuring. Perhaps by the time these reflections are published, I will have egg on my face for my lack of trust in our leaders or want of confidence in their strategy. On the other hand, I am told we have made great advances since the first gulf war. Whereas only 10% of missiles were strategically accurate then, 90% are accurate now. Not only can a building be targeted with accuracy but a specific office within the particular building! So, I offer now a “preemptory” confession of my blindness and concede willingly to the rightful application of the just war theory in the light of such technological advances in warfare.

No matter where we stand as believers, no one wishes harm to those who have been called to risk their lives in service to our country, but we know that it is not possible to guarantee their safety. It is interesting that many of those who will be on the front lines in the economy of war have been at the end of the line in economy of justice in their homeland. War is a strange equalizer indeed.

I think it is also fair to say that no believer wishes harm to the innocent Iraqi victims who are caught in the crossfire. They are victims not the cause of the grave injustices heaped upon them.

Beyond the loss of life there has been much talk about the material costs of this war. It will be an irony beyond ironies that the urgings and pleadings of advocates of domestic social justice for Americans to live a more simple life driven not by consumerism but by the just distribution of wealth and the principles of equity will be addressed by default. With predictions of a flat economy for the remainder of this year and next, we will be paying more for less and forced to live more simply.

As we watch the war unfold on our TV screens, our leaders urge us to conduct our affairs as normal but the normal has become by now the surreal.

We can pray only that God’s justice prevail and that we will emerge from this war a people ready and willing to accept the challenge of peace-building rather than war-making.

We have proven our power to destroy. We now must prove our power to restore and build what human hands can no longer destroy — the dominion of peace in the human heart. Only God can guarantee it’s success.