Make the 10 a.m. mass, not war

I’m a Roman Catholic — a convert, actually.
Enormous crowds of Catholics gather outside the courthouse in my hometown to protest abortion every year.

Today as I was driving by that same courthouse, there were protestors of the American wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Unfortunately, there were significantly fewer people there today.

Where are the Catholics?

Gaudium et Spes, a document from the most recent Vatican Council, demands that “life must be protected with the utmost care from the moment of conception.” 

Clearly this is grounds for protesting abortion.

Certainly it should also cause Catholics to condemn the current wars waged by the United States.

In the same document, the church addresses war.
Catholics cannot support military occupation of Iraq in light of the church’s stance that “war potential does not justify the use of force for political or military objectives.” 

I assume this applies even to war potential of massive destruction.

“Providence urgently demands of us that we free ourselves from the age-old slavery of war,” a phrase in “Gaudium et Spes” reads. 

These words are certainly not an endorsement of the invasion of Afghanistan.

In fact, even if one were to interpret the Sept. 11 attacks as an act of war, it is not the case that the “mere fact that war has unfortunately broken out”  somehow necessitates “all is fair between the warring parties.”

If it is the case Catholics ought to work “for the moment when all war will be completely outlawed,”  how could we support any military effort?

Peace is the end toward which we must work and any act of war is an interruption to
this effort. If we say that we accept the documents of the Second Vatican Council we must accept all of it.

It is a hard teaching, but it is our teaching.

No abortion and no war. Take the documents seriously, read them.

The church’s members have by no means lived this message perfectly and this should not excuse us from living it now.

I write this not as a criticism of Catholicism, since its very teachings can be used against its pro-war members.

The church must become what it already is: an instrument for peace.

Catholics are not very good at post-modernity since our ideas are not quite like most other people’s — the issues of war and abortion are great examples.
It’s time for American Catholics to join hands with those burned-out hippies in front of the courthouse. It’s time to stand for peace.

There are over 1 billion of us all over the world, so how hard can it really be?

­— mthomas5@indiana.edu