Dear Catholic Exchange:
Thank you SO much for Russell Shaw's article posted on February 13th entitled The Role of the U.N.! I was very pleased to see you are making an attempt to be evenhanded in your critique of America's impending attack on Iraq.
It would be very dangerous for America to make the serious move of a preemptive strike without the backing of the rest of the world. The decision to attack Iraq should not be made lightly, and ALL other avenues should be pursued before we go to war. America seems to have ceased to listen to the voices of those who disagree with her, and this could be her downfall.
We should listen a little bit more to the wisdom of our pope who is going to great lengths to encourage us to avoid this attack. Our Vatican officials are speaking out constantly against what America is now doing. We ought to listen to them as well.
Thanks again for a great article!
Danielle Blosser
Moral Teachings on Just War
Dear Catholic Exchange,
The Church's teachings on faith and morals are infallible, so all Catholics are required to believe them. So when the Vatican says a war is not a just war, as they have with the situation in Iraq, aren't we required to take the same stance? Doesn't determining a war to be unjust fit under the category of a “moral” teaching?
Thanks,
Amy
Dear Amy,
Thank you for your inquiry. It is important to keep in mind that this is not a new war. The Gulf War, which the Vatican considered just, entered into a period of “cessation of hostilities” based upon certain conditions that Iraq has flouted. Now the United States will bring that war to its long overdue conclusion.
It is not the teaching of the Church that every government has to provide to the pope or the Vatican or local bishops or even to its own citizens every scrap of information and intelligence that goes into making every decision or even any decision. Vatican officials are not privy to the intelligence that would allow them to make an informed judgment on this matter.
While doctrine concerning just war is a matter of morals on which the Church speaks infallibly, the application of that doctrine to a particular case is a matter of prudential judgment about which there is no guarantee of infallibility. For a more detailed consideration of these issues, please refer to George Weigel's Moral Clarity in a Time of War.
Blessings,
Mary Kochan
Contributing Editor
Catholic Exchange
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Closing the Political Gap
Dear CE:
Deal Hudson's article, Closing the Political Gap appears to be another log thrown into the growing fire of what I would call “The American Inquisition,” and I applaud him for that. And, I applaud CE for posting this article.
I use the term “inquisition” in a positive way, because it is a method of exposing heresy and moral scandals that affect the entire Church. While I'm not interested in the personal lives of every notable Catholic, I do want to be informed when a Catholic leader — lay or clergy, politician or celebrity — scandalizes the Church with their public professions of belief that are completely opposite of true Catholic moral teaching, or when they display a lack of courage to defend their Faith.
I'm not bothered so much that Sharpton gave the homily as much as I'm extremely disappointed in the Archbishop's inability to just say no. The Cardinal's disapproval of his priest's decision didn't speak nearly as loudly as his lame excuse not to censure it because it would be “a futile gesture and a waste of effort.” I wonder if Cardinal George read George Weigel's book, “The Courage To Be Catholic.”
All Christians are called to be martyrs for the Faith. That doesn't necessarily mean giving up our mortal life, but it can mean giving up our comfort zone, our popularity, our very selves for the sake of our Faith, and ultimately, our eternal salvation.
Jim Lavin
Overland Park, Kansas
Does CE Have a Partisan Political Agenda?
Dear Catholic Exchange:
I subscribe to CE's “Daily Word of Encoragement” and lead Bible studies using CE's wonderful materials. I had not, however, really perused the website until today when I read articles by Prager and Keyes. Both are Republicans. Does the website also offer editorials by Democrats? Am I to understand that Catholic Exchange has a partisan political agenda or a non-party affiliated mission of building the Catholic faith?
Nothing from the website's background information implies a political agenda, but your choice of editorialists does. As a pro-life, conservative, tithing Catholic Democrat, I am somewhat affronted by what seems to be bias on the part of an otherwise admirably catholic (“universal” sense) endeavor.
Thanks,
Colleen DeRose
Dear Colleen,
Thanks for your note. If you'd picked a different day to check out the site, perhaps you'd have come across a column from one of our own “pro-life, conservative, tithing Catholic Democrat” columnists – though I will admit that these writers are in shorter supply than I would like. For a recent example of such an article, read God Bless Our World.
Alan Keyes, by the way, has only been published one time on CE in the past five months. But that said, CE is clearly conservative editorially. It shouldn't surprise you that a Catholic media source stakes out an identifiable editorial position, as this is the rule rather than the exception. Certainly, Catholic publications/websites with an obvious left-wing/Democratic party bias abound: National Catholic Reporter, AmericanCatholic.org, Commonweal, U.S. Catholic, Catholic Online and Catholic Digest, just to name a few.
I would appreciate any leads you could send me on other articulators of the pro-life, conservative, tithing Catholic Democratic position, though, alas, they appear to be a rare breed.
Yours in Christ,
Tom Allen
Editor, CE
***
Dear Mr. Allen,
Thanks for your prompt reply. I have read all the current articles on the site including the one you recommended, and I feel much better. My reaction may have been a little hasty, but I'm rather sensitive in these hawkish Republican times of my Democratic identity, which, by the way, probably originates in the traditional Irish immigrant suspicion of the party of wealth — much as Mr. Prager suggests applies to black and Jewish people.
What do they say, once mistreated, ever cautious. I particularly appreciated the Franciscan article; it made me think that St. Francis could even have passed for a California Democrat with his ideas about animals and the environment as depicted in his prayer.
I am, however, not interested in the left-wing Catholic view as espoused in the publications you mention. I prefer and appreciate CE's conservative stance and understand the difficulty you must face in compiling a variety of worthy editorials, particularly including pro-life democrats. They are out there though, and I will refer any acceptable authors I can find to your site.
In Christ,
Colleen DeRose
