Great News!

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We were delighted to receive this email from Fr. Bernard Survil, Member of “The Friends of Franzand Ben,” administrators of the website: bensalmon.org/. We are glad Fr. Bernard will be helping to break the silence about militarism and war in the American Catholic Church.

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First to thank you for producing the collection basket protest for the Collection for the Archdiocese of Military Services scheduled to take place in my diocese the coming weekend, Nov 16-17th.

I have reproduced around 1,500 copies which will be distributed to people attending Mass at our Cathedral Parish and several parishes nearby.

Then to suggest CAM include on the Resources pages under the heading “Conscientious Objection” an invitationto sign the Petition to Cardinal Blase Cupich of Chicagoregarding initiating the process for the beatification of BEN SALMON. That is done by:

  1. going to the website http://www.bensalmon.org  
  2. then scrolling down to the yellow background area and clicking “Sainthood” 
  3. then filling out the info asked for, as well as offering a comment (over 250 comments are already viewable onthe same site)
  4. then click “Submit.”

People sometimes tell the webmaster they did this buttheir endorsement doesn’t show up. As a backup, one can leave a message at 724-523-0291 giving the name of the caller, phone number, and the message: “Today(date) I endorsed the Petition to Cardinal Cupich regarding BEN SALMON.”

Fr. Bernard Survil, Member of “The Friends of Franzand Ben,” administrators of the website: bensalmon.org/
and listed among the “Starter-Endorsers: Rev Charles E. McCarthy, Newton, MA”

Armistice Day

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This was originally posted at LewRockwell.com.

Here is a letter Eric Norris wrote to his diocesan newspaper in Indiana:

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Dear Editor:

I am greatly disappointed by your announcement on the cover of the October 20 issue.

  1. It is “Veterans Day”, no apostrophe.
  2. It was originally Armistice Day, and is still defined as “a day to be dedicated to the cause of world peace”, not fighting.
  3.  It is not meant to honor in any way current members of the military (“fighting”), but Title 38 of the Code of Federal Regulations defines a veteran as “a person who served in the active military, naval, or air service and who was discharged or released under conditions other than dishonorable.”
  4. Armed Forces Day is the time to recognize those currently in the military.
  5. Please explain how, in what way, any current “fighting” is benefiting our country (“fighting for our country”).  This bothers me to no end.  Do you know why Osama bin Laden attacked the US?  He stated explicitly it was the actions (“fighting”) of the US military in the Middle East in the 1990s.
  6. I am a combat veteran of Operation Iraqi Freedom.  It brought no freedom to the Iraqi people, or you, or me.

We are meant to be counter-cultural and worship the Prince of Peace, not to knee-jerk support the military policy and actions of the US or any other government.  The wide world will be falling all over themselves “supporting the troops” on November 11.  What would Jesus do?  Maybe, just maybe, he would look at each one of us veterans individually, try to understand our personal reasons for joining, and the struggles, successes, and failures in the aftermath thereof.

Sincerely,

Eric S. Morris

St. Elizabeth Seton, Carmel

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Eric tells us that his pastor wrote in the bulletin this week partially in response to his concerns about the diocesan newspaper. You can see the response here on page 3.

Nov-10-2019Download

Back to our roots in 2013

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This week’s podcast is about the origins of Catholics Against Militarism back in 2013. We discuss the upcoming Triennial Collection for the Archdiocese of the Military Services, scheduled to happen again this weekend, on Nov. 9-11, 2019, in parishes around the country. Fr. Tim Taugher from Saint Francis Assisi parish in Binghamton, New York, joins us to talk about why he won’t be taking up the collection at his parish, despite the posters and marketing materials for the collection that have been sent to him. Read Fr. Taugher’s letter written to his bishop below.

https://www.ncronline.org/blogs/ncr-today/pastor-spells-out-objections-military-archdiocese-collection?_ga=2.212523796.1039365488.1573157125-2113462727.1568914062

Calling Out MSM

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“Dear Mainstream News Media –
I’m talking to you, New York Times, Washington Post, MSNBC, CNN, and all your upstanding, highly professional conglomerate cohorts.
Thank you one and all very, very much for not covering the trial of the Kings Bay Plowshares 7.”

CounterPunch.org
https://www.counterpunch.org/2019/11/06/breaking-kings-bay-plowshares-7-story-is-highly-unprofessional/?fbclid=IwAR2x5XXPnH8oZTBqx6BqGNahB-pwp_Cgl30Pei86O0Kztm4dXzCPpxcPFz0

Moral Charade

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The following was written by Fr. Emmanuel Charles McCarthy:

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The Institutional Churches’ Moral Charade Regarding Gospel Nonviolence Marches On!

“Dear military Ordinaries and military chaplains: As you carry out your mission to form the consciences of the members of the armed forces, I encourage you to spare no effort to enable the norms of international humanitarian law to be accepted in the hearts of those entrusted to your pastoral care,” 

“The Second Vatican Council calls those in military service ‘custodians of the security and freedom of their people.’ The servants of Christ in the military world are also the first to be at the service of men and women and of their fundamental rights,” said Pope Francis in the Apostolic Palace Oct. 31, 2019, as he met with military chaplains from around the world as they participated in a formation course on international humanitarian law hosted by the Vatican.

This same Pope Francis in an address to the International Theological Commission on January 15, 2014 said,

“The definitive revelation of God in Jesus Christ makes every recourse to violence in God’s name ultimately impossible. It is precisely because of [Christ’s] refusal of violence, because of his having overcome evil with good, with the blood of his Cross, that Jesus has reconciled men to God and each other”  

 On August 19, 2013, he said,

“The true force of the Christian is the force of truth and of love, which means rejecting all violence. Faith and violence are incompatible! Faith and violence are incompatible! But faith and strength go together. The Christian is not violent, but he strong. And with what strength? That of meekness, the force of meekness, the force of love.” – Pope Francis, (8/19/13)

Commentary:

How about instead of the Pope telling the military bishops and priests that they should work diligently to assure that “the norms of international humanitarian law to be accepted in the hearts of those entrusted to your pastoral care,” they be told by that they should spare no effort in assuring that the norms of the Sermon on the Mount, the norm of Jesus in the Gospels,, e.g., “love your enemies,” “put up your sword,” “love one another as I have loved you ,” accepted into the hearts of those entrusted to your pastoral care.

Pray tell what are the “norms of international humanitarian law” in regards to the mass slaughter of human beings in war. “Humanitarian laws of war” is an oxymoron. (Oxymoron is derived from the Greek ‘oxumoron’ meaning “pointedly foolish.”) The “norms of international humanitarian law” are as porous, as slippery, as wide open to indefinite interpretation as the norms of Catholic Just War Theory. They are the Deceiver’s tool to get people to believe that war can be conducted humanely, just as Christian Just War Theory is the Deceiver’s PR tool to get Christians to believe they can be good and faithful disciples of Jesus as they go forth to slaughter people named by politicians “the enemy.” The norms of international humanitarian laws of war are something Jesus never taught or could never teach because war intrinsically requires violence and enmity— even if done according to the norms of international humanitarian laws. And, violence and enmity are forever outside of what a person committed to obedience to Jesus, to Jesus’ “new commandment, love as Jesus loves,” could ever morally participate in.

How about a Vatican formation course for military bishops and priests on the Nonviolent Jesus of the Gospels and His Way of Nonviolent Love of friends and enemies?

How is a person a servant of Christ in the military and to military personnel unless he is telling the truth that Jesus taught to at least the Christians involved in the military world, that is, in the world where people spend their life’s time learning to kill and killing other human beings on the command of others or ordering such killing. The truth of Jesus, as Pope Francis once proclaimed, is “Faith and violence are incompatible! Faith and violence are incompatible…The definitive revelation of God in Jesus Christ makes every recourse to violence in God’s name ultimately impossible. ” So why didn’t the Pope say to the Catholic military bishops and priests of the world gather before him:

“Dear military Ordinaries and military chaplains: As you carry out your mission to form the consciences of the members of the armed forces, I encourage you to spare no effort in teaching that “Faith and violence are incompatible! The definitive revelation of God in Jesus Christ makes every recourse to violence in God’s name ultimately impossible; ” teaching it so thoroughly that this truth of God and Jesus be accepted in the hearts of those entrusted to your pastoral care.” 

 I do not know why the Pope refused to speak this clear truth of Jesus, which he full well knows, to the military bishops and priests. But what I do know is that if he refuses to vigorously proclaim this teaching of Jesus to the very people who are ignoring it, disobeying it, defying it and calling their bracketing out of it faithful Christin discipleship, to whom is he going to proclaim this teaching with vigor and authority? Dorothy Day?