The Seamless Garment
and War and Peace |
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In his first
encyclical, God Is Love, Pope Benedict XVI reminds us that,
"love for widows and orphans, prisoners, and the sick and needy of
every kind, is as essential to [the Church] as the ministry of the
sacraments and preaching of the Gospel." The work that we do to
advance the social mission of the Church is at the heart of who we
are and what we believe as a community of faith.
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Themes of
Catholic Social Teaching:
The Church’s social teaching is a rich
treasure of wisdom about building a just society and living
lives of holiness amidst the challenges of modern society.
Modern Catholic social teaching has been articulated through
a tradition of papal, conciliar, and episcopal documents.
The depth and richness of this tradition can be understood
best through a direct reading of these documents. In these
brief reflections, we highlight several of the key themes
that are at the heart of our Catholic social tradition.
Life
and Dignity of the Human Person
The Catholic Church proclaims that human life is sacred and
that the dignity of the human person is the foundation of a
moral vision for society. This belief is the foundation of
all the principles of our social teaching. In our society,
human life is under direct attack from abortion and
euthanasia. The value of human life is being threatened by
cloning, embryonic stem cell research, and the use of the
death penalty. Catholic teaching also calls on us to work to
avoid war. Nations must protect the right to life by finding
increasingly effective ways to prevent conflicts and resolve
them by peaceful means. We believe that every person is
precious, that people are more important than things, and
that the measure of every institution is whether it
threatens or enhances the life and dignity of the human
person.
Call
to Family, Community, and Participation
The person is not only sacred but also social. How we
organize our society in economics and politics, in law and
policy directly affects human dignity and the capacity of
individuals to grow in community. Marriage and the family
are the central social institutions that must be supported
and strengthened, not undermined. We believe people have a
right and a duty to participate in society, seeking together
the common good and well-being of all, especially the poor
and vulnerable.
Rights
and Responsibilities
The Catholic tradition teaches that human dignity can be
protected and a healthy community can be achieved only if
human rights are protected and responsibilities are met.
Therefore, every person has a fundamental right to life and
a right to those things required for human decency.
Corresponding to these rights are duties and
responsibilities--to one another, to our families, and to
the larger society.
Option
for the Poor and Vulnerable
A basic moral test is how our most vulnerable members are
faring. In a society marred by deepening divisions between
rich and poor, our tradition recalls the story of the Last
Judgment (Mt 25:31-46) and instructs us to put the needs of
the poor and vulnerable first.
The
Dignity of Work and the Rights of Workers
The economy must serve people, not the other way around.
Work is more than a way to make a living; it is a form of
continuing participation in God’s creation. If the dignity
of work is to be protected, then the basic rights of workers
must be respected--the right to productive work, to decent
and fair wages, to the organization and joining of unions,
to private property, and to economic initiative.
Solidarity
We are one human family whatever our national, racial,
ethnic, economic, and ideological differences. We are our
brothers’ and sisters’ keepers, wherever they may be. Loving
our neighbor has global dimensions in a shrinking world. At
the core of the virtue of solidarity is the pursuit of
justice and peace. Pope Paul VI taught that “if you want
peace, work for justice.”1 The Gospel calls us to be
peacemakers. Our love for all our sisters and brothers
demands that we promote peace in a world surrounded by
violence and conflict.
Care
for God’s Creation
We show our respect for the Creator by our stewardship of
creation. Care for the earth is not just an Earth Day
slogan, it is a requirement of our faith. We are called to
protect people and the planet, living our faith in
relationship with all of God’s creation. This environmental
challenge has fundamental moral and ethical dimensions that
cannot be ignored.
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A Brief
Overview of Catholic Just War Teaching
Excerpts from The
Harvest of Justice Is Sown in Peace
A statement by the United States Catholic
Conference, November 1993.
The just-war tradition consists of a body of ethical
reflection on the justifiable use of force. In the interest
of overcoming injustice, reducing violence and preventing
its expansion, the tradition aims at:
 (a) clarifying
when force may be used,
(b) limiting
the resort to force and
(c)
restraining damage done by military forces during war.
The
just-war tradition begins with a strong presumption against
the use of force and then establishes the conditions when
this presumption may be overridden for the sake of
preserving the kind of peace which protects human dignity
and human rights.
In a disordered world, where peaceful resolution of
conflicts sometimes fails, the just-war tradition provides
an important moral framework for restraining and regulating
the limited use of force by governments and international
organizations. Since the just-war tradition is often
misunderstood or selectively applied, we summarize its major
components, which are drawn from traditional Catholic
teaching.
First, whether lethal force may be used is governed by the
following criteria:
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Just
Cause: force may be used only to correct a grave,
public evil, i.e., aggression or massive violation of
the basic rights of whole populations;
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Comparative Justice: while there
may be rights and wrongs on all sides of a conflict, to
override the presumption against the use of force the
injustice suffered by one party must significantly
outweigh that suffered by the other;
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Legitimate Authority: only duly
constituted public authorities may use deadly force or
wage war;
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Right Intention: force may be
used only in a truly just cause and solely for that
purpose;
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Probability of Success: arms may
not be used in a futile cause or in a case where
disproportionate measures are required to achieve
success;
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Proportionality: the overall
destruction expected from the use of force must be
outweighed by the good to be achieved;
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Last Resort: force may be used
only after all peaceful alternatives have been seriously
tried and exhausted.
These criteria (jus ad bellum),
taken as a whole, must be satisfied in order to override the
strong presumption against the use of force.
Second, the just-war tradition seeks also to curb the
violence of war through restraint on armed combat between
the contending parties by imposing the following moral
standards (jus in bello) for the conduct of armed
conflict:
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Noncombatant Immunity: civilians
may not be the object of direct attack, and military
personnel must take due care to avoid and minimize
indirect harm to civilians;
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Proportionality: in the conduct
of hostilities, efforts must be made to attain military
objectives with no more force than is militarily
necessary and to avoid disproportionate collateral
damage to civilian life and property;
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Right
Intention: even in the midst of conflict, the aim of
political and military leaders must be peace with
justice, so that acts of vengeance and indiscriminate
violence, whether by individuals, military units or
governments, are forbidden.
During the last decade, there has been
increasing focus on the moral questions raised by the
just-war tradition and its application to specific uses of
force. We welcome this renewed attention and hope our own
efforts have contributed to this dialogue. We also recognize
that the application of these principles requires the
exercise of the virtue of prudence; people of good will may
differ on specific conclusions. The just-war tradition is
not a weapon to be used to justify a political conclusion or
a set of mechanical criteria that automatically yields a
simple answer, but a way of moral reasoning to discern the
ethical limits of action. Policy-makers, advocates and
opponents of the use of force need to be careful not to
apply the tradition selectively, simply to justify their own
positions. Likewise, any application of just-war principles
depends on the availability of accurate information not
easily obtained in the pressured political context in which
such choices must be made.
The just-war tradition has attained growing influence on
political deliberations on the use of force and in some
forms of military training. Just-war norms helped shape
public debate prior to the Gulf War. In addition, the
military's call for civilian leaders to define carefully
objectives for the use of force is in keeping with the
spirit of the tradition. At the same time, some contemporary
strategies and practices seem to raise serious questions
when seen in the light of strict just-war analysis.
For example, strategies calling for use of overwhelming and
decisive force can raise issues of proportionality and
discrimination. Strategies and tactics that lead to
avoidable casualties are inconsistent with the underlying
intention of the just-war tradition of limiting the
destructiveness of armed conflict. Efforts to reduce the
risk to a nation's own forces must be limited by careful
judgments of military necessity so as not to neglect the
rights of civilians and armed adversaries.
In light of the preeminent place of air power in today's
military doctrine, more reflection is needed on how
traditional ethical restraints should be applied to the use
of air forces. For example, the targeting of civilian
infrastructure, which afflicts ordinary citizens long after
hostilities have ceased, can amount to making war on
noncombatants rather than against opposing armies. Fifty
years after Coventry, Dresden, Hamburg, Hiroshima and
Nagasaki, ways must be found to apply standards of
proportionality and noncombatant immunity in a meaningful
way to air warfare.
Moral reflection on the use of force calls for a spirit of
moderation rare in contemporary political culture. The
increasing violence of our society, its growing
insensitivity to the sacredness of life and the
glorification of the technology of destruction in popular
culture could inevitably impair our society's ability to
apply just-war criteria honestly and effectively in time of
crisis.
In the absence of a commitment of respect for life and a
culture of restraint, it will not be easy to apply the
just-war tradition, not just as a set of ideas, but as a
system of effective social constraints on the use of force.
There is need for greater public understanding of just-war
criteria and greater efforts to apply just-war restraints in
political decision making and military planning, training
and command systems and public debate.
Ten years after The Challenge of Peace, given the
neglect of peaceable virtues and the destructiveness of
today's weaponry, serious questions still remain about
whether modern war in all its savagery can meet the hard
tests set by the just-war tradition. Important work needs to
be done in refining, clarifying and applying the just war
tradition to the choices facing our decision makers in this
still violent and dangerous world.
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Faithful
Citizenship: A Catholic Call to Political Responsibility
A Call to Faithful
Citizenship
One of
our greatest blessings in the United States is our right and
responsibility to participate in civic life. Everyone can
and should participate. Even those who cannot vote have the
right to have their voices heard on issues that affect their
communities.
The Constitution protects the right of individuals and of
religious bodies to speak out without governmental
interference, favoritism, or discrimination. Major public
issues have moral dimensions. Religious values have
significant public consequences. Our nation is enriched and
our tradition of pluralism is enhanced, not threatened, when
religious groups contribute their values to public debates.
As bishops, we have a responsibility as Americans and as
religious teachers to speak out on the moral dimensions of
public life. The Catholic community enters public life not
to impose sectarian doctrine but to act on our moral
convictions, to share our experience in serving the poor and
vulnerable, and to participate in the dialogue over our
nation's future.
A Catholic moral framework does not easily fit the
ideologies of "right" or "left," nor the platforms of any
party. Our values are often not "politically correct."
Believers are called to be a community of conscience within
the larger society and to test public life by the values of
Scripture and the principles of Catholic social teaching.
Our responsibility is to measure all candidates, policies,
parties, and platforms by how they protect or undermine the
life, dignity, and rights of the human person whether they
protect the poor and vulnerable and advance the common good.
Jesus called us to "love one another". Our Lord's example
and words demand care for the "least of these" from each of
us. Yet they also require action on a broader scale.
Faithful citizenship is about more than elections. It
requires ongoing participation in the continuing political
and legislative process.
A recent Vatican statement on Catholic participation in
political life highlights the need for involvement:
Today's democratic societies . . . call for new and fuller
forms of participation in public life by Christian and
non-Christian citizens alike. Indeed, all can contribute, by
voting in elections for lawmakers and government officials,
and in other ways as well, to the development of political
solutions and legislative choices which, in their opinion,
will benefit the common good. In the Catholic tradition,
responsible citizenship is a virtue; participation in the
political process is a moral obligation. All believers are
called to faithful citizenship, to become informed, active,
and responsible participants in the political process. As we
have said, "We encourage all citizens, particularly
Catholics, to embrace their citizenship not merely as a duty
and privilege, but as an opportunity meaningfully to
participate [more fully] in building the culture of life.
Every voice matters in the public forum. Every vote counts.
Every act of responsible citizenship is an exercise of
significant individual power." Even those who are not
citizens are called to participate in the debates which
shape our common life.
Catholic Assets in the Public
Square
Our community of faith brings three major assets to these
challenges.
A Consistent Moral Framework
The Word of God and the teachings of the Church give
us a particular way of viewing the world. Scripture calls us
to "choose life," to serve "the least of these," to "hunger
and thirst" for justice and to be "peacemakers."
Catholic teaching offers consistent moral principles to
assess issues, political platforms, and campaigns for their
impact on human life and dignity. As Catholics, we are not
free to abandon unborn children because they are seen as
unwanted or inconvenient; to turn our backs on immigrants
because they lack the proper documents; to create and then
destroy human lives in a quest for medical advances or
profit; to turn away from poor women and children because
they lack economic or political power; or to ignore sick
people because they have no insurance. Nor can we neglect
international responsibilities in the aftermath of war
because resources are scarce. Catholic teaching requires us
to speak up for the voiceless and to act in accord with
universal moral values.
Everyday Experience
Our community also brings to public life broad experience
in serving those in need. Every day, the Catholic
community educates the young, cares for the sick, shelters
the homeless, feeds the hungry, assists needy families,
welcomes refugees, and serves the elderly. In defense of
life, we reach out to children and to the sick, elderly, and
disabled who need help. We support women in difficult
pregnancies, and we assist those wounded by the trauma of
abortion and domestic violence. On many issues, we speak for
those who have no voice. These are not abstract issues for
us; they have names and faces. We have practical expertise
and daily experience to contribute to the public debate.
A Community of People
The Catholic community is large and diverse. We are
Republicans, Democrats, and Independents. We are members of
every race, come from every ethnic background, and live in
urban, rural, and suburban communities in all fifty states.
We are CEOs and migrant farm workers, senators and persons
on public assistance, business owners and union members. But
all Catholics are called to a common commitment to protect
human life and stand with those who are poor and vulnerable.
We are all called to provide a moral leaven for our
democracy, to be the salt of the earth.
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Iraq: The Way
To Peace
Pope John Paul II has called on Catholics to pray for "the
conversion of hearts and a generous view in just decisions
to resolve with adequate and peaceful means the contests
that hamper the pilgrimage of humanity in our time."
Church Statements on Iraq
Call
for Dialogue and Action on Responsible Transition in Iraq
A Statement of the President of the United States Conference
of Catholic Bishops
Bishop William S. Skylstad,Bishop of Spokane, November 13,
2006
Letter
to Senate on Prohibition on Torture
Bishop John H. Ricard, October 4, 2005
Statement on Moral Responsibilities for United States in
Iraq
Bishop Wilton D. Gregory, June 22, 2004
Quotes by the Holy See and Catholic Bishops' Conferences
from Around the World
Challenge is to Make Peace a Lifestyle
Translation of Statement by John Paul II
Given before praying the Angelus at St. Peter's Square,
March 6, 2003
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