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Local Pax Christi members pray for peace
By Andrew Junker, The Catholic Sun
October 4, 2007
A group of about 15 people gathered at twilight Sept. 17 in the courtyard separating the Diocesan Pastoral Center and St. Mary’s Basilica.
In the shadow of the downtown Phoenix church, they lit candles and prayed for an end to the war in Iraq.
Members of Pax Christi, a group that promotes peace and non-violence, listened to Scripture readings, prayed a litany and sang hymns as the sky turned dark.
“The Lord talked about mercy,” said Carmelite Father Val Boyle, reflecting on the Beatitudes.
“Tonight, we ask the Lord to inspire us, to inspire thousands of other people in our country to truly become people of peace,” he prayed. “The world needs the conviction that peace is the solution, not just a dream.”
Pax Christi member Margaret Wolford said she has that conviction.
“What we really believe is that the work begins in personal life,” she said of practicing non-violence. “And then it extends to communities of reflection and action. It extends to everything in God’s creation.”
She and other Pax Christi members have taken a vow of non-violence, which includes promising to accept suffering, to refuse retaliation when wronged and to work non-violently to end war.
“It really comes down to the non-violence of Jesus,” Wolford said. “He took it all on His own body. He told Peter in the Garden of Gethsemane, ‘Put your sword down.’”
Laurie Devine said the vow of non-violence serves as a constant challenge to Pax Christi members: “Are you really living the Beatitudes?”
“It’s so easy just to say, ‘I can’t do anything about that war,’” she said. But by avoiding road rage, for instance, and trying to live out a life of peace, Pax Christi members believe they are sowing seeds for a better future.
Wolford thought the world was beginning to take more seriously the non-violent approach and remained positive about the future.
“It’s a difference in living, and I think the world is turning towards it,” she said. “It is difficult because we’re Americans and we want immediate solutions, rather than the long solution, which is building a relationship.”
If people think non-violence is a naive way to approach conflict, Wolford points them to non-violent movements in the past that have been successful.
“There was the civil rights movement in the 1960s; there was South Africa; there was the Philippines,” she said. “Those were national movements that were non-violent. People took the beatings on themselves.”
Though she wants the war in Iraq to end, Wolford said it would be difficult to justify leaving the country completely because of America’s obligation to the Iraqis.
“We keep talking about political solutions instead of military, but in the language of non-violence, it would be forgiveness and reconciliation,” she said.
In practice, this approach would be “more political, sitting down, talking about the issues and working out solutions,” she said. “That’s the remedy for conflicts, not shooting somebody.”
As a Catholic, Wolford feels comfortable opposing the war, and said that if any Catholic “looks towards the Vatican or the [U.S. bishops], they’ll clearly see that they have spoken out against this.”
American bishops speak out
In the months leading up to war in Iraq, the American bishops released a number of documents expressing doubt over both the necessity of the war and of its justice.
In a statement released in November 2002, the conference wrote that they feared the “resort to war, under present circumstances and in light of current public information, would not meet the strict conditions in Catholic teaching for overriding the strong presumption against the use of military force.”
Statements by Pope John Paul II at the time were similar.
In a January 2003 speech to foreign diplomats, the Holy Father said, “As the Charter of the United Nations Organization and international law itself remind us, war cannot be decided upon, even when it is a matter of ensuring the common good, except as the very last option and in accordance with very strict conditions.”
Yet Catholics won’t hear binding, clear-cut answers from the U.S. bishops or the Vatican, said Fr. Chris Fraser, adjutant judicial vicar for the Diocese of Phoenix.
“You’re not going to find a statement where the Holy Father is going to speak using the universal and ordinary magisterium of the Church, because it’s not a matter of objective faith or morals,” he said.
At the same time, Fr. Fraser said that Catholics should take into account what the Church says about these matters.
“It’s certainly something that a Catholic would pay attention to,” he said. “It’s not, of course, infallible, but the opinion of the pope, the opinion of the U.S. bishops is something that every Catholic should be very attentive to, study and learn about more.”
The most recent document from the American bishops about the Iraq war was released last month. It reiterated their support for both the men and women who “risk their lives in the service of our nation” and also for those “who seek to exercise their right to conscientious objection and selective conscientious objection.”
Praying for peace
At the prayer vigil, Fr. Boyle noted how arguments over the war have divided Catholics.
“There have been great occasions where people have lauded the president on his action and agreed with his plans for the war,” he said. “There have been just as many, if not more, who have gone the other direction and have been very critical and shown great grief with how the war has been carried on.”
He asked the Pax Christi members not to get distracted by those circular conversations.
“Tonight, we’re going to get together not to talk to each other, but to join our voices, to join our fate and to gather as members of a family, the children of God,” he said.
“We’re going to address all of our intentions, our petitions, our words and our hopes not to the politicians, not to each other, but to God,” he said.
As he finished reflecting on the Gospel passage, Fr. Boyle closed with some advice that perhaps is applicable to all Catholics, regardless of their stance on the war.
“It is important that we pray well,” he said, “pray often, pray with sincerity and pray with trust to Jesus, the Prince of Peace.”
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