In her usual insightful way, Amy Welborn hits right on the nose the seat-squirming uneasiness many of us feel when we hear various Church leaders, in the US and in Rome, speak on war and terrorism. It’s not so much that many of us outright disagree with them—hey, a good Catholic is for peace, not war—but that so often their observations seem to contradict what we see before our very eyes.
But there are many in the middle of that spectrum, who observe the world, listen to those prelates, reflect on Catholic teaching, and p[e]ace, ambiguous and confused. And I’d like to venture an opinion on what confuses and worries even those who believe that what the Pope says on this is to be taken more seriously than, say, his “prudential judgment” on whether it is going to rain tomorrow.
I think it is that in these statements, there seems to be a sort of distance from the reality raging around us. There is no direct engagement with the fundamental issues: the commitment to cripple the West and impose the radical, fundamentalist Islamist ideal in its stead. A total contempt for freedom and the intrinsic value of human life. And the determination and will to do this, by any means necessary.
Yes, what is most unsettling is that these bishops sound and act as if the radical Islamic terrorists can be reasoned with, as if we were negotiating a peace between nations and not dealing with modern-day barbarian hordes.
We want to follow the Pope, so we don’t understand
Technorati Tags:Catholic, just war, peace, pope benedict xvi, terrorism, war
