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Will reiterate to Bush principles of 'just war'

Wednesday, November 13, 2002

By Ann Rodgers-Melnick, Post-Gazette Staff Writer

WASHINGTON -- Hours after the Iraqi parliament voted not to comply with the U.N. Security Council resolution on weapons inspection, the U.S. Catholic bishops declared their intention to make a new statement reiterating doubts about the morality of going to war with Iraq.

The statement, which had not yet been drafted, is expected to be voted on today, when the agenda will be largely focused on the bishops' response to the scandal of child sexual abuse by priests.

The two issues became entangled yesterday because the chairman of the bishops' Committee on International Policy who presented the Iraq proposal was Cardinal Bernard Law of Boston, whose failure to remove two notorious pedophile priests ignited the scandal early this year. Law's tenure as committee chair expires at the end of the four-day meeting tomorrow.

Law said that the draft statement would follow the outline of a letter that conference president Bishop Wilton Gregory sent to President Bush in September. It explained Catholic "just war" principles for determining whether military action is morally justified, and expressed doubt that the Iraqi situation fit those criteria.

"[W]e find it difficult to justify extending the war on terrorism to Iraq, absent clear and adequate evidence of Iraqi involvement in the attacks of September 11th or of an imminent attack of a grave nature," Gregory wrote on Sept. 13. "We respectfully urge you to step back from the brink of war and help lead the world to act together to fashion an effective global response to Iraq's threats that conforms with traditional moral limits on the use of military force."

While the statement will not reflect an absolute pacifist position, it "will certainly be in opposition to war in this situation," Law said.

Asked at a news conference whether, if Iraq defied the United Nations, the bishops might then declare war justified, Law said he didn't expect the statement to engage in "hypotheticals."

Bishop Donald Wuerl of Pittsburgh said it was important for the bishops to make a new statement on Iraq in light of the votes in the U.S. Congress and U.N. Security Council. But he expected the bishops to engage in moral rather than military analysis.

"What our position is to be is the presentation of the moral principles. The judgment [of whether to go to war] has to be made by those in civil authority," he said.

Some bishops who would not speak for the record questioned whether Law should have been their public voice on this issue because his name was so tarnished by scandal.

Responses from the bishops showed mixed opinions with regard to the Bush policy on Iraq. Some wanted a very strong statement against war. Bishop Michael Pfeifer of San Angelo, Texas, who Monday requested the new statement, asked that it include the opinions of the Catholic bishops of Iraq who oppose any further war in their nation.

Bishop Walter Sullivan of Richmond, Va., said he doubted that Bush had paid any attention to their previous statement on just war principles. "Since the issuing of this letter we have heard nothing but we are going to war," Sullivan said.

In other action yesterday, the bishops passed a short statement marking the upcoming 30th anniversary of the U.S. Supreme Court decision that legalized abortion.

They called for it to be overturned, and note increasing opposition to abortion by those born after the 1973 decision.

They also passed a new version of "When I Call for Help," a 10-year-old brochure on domestic violence that urges parishes to help women get out of dangerous situations.