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| 7th Easter 28 May, 2006 The Rev. Robert C. Granfeldt |
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Today is the Seventh Sunday of Easter. It is also the Sunday after the Ascension. And
it is also, this year, the day before Memorial Day.
There is an Opinion Piece by Ed Gephart in this morning’s Delco Times about
Memorial Day. It begins,
Tomorrow is Memorial Day, a day that should be the most solemn day of the year.
The country seems to have drifted away from the real reasons we celebrate
Christmas, Easter and July 4. The same with Memorial Day. For all too many, the
occasion means only a day off from work and big sales at the mall.
But a lot of young men marched off to war to make those sales and cookouts and
lazy mornings possible. The following news accounts, taken from the summer of
1944, detail some of their accomplishments.
He then spends the rest of the page recalling events of that time.
All that Mr. Gephart has to say is true and good, and should be remembered on this
day. But there are more to be honored on this day than those he talks about - those
whom Tom Brokaw dubbed “the greatest Generation.” And while we must forever
remember them, there are many more - some, indeed, that weigh even more heavily
on my mind, today, just as they did last year and as they have every year of the past
three – 2005, ’04, ’03. I fear, in fact, they will continue to weigh on my mind at every
Memorial Day following the 20th of March, 2003, as I – and I hope you – remember the
events of that day, and the aftermath of those events, the wight of memory added to
as I recall a number of sermons that I had preached in the weeks and months leading
up to that day. March 20, 2003, of course, was the day we invaded Iraq.
But before I go any farther, a couple of side-comments…
At the time, some of our members thought my comments were political in nature. Any
member of this parish has the right to think what they choose. All I can say is that I
preach what I believe the Gospel calls me to preach, and that I do my very best to
keep what may be my personal opinions out of my preaching.
On the other hand, I will admit that I do allow my understanding of the Gospel to
affect my personal politics; indeed find it difficult to define a difference between the
two. I would hope that all Christians would be able to say the same! In fact, I find it
very difficult to understand how anyone could hold religious and political beliefs that
differ significantly – in particular, how anyone could hold political beliefs that are at
odds with his or her religious beliefs!
In fact, the sermons I refer to – those I “preached in the weeks and months leading
up to that date” – were not limited to, or by, my own thoughts, at all. Rather, they were
based on a long-standing and highly developed set of teachings of the Church that
are known as the “just war doctrine.”
Which brings us back to where I began: back to what I had preached in the weeks and
months leading up to that date; sermons about Just War Doctrine.
I’m not going to go back to those sermons, themselves, this morning, though. Rather,
I will return to the same themes, but from a very different source – that is, from the
United States Conference of (Roman) Catholic Bishops, in a letter to the President of
the United States, written on September 13, 2002, and saying the same things I said
over the ensuing six months.
The Bishops said that Christian Doctrine describes what, exactly,
constitutes “just cause” for going to war, and limits it to cases in which "the
damage inflicted by the aggressor on the nation or community of nations [is]
lasting, grave and certain." Is there clear and adequate evidence of a direct
connection between Iraq and the attacks of September 11th or clear and
adequate evidence of an imminent attack of a grave nature? Is it wise to
dramatically expand traditional moral and legal limits on just cause to include
preventive or preemptive uses of military force to overthrow threatening
regimes or to deal with the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction?
Should not a distinction be made between efforts to change unacceptable
behavior of a government and efforts to end that government"s existence?
(unquote)
As for the Doctrine’s requirements for “Legitimate authority,” the Bishops say,
In our judgment, decisions of such gravity require compliance with U.S.
constitutional imperatives, broad consensus within our nation, and some form of
international sanction, preferably by the UN Security Council. That is why your
decision to seek congressional and United Nations approval is so important.
With the Holy See, we would be deeply skeptical about unilateral uses of military
force, particularly given the troubling precedents involved.
As to the requirements of “Probability of success and proportionality,” they
continued,
The use of force must have "serious prospects for success" and "must not
produce evils and disorders graver than the evil to be eliminated" (Catechism,
#2309). War against Iraq could have unpredictable consequences not only for
Iraq but for peace and stability elsewhere in the Middle East. Would preventive
or preemptive force succeed in thwarting serious threats or, instead, provoke
the very kind of attacks that it is intended to prevent? How would another war in
Iraq impact the civilian population, in the short- and long-term? How many more
innocent people would suffer and die, or be left without homes, without basic
necessities, without work? Would the United States and the international
community commit to the arduous, long-term task of ensuring a just peace or
would a post-Saddam Iraq continue to be plagued by civil conflict and
repression, and continue to serve as a destabilizing force in the region?
In terms of the “Norms governing the conduct of war,” they continued,
While we recognize improved capability and serious efforts to avoid directly
targeting civilians in war, the use of massive military force to remove the current
government of Iraq could have incalculable consequences for a civilian
population that has suffered so much from war, repression, and a debilitating
embargo.
The points raised and questions asked by the Roman Catholic Bishops were clear,
precise, and on the mark, even in 2002, a full 6 months before the invasion of Iraq
began. And how much more pertinent are they, today, now that we know there were
no weapons of mass destruction; that there was no connection between the Hussein
regime and the 9/11 attacks; that there was little chance to achieve wide backing and
participation from the international community; that the “prospects for success”
were, and continue to be, very poor; that Middle East stability would be threatened;
that the civilian population would be seriously impacted and that many innocent
people would suffer and die, or be left without homes, without basic necessities,
without work; and that “post-Saddam Iraq (would) continue to be plagued by civil
conflict and repression, and continue to serve as a destabilizing force in the region!”
All of these points were raised, and questions asked, by the Roman Catholic Bishops
in a letter sent to our Administration, all those months before the war began.
Again, I raise these issues, and I share these thoughts with you, on the eve of
Memorial Day, not as any kind of political statement. I raise them, rather, by way of
pointing out to you a set of facts that the world seldom recognizes; is seldom willing
even to consider: that is that the Church has been around this world for over two
thousand years; that far from representing some kind of “airy-fairy,” “other-worldly”
type of thinking it has been very much involved with a world of sin and failure, a
world of violence and death; that rather than being preoccupied with the next world
and with “heavenly thoughts,” it has had its hands constantly bloodied and torn by
the realities of this world; and that it has, indeed, “learned a thing or two,” in the
course of its twenty centuries!
Certainly the Church is far from perfect, and it has often been guilty of many of the
very sins it condemns. And it is also far from unanimous in all of its beliefs – but
broken and fragmented like the world it ministers to. But on some counts it is not
only experienced, it stands agreed on some very important, even central, points:
that, for example, as the wonderful and poignant poster we used to see during Viet
Nam proclaimed, “War is not healthy for flowers and other living things!” And it is
agreed that, while war may be permitted, it may only be so under the most careful and
stringent conditions: the conditions laid out in the Just War Doctrine!
So this is where my thoughts travel on the eve of another Memorial Day: to the
rememberance, yes, those of the “greatest Generation” who died in WW II, as well as
those who died before that war and since that war – in the Revolution, the Civil War,
WW I, Korea, Viet Nam and dozens of other conflicts hardly remembered, today.
But my thoughts and my prayers also go out to the 836 more men and women who
have died fighting for this nation since last Memorial Day! And to all the 2,680
American service-men-and-women who have given their lives for this country since
the Roman Catholic Bishops wrote to the President of the United States those words I’
ve been reading to you – begging him not to do this thing, and – if you were listening
closely – very closely predicting what has, in fact, ensued.
And on this Memorial Day I find myself praying, too, that some day the world will begin
to take seriously enough the wisdom of the Church that eventually we will be able to
remember and pray only for those who have given their lives in the past – and not in
the present or the future – because the world will have learned to “study war no
more,” but to walk in the ways of peace, as our Lord calls us.
In His Name. Amen.
it is also, this year, the day before Memorial Day.
There is an Opinion Piece by Ed Gephart in this morning’s Delco Times about
Memorial Day. It begins,
Tomorrow is Memorial Day, a day that should be the most solemn day of the year.
The country seems to have drifted away from the real reasons we celebrate
Christmas, Easter and July 4. The same with Memorial Day. For all too many, the
occasion means only a day off from work and big sales at the mall.
But a lot of young men marched off to war to make those sales and cookouts and
lazy mornings possible. The following news accounts, taken from the summer of
1944, detail some of their accomplishments.
He then spends the rest of the page recalling events of that time.
All that Mr. Gephart has to say is true and good, and should be remembered on this
day. But there are more to be honored on this day than those he talks about - those
whom Tom Brokaw dubbed “the greatest Generation.” And while we must forever
remember them, there are many more - some, indeed, that weigh even more heavily
on my mind, today, just as they did last year and as they have every year of the past
three – 2005, ’04, ’03. I fear, in fact, they will continue to weigh on my mind at every
Memorial Day following the 20th of March, 2003, as I – and I hope you – remember the
events of that day, and the aftermath of those events, the wight of memory added to
as I recall a number of sermons that I had preached in the weeks and months leading
up to that day. March 20, 2003, of course, was the day we invaded Iraq.
But before I go any farther, a couple of side-comments…
At the time, some of our members thought my comments were political in nature. Any
member of this parish has the right to think what they choose. All I can say is that I
preach what I believe the Gospel calls me to preach, and that I do my very best to
keep what may be my personal opinions out of my preaching.
On the other hand, I will admit that I do allow my understanding of the Gospel to
affect my personal politics; indeed find it difficult to define a difference between the
two. I would hope that all Christians would be able to say the same! In fact, I find it
very difficult to understand how anyone could hold religious and political beliefs that
differ significantly – in particular, how anyone could hold political beliefs that are at
odds with his or her religious beliefs!
In fact, the sermons I refer to – those I “preached in the weeks and months leading
up to that date” – were not limited to, or by, my own thoughts, at all. Rather, they were
based on a long-standing and highly developed set of teachings of the Church that
are known as the “just war doctrine.”
Which brings us back to where I began: back to what I had preached in the weeks and
months leading up to that date; sermons about Just War Doctrine.
I’m not going to go back to those sermons, themselves, this morning, though. Rather,
I will return to the same themes, but from a very different source – that is, from the
United States Conference of (Roman) Catholic Bishops, in a letter to the President of
the United States, written on September 13, 2002, and saying the same things I said
over the ensuing six months.
The Bishops said that Christian Doctrine describes what, exactly,
constitutes “just cause” for going to war, and limits it to cases in which "the
damage inflicted by the aggressor on the nation or community of nations [is]
lasting, grave and certain." Is there clear and adequate evidence of a direct
connection between Iraq and the attacks of September 11th or clear and
adequate evidence of an imminent attack of a grave nature? Is it wise to
dramatically expand traditional moral and legal limits on just cause to include
preventive or preemptive uses of military force to overthrow threatening
regimes or to deal with the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction?
Should not a distinction be made between efforts to change unacceptable
behavior of a government and efforts to end that government"s existence?
(unquote)
As for the Doctrine’s requirements for “Legitimate authority,” the Bishops say,
In our judgment, decisions of such gravity require compliance with U.S.
constitutional imperatives, broad consensus within our nation, and some form of
international sanction, preferably by the UN Security Council. That is why your
decision to seek congressional and United Nations approval is so important.
With the Holy See, we would be deeply skeptical about unilateral uses of military
force, particularly given the troubling precedents involved.
As to the requirements of “Probability of success and proportionality,” they
continued,
The use of force must have "serious prospects for success" and "must not
produce evils and disorders graver than the evil to be eliminated" (Catechism,
#2309). War against Iraq could have unpredictable consequences not only for
Iraq but for peace and stability elsewhere in the Middle East. Would preventive
or preemptive force succeed in thwarting serious threats or, instead, provoke
the very kind of attacks that it is intended to prevent? How would another war in
Iraq impact the civilian population, in the short- and long-term? How many more
innocent people would suffer and die, or be left without homes, without basic
necessities, without work? Would the United States and the international
community commit to the arduous, long-term task of ensuring a just peace or
would a post-Saddam Iraq continue to be plagued by civil conflict and
repression, and continue to serve as a destabilizing force in the region?
In terms of the “Norms governing the conduct of war,” they continued,
While we recognize improved capability and serious efforts to avoid directly
targeting civilians in war, the use of massive military force to remove the current
government of Iraq could have incalculable consequences for a civilian
population that has suffered so much from war, repression, and a debilitating
embargo.
The points raised and questions asked by the Roman Catholic Bishops were clear,
precise, and on the mark, even in 2002, a full 6 months before the invasion of Iraq
began. And how much more pertinent are they, today, now that we know there were
no weapons of mass destruction; that there was no connection between the Hussein
regime and the 9/11 attacks; that there was little chance to achieve wide backing and
participation from the international community; that the “prospects for success”
were, and continue to be, very poor; that Middle East stability would be threatened;
that the civilian population would be seriously impacted and that many innocent
people would suffer and die, or be left without homes, without basic necessities,
without work; and that “post-Saddam Iraq (would) continue to be plagued by civil
conflict and repression, and continue to serve as a destabilizing force in the region!”
All of these points were raised, and questions asked, by the Roman Catholic Bishops
in a letter sent to our Administration, all those months before the war began.
Again, I raise these issues, and I share these thoughts with you, on the eve of
Memorial Day, not as any kind of political statement. I raise them, rather, by way of
pointing out to you a set of facts that the world seldom recognizes; is seldom willing
even to consider: that is that the Church has been around this world for over two
thousand years; that far from representing some kind of “airy-fairy,” “other-worldly”
type of thinking it has been very much involved with a world of sin and failure, a
world of violence and death; that rather than being preoccupied with the next world
and with “heavenly thoughts,” it has had its hands constantly bloodied and torn by
the realities of this world; and that it has, indeed, “learned a thing or two,” in the
course of its twenty centuries!
Certainly the Church is far from perfect, and it has often been guilty of many of the
very sins it condemns. And it is also far from unanimous in all of its beliefs – but
broken and fragmented like the world it ministers to. But on some counts it is not
only experienced, it stands agreed on some very important, even central, points:
that, for example, as the wonderful and poignant poster we used to see during Viet
Nam proclaimed, “War is not healthy for flowers and other living things!” And it is
agreed that, while war may be permitted, it may only be so under the most careful and
stringent conditions: the conditions laid out in the Just War Doctrine!
So this is where my thoughts travel on the eve of another Memorial Day: to the
rememberance, yes, those of the “greatest Generation” who died in WW II, as well as
those who died before that war and since that war – in the Revolution, the Civil War,
WW I, Korea, Viet Nam and dozens of other conflicts hardly remembered, today.
But my thoughts and my prayers also go out to the 836 more men and women who
have died fighting for this nation since last Memorial Day! And to all the 2,680
American service-men-and-women who have given their lives for this country since
the Roman Catholic Bishops wrote to the President of the United States those words I’
ve been reading to you – begging him not to do this thing, and – if you were listening
closely – very closely predicting what has, in fact, ensued.
And on this Memorial Day I find myself praying, too, that some day the world will begin
to take seriously enough the wisdom of the Church that eventually we will be able to
remember and pray only for those who have given their lives in the past – and not in
the present or the future – because the world will have learned to “study war no
more,” but to walk in the ways of peace, as our Lord calls us.
In His Name. Amen.
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| Calvary Episcopal Church, Rockdale |
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