Missionaries of the Sacred Heart

FROM THE DESK OF BROTHER WARREN PERROTTO, MSC

JUST WAR AND PEACEMAKING

With the current news accounts on the seemingly endless Iraqi conflict and the nuclear weapons development/testing in Iran and Korea, the Just War Theory is placed once again underneath the microscope of ethics for further scrutiny. In July of this year, Catholic moral theologians gathered for a conference in Padua, Italy. Discussion on, the Just War Theory was a crucial topic for their agenda.

The Catholic conscience has always been disturbed between upholding the Gospel value of non-violence and peacemaking while simultaneously supporting the necessity of engaging in combat. Both traditions have been acceptable in Catholic moral thought.

From the Gospel Tradition, Jesus’ cleansing of the temple (Cf. Mark 11:15-16; Matthew 21:12-13; Luke 19:45-46; John 2:13-17) are seemingly the only indicators that Jesus used force. But they do not explicitly convey that Jesus used violence to those who were selling and purchasing things. Indeed, the Gospel of Luke intentionally “suppresses so far as possible, any villainy in the temple.

There are, however, other Gospel texts frequently cited to justify violence, war and military service: Jesus’ use of military terms (Cf. Matthew 10:34-35; Luke 21:24); his end-of-time predictions. (Cf. e.g., Mark 13); and by the fact that his companions possessed weapons. (Cf. Matthew 26:51; Luke 22:36-38, 49-50; John 18:10) Additionally, it can be noted that Jesus shows no hostility toward the military career. Scripture scholars, however, note that Jesus’ use of military terms is not to be taken in the literal sense. They were used metaphorically to symbolize his values in contradistinction to those of his culture and those of future generations. In Luke 22:36-38, e.g. there is

misunderstanding of Jesus’ statement about swords, [revealing] just how “unready” the disciples are to follow where Jesus must go—in fact they will use the sword violently in the garden (22:50); they do not understand the meaning of the Scriptures despite Jesus’ instruction (cf. 9:45). Jesus’ exasperated termination of the discussion (“enough,”) here is matched by his chagrin when the sword is actually used, (”enough of that”)! Jesus’ speech about being “reckoned among the lawless” and being arrested is ironic; they are not meant to act like such people!