International Dominican Information "Are we less than animals ?" Iraqi Dominican Sisters Appeal to President Bush, American People
A sobering letter addressed to President Bush and the American people from Dominican sisters living in Iraq. Most won't like their message but it is worth reading before you sit down in front of CNN and start watching video of bombs raining down upon the Iraqi people.
Hopefully that will not happen. Hopefully special forces can go in and take Saddam Hussein prisoner and take over the country without a bomb dropping...hopefully.
Wednesday, March 19, 2003
Rome vs. Washington
Interesting piece. I'm including the part of the article where he gives Rome's view of the just war criteria, but the article is about much more than just this. From the The Spectator.co.uk:
The Thomist definition of the necessary conditions for a just war (Summa Theologica, II-II, Q.40) is, like all his writing, admirably straightforward. War must be declared by a competent authority; the US president and Congress fulfil this requirement constitutionally in terms of self-defence, but not to cast America in the role of international policeman. There must be just cause, i.e. attack by an aggressor or a need to restore rights lost under aggression; this validated the 1991 Gulf war, provoked by the invasion of Kuwait. There must also be proportionality — the likely suffering and destruction caused by war must be outweighed by the just cause. Most of the world disputes this in the context of Iraq. The remaining stipulation is the right intention, meaning that the belligerent must intend to re-establish justice and a lasting peace. America clearly has the intention of affording Iraqis an opportunity to live under a more just regime; but the acute hazard of destabilising the Middle East, with the possibility of other governments falling to militant Islam and a massive resurgence of terrorism, could be held to cancel that out.
Interesting piece. I'm including the part of the article where he gives Rome's view of the just war criteria, but the article is about much more than just this. From the The Spectator.co.uk:
The Thomist definition of the necessary conditions for a just war (Summa Theologica, II-II, Q.40) is, like all his writing, admirably straightforward. War must be declared by a competent authority; the US president and Congress fulfil this requirement constitutionally in terms of self-defence, but not to cast America in the role of international policeman. There must be just cause, i.e. attack by an aggressor or a need to restore rights lost under aggression; this validated the 1991 Gulf war, provoked by the invasion of Kuwait. There must also be proportionality — the likely suffering and destruction caused by war must be outweighed by the just cause. Most of the world disputes this in the context of Iraq. The remaining stipulation is the right intention, meaning that the belligerent must intend to re-establish justice and a lasting peace. America clearly has the intention of affording Iraqis an opportunity to live under a more just regime; but the acute hazard of destabilising the Middle East, with the possibility of other governments falling to militant Islam and a massive resurgence of terrorism, could be held to cancel that out.
We'll See You Tomorrow if God Keeps Us Alive
From Where is Raed ?:
A couple of hours earlier we were at a shop and a woman said as she was leaving, and this is a very common sentence, “we’ll see you tomorrow if god keeps us alive” – itha allah khalana taibeen – and the whole place just freezes. She laughed nervously and said she didn’t mean that, and we all laughed but these things start having a meaning beyond being figures of speech.
"Where is Raed?" is an Iraqi blog. No matter where you stand on the war issue this is fascinating reading of someone living in Iraq right now.
From Where is Raed ?:
A couple of hours earlier we were at a shop and a woman said as she was leaving, and this is a very common sentence, “we’ll see you tomorrow if god keeps us alive” – itha allah khalana taibeen – and the whole place just freezes. She laughed nervously and said she didn’t mean that, and we all laughed but these things start having a meaning beyond being figures of speech.
"Where is Raed?" is an Iraqi blog. No matter where you stand on the war issue this is fascinating reading of someone living in Iraq right now.
Happy Feast of Saint Joseph!
He is a powerful friend to have on your side. I have often entrusted many cares that I have had into his hands and he has never let me down. God entrusted him with the care of His Son!
Here is a link to Saint Joseph's Oratory in Montreal and here is a prayer that you might wish to recite today...
Glorious Saint Joseph
As you have the power to make the most difficult matters work out well
Please come to my aid at this difficult and distressful moment.
Please take care of these important and difficult matters
that I bring to your attention
in order that they result in a happy ending.
My dearly beloved Father
I put all my trust in you:
May it not be said that I trusted you in vain.
As you are all powerful with Jesus and Mary
Please show me that your kindness is equal to your power!
Happy Feast Day to my son Joseph!
He is a powerful friend to have on your side. I have often entrusted many cares that I have had into his hands and he has never let me down. God entrusted him with the care of His Son!
Here is a link to Saint Joseph's Oratory in Montreal and here is a prayer that you might wish to recite today...
Glorious Saint Joseph
As you have the power to make the most difficult matters work out well
Please come to my aid at this difficult and distressful moment.
Please take care of these important and difficult matters
that I bring to your attention
in order that they result in a happy ending.
My dearly beloved Father
I put all my trust in you:
May it not be said that I trusted you in vain.
As you are all powerful with Jesus and Mary
Please show me that your kindness is equal to your power!
Happy Feast Day to my son Joseph!
Tuesday, March 18, 2003
This During a State of Heightened Security!
From
Washingtonpost.com:
I hate to be giving advice to Saddam Hussein at this moment, but clearly, the most effective path for any enemy of America is to put on a helmet that makes him look like Franz Liebkind, the unreconstructed Nazi in Mel Brooks' "The Producers," get himself a John Deere tractor and drive it into a shallow decorative pond. That'll shut down any American city but good.
For more than 24 hours now, a lone farmer from Whitakers, N.C., has held the capital of the free world hostage, causing the authorities to shut down several major thoroughfares and paralyzing much of the city. The tobacco farmer, Dwight Watson, 50, supposedly questions the wisdom of U.S. tobacco farming policies.
From
Washingtonpost.com:
I hate to be giving advice to Saddam Hussein at this moment, but clearly, the most effective path for any enemy of America is to put on a helmet that makes him look like Franz Liebkind, the unreconstructed Nazi in Mel Brooks' "The Producers," get himself a John Deere tractor and drive it into a shallow decorative pond. That'll shut down any American city but good.
For more than 24 hours now, a lone farmer from Whitakers, N.C., has held the capital of the free world hostage, causing the authorities to shut down several major thoroughfares and paralyzing much of the city. The tobacco farmer, Dwight Watson, 50, supposedly questions the wisdom of U.S. tobacco farming policies.
Catholic Eastern Rite Bishop Condemns Any Participation in Possible War with Iraq
Ohio Romanian Catholic Bishop John Michael Botean:
Because such a moment of moral crisis has arisen for us, beloved Romanian Catholics, I must now speak to you as your bishop. Please be aware that I am not speaking to you as a theologian or as a private Christian voicing his opinion, nor by any means am I speaking to you as a political partisan. I am speaking to you solely as your bishop with the authority and responsibility I, though a sinner, have been given as a successor to the apostles on your behalf. I am speaking to you from the deepest chambers of my conscience as your bishop, appointed by Jesus Christ in his Body, the Church, to help shepherd you to sanctity and to heaven. Never before have I spoken to you in this manner, explicitly exercising the fullness of authority Jesus Christ has given his Apostles "to bind and to loose," (cf. John 20:23), but now "the love of Christ compels" me to do so (2 Corinthians 5:14). My love for you makes it a moral imperative that I not allow you, by my silence, to fall into grave evil and its incalculable temporal and eternal consequences.
Humanly speaking, I would much prefer to keep silent. It would be far, far easier for me and my family simply to let events unfold as they will, without commentary or warning on my part. But what kind of shepherd would I be if I, seeing the approach of the wolf, ran away from the sheep (cf. John 10:12-14)? My silence would be cowardly and, indeed, sinful. I believe that Christ, whose flock you are, expects more than silence from me on behalf of the souls committed to my protection and guidance.
Therefore I, by the grace of God and the favor of the Apostolic See Bishop of the Eparchy of St. George in Canton, must declare to you, my people, for the sake of your salvation as well as my own, that any direct participation and support of this war against the people of Iraq is objectively grave evil, a matter of mortal sin. Beyond a reasonable doubt this war is morally incompatible with the Person and Way of Jesus Christ. With moral certainty I say to you it does not meet even the minimal standards of the Catholic just war theory.
Thus, any killing associated with it is unjustified and, in consequence, unequivocally murder. Direct participation in this war is the moral equivalent of direct participation in an abortion. For the Catholics of the Eparchy of St. George, I hereby authoritatively state that such direct participation is intrinsically and gravely evil and therefore absolutely forbidden.
Check out a Canon Lawyer's reflection on the statement at In Light of the Law under the heading Bishop Botean's Lenten Message
It is also interesting that the Vatican has released a very strong statement on the possible war:
As a US-led war loomed in Iraq, the Vatican today declared that anyone who decides that peaceful means under international law are exhausted assumes "grave responsibility before God, his own conscience and history".
The statement reflected the Vatican’s firm stance against war in Iraq and came hours after US President George Bush gave Iraqi President Saddam Hussein until Wednesday to leave his country or face military attack.
"Whoever decides that all peaceful means available under international law are exhausted assumes a grave responsibility before God, his own conscience and history," said the one-line statement by Vatican spokesman Joaquin Navarro-Valls.
Ohio Romanian Catholic Bishop John Michael Botean:
Because such a moment of moral crisis has arisen for us, beloved Romanian Catholics, I must now speak to you as your bishop. Please be aware that I am not speaking to you as a theologian or as a private Christian voicing his opinion, nor by any means am I speaking to you as a political partisan. I am speaking to you solely as your bishop with the authority and responsibility I, though a sinner, have been given as a successor to the apostles on your behalf. I am speaking to you from the deepest chambers of my conscience as your bishop, appointed by Jesus Christ in his Body, the Church, to help shepherd you to sanctity and to heaven. Never before have I spoken to you in this manner, explicitly exercising the fullness of authority Jesus Christ has given his Apostles "to bind and to loose," (cf. John 20:23), but now "the love of Christ compels" me to do so (2 Corinthians 5:14). My love for you makes it a moral imperative that I not allow you, by my silence, to fall into grave evil and its incalculable temporal and eternal consequences.
Humanly speaking, I would much prefer to keep silent. It would be far, far easier for me and my family simply to let events unfold as they will, without commentary or warning on my part. But what kind of shepherd would I be if I, seeing the approach of the wolf, ran away from the sheep (cf. John 10:12-14)? My silence would be cowardly and, indeed, sinful. I believe that Christ, whose flock you are, expects more than silence from me on behalf of the souls committed to my protection and guidance.
Therefore I, by the grace of God and the favor of the Apostolic See Bishop of the Eparchy of St. George in Canton, must declare to you, my people, for the sake of your salvation as well as my own, that any direct participation and support of this war against the people of Iraq is objectively grave evil, a matter of mortal sin. Beyond a reasonable doubt this war is morally incompatible with the Person and Way of Jesus Christ. With moral certainty I say to you it does not meet even the minimal standards of the Catholic just war theory.
Thus, any killing associated with it is unjustified and, in consequence, unequivocally murder. Direct participation in this war is the moral equivalent of direct participation in an abortion. For the Catholics of the Eparchy of St. George, I hereby authoritatively state that such direct participation is intrinsically and gravely evil and therefore absolutely forbidden.
Check out a Canon Lawyer's reflection on the statement at In Light of the Law under the heading Bishop Botean's Lenten Message
It is also interesting that the Vatican has released a very strong statement on the possible war:
As a US-led war loomed in Iraq, the Vatican today declared that anyone who decides that peaceful means under international law are exhausted assumes "grave responsibility before God, his own conscience and history".
The statement reflected the Vatican’s firm stance against war in Iraq and came hours after US President George Bush gave Iraqi President Saddam Hussein until Wednesday to leave his country or face military attack.
"Whoever decides that all peaceful means available under international law are exhausted assumes a grave responsibility before God, his own conscience and history," said the one-line statement by Vatican spokesman Joaquin Navarro-Valls.
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