Catholics should make peace not war. .

THE DECEMBER SOUNDING BOARD ("CATHOLICS SHOULD be more conscientious about objecting to war") by Father Michael J. Baxter, C.S.C. exposes some serious issues facing American Catholics as our political leaders prepare to send us to war with Iraq. Baxter is unequivocally right when he says that Catholics should be more conscientious when it comes time to object to war.

War with Iraq will not make us safer or meet the human needs of our brothers and sisters in the United States and around the world. A war with Iraq will kill tens of thousands, wreak havoc on the environment, and inflict further suffering on innocent Iraqi civilians.

War is violent, and violence only begets more violence, creating a cycle that can only be stopped by a concrete commitment to peace. But a commitment to lasting peace and justice does not come with easy, overnight solutions. It doesn't play well in the media. And right now voicing opposition to war makes one even sound unpatriotic.

Part of honoring the commitment to peace and justice involves conscientiously objecting to war, even if it's the unpopular position to take. It is highly questionable that war can ever be morally justified. And it's downright fallacy to believe that preemptive military action can be justified.

By conscientiously objecting to war, Catholics have a chance to tell their political leaders that they support a life ethic that holds all life sacred, that they want a country that spends more on health care and education than defense, that they want a country committed to international peacekeeping efforts rather than a country willing to act unilaterally.

As Martin Luther King Jr. said 40 years ago, "Through violence you murder the liar, but you cannot murder the lie, nor establish the truth. Through violence you murder the hater, but you do not murder the hate. In fact, violence merely increases hate."

Michael Jones, Communications Associate
Pax Christi USA
Erie, Pa.

Baxter's Sounding Board raises lots of questions. First, what will Catholics do if the United States goes to war against Iraq? What we should do is support our presiderit and his decision. I know no one wants war, least of all we who served in combat in World War II.

Second, yes, we should think twice (or more) before going to war, but let's not be naive. War came to us on Sept. 11, 2001. Remember, we are at war--the War on Terrorism, including rogue states that support terrorism.

Third, conscientious objection--what is this? Is it essential as a matter of faithfulness to God? Who says? The Bible teaches us that Jesus threw the money changers from the temple. He condemned them and all who do evil.

No, we don't follow our leaders blindly. We question, search for answers, but in the end we depend on our leaders to lead. If we don't like the leaders, then we vote them out of office and make changes striving for the best possible solution in war and peace.

So, Father, don't tell me I did the wrong thing by fighting for my country so you and I could enjoy a good life. Instead, tell me how you would make life-and-death decisions facing each of us daily. We obey God's law as we know and understand it. It doesn't make me wrong and make you right.

Don Mulligan
High Point, N.C.

I find December's Sounding Board really objectionable. The United States has shown greater long-term moral consistency in its international policies than the Catholic Church. Any American, including Dorothy Day, who preached conscientious objection in World War II implicitly endorsed Nazism and Japanese aggression.

Catholic bishops encouraging conscientious objectors in the Vietnam War? Read further in this magazine, to the advertisement on page 35 lamenting the loss of freedom to practice religion today in Vietnam. I hope the bishops read the ad, too.

Edward W. Duffy
Philadelphia, Pa.

Thank you for the December Sounding Board: serious topic, good insights. I agree with Baxter, save for his solution (conscientious objection by Catholic military personnel). It places the burden on young men and women in service. The burden is ours--older, responsible folk who don't have to face the horrors of war. It is the tremendous challenge of hierarchy and clergy.

Have we presented the teachings clearly and forthrightly, so that people can make responsible conscientious decisions about war being the last resort and go beyond "my country, right or wrong" as their basic view and response? If the church is the living Body of Christ, it needs to be on the cutting edge of society, confronting it in these matters that trample the sacredness of life.

Father Mark Franceschini, O.S.M.
Hillside, Ill.