1960 s anti-war activists sp lit over Iraq war By Tracy Early Catholic News Service NEW YORK (CNS) — Two priests who were aligned in the 1960s campaign against the Vietnam War presented contrasting positions of just-war doctrine and pacifism in a joint appearance in New York Oct. 19. Father Richard J. Neuhaus , president of the Institute on Religion and Public Life in New York, advocated the justwar doctrine , particularl y as enunciated by St. Augustine, as a set of crite ria for answering the question , "When is war a duty?" War is a moral duty when it is waged "in obedience to the command to love one 's neighbor, " particularly the innocent, he said. Jesuit Father Daniel Berrigan , introduced as one who at 81 still "gets arrested and gets arrested and gets arrested" in anti-war protests, offered a pacifist view based on the Gospels. "Jesus didn't say, 'Peter , wield your sword,' but he said , 'Peter, put up your sword, '" Father Berrigan commented. "He didn 't say, 'Blessed are the warmakers, ' but he said , 'Blessed are the peacemakers. Speaking at the Riverside Church , the priests were part of a daylong program sponsored by Pax Christi Metro New York and the Renewal Coordinating Committee, an independent group working in the New York area for such goals as partici pation by all church members in choosing pastors and bishops and opening the priesthood to women and married men. Father Neuhaus, now 66, recalled th at he had participated in a 1967 service at Riverside Church , an independent congregation with ties to American Baptist Churches and the United Church of Christ, when the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. spoke against the Vietnam War. In an anti-war group organized in that period , Clergy Concerned About Vietnam, Father Neuhaus , then a young Lutheran pastor in Brooklyn, served as Protestant co-chairman alongside Father Berrigan as Catholic and the late Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel as Jewish co-chairmen. Then generally identified with religious radicals , Father Neuhaus later moved into circles known as neoconservative , became a Catholic in 1990 and the following year was ordained a Catholic priest. He said the just -war doctrine rejected both pacifism and the view that sets moral questions aside with the assertion that "war is hell and it's a dirty business, but you have to be willing to get your hands dirty. " Rather, in the current situation regarding Iraq, Catholics in America should be "thinking and praying together" about the moral questions involved, and doing this with other Christians, he said. As examples, he cited President Bush and Defense Secretary NEUHAUS, page 8
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Members of the Franciscan Affinity Group of Berkeley at the rally.
In the spirit of St. Francis Franciscan Father Victor Abegg quickly answered yes when members of the St. Francis Fraternity at St. Boniface Parish asked to have a Peace Mass at the National Shrine of St. Francisin Norm Beach. "It was appropriate ," Father Abegg, rector of the Shrine said. "If anybody tried to bring peace to his time, it was Francis." Father Francisco Nahoe, associate rector of the Shrine, "likes to say that Francis was not timid about his non-
violence, " Father Abegg said, "and that all creation receives the love of God, most especially human beings, and should be treated with care and respect. That is where we are now." After the Mass last Saturday, participants joined other peace activists in a march and rall y downtown against war with Iraq. Denise Penrose, who is active at the Shrine and vice minister of the Franciscan Fraternity, suggested holding the Mass at the Shrine.
After attending the Peace Mass at the Shrine, members of the St. Francis Fraternity and the St. Benedict Catholic Worker community in Fresno join the anti-war rally. ^
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Primacy of prayer
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'American Dreams' or Catholic Nightmare?
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Link to Jesus?
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Datebook
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