Blessings are upon the head of the just; but violence
Covereth the mouth of the wicked.
- Proverbs
"On April 11, 2007, the Red Cross issued a report entitled 'Civilians without Protection: the ever-worsening humanitarian crisis in Iraq.' Citing 'immense suffering,' it calls 'urgently' for ' respect for international humanitarian law.' Andrew White, Anglican Vicar of Baghdad added, "What we see on our television screens does not demonstrate even one per cent of the reality of the atrocity of Iraq."
No flags have been flown half staffed for the hundreds of daily murders in the streets of Iraq. How can this be? Our Christian leaders continue by their silence to proclaim, "What have they to do with me? I have no responsibility to defend the innocent unless they stand in my pews and sing praises to the God I worship."
"My experiences in Iraq made my convictions stronger... In the end I felt that I had to listen to my conscience." - Agustin Aguayo
These are the convictions that make us one with Jesus Christ. The son of man that lives within each of us whispers to us, but the voice is drowned and the true greatness of his message submerged. "The greatness of Christianity lies in its being hated by the Domination System (kosmos), not in being convincing to it." (Ignatius of Antioch). To amplify that inner voice is our vocation.
"He was bleeding. I’m looking down at his eyes, and he looked up at me. It was an intense moment. I feel like this communication, questions he might have been feeling or asking. Like, 'why did he get shot?' 'Why does it hurt so much?' 'Why are we there?' 'What’s going on?' 'Why is this happening to him?' I was asking these questions… I was on the same team of people that just took this person’s life so casually and unnecessarily..." - Ricky Clousing
"Speak out for those who cannot speak, for the rights of all the destitute. Speak out, judge righteously, defend the rights of the poor and needy."
2 comments:
i can't understand the finicky approach of so many catholic christian leaders on the blatant immorality of this war. will someone please just tell it like it is. the obvious 'disconnect' between between what we profess while @ church & the widespread indifference/apathy is beyond disturbing.
I think the problem is that once you have accepted war as in principle just, the resistance to any particular war, even one that the Pope himself has declared unjust (see John Paul II pronouncements on the Iraq war), is drained of the energy of justice. We keep backing up from one questionable position to another until we can only pronounce on the safest of issues.
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