American Catholics can put faith in the United States’ aims in Viet Nam but they must make sure the government pursues vigorously, wholeheartedly and repeatedly, every opening which has even the slightest hope of peaceful settlement, Archbishop Paul J. Hallinan and Bishop Joseph L. Bernardin said in a pastoral letter, “War and Peace.”

The archbishop and bishop also discussed the urgent need to end all war, the problems of disarmament, patriotism and the limits on conducting war in the letter which will be distributed Sunday in all churches in the Archdiocese of Atlanta.

The letter follows Pope Paul VI’s encyclical letter, Christi Matri Rosaril, (Rosaries to the Mother of Christ) which urges an end to all war and calls for prayer in the Vietnam crisis.

Archbishop Hallinan and Bishop Bernardin said that there is evidence that the government is trying to solve the war. “In light of events rather than slogans, then, it can be argued that to the present course of action in Vietnam there may be no visible alternative.”

“But we cannot stop here. It is the Christian duty to keep looking for other alternatives...we must keep insisting that our leaders fully inform us of the facts and issues involved in the Vietnam war.”

The two priests said true peace will not be brought about solely by military victory or by maintaining a balance of power between enemies, but from “the harmony built into human society by its Divine Founder, and actualized by men as they thirst after greater justice.”

They said all must help enlarge the new climate of thought, that is unreasonable to hold that war is still a suitable way to restore violated rights. “We must protest whenever there is danger that conduct of the war will exceed moral limits because a Christian simply cannot approve indiscriminate bombing, methodical extermination of people, nuclear arms designed for ‘overkill’ or disregard for noncombatants.” The archbishop and bishop said leaders must be given a mandate to pursue disarmament. “While no Catholic teaching demands that a nation disarm by itself, the whole Catholic momentum today is toward a disarmament that is complete, thorough and internal, resting on mutual agreement and workable safeguards. We cannot stand aside because such a solution is hard to visualize or difficult to achieve.” They also said, “We must never cease to do everything in our power to help make it possible for the poorer nations of the world to give their people what they need -- educationally,

culturally, materially, socially -- to live in a way that squares with their God-given human dignity.” True patriotism the archbishop and bishop said, is based on living for God and Christ by following the honorable custom of one’s own nation, but that the American who is truly patriotic, while devoting himself to the legitimate needs and concerns of his country, also seeks “the welfare of the whole human family...a universal love for mankind.” Quoting the Vatican Council, they pointed out that the Council restated the traditional teaching regarding self-defense, but that all means short of force must first be employed. “Moreover, the Council Fathers commend those in the military force who serves as agents of security and freedom on behalf of their people as long as they fulfill this role properly.” Discussing the right of a conscientious objector, Archbishop Hallinan and Bishop Bernardin quoted the Council which said, “It seems right that laws make humane provisions for the case of those who (for reasons of conscience) refuse to bear arms, provided however, that they accept some other form of service to the human community.”