One of the greatest dangers facing man is that he may get used to the disorders which threaten peace and allow the voice of his conscience to become a murmur, Bishop Joseph L. Bernardin said Friday in a speech to the National Conference of Catholic Women in Miami.

“If we allow the war in Viet Nam, racism, hunger and countless other evils to become routine, our sense of shock and revulsion will begin to subside; the loud voice of conscience will soon become an inaudible murmur. We could then lose a moral ingredient which is an essential catalyst for any effective programs for peace; the Will for Peace,” the bishop told delegates.

“It is this will for peace which will provide the sense of urgency, the conviction and controlling purpose which will result in a moral and spiritual climate within which positive programs for peace can prosper. It is this will for peace which will impel us to speak out, to work and to pray for peace as Pope Paul has urged us to do.” Bishop Bernardin said the desire for peace and the fact of war have clamored for man’s attentions and energies, and the resulting tension has been a poignant chapter in his history.

“The grave disorders which today are threatening the peace and stability of the human family are adding a new, terrible page to that chapter,” the bishop told delegates.

“While the war in Viet Nam is demanding the greatest attention at the present moment, Pope Paul emphasized in his recent encyclical that this conflict is not the only one which threatens us. He mentioned, for example, ‘the increasing race for nuclear weapons, the unscrupulous efforts for the expansion of one’s nation, the excessive glorification of one’s race, the obsession for revolution, the segregation enforced on citizens, the iniquitous plotting, the murder of the innocent.’” Bishop Bernardin said Americans must make it unmistakably clear that they want the government to do everything possible to bring about an effective disarmament. “In working for this, however, we realize that we cannot plunge into an illusory pacifism, well-meaning perhaps, but marred by a woeful lack of realism.”

“Still, our Christian conscience points in only one direction--universal, disarmament and it is in that direction that all of our efforts must be directed. While the realities of the problem would normally discourage us from thinking that an effective solution to this problem will be found in the foreseeable future, we can rely on our Christian hope to give us the encouragement and perseverance we need.”

The bishop said everything must be done to build up support for the United Nations. “Unfortunately, a certain narrowness of mind has caused some Americans to look with disfavor upon the United Nations. But what would they substitute for this world body? The U. N. did not create the world’s problems. These problems existed long before the organization came into being and one can only guess how much worse our situation would be today if we did not have the U.N.”