By Mary Beth Marino

Archbishop Thomas A. Donnellan spoke at St. John Neumann’s Sept. 9 on the pastoral letter, “The Challenge of Peace, God’s Promise and Our Response.”

The 90-page pastoral letter on war and peace has been approved by the U.S. bishops and addresses Pope John Paul II’s concern over the threat of nuclear war. This threat is shared by all nations and the pastoral letter hopes to generate a deeper understanding of issues involving peace, particularly nuclear warfare. Pope John Paul II has repeatedly emphasized the importance of instilling hope and encouragement for world peace in this crucial time of fear. When Archbishop Donnellan spoke to the parishioners of St. John Neumann, he referred to President Reagan’s and Mr. Mondale’s political debates on the separation of church and state.

“I never thought when I became a bishop that I would have to justify my right to speak publicly on moral questions,” the archbishop commented.

“I feel it is important that we cause people to think about and discuss political and economic questions which obviously involve moral decisions.”

The pastoral letter itself explains that faith does not “insulate us to crisis and challenges in our lives, but intensifies the desire to help solve them through the resources of our faith.”

The letter is to encourage hope, not to be overwhelmed by the danger of nuclear attack. It realizes that nuclear war threatens the existence of our planet. It is the most menacing threat the world has ever known.

The bishops state that intelligence, courage and faith will be the factors capable of destroying this threat. It is “through conscious choice and deliberate policy that the world can survive,” the letter says.

The pastoral letter contends that the nuclear threat transcends religious, cultural and national boundaries and that there must be an emphasized common effort to dialogue with Catholics and all the members of the political arena as well as individual communities. “We must address questions and search for truths,” the pastoral letter reads.

Archbishop Donnellan said there was no way that the U.S. Bishops’ Conference could write on a moral question without referring to Scripture. “The difficulty in using Scripture is that you could take any position you want and refer to Scripture to justify it,” the archbishop explained.

“For example, if you are a total pacifist, you can take the text of Scripture that tells you to turn your swords into ploughshares, whereas, if you are totally in favor of war you can get any number of texts from Scripture, particularly from the Old Testament, which will speak of how great and glorious it is to be out there fighting and cutting down the enemy and destroying them,” he said.

The archbishop further said that “using Scripture in this sense is too simplistic. You must seriously study and research Scripture, then apply the trend of thought to the past or present generation and their particular circumstances.”

In the pastoral letter, the Sermon on the Mount was used by the bishops to illustrate simply, “Happy are those who work for peace. God will call them his children!” The bishops also stated several times in their letter that moral judgments should be consistent with the Gospels. The letter further says though there are a vast diversity of views, Christians should all hold the same universal moral principles. For example, the bishop said, “We address many concrete questions concerning the arms race, contemporary warfare, weapons systems and negotiating strategies. We do not intend that our treatment of each of these issues carry the same moral authority as our statement of universal moral principles and formal church teaching.”

The letter recognizes that peace carries various meanings to different people. But true peace to men and women of faith implies a good relationship with God. It includes forgiveness, reconciliation and union with Him. Scripture emphasizes God’s salvation when all of creation is made whole.

As Archbishop Donnellan noted, the peace pastoral uses Scripture as a basis for understanding and applying principles of peace in lieu of nuclear threat. He also explained that the Old Testament refers to a warrior God, but Jesus, in the New Testament, shows a peaceful man sent to establish the Kingdom.

The New Testament tells how Jesus challenged everyone to recognize in him the presence of the reign of God and to give themselves over to that reign.

The “swords” of a warrior God depicted in the Old Testament, now become a symbol to mark a division “caused by the Word of God, which like a two-edged sword, pierces the division of soul and spirit, of joints and marrow, and discerns the thoughts and intentions of the heart.” (Heb 4:12)

Simply stated, this passage demonstrates the division in Scripture between war and peace. In the New Testament, the call is to repent and live according to the Gospel and the Kingdom of the Lord will be realized.

Archbishop Donnellan continued to elaborate on the need to maintain peace. He concluded his talk on the peace pastoral addressing the audience’s questions.

His concluding statement reflected the intensity of the peace pastoral message, and that as part of the search for peace, Christians should be seeking unity in the Body of Christ.

“We may not see that peace in our lifetime, but that does not stop the obligation for reaching out for this unity and peace,” he said.

The pastoral letter itself concludes with a meaningful quote from the Book of Revelations: “Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away and the sea was no more…behold the dwelling of God is with men. He will dwell with them, and they shall be His people, and God Himself will be with them. He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away.”

The in-depth and profound letters compiled by the bishops of the United States clearly present the choices people have. The bishops emphatically declare that there is no justification, nor will there ever be, for destroying God’s creation through nuclear war.