BY RICHARD D. PARRY

ATLANTA--Father Emmanuel Charles McCarthy presented a conference on "Gospel Non-Violence" for 80 people at Immaculate Heart of Mary Church Nov. 8 and 9.

Pax Christi Atlanta sponsored Father McCarthy, who has been giving these conferences for 29 years.

In the opening session, attended by Archbishop John F. Donoghue, Father McCarthy recalled the suffering in the world--starvation, death and destruction caused by war, crimes of rape, the deprivation of Third World children forced to work to provide goods for the First World. He called this evil "a furnace of agony," an image he returned to throughout the weekend.

Everyone who sees this suffering and seeks to change it is a revolutionary, Father McCarthy said, but only one way is open to revolution--holiness. Holiness comes only from God and its incarnation is His Son, Jesus. Only Jesus has shown the way to free humanity from its furnace of agony.

When a scholar of the law approached Jesus and asked what he needed to do to gain eternal life, Jesus led him to quote the Hebrew Scripture, "You shall love the Lord, your God, with all your heart, with all your being, with all your strength, and with all your mind, and your neighbor as yourself" (Lk 10:27).

At the Last Supper Jesus elaborated on the last clause with what he called his New Commandment, Father McCarthy noted. "I give you a new commandment: love one another. As I have loved you, so you also should love one another" (Jn 14:34).

On Saturday morning, Father McCarthy talked about "Power, Means and Ends." Referring to the writings of the Catholic Scripture scholar, John L. MacKenzie, Father McCarthy said that if there is one conclusion to draw from the New Testament about Jesus it is that he was non-violent. The most widespread agreement among scholars is over the authenticity of Jesus saying, "Love your enemies."

This love, described in chapters five through seven of Matthew's Gospel, is exemplified in the saying that if someone strikes your right cheek, you should give him your other. In God's plan for the world, only non-violent love can bring an end to the furnace of agony in which humanity finds itself, Father McCarthy said.

Leading the group in a revealing reflection, the priest recounted what he called the crucial moment in the Passion story--the agony in the garden and the apprehending of Jesus. Clearly Jesus did not want to undergo the suffering of trial and crucifixion when, as he lay on the ground, he implored His Father to let this pass. When the guard came to arrest Him, there was the cover of darkness. As Peter cut off the ear of the servant of the high priests, the confusion gave Jesus the opportunity to escape.

But his life to that point had promoted love of enemies. Consistent with that, Jesus did not escape but stepped forward. Rebuking Peter, Jesus healed the servant's ear in an act which exemplified His teaching but also ended His freedom.

The implications for those who would follow Jesus and call themselves Christian are profound, Father McCarthy said. Quoting Gandhi, he said that the means to an end is only the end in embryo. Whatever the goal, the means must embody the value of that goal. The only way to practice the holiness which is God's plan for ending the agony of human suffering is the way that Jesus showed--the non-violent love of friends and enemies.

Objections to non-violence come easily to mind. Non-violence is impractical and leads to defeat; in the real world the only successful way to meet violence is with violence.

These kinds of objections were answered in the session, "Resurrection Ethics." If the Christian cannot use violence, then clearly there are situations in which he or she must be willing to die. For the Christian, survival is not the ultimate value. If the Christian follows the non-violent way of Jesus--even to the point of suffering death--he or she also expects to enjoy eternal life. Christian violence may well point to Calvary and the cross; but that is not the end. The end is Easter and the resurrection.

The last session was about the positive side of non-violence, that is, mercy. Quoting Pope John Paul II, Father McCarthy said that revelation shows God to be a God who prizes and rewards mercy. In the Gospel story of the last judgment, the division between those saved and those condemned is based on their own mercy to others.

The greatest obstacle to mercy is wealth, he said. Americans, among the wealthiest people on earth, have special reason to heed the call to mercy. A great temptation is to spend money unnecessarily for unneeded luxuries rather than sharing it with the miserable of the world. This is merciless, he said.

Father McCarthy ended the conference by saying the day to adopt the truth and start to change one's life is the day when one recognizes the truth--whatever one's past life has been like, whatever values one may have upheld.