Print Issue: September 26, 2002

Dear Friends in Christ,

At the heart of our country is the fact that one person's vote counts. It is true that we entrust to elected representatives, the responsibility for the more onerous activities of government - the writing of laws, the negotiating of treaties, and in times when our nation is brought under peril, the declaration of war. Nevertheless, the contract between us and our government works, because we vote, and because we unite and express our opinions and our feelings to those we elect. And if we do not like the way things are running, then we elect others, who will respond to our will.

The events of September 11th, 2001 may have united this country, but they also raised up in our midst profound arguments as to how we may seek security in a world where terrorism is a daily threat. No one doubts the might of the United States, nor the will of her people to see a task and duty through to the end, if they are just, and if they are worth dying for. But how we are to fight terrorism is a question we must ask ourselves - each of us, and together as a community - ask and answer, and make our answer known to those who represent us.

For Catholics, standing before and above all other laws, is the law of God in nature, and the law of the Gospel, as spoken by the Lord Jesus Christ, and as taught through the centuries by His Holy Church. The Church teaches us, that to declare war on any other nation and its people, certain conditions must be present and evident. The Catechism of the Catholic Church limits the just-war criterion of "just cause" to "cases in which the damage inflicted by the aggressor on the nation or community of nations is lasting, grave and certain."

The Catholic bishops of the United States are not convinced that Iraq was responsible for the attacks on this country of 9/11, nor that we are in danger of any imminent attack by Iraq on the people and property of the United States. We understand that Saddam Hussein is a tyrant, that his people suffer because of his cruelty, and we wish that our country and others might extend to the people of Iraq whatever means are possible to ease their suffering and discontent. But a line must be drawn between actually helping a country by humanitarian means, and ostensibly helping a country by bringing down its governing regime, especially when the latter tactic involves armed aggression, and the possibility of innocent lives lost. The words of Jesus Christ require us to make this distinction and to stand by it. The agreement by which we enjoy the full citizenship of our blessed country requires that we make this distinction known to our representatives, and to our President, and that we hold them to the caution and restraint such a distinction implies.

It is also imperative, because of the immediacy of communication, and the resultant consequences across the broad spaces of the globe, that any action we take, if possible, be in concert with other nations of the free world, so that no question of national bias or gain be a part of the motives perceived behind that action. The bishops urge upon our President, and we ask all Catholics to support, the proposition that the United States act only through the agency of the United Nations, or if that is not possible, in concert with the free nations of the world with whom we enjoy the ties of past and present friendship.

For now - and these points have been communicated to our President in a letter from Bishop Wilton Gregory representing the Conference of United States Catholic Bishops - for now we urge the administration to pursue actively alternatives to war, including diplomatic efforts to resume weapons inspections, nonmilitary support for democracy advocates in Iraq and careful enforcement of the military embargo and political and economic sanctions.

War is a terrible thing, and if we bring war upon the people of another nation, with its concomitant death and destruction, we cannot know in advance how we may be inciting our enemy to strike at our own heart, to strike at our own nation, to strike at and bring down those we love. That was a lesson of September 11th, 2001, and though we do not shrink in fright from the aggression of the enemy, we are still cautious and wise enough to weigh and measure well, how we will respond to his cunning and strength.

Please consider what I have written, what the bishops of your country have spoken in unity, and what our Church teaches us about war and aggression. And then, as good citizens, please make your mind known to your Congressional Representatives, and to your President. And may God bless and preserve our Nation.

Most Reverend John F. Donoghue
Archbishop of Atlanta