Local News
Letter to the Editor
Published: January 3, 2008
To the Editor:
Thanks to Joe and Mary Jean Goode for their report about the beatification of Franz Jaegerstaetter (Letters to the Editor, The Georgia Bulletin, Dec. 20). His martyrdom teaches us several lessons about the relation that a Christian has to the state. As Christians we are not defined by our nationality but by the Gospel. It would have been easy for Blessed Franz Jaegerstaetter to accept the propaganda of the German government about the reasons for war. As has so often been said, the first casualty of war is the truth. Very few people can see this truth because the flag waving obscures their vision. His life reminds us that a war is not justified simply because the government—even a democratically elected one—says it is. Waving the flag does not substitute for examining one’s conscience, looking carefully at the reasons for going to war and determining whether they stand up to the strict conditions that the Catholic Church uses for a just war.
Richard D. Parry, Atlanta
