n a joint statement the leaders of Catholic religious orders in the United States add their voices to a worldwide chant condemning the invasion of Iraq by the United States.
We must in the name of God and all that is decent and just find other mechanisms for resolving international conflicts than this continuous unleashing of wholesale destruction upon the most innocent and powerless of the earth.
The presidents of the Leadership Conference of Women Religious (LCWR) and the Conference of Major Superiors of Men (CMSM) note that President Bush has ordered U.S. military personnel into Iraq with little support from the international community or the United Nations. “He [President Bush] has also ignored the widespread voices of religious leaders around the world, including the unequivocal voice of John Paul II, who condemns the doctrine of pre-emption upon which the attack is based.”
At the outset of the crisis leading to this action, President Bush stated that the goal of the United States and the international community was disarming Iraq of weapons of mass destruction. The two conferences have supported these efforts and express concern over the failure of diplomatic measures, “The issue of how evidence will be assessed in the use of the doctrine of preemption has not been addressed and cries out for resolution as the debate in the Security Council collapsed.”
Over the past few months, the LCWR and CMSM have been working with other groups to help foster alternative ways that war could be avoided and to find paths to a peaceful and diplomatic solution to this crisis. The statement reads, “We were motivated by our concern for the millions of lives – innocent Iraqi civilians and the young U.S. military personnel ordered into battle – once a war would start.”
That concern grows as the military might of the United States envelops the Iraqi people. In the statement, the two religious leaders implore the President to rule out use of nuclear weapons and antipersonnel landmines. “The use of a weapon of mass destruction by any side not only violates international covenants and the standards of a just and moral war; it will unleash unimaginable horrors for humanity.”
In addition to the lives at risk during this war, Father Connors and Sister Zollmann express the concerns of their organizations about the long-range implications of the President’s policy. “The doctrine of pre-emptive strikes against a perceived threat that the President has adopted sets a precedent for other nations to follow in narrow self-interest making the use of force a valid first option over diplomacy and peaceful negotiation.”
As leaders of religious communities the two conference presidents call on their members to pray for peace and call upon all of us, “We must in the name of God and all that is decent and just find other mechanisms for resolving international conflicts than this continuous unleashing of wholesale destruction upon the most innocent and powerless of the earth. Their voices cry out to God for mercy—a mercy that we can grant.”
Conference of Major Superiors of Men
Leadership Conference of Women Religious
The membership of the Conference of Major Superiors of Men (CMSM) and the Leadership Conference of Women Religious (LCWR) has approximately 1,500 men and women religious leaders who are responsible for more than 700 Catholic institutes in the United States. Together, the conferences’ members represent more than 100,000 of the country’s Catholic sisters, brothers, and religious order priests.
(From Xaverian News)