Pacific Ifs

Although the Roman Catholic Church hates war as much as the next Christian, its attitude towards war has always been realistic. Modern simon-pure pacifism, as unrealistic as it is high-minded, has been fostered more by Protestants than by Catholics. Yet as World War II began to loom, widespread signs of pacifist leanings appeared among U. S. Catholics. At first, the pacifism of such leaders as Bishop John Aloysius Duffy of Buffalo had a narrow basis: fear that Catholics might be called upon to fight as allies of the U. S. S. R. With that fear removed, there remained the fact that this seemed to be England's war--and most U. S. Catholic churchmen are of Irish origin.

Last week it appeared that 1,000,000 U. S. Protestant pacifists (the estimate of peace groups) might have to move over on the bandwagon to make room for some Catholics. Evidence during the fortnight:

>If the U. S. enters the war, Catholics should "give serious thought to the question of whether or not they should be conscientious objectors." So said Archbishop Francis Joseph Beckman of Dubuque, who helped Father Coughlin in his unsuccessful keep-the-embargo fight.

>If the U. S. enters the war, only 20% of young Catholics would volunteer, 44% submit to conscription, while 36% would conscientiously object. So suggested America (Jesuit weekly) on the basis of a poll of 54,000 students (both sexes) in 141 Catholic colleges and universities.

>If the U. S. enters the war, if Roman Catholics are drafted, and if they are not fully certain of the justice of the war, they must conscientiously object, "under pain of mortal sin." So, in the pacifist Catholic Worker, wrote Monsignor George Barry O'Toole, Catholic University philosophy professor. Said he: "Nowadays justification for an offensive war is practically impossible--the presumption is totally against it. Only if the Holy Father, whose decision in moral matters is infallible, were to call a crusade, could we be certain that sufficient justification existed."

This file is automatically generated by a robot program, so reader's discretion is required.