AS local Brisbane soldiers bury their friends killed in action recently and minister to many wounded, Jim Dowling’s ongoing attacks on war memorials, and the use of our national flag, let alone the Church teaching on just war (CL 1 /8/10) come as neither appropriate nor in the spirit of the Gospel of Jesus Christ in the way we treat our fellow brothers and sisters in faith.
We have a disproportionately high number of Catholics in our defence and police forces who serve in good Christian conscience and have made heroic efforts to stop violence, and restore peace in so many troubled places in the world today.
To propose that memorials to our fallen, as well as use of our national flag has a “terrible effect on our Christian faith” is both absurd and offensive to our service people and their families. Our service people know first-hand the pain and tragedy of war, struggle and suffer in body mind and soul in their efforts, but remain dedicated to resisting unchecked evil.
They are peacemakers.
The memorials to the sacrifice of our fallen, and our embrace of the multiple Christian symbols of our national flag draped on their coffins, assist in sustaining them as they deal with their grief.
The Church’s teaching on Just War (Catechism 2309) is ensconced in ADF doctrine, is taught in ADF schools, and forms the basis for rules on the use of force to deter or defeat acts of aggression.
In any case our service people are required to carry out the decisions of Public Authorities (Catechism 2310).
Our service people have served with honour, so why must they continue to be the subject of protest and derision by “peace activists”.
There are real enemies of peace and initiators of violence that surely deserve more attention.
Yes the Iraq invasion was unjust, and yes Jim I opposed it in a large story in this paper (CL 22/1/ 03).
Each response we make to unchecked evil must be discerned carefully in the light of church teaching and we would hope all Catholics have the courage to speak out in conscience to our politicians.
But the current reality is that our troops are currently engaged in peacemaking in many theatres as servants of peace.
The Church teaches they have rights and obligations as servants of security and freedom (Catechism 2339).
Jim, let’s unite as peacemakers, and work seriously at addressing the poverty that leads to violence in our region.
May we also have the Christian charity to allow our veterans to grieve over their fallen mates without these ongoing attacks on our service people, their families, and the symbols they cherish.
Let us pray for peace and resist evil and real enemies of peace, rather than attacking our brothers and sisters.
DEACON GARY STONE
The Gap, Brisbane
