September 2002 Call to Action News

Write On

Resisting perpetual war

Philip Berrigan and Liz McAlister, war resisters for the past 35 years, will speak on nonviolence and prophetic witness at the CTA conference in November. They recently shared this letter with CTA News:

Dear President Bush:

We know that your war against terrorism is a colossal sham. How can the supreme terrorist nation wage war against terrorism? Does a new war annually and four nuclear wars (Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Iraq, Yugoslavia, and Afghanistan) not qualify as terrorism? We know, by your own words, that you intend to commit the U.S. to perpetual war. Have you read Lord Acton: "Power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely?"

Elizabeth McAlister and Philip Berrigan,
Jonah House, Baltimore, Md.

Junk the just war talk

Have the U.S. bishops ever declared a U.S. war unjust? I know, in retrospect, Hiroshima was declared unjust. We Catholics have a just war teaching, yet, to my knowledge, no war ever can meet this criteria. Why not just say this and be honest? I tire of Bryan Hehir on TV explaining away our bishops' actions. Leaders like Margaret Traxler and Joan Chittister would declare an unjust war.

Mary Shelley, Portland, Ore.

War on terrorism is unwinnable

The war on terrorism has become the ideal vehicle for right wing corporate sponsored politicians who care not a whit for common folks at the bottom of the economic pile here and around the world or about civil liberties. They see no connection between massive military budgets (now about half the annual tax take) and vanishing family owned and operated farms and small businesses, which are the foundation upon which democracy rests. Military tribunals now try suspected terrorists - an assault on civil liberties because it reverses the guilt assumption. War on terrorism is unwinnable even with a cheerleading president, who seems unusually gifted at making enemies. If we don't change our policies the only friend we'll have left will be Israel. Martin Luther King says, "Violence multiplies violence. Hate cannot drive out hate, only love can do that."

Deacon Larry Lange, Devils Lake, N.D.

Young Catholic finds CTA

I'd like to express my excitement over finding your organization and learning about the reforms that you're pushing for. As a young Catholic, 23, I find myself struggling with the very issues that CTA is advocating for change. Thank you for being such a faithful advocate.

Lisa Verville, Jesuit Volunteer, Washington, D.C.

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E-mail the president

Besides your letters to CTA office, CTA board president, Sr. Mary Ann Mueninghoff, OP, welcomes letters and ideas directly to her. Send them to maryann.mueninghoff.1@nd.edu