On not writing a dead letter
Zahn, Gordon C.
SEEING THE PASTORALS THROUGH On not writing a dead letter GORDON C. ZAHN THE BISHOPS' 1983 pastoral letter, "The Challenge of Peace: God's Promise and Our Response," is one of the most...
...As already suggested, it is still possible for the bishops to reverse course and demonstrate by action that they meant what they declared at Chicago in 1983...
...8 March 1985: 141 The situation is doubly depressing when one notes that the draft of the present economics pastoral contains the same essential flaws...
...Where serious efforts have been made to incorporate the pastoral and its teachings into school and parish programs, they are usually of brief duration and often do not reach those most in need of exposure...
...It is a tragic inconsistency which finds Catholic organizations devoted to the objectives set forth by our bishops in so formal a fashion forced to operate in a constant state of financial crisis...
...These, in turn, will not support a document unlikely to receive a reasonable Gordon c. zahn is national director of Pax Christi USA Center on Conscience and War...
...Last Spring, our Pax Christi Center addressed letters to all the ordinaries seeking information as to what was being done in their dioceses...
...At the Chicago meeting several bishops proposed to correct this omission but failed in their attempt...
...Unfortunately, this thoroughly laudable intention sometimes slipped over the line to a tone of defensiveness that weakens the thrust of what the bishops were trying to say...
...By including these explicit conditions in a document intended for the pastoral guidance of all the Catholic faithful, the bishops freed the issue of the morality of modern war from the more limited realm of specialized theological disputation and opened it to the judgment of the individual conscience...
...The attempt to monitor the activities of the various dioceses was at best half-hearted, too restricted in scope, and terminated much too soon...
...This probably reflects the desire to anticipate challenges on the grounds of expertise, an anticipation since fulfilled in generous measure...
...So, too, with the much heralded peace education programs...
...Fewer than ten responses were received...
...hierarchy — or any national hierarchy...
...The Weakland committee, like the Bernardin committee before it, will always be conscious of the fact that the product of its labors must ultimately win approval from two-thirds of their episcopal colleagues...
...A renewed effort to establish a truly full-scale program of peace studies should be given high priority in every diocese as evidence that the bishops were sincere in their commitment...
...His books include War, Conscience, and Dissent and Another Part of the War...
...We welcomed the pastoral as a starting point to a more consistent, less ambiguous official church posture in the future...
...and, most unfortunate of all, the failure to follow through with their own recommendations...
...for "pro-life" organizations and activities with those devoted to justice and peace to recognize the inadequacy of the episcopal commitment to the latter...
...The recent publication of the first draft of the forthcoming pastoral on the economy gives promise that it will be a suitable match for its predecessor...
...Who could claim, by even the most devious of arguments, that military action was undertaken as "a last resort...
...THE MOST CONTROVERSIAL concession to pragmatism in the 1983 pastoral was the "strictly conditioned moral acceptance" of nuclear deterrence...
...So it seemed at least...
...opinions, interpretations, and applications are open to informed dialogue, even dissent...
...It is important to note that the Selective Service System, for its part, is ready to go into full operation in a matter of hours...
...They have not materialized, certainly not to the extent anticipated...
...And what does this bode for the future of their proposed letter on the economy...
...At its annual assembly in San Antonio last October, Pax Christi USA undertook to fill the gap by releasing its own detailed assessment of the present state of disarmament and negotiations...
...Of these I would stress three: the reticence of the bishops to be prepared to "tell it like it is...
...Only if this is done, and soon, will the forthcoming companion pastoral be assured the serious attention it deserves...
...Such disappointments, one may assume, are structured into the overall process...
...Indeed, this might well be a recommendation for the economics pastoral...
...To borrow Cardinal Bernardin's "seamless garment" metaphor, one need but compare the funds budgeted by the dioceses and by the U.S.C.C...
...We offered our assistance in providing counseling and support services for Catholics subject to registration and a possible draft who might take advantage of the pastoral's provisions on conscientious objection...
...After all, the intensive consultations with experts should have provided sufficient confidence to speak with greater authority, especially when it came to the application of the moral principles in which they, the bishops, are presumably experts...
...It would be a simple matter f or the U. S. C. C. to establish a select committee of "blue ribbon," objective experts charged with the task of producing annual reports of advances and setbacks, taking the bishops' "not-so-strict" conditions as its standard of measurement...
...Cynicism aside, the failure of the bishops to insist upon an active and effective application of the principles elaborated in their 1983 pastoral threatens to undermine any claim to episcopal credibility...
...This is not to say that either or both of them taken together are everything one would have hoped...
...It is safe to say that an official statement issued in the name of those who had set forth those ' 'strict conditions'' upon which that highly debatable and reluctant moral acceptance was based would have carried more weight...
...It is not too late to redeem the peace pastoral as well...
...If the Vatican Council's condemnation of area warfare is morally binding, as the pastoral insists, one might have expected Catholics to be instructed to reject assignments in which they would be prepared to perform the condemned acts upon command...
...If so, the loss would be much greater than the waste of time and effort it would represent...
...When one considered the emphasis placed on incorporating the pastoral teachings into every level of Catholic education, those expectations were more than justified — provided, of course, the bishops who voted for adoption were committed to their decision...
...This likewise was largely ignored...
...Catholic lawmakers might have been exhorted to consider the moral implications of approving the expenditure of tax monies to support weapons systems like the MX...
...measure of acceptance from the faithful in their charge...
...It is not too late to revive the enthusiasm with which "The Challenge of Peace" was originally received...
...One hopes the Weakland committee will not repeat this pattern but will make it perfectly clear to all that economic policies or practices which conflict with Christian social teaching must be opposed and, should this be required, the bishops will not hold back from making explicit recommendations for specific programs designed to eliminate the structured injustices now present in this nation and the entire world...
...It is evident from other sources that relatively few dioceses have established registries of prospective CO's, or have indicated a readiness to take even the most preliminary steps toward providing them with alternative service opportunities, should conscription be put into effect...
...Political and other pragmatic considerations almost preclude the adoption of positions likely to be considered too radical a departure from prevailing attitudes and practices...
...To little avail, however, if one is to judge by the almost total disregard of these conditions with respect to the U.S...
...Now, nearly two years later, it is obvious that the conditions have been ignored, and the pastoral has had, little impact on this nation's nuclear policies or the steadily escalating arms race...
...Can they expect those to whom the pastoral was addressed to do any better...
...After all, the Holy See's 1976 condemnation of the arms race as "a crime against the poor" makes this issue relevant to their deliberations, too...
...To do so would be to invite sharp criticism, but the ensuing debate would be far more beneficial in the long run than merely repeating a litany of inspirational generalizations...
...invasion of Grenada...
...In the November election, bishops were quite vocal about reminding Catholic candidates forpublic office of their obligation to give weight to the moral dimensions of other public issues...
...Furthermore, by failing to display a greater measure of persistence and dedication the bishops have left "the challenge of peace" unmet...
...That the peace pastoral was adopted with a majority which approached unanimity is remarkable...
...There are some distressing shortcomings when, at the point of making a truly innovative and daring contribution, the familiar pattern of timorous caution asserts itself and the opportunity is missed...
...Take the men and women of the armed forces...
...To carry this a step further, commemoration of World Peace Day could be the occasion for a special collection for the Commonweal: 142 purpose of sponsoring and supporting peace activity of various kinds...
...To allow the peace pastoral to lose momentum and become a "dead letter" in a literal sense could have a disastrous effect upon the Weakland letter and any subsequent efforts on the part of the bishops to address major social issues and responsibilities...
...It is not too late, but the promise is fading...
...Few voices were raised to question the proportionality of full-scale military action, including aerial bombings, to "free" some medical students from factually unsubstantiated danger...
...Nor was protest voiced by spokespersons for the hierarchy...
...SEEING THE PASTORALS THROUGH On not writing a dead letter GORDON C. ZAHN THE BISHOPS' 1983 pastoral letter, "The Challenge of Peace: God's Promise and Our Response," is one of the most significant achievements of the U.S...
...Quite apart from the wisdom of this disputed decision, a crucial deficiency lay in the bishops' failure — or, more correctly, refusal — to establish some mechanism to monitor progress in arms reduction, a basic condition for the bishops' conditioned acceptance of nuclear deterrence...
...In this context the failure of the bishops to follow through in their own dioceses is an additional challenge to episcopal credibility...
...That majority may also be taken as evidence of compromises made and restraints incorporated into committee deliberations and the final writing...
...As their work progresses on the forthcoming pastoral, the members of the Weakland committee would do well to take full account of these failures and resolve to avoid their repetition...
...Today, however, fears have arisen that this is not the case, that the document may go the way of so many others and end up as little more than an occasional footnote in some theological treatise...
...The failure of the final version to accept all the recommendations of those of us of a more pacifist persuasion was no surprise...
...The "Challenge of Peace" made a distinct contribution when it clearly set forth the conditions to be met before any actual war can be regarded as "just...
...The excessive reticence of the peace pastoral is most pronounced in its applications to specified categories of individuals...
...Lest this be misinterpreted, I am not asking the bishops to revert to what was sometimes derided as a kind of "creeping infallibility.'' One of the more admirable aspects of the peace pastoral was its careful delineation of the levels of authority claimed for its teachings, a path echoed in the draft of the economics pastoral...
...the refusal to include some mechanism for periodically monitoring progress...
...Established or defined doctrine is presented as morally binding...
...Unless these failings are recognized and corrected, both "The Challenge of Peace" and the economic pastoral will be dismissed as a futile exercise in pious rhetoric...
Vol. 112 • March 1986 • No. 5
