How narrow the gate?

...John Paul II may have praised conscientious objection as a "sign of maturity" in a Milan talk to young people in 1984, but even he described it as a "problem...

...Either explanation is acceptable...

...There has been resentment voiced on the part of some war veterans and their families to the notice and praise being given to Jaegerstaetter...

...Bishop Aichern recently told me that such animosity has lessened as more concerted efforts to support Jaegerstaetter's canonization have gained strength and acceptance...

...Research undertaken more than thirty years ago by Mary Elizabeth Walsh at Catholic University interpreted the lives of a number of canonized saints in terms of the social environment in which they lived...

...While recognition of Jaegerstaetter's martyrdom should pose no threat to the "just war theory," it might cause that theory to be taken more seriously, challenging the easy acceptance of every nation's expectation of automatic obedience on the part of Catholics called to arms-an expectation all too often fulfilled, as in the case of the German and Austrian bishops instructing the Catholic faithful to "do their Christian duty" in support of "Folk and Fatherland" in World War II...

...As far as being "inarticulate" is concerned, those who knew him as friend and neighbor have testified to his open and frequently voiced denunciations of Adolf Hitler and the Third Reich which caused them to marvel that Jaegerstaetter had not been arrested by the Gestapo long before the refusal of military service that cost him his life...

...Letters published in the local press (including Catholic papers) objected to such honor being paid to someone who, as the writers saw it, "betrayed" his fellow Austrians who risked their lives on the battlefield...

...In denying that report, Catholic authorities in Austria claimed that such a possibility had never been considered, that Jaegerstaetter had never been mentioned in the context of the papal visit...

...My concern is not purely academic...

...Referring to Jaegerstaetter as a case "under scrutiny" (though it has not, as yet, been formally submitted), the author uses it to illustrate how extraneous factors "such as political or even ecumenical concerns" might enter into "the process of discernment" and "suggest the postponement until such time as particular conditions may permit its advancement...

...No one can reasonably object to carefully weighing plusses and minuses in causes presented for canonization...

...The fact is, such arguments did not convince Jaegerstaetter...

...Here, too, documentary evidence, especially the final apologia laboriously written at the request of a prison chaplain while awaiting execution "with my hands in chains," reveals a depth of spiritual commitment that makes this simple peasant a modern counterpart of Thomas More...

...The occasion for his later fateful refusal was an order recalling him to duty...

...But until now, for various reasons, I thought it best to distance myself from the campaign being led by Bishop Maximilian Aichern of Linz (Jaegerstaetter's home diocese) and other Austrians...

...Recently I have been told that at the time of the pope's Austrian visit fears had been voiced in higher ecclesiastical circles that honoring Jaegerstaetter's refusal to serve in Hitler's forces might alienate those who did support the war and "drive them from, the church...

...A 1988 dissertation in canon law published under Gregorian University auspices addresses canonization procedures, particularly diocesan inquiries which are to be made before a cause is submitted for approval...

...The miracles attributed to those who have "made it" are written off as products of psychological aberrations (whether of the saints themselves or of superstitious and confused witnesses), and the possibility that manipulation or duplicity sometimes played a part in the formal canonization process-which has not been immune to such factors as wealth, social lobbying, or ecclesiastical position, etc.-have raised further suspicions, not only about the process but about some of those elevated to the altars...

...Nevertheless, to deny him-or anyone-canonization simply to avoid possible misinterpretations and to shield long-held (but increasingly irrelevant) religious traditions or practices would represent a scandalous abuse of ecclesiastical authority and make a mockery of the canonization process itself...

...The peasant, however, remained firm in the belief that to violate his conscience would be to evade God's command...

...At another level, the issue goes beyond the injustice of denying this heroic man an honor he rightfully earned...

...In 1987 Bishop Aichern was the target of critical telephone calls and letters from Catholics protesting against the three-day diocesan commemoration marking Jaegerstaetter's eightieth birthday...

...Most of these challenges can be dismissed easily enough...

...As far as the dissertation and its author are concerned, I would ignore the matter were it not for one distressing fact: that the author is himself a member of the Congregation for the Causes of Saints...

...This is not to deny that seemingly extraneous considerations cannot legitimately, be taken into account...

...One letter ended with a plea to let Jaegerstaetter rest in peace because "er hat sein Schicksal verdient" ("he got what he deserved...

...This seems to be happening in the case of a contemporary martyr, Franz Jaegerstaetter, the Austrian peasant beheaded in Berlin on August 9,1943 for his refusal to serve in what he was convinced was an unjust war being waged by an immoral regime...

...That stubborn opposition has been interpreted by some critics as evidence that Jaegerstaetter's objection was political, not spiritual, and for this reason not meriting canonization...

...And the written record clearly states the motive behind this refusal: after completing his previous term of training, Jaegerstaetter had returned to his village and told friends and family he would never go again because putting on the Nazi uniform made him "feel dirty...

...This conclusion rests upon a factual misstatement...

...It is troubling to consider that "following orders" in such a war can serve as a political asset (consider Waldheim's election as president), while refusing to do so on moral grounds becomes an embarrassment to responsible leaders of the church...

...Since those words were taken from letters and statements in his own handwriting, such charges border on malice...

...The dissertation describes Jaegerstaetter as an Austrian "who proclaimed himself to be a total pacifist during his service in the military of World War II Germany...

...Unfortunately, this connection is seldom made by those responsible for the formation of individual consciences in time of war...

...Many Christians are convinced Jaegerstaetter already enjoys his reward in that "community of saints" to which he so fervently aspired...

...And he went to his death with such serenity that the chaplain who accompanied him to the executioner's block declared afterward that he was "the only saint I have known in my life...

...There is a touch of irony in Jaegerstaetter's martyrdom...

...Where unbridled sexual license and promiscuity prevailed, she noted, there was a Maria Goretti willing to give her life in witness to the virtues of purity and virginity...

...What he "proclaimed" at the induction center and, later, at his trial before the Supreme Military Tribunal, was the unshakeable moral conviction that as a Catholic he was forbidden to take part in an unjust war and serve an immoral regime that was persecuting his church...

...Formal canonization can add nothing to those joys...

...His letters and other written testimony make it clear that he committed much of this to memory...

...Despite the official statements of recent popes, Vatican Council II, and the bishops of the United States, recognizing the legitimacy of conscientious objection for Catholics is still not respected or regarded as "orthodox" by the majority of the faithful in the pews-nor, I fear, of those in the sacristy either...

...Like More's, Jaegerstaetter's refusal had its political dimension, but this should be no surprise...

...Recent developments, however, have made me abandon that posture to address serious challenges which tend to cast doubt upon the validity of Jaegerstaetter's claim to recognition-and, by inference, my professional integrity...

...Thus the effort to promote the canonization of Dorothy Day, for example, combines recognition of personal sanctity with the moral lessons to be learned from her life and works of sacrificial charity...

...Every spiritual adviser he consulted-local priests, prison chaplains, even his bishop in a personal audience-urged him to consider his family and withdraw his refusal, assuring Jaegerstaetter that responsibility for whatever evil he might be called upon to do would lie with those who gave him the orders...

...It has been suggested, for example, that an "uneducated and inarticulate" peasant could not have taken the stand he did, that the arguments attributed to him were "words put into his mouth" after his death...

...This is untrue...

...Where lavish and self-indulgent lifestyles flourished, as in thirteenth-century Italy, Francis of Assisi and many of his followers fashioned a way of life devoted to Lady Poverty...

...A problem arises when this purpose is reversed, however, when formal recognition is denied an otherwise qualified candidate for canonization because of prudential fears that honoring him or her might "send the wrong message...

...True, he probably would not have been able to explain his action in terms of the conditions and principles developed and elaborated upon by learned theologians over the centuries-though these may have been mentioned by the bishop in that remarkable audience in which, as that worthy wrote following the war, he had set before the stubborn peasant "all the moral principles defining the degree of responsibility borne by citizens and private individuals for the actions of the civil authority...

...The omission, if true, is remarkable in its own right...

...There's the rub...

...The wealthy young man told to sell all he had and give the proceeds to the poor failed to pass the test...

...For many, the concept of sainthood is an outmoded relic of a spiritually unsophisticated past...

...Neither Jaegerstaetter nor others had the slightest doubt as to what the outcome would be...

...For him, the war was wrong and Hitler and his regime were evil...

...Having been privileged to "discover" this martyr, I have something of a personal "investment" in his cause for canonization...

...He then goes on to warn that "initiation of such a cause of canonization [Jaegerstaetter's] could potentially go beyond a declaration of the sancity of one individual to imply a preference for pacifism, which would have serious implications for the just war theory" [italics added...

...Quite apart from the question of whether being a "total pacifist" should be a disqualification, canonizing Jaegerstaetter would imply honoring him as a conscientious objector...

...But there remains that problem of "implications...

...Even so, simple logic should demand that wars which violate the conditions of a "just" war must be "unjust," leaving Christians with the moral obligation to refuse to support them or take part in them...

...True, his simple Volksschule education would approximate our fifth-grade level, but it was supplemented by Jaegerstaetter's many hours-especially in the "breaks" he took while working in the fields-spent in studying the Bible, and reading devotional pamphlets and the lives of the saints...

...An even more threatening objection has been raised which, though it ignores the question of the candidate's spiritual commitment or heroic virtue, could carry considerable weight with the Congregation for the Causes of Saints...

...But this positive development must be balanced by other formidable obstacles that still lie ahead if, or when, the Jaegerstaetter cause is formally presented in Rome...

...Most sociologists, uncomfortable with the religious implications of Walsh's "spiritual dynamic" explanation, treat canonization and the formal process leading to'it as nothing more than an effective vehicle of doctrinal didactic employed by the church for the benefit of the faithful...

...in their differing contexts, both are probably correct...

...In a sense his refusal could be taken as a model of how the "just war" theory could work if it were taken seriously...

...A British report at the time of Pope John Paul II's visit to Mauthausen indicated that, given the pope's practice of acknowledging local heroes on such occasions, plans to honor, perhaps even beatify, Jaegerstaetter had been sidetracked at the last moment...

...Given the nature of a totalitarian order, any refusal to submit-even with the purest of religious motives-will necessarily have "political" overtones...

...In Jaegerstaetter's case, assuming all the documentary evidence is given due weight, I am confident that the peasant's martyrdom and the heroic virtue it demonstrated will be acknowledged...

...The traditional criteria of heroic virtue still apply, of course, but they assume an added measure of significance in their contrast with contemporary mores and patterns of behavior in which such virtues are routinely ignored or violated...

...Every candidacy should be subjected to a rigorous investigation...

...Formal canonization elevates those honored to the status of models suited to the particular urgencies of a specific time and situation...

...As the author should have known from the source he cites, Jaegerstaetter had already served in uniform for at least one, possibly two, tours of military service...

...It is true, of course, that if (as I believe) no modern war can meet the theological conditions for a "just war," Jaegerstaetter's canonization could create a troublesome model for young people called to service in any future war...