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Graduation Excitation
The first time I fully realized the moral stakes at a commencement was over 10 years ago. For a brief moment I was to share the stage with none other than George Bush the Elder. It was after the triumph of the first Persian Gulf war, an exercise I found myself opposing along with a paltry 10 percent
The Future of Sexual Abuse Litigation
Since early 2002, the legal world has become much more dangerous for the church than it was previously. The future looks bleak because of three major developments in the sexual abuse crisis. The first major development is that more sexual abuse cases will be filed against the churchthat is, the numb
Is Anybody Listening?
After some three years living at the Pontifical Biblical Institute in Jerusalem and many conversations with Israelis and Palestinians, I find it difficult to avoid a pessimistic response to their question, “Is anybody listening?” Simply put, nobody is listening, at least nobody who has p
Correction, Si; Defection, No
It scarcely needs repeating that the future of Catholicism in the United States will be shaped by Hispanics, who at 34 million are already the most numerous minority in the country and constitute a majority of Catholics in many dioceses. The religious affiliation of these Hispanics will largely dete
Just Policing, Not War
Virtually every Christian tradition is trying to have it both ways on war. Twenty years ago the U.S. bishops published The Challenge of Peace, which explicitly paired just war and pacifism as legitimate Christian responses to war. Three years later, Methodist bishops in the United States made a simi
Film
All of the Above: Bruce Almighty
God is a multiple choice quiz. Which God will we choose? One turns nosy old women into pillars of salt, slips serpents down the togas of Egyptians and sets Satan loose on his best friend just to see how he will stand up under the boils and windy advice of neighbors. Another rains down Wonder Bread i
Letters
Letters

War Theory

This letter is in reference to Unjust War, Good Outcomes (5/19), by John F. Kavanaugh, S.J. The recondite philosophical analysis of just war theory in the case of Iraq ranks close behind the angels dancing on the pin issue. Why not ask how many Iraqis need to be raped and have their tongues cut out before some soreheads can feel better about losing the last election?

Is it really correct to use morality and just war theory to protect evildoers while they kill and torture thousands of innocents? Is it good sense to search so hard for a rationale to condemn those with the better spirit while injustice runs rampant?

Why not look at other alternatives, such as whether war is even the best term to describe the Iraqi action before getting carried away with war theory? Or how about rationalizing on the basis of the lesser of evils theory?

John M. Michels

Ministering to People With AIDS
Switching from parochial school teaching in upstate New York to ministering to people with AIDS in a poor neighborhood of New York City is a very big leap indeed. But that radical switch is precisely the one made by Maureen O’Neill, who for almost seven years has served as a Redemptorist lay m
The Soldiers Came Asking
The Catholic Church in the United States has come to identify “peace and justice” issues as the call for the church to speak out and challenge policy makers. The church must not only salve the wounds of war and injustice, but prevent them at their systemic source.   But these days,
Undermining Antiterrorism: When National Security and Immigration Policy Collide
Over the last two months, thousands of Pakistani immigrants have abandoned their U.S. homes to seek refuge in Canada. Most wait fearfully in shelters and motels in U.S. border cities for their refugee interviews in Canada. The Immigration and Naturalization Service has arrested others who may or may