The Iran nuclear deal

The Chair of the Committee on International Justice and Peace of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops has written to Congress urging passage of the recent nuclear deal with Iran. The deal aims to curb Iran’s development of nuclear weapons while allowing the country to use nuclear energy for peaceful purposes.

In his letter, Bishop Oscar Cantú of Las Cruces, New Mexico, wrote:

Since 2007, our Committee on International Justice and Peace, reflecting the longstanding position of the Holy See, has urged our nation to pursue diplomacy to ensure Iran’s compliance with its obligations under the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty. For years, we have supported dialogue and a negotiated resolution of the conflict in collaboration with international partners.

It is no small achievement that the United States, the United Kingdom, the Russian Federation, China, Germany and France have reached this agreement with Iran. We hope that the full implementation of the agreement will gradually foster an environment in which all parties build mutual confidence and trust, so that progress will be made toward greater stability and dialogue in the region.  In that spirit, our Committee will continue to urge Congress to endorse the result of these intense negotiations because the alternative leads toward armed conflict, an outcome of profound concern to the Church.

The entire letter is available here.

Bishop Hubbard Commends Senate Ratification of New Start Treaty

The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops today issued the following news release:

Bishop Howard J. Hubbard of Albany, NY, chairman of the Committee on International Justice and Peace of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, commended today’s ratification of the New START Treaty by the Senate.

“I welcome today’s ratification of the New START Treaty by the Senate,” Bishop Hubbard said. “It was important that senators joined across party lines to support this Treaty. The Holy See and our Bishops’ Conference have long supported efforts to promote nuclear disarmament and non-proliferation based on the Church’s moral concern for indiscriminate and disproportionate weapons.”

The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops has been a steadfast supporter of strong and bipartisan action on the New START Treaty.

The rest of the release is here.

Presentation about Nuclear Weapons

Scott Ritter and Dr. Larry Wittner will speak about Nuclear Weapons Dangers Today.

WHEN -- Tuesday, December 1st, 7:00 p.m.

WHERE -- Roger Bacon Hall 202 (Key Auditorium), Siena College

Co-sponsored by:
School of Liberal Arts/Peace Studies
The Franciscan Center for Service and Advocacy Bonner Service Leaders Program
Bethlehem Neighbors for Peace

Mr. Ritter and Dr. Wittner also will be signing their most recent books, which will be for sale at the event.

Scott Ritter has had an extensive and distinguished career in government service. He is an intelligence specialist with a 12-year career in the U.S. Marine Corps including assignments in the former Soviet Union and the Middle East. Rising to the rank of Major, Ritter spent several months of the Gulf War serving under General Norman Schwarzkopf with US Central Command headquarters in Saudi Arabia, where he played an instrumental role in formulating and implementing combat operations targeting Iraqi mobile missile launchers which threatened Israel. In 1991, Ritter joined the United Nations weapons inspections team, or UNSCOM. He participated in 34 inspection missions, 14 of them as chief inspector. Ritter resigned from UNSCOM in August 1998, citing US interference in the work of the inspections. He is the author of many books, including Iraq Confidential: The Untold Story of the Intelligence Conspiracy to Undermine the UN and Overthrow Saddam Hussein and most recently Target Iran: The Truth About the White House’s Plans for Regime Change.

Lawrence S. Wittner is Professor of History at the State University of New York/Albany, and a former president of the Peace History Society. His books include Rebels Against War (1969, rev. ed. 1984), Cold War America (1974, rev. ed. 1978), and American Intervention in Greece (1982). His most extensive project was an award-winning, scholarly trilogy entitled The Struggle Against the Bomb (1993-2003). In June 2009, he came out with an abbreviated version: Confronting the Bomb: A Short History of the World Nuclear Disarmament Movement. He has also edited or co-edited four other books, co-edited the scholarly journal Peace & Change, and written about 200 published articles and book reviews.

For further information, contact Dr. Mo Hannah (Hannah@siena.edu)

Respect Life Month

Adam Rossi of The Evangelist reports on an upcoming presentation on nuclear weapons:

With October being Respect Life Month, many Catholics may spend their time advocating to end abortion, prevent euthanasia or promote respect for people with disabilities.

But how many will think about nuclear warfare?

“Growing up during the Cold War, this seemed to me to be the preeminent issue of our time and in many ways it still is,” said Dr. Lawrence Wittner, a professor at The University at Albany, who will speak on “The Necessity of Nuclear Abolition” Oct. 27 at St. Thomas the Apostle Church in Delmar.

For decades, many Catholics have counted nuclear disarmament — or at least arms control — as a central issue in the pro-life spectrum.

Generally, however, attention to the consistent ethic of life has generally swirled around abortion, birth control, embryonic stem cell research, assisted suicide and reproductive technology.

Nuclear disarmament had moved down the list until recent scares over the bomb-making capabilities of North Korea and Iran.

You can read more here.

Nuclear weapons

Former Secretary of state George Shultz has joined the effort to eliminate nuclear weapons. The Washington Post blog God in Government notes:

The fact is that Schultz has been working on that for a while with some old friends -- former Secretary of State Henry Kissinger, ex-Senator Sam Nunn and former Defense Secretary William J. Perry.
. . .
It's another issue around which Christians of various stripes have been able to achieve at least some common ground, including global warming, immigration, poverty and abortion.

This is the latest news in the on-going effort to eliminate nuclear weapons. Statements on this issue from the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops can be found here.