Praying for Syria

At the behest of Pope Francis, Catholics in the Capital District will gather at the Church of St. Mary in Clinton Heights at 7 p.m. Saturday to pray for peace in Syria. The service will include a rosary for peace, a litany for God’s peace, and exposition and adoration of the Most Blessed Sacrament.

Also, the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops has written a letter to Congress opposing military intervention in Syria. They write, in part:

We absolutely condemn the use of chemical weapons in Syria. These indiscriminate weapons have no place in the arsenals of the family of nations. With you we mourn for the lives lost and grieve with the families of the deceased. At the same time, we remain profoundly concerned for the more than 100,000 Syrians who have lost their lives, the more than 2 million who have fled the country as refugees, and the more than 4 million within Syria who have been driven from their homes by the violence. Our focus is on the humanitarian catastrophe unfolding in Syria and on saving lives by ending the conflict, not fueling it.  

We have heard the urgent calls of the Successor of Saint Peter, Pope Francis, and our suffering brother bishops of the venerable and ancient Christian communities of the Middle East. As one, they beg the international community not to resort to military intervention in Syria. They have made it clear that a military attack will be counterproductive, will exacerbate an already deadly situation, and will have unintended negative consequences. Their concerns strongly resonate in American public opinion that questions the wisdom of intervention and in the lack of international consensus.  

We make our own the appeal of Pope Francis: "I exhort the international community to make every effort to promote clear proposals for peace in that country without further delay, a peace based on dialogue and negotiation, for the good of the entire Syrian people. May no effort be spared in guaranteeing humanitarian assistance to those wounded by this terrible conflict, in particular those forced to flee and the many refugees in nearby countries."  

The Congressional resolution acknowledges that "the conflict in Syria will only be resolved through a negotiated political settlement." A central moral question is: Will more or less lives and livelihoods be destroyed by military intervention? On this question Pope Francis has been clear: "How much suffering, how much devastation, how much pain has the use of arms carried in its wake in that martyred country, especially among civilians and the unarmed!" Instead of employing armed force, in this situation our nation, working with the international community, should direct all of its energies urgently and tirelessly toward dialogue and negotiation.  

The longstanding position of our Conference of Bishops is that the Syrian people urgently need a political solution. We ask the United States to work with other governments to obtain a ceasefire, initiate serious negotiations, provide impartial humanitarian assistance, and encourage efforts to build an inclusive society in Syria that protects the rights of all its citizens, including Christians and other minorities.

Bishops Write to Secretary Clinton

On behalf of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, the Chairman of their Committee on International Justice and Peace has written to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton:

The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops shares the hopes expressed by Pope Benedict XVI earlier this year: “In the Holy Land, where tensions between Palestinians and Israelis affect the stability of the entire Middle East, it is necessary that the leaders of these two peoples adopt courageous and farsighted decisions in favor of peace. … I express my hope that [negotiations] … will lead to a lasting peace which guarantees the right of the two peoples to dwell in security in sovereign states and within secure and internationally recognized borders.”

The entire letter is here.

Are we doing this right?

U.S. Catholic magazine has an informative interview with an expert in international relations who had advised both the Clinton and Bush administrations. According to the article, “Maryann Cusimano Love knew that it was only a matter of time before terrorists would hit the United States, but it was a dead car battery that kept her out of harm’s way on September 11. She was supposed to be teaching a class on terrorism in the wing of the Pentagon that was hit. All of her students survived, and one briefed the president that night.” From the interview:

Are our actions at least making us safer?

People think that, because we’ve spent a whole lot of money since September 11, we are safer. The dirty secret is that most spending on the War on Terror has had nothing to do with combating terrorism. A lot of defense contractors have gotten very rich off our fear and have not made us one iota safer, while a lot of the programs that actually could and do make us safer are struggling for financial and political support.  

Sometimes the simple things are the most effective ways to make us safe. Updating our roads and bridges, improving air traffic safety, and protecting our food supply and public health systems protect us against an array of everyday threats and from terrorists exploiting our civilian infrastructure.  

Instead we’re spending billions on a Cold War military architecture, like aircraft carriers and the latest fighter jets for the Air Force, when Al Qaeda doesn’t have an air force. There’s a real mismatch between our values and what we’re doing to combat terrorism, and also a mismatch between what we’re doing and what actually works.

What works in fighting terrorism then?

The good news is that terrorists have never defeated a democratic state. Terrorism doesn’t win. It is, by definition, a desperate attempt by a minority group that does not have mass public support. Al Qaeda isn’t organizing mass social movements in central squares in Egypt and Jordan because they don’t have that kind of support.
Al Qaeda is of great concern to the United States, but groups that deliberately target noncombatants have been around since at least the 1700s. When terrorist groups have been defeated, it’s been by slow, long-term pressure, using law enforcement and intelligence, and addressing the larger-scale grievances that give greater sympathy and support to the cause.

The rest of the interview is here.

Be Part of the Solution for Peace

The Oneness in Peace Spiritual Center/Ecumenical House of Prayer, located at 49 Main Street in Germantown, is offering a program titled You Can Make A Difference: Be Part of the Solution for Peace on Wednesday, September 21, from 12:30 p.m. to 1:30 p.m.

Participants will learn to create a more peace-filled and just environment through contemplative and intercessory prayer for personal and global peace. Everyone is welcome. Registration is not necessary. Free will offering.

For more information, call 537-5678 or e-mail info@onenessinpeace.org

Be Part of the Solution for Peace

The Oneness in Peace Spiritual Center/Ecumenical House of Prayer, located at 49 Main Street in Germantown, is offering a program titled You Can Make A Difference: Be Part of the Solution for Peace on Wednesday, April 20, from 12:30 p.m. to 1:30 p.m.

Participants will learn to create a more peace-filled and just environment through contemplative and intercessory prayer for personal and global peace. Everyone is welcome. Registration is not necessary. Free will offering.

For more information, call 537-5678 or e-mail info@onenessinpeace.org

Peace vigil

The monthly peace vigil at St. Thomas Church in Delmar will be held on Saturday, May 2 at 12 noon around the Peace Pole on the Adams Place side of the Church. For more information, call the church at 439-4951.

World Day of Peace

January 1 is the World Day of Peace. The Holy Father’s message for this day focuses on the call to promote human dignity by fight poverty around the world.

Quotes from the Message of His Holiness Pope Benedict XVI for
the Celebration of the World Day of Peace
“Fighting Poverty To Build Peace”
January 1, 2009

Poverty contributes to conflict.
“Back in 1993, my venerable Predecessor Pope John Paul II, in his Message for the World Day of Peace that year, drew attention to the negative repercussions for peace when entire populations live in poverty. Poverty is often a contributory factor or a compounding element in conflicts, including armed ones. In turn, these conflicts fuel further tragic situations of poverty. “Our world”, he wrote, “shows increasing evidence of another grave threat to peace: many individuals and indeed whole peoples are living today in conditions of extreme poverty” (no. 1).

Poverty is a threat to human dignity.
“The gap between rich and poor has become more marked, even in the most economically developed nations. This is a problem which the conscience of humanity cannot ignore, since the conditions in which a great number of people are living are an insult to their innate dignity and as a result are a threat to the authentic and harmonious progress of the world community” (no. 1).

Wealthy societies suffer from moral and spiritual poverty.
“Non-material forms of poverty exist which are not the direct and automatic consequence of material deprivation. For example, in advanced wealthy societies, there is evidence of marginalization, as well as affective, moral and spiritual poverty, seen in people whose interior lives are disoriented and who experience various forms of malaise despite their economic prosperity. On the one hand, I have in mind what is known as “moral underdevelopment”, and on the other hand the negative consequences of ‘superdevelopment’” (no. 2).

You can read more here.

Peace in the Holy Land

The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, in partnership with Churches for Middle Eawst Peace, provide the following Advent resource for Peace in the Holy Land:

Advent is a time of waiting. During this season, we look with eager anticipation to the coming of Christ into our lives and our world. Our longing for what will come can awaken us to the yearning, in the hearts of many Israelis and Palestinians, for a lasting peace in their land. During Advent, as Christians in the U.S. we pray for a just peace for the Jews, Christians, and Muslims in the Holy Land.
. . .
Christian leaders and congregants from across the country are joining together this Advent and New Year season to urge the next president to make Israeli-Palestinian peacemaking an immediate foreign policy priority. American Christians, together with Jews and Muslims, have an important role to play in praying for peace and in raising their voices with elected officials and with the wider public.

You can learn more here.

Promote Peace in the Land of Jesus' Birth

As we await the coming of the Prince of Peace this Advent season, Bishop Howard Hubbard, in his new role as Chairman of the Committee on International Justice and Peace of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB), invites us to promote peace in the land of Jesus' birth.

Bishop Hubbard is among a group of prominent Christian leaders urging President-elect Barack Obama “to make achievement of Israeli-Palestinian peace an immediate priority” during his first year in office.

You also can sign a letter to President-elect Obama, which will be delivered to him around the time of his inauguration. This link explains the letter and its purpose and provides a link to the letter itself and a way for you to add your name to the signatories.