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Pax Christi After the slaughter of millions of people by Christian nations during World War II, there arose a profound desire for peace, especially among German and French laypersons. The inspiration came from Pierre-Marie Theas, Bishop of Montauban in the South of France. During the war he was one of the only bishops to protest the deportation of Jews from France, “I give voice to the outraged protest of Christian conscience, and I proclaim that all men, whatever their race or religion, have the right to be respected by individuals and by states.” “One evening in 1944 Bishop Theas spoke in his cathedral against the deportation of Jews and young Frenchmen who were being sent to forced labor camps. The next day he was arrested and spent several weeks in a prison camp at Compiegne. While he was there the other prisoners asked him to lead them in prayer and reflection. He chose to preach on ‘Love your enemies’ and suggested that they should pray for their jailers. This provoked a strong reaction. They found it hard to accept. When Theas had the chance to say Mass in the camp he offered it for Germany.” (Pax Christi International- History) The second seed of inspiration for Pax Christi was a teacher, Marthe Dortel-Claudot, married and a mother, from the South of France, who in 1944, reflecting on the suffering of the German people began to pray for them, writing in her Journal: “Jesus died for everyone. Nobody should be excluded from one’s prayers.” By the mystery of divine providence she found Bishop Theas and together they launched Pax Christi, a vision of reconciliation. CPF is a chapter of Pax Christi U.S.A. seeking to be faithful to our heritage. Some of the early leaders are names you may recognize, Eileen Eagan, friend of Dorothy Day, Richard McSorley, SJ of Georgetown who was imprisoned by the Japanese in World War II in the Philippines, Bishop Thomas Gumbleton of Detroit, and Gordon Zahn, C.O. in World War II and professor at Boston University. Tom Gumbleton is the only one of this group still with us. Total opposition to all war, or pacifism, is our heritage, joy and burden. To summarize pacifism briefly seems an impossible task, but with no assurance of orthodoxy the following are some kernels. Stanley Hauerwas, Duke theologian, is my resource; The Hauerwas Reader “Defensible Christian pacifism thereby derives its intelligibility not from any one set of teachings of Jesus but rather from the very form of his life and death. . . . Pacifism, therefore, is not some teaching about nonviolence but rather a way of talking about a community that has learned to deal with conflicts through truth rather than violence – and that truth is no general teaching about agape but the concrete presence of a life. . . . Christian nonresistance is a form of discipleship to Jesus, not in a legalistic way but rather as he is, so are we in this world.” To paraphrase Hauerwas, the death and resurrection of Christ are utterly unique events in the story of humanity and change everything; we become part of a “socially embodied community that lives by forgiveness.” It is not that Jesus would not fight the powers, of religion and state, “but rather refused to fight them on their terms.” So too, Dorothy Day took umbrage when many abandoned her during World War II for her pacifism, but, she, in stark words, said she was engaged in war every minute bandaging the victims of society’s war on the poor; who in many instances were as battered as the wounded on the battleground. She was unequivocal in her refusal to sanction killing for any reason. “Love is not the starving of whole populations. Love is not the bombardment of open cities. Love is not killing. Love is the laying down of one’s life for one’s friends.” (February, 1942) Formed as we are in pragmatism and concrete outcomes, let alone success, such heroic sacrifice seems beyond the pale, beyond our capacity. As Wendell Berry says, “We cling to the hopeless paradox of making peace by making war.” Hauerwas notes only a community can undertake such a monumental task. The community is called church. Stretch back to the origin of the church: it was unthinkable for a Christian to be a Roman soldier. Today pacifism within Roman Catholicism is a small voice but in the broader church. I have been taught by the witness of Mennonites, Quakers and other peace churches. Pacifism is not a dream. I think of Kathy Bergen, a friend, a Mennonite who gave up a position as Director of the Mid-East Office at the American Friends Service Committee in Philadelphia to go to Ramallah in the West Bank to aid the Palestinians to whom she has devoted her life. An e-mail last week described a battle a block from her home between Israeli troops and some Palestinians. Four youth were killed and many wounded. Kathy, I know, despite her passion for Palestinians, could never take up arms in their defense, but would give her life. It is the way she understands being Christian. Joe Bradley |