t eanco VOL. 34, NO. 49 .--Friday, December 14, 1990
FALL RIVER, MASS.
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Gulf war simplistic solution says Archbishop¡ Roach
MIRROR IMAGES: Rev. Arnold R. Medeiros finds something familiar about decorations honoring his 15th anniversary as chaplain of Taunton Catholic Middle School. Students Paula Fernande and Keith Mack were among those who conspired last week to deck the walls with 1,,000 photos of the school's spiritual director. (Marc Vasconcellos photo courtesy of Taunton Daily Gazette)
Pope, Jewish leaders meet at Vatican VATICAN CITY (CNS) - Pope John Paul II and international Jewish leaders, meeting for the first time in three years, promised to continue the dialogue begun with the Second Vatican Council and outlined areas of continuing concern. During last week's meeting, Jewish leaders asked the Vatican to establish diplomatic relations with Israel. The pope, meeting the 30 me'mbers of the International Jewish Committee on Interreligious Consultations, called for peace among Christians, Jews and Muslims in the Holy Land. Seymour D. Reich, committee chairman, asked the pope to con-
tinue speaking against anti-Semitism, especially in his native Poland and other East European countries. Sponsored by the Vatican's Commission for Religious Relations with the Jews, the meeting was a celebration of the 25th anniversary of"N ostra Aetate," a Vatican II document on relations with nonChristian religions. The document was promulgated Oct. 28, 1965. Vatican meetings with the international Jewish group, the church's official Jewish partner in dialogue, broke off in 1987 after several incidents that Jews felt displayed Catholic insensitivity. The incidents included the presence of a Carmelite convent at the Turn to Page II
WASHINGTON (CNS) Those who say war in the Persian Gulf is inevitable are giving "much too quick a judgment and far too simple a solution," said the chairman of the U,S. bishops' Commit-, tee on International Policy in testimony last week before the Senate' Foreign Relations Committee. Archbishop John R. Roach of St. Paul-M inneapolis, in oral testimony. added that "non-military options should be given a much longer time to work." The international embargo against Iraq. which triggered the Gulf crisis with its Aug. 2 takeover of Kuwait, "needs time to be effective," Archbishop Roach said. "The embargo cannot be dismissed before it has had the time needed to achieve its legitimate objectives." U.S. objectives in the Persian Gulf have included punishing Iraqi aggression, liberating Kuwait, defending Saudi Arabia, freeing foreign nationals detained in Iraq, access to oil, and derailing Iraq's potential for making a nuclear bomb. "The longer the list of purposes is, the more difficult it is to achieve either clarity or success" in the Gulf, Archbishop Roach said. "Some turn this extended list of objectives into a series of tests, where all tests ... become the minimum the United States must achieve in the Gulf," he said. "This analysis almost inevitably leads to the conclusion that the use of deadly force is absolutely necessary for the United States. This multiplication of objectives is troubling, both politically and
do not believe the principle of last resort has been met." In response to committee ques~ tioning, Archbishop Roach said, "many other options" were available before resorting to war. He told Catholic News Service after his testimony, "We have not explored the economic or political options long enough .... A few months" of an economic embargo "it seems to me is not enough." The test of proportionality is met by proving the objectives sought in war to be "proportionate to the damage to be done and the human costs to be incurred," Archbishop Roach told the Senate committee. "Will this war be as swift, neat and clear-cut as some suggest, with more than 400,000 allied forces facing over 600,000 Iraqi forces?" he asked. "Air warfare would be waged against -an industrial and populous society," the archbishop continued. "Many military targets are located in cities and populated areas. Can we adequately discriminate between civilians and aggressors?" The U.S. response "will set an important precedent for international order," Archbishop Roach, said. "This is why we are so insist-
ent that political and nonviolent means be fully pursued in order to deter and reverse aggression." To meet U.S. objectives without resorting to war, he said, "would be a resounding achievement for U.S. policy and for international order. It is this outcome which I believe should be strongly desired" effectively sought and fervently prayed for." But to use force now "could well violate traditional moral criteria, undermine domestic unity and global solidarity against Iraq and bring about an exceedingly dangerous, divisive, bloody and unnecessary war," Archbishop Roach said. The archbishop was one of a panel of religious figures appearing before the Senate committee. Others testifying were: t~e Rev. Jesse Jackson; Dale L. Bishop, director of the Middle East office of the National Council of Churches; Sidney Kwestel, chairman of the Union of Orthodox Jewish Congregations of America; and ,Bishop Albion W, Knight Jr., presiding bishop of the United Episcopal Church of North America, which he said was a "traditional Anglican" denomination with 2,500 member churches.
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Archbishop Roach highlighted tests outlined in Catholic teaching on the just war theory. Noting the necessity that a "proper authority" determine that war needs to be waged, he said, "we all have an interest in shaping a decision which benefits from the widest range of insight, wisdom and judgment.. .. Our national interest will best be served by defining'proper authority' broadly, not narrowly." The test of last resort insists that a nation "fully pursue all reasonable political, diplomatic and economic means to resist aggression," Archbishop Roach said. Noting the brief time the embargo has been in effect, he added, "I
Anniversary ( Sunday is the 20th anni": versary of Bishop Daniel A. Cronin's installation as Ordinary of the Fall River diocese. Ad multos annos!
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A PROUD Father Francis L. Mahoney leans forward to give his mother, Mrs. Francis C. Mahoney of St. Lawrence parish, New Bedford, a congratulatory kiss as she receives the Marian Medal from Bishop Daniel A. Cronin at Cathedral ceremonies last Sunday. She was among 98 persons to receive the award, presented for outstanding parish service. (Gaudette photo)
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