Before I Forget&
"I am a soldier of Christ and it is not lawful for me to fight."
       -St. Martin of Tours- died 397

         One of our Roman Catholic saints is Martin of Tours (France) whose feast we celebrated last Monday, November 11.  Martin was born in what is now Hungary.  As the son of a "military" father, the law at that time required that he enter the Roman army at the age of fifteen.  According to "tradition", he didn't want to join the army and was inducted in chains.  Several years later, while stationed in France, this young pagan man had a profound conversion.  Martin encountered a shivering beggar one winter day.  The beggar was asking for help.  Since Martin had no money, he removed his "military" cloak and cut it in half, giving half to the beggar and keeping the other half for himself.  That night he dreamed he saw Jesus wearing the part he had given away.  That dream made him ask for baptism in the Catholic Christian Church.  That dream, for Martin, was about encountering Christ in the poor, and the belief that the way of Christ is the way of nonviolence.  He asked to be discharged from the army and his request was denied.  He was called a coward and was imprisoned.  After the war with the barbarians ended, he was released from prison and discharged from the army.  He became a monk, and then a bishop.  His life as a bishop was about Christian peacemaking.  He opposed all forms of violence, even against heretics& being criticized for "heretical sympathies." 
     Recently, on October 17, the Catholic Church in the United States lost its own Martin of Tours.  Jesuit Father Richard McSorley died of heart disease in Washington, D.C. at the age of 88.  Fr. McSorley was an ex-prisoner of war, a professor at Georgetown, a pacifist, a friend of U.S. Presidents and the poorest of the poor, and a strong advocate of peace and justice.  Through his efforts, the "Catholic" Georgetown University began the Center for Peace Studies.  Father McSorley believed strongly in promoting peace in our country and throughout the world.  And, he was criticized harshly for his views.  Maybe Fr. Mc Sorley is best known for his quote, "It's a sin to build a nuclear weapon."  He believed that our own vibrant society (public) is a result of our intent to use nuclear weapons, and that "public morality is doomed to failure as long as we consent to use nuclear weapons Fr. McSorley was a Jesuit for 70 years.  He was tall, thin, soft spoken and almost always wore his Roman collar.             Although a professor at the prestigious Georgetown, he ministered to D.C. prostitutes, kids at Georgetown, conscientious objectors to war, the rich and the poor who lived in this beat-up old car plastered with peace bumper stickers.  He was  comfortable with any and all.  He was a joy-filled man. 
     As a young Jesuit scholastic he was sent to teach in the Philippines.  In December 1941, a week after Pearl Harbor, he and other Jesuits were sent to a Japanese Concentration camp until February 1945.  He returned to the States, studied theology and was ordained a Jesuit priest.  Right after ordination in 1948, he was assigned to a parish in Maryland. At this parish, whites came to Holy Communion first, Blacks had to wait outside.  Whites sat on one side, blacks on the other side.  He realized that the Body of Christ was "STILL" racist in Maryland in 1948! 
     Many folks didn't always agree with Fr. McSorley's positions and passions about peace, his response was:  "That's all right, you have a right to be wrong."  You had to love this 88-year-old Jesuit priest.  Even if you didn't agree with him, he allowed folks to be themselves.  McSorley taught students at Georgetown that war might be conducted in the service of oil, the flag, power, money "or other worldly things" but that war "will not be serving Jesus Christ, and that's why we cannot be part of it." 
     Father McSorley said:  "I see my mission in life, as God has made it known to me, to help make the Catholic church what it should be, a peace church.  To be a Christian means to have respect for life in all its forms and in today's nuclear age that means Christians must become active witnesses for peace and must firmly oppose all forms of war." 
     I strongly believe that our young people need to be exposed to the thinking of St. Martin of Tours and Fr. Richard  McSorley.  We are at a critical moment in history!  Our president is marshalling support for invading Iraq.  Our military has been moving since September 11, 2001, to hunt down Osama bin Laden and now to remove Saddam Hussein by any means as leader of Iraq.  Even though we know that Hussein is a tyrant, don't you cringe at the thought of war?  Innocent citizens of Iraq have endured 10 years of weekly bombings by U.S. and British planes.  Nearly 5,000 Iraqi children die each month because of the economic sanctions imposed on their country.  Medical care, basic food and safe water do not exist for these helpless victims of the sanctions following the Gulf War.
     It's not easy to be a peacemaker these days.  Our government calls us to support the president's "war against terrorism."  As gospel people, we need an alternative to war... even to the Just War Theory.  Following my conscience as a Catholic Christian, I have problems with the Bush administration policies towards Iraq because I take Jesus seriously.  (I am sure Mr. Bush is a good Christian, but as Fr. McSorley says, 'you have the right to be wrong'). I find it difficult to be thrilled about what's happening when I read Jesus saying if your enemy hungers, feed him; if your enemy is naked, clothe him; if he is sick, care for him.  Jesus is all about returning good for evil. 
     You can disagree with me (even close friends do) but we cannot disagree with the gospel of Jesus and still call ourselves disciples.  I only ask that you discuss this column with young people, high school and college age, who will be called on to fight this war.  Can this great country find an alternative to a nuclear war?  Saddam wants nukes and President Bush says he'll use them...   God help us!
Fr. Bill