Christian leaders must denounce the US war in Iraq
Meet Robert Waldrop (left), one of the leading lights of the Catholic Worker movement in the United States. Bob runs the Oscar Romero Catholic Worker House in Oklahoma, US. His powerful words - more than the way he looks - remind me of a biblical Old Testament prophet speaking truth to power!
The Catholic Worker movement was founded by the late Dorothy Day, who campaigned in defence of the poor, forsaken, hungry and homeless, and Peter Maurin. On her 75th birthday, Day was described by a Jesuit magazine as the individual who best exemplified “the aspiration and action of the American Catholic community during the past forty years.”
In the best traditions of the Catholic Worker movement, Bob has also been vocal in the anti-war movement within the Catholic Church, in line with Pope John Paul II’s opposition to the war in Iraq. He feels that US Catholic Bishops have not done enough to conscientise Catholics about the evils of war, invasion and occupation.
This is an open letter from Bob to His Eminence Francis Cardinal George, OMI, Archbishop of Chicago
Dear Cardinal George
I have read the news reports and the Archdiocesan statement concerning the disruption of an Easter mass that you celebrated at your Cathedral. Your official statement says, in part. . . “This is a profoundly disturbing action. . . It is a sacrilege that should be condemned by all people of faith and good will.”
Although I actively oppose the unjust war the United States is waging on the people of Iraq, I agree that the demonstrators action was disturbing and sacrilegious.
However, theirs was not the first sacrilegious act of that day. The sacrilege commenced when you ascended to the Altar of God and began to celebrate the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass with your hands dripping with the blood of the innocent in Iraq whom you and most of the other United States Catholic Bishops have so callously abandoned to their grisly and violent fates. Like the rest of the US Bishops save one, you issued no canonical declaration forbidding Catholics of the Archdiocese of Chicago from participation in the unjust war on the people of Iraq. A review of your website finds no pastoral letter instructing the souls entrusted to your care about the Church’s teachings on unjust war and condemning the war on the people of Iraq as unjust. Like nearly all of your confreres in the US hierarchy, you have preached a gospel of moral relativism and moral laxism that makes a mockery of the Church’s teachings on life. You claim you want “peace”, but you have done nothing to actually support peace other than to offer pious platitudes and hypocritical rhetoric from your position of safety in your palatial Chicago residence.
Your holidays and festivals I detest, they weigh me down, I tire of the load. When you spread out your hands, I close my eyes to you; though you pray the more, I will not listen. Your hands are full of blood! Wash yourselves clean! Put away your misdeeds before my eyes; cease doing evil, learn to do good. Make justice your aim, redress the wronged, hear the orphan’s plea, defend the widow. Isaiah 1
I am obviously just an obscure Catholic Worker. You and all the other bishops have consistently ignored everything I have had to say to you since I started writing bishops on the Feast of the Holy Innocents in 2001. Which is fine with me, I am not interested in collecting letters of denial from bishops and cardinals making excuses for their moral cowardice. The charism of the Catholic Worker movement is faithfulness to the Gospel of Justice and Peace - even when all of the United States bishops save a small handful choose Nationalism over Catholicism. So once more I write again these words of inconvenient faithfulness, to remind you that God is watching every moment of your reign as Archbishop and Cardinal and you will one day be accountable for these actions.
God was watching when you refused to properly catechize your people about unjust war.
God was watching when you refused to forbid Chicago Catholics from participating in an unjust war.
God was watching when you dined with the Tyrant-Emperor George Bush, and you did not condemn him as a murderer and prosecutor of an unjust war.
A reading from the book of the Prophet Micah. . .
And I said, Listen you leaders of Jacob, house of Israel! Is it not your duty to know what is right, you who hate what is good, and love evil? You who tear their skin from them and their flesh from their bones? They eat the flesh of my people and flay their skin from them, and break their bones. They chop them in pieces like flesh in a kettle, and like meat in a caldron. When they cry to the Lord, he shall not answer them, rather shall God hide from them at that time, because of the evil they have done.
Thus says the LORD regarding the prophets who lead my people astray; Who, when their teeth have something to bite, announce peace, But when one fails to put something in their mouth, proclaim war against him.
Therefore you shall have night, not vision, darkness, not divination; The sun shall go down upon the prophets, and the day shall be dark for them.
Then shall the seers be put to shame, and the diviners confounded; They shall cover their lips, all of them, because there is no answer from God. . . .
Therefore, because of you, Zion shall be plowed like a field, and Jerusalem reduced to rubble, And the mount of the temple to a forest ridge.
So as it turns out, when you condemn these young people, you condemn yourself.
Which is worse? A prince of the church who by any objective judgment is a moral coward who has preached a false gospel of moral laxism and relativism regarding an unjust war? Or a few young people, who hear the cries of the victims, and in despair act out in such a public manner? Is it not true that your own abject failure as a Cardinal Archbishop provoked these young people to such a rash action? Are you not, then, a “secondary disrupter” of your own Mass, and thus have a significant share in the responsibility for their deeds? Have not your actions — or rather, inactions — violated the inalienable rights of the people of Iraq to life? Who, then, is really at fault in this matter? These young protestors? Or a cowardly Cardinal Archbishop, who shuts his eyes, ears, and heart to the cries of the people of Iraq for justice and peace and is a scandal before the entire world?
I write these words to you, in remembrance of the hundreds of thousands of innocent civilians and soldiers who have died in this unjust war on the people of Iraq. One day you will meet them and they will tell you of their terror, pain, and fear and they will ask you, “Why, in the name of God, did you not do something serious to stop this from happening?”
I pray that God has mercy on your soul and brings you to an understanding of the grave evil and moral disorders that you and the other United States Catholic Bishops foster and encourage by your moral cowardice in the face of this unjust war on the people of Iraq
Sincerely,
Bob Waldrop
Oscar Romero Catholic Worker House
1524 NW 21st
Oklahoma City, Oklahoma 73106
www.justpeace.org
A Prayer to Our Lady of Sorrows for Those Who Will Die Today in War
Our Lady of Sorrows,
we pray for all those who will die
today because of war and economic chaos,
especially the children.
Prepare them for the agony, despair,
and terror of the violence that is upon them.
Comfort them and
hold them close to the bosom of
thy most Immaculate Heart
as they drink deeply of the bitter cup
which is forced upon them.
Wipe their tears, calm their fears,
welcome them to peace and safety.
Eternal rest grant to them,
and may perpetual light shine upon them.
Our Most Holy Lady of Sorrows,
Overturn the thrones of tyranny, scatter the unjust,
give us your grace and strength to
stand against the demonic powers
which prowl about the world
seeking the ruin of souls.
Amen.
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War on Iraq was a big mistake.
I thought we only pray to God. Curious to know who this most Holy Lady of Sorrows is. Is she God?
I have a question:-
http://cpwaterman.blogspot.com/2008/03/question-for-you.html
Good for Bob for speaking out. A group of us in the UK have been discussing the Anglican church here for avoiding the issue of the oppressed Palestinians. They never comment on their situation nor about the Iraqi people either.
What crap are you talking man. People like these are the few in every religion. As a whole, the human race would do better & be better without religious, especially the middle eastern based religions. The more secular people are, the more reasonable they would be & so the less prone to violence, double standards, hate, etc. Oh yeah, “heathens” is it, what you call non christians! Going to hell are they? This is the many of you christians
One example to illustrate, the gay community is nearly 100% anti Christianity & Islam. Some, even the white man, follow other religions like Buddhism, Taoism, Hinduism & even no religion - Atheism. I know for a fact that the gays are more loving all around, less judgmental and practise double standards much less.
So, spare us this crap on your blog.
It is not the Americans who are causing the deaths in Iraq but sectarian Iraqis themselves. How can anyone be so blind as to blame the Americans for the deaths? Whatever wrongdoings have been committed by the Americans have been dealt with by American justice, which no one presumes is perfect.
If we must point a finger let’s do it accurately. Whether it was right or wrong for the Americans to invade Iraq the fact remains that the Allied forces are trying to bring Iraq to a state of peace and democracy. Australia is already planning to pull out its troops. No doubt the Americans will in time.
But the blame for all the continued violence must lie with the sectarian Iraqi groups that carry out the violence including suicide bombings. It sickens me when critics can be so biased against the Americans and not balance their criticisms against those who are the real cause of the violence.
Quoting Bible versese out of context to support one’s sanctimonious opinion is gratuitous and only brings the Word of God into disrepute.
What is needed is not a biased criticism of any party but a concerted effort by the world community especially muslims to exert their influence among the real troublemakers, the sectarian groups.
The Americans may have started the war but now that Saddam is out of the way it is up to the Iraqis themselves to stop the violence because they are the ones who can end the war today.
Let us continue to pray and work for peace but without the unfair finger pointing.
Though Bush was wrong in interfering in the affairs of Iraq by driving the murderous genociadal dictator Saddam Hussien out of power, he is doing the right thing now in battling al-Qaeda who has long declared war on Western and Christian nations. They started targetting Americans long ago even before Sept 11. Remember Lebanon embassy bombing in 1980s, hijacking of planes and ships in 1970s, Bombing of USS Cole in Port Aden , Bombing of US embassies in african nations etc.
no offend mean AND APOLOGY IN ADVANCE to anyone who may get offended by my comment.god is everywhere,but human will use god name for the sake of power to kill human.i read history many2 moons ago.part of this world war,hunger and unfair judgement is use in the name of god.I STILL WONDER WHY THE MIDDLE EAST IS STILL SHOWER WITH BLOOD WITH ALL THE BIBLES OF JEWS,CHRISTIAN AND ISLAM STARTED THERE….thanks.raj raman.RELIGION;my problem to anwser to god when the time come,meanwhile i dont use the name of god to earn any power or extra money.
The Iraq war was waged by the American Government led by a President who claimed to be the Christian God’s appointee. He claimed that he went to Iraq and waged this senseless and totally evil acts in the name of his god.
The American Christians control the politics in America. They voted for the war, just as they voted to put the Butcher in power.
Therefore, not only their Christian leaders must denounce this war, all American Christians must denounce this war. Further they must denounce their god appointed leaders and embrace that neither man nor god has the right to cause so much evil and pain. They must show to their fellow human beings that they should never tolerate such atrocious deeds in the name of their god and move to remove him and try him in the court of law.
Otherwise every American Christian will be tainted by these sinful acts of evil.
Recommended reading “The Mighty & The Almighty” - Madeleine Albright
Comment no.2 talks of `oppressed Palestinians`. Sounds like another moonbat like the sanctimonius Baptist Jimmy Carter.
The phillistines I see on BBC are fatter than the poor I`ves seen on the streets of India. It`s the EU that feeds the phillistine hatred. There`s no such thing as `palestinian arabs` and that`s from the horses` mouth.
“The Palestinian people do not exist. The creation of a Palestinian state is only a means for continuing our struggle against the state of Israel. In reality today there is no difference between Jordanians, Palestinians, Syrians, or Lebanese. For political and tactical reasons, we speak today about the existence of a distinct Palestinian people to oppose Zionism. Jordan, a sovereign state with defined borders, cannot raise claims to Haifa and Jaffa. As a Palestinian, I can demand Haifa, Jaffa, Beer-Sheva, and Jerusalem. The moment we reclaim all of Palestine, we will not wait a minute to unite Jordan and Palestine”.
- PLO executive committee member Zahir Muhsein in March of 1977
On the same day Arafat signed the Declaration of Principles on the White House lawn, he explained his actions on Jordanian TV by saying, “Since we cannot defeat Israel in war, we will do this in stages. We will take every territory we can in Palestine and establish sovereignty there, then use it as a springboard to take more. When the time comes, we can get the Arab nations to join us for the final blow against Israel”.
When asked on US television if she [Madeline Albright, US Secretary of State] thought that the death of half a million Iraqi children [from sanctions in Iraq, during the 1990s after the first Gulf War] was a price worth paying, Albright replied: “This is a very hard choice, but we think the price is worth it.”
Today the sanctimonious c** moos a different song. She`s on some different grass now.
I suggest the americans leave iraq right now and let the iraqis have a slugfest.
I really dislike it when someone or other tells Christians what they ‘must’ do.
Christians ‘must’ vote for so-and-so political party!
Christians ‘must’ accept gay bishops!
Well, here’s news for Waldrop - Christ also calls us to fight against injustice and evil. Or was Saddam Hussein the epitome of lovingkindness? The Baathists models of justice?
Was the most ‘Christian’ thing to do simply ignore Saddam’s depravities for decades?
If a woman is being raped, do we just say “Peace be with you!” and walk away, in the spirit of ‘peace’ and ‘turn the other cheek’?
Did the West act in the spirit of Christ when it crossed over to the other side of the road when the Jews were being gassed?
Was love chapioned when we turned a blind eye to 100 million killed by Stalin, Lenin, Mao, Pol Pot… In the name of ‘not getting involved in unjust wars’?
Does Waldrop know nothing about the Bali bombings, Madrid bombing, London underground 7/7, Thai Pattani jihad, Phillipines insrugency, Beslan school massacre - and the 20,000 odd terroristsb/> that the US has killed in Iraq, who would otherwise even now be bombing our civilian malls and churches? They aren’t all innocents who died in Iraq, sir!
I contend that Christians MUST support finishing what has been started in Iraq - no matter whether the invasion was justified or not, are we advocating leaving Iraq to fend for itself after the devastation wrought upon it? Do we not have a Christian duty to help the oppressed? We now have a chance to, but if the US pulls out, sectarian strife and the return of terrorists will make all the invasion’s bloodshed for naught.
Get your facts straight, people. Read Michael J. Totten and Michael Yon’s blogs. They are actual journalists in Iraq, and they report what the ignorant do not hear from the mainstream media - that there is finally overall peace in Iraq, that the people are thankful for the US intervention… That a church was repaired, a cross re-erected, and Sunday service attended by Muslim Iraqis.
http://scottthong.wordpress.com/2007/11/19/more-signs-of-hope-in-iraq-muslims-attaending-church-service-at-st-johns-in-baghdad/
That is the truth in Iraq.
If the war was unjust, quitting now is even moreso.
What a cartload of cattle manure all these comments are. I say we call in the Martians now and ask them to rule the world. So what if we become human batteries for giant spider-like robots? Oh wait… Incoming message from Xprotykgu (the capital of Mars, you imbeciles.) The Martians have replied. They are not interested at all. So I guess we gotta solve our mess all on our own. Sigh.
George’s Bush war for oil is disgusting.
While he condemns abortion he doesn’t mind killing millions of innocent people from Iraq, US, UK, etc. in his war for oil.
Bush, Blair and Benedict are the axis of evil.
Religious leaders should not associate themselves with politicians who have the deaths of millions of people on their hands.