ARTICLES
October 2003 ARTICLES
Contents © 2003
by Jim Holman.
All rights reserved.
These Trends are Perilous
Bishop Zavala Leads Pax Christi
By Christopher Zehnder
"We live in a world where there's a lot of violence, not just internationally with war, but in our nation, our streets and in our homes," Bishop Gabino Zavala told the August 8 Tidings. The archdiocesan weekly's interview with the Los Angeles auxiliary bishop appeared only a few days after he had been appointed bishop-president of Pax Christi USA, the Catholic peace organization. "Peace and harmony are what God desires for us," continued Zavala. "Part of the message of Pax Christi is to promote peace with justice and to promote the peace of Christ -- which is what Pax Christi literally means."
The organization, over whose U.S. branch Bishop Zavala will preside, has a distinguished history. Pax Christi began in France in 1945 with French Catholics who met to pray for peace. They were troubled that French and German Catholics, who partook in the same Eucharist, had, nevertheless died at each others hands by the millions during the two World Wars that scarred the 20th century. They prayed for forgiveness and that the peace of Christ would reign in the world. Pax Christi centers spread throughout Europe in the 1950s and '60s. In 1972, Pax Christi came to the United States. Today, the U.S. branch of the organization, centered in Erie, Pennsylvania, claims 14,000 members.
Michael Jones, spokesman for Pax Christi USA, explained that, though a "section of Pax Christi International," Pax Christi USA is independent. "We' re autonomous," explained Jones, "but still a section of the large international group, which sort of ties us all together. We can diverge and take on other things that are particularly relevant to the United States. One of our priorities is interracial justice; that's a priority for Pax Christi International, but we are able to target that for specific things in this country that we can work on but international body cannot. We're able to dictate what our own priorities are, though some of them stem from those of Pax Christi International: disarmament and the spirituality of non-violence."
As an autonomous organization, Pax Christi USA has its own statement of purpose. The organization declares that it "strives to create a world that reflects the Peace of Christ by exploring, articulating, and witnessing to the call of Christian nonviolence. This work begins in personal life and extends to communities of reflection and action to transform structures of society. Pax Christi USA rejects war, preparations for war, and every form of violence and domination. It advocates primacy of conscience, economic and social justice, and respect for creation."
Though Pax Christi was founded to address issues of war and peace, Michael Jones explained that "in the last five to ten years we've grown a little bit, we've become a little more broad and taken on things as human rights and environmental issues and racial justice issues." Such issues and war and peace, said Jones, "tie in to one another so well." Human rights encompasses war and peace, racial issues, and environmental justice, he said. Yet, in all these issues, the organization, said Jones, has "an over-arching priority of peace."
Yet, this "over-arching priority" may prove problematic to Bishop Zavala as he undertakes his role as bishop-president of Pax Christi; for, Pax Christi USA, it seems, has embraced an extreme pacifist position and rejects the just war teaching of the Church -- a teaching hallowed by tradition and reiterated by the Catechism of the Catholic Church. Last February, addressing the Pax Christi Conference at Loyola-Marymount University, Bishop Thomas Gumbleton, founding president of Pax Christi USA, said that developments within Church teaching "show that we are moving away from any acceptance of a just war theology." For 1,700 years, he said, "we have diverged from that pure authentic teaching of Jesus" -- non-violence.
Father Michael Baxter, a professor of theology at Notre Dame Univesity in Indiana, said that the just war teaching is a disputed question in the peace movement as a whole and in Pax Christi in particular. "We had a talk in New York last month, sponsored by Pax Christi, on just war theory," said Baxter, who directs the Catholic Peace Fellowship, a resource organization for Catholic conscientious objectors. "Some of us argued that just war theory should be, and could be, used to oppose war, particularly the war in Iraq. While some people think it's a great sign of unfaithfulness to the Gospel to employ just war analysis, others of us (and I'm one of those) said, 'look I believe in the non-violent witness of Christ, but I think the just war theory is a good tool for making judgments on war and why they are wrong.'"
Michael Jones indicated that Pax Christi does not so much reject just war teaching as hold that it is not relevant in the context of modern warfare. "For us, I think, the just war theory is seen as a framework -- an historical framework -- by which you can look at particular wars," said Jones. "But we' re not sure that today it's the most relevant theory we should be using and maybe we should be thinking of articulating a new theory, given the fact that we're not really sure [modern] war could meet any criteria the just war theory sets forth." Jones cited nuclear weapons and weapons of mass destruction and the fact that, in modern war, "the chances of civilians losing lives are pretty high." To justify a modern war by just war criteria, said Jones, "is pretty difficult in today's times."
Jones, however, said that he didn't "want to be caught in the position of saying that Pax Christi allows for the fact that war can be just," because he didn't "know if that's necessarily true either." He did want to stress the organization's emphasis on living a life of non-violence, which means "rejecting violence of all forms, whether it's a form of oppression, whether it's physical violence, whether it's war," as well as actively working for peace and justice.
Yet, Pax Christi USA's seeming moral absolutism in regard to killing would seem to preclude the possibility of a just war. This is apparent in the group's stance on the death penalty, which appears to go farther than what John Paul II said on the subject in Evangelium Vitæ. For, though the pope allowed for the death penalty if society was unable otherwise to defend itself, Pax Christi USA, in an April 1, 2000 statement, declared that it "opposes the death penalty in all cases and without reservation. We base our unconditional opposition to the death penalty on the Gospel of Jesus Christ and in the consistent ethic of life which teaches that all life is sacred from the moment it begins until its natural death." A pledge, called the "Declaration of Life," found on the Pax Christi USA website, goes even farther in rejecting killing. "I believe that the killing of one human being by another is morally wrong," says the pledge. "I believe it is morally wrong for any state or other government entity to take the life of a human being by way of capital punishment for any reason."
Michael Jones said that, on the death penalty, "we pretty much fall where most of the Catholic Church falls. We think it is wrong to kill people to stop them from killing people. There are also issues with that, racial justice issues. The death penalty in this country is clearly biased toward people of color and poor people, and until those things are looked at, there is no way a death penalty could be just. The crux of our work right now in terms of the death penalty is getting that message out there."
Pax Christi USA's strong rejection of killing would seem to put it in the forefront of the fight against abortion. Journalist Mary Meehan, a long time writer on life issues ("mainly on abortion, the death penalty, euthanasia and war -- I'm against all of 'em," she said) remembered that, when she covered the 1985 Pax Christi convention she "found much to commend in their writing on peace issues." But, said Meehan, "I was disappointed that they didn't take a more active pro-life position. I think they were on record essentially to be against abortion, but I don't think they wanted to take a position on legislative issues. I realize that's not their major thing, but I thought they should have been much stronger on the pro-life thing. And there was at that time, and really there still is among Catholics on the left, many who are strongly pro-life, and they would have appreciated that sort of leadership."
Pax Christi-USA made a statement on abortion in November 2001 reaffirming "its 1981 Seamless Garment position in support of all life." "The consistent ethic of life," continued the statement, "opposes not only abortion, but also the death penalty, war, the nuclear arms race and anything that threatens life. In addition, Pax Christi reaffirms its goal to work for the full and equal participation of women in the church and society.
"Pax Christi's opposition to abortion is based on a total commitment to the principle of unwavering reverence for human life. We reject, as we have rejected in the past, the claim of any individual, any group or organization, any nation to the 'right' to destroy human life, whether singly or as entire populations."
Yet, Pax Christi's statement makes no call for legislation against abortion, though the group supports legislative solutions in war and peace, racial justice, and environmental justice issues. An example of this is the Bread Not Stones Campaign, which is described as "a national Catholic campaign to redirect exorbitant military spending to provide more funds for social needs like health care, education and job training." But, as for abortion, besides addressing injustices that push women to the alternative of abortion, Pax Christ USA merely urges "that all parties to the debate conduct themselves in a spirit of compassionate respect for their opponents and not allow the discussion to degenerate into arguments or actions which could lead to, or involve, the great of physical and psychological violence. Pax Christi USA commits itself to engaging in the debate by promoting dialogue and the search for the common ground among those on all sides of the issue."
A strong stance against abortion on the part of Pax Christi could be a healthy challenge to people in the peace movement, said Mary Meehan. When people in the peace movement see the abortion issue "as an issue of violence, taking human life," Meehan said, "they're more likely to stop and think very hard about it, than if it is presented as an issue of sexual morality, which it is only indirectly, really. But too often the thinking on the left has been to view it as an issue of sexual morality or feminism. I think that's one of the things Pax Christi should be doing -- I'm not saying it should take first place over war and peace issues, because they are terribly important.
"I speak as one who has been writing on life and death issues for many many years," Meehan continued. "I've often been frustrated with both the left and the right, because it seems to me the left often thinks about abortion in slogans, whereas many people on the right do not consider the terribly serious issues of war and the preparations for war."
Since Pax Christi is generally regarded as a "leftist" organization, one might wonder how it stands on such leftist causes célèbres as homosexual rights. Michael Jones said that, as long as he has been with Pax Christi USA, "we haven't worked on particular issues that relate to [sexual orientation]. You can tie in the respect for human dignity to that issue, but we haven't actively done anything."
Yet, Pax Christi this past summer awarded its Pope Paul VI Teacher of Peace Award to one William Quigley, who offered a prayer, "Make no mistake/Peace Justice Love/For the gospel tells us so," at the organization's national assembly. "What about gospel justice?" asks the prayer, and lists a number of possible situations in which such justice is lacking. One of these situations is "when our lesbian and gay sisters and brothers are condemned for wanting to commit to each other." And Pax Christi USA (though not the international body), in 2002, endorsed the environmental justice document, the international Earth Charter. Among many other things, the charter calls on the world to "affirm gender equality and equity as prerequisites to sustainable development." and to "eliminate discrimination in all its forms, such as that based on race, color, sex, sexual orientation, religion, language, and national ethnic or social origin." (Emphasis added.)
The Earth Charter also promotes "family planning." Its preamble declares that "an unprecedented rise in human population has overburdened ecological and social systems. The foundations of global security are threatened," it asserts; "these trends are perilous -- but not inevitable." The solution, according to the charter, is to "adopt patterns of production, consumption, and reproduction that safeguard Earth's regenerative capacities, human rights, and community well-being." In particular, the charter calls on nations to "ensure universal access to health care that fosters reproductive health and responsible reproduction."
One offering on Pax Christi USA's website not only continues the theme of homosexual rights but strikes a salvo for the sexual revolution. Posted in the spring of this year, an article by Rabbi Arthur Waskow asks the question, "What if Ruth the Moabite came to America today?" The rabbi makes his assertions in the form of questions. Among these is one that asks, "would she face contempt because she and Naomi, travelling without a man, might be a lesbian couple?" Another question asks, "when she boldly 'uncovers the feet' of Boaz during the night they spend together on the threshing floor, has she violated the 'family values' that some religious folk now proclaim? Or has she affirmed that love engages the body as well as the heart, the mind, and the spirit, and that sometimes two loving bodies join before a wedding?"
If such articles are indicative of Pax Christi USA's orientation, in taking on the presidency of the group, Bishop Zavala has a needful but stiff job ahead. He must turn a Catholic peace organization more firmly into the path of orthodoxy. Will he be equal to it? In an article he wrote for the July 18 Tidings, Zavala noted he had stepped down as episcopal moderator for the National Association of Catholic Diocesan Lesbian and Gay Ministries "after a very short time of service" in part because "some members of the organization. held positions on homosexuality and homosexual relations at variance with Church teaching." Will he discover similar difficulties with Pax Christi USA? And if so, will he feel the need to step down from his position, or will he be able to effect the needed change?
Only time will tell.
Calls made to Bishop Zavala for comment on this article went unreturned.
SIDEBAR: We Do Not Speak As We Should