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| September 22, 2002 |
In the year since September 11, the United States has lost much global solidarity by its reliance on military intervention to fight terrorism and its unilateralism in international affairs, Jesuit Fr Pasquale Borgomeo, general director of Vatican Radio, said in a broadcast September 3.
"A year after September 11, we feel like disappointed friends of the United States--but still friends. We believe in the cultural and moral potential of this great country more than in its technological and military might," he said.
Fr Borgomeo pointed out that a military strike against Iraq has been opposed by US allies throughout the world, as well as by experts in the Bush administration. Such an attack could weaken the hand of political leaders in Muslim countries who are fighting their own internal extremist movements, he said. "What is most worrisome is that the United States continues to consider military action as the most effective means to combat terrorism and an attack on Iraq as a priority."
He also faulted the Bush administration for its go-it-alone policies on environmental matters, as evidenced by Bush's decision not to attend the UN World Summit on Sustainable Development in Johannesburg, South Africa. Fr Borgomeo said such a unilateral approach does not make sense in an increasingly interdependent world. [Source: CNS. Do not repost electronically]
Jesuit Cardinal Carlo Maria Martini celebrated his last Mass before retiring as the archbishop of Milan on September 8. He has been serving in Milan since 1979 and is stepping down because of age; he plans to move to Jerusalem in October and dedicate the rest of his life to prayer and study of Scripture.
"Love yourselves, one to the other. In that way, you will live in justice, forgiveness, and peace," he told those gathered. "Our major contribution to peace in a world full of conflicts and threats, of new absurd conflicts, will be born from a heart that above all lives in forgiveness and peace."
Genoa Cardinal Dionigi Tettamanzi has been named as Cardinal Martini's successor. [Source: www.jesuits-europe.org]
The California Province of the Society of Jesus has agreed to pay $7.5 million to two dishwashers who were sexually abused at Sacred Heart Jesuit Center in Los Gatos.
The lawsuit filed last summer charged that the men were molested over a period of years at the center by Fr Edward Thomas Burke SJ and Br Charles Leonard Connor SJ, both 80.
Fr Thomas H Smolich SJ, California's provincial, told the Los Angeles Times that the province would pay a part of the settlement and that the remainder would be covered by an insurance carrier. [Source: San Jose Mercury News, Los Angeles Times]
US Jesuit colleges and universities are experiencing record enrollments this fall.
Wheeling Jesuit University, Gonzaga University, and Spring Hill College are accommodating the largest crop of students they have ever seen, and Loyola University New Orleans witnessed its largest freshmen class in the school's history, a four percent increase from last year.
Le Moyne College has the largest freshman class in its history, and the number of freshman is up 15 percent from last year at Saint Louis University.
At the University of Scranton, more students applied than ever before in the school's 114-year history as well, and at Marquette University the admissions process for freshman had to close early due to an overwhelming number of applications. Marquette's freshmen class is the largest the university has seen in 14 years.
Fordham University's application pool has grown 200 percent in the last ten years, and Boston College's application volume places it among the top five private universities in the country.
In addition to enrollment increasing at many Jesuit institutions, the scores of incoming students are higher than in previous years. At the University of Scranton, the average SAT scores of the freshmen class jumped 11 points from last year; at Loyola New Orleans, the combined GPA for the Class of 2006 rose to 3.76. [Sources: AJCU, Jesuit colleges & universities]
Pacifism is the only legitimate response to the war against terrorism, said peace activist Fr Daniel Berrigan SJ.
The continued bombing in Afghanistan, the proposed military strike against Iraq, and the overall US policy in the Middle East will lead the world to ruin unless it is countered with a movement centered on peace, love, and charity, he said.
"We're being led down a blind alley. If people don't realize that by now, they never will," Fr Berrigan said after leading a meditation at an overnight peace vigil in Washington Square Park in New York on September 10 .
More than 2,000 people participated in the vigil, which concluded early September 11. Fr Berrigan said the crowd demonstrated that there is a growing movement of people who believe in an alternative to war.
He said the current peace movement parallels that which occurred during the Vietnam War. "We can't point to Vietnam without remembering how it developed. The peace movement didn't happen overnight. It only seems that way now. People of conscience and prayer kept at it until it built and built and built," he said.
"You can't be obsessed with results," he said. "You have to keep walking and standing. Stay with and believe in the goodness of what you are doing." [Source: CNS. Do not repost electronically]
No adherent to the just war theory can support a war on Iraq at this time, said Jesuit ethicist Fr John Coleman, and a Catholic Christian would be obligated to resist such military action.
Fr Coleman summarized Catholic teaching on the morality of war from the first century to the present day at the Catholic Educators' Conference September 6. The trend has been to move from the permissive to the restrictive, he said.
"World War II raised some serious questions," he said, eventually leading Pope Pius XII to say all wars of aggression are prohibited.
"The just cause became restricted to defense," said Father Coleman. "One cannot take the initiative. Even an appeal to self-defense might not justify war," he said.
A pre-emptive strike against Saddam Hussein and Iraq is not now justified, he said, even though Saddam has used chemical and biological weapons against his own people, aggressively invaded Kuwait and has consistently thwarted United Nations weapons inspections.
"Are these reasons to go to war -- a pre-emptive war which is not a direct defense of innocent others?" he asked.
There is the issue of proportional justice in undertaking a high risk to engage in a war to bring down one man and a regime, said Fr Coleman. "His successor is not going to be a democrat," he said.
There is no justification for pre-empting possible aggression rather than actual aggression when the action is not part of a larger peace strategy, he said. [Source: Stephen Kent, Catholic Northwest Progress]
The Provinces of Chicago, Detroit, Maryland, and Oregon -- members of the Jesuit Committee for Investment Responsibility -- have filed a shareholder resolution with Abbott Laboratories demanding increased availability of less expensive HIV/AIDS drugs in Africa.
The Secretariat for Social Justice has attended the United Nations Summit for Sustainable Development held at Johannesburg from August 25 to September 4. Approximately 30 Jesuits attended including members of the Christian Life Community in South Africa, the Center of Concern in Washington, the International Jesuit Network for Development, the Indian Social Institute, and Secretariat for Social Justice from the Curia of Father General.
The pope has appointed Fr Stephen Pisano SJ of the California Province, as rector of the Biblical Institute in Rome.
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