Pacifism, Just-War Theory, and Non-Violence

Our JustFaith group has been focusing on non-violence these past few weeks. We have an interesting book that we're reading, "The Powers That Be" by Walter Wink. It's difficult stuff, and touches some pretty sensitive nerves of some of the people in our group (we have a former career military person in our group). I had never really thought too critically of the Church's teaching on "Just-War" before, but reading this book and considering much of the Scriptural "evidence" it uses, I'm reconsidering how I look at this justification for violence. As this author proposes, just-war would not have been something Jesus would have come up with and, in fact, for the first 300 years, the Church did not accept war as an option. (How things change when the power differential shifts, huh?!) So, our just-war criteria is a bit like a compromise, oh heck, call it what it is, sell-out, of true Christian principles.

On a related note, our most recent horrific massacre at Virginia Tech has me pondering why we're fighting a "war on terrorism" in the Mid-East, against Muslims, when real terrorism occurs regularly enough on our own soil. Why safe-guard me and my fellow citizens from Muslims and Mexicans? I'm in more imminent danger from my fellow co-workers, bus riders, and students than a specific religious or ethnic group. Can someone explain to me again why handguns should be legal? Their sole use is to kill other people. Clearly, law-abiding, sane people purchase them and then can unpredictably turn into crazy, dangerous, homicidal criminals. So why do we want anyone to have them??

Must be time to stop writing. I'm beginning to sound like a ranting, over-zealous liberal nut case too.

Grandma Novak

Yay! Today I am a grandma.

It's a little surreal, but also so wonderful. What a beautiful baby! As I told Gina and Josh, this is a lot easier way to get a baby. Little Coen is so sweet. When we first saw him, he was so alert, looking all around. Eventually, he started fussing, but not whole-heartedly. Kind of like he just wanted to hear his voice. Gina, from all accounts, really excelled at labor and delivery, surpassing even her mom's acheivements. And she was willing to accept visitors 45 min. after giving birth!

So, now that I'm a grandma, I think I can relax a little in many areas of my life, like personal maintenance (yeah, I know, I let down on that one sometime back), keeping up on current trends, being alert and coherent...hmm... this might not greatly change a lot of my life after all!

Waiting... and Guilt

I feel like my life these days is in a kind of holding pattern. I'm waiting for things to happen. I'm waiting for Gina and Josh to have their baby. I'm waiting for Lent to be over. I'm waiting for SOMETHING to happen to spark this ministry. At least I don't have to wait for the baseball season. Thank goodness for baseball. There's a real comfort in its steadiness. It brings to mind the James Earl Jones monologue from "Field of Dreams": "The one constant through it all has been baseball." So true.

I've been reflecting a lot lately on what's going on at Epiphany. For anyone not aware, both youth ministry positions have been posted on the job line. Looks like there will be another casualty of Epiphany Youth Ministry this year. I guess I have guilt. I feel responsible. In truth, I know I share the responsibility for what's going on now but, being ever the good Catholic, I feel guilty. I see my actions as hugely contributing to the present situation at Epiphany. And yet, I had to leave. I don't like to imagine what my life would look like today if I had stayed there. In many ways, life has gotten easier doing harder work at Pax Christi. And it just feels right. God is good.