Thursday, April 07, 2005
Pacifica commentary for April 6, 2005
There seems to be some differences about the place of conscience in the Catholic Church. And there ought to be. Some Catholics thought that conscience was only for Protestants and they certainly could have received this impression from various Popes.
The Vatican Council of 1962-1965 was a liberating moment for millions of Catholics. Here is the statement on conscience:
The human person sees and recognizes the demands of the divine law through conscience. All are bound to follow their conscience faithfully in every sphere of activity. Therefore the individual must not be forced to act against conscience nor be prevented from acting according to conscience, especially in religious matters.
Declaration on Religious Liberty. Second Vatican Council, 1965.
It was conscience that led me to defy a gag order from the Church regarding U.S. military intervention in Guatemala. It was conscience that led Theresa to leave her convent post in southern Chile and become a Social Worker in Los Angeles.
Thanks to this clear understanding of conscience Theresa and I have been married for thirty-five years. We would like to be the change that we desire. We are grateful for following our conscience, having children and becoming grandparents.
The removal of conscience as the ultimate norm of action is one definition of a cult. And sadly, many people have a cultish relationship to their faith. It is at this transition moment in history that we must urge people to listen to their inner voice and to remove all cultish and mindless behavior from their spiritual formation.
The key to an enlightened conscience is critical thinking. I thank my father for his instruction on this matter. As a prominent attorney and later Judge of the Superior Court his critical mind was always in gear even as he sat at Mass on Sunday and listened to the sermon. On one occasion, the priest was ranting and raving and gesticulating about some esoteric issue, Dad wrote a note on a church envelope and handed it me. I must have been ten years old at the time. His note said, "The Father has gone hopelessly insane."
I laughed but I never forgot his point. A critical mind will develop a healthy spirituality. An unquestioning mind will create a robot.
It is critical thinking and an active conscience that has led millions of people to work for the abolition of the war system together with the development of an international system of justice and peace.
The Vatican Council of 1962-1965 was a liberating moment for millions of Catholics. Here is the statement on conscience:
The human person sees and recognizes the demands of the divine law through conscience. All are bound to follow their conscience faithfully in every sphere of activity. Therefore the individual must not be forced to act against conscience nor be prevented from acting according to conscience, especially in religious matters.
Declaration on Religious Liberty. Second Vatican Council, 1965.
It was conscience that led me to defy a gag order from the Church regarding U.S. military intervention in Guatemala. It was conscience that led Theresa to leave her convent post in southern Chile and become a Social Worker in Los Angeles.
Thanks to this clear understanding of conscience Theresa and I have been married for thirty-five years. We would like to be the change that we desire. We are grateful for following our conscience, having children and becoming grandparents.
The removal of conscience as the ultimate norm of action is one definition of a cult. And sadly, many people have a cultish relationship to their faith. It is at this transition moment in history that we must urge people to listen to their inner voice and to remove all cultish and mindless behavior from their spiritual formation.
The key to an enlightened conscience is critical thinking. I thank my father for his instruction on this matter. As a prominent attorney and later Judge of the Superior Court his critical mind was always in gear even as he sat at Mass on Sunday and listened to the sermon. On one occasion, the priest was ranting and raving and gesticulating about some esoteric issue, Dad wrote a note on a church envelope and handed it me. I must have been ten years old at the time. His note said, "The Father has gone hopelessly insane."
I laughed but I never forgot his point. A critical mind will develop a healthy spirituality. An unquestioning mind will create a robot.
It is critical thinking and an active conscience that has led millions of people to work for the abolition of the war system together with the development of an international system of justice and peace.
Pacifica commentary for March 30, 2005
THE WORDS OF CAMILO MEJIA
My words today are taken from some of the comments made by Camilo Mejia who has recently completed a year in prison for refusing to return to fight in Iraq as he sought the status of conscientious objector.
I was deployed to Iraq in April 2003 and returned home for a two-week leave in October. Going home gave me the opportunity to put my thoughts in order and to listen to what my conscience had to say. People would ask me about my war experiences and answering them took me back to all the horrors-the firefights, the ambushes, the time I saw a young Iraqi dragged by his shoulders through a pool of his own blood or an innocent man was decapitated by our machine gun fire. The time I saw a soldier broken down inside because he killed a child, or an old man on his
knees, crying with his arms raised to the sky, perhaps asking God why we had taken the life of his son.
I thought of the suffering of a people whose country was in ruins and who were further humiliated by the raids, patrols and curfews of an occupying army.
And I realized that none of the reasons we were told about why we were in Iraq turned out to be true. I couldn't find a single good reason for having been there, for having shot at people and for having been shot at.
I realized that I was part of a war that I believed was immoral and criminal, a war of aggression, a war of imperial domination. I realized that acting upon my principles became incompatible with my role in the military, and I decided that I could not return to Iraq.
By putting my weapon down, I chose to reassert myself as a human being. I have not deserted the military or been disloyal to the men and women of the military. I have not been disloyal to a country. I have only been loyal to my principles.
When I turned myself in, with all my fears and doubts, I did it not only for myself. I did it for the people of Iraq, even for those who fired upon me. They were just on the other side of a battleground where war itself was the only enemy. I did it for the Iraqi children, who are victims of mines and depleted uranium. I did it for the thousands of unknown civilians killed in war. My time in prison is a small price compared to the price Iraqis and Americans have paid with their lives.
I say that I don't believe in heroes, but I believe that ordinary people can do extraordinary things.
Camilo's web site is: www.freecamilo.org
My words today are taken from some of the comments made by Camilo Mejia who has recently completed a year in prison for refusing to return to fight in Iraq as he sought the status of conscientious objector.
I was deployed to Iraq in April 2003 and returned home for a two-week leave in October. Going home gave me the opportunity to put my thoughts in order and to listen to what my conscience had to say. People would ask me about my war experiences and answering them took me back to all the horrors-the firefights, the ambushes, the time I saw a young Iraqi dragged by his shoulders through a pool of his own blood or an innocent man was decapitated by our machine gun fire. The time I saw a soldier broken down inside because he killed a child, or an old man on his
knees, crying with his arms raised to the sky, perhaps asking God why we had taken the life of his son.
I thought of the suffering of a people whose country was in ruins and who were further humiliated by the raids, patrols and curfews of an occupying army.
And I realized that none of the reasons we were told about why we were in Iraq turned out to be true. I couldn't find a single good reason for having been there, for having shot at people and for having been shot at.
I realized that I was part of a war that I believed was immoral and criminal, a war of aggression, a war of imperial domination. I realized that acting upon my principles became incompatible with my role in the military, and I decided that I could not return to Iraq.
By putting my weapon down, I chose to reassert myself as a human being. I have not deserted the military or been disloyal to the men and women of the military. I have not been disloyal to a country. I have only been loyal to my principles.
When I turned myself in, with all my fears and doubts, I did it not only for myself. I did it for the people of Iraq, even for those who fired upon me. They were just on the other side of a battleground where war itself was the only enemy. I did it for the Iraqi children, who are victims of mines and depleted uranium. I did it for the thousands of unknown civilians killed in war. My time in prison is a small price compared to the price Iraqis and Americans have paid with their lives.
I say that I don't believe in heroes, but I believe that ordinary people can do extraordinary things.
Camilo's web site is: www.freecamilo.org
