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Episcopal bishops express concerns about impending war with Iraq
Episcopal News Service
Issue:
Section:
2003-052-1
Posted: Friday, March 07, 2003
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Episcopal bishops across the country have, in a variety of ways, addressed the issue of an impending war with Iraq and the implications for people in the region.
Bishop William Persell of Chicago, for example, used his Ash Wednesday homily at St. James Cathedral to call for the nation to repent its sin of arrogance and put more effort into seeking peace and justice. At a time when the government pleads scarcity of funds for health care, education, and the environment, he said, there appear to be unlimited funds 'for buying allies, for weapons and for deployment of an expensive missile system that has not been proven to even work.' He noted that those who choose to question a war with Iraq are often belittled. 'If we cannot convince other nations that we are right, we threaten them or seek to buy their support,' he said.
'We may not be able to stop a war on Iraq,' Persell said. 'But we also cannot walk away, turn our attentions, try to ignore what is happening in our name' because by virtue of our baptism we are called and equipped 'to work for peace, justice, integrity and truth.'
Bishop Vincent Warner of Olympia said, in a pastoral letter read in the parishes, that he had encountered on a trip to San Diego groups of soldiers 'carrying all their belongings as they headed out for plane rides to take them to Germany and then on to being deployed. They were leaving family and friends. They looked apprehensive and unsure. And I thought, some of these young people may die. I have sat with commanders and the enlisted at bases in our region and my heart goes out to all those who serve in our armed forces and to their loved ones.'
Warner reminded the diocese that 'all life is precious, even Saddam Hussein's. We must remember that the innocent children and citizens of Iraq are not our enemies and do need our prayers. No one should have to die…and yet we are called to make momentous decisions involving war and peace, the balancing of noble goals, including the protection of all we hold near and dear, against the possible human cost of war, the loss of thousands of innocent souls.' He urged church members 'to join Presiding Bishop Frank Griswold in his call to President Bush to exhaust all diplomatic and multilateral initiatives as the alternative to waging war,' arguing that 'we must never give up the hope that peace will prevail.
Bishop Peter James Lee of Virginia told his diocese that 'Christians have a bias for peace and peace-making. We continue to pray that the nations of the world may find a peaceful way to remove the threat of weapons of mass destruction from Iraq. We have many people in our diocese working for such an outcome--beginning with the Secretary of State, General Colin Powell, a faithful member of St. John's Church, McLean. We support them with our prayers.'
While the church 'upholds our leaders and our military in our prayers, in a fallen world we understand that one of the responsibilities of international leadership is to name the threats to peace and to participate in removing them by diplomacy if possible, by measured, necessary force as a last resort,' Lee wrote.
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| © 2004, The Episcopal Church, USA. Episcopal News Service content may be reprinted without permission as long as credit is given to ENS. |
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