Good Friday Stations of the Cross

Pax Christi Rochester members took part in separate Stations of the Cross prayer/protests on Good Friday.



One began at McQuaid Jesuit High School in Brighton. The other began in front of Eastman Kodak Company's headquarters in downtown Rochester.


The Stations focused on a variety of life issues, including abortion, war, and social and economic injustice.

Given the culture of death that seems to be winning, it might be easy to get discouraged. But it's Good Friday, and as a deacon at the McQuaid Stations observed, "It's Friday - but Sunday's coming."

The 2nd Amendment and Conscientious Objection

The U.S. Supreme Court is due to hear arguments this Tuesday over the Second Amendment in connection with a District of Columbia handgun ban.

The Amendment, as passed by the House and Senate back in 1789, reads: A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed.

The Amendment has been the subject of ongoing debate over the right to own weapons and attempts to place limit gun ownership. The current case may help to clear up some of the issues involved in interpreting the Amendment, though given the history of the issue, that is unclear.

From an historical point of view, however, there was an earlier version of what became the Second Amendment that, if it had been approved, would have proven beneficial to those promoting non-violence. It also helps to reveal the long history of opposition to war in this nation.

The original version of the Amendment introduced to the House back in 1789 read:

The right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed; a well armed and well regulated militia being the best security of a free country; but no person religiously scrupulous of bearing arms shall be compelled to render military service in person.

That last clause - but no person religiously scrupulous of bearing arms shall be compelled to render military service in person – was intended to allow for those who objected to war for moral reasons. Members of the Society of Friends (Quakers) had had a long history of opposition to war, including the Revolutionary War. There were other groups and individuals who objected to war as well. Some of those objectors suffered fines, prison, and loss of property due to their opposition.

If that version of the Amendment had been approved, it would have helped conscientious objectors to better make their cases.

The Amendment was revised to read: A well regulated militia, composed of the body of the people, being the best security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed; but no person religiously scrupulous shall be compelled to bear arms.

It was further modified and passed by the House in this form: A well regulated militia, composed of the body of the people, being the best security of a free state, the right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed; but no one religiously scrupulous of bearing arms shall be compelled to render military service in person.

That version was sent to the Senate. The Senate ultimately changed to the form we know, dropping the conscientious objector clause.

Milton Metzler, in his 1985 history of refusing military service in the U.S., Ain’t Gonna Study War No More, pointed out that the vote to delete the conscientious objector clause was just 24 to 22.

Had just two votes changed, conscientious objectors would have had clear Constitution grounds for arguing that they had a right NOT to bear arms.

The US should not engage in torture

President George Bush is poised to veto legislation that would bar the CIA from using a number of harsh interrogation techniques, including waterboarding.

Waterboarding simulates drowning, and has been soundly condemned by human rights groups. It is considered torture.

The President has said the bill would harm the government's ability to prevent future attacks.

But supporters of the bill, which still permits a number of interrogation techniques, contend that the legislation preserves the United States' right to collect critical intelligence while boosting the country's moral standing abroad.

The bill would limit the CIA to using only the 19 interrogation techniques listed in the Army field manual. It would bar the CIA from using waterboarding, sensory deprivation or other coercive methods to break a prisoner who refuses to answer questions. The military banned those practices in 2006. Yet the president wants the CIA to be able to use them

The bill was approved in the House in December and in the Senate last month.

I think this veto is shameful, as are these harsh interrogation techniques.

They are forms of torture.

Pax Christi USA has spoken out agaisnt these techniques. In a February 2006 statement (http://www.paxchristiusa.org/news_statements_more.asp?id=995) it declared:

"There is no room for debate on where the social teachings of the Catholic Church lie on the issue of torture. As is noted in the Compendium of the Social Doctrine of the Church, `International judicial instruments concerning human rights correctly indicate a prohibition against torture as a principle which cannot be contravened under any circumstances.' In all cases, even those that involve the most serious crimes and offenses, the Catholic Church calls all governments to `strictly observe' the regulation against the use of torture in carrying out investigations.

"Pope John Paul II echoed this call when he decisively said that there is never any justification for torture, and that torture diminishes the souls of all those involved. `Christ’s disciple refuses every recourse to such methods, which nothing could justify and in which the dignity of (humanity) is as much debased in (the) torturer as in the torturer’s victim.'

"Torture has always been deemed abhorrent in this country, and has long been banned by our laws and treaties. Most of the interrogation techniques used today in the War on Terrorism clearly constitute torture and must cease at once."

I suggest we write to our Congressional representatives to push for an override.

Archbishop Romero on Peace

Peace is not the product of terror or fear.

Peace is not the silence of cemeteries.

Peace is not the silent result of violent repression.

Peace is the generous, tranquil contribution of all to the good of all.

Peace is dynamism. Peace is generosity.

It is right and it is duty.

-- Archbishop Oscar Romero

Pope calls for peace in Middle East

Pope Benedict XVI said on March 2 that the only way to find peace in the Middle East is by showing respect for all human life - even for the life of an enemy.

Speaking after the midday Angelus in St. Peter's Square he appealed for peace between Israelis and Palestinians in light of recent violence in the Gaza Strip.

"I renew my pressing invitation to Israeli and Palestinian officials, that this spiral of violence be stopped, unilaterally, without conditions."

"Only by showing an absolute respect for human life, even that of the enemy, can one hope to provide a future of peace and coexistence for the young generations of those peoples who both have their roots in the Holy Land."

He went on to say, "I invite the whole Church to lift up supplications to the Almighty for peace in the land of Jesus and to show attentive and active solidarity with both populations, Israeli and Palestinian.