The Catholic Church and the U.S. military
In discussions about the current Iraq War and past military involvements with parishioners, I find that there is no consensus among them. Some are outright pacifists and others see a terrible threat from Muslim terrorists that must be met with force. A recent example is a column from The National Catholic Reporter, a very liberal and anti-U. S. military bi-monthly newspaper. The article that I want to mention was a recommendation by the writer that all Jesuit Universities should abolish ROTC programs on their campuses. The paper has consistently found fault with just about everything concerning the U.S. Military. The author of that article has no understanding of how the ROTC program works. They are training civilian officers, not professional military, since most of the officers spend only two years in the active military but can spend more. The point is that the country gets a cadre of officers that balance out the professional side of the officer corps. They also are entitled to college aid after service. I was able to attend graduate school because of the GI Bill after my two years with the army. On the other side of the spectrum, the Military Archdiocese paid “tribute to every man and woman who faithfully served in the noble causes of securing peace and freedom in the military service of our great nation To our courageous and honorable veterans, we thank you.” These statements were issued by Auxiliary Bishop Richard B. Higgins, Vicar For veterans affairs of the Washington-based U.S. Archdiocese for the Military Services.
Source of this information is the Southern Cross, November 21, 2007. Many other positive comments were made on Nov 9, 2007 to mark Veterans Day Nov 11, 2007. You can see the difference in patriotism from a narrow-minded isolated newspaper to a patriotic Bishop who knows of the nearly 375,000 Catholics involved with the U.S. Military.
Gary E. Marsella