By Beacon Editorial Board
On a Catholic campus, Veteran's Day takes on a unique connotation. Although a celebration honoring U.S. veterans is undeniably noble, the underlying issue of the holiday - war - contradicts Catholic teaching.
The Catholic Church - indeed, most Christians - believe in the "just-war" doctrine. Even the Catholic Church recognizes that war is inevitable, but just because a country wants to go to war does not mean that the war is morally justifiable. The Church has created a set of guidelines designed to determine whether a war is justifiable.
A war must have a just cause and must have started with the best intentions and as a last resort. Leaders calling for war must be competent. There must be a "right" side and the probability of success. Finally, the good that the war will achieve must outweigh the negative effects of war.
Unsurprisingly, the Catholic Church came out against the war in Iraq and supports that position today.
In contrast, UP, as an institution, has remained silent about the war and maintains a strong ROTC presence on campus.
The University seems to be sending some mixed messages.
This is the University that maintains a rigorous, conservative Catholic policy on many of the issues that hit closest to home for students. A fine for having sex on campus? No meat in The Commons on Fridays during Lent? This is the University that sponsors as many retreats and religious experiences as possible.
There's no question: UP is pretty darn Catholic.
Well, until you ask about war. Then those stark religious borders start to get a little fuzzy.
How is it that a university that so strongly defends Catholic teaching can overlook such important principles in one area and turn a blind eye in other areas?
Perhaps the issue here is not so much what makes a just war or not, but that of the military in general.
It seems paradoxical that we must have a standing military in order to maintain peace in the world. The military's strength is often cited as a deterrent from rogue nations attacking us or our allies.
In peace and conflict studies, intervening in genocide is considered negative peacemaking, where we try to cease or prevent violence directly.
An alternative is positive peacemaking, which addresses the root causes of conflict. This form of peacemaking focuses on issues of social justice. People who believe that they have been wronged under a corrupt system of laws or lack of resources like water are more likely to fight.
Positive peacemaking may sound idealistic, but consider that terrorist organizations like Al Qaeda and dictators like Adolf Hitler received much of their support from people who fell through the cracks.
We're not arguing that there isn't a need for the military. It's a matter of pragmatism.
Instead, we should take advantage of opportunities to effect change and prevent the need for our military to engage in violence.
Meanwhile, UP needs to get its priorities straight. Catholic doctrine is not a buffet. If the University intends to have a conservative Catholic view on sex and abortion, then it should have the same views on war. If ROTC is so important to the University of Portland that it trumps Catholic doctrine, perhaps the University should start evaluating its position on other hot- button issues as well.
