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CCBI News – Ukraine
March 4, 2022
Dear Friends of CCBI,
Ukraine – the Western world has rallied, strongly showing its opposition to that country’s unjust invasion by a powerful aggressor, rendering millions of people homeless, displaced, forced into joining the growing ranks of refugees worldwide. The implications for life and limb inside and outside Ukraine are horrific, with dwindling supplies of food, medicines, fuel and daily necessities in Ukraine and with efforts to meet demands for these necessities exacerbating in EU countries to which millions are streaming.
Church leaders are exemplary, complementing President Zelensky’s courageous stand. Major Archbishop Shevchuk, sheltering under the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Cathedral of the Resurrection in Kyiv, warned that the war may become an ecological as well as a humanitarian disaster, while encouraging his people, saying on March 4: “To you, dear daughters, children, sons of our nation, I say to you: we are waiting for you back home. We are waiting for you back home when Ukraine will have peaceful skies. And your Mother Church will accompany you, help you wherever the horrors of this war might take you.”
UKRAINE
Bridget Campion, PhD
It is a pleasure to be writing this CCBI News issue for the Canadian Catholic Bioethics Institute – thank you Moira for your kind introduction last week. With my interest in social justice and health care, my contribution to CCBI News would normally be exploring issues affecting marginalized populations, including frail elderly persons as well as Indigenous persons in Canada. However, along with the rest of the world, I have been horrified by the Russian invasion of Ukraine. It is a move that is proving to be dire for Ukrainians; it is a move that could prove to be dire for the rest of the world too. In the face of such unjust aggression and its terrible consequences, how is the Catholic Church to respond?
In her February 28, 2022 Crux article, “Papal plea for peace: Even if unheeded, Pope Francis continues the tradition”, Cindy Wooden provides a timeline of Pope Francis’ growing concern with recent Russian aggression against Ukraine. Beginning in April 2021 when Russia started amassing troops along the border through his visit to the Russian embassy on February 25, 2022, Pope Francis has been urging politicians to find peaceful solutions to this very dangerous situation. In Wooden’s view, this is consistent with the Pope’s commitment to peace generally and his suspicion that a “just war” might simply be impossible in this day and age. Referring to “Fratelli Tutti, on Fraternity and Social Friendship”, Wooden writes that the Pope “questioned whether in modern warfare any conflict could be judged as a ‘just war’ because proportionality and the protection of civilians seem to be difficult if not impossible to guarantee.”
“Just war” theory in Catholic teaching grapples with the question of to what lengths one can go in order to defend oneself (or another) against an unjust aggressor. We are, after all, supposed to love our neighbours. But does love of neighbour mean that we are supposed to stand by idly while someone hurts us or threatens us with harm? Thinkers like St. Augustine of Hippo and St. Thomas Aquinas believed that nations (and persons) have a right to self-defense in the face of an unjust aggressor and formulated a series of conditions that had to be met for a war to be considered “just” in that respect. Section 2307 of the Catechism of the Catholic Church outlines those conditions: “the damage inflicted by the aggressor on the nation or community of nations must be lasting, grave, and certain; all other means of putting an end to it must have been shown to be impractical or ineffective; there must be serious prospect of success; the use of arms must not produce evils and disorders graver than the evil to be eliminated.” As the Catechism notes, “the power of modern means of destruction weighs very heavily in evaluating this condition.”
While it seems clear that Ukraine has the right to defend itself against invasion, is it also the case that other countries would be justified in declaring war in defense of Ukraine? This is precisely the question that the Catholic News Agency raises in its January 27, 2022 article, “Just War Theory and Ukraine: Would war with Russia be in accord with Catholic teaching?” It notes, for example, that not only must the initial cause of war be just, but that the way the war is then carried out must also be just. “For instance, indiscriminant destruction of cities or civilian life is prohibited, and the basic human rights of non-combatant, wounded soldiers, and prisoners of war must not be abrogated.” Echoing concerns raised by the Catechism, the article notes that, with the means of modern warfare, including “the advent of drone strikes and other acts of war against infrastructure that serves dual military and civilian purposes”, it may be difficult to achieve or maintain proportionality between the good achieved and the cost of that good.
In all of this, we must not forget the tradition of Christian pacifism which insists that only nonviolent means are to be used in the face of injustice and aggression. As James Martin S.J. explains in his YouTube video, we have the example of Jesus who told Peter to put away his sword in the Garden of Gethsemane. Indeed, as Fr. Martin points out, Jesus’ final healing miracle before his death was to restore the ear of the soldier who had come to arrest him.
It would be a mistake to equate pacifism with inactivity. Pax Christ USA issued “Pray-Study-Act: The Escalating Situation in Ukraine.” In the guide are suggested liturgical services and prayers for peace; articles providing information about the situation in Ukraine and what active nonviolence means; a list of what people can do, such as organizing vigils for peace. In Washington D.C., according to the Independent Catholic News, the Pax Christi USA Young Adult Caucus will be holding a liturgy in front of the Russian Embassy on Ash Wednesday. In Europe, The Limited Times reports that Pax Christi will be gathering in Freising the following day. They will have a silent vigil because “the suffering of the Ukrainian people is currently making us speechless but not inactive.”
In their “Statement of the Executive Committee of the Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops on the Russian Invasion of Ukraine”, the CCCB also urges people to use non-violent means to pursue peace. They write that “The use of military force does not favour dialogue and peace; rather, it endangers innocent human life, the dignity of the human person and the security and safety of all people caught up in this conflict.” The Bishops “encourage the faithful and all people of good will to pray for the imminent restoration of peace, dialogue, and human fraternity.”
On February 23, 2022, the Pope invited the Faithful to join him in making Ash Wednesday this year a day of fasting and praying for peace in Ukraine because “Jesus taught us that the diabolical senselessness of violence is answered with God’s weapons, with prayer and fasting.” The invitation was repeated on February 27, 2022. As the Pope said on that occasion, “In recent days we have been shaken by something tragic: war. Time and again we have prayed that this road would not be taken. And let us not stop talking; indeed, let us pray to God more intensely. For this reason, I renew to all the invitation to make 2 March, Ash Wednesday, a day of prayer and fasting for peace in Ukraine. A day to be close to the sufferings of the Ukrainian people, to feel that we are all brothers and sisters, and to implore of God the end of the war.”
As horrifying as it is, the conflict in Ukraine is only one of many places in the world today where people are suffering the effects of war and violence. In the face of this, we may be tempted to fall into moral paralysis and despair. It can be so overwhelming. Perhaps we would do well to carry on what the Pope urged us to start on Ash Wednesday and make peace our intention for Lent. In this, our prayer can be a very simple one. Following St. Francis we ask to be made channels of God’s peace – exactly where we are and wherever we may be.
Here are links to the sources so that you can explore them more fully:
“Papal pleas for peace: Even if unheeded, Pope Francis continues tradition” https://cruxnow.com/vatican/2022/02/papal-pleas-for-peace-even-if-unheeded-pope-francis-continues-tradition
Fratelli Tutti
Catechism of Catholic Church – see #2307 on just war
https://www.vatican.va/archive/ENG0015/__P82.HTM
“Just War Theory and Ukraine: Would war with Russia be in accord with Catholic teaching?”
Fr James Martin S.J. makes the case that the tradition of the Catholic Church is peace
https://www.americamagazine.org/faith/2020/01/13/teaching-catholic-church-clear-we-are-against-war
Pax Christi, “The Ukraine Crisis”– includes resources for active nonviolence https://paxchristiusa.org/the-ukraine-crisis/
Independent Catholic News, “USA: Pax Christi young adults to pray for peace outside Russian Embassy” https://www.indcatholicnews.com/news/44173
“Standing together against the war in Ukraine: Pax Christi set an example with a vigil in Freising” https://newsrnd.com/news/2022-02-27-%E2%80%9Cstanding-together-against-the-war-in-ukraine%E2%80%9D–pax-christi-set-an-example-with-a-vigil-in-freising.r1KUh-tlq.html
CCCB Statement condemning invasion of Ukraine
Pope Francis Feb 23, 2022 invitation re: day of prayer and fasting for peace in Ukraine
https://www.vatican.va/content/francesco/en/audiences/2022/documents/20220223-udienza-generale.html
Pope Francis Feb 27, 2022 invitation re: day of prayer and fasting for peace in Ukraine
https://www.vatican.va/content/francesco/en/angelus/2022/documents/20220227-angelus.html
Pope Francis’ General Intention for March:
We pray for Christians facing new bioethical challenges; may they continue to defend the dignity of all human life with prayer and action!
Our Lady, Queen of Peace, pray for us!
Our Lady of Fatima, pray for us
Moira, Bambi, Bridget
The leader of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church said on Friday that the war risks creating an ecological disaster as well as a humanitarian catastrophe. Speaking as Russian forces seized Ukraine … www.ncregister.com
The Pope’s Monthly Intentions for 2022 | USCCB
Each year, the Holy Father asks for our prayers for a specific intention each month. You are invited to answer the Holy Father’s request and to join with many people worldwide in praying for this intention each month.
Catholic Donation Sites
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2022 DF – Ukraine Regional Assistance (e2rm.com)
I just supported 2022 DF – Ukraine Regional Assistance
Please join me in supporting 2022 DF – Ukraine Regional Assistance. It is a great way to make a difference. secure.e2rm.com
Many dioceses offer means of donating. Here is one example from the Diocese of Calgary’s website: https://www.catholicyyc.ca/blog/ukraine-emergency-relief
The Ukrainian bishops of Canada are working together with their churches to join CNEWA’s campaign. To donate, go to https://cnewa.org/ca/campaigns/ukraine