September 1983 Print

 

A Sermon by Father Hector L. Bolduc

WE ARE FREQUENTLY ASKED questions as to the position of the Catholic Church concerning the ability of nations or individuals to defend themselves against aggression. This has particularly become prominent recently with the position taken by the American Bishops in opposing completely and without reservation the use of nuclear weapons in the defense of this nation. Because of this issue, many questions have been asked by Catholics as to where they stand as regards the Church. It is good for us to examine the Catholic viewpoint on this issue, keeping in mind that the Bishops did not speak for the Church, but rather, expressed their own personal feelings in this matter. The Church has, for centuries, expressed its support on this issue of self-defense against an unjust aggressor, and it is this that Catholics should follow. St. Augustine gave us the conditions for defense against an unjust aggressor. They are:

1. A conflict must be engaged on order of a competent authority;
2. truly necessary for the achievement of a just cause,
3. carried out with right intention.

Surely no one (except perhaps the American bishops) would deny that Communism is an evil force. Surely no one would deny (except perhaps the American bishops) that America is a competent authority and that to defend itself against Communism aggression is a just cause. We know that, since its beginning, the Catholic Church has always come to the defense of the freedoms of mankind. The Church, like our government, acknowledges that life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness are inalienable rights guaranteed mankind by the very fact that God created him. We know that the Catholic Church teaches that a husband and father has the right to defend his family and his possessions from anyone who would attempt to deprive him of his family or to harm his family or to seize his property, and that this individual has the right to use whatever weapons are at his disposal for that end, that is, to safeguard his family. We also know that the Catholic Church has always defended the rights of nations to defend themselves against an unjust aggressor, and that the Catholic Church has ruled that one need not wait until an attacked is lodged against a nation in order to prepare for an attack and that it is within sound reason and in keeping with the teachings of the Church to keep oneself properly armed so that one would not fall victim to an unjust aggressor. Our Lord teaches in the Bible that if the man had known at what time the enemy had struck, he would have armed himself and guarded his courtyard so that his home would not have been broken into (Luke 12:39). He would have armed himself appropriately and would have been there to repulse the aggressor and his property would not have been given up to spoil. This is a very good example of Christ teaching that a man can certainly arm himself against an aggressor. We also know that the Catholic Church, for centuries, has armed itself against aggressors and has fought valiantly and successfully against aggressors. We know that, even now, the Vatican maintains an army to defend the person of the Holy Father and to defend the integrity of Vatican City, the territorial kingdom of the visible Church on earth, ruled by the Pope in Rome. Its army—papal guards—are equipped with the very best of equipment. When we visit the Vatican we are accustomed to seeing the Swiss Guard in sixteenth-century uniforms. However, we know that the Vatican is equipped with machine guns, rifles, automatic weapons and other types of modern warfare which are necessary for the defense of that nation. We also know that, in ages past, the Catholic Church was first and foremost in keeping armies and in using them against unjust aggressors. Our own St. Pius V raised an army, an armada, to use against the heathen, the Turks, when they threatened to overrun Europe and destroy western civilization. We know that when he sent his armies and ships to do successful battle against the Turks at Lepanto, where he defeated them, that these armies and ships were armed with the very finest weapons which were available at the time—cannon, swords, spears, cross-bows, and even fire-bombs which were used to set the enemy ships on fire. The Saint did not hesitate to use the very best weapons which were available. When the Turks threatened the gates of Vienna, John Sobieski came from Poland with a very well equipped army to defeat them. They did not leave their main weapons of war behind as a means of simply avoiding unnecessary bloodshed! Certainly the enemy did not leave their most formidable weapons behind either! They used them as they were expected to use them—to the best of their abilities!

We know too that it was a Roman Catholic monk who discovered gun-powder, and that the Church used this invention for the purposes of making the cannon an important implement of war. The Church knew that without the means of defending itself, it would be victimized by any power greater than itself and that the Church would not last unless it did defend itself.

In their proposition the bishops have suggested that the United States of America does not have the right to use modern weapons, such as nuclear power, to defend itself. It has taken a stand which is contrary to the teachings of the Church. Also the bishops have taken a stand which does great harm to the Church because, in refusing to allow, or by attempting to refuse to allow this nation, to arm itself properly against its aggressors, the bishops would place this nation at the mercy of the aggressor and thus jeopardize not only the nation but the Church and Christianity as well.

The enemy we are speaking of is, of course, Communism—international or otherwise. It is the greatest enemy of mankind, and it is the greatest enemy of the Church. It is diabolical in concept, it is in league with Satan—it comes directly from Satan and has the same objectives. It is simply another tool of Satan, and we know it is, because its main purpose for existence is the total and complete destruction of Christianity and the destruction of the Roman Catholic Church—the enslavement of all mankind to their totalitarian ideas and philosophies. In order to gain this supremacy over mankind, Communism must liquidate from the world all those who oppose them, mainly all Christian people. Lenin said, at the time of the Russian Revolution: "The Roman Catholic Church must be totally destroyed to make way for Communism." It is only after the Roman Catholic Church has been destroyed that Communism will succeed because Lenin knew that the greatest weapon against Communism is the Catholic Church.

Now, we know that the Catholic Church is strong and we use prayer to invoke God in our defense, but we know also that God wishes us to help ourselves in our own defense. He gave us, He gave mankind, the intelligence and the science to invent and make weapons for our defense, and these weapons are to be used. We would be culpable before the eyes of Almighty God and we would be culpable before the nation of which we are a part, if we did not support our nation in its defense against these enemies. We have to remember that the strength of the Holy Roman Catholic Church in America depends on the strength of its nation and its government. The Roman Catholic Church, as well as all other religious bodies, are allowed to freely practice their religion because there is a strong government to protect it, because the government, through its people, says we have that right. Even though this is not a Catholic nation, we have that right given to us by the Constitution and the Bill of Rights and by the Declaration of Independence. If these rights are taken away, then, the Catholic Church will cease to have these rights, and we will have, either an inadequate defense or no defense at all. The Catholic Church as well as all other religious groups will either cease to exist or be at the mercy of the enemies of Christianity. The Catholic Church and every other religious institution throughout the world has been victimized by international Communism wherever Communism has been in power. We know this as a fact because we can look at the fate of many, many nations and see it. It is an historical, proven fact! We can see where it has already happened, and we know that in Communist nations where the Church and Christianity exist, it exists only because it is tolerated by the Communists because they are not yet strong enough to totally destroy it—the faith of the people and the Faith of the Church in those particular nations is too strong for them. They war constantly against it, and they hope to eventually destroy it, as they have publicly proclaimed. We know that in all these nations where Communism has had supremacy, the first act, upon gaining supremacy, has been to deny the right to bear arms to the people. First they remove the arms from the people, then they enslave them; they kill all those who are opposed to their philosophical and ideological ends. The people remain enslaved and the country is destroyed; it becomes another victim of Communism. We have seen this happen now in one-half of the world, and it has always taken the same pattern. There is not one nation in the world where Communism was elected by the people as its ruling body! It has always been a take-over—Communism has been forced upon a people against its will, and that take-over has always been effected by progressive leftists who work for Communism, such as the American bishops are now doing. We also know that when Communism succeeds in taking a nation through this means, those who helped them take it over are the first to be their victims. Those who betrayed their nation in order that Communism should obtain a position in their country are immediately liquidated—they realize that those traitors who betrayed their nation may also betray them (the Communists)! Recognizing them for what they are—traitors—they do away with them because they do not want to be victimized by their own treacherous agents. They are no longer needed as they have served their evil purpose.

The bishops of the United States could well be the first to be liquidated by the Communists should this nation be taken over by the enemy. So, with all others who assisted them in this crime, they could not be trusted. Communism and the republican form of government, which we enjoy, are diametrically opposed to one another, they are incompatible.

The bishops are wrong in the stand they have taken. They have gone against prudence and Catholic teaching in this matter. They have gone against moral teaching and they oppose the very government which gives them the right to practice their religion in this country. We know that the Catholic Church, like any other religious organization, can exist freely in this country only as long as it does not involve itself in political matters. If it does so it can lose its tax exempt status and its right to function as a charitable religious body because it will have stepped beyond the bounds of the separation of Church and State which we have here in America. The best way to ensure a free Church and free Christianity in America is to support the government which guarantees these rights and which makes these freedoms possible. A weak government means a weak nation and a weak people which can easily be taken over and result in a loss of these freedoms. One cannot stand by and watch the destruction of the government which guarantees the rights of the people and think that the rights of the people will be honored by their conquerors. That just isn't how it works and it never has worked that way! Therefore, we should not listen to the bishops. We should not obey them. We should not follow them. As a matter of fact, we have an obligation to oppose them in this matter and in any other matter which goes contrary to the teaching of our Church and which goes contrary to common sense and which would oppose the rights and dignity of mankind.

The bishops do not protect these rights because they themselves have become victims of the Liberal teachings which have been predominant in American seminaries for the past fifty years, and they are the product of this Liberal, leftist indoctrination. Some of the bishops leave the definite impression that they are in favor of Communism! They support the 'better red than dead theory." They have taken the stand of pacifism, that any indignity can be tolerated, that we mustn't defend ourselves, no matter what. Well, we know that Christ did not believe that! They try to make Christ out to be a "pansy," as being a weak namby-pamby person. He wasn't! He was strong and aggressive and we know He used a weapon Himself when He needed to. The best example of this is the gospel of two weeks ago, where Christ expelled the money-changers from the temple by making a weapon out of rope. He made a whip and chased them out. He beat them with this whip. He used a weapon, whether the bishops like it or not, and in doing so, He used a formidable weapon—a whip at the time of Christ was an instrument of death. Men could be sentenced to death by whipping, and we know that St. Paul himself writes that twice he received forty less one lashes at the hands of the Jews. We know that Christ Himself was cruelly scourged at the pillar with whips. Thus, when Christ made a whip and chased the money-lenders from the temple, He was making use of a weapon which, at the time, constituted one of the most feared weapons that could be used in punishing an individual.

Christ was not a pacifist. As a matter of fact, He deplored pacifism. He said, "Oh, that you be hot or cold, but because you are lukewarm, I will vomit you out of My mouth." He had no use for pacifists.

Now the bishops have taken a course of pacifism because they are too weak to defend the teachings of the Church as they ought to be defended because they are not good shepherds. They are wolves in sheep's clothing—leaders of the American Catholic Church and not of the one, holy, Roman Catholic and Apostolic Church! They have veered from the Truth, and the further they get from the Truth, the weaker they become and the weaker the Church becomes. However, we who recognize the truths of the Catholic Church have an obligation to defend these truths. We have an obligation to defend our nation and to defend our rights. We have an obligation to defend our freedom of religion. The only way we can ensure these rights is to have a strong nation so that we can have a strong Church and a strong Catholic population to fight the enemy. If we have a weak Church, as we certainly have now, then we will have a weak government, and if we have a weak government, then the Church will cease to exist because its enemies will destroy it. Do not allow yourselves to be led astray by the rantings and ramblings of these leftists, these weak bishops! They are wrong and they are not following the teaching of Christ. They are not following the teaching of the Church. I would be the first to challenge any one of them to debate this issue publicly—anywhere at any time! History condemns them, the teaching of the Scriptures are against them.

We want peace, and we fight for peace. The greatest means of achieving peace is to remain well prepared as Christ taught us. A person who is not well armed or well prepared will always be victimized by the enemy. It is unfortunate perhaps that we would have to use a weapon as awesome as the atomic bomb in our defense, but it is far more awesome and worse to realize that through the lack of preparedness we would all be drawn into slavery for the rest of our lives. It would be far more honorable to die on the field of battle, be it by sword or by a nuclear weapon, than to be put to death in concentration camps and to languish away in slave labor camps at the hands of an unchristian and ungodly enemy. I am certain that if the hundreds of millions of victims of Communist aggression were to be resurrected and given the choice of dying in Communist slave labor camps, or the chance of using nuclear weapons to defend themselves—I fell certain that they would prefer to take their chances with fall-out! The victims of Communism exceed by the millions those killed by nuclear power.

Let us not allow ourselves to be drawn into a false sense of security, that all we have to do is bow down, throw our weapons away, welcome our enemies and they, in turn, will treat us with benevolence. They will not! They never have and they never will! We have a hundred captive nations to turn to as proof that this will not happen. Let us ask Almighty God to give us the grace to see through this error and to oppose it. Let us also ask Almighty God to send us good leaders for the Church who will stand up and defend Catholic teaching, and good leaders of the government who will stand up and defend the laws of this nation so that we will be able to have a strong Catholic Church and a strong America.

In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost. Amen.