Work for peace instead of judging pope’s past

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To the Editor:
Thanks for reporting the story about Adolfo Perez Esquivel, who won the 1980 Nobel Peace Prize for his heroic work for peace and human rights during the “dirty war” in Argentina during the 1970s. His support for Pope Francis lends credibility to the pope because Adolfo was one of those who were tortured during that war.
It’s interesting how we want to go back 35 years and judge Church leaders and scrutinize their behaviors. The reputation of Church leaders today is often determined by how righteous we judge their actions, even when they occurred so many years ago. And we use today’s standards, with the 20-20 vision of hindsight, to judge yesterday’s behaviors.
I’ve been wondering how we as Christians will hold up to scrutiny 35 years from now. What are we doing today that might be judged by future generations? What has our nation done in our lifetime, or what is it doing today, that might beg the question: What did Christians do to stop this?
Are we doing everything we can today to stop war and end the use of torture? What are we doing to stop the torture carried out in our name by our nation? Do we excuse our nation’s torture as “fighting terrorism” (as many did in Argentina during their dirty war)?
How much easier it is for us to look at what Pope Francis could have done to stop torture 35 years ago than to ask what are we doing today. It’s much harder to use all the power that we have, especially those of us in the USA, and use our influence to build peace and protect human rights.
Dan Ebener
Director of Stewardship and Parish Planning
Diocese of Davenport


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