By Jeff Mason
Guest Column
The history of pacifism is rich and varied in the United States of America and within liberal-progressive currents in our Catholic Church. Literally, to be a pacifist is to be pacific; to be peaceful. A worthy way, I feel, to express one’s love for God and neighbor.
More recently, the emphasis in the human rights community in the Catholic Church has focused on Gospel Nonviolence and agape (divine unconditional love) as evolving out of the pacifist tradition, which itself, is founded upon sacred Scripture and Church tradition. Indeed, we call nonviolence “Gospel” because it finds its most succinct expression in the Sermon on the Mount of Our Lord Jesus Christ. Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called children of God. Blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy. Such sublime teachings from the Beatitudes of Our Lord in the Gospel of Matthew are part of a profoundly beautiful and humane tradition at the heart of our faith, and while the Just War Theory is indeed current Church teaching, there is a growing movement amongst the faithful within the Catholic Church to replace Just War Theory with an unequivocal affirmation of Gospel Nonviolence. Such are the efforts of the Catholic Nonviolence Initiative and Institute, for example. Such were the efforts of Pope Francis and now Pope Leo XIV.
I believe these are efforts worthy of the teachings, not only of Jesus Christ, but of exemplars like Saint Francis of Assisi, or mere men like Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and Mahandas K. Gandhi. Kingian nonviolence is a movement within the human rights community that is growing exponentially in response to challenges by political and religious extremism, not only in America, but across the world. We need to learn, practice and teach disciplined nonviolence as a legitimate form of conflict resolution. Gandhi spoke of the expression of satyagraha (soul/truth force) in the pursuit of ahimsa (nonviolence) as the expression of the Kingdom of God. King spoke of the significance of forgiveness, both divine and human. “He who is devoid of the capacity to forgive is devoid of the capacity to love,” he once said. May God’s grace bless us all with nonviolence and love. Peace be with you!
(Jeff Mason, OFS, is a member of St. Anthony Parish in Davenport and founder of the Pax Christi USA chapter of the Quad Cities. He volunteers with the Davenport Diocese Social Action Office.)
