Just War | Catholic Central

Is war ever the answer? What's the Catholic approach to thinking about it? When is it justified?
Kai and Libby break down the things a conflict needs in order to be considered just, and some of the things that all of us need to take into account when thinking about conflict on a both global and local scale (looking at you, roommates!).
From Family Theater Productions in Hollywood.
Visit our website for the transcript, study guide, and more! - www.catholiccentral.com
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[@vinceemery5943]

Absolutely love Catholic Central!!!

[@CatholicCentralVideos]

Vincent Emery Absolutely love this comment!!!

[@bushy8415]

this is actually said really well, well-done ! personally I'm not a Christian but I found this really touching

[@CatholicCentralVideos]

Hi Bushy, thank you for your comments. We feel that the episode's message transcends religion, especially in the current state of this planet and we are glad that you were able to get something out of it.

[@joseurbano8059]

Touching this topic is quite a challenge. Congratulations once again!

[@CatholicCentralVideos]

José Urbano thank you! It wasn’t an easy one to produce, for sure!

[@KnightsColumbus]

Thanks for covering this topic. I will be sharing this with my high school Religious Ed students next week as we digest what is happening right now.

[@CatholicCentralVideos]

Great, we are going to re-release it this week so that more people can be aware of it.

[@JohnRodriguez-si9si]

Being both a Catholic Christian ( Latin ( Roman Rite) ) , and, Prior Service USMC and US Army Enlisted Veteran, I Myself AM qualified to say that if War is necessary to stop Dictators, Terrorists, and the like , as terrible as going to Action and Active Combat Operations Downrange, it is necessary. " Wars and Rumors of War"( Matthew 24:6; Mark 13:7: Luke 21:9) . 🇺🇲🇺🇸❤️🇻🇦🇻🇦✝️☦️🪖🎖️💣💥🔥🛡️🗡️⚔️🙏⛪‼️

[@CatholicCentralVideos]

Thank you for your service.

[@JohnRodriguez-si9si]

@@CatholicCentralVideos You Yourself are absolutely welcome 🤗. Would gladly Reenlist , if the situation warrants Reentry into the Armed Forces.

[@MivusComedy]

I really am loving this channel's content!

[@CatholicCentralVideos]

Manuel Bardeux we really are loving this comment!!

[@Camelepiz]

Such a tough topic. Thank you for breaking it down.

[@CatholicCentralVideos]

Glad you liked it! Yes, it was tough!

[@amyraab8326]

❤️❤️❤️

[@lostames564]

Thank you so much this helped me so much!!!!!! (I am studying this)

[@CatholicCentralVideos]

So glad to hear that!

[@MrChristie2011]

Thanks for this video, this explain my dilemma in the current revolution movement and political crisis in Burma(Myanmar).

[@CatholicCentralVideos]

We have been praying for you and hope that your dilemma will soon be resolved.

[@christopherhuizar6044]

4:12

[@CatholicCentralVideos]

"Just War" theory in a nutshell.

[@changer1285]

Loving the puns guys.

[@CatholicCentralVideos]

So do we!

[@claylippert7203]

Actually, a country may make war on the basis of a physical offense.

[@CatholicCentralVideos]

That indeed is one of the criteria.

[@apracity7672]

Since our perfectly Just and Holy and Righteous God waged war against the Canaanites, war isnt intrinsically evil and I dont think pacifism is the answer

[@CatholicCentralVideos]

Well, Apracity, if you watch the episode, Kai and Libby do not say that war is an intrinsic evil, nor do they say that pacifism is the answer to all war. The Church teaches that some wars, but not all wars, are just. But what kind of war did God wage against the Canaanites? The surprising answer is that God waged no war at all! We urge you to see our episode on “The Bible,” where Kai and Libby explain how the Bible is God’s word in human words, words that reflect the understanding and religious priorities of the inspired writers of their time and place - in this case, a people transitioning from the Bronze Age into the Iron Age. Jericho and other Canaanite towns around it had been totally abandoned almost a thousand years before the time of Joshua, probably because of tainted drinking water. The “victory” there (which in the Jericho account reads more like a liturgical ceremony than a military adventure) was in fact the Israelites’ faith in God after forty years in the desert, gaining them the land God had promised because they had followed the Torah. “This story is not based on any memory of an event in Israel’s past,” writes Leslie Hoppe, OFM, of Chicago’s Catholic Theological Union, “it is another homily on obedience.” The book of Joshua is not about a God of war, it is about a God who keeps his promises. The inspired writers and their readers had for centuries been steeped in a religious culture that idolized warlike gods. They could not comprehend how this “I Am Who Am” could be any different, this Yahweh whose nature would not be completely revealed until the coming of Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit in the fullness of Trinitarian Love. So they cast the taking of the promised land in the literary genre of a military victory, the faith in an all-powerful God that conquers and endures. But getting back to your comment about the inherent evil of war. However, we look at it, says Libby in the episode, even a just war “causes innocent people to suffer” and doesn’t change the reality that everybody killed in that war “had human dignity, hopes, and dreams, just like you.” A just war may not be intrinsically evil, but you certainly can’t consider it an intrinsic good, even if it serves the greater good of humanity. Everything should be done to avoid war. If there is no clear way to peace, all four conditions of a just war should be met in good faith, as Kai and Libby explain in the episode.

[@fsalinasagruna]

but, what about the crusades?

[@CatholicCentralVideos]

Hi Erik, this is a good question. Just as each of our personal histories contains things we're not proud of having done or said, we hopefully learn from our mistakes. The same can be said for the Church. The concept of “Just War Theory” has come about by years of evolution in thought and doctrine. The Church has come to realize that war is wrong except when justified in very few instances, as explained in the episode. Among other things, the Crusades were waged with a savagery way out of proportion to the Muslim threat to Christendom that existed at the time. By the standard of "Proportionality" alone, the Crusades were a historic injustice and no good came from them either for the Christians, Muslims, Jews or thousands of innocent civilians swept into the bloodbath. As each of us has learned from our past, so has the Church, and like each of us repenting of our sins, it has sought to make amends.

[@deocrat]

@@CatholicCentralVideos they've been stealing christian lands for centuries before the crusades was declared.

[@nobodynowhere7163]

Really Catholics? Ever heard of the 30 Years War or the Albigensian crusade? How about the conflict in Northern Ireland? Your own leaders forget about the “love your neighbor” immediately if it goes against their interests. So you love your neighbor alright except when your own leaders tell you to go to war to defend their interests.

[@CatholicCentralVideos]

@nobodynowhere7163 The Catholic Church does not ignore that the historical events you mention, as well as others, nor does it pretend that they did not happen. To the contrary, the Church in the last few decades has acknowledged these events and the role that members of the Catholic hierarchy played in them. But they did not occur in a bubble, but within the context of complex sociopolitical dynamics. It is important, though, to distinguish the actions carried out by individuals or groups who claim to represent the Church and its teachings. The commandment to "love your neighbor as yourself" is foundational to Catholic moral teaching. However, throughout history, there have been instances where individuals or groups, including those within the Church, have acted in ways contrary to these teachings, often motivated by political, economic, or other non-religious interests. The Church acknowledges and condemns any misuse of its teachings to justify violence or aggression and recognizes the need for repentance and reconciliation for past injustices committed in its name. In recent times, the Church has been actively engaged in promoting peace-building efforts, interfaith dialogue, and reconciliation initiatives in areas affected by conflict.

[@nobodynowhere7163]

@@CatholicCentralVideos "... in the last few decades has acknowledged..." yeah, the last few decades, about time. Christianity has been around for over 2000 years; sure this "love your neighbor" thing takes time to sink in (and many dead)... I hope I don't have to remind you how the Jews were treated in the Papal States all the way to 1870, when the Papal States finally collapsed... now, "in the last few decades" statement after 2000 years makes me wonder, why the rush?

[@CatholicCentralVideos]

For the sake of this reply, let’s assume you are an American citizen like most of us here at Catholic Central. And you, like us, probably still cling to the ideals of our Founders - that all persons are created equal, and that we as a nation are dedicated to the life , liberty and happiness of all its people. But at the same time, we can all recite a staggering litany of the ways our country has seemed to demonstrate quite the opposite: the horrors of slavery superseded by the horrors of Jim Crow, centuries-long resistance to women’s suffrage, a genocidal war in Vietnam, the red-lining of neighborhoods to exclude “undesirables” -- the list painfully goes on. Does this mean that the ideals of the United States are a sham and our nation is an unredeemable force of evil? To begin to answer this, we can turn to Old Testament personages like Moses, who committed murder with his bare hands, or to King David who arranged for the death of Bathsheba’s husband so he could marry her. The wisdom in these shocking accounts is that they represent the truth of human life. At our worst we are sinners, but at our best we are sinners who deep-down hunger for the good. Nations and institutions with good ideals falter at times for the same reason - because they are run by us humans in our tangle of foibles and good hearts. If you were to go into any Catholic parish in the country this Sunday you would find very few people applauding the Inquisition, the 30 Years War or the Church’s early stance on the Jews. You would find people instead focused on the spiritual ideals of Jesus Christ - to love God and others as you would love your self - ideals enriched by the divine activity of the Sacraments and the proclamation of Scripture. These folks are similar to the billions and billions of ordinary people that the Church has served over the span of two millennia by multitudes of self-sacrificing men and women. Likewise the United States, despite its crimes and misdemeanors, has outdone any other country in world-wide charity, has allowed millions of people like you and us to freely express our views on religion and politics, and constantly reminds us of the ideals and social responsibilities that animate our purpose as a community. To paint us all, church or country, with the broad brush of historical and collective guilt is to ignore the reality of the human condition.

[@nobodynowhere7163]

@@CatholicCentralVideos just to remind you that the United States started as has always been a Protestant nation, not a Catholic one. As per the “Church’s early stance on the Jews”, well, it depends what you mean by “early”. Jews were confined to ghettoes in the Papal States all the way to 1870. Also, it wasn’t until 1968 in the 2nd Vatican Council that there was an edict where the Jews were finally “exonerated” of deicide.

[@CatholicCentralVideos]

We are quite at a loss to understand how your reminder that America is a “Protestant nation” relates to our reply. We are pointing out how all human collectives - religious or national - reflect human nature at its best and at its worst. When we compare the American collective to the collective of the Church we are comparing humans with humans, not Catholics with Protestants. The America in our example is the America of all races and creeds and ethnicities. That you could distort such an obvious point would seem to suggest that you are more intent on grinding an axe against the Catholic Church than engaging in a fraternal conversation about the issues of war and moral hypocrisy that seemed to matter to you. Your technical criticism of our reference to the Jews is another hostile swipe that misses the broad point of its context - that the Catholic Church failed in its call to be a sign of the Risen Christ. Our use of the word “early” in describing the Church’s abuse of the Jews was not an attempt to cover up any of the Church’s sins against the forefathers of our religion, whenever or wherever they occurred. In quibbling with a detail so minor you have again suggested that your main interest is in throwing rocks rather than seeing what we can learn from each other in broad and abiding terms. One thing we can learn - and have to learn - is that Christians of all denominations must start to focus not on what divides them but what unites them: the Lordship of Jesus Christ. All faith traditions, at one time or another, have been exclusionary and betrayed their own beliefs. They have never been perfect, nor are they now. Let us accept that and, as brothers and sisters in faith, do the good that we can within our fallen natures, with God as our guide, redeeming and reforming us. The Great Divider would love to see Christianity destroy itself from within. Let’s not let him. The Holy Spirit has given us zeal to love and to build up, not to tear down and destroy. This will be the last reply we make to you and any further replies from you will be deleted in accordance with our policy. We wish you well on your journey of faith, and may God bless your steps.