Bumfuzzled over Syria

Bumfuzzled.  That is the only way to explain my reaction to the progressive intensity surrounding the hawkish rhetoric these days toward the Assad regime.  I pay close attention to the thoughts of my students who have connections to the region.  They are universally opposed to American "intervention."  It doesn't matter that they are Christian Lebanese, Palestinian Muslim, Israeli Jew.  The bishops in Syria see foreign intrusion into internal matters of the Syrian people as ultimately far more destructive than any "good" that might accompany a move that would assuage the conscience of Europe or the United States.  It is a very odd predicament.  The president is oft-quoted as having not made up his mind, even while he moves his chess pieces into position for a strike that will have epic consequences.  Surgical strike?  Is that even a real possibility?

I am under no illusion over its cries of a frame up by Western powers, the Saudis, al-Qaeda.  But the missile attacks, fire-bombings, chemical drops, are designed to intimidate a people already war-weary.  Russia's posturing, aided and abetted by the Russian Orthodox Church (which has shown increasing and disturbing influence over government), is utterly unhelpful.  It sees no alternative but to block measures to gain satisfaction at the Security Council.  Alliances are sometimes stronger than the demands of justice.

And then there is the Catholic just war tradition.  Lester Holt said on air yesterday that the Obama administration (through Secretary Kerry) has laid out a "moral case" for intervention.  Really?  His idea of morality seems very loose.  In fact, as many have rightly pointed out, the moral case for a just war with Syria is hardly in evidence.  My worry is that the Catholic just war tradition has not been sufficiently formed to this point and may not even be applicable in the case of Assad's handiwork.

Many of the same principles that might apply in the American response to the horror of the Syrian attacks on its own people harken back to the days when National Socialists were on the rise in Germany.  Neville Chamberlain came back to Britain's parliament asking that it turn a blind eye to the violations of the Hitler regime. I find many historical parallels.  Secretary Kerry's views are strikingly similar to Churchill and I feel he is altogether alert to this echo in history.

In the end I side with the innocents who will bear the brunt of our decisions.  We sit comfortably while the bombs fall.  But I don't know if more patience is the answer either.  So, bumfuzzled.

New attention on China

Pope Francis has asked for prayers of Catholics world wide on May 24, the Feast of Our Lady of Sheshan (Our Lady Help of Christians), to celebrate and encourage the Church in China.  This is not a simple plea but a cris-de-coeur.  The pope specifically requested Catholics in China remain "faithful to [God's] Church and to the successor of Peter and to live daily life in service to their country and their fellow citizens in a manner consistent with the faith they profess."

Let the signal to Chinese authorities be clear: the Roman Catholic Church, through its pope, is not inclined to bend to the wishes of the government on the matter of the primacy of Peter.  The Church in China is not a government sanctioned entity.  It can never be.  The power of the Church does not derive from any government.  Any threat to the authentic nature of the Church will remain ever idle.

But part two of the pope's wish--the request that Chinese Catholics live in service to their nation but who must do so consistent with the values of the faith they profess--is an especially interesting one.  Given recent press reports of the widespread hacking done in both the Chinese government and private sector, the witness of a Catholic ethic as it is brought to bear on such nefarious activity is needed now more than ever.  Stealing the intellectual property of another is a crime against the eighth commandment.  I am not saying that it would be a cure-all for such activity, but a full-throated Catholic ethic would decry such activity and would potentially move the Chinese government from passive denunciations to explicit policies and legal repercussions that had teeth.  Electronic espionage and theft of ideas is hardly the measure of a great nation.  Catholics in China could be instructive on a solution.