My Friend's Against the War

Mark Peters, founder of Catholics for Peace and Justice, may have finally found someone he can regard as a worthy partner in dialogue, Fr. John Yockey of St. Jerome Church in Oconomowoc. Fr. Yockey will respond next week to what Mr. Peters had to say on the Iraq war in yesterday's Sunday bulletin.

Peters says he grounds his views on the war on his religious beliefs.

To me, "salvation" in Christ means being saved in the here and now from all human and Satanic forces that oppress or imprison us. Yes, I also hope to enjoy "heaven" in the afterlife, but my faith in our Lord has changed my life in this world irrevocably.

Through an odd set of circumstances, Peters sent me and several others his draft of this paper, unsolicited. In it the above paragraph went on,

If the Pope told us tomorrow that there was no afterlife, it would not affect my life as a Christian one iota.

Perhaps someone did a final edit with Peters' penchant for misstatement of Church teaching as rhetorical flourish in mind.

Update: The CPJ web site has a link to an item it describes as

Archbishop Dolan Speaks Out on War - Peace is Nobel, Obligatory Chrisian Vocation, Catholic Herald, Herald of Hope Column, September 28

Either that's a typo, or Archbishop Dolan might be headed for Oslo, not Baltimore.

Update 2: Here's more on the Chrisian vocation.

Update 3: Here's the permanent link to the Archbishop's September 28, 2006 column.

Update 4: Above fixed at CPJ, though with the Archbishop already demoted to the sidebar.

Update 5: CPJ, "based on Catholic social principles", has some links about the upcoming referendum on the marriage amendment to the state constitution. The link it says is to the "Current WI Constitution" is actually to Chapter 765 [5 pp. pdf] of the Wisconsin Statutes, which deals with marriage. Here's the Wisconsin Constitution [56 pp. pdf].