Fr. James Schall has written an excellent essay on the subject of Peace Research, which reminds us that wars are as much a part of human history as crime and violence and the attempts by the historical unwary to develop a pattern of thinking and behavior that they assume will result in world peace are not the best way to spend one’s time, for the kingdom of heaven is not of this world.
A characteristic that appears to be present in the folks who spend their time resisting those social institutions in our country that are largely operating under the mantle of our society’s responsibility to protect —whether their resistance involves working to shut down military installations, ban capital punishment, or release most criminals from prison—is a clear unawareness of the reality of evil, and for Catholics, who have at their fingertips, within the deep well of the magisterium, the most developed intellectual and spiritual resources concerning the work of the prince of this world available anywhere, that is inexcusable.
The article also reminded me of a historical fact in the book, The Great Heresies, by Hilaire Belloc, that so often heresy occurs when dissenters try to create absolutes when contingency is needed and create contingency when absolutes are needed; or they just go backwards, as did the Albigensian Heresy, noted by Belloc:
“The propagation of mankind was attacked; marriage was condemned, and the leaders of the sect spread all the extravagances which you find hovering round Manichaeism or Puritanism wherever it appears. Wine was evil, meat was evil, war was always absolutely wrong, so was capital punishment; but the one unforgivable sin [from the Albigensian’s perspective] was reconciliation with the Catholic Church. All heresies make that their chief point.” (p. 91)
Lampstand Foundation website, http://www.lampstandfoundation.org/
"The sinner is at the very heart of Christianity. Nobody is so competent as the sinner in matters of Christianity. Nobody, except the saint." Charles Peguy (1873-1914)
About
- David H. Lukenbill
- I am a California native, married, we have one daughter and live close to the American River with two cats and all the wild critters we can feed. I am a management consultant to nonprofit organizations and have an Associates of Arts degree in Administration of Justice from Sacramento City College, a Bachelor of Science degree in Organizational Behavior from the University of San Francisco and a Master of Public Administration degree, also from the University of San Francisco.