Wednesday, August 27, 2025

Inbox Inspiration: August 27, 2025: Just War 1-2

 

INBOX INSPIRATIONS

August 27, 2025

 

Just War – 1

 

Dear Friends,

The continued wars between the Israelis and the Palestinians in Gaza and between Russia and Ukraine have led me to reflect on the morality of war. Different sources give slightly different numbers, but the current conflicts have taken the lives of many and injured many others. 

For example, in the initial attack of October 7, 2023, 1,195 Israelis were killed, and of that number, 895 were civilians. In addition to those numbers, to date, 898 Israeli soldiers have been killed. On the other side, 61,000 Palestinians have been killed. Half of these were women and children and 8,900 of them were fighters.

The full-scale war between Russia and Ukraine began in February 2022. So far, 45,000 Ukrainian soldiers have been killed and another 390,000 have been injured. There have been 13,000 civilian deaths with another 35,000 civilians injured. For Russia, estimates range from 118,000 to 250,000 military personnel killed with another 800,000 wounded.

The continuation of these wars, coupled with the large loss of human life and high numbers of injuries have led me to think about warfare from a moral perspective. This is my focus here. 

 

The Church has recognized that sometimes, regrettably, engaging in warfare is necessary and moral. The Church has recognized the need for public authorities to provide for national defense and even require individuals to participate in this. It is important to note here that we have also taught respect for those who in conscience refuse to bear and use weapons. The Church calls for these persons to serve the human community in some other way. 

If engaging in warfare seems necessary, the Church has established certain principles that are to be followed in arriving at this decision and in conducting the warfare. These principles have been developed over centuries and find their roots in the theological reflections especially of Saint Augustine (354-430) and Saint Thomas Aquinas (1224-1274).  These moral principles are called the Just War Doctrine.     

It is important to emphasize that the Church sees evils and injustices inevitably arising from warfare. It teaches that all governments and citizens are obliged to work for the avoidance of war. Next week, in the Inbox Inspirations of September 3, I will look at the principles that constitute the Just War teaching.  

 

Fr. Michael Schleupner

 

Primary source for the above is The Catechism of the Catholic Church. 


September 3, 2025

 

Just War – 2

 

Dear Friends,

Last week’s edition of Inbox Inspirations introduced the Catholic Church teaching about war. The Church acknowledges that sometimes war seems necessary. However, this is an extremely serious matter because evils and injustices will always arise from warfare. For this reason, over many centuries, the Church has developed what is called the Just War Doctrine. There are four essential conditions, all of which must be met, for warfare to be justified.

But first, we need to be clear that the Church is teaching about defensive wars – a country resorting to military action for its legitimate defense. The Church never calls an aggressive act of warfare morally justified. An aggressive act of warfare always seems to be immoral and not justified.  

Having said that, here are the principles for the moral justification of resorting to war. 

 

v The damage inflicted by the aggressor on the nation or nations must be lasting, grave, and certain. So, the damage that would be or is being inflicted will have enduring negative consequences. These must be serious, like the subjugation or even extermination of people. And it must be clear that these consequences will result if the aggressor is allowed to go unchecked. 

v All other means to put an end to the aggression must have been shown to be impractical or ineffective. For example, diplomacy and negotiation must have been tried and failed.

v There must be serious prospects of success. In other words, engaging in war as a defense of one’s country must have a definite possibility of succeeding in deterring the aggressor and the evils that would be inflicted. This principle seems to flow from the reality that engaging in war, even if morally justified, will bring loss of life and human suffering. So, it is worth doing this only if there is a serious prospect of success in warding off a greater evil.

v The fourth principle follows from what precedes it. The use of arms must not produce evils that are graver than the evil to be avoided. The power of modern destructive weaponry enters into the evaluation of this condition for a just war.    

 

These reflections will be continued in nest week’s Inbox Inspirations, September 10.

 

Fr. Michael Schleupner

 

Primary source for the above is The Catechism of the Catholic Church. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 


Wednesday, August 20, 2025

Inbox Inspiration: August 20, 2025: Responding to Offenses

 

INBOX INSPIRATIONS

August 20, 2025

 

Responding to Offenses

 

Dear Friends,

Last Wednesday August 13, I gave a homily at the morning weekday Mass. Afterwards, several people asked if I would share the homily in one of my Inbox Inspirations. So, here it is today. The gospel for last Wednesday’s Mass was Matthew 18:15-20, Jesus teaching us what to do if someone sins against us. It might be good to review that passage from Matthew before reading this. What follows now is my homily.

 

“Today Jesus talks about what to do when, as he says, someone has sinned against us.

I think we can take Jesus’ guidance as applying to situations when someone has wronged us personally, or when someone is doing something that we believe is wrong or sinful even if it does not affect us directly.

I got thinking about this passage in the context of the entire life and teachings of Jesus. 

In that context, I am seeing five brief, quick rules from Jesus about what to do or how to respond in these situations.

 

1. Take the initiative. Try to bring about reconciliation between the other person and yourself, or between the other person and God.

 

2. Treat the other person with respect. Work at the issue in a private, personal, one-on-one way. Only if that fails, consult someone else who may be able to bring some additional wisdom to the situation – maybe a family member or friend or priest or counselor.

 

3. Don’t shame or embarrass the other person. That will do no good for anyone.

 

4. Don’t give up on the other person. Stick with what you believe is right and good, but don’t give up on another. That, I believe, is the correct interpretation of Jesus’ words about treating the other as you would a gentile or tax collector if they won’t listen to you or even to the Church.  

 

5. Do all of this prayerfully. Let it emerge from praying about it and from seeking God’s guidance. I have to imagine that this is why Jesus’ direction here is connected with some teaching about prayer. 

 

So, some brief, quick, practical, spiritual, gospel-based rules for doing what Jesus is teaching today.”

                

Fr. Michael Schleupner