By Michelle Martin
staff writer

Several archdiocesan parishes plan special prayer services before Christmas against a pre-emptive military effort by the United States against Iraq. The efforts came as the Archdiocese of Chicago joined other Chicago-area religious leaders calling on President Bush to seek peace rather than war.

The services come after the Council of Religious Leaders of Metropolitan Chicago issued an unprecedented letter Dec. 1, calling on President George Bush to refrain from invading Iraq without compelling evidence of the need for war.

“We urge you to continue working with our allies and other nations to achieve greater security in the region while avoiding, if at all possible, a costly, dangerous and destructive war,” said the letter, which was signed by religious leaders representing Catholic, Orthodox and Protestant and other Christian churches, along with Jewish and Muslim congregations. Together, the congregations represent about 4 million people.

“It’s a moral issue, and religious leaders are supposed to be the moral leaders of their people,” said Auxilary Bishop Timothy J. Lyne, who represents the archdiocese on the council, along with Cardinal George and Dominican Sister Joan McGuire, director of the Office for Interreligious and Ecumenical Affairs.

Bishop Lyne said he preached about the possibility of war with Iraq at Holy Name Cathedral Dec. 1, and got a standing ovation.

A statement opposing war with Iraq approved by the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops at its November meeting actually goes a bit further than the council’s Dec. 1 letter, Bishop Lyne said. The bishops’ statement calls into question the moral legitimacy of war with Iraq, while the council’s statement says that war should be a last resort, a condition that has not yet been met.

“We’re just very pleased that the other religious leaders decided to speak out,” he said.

The council usually focuses on local Chicago matters, said the Rev. Paul Rutgers, a Presbyterian minister and executive director of the council, and it has never spoken out on international conflicts in the past because its members hold widely varying views on military action. However, in this case, all of the leaders agreed that they were obligated to speak out against a “hasty and hopefully unnecessary war,” he said.

Several religious congregations will participate in local peace vigils the weekend of Dec. 7 and the following week, and all will come together at 3:30 p.m. Dec. 15 at the Episcopalian St. James Cathedral, 65 E. Huron St., for a candlelight procession up the Magnificent Mile.

The timing of the letter was no accident, coming on the first day of Advent and during Hannukah and the Muslim holy month of Ramadan—a time when the three Abrahamic faith traditions were celebrating their own “seasons of peace,” said Bill Purcell, director of the archdiocese’s Office for Peace and Justice.

Father Lawrence Dowling, pastor of St. Denis Parish, said several peace prayer services will be held in conjunction with the Dec. 8-15 visit of Our Lady of the New Millennium, the 33-foot stainless steel statue of Mary and the Dec. 12 celebration of the feast Our Lady of Guadalupe. The main service will follow the 4 p.m. Mass Dec. 14, as part of the parish celebration of las posadas, Dowling said. He expects a large contingent to join the main march Dec. 15 as well.

“People have been very receptive to our teaching on it,” Dowling said. “We’ve gotten them to ask the questions. … There is no proof, nothing that warrants us to go ahead with this. These are people (the Iraqis) who have families, who love their children, just like us.”

In their letter, the religious leaders also argued that they have seen no compelling evidence for war, and called on the U.S. to pursue diplomatic alternatives that would promote peace and stability in the Middle East.

“A singular focus on war draws attention from America’s responsibility to provide guidance and material assistance essential to overcoming economic and social conditions that destroy human dignity,” they wrote. “The world’s only military superpower must strive to be a nation that promotes peace with justice.”

For more information on peace vigils, visit www.grassrootsvoices.com or call the American Friends Service Committee at (312) 427-2533.

Around the country, other efforts continued to promote peace rather than war.

In St. Paul, close to 900 people joined Archbishop Harry J. Flynn Nov. 24 to pray that the United States will not invade Iraq and bring about the deaths of countless civilians there.

“A Christian is about seeking peace,” the archbishop told the crowded assembly at St. Luke Church in St. Paul. “A Christian is all about finding love. ... A Christian, as much as possible, steps back from the brink of war.”

Across the country, participants in a Portland, Ore., rally promoted nonviolent resistance to U.S. foreign policy, and a group of women religious in Los Angeles were keeping a lunchtime vigil for peace.

In Portland Nov. 17, a crowd estimated at 10,000 people cheered when rally organizer Matt Jones held up a cross and said, “This is a ‘weapon’ that all who promote violence should be very afraid of.”

“On a cross, they hung the son of God who said, ‘Blessed are the peacemakers,’” added Jones, a member of the North Portland Catholic Community and part of a coalition that opposes a U.S. school for training Latin American military leaders, some of whom have been named in the murder of church leaders and in other atrocities.

Contributing: Catholic News Service