Comments Made at Casey Funeral

Bishop McGann’s criticism of U.S. Central American policy at William Casey’s funeral was both tasteless and arrogant. Our foreign policy is not a moral issue such that the bishop is qualified to make public comments (let alone politicize a funeral). Outside of pacifism, there is universal agreement on the moral principles that should guide our dealings with other nations. The problem is applying those principles to the secular world.

“What’s really happening in Nicaragua? How effective are the various proposed solutions?” Depending on how one answers those questions, the same moral principles supply vastly different answers. Every “ethical question raised” by the U.S. Catholic bishops has been answered by saying “You’re not describing the real world. The situation you describe does not exist.” So why do U.S. bishops insist that their perception of the secular world is so superior to that of professionals like Bill Casey (or their brother bishops in Nicaragua)?

The moral teaching of the Catholic Church, applied to the secular world perceived by this Administration, absolutely requires full military support for the contras , including active U.S. military involvement if they can’t do the job themselves. That’s not a pleasant answer. So the bishops (and many other Americans) adopt a naive, unrealistic perception that absolves them of responsibility. The situation is reminiscent of a similar pronouncement by the bishops some 15 years ago. Then they said we should get out of Southeast Asia because our fighting caused more damage than anything the communists would ever do. Three million corpses later (not to mention the millions more enslaved) they are saying the same thing about Central America. How many will they kill this time?

P.A. McCOMBS

Thousand Oaks