Reprinted from The Common Good, No 12, Pentecost 1999
Catholic Worker Spirituality
Pacifism and Non-Violence
(This continues a series of short articles on central features of Catholic Worker spirituality.)
At the heart of many of the traumas that have faced the Catholic Worker over the years has been the issue of pacifism. During the Spanish Civil War of 1936-38, Dorothy Day refused to take sides. Nationally the Catholic Church took the side of Franco in what they perceived to be a battle against communism. It was more a battle between the power, money and might of capitalism and forces seeking a more socialist, co-operative state.
But Dorothy Day would have none of either side, arguing that war was not an answer to social injustice. In the Second World War she refused to back American intervention in the war after Pearl Harbour. This led to much anguish amongst CWs. Some went off to fight the war, some took CO status and served in medical units, and some refused to comply with the draft and went to prison. Throughout, Dorothy maintained a firm resistance to any watering-down of what she believed in her heart to be the true gospel approach to such issues Ð a pacifist one.
That indeed was the teaching of the Church until the fourth century. No one was allowed to take up arms against another person. Christians were not allowed to serve in the military and some indeed were executed by the authorities for refusing to bear arms. Only with the Edict of Milan, signed in 313 between Constantine and the Church, did the Church start to take a more active role in state affairs. This led to the point in the 5th century where St Augustine proposed his famous 'just war' theory, which continued to hold sway until recent times. With the advent of weapons of mass destruction, and nuclear weapons in particular, many Christians have revisited the teaching on 'just war' and have taken a stance of pacifism again. It is hard to imagine any war situation today that could possibly fulfill the requirements of the 'just war' theory.
Pacifism is built within the philosophy of non-violence. It forms part of a spirituality that sees wilful violence against human beings in all its forms as being sinful. It is a philosophy that has helped shape the Ploughshares movement and other peaceful processes of social change, including restorative justice.
It is a position that perhaps more than any other has helped define Catholic Worker spirituality since it has been so controversial and misunderstood. Frequently it is conveyed in caricature as an absolutist conviction that it is always wrong to use force against anyone, no matter who is going to get hurt.
Gerard Vanderhaar in his book Beyond Violence Ð In the Spirit of the Non-Violent Christ uses an interesting technique to place pacifism in its real context. He says that usually opponents attack by saying "So you're a pacifist. What would you do if your grandmother was about to be raped?' He quotes Joan Baez answering thus:
'I'd yell, 'Three cheers for grandma!' and leave the room'
'No seriously, what if he had a gun and was about to shoot her. Would you shoot him first?'
'Do I have a gun?'
'Yes'
"No - I am a pacifist, I don't have a gun'
'Well, say you do.'
'All right. Am I a good shot?'
'Yes.'
'I'd shoot the gun out of his hand.'
'No, then you're not a good shot.'
'I'd be afraid to shoot. Might kill grandma.'
What Joan Baez was trying to do is dismiss the caricature in favour of an more accurate picture of what pacifism really is. It is not appeasement, not giving in or selling out. It is an attitude of refusing either to meet violence with violence or to bow down in the face of it. It is an attitude of engagement, of respect for opponents and enemies, of searching for peaceful means of resolving conflicts.
Vanderhaar goes on to say that the Non-Violent Christ points us towards the pacifist end of the spectrum. This is the way Jesus would have us live. It forms a key component of CW spirituality.
There are many heroes and heroines of non-violence and pacifism in our history. Mission school educated Te Whiti o Rongomai and Tohu Kakahi of Parihaka in Taranaki were prophets and practitioners of non-violence long before even Gandhi. Archibald Baxter is the best known of the First War pacifists and was shipped overseas and tortured for his beliefs. Methodist minister Ormond Burton was a nationally known (and condemned) figure in the 1940s. Like many including Bruce McAlpine and Wilf Foote, he went to prison for his beliefs. Betty Duffield, an 80 year old Quaker from Golden Bay, confronted the war machine at the Peace Camp in Iraq at the height of the Gulf War. There is a rich tradition in this country which few know about.
As we approach a new millennium, more than ever Christians need to develop a spirituality based on non-violence and pacifism. The Catholic Worker has kept this flame alight even in the darkest hours of the 20th century.