Bishops and the Bomb

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"deterrence without credible intention to carry out the deterrent threat will not be effective." The bishops were divided on whether or not the nuclear button should ever be pushed in defense of the U.S. On the final day of their meeting, the bishops debated the document in a plenary session for two hours, then voted, with only four nays, to hold a special conference in Chicago on May 2 and 3 to polish and issue a final nuclear policy statement. Bernardin's committee will be getting written comments from the bishops and reactions from the Vatican, which has followed the discussions with keen interest, as well as from bishops in Western Europe who are somewhat worried by what they see as the Americans' leftward drift.

The final debate made it obvious that the committee has much work still to do. Despite an overwhelming consensus on the basic thrust of the document, the bishops want a stronger biblical and theological rationale for their conclusions. There is likely to be more acknowledgment of U.S. disarmament efforts and further recognition of the Soviet threat. On the key question of the morality of nuclear deterrence, the bishops will be trying to refine their position. Under sharp press questioning in Washington, Bernardin acknowledged that the current text is ambiguous on whether it is ever moral to use nuclear weapons. An earlier draft had said it was possible to use them in retaliation, but only if aimed at military targets. That section was dropped because the bishops decided that any nuclear confrontation would escalate to all-out war. The current version strongly suggests that such conflicts could not be contained, and thus that no use of nuclear weapons could ever be morally sanctioned.

While the bishops were weighing their words, some priests, nuns and lay people have been challenging nuclear might with deeds. At Groton, Conn., nine Catholic protesters were sentenced this month for trying to damage a nuclear submarine. In Denver, two nuns have been convicted of forging Government passes to enter Rocky Flats nuclear weapons plant and place signs saying DACHAU and DEATH FACTORY. Sister Frances Russell of Cheyenne, Wyo., is coordinating a tri-state coalition to protest probable deployment of MX missiles in the area. That veteran radical Catholic, Jesuit Father Daniel Berrigan, faces a 5-to-10-year sentence for damaging warhead cones in Pennsylvania. "In the 1960s we went to jail alone," he marvels. "Now there are bishops at our side and Jesuits putting up bail."

To be sure, the activists on antinuke picket lines represent a small minority of American Catholics. Nonetheless, many people both inside and outside the church are wondering how it is that bishops who only a few years ago praised the Lord and passed the ammunition are now backing what some see as a pacifist-tinged cause.

Several factors are involved. One is the impact of Pope John XXIII, who succeeded the sternly anti-Communist Pius XII in 1958. Pope John sought to reach some measure of accommodation with the repressive regimes of Eastern Europe to help the church survive. He also said total nuclear disarmament was essential, and summoned that watershed meeting in the history of the 20th century church, the Second Vatican Council. Among other things, the council called upon Catholics to take a more active role in promoting social justice in Christ's