Need references or a quick answer

[leaner]

I’ve had a friend ask (with genuine interest) why if I am against abortion and assisted suicide, did I join the military, who’s job it is to go places and in effect, kill other humans…for me, it was “b/c I knew I’d never have to do that, I never thought much about it…” – LOL – I knew I’d end up at a desk, and even at a desk, knew I hadn’t had training to go places and shoot at people…sure the REMOTE possibility existed, but I never gave it much thought. I know there’s info on this, but am kinda limited on time right now and I want to give a good, informative answer without being preachy, kwim? Thanks!!

 

[1ke]

See the Church’s Just War doctrine-- you can find references to it in the Catechism and you can google Catholic Just War Doctrine.

The Church teaches that no *innocent *life may be taken. It is intrinsically wrong to murder an innocent person.

The Church does *not *teach it is immoral to defend yourself or your country from an unjust aggressor. An unjust aggressor is not innocent. Neither is one who has committed a violent crime, which is why the Church teaches that the death penalty is not intrinsically wrong but merely unnecessary in today’s world.

And, if the person you are talking to tries to assert that abortion is self-defense by the woman then you know you are talking to a brick wall.

 

[kell0618]

You have two principles to consider: Peace and a Just War

Peace is obvious.

Criterion for Just War:

First, whether lethal force may be used is governed by the following criteria:

• Just Cause: force may be used only to correct a grave, public evil, i.e., aggression or massive violation of the basic rights of whole populations;
• Comparative Justice: while there may be rights and wrongs on all sides of a conflict, to override the presumption against the use of force the injustice suffered by one party must significantly outweigh that suffered by the other;
• Legitimate Authority: only duly constituted public authorities may use deadly force or wage war;
• Right Intention: force may be used only in a truly just cause and solely for that purpose;
• Probability of Success: arms may not be used in a futile cause or in a case where disproportionate measures are required to achieve success;
• Proportionality: the overall destruction expected from the use of force must be outweighed by the good to be achieved;
• Last Resort: force may be used only after all peaceful alternatives have been seriously tried and exhausted.

These criteria (jus ad bellum), taken as a whole, must be satisfied in order to override the strong presumption against the use of force.
Second, the just-war tradition seeks also to curb the violence of war through restraint on armed combat between the contending parties by imposing the following moral standards (jus in bello) for the conduct of armed conflict:

• Noncombatant Immunity: civilians may not be the object of direct attack, and military personnel must take due care to avoid and minimize indirect harm to civilians;
• Proportionality: in the conduct of hostilities, efforts must be made to attain military objectives with no more force than is militarily necessary and to avoid disproportionate collateral damage to civilian life and property;
• Right Intention: even in the midst of conflict, the aim of political and military leaders must be peace with justice, so that acts of vengeance and indiscriminate violence, whether by individuals, military units or governments, are forbidden.
  Source

 

[leaner]

Thankyou both!! She is genuinely interested in what she sees as a “conundrum” of sorts – I know it is not, and want to explain it as succinctly as possible – I don’t want to bury her in a lot of chatechism etc, kwim? She is not catholic, and not interested in becoming catholic, so I’m really just trying to show her that I’m not a hypocrite (not that she suggested anything of the sort – sigh I’m not doing a very good job of communicating today…lol)

Anyway, I plan to combine these two answers into an answer that will hopefully gently guide, if that makes sense…thanks again!