Just War and Jihad

A Christian Duty in the Face of Terror

As priest is slaughtered by ISIS at the altar, the West must wake up

by Fr. George Rutler | Updated 26 Jul 2016 at 5:54 PM

 

After another devastating ISIS attack in France, this time against a priest in his 80s while he was saying Mass, the answer isn’t just, “Do nothing.” As racism distorts race and sexism corrupts sex — so does pacifism affront peace.

Turning the other cheek is the counsel Christ gave in the instance of an individual when morally insulted: Humility conquers pride. It has nothing to do with self-defense.

Christ warned the apostles, as shepherds, to beware of wolves.

The Catholic Church has always maintained that the defiance of an evil force is not only a right but an obligation. Its Catechism (cf. #2265) cites St. Thomas Aquinas: “Legitimate defense can be not only a right but a grave duty for someone responsible for another’s life, the common good of the family or of the State.” 

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The priest in Saint-Étienne-du-Rouvrary in Normandy, France, was not the first to die at the altar — and he will not be the last.

As 85 year-old Father Jacques Hamel said Mass, Mohammedans slit his throat

In his old age, the priest embodied a civilization that has been betrayed by a generation whose hymn was John Lennon's "Imagine" — that there was neither heaven nor hell but "above us only sky" and "all the people living for today." When reality intrudes, they can only leave teddy bears and balloons at the site of a carnage they call "inexplicable."

Fr. George William Rutler is a Catholic priest and the pastor of the Church of St. Michael in Manhattan.

This was originally posted at Lifezette, with additional links, read the full article here