EDINBURGH - 20 September 2006 - 1,080 words
Text: Cardinal Keith O'Brien at Edinburgh peace rally
Cardinal Keith O'Brien gave the following address yesterday at the end of the 'Long Walk for Peace' in Edinburgh. The Cardinal took part in a symbolic 'foot washing' for marchers at St John's Episcopal Church, Princes Street, before walking to the Scottish Parliament for a rally in the afternoon.
Speakers from the major political parties and representatives from the country's faith communities took part.
It is indeed a privilege for me to be
here with you this afternoon, having taken part for a relatively
short time in this Long Walk for Peace, although I know that many
of you have valiantly walked all the way from Faslane here to
Edinburgh.
We have gathered together to make our views known to the Prime
Minister and to our Government at Westminster, following on the
Prime Minister's request that there should be the fullest possible
public debate on the Trident Nuclear Missile System.
I personally am here because I am a Christian and a call to peace
is quite simply basic to my call as a Christian.
Aware of the Old Testament readings about 'beating swords into
ploughshares' I see the teachings of Jesus Christ as a natural
continuation of the desire for peace among the people of the Old
Testament, despite wars and conflicts which surrounded them.
Obviously, Christ himself was the great peacemaker. Peace and
reconciliation was always an underlying theme in his teaching
and we remember those very beautiful words of the Sermon on the
Mount: "Blessed are the peacemakers for they shall be called
children of God!".
In their attempt to be peacemakers themselves, the members of
the Bishops' Conference of Scotland issued the following statement
in 1982: "We try to realise as Christians that we are sisters
and brothers and that the earth is our common inheritance. We
have a responsibility to share this world with everyone else,
to pass it on uncontaminated, unpillaged, unspoiled, to future
generations. We have to rid ourselves of prejudice and mutual
suspicion. We must totally reject any 'arms race,' any policy
of revengeful slaughter, all greed and self-preservation at the
expense of others."
In that statement of 1982, the members of the Roman Catholic Bishops'
Conference of Scotland stated with regard to nuclear weapons:
"We are convinced that if it is immoral to use these weapons,
it is also immoral to threaten their use. Some argue that the
threat can be justified as the lesser of two evils. The crux
of the problem is whether in any foreseeable circumstance a policy
of self-defence based on the use or even the threat of use of
hese weapons of terrible destructiveness can ever be morally justified".
Those words 'if it is immoral to use these weapons, it is also
immoral to threaten their use' caused me to think deeply on this
issue some 20 years ago.
Having that statement before us, the members of the present Bishops'
Conference of Scotland issued a statement regarding the possibility
of the Trident replacement on 11 April 2006. We welcomed the
Prime Minister,s comment that there should be the fullest possible
public debate on the Trident Nuclear Missile System, and said;
"We urge the Government of the United Kingdom not to invest
in a replacement for the Trident System and to begin the process
of decommissioning these weapons with the intention of diverting
the sums spent on nuclear weaponry to programmes of aid and development".
I myself developed my own thought in my Easter Sunday sermon on
Sunday 16 April 2006, indicating that as Easter people we must
not only be people of prayer, but people of action, living in
that Easter promise of peace from Jesus himself, whose first words
after his Resurrection were: "Peace be with you". I
spoke of the consistent teaching of the Church on war, especially
nuclear war.
I indicated that: "We here in Britain are in a marvellous
position to take concrete steps towards making real the demand
of Pope Benedict XVI in his New Year message for peace when he
stated with regard to nuclear arms as a means of ensuring security
in their countries that "This point of view is not only baneful
but also completely fallacious. In a nuclear war there would
be no victors, only victims". I added that here in Scotland
we have a duty to lead the way in campaigning for change because
we have the shameful responsibility of housing these horrific
weapons. And I called on my own people to demand that these weapons
of mass destruction be replaced but not with more weapons of mass
destruction. Rather, I asked that Trident be replaced with projects
that bring life to the poor!
On 15 May I led representatives of the principal Churches here
in Scotland in the signing of a petition on the replacement of
Trident nuclear weapons outside the Scottish Parliament. The
petition reads: "We the undersigned urge the Government
of the United Kingdom not to invest in a replacement for the Trident
System and to begin now the process of decommissioning these weapons
with the intention of diverting the sums spent on nuclear weaponry
to programmes of aid and development". Copies of that national
petition are available at this meeting and I do urge you to sign
them and to bring them back to your own communities and towns.
In my own Archdiocese study evenings have been organised on this
topic; the material used is available in a power point presentation
to anyone who requests it.
Further encouragement was given to myself and my brother Bishops
when we received a letter from Cardinal Renato Martino, the President
of the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace in which he wrote
that the statement from the Bishops, Conference of Scotland "gives
a clear view of the Holy See's position on nuclear weapons and
a sound answer to the Prime Minister's request to promote the
fullest possible public debate on the Trident Nuclear Missile
System". He went on to state that "nuclear weapons
represent a grave threat to the human family" and he said
that "the statement issued by the Bishops, Conference of
Scotland constitutes a service and a reason to hope in a more
peaceful world".
I hope by our presence here today and by the walk you have completed,
we give voice to that hope and remind all who will listen that
if nuclear war is illogical, immoral and inconceivable, then investing
billions of pounds in more nuclear weapons is iniquitous, irrational
and absurd.
Source: SCMO
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News 2006
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