Local Catholics react to war

A U.S. Air Force pilot and an officer in the United Arab Emirate prayed side by side at an airbase chapel in the Persian Gulf days before war began.

A mother in Fairfield, a father in Fair Oaks, and Catholic school students in Vacaville prayed for family and friends among the U.S. military forces deployed to Iraq.

Students from four Sacramento-area Catholic high schools offered prayers at their campuses and at the Cathedral of the Blessed Sacrament less than 24 hours after war began.

And a U.S. Navy veteran prayed for U.S. soldiers placed in harm’s way and for innocent civilians suffering in Iraq.

Their prayers were as different as the individuals praying them, but in one way, at least, they were the same. They were prayers for peace by people who believe prayer can make a difference in the U.S. led war on Iraq.

One of them is Joe Santucci, a member of Saints Peter and Paul Parish in Rocklin, where he has been active in the church’s youth ministry program. A captain and pilot in the U.S. Air Force, he was deployed several weeks ago to a base in the United Arab Emirate. A devout Catholic who grew up in Kuwait, Santucci speaks Arabic and is familiar with Muslim religious practices.

In an e-mail sent back to Megan O’Neill, youth minister at Saints Peter and Paul, he recalled one remarkable day when he found his way to an interdenominational chapel to pray the rosary. He looked over and saw an officer in the UAE holding prayer beads.

“We both said our prayers in the traditional way of our faiths, side by side, and after we were finished (the Arab officer) said he believed we were praying to the same God. I just looked at him and said ‘I think so too,’” he said.

The e-mail was read to people attending a prayer vigil March 16 at Saints Peter and Paul. Santucchi, who had returned to Rocklin on 24-hour alert and was present at the prayer vigil, said the experience made him more fully realize that Americans and Arabs might find their nations’ foreign policies in conflict, but shared a common prayer for peace.

Some of the parish communities most intensely impacted by the war with Iraq are those located near Travis Air Force Base in Fairfield, in cities where many military families make their home.

At Holy Spirit Parish in Fairfield, Father Michael Downey, pastor, has been receiving numerous requests for prayers for family members who have been deployed to support the U.S. military in Iraq.

“There has been strong support here, praying for all the families that have to bear the burden of separation,” said Father Downey, who noted that at the request of the pastoral council an American flag has been moved into the sanctuary.

Holy Spirit parishioner Evangelina BayBayan is thankful for the support she has received from parishioners since her husband, Ben, who serves in the U.S. Navy, was deployed to the Middle East in December and is aboard the USS Constellation.

“We’re like family here, we know each other and give each other hugs,” said BayBayan, who has placed her husband’s care in the hands of God. “I really believe in the power of prayer.”

Pastors of St. Mary and St. Joseph parishes in Vacaville say that the war has made an impact on parishioners who may have a difference of opinion about the decision to go to war but share in prayer for peace.

Father Michael McFadden, pastor of St. Mary Parish, found in a poll taken during just two weekend Masses recently that 24 parishioners had family members serving in the war.

At neighboring St. Joseph Parish, Father Vincent O’Reilly, pastor, said that prior to the war many people were praying for a diplomatic rather than a military resolution to the U.S.-Iraq conflict.

“There’s a sadness we had to go to war,” he said, “but now everyone wants to support the troops and bring them back to their families as soon as possible.”

At St. Vincent Ferrer Parish in Vallejo, Father Stephen Borlang, parochial administrator, spoke from the pulpit recently to address the potential for catastrophic destruction when countries’ hunger for weapons of mass destruction spiral out of control.

“We see the possibility of total annihilation of mankind through war. Weapons, war, destruction, are all a result of our lack of faith,” he said during a homily two weeks ago. “We try to satisfy our spiritual thirst and hunger in ways that are contrary to God’s will.”

A major in the U.S. Air Force, Father Borlang served as a chaplain at Travis Air Force Base in the early 1990s and at Randolph Air Force Base in Texas from 1998 to 2000. His ministry has taken him to Cuba to assist in Haitian relief efforts for refugees and Africa to bring food and aid to Somalia.

Father Borlang’s said the U.S. military “goes a long way” before justifying war, and in the end peace must be achieved one person at a time.

“Peace, more than the absence of armed conflict, is peace with God and with one another,” he said.

At Notre Dame School in Vacaville, principal Karen Dietrich said support for soldiers on the front lines and their families at home has been incredible. Third graders made and sent poster drawings to the 301st Airlift Squadron based at Travis Air Force Base and fourth graders wrote letters to troops being deployed from Travis. All students are attending daily Mass to offer prayers for peace during Lent.

A bulletin board has gone up in a hallway, filled with flags naming family members stationed in Iraq, and a “deployment club” has been formed, made up of children with family members serving in the war.

“The students are all finding they know somebody who is being deployed,” said Dietrich, who sees valuable lessons coming from giving students opportunities to interact with soldiers through the letter writing project. “It allows them to express some of their concerns about the war and feel better about it because they were able to go straight to the source for their answers.”

Tina Strandell, who teaches fourth grade at Notre Dame, understands the significance of supporting members of the U.S. military. Her husband Keith is a lieutenant in the Air Force and based at Travis.

“His philosophy in joining the military was to protect those who can’t protect themselves,” she said. “That’s how he feels about this war.”

The war has also affected the lives of students, teachers, and parents at St. Robert School in Sacramento. A few weeks ago, Robert Mersereau, a sixth grade teacher, was activated by the U.S. Navy reserves and is now stationed on the USS Abraham Lincoln in Bahrain, where he serves as chief of religious ministries.

“There were lots of tears and we had a Mass for him before he left,” said Brian James, principal of St. Robert, who said the school has begun a “Bob Watch” for incoming e-mail from the Persian Gulf. “He is very well liked by students, parents and staff.”

Prayers are also going out from members of St. Mel Parish in Fair Oaks for Paul Rashid, a sergeant in the 5th Infantry Core stationed in Kuwait.

“I’m a little anxious about it all,” said Paul’s father, Claude Rashid, a member of St. Mel. He said his son, who was deployed about a month ago, left behind his wife and newborn son.

“Paul likes the military and is doing what he wants to do, so it’s fine with me,” Claude Rashid said.

As the U.S. military began its advance into Iraq on March 20, simultaneous morning prayer services were held at Jesuit, Loretto, St. Francis Catholic and Christian Brothers high schools in the Sacramento area.

“The focus at all the schoolsÖis to use the words of our Holy Father, to use the words of our faith, and ask for peace,” said Paul LeBoeuf, campus minister at Jesuit, where a number of alumni have been deployed to the Persian Gulf.

Andrew Valera, a senior at Jesuit, seemed to voice the opinion of many people who are struggling with conflicted emotions about the war.

“I think obviously Saddam (Hussein) has a negative influence on the world and something should be done, but I’m not quite sure Öif our government has exhausted efforts to try to settle things peacefully,” he said. “It needs to be more carefully thought out to minimize the risk of killing Iraqi citizens.”

During a Mass for peace and justice celebrated by Bishop William K. Weigand the same day at the Cathedral of the Blessed Sacrament, Father James Murphy, rector, echoed the words of Pope John Paul II and Catholic leaders worldwide who had made “impassioned pleas for world peace” but now pray that “damage, destruction, and loss of life” in the war be minimal.

“We pray for the men and women from our diocese and from this parish who are fighting in that warÖfor families and loved ones...for the people of Iraq who have suffered under sanctions for many years and now are suffering under war,” he said. “We’re people of prayer. We believe prayer works.”

At weekend Masses March 29-30, Father Murphy led prayers for two Cathedral parishioners serving in the reserves. Richard Beach, a member of the hospice program at Sutter General Hospital in Sacramento, who is now a lay chaplain in Kuwait helping to counsel soldiers and assist the wounded, and Tony Briseno, a flight engineer with Japan Airlines, who is on one of the teams helping to refuel aircraft in mid-air during combat operations.

College students and others are offering prayers for peace every Wednesday on the front steps of St. Thomas Aquinas Newman Catholic Center in Chico. Organized and led by student leadership team at the center, the prayer service is about supporting people, not necessarily war, said Salvatorian Father Michael Newman, director of the center.

“We are a peaceful people,” he said. “For those who have a brother or sister in the military, it is hard. A kind of pall hangs over the whole city.”

While pleas for divine intervention on behalf of peace are being voiced in parishes and schools, a number of Catholic peace activists are continuing to participate in protest actions against the war.

Pat Driscoll, a member of St. Francis of Assisi Parish in Sacramento and founder of the Sacramento Veterans for Peace, was among demonstrators at a daily “die-in” in downtown Sacramento and among 37 anti-war activists arrested March 21 during a protest at the federal building.

A U.S. Navy veteran who volunteered to serve but was not in combat during the Vietnam War, Driscoll said he was proud to serve his country, but is upset when the government puts people in harm’s way and misrepresents the cause for war.

“In the war on terror we will win every battle, but lose the war because the means are unjust,” said Driscoll, who believes a policy of containment and inspections of Iraq’s chemical and biological weapons and weapons of mass destruction should have been more completely played out. “What underlies the preemptive strike against Iraq is mostly about supporting world resources to keep America’s lifestyle going.”

He said that his protest actions are also about speaking up for “the still voices” of the “suffering Iraqi people,” many of whom are children.

For Loretta Schmitz, being a member of Grandmothers for Peace and an activist protesting the war are two pieces of the same cloth.

A member of St. Mary Parish in Sacramento, she said her view is that the United States has more weapons of mass destruction than any other nation and is now threatening to use some of these weapons in Iraq. She questions why government leaders allow other countries to have weapons but not Iraq.

“I would like to ask how mega-bombs we’re sending can’t devastate a whole city ó its water, hospitals, streets and schools, leaving children without homes,” Schmitz said. “With bombs going off every few seconds, there are kids dying over there. There are kids being orphaned.”

Maria Cornejo, a member of St. Peter Parish in Dixon and an activist with Sacramento-Yolo Peace Action, contends the war is more about protecting U.S. oil interests and insuring global control than liberating the people of Iraq.

“This war is immoral because the most casualties to date have been civilians, including children. That is what is unjust about this war,” she said.

Recalling that Pope John Paul II spoke out “very vehemently” against the war before and right after bombing began, Cornejo said she believes Catholics are called to follow his leadership and be advocates for peace.

To Janice Freeman, a member of St. Francis of Assisi Parish and of Sacramento’s Pax Christi group, the strongest weapon in a world arsenal filled with weapons of mass destruction is prayer. She doesn’t endorse the war effort for the same reason she objects to taking the life of an unborn child or imposing the death penalty.

“I believe God has a plan for all of us, and we have gone so far from this plan that our only hope is prayer,” said Freeman, who believes a good way to find peace is to create it from within. “It’s time for us to take time for each other, to pray for everyone’s safe return and an end to hostilities.”

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