WASHINGTON, D.C., NOV. 18, 2005, (Zenit.org).- The new questions raised by global terrorism and the preventive use of military force in Iraq were among the topics discussed at a colloquium convened by the U.S. bishops’ Committee on International Policy.
Experts representing various perspectives met at Georgetown University «to examine and apply the Church’s teaching on war and peace to pressing foreign policy issues,» explained Bishop John Ricard of Pensacola-Tallahassee, who completed his term as chairman of the bishops’ International Policy Committee this week.
In addition to terrorism and preventive war, the colloquium had sessions on arms control, disarmament, and the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction; preventive peace and alternatives to war; and the role of the Church in addressing these issues.
To encourage a dialogue, the colloquium was limited to an invited group of policy experts, leaders of Catholic organizations, and academics.
In addition to Bishop Ricard and Cardinal Theodore McCarrick of Washington, D.C., other episcopal participants included Bishop Thomas Wenski of Orlando, the incoming chairman of the bishops’ International Policy Committee, and Archbishop Edwin O’Brien of the Archdiocese for the Military Services.
The colloquium was co-sponsored by the Joan B. Kroc Institute for International Peace Studies at the University of Notre Dame, and the Edmund A. Walsh School of Foreign Service, Mortara Center for International Studies, and Initiative on Religion, Politics and Peace, all at Georgetown University.
The discussion was off the record, but written presentations are to be posted, along with the agenda, on the Web page of the bishops’ International Policy Committee.
