Mahony Asks for Prayers to End War

Archbishop Roger M. Mahony asked for prayers Friday that both Iraq and the U.S.-led allied forces will stop fighting as soon as possible in the light of the war’s “ominous consequences”--strained interfaith relations, ecological disasters and a new arms race for sophisticated missiles.

Writing to the 3.4 million members of his Los Angeles archdiocese, Mahony condemned “without qualification the unjust aggressions of Iraq’s leaders.”

However, the brunt of his plea was that Catholics join him in “fervent prayer that all parties in the conflict will realize the ultimate futility of war and seek avenues of peace as soon as possible.”

Mahony’s statement was consistent with stances he took in letters last fall to the Bush Administration, when the archbishop was the international affairs spokesman for the U.S. bishops. Mahony condemned Iraq’s aggression and maltreatment of Kuwaiti citizens, but he urged then that the United States seek a peaceful settlement. He also said that a “just war” should be only a “last resort.”

In three statements issued since the outbreak of war, including Friday’s, Mahony has not said whether he believes the allies are waging a “just war.”

One of his main points this week was that the consequences of war are not limited to the present death and destruction.

Mahony said he fears that the improved relations in recent years between Christians, Jews and Muslims are now endangered because the conflict has become a “holy war” for some parties. The war may “inflame past animosities,” which will last long “after cities, towns and roads are rebuilt.”

The success of high-technology weapons may translate into “a new and outrageous arms race,” he said. “Many ingenious missile systems, costing millions, will be lusted after by even the poorest of nations. . . . I fear that the world’s sparse resources will once again be sidetracked away from education, health care, land reform and local development,” he said.

Lastly, Mahony lamented the intentional oil spill by Iraq and the heavy bombing by allied forces. “The destruction of delicate desert ecosystems could take decades to correct and reverse,” he said.