Pacifist stresses the importance of non-violence in Catholicism in exclusive interview
By MATT BUNDA
News Writer
Father Frank Cordaro sees Notre Dame in a very precarious position as a Catholic institution.
The University makes a contradictory statement about the morality of violence and war, Cordaro said in an interview with The Observer. He added that Notre Dame fails to recognize the importance of pacifist theology and he called for the University to "kick the ROTC off campus, dismantle the monuments of war and go back to the basic spiritual roots of the university."
Cordaro said Notre Dame is full of militaristic symbols. The University makes its most contradictory statement through its most prominent and important symbol, the Basilica of the Sacred Heart, he said.
"At the heart of a Catholic university is the Basilica, and at the heart of the Basilica is the altar, one of the most important symbols of the church, where the sacrifice of the Eucharist is made," he said. "Beneath the altar lie the relics of Saint Marcellus, a third century Roman centurion who refused to serve in the Roman army after converting to Christianity. Other relics of similar martyrs lie underneath the altar as well."
Cordaro said Notre Dame's focus should be directed toward the peaceful and selfless example of Saint Marcellus rather than its current militaristic focus.
He added that Notre Dame should refuse government funding and give less respect and honor to military and political figures.
Despite these observations, Cordaro did not limit his message to the University.
"The challenge of the new millennium, as Martin Luther King Jr. puts it, is non-violence or non-existence," Cordaro said. "We need to rediscover the non-violent characteristic of Christianity."
He called this a project to save the planet from "the violent and piggish way in which we behave."
Cordaro outlined the metamorphosis of Catholic theology on war and peace and its impact on Notre Dame. The 1970s and 1980s saw a shift of theological viewpoints from one of Thomas Aquinas' just war theory to a new focus on peace, Cordaro said.
"This century is the most war-torn, bloody century this world has ever known," he said. "This is a bloody, ugly century in which more people were killed in wars than any other century and all other centuries combined."
Cordaro also discussed the work of Dorothy Day and the Catholic Worker movement. He explained the role of the 1983 bishops' pastoral on peace and war, in which Catholic theology on war and peace was split into two opposite viewpoints: just war and pacifist positions.
Founder of a Catholic Worker movement in Des Moines, Cordaro has served six stints in jail for civil disobedience for pacifist demonstration.
All News Stories for Thursday, September 30, 1999
