Word: gumbleton
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Dates: during 1980-1989
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...apparent belief in a particular biblical scenario for the end of the world means that he might consider nuclear war a divine instrument. Accordingly, more than 100 religious figures, many from the antinuclear left (among them the Rev. William Sloane Coffin and Pacifist Roman Catholic Bishop Thomas Gumbleton), held a Washington press conference last week to declare it "profoundly disturbing" that high political leaders "might identify with extremists who believe that nuclear war is inevitable and imminent." They also attacked the religious right for supposedly believing "that reconciliation with America's adversaries is ultimately futile." The statement was orchestrated...
Says Bishop Gumbleton: "We're offering this as a guide to conscience, not the way it was done in the past: 'We know best. This is the answer.' We are trying to engage the whole church in the same process the committee went through." Gumbleton's colleague, Bishop Reilly, agrees: "We aren't claiming this is Almighty God handing down the truth from the mountain as with Moses. It's the bishops of the U.S., trying to apply the teachings of Jesus Christ to issues never faced before by the human family...
...evolution of peace theology was the formation in 1980 of the Bernardin committee. Archbishop Roach skillfully chose the membership of the five-man committee to span the spectrum of the bishops' thinking on nuclear arms. The most liberal member of the committee is Auxiliary Bishop Thomas Gumbleton, 52, of Detroit, who heads Pax Christi, a movement with strong pacifist inclinations. A total of 57 bishops belong to the organization. Gumbleton's hawkish opposite on the committee is Bishop John O'Connor, 62, who runs the church's military ministry for Cardinal Cooke. The committee is rounded...
...proposed letter represents a careful compromise by the authors, who studied 1,000 pages of comment on their first draft. Bishop Gumbleton pressed for the most pacifist approach, while Bishop O'Connor tended to oppose harsh criticism of U.S. policy. It specifically addresses the responsibilities of Catholics as individuals. "As citizens we wish to affirm our loyalty to our country and its ideals, yet we must also hold to the universal principles proclaimed by the church...
...debate over nuclear policy has caused divisions within the U.S. Catholic Church. On the ramparts for the antinuclear activists are the 57 bishops, including Gumbleton, who belong to the American branch of the Catholic peace group Pax Christi. They have been encouraged by the example of Pope John Paul II, who has made the abolition of nuclear war a central theme of his papacy and who last year made a pilgrimage to the memorial at Hiroshima. Some have gone as far as Bishop Leroy Matthiesen of Amarillo, Texas, who has told those in his diocese not to work...