It is this last responsibility which weighs most heavily upon us this night. For we are in the midst of an immoral war. We entered this war not out of necessity but rather choice. We failed to ardently pursue the pathway of negotiation to its end before turning to war. We had no clear intention, instead darting from unconditional surrender to regime change to the degradation of conventional weapons to the removal of nuclear materials. And we blinded ourselves to the cascade of global destructiveness that would likely flow from our attacks – the expansion of the war far beyond Iran, the disruption of the world economy, and the loss of life. Each of these policy failures is equally a moral failure which under Catholic just war principles renders both the initiation of this war and any continuation of it morally illegitimate.

Pope Leo has made it totally clear that the only pathway which Catholic teaching allows at this moment is the permanent cessation of hostilities and vigorous steps to build up the conditions for a lasting peace. It is, as he points out, in the conversion of hearts and souls that the only true pathway to just and lasting peace can be found, a conversion which casts aside our weapons and begins with reconciliation first.

Tonight we gather in prayer. We pray that the ceasefire holds and that it leads to a substantive foundation for the emergence of peace in the Middle East. We are aware of the barbaric nature of the Iranian regime and the enormous destruction U.S. and Israeli bombing has visited on Iran. And so we pray all the harder. We must do so. We desperately ask our God, the Prince of Peace, to open the minds and hearts of all those in positions of power to look beyond their own interests and see in its fullness the well-being of all those ensnared in this bitter and needless conflict.

And when we leave this church this night, we must move beyond prayer. As citizens and believers in this democracy that we cherish so deeply, we must advocate for peace with our representatives and leaders. It is not enough to say we have prayed. We must also act. For it is very possible that the negotiations will fail because of recalcitrance on one or both sides, and our president will move to reenter this immoral war. At that critical juncture, as disciples of Jesus Christ called to be peacemakers in the world, we must answer vocally and in unison: No. Not in our name. Not at this moment. Not with our country.