I’m a normally a fan of the National Catholic Reporter.  John Allen, Michael Sean Winters and Joshua McElwee are especially gifted writers who have a knack for writing about Catholic issues in an attractive and articulate manner.

But this week, the noted publication was off.

In a mean-spirited, condescending and–frankly–uneducated post, opinion writer Mark Scibilia-Carver claimed that this past weekend’s USCCB-approved collection for the Archdiocese of Military Services was somehow promoting militarism and propagating violence.

He writes:

The archdiocese…does everything it can to assure young soldiers that carrying out the works of war is what Jesus would want them to do. Catholic military chaplains do not burden tender consciences with questions about the grisly things they encounter in war. [CJH note: this isn’t true! I know of a military veteran who walked away from the 2003 Iraq War because of a conversation he had with his military chaplain.] They fulfill the role of “force multiplier” that the Pentagon has for them. Many soldiers would not be able to continue being efficient warriors without the spiritual support of chaplains who counsel obedience to commanding officers. More than 1,000 Catholic soldiers have died in the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan since 2001, but the archdiocese does not know their names. It is not responsible for funerals that take place at the home parish. [CJH note: once again, this isn’t true! The Archdiocese of Military Services DOES know their names and supports the funeral and pastoral needs of families after the death of a loved one.]

There is now no possibility of a U.S. war being just. The only role for a chaplain in an unjust war would be to urge refusal of orders to carry weapons or kill. The bishops should have been debating how to dissolve the 28-year-old Archdiocese for the Military Services, not extraordinary ways to fund it.

Scibilia-Carver thinks it simple: get rid of the Archdiocese of Military Services and the priests it supports on the battlefield and peace will flourish.

Nonsense.

I’ve made clear again and again that I hate war. What Catholic doesn’t? I argued in September article for the Washington Post that a non-violent alternative must be used to approach the massacre taking place in Syria.

But my hatred of war doesn’t mean I think we should remove the Church from the battlefield. The Catholic Church provides the true presence of Jesus Christ in the sacraments on the battlefield. Where do we need peace of Christ more than in the presence of war?

Scibilia-Carver’s solution is to remove Christ and to remove the Church from the battlefield. I say bring him closer.

Not a single dollar raised this past weekend buys a weapon. Not a single dollar raised this past weekend supports the agenda of the federal government, the President or the Pentagon.

Every dollar goes to serve those who suffer the pain of war.

Every dollar goes to bring the peace of Christ and the embrace of the Church closer to its men and women who experience the ugliness of war.

In short: by supporting the Archdiocese of Military Services, you are supporting peace.

The Church isn’t an elitist institution that holds it nose in the air when violence proliferates, rather it is a family that goes to the heart of society’s pain.

We must serve in the heart of violence. That’s where Christ beckons us. That’s where we are needed the most.

The Archdiocese of Military Service does just that, and on this Veterans Day I’m glad to support it.