Letters to the Editor for March 21

A priest’s education for dialogue

In my training to be a priest here in Olympia at Saint Michael Catholic Church, I spent many years in school being formed in how to look at many different angles of issues and problems. I joke that I have to have more schooling than doctors because doctors call us when they don’t know what to do.

All Catholic priests in the United States are required to finish a degree in philosophy before they even move on to the last four years of their education. Diogenes, Hegel, Cicero, Sartre, Machiavelli, Nietzsche, Paglia. Papers and debate, dialogue and conversation. I have books on books on books, as do most of the priests I know.

There is a genuine attempt to dialogue, not just inside the Church but with the modern world: to be able to explain to someone at “La Voyeur” restaurant downtown why their life would be more concretely full, more concretely true, more concretely beautiful with Christ and the community that He founded in the Catholic Church.

My education provided me with a basis to truly encounter others in all of their reality and to try to helpfully explain what I have found to be so beautiful about this man named Jesus and about this peculiarly long-lasting institution called the Catholic Church. This is a big task, replete with pitfalls and setbacks, but it’s one I look forward to doing for the rest of my life in true dialogue with you and for the life of the world.

We can act to help abolish nuclear weapons

The March 5 column on nuclear weapons by Andrew Malcolm outlines use and potential dangers. Your March 4 story about Naval Radio Station Jim Creek near Arlington being a Russia identified nuclear target brings the risk home, but also risks exist from the US Nuclear Arsenal whose control and launch is solely in the hands of the US President as well as risk of accident. The Bulletin of Atomic Scientists identified the current increased risks. We will continue at the edge of destruction until we and the planet abolish nuclear weapons. On the positive side, there are international efforts aimed at doing exactly this.

There are also local and state efforts. The city of Olympia passed Resolution M 1963 on Aug. 7, 2018 that “supports the elimination of all nuclear weapons and oppose the first strike authority of the president.” Currently there is a memorial Resolution in the State Legislature (SJM 8006) that states the same: “Whereas, the United States could lead a global effort to prevent nuclear war by: (4) Canceling the plan to replace its entire arsenal with next generation nuclear weapons; and (5) Actively pursuing a verifiable, multilateral agreement among nuclear-armed states to eliminate their nuclear arsenals.”

Comments on this can be made at: https://app.leg.wa.gov/billsummary?BillNumber=8006&Year=2019&Initiative=false

These grassroots efforts are important. What is your organization, faith community, city and county doing to accomplish the goal of a world without nuclear weapons?

This story was originally published March 19, 2019 at 4:20 PM.