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A five-person group of Boston College faculty members and students attended a colloquium last month held as part of a new effort to encourage a Catholic perspective on nuclear disarmament issues.
Held on April 24 and 25 at Stanford University, the Colloquium on Revitalizing Catholic Engagement on Nuclear Disarmament brought together 40 bishops, policy specialists, Catholic scholars, and young professionals and students to explore policy and moral challenges involved in moving toward a world without nuclear weapons. The event was hosted by former US Secretary of State George Shultz and former Secretary of Defense William Perry, and convened by University of Notre Dame President Fr. John Jenkins and US Bishops Committee on International Peace and Justice chair Bishop Richard Pates.
Associate Professor of Theology Kenneth Himes, OFM, was one of the featured speakers at the colloquium, as was – among others – Perry, former US Senator Sam Nunn, and Fr. Bryan Hehir, a faculty member at the Harvard University Kennedy School of Government and health care and social services secretary for the Archdiocese of Boston.
Other BC representatives at the colloquium were Associate Professor of Political Science Timothy Crawford, theology doctoral students James O’Sullivan and Aaron Taylor, and sophomore Tate Krasner, a Presidential Scholar in the International Studies Program.
Organizers said the colloquium was the kick-off of a larger project to empower a new generation of Catholic bishops, scholars, professionals and students to address the ethical and policy challenges of reducing and eliminating nuclear weapons. BC is a co-sponsor of the project, along with the University of Notre Dame’s Kroc Institute for International Peace Studies, the US Conference of Catholic Bishops Office of International Justice and Peace, and the Georgetown University Berkley Center for Religion, Peace, and World Affairs.
Fr. Himes said last week that since the landmark 1983 pastoral letter, “The Challenge of Peace,” the issue of nuclear weapons has largely faded from the agenda of the bishops’ conference.
“With the demise of the Cold War, many people have stopped thinking about nuclear weapons,” he said. “Yet the reality is that there are still far too many nuclear weapons in the arsenals of nations – and there are other nations who seek to create these weapons. The risk of nuclear terrorism has also increased over the years. The efforts of former policymakers like Secretaries Shultz, Perry and Kissinger, along with former Senator Nunn, to move to a world of nuclear disarmament provides a signal moment for the Catholic Church to once again take up a goal it has had for decades: to abolish nuclear weapons. This colloquy was a first step along that road.”