by Mary Ann McGivern
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Yesterday, I forwarded the Guatemalan bishops’ message to the faithful Catholics of Petén. How do we, the farther neighbor, respond to this evil that is of our making? After all, we buy the drugs. We sell the guns.
The Guatemalan Senate has declared a state of siege. The Guatemalan bishops are asking that that state of siege be monitored by the United Nations Office of the High Commissioner of Human Rights.
One thing we can do is to ask our bishops to join that call for a United Nations monitor.
Forward the document to your bishop, requesting that he contact the Mission of the Holy See as well as his own senator and representative, requesting that Human Rights monitor.
It is really an amazing document, rejecting militarization and the death penalty and calling for wisdom, serenity and responsibility.
At the end, the bishops simply ask the perpetrators of these violent acts to cease. Instead, they are enjoined to look for and find the image of God they have in their heart. Repent, and convert to the commandment: thou shall not kill.
We can do that too.
