Gordon Zahn, Prophet of Peace

Gordon Zahn, Prophet of Peace

BY THOMAS A. SHANNON, America magazine

When Gordon Zahn (1918-2007) began his own journey to pacifism, he was convinced of two things: first, that had he been educated in the traditional Catholic schools of his time, he would never have heard of pacifism; second—and he was given rather strong encouragement to think this way—that he was on the lunatic fringe of the church.

But he was also convinced that the path of the early church was the correct one and that pacifism was the normative Christian position and that the just war theory was at best an attempt to justify what Realpolitik had already decided was necessary. ...Gordon, who despised meetings to the depth of his being, continued to show up whenever asked, attended meeting after meeting and was eventually successful in efforts with others to resurrect Pax Christi USA, establishing it as a premier American peace organization.

.....Gordon discovered the story of Franz Jägerstätter, the Austrian peasant who refused to serve in Hitler’s army in any capacity because he was convinced of the immorality of the war....

Read the whole story: http://www.americamagazine.org/content/article.cfm?article_id=10525