Abstract

The Roman Catholic teaching on peace and war, as found in the documents of the universal church and of the American bishops, is found to be consistent with traditional Catholic approaches to ethical theory, eschatology, and ecclesiology. Mediation in ethical theory recognizes that the gospel is mediated through reason and the sciences to particular conclusions and insists on the importance of structures and institutions. An eschatology recognizing the tension between the now and the not yet argues against both pacifism and a noncritical acceptance of the status quo. Catholic ecclesiology has traditionally accepted a pluralism of specific approaches in social ethics and understands the prophetic role of the church within such a "big" ecclesiology.