Cardinal Shehan Hopes U.N. Will Succeed in Averting Arab-israel War; Backs Israel

Lawrence Cardinal Shehan, Archbishop of Baltimore, said here that “Israel has the right to live and to govern unharassed from without.” He warned that “to deny this is to invite chaos.” The prelate called on Catholics everywhere to pray that the United States Government would be guided to do all in its power to bring understanding and peace and he expressed the hope that the United Nations “will leave no step untaken to avert the catastrophe of open conflict between Israel and the nations of the Arab world.”

In a statement to the Baltimore News-American, Cardinal Shehan denounced the acts of aggression committed against Israel and declared that “sovereign states would do well to respect the territorial integrity of others. Border raids, guerrilla warfare and terrorism — all exacting the lives of innocent civilians — merit the disgust and indignation of civilized people everywhere. Although I am aware of the complexities of international relations and the subtleties of diplomatic discourse,” Cardinal Shehan declared, “I am nevertheless constrained to say that men of goodwill recognize the right of nations to exist and to pursue their legitimate aspirations within their own confines.”

The prelate pointed out that “the avenue to settling long-harbored disagreements is not to pursue retaliation and conflict but to engage in an enterprise of justice.” He quoted the statement of the Second Vatican Council that “peace is not merely the absence of war nor can it be reduced solely to the maintenance of a balance of power between enemies.” He said the present was “a time for restraint but also a time for evaluation and judgment.”

Cardinal Shehan noted somberly that “the land where our Christian faith had its beginning is threatened by war. That the tension between the nations of the Middle East should bring them to the razor’s edge is of compelling concern to all mankind.”