To resolve the tensions that arise among different political communities and can compromise the stability of nations and international security, it is indispensable to make use of common rules in a commitment to negotiation and to reject definitively the idea that justice can be sought through recourse to war. (Compendium of the Social Teaching of the Church, 438)
As Catholic moral theologians and scholars, we welcome the Iran nuclear agreement as an important diplomatic accomplishment and a critical step away from nuclear proliferation and toward nuclear disarmament. For so many nations with different interests and perspectives to back the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action following protracted negotiations is a great sign of hope.
We urge the U.S. Congress to support this accord.
Top diplomats, scientists, national security experts, military officials, Jewish and Israeli leaders and people of faith across the country and around the world have spoken out clearly in support of the Iran deal as a very significant achievement that is technically sound and critically important.
We believe the agreement will reinvigorate the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty and could enable Iran to play a more active and positive role in regional politics, increasing the possibility of a diplomatic solution to the wars in Syria and Iraq. It also will shore up the commitment of the international community to dialogue and negotiation rather than war as a means of resolving conflict.
Nothing more decisively threatens the fabric of life than the possession of nuclear weapons, their proliferation and the grim possibility of their use. Whether such use is by design, miscalculation or madness is irrelevant. The outcome will be the same.
We urge full support for this agreement and pray that its successful implementation will be a turning point for all nations away from the acquisition, possession, or modernization of nuclear weapons and toward their abolition worldwide. Skilled diplomacy has prevented a disastrous war in response to Iran’s nuclear ambitions. This may well be a turning point toward peace.
Mark J. Allman, PhD
Professor of Religious & Theological Studies
Merrimack College (MA)
Father Jim Bacik
Visiting Professor
Catholic Theological Union in Chicago (IL)
Drew Christiansen, S. J.
Distinguished Professor of Ethics and Global Development
Georgetown University (DC)
Dolores Christie, Ph.D.
Executive Director (retired)
Catholic Theological Society of America
John A. Coleman S.J.
Saint Ignatius Parish
San Francisco (CA)
William J. Collinge
Professor Emeritus of Theology and Philosophy
Mount St. Mary’s University (MD)
Dr. Maryann Cusimano Love
Associate Professor
The Catholic University of America (DC)
David DeCosse
Adjunct Associate Professor
Department of Religious Studies
Santa Clara University (CA)
Marian Diaz
Assistant Professor
Institute of Pastoral Studies
Loyola University Chicago (IL)
Dennis M. Doyle
Professor of Religious Studies
University of Dayton (OH)
Dr. Margaret A. Farley
Gilbert L. Stark Professor Emerita of Christian Ethics
Yale Divinity School (CT)
William George, Ph.D.
Professor of Theology
Chair, Dept. of Theology
Dominican University (IL)
David Hollenbach, S.J.
University Chair in Human Rights and International Justice
Boston College (MA)
John Inglis
Chair and Professor of Philosophy
University of Dayton (OH)
James F. Keenan, S.J.
Canisius Professor
Boston College (MA)
Joseph Martos, Ph.D.
Aquinas Institute of Theology (MO)
Eugene McCarraher
Associate Professor of Humanities
Villanova University (PA)
Vincent J. Miller
Professor of Catholic Theology and Culture
Department of Religious Studies
University of Dayton (OH)
T. Michael McNulty, SJ
Scholar in Residence
Marquette University Center for Peacemaking (WI)
David O’Brien
Loyola Professor of Catholic Studies Emeritus
College of the Holy Cross (MA)
Ron Pagnucco, Associate Professor
Department of Peace Studies
College of St. Benedict/St. John’s University (MN)
Danielle Poe
Professor of Philosophy
Associate Dean of Curriculum and Academic Outcomes
University of Dayton (OH)
Maria Riley, OP
History Department
Adrian Dominican Sisters (MI)
Susan A. Ross
Professor of Theology and Department Chair
Past President, CTSA
Loyola University Chicago (IL)
Jame Schaefer, Ph.D.
Associate Professor of Systematic Theology and Ethics
Marquette University (WI)
John Sniegocki
Associate Professor of Christian Ethics
Xavier University (OH)
Charles T. Strauss
Assistant Professor of History
Mount St. Mary’s University (MD)
Nancy Sylvester, IHM
President
Institute for Communal Contemplation and Dialogue (MI)
Suzanne C. Toton, Ed.D.
Associate Professor, Christian Ethics
Villanova University (PA)
Kathleen Maas Weigert
Carolyn Farrell, BVM, Professor of Women and Leadership
Loyola University Chicago (IL)
Tobias Winright
Maeder Endowed Chair in Health Care Ethics
Associate Professor of Theological Ethics
Saint Louis University (MO)