The Catholic Peace Fellowship has adopted the ancient Christian symbol in its new logo. The logo was originally associated with the Emperor Constantine’s victory at the Battle of the Milvian Bridge in 312 AD. According to legend, Constantine had a vision of God the night before the battle in which he was commanded to mark his men's shields with the Chi Rho symbol—and subsequently won the battle. It was then that Christianity, a persecuted religion for nearly 300 years, became the official religion of the Empire.

CPF hopes to claim this symbol as the standard of a different army, however—the army of Peace, the army of Christ. We hope to follow Christ's example by combatting evil with the spiritual weapons of prayer and the works of mercy. In the words of Ben Salmon, Catholic American conscientious objector to the First World War, “The surest way to overcome the Evil of War is by the Good of Peace, a steadfast refusal to ‘render evil for evil.’”

We, too, have a vision—though ours does not involve bloodshed. Our vision is that of the prophet Isaiah: "They will beat their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks. Nation will not lift up sword against nation, and never again will they learn war" (Is 2:4). Our vision is that of Dorothy Day and of the Saints, who used the Weapons of the Spirit—prayer, fasting, and almsgiving—to resisit evil.

Most importantly, our vision comes first from the Prince of Peace: "You have heard that it was said, 'You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.' But I say to you, love your enemies, and pray for those who persecute you" (Mt 5:43-44).

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The following is a response from Mike Schorsch, CPF's GI Rights Counselor, to an email we received from a friend who was troubled by our "language of war" and our use of the Chi Rho, a symbol associated with Constantine's military victory, to work for peace.

Mike Schorsch here. I do most of our counseling with COs and others who are trying to leave the military. I was also one of the ones who liked the new logo the most, so I thought I'd respond to your email.

I really hear you on this. And I think there are a decent number of people who share your concerns.

So, this is where I'm coming from at least, and I think where some of the other CPFers are as well...

First of all, the scriptures use lots of military imagery to talk about spiritual realities. The Old Testament, perhaps especially the Psalms, is just chock full of it. The imagery is not as strong in the New Testament but still there (Jesus metaphorically speaks of coming to bring not peace but the sword, the parable of the strong man guarding his house, St. Paul's depiction of the armor of faith, and of course a whole lot of the book of Revelation). Why is this important? Well, it means that this kind of imagery has been part of the faith since the very beginning, for one thing. And the scriptures are the scriptures, and by that I mean divinely inspired. A metaphor, an image that appears and re-appears with such great frequency can't just be dismissed as a mistake.

And to take a look at it historically, the early Christians also considered themselves a kind of "alternate army": the army of light as opposed to the army of darkness (by which they meant both the World in general and the Roman Army in particular), the army of peace as opposed to the army of bloodshed (ditto). Tertullian used this language a whole lot, as did, if I recall, Clement of Alexandria ("we are an army of peace that sheds no blood"). Many early Christians referred to themselves as the militia Christia--army of Christ. St. Martin of Tours, one of the great conscientious objectors in the Church's history, famously threw down his arms and said, "Miles Christi ego sum; pugnare mihi non licet: I am a soldier of Christ; it is not permissible for me to fight."

On top of all that, it's been my experience working with soldiers that no other metaphor does as much justice to the gravity of their struggles against violence as, ironically, the metaphor of combat. These are people who have to defeat grave temptations at every turn: the temptation for prestige (COs lose respect in the military), the temptation to fit in, and indeed for many COs, the temptation to put their own safety before fidelity to the truth (it's not uncommon for some commanders to take away not only a CO's weapon, but also his or her body armor). For people who have known war, these struggles feel like just another kind of war. But the war for conscience is the right war to fight...

Thanks for taking the time to share your thoughts sincerely with us. It does not go unappreciated.

Peace,

Mike