‘No moral justification to arm priests’

I’m an avid reader of the Inquirer. I find the news, “Bishops oppose arming priests”, (6/18/18), very interesting.

We can understand the argument of the bishops this way: Under moral law, self-defense in actual circumstances is justified when one is attacked by an unjust aggressor.

Arming priests, however, is understood as pre-emptive self-defense.

Only personnel (e.g. military, police, etc.), who are duty-bound to maintain peace and order are entitled to pre-emptive self-defense.

Pre-emptive self-defense is speculative (imagined) rather than the actual occurrence of unjust aggression.

Priesthood, by its very nature, is predisposed to peace, not violence.

Therefore, there is no moral justification to arm priests.

FR. JAY-AR BABOR, MSC Missionaries of the Sacred Heart New Manila, Quezon City