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Friends of Ben Salmon on the Need for Sainthood

In a letter dated March 12, 2022, a formal request was made of Cardinal Cupich to pursue a sainthood cause for Benjamin Joseph Salmon. It was signed by nineteen Friends of Ben and accompanied by a hard copy of the names and comments of 900 others who had signed Ben’s online petition to the Cardinal.

Cardinal Cupich responded in an April 5th letter to the Friends of Ben after “...consulting with those familiar with how to present a cause for sainthood…” Much to our surprise, the Cardinal was not made aware that he was the “competent” bishop in Ben’s case due to the fact that Ben had died in the Archdiocese of Chicago. He suggested, “Perhaps you can locate where Ben lived most of his life and identify the local church where he was a member.”

We attempted to get help from an auxiliary bishop who suggested we write to the Cardinal’s secretary to see if there was a file on Ben with information we had sent. We emailed the secretary asking that Cardinal Cupich accept his competency/jurisdiction and read at least a few of the names and comments before making a decision. We received a letter from the Cardinal dated February 27, 2023 that implicitly accepted his competency only to deny our request saying: “Consequently, I don’t see within the Archdiocese of Chicago sufficient devotion to Ben Salmon that would compel me to move this case forward and accept responsibility to dedicate resources for his cause.”

Meanwhile, causes for three US military chaplains are well supported and two of these are already declared to be Servants of God. These two also were duly recognized for their service to the military and government (in the unjust wars in Korea and Viet Nam) with the Medal of Honor and other awards. A panel of theological consultants has recommended the Dicastery for the Causes of Saints suspend Lt. (Fr.) Vincent Capodanno’s cause for a number of reasons. One consultant wrote, “With ongoing military actions in the world today, (think Ukraine) raising someone from the military for veneration may not be appropriate for our Church.” The Archdiocese for the Military Services (AMS) and its Archbishop Timothy Broglio, now the President of the USCCB, are fully supportive of these causes and are appealing the recommendation of the panel in Capodanno’s case.

We were encouraged when Archbishop John C. Wester’s Pastoral Letter, Living in the LIght of Christ’s Peace: A Conversation Toward Nuclear Disarmament came out on January 11, 2022. From his reading of the Gospel, the Archbishop concluded, “There are no exceptions, no justifications for warfare, and no “just war theory”...We are not allowed to kill anyone.” (page 15, 16) Then, on March 18, Pope Francis addressed a group of educators at the Vatican saying, “There is no such thing as a just war: They do not exist!” In a little over three months time, two Catholic leaders had echoed Ben Salmon’s conclusion, “There ain’t no such animal as a just war!"

Sadly, the Pope’s conviction soon proved to be ephemeral. A September 15th NCR article by Vatican correspondent Christopher White reported on the Pope’s response to a question regarding the sale of weapons to Ukraine: Pope Francis said that it can be “morally acceptable if done under the conditions of morality…it can be immoral if done with intentions of making more war or selling weapons ...The motivation is what, in great part, qualifies the morality of that act. To defend oneself is not only licit, it’s also an expression of love towards one’s homeland; whoever doesn’t defend something doesn’t love it. Instead, those who defend, love.” We would say that those who follow Jesus and “love one another as he has loved us”, are called to love their enemies and defend without violence. To justify the use of weapons is to justify all the militarism and weapons, made with the intention to kill, that preceded the war.

One implication of Pope Francis’ approval of killing in self defense as an expression of love of country was that 1700 years of “Catholic” Just War Theory (CJWT) would continue without his earlier objection. This was not lost on our bishops at their USCCB November Assembly. Newly minted as Cardinal Robert McElroy received a standing ovation for a “speech” in which he encouraged bishops to contact their Congressional representatives to support more weapons for Ukraine. Some of the same bishops had been present in November 2001 when the Assembly, true to its origin as the National Catholic War Council during WWI, voted 167 to 4 in favor of President Bush’s “War on Terror”, with Cardinals Law and McCarrick leading the pro-war effort. Now we are left to wonder if escalations of violence such as cluster bomb and depleted uranium munitions will meet the Pope’s “conditions of morality”, whereas the Gospel standard allows no killing.

On page 210 of his “Magnum Opus”, Ben Salmon wrote, “Many Catholics are naturally perplexed by the fact that the Pope has not ex cathedrally forbidden participation in war…I have a faith that some day the Pope will officially declare that the command to not kill means to not kill.” Many popes have agonized over wars and how to stop the killing but most have tended to plead with governments to make peace and none have used their authority to bind consciences to follow the teachings, the Way and commandments of Jesus. After all, it is individual soldiers, many of them Catholic, who follow orders and carry out the works of war.

Imagine the implications if the Pope taught “there is no such thing as a just war” like he meant it. There would be no justification for Catholics to be in any military and take the military oath. There would be no justification for child murder and abuse that inevitably happen in our wars. No military would allow chaplains who taught, “You must not kill”, as Jesus taught in Matthew, Mark and Luke or “love your enemies'' as Jesus taught in the great Sermons.

With no Christian Just War Theory (CJWT), there would be no Archdiocese for the Military Services.(AMS) There would be no more special national collections for the AMS. Funerals for Catholic soldiers would no longer be occasions for glorifying war and warriors as has often happened during the “War on Terror''. Homilists could no longer compare the soldier’s sacrifice to that of Jesus who laid down his life for his friends only after refusing to fight or kill anyone in the armed mob and Roman cohort who came to arrest him in Gethsemane, where he was never armed with or used a deadly weapon, refused Peter’s violent defense of his most innocent person, healed the wound of his enemy Malchus and surrendered to his enemies.

We can imagine, there would be no justification for Catholic colleges to have any association with ROTC programs and no justification for working in or investing in war industries. Without Christian Just War Theory, Catholics would have only Jesus and the Gospel to address issues of violence and war, which is where Ben Salmon found his answers.

We continue to pray that our Church will come to know and teach the truth of Gospel Nonviolence that the “Holy Prophet” Benjamin Joseph Salmon witnessed, over 100 years ago. We remain unashamed of Jesus and his words (Mark 8: 38, Luke 9: 26) and believe observance of his commands of nonviolent love (agape), as in John’s Eucharistic discourse, will enable an outpouring of the Holy Spirit of Truth. We will leave the petition on the website and encourage you to ask your friends to sign. We are most grateful for everyone’s Gospel witness and the support Ben has received from across the country and abroad. In faith we will continue to imagine and work for a world without Christian support for any killing, asking all the saints to intercede for a miracle of grace to affect such metanoia.

Fr. Bob Bonnot, Member, Association of US Catholic Priests
Jack Gilroy Pax Christi Upstate NY, Ben Salmon Chapter
Susan Gomez, Denver, CO
Sr. Anna Koop, Denver, CO
Fr. Marty Lally, Archdiocese of Denver
Mary L. Leisring, Denver, CO
Fr. Tom McCormick, Retired-Archdiocese Denver; Member of Ben Salmon Guild, Denver.
Mark Scibilia-Carver, Pax Christi Upstate NY, Ben Salmon Chapter
Fr. Bernard Survil, Member, Association of US Catholic Priests
Rosalie Riegle, Evanston, IL

Join the Army of Peace!

" I am in the army of Peace, and in this army I intend to live and die."
From Ben Salmon's letter to the local Denver draft board, December 26, 1917.

There are several groups presently promoting peace in the name of Ben Salmon and information on how to join their campaigns can be found at:

army of Peace

Stream Ben Salmon Documentaries!

The Ben Salmon Guild of Denver and the Friends of Franz & Ben are pleased to announce the completion of two short videos to encourage viewers to discuss the moral, legal and religious issues surrounding war.

Life & Message of Ben Salmon is a 12-minute video produced by the Ben Salmon Guild of Denver and videographer Michael Killman. Life & Message of Ben Salmon would be an excellent way to engage parish Faith Formation Classes, Confirmation classes, Human Development groups and all Catholics who question the morality of war.

There Is No Just War, a 9-minute video, is the story of Ben Salmon's refusal to train to kill. Produced by Friends of Franz & Ben, the video's suggested audience is the general public as well as parochial schools and churches. There is No Just War promotes classroom discussion.

Please leave comments, critiques, reviews and questions on YouTube or email them directly to benjaminjosephsalmon at gmail dot com.

This video is also available on YouTube at https://youtu.be/eA9uZ4sZYCA.

Ben Salmon Wordsmith
The record of Ben's witness of love and forgiveness opposing killing and war is contained in his writings. Click the images to view his work.

Pamphlets

Click on the image to view 3 circulars found in FBI files on Ben

Correspondence

Letters to President Wilson are found by clicking on the typewriter.

Magnum Opus

Ben typed 200+ pages in less than a month to justify his stand against killing to a sanity review board. Clicking the page above leads to Ben's major work.

BLOGS

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