[soc.religion.christian] conscription and the Church.

cdalzell@kean.ucs.mun.ca (08/27/90)

Can anybody in Networld tell me something about the Catholic
Church's position on military conscription, now and over the ages?
(I asked this on soc.history and got no answer, no joy).
In particular:  when the French Canadians objected to the
introduction of conscription in Canada during WW1 did they advance
a theological argument to support their position.  (Apparently they
said that as part of the Empire there was a moral obligation to fight,
but they did not want the obligation to be enforced by the
government).

I was reading Bernanos' "La France contre les Robots" recently in
which B. ascribed many of France's woes to the imposition of
conscription during the Revolution, a move that he regarded as
unchristian.  (B. was no pacifist, but again thought that
military service in a free country should be a service freely
given.)  Is this a typical Catholic view, or was this an idiosyncracy
of Bernanos'  ?

I have checked the Catholic Ency. (Old and New) with no result.

Thanks.  Catherine Dalzell.