ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses the history and content of the United States Catholic bishops' position on Selective Conscientious Objection (SCO). It describes in three steps: an interpretation of the development and logic of Catholic moral teaching on warfare, an exposition of the specific statements on SCO made by the bishops and a commentary on the questions which flow from the tradition and the position of SCO. The emphasis of the normative teaching shifted from Aquinas' strong stress on just-cause toward a concentration on questions of means used in warfare. The question which inevitably arises in light of the statements is whether Catholic teaching has simply become pacifist. John Paul II has identified the pursuit of peace within nations and among nations as a major objective of his pontificate. The bishops then extended the human life/conscience categories to the topic of modern warfare. The Vietnam debate of the 1970s had resulted in the repeal of the system of military conscription.
