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Social Justice News
October 29, 2008

University president, archbishop sign petition to ban torture
By Ursuline Sister Eileen Connelly Catholic News Service

DAYTON, Ohio (CNS) -- The president of the University of Dayton and the archbishop of Cincinnati have become part of a national movement calling on the president of the United States to reject cruelty and torture.

Daniel J. Curran, president of the Marianist-run university, and Cincinnati Archbishop Daniel E. Pilarzcyk signed a petition called the Declaration of Principles for a Presidential Executive Order on Prisoner Treatment. It is being circulated nationally by the Minneapolis-based Center for Victims of Torture as part of its Campaign to Ban Torture: American Voices for American Values.

Curran was believed to be the first head of a U.S. Catholic university to sign the petition. Among Catholic bishops, signers include Bishop Thomas G. Wenski of Orlando, Fla., and Cardinal Theodore E. McCarrick, retired archbishop of Washington.

The university's human rights studies program, under the direction of Mark Ensalaco, hosted an American Voices for American Values event Oct. 13 on the University of Dayton campus, in partnership with the Center for Victims of Torture.

The center, along with Evangelicals for Human Rights and the National Religious Campaign against Torture, is building bipartisan support for the declaration around the country to preserve American ideals and regain U.S. moral leadership in the world. The center has enlisted Ensalaco to promote the signing of the declaration in Ohio.

The peace and social justice advisory committee of the Washington-based Association of Catholic Colleges and Universities may consider endorsing the declaration at its November meeting, Ensalaco said, or it may encourage individual college and university presidents to sign.

"I see my role as promoting the declaration among Catholics," he said. "It made sense to me as a Catholic at a respected Catholic institution of Catholic education to try to reach out to Catholics. Obviously, the church's teaching on opposition to torture in unequivocal. There is nothing particularly controversial about the declaration.

"What is significant is the aim of the campaign to convince the next president to sign a presidential executive order that will have an immediate effect on prisoner treatment, so the Catholic voice is important," Ensalaco added. "The signatures of Archbishop Pilarzcyk and President Curran are especially significant because their moral authority will carry great weight as the campaign moves forward."

Curran said the University of Dayton "intends to be at the forefront of this issue."

"As a Catholic, Marianist university, we affirm the statement of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops that the use of torture must be rejected as fundamentally incompatible with the dignity of the human person and ultimately counterproductive in combating terrorism," he said.

The event, which garnered 200 signatures on the declaration from students, faculty, staff and area residents, also featured a panel discussion by four former high-ranking CIA, Department of Defense and military officials, all of whom believe the next president should issue a presidential executive order that unequivocally rejects torture and cruelty to prisoners.

Carl Ford was a U.S. assistant secretary of state; William H. Taft IV was a legal adviser to the U.S. State Department under President George W. Bush; Donald Gregg was a national security adviser under Vice President George H.W. Bush; and Peter Mansoor was an adviser to Gen. David Petraeus, who served as commander of the multinational forces in Iraq.

All four have signed the declaration, which encourages the president to abide by the rule of law and the duty to protect all prisoners from abuse, adhere to constitutional checks and balances and give all U.S. personnel the certainty that the policies they carry out are legal.

Curran said he appreciated the military and government officials' take on the need to ban torture and cruelty.

"They made it clear that it's never part of what they do and that it's been frowned on for generations," he said. "They don't believe that torture provides accurate information. There are other forms of intelligence gathering that are nonviolent and more effective."

Curran also expressed his gratitude for Archbishop Pilarcyzk's presence on the panel and the theological perspective he provided on the issue.

"Torture is not immoral merely because it hurts another," the archbishop said. "It is immoral because it intends to supersede the free will, the basic personhood of another with my free will, with my personhood. It's an attempt to make the victim become the perpetrator."

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