Journalists get nauseated with the news as much the reading public.I slammed my fist on the mattress this morning when the radio told me 14 U.S. soldiers died when a Black Hawk helicopter crashed during a nighttime mission in the Tamim province 180 miles north of Baghdad in Iraq. Each such heartbreak triggers anew the sense that maybe, maybe, maybe this latest needless loss of life will be the turning point for a sea change in White House policy in the war there. How much more death will it take?I read the Tribune account of the Chandler Unified School Districts overreaction of the boy putting a doodle drawing of a gun on his school work and getting suspended for that. My fury over this nations fear-mongering and loss of common sense made it hard for me to concentrate when I went to work. Where is all this knee-jerk reaction to anything remotely dangerous going to end? Absolutes, blind rules and zero tolerance lead to countless unintended consequences. We were given brains to make judgments. We expect more from educators.Whether it’s the White House or that school district, monumental boneheaded actions only lead to a greater loss of respect for authority and greater cynicism about leadership.But I continue to be heartened by segments of the faith community who work for good and for change. For example, Catholics United, (www.catholics-united.org), formerly Catholics United for the Common Good. Catholics Mobilize to End War in Iraq read a press release e-mail to me today. It told how 10,000 Catholics in four weeks had signed a petition calling for an end to the war in Iraq. Sister Simone Campbell, executive director of Network, a national Catholic social justice lobby, said, Church leaders and individual Catholics have opposed U.S. policy in Iraq since before the war began, she said, noting that the petition is letting thousands of Catholics unite to speak out even more strongly for an end to the violence and occupation. She asserted that it is time for a responsible withdrawal of combat troops and a new course of action to bring peace to Iraq.She said her Catholic group is building on what the late John Paul II told U.S. leaders in January 2003 that they should forgo war in favor of peaceful engagement with Iraq. Troop escalations and the surge, she said, have failed to improve conditions in Iraq. Instead, the thrust should be to dialogue, diplomacy and reconstruction. To that end, hundreds of Catholics are volunteering to help organize local activities and lobby congressmen for change.The group submits that President Bush went against the advice of the pope to follow the Christian mandate to use force only as a last resort. The pope and millions of other reasoned people. Now, more than four years and thousands of lives later, the wisdom of our Holy Father is painfully clear. In this spirit, it is time for U.S. Catholics to stand and be counted as a powerful voice for a new Iraq policy.Roman Catholics are Americas largest religious group. Perhaps, they will be the force that turns the tide.

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