by Sr. Sheila Campbell MMM                                 Ireland                         03.10.2026 

Certain national and international disputes have been grabbing my attention these days. One approach is to say “Nothing to do with me! Too far away. No one wants my opinion.”. But somehow that doesn’t seem to answer the Christian call to protect the most vulnerable and to treat each person as the image and likeness of God.

When should I stay silent, and when should I speak? Don’t actions speak louder than words anyway? Maybe I do not need to say anything. But I come from a background of liberation theology where we look at the word of God with the Bible in one hand and the local newspaper in the other! We are called to continue Christ’s work in our everyday lives.

All through my lines of thought comes the word “appeasement”. Appeasement is a policy of making political, material, or territorial concessions to aggressive power in order to avoid conflict. It was famously used about British politicians who tried to avoid conflict with Hitler. More recently I have heard it used about the German bishops in the same period who also kept silent so that they could continue with their religious practices.

So, one question is, “why am I keeping silent?” Is it just to avoid conflict, or by not confronting it, am I just pushing it off for another day when it could come back stronger and more dangerously. How should I face up to a bully?

I wish I had an easy answer. I try to hold my own in an argument but look out for aspects where I can agree with the other person. Is this peace-making or appeasement?

I have no easy answers to all of this, but in a historical period where there are quite a few bullies around, it seems to me that we need to be thinking about it.