When Cardinal Francis George, O.M.I., speaks to the public at the University of Denver on March 31, his topic — "The contributions of believers to the renewal of civil society" — will have more urgency than anyone could have guessed.

The United States is one of the few nations in the world where the leaders must finally make an accounting to their people. That's our greatness, but it also places heavy demands on all of us as citizens. The exercise of American power implicates the American people. We have a direct stake in our national policies toward the immigrant, the handicapped and the poor, and also in our global policies in places like the Middle East.

If we expect our leaders to act with wisdom and moral character, the only way we'll get those qualities is by carrying our religious faith and moral principles into the public debate — not just at election time, but now, in moments of crisis like today, in dialogue with the people who represent us.

We can't simultaneously commit ourselves to human dignity, and then support policies at home and abroad that hurt the weak. And as Catholics, we can't live our commitment to the sanctity of human life only as a private piety. People of religious faith need to live their moral witness publicly, as a matter of civic responsibility — or we'll lose our faith even as a matter of private principle. If we're leaven, we need to offer our culture the whole truth about the dignity of the human person, even when the message is unpopular.

How should this reasoning guide us today, with the nation poised for a war that seems imminent? The conflict with Iraq does not have the same sharply focused clarity as the euthanasia or abortion debate. Abortion is always a direct and intended attack on the innocent. The Church has always condemned abortion as gravely wrong, from the first century forward. War, on the other hand, can be legitimate or illegitimate depending on circumstances outlined in Catholic moral tradition. They are not equivalent issues, and the heart of the moral debate about a war with Iraq is whether the conditions for a "just war" have been met.

I don't think those conditions have been met, and thus a war with Iraq, at this point, would be a grievous mistake.

No one disputes the brutality or danger of the Saddam Hussein regime. No one denies that Iraq has repeatedly violated previous commitments to disarm. The key issue is whether peaceful means can still achieve disarming the regime without a resort to violence. I believe they can.

As supporters of intervention point out, the president and his advisers may know things the rest of us don't. I think that's probably true — but the rest of us must act on what we do know. For Catholics, the Holy See's strong, consistent rejection of a possible war can't be ignored. Much of the world community opposes armed action in Iraq. Innocent men and women will die in a conflict that doesn't seem necessary and which may have bitter, long-term consequences no one can calculate.

The biggest contribution religious believers can make to the renewal of civil society is to speak and act guided by their faith. While poverty, immigration, abortion and war are all different issues, they all require the same spirit of discipleship in the way Christians respond. We should respect and pray for the men and women who serve us in the armed forces. For their sake and ours, we should also tell our leaders that this war, at this time, in these circumstances, is a serious mistake.

"Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called children of God" (Matt 5:9). Now more than ever, we need to pray for peace.

Cardinal Francis George, O.M.I., will speak at 7:30 p.m. March 31, at the University of Denver's Magness Arena. The public is welcome. Admission is free.