Tension can be productive. Certainly, there are resources even within the just war tradition itself on which those interested in promoting the development of peacebuilding practices might draw. In addition to the practice of including more participants from areas and groups historically excluded from Church conferences and conversations, the maintenance of these competing views of the moral status of modernity may thus be a means of facilitating dialogue and new development within the Catholic community itself.

Whether or not one approves rare and stringently specified uses of violent force to protect democratic institutions and human security, all Catholics, and counterparts in other traditions, should prioritize practical initiatives to transform conflicts and expand just peace.