01-28-2005, 08:36 AM
From Auschwitz to Iraq
Honoring Those Who Sacrifice
BreakPoint with Charles Colson
January 28, 2005
In 1941, a monk named Maximilian Kolbe volunteered to take the place of another condemned prisoner at Auschwitz. Six decades later, a young man serving in Iraq—a soldier inspired by Father Kolbe—sacrificed his life when he volunteered to take the place of another soldier.
The story of this heroic young man—the son of a dear friend of ours in Prison Fellowship—is one we should tell our children as we mark the sixtieth anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz this week.
Twenty-year-old Thomas Doerflinger grew up in a home in which human dignity was vigorously defended. His father, Richard, is a bioethics expert who speaks out against abortion, cloning, and other assaults against human dignity. Some of those who knew the blond, blue-eyed Thomas questioned why this bright young man chose military service. His father says Thomas had no interest in a soft and easy life; he sought instead a life of deprivation and duty, service and sacrifice. And he wanted to help free the citizens of Iraq—people who’d spent decades living under tyranny and terror.
Years earlier, Thomas had offered a hint of his future plans. When he was confirmed into the Catholic Church, he took the name Maximilian Kolbe.
As Austin and Cathy Ruse write in the National Catholic Register, nobody takes Kolbe’s name lightly. “At a time in the world when courage mattered most, Kolbe did not hesitate,
Honoring Those Who Sacrifice
BreakPoint with Charles Colson
January 28, 2005
In 1941, a monk named Maximilian Kolbe volunteered to take the place of another condemned prisoner at Auschwitz. Six decades later, a young man serving in Iraq—a soldier inspired by Father Kolbe—sacrificed his life when he volunteered to take the place of another soldier.
The story of this heroic young man—the son of a dear friend of ours in Prison Fellowship—is one we should tell our children as we mark the sixtieth anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz this week.
Twenty-year-old Thomas Doerflinger grew up in a home in which human dignity was vigorously defended. His father, Richard, is a bioethics expert who speaks out against abortion, cloning, and other assaults against human dignity. Some of those who knew the blond, blue-eyed Thomas questioned why this bright young man chose military service. His father says Thomas had no interest in a soft and easy life; he sought instead a life of deprivation and duty, service and sacrifice. And he wanted to help free the citizens of Iraq—people who’d spent decades living under tyranny and terror.
Years earlier, Thomas had offered a hint of his future plans. When he was confirmed into the Catholic Church, he took the name Maximilian Kolbe.
As Austin and Cathy Ruse write in the National Catholic Register, nobody takes Kolbe’s name lightly. “At a time in the world when courage mattered most, Kolbe did not hesitate,