The National Catholic Weekly March 30-April 6, 2009 of Many Things Published by Jesuits of the United States
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THE NATIONAL CATHOLIC WEEKLY MARCH 30-APRIL 6, 2009 OF MANY THINGS PUBLISHED BY JESUITS OF THE UNITED STATES riving in the neighborhood things were changing for the worse EDITOR IN CHIEF during my last visit home, I inside. Shop sites lay empty. More and Drew Christiansen, S.J. was surprised to find that the more of the businesses that remained D EDITORIAL DEPARTMENT mall nearest to my house, Randhurst, had the impromptu feel of a TV pro- would be closing at the end of the gram on public access cable—the dis- MANAGING EDITOR month, to be replaced eventually by count bookseller with the ugly green Robert C. Collins, S.J. some sort of outdoor lifestyle center. I price tags and the terrible selection; EDITORIAL DIRECTOR spent many an evening and weekend clothing shops where you could have Karen Sue Smith during my teenage years at Randhurst, your name ironed onto a hat or T-shirt; ONLINE EDITOR selling women’s shoes at a retail outlet. the dollar store. But Randhurst hung Maurice Timothy Reidy It was here I learned what “taupe” on and tried to change; a major section CULTURE EDITOR meant; here I saw up close the horrors outside a closed department store was James Martin, S.J. high heels cause over decades to wom- used as a children’s play area; some new LITERARY EDITOR en's feet (ladies, trust me, it's not worth chains, like Dave & Barry’s and Costco, Patricia A. Kossmann the extra inches); and here that I regu- tried to fill the gaps left by old ones. POETRY EDITOR larly had my sales stolen by the “kind- At my last visit, most of the stores James S. Torrens, S.J. ly” older saleswoman in the heavy were shuttered; the few people there makeup and jet-black bouffant. She were packing boxes. The mall had the ASSOCIATE EDITORS Joseph A. O’Hare, S.J. wasn’t the top seller for nothing. barren, post-apocalyptic feel of a zom- George M. Anderson, S.J. Like some casinos today, malls are bie movie. But standing in its very Dennis M. Linehan, S.J. designed to look like something they center, on a raised platform between Jim McDermott, S.J. are not, old-style small-town squares, the first and second floors, the mall’s Matt Malone, S.J. Main Streets U.S.A., with footpaths carousel, “the Venetian,” remained lit James T. Keane, S.J. and benches, light poles, shrubbery, up and waiting for customers; from its Peter Schineller, S.J. restaurants and brightly lit store win- top a carved horse leapt toward the ASSISTANT EDITOR dows. They are places you’re supposed ceiling—a reminder of a golden age. Francis W. Turnbull, S.J. to want to come for the day, destina- Like everything else, the structures DESIGN AND PRODUCTION tions where you can meet up with we create change, age, diminish and Stephanie Ratcliffe friends, shop and visit. eventually die. An astronomer once Randhurst was no exception. When told me that when a star is nearing its BUSINESS DEPARTMENT it first opened in 1962, it was the first end, it begins to pour out material like PUBLISHER enclosed regional mall in the hydrogen or carbon that actually pro- Jan Attridge Chicagoland area and the largest vides the source of life for other stars. CHIEF FINANCIAL OFFICER enclosed air-conditioned space in the As a Jesuit I have found aging members Lisa Pope United States. I cannot say I was a in community are often like that too; MARKETING mall crawler growing up, but every their stories and presence nourish the Eryk Krysztofiak time I returned home for a visit, I rest of us. ADVERTISING would go there, often just to sit, have a But walking the paths of Randhurst Julia Sosa slice of pizza from Sbarro and let my one last time, I sensed less a fading star life catch up to me. than a black hole. What was clear was 106 West 56th Street Over the course of years, what was a sense of absence, of this town center New York, NY 10019-3803 once a stand-alone mall grew to have that was there and yet somehow not. Ph: 212-581-4640; Fax: 212-399-3596 quite a few busy satellites, including Once upon a time it had been a focal E-mail: [email protected]; Home Depot, Borders, Steak & Shake, point for this community, maybe never [email protected] the BBQ chicken chain with the so central as a Chicago parish in the Web site: www.americamagazine.org. acronym I can never remember and a 1950s could be, but still a significant Customer Service: 1-800-627-9533 12-theater, stadium-seating megaplex to part of this suburb’s identity. Now, © 2009 America Press, Inc. which my parents went every Friday with the exception of that carousel, it Cover: A trader works on the floor of afternoon. But over the last five years or felt like nothing at all. the New York Stock Exchange. so, you could not help but notice that JIM MCDERMOTT, S.J. Reuters/Brendan McDermid CONTENTS www.americamagazine.org VOL. 200 NO. 11, WHOLE NO. 4851 MARCH 30–APRIL 6, 2009 ARTICLES 10 GREENSPAN’S FOLLY The demise of the cult of self-interest Darrin W. Snyder Belousek 15 ADVOCATE FOR THE WORLD’S POOREST Cardinal Oscar Rodríguez on reducing extreme poverty George M. Anderson 18 A SHARED MEAL Passover and Easter occupy a similar sacred space. Daniel F. Polish 22 READING KARL RAHNER Twenty five years after his death, Rahner’s works still illuminate. 15 Leo J. O’Donovan COLUMNS & DEPARTMENTS 4 Current Comment 5 Editorial Star Struck 6 Signs of the Times 9 Column Accounting for Torture Maryann Cusimano Love 25 Lenten Reflection The Smiling Christ Peter Schineller 29 Poem Jesus and the Muses Leonard Cirino 36 Letters 18 38 The Word Love to the End Barbara E. Reid BOOKS & CULTURE 26 ART A Lenten reflection on ‘The Mocking of Christ’ BOOKINGS Graham Greene BOOKS Flannery ON THE WEB ON THE WEB Clips from “The Third Man” and other Graham Greene films. Leo O'Donovan, S.J., remembers Karl Rahner, S.J., on our podcast, and a review of Atlas Shrugged from the archives. Plus, Jim McDermott, S.J., reviews the Fox TV show “Dollhouse.” All at americamagazine.org. 3525 CURRENT COMMENT tion, and although H.U.D. quickly debunked the claim, Science and Ideology right-wing commentators like Rush Limbaugh and televi- “Science, not ideology.” The phrase makes a good sound sion programs like CNN’s “Lou Dobbs Tonight” spread bite, but it is a false dichotomy. President Obama is right to the bogus information without checking the facts. try to correct the politicization of science under the Bush The election of Barack Obama has also stimulated the administration, but he was wrong to present the lifting of growth of hate organizations. They resent the fact that an the restriction on stem-cell research imposed by his prede- African-American is president of the United States, seeing it cessor as freeing science from politics. The Bush policy, like as a sign that the country is coming under the control of that of Bill Clinton before him, was an arbitrary political non-whites. Incidents after the election have included the compromise for which there was no coherent moral defense. burning in effigy of Mr. Obama and Obama-focused racist “Big science” and science policy are often entwined with graffiti. Several white supremacists have been arrested for politics and ideology. This is clearest in the military field, allegedly plotting to kill him. In one case, a federal grand jury where under ideological banners weapons are developed indicted a former marine after investigators discovered white without consideration of their consequences. Consider, for supremacist materials and a journal in his barracks at Camp example, the health and environmental effects of depleted Lejeune, N.C., outlining an assassination plot. There is no uranium munitions or Agent Orange. In the health field, place in a democracy for hate groups of this or any kind. reproduction has often been the target of scientific experts, whether in eugenic sterilization programs or compulsory A Face by Any Other Name birth control policies. Art historians recently announced the authentication of The unexamined ideology in the stem-cell debate is the the only known painting of William Shakespeare complet- promise of scientific progress. Especially now that pluripo- ed in his lifetime. More accurate than the traditional tent stem cells can be produced from adult cells, it is not at woodcuts known by generations of English students, the all clear what advocates of embryonic stem-cell research painting shows a man with an intelligent countenance, a can offer us but hopes supported by guesses, questionable sidelong glance and a thinning pate, all characteristic of predictions and future scenarios. In recent years, the sales- other (posthumous) representations. Yet does this add men of medical research touted fetal-tissue transplants and much to our appreciation of the Bard of Avon? genetic therapy as panaceas, only to end up without suc- The human desire to know the physical face of the hero cess. Embryonic stem cells are only the latest in a series of (or heroine) extends beyond Shakespeare aficionados. super-cures being hyped to the American public. Indeed, there is an entire history of devotion to the Holy As the National Institutes of Health and Congress con- Face of Jesus in Eastern and Western Christianity: the sider future stem-cell legislation, they should understand religious name taken by one of the most popular modern that expert scientific advice is not free of ideology or politics.