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National and Community Service. Contents www.americamagazine.org VOL. 212 NO. 7, WHOLE NO. 5080 MARCH 2, 2015 ARTICLES 16 A RITE OF PASSAGE Should young people be required to do a year of service? William J. Byron COLUMNS & DEPARTMENTS 4 Current Comment 5 Editorial Jailing Families 6 Reply All 16 9 Signs of the Times 14 Column The Law and Children Helen Alvaré 19 The Church Visible A Year in Vocations Mary Ann Walsh 21 Associates Roll Call 31 Vatican Dispatch Francis and Congress Gerard O’Connell 32 Faith in Focus The Monk and Me Kaya Oakes 34 Philosopher’s Notebook On Paying Attention John J. Conley, 47 The Word God’s Word for Us John W. Martens 32 BOOKS & CULTURE 38 IDEAS Podcast People BOOKS Mercy In The City; The Many Sides of Peace; Health Care as a Social Good; The Liar’s Wife POEM They Build a Hogan in Coal Canyon, Arizona ON THE WEB Jim McDermott, S.J., interviews 18 of the 20 new cardinals chosen by Pope Francis to lead the church, including Soane Patita, Mafi of Tonga, right. Full digital highlights on page 13 and at americamagazine.org/webfeatures. 38 CURRENT COMMENT screening companies are overselling the precision of their Off Balance in Ukraine results; and doctors lacking genetic expertise may struggle If the recent peace summit in Belarus does not lead to to communicate the limitations of the tests to patients. an effective cease-fire, the Obama administration will be The accuracy of the tests ranges from just 40 percent to 90 under even more pressure to do “something”” to stand up percent, which is why a traditional diagnostic test is strongly to a barely disguised Russian campaign of aggression that recommended to confirm any positive screening result. has violated Ukraine’s sovereignty. The trouble is that any Some women who learn that their child is at high risk for a course of action is deeply perilous. Standing down while chromosomal condition are having abortions without first Russian nationalists seize chunks of eastern Ukraine may having a confirmation test. In at least three cases, the babies only encourage Vladimir Putin’s reckless campaign. But a were later found to have been completely healthy. too-aggressive effort to shore up Ukrainian defenses may The proliferation of prenatal screening for an ever- heighten the confrontation between two nuclear-armed growing list of identifiable genetic abnormalities presents an powers caught in a stare-down on the outskirts of Europe. ethical challenge to health care providers. It is alarming that There will be much talk of Munich and appeasement if as many as 90 percent of parents who receive a diagnosis of the Obama administration seeks to finesse a way around Down syndrome choose to terminate the pregnancy. Parents this dangerous confrontation. But not every attempt to who receive the heart-wrenching news that their child may avoid a potentially catastrophic military engagement live for just a few painful days, or who face the challenge of represents appeasement. Sometimes it is merely the wisest raising a child with special needs, deserve the full support course of action. The Obama administration must not and accompaniment of the entire community not only in allow itself to be goaded into an injudicious decision. It has their choice to bring this fragile life into the world but also in to methodically build the foundation for a strategy against the joys and sorrows that will surely follow. Putin that will last longer than the next U.S. presidential election cycle. It could be that the best course of action is to allow Putin to follow his worst instincts. His regime Rainless in Rio may eventually choke on its costly appetite for separatist Think of Brazil, and lush rainforests, pristine beaches and enclaves, but that will not happen quickly. happy scenes of Carnival likely come to mind. But thanks In the meantime, Ukraine is entitled to defend itself.