THE NATIONAL CATHOLIC WEEKLY JUNE 4-11, 2012 $3.50 OF MANY THINGS

PUBLISHED BY JESUITS OF THE UNITED STATES he applause was polite but per - display of the rewards of long-term, functory as the first performer focused commitment and hard work, PRESIDENT AND PUBLISHER Twalked to center stage and sat rewards that are found in the doing. JOHN P. S CHLEGEL , S.J. down at the Steinway grand. Her slim Every musician who auditioned, not profile, size 0 evening dress (I’m guess - just the winners, has earned these EDITOR IN CHIEF ing) and long hair held back from her rewards. Unwittingly, one musician Drew Christiansen, S.J. face by a sparkling clasp announced even offered a visual metaphor for so EDITORIAL DEPARTMENT that this Chinese-American was a much effort. As Emirhan bent over his MANAGING EDITOR teenager or only slightly older. Her cello, producing a resonance that Robert C. Collins, S.J. name, according to the program, was wrapped the audience in warmth, three EDITORIAL DIRECTOR Audrey. She looked small and weak in drops of sweat slid down the instru - Karen Sue Smith relation to the large, weighty instru - ment’s wooden body, rivulets lit up like ONLINE EDITOR ment that was opened up in front of neon strands by the stage lights. Maurice Timothy Reidy her, until she relaxed her wrists and What we saw and heard at Carnegie LITERARY EDITOR touched the keys. The moment the first Hall was not only the beauty of the Raymond A. Schroth, S.J. chords of J. S. Bach’s “Prelude and music and the creativity exercised in POETRY EDITOR Fugue in G-sharp Minor” from “The interpreting it, but the passion of the James S. Torrens, S.J. Well-Tempered Clavier Book II,” rolled young to make music, not just listen to ASSOCIATE EDITORS out, she was in command. it. Passion, even joy, was visible on the Kevin Clarke We had come to the Weill Recital faces of these performers and audible in Kerry Weber Hall at Carnegie Hall for the 77th their playing and singing. And although CONTRIBUTING EDITOR Young Musicians Concert, sponsored most of the pieces were solos, behind James Martin, S.J. by the Associated Music Teachers every soloist is a family that has been ART DIRECTOR League. The program featured 17 willing to alter its schedule, budget and Stephanie Ratcliffe young musicians in high school and col - calendar for years on end to accommo - ASSISTANT EDITOR Francis W. Turnbull, S.J. lege, winners of the league’s annual date the budding musician. This real - competition. The program itself was ization moved me, too. BUSINESS DEPARTMENT full of show-pieces, technically rigorous May and June mark many year-end CHIEF FINANCIAL OFFICER works by Mozart, Liszt, Chopin, celebrations of achievement, from Lisa Pope Handel and Schumann and several recitals and championship games to composers new to me, all designed to graduations. It is a season of endings 106 West 56th Street impress. The performers, as is typical of and beginnings, transitions in which New York, NY 10019-3803 this age range, varied widely in size and family and friends can support the Ph: 212-581-4640; Fax: 212-399-3596 physical maturity, but they all played young, acknowledge their focus and sac - E-mail: [email protected]; their instruments (piano, cello or voice) rifices, and guide them toward the next [email protected] like adults. life phase, whether college, employ - Web site: www.americamagazine.org. This was a custom-made Mother’s ment, marriage or something else. It Customer Service: 1-800-627-9533 Day event, though every father present, also works the other way round: the © 2012 America Press, Inc. camcorder or camera in hand, must vigor and ardor of young people who have felt it as an early Father’s Day, too. achieve astounding feats encourage and I attended the concert as the guest of a console their elders. Hurrah for that. friend, whose eldest son, Daniel, a tall, By the end of the concert, I found handsome youth with Van Cliburn myself pondering a delicious irony, given hair, played Claude Debussy’s the number of Chinese-Americans who “Arabesque No. 1.” His fluid fingering had performed: Perhaps the Chinese and clear tones caused the audience to would save Western classical music, applaud with foot-stomping gusto and much as the Romans saved Greek art even a few shouts when he stood for his and the Irish “saved civilization”—the bow. His achievement is all the more Chinese and all the other dedicated Cover: Traders work on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange, May extraordinary because Daniel is blind. music students aflame with passion. 7, 2012. Reuters/Brendan The concert was a meaningful public KAREN SUE SMITH McDermid. CONTENTS www.americamagazine.org Vol. 206 No. 19, WholE No. 4975 JUNE 4-11, 2012

ARTICLES 12 CYCLES OF CHANGE Could the 2008 recession herald a progressive revival? Charles R. Morris

COLUMNS & DEPARTMENTS 4 Current Comment

5 Editorial Christian Correction 6 Signs of the Times

12 10 Column Sandbox Ethics Maryann Cusimano Love 17 2012 Foley Award Poem Jacob’s Ladder Gary Boelhower 27 Letters

29 The Word Lifegiving Bread; Our Providential God Peter Feldmeier

BOOKS & CULTURE 16 16 POETRY The 2012 Foley poetry contest IDEAS Superman’s place in U.S. culture BOOKS The Cause; Science and Religion in Quest of Truth; Latino Catholicism

ON THE WEB ON THE WEB Ross Douthat, right, talks about his book Bad Faith on our podcast. Plus, John W. O’Malley, S.J., on medieval univer - sities and an archive of past Foley poetry contest winners. All at americamagazine.org. 18 CURRENT COMMENT

That four years after the Wall Street debacle, the chair - The Price Is Not Right man of a leading bank that escaped the crisis unscathed The educational debt burden shouldered by U.S. college could admit to trades that were “stupid” and “sloppy” is a students finally may have caught the nation’s attention. clear sign that self-regulation in today’s massive, computer- Student loan debt, at more than $1 trillion, has surpassed driven markets is insufficient. The need for tougher, not credit card debt in size. And the high rate of default weaker, regulation is clear. Only a Dodd-Frank Act on among student borrowers is rising. A less obvious factor is steroids, including a fully empowered Volcker Rule ban on the growing number of for-profit colleges, which enroll 11 proprietary trading by commercial banks, will reinstate the percent of college students. These students receive a quar - common-sense controls lost in the ill-advised 1999 repeal ter of federal college loans, yet many drop out of college of the Glass-Steagall Act. To be effective, these must be with debt but no degree. Consequently, they default at a backed by adequate staffing and funding for regulators. It is much higher rate than graduates. Congressional bills that apparent that bankers still need to be protected from them - would tie the availability of federal student loans to a col - selves, and U.S. taxpayers deserve to be protected from lege’s own graduation rate and/or student loan default rate another costly bail out. ought to be passed for the sake of student borrowers and taxpayers alike. Still, the issue of student debt touches A Yes to Dialogue something deeper than the staggering sum owed. Pope Benedict XVI has put a priority on dialogue with the The bottom line is not merely financial. Rather, U.S. unbelieving world. For that reason, he expanded the society must decide a question of values: Is an affordable Pontifical Council for Culture with an initiative, called The college education for qualified applicants a national priori - Court of the Gentiles, to improve communication between ty? Only an educated society can compete globally or play believers and nonbelievers, which is often impaired, in his a leading role on the world stage. If affordable education is words, by “mutual ignorance, skepticism or indifference.” not a priority, then state and local governments will contin - To lead that dialogue, he appointed Cardinal Gianfranco ue to pass the burden to their colleges, which will pass it Ravasi, whose leadership has met with widespread praise. on to their students. Already state and local government When critics challenged the inclusion of nonbelievers in spending per college student is lower than it has been for the interreligious witness to peace in Assisi last fall, the the last 25 years. If affordable education is a priority, how - cardinal defended Pope Benedict XVI’s initiative as “an ever, then citizens will have to elect leaders who support attempt to reassert the importance of the relationship of public colleges students can afford. faith and reason.” When controversies broke out lately over invitations by Moral Hazard the Pontifical Academy for Life and the Council for Jamie Dimon, the chairman and chief operating officer of Culture to scientists whose research, especially on stem JPMorgan Chase, has a reputation as one of the brightest cells, was thought to contravene Catholic teaching, the car - and most articulate of Wall Street bankers. He has also dinal rose to give a vigorous defense of dialogue with the been one of the fiercest opponents of increased regulation church’s ideological opponents. “It’s a shaky or fundamen - of the banking sector following the Wall Street collapse of talist grasp of faith that sparks suspicion or fear of the 2008. In mid-May he confessed a $2 billion loss in deriva - other,” Catholic News Service reported the cardinal saying. tive trading by the bank’s London office and predicted the “When you are well formed, you can listen to other peo - losses “could double within the next few quarters.” Perhaps ple’s reasons,” he added. Solid, serious catechesis is compat - the most disturbing aspect of this latest Wall Street drama ible with respectful dialogue. is that Mr. Dimon and other major players at JPMorgan At a time when it seems that rote repetition of catechet - seem unable to explain precisely how the losses occurred. ical formulae is more and more expected of even the most The accounts, Mr. Dimon acknowledged, were badly educated Catholics, the cardinal’s openness to dialogue and managed and poorly supervised, but he failed to note that his trust in Catholics of mature faith and learning to carry the losses came from a product that insures trades in other on such dialogue are reassuring. In the modern world, the securities, similar to those that produced the financial cri - scandal is not that Vatican officials would engage scientists sis. He did admit, however, that the timing of the loss was who disagree with church teaching, but rather that such a gift to the proponents of regulation. We agree. engagement is regarded as taboo.

4 America June 4-11, 2012 EDITORIAL Christian Correction

hough the duty of Christians to correct one anoth - endeavor above all to educate those in er goes back to the New Testament (Mt 18:35), for question in a loving way. Educating Tthose charged with offering correction it has never parishioners and employees of Catholic been an easy task. St. Augustine wrestled with the issue of institutions on the cost of discipleship, whether and how to correct sinners and heretics. “It is a moreover, is always in order. The New deep and difficult matter to estimate what each one can Testament recommends a graduated endure,” he wrote. “And I doubt that many have become bet - process of correction, where the shock of public rebuke is ter because of impending punishment.... If you punish peo - avoided. Public correction, where necessary, is signaled in ple, you may ruin them. If you leave them unpunished, you advance by earlier private efforts. First fellow Christians may ruin others. I admit that I make mistakes.... What encounter each other one on one. If personal encounter fails, trembling, what darkness” (Letter 95.3). Every church disci - the next step is what we would today call a small-group plines its members, penalizing those whose conduct is intervention. Only when more private efforts fail is commu - judged unsuitable for disciples of Jesus. For Anglicans, nal or public reprimand appropriate (Mt 18:15-17). Methodists and Presbyterians, as well as Catholics, disci - Furthermore, the Western Christian tradition of pas - pline is the hard edge of discipleship. toral care is clear about how Christians should correct one In recent weeks two Catholic women and members of another. Correction, even by those in authority, should be a Midwestern parish were surprised by the penalties threat - done with modesty (2 Tm 2:25; 2 Thes 3:15) and a due ened or inflicted upon them. In April, Emily Herx, a sense of one’s own sinfulness (Mt 7:5), understanding that Catholic teacher in Fort Wayne, Ind., was fired from her judgment belongs to God alone (1 Cor 4:5; Mt 13:29). school after it was revealed that she had received in vitro fer - These pastoral cautions need to be applied especially in tilization treatments. Bishop Kevin C. Rhoades of Fort responding to self-appointed watchdog groups eager to con - Wayne-South Bend explained the firing, saying that priests demn others. They should be strongly reminded that the tra - must offer “correction” to parishioners. Earlier, Christa Dias, dition holds that where possible, correction should be done who worked at two Catholic schools in Cincinnati, was fired privately, not in public. That seems a pertinent and wise for using artificial insemination. And at Saint Mary’s Parish counsel, especially when the offenders are ignorant of church in Platteville, Wis., Bishop Robert Morlino reportedly teaching. Those applying the discipline, moreover, should threatened parishioners who had been critical of pastoral take into account how a public penalty for unwitting disobe - decisions made by their traditionalist clergy with interdict. dience to church teaching may be as scandalous to many of Both those rebuked and their fellow parishioners the faithful in its way as the offense itself is to others. expressed surprise. “For two years my supervisor has known In our contemporary situation, moreover, where about it and said she was praying for us,” said Emily Herx, impugning the character of others has become a habitual “so there was no warning.” Christa Dias echoed this. “I’ve tactic in the culture wars, the traditional practice of private always wanted to have a baby,” she said. “I didn’t think it correction should be encouraged, especially among would be a problem.” The head of the church finance coun - overzealous clerics and laypeople who seem to forget that cil at St. Mary’s said, “There’s almost shock and awe.” News correction is a duty of a charity that demands delicacy in its of these and other incidents lead us to reflect on the pastoral application. Solicitous of the good of all, including the practice of discipline in the Christian community, especially accused, Augustine counseled that in the process of correc - at a time when charging others with unorthodox opinions tion “nobody [should] render to someone evil for evil.” or with leading an insufficiently Christian life has so often Critics should, therefore, try to avoid making a private become enmeshed in the culture wars. offense public and refrain from forcing an issue into the Professed Christians endeavor to lead a Christ-like life, public arena or tying a bishop’s hands, as is often the case. and correction is in order when a person’s behavior fails in an On being alerted to allegations, moreover, those in authori - egregious way to conform to that Christic pattern. Because ty would do well to be wary of taking action until they have the aim of correction, moreover, is reform of life, it should met face to face with the persons concerned.

June 4-11, 2012 America 5 SIGNS OF THE TIMES

AUTISM CRISIS Study Suggests More Services Needed for Young Adults ith growing numbers of families across the country affected by autism spectrum disorder—over all one in 88 children will be diag - Wnosed with A.S.D., and one in 54 boys—how well is U.S. society preparing for autism’s coming of age? A study published in the June issue of Pediatrics suggests cause for concern. The study, funded by the Organization for Autism Research, Autism Speaks and the National Institute of Mental Health, found that young adults with autism spec - trum disorder are far less likely to continue their education or find a job after high school compared with young adults with other disabilities. Only about 35 percent of young adults with autism attended college, and only 55 percent were employed dur - ing the first six years after high school. That rate compares unfavorably with those of young adults with other disabilities. Eighty-six percent of young people with a speech or language impairment, 94 percent of those with a learning disability and 69 percent with mental retardation were employed during the same time frame. The report “mainly confirms what a lot of us already knew,” said Jennifer Disability. Borek is the parent of a particularly when they consider what Borek, a faculty member of the young adult with autism. In the short may happen when the various develop - University of Notre Dame’s Alliance term, she said, the report may only “add mental and skill-building services par - for Catholic Education and a member to the anxiety” parents with children ents have been able to arrange expire as of the Autism Task Force for the on the autism spectrum already feel. children reach their teen years. National Catholic Partnership on For many the future is a chronic worry, But ultimately “it’s helpful to have

IRAQ’S REFUGEES Eastern Catholic dioceses in the United States. After War, Chaldean Catholics Chaldean Bishop Ibrahim N. Ibrahim, who heads the Eparchy of Face Moral Risks in United States St. Thomas the Apostle of Detroit, raq’s Chaldean Catholics fleeing of St. Peter the Apostle. Chaldean the diocese for Chaldean Catholics in physical danger in their homeland Catholics are the largest Eastern-rite the Eastern United States, said the Ioften find themselves unprepared community in the United States. biggest challenge in his diocese is how for the moral threats awaiting them in Their numbers are growing because of to help families who have been unable the United States, said the head of a large and steady stream of refugees to go to church for years. Many of the Chaldean Catholics in the western since the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq in refugees spent five to 10 years in a United States. Because of a lack of 2003. transit country such as Lebanon, respect for the unborn in the United “This is the irony; that is the dilem - Jordan or Syria before they found a States, along with different under - ma ,” Bishop Jammo said. They escape home in the United States. The bish - standings of marriage and a general from gunfire in Iraq and go to the ops’ aim is to make them feel at home disregard for Christian values, United States to find physical securi - “after those years of suffering” and to Chaldean families often find them - ty, “but then they face moral attack,” help them become acclimated to their selves in a world they are not accus - he said. The bishop spoke from Rome new surroundings and reignite their tomed to, said Bishop Sarhad Y. on May 17 during an ad limina visit to faith. Jammo, of San Diego, of the Eparchy the Vatican with other heads of Many refugees have “become con -

6 America June 4-11, 2012 with “mild” autism or Asperger syn - Borek said that across the country drome face significant problems dealing there is a vast disparity in how well with the everyday world, navigating Catholic parishes, dioceses and reli - morning routines and social interac - gious orders have responded to the tions other people can take for granted. challenge of autism’s growing popula - “Many families with children with tion. Some have programs in place; autism describe leaving high school as some remain far from welcoming to falling off a cliff because of the lack of people with autism and their families, services for adults,” said the study’s even though there is probably not a senior author Paul Shattuck, an assis - church community in the nation with - tant professor of social work at out a family touched by autism. Washington University in St. Louis. Borek said more outreach from Tristan Williams, a student with “So much of media attention focuses on bishops and parish priests to families autism at Columbia High School in Maplewood, N.J., shops at a children. It’s important for people to who are often struggling with the var - supermarket as part of a spe - realize autism does not disappear in ied economic, practical and emotional cial education program that teaches life skills adolescence. The majority of lifespan is challenges of autism seems necessary. spent in adulthood.” If families with autistic children are The study suggests that more not visible in church pews, she said, thought and resources need to be that probably just means they would directed to figuring out how to help be there if parishes were more wel - this kind of confirmation,” Borek said. A.S.D. young people manage the tran - coming or offered services they could It is information parents can use to raise sition to adulthood and whatever level use. The challenge remains, she said, of awareness of the special challenges of of self-sufficiency they may be capable helping the wider society see the young people with autism and the need of establishing. About 50,000 youths “beautiful potential” of each individual for more developmental and family with autism will turn 18 this year in with autism and how easily and fre - support services. Even young people the United States. quently it is overlooked. fused” during their hiatus abroad, either Catholic Bishops, Bishop Jammo said “I am racing against time because I losing their faith because they had little the economic investment needed to don’t want to lose even one soul,” he to no access to a priest and pastoral care fund Bible study programs, youth said. or because they found solace in a groups, catechisms and Protestant community, he said. provide for seminari - “However, when they arrive in the ans, priests, nuns and States, we get them back,” he said, teachers is “overwhelm - when they discover the large, vibrant ing.” Many Chaldeans Chaldean Catholic community. “They arrive in the United want to be with their own citizens, States with appropriate their own people, family and friends” skills and education and and hear their own language. Bishop a desire to work, but

Ibrahim estimates there are more than there are no jobs, he e K r a

180,000 Chaldean Catholics in his said. Hence, he added, l C

n i

eparchy alone. many are not only v e K

:

For both bishops, funding new unable to support the o t o parishes and pastoral programs for parish and its work; h p their growing number of parishioners is they need financial and Many Chaldean Catholics, shown here at a community an enormous challenge. Despite gener - social assistance from meeting in Amman, Jordan, wait for years to come to ous help from the U.S. Conference of the church. the United States.

June 4-11, 2012 America 7 SIGNS OF THE TIMES

‘Outdated’ Nukes? The U.S. Conference of Catholic NEWS BRIEFS Bishops joined with other national The television news analyst Thomas D. Williams, organizations in amassing more than L.C., was removed from public ministry on May 15 50,000 signatures on a petition asking by the Legionaries of Christ after admitting he had a for a change in U.S. nuclear arms poli - relationship with a woman “a number of years ago” cy that was delivered to the White and fathered her child. • Members of the Shalom House on May 7. “You must act now community came to the Vatican on May 16 to cele - to reduce the nuclear danger and the brate the 30th anniversary of their founding and the Shalom community role of nuclear weapons,” said the peti - at St. Peter’s final approval of their statutes by the Vatican. • On tion. It urged President Obama to “end May 14 the former British prime minister, Tony Blair , said the world outdated U.S. nuclear war-fighting would be heading for “tragedy and disaster” without faith. strategy, dramatically reduce the num - • Sued by the Vatican after an ad campaign that used a photograph ber of U.S. nuclear weapons and the doctored to show Pope Benedict XVI kissing a Muslim leader, the number of submarines, missiles and Italian fashion house Benetton reached an out-of-court settlement on bombers that carry those weapons, May 15 that requires it to make an unspecified donation to a Catholic and take U.S. nuclear weapons off charity. • The world’s oldest Catholic bishop, Bishop Antoine Nguyen high alert. Maintaining large numbers Van Thien of Vietnam , died on May 13 in France two months after of nuclear forces on alert increases the his 106th birthday. • Bishop Bernard Fellay, superior of the Society of risk of accident or miscalculation.” St. Pius X , acknowledged on May 11 that there might be a split in the Daryl Kimball, executive director of breakaway society if it decides to reconcile with the Vatican . the Arms Control Association, called the petition drive just one of many expressions of support for overdue changes in a nuclear weapons strategy the many armed groups in Eastern institutional stakeholders to sponsor “still burdened by Cold War thinking.” Congo.” He urged U.S. politicians and and subsidize an otherwise widely business people to “protect the life and available product over their religious Resource Curse human dignity of the Congolese peo - and moral objections serves no legiti - ple by conducting legal, transparent mate, let alone compelling, govern - Congress should support laws that and accountable international com - ment interest,” said Anthony R. promote transparency among compa - merce. We are confident that they do Picarello and Michael F. Moses, gener - nies that mine in the Congo and resist not want to be part of the misery that al counsel and associate general coun - watering down new regulations “to has plagued Eastern Congo for years.” sel, respectively, to the U.S. half measures that may save money, Conference of Catholic Bishops in but cost lives,” said Bishop Nicolas comments filed with the U.S. Djomo Lola, president of the Catholic No ‘Accommodation’ Department of Health and Human Bishops’ Conference of the Congo, in Although the Obama administration’s Services. The comments were in testimony before a House subcommit - “accommodation” for religious employ - response to the administration’s tee on May 10. Speaking not as a busi - ers to a government mandate that con - “advance notice of proposed rulemak - ness executive or a financial expert but traceptives and sterilization be includ - ing” published on March 16 in the as “a religious leader, who is deeply dis - ed in most health plans “may create an Federal Register, which offered new turbed by the terrible violence and suf - appearance of...compromise,” it does ways for religious organizations to fering that has dominated life in not change the administration’s funda - comply with the new requirements. Eastern Congo since 1996,” Bishop mental position, attorneys for the U.S. The attorneys argued that the best Djomo Lola said: “This violence has bishops said on May 15. “We are con - solution to their objections would be destroyed families, villages and com - vinced that no public good is served by to rescind the mandate. munities. One prominent driver of the this unprecedented nationwide man - violence is illicit mining conducted by date and that forcing individual and From CNS and other sources.

8 America June 4-11, 2012 A timeless story! A timeless look! Presenting st-Ever A Fir e gs You th Brin us ' ' ok Famo Lo ld The Silent Night (Wsrod Nocnej Ciszy) the Wor Over! Nativity Collection Hand-crafted sculptures echo the distinctive look of traditional Polish Stoneware! A centuries old artistic tradition inspires a fi rst ever from Hawthorne! Traditional Polish Stoneware’s unique patterns are inspired by the peacock feather and its look is distinguished by clean lines and captivating designs in cobalt blue, peacock blue, iridescent greens and earth tones. This pattern is one of the most collected in the world, and often commands top dollar from avid collectors looking to complete or enhance their collection. Now, labor intensive handcrafting by skilled artisans has captured that prized look in a fi rst-ever from Hawthorne, the Silent Night (Wród Nocnej Ciszy) Nativity Collection. Begin with Issue One, “Mary & Baby Jesus” The heirloom-quality fi gurine of “Mary and Baby Jesus” can be yours for only $29.99*, billed with shipment. Subsequent fi gurines will be sent about every other month at the same remarkable price as Issue One. Your Second Issue will be the “Joseph” fi gurine. You can cancel at any time, and our best- in-the-business 365-day guarantee, assures your satisfaction. A Superb Value; Act Now! This sculptural treasure is expected to generate unprecedented demand. It is unique in the marketplace, so please don’t wait. To order, send no money now. Simply mail the Equally beautiful when postage-paid card today! displayed separately.

Issue One Certifi cate of Authenticity & 365-Day Guarantee Mary and Baby Jesus

9210 N. MARYLAND ST., NILES, IL 60714-1322 Issue Two YES. Please enter my Charter Sub scrip tion for one Silent Night Joseph Nativity Collection as described in this announcement starting with Issue One “Mary & Baby Jesus.” Limited-Time Offer—Respond Today

Signature

Mrs. Mr. Ms. Name (Please Print Clearly) Address

City Shown smaller than actual sizes of up to 8" tall. State Zip 917581-E16101 *Plus $6.99 shipping and service. All sales subject to acceptance and product availability. www.bradfordexchange.com Please allow 4-6 weeks for delivery. ©2011 BGE 14-01246-001-BI

MARYANN CUSIMANO LOVE Sandbox Ethics or our youngest daughter’s where there are conflicts over ambassador to the Vatican, Miguel birthday, our family built a resources. A thoughtful recent book Díaz, and myself. The Catholic Fsandbox. Digging for treasure is published by Catholic Relief Services, Church’s concern for peace is not one of the kids’ favorite games. Extractives and Equity , highlights the unique, but we do have unique capaci - Whether they are playing pirates or church’s creative efforts to break the ties to build peace in practice. In the prospectors, the kids love digging up resource curse. The reactive work of language of U.S. foreign policy, we have shiny rocks and other “jewels.” As par - the church to care for victims of vio - considerable assets “forward deployed ents, we set the rules for the sandbox: lence is well known: humanitarian in countries” to build peace. We have no hurting or hitting, no busting up relief, refugee care and ministries to peacebuilding doctrine; diplomats from the nearby plants or wellhead; all must internally displaced persons. Less the Holy See; grass-roots organizations be allowed to play and share the trea - appreciated are the church’s proactive like C.R.S., Caritas, Pax Christi, justice sure. efforts to prevent vio - and peace commissions Digging for treasure is no game for lence—for example by and the Community of many around the world. In too many deploying tens of thou - Digging Sant’Egidio; as well as places natural resources are a curse, sands of election monitors for treasure religious orders, schools, not a blessing, fueling and financing in the Democratic Republic hospitals and universi - conflict, corrupting business and gov - of Congo, Sudan and should ties. ernment and poisoning the environ - Nigeria. bring Bishop Nicolas ment. Without good governance, Many of these issues Djomo, head of the prospectors become pirates, stealing were addressed during a peace and bishops’ conference of treasure. The people nearest the mines seminar in Rome on May prosperity. the D.R.C., testified in and oilfields suffer. They become vic - 29 –30 called “New Congress, urging that tims of conflict and rape; they are Challenges for Catholic U.S. law be enforced made refugees and internally displaced Peacebuilding,” sponsored regarding conflict miner - persons as armed groups fight over by the Pontifical Council for Justice als. Since 2010, U.S. law requires com - resources. Their land and water are and Peace in collaboration with panies listed on the New York Stock polluted by unscrupulous companies Caritas Internationalis and the Exchange to be transparent about their that extract resources without envi - Catholic Peacebuilding Network. supply chains. The law has not yet been ronmental protections. Pollution robs Cardinal Peter Turkson, head of the implemented, as companies seek to poor subsistence farming and fishing Pontifical Council for Justice and delay and dilute these good governance communities of health, food and jobs. Peace, noted that Pope John XXIII’s efforts to follow the money trail that Kleptocrat rulers, warlords and com - encyclical “Peace on Earth,” published currently finances war. panies benefit while lying and covering 50 years ago, still animates the church’s By contrast, in Ghana, where oil up the money trail of profits. Basic work to build peace. Michel Roy of and gold have been discovered, the “sandbox ethics” rules of social justice Caritas Internationalis and Marie church is trying to get ahead of the are violated: people and the environ - Denis of Pax Christi International dis - curve, to put good governance laws ment are hurt, and not all are allowed cussed the practical ways their organi - into place for transparency and to participate and share the treasures. zations build peace. resource-sharing before the oil starts The church around the world is The U.S. Embassy to the Holy See flowing. working to build peace, justice and also sponsored a discussion on religious As citizens and as members of the good governance, particularly in areas peacebuilding, co-sponsored by Notre church, we have duties to ensure that Dame’s Kroc Institute of Peace and digging for treasure brings peace and Catholic University’s Institute for prosperity. We have unique opportu - MARYANN CUSIMANO LOVE is a member of the advisory board of the Catholic Policy Research and Catholic Studies, nities to make “Pacem in Terris” real in Peacebuilding Network. including contributions from the U.S. the 21st century.

10 America June 4-11, 2012 Paid Advertisement A m S –Special Sale For America Magazine Readers– e A r L ic E a f R o SAVE over 60% e r a d e The Apostle Paul’s Letters rs 24-LECTURE AUDIO or VIDEO COURSE on 9 DISCS ou will love this new course. quotations and other elements designed Y to enhance your learning enjoyment. Through 24 exceptionally thoughtful and well-taught lectures, you will gain a deep About Your Presenters understanding of the New Testament, early Christianity and the Apostle Paul. Fr. Raymond F. Collins is a renowned expert on the New Testament. He was In The Apostle Paul’s Letters, you formerly dean of the School of Religious will join one of the world’s leading Studies and professor of New Testament Catholic New Testament scholars in at Catholic University. He has also his remarkable new course on St. Paul. served as a member of the faculty of Fr. Raymond F. Collins, S.T.D., former theology at the Katholieke Universiteit Dean of the School of Religious Studies Leuven, where he was chair of the at The Catholic University of America Programs in English, long-time editor and a visiting scholar at Brown Univer- Fr. Raymond F. Collins, of Louvain Studies, and rector of the sity, has published over a dozen books M.A., S.T.D. American College. and 200 articles in scholarly journals Brown University throughout the world. His expertise and He is the author of more than a dozen years of studying the letters of Paul is enjoy listening to over and over again. books on the New Testament and has apparent in his erudite lectures. The Apostle Paul’s Letters gives you written more than two hundred articles an in-depth look at the epistles of the which have been published in scholarly As a thoughtful Catholic, you will be Apostle Paul as you’ve never seen them and pastoral journals in the United astounded as you enter the world of Paul. before. This fascinating course, available States and internationally. Fr. Collins First, you will look at Paul’s letters to the in either audio or video, will transport is currently a visiting scholar in the Thessalonians, Philippians, Philemon, you to the heart of the New Testament. Department of Religious Studies at Galatians, Corinthians and Romans. By Brown University. examining them in the order in which We highly recommend the video version they were written, you will appreciate of this course, which contains images, how Paul’s epistolary skills developed as he responded to issues that prompted him SAVE $134.00 Order By June 4, 2012 to write to the five churches. Now You Know Media 12115 Parklawn Dr, Unit B, Rockville, MD 20852 Order Online or by using this coupon www.NowYouKnowMedia.com 1-800-955-3904 You will then explore the remaining texts 8 DVD Set Sale $79.95 (list price $215.95) The Apostle Paul’s Letters 9 CD Set Sale $55.95 (list price $171.95) in the Pauline corpus. The consensus (Including Electronic Study Guide) today considers these epistles to be Program Title Price Line Total The Apostle Paul’s Letters Video: $79.95 written by anonymous authors who paid (including FREE Electronic Study Guide) Audio: $55.95 homage to the apostle. You will look at MD Residents, Add 6% Sales Tax: Second Thessalonians, Colossians and S&H: $8.75 check Total: Ephesians, analyzing the unique charac- ter of the texts and the circumstances that Account # exp. date veri cation code prompted their composition. Finally, you Signature will examine the epistles addressed to Coupon Code: Name (please print) A1582 Timothy and Titus. Mailing address

What really makes this course special City/State/Zip Phone is Fr. Collins’s storytelling. He is one of those very rare professors you will Email Email address required. We will send a link to your study guide, an order YES! I want a FREE Catalog! con rmation and advance notice of new courses. No Purchase Necessary (You may unsubscribe at any time.) Order Risk Free: 90-day no questions return policy

June 4-11, 2012 America 11 Loren Hart, a member of the Catholic Worker, at an Occupy Wall Street protest on May 1, 2012, in New York. COULD THE 2008 RECESSION HERALD A PROGRESSIVE REVIVAL ? Cycles of Change BY CHARLES R. MORRIS

olitics usually runs in cycles. The 2008 financial crash looked like the harbinger of a major cyclical turn. That looks considerably more doubtful now than it did four years ago, but there are still real grounds for hope. It will be five years this June that the sudden crash of a Bear Stearns hedge fund signaled that all was not well in American finance. And the Pcrashes kept coming, like the slow-motion collapse of giant icebergs—one bank, one fund, one temple of finance after another—for an excruciating year and a half. The American debacle centered around housing, which is still trapped in a mire of bad mort - gages, fraudulent foreclosures and lost paperwork. Now, just as we have been spotting wisps of a recovery in the United States, parts of the Eurozone have fallen back into recession. In Greece a controlled, technical default averted disaster for the time being, but the crisis has merely moved from an acute to a chronic stage. In Ireland, Italy, Spain, Portugal and France, reducing debt requires reduc - ing public spending, which reduces total gross domestic product and employment. Several countries have already experienced serious unrest. If one or the other country chooses to repudiate its debt or leave the Eurozone, it could possibly trigger another 2008-scale global economic thrombosis. Is this a run of really bad luck, like having your house hit by two successive pieces of space junk? No; the crises in both America and Europe are symptoms of the hyper-financializa - tion of advanced economies over the past 30 years or so. The crashes and the damage they inflict are toxic backwash from the bloated and rotten carcass of an old regime.

The Era of Hyper-Financialization

S

A For the first 40 years or so after World War II, the financial sector accounted for about m o C 10 percent of G.D.P. and 12 percent to 15 percent of corporate profits. Bankers always A E R d got paid somewhat more than the average worker but much the same as other workers N A / S R E t U E R

CHARLES R. MORRIS

: is a fellow of the Century Foundation. His recent books include The Trillion o t Dollar Meltdown and The Sages . A new book, The Dawn of Innovation, o h

P will be published in the fall.

June 4-11, 2012 America 13 with the same education. By 2006, however, finance had The auguries, in short, are that the era of hyperfinancial - grown to about 16 percent of G.D.P. and 40 percent of cor - ization is probably ending. The public is now aware of how porate profits, and finance professionals were being paid far fraudulent and destructive the boom years were and how more than anyone else except C.E.O.’s of top companies, much the new Wall Street fortunes were built by sheer pil - rock stars and first-round quarterback draft picks. lage. That is the kind of issue that can galvanize ordinary Here is an example of how outsized that pay was. From people. Far more than in other countries, Americans have 2003 through 2008, Merrill Lynch generated more than been tolerant of great differences in wealth because they $100 billion in revenue. It paid more than $80 billion of that assumed it was fairly earned and that with some luck and to its workers, a disproportionately large portion of this to a talent they could become wealthy themselves. small elite group at the top. At the same time Merrill cumu - If that assumption of fairness disappears, American poli - latively lost almost $15 billion tics will turn with it. Changing and left a trail of financial attitudes are evident in the way havoc—millions of foreclosures, Americans are starting to Mitt Romney has had to strug - great swaths of empty houses gle on the presidential campaign and huge losses for its investors, understand how much the trail to explain his wealth. like pension funds and endow - deck has become stacked Americans are starting to ments, and among its retail cus - understand how much the deck tomers. in favor of the people has become stacked in favor of Wall Street claims to earn its the people at the very top. A high pay for “financial innova - at the very top. hallmark of social mobility is tion,” but in real life, its innova - the degree to which your par - tion is mostly devoted to avoid - ents’ wealth determines your ing regulation and taxes. Regulated entities, like banks, sold success. By that measure, the United States now looks much off toxic loans and mortgages to the unregulated “shadow worse than almost all the major countries of Europe, which banks,” like hedge funds, that dolled them up and painted on is embarrassing. lipstick and sold them throughout the world. This was a useless and destructive enterprise, cooked up solely for the The Cyclical Reset purpose of generating fees and bonuses for the very rich. Arthur M. Schlesinger Sr. proposed that in the United That insatiable fee-seeking infects all financial markets. States, conservative/monied and radical/progressive parties More than half of all stock trades are now held for less than alternated in roughly 25- to 30-year cycles. The clock was 11 seconds. Time was that oil trading was the province of driven by the internal logic of elections. To win a national people who were in businesses that depended on oil, so if office, each party has to pull together its whole constituen - they bought future oil—which the markets allow you to cy, sensible and extremist alike. Over time, because extrem - do—it was because they needed to ensure future supplies. ists usually care the most, their influence grows and their Now almost all such trading is done by party becomes an absurd caricature of its bank or hedge fund trading desks solely ON THE WEB original ideas. And so the wheel turns. for speculation. They take much larger Ross Douthat talks about his The 2008 presidential election looked book Bad Faith . positions and can generate violent seesaws americamagazine.org/podcast like such a turn, especially since the fin - in market prices, which often work real gerprints of the plutocrats and their polit - economic hardships even as they generate ical lackeys were all over the economic huge trading profits. crash. Now that turn is in doubt, in part because the reces - New regulations in all the advanced countries are designed sion has been so severe that people are forgetting how it to stop such behavior. Yet bankers everywhere are furiously started. But if Obama squeaks back into office in 2012, a lobbying to stop them and will largely succeed. The good new cycle should take hold. news, however, is that the financial sector is starting to shrink Despite what one hears, the deficit should not cripple a and should continue to do so for the foreseeable future, new progressive agenda. Few people realize that federal taxes of regulations or not. Almost all of the sector’s revenue boom in all kinds, roughly 15 percent of G.D.P., are the lowest since the 2000s came from dangerous junk, like second-lien loans about 1950. Of the 30 largest industrial countries, the against homes with subprime first mortgages, that sane United States consistently ranks near the bottom in taxes, investors now avoid like the bird flu. Finance profits have fall - including all state and local taxes, as a share of G.D.P. en sharply, while bankers are mourning the bonuses of old Merely allowing the Bush tax cuts to expire on schedule and worrying about staying employed. would nearly balance the budget. A tad less enthusiasm for

14 America June 4-11, 2012 endless foreign wars would also help a lot. Taxes have little to do with national competitiveness. Germany’s taxes are 78-*9'%5)"':*;4-"-"/*9-"(-%*'"5 about 50 percent higher than ours relative to G.D.P., and 78-*<%--"*98')%*)"*9'(8$:)3*;=/(-&'()3*78-$:$.=* Germany is easily out-competing us. >%-/-"( The root of America’s serious competitiveness problem is the dismal educational preparedness of our young people, at least those without the good fortune to be born into upper- A New Cloud of Witnesses middle-class homes. Good jobs are available in business ser - The Laity 50 Years after Vatican II vices, like accounting and shipping, computer-related tech - nologies and health care. All of them require education, at least at the community college level. Such programs have been drastically cut back, not just since the crash, but for a couple of decades. They have been replaced by often fly-by- night “technical schools,” which saddle lower and middle- income kids with mountains of debt and do little to keep them in school. Some of the most financially successful and ethically shady of the profit-making schools are owned by—guess who—Goldman Sachs and its ilk.

Investment Strategy The progressive agenda is very long. Infrastructure spending to rebuild dilapidated highways, commuter trains and air - ports—and to rectify the shameful inadequacy of U.S. broadband networks—would be good job creators. Much of October 5-7, 2012 the spending could be financed with private-sector revenue !"#$%&'(("))%*$+,-(.+/0%1%*$+,-(.+/0%2-+3#/.4%5#+" bonds. We also need to do a much better job readying our young people for the demands of today’s job market. ‘’’‘”–—‹–›–‘”‡ƪ‡ –‘–Š‡ ŠƒŽŽ‡‰‡•ƒ† American students consistently rank behind our major ‘’’‘”–—‹–‹‡•ˆƒ ‹‰–Š‡Žƒ‹–›–‘†ƒ›Ǥ ‡ƒ–—”‹‰ǣ competitors in math and science, and the very best jobs are going to people with quantitative competence. ‘ŠŽŽ‡ǡ ”Ǥ None of this is easy, and it will not happen overnight. In the real world, no matter what happens in the fall election, Ǥ Ǥ‹‘‡ we are not going to let all the Bush tax cuts expire. ‘”‹•‘‡ŽŽ› Americans are so convinced they are overtaxed that a recov - ‹ Šƒ”† ƒ‹ŽŽƒ”†‡–œ ery in state and local educational provision will come slow - ly. We know that too much Medicare spending goes to high - †™ƒ”† ƒŠ‡„‡”‰ ly profitable treatments of dubious benefit, but that will be ‡””›‘„‹•‘ hard to fix. The wealthy, by definition, have ample resources ”‹ƒ‹ Šƒ to defend their privileges. Real change comes through per - sistent slogging, not by national epiphanies. 6'(3'(-/%7/-+$8-). The severity of the downturn, bumbling at the White 9'/')+-%:-(/-.%;-',-( House and scorched-earth Republican opposition clearly derailed the cyclical momentum. The administration’s major ”‡•‹†‹‰ƒ–— Šƒ”‹•–‹ ‹–—”‰›ǣ accomplishment, health care reform—which had eluded the ‘•–‡˜‡”‡† ‡‘”‰‡Ǥ—””›ǡǤ Ǥ country for almost 90 years—will be lost unless the presi - dent wins another term in office, even if it survives scrutiny !"#$%&'()$"*+*,-.)/(%'()$"*'(*00012341-546/4-"-"/ by a very right-wing phalanx of Supreme Court justices. But holding on to the White House now looks much more likely that it did just months ago. With a little luck, aided by the unattractiveness of the Republican hopefuls, we may real - ly be on the verge of a new and comparatively long-term cycle of true progressive, social justice-oriented politics. A

June 4-11, 2012 America 15 BOOKS &CULTURE

POETRY | JAMES S. TORRENS Jennifer Homan, by contrast, gives us a lift in “I Love the Spoons,” a cata - MORTAL MEASURES logue of their variety. Anne Harman surprises as much by her photographs This year’s Foley poetry contest as by the poem “Hummingbird,” which they accompany. Esthel Na, a “fresh - od’s plenty—that is how gunt. It certainly does amid these woman at Immaculate Heart High lovers of English literature poems, many of them by caregivers. In School,” in Los Angeles, prays that G have referred to “The “A Short Visit,” Kenneth Feltges “those who can’t fathom happiness,” at Canterbury Tales,” by Geoffrey records with gratitude the sudden clar - least “not yet,” will eventually do so. Her Chaucer. And that is the sense I have ity of an Alzheimer’s patient just before poem is called “Someday.” this year from the heavy flow of entries dying. The Rev. Joseph Oblinger of Poems arrived from overseas, as to the Foley poetry contest. Often one Bozeman, Mont., in his 65th year of usual—from Macau, Greece, India, would strike me with its Kenya, along with England poignancy or its sharp and Ireland. Arpad Fekete observation, and I would writes from Kiskunfelegy- put the poem aside, regret - haza in Hungary. From ting that I could not tell the Croatia Walter William writer in person, “Nice Sofar sends in a paean to going.” Often, too, my judg - the United States. At least ment would be: “This somewhere we are appreci - poem’s complete. It does its ated! The contest heard job—not a world-beater from 25 religious brothers perhaps, but admirable.” and priests, and a record 50 For meritorious phras - religious sisters, plus a half ing, consider the following. dozen prison inmates, An elderly sister (Lois always welcome. Houlihan, F.M.M.) says My fellow judges once back to the Lord, “This is again this year were my body given for you.” Brenda ministry, composes a poetic obituary William Rewak, S.J., chancellor of McLaughlin reminds us “a centurion’s for a parishioner. Patricia O’Neill Santa Clara University, and Professor spear cut between God’s ribs.” Hoying says to someone unidentified: Claudia MonPere McIsaac, also of Raymonde Motil observes ruefully, “Fare thee well/ on thy journey/ past Santa Clara University. “When I become queen of the world,/ the flesh./ All are bending that way/ Our winner this year is Gary J. I will have much work to do.” Conchita though not beckoned yet.” Boelhower, for his poem “Jacob’s Ryan Collins illustrates “the familiar Florence Bruce admits, “Growing Ladder,” printed here, for which we hush” of snowfall by the quietness up, I often wondered/ what my young warmly congratulate him. We also when straw was strewn on the streets mother’s reaction was/ when she dis - laud the runners-up: first of all, Susan around the house of the dying covered herself suddenly dead.” “I hear Bucci Mockler for “The Wedding Giuseppe Verdi. Dorothy LaMantia her screaming, ‘No! No! No!’/ still Suit”; then Elizabeh Claverie for says in “Desert Wisdom,” “Teach us, motivated by earth’s business.” “Waiting for the Father”; and finally S t

Gerald McCarthy for “Praise Song for R O Saguaro,” as you “sip water welled in Mortality touches me also in the recent E b o R secret.” William O’Leary says of mod - death of the Oregonian poet, Leonard My Father.” These fine poems will / k C o ern poetry, “So much well written,/ so John Cirino, a fruitful contributor to appear soon in America . t S R E few well read.” America . With his Pygmy Forest t t U h S

“Mortality touches the mind,” said Press, Cirino was an encourager, one of JAMES S. TORRENS, S.J., is poetry editor of : t R

Virgil long ago, Mentem mortalia tan - those heroes of modern poetry. America. A

16 America June 4-11, 2012 The editors of America are pleased to present the winner of the 2012 Foley Poetry Award, given in honor of William T. Foley, M.D.

JACOB’S LADDER

When you are on the ladder with a paint brush twenty feet of air between you and the ground do not swing in anger or fear at the yellow jackets.

If angels are ascending and descending the ladder of your spine let them stretch their strands of light into the small spaces between the discs of bone.

When you notice the way your heart can lean toward shadow pay attention to the story you keep telling yourself as if it were the truth.

If you are keeping track of the times you fold the laundry or take out the garbage you are not an angel ascending or descending.

When you curse the baby bunny eating lettuce from the garden it is time to notice and listen how the angels sing of mercy and bread.

If the spider is crawling up your sleeve use your opposable thumb and consider the vow of the bodhisattva and the levels of humility.

When you forget to roll up the car window before the rain storm think of each silver drop as an angel descending with blessed reminders.

GARY J. BOELHOWER

GARY BOELHOWER is professor of theology and religious studies at The College of St. Scholastica in Duluth, Minn. His most recent collection of poems, Marrow, Muscle, Flight , was published by Wildwood River Press in 2011.

June 4-11, 2012 America 17 IDEAS | TERRANCE W. KLEIN Several individuals can claim credit for the creation of Superman. Frederick THE MESSIAH FROM KRYPTON Nietzsche first used the term in 1883, when he wrote, in German of course, Superman’s place in U.S. culture “Man is a rope, fastened between ani - Superman turns 74 this month, so it’s delighted daydreaming passed before mal and Superman, a rope over an not a bad time to assess the place of the that memorable Christmas Eve when I abyss.” DC (Detective Comics) had Man of Steel in our collective con - tore open the package, ran to the bed - recently changed its name from sciousness. My own affection for him room my brother and I shared to put it National Comics, when one of its con - stems from the 1952 television tributors in Cleveland, Jerry series “Adventures of Superman,” Siegel, a young man fascinated by starring George Reeves, which I science fiction, convinced an artist watched as after-school reruns friend, Joe Shuster, to draw the even before I went to school. Man of Steel. His first incarna - In my mind the hero is inextri - tion appeared in a 1933 prose cably linked to the Sears Wish story with illustrations, “The Book. That aptly named digest of Reign of the Superman.” dreams arrived every October, allowing plenty of time before The Hope Christmas to peruse its promised It is no coincidence that delights. Therein my 5-year-old Superman, and the Messianic self saw, and immediately had to hope that he instilled, appeared have, the Superman costume that when America needed him most, is still being marketed. in the midst of the Great Why did I have to have it? Was Depression, with war looming it simply that I had grown tired of abroad. Superman would go on to running around the neighbor - become a great battler of Nazis. hood with my friends, each of us Both Siegel and Shuster were with a towel tied around his neck? children of Jewish immigrants, as Not at all. It involves an early the - were many DC editors. ological error on my part. If Superman can be seen as a messianic figure, his claim to that The Power title, from a Jewish perspective, is I knew that Superman’s cape stronger than that of Jesus. Jesus made the wearer impervious to was executed, but Superman tri - bullets because, like the rest of his umphs as the mighty one who costume, it had been sewn by Ma Kent on and announced that I had to go out - fights constantly for a reign of peace from the swaddling clothes in which the side. My parents vetoed that; it was and justice, and “the American way.” He baby Kal-el had arrived, packed in the cold. I didn’t explain that I planned to is, after all, an American Messiah. And space-capsule sent from the planet jump off our roof because I wanted to his origins are replete with Mosaic Krypton. The costume offered invul - see for myself the cape’s abilities before pedigree. Like Moses, Superman was nerability to whoever would wear it. displaying such marvelous power in sent off alone by his mother to save him My error lay in thinking that the front of the entire family. Several leaps from destruction. Moses sailed away cape allowed one to fly. Anyone with a into the air on my own had not yet pro - through the bulrushes in a basket, t

rudimentary grasp of Superman knows duced the desired effect. I had to settle Superman in a rocket from the doomed N E m N that his flying ability comes, like his for jumping repeatedly off my bed, planet Krypton. i A t R other superpowers, from his being in wondering if Sears had sent a defective I am embarrassed to admit that, in E t N E

the lighter gravitational field of Earth’s costume. praying and pondering my way into the C d

f o yellow sun. He was born under the I had put such hope in Superman. priesthood, I associated that vocation y S E much heavier red sun of Krypton. But then, our visitor had come from with superhero Messianism—as when t R U o

Silly me! I thought: Get the cos - Krypton for that very reason, to instill Superman rises above earthly passions, C

: t R tume, get the powers. Several months of hope. even his love for Lois Lane. A

18 America June 4-11, 2012 A theologian would want to point or was murdered. Messianism is a mill - horse, but he went on to show the out that Superman’s Christological stone. world what grace in the face of suffering aspect comes from the dramatic tension The late Christopher Reeve, who can accomplish. His was a fall, not from created by his ability to suffer on our Krypton to Earth, but from the heights behalf. He is vulnerable to Kryptonite, of Hollywood into our own suffering pieces of his doomed planet that made humanity. their way to earth. Did we follow his wheelchair-bound Yet we tend to see only the human odyssey with the devotion that we lav - persona that Superman assumes in ish on the Man of Steel? No. A man of Clark Kent. Even as a child I never suffering garners no glow. And there is understood how simply putting on the Christological rub. In our hearts, we glasses made it impossible for Lois Lane remain Lois Lanes, blind to the love and Jimmy Olsen to recognize revealed in our midst. Superman. Yet our own inability to dis - Childhood disappointments usually cern Christ among us is shown with dissipate quickly. The disappointment I poignancy by this analogy: Lois Lane felt over my inability to fly vanished falls for the Man of Steel even as she when I wore the Superman costume to continues to rebuff the “mild man - kindergarten and became the envy of nered” Clark Kent. We are all Lois every boy there. Mrs. Baughman even Lanes when it comes to Christ. We suggested that we put on a Superman want the hero; we eschew the humility play, since we already had the costume. and the humanity. You can guess who got to play the Man Our attraction to superheroes has of Steel. It was, after all, my Wish Book The first appearance of Superman. other manifestations. Posters of Barack costume. Obama dressed as Superman appeared portrayed Superman in three block - during the 2008 presidential campaign. buster movies during the 1970s and REV. TERRANCE W. KLEIN is chair of the Caroline Kennedy explained her ’80s, offers a better incarnation of the department of theology at St. Bonaventure University in Olean, N.Y., and author of endorsement of the president by saying, Man of Steel. Reeve became a Vanity Faith: Searching for Spirituality “Over the years, I’ve been deeply moved quadriplegic after a tragic fall from a Among the Stars. by the people who’ve told me they wished they could feel inspired and hopeful about America the way people BOOKS | PETER REICHARD did when my father was president. This sense is even more profound today.” LOOKING LEFT Has President Obama disappointed more than the left wing of the THE CAUSE American history. So who better to Democratic Party? Or is disappoint - The Fight for American acquit liberalism while pulling ment a predictable human response to Liberalism from Franklin together a history of its development any messiah? We seem to repudiate Roosevelt to Barack Obama since Frankilin D. Roosevelt? anyone who does not immediately By Eric Alterman and Kevin Mattson At times, however, The Cause usher in the kingdom on our terms. Viking. 576p $33 reads more like an indictment than a Perhaps that's a subtle danger of any defense. Co-authored with Ohio Superman/messiah figure, that being of Eric Alterman often ends up the rea - University historian Kevin Mattson, nondivine origin, he can turn into a sonable man in the room. He wears The Cause is a tragic chronicle of mis - deluded warrior who simply smashes the label “liberal” in full view, but he step after misstep. whatever he mistakenly and arrogantly brings integrity to his positions and Though the authors frequently judges to be evil and recklessly champi - confronts his opponents with intel - draw a line between “liberalism” and ons whatever he thinks is “truth, justice, lectual honesty. One of the nation’s “the left,” they never define it. In fact, and the American way.” foremost media critics and a trained the snide left is as often to blame for It is still a question whether George historian, he has insightfully diag - liberalism’s failures as the anti-intel - Reeves, the actor whom I first associat - nosed a chief malaise of contempo - lectual right. ed with Superman, committed suicide rary journalism: its ignorance of The story begins with the triumph

June 4-11, 2012 America 19

of liberalism in the Roosevelt era. But in an attempt to show that he was stood apart. Though the authors give rather less not soft on reds, Johnson also It is to the post-civil-rights period ink to Roosevelt and the New Deal brought on the Vietnam War. He did that Alterman and Mattson bring than one might hope for, they do catastrophic damage to his party, to their sharpest criticisms, for it is dur - establish how radical a shift the liberalism and to the United States. ing this period that liberalism traded 1930s represented. After the New Following Robert F. Kennedy’s in an emphasis on improving the lot Deal, the frame of national debate of the working and middle classes for moved decidedly leftward. The com - identity politics. It traded in muscular paratively laissez-faire approach to investments in society for a pitying, government that preceded it was no victim-oriented world view. And it longer in contention. Favoring a lost many Americans in the process. return to a pre-F.D.R. America Liberals are still reaping that har - became more or less a fringe position. vest. In a particularly devastating pas - The burst of change wrought in sage, the authors take New York’s the early years of the New Deal Gov. Andrew Cuomo to task: “In the would wind down in the 1940s, and same legislative session that legalized attention would shift from social wel - gay marriage Cuomo engineered a cap fare priorities to civil rights. At this on annual increases in the amount of point, but not for the last time, a pres - property taxes collected by local ident would advocate for, and then school districts.... [M]ost energetical - abandon, universal health care. ly, Cuomo fought to ensure the It is also at this point that liberal - demise of New York State’s million - ism would become identified with aire tax at the moment when its pro - un-American attitudes. The naïve ceeds might have been able to prevent embrace of Stalin by some on the left the kinds of cuts being enforced. crashed headlong into McCarthyism. These were the priorities of a man Unfortunately for Democrats, who occupied the office once held not Eisenhower turned out to be a assassination, Democrats put forward only by his father but also by Franklin Republican, and liberals cemented a a series of disastrous presidential can - D. Roosevelt before him.” reputation for elitism by making the didates, and even a disastrous presi - Today, liberalism is “primarily a brilliant-but-remote Adlai Stevenson dent. The names Hubert Humphrey, movement designed to increase social their man. George McGovern, Jimmy Carter, and cultural freedoms for those who In 1960 a new hope was born. John Walter Mondale and Michael [can] afford to enjoy them.” The advan - F. Kennedy brought virility to liberal - Dukakis (and, still later, Al Gore and tage of this brand of liberalism is that it ism. After his assassination, the man - John Kerry), have become associated does not ruffle the feathers of the rich tle fell to the bulldog Johnson, who with elitism, woodenness, impotence, financiers of political campaigns. rapidly whipped up a cocktail of doe-eyed dovishness or some combi - Not every page in The Cause will social welfare and civil rights reforms. nation thereof. Only Bill Clinton break the hearts of old-line liberals. The occasional policy triumph is recounted. We learn about the depth TO SUBSCRIBE OR RENEW EB0909

9 and breadth of intellectual contribu - K New subscription K Renewal 9 5

1 tions from luminaries like Reinhold 9 g Yearly rates are $56 for each subscription. Add $30 for postage, handling and GST on Canadian orders. - r 9 o . Add $54 for foreign subscriptions. Payment in U.S. funds only. 2

e Niebuhr, Arthur Schlesinger and 4 n 5 3 i z 4 K K 3

Payment enclosed Bill me a 5 Richard Rorty. And the volume is filled H a g 9 c - a O i

r 7 ,

On occasion America gives permission to other organizations to use our list for promotional purposes. If m e 2 g

a with punchy mini-biographies of the 6 n c m - you do not want to receive these promotions, contact our List Manager at our New York offices. i i r r A 0

e e : 0 t stars of liberal activism and politics. o t 8 For change of address and renewal: Please attach the mailing label from the front cover when writing about m t - e

a l . 1 i K

service or change of address. Allow 3 to 4 weeks for change of address to take effect. Thank you l a , w l Yet one is left with the distinct 9 a M w c 5

w 0 Name: r

t o 3 impression that the liberal policy edi - i s 9 i 2 v

Address: r x fice built under Roosevelt, Truman o o B

City: State: ZIP: .

O and Johnson may be nearing the end . E-mail: P of a long siege. President Obama, the authors suggest, is another liberal

22 America June 4-11, 2012 TheThe NNeNewew YoYYorkorrkk TTiTimesimes BBestsellerestseller NowNow inin PPaperbackaperback!

WithWWiith a NNewew RReader’seader’s GGuide—uide— PPerfecterfect fforor thethe CClassroomlassroom aandnd RReadingeading GGroupsroups

“A“A rremarkableemarkable aachievement.”chievement.” —The——TThe TabletTTaablet ((London)London) “A“A rread-alongead-along sspiritualpiritual ddirector.”irector.” —USA—UUSSSAA TToTodayodaayy “An““AAn eexcellentxcellent iintroductionntroduction ttoo JesuitJesuit sspiritualitypirituality fforor a ggeneraleneral rreader.”eader.” ——CommonwealCommonweal

AALSOLSO AVAILABLEAVAILABLE | Between HHeeaven and MMiirth — the AAuudiobook

“Between HHeeaven and MMiirth will make annyy reader smile.” Timothhyy Cardinal Dolan, Archbishop of New YYoork READ BY THE AUTHOR

Available for download from iTunes, Audible.com, BarnesandNoble.com, and eMusic.com

June 4-11, 2012 America 23 2 H [email protected] showing up to a gunfight armed with a case, but in modern conservatism’s a library book. He is carrying on the own off-putting and self-defeating irksome liberal habit of overpromis - tendencies. ing and underperforming. So liberal - ism’s best hope at the moment may lie PETER REICHARD is a writer and public poli - not in its proponents’ ability to make cy researcher who lives in New Orleans.

GEORGE V. COYNE THE OPEN SOURCE UNIVERSE

SCIENCE AND RELIGION concept of the human soul in terms of IN QUEST OF TRUTH modern ideas on information-bearing By John Polkinghorne patterns he states: “We are playing Yale University Press. 143p $26 with the toys of thought, but it is play with serious intention.” In the search for truth and under - The overarching epistemology of standing in today’s world there is this book, as of all his writings on arguably no more important interac - these matters, is to pursue theology in tion than that between the natural sci - the context of science. Thus the “bot - ences and religious belief. From tom-up” approach—from empirical academe to journalism, from Beijing to evidence to understanding—which is Boston the interplay between these the hallmark of the sciences is also for two prominent areas of modern cul - Polkinghorne an essential, if not exclu - ture rings out with a sive, characteristic of clarion call to either theology. On the other dialogue or warfare. hand, the scientific ven - There are very few, to ture requires a faith— my mind, who have only analogous to reli - spoken out with as gious faith—that there nuanced and balanced is a rational structure to an approach to this the universe that science interaction as John explores. Both science Polkinghorne, a physi - and religion are seeking cist, Anglican priest truth through the attain - and firm proponent of ment of well-motivated the ultimate unity of beliefs. In both searches all the best of our expe - the seeker after truth riences as human proceeds by reasonable, beings. motivated faith and not In this book Polkinghorne has by certain insight. gathered together his thinking over Although Polkinghorne admits several decades. He reflects once more that the ultimate interpretation of on topics, presented especially in 15 of quantum mechanical uncertainty can - his books, which cover a vast range of not be resolved by physics alone, he areas in which he sees the most mean - offers convincing arguments that in ingful threads weaving together a mul - the quantum world there is an intrin - ticolored fabric of religious faith and sic, ontological uncertainty and that scientific knowledge. His approach is even at the macroscopic level, this both serious and playful. When characterizes a world that has an open exploring, for instance, the classical and not totally predetermined future.

24 America June 4-11, 2012 This intrinsic openness of reality is personality, etc. But the author tance from theology.” This book is an further reinforced by the examination reminds us time and time again that elegant and persuasive argument that of so-called “chaotic” macroscopic sys - “such hints of God will not arise from accepting the hints can be a deeply tems, in which the initial conditions of mistaken attempts to provide theolog - rewarding human, perhaps even spiri - certain dynamical systems are suffi - ical answers to scientific questions, for tual, experience. ciently undetermined that the future we have very good reason to believe history of the system cannot be fully that scientifically stateable questions GEORGE V. COYNE, S.J. , former director of the Vatican Observatory, is the McDevitt calculated. In brief, the universe as will receive scientifically stateable Professor of Religious Philosophy at Le Moyne known from physics has an intrinsic, answers without the need for assis - College, Syracuse, N.Y. dynamic, open character to it, and thus it is creative. In brief, the universe as a totality is relational and evolutionary. CLAUDIO M. BURGALETA While in the tradition of Darwin many would reserve the notion of evo - AMERICA’S NEW FACE lution to living systems, Polkinghorne presents cogent arguments for predicat - LATINO CATHOLICISM try’s population. ing evolution of the universe as a whole. Transformation in America’s Latino Catholicism: Transformation From quantum to macroscopic process - Largest Church in America’s Largest Church , by es, the universe continues to evolve and By Timothy Matovina Timothy Matovina, a professor of the - not simply to complete a predetermined Princeton University Press. 328p $29.95 ology at the University of Notre Dame design. While Darwinian natural selec - and director of the Cushwa Center for tion can only be properly predicated of The “browning of America” or the the Study of American Catholicism, living systems, it is not, according to increase of the population of contributes to the many studies of the Polkinghorne, of the essence of evolu - Americans of non-European ancestry, so-called “browning” of the United tion as such. Is it not proper to see evo - especially from Mexico and other parts States by focusing on the impact that lution at work in the birth of galaxies of Latin America, and Latinos are having on and stars, where chance and necessity the social metamor - the United States’ are at work? The science of cosmology phoses that accompa - largest religious has shown that small, random fluctua - nies it, first came to the denomination. tions in the primeval energy/matter of attention of the public Though not Latino the universe provided the seeds from at large in a Time maga - himself, Matovina has which gravity—a law of nature— zine cover story on written extensively, brought about the birth of galaxies and April 9, 1990. In the sympathetically and stars. This came about not by pure past decades Latinos or insightfully on chance nor by pure design but by a Hispanics have sur - Mexican-American blending of random processes inter - passed African- religious experience and twined with the lawful structure of the Americans to become history, especially in universe. This is evolution on a grand the largest minority San Antonio, Tex., and scale. group in the United in particular associated This is but one of the many States. According to the with the devotion to instances in which Polkinghorne now U.S. Census Bureau, the Latino pop - Our Lady of Guadalupe. His latest invites us to consider that the rational ulation is just over 50 million, or 16.3 endeavor casts the net wider and skill - structure of the world as seen by sci - percent of the total population in fully examines the role not only of ence is “shot through with signs of March 2012. And some demogra - Mexican-Americans but of other mind, and religious belief suggests that phers, including those at the Pew Latino groups in the United States, it is indeed the mind of the Creator Research Center, predict that the rela - and how U.S. society, the Catholic that lies behind the wonderful order of tive youthfulness of the Hispanic pop - Church and the various Latino peo - the universe.” Other similar invitations ulation in the United States and its ples of the United States are interact - are offered by Polkinghorne’s discus - comparatively high birth rate will ing to reciprocally transform each sion of quantum mechanics and quan - probably ensure that by the year 2050 other. tum cosmology, information theory, people of Hispanic ancestry will con - His methodology is interdisci - the nature of time, consciousness and stitute close to 30 percent of the coun - plinary, and depending on the chapter,

June 4-11, 2012 America 25 Matovina brings the perspective of a approach makes this volume unique pattern of other Catholic immigrants historian, sociologist, political scientist among studies of Latino Catholics in to these shores and assimilate into the and pastoral theologian or a combina - the United States and goes beyond U.S. mainstream? How quickly will tion of these. This use of various them in that others have been more they adopt English as their primary hermeneutics is an effective way to historical or theological in nature. language and embrace American cus - plumb the vibrant and multidimen - Examples include David Badillo’s toms and cease to be distinctively sional experience that is Latino Latinos and the New Immigrant Church Latinos, other than by their surnames? Catholicism, made up of various gen - (2006) and Hispanic Ministry in the The short answer to the question is erations and populated by people from 21st Century: Present and Future that no one knows for sure. Matovina’s more than 20 Latin American coun - (2010), edited by Hosffman Ospino. treatment of the issue is characteristic tries, some recently arrived, others Matovina’s book begins with a of the irenic and insightful approach of who have lived here for decades and chapter on Hispanics in U.S. Catholic this book. He notes that according to many who were born here. history and in eight other chapters the 2010 U.S. Census, nearly 70 per - About the only perspective on considers integration, pastoral min - cent of Latinos are U.S. born. And a Latino religious experience that is istry among Latinos, Hispanic parish - 2003 study of high school-age Latinos missing is a more literary one that es and apostolic movements, leader - showed that 15 percent speak primar - would present it through the lenses of ship in the Latino Catholic communi - ily Spanish, 60 percent are bilingual, contemporary writers who have ty, worship and spirituality, Latino and 25 percent speak English with lit - chronicled it in their fiction and non - Catholicism in the public square and tle or no Spanish spoken. These fig - fiction works, for example Julia faith formation practices and chal - ures augur for a future similar to that Alvarez, Gloria Anzaldúa, Ana lenges in the Latino Catholic commu - of other Catholic ethnic groups (espe - Castillo, Oscar Hijuelos, Nicholasa nity. cially Italian-Americans), in terms of Mohr, Pat Mora, Judith Ortíz Cofer, Latino Catholicism is characterized assimilation to the English language Richard Rodríguez, Esmeralda by issues similar to those one finds in and U.S. culture. Santiago and Pirri Thomas, to name a mainstream U.S. Catholicism—for Yet Matovina offers a caution: few. Regardless, Matovina’s eclectic example, declining religious practices “Collectively Latinos neither rapidly and increasing religious illiteracy assimilate nor indefinitely retain among Catholics across the board, but Spanish language and their allegiance especially among younger generations. to Hispanic cultural ways... The ongo - However, it is a qualitatively different ing accommodation to U.S. church way of living out the same creed that and society among Latinos has tran - all U.S. Catholics embrace. Among the spired concurrently with the arrival of differences that Matovina describes other Hispanic newcomers since at very well are Hispanic ministry efforts least the first decades of the twentieth that marry the preservation of Latino century.” Matovina convincingly argues cultural traditions with pastoral min - that this pattern suggests a future for istry. He also includes church-spon - the Hispanic presence in U.S.

OUR FUTURE DEPENDS ON YOU! sored community organizing efforts Catholicism that comingles both for the poor; advocacy and organizing assimilation and cultural retention, around immigration reform; culturally which “will persist much longer than it appropriate and sensitivity training did for European immigrant groups.” PLEASE programs for seminarians and lay And this cautious but realistic predic - ecclesial ministers; lobbying for more tion, it seems to me, could not be a bet - REMEMBER Latino bishops; and non-parish-based ter endorsement for a book that so AMERICA spiritualities, often domestic, that are clearly and thoroughly describes what more Marian, charismatic and linked will be the majority face of IN YOUR WILL to apostolic movements like Cursillo Catholicism in the United States for than is the norm among most U.S. decades to come. Catholics. Perhaps the most often asked ques - CLAUDIO M. BURGALETA, S.J. , is an associ - OUR LEGAL TITLE IS: ate professor in the Graduate School of AMERICA PRESS INC., tion about Latino Catholicism’s future Religion and Religious Education at Fordham 106 WEST 56th STREET, NEW YORK, NY 10019 is how quickly will Latinos follow the University, New York City.

26 America June 4-11, 2012 LETTERS organize it rapidly and write it down anyone cares to admit, but there are coherently, you failed. You would have some steps that might improve the to be a complete fool to imagine that education and formation of priests in Core Corruption you could get a degree in such a system the United States and elsewhere. Thanks to Raymond A. Schroth, S.J., by plagiarism. Could “sudden-death” One welcome step would be to close for “The Plagiarism Plague” (5/14), a make a comeback? the undergraduate divisions of diocesan timely article on an important matter. CHRIS CHATTERIS, S.J. seminaries everywhere. Accept men for As a college teacher, I have encountered Cape Town, South Africa formation who are college graduates a fair bit of plagiarism and have always from places like Jesuit institutions and sought to expose it and address it with Sign of Change insist on training their minds in one students to get them to take it serious - Re “Take a Deep Breath,” by Thomas other discipline beyond theology or ly. Thankfully, I’ve always been backed Massaro, S.J. (5/14): When the counseling. We need priests who are up by department chairs and adminis - Vatican II changes started, I thought products of the real world, not the per - tration officials. some were trivial and even annoying. I fumed parlors of funeral homes and Why is plagiarism such a problem? thought the sign of peace was silly. rectories. I cherish my Jesuit education Social institutions, like living organ - Then one day, I had a day off from work for many reasons, including the options isms, rot from the inside out. When and went to Mass with my daughter’s it has offered. I sometimes think the the core goes bad, the corruption class. I sat well back in the church, with current scandal arose from despairing spreads to the rest of the social body. no one near me. As the time for the sign men, brain-bored and poorly formed That’s why the sins of the priests and of peace approached, I suddenly real - for the joys and rigors and terrors of life elders required a greater sacrifice for ized I had no one to exchange it with. I facing the rest of us. In Philadelphia, atonement than the sins of the ordi - immediately moved farther up the the laity is better educated than the nary people (Leviticus): official sin church near the other parents. clergy from St. Charles Borromeo corrupts the faith community. The At that point I realized the silly sign Seminary, and it shows. corrupted behavior of religious, politi - of peace had become important to me. VINCENT GAITLEY cal, educational, business and profes - Now I go to a church in Toledo at St. Exton, Pa. sional leaders is followed by increasing Martin De Porres, where the sign of corrupted behavior of those partici - peace is enthusiastically shared among CLASSIFIED pating in the institutions they head. the congregation, including hugs from DARRIN W. SNYDER BELOUSEK many of the members. The changes Retreats Lima, Ohio BETHANY RETREAT HOUSE, East Chicago, really did mean something. Ind., offers private and individually directed silent BOB KLAHN retreats, including dreamwork and Ignatian 30 Will Ethics Be on the Final? Toledo, Ohio days, year-round in a prayerful home setting. There is something to be said for the Contact Joyce Diltz, P.H.J.C.; Ph: (219) 398- “sudden-death” exam system that I Education and Mourning 5047; [email protected]; bethanyre went through back in the 1970s. We Re the assessment of Jesuit universities treathouse.org. had no continuous assessment at all. by John P. Schlegel, S.J. (Of Many Wills We wrote essays and were awarded Things, 5/14): I am a proud product Please remember America in your will. Our legal title marks, but these were considered just of a Jesuit education and prouder still is: America Press Inc., 106 West 56th Street, New feedback from the teacher. For the that my son followed his parents to York, NY 10019. Saint Joseph’s University in degree everything depended on the America classified. Classified advertisements are accept - final exams at the end of the three years. Philadelphia. Yet I am in mourning for ed for publication in either the print version of America If you didn’t actually learn some - the church I knew and the faith that or on our Web site, www.americamagazine.org. Ten- thing and engage thoughtfully with it, formed me. The scandals rocking the word minimum. Rates are per word per issue. 1-5 times: $1.50; 6-11 times: $1.28; 12-23 times: $1.23; 24-41 and if you didn’t develop the ability to church have done more damage than times: $1.17; 42 times or more: $1.12. For an addition - al $30, your print ad will be posted on America ’s Web To send a letter to the editor we recommend using the link that appears below articles on site for one week. The flat rate for a Web-only classified ’s Web site, www.americamagazine.org. This allows us to consider your letter for publi - America ad is $150 for 30 days. Ads may be submitted by e-mail cation in both print and online versions of the magazine. Letters may also be sent to America ’s editorial office (address on page 2) or by e-mail to: [email protected]. to: [email protected]; by fax to (928) 222- 2107; by postal mail to: Classified Department, America , 106 West 56th St., New York, NY 10019. America (ISSN 0002-7049) is published weekly (except for 14 combined issues: Jan. 2–9, 16–23, Jan. 30–Feb. 6, April 16-23, June 4–11, To post a classified ad online, go to our home page and 18–25, July 2–9, 16–23, July 30–Aug. 6, Aug. 13–20, Aug. 27–Sept. 3, Sept. 10–17, Nov. 26–Dec. 3, Dec. 24–31) by America Press, Inc., 106 West 56th Street, New York, NY 10019. Periodical postage is paid at New York, N.Y., and additional mailing offices. Business Manager: click on “Advertising” at the top of the page. We do not Lisa Pope. Circulation: (800) 627–9533. Subscriptions: United States, $56 per year; add U.S. $30 postage and GST (#131870719) for Canada; or add U.S. $56 per year for international priority airmail. Postmaster: Send address changes to: America, P.O. Box 293159, accept ad copy over the phone. MasterCard and Visa Kettering, OH 45429. accepted. For more information call: (212) 515-0102.

June 4-11, 2012 America 27 Eight-Hour Mirage to provide human dignity and family ing, divine adoration etc. It can and does Concerning “Requiem for the 8-Hour security to those excluded from a civi - made a difference. Day?” (Current Comment, 5/7): Only lized work force. STAN SCHARDON New Braunfels, Tex. when a society is committed to good FRANCIS X. GINDHART Bluffton, S.C. working conditions and wages suffi - Where Are They Now? cient to support family life can we begin Re “Why They Left”: I wish to see some to revive the eight-hour day with a wage Making a Difference information about the “brain drain” in structure based on it. Today, the vast Re “Why They Left,” by William J. the church. Having worked as a chap - amount of unpaid labor beyond the Byron, S.J., and Charles Zech (4/30): lain at our local state university, I real - eight-hour window is staggering, leav - I certainly can identify with many of ized that I would see only a tiny fraction ing the actual hourly wage a mirage. the respondents. I was one of them for of the “best” of our Catholic college And when it requires multiple wage too many years. I rationalized all sorts graduates. They were and are faithful to earners with multiple jobs to amass of reasons to avoid my responsibility the church. I’ve witnessed their mar - what is needed to support a family, it is to be a Christian. Only later in my life riages and baptized their children. But clear that something is very wrong. did I soften my heart and finally see they were fewer than 10 percent of the One answer is to have wages reflect that if the church is going to change total graduates in any of the classes I not just the labor market but the pro - for the better, it had to start with me. saw during the 1970s and 80s. They are ductivity returns that labor now rarely As they say, if you’re looking for a per - now the young professionals who are sees. It is these productivity gains that fect church, as soon as you join it, it making a major contribution to our have produced the immense income will no longer be perfect. economy and our society, but only a few gap that is rapidly diminishing the Look for the good. Do not dwell on contribute to the local parishes. Where middle class and leaving the bottom the n egatives. Be an active, productive are the young professionals now? What underpaid, unemployed or underem - participant. Don’t expect others to meet is the church doing to “feed” them and ployed. When productivity gains your every need. There are plenty of utilize their talents? belong only to capital and manage - saints to model your life after. Make a JOHN E. ANDERSON ment, society must use its taxing power habit of investing time in spiritual read - Las Cruces, N.M.

28 America June 4-11, 2012 THE WORD

spiritual. These levels penetrate each other utterly. This way of framing Lifegiving Bread things helps me understand why mira - MOST HOLY BODY AND BLOOD OF CHRIST (B), JUNE 10, 2012 cles need not violate nature, since they are governed by the spiritual aspect of Readings: Ex 24:3-8; Ps 116:12-18; Heb 9:11-15; Mk 14:12-16 nature, which cannot be explained by For this reason he is mediator of a new covenant (Heb 9:15) physical laws. Imagining the universe as a temple and heaven as the Holy of first met Mr. Smith while bring - Testament understanding of sanctuary Holies is spiritually rich. It helps me ing Communion to bedridden res - ritual, the author aligns that priestly see how holy the universe really is. Iidents of a local nursing home. activity to Christ, the high priest of the Would that in every decision we make Like some other residents, he had an new, perfected covenant. The about the created advanced case of dementia. As I short version of the reading world, we could be knocked on his door and half entered, begins, “When Christ cognizant of its holy I introduced myself, letting him know came as high priest of wondrousness. I I was from the parish. He responded, the good things that would treat people dif - “#&%* off!” As I was backing out of have come to be, passing ferently if I recognized that the room, he asked, “Well, what did through the more we all live under the same you want?” “I came to bring perfect tabernacle...he sacred canopy. Communion,” I said. “Oh,” he replied, entered once for all into Most of all, this image helps “that’s different. Come on in.” He the sanctuary.” Later, me to understand how Christ has became instantly devout. After we he will identify this united heaven and earth. Heaven is not prayed the Lord’s Prayer together, I sanctuary as heaven gave him Communion, which he took itself. PRAYING WITH SCRIPTURE with great reverence. He then slowly Here we are not asked to imag - • Consider Mass as entering the Holy of blessed himself. It was beautiful. Then ine that heaven is a spiritualized Holies. he said, “Now #&%* off!” temple. Rather, we are invited to E

• How is the Eucharist reflected in your N

This experience has been a continu - consider the universe as a temple, N U d

life? al inspiration for me. It was obvious to with heaven representing the Holy d A t

: t

me that Mr. Smith was not just going of Holies, where the Ark of the R through the motions of a past habit of Covenant once resided. The physi - A piety. He was very much present and cal temple’s Holy of Holies was so engaged in the holiness of taking sacred that the high priest entered it earth and earth is assuredly no heaven, Communion. I dare say he was more only on the Day of Atonement (Yom but in Christ they are now intrinsically lucid then than at any other time of the Kippur). He had a rope tied to him, related; they are part of the same tem - day. Even though Mr. Smith’s mind was just in case he encountered God ple. In Christ there is nothing profane deeply compromised by his brain dis - directly and died. In that case the that is not also holy, nothing temporal ease, receiving Communion drew him other priests could drag him out with - that is not also eternal. to the holy presence of God and out having to enter themselves. I think Mr. Smith intuitively knew engaged his own spiritual dignity. Hebrews assures us that this sacred this. From the depths of the human Today’s second reading from the space was merely a physical copy of condition, the eternal announced Letter to the Hebrews is a complex lay - the real sanctuary in heaven, where itself. And in taking Communion he ering of symbols that have everything one is guaranteed a direct encounter entered the Holy of Holies with to do with engaging the holiness of with God. By his sacrifice Christ pen - Christ. He took viaticum the day God. Having recalled the Old etrated this heavenly sanctuary. “For before he died. So with angels to carry this reason he is the mediator of the him into paradise, he also had with new covenant.” him the Bread of Life, food for the PETER FELDMEIER is the Murray/Bacik Professor of Catholic Studies at the University In my mind, the created universe journey—a journey that carries its glo - of Toledo. exists on two levels: a physical and a rious fulfillment with it.

June 4-11, 2012 America 29 THE WORD Our Providential God ELEVENTH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME (B), JUNE 17, 2012 Readings: Ez 17:22-24; Ps 92:2-16; 2 Cor 5:6-10; Mk 4:26-34 We walk by faith and not by sight (2 Cor 5:7)

any people believe that Earlier in 2 Corinthians Paul writes, works. Sometimes I craft what I con - everything happens for a “All of us, gazing with unveiled face on sider a perfect lecture and get a “ho- Mreason. I think this senti - the glory of the Lord, are being trans - hum” response from my students. At ment is related to a fundamental trust formed into the same image from glory other times, a side comment of mine that God is in control and that human to glory” (3:18). Experiencing a fore - produces a revelation for a student, lives are neither random nor meaning - taste of God’s glory not only supports who will write me years later and less. Sometimes we draw on this belief our faith but shows us a glimpse of the thank me for “that insight that as we try to make sense of a tragedy. I glory to which God is guiding us. changed my life.” This does not mean, certainly hope that none of us views Paul ends today’s passage with the of course, that I have a license to be his or her life as utterly ungrounded or exhortation to “aspire to please him,” slack in my preparation, as if that untethered from God’s care. But actu - reminding us of the sobering fact that didn’t matter. But it does mean that I ally believing that God is pulling every “we must all appear before the judg - am not in control of the kingdom. string or that everything that happens ment seat of Christ.” I see here the None of us are. We should always is ultimately good is fraught with insight that in order for us to live “aspire to please him,” and this means enormous difficulties. What about wholeheartedly in harmony with human freedom? Does not sin mean God’s providential care, we ought to PRAYING WITH SCRIPTURE that I have chosen against God’s will, strive to follow God’s will. It reminds that I have opted for chaos and not me of something the late renowned • Ask God to reveal your bliss. divine order? Such a dictum can also mythologist Joseph Campbell often lead us to seek reasons for incidents taught: When you are following • Are you putting impediments in your that have no reason, especially your bliss, then invisible hands will path? tragedies or horrifying moral evil. guide you along the right path. By • Where have God’s invisible hands Having said this, we can still take “bliss” he was not referring to some helped? divine providence seriously. That is, we emotional or spiritual high. Rather, ought to believe that God is in fact he was talking about realizing one’s guiding our lives, the church and deepest truth, which is the same as being intentional and responsible. indeed the world toward his purposes. God’s truth implanted in us. Beyond that, we scatter seeds and can Consider it “big picture” providence. In today’s Gospel reading, Jesus only be surprised by how things come But big-picture providence does not offers two comparisons about planting to fruition. mean that God is not intimately part and fruition. In the first, he compares We can also nurture hope that of our lives here and now. The twofold our experience of the kingdom of God small beginnings can have amazing confidence that God is with us here as to the experience of a farmer who scat - outcomes. Jesus’ ministry must have well as broadly drawing all things to ters seeds and later, without under - looked like a disaster to an outsider. his ends are what today’s Scriptures standing how it happened, finds the He converted very few who heard him, witness to. seeds grown to produce a harvest. In and even his disciples remained rela - Paul tells the Corinthians in today’s the second, he compares the kingdom tively clueless throughout his ministry. reading, “We walk by faith, not by to a mustard seed, which is among the But, of course, his ministry brought sight.” This faith is not ungrounded in smallest seeds but produces an unusu - about the salvation of the world. The our experience; it is consonant with a ally large bush. kingdom is God’s providence in action. living knowledge of God in our lives. I do not know how God’s grace PETER FELDMEIER

30 America June 4-11, 2012 ARE YOU CALLED TO SERVE THOSE SERVING? . d e v r e s e r

s t h g i r

l l A

. e c r o F

r i A

. S . U

e h t

y b

r o f

d i a P

1 1 0 2 ©

AllAll over the world, brave U.S. Airmen defend our country. CatholicCa Air Force chaplains support them wherever they go, pprovidingro Airmen religious observance, pastoral care and aadvicedv to leadership. Are you called to serve in this unique mimministry? Visit us on the web to learn more about becoming a cchaplainha in the United States Air Force Chaplain Corps. The College of Saint Elizabeth Center for Ministry and Spirituality Presents

.'' +(,-$-.-  .&1 (Course Highlights – with more to come!) Enriching souls,  0 +-$!$- transforming the world. +)"+'$( #)',(2$"  (July 9-12 morning/evening choices) *$+$-.&$-1 Speaker, Author, Consultant in Adult Faith Formation and Spirituality -'.'01 ). +/$,.* 0',+&## .0,$ "1)0 '0&,.* 0',+ ( "$("
(1credit or audit)
          /$#+ +")' ($ (July 9-12 morning/evening choices)     Associate Professor of Liturgy and Preaching,    Catholic Theological Union, Chicago, Illinois -'.'01 )'04&.,1%&0&# %#/ +!'#+04/0'!/ +","#.+ %#/ (1 credit or audit)

 / +-#& (.,(%#  - (July 16 -19, morning/evening choices)  0$,*($ Ordained Lutheran Pastor and Author, President & Founder of The Brick Wall2, Inc. '2'+% + 10&#+0'!-'.'01 )'$##//,+/$.,*0&# +",$'$#0& 0+$,.* & +%#   +,#$*(,-$-.- +"'2#/,-# (1 credit or audit) +-$!$- +)"+'
 /.$"$()--)   - ( July 16 -19, morning/evening choices) ,.!.#"'0 Pastor of St. Lucy’s Parish in Newark, Author and International Consultant on Catechetics, Secretary of the Mexican Bishops’ Biblical Commission 0,)'!,
,+,!#) ' )'
#+4 -.#+"# +0#.-.#0 .)  0&,)'!
+,30&# ' )#
 ,*# +"# .+0,+0#.-.#00

-.+ 1 -+ -,  0$&$"#- -+ - (for both Spanish Tuesday, July 10, 3 pm to 8 pm (includes light supper) and English-speaking &#'$0 & ))#+%#,$ %'+% communities) +)-# +)' ) )(,$(- # and +)-# +)#('$&-)(  Co-Directors of Resources in Spiritual Formation, Danvers, Massachusetts

)+($(")+ / ($(" -+ - Wednesday, July 11, 9:30 am to 12:30 pm or 6:30 pm to 9:30 pm 
6&#.# #)'#$##0/!'#+!#&#,3#.,$0&# . '+0, ,++#!00,,1.-'.'01 )'04 +" +.'!&,1.'$#7 + #+&)-- )'$() - Neuropsychologist and Author of 3 (#+'+%&# . '+ 5 .'' +#)&+ &##1.,-/4!&,),%4,$. !# 1,  "$(($(" .&1   -+ - Saturday, July14, 9 am to 2 pm (includes lunch) ,.%'2#+#// +"+$'+'/&#" 1/'+#//# )'+% +".,30&$,.0&#,1.+#4,$ '$#
+)-# +)."#&()!$ &  A Missionary Servant of the Most Holy Trinity and Senior Editor of 1* + #2#),-*#+0 magazine

For registration information, -.+ 1 -+ -!)+-# $,*($ )''.($-1 Saturday, July 14, 9 am to 3 pm call (973) 290-4302 &#'/0,.4,$0&##,-)#,$ /. #) / 0 .0'+%,'+0'+# "'+% +"+0#.-.#0'+%!.'-01.# or visit our website at #*  &'/0,.' "#)1# ),"#/. #)!,*,-1+0,"#- .0'" - . )##.#'+0#.-.#0 .) ' )'  www.cse.edu/  /.$"$()--)   summerinstitute College of Saint Elizabeth Center for Ministry and Spirituality 2 Convent Road, Morristown, N.J. 07960-6989 Sponsored by the Sisters of Charity of Saint Elizabeth, Convent Station, N.J.