THE NATIONAL CATHOLIC WEEKLY MARCH 29, 2010 $3.50 OF MANY THINGS

PUBLISHED BY JESUITS OF THE UNITED STATES y love for the Southwest did evening prayer, going to Mass together not occur at first sight. In or using our shared car to provide rides EDITOR IN CHIEF Drew Christiansen, S.J. Mfact, my first views of the for neighbors. region were startling; from an airplane As time went on, I began to recog- EDITORIAL DEPARTMENT I saw the red rock cliffs of New nize the lessons I was learning from MANAGING EDITOR Mexico, a stark contrast to the lush community life in the desert landscape. Robert C. Collins, S.J. greenery of New England to which I On a day trip to the Grand Canyon one EDITORIAL DIRECTOR was accustomed. The landscape looked November weekend, when our attempt- Karen Sue Smith bare, almost sad. I mourned the luxuri- ed hike was thwarted by steep, ice-cov- ONLINE EDITOR ous, rolling grassy hills of the ered switchback trails, our lack of coor- Maurice Timothy Reidy Berkshires, the blue-gray water of the dination and a line of pushy mules, we CULTURE EDITOR Rhode Island coast, these flourishes of slid our way along the trail back to the James Martin, S.J. nature that were so familiar. By com- rim of the canyon. We stood taking in LITERARY EDITOR parison, the Southwest seemed the view, which left us in silence. Patricia A. Kossmann stripped-down, possessing only what it Together, we were content to just be POETRY EDITOR needed. But I would have to get used still, at the edge of the red and gold James S. Torrens, S.J. to it, as this region would be my home rock, as the canyon seemed to catch fire ASSOCIATE EDITORS for the next year. at sundown. I felt at once dwarfed by George M. Anderson, S.J. I was headed to St. Michaels, Ariz., the sight and made stronger by it; it Peter Schineller, S.J. a town on the Navajo reservation, with made me feel a part of something so Kevin Clarke three fellow volunteers. We were recent much larger than myself. ART DIRECTOR college graduates and through the The welcoming spirit of the Navajo Stephanie Ratcliffe Mercy Volunteer Corps, an organiza- people also made our transition to the ASSISTANT EDITORS tion run by the Sisters of Mercy of the simple life of a volunteer easier. We Francis W. Turnbull, S.J. Americas, we had signed on as full-time attended a dinner one evening at a co- Kerry Weber volunteers to teach at a school for stu- worker’s home, a trailer amid burnt- ASSISTANT LITERARY EDITOR dents with special needs. orange rock formations. As the sky Regina Nigro M.V.C. volunteer communities are turned blue-black, dozens of people gath- supposed to live lives founded on the ered outside around a few native dancers BUSINESS DEPARTMENT principles of simple living, community, wearing traditional clothing and colorful PUBLISHER spirituality and social justice. Of course, shawls and pounding the earth with Jan Attridge we arrived with our own personal inter- quiet footsteps. CHIEF FINANCIAL OFFICER pretations of these terms, but we did I sat on the dusty ground just Lisa Pope our best to move forward together. Our beyond the pool of light in which the ADVERTISING aim was to be conscious of one another dancers moved, listening to songs sung Julia Sosa within our shared home, to hold one in Navajo to the beat of a drum. I didn’t another accountable for the choices we understand the words, but each beat 106 West 56th Street New York, NY 10019-3803 made, to support one another in the sounded to me like a heartbeat, a call to process and to be truly present and lov- love, as I looked up at a sky unimagin- Ph: 212-581-4640; Fax: 212-399-3596 ing. It was not easy. ably dark and yet bright with stars. And E-mail: [email protected]; We each lived on $100 a month, so in that moment, I loved the community [email protected] Web site: www.americamagazine.org. we had to strip away some material beside me, the earth below me and the Customer Service: 1-800-627-9533 things that we clung to before. As One who created it all. The landscape © 2010 America Press, Inc. members of a small community, we no longer seemed bare, but full of the took seriously our responsibility to one evidence of God, whose work I too eas- another, knowing our lifestyle meant ily allowed myself to ignore when it did more than simply being roommates. not suit my tastes. I was, finally, truly Sometimes living in community meant present. And a passage from Hosea making dinner when I wasn’t hungry or came to mind: “I will lead her into the Cover: A boy sits in the market of Karu Chareh in Marja in Helmand cleaning when I hadn’t made a mess. desert and speak to her heart.” Province, southern Afghanistan, in But at other times, it meant sharing KERRY WEBER February. Reuters/Goran Tomasevic. CONTENTS www.americamagazine.org VOL. 202 NO. 10, WHOLE NO. 4888 MARCH 29, 2010

ARTICLES 11 DÉJÀ VU IN MARJA Our guiding illusions in Afghanistan Andrew J. Bacevich

14 THE NEW VIETNAM A Belgian priest revisits a country in transition. George M. Anderson

19 ST. RAFAEL’S CROSS The spiritual journey of a young Spanish saint Ann Prendergast

11 COLUMNS & DEPARTMENTS 4 Current Comment

5 Editorial Medicaid and Taxes 6 Signs of the Times

9 Column Unplug Your Kids Thomas Massaro 22 Faith in Focus Kosher Catholics? Brian B. Pinter 25 Poem Woman Louis Templeman 29 Letters 22 31 The Word Beyond Hope Barbara E. Reid BOOKS & CULTURE 24 TELEVISION “The Buddha” on PBS BOOKINGS The life of Alexandr Solzhenitsyn

ON THE WEB ON THE WEB Andrew J. Bacevich, right, discusses the war in Afghanistan on our podcast, and from the archives, the editors on the fall of Vietnam. Plus, Carolyn Martin Buscarino reviews NBC's “Parenthood.” All at americamagazine.org. 24 . CURRENT COMMENT

were linked to their reporting. Women and Parents Needed Besides murders, imprisonment also enters the “We can hypothesize that a greater female presence, not at report’s dark picture. As of Dec. 1, 2009, several govern- a subordinate level, would have been able to rip the veil of ments were holding reporters, editors, bloggers and pho- masculine secrecy that in the past often covered the tojournalists behind bars, with China jailing 26, the denunciation of these misdeeds with silence,” wrote most of any nation. Since then Iran has moved to the Lucetta Scaraffia, an Italian journalist and historian, in a top of the list. As of February of this year, Iran's govern- hard-hitting article on sexual abuse by members of the ment was holding at least 47 journalists, more than any clergy. “Women, in fact, both religious and lay, by nature other country since 1996, and the numbers of journalists would have been more likely to defend young people in jailed in China, Cuba, Eritrea and Myanmar remain cases of sexual abuse, allowing the church to avoid the high. The C.P.J.’s deputy director has appealed to U.N. grave damage brought by these sinful acts,” she wrote. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon to speak out more Many commentators (both men and women) have forcefully on freedom of the press. Too many intrepid made similar observations since the abuse scandals broke journalists have paid a high price for highlighting human in the United States in 2002. The surprise is that this arti- rights abuses that otherwise would have remained hid- cle appeared in L’Osservatore Romano, the Vatican’s semi- den behind a blanket of impunity. official newspaper. Germany and Ireland have lately been convulsed by clergy abuse scandals, and the Vatican is tak- Historian’s Progress ing note. Scaraffia pointedly used the Italian word omertà, Tony Judt is a widely respected historian of Europe whose usually applied to the Mafia’s rigid code of silence, to incisive political analysis appears regularly in The New describe the secrecy around abuse cases. York Review of Books. Postwar, his survey of Europe after The L’Osservatore article explicitly called for more World War II, demonstrates both scholarly rigor and clear women in leadership roles in the church. The inclusion of writing, a rare combination of traits. Like any public intel- lay men and women in decision-making roles in local dio- lectual worth reading, Judt can also be pugnacious and ceses, archdioceses and in the Vatican would be a way to contrarian, and his criticism of Israel, in particular, has combat the clerical culture that led to the abuse. Parents, in been unflinching. particular, would have been far less likely to downplay Judt recently announced that he suffers from amy- abuses against children. Groupthink is a danger for any otrophic lateral sclerosis, or ALS, a neurological disorder organization, including the Catholic Church. that has left him a quadriplegic. His essay “Night” for the New York Review (1/14) chronicled the quick onset of his Murdered Journalists illness and the “cockroach-like existence” he has been Murder took a heavy toll of journalists last year. According forced to endure in the hours he lies alone in bed, unable to the Committee to Protect Journalists, by December to sleep. Judt is unsentimental about his condition. “There 2009, 71 had been slain worldwide. The committee is no saving grace in being confined to an iron suit, cold described the year as the deadliest in over four decades. and unforgiving,” he writes. “The pleasures of mental agili- The previous record of 67 journalists’ deaths was set in ty are much overstated, inevitably…by those not exclusively 1967, when violence was widespread in Iraq. The Nigerian dependent on them.” reporter Bayo Ohu, for example, was shot at the front door Nonetheless, one can admire the agility of Judt’s mind of his house in a suburb of Lagos. Fellow reporters believe without indulging in the romanticism he warns against. he was killed because he was investigating allegations of That nimble intelligence is on full display in a series of fraud in the government’s customs office. Still more recent- first-person reflections now appearing in the Review. ly, on Jan. 8, 2010, Valentín Valdés Espinosa was abducted Written with the assistance of an aide, who takes dicta- and found the next morning bound and tortured in tion, the series covers subjects as diverse as the “bedders” Saltillo, Mexico. He had been reporting on a Mexican who tidied up after students at the University of army drug raid that led to the arrest of a cartel leader. Cambridge to the author’s time on a kibbutz in the 1960s. Twenty-nine of the murders took place in a single incident In each essay Judt trains his critical faculties on the cir- in November in the Philippines, in a politically related cumstances of his own life. The results are remarkable: a ambush of local reporters. The deaths of some two dozen memoir grounded in a lifetime of learning, a confession set reporters are still under investigation as to whether they to the rhythms of history.

4 America March 29, 2010 EDITORIAL Medicaid and Taxes

edicaid, the health and long-term care coverage increases greatly. The Kaiser program for low-income Americans, faces dras- Commission on Medicaid and Mtic changes that could have profound conse- the Uninsured has found that quences for both the old poor and the newly poor. Medicaid between June 2008 and June is jointly financed by the states and the federal government. 2009, enrollment grew faster In an effort to balance their budgets, states are considering than in any period since the program was created in 1965. deep cuts into the primary safety net for some of the nation’s Over 3.3 million more people were added in the year most vulnerable people, including the elderly and disabled. between June 2008 and June 2009. Every state had increas- Among these are formerly middle-class people who have es in enrollment, and 32 grew twice as fast as in the year turned to Medicaid for help after losing their jobs and their before. Sadly, however, at the very time that Medicaid is insurance in the economic downturn. The complex health most needed, states are weighing the possibility of sharp care bill that is expected to be voted on as this editorial goes cuts as they struggle to balance their budgets in the face of to press raises reimbursements but does not adequately falling revenues caused by the weak economy. address long-term underfunding of Medicaid. A number of states have already cut benefits in some Congress will be considering how best to handle this areas of service that they formerly provided. Thus Michigan, difficult issue in the weeks ahead, as time runs out for Nevada and Utah have ended coverage for dental care, for renewal of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, eyeglasses and other ancillary services. Almost 40 states have last year’s economic recovery legislation, which extended also reduced or frozen reimbursements for hospitals and federal stimulus support for state Medicaid programs. The nursing homes. Tennessee’s governor has gone so far as to cap act expires on Dec. 31. In exchange for receiving these funds, inpatient hospital reimbursements at $10,000. Moreover, states have agreed not to stiffen eligibility requirements. But with Medicaid reimbursement rates already far below those if the Recovery Act legislation is not extended, deeper cuts of Medicare, some doctors are refusing to accept more in state budgets could cause hundreds of thousands to lose Medicaid patients. Compounding the overall problem, many their Medicaid benefits entirely, and eligibility requirements states have cut their Medicaid administrative staffs, even as could be tightened. With the 2011 fiscal year beginning this the number of applications has increased dramatically. coming July, about half the governors have assumed that fis- Because of the recession, the crisis is already at the cal relief may not be forthcoming from the federal govern- door. It is clear that without more federal support many ment and are consequently proposing draconian cuts. states cannot afford to continue the Medicaid they current- In a report released in early March, the nonprofit ly offer, which in many cases is already inadequate. How Center on Budget and Policy Priorities cited the example of then can health care reform succeed when current proposals Arizona’s governor, Jan Brewer, who has proposed dropping require states to accept 15 million more Medicaid recipients 310,000 recipients from the state’s Medicaid program, includ- by 2019, while full federal support for that expansion will ing several thousand patients with mental illness. Similarly, wind down by 2017? A funding formula must be devised the governor of California, Arnold Schwarzenegger, is con- that will not only accompany states through this immediate templating slicing a quarter of a million people from that national health emergency but will also establish a credible, state’s program. Both governors, moreover, are also consider- long-term structure for Medicaid funding that ensures the ing complete termination of their states’ children’s health program’s reliability even during times of economic distress. insurance programs if expanded federal aid is not forthcom- An increase in taxes for the wealthy and for corpora- ing this December. Such a move would end coverage for over tions is inevitable, and a serious reduction in defense fund- a million low-income children if Congress fails to act. Moves ing must be undertaken to bring the national accounts into of this magnitude would undermine the very concept of state- balance. Until those politically difficult steps are taken, federal cooperation on which Medicaid is built. health care for both poor and middle-class Americans will The Budget and Policy report notes that during a remain in a state of permanent crisis. In the short term, recession, as people lose their jobs and private health cover- however, the Recovery Act must be renewed with a view to age, the number of people who become eligible for Medicaid propping up the Medicaid system.

March 29, 2010 America 5 SIGNS OF THE TIMES

MIDDLE EAST U.S.-Israel Relations Hit Low; Peace Process Derailed Again he Waldorf-Astoria Hotel in Manhattan might seem a strange place for a human rights protest, but on March 9 T some 400 people walked in single file in a slow, silent proces- sion. Holding signs calling for “Justice for Gaza,” the demonstrators were protesting what was taking place inside—a $1,000-a-plate din- ner hosted by the Friends of the Israeli Defense Forces. Inside the Waldorf the event raised $20 million for I.D.F. veterans while the marchers on the street outside tried to raise awareness of the Gaza blockade. The event’s keynote speaker was the I.D.F. chief of staff, Lt. Gen. Gabi Ashkenazi. Ashkenazi was likely also key to discussions just a few avenues away at the United Nations, where Operation Cast Lead, the incursion into the Gaza Strip that he led during December 2008 and early January 2009, was being scrutinized for possible instances of war crimes and crimes against humanity. For the Waldorf Hotel protesters, with Gaza all but cut off from the free flow of humanitarian supplies like food and medicine, hopes for peace between Israel and Gaza remain more tenuous than ever. The and Palestinians, but between the Joe Biden’s ill-fated trip to Israel in fragility of the situation in the Middle government of Prime Minister early March. East was underscored by the outbreak Benjamin Netanyahu and the Obama Biden intended his visit to reassert of hostilities, not between the Israelis administration after Vice President the U.S. commitment to Israeli securi-

HEALTH CARE considered the Senate language “an acceptable way to prevent federal Church Leaders Diverge on Reform; funding of abortion.” C.H.A. Accepts Senate Language In an even more sharply worded divergence from the bishops, the heads s events moved rapidly unacceptable. A House vote on the of 60 U.S. orders representing 59,000 toward a conclusion of the health reform legislation was expected Catholic sisters signed a letter on yearlong and often discordant by March 20, with Senate and House March 17 urging passage of the A Senate reform package. The sisters national debate over health care action by a reconciliation vote to fol- reform, ruptures appeared in what had low on a separate bill containing a set called the Senate measures “imperfect” been a unified front among national of legislative “fixes.” but said: “Despite false claims to the Catholic leaders. In a statement on In the statement, Carol Keehan, a contrary, the Senate bill will not pro- March 13, the head of the Catholic member of the Daughters of Charity vide taxpayer funding for elective Health Association called on House who is president and chief operating abortions. It will uphold longstanding members to pass quickly the Senate- officer of the C.H.A., argued that the conscience protections and it will approved health care reform bill, even Senate bill may not be perfect but make historic new investments— as the U.S. Conference of Catholic would still “make the lives of millions $250 million—in support of pregnant Bishops reiterated its position that the more secure, and their coverage more women. This is the real pro-life stance, Senate language on abortion was affordable.” Sister Keehan said she and we as Catholics are all for it.”

6 America March 29, 2010 of a plan to build 1,600 housing units Clinton, who demanded that the for Jews in East Jerusalem, where housing ministry’s plans be dropped, Palestinians hope one day to build the that an investigation of the apparent capital of their future state. The ges- provocation be conducted and that the ture appeared deliberately intended to Israelis commit to a meaningful ges- sabotage the “proximity talks” Biden ture aimed at bringing Palestinians was attempting to orchestrate. If so, it back to the Middle East’s increasingly succeeded, as the Palestinian unstable peace table. Netanyahu Authority refused to consider even apparently endured his scolding in indirect talks with the Netanyahu silence; he was more voluble and more government. defiant before the Israeli parliament a A red-faced Netanyahu apologized few days later when he asserted that for the timing of the announcement construction of Jewish housing in but not its content. Even as his office Jerusalem was not a matter open to took pains to project a sense of busi- negotiation. ness as usual, Palestinians and Israeli Gaza observed a grim milestone on Israeli border police confront a police squared off under clouds of tear March 11, the 1,000th day of the group of Palestinian Christians gas in Jerusalem’s Old City, U.S. Israeli blockade. The last direct talks and Muslims during a nonviolent protest in the West Bank village Special Envoy George Mitchell can- between Israel and the Palestinian of Beit Jala on March 7. celled a planned visit, and Israel’s National Authority were cast aside ambassador to the United States, with the December 2008 launch of Michael Oren, observed that U.S.- Cast Lead, and continuing settlement ty and to jump-start the long-stalled Israeli relations faced their worst crisis construction in the West Bank and peace negotiations. But his efforts were in 35 years. East Jerusalem presents a profound thwarted by the undiplomatic timing Netanyahu was called on the carpet obstacle to reviving what is left of the of an Israeli ministry’s announcement by an irate Secretary of State Hillary peace process.

Just two days earlier the U.S.C.C.B. unwanted members of the human only deal with revenues and outlays of president, Cardinal Francis George, family still waiting to be the federal government, O.M.I., in a letter to Congress had born.” which does not include personally described in detail the bish- An analysis by the abortion issue,” he ops’ unhappiness with the Senate lan- Timothy Stolfzfus Jost said. guage about abortion: “Notwith- of the Washington and “The choice we face, in standing the denials and explanations Lee University School sum, is the Senate bill or of its supporters, and unlike the bill of Law argued that the our current health care approved by the House of Senate package could in system,” Jost added. “The Representatives in November,” practice prove more Senate bill will undoubt- Cardinal George said, “the Senate bill pro-life than the House edly save many lives deliberately excludes the language of plan preferred by the through extending insur- the Hyde Amendment. It expands bishops. For his part, ance coverage to people federal funding and the role of the fed- Jost said U.S.C.C.B.’s who cannot afford insur- Carol Keehan, D.C. eral government in the provision of continued resistance to ance. It will also in all likeli- abortion procedures. It forces all of us the Senate plan “demonstrates a mis- hood make abortion coverage less to become involved in an act that pro- understanding of the Senate proce- common than it is now, since people foundly violates the conscience of dures that constrain action at this will have to explicitly choose and pay many, the deliberate destruction of time.” The reconciliation process “can extra for it.”

March 29, 2010 America 7 SIGNS OF THE TIMES

Arizona Bishops Resist NEWS BRIEFS Immigration Bills The Catholic bishops of Arizona have Carl A. Anderson, supreme knight of the Knights of denounced “punitive” and “costly” leg- Columbus, called a federal appeals court’s March 11 rul- islative proposals that require stricter ing, which upheld the constitutionality of the phrase enforcement of immigration laws by “one nation under God” in the Pledge of Allegiance, a local police. The bishops said the pro- “breath of fresh air from a court system that has too posals could harm public safety and often seemed to be almost allergic to public references to separate families. “Arizona would God.” • The Archdiocese of Chicago is seeking the can- become the first state in the nation to onization of the Rev. Augustine Tolton, the first U.S. Augustine codify its own ‘illegal immigration’ law priest of African descent. • Grand Sheik Mohammed Tolton by requiring persons who are here Sayyid Tantawi, one of Sunni Islam’s leading clerics and unlawfully in terms of federal law to a supporter of Catholic-Muslim dialogue, died of a heart attack be charged with trespassing under March 10 at the age of 81. • In an address on March 12 to the U.N. Arizona law,” said the three bishops Human Rights Council in Geneva, Archbishop Silvano M. Tomasi who make up the Arizona Catholic called upon the nations of the world to respect the right of all people Conference in a March 8 statement. to practice religion freely and urged world leaders to punish those The three are Bishops Thomas J. who persecute religious minorities. • Cardinal Seán Brady of Olmsted of Phoenix, Gerald F. Armagh, Northern Ireland, insisted on March 14 that he would not Kicanas of Tucson and James S. Wall resign after it was revealed that he failed to report allegations of child of Gallup, N.M., whose diocese abuse by a priest to the police in 1975. • Rio de Janeiro’s statue of includes parts of Arizona. The bish- Christ with outstretched arms is undergoing a $4.35-million refur- ops added that the proposed legisla- bishment to repair damage caused over the years by the elements. tion does not “clearly state that undoc- umented people who become victims of crimes can come forward without fear of deportation.” for shouting anti-Communist slogans work with youth. The archdiocese and accusing Vietnamese officials of said it had no complaints of more Dissident Priest practicing “the law of the jungle.” The offenses by the priest. priest has spent more than 15 years in The suspension came just three Released in Vietnam prison since 1977, according to days after the church acknowledged A dissident Vietnamese priest, the Freedom Now, a Washington-based that the pope, then Archbishop Rev. Nguyen Van Ly, who has spent law firm that serves as Ly’s interna- Joseph Ratzinger, had responded to three years behind bars for pro- tional counsel. accusations of molestation by allowing democracy efforts and suffered two Hullermann to move to Munich for strokes in detention, was released on Abuse Found in therapy in 1980. Pope Benedict March 15 from a prison near Hanoi served as the archbishop of the dio- and driven in an ambulance back to Pope’s Former Diocese cese where the priest later worked and his hometown of Hue, according to Pope Benedict XVI’s former diocese, subsequently in Rome as the cardinal his sister, Nguyen Thi Hieu. She said the Archdiocese of Munich and in charge of reviewing sexual abuse he was in better health than the last Freising, has suspended a priest con- cases for the Vatican. Yet until the time she saw him. Father Nguyen had victed of sexual abuse in 1986 and Archdiocese of Munich and Freising suffered strokes in July and November accepted the resignation of the Rev. announced that Father Hullermann and for a time was unable to walk. In Josef Obermaier, who assigned the had been suspended on March 15, he 2007 he was sentenced to eight years priest to his most recent position. The had continued to serve in a series of in prison for disseminating anti-gov- priest, identified as Peter Hullermann, Bavarian parishes for years. ernment propaganda during a dramat- was found to have violated a condition ic trial in which police muzzled him of his reassignment by continuing to From CNS and other sources.

8 America March 29, 2010 THOMAS MASSARO Unplug Your Kids

ast month the Kaiser Family devices spell for our society. We are deliberateness are endangered species Foundation released a study hearing even more about potential in the current age of digital distrac- Lpacked with truly shocking public health concerns, such as the tion, where buzzing and flashing findings. Americans between the ages dangers associated with distracted images envelop us around the clock. of 8 and 18 now spend an average of 7 drivers and even pedestrians lost in A simple edict will not enforce hours and 38 minutes a day using a their gadgets. There are deepening progress on this front. The best we can computer, video game console, televi- social concerns too: the need for pro- hope to accomplish is the fostering of sion, cellphone and all manner of tocols governing rude behavior, like conditions that make it more likely handheld electronic devices and digital interrupting dinner conversations and that the youth of today will develop technology. Fifty-plus hours a week are business meetings to take a call or habits of mindfulness that can sprout an awful lot of screen time for anyone, retrieve one’s electronic messages. A into a mature spiritual life. especially impressionable and insecure municipal official in A good first step youngsters. Danvers, Mass., recently A culture of would involve debunk- Many aspects of the report disturb had to propose a ban on ing the myth of multi- me. Just picturing in my mind’s eye texting during meetings of interruption tasking. The conven- millions of adolescents holed up the town’s Board of tional wisdom nowa- indoors and tethered to flickering gad- Selectmen out of respect erodes days is that the practice gets for hours on end makes me sad for for the people these elected habits of of splitting one’s brain the opportunities our youngsters are representatives serve. It among several simulta- missing to enjoy the great outdoors, takes guts to take on cell- prayer neous tasks is somehow participate in physical exercise and phone technology, but I am and desirable, even neces- engage in genuine human interaction glad someone did. sary in today’s digital of the face-to-face variety. If society finds creative reflection. world. Yet growing evi- Equally disconcerting is the trend ways to accommodate such dence from the field of line of tech overuse. Young people’s technology so as to avoid the worst neuroscience suggests that such activi- current daily level of electronic con- violations of safety and politeness, a ty is by no means efficient and in some sumption exceeds by 77 minutes the third set of concerns remains: the spir- regards physically impossible. While average amount in 2004, the last time itual aspect of life. A culture and we persist in believing that we can this social indicator was measured by lifestyle that allow constant interrup- handle ever greater doses of simulta- Kaiser’s Program for the Study of tion erode our ability to develop a neous electronic stimulation, the Media and Health. I would like to habit of prayer and reflection. human nervous system exhibits seri- think we have hit the ceiling, but As a theological educator, my ous limits in its ability to handle inter- where this trend goes next is anyone’s hunch is that these are especially criti- ruption and to switch back and forth guess. If the upward trajectory were to cal issues for our youth. Young chil- among tasks without debilitating sen- continue, it is hard to imagine what dren and adolescents struggle mightily sory overload. remaining parts of a well-balanced life to forge a stable identity, a sense of self Several themes that recur in spiri- will be crowded out by the increasing that allows them to feel truly comfort- tual literature come into play here: the time our children spend “plugged in.” able in their own skin and to be open quest for proper balance, the virtue of Last summer in this very space I to the transcendent. While a majority temperance, the necessity of address- lamented the losses that over-reliance of the human race could probably use ing self-delusion and even the practice on cellphones and handheld electronic some remedial work in developing the of Christian resistance against corrupt intangible quality of interiority, young- cultural forces. Difficult as it may be sters face a particularly uphill battle to for adults to face up to these facts, it is THOMAS MASSARO, S.J., teaches social ethics at the Boston College School of Theology clear out time and mental space to be even more imperative that the next and Ministry, Chestnut Hill, Mass. alone with God. Mindfulness and generation learn to unplug.

March 29, 2010 America 9 An Afghan shepherd guides his sheep away from U.S. Marines on patrol in Helmand Province. PHOTO: REUTERS/ASMAA WAGUIH

10 America March 29, 2010 OUR GUIDING ILLUSIONS IN AFGHANISTAN Déjà Vu in Marja

BY ANDREW J. BACEVICH

n American politics, deficits have suddenly become all the rage. Throughout the presidency of George W. Bush, the federal gov- ernment hemorrhaged red ink, with no one paying much atten- Ition. Upon the election of Barack Obama, however, the rules abruptly changed. As if overnight, Republicans in Congress dis- covered that theirs is the party of fiscal conservatism. From out of nowhere came the Tea Party movement, providing at least a pretty good imitation of people who are “mad as hell” about a government unable to manage its own affairs and careening toward bankruptcy. Although the administration’s spending plans add more than a trillion dollars each year to the national debt, President Obama himself has allowed that this might not be such a good thing—for long. In Washington the sky grows dark with deficit hawks. But the deficits that plague the United States extend well beyond the realm of fiscal policy. At least as important is a deficit in self-awareness that makes it difficult for policymakers to learn from and avoid repeating past mistakes. Afghanistan offers a case in point. United States troops are currently engaged in an assault on a reputedly major Taliban stronghold at a place called Marja in southern Afghanistan’s Helmand Province. In the weeks leading up to the offensive, the Americans made no effort to disguise their intentions. “We intend to go in big, strong and fast,” promised the commander of the 2nd Marine Expeditionary Brigade, reflecting the best traditions of his service. Yet what promised to be a big fight has turned out to be more of a hard slog—with the real work still to come.

ANDREW J. BACEVICH is professor of history and international relations at Boston University. His new book, Washington Rules: America’s Path to Permanent War (Metropolitan Books), is forthcoming this summer.

March 29, 2010 America 11 Salvage Operation saw the construction of the huge Kajaki Dam and a sprawl- Once the Marines have defeated or dispersed the enemy, ing irrigation system. It constructed and staffed schools, United States officials will dispatch a specially constituted and, according to the Post, it provided each settler with civilian reconstruction team to Marja to rebuild a decrepit “almost 15 acres of land, two oxen and free seeds.” irrigation system and cajole Afghan farmers into growing Unfortunately, this ambitious effort proved to be a com- something other than opium poppies, the sale of which sus- plete bust. The Americans did not understand the local tains the anti-Western insurgency. hydrology and did not understand the local populace. The “An unstated aim,” reports The Washington Post, “is to Pashtuns clung stubbornly to their own ideas about agricul- salvage a project the United States began more than 50 ture and about life, neither of which conformed to U.S. years ago.” Say what? ideas. “From the beginning,” wrote an A.I.D. analyst in It turns out that the Marines are not the first Americans 1973, “the project was plagued with basic cross-cultural to arrive in Marja intent on putting things right. When misunderstandings and technical miscalculations.” Well Dwight D. Eisenhower before the Soviet invasion was president, the Agency of Afghanistan in 1979, for International Develop- The marines are not the first A.I.D. had conceded fail- ment embarked upon a Americans to arrive in Marja. ure in Marja. massive agricultural re- So 50 years on, the form project there. The United States will now try purpose of that project was to persuade nomadic Pashtuns again, this time with good intentions—who can doubt that to put down roots in Helmand. Domestication, it was America means well?—backed by bayonets. The develop- thought, would put the kibosh on Pashtun agitation for an ment specialists following in the wake of the Marines will independent homeland, a prospect that the governments no doubt arrive in Marja armed with various “lessons of Afghanistan and Pakistan both found deeply discon- learned” drawn from the errors of their predecessors. Yet certing. these will be lessons of a technical sort. The implicit That was the idea. With that end in mind, A.I.D. over- assumptions informing version 1.0 of this undertaking sur- vive to inform version 2.0—and there lies the problem. The central assumptions are these: a) that the Pashtun REST • REFLECT • RENEW way of life is defective; b) that the Pashtuns know this and yearn for something better; c) that United States officials The Ministry to Ministers understand where the problems lie and by mobilizing American resources and skill can repair them; d) that in Sabbatical Program doing so, the United States will both improve the lives of ordinary people and enhance America’s standing in their • Holistic Program eyes and in the eyes of many others. Theology Workshops Little in the record of United States policy in Integrative Spirituality Afghanistan (or elsewhere in the Greater Middle East for Individual Wellness Plan that matter) supports these assumptions. In fact, Pashtuns • International Participants and other Muslims are as interested in preserving their way • First Class Accommodations of life as in changing it—or, if entertaining change, they are Private Rooms with Bath insistent that it occur on their own terms. Reforms conjured DSL Computer Connections up by the United States, informed by American perceptions • Contemplative Setting of what is true, right and good, are frequently at odds with what devout Muslims consider to be true, right and good. • Located in the heart of San Antonio The upshot is that American do-goodism succeeds neither • Program Dates in improving people’s lives nor in winning their hearts and August 16 - December 12, 2010 minds. It serves only to encourage anti-Americanism. January 10 - May 08, 2011 August 15 - December 11, 2011 Paving the Road to Modernity Policymakers in Washington seem unable to grasp this con- Ministry to Ministers Sabbatical Program tradiction. Deeply, if unconsciously committed to the imper- Oblate School of Theology 109 Oblate Drive • San Antonio, TX • 78216-6693 atives of secularized modernity, they cannot conceive of an (210) 349-9928 • Fax (210) 349-0119 • [email protected] • www.ost.edu alternative nor imagine that others might be inclined to do so.

12 America March 29, 2010 As they see it, the prerequisites of development (and therefore of a properly functioning society) are plain to see: ANNUAL SPRING MCGINLEY LECTURE a free-market economy, the rule of law, respect for individu- al rights, quality education and gender equality. And for good measure, let’s make birth control widely available to avoid an excessive birthrate. What fair-minded person could oppose any of these things, especially when advocated by individuals who endlessly and seemingly sincerely profess their high regard for Islam? What proponents of modernity cannot (or will not) see is that they are proposing to drive a wedge between religion and politics, consigning each to a separate sphere. Whether Faith wittingly or not, they are thereby launching a direct attack on Islam itself, which insists that the two spheres must be one: Allah governs. and Culture One might speculate that the casual, allocate-the-Lord- an-hour-on-Sunday religiosity to which so many Americans Jewish, Christian and subscribe makes it difficult for us to understand any con- nection between religion and getting on with the job at Muslim Perspectives hand. We ourselves have consigned God to his rightful place and insist that he stay put. The Reverend Patrick J. Ryan, S.J. Seeing themselves as good Christians, or at least as Laurence J. McGinley Professor respectful of believers, United States commanders, diplo- of Religion and Society mats and aid workers will not easily understand how the subjects of American beneficence may view the prospect of RESPONDENTS being dragged into the modern world. What does religion Rabbi Daniel Polish, Ph.D. have to do with putting a roof over your head, earning three Congregation Shir Chadash, Poughkeepsie, New York square meals a day and securing the possibility of a decent Professor Amir Hussain, Ph.D. life for your kids? To which a Muslim might reply: in my Loyola Marymount University, Los Angeles, California tradition, religion has everything to do with everything. Shortly after Sept. 11, 2001, the writer Salmon Rushdie The lecture will be delivered at two locations: published a short essay called “Yes, This Is About Islam.” In Wednesday, 7 April 2010, 8 p.m. it he argued that modernizing the Islamic world would require first the “depoliticization” of Islam itself. The Keating First Auditorium | Rose Hill Campus “restoration of religion to the sphere of the personal,” he con- Bronx, New York tinued, was “the nettle Thursday, 8 April 2010, 6 p.m. that all Muslim soci- ON THE WEB 12th-floor Lounge | Lincoln Center Campus eties must grasp.” 113 W. 60th Street, New York City Andrew Bacevich talks about the war in Afghanistan. If indeed the peo- americamagazine.org/podcast ples of the Islamic world are ever to enjoy FREE AND OPEN TO THE PUBLIC. A reception will follow. access to the personal autonomy and material abundance that the West defines as For more information, please contact (718) 817-4746 freedom, Rushdie is probably right. If so, then the operative or e-mail [email protected]. question reduces to this: Is grasping the nettle something that Muslims must decide of their own volition? Or is it a choice that hard-charging, well-meaning infidels—United States Marines, for instance—can force Muslims to make? We know what the Marines think. Developments in Marja and elsewhere in Afghanistan will show whether this time around they will get it right—or whether the United States will manage only to dig itself into an even deeper hole. A

March 29, 2010 America 13 The New Vietnam A Belgian priest revisits a country in transition. BY GEORGE M. ANDERSON

he World Bank considers Vietnam a success story. At first glance, the claim might seem to be true: The country has reduced by half the number of its Tcitizens living on less than $2 a day; its com- merce is thriving; its cities are rapidly expanding. But the Rev. Francois Houtart says the situation is not that simple. A Belgian sociologist, writer and one of the most active members of the World Social Forum, Father Houtart is also the founder of the Tri-Continental Centre (known as Cetri), a nongovernmental organization he established in 1976. Based in Louvain-la-Neuve, Belgium, Cetri studies the development of North-South relations. Since 1968, Father Houtart has been a frequent traveler to Vietnam. During a recent visit to America, he described the dramatic changes that have been taking place in the coun- try since the end of the Vietnam War. For all the success Vietnam has achieved in the area of individual material progress, Father Houtart said serious problems remain as the country attempts to absorb elements of the cap- italist market system without abandoning its ideals of promoting the collective good. The country currently is working toward its goal of becoming a semi-industrialized nation by 2020. However, Father Houtart thinks the introduc- tion of a capitalist market economy—while reducing poverty for some—also has threatened the environment and widened the gap between A family takes a rest at home in a floating village in Ho Chi Minh City. rich and poor. Five years ago, the Institute of Sociology in Vietnam asked Poverty in Vietnam before the advent of market forces Father Houtart to come and revise the study of a rural com- was very different from poverty in some other parts of the mune in the Red River Delta that he had directed in the developing world because it was poverty with dignity, Father 1970s. “The idea was to measure the economic and social Houtart explained. In general, “everyone had the necessities changes that have taken place in Vietnam because of the intro- of life in terms of basics like free education and health care, duction in Vietnam of the market economy,” Father Houtart so a minimum standard of living was assured.” He noted said. And there are many. “The current situation is one of that this was made possible by the socialist system that was spectacular growth, especially in the big cities like Hanoi, but already in place in North Vietnam. “But now, with North also to some degree even in the countryside,” he said. and South Vietnam united and a primarily market econo- my, besides the spectacular growth of a minority of the pop-

GEORGE M. ANDERSON, S.J., is an associate editor of America. ulation and the relative economic growth of a substantial PHOTO: REUTERS

14 America March 29, 2010 part of the population, you increasingly have a new and built brick houses, a sign of their higher standard of living. deeper kind of poverty.” The government has established public credit institutions Father Houtart observed that the Communist govern- that make low-interest loans to small farmers who organize ment believed that after the introduction of a market econo- crop initiatives. Such initiatives are seldom found in Africa my, it could control the market forces—both those from and Latin America where the poverty is harsher. Even within and others from outside in the form of foreign among the peasants, there is a tradition of self-organizing to collect funds to assist families in need.

Health, Education, Environment At the same time, Father Houtart said the “logic of the mar- ket” has caused negative repercussions affecting matters like health care. “Before, effective medications were produced The introduction locally and sold at low cost in village workshops,” he said. “But, now, multinational pharmaceutical companies are of a capitalist bringing their products to the villages, where they are sold at much higher cost. There is less possibility for traditional medicine.” Such an outcome is a reflection of the increasing economy, while social distance between portions of the population, a dis- tance caused by the market economy. Education in Vietnam, especially higher education, also reducing poverty has changed. Father Houtart said the system has become partly privatized, as Western universities and schools estab- for some, lish themselves in the area and cater only to those whose families can afford the tuition. At the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, which has several thousand students threatens the at its school in Hanoi, all of the courses are taught in English. Such an education is available only to students from families that have succeeded in the new economic system. Father environment and Houtart spoke of a colleague at the Institute of Sociology whose son won a scholarship to the University of Maine in widens the gap the United States. “When he came back [to Vietnam] on vacation and visited his high school classmates who were at M.I.T. and other [Vietnamese] institutions of higher educa- between rich tion of North American origin, he was shocked to find them speaking English even among themselves,” Father Houtart said. English had become their preferred language. and poor. But foreign influence does not come only from the West. Father Houtart noted that 60 percent of the burgeoning foreign investments in Vietnam are from Asia. Many Japanese, Taiwanese and Korean entrepreneurs have taken advantage of Vietnam’s cheap labor force. But since these investors and multinational companies. “But when you look entrepreneurs import some of the raw materials they at what has happened,” he said, “you realize that in great mea- need—steel, plastic and the like—and even manufacture sure…the market is largely controlling the political scene.” some of what they export, such economic activity is of rela- The commerce of Vietnam is booming, Father Houtart tively little value to the Vietnamese economy. said: “Everyone is buying and selling, with new construction Despite the government’s efforts, corruption among visible everywhere, particularly in and around the big cities.” those in authority is rampant. Father Houtart said, “With He described the level of construction near Hanoi as so bribes to the right people, you can construct buildings that intense that “it amounts to what is almost the rising of may not conform to the required city planning norms.” another city because of all the new buildings” in what were Another form of corruption is exemplified by the growing once sparsely populated outskirts. presence of foreign intermediaries who are gaining influ- In some rural areas, the more fortunate Vietnamese have ence, not least in land appropriation, he said: “Officially, the

March 29, 2010 America 15 state owns all the land in Vietnam, but a peasant has a right ues, it is estimated that by 2020 the loss will be so great that to its use for a period of years on a contractual basis with the the country will have to stop exporting rice entirely. Currently, government, perhaps four or five acres; he can even pass it Vietnam is the biggest exporter of rice in the world. on to his descendants.” But, Father Houtart added, a peas- For many companies, disregard for the environment is ant also can sell his right to the use of the land for a number matched only by disregard for their workers. Father Houtart of years specified in the contract. As a city expands, private said that when factory owners (mostly Asians) learn of a companies can purchase a peasant’s land rights. movement among workers for higher wages or hear threats Peasants who choose to sell ordinarily receive little finan- of a strike, they attempt to find the leaders and dismiss them. cial compensation, only enough to live on for a few years, Yet some labor efforts have succeeded. “In the Province of but the private companies can sell and resell the land at great Vinh Phuc that I visited this past summer,” he said, “its vice profit. After exhausting the money they have received, the president told me of a conversation he recently had with the peasants face the increasingly widespread problem of unem- director of a Toyota plant, who spoke of hearing that the ployment that besets Vietnam. Some start workers were preparing to strike for high- work in the new factories, the chemicals ON THE WEB er wages. Toyota was making big profits from which are creating land and water Photographs of the Catholic Church because of the low wages. ‘But we respect pollution. “Not long ago, in the southern in Vietnam today. the laws of Vietnam and pay the minimum part of the country, the water pollution americamagazine.org/slideshow wage,’ the director said to him. The vice killed the fish, and the peasants, in president of the province replied, ‘It is not protest, occupied the factory, but little changed,” Father possible to live on the minimum wage.’ So the director said Houtart said. “All the rivers of the Red Delta are polluted later that he would increase the pay by 20 percent.” now, and the fish are diminishing in number.” The give-and-take between employers and workers, the During his travels, Father Houtart observed the ways in rich and the poor, is indicative of Vietnam’s struggles as a which climate change is beginning to affect Vietnam. The whole. New solutions give rise to new and different chal- country has 3,000 kilometers of coast and is losing land as the lenges. Vietnam’s reactions to these challenges will define waters rise. The remaining land is damaged by the salt water. the nation it becomes, a nation whose future, for now, Both factors negatively affect rice production. If this contin- remains unclear. A POETRY CONTEST Poems are being accepted for the 2010 Foley Poetry Award Each entrant is asked to submit only one typed, unpublished poem of 30 lines or fewer that is not under consideration elsewhere. Include contact information on the same page as the poem. Poems will not be returned. Please do not submit poems by e-mail or fax. Submissions must be postmarked between Jan. 1 and March 31. Poems received outside the designated period will be treat- ed as regular poetry submissions, and are not eligible for the prize. The winning poem will be published in the June 7-14 issue of America. Three runner-up poems will be published in subsequent issues. Cash prize: $1,000. Send poems to: Foley Poetry Contest America, 106 West 56th Street New York, NY 10019

16 America March 29, 2010 Faith, Hope and Love DIAMOND AND SAPPHIRE RING

A trio of beautifully engraved rings you can wear separately or together Keep Faith, Hope and Love  With You—Always Hand-crafted of The faith, hope and love that guide your life are solid sterling silver inspiration to everyone around you. Now those cherished beliefs are beautifully expressed in a brilliant jewelry creation available exclusively from The A total of 9 genuine diamonds and 4 sapphires Bradford Exchange. Aglow with Genuine Diamonds  and Brilliant Sapphires Comes with a custom presentation case and a Exquisitely hand-crafted of solid sterling silver, the “Faith, Hope and Love” Diamond and Sapphire Ring is Certifi cate of Authenticity actually a trio of rings—radiant with genuine diamonds and brilliant sapphires. The middle band features a A FINE JEWELRY EXCLUSIVE delicate cross of four sapphires accented with a solitaire diamond in the center and two more on either side. from The Bradford Exchange Three diamonds also sparkle from the matching top LIMITED-TIME OFFER RESERVATION APPLICATION SEND NO MONEY NOW and bottom bands—a total of nine diamonds in all! Reservations will be accepted on a fi rst-come, fi rst-served basis. Respond Plus each band is elegantly engraved on the inside with as soon as possible to reserve your ““Faith, a meaningful word: Faith... Hope... and Love. Hope and Love” Diamond P. O. Box 806, Morton Grove, IL 60053-0806 and Sapphire Ring. A R V YES. Please reserve the “Faith, Hope and Love” emarkable alue... Diamond and Sapphire Ring for me as described in Available for a Limited Time this announcement. Available in whole and half sizes from 5-12, the is Signature “Faith, Hope and Love” Diamond and Sapphire Ring Shown actual size Shown actual size a remarkable value at $129*, payable in 4 installments Mrs. Mr. Ms. *Plus $8.98 shipping and Name (Please Print Clearly) of just $32.25, and backed by our 120-day guarantee. service. To assure a proper fit, a ring sizer will be sent to To reserve your ring, send no money now; just fi ll out you after your reservation has Address and return the Reservation Application. But this is a been accepted. Please allow 4-6 weeks for delivery of your City limited-time offer so don’t miss out; order today! ring after we receive your initial deposit. All sales subject to product availability and order State Zip acceptance. www.bradfordexchange.com/10100 ©2010 BGE 01-10100-001-BIU 01-10100-001-E39411 “An extraordinary blend of theological insight and fl at-out sanity, both enhanced by James Martin’s wonderful capacity for creativity and connection.” —Ronald Rolheiser, author of The Holy Longing

“Funny, inspiring, practical, and wise. The spiritual genius of St. Ignatius Loyola is made accessible and useful, allowing even the most skeptical readers to appreciate Jesuit ways and to incorporate practices that are guaranteed to improve their lives.” —Ron Hansen, author of Mariette in Ecstasy and Exiles

From the author of My Life with the Saints St. Rafael’s Cross Longing for heaven and the human heart BY ANN PRENDERGAST

hile the Second Vatican Council made clear that the call to holiness is universal and holiness means to be whole, the word holiness also sug- Wgests separation from the world. Perhaps that is why one’s feelings are mixed on encountering a person whose fervor is genuine but seemingly extreme. Such is the case with Rafael Arnáiz Barón, a little-known Spanish Trappist who died at age 27 in April 1938 and was canonized on Oct. 11, 2009. Readers of his brief writings cannot but be struck by the young saint’s singular love of the cross. (Quotations are from notes he made on instructions from his spiritual director.)

To savor the Cross...to live sick, unknown, abandoned by all—only you...and on the Cross. How sweet the bitterness, the loneliness, the grief, the pain, wolfed down and swal- lowed in silence, without help. How sweet the tears shed next to your Cross. Ah! If I knew how to tell the world where true happiness is! But this the world does not understand, nor can it...because to understand the Cross...one must love it. To love it one must suffer; and not only suffer but love the suffering...In this, Lord, how few follow you to PHOTO: SHUTTERSTOCK/ANDRISCAM; PHOTO INSET: CNS/PAUL HARING Calvary. Paul speaks of the cross as a stumbling block to Jews, but it is a stumbling block to Christians too. Frequently we Here is a soul talking to other souls. Many can relate to make an offering of our difficulties, our own cross, but rarely the saint’s candid admission: “I do not know how to pray; I do we look for opportunities to make sacrifices. Something do not know what it is to be good.... I do not have a religious in the embrace of avoidable suffering strikes us as folly. Yet spirit, for I am full of the world.” Many of us have similar Christ himself tells us to take up our cross: “If any want to thoughts. On the one hand, we may be drawn to Christ; on become my followers, let them deny themselves and take up the other, put off. An unwritten popular dictum says it is all their cross and follow me” (Mk 8:34). We know these words right to be religious, but not too religious. but cringe before self-denial and dread suffering. So did Brother María Rafael, as he was known. Just weeks before his death he confided: ANN PRENDERGAST, of Conesus, N.Y., is a member of the Genesee Lay Contemplatives, a group affiliated with the Trappist monastery Our Lady of the Genesee, who follow the rule of St. Benedict and live a con- I am always beginning and I never see that I do any- templative life in the world. thing. I go on with my easy life, comfortable, and

March 29, 2010 America 19 unmortified...partly (and only partly) because the things to do, of distractions, of interests, vain desires, superiors will not allow me and partly (the major part) conceit, we have so much world within us, that God because I do not make up my mind, and austerity distances himself...but all we have to do is want him. frightens me. Yet when we read, “there is no merit in desiring nothing An Architect Turned Contemplative when one loves God,” we feel like outsiders confronted with Who cannot sympathize with St. Rafael’s hesitation, his a reality we cannot quite grasp. “If we are united in love to fear of austerity? He is like us in the immediacy of his his will, we will desire nothing he does not desire...all he response but unlike us in his total embrace of the cross. A might want from us will be to our liking.” He tries to explain biographical note can clarify some of this difference. Rafael such an extraordinary turnabout: was a Jesuit-educated architect, who originally intended to become a monk, but the onset of Type 1 diabetes forced Every day I am happier in my complete abandonment him to withdraw. In into his hands. I see December 1937 he re- his will even in the entered the monastery for We can relate to St. Rafael’s candid most insignificant the last time as an oblate, a admission, ‘I do not know and tiny things that layman who shares in the happen. In every- spiritual life and prayer of how to pray.’ thing I find a lesson the community. There he that serves to make lived in the infirmary until me understand bet- his death four months later. During this time he noted: ter his mercy toward me. I love his designs with my whole being, and that is enough. When I left my home, by my own deliberate intent, I left behind a series of treatments that my illness One of St. Rafael’s most succinct expressions of love of required and I came to embrace a state in which it is the cross is this: “Longings for heaven, on the one hand, and impossible to care for so touchy a sickness. I knew per- a human heart, on the other.... In short, suffering and Cross.” fectly well what awaited me. He expresses this in a drawing sent to his brother of “a hum- Nevertheless...sometimes, poor Br. Rafael, without ble lay brother who has chosen the road of truth in the dark your being aware of it, you were suffering, seeing your- night of the world...only the Cross of Christ sheds light on self deprived of many necessary things, stripped free the path of his life.” Rafael is this lay brother who looks on of the liberty of giving into the weakness of your ill- the cross with unfaltering love. It is a symbol of the love ness and giving it the remedies that out there in the Christ has for us. world you did not lack. God is in the detached heart, in the silence of prayer, Here we are confronted with the folly of the cross. St. in the voluntary sacrifice to pain, in the emptiness of Rafael is set apart from us by his special vocation, but even the world and its creatures. God is in the Cross, and as more by his freely chosen decision to abjure the care avail- long as we do not love the Cross, we will not see him, able to him for love of the cross of Christ. Even now, 72 or feel him.... If the world and men knew.... But they years after his death, such a choice unnerves us in our con- will not know; they are very busy in their interests; templation of the cross. Yet this saint does not evade the their hearts are very full of things that are not God. quandary that suffering presents: Strict With Himself It is difficult to explain why one loves suffering! But I Rafael could be very hard on himself. Two weeks before his believe that it can be explained because it is not suf- death, he found fault with how poorly he served God, his fering in itself, but rather as it is in Christ, and who- lack of humility, his disposition to follow his own whims. ever loves Christ loves his Cross. Who cannot identify with Rafael’s self-assessment?

We read St. Rafael’s outpourings of soul with contradic- My prayer is not good. I neither pray nor meditate nor tory feelings. Still, we can see ourselves in his reflections: do my lectio well. At work...I hardly work: when I eat and sleep I do nothing else—eat and sleep like a little If at times God is not in the soul it is because we do animal. I cannot go on that way. not want him there. We have such an accumulation of What one does is nothing in itself and is worth

20 America March 29, 2010 nothing; what is of worth is the way in which it is done.... When   will you understand that? How stupid you are! When will you        
 understand that virtue is not in eating an onion but in eating an onion for love of God? When will you understand that sanctity is not in doing external things but in the interior intention of any act

whatsoever? If you know it, why don’t you practice it?

Rafael appeared like a meteor that burned out in the dwindling months of the Spanish Civil War and the charged The Three Month Renewal Course months that preceded the start of The Hawkstone Three Month Renewal Course is offered 3 World War II. We too live in calami- times a year. Since 1975 over 5000 women and men in tous times of wars and a global econom- ministry world wide have participated in this programme - ic collapse. God’s ways are beyond our for many a life changing experience. understanding, but the mystery of God’s will and plan for salvation contin- Summer Course 19 April – 15 July 2010 ues to play out in the world. It is no Autumn Course 6 Sept – 2 Dec 2010 accident that Rafael’s impassioned love Spring Course 6 Jan – 17 March 2011 of the cross should be brought to our Summer Course 2 May – 28 July 2011 attention by his recent canonization. Perhaps Rafael was sent to restore the Autumn Course 5 Sept – 1 Dec 2011 meaning of the cross to a generation for *Renewal in an international community *Excellent lecturers offering whom it has become emptied of mean- weekly programme *Resident Pastoral Team *Daily Eucharist & Prayer ing. He sums up his message of the *Choice of Workshops *Spiritual Direction *Personal Time *Optional cross in homage to simplicity: Pilgrimages during Course Break *Beautiful House and Gardens Voices from the Hawkstone Course With Jesus at my side nothing seems difficult to me, and I see Thanks to Hawkstone, I’ve moved out of stormy clouds with much turbulence, into a clear and sunny sky. more that the road to sanctity is Paul ~ Lay Pastoral Director, Suriname simple. Better still, it seems to me A truly holistic approach to spirituality, food for mind, soul, and that it consists in continuing to get body’ rid of things instead of collecting Fr Eddie ~ Missionary Priest, Ecuador them, in slowly boiling down to The excellent courses and workshops have provided the simplicity instead of becoming opportunity for deeper self knowledge, and a greater insight into complicated with new things. In God’s ever present generous love and forgiveness the measure that we detach our- Sr Marcella ~ Canada selves from so much disordered Hawkstone met my expectations as a place of prayer, reflection, love for creatures and for our- and community life with women and men who are committed to selves, it seems to me that we are Christ and the Church Fr Mark ~ Diocesan Priest, USA getting closer and closer to the only love, the sole desire, the one For further details of all our Courses, Retreats, & other Events longing of this life...to true sancti- Please contact: The Secretary, Hawkstone Hall, ty, which is God. Marchamley, Shrewsbury, SY4 5LG, England Tel +44 1630 685 242 Fax +44 1630 685 565 Perhaps this is St. Rafael’s message for email: [email protected] Visit us today at www.hawkstone-hall.com us. A

March 29, 2010 America 21 FAITH IN FOCUS Kosher Catholics? BY BRIAN B. PINTER ne of the reasons my wife the relationship we modern Christians and over every creeping thing and I have such a good mar- have with the animals we eat, biblical that creeps upon the earth.” O riage is that we allow each dietary laws might again have a place other small indulgences. These take in our religious observance. Many theologians have interpreted the edge off the daily grind of stinky Much of the meat we consume is the imago Dei as referring to attributes diapers and dirty dishes. Jessica appre- raised, slaughtered and prepared in the unique to the human person: the ciates it when I keep our little sons confines of factory farms. The treat- immortal soul, the intellect and our occupied so she can paste family pho- ment of animal life in these places is ability to love. Recent biblical scholar- tos in her scrapbook. My special treat torturous, cruel, abusive and inhu- ship, however, has recovered an addi- is being allowed to watch the evening mane. A cursory search of the Internet tional meaning: a relational dimension. news in peace. will uncover gruesome videos of This interpretation underscores that Yet on a sweltering day in August, defenseless chicks having their little we are able to relate to the Creator in a as my then-pregnant wife finished beaks clipped with hot scissors, way not conferred upon other creatures preparing dinner in our sixth-floor turkeys living in cramped, sweltering, and also that we are to act as God’s Bronx apartment, I made a request dark coops and cows having their tra- viceroys vis-à-vis the nonhuman world. that I knew would test her saintly tol- cheas removed while still conscious. Genesis 1 stresses the special nature erance: I strode into the kitchen and Our impersonal and often cruel of the relationship between human announced that I would like to begin treatment of animals contradicts the and animal, strongly suggesting that keeping kosher. responsibility we are given as creatures animals, at least in the mind of the Jessica looked at the meal she had made in the image and likeness of author of this account, are the subjects spent the last hour making—roast God, a special status that explicitly of our kingly stewardship of creation. beef, baked potato with melted butter obligates us to look after the well- In illustrating the singularity of this and a fresh salad with bacon bits. After being of other creatures. The Jewish relationship, many scholars hold that an uncomfortable silence, she rolled tradition in which our faith is rooted the order of creation in Genesis 1 can her eyes and said, “If you insist on has long interpreted the keeping of be characterized as concentric circles starting this interreligious dietary dietary restrictions as a reminder of that represent increasing levels of inti- experiment tonight, you’ll be sleeping God’s command to exercise “domin- macy with God. Humans and animals on the couch!” ion” over the earth and all other living share the same circle, thus the same creatures. level of closeness with the Creator. Biblical Foundations The first chapter of the Book of The two also share the same table: The question of Christians observing Genesis (1:26) links the affirmation The Creator explicitly tells both that biblical dietary laws was addressed in that human beings are created in the they “have been given every green the earliest days of the church. image and likeness of God (a concept plant for food” (Gn 1:30). The verse According to Acts 15, Peter, Paul, often referred to as the imago Dei) suggests that it is God’s intention that James and John agreed that Gentile with our stewardship of animal life: the relationship between humanity converts would not have to follow and animals not be marked by blood- Jewish laws, specifically circumcision Then God said, “Let us make shed or violence. and dietary regulations, in order to humankind in our image, accord- Not until Gn 9:3 is the prohibition become Christians. But considering ing to our likeness; and let them against eating animal flesh relaxed, have dominion over the fish of though it includes restrictions: One is the sea, and over the birds of the not to eat the blood of any animal. BRIAN B. PINTER is the director of campus ministry at Regis High School in New York air, and over the cattle, and over Blood, in the religious imagination of City. all the wild animals of the earth, the ancient Israelites, symbolized the

22 America March 29, 2010 life force they believed belonged solely cluded that ethical treatment of non- down to eat. to God. human creatures is an issue of justice According to Rabbi Hayim Halevy The Old Testament adds further and mercy. Pope Benedict XVI, when Donim, author of an exhaustive guide boundaries to our use of animals for serving as prefect for the Congregation to Orthodox living entitled To B e a food by prohibiting their abuse and for the Doctrine of the Faith, stated, Jew, Orthodox theologians have long mandating that we accord them respect “A sort of industrial use of creatures, interpreted dietary regulations as a and dignity. The Book of so that geese are fed in such a way as to way of instilling in Jews an aversion to Deuteronomy, for instance, forbids bloodshed and a sensitivity for all the taking of a mother bird along living creatures. But while these with her young or the boiling of a laws are grounded in solid biblical young goat in its mother’s milk. precepts and convey a spirit of soli- Leviticus commands that no animal darity and respect for animal life, be castrated or mutilated. Rabbinical can they play a role in Christian regulations build on these texts by piety? mandating that an animal be slaugh- Granted, for the non-Jew, adher- tered in a manner that causes it no ence to kosher laws would be vex- anxiety or pain. Each precept is ing if not impossible. Nonetheless, grounded in the belief that animals the observance of some biblically can suffer emotional trauma. based dietary laws by Catholics The New Testament also views might be helpful as a reminder of animals in the context of a relation- the care, compassion and mercy ship with humans that carries ethical God has commanded us to show imperatives. The theologian Joshua our fellow, nonhuman creatures. A M. Moritz, in his essay “Animals and few simple restrictions—like eating the Image of God in the Bible and the meat only of animals slaugh- Beyond,” notes several instances in tered in a humane fashion, abstain- which Jesus shows compassion for ing from the mixing of dairy and animals. At the beginning of his min- meat products and making an effort istry, Jesus goes to “be with the wild to clean the flesh of blood—might animals” (Mk 1:13). Moritz argues serve to remind us of the life that that the Greek construction of this has been sacrificed for our suste- phrase strongly conveys a positive sense produce as large a liver as possible, or nance. of friendship and companionship. hens live so packed together that they Christian theology has long recog- Other Gospel stories record Jesus become just caricatures of birds, this nized that all human beings, because teaching that mercy should be extend- degrading of living creatures to a com- we are created in the image and like- ed to animals much as one would to a modity seems to me in fact to contra- ness of God, are deserving of dignity. person. Perhaps the most familiar sto- dict the relationship of mutuality that But our commissioning as the imago ries touching on this subject portray comes across in the Bible” (God and the Dei also calls us to a relationship of Jesus in debates about Sabbath obser- World: A Conversation With Peter care for other creatures, a sacred task vance: “If one of you has a small ani- Seewald). we often neglect. The dietary regula- mal or an ox that has fallen into a well, While the Bible describes the rela- tions of our ancestors in faith serve to will you not immediately pull it out on tionship between humans and animals remind God’s people of our obliga- a Sabbath day?” (Lk 14:5). Such pas- as one to be governed by ethical tions to our animal companions. The sages suggest that Jesus looked upon norms, and contemporary theologians great rabbis have long held that if our animals with gentleness and care, explore the moral implications of our relationship with the animal world much in keeping with tenets of his use of animal life, little in Catholic could be purged of savagery and ancient biblical faith. piety reminds the faithful of our foun- unnecessary violence, so might our dational command to exercise custodi- relationship with our fellow human Contemporary Church Teaching anship over other creatures. Judaism, beings. Perhaps there is still a place for The modern church has also spoken to by contrast, has maintained its dietary those observances in the life of mod- the issue of animal welfare. A growing restrictions, which call to mind this ern-day Christians—even in a Bronx

ART: DAN SALAMIDA body of theological reflection has con- responsibility whenever a Jew sits apartment. A

March 29, 2010 America 23 BOOKS &CULTURE

TELEVISION | PAUL KNITTER ings and sculpture. All of it is given greater color and meaning through THE ENLIGHTENED ONE interspersed commentary by experts David Grubin’s ‘The Buddha’ on PBS both academic and spiritual. But Grubin mixes these ingredients f Buddhism ranks among the three Gautama himself first sounded when beautifully into a smooth, forward- most accomplished missionary he arose after his awakening in the moving flow that is made all the more Ireligions of the world (along with Indian city of Bodhgaya, in Bihar, engaging through modernistic anima- Christianity and Islam), then the film- walked the 200 miles to Saranath tions, especially for scenes from maker David Grubin can well be con- (outside of Varanasi) and launched his Buddha’s life that stir the artist’s imag- sidered a successful contemporary life as a missionary. ination—like Buddha’s virginal con- Buddhist apostle. With his two-hour Grubin employs all the standard ception announced by a white ele- film, The Buddha (to be aired on PBS techniques for this kind of historical, phant or the dawning of his enlighten- stations on April 7; see local listings), didactic documentary—shots of his- ment under the Bodhi Tree. he audibly and engagingly continues to toric sites from the life of Buddha The star-studded cast of commen- “beat the drum of the Dharma” that blend with ancient and modern paint- tators is led by the Dalai Lama and

David Grubin films a monk as a small crowd gathers. framed by the mellow tones of his about the efficacy of what this man words) of compassion. As one of the devoted disciple, Richard Gere, the discovered and taught. commentators puts it: Once you stop film’s principal narrator. Among the I have seen many a film on Buddha, centering your feelings on yourself, experts who appear for sound-bite- but few of them have succeeded as well compassion for all beings arises natu- like lessons or sermonettes are profes- as this one in so lucidly and com- rally, spontaneously. sors (Robert Thurman, Max pellingly presenting the transformative Here, then, is Buddha’s “good Moerman, Kenin Trainor), poets elements of Buddha’s dharma. Again news”: All this is available to all people (Jane Hirschfield, W. S. Merwin), a and again we hear or see the simplicity at all times. As one Zen commentator therapist (Mark Epstein) and monks and audacity of Buddha’s liberating in the film puts it: It’s our Buddha- and nuns (Venerables Bhaddamanika announcement: Every- and Metteyya Sakyaputta). All of thing we need is given them speak not just knowledgeably, to us right now; it is WOMAN but passionately. They, too, are mis- available. All we have sionaries. to do is open our eyes And it all works—not just because to it, be mindful of it, He has not much time, maybe minutes. of the technical, artistic skills of not cling to any of it, Maybe minutes. Grubin and crew and the impassioned but let it be and be part wisdom of the commentators, but also of us. Watch life and Yet he catches her eye. She sees because the film is focused on the life be aware of life as it the sweat, blood and pus making and message of the man Gautama of happens. Accept it and tracks in the dirt on his face. the Sakyamuni who became Gautama work with it. Then let Buddha. Viewers are not distracted by it go in gentleness and Hers were the first eyes he entered the complex differences among the compassion. How do and now will be his last. three subsequent schools of Buddhism you know this is true? (Theravada, Mahayana, Vajrayana); You’ll know it when, in Against rough wood and iron spikes they are not taken into the light and trusting and following he shifts up his flesh for air to speak. dark history of Buddhism’s practical Buddha’s path, you feel She holds her breath to catch extinction in India and expansion it. throughout Asia or its struggles to All the commenta- his words, “Woman.” inculturate in Europe and the tors make clear that His beaten aching body—swaddled in blood— Americas. Only one story is presented: Buddha’s message was breathes, “Woman Who was this man? What was his his- primarily a call to prac- torical context? And what was his tice. Try it, he and they behold your son.” message? tell us; you’ll like it. She watches as he shifts his eyes Grubin and the commentators And then you will point out that the man and his con- know. On the basis of to the young man whose strong arms text can be seen only through the practice, you will begin steady her. “Behold your mother.” mist of myth and miracles. The his- to grasp some of the Her knees weaken, but her weight torical Buddha is even more removed deeper truths (meta- from us than the historical Jesus. But physical truths) in is secured in the young man’s strength. then, with the abandon of conscious Buddha’s message: the In her memory echoes a “yes” second naïveté (if I may allude to the truth of the intercon- work of Paul Ricoeur), the film nectedness of everyone as present and eternal as embraces the stories of white ele- and everything; the the blood that stains her hands, phants and devils and dancing girls truth of our nonindi- her face, her clothing. to show how this man was truly viduality (No-self ) as human in his struggles and search- we allow ourselves to ings and mistakes but, at the same be carried by and to LOUIS TEMPLEMAN time, truly enlightened in what he contribute to this all- discovered and how he lived there- encompassing interbe- LOUIS TEMPLEMAN writes from Baker Correctional after. Whatever may be the historical ing; the truth of the Institution, Sanderson, Fla.

PHOTO OPPOSITE: PBS/DAVID GRUBIN PRODUCTIONS/JOAN uncertainties, there are no doubts “natural law” (my

March 29, 2010 America 25 nature. And everyone bears it. This is public ministry of calling for reform of pulting the author onto the center of the ground for Buddha’s radical social his given religion. And in the film we the world stage. message: The caste system was not, as hear Buddha’s declaration, echoing From hell Solzhenitsyn passed into we hear in the film, “hardwired into Jesus in the Gospel of John, “Who sees purgatory. He survived his incarcera- the nature of the universe.” Even more me, sees the Dharma.” Do similar tion, he felt, only because the authori- revolutionary is the fact that women, claims about Jesus and Buddha on the ties decided to make use of his scien- too, can be enlightened and can join part of their followers indicate similar tific knowledge. It was his transfer to a the Sangha, or community. effects in their followers? sharashka—a government-run prison Some elements in For me, and I and research institute, where condi- the film will stir ON THE WEB trust for many fel- tions were much less harsh—that was scholarly quibbling. Carolyn Martin Buscarino reviews low Christians, this both his physical and spiritual salva- Buddha’s admission NBC’s “Parenthood.” film can serve as tion as well as the source for In the First americamagazine.org/culture of women to the another version of Circle (2009, Harper Perennial), a community was one of the most philosophical and religious novel that more ambiguous than the film implies. fruitful challenges that Buddha offers has until recently not been available to The same is true of the suggested the followers of Jesus. Gautama’s good English-language readers in its com- equal standing of laity within the news (that in our human natures and plete original and uncensored form. In Sangha. And somehow the face of a situation, we are already given all that a desperate effort to get the Shaivite Hindu devotee, trident we need) is perhaps a reminder to manuscript past the Soviet censors, emblazoned on forehead, was shown repossess what Karl Rahner, S.J., insis- the author had made significant as a Buddhist pilgrim at Lumbini, tently taught: that we live in a “super- changes, including the elimination of Buddha’s birthplace. But these are natural existential,” that our human nine chapters. This “lightened” ver- quibbles. They melt away in the film’s nature is graced nature. Like Buddha sion, titled The First Circle (1968)—a overall beauty and power. for his disciples, Jesus embodies this reference to Dante’s Inferno, in which For the Christian viewer who for his. To awaken to this is, for the denizens of “the first circle” (the engages the film dialogically, stunning, Buddhists, to be enlightened; for sharashka) are spared the torments of maybe unsettling, similarities abound Christians it is to live the mystical the lower realms (the conventional in the lives of Gautama and Jesus: depths of Christianity. labor camps)—was leaked to the West Buddha’s mother was a virgin not just and published in numerous languages “before” birth but even (as I was taught PAUL KNITTER is the Paul Tillich Professor of in the 1960s. The unexpurgated edi- of Mary in my 1960s theology course Theology, World Religions and Culture at tion went to press in English after the at the Pontifical Gregorian University) Union Theological Seminary, and the author author’s death in Moscow four months of No Other Name. He recently published in birth. The Buddha, too, was severe- Without Buddha I Could Not Be a shy of his 90th birthday. ly tempted by the “evil one” before his Christian (Oneworld, 2009). Breaking Silence In his fine biography of Solzhenitsyn, BOOKINGS | ANN M. BEGLEY Alexandr Solzhenitsyn: A Century in His Life, D. M. Thomas points out RUSSIA’S LITERARY LION that the suffering endured by his sub- ject was actually beneficial in that it Although he harbored literary ambi- state, he was sentenced to eight years brought about a dramatic intellectual tions early on, Alexandr Solzhenitsyn, in the vast network of Stalin’s notori- and spiritual transformation. Without born in 1918, earned a degree in math- ous slave labor compounds—an expe- the usual distractions of worldly con- ematics and physics—a fact that prob- rience that provided the raw material cerns, there was an abundance of time ably prolonged his life. While serving for his only major work allowed to for intense introspection, for listening as a captain in the Soviet army during appear in the Soviet Union: the novel- to the inner voices and turning to God. World War II, he was twice decorated la One Day in the Life of Ivan The youth who had declared, “I would for bravery before counterintelligence Denisovich (1962), which Premier gladly give my life for Lenin” became a agents discovered personal letters in Nikita Khrushchev himself had dissident of incredible fearlessness, which the author wrote disparagingly authorized as part of his campaign of whose mission it was to break the con- of Communist leader, Josef Stalin. de-Stalinization. It was an immediate spiracy of silence and expose the full Found guilty of conspiring against the literary and political sensation, cata- horror of Soviet tyranny. As

26 America March 29, 2010 Dostoyevsky had done a century earli- recorded voice. The book, with its huge ceeding works were banned, including er, Solehenitsyn blessed his prison for cast of characters constituting a cross the novel The Cancer Ward (1968), having nourished his soul. Like his lit- section of Soviet society—though which explores the relationship erary predecessor, he felt that his suf- Eleanor Roosevelt makes a cameo between the corporeal and spiritual ferings as a prisoner in Siberia had appearance—follows in the Russian lit- aspects of love while evoking the renewed his faith, and he was deter- erary tradition of realism, redolent of author’s nearly fatal bout with that dis- mined not to permit ease. Whereas Solzhenitsyn’s material pleasures to books found an enormous undermine the grace that audience abroad, in his own had been bestowed on country they had to be circu- him. “When one’s life is lated in samizdat (clandes- stripped down to the tine, self-published editions). bone,” he wrote, “one lives Granted the Nobel Prize for the spirit of the Gospels.” literature in 1970, he refused The once militant atheist to attend the awards ceremo- returned with humility ny because the Communist and joy to the Russian government would not guar- Orthodoxy of his child- antee his re-entry into hood. With justification, Russia. Joseph Pearce, author of Solzhenitsyn: A Soul in Writer as Recluse Exile, calls In the First Following the French Circle “a hymn of praise to the pursuit Tolstoy and Dostoyevsky. publication of proba- of truth in the midst of tribulation.” As in much of bly his best known The addition of the preposition Solzhenitsyn’s other writ- work, The Gulag “In” to the title subtly shifts the focus ings, the narrative is clearly Archipelago (1974)— from the existence of this level of hell based on the author’s own a monumental, to its occupants. There are changes in personal experiences during detailed history of the the plot. The portraits of some of the his imprisonment. By com- Soviet prison system major characters—based on real life pressing the time frame from and its punitive psy- prototypes—are more fully developed, three years to just four days, chiatric hospitals, in and new personages are presented the tension inherent in the which, according to along with the politically sensitive drama is heightened. One leitmotif is the author, some 60 million people questions they raise, such as whether voiced by the hunted diplomat who were confined during the 20th centu- Stalin had served as a double agent for asks, “If we live in a state of constant ry—Solzhenitsyn was accused of trea- the tsarist secret police and whether fear, can we remain human?” son, stripped of his citizenship and the Soviet Union should possess When Solzhenitsyn completed his expelled from his homeland. He trav- nuclear weapons. Of greater impor- prison term, he was exiled “in perpetu- eled to Stockholm and collected his tance is the author’s insistence on ity” to Soviet central Asia, where he Nobel Prize. revealing the flagrant Soviet lies about lived in a mud hut on the edge of a At a press conference, he warned the actual course of events. And, to be desert. He taught math and physics in that upon the breakup of the Soviet sure, the excised chapters have been a secondary school and began writing system, Russia would have to move reinstated; in one the reader enters the prose poems, short stories and plays. toward democracy “cautiously and mind of Stalin—a prisoner of his own Owing to Khrushchev’s influence, his slowly.” Espousing the age-old defini- paranoia—as he considers the possi- sentence of exile was eventually sus- tion of literature as “delightful instruc- bility of the existence of God. pended, and he returned to central tion,” in his Nobel Lecture he identi- The novel is, in part, a detective Russia. When less tolerant regimes fied the artist as one who recognizes story: A diplomat makes an anonymous rose to power, however, the socially above himself a higher power and joy- phone call to the American embassy, involved writer fell from official favor. fully works as “a humble apprentice.” and imprisoned scientists, most notably Because he was increasingly regarded Opposing the Soviet dictate that writ- a linguist and a mathematician, are by the authorities as a dangerous and ers must serve the state’s ideology and

PHOTO: REUTERS assigned the task of identifying his hostile critic of Soviet society, his suc- eschewing the moral relativism that

March 29, 2010 America 27 permeates modern thought, he main- he delivered a controversial and insen- an enormous canon, a truly unique tained that literature should not only sitive commencement address at contribution to literature. The first criticize but at times even be didactic. Harvard, criticizing the pop culture of three volumes of an anticipated 30- After a sojourn in Zurich, Americans, calling the people who had volume Russian edition of his collect- Solzhenitsyn ultimately settled in welcomed him and continued to host ed works are already in print. As strik- Cavendish, Vt., with his wife and three him spiritually mediocre, worshipers of ing as this canon is, his personal story sons, where he lived as a recluse, pro- materialism and cowardly for being is even more impressive. Like Pope tected from sightseers by neighbors, unwilling to die for their ideals—allud- John Paul II, whom he greatly who posted a sign that read, “No direc- ing to what he saw as a hasty with- admired, he helped to bring down one tions to the Solzhenitsyns.” Devoting drawal from Vietnam. Unlike his wife of the worst tyrannies the world has himself to the writing of a massive and children, Solzhenitsyn never ever witnessed. A self-appointed con- cycle of historical novels that focus on became an American citizen. Upon his science to the Russian nation, the revolutionary chaos that spawned arrival in Cavendish, he had told the Solzhenitsyn brought to light what Bolshevism—a multi-volume work villagers that when the Russian people had only been whispered about. with the series title The Red Wheel were liberated from the Soviet system, (1983-91)—he prayed each morning he would go home—and so he did, in ANN M. BEGLEY, an essayist and reviewer, with his family for Russia. On one of 1994. has taught at universities on both east and his extremely rare public appearances, Alexandr Solzhenitsyn left behind west coasts.

CLASSIFIED Retreats Web Sites WISDOM HOUSE, Litchfield, Conn. Retreats THE EVOLUTION OF SYMBIOSIS is nature’s include “Enneagram,” with Mary Fahy, R.S.M., pattern and God’s plan. Enrich your faith with the Books April 9-11; “Writing Your Grief,” for parents who synthesis of science. Free resources at: www.secon- HELP SEVERELY AUTISTIC adults. Buy a book at have lost children, with Sharon Charde, April 17; denlightenment.org and www.evolution101.org. douglasacres.com. “Art & Spirituality Forum: Artist—Shaman or Showman?” April 25. Hold your future meetings Education at Wisdom House! Contact us at (860) 567-3163; Wills America OBLATE SCHOOL OF THEOLOGY offers an e-mail: [email protected]; www.wis- Please remember in your will. Our legal title M.A. degree in spirituality; regular semester and domhouse.org. is: America Press Inc., 106 West 56th Street, New intersession courses. Web: www.ost.edu. York, NY 10019. Seminars Parish Missions CARMEL’S QUEST FOR THE LIVING GOD is INSPIRING, DYNAMIC PREACHING: parish the theme of the 25th anniversary conference of missions, retreats, days of recollection; www the annual seminar on Carmelite Spirituality, June .sabbathretreats.org. 16-20, 2010. Speakers: Camilo Maccise, O.C.D., Fernando Millán Romeral, O.Carm., D. Leckey Positions (Woodstock). Workshops by the Carmelite PASTORAL ADMINISTRATORS sought by the Forum. Contact: Kathy Guthrie: (574) 284-4636 Diocese of Great Falls-Billings for three-parish or [email protected]. Conference at cluster in Billings, Mont., and Colstrip, Mont. Center for Spirituality, Saint Mary’s College, Ministry description and requirements can be Notre Dame, Ind. 46556-5001. See accessed at www.dioceseofgfb.org. saintmarys.edu/Carmelite-seminar.

America classified. Classified advertisements are accept- TO SUBSCRIBE OR RENEW EB0909 ed for publication in either the print version of America ❑ New subscription ❑ Renewal or on our Web site, www.americamagazine.org. Ten- Yearly rates are $56 for each subscription. Add $30 for postage, handling and GST on Canadian orders. word minimum. Rates are per word per issue. 1-5 times: Add $54 for foreign subscriptions. Payment in U.S. funds only. $1.50; 6-11 times: $1.28; 12-23 times: $1.23; 24-41 times: $1.17; 42 times or more: $1.12. For an addition- ❑ Payment enclosed ❑ Bill me al $30, your print ad will be posted on America’s Web On occasion America gives permission to other organizations to use our list for promotional purposes. If you do not want to receive these promotions, contact our List Manager at our New York offices. site for one week. The flat rate for a Web-only classified ad is $150 for 30 days. Ads may be submitted by e-mail For change of address and renewal: Please attach the mailing label from the front cover when writing about service or change of address. Allow 3 to 4 weeks for change of address to take effect. Thank you to: [email protected]; by fax to (928) 222-

Mail to: America 2107; by postal mail to: Classified Department, Name: or call 1-800-627-9533 America, 106 West 56th St., New York, NY 10019. Address: To post a classified ad online, go to our home page and or visit www.americamagazine.org City: State: ZIP: click on “Advertising” at the top of the page. We do not

E-mail: P.O. Box 293159, Kettering, OH 45429-91599 accept ad copy over the phone. MasterCard and Visa accepted. For more information call: (212) 515-0102.

28 America March 29, 2010 LETTERS correction and maximizing potential. tank, the images of war from Legislators are unwilling to risk their Vietnam—these images stir up some- real or perceived political futures by thing within us. A Life A.M.D.G. advocating for the programs and poli- Yet the reality of abortion, we do The commentary on the life of John cies that can, over time, address the not want to look at. It is too horrible, W. Donohue, S.J. (Of Many Things, needs of the total community. Maybe if too unconscionable, too painful. We 3/8) stirred in me fond memories of the church lived as if it believed this too are not ready to look at the realities. my freshman year at Canisius High was an important pro-life issue, we But when we do, then the time will School in 1944-45. We were in the would have more success in changing come for change, because the change first class to use the “new” school on hearts. will come from within, not from some- Delaware Avenue in Buffalo. Our class MARY THERESE LEMANEK one imposing rules and laws. There was special in several ways. It was the Allen Park, Mich. will be a conviction that will not go largest freshman class in the school’s away until true change occurs with the history, and we were in our own build- Sad Commentary conversion of one’s heart. And this all ing, not intimidated by the presence of I am pleased that the bishops have happens through various images. upperclassmen. come to the defense of John Carr So whether we look at a beautiful Each pupil was assigned to a home- (Signs of the Times, 2/22). Having child within the womb or at a child room. Our homeroom teacher was a known John during my years with killed by abortion, it is all about the young Jesuit scholastic. “Father” Catholic Charities, he is one of the images. We are not ready to face the Donohue, as we referred to him, shining lights of the national offices of realities; we are not ready to look; we taught us religion, Latin and English. the U.S. Conference of Catholic are simply not ready for change. The He was an excellent teacher who com- Bishops. But if the bishops had dealt day we allow the images, the realities manded respect. His authority was with the narrow politics and intoler- to imprint on our nation’s soul is the never questioned. He was also very ance of such groups as Human Life day change will occur. kindly and never talked down to us or International in the beginning, their PATRICK DELORENZO ridiculed our mistakes. The respect he un-Christian politics would not have Saratoga, Calif. had for us enkindled in our adolescent been allowed to infect the church as it hearts a respect and love for him. I has. I have Catholic relatives who have Like Chairs on the Titanic shall never forget him. When I gradu- claimed that President Obama is evil Re “Welcoming the Roman Missal,” by ated four years later, he sent me and and doing the work of the devil, and by Bishop Arthur Serratelli (3/1): Some other classmates from our freshman inference I am as well, because I voted of the new translation may be beauti- year homeroom a personal note of for Obama. The debacle at Notre ful. But introducing archaic words congratulations and encouragement to Dame when President Obama spoke, likes “the gibbet of the cross” is not maintain Jesuit ideals in our lives. the divisiveness and vitriol that the going to help me pray liturgically. I Thank you for your respectful anti-Obama bishops encouraged, are question the entire undertaking. Just remembrance of that wonderful man, another sign of the bishops falling into suppose that all the time and money who at the beginning of my first day of the politics of fear and division. It is a that have gone into the preparation high school in 1944 wrote on the sad commentary on a church that its had been directed toward alleviating blackboard “A.M.D.G.” and told us social teaching can claim a rich tradi- human misery around the world. The what it meant. His life was “Ad tion of love, justice and peace, but in its world is falling apart as the economy Majorem Dei Gloriam.” practice and public deportment it has crumbles, and we are rearranging litur- RICHARD M. MATTIMORE become an object of ridicule. gical chairs on the Titanic deck. If you Glenview, Ill. STEVE RALL want real liturgical reform, get the Lansing, Mich. Prison Reform a Pro-life Issue inclusive texts that have been devel- oped and are being used by inclusive Re “Administering Justice,” (Editorial, The Power of Images intentional communities across the 3/15): One might hope that lack of Re “Friendly Persuasion,” by Robert country. money would force genuine improve- Barron (3/8): Images have stopped J. PATRICK MAHON ments in the penal systems. While there wars, and images created change in Young Harris, Ga. is some movement in this direction, South Africa. Images are powerful and there is also a lot of resistance. We con- bring forth conviction. The Berlin Priest Emeritus Too tinue to operate more from a place of Wall coming down, the man in Like a bishop emeritus, as described punishment and vengeance than one of Tiananmen Square standing up to a by Bishop Emeritus Frank Rodimer,

March 29, 2010 America 29 3/22), a “retired” priest should also be spiritual intervention and need.” And I political dilemma, especially in regard considered emeritus. There should be really believe that neither would Sr. to health care. His sense of humor significant gatherings, well prepared, Elaine agree if she were asked directly. helps to make the pill go down. And that he is invited to actively share in, Sad to say, nothing was mentioned thank you so much, America, for help- thus maintaining some official relation about the sacrament of the sick. ing me to keep up my hope in these to the people of God. The term retired To me, the most powerful spiritual troubling times. should probably not be used with intervention for a sick person is the JANE VITALE Pocatello, Idaho regard to priests, nor the term senior anointing for healing. Catholic chaplains priests, which usually means nothing. are given the most powerful prayers, the Truth to Power (REV.) RICHARD T. RODRIGUEZ sacraments, by Jesus to bring healing to It was distressing to read in “The Pensacola, Fla. the patient through the power of Christ. Other America,” by Tim Padgett And his power to heal is far greater than Sacramental Power (3/8), about the way the U.S. govern- any listening or comforting words we As a hospital chaplain, I eagerly read ment [tacitly] supports dictatorial offer to the patient, as important as they “Ward Healer,” by Aaron Biller (3/1). regimes in Latin America and is more are. I agree 100 percent that listening ROGER J. BOURGEA, S.M. interested in giving them military sup- attentively and talking with patients Boston, Mass. port than in helping the poor. about their concerns are very impor- But it is even more distressing to tant parts of the chaplain’s ministry. Humor and Hope see how our church has not come out But I do not agree that “patients, Kudos to John F. Kavanaugh, S.J. His for the poor. My experiences in several nurses and chaplains have ranked talk- article “Antidote to Anomie,” (3/15) is countries of Latin America have ing and listening as the number one so right in pinpointing our present shown me how the people are people of deep faith, but it is faith in God, To send a letter to the editor we recommend using the link that appears below articles on Jesus Christ and Mary, and not neces- America’s Web site, www.americamagazine.org. This allows us to consider your letter for publi- sarily in the church. And with good 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]. They should reason. be brief and include the writer’s name, postal address and daytime phone number. Letters may Too often the church is closely be edited for length and clarity. entwined with the ruling class and encourages the wealthy to donate to WITHOUT GUILE the poor, but it is not willing to take the second step of changing the struc- tures that keep people in poverty. The hierarchy, for the most part, has not seen how detrimental such close alliance with the government is for the church. When people rebel against the government, they also rebel against the church, as has been seen for example in the French Revolution, Mexico in the 1920s and the Spanish Civil War. The hierarchical church must remember its prophetic mission of speaking truth to power. I pray that it will. LUCY FUCHS Brandon, Fla.

America (ISSN 0002-7049) is published weekly (except for 13 com- bined issues: Jan. 4-11, 18-25, Feb. 1-8, April 12-19, June 7-14, 21- 28, July 5-12, 19-26, Aug. 2-9, 16-23, Aug. 30-Sept. 6, Sept. 13-20, Dec. 20-27) by America Press, Inc., 106 West 56th Street, New York, NY 10019. Periodicals postage is paid at New York, N.Y., and additional mailing offices. Business Manager: Lisa Pope; Circulation: Judith Palmer, (212) 581-4640. Subscriptions: United States, $56 per year; add U.S. $30 postage and GST (#131870719) for Canada; or add U.S. $54 per year for international priority airmail. Postmaster: Send address changes to: America, 106 West 56th St. “The secret of success is name recognition.” New York, NY 10019. Printed in the U.S.A. CARTOON BY HARLEY SCHWADRON

30 America March 29, 2010 THE WORD Beyond Hope EASTER SUNDAY (C), APRIL 4, 2010 Readings: Acts 10:34-43; Ps 118:1-23; Col 3:1-4; Lk 24:13-35 “We were hoping that he would be the one to redeem Israel” (Lk 24:21)

ome years ago my mom and I them, he first elicits from them their prophetic life and mission. We see, too, took a trip to the Grand own interpretation. They retell what how we are asked to conform our own SCanyon. We drove from they experienced of Jesus as “a prophet lives to this journey of prophetically Chicago, stopping along the way mighty in deed and word before God embodying good news for the most vul- whenever something took our fancy. and all the people,” and they nerable, being prepared to accept its There were chance encounters with recount the truth of his cost. Essential for this journey is the people who offered spontaneous kind- brutal murder. They abiding presence of the risen ness and others whose rudeness chal- speak of what their Jesus. As did those first disciples lenged us not to respond in kind. hopes were, but these we, too, implore him to stay When we reached our destination, the now seem dashed. with us. And he does. He con- experience was indescribable—greater They tell about what tinues to open our eyes by than what we could imagine and some of the women unfolding the Scriptures to us impossible to capture in words or pho- experienced at the tomb and by making himself known in tos. There were experienced trail- and their interpretation the breaking of the bread. guides and interpretive signs, but what that Jesus was alive. we saw was far beyond what the geo- Others went to see for them- PRAYING WITH SCRIPTURE logical explanations could tell. We sat selves and found the tomb empty, • Ask the Risen One to stay with you and to gazing in hushed awe. Words would but they did not see him alive, as the open your eyes. do a disservice to the immense beauty women had. that engulfed us. Different disciples are at different • Who are the women today who keep vigil in places of death? What visions do In a similar fashion, no words are stages in their journey with and they announce? capable of expressing what happened toward the risen one, each seeing to Jesus at Easter or what happened to something different and each need- • How is the risen Christ setting your heart burning within you? the first disciples who experienced him ing to interpret it in their own as resurrected. The only adequate words. response is contemplative awe, yet we It is remarkable that Jesus does ART: TAD DUNNE need to try to say something of what not immediately interpret for this experience means for us. Cleopas and his companion what their No words adequately express our In the Gospel story today, two of journey with him means. Then, as experience of what it is like to have Jesus’ disciples are talking and debat- now, Jesus first asks his disciples to try him risen among us. Resurrected life ing as they walk away from Jerusalem, to say what they (or we) have experi- far exceeds all our hopes and is far the place of pain and confusion, trying enced and how we understand what more than a happy ending to a tragic to make meaning of it all. They are has happened. This first step takes us story. It is not only what happened to struggling to see how to make sense only part of the way. Jesus, but it is already lived by us, but cannot yet do so. As Jesus joins To go the next step on the journey it whose lives are “hidden with Christ is necessary to turn to the Scriptures— in God,” as Paul says. It is not only the BARBARA E. REID, O.P., a member of the the official guidebook, if you will— end of a life’s journey, but is tasted Dominican Sisters of Grand Rapids, Mich., is which help to unravel the meaning. already now, all along the way. It is a professor of New Testament studies at Immersing ourselves in the whole story, beyond all that we had hoped and Catholic Theological Union in Chicago, Ill., where she is vice president and academic from Moses through all the prophets, even now sets our hearts burning dean. we understand a little more of Jesus’ within us. BARBARA E. REID

March 29, 2010 America 31 SETON HALL UNIVERSITY’S MICAH BUSINESS LEADERSHIP PROJECT MICAH

CONTEMPORARY MOVEMENTS FOR SOCIAL JUSTICE SATURDAY, APRIL 24, 2010 9:30 A.M. - 3:30 P.M.

DISTINGUISHED GUEST SPEAKERS: Darlene O’Leary, Ph.D., St. Paul University, Ottawa; John B. Gallagher, Ph.D., Focolare; Elizabeth Garlow, B.S., Focolare; James T. Milway, C.P.M., B.S., M.B.A., Focolare; Dr. Andrea Bartoli, the Community of Sant’ Egidio; Paul LaChance, Ph.D., College of St. Elizabeth; Father Jack Martin, Haiti Solidarity Network of the Northeast (HSNNE); Fredrick Fakharzadah, M.D., Centesimus Annus Pro-Pontifice; Dermot Quinn, D.Phil. (Oxon), G.K. Chesterton Institute for Faith & Culture

DDuringuring hishis lifetime,lifetime, thethe CanadianCanadian philosopher-theologianphilosopher-theologian BernardBernard LonerganLonergan (1904-84)(1904-84) wrotewrote aaboutbout tthehe ““purepure ccycle”ycle” ooff eeconomicconomic aactivityctivity — thethe harmoniousharmonious relationshiprelationship betweenbetween production,production, cconsumption,onsumption, financefinance andand a standardstandard ofof livingliving reflectingreflecting thethe commoncommon good.good. TheThe conferenceconference ffocusesocuses oonn LLonergan’sonergan’s ideasideas andand howhow theythey relaterelate ttoo vvariousarious movementsmovements forfor justicejustice today:today: particularly,particularly, thethe FocolareFocolare movement’smovement’s ““EconomyEconomy ofof Communion”Communion” andand thethe CommunityComommuniiity ofof Sant’Sant’ EgidioEgidi . TheThe dayday willwill endend withwith a panelpanel representingrepresenting otherother movementsmovements andand pperspectiveserspectives onon thethe contemporarycontemporary challengeschallenges toto socialsocial justice.justice.

Registration fee: $20, including lunch To register, or for additional information, please e-mail [email protected], call (973) 275-2525 or visit academic.shu.edu/ccs