MINISTRY ISSUE

T. HOWLAND SANKS ON CUSTOMIZING SEMINARY EDUCATION OF MANY THINGS 106 West 56th Street New York, NY 10019-3803 econstructionists, those them as the ones who were presumably Ph: (212) 581-4640; Fax: (212) 399-3596 intellectuals who make it their not beset by fear and trembling and Subscriptions: (800) 627-9533 www.americamedia.org job to ask critical questions were thus able to carry on the project of facebook.com/americamag D twitter.com/americamag about our long-cherished collective reform. The problem here is that this is stories, like to ask, among other things, a far too facile and barely credible story. President and Editor in Chief who or what cause is best served by To be sure, Father Ratzinger’s thinking Matt Malone, S.J. a given narrative. They might ask, for and positions did evolve. In a soon- Executive Editors Robert C. Collins, S.J., Maurice Timothy Reidy example, whose interests are served to-be-published interview, the pope Managing Editor Kerry Weber by a story that tells of the triumph of emeritus tells Peter Seewald that he Literary Editor Raymond A. Schroth, S.J. capitalism over the broken promises of grew increasingly concerned about the Senior Editor and Chief Correspondent Kevin Clarke collectivism? Answer: the capitalists’ direction of theology in the wake of the Editor at Large James Martin, S.J. interests, of course. In this way, the council. “In this respect one could soon Creative Director Shawn Tripoli deconstructionists see every story as see that what was originally desired was Executive Editor, America Films Jeremy Zipple, S.J. being driven in a different direction,” inherently political, with clear winners Poetry Editor Joseph Hoover, S.J. and losers depending on who is doing he says. “Since 1965 I have felt it to Associate Editor and Vatican Correspondent the storytelling. be a mission, to make clear what [the Gerard O’Connell Associate Editor and Director of Digital This critical method can be useful if council] genuinely wanted and what we Strategy Sam Sawyer, S.J. not taken too far. It can easily descend did not want.” Associate Editor & Director of Audience into cynicism, leaving us concerned One of the ways the future pope did Development Eric Sundrup, S.J. Senior Editor Edward W. Schmidt, S.J. with only the price of events rather that was by publishing his Introduction Associate Editors Ashley McKinless, Olga than their value, to borrow an idea from to Christianity, which sets forth many of Segura, Robert David Sullivan Oscar Wilde. But the question, whose the theological themes he would pursue Associate Editor, Film José Dueño, S.J. Assistant Editor Joseph McAuley interests are served by a given narrative, throughout his journey from professor Art Director Sonja Kodiak Wilder is one that is worth asking, not least to pope. It is important to note that this Editorial Assistant for Digital Media because the stories we tell do inevitably book was based on a series of lectures Zachary Davis ditorial ssistant Eloise Blondiau he gave at least two years prior to the E A impart the values we hold dear in some O’Hare Fellows Teresa Donnellan, Nicholas fundamental way. events of 1968. So the protests of that Genovese, Wyatt Massey It seems to me that the time has year, though not irrelevant, were hardly Columnists Helen Alvaré, John J. Conley, S.J., Daniel P. Horan, O.F.M., James T. Keane, John W. come to ask this particular question a decisive event. Martens, Bill McGarvey, Angela Alaimo O’Donnell, of a narrative that has proven popular All this would be just an arcane Margot Patterson, Nathan Schneider National Correspondent Michael O’Loughlin and perduring in the contemporary historical tidbit if it weren’t for the Regional Correspondents John Carr (Wash- American church. The story, which fact that this questionable narrative is ington), Anthony Egan, S.J., and Russell Pollitt, S.J. (Johannesburg), Jim McDermott, S.J. (Los I’ve heard told dozens of times, goes still operative, especially among those Angeles), Timothy Padgett (Miami), David Stewart, something like this: Once there was a who see Pope Francis’ pontificate as S.J. (London), Rhona Tarrant (Dublin), Judith Valente (Chicago) very “progressive” German theologian a radical departure from that of his Moderator, Catholic Book Club named Joseph Ratzinger. He was a predecessors. Yet neither Benedict nor Kevin Spinale, S.J. champion of the new theology and Francis see it that way: “If one isolates Editor, The Jesuit Post Michael Rossmann, S.J. Editorial e-mail a leading reform-minded expert things, takes them out of context,” the [email protected] at the Second Vatican Council. In pope emeritus tells Seewald, “one can Publisher and Chief Financial Officer 1968, his university classroom, like construct opposites, but not if one looks Edward G. Spallone Deputy Publisher colleges everywhere in the West, was at the whole. There may be a different Rosa M. Del Saz Vice President for Advancement Daniel Pawlus Advertising convulsed by a student revolution. This emphasis, of course, but no opposition.” Sales Manager Chris Keller Advancement destabilizing event, so the story goes, There’s a lesson in this. Catholics Coordinator Timothy Bouffard Programs and Events Coordinator Nicholas Sawicki sent Father Ratzinger into the arms of of every stripe would do well to take Business Operations Staff Glenda Castro, the forces of reaction; and the rest of his a moment to question the stories that Ryan Richardson, Katy Zhou Advertising Contact [email protected]; 212-515- life, as archbishop, Vatican prefect and inform our actions and judgments. And 0102 Subscription contact and Additional pope has been a long rightward march. if we can let go of our cherished myths copies 1-800-627-9533 Reprints: reprints@ americamedia.org Now it is perfectly clear that the and ideologies for long enough, we might opponents of Father Ratzinger’s even create enough space for the Holy © 2016 America Press Inc. theological projects are the ones who are Spirit to narrate our story anew. best served by this narrative, which casts MATT MALONE, S.J. Cover: Composite image: America. Contents www.americamagazine.org VOL. 215 NO. 8, WHOLE NO. 5140 September 26, 2016

MINISTRY ISSUE 16 FOREIGN POLICY DÉJÀ VU Where the candidates stand on world affairs Maryann Cusimano Love

22 FULLY FORMED A customized approach to seminary education T. Howland Sanks

COLUMNS & DEPARTMENTS 4 Current Comment 16 5 Editorial Georgetown Repents 6 Reply All 8 Signs of the Times 14 Column Free to Serve ​Helen Alvaré 21 First Monday Voting Blights ​Ellen K. Boegel 25 Vatican Dispatch Instruments of Peace Gerard O’Connell 27 Faith in Focus Finding My Anchor Michaila McCloskey 39 The Word What Disciples Do John W. Martens

22 BOOKS & CULTURE

29 THEATER “Sinners” OF OTHER THINGS Help Your Brothers BOOKS Zero K; Guantánamo Diary; Politics of the Person as the Politics of Being POEM At the Edge of the Mississippi

ON THE WEB America Media launched “La Palabra,” a weekly Spanish- language column on Scripture. Plus, a new report on the misconceptions Americans have about Catholic sisters. More digital highlights on page 18 and at americamagazine. org/webfeatures. 29 CURRENT COMMENT

Migrants and migration have bedeviled every European Remember Hiroshima leader since a refugee crisis exploded in 2015. That year, Readers of John Hersey’s 31,000-word article "Hiroshima," a record 1.3 million people from the Middle East, Africa which was published in the Aug. 31, 1946, issue of The and Asia applied for asylum in Europe, seeking refuge New Yorker, will never forget the horrible effects of the first from violence, poverty and oppression. Most notable atomic bombs that the United States dropped on Hiroshima has been the number of Muslims trying to escape the and Nagasaki, especially the faces of those who had looked protracted civil war in Syria. By accepting large numbers into the blast and whose melting eyeballs were dripping of migrants into Germany, Ms. Merkel offered a humane down their cheeks. Our first use of the weapon killed an response to an unprecedented crisis—with mixed results. estimated 200,000 human beings. Today, a single nuclear Problems of assimilation, fearmongering and voter weapon dropped on a major city would immediately kill dissatisfaction have proven to be stubborn roadblocks, hundreds of thousands and injure many more. all of which have exacted a political price for Ms. Merkel. In June 1998, 75 U.S. Catholic bishops declared, Like any leader, she knows how hard it is for officials to “Nuclear weapons must never be used, no matter what faithfully follow Edmund Burke’s dictum about adhering the provocation, no matter what the military objective.” In to one’s judgment instead of following popular “opinion.” Prague in 2009, President Obama announced his drive to To do right is never easy. reduce the role—even rid the world—of nuclear weapons. But recently Mr. Obama dropped his consideration of a Lonely Planet no-first-use policy, by which the United States would use the weapon only in response to an enemy’s nuclear attack, In today’s tech-savvy, app-happy world, “friends” or in the face of heavy resistance to the idea. Reportedly, key “connections” are often only a few clicks away. Yet even as advisers have warned the president that to men like Russia’s our global society is more interconnected than ever before, President Vladimir Putin and North Korea’s Kim Jong- loneliness, especially among older people, not only persists un, our reluctance to annihilate several hundred thousand but can be the cause of a host of other physical and mental innocent people makes the United States look weak. challenges. This year neuroscientists at the Massachusetts In his visit last May to the Hiroshima Peace Memorial, Institute of Technology published findings identifying a President Obama reaffirmed his vision of a nuclear-free part of the brain that generates feelings of loneliness and world. “We must have the courage to escape the logic of is linked to depression, but researchers had already known fear…. We may not realize this goal in my lifetime. But that loneliness can cause physical pain, wreak havoc on persistent effort can roll back the possibility of catastrophe.” one’s sleep and even increase one’s risk of dying. Recently, President Obama must muster the courage of his original Great Britain has devoted increased public health resources commitment to a disarmed peace. to programs intended to ease the effects of loneliness, including a helpline for lonely seniors. Studies show that feelings of loneliness may have Judgment Versus Opinion evolved to motivate us to survive by reaching out to our Angela Merkel is currently the longest-serving European communities. Yet they also show that those suffering from head of government, having been Germany’s chancellor loneliness also can feel more averse to meeting new people, since 2005. If the results of recent local elections are any in part out of fear of rejection. Helplines and screenings indication, her days in office could be numbered. can help alleviate this pain, but government programs The results in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, the cannot be the only solution. Catholic parishes must play a chancellor’s home state, do not bode well for Ms. Merkel’s role in countering what some have termed an “epidemic of party. In the voting on Sept. 4, the center-left Social loneliness.” Creating groups to visit nursing homes or to Democrats polled first with 31 percent; and the anti- organize transportation to and from parish events can be immigrant party, Alternative for Germany, polled second, a big help to parishioners who may otherwise be unable with 21 percent, leaving Ms. Merkel’s center-right Christian or not comfortable enough to attend. Personal invitations Democrats a distant third, with 19 percent. Her migration often go a long way toward making people feel welcome. policies were probably a factor in the outcome. How Ms. And taking the time to stop and talk with new faces at Merkel has dealt with this issue will not only affect her Mass can help to affirm for those who have made the effort politically in the short term but may well define her record to reach out that they are in the right place, one where all and legacy as the first female leader of modern Germany. are welcome at the table.

4 America September 26, 2016 EDITORIAL Georgetown Repents n Sept. 1, John J. DeGioia, the president of George- Plantation Project several years ago, town University, announced that the school would now called the Georgetown Slavery Oformally ask for forgiveness and seek to make resti- Archive. These records shine a clear tution for the institution’s involvement in the sin of slavery. light on the facts. Though Father By doing so the Georgetown community engaged in a pro- Mulledy attached specific instruc- cess in which all Catholics are called to participate, one that tions to the sale of the slaves—families were not to be sep- the church has used to dramatic effect as it sought to redress arated, for example, and were to be allowed to practice their wrongs in its own history. The journey of reconciliation is Catholic faith—these instructions were ignored. The slaves usually told from the point of view of the individual sinner. were clearly sold to help finance the university. Evidence of But sometimes institutions, and even nations, must set out institutional complicity in the U.S. slave trade is rarely so cut on the path of repentance. and dried. Other institutions that seek to account for their No sin is more worthy of attention and prayer than own participation in the slave trade may find it more difficult this country’s original sin of slavery. Georgetown is seeking to render historical judgments. to address a morally shocking episode at the center of its A few other lessons can be learned from Georgetown’s history. In 1838, the head of the Maryland Province of the journey. First, sometimes institutions, like individuals, Society of Jesus, Thomas F. Mulledy, S.J., decided to sell must be called to repentance. At Georgetown, the Working 272 slaves to help provide financial support to Georgetown Group on Slavery, Memory and Reconciliation was formed University. He did so against the explicit orders of his after student journalists reported on the university’s history superiors in Rome. The history of this sale—and the and protests roiled the campus. The Working Group is to be Jesuits’ larger involvement in the slave trade in the United strongly commended for undertaking a rigorous process of States—was widely known within Jesuit circles and has examination, but the process might not have begun without been the subject of extensive scholarship at Georgetown and the efforts of these young journalists and student protesters. elsewhere. Second, the process was aided by the diversity of the The episode drew renewed scrutiny last year as stu- commission, lay and Jesuit, students and faculty. Perhaps a dents protested the fact that two university buildings carried descendant of one of the slaves who were sold should have the names of individuals at the center of the scandal: Father been included, but Mr. DeGioia pledges that these indi- Mulledy and William McSherry, S.J., both of whom also viduals will be consulted as the university implements the served as presidents of the university. A working group Working Group’s recommendations. (These voices might made up of Jesuits, students and faculty was assigned to argue for more financial support for slave descendants ap- study the issue. In addition to celebrating a Mass of forgive- plying to Georgetown.) Third, actual penance is important. ness and reconciliation, Georgetown will rename the two The work of reparation is one of the ways Christians coop- buildings in question: one in honor of Isaac Hawkins, the erate with grace. first slave listed among those who were sold, and another Finally, the sin of slavery still haunts us. Few American for Anne Marie Becraft, an African-American woman reli- institutions, whether Georgetown or an Ivy League universi- gious who opened a school for black girls in Washington, ty, the church or the U.S. government, can declare themselves D.C. Meanwhile, descendants of the slaves who were sold untainted by the sin of racism or claim that slavery is a painful SHERRY HALL, ON THE GEORGETOWN UNIVERSITY CAMPUS. AP PHOTO/JACQUELYN MARTIN HALL, ON THE GEORGETOWN UNIVERSITY CAMPUS. AP PHOTO/JACQUELYN SHERRY c who apply to Georgetown will receive the same treatment as historical episode but no more than that. Reflecting on the legacy applicants. discussions at Georgetown, the Maryland Province of the These steps may be thought of as Georgetown’s pen- Jesuits recommitted itself to examine “our own generation’s” ance or perhaps, in secular terms, as reparations. But before moral blind spots. Surely this is one of them: A century and a receiving absolution, sinners must give an account of their half after the Civil War, the legacy of racism still surrounds us, sins. In a penitential service in St. Peter’s Basilica presided visible in the poverty of our cities, the inequality of the crimi- over by St. John Paul II in 2000 to address the church’s his- nal justice system, the segregation of schools and suburbs and torical sins, the rite began with a listing of wrongs that had the avoidable deaths of too many black men, women and chil- been committed in the church’s name. For Georgetown, the dren. As our nation sets out to atone for the sins of the past,

REMEMBRANCE HALL, LEFT, FORMERLY NAMED M FORMERLY REMEMBRANCE HALL, LEFT, journey to reconciliation began when it unveiled the Jesuit how will we account for the signs of sin we encounter today?

September 26, 2016 America 5 REPLY ALL To give up on these vital institutions schools attempt to maintain a relative- would be akin to eliminating Catholic ly low cost of tuition. The momentum An Open Invitation schools in the Northeast 100 years of the school choice movement has Superintendents and the National ago, when they provided the founda- greatly assisted our families; to date, Catholic Educational Association tion that allowed Irish, Italian, Polish 27 states and the District of Columbia respond to “Reinventing Catholic and other immigrant populations to have some form of parental choice pro- Schools,” by Charles Zech (8/29). work their way up in American society. gram, and the trend is toward greater Charles Zech fails to mention the The same work, with the same goal, levels of public funding support. incredible work being done in Catholic continues today. To further provide assistance to schools across the country today. The true story of Catholic schools those low-income families, there are As the superintendents of Catholic in the United States is their contin- tremendous philanthropic support and schools and the head of the National ued success, despite difficulties, and great partnerships, from the Catholic Catholic Educational Association, we their ability to overcome challenges. Education Foundation in Los Angeles work each and every day in schools Catholic schools continue to out- to the Catholic School Foundation in that look nothing like what the author perform public and private schools Boston and so many more. The value describes. and do a particularly effective job of our schools is perhaps most evident Professor Zech writes, “It is no with low-income, minority students. in weekly giving from our Catholic longer good stewardship on the part Professor Zech writes that “many ur- parishioners, many of whom do not of Catholic dioceses and parishes to ban parochial schools find themselves have school-age children of their own, continue supporting the old model serving a population that struggles to who give selflessly to their local par- of Catholic parochial schools.” This afford parochial school tuition. Many ishes knowing that they are support- implies that those dedicated servants of these students are not Catholic.” ing Catholic school education, which who sacrifice and work daily in these This indicates a lack of understanding brings life and vitality to our parishes. institutions, along with students and of Catholic schools, especially in the If, as Professor Zech states, the is- families, are wasting church resourc- West, where the urban population is sue of a lack of Catholic giving is such a es. We see funds spent on Catholic largely Catholic. Shuttering schools significant limitation, we should focus schools as an investment in children that serve low-income populations on that cause rather than the effect of and the future of the church. The idea contradicts our vital mission to pro- reduced funds for ministries. Catholic of stewardship is to return with in- vide a “preferential option for the schools are a ministry and continue to crease to the Lord, and research con- poor.” Affordability of our schools is be one of the church’s most effective sistently demonstrates that graduates a substantial challenge, even while our instruments for passing on the faith of Catholic schools are from one generation to the among the most academ- next. ically prepared, generous That might be the best and civically engaged. argument against what Professor Zech writes Professor Zech propos- that “over time the Catholic es. Converting Catholic population has migrated to schools, which infuse the the suburbs and increasing- faith throughout the cur- ly to the South and West…. riculum and the school day, But the parishes and paro- to charter schools would chial school buildings still change the essential charac- tend to be located in urban ter of the institutions. There areas in the Northeast and is no such thing as a Catholic Midwest.” In fact, there charter school. Surely, pub- are already many thriv- lic charter schools try to ing Catholic schools and mimic Catholic schools parishes in the South and with character education West. Their growth is driv- and uniforms, but there is en by young, mostly immi- “So now I hear Canada is building a wall to keep us not a character education grant families who desire a all from moving there.” program or a values-based Catholic school education. curriculum that compares BOB ECKSTEIN CARTOON:

6 America September 26, 2016 to teaching the faith. If Catholic schools terview with with Brian Kolodiejchuk, Prioritize Love and Respect disappear in great numbers, parishes the promoter of Mother Teresa’s cause. In “Faith Remains a Motivating will not be far behind. I was privileged to know Mother Teresa Factor For V.P. Picks Pence and Every day the 150,000 Catholic through her lay association, the Co- Kaine” (8/15), Michael O’Loughlin school educators in the country, sup- workers. My time with Mother Teresa, asserts that Mike Pence supports var- ported by pastors, superintendents, from my first visit to Calcutta in 1981 ious issues that are of importance to bishops and the National Catholic to my last encounter with her at a meet- Catholics. The first example listed was Educational Association, teach and ing in Antwerp in 1993, made such a his intention to shut down the federal form students because they believe huge impact on my life. At the age of government in 2011 over the much at- in Catholic education. We welcome 24, I learned from Mother Teresa how tempted, never achieved goal of shut- Professor Zech and his colleagues faith and action have to work together. ting down Planned Parenthood. The from the Villanova Church Leadership Even in her darkness, she was a bright second example refers to his push for Roundtable to visit with us and any of light to so many of us. I, too, am con- a bill that allowed business owners to our Catholic schools to see the great fident that in her death she will touch refuse service to L.G.B.T. people for work being done. many more people—not just the hun- religious reasons. KEVIN BAXTER, Ed.D. gry and homeless—but those who lack As an educated, female Catholic Senior Director and kindness in their lives. She will be the struggling to maintain my connec- Superintendent of Catholic Schools Archdiocese of Los Angeles saint for all people who struggle with tion with the church, I balked at these loneliness. characterizations of what Catholics DEBRA BRILLANTE VICTORIA SCHMIDT view as important. I would prioritize Superintendent for Elementary Schools Online Comment Archdiocese of Philadelphia the functioning of our federal govern- Informed Consciences ment over a foot-stomping technique THOMAS W. BURNFORD, D.Min. In “The Demands of Love” (8/15), that stalls any compromise. I would President/C.E.O. also prioritize Jesus’ teachings to love National Catholic Educational Association Cardinal Christoph Schönborn ex- presses an important message and and respect each other over passing SUSAN M. GIBBONS interpretation of “The Joy of Love.” laws looking to ostracize and demean Director of Educational Services, That is, for the divorced and remar- our fellow humans in the name of “re- Superintendent of Catholic Schools ligious reasons.” Archdiocese of Cincinnati ried, the rigidity of doctrine does not CAROLINE TIERNEY automatically trump the existential CHRISTOPHER KNIGHT Chevy Chase, Md. Secretary for Catechetical Formation and reality of concrete circumstances, mer- Education/Superintendent of Schools cy and discernment consistent with The Good Fight Diocese of Cleveland God’s love. Equally important is Pope Re “A History of Violence” by Kevin Francis’ call for a greater integration of Clarke and James Martin, S.J. (7/18): DR. JAN DANIEL LANCASTER Superintendent of Catholic Schools a properly informed conscience in the I appreciated the chronology of Archdiocese of New Orleans praxis of the church. America’s efforts to inject some sanity While we have seen some bishops into the gun issue over the past cen- DR. TIMOTHY J. McNIFF publicly declare that Communion is tury. Please keep repeating the con- Superintendent of Schools Archdiocese of New York forbidden for all divorced and remar- clusion of the editorial board in 2013: ried Catholics without an annulment, Repeal of the Second Amendment CHRISTOPHER MOMINEY it is clear that this is not the message of is essential. The incremental chang- Chief Operating Officer and Secretary for Education Archdiocese of Philadelphia a careful reading of the papal exhorta- es proposed by legislators have only tion. Other bishops believe that under strengthened the rabid voices in oppo- KURT NELSON, Ph.D. certain circumstances and through a sition, and the death toll continues to Superintendent of Catholic Education properly informed conscience, under rise. I long for courage on the part of Archdiocese of St. Louis the guidance of a priest, the divorced legislators but despair of seeing it in JIM RIGG, Ph.D. and remarried may be able to receive my lifetime. Superintendent of Catholic Schools Communion. For this reason, it is not Catholic leaders must confront this Archdiocese of Chicago surprising that Pope Francis chose head on and include it as a priority in Cardinal Schönborn as the church’s their pronouncements. Editors, please Faith and Action official interpreter of “The Joy of Love.” do not let up. Re: “Saint of Darkness” by James Martin, MICHAEL BARBERI FRANCES GAUTIERI BROWN S.J. (8/29): Thank you for this great in- Online Comment Pelham, N.Y.

September 26, 2016 America 7 8 America September 26, 2016 SIGNS OF THE TIMES

CHICAGO lost their mom for NO REASON. Unreal. #EnoughIsEnough.” A Summer of Shootings Ends With Police Superintendent Eddie Johnson called the Aldridge shoot- Labor Day Toll of 65 Shot, 13 Fatally ing “reprehensible,” and Mayor Rahm Emanuel said he will announce ma- jor new antiviolence initiatives later in September. But Chicago has been racking up shootings for the better part of a year now, and city officials seem powerless to halt the carnage. “Every Monday morning, we pick up the newspaper to see how many shootings and homicides we had,” said Eddie Bocanegra, director of the Y.M.C.A.’s Office of Youth Safety and Violence Prevention. “The narrative becomes old; it becomes normalized.” It has fallen to grassroots organiz- ers like Bocanegra to try to make a dif- ference. They do so by involving kids in video-making and creative writ- ing, taking them on field trips, pair- ing them with mentors—anything, Bocanegra said, to show that there is an alternative to guns, drugs and CEASEFIRE. Residents rally in front of St. Sabina Church on Chicago’s clashes with police. Bocanegra blames South Side, demanding an end to gun violence. a complex web of issues for the spike in violence, fueled in part by increasing hicago’s long, hot summer of shootings came to an end over the three-day mistrust between the police and the Labor Day weekend, with 65 people shot, 13 fatally, as homicides climbed African-American community. Ctoward 500 for the year. August was already on record as the city’s deadli- Tensions have been rising since last est month in more than two decades. fall, when a Chicago police officer was The wounded included a young woman, nine months pregnant, shot on the captured on video shooting the teen- same side street in a southwest neighborhood where someone was killed less than ager Laquan McDonald 16 times. A 20 hours before. Among the dead was an 80-year-old retired pastor, shot in front Justice Department report earlier this of a South Side senior citizen complex. year was highly critical of the Chicago The shooting of 65 people by a terrorist would probably make international Police Department’s treatment of mi- news. In Chicago, it has become a near-weekly occurrence in which most of those norities. who perish do so in anonymity. A bitter irony is that most visitors to Chicago— According to Bocanegra, with their indeed most residents—can remain blissfully detached from the violence. The department under a microscope, some shootings are concentrated in a handful of police districts in poorer neighbor- officers are less willing to aggressively hoods on the city’s South and West Sides. police neighborhoods overrun by gangs. One of the casualties in August was 32-year-old Nykea Aldridge, a cousin of Bocanegra challenges clergy mem- the Chicago Bulls basketball star Dwyane Wade. Aldridge, the mother of four, was bers to join community leaders and caught in a gang-related crossfire and was hit by a stray bullet as she pushed her public officials in becoming a more infant child in a stroller. visible presence in communities where Expressing the anguish many in the city feel every day, Wade tweeted: “My violence is a nightly occurrence. Most cousin was killed today in Chicago. Another act of senseless gun violence. 4 kids of the shootings occur between 6 p.m.

September 26, 2016 America 9 SIGNS OF THE TIMES and 2 a.m., Bocanegra said. that hang out in the corners, hang out percent—said their work is important. “What would it look like for sev- near them [and] make them feel un- Despite these favorable views, eral weeks to organize and coordinate comfortable.” Jennifer Robbins, C.E.O. and co-found- churches, politicians, police officers, Any such effort would have to be er of Anderson Robbins Research, said county sheriffs, law enforcement and sustained, Bocanegra said. “Violence Americans “didn’t really know much probation officers to go into these prevention is not a two-hour thing, it’s about Catholic sisters, except for old, communities and just be seen, to walk an investment. It’s a long-term invest- outdated stereotypes.” The Boston- around in groups?” Bocanegra asked, ment and coordinated effort.” based organization conducted the 2015 suggesting they approach “the gangs JUDITH VALENTE study. And Catholics did no better on the survey than other Americans in their WOMEN RELIGIOUS knowledge of sisters. The research indicates that dated perceptions of Sisters Defy Outdated Perceptions Catholic sisters are shaped primarily by By Taking Vocations ‘to the Edges’ fictional stories and the media instead of real-world encounters. For exam- ister Sandy Sherman thought religious. ple, 42 percent of respondents believe she would follow the traditional In a nation growing more defined the majority of Catholic sisters today Sroute of women religious, joining by skepticism of organized religion, wear habits, 21 percent believe they live the ranks of the Catholic teachers who Americans continue to see Catholic sis- in seclusion, and 37 percent thought had inspired her. ters in a positive light. The report notes: their work has little or no impact on “I thought I would enter and I “Americans are twice as likely to hold non-Catholics. would teach school my whole Those people may not life and I would wear a hab- BEYOND EXPECTATIONS.Sister Sandy Sherman, left, and have met a woman like Rahab’s Heart founder, LeeAnn Campbell, center, counsel a it,” said Sherman, who joined young woman. Sister Karen Bland, the the Order of Saint Ursula in director of Grand Valley 1975. “Well, I entered and I’ve Catholic Outreach in Grand never worn a habit.” Junction, Colo. Her organi- The Ohio native did teach zation supports local home- for several years, but she less people with a food and has also devoted herself to clothing pantry and soup Rahab’s Heart, a street min- kitchen and sponsors con- istry program in Toledo for struction of housing for women involved in prostitu- the chronically homeless, tion and sex trafficking. The many of whom are men- group offers resources and tally or physically disabled. hands out personal hygiene Whatever folks in her com- items, food and clothing. munity may think about Like pioneers, Catholic sis- the lives of Catholic sisters, ters “keep moving to the edg- Sister Bland believes Grand es,” Sister Sherman said. Valley’s efforts have been But most Americans are not aware very favorable views toward Catholic well appreciated by the larger commu- of such efforts and continue to hold sisters and nuns than they do for the nity. outdated misconceptions about Catholic Church and Catholic priests Meeting a Catholic sister is one of Catholic sisters and the work they do. in general.” More than 70 percent of the most important factors in shaping That’s according to recent research that people surveyed reported positive feel- a person’s knowledge about them, the partly inspired the Conrad N. Hilton ings toward women religious, with 73 report found. And the study notes a Foundation’s “Sister to All” campaign percent of respondents saying they high level of apprehension from parents to raise public awareness about women trust Catholic sisters. Even more—83 about the possibility of their daughter FOUNDATION PHOTO: CONRAD N. HILTON

10 America September 26, 2016 SIGNS OF THE TIMES

becoming a Catholic sister. About a third of respondents said they would NEWS BRIEFS encourage them to rethink the decision. Honoring Star Trek’s 50th anniver- Robbins said the hesitation is a sary in September, the Vatican news- byproduct of the lack of information paper L’Osservatore Romano said about Catholic sisters. Parents think the popular series gave the world a joining a religious order means sacrifice, model of peace, tolerance and coop- she said. eration at a time of global tensions. • “If someone chooses to enter a reli- After a Polish immigrant was beaten gious life, it’s not about choosing to live to death by a teenage mob in Harlow, this closed life,” she said. “These wom- England, on Aug. 27, President en have these very strong communi- Paralympians in Baltimore Andrzej Duda of Poland wrote to ties. They are out there pursuing their Anglican and Catholic church leaders in the United Kingdom urging dreams.” them to help to protect Polish migrants from xenophobic violence TERESA DONNELLAN and abuse. • Loyola University Maryland in Baltimore was the train- AND WYATT MASSEY ing home for five swimmers who represented the United States at the Paralympics in Rio de Janeiro, held from Sept. 7 to Sept. 18. • Prayer for Peace The Grammy winner and country-folk legendEmmylou Harris will Catholics throughout the United be heading up a series of concerts this fall to benefit Jesuit Refugee States were urged to pray for racial Service’s Global Education Initiative. • The Democratic vice presi- justice on Sept. 9 to mark the Day of dential hopeful Senator Tim Kaine said in a speech to the Human Prayer for Peace in Our Communities. Rights Campaign on Sept. 10 that his support for same-sex mar- “We hope to highlight the importance riage is driven in part by his Catholic faith and that he expects the of prayer as a reasonable and effica- church could change its views as he did. cious response to the violence that has touched too many communities in our nation,” Archbishop Wilton D. Gregory taken Coadjutor Bishop Peter Shao alition of church organizations and of Atlanta said on Sept. 8, explaining Zhumin of Wenzhou, China, out of environmental groups. The Churches the effort on a call with reporters. “We the diocese to northwest China “on a and Mining Network, which includes also hope that through this prayer, lo- trip.” Local faithful said it was to pre- Catholic bishops, priests and laypeople cal dialogues will take place in parishes vent him from taking possession of and leaders of Christian churches and and in small communities to highlight the diocese after the death of Bishop environmentalists, said in a statement the root causes of this tension that ob- Vincent Zhu Weifang. The diocesan that governments, church leaders and viously is still very much a part of too chancellor, the Rev. Paul Jian Sunian, civil society organizations need to find many of our lives.” Archbishop Gregory was escorted by police to Yunnan, and alternatives to so-called megamining is leading a task force of the U.S. bish- another priest was held in a hotel. operations. “We are aware that de- ops’ conference charged with assessing Local Chinese police also restricted fending Creation, in a predatory sys- diocesan resources on racial justice and the number of people at Bishop Zhu’s tem whose highest purpose is profit promoting dialogue in communities funeral on Sept. 13 to 400, insisting and money, is an action that involves affected by violence. The group is ex- that participants needed a permit to danger and the risk of death. But we pected to present a final report during attend. are encouraged by the Gospel of Jesus, the conference’s semi-annual meeting in the encyclical ‘Laudato Si’,’ and by the November. Mining Warning strength of the many communities af- fected by mining and other extractive Large-scale mining and extractive op- industries,” the network said in the Bishop Removed erations are failing to deliver economic statement released on Sept. 4, follow- AsiaNews, the Rome-based mis- benefits while causing environmental ing a meeting in Colombia. sionary news agency, reported on damage and human suffering through- Sept. 8 that Chinese authorities had out Latin America, according to a co- From America Media, CNS, RNS, AP and other sources.

September 26, 2016 America 11 SIGNS OF THE TIMES

DISPATCH | DUBLIN since then, 10 people have died in total, with nine of the murders believed to A Gang War Revival have been carried out by the Kinahans. Most of the victims were murdered on n the closing scene of the movie Guerin’s death led to arrests of Dublin’s streets; many were not linked “Veronica Guerin,” moviegoers more than 150 people and a serious to crime. Ilearn how the film’s eponymous crackdown on crime. The residents of The audacity of the killings in journalist’s work turned the tide in the inner city, who had long protest- broad daylight has shaken Ireland and Ireland’s drug war. Based on the true ed their neglect and marginalization, cast fresh light on problems in its in- story of her work as a reporter for were given community schemes to ner-city areas. In the media circus that Ireland’s Sunday Independent, the tackle the vicious cycle of poverty and followed, the local councillor Gary film follows Guerin as she exposes drug abuse. Gannon drew a connection to civic re- the extravagance and ruthlessness of But the last two decades have not sponse after Guerin’s death, when he Ireland’s criminal gangs, linking their borne out the cautiously hopeful was only 8 years old and living in the fortunes to the heroin epidemic in in- note offered by the movie version of inner city. He remembers the social ner-city Dublin. programs and new office build- She interviewed and inves- ings that came from regeneration tigated notorious drug lords In Ireland, a revived efforts, as well as the tenacity of and criminals, giving them col- drug addiction, which persisted orful nicknames: “the Coach,” drug trade leads to despite such efforts. “the Monk,” “the Boxer,” “the renewed gang violence. He has called for youth initia- Maradona.” She was threatened, tives to address unemployment beaten by a gang leader and shot and marginalization rather than in the leg by an intruder in her an increased police presence. The home. Finally on June 26, 1996, while Veronica Guerin’s life. The next gen- Rev. Peter McVerry, a Jesuit priest who her car was stopped in traffic in north eration of criminal gangs learned to has spent his life working with home- Dublin, she was shot five times by a adapt and thrive, moving their busi- less and drug-addicted young people, hired killer on a motorcycle. She died ness and assets abroad to places like says the drug crisis is now worse than at the scene, leaving behind a husband Spain and Amsterdam—out of reach ever. and a young son. of the CAB. They resupplied the Irish The boldness and brutality of the Her writing had already had a sig- drug market, benefiting from the rise latest murders are particularly fright- nificant impact, but her death proved of recreational drug use during the ening, he says. “It’s not about money, it’s pivotal. Flowers piled up outside the Celtic Tiger era and the continuing not about territory, and there doesn’t gates of Ireland’s Parliament, and pub- drug problems in some working-class seem to be any way of stopping it.” lic anger jolted government into ac- neighborhoods. Getting witnesses to give evidence tion. Within a week, the government Today Dublin is in the midst of an- against the gangs could have some ef- altered the Constitution to allow the other gang feud, this time led by the fect, Father McVerry suggests. “But it high court to freeze the assets of sus- Christy Kinahan gang, based in Spain, comes at a terrible price,” he says, “be- pected drug barons. the epitome of this new generation. cause people die.” The Criminal Assets Bureau was The gang’s net worth is estimated at During Veronica Guerin’s funeral in formed and given the power to access almost $500 million, a scale never seen Our Lady Queen of Heaven Church, a and seize unexplained wealth from before in the Irish underworld. place she attended every Sunday, the suspected criminals. Since then, the In the past year, the gang has waged Rev. Declan Doyle asked, “Where is agency has taken multimillion-euro war on members of the Hutch family, Irish society headed? What forces are settlements from leading criminals some of whom were associated with vying for power? What is the future who were previously untouchable. large-scale robberies. A member of the of our country?” Through all that has family, Gary Hutch, got on the wrong changed in the last 20 years, those RHONA TARRANT is America’s Dublin corre- side of the Kinahans and was shot questions remain worth asking. spondent. dead. A retaliation killing followed; RHONA TARRANT

12 America September 26, 2016

HELEN ALVARÉ Free to Serve opular media in the United everyone grabbing as much property finding one’s “soulmate.” It is shaped States continue to approve the as possible. Similarly, Catholic family by corporations placing excessive value PCatholic Church’s social justice teaching rejects the notion of freedom on youth and beauty and sex as prod- voice on poverty or the environment, as maximizing individual sexual and ucts for consumption, and by men’s but they dismiss its voice on sex, mar- emotional self-satisfaction. Our “free- tendency to play the field longer, un- riage and parenting. This is intensified dom” is rather the “freedom of the chil- constrained by limitations imposed by by the contemporary framing of the dren of God” (Rom 8:21), grounded fertility. As summarized by Professor latter issues in terms of “equality,” “free- upon the Father’s unending, sacrificial Illouz: Middle-class heterosexual dom” and scientific rationality. In oth- love. The freedom of children we con- women have “never been so sovereign er words, social justice categories are ceive likewise rests on our providing a in terms of their body and emotions” applied to sex and family questions, solid floor beneath their feet, built by but “emotionally dominated by men in and the church is found wanting. a stably united mother and new and unprecedented Nothing motivates me to try to father. ways.” bridge this divide more than mother- The category of in- As for poor women, ing young adults. I want them to have equality is also fruitful for Temporary an entirely different set the good life, the free life, the Catholic linking Catholic social and of preferences and con- life in the whole sense. family teachings. (How I sexual straints shapes how they So first I touch on freedom, as it wish “The Joy of Love” had experience the “cult of overlaps with the justice value of car- highlighted this!) It is well relationships freedom.” Between high ing for the vulnerable. Temporary sex- accepted that the retreats undercut rates of incarceration ual relationships undercut freedom. from marriage and mari- and joblessness, and a They often communicate (especially tal childbearing are largely freedom. perennial dearth of jobs to women) that their value lies in their driving economic inequali- that pay a living wage, appearance, their sexual performance ty in the United States. In lower-income men do and their willingness to use contra- short, the contexts in which not appear “marriage- ception affecting their hormones, their adults have sex, get pregnant, give able” in their eyes. Furthermore, the mood and their health. These relation- birth and raise children matter enor- choice to become a single mother does ships are shadowed, too, by fears: of mously for equality. not foreclose realistic opportunities for children and sexually transmitted dis- Inequality between men and wom- college and a good career. Some free- eases. To the inevitable objection that en is also at stake. The Israeli sociolo- dom. Some choice. freedom lies rather in the domains of gist Eva Illouz brilliantly observes that Ecological justice is another bridge. “choice” and “variety,” I cite the most while many are willing to acknowledge It encompasses our objection to what definitive science on American sexual how the West’s “cult of freedom” pro- many forms of birth control do to practices, showing that both women duces economic inequalities, they are women’s minds and bodies. It refers to and men report finding their freedom blind to its creating inequalities in the the mistake of obscuring or fracturing and joy within long-horizon commit- personal and sexual realms because the deep-down meanings and natures ments. of the “social conditions which make of things, whether in the natural or I also touch on freedom as service, possible the emotional domination of human environment, anywhere we as relation. Catholic social teaching men over women” (Why Love Hurts). risk forgetting that nature is mother rejects the idea that freedom means To specify, today’s “free” sexual mar- and creation and not just matter. ketplace is shaped by the severance My attempt to link social, sexual of sex from children by contraception and family justice remains a work in HELEN​ ALVARÉ is a professor of law at George and abortion. It is also shaped by its progress. But I have every inspiration Mason University, where she teaches law and religion and family law. She is also a consultor focus on choice (through apps like (read: children) to improve it contin- to the Pontifical Council for the Laity. Tinder), “testing” (cohabitation) and ually.

14 America September 26, 2016 September 26, 2016 America 15 Foreign Policy Déjà Vu Where the candidates stand on world affairs BY MARYANN CUSIMANO LOVE

mericans are used to variety, to 500 televi- sion channels and millions Aof YouTube selections. Yet Americans often complain that presidential elections lack va- riety, that the candidates are too similar, particularly with regard to foreign policy. That complaint is not valid in the 2016 presidential election. The Republican candidate, Donald J. Trump, and the Democratic candidate, Hillary Clinton, vary SLOW AND STEADY? considerably in their approach- Democratic presidential es to foreign policy—from alli- candidate Hillary Clinton ances to Zika. speaks at a rally at the University of South Florida in Yet despite the many pro- Tampa, Fla., on Sept. 6. nouncements that the 2016 presidential election cycle is something completely differ- ent and unprecedented, the biggest foreign policy debates NATO, including the Article 5 mutual defense commitment in which this year’s candidates are engaged are actually very that “an attack against one is an attack against all.” General old. Dwight D. Eisenhower’s support sealed bipartisan backing Mr. Trump’s slogan of “America First” was used in 1939, of NATO, until this year’s campaign. when many Republicans and isolationists argued that the The foreign policy positions advocated by Mr. Trump United States should remain neutral in response to the rise were most clearly articulated in 1992, not by the Republican of fascism and Hitler in Europe and that it should reject im- candidate but by two independent presidential candidates. migrants and refugees. The “America First” movement chose The billionaire businessman Ross Perot argued against a celebrity, the aviator Charles Lindbergh, as their leader. the North American Free Trade Agreement, against for- These nativist views were popular until the United States eign alliances and against immigration, particularly from was bombed at Pearl Harbor and entered World War II. Mexico, arguing these policies would hurt jobs in the After the Allied victory, intent on preventing a third world United States. David Duke, white supremacist and former war and deterring further expansion by the Soviet Union, leader of the Ku Klux Klan, ran in the Republican presi- Senator Arthur Vandenberg, a Republican, suggested, and dential primaries in 1992 on an “America First” platform both parties supported, a military alliance with Western that he still advocates, arguing that the rights of European Europe. The North Atlantic Treaty, signed in 1949, created American citizens are being trampled and advocating for immigration restrictions. When Mr. Duke endorsed him earlier this year, Mr. Trump was at first was unwilling to MARYANN CUSIMANO LOVE is a professor of international relations at the Catholic University of America in Washington, D.C., and a contribut- disavow the support; later, he distanced himself from Mr. ing editor to America. Duke and white nationalists. AP PHOTO/ANDREW HARNIK

16 America September 26, 2016 Usually, both major political party candidates agree on Migration and Refugees supporting free trade, NATO obligations, current refugee The hallmark initiative of the Trump campaign is his pledge policy, cooperative relations with Mexico and efforts to op- to build a wall on the Mexico-U.S. border, which he claims pose Russian expansion and influence; recently, they have he would get Mexico to pay for using his “superior deal-mak- differed only on how they would continue to execute the ing skills,” and also by using executive orders to change the “long wars” in Afghanistan and Iraq and how to counter ter- provisions in the Patriot Act intended to stop terrorist fi- rorism. This year the foreign policy differences between the nancing to instead stop remittances to Mexico. Mr. Trump major party candidates are much greater. vows he would also end birthright citizenship. He claims

MEXICO GAMBIT. Republican presidential candidate Donald J. Trump speaks during a joint statement with Mexico’s President Enrique Peña Nieto in Mexico City on Aug. 31.

Alliances a simple congressional majority could change the 14th Mr. Trump has announced that he may not uphold NATO Amendment of the Constitution, which grants birthright treaty commitments to European countries that fear citizenship. Almost all constitutional scholars disagree, not- Russian expansion, and he argues that the U.S. share of ing that only changing the Constitution can change birth- NATO’s cost is too large. Mr. Trump is correct to note right citizenship. The “lawlessness” of Latino immigrants is that the share of NATO’s costs borne by the United States a repeated theme of Trump’s campaign, and he has promised is greater than that of any other NATO ally; the treaty to deport an estimated 11 million immigrants currently liv- was designed that way to prevent another arms race and ing and working in the United States without documents. war in Europe. Mrs. Clinton (and both the Republican Mr. Trump proposes tripling the size of the U.S. govern- and Democratic party national committees) firmly favors ment devoted to border control (the Immigration, Customs NATO, as has every Democratic and Republican presi- and Enforcement Bureau) in order to implement his plan. dential candidate since it was created in 1949 by President Conservative think tanks estimate the cost of this deporta- Harry Truman, a Democrat, with the support of General tion to be about half a trillion dollars. Eisenhower, the supreme commander of European forces In contrast, Mrs. Clinton pledges to continue to work and later a Republican president. Mr. Trump openly ad- for immigration reform, including a path to citizenship for mires the Russian strongman President Vladimir Putin, undocumented migrants living and working in the United wants to work with him and is not concerned about Mr. States. Mrs. Clinton argues that immigrants contribute to Putin’s forces in Ukraine. the U.S. economy and community. Donald Trump has said Mrs. Clinton wants to contain Mr. Putin and decries his that Muslims should not be permitted entry into the United

AP PHOTO/DARIO LOPEZ-MILLS human rights violations and war in Ukraine. States, that people from any country that has been com-

September 26, 2016 America 17 promised by terrorism should be banned from the United Trade and the Environment States and that he would bar refugees from the Syrian civil Both Mr. Trump and Mrs. Clinton have vowed to make war (including Christians) from entering the United States. trade agreements more favorable to U.S. workers, and both Mrs. Clinton argues that religious freedom was and is key to oppose the Trans-Pacific Partnership. Both candidates ar- the American experiment and that it would be unconstitu- gue that the T.P.P. (and the North American Free Trade tional to bar people based on their religious affiliation. She Agreement, the free trade treaty between the United States, seeks an increase in the number of Syrian refugees accepted Canada and Mexico passed by Congress with bipartisan into the United States. support) are not favorable enough to U.S. workers, and There are over 65 million refugees and displaced persons both have vowed to be tougher toward China in trade. Mrs. in the world today, the highest number since World War II, Clinton says she will improve Nafta, including environmen- including nearly five million Syrians who have fled the civil tal protections; Mr. Trump says he may pull out of Nafta war and nearly seven million more displaced within Syria. altogether. Both candidates propose greater investments in The United States accepts a maximum of 85,000 total ref- infrastructure and manufacturing in the United States. ugees per year, after extensive vetting that takes 18 months Mr. Trump argues that climate change is a hoax and to two years. President Obama has proposed an increase to promises to withdraw from the Paris climate agreement, as 100,000 total refugees from all regions, including an expan- well as to scrap the Environmental Protection Agency. Nafta sion to 10,000 Syrian refugees (two-thirds of Syrian refugees is an international treaty ratified by the U.S. Senate, and the are women and children under 11 years old). Mrs. Clinton Environmental Protection Agency is created by law. Neither proposes thorough vetting to increase the number of admit- candidate can deliver on any of these promises without con- ted Syrian refugees from the 10,000 currently allowed to up gressional support. Mrs. Clinton knows this and argues she to 65,000, starting with the most vulnerable: women and re- will persuade Congress and foreign allies to change the cur- ligious and ethnic minorities, like the Christians and Yazidis rent Nafta treaty and to invest in American manufacturing. persecuted by the Islamic State, also know as ISIS. This Mr. Trump does not acknowledge constitutional limits to number would be small compared to the Syrian refugees presidential power. Both candidates previously supported accepted by Germany, Canada, Jordan, Turkey and others. free trade.

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digital highlights halfpage.indd 1 9/12/16 3:38 PM 18 America September 26, 2016 War and Peace Mr. Trump has on numerous occasions said that he might use nuclear weapons as president, and he has said that nu- clear proliferation to more countries (Japan, South Korea, Saudi Arabia) is inevitable and might be in the interest of the United States. Why pay for and stockpile nuclear weap- ons, he asks, if we are not willing to use them? As secretary of state, Mrs. Clinton worked to reduce the size of nucle- ar arsenals, although critics such as George Schultz, the Republican secretary of state under Ronald Reagan, have ar- gued nuclear arsenals were not cut quickly or deeply enough. Mr. Trump favors the use of torture against people ac- cused of terrorism, and the use of violence against the fam- ilies of suspected terrorists. Mrs. Clinton supports uphold- ing the current domestic and international laws banning the use of torture and the targeted killing of civilians. Both candidates initially favored the U.S. interventions into Iraq in 2003 and Afghanistan in 2001 and later expressed res- ervations about those wars, and both argue for extensive bombings of ISIS. Mrs. Clinton has supported the Obama administration policy of bombing ISIS in Iraq and Syria, arming and training Iraqi government forces and some Syrian opposition forces to fight ISIS and sending military advisors but not large contingents of U.S. ground forces to fight ISIS in Syria. Mrs. Clinton differs from Mr. Obama’s policies in proposing a “no-fly zone” to stop the bombings by Syria’s President Bashar al-Assad of his own people and the creation of humanitarian corridors to allow relief aid in to starving civilians. Mr. Trump has argued instead that we should work with Russia to keep President Assad in place, expand the bombings against ISIS (including the possible use of nucle- ar weapons) and send 20,000 to 30,000 U.S. Army ground troops into Syria. He also urges other Middle Eastern coun- tries to send in their own ground troops and suggests em- bargoing oil from Saudi Arabia and other states unless they provide ground troops against ISIS. He calls for shutting down the internet in Syria and Iraq so that ISIS could not recruit online and for seizing oil fields from ISIS and turn- ing them over to U.S. companies. Mr. Trump says he has more plans for “defeating ISIS really quickly,” but he must keep his ideas secret so as to take ISIS off guard. Neither candidate has offered any specific plans for building peace in the region after the defeat of ISIS.

The Zika Virus Mrs. Clinton sent advisors to study the impact of the Zika virus in Puerto Rico, read the reports of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and other research, and is- sued a policy for increased public education (particularly for women), the development of a rapid diagnostic test for Zika and greater investments in creating a Zika vaccine and Zika

September 26, 2016 America 19 treatment. Mr. Trump has not studied the Zika virus or is- es that you should never hire anyone who is smarter than sued a policy on fighting it, despite requests from many en- you and has a great deal of turnover among his advisors, dorsers such as Florida Senator Marco Rubio. At first, Mr. who are more focused on domestic than foreign policy is- Trump joked about it, saying: “I hate mosquitoes. Speaking sues. His team describes the process as one in which Mr. of mosquitoes, ‘Hello, Hillary?’” One of his advisors dispar- Trump tweets his views on foreign policy, and then the ad- aged reporters for asking what Mr. Trump’s policy on Zika visors scramble to create background materials justifying is: “He has more important things to worry about than mos- his new position for the press and the public. Mr. Trump’s quitoes.” When pressed on the issue while giving speeches in ghostwriter on the best-selling book The Art of the Deal Florida, Mr. Trump said Governor Rick Scott “probably had describes the candidate as having “no attention span.” Mr. it all under control,” even though Mr. Scott was asking for Trump’s supporters see this as attractive—he “speaks from increased federal resources and coordination on the public his heart,” as his vice-presidential candidate Mike Pence puts health issue. Recently, Mr. Trump said he supported increas- it—and they argue to “let Trump be Trump.” Like it or not, ing congressional funding to combat Zika, but he offered Mr. Trump’s process is very different from his predecessors no specifics on the debate over the level of funding and the in both political parties. types of activities included. This exemplifies the differences between the candidates on A New Game foreign policy. Like her or not, Mrs. Clinton has decades of Despite the importance of the candidates’ differences in this experience representing the U.S. government and conducting area, research shows that people rarely vote based on foreign foreign policy. Mr. Trump has none, but he argues that this in- policy. President George H. W. Bush, a Republican, predicted experience will be a strength as he will not be tied to previous that his popularity after the Persian Gulf War in 1991 would policy and will bring his businessman’s sense to the area. Mrs. not translate to votes for his re-election to a second term, say- Clinton does her homework, consults top experts and gives ing: “The common wisdom today is that I’ll win in a runaway, foreign policy talks laden with specific details, which some- but I don’t believe that. I think it’s going to be the economy.” times earns her criticism for failing to connect with voters. In the 1990s, political scientists were concerned that Mr. Trump mobilizes his base, tweets his foreign poli- real-time media coverage, the introduction of the internet cy thoughts in very simple 140-character messages, advis- and increasingly negative political campaigns would polar- ize politics and discourage citizen participation. In the book Going Negative, the political scientists Shanto Iyengar and Stephan Stephen Ansolabehere presciently predicted much of what we witness today, writing that negative campaign- ing “makes the public disenchanted with both candidates.” The authors predicted: “The electorate may curse a ‘plague on both houses’.... [N]egative campaigning may diminish the power of civic duty and may undermine the legitimacy of the entire electoral process. Campaigns that generate more negative than positive messages may leave voters embittered toward the candidates and the rules of the game.” Events this year bear out many of these concerns. People often say their vote is a choice between the lesser of two evils, but usually the percentage of voters with “highly fa- vorable” and “highly unfavorable” views of the major party candidates come close to canceling each other out. Not this year. There are record-breaking “highly unfavorable” polling numbers for both candidates. The authors ofGoing Negative did not anticipate that things would get this bad. In a foreign policy déjà vu, the issues of 1992 are again center stage. Both candidates learned from that election and believe that their economic positions will be more import- ant to voters than their foreign policy stances. Will voters turn out despite the negative campaign? If they do, they have some real choices in policies and process between the major-party candidates. A

20 America September 26, 2016 FIRST MONDAY

Voting Blights

he right to vote is the founda- and Kansas to require documentation these popular voting options. Courts tion of democracy, but deter- of citizenship are being challenged as have blocked some changes, but oth- Tmining who is entitled to vote improperly granted. Federal law en- ers may be in effect for the November and in which district is complicated. courages states to update voter regis- election. Every state permits poll mon- The states are empowered to deter- tration lists, but the automatic culling itors, but laws vary regarding their mine election districts and voter eli- of registrants and the dispatchment number, appointment and authority. gibility, but Congress also may “make of law enforcement officers to voters’ Voter intimidation by partisan mon- and alter” election laws. Legislatures homes may be unlawful and is being itors is illegal but difficult to prevent. and election officials have numerous challenged in Kansas and Georgia. Election results may be affected by tools to either promote or deter citi- States may ban convicted felons from poorly formatted ballots, human and zens’ participation in the democratic voting. Most states restore computer error, hack- process. The 2016 presidential elec- voting rights after a sen- Voter ing and other deliberate tion is the first since the Supreme tence is served, but a few re- tampering. Federal, state Court invalidated part of the Voting quire a court or governor’s intimidation and local officials have Rights Act. Several states, including order. Since July, when the tried since the 2000 de- those that previously needed federal Virginia Supreme Court by partisan bacle to improve voting approval to change their voting laws, held that a blanket execu- monitors is methods, but no system are being sued over redistricting and tive order restoring voting is foolproof. Pre- and voting restrictions. rights violated state law, illegal but post-Election Day liti- Electoral districts. Race may be con- the Democratic governor difficult to gation is likely. sidered as a factor in determining elec- and Republican legislature Electoral College. tion districts, but only to foster rather have battled over the re-en- prevent. Every vote for president than undermine the ability of racial franchisement of eligible is actually a vote for a minorities to elect candidates of their Virginians. slate of electors assigned choice. Gerrymandering to preserve Voter ID challenges. Proof of eli- to the candidate. State laws and party political power is permitted to a cer- gibility to register differs from proof rules determine whether electors are tain degree, but extreme “fencing” de- of identity required to cast a ballot. bound to vote for their party’s candi- signed to defeat voter preference may Requirements for voter identification date when the Electoral College meets violate the equal protection clause. that are costly, difficult or impossible in December. Lawsuits undoubtedly Important cases from North Carolina, to obtain have been deemed unlaw- will be filed if electors do not abide by Virginia and Wisconsin are pending ful. North Dakota and Texas have the popular vote in their states. in the Supreme Court and other fed- agreed to accept additional forms of • • • eral courts. identification for the 2016 election, The judiciary is the least democratic Voter registration. The states set but litigation from those states as well branch of government, but it stands voter registration deadlines as well as as Virginia, Wisconsin and North as democracy’s last and worst guard- identification requirements. Unless Carolina will not be finally determined ian. The first and best guardians are states receive federal approval, how- until after the election. the people themselves. Suffrage is not ever, they must permit voters to prove Polling locations and voting methods. just a right; it is a responsibility that their citizenship by signed affirmation. Voter participation increases when must be exercised lest it be lost. As the Approvals given to Alabama, Georgia states establish convenient polling Catholic bishops and Pope Francis re- locations and hours, and allow ear- mind us, “Responsible citizenship is ly voting, mail-in balloting and pro- a virtue, and participation in political ELLEN K. BOEGEL, who teaches legal studies at St. John’s University in New York, clerked for the visional and out-of-precinct voting. life is a moral obligation.” U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit. Nevertheless, several states rescinded ELLEN K. BOEGEL

September 26, 2016 America 21 Fully Formed A customized approach to seminary education BY T. HOWLAND SANKS urrently, the Society of Jesus in the United States is reviewing its program for training young Jesuits. This provides an occasion for some questions and reflections on ministerial education in general. After being involved in Ctheological education and after listening to the comments of young Jesuits and other candidates for ordination, both Catholic and Protestant, for over 30 years at the Jesuit School of Theology and the Graduate Theological Union in Berkeley, I offer here some reflections on that training that may help answer the following question: Are we in fact pre- paring our priestly candidates for the globalized world of the 21st-century? My basic assumption is that all priests are in service to the church and that the church, in turn, is in service to all humanity (“Pastoral Constitution on the Church in the Modern World,” No. 3). Since the Second Vatican Council, however, the role of the ordained among the people of God IN TRAINING. Transitional has been changing. In recent years, the Holy Spirit has in- Deacon Daniel Opoku-Mensah, a seminarian from the Diocese of spired many lay men and women to take up leadership roles Konongo-Mampong, Ghana, at a in the church. Some interpret this as the “declericalizing” of class at St. Joseph’s Seminary the church. The church is not the clergy nor the hierarchy; in Yonkers, N.Y., in 2014. it is the whole people of God. Today’s priests need to under- both local and global. Although I am primarily concerned stand themselves to be in service to the laity, not the laity with our present context, I also think we need to attend in service to the clergy. Furthermore, as Pope Francis has more to the context of previous church teaching and theolo- been reminding us, the church is a church that “goes forth,” a gy. For some time now, biblical scholars have taken the con- church with “open doors”—open to all those outside its con- text of both testaments quite seriously in the interpretation fines, the poor, the marginalized, the neglected, those with- of their texts. But how seriously do we take the historical, out faith, the seekers amongst the young and the “nobodies” social and cultural context in which much of our theology of this world (“The Joy of the Gospel,” Nos. 20-24). Are we of the family, marriage and children was formed? For ex- preparing them to serve those on the periphery? ample, much of that teaching was developed in an agricul- The document from the Jesuit curia in Rome that initiated tural world in which children were an economic asset and the review of the Jesuit course of studies suggests that there necessity, when the majority of children died before the age are four fundamental elements involved: context, content, of 5 and when the average life expectancy was less than 45 competencies and charism. (The Ignatian charism is appro- years. And much of the doctrine on authority in the church priated intensely in the first two years of training, a time was developed in a world that took monarchy, hierarchy and called the novitiate, but then continuously throughout all patriarchy for granted. stages of Jesuit life.) My concern here is with the changing context and its implications for the content and competen- The ‘Other’ in Our Midst cies. My fear is that too much of the intellectual training If we focus on our present context, we can see that our still takes place in the abstract, prescinding from the context, knowledge and understanding of the world has changed dra- matically in the last 30 years. The accelerated rate of change T. HOWLAND SANKS, S.J., is professor emeritus of theology at the Jesuit and the processes of globalization—variously understood as

School of Theology at Santa Clara University in California. “the compression of the world in time and space,” or “com- A. SHEMITZ CNS PHOTO/GREGORY

22 America September 26, 2016 plex connectivity,” or “the intensification of worldwide social All this raises questions about what the candidates study, relations which link distant localities in such a way that local what tools they are given to understand our context, what happenings are shaped by events occurring many miles away competencies they need and how well they are prepared to and vice versa”—have changed the horizon against which deal with diversity, pluralism and continuing change. But priestly formation takes place. Ours is a context of radical first I want to question the assumption that there should pluralism. People of another culture or religious tradition be one program for all students. Smaller numbers of candi- dates as well as the wide diversity in age and backgrounds call for much more individualized programs, rather than a one-size-fits-all approach. The Society of Jesus in the United States, for example, has had an average of 35 men entering the novitiate each year (45 last year) for the last several years. So it should not be difficult to design an indi- Smaller vidual program for each man. There are some things, however, that every candidate for ordination needs to possess—a firm grounding in Scripture numbers and for preaching; a knowledge of tradition, how Christianity has developed and changed over the centuries as background for the present practices in liturgy, sacraments, prayer; sensitivity wide diversity to the moral challenges people face today and the knowledge to help them discern their choices. Each candidate may come with some background in one of these disciplines and not in call for others. Some come with a background in engineering or law or business but not in the humanities or the social sciences. In individualized addition, every priest is expected to have certain competen- cies—be a good preacher or homilist, a leader and presider at prayer and liturgies, a compassionate listener and spiritual programs. guide and a servant-leader who can evoke the gifts of all the members of the community. This is a tall order for even the best-intentioned candidate. If we take the historical, social and cultural context se- who once were thousands of miles and an ocean away are riously, how would this affect what ministerial candidates now right down the street. This has made us acutely con- study and what competencies they need to relate to our rap- scious of the “other” in our midst—people of other ethnic- idly changing situation? First, it is not necessary to spend so ities, other cultures and other religious traditions. This is much time studying academic philosophy, which has become the lived experience not only of the global elite but of the highly specialized and no longer gives a broad understanding average person in the pew. Are we preparing our Christian of the human condition. ministers to deal with this new reality? They should have an understanding of the whole human- Further, the new, post-Hubble cosmology has changed istic tradition, not only the Western tradition but also the our understanding of the age (13.8 billion years) and size wisdom traditions of Asia and Africa. Depending on the (100 billion galaxies) of the universe. Yet much of the im- background with which they enter, one year of study of the agery depicting the power of the creator God in Scripture Western tradition and one year of study of a non-Western and tradition is drawn from the atmosphere and environ- tradition should be sufficient. ment of our own tiny planet (for example, Ps. 18 and 104). They should prepare for inculturating Christianity in Evolution is part of our mental furniture, and we are seri- the United States by studying the history and culture of ously expecting to find intelligent life elsewhere in the uni- this country. Given the religious pluralism of our time, they verse, yet much of our theology is still very geocentric and should be prepared for dialogue with other Christian and anthropocentric. We are much more conscious now than non-Christian traditions. An open, ecumenical and collabo- even 15 years ago of the ecological or environmental crisis, rative approach to pastoral situations is expected today. Are as Pope Francis’ latest encyclical exemplifies. As the philos- we preparing them for this? Further, given that our social opher Charles Taylor has pointed out, our “social imagi- imaginary is highly scientific and technological, some study nary” has changed dramatically. Has the content training of of contemporary cosmology and the biological sciences our young priests changed accordingly? should be included. And the ability to do social and cultural

September 26, 2016 America 23 analysis requires some study of sociology and cultural an- mation, concerning sequence and place. Regency, the time thropology. young Jesuits spend in full-time apostolic work, should come right after novitiate. Although it is true that some will need What Every Priest Needs to Know more academic preparation for teaching in regency, that is All of the above recommendations are designed to help increasingly less the case. I have heard some say that they ministerial candidates communicate the Gospel in our cur- left novitiate full of energy and enthusiasm to set the world rent context. But what of the more specifically theological on fire only to find themselves studying something whose disciplines? We need to continue to emphasize the study of point or purpose they did not see. Nothing is worse than Scripture, which is the soul of theology and homiletics. More dampening zeal and studying something for which you see time and emphasis should be given to Catholic social teach- no point. A regency experience can teach a candidate what ing. Globalization and technological advances mentioned he does and does not know and what questions he needs earlier have made the issues of poverty and inequality both to pursue. And after hearing continuing complaints about within and between nations more urgent, as Pope Francis in the lack of coordination between first studies and theology, I “Laudato Si’” has made clear. Students also need to be bet- would suggest that first studies should take place at the same ter prepared to confront the moral aspects of environmental physical location as theology to better integrate the two, and degradation and the problems posed by advances in com- together they should not take more than five years. Again, munication technologies. Less time could be spent on some these suggestions are made on the assumption that the pro- doctrinal questions that were once urgent but no longer are gram will be tailored to each individual. (the relationship between grace and free will, for example, or All of the above recommendations can apply, mutatis mu- eucharistic controversies of the 11th century), and the histor- tandis, to ministerial candidates other than Jesuits. Finally, ical context of all theology should be stressed. Issues about one of the motivations for publishing this article is the hope globalization and inculturation are more pertinent now than that it will evoke some comments and input from the peo- even 40 years ago, especially regarding liturgy and spirituality. ple of God, the people we serve in our parishes, schools and In the area of ecclesiology, collegiality and synodal governance other apostolic works. They certainly should play a role in remain the unfinished agenda of Vatican II. shaping what they expect and would like to see in the future Finally, two recommendations more specific to Jesuit for- ministers in the church. A

24 America September 26, 2016 VATICAN DISPATCH Instruments of Peace t the height of the Cold War, Bartholomew; the archbishop of exploit religion to fan the flames of on Oct. 27, 1986, Pope John Canterbury, Justin Welby; the Syro- intolerance and hatred. Such unwhole- APaul II invited the leaders of Orthodox patriarch of Antioch, Efrem some propaganda can only boomerang, the world’s main religions to Assisi for II; the Israeli chief rabbi of Tel Aviv, causing a spiraling effect of violence.” “a day of prayer and fasting for peace.” Meir Lau; and the head of Japan’s His words have found strong Thirty years later, there is an even Tendai Buddhism. There will also be verification since then not only in greater need to pray for peace because, a strong Muslim representation from Afghanistan, Iraq, Syria, Libya, Yemen, as Pope Francis says, “a third world war 17 Islamic states, including Ahmad Nigeria, Ethiopia and South Sudan but is being fought piecemeal,” and blind vi- Muhammad Al-Tayyeb, the Grand also in European countries and even olence and hatred are spreading across Iman of Al-Azhar, the most authorita- the United States, where Islamophobia the globe. tive Sunni Muslim center in the world. is being stoked and exploited by poli- It is therefore significant that lead- On that day, Christians ticians in an anti-immi- ers of the different religions have will pray at the tomb of St. grant key. agreed to come together again in Assisi Francis, while members of Religious The origin of much of on Sept. 20 to pray for peace and to other religions will pray at leaders the violence, though not renew their commitment to work to- other sites across the town. all of it, in recent years gether for peace. They do so as bitter In the afternoon, they will have agreed can be traced back to conflicts are being fought not only in come together in a powerful March 19, 2003, when, countries that hit the headlines, like witness to the world of their to pray rejecting appeals from Syria and Libya, but also in others joint commitment to peace. together people across the globe, that get little media attention, like As in Assisi in 1986, this including John Paul II, Yemen and Sudan; these conflicts are event will highlight the vital again in President George W. causing a refugee crisis of a dimension contributions all religions Assisi. Bush, supported by not seen since World War II, involving are called upon to make for Prime Minister Tony some 60 million people. the promotion, building Blair of Britain, launched Convened under the banner “Thirst and safeguarding of peace. Cardinal the war on Iraq. Immediately after for Peace: Religions and Cultures Francis Arinze of Nigeria, former handing over the pope’s appeal to the in Dialogue,” this three-day event president of the Pontifical Council for president on March 5, 2003, Cardinal (Sept. 18 to 20) is organized by the Interreligious Dialogue, highlighted Pio Laghi, speaking to the press in the Sant’Egidio Community, together with this call in his book Religions for Peace name of the Holy See, warned that such the Franciscan Families and the Diocese (Doubleday), published soon after the a war would bring “grave consequences,” of Assisi. It brings together leading rep- attack on the twin towers of the World including “the suffering of the people of resentatives from Judaism, Christianity, Trade Center, by drawing attention to Iraq and those involved in the military Islam, Buddhism, Hinduism, Sikhism the fact that all religions “with admira- operation, a further instability in the and traditional religions. They will par- ble unanimity, teach the Golden Rule: region and a new gulf between Islam ticipate in roundtable discussions re- Love your neighbor as yourself.” “This,” and Christianity.” Prophetic words! The garding peace on the first two days, and he underlined, “is a key foundation for world is still reaping the bitter fruits of on the third they will pray for it. peace.” that war. Pope Francis will come for that fi- Introducing that book, the French Pope Francis is well aware of all nal day and join Ecumenical Patriarch cardinal Paul Poupard affirmed that this, and by coming to Assisi he is af- “each of us is either a peace maker or a firming yet again the urgent need for peace breaker.” But, he added, “fanatics all religions to work together for peace GERARD O’CONNELL is America’s Vatican and fundamentalists have no doubt giv- through dialogue and to reject the correspondent. America’s Vatican coverage is sponsored in part by the Jesuit communities of en religion a bad name. Politicians, hav- use of God’s name to justify violence. the United States. Twitter: @gerryorome. ing their own hidden agendas, at times GERARD O’CONNELL

September 26, 2016 America 25 26 America September 26, 2016 GENERATION FAITH Finding My Anchor In college, no longer adrift BY MICHAILA McCLOSKEY

have always felt connected to water. Crusade for Christ International. I lis- in my heart. But despite feeling more I come from a line of recreational tened as the songs kept saying, “Father,” vulnerable and open, I still could not Isailors and boaters, and the anchor Abba”, some even referring to God as talk about my father. I still felt it was has often served as a symbol of my life’s “Daddy.” I hadn’t said these words in my unique experience and pain that no journey. Throughout this journey, there months and found myself in a puddle one would understand. Instead I talked have been moments where I have been of tears. I left the room to be in a quiet about ex-boyfriends, which made me broken, and it is during these moments space in the hallway to let the wave of more relatable; a part of me wanted to when I learned to ground myself in my anxiety pass. One of the program lead- feel like less of an outsider in a group spiritual anchor, God. ers found me and prayed over me and that I badly wanted to be a part of. During my freshman year of college asked if it was the Holy Spirit moving Another part of me felt that becoming at the University of Michigan, the best through me. To this day, I still haven’t a permanent part of this group was not advice I received was from my oldest been able to answer that question. Was the best thing for me. I was not ready to brother when he dropped me off on it the anxiety of dealing with issues I “drop anchor.” This would have meant my first day. He simply told me, “Go wanted to avoid, or was there truly a that my sail was over, that I had found to church.” He knew I hadn’t set foot greater power revealing my heart’s true the friends and relationship with God I in a church since my father passed desires? wanted. I hadn’t. away; and he also knew that before my Despite my inability to answer, I Simultaneously, I was being “dis- father’s death I had attended on holi- found myself turning to Cru’s teachings cipled” by a core member of Cru who days only out of a sense of obligation. as a way to start rebuilding my faith would meet me at Panera once a week He told me that even if I didn’t know once again. to have a conversation with me about where I was spiritually, taking an hour what it’s like to live as a Christian and for myself once a week to sit in a quiet Finding My Faith guide me through a workbook about space would be good for my mind. So, But Cru is not a church; it didn’t meet what Christians are called to know and in my first week of college I looked for the qualifications my brother asked do. For example, the first chapter was on a church—but not just any church, a me to fulfill on my first day. So I asked the “Bridge Diagram,” a common tool to non-Catholic church. My heart wasn’t around to see where people were at- explain to non-Christians how Jesus is ready for Catholicism yet. tending services. I wanted something our bridge to God. These meetings al- I stumbled into a worship night at uplifting that showed me my faith in ways lacked something for me, as I still Cru, an Evangelical Christian orga- a way I hadn’t experienced before. So I felt at the end of the seven weeks that I nization formerly known as Campus started going to New Life regularly on was still a “Christian fraud.” I could talk Sunday mornings; their unique service and pray like the people around me, times had an element of quirkiness that but I didn’t really feel that I was living a MICHAILA McCLOSKEY is a recent graduate of the University of Michigan and a member of I identified with. I then signed up for God-centered life. I had accepted Jesus the Jesuit Volunteer Corps in Portland, Me. She a New Life women-only small group. as my savior, yet I didn’t truly believe spent her last year of college as an intern at her There I learned to begin opening up. In this or understand what it meant. student parish and co-leader of the family faith formation program. She was a runner-up in the this space I was able to listen earnest- Although I was working through Generation Faith essay contest. ly and learned to talk about what was these feelings, there was a gnawing feel-

September 26, 2016 America 27 ing that I had to be “fixed” to receive ever present, how could I fear evil? when I was in Kenya, when I felt the God’s grace. No one said God’s grace On New Year’s, before returning to true power of God’s presence. I was was just the beginning. Yet I stayed be- school, I had vowed that my resolu- never more challenged spiritually than cause the music was loud, the room was tion would be to attend church every when I was in Kakamega. Everyone dark, and I had finally found a place I Sunday. I wanted to be intentional in praised God before they introduced could say father again and not cry. doing this; I wanted something to med- themselves. I was blessed and welcomed itate on for the week that was relevant by all, and my host mother would pray Hearing God’s Music and meaningful to my life. Again I re- over us every dinner, uttering, “With My time with Cru eventually came turned to New Life, not knowing where God in my heart I can smile through to an end. I completed my workbook else to go to hear God, but I was feel- the storm.” and purchased my first Bible, which I ing anxious once again, confined in that By the time I returned to the United still carry around, hoping to absorb its space. My spirituality wasn’t growing States, I was ready. I had asked God to stories through some kind of spiritu- any more, and I finally recognized that prepare my heart for whatever he had al osmosis. I began attending a small my spiritual waters had grown stagnant. in store for me. I prayed for him to meet group with New Life that I had cho- No wind, no land, no healthy challenge me where I was spiritually and guide me sen because of some friendships with to persuade me to seek out God. But to grow in love with him. On a breezy seniors at Michigan that developed. As this recognition provided me with the fall afternoon, as I innocently sought classes and involvement in other orga- next steps. out free things from the different ta- nizations began to pick up, my atten- Around this time I started dating my bles at Northfest (a collection of clubs dance at small groups and church was current boyfriend, Alex. He has been a on campus looking for new recruits), I declining. By the end of fall semester in practicing Catholic all his life. When intentionally passed by the St. Mary’s my second year, I decided to give up on I would visit him at Wayne State, we Student Parish table. Although I had finding a solid group of friends I could would attend Mass at the Newman reconciled with my Catholic identity, “secure” myself to, the way an anchor se- Center. Going to Mass with him for the I wasn’t Catholic enough to make it cures a boat in water. I thought, Maybe first time in years revealed to me that part of my life on campus. But I was I wasn’t hearing God’s call to me; maybe my notions about being Catholic were compelled to turn around and ask I’m holding other Christians back. I felt badly misguided. I wasn’t really angry at about Mass times. In that moment, my as though I was lying through my teeth the church, I was angry at circumstanc- words and my body were not my own. with every prayer. es. The prayers, the traditions and the Someone believed in me and trusted The winter break of 2013 gave me symbolism that I had once considered me to teach children about their own some time to think. I had lost sight irrelevant and forgotten began flooding Catholic faith when I felt so infantile of what was important to me; I had back. “And also with you…. I mean also myself. forgotten the importance of being an- with your spirit…. I mean and with your My faith is my own, it is authen- chored to God. While at home over the spirit”.... Oh that’s new…. Have I really tic and growing. It is rooted in the break I reconnected with some friends been away from the Catholic Church tradition of my family, a line of Irish from high school; we had all been in this long? I left that first Mass and told Catholics. It is the faith of my father choir together. Something about con- Alex on the way back, “We should do and my Father. My faith does not ask necting with those who knew me lon- that again.” In Ann Arbor, we were still me to come to the altar whole. On gest and had seen my darkest moments attending New Life, but I was eager to the contrary, it compels me to share brought me back to a familiar place. We move on. The tides were turning within my brokenness and be vulnerable just chatted and sang songs, one of which me. I knew the inevitable was coming. in this way. Life’s roughest storms was “Requiem” by John Rutter. The By my junior year at Michigan, I had prove the strength of our anchor, and only song I could remember word for seldom broken my resolution; I had I choose to anchor myself to God. I word was “The Lord Is My Shepherd.” only missed Sunday Mass five times. As place my trust in knowing he will sail Its marked depth and hopefulness res- the tides turned within me, as the sails alongside me and wait patiently for onated, painting a beautiful scene in my guided me toward the faith-filled life I me to call to him if I steer off course. head. The line “He leads me beside still desired, I soon realized I had spent so He will share his love for me through waters” draws me back in everytime. It much time ignoring the obvious: God, genuine friendships. He will make is as if God knows what I need to hear my anchor, surrounded me, everyday. his presence known through music. to reconnect me to my watery roots. He does not just exist in church, at He will call on me to share my faith Imagining myself lying near a lazy riv- Mass. with others with all my imperfections. er on a sunny day knowing that God is This became most evident to me Anchor cast, I fear no storm. A

28 America September 26, 2016 Books & Culture

THEATER | JOE HOOVER said that the core conflict in “Sinners” was the repression of sexuality in a THROWING STONES culture. “To me it’s the real root of the tragedy of the play. It’s the culture, be- Lessons from ‘Sinners’ on a culture of repression ing a real hostage to the culture…. So in a way you can’t be a celebrant any- n the searing and timely play As Nur gathers the stones, the two more [of sexuality.] You haven’t got Sinners, by the Israeli playwright of them argue and rage, dream of rec- that openness; you’re damaged goods.” IJoshua Sobol, a man piles up rocks onciliation and escape and confront Sexual repression leads to sexual act- for the stoning of a woman. She was the reality of her death. Both the actors ing out leads to punishment by death. convicted of adultery. He was her lover. (Nicole Ansari and Arash Mokhtar) Tragedy begets sin begets tragedy. She is next to him, covered in a white and the play received strong reviews In a talkback after the opening night cloth and buried in the ground up to from the local press. Plans are in the performance, Mr. Cox described the her chest. making to remount the production in punishment of Layla as symptomatic The setting is an unnamed Muslim Boston next spring. of the “failure of patriarchy throughout country; both characters are punished I spoke with Mr. Cox at his tempo- the world, where the notion of what it for their affair. She is sentenced to exe- rary residence a few miles outside of is to be a man is called into question.” cution. He is condemned with prepar- Hardwick. (I was there performing in He addressed the patriarchy in our ing the means. “To Kill a Mockingbird.”) The home is conversation as well. “Man doesn’t For the director, Brian Cox, the a converted red barn overlooking green know who he is and what he is in- Scottish film and theater actor re- cornfields and a hilly cow pasture, with tended to be, and so he takes it out nowned for his roles ranging from a windmill planted at the bottom. It is on women,” he told me. “The reason King Lear to Ward Abbott in the Jason like a charged particle of an element we demonize women is because we’re Bourne movies, the plot uncovers the called “Vermont.” afraid of their sexuality. Men want it, roots of a host of social issues that con- Sitting on the back patio, having but they fear it.” tinue to trouble humanity. They all can recently arrived in the United States A permissive secular culture can be traced in some basic, tectonic way to from the set of the film “Churchill,” in make one a hostage to sexuality as our inability to integrate our sexuality. which he plays the title role, Mr. Cox much as a theocracy can. One society The social fracture within the play converges, in a certain light, with the Nicole Ansari and Arash Mokhtar in “Sinners” heart of Catholic teaching on sexual- ity. But what the church in doctrinal fashion struggles to preach (chastity), a story can address with raw vitality. One could say there is a singular kind of magisterium inherent in a truthful work of art. Staged in August in Hardwick, Vt., in an old wooden opera house, “Sinners” revolves around the horrific consequences of the forbidden rela- tionship between a man and woman, Nur and Layla. Each has been trapped since a young age in an arranged mar- riage. Their entire lives have been con- trolled by other people and by their

PHOTO COURTESY OF SEVEN DAYS VERMONT/CHARLIE MCATEER OF SEVEN DAYS PHOTO COURTESY totalitarian country.

September 26, 2016 America 29 possesses its women by bundling them the Old Vic theater for the reading of Shakespeare and Beckett, or playing up in burqas. Another dominates a cake box. a figure like Churchill, gives an actor women by stripping them down and Though he no longer practices credibility when speaking on the tur- selling Axe body spray off them. the faith, he told me his Catholic up- bulent matters of state and society. Hardwick is in northern Vermont, bringing and schooling by the Marist Someone like Brian Cox is worth lis- an hour from the Canadian border. Brothers is a bedrock of his life. “I tening to because he has embodied the Mr. Cox described Vermont, where remember benediction, and I loved most complex characters in the most half of all homicides are related to do- that. I loved all the ritual. I think that’s beautiful and socially relevant stories mestic violence, as the perfect place for where my theatrical thing came from, ever told. the American premiere of the play. that sense of ritual.” (Catholics always “Let me make the songs of a nation, Correlations are often made be- take this kind of admission as a minor and I care not who makes its laws,” tween sexual acting out and violence. victory for their side. You left the pitch, wrote 17th-century Scottish politi- In the arena of war-making they some- but don’t kid yourself, you’re still wearing cian Andrew Fletcher (or Damon of times go hand in glove. The investiga- the uniform.) Athens, depending on your source). tion by Army Major General Antonio Well-crafted stories like “Sinners” and M. Taguba into the Abu Ghraib prison A Pathetic Story “King Lear” can convince us of how scandal reported that the sexual abuse, Mr. Cox shared one of those pathetic we ought to live with greater effective- torture, rape, sodomy and murder of stories about the Roman church that ness than any linear moral doctrine. As Iraqi prisoners by U.S.soldiers was have you anxiously glancing around the French philosopher Jean-François “systemic.” After Osama bin Laden the room to make sure no impres- Lyotard put it, “Trust in the ability of was killed, his computer was found to sionable teens or Protestants are lis- narratives to persuade and to generate be filled with porn. tening. When his oldest son was born, new beliefs.” “The culture we are in, East or he told me, he went to great lengths to Good theology can also affirm what West, is not an aid to any of us coming get him baptized and was denied. great stories reveal. The papal encyclical to our senses,” said Mr. Cox. “We’re so “They kept talking about my sins, “Humanae Vitae,” for instance, points seedy about [sexuality]. We don’t ex- and I’m going, ‘I’m not talking about out the same dominating tendency in amine it.” me. I’m still in the middle of my di- man that Mr. Cox critiques. Of all hu- In the play, Layla describes their lemma, but I want to give my son a man progress, declares the document, nation as “a castrated giant.” The young context.’” he said. “I had a wonderful “the most remarkable development of Islamic men have been held down po- context for my own life.” all is to be seen in man’s stupendous litically, spiritually and in their very Mr. Cox has been on a roll in progress in the domination and rational manhood. his career, playing the lead in four organization of the forces of nature... These men, Mr. Cox said, “are neu- movies over the past year, including over his body, over his mind and emo- tered, and their sense of being neutered “Churchill,” and in the play “Waiting tions, over his social life....” has made them so angry that they’ve for Godot.” Playing the prime minister In the Catechism of the Catholic actually turned in on something.” is the kind of part one can get awards Church, “Chastity means the success- At this point it is worth asking a buzz for, and he hinted that he is al- ful integration of sexuality within the basic question: Why should we care ready receiving it. He then quickly dis- person and thus the inner unity of what an actor thinks about all of these missed the whole concept—and not man in his bodily and spiritual being.” devilishly complex matters? Jihad, po- with false modesty. “It’s about practic- (Ironically enough, in “Sinners” it is the litical repression, the catastrophe of ing and...just trying to make it better. “chastity guards” who are responsible poisoned sexuality. The very tinder The awards ceremony, the criteria, it’s for handing down the death penalty to the chaos and viciousness ripping all wrong. It’s about the work. It’s al- for Layla.) It entails “the aptitude for through the world. Why do we always ways about the work.” forming bonds of communion with crane our necks to hear what enter- His work had already led him to the others.” tainers think? pinnacle of acting in 1990, when he The catechism goes on to address When I met him for our interview, played to acclaim King Lear at Britain’s the larger social issues at stake in hu- Mr. Cox had just come from a work- National Theatre. Two years earlier man sexuality: “Chastity...also involves out. At 70 years of age, he is a presence he received an Olivier Award for his a cultural effort, for there is ‘an inter- in any space, stout in a black T-shirt performance in the title role in “Titus dependence between personal better- and shorts, with unkempt reddish hair Andronicus.” ment and the improvement of society.’” and an actorly voice that could sell out A lifetime of serving as a vehicle for There are radiant truths within

30 America September 26, 2016 these Catholic documents. And then, things should be than in reporting Until the church regains its voice, it seems, the darker shroud of Rome is how they are—namely, that the very perhaps it will be artists like Brian Cox thrown down and ruins it all. sexual repression and domination that and stories such as “Sinners” that, for “Humanae Vitae,” for instance, goes Brian Cox and “Sinners” address, and better or worse, tell us who we are and on to describe why the use of artificial that the Catholic Church in its doc- suggest who we might be. birth control is immoral. And virtually trine speaks against, is viewed by many Then again, there is another story no one is having it. A host of church as reaching one of its most precise in- making the rounds, having to do with positions on gender and sexuality, in carnations in the Catholic Church. church and women and sexuality. It is fact, are gloriously unpopular. For If you are Catholic, you know all a short video of Pope Francis speak- some, they read like a rap sheet of ec- this. The church today has little cred- ing with former prostitutes. “Today,” clesial crimes: the all-male priesthood, ibility to speak out on sexual issues. he says, standing before these women the celibate priesthood, prohibition Fairly or not, this is the charge. What forced into sexual slavery, their bod- against gay sex, condemnation of gay else is new? And none of this even ies treated as little more than coarse marriage, prohibition against divorce, mentions the actual, legal rap sheet playing fields, “I ask for forgiveness against cohabitation, against birth against the church: the scandal of sex- from all of you, for all the Christians control and so on. (And, at least in ual abuse of children by priests. and Catholics who abused you. And some quarters, a prohibition against It is worth stating again, though. I ask forgiveness for me, for not hav- baptizing Brian Cox’s son.) Catholics believe that Christ is the ing prayed enough for you and for this Arguing as to whether or not all very air of the universe. He is the ac- slavery.” these teachings are, in fact, somewhat tual matter of all that lives, the creator The two-minute scene is like an heinous is beyond the scope of this ar- of the bodies we inhabit and the pur- old Gospel play no one has put on for ticle. Personally, I would rather trans- est form of love ever to inhabit a body. years, for centuries even, so rare that late the Summa Theologiae into Elvish And the church of Christ is helpless to you wonder if it is even real. than engage in a breathless debate over, preach about the fundamental aspect say, the priestly ordination of women. of the body, its sexuality. The irony is JOE HOOVER, S.J., an actor and playwright, is I am less interested in declaring how almost tragic. America’s poetry editor.

September 26, 2016 America 31 OF OTHER THINGS | BILL Mc GARVEY HELP YOUR BROTHERS

t was an interesting first date. A nominee did not fully understand the some level? few months back, I got together for concept. “In some way, suffering ceases to Idinner with a woman I’d met at a Have we become tone deaf to the be suffering at the moment it finds a party. She was an attractive, intelligent, concept of sacrifice and suffering? We meaning, such as the meaning of a sac- successful 36-year-old, and we had a live in an age in which rifice,” wrote Viktor lot in common. As our entrees arrived, helicopter parents Frankl in Man's Search she asked how I had gotten involved in measure their love in Have we for Meaning. Frankl, writing about the intersection of secu- direct proportion to become tone a Viennese psychia- lar culture and faith. I cheekily told her their ability to insu- trist, wrote movingly that I’d been immersed in the former late their child from deaf to the about his time in Nazi my whole life and that my connection pain. That insularity concentration camps, to the latter had been formed by a deep can be self-imposed as concept of out of which grew his commitment to an esoteric school of well; we are all capable sacrifice and own theory of psy- thought I had developed called “Life’s of endlessly distract- chotherapy that pos- Fist, My Face.” ing ourselves with our suffering? its that human beings’ I explained a little more seriously screens and getting our primary motivational that, in my experience, evolving be- nourishment through force in life is not plea- yond the religion we are taught as chil- highly personalized sure (Freud) or power dren to a more mature faith as adults “feeds.” In this ephem- (Adler) but the striv- is intimately tied to how we deal with eral reality, I wonder ing to find meaning. the suffering that all of us inevitably if the language of suf- “The true meaning of encounter in our lives. “I completely fering has become as life is to be discovered disagree,” she told me. “I don’t think remote and dead as in the world rather suffering is inevitable.” I tried to clar- Aramaic, buried under than within man or his ify that this wasn’t a Western, Judeo- mountains of diversion own psyche, as though Christian bias or a masochistic, Irish- and cheaply bought self-esteem. it were a closed system,” he wrote. For Catholic predisposition; Buddhism If so, it is a tremendous loss that Frankl, the meaning of life is found in also discusses suffering at great length. robs us of an essential aspect of our “the self-transcendence of human ex- But she held firm to her conviction, humanity: our ability to empathize. istence,” which is focused outside the and the debate that followed over the It is through suffering that we are self. “The more one forgets himself... next 45 minutes was one of the strang- broken down and made to confront the more human he is and the more he est conversations I'd had in a long time. our own weakness and vulnerability. actualizes himself.” It was as if she were allergic to the no- This can be a transformative moment, The lesson that suffering was not an tion of suffering. in which we recognize at some deeper end in itself but that it came imbued I heard a similar resonance when level that we are not the center of the with a sense of responsibility was the Gold Star father Khizr Khan re- universe. It is a moment that either brought home to me during a particu- buked Donald Trump, saying at the opens us up to a journey in which we larly dark time in my own life. “Simon, Democratic convention in late July, move beyond ourselves to see a pro- behold Satan has demanded to sift all “You have sacrificed nothing.” When found connection between our suf- of you like wheat,” a Jesuit spiritual Trump later responded, "I think I've fering and the suffering of others, or director read back to me from Luke’s made a lot of sacrifices. I work very, it marks the beginning of a desperate Gospel, “but I have prayed that your very hard," it sounded as though the attempt to reclaim our centrality in the own faith may not fail.” Jesus does not universe. tell Peter that he will be spared suf- In light of the harshness, suspicion fering, only that he will not be alone BILL McGARVEY, a musician and writer, is the and demonization of our current na- in it. But once the tests are over, Jesus’ author of The Freshman Survival Guide and the owner of CathNewsUSA.com. Twitter: @ tional discourse, could it be that we admonition is simple and direct: “Go billmcgarvey. are experiencing a crisis of empathy on back and help your brothers.”

32 America September 26, 2016 BOOKS | JAMES P. Mc CARTIN route to his understanding of a mysti- cal, “prelinguistic” sense of wonder. DEATH DEFIED This is a heady book that smartly confuses categories and distinctions. Despite a life of unsurpassed security ZERO K and the limitations of human mortali- and privilege, Ross is terrorized by a By Don DeLillo ty. We meet them in a remote Kazakh sense of insecurity and an overwhelm- Scribner. 288p $27 destination known as the Convergence, ing fear of loss—a word that tellingly a mysterious secular monastery from rhymes with the name, we learn, he ad- Amid the apocalyptic wreckage of which a new, post-apocalyptic human- opted for himself as a young man. At Nazi-occupied Warsaw in 1944, ity is to be raised up. various points, too, Czesław Miłosz composed “A Song of There, a desperately distinctions between the End of the World,” a poem that pos- ill Artis prepares art and science or rep- es the disappointment of “those who to surrender to the resentation and real- expected signs and archangels’ trumps” cryogenic process, ity melt away. When against the quiet resolve of a wise old as father and son Jeffrey surveys the man, diligently tying up his tomato weigh scenarios of meticulously shaved plants and calmly repeating: “There will earthly calamity and human bodies that be no other end of the world./ There consider the prom- resemble so many will be no other end of the world.” In ise of everlasting life milky-white sculp- Zero K, which takes place in contem- for once-and-future tures, each suspend- porary Manhattan and in a seemingly titans whose super- ed in its own cryo- timeless, state-of-the-art bunker facil- cooled remains lie genic tube, he might ity in Kazakhstan, acclaimed novelist suspended in indi- as well be strolling Don DeLillo highlights a similar disso- vidualized under- through the Greek nance: on the one hand, a robust em- ground pods. and Roman galleries brace of violent cataclysm; on the other, Whether in the of the Metropolitan a principled resistance to apocalypti- sterile cocoon of Museum of Art. cism’s considerable allure. This story the Convergence or along the animat- Despite quirks and shortcomings, of a father and son drawn to the con- ed streets of the Lockharts’ native New Jeffrey Lockhart remains firm against templation of natural and manmade York, Jeffrey drives the dialogue, which the fear propelling his father’s desire conflagration—along with their own is frequently an interior one. Since to end his life prematurely in the sure bodily degeneration and that of their childhood, he has been a latter-day hope of rising up in a body glorified by loved ones—strikes a ruminative mood Descartes, impelled to a distrustful in- scientific engineering. More than once, that contrasts their variant characters terrogation of the world around him, we return to Jeffrey’s memory of himself and perspectives without drawing dis- persistently applying his own clear and attending the deathbed of his mother, tinctions too quickly or too starkly. distinct definitions to each separate ob- Madeline, lovingly lingering over the Ross Lockhart, the alpha-male fa- ject he encounters. “Define tennis rac- details of the scene as she succumbs to ther whose calibrated speculation on quet,” he commands himself. “Define the devastating effects of a stroke. What global disasters made him a billionaire, rock.” This habit, along with the prac- Jeffrey learned from her, he says, is that has invested a fortune, along with his tice of secretly renaming the people who “ordinary moments make the life,” not profoundest hopes, in a cryogenics ini- enter into his life, has a pathological the catastrophe that we humans expe- tiative promising to resurrect him and dimension that parallels Ross’s com- rience—or imagine we will one day ex- his second wife, Artis, in a distant age pulsive determination to control things perience. when humanity has transcended its vio- through his vast wealth. Yet father and With its strong attraction to the lent instincts and science has overcome son ultimately orient toward different apocalyptic, our own contemporary the effects of aging and disease. Jeffrey horizons: for Ross, the impulse to exer- cultural moment could benefit from Lockhart, the underemployed 30-some- cise power leads into a comically bizarre this point of view. thing son and narrator, grapples to un- science-fiction world constructed out of derstand his father and stepmother’s an overwrought fear of catastrophe and JAMES P. McCARTIN is director of the eccentric notions, as well as his own at- death, while Jeffrey’s practice of defining Fordham Center on Religion and Culture in titude toward the apocalyptic mindset and renaming becomes an unexpected New York City.

September 26, 2016 America 33 LUKE HANSEN decision in 2010 but remains impris- oned to this day. AMERICAN JUSTICE? Each prisoner’s story is unique. Mr. Slahi’s, like many others, might sur- GUANTÁNAMO DIARY These factors, no doubt, are com- prise the reader as it challenges the By Mohamedou Ould Slahi pelling and urgent. But they notably popular notion about who is held in overlook the human rights abuses of Guantánamo. This book provides an Edited by Larry Siems Little, Brown and Company. 381p $29 torture and indefinite exemplary case study in detention and the hu- how a network of con- In February, when President Barack man beings most imme- nections, associations Obama submitted his plan to Congress diately affected by these and accusations as well to finally shutter the military prison in policies and practices. as torture and weak Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, he reiterated Guantánamo Diary, an evidence could land a his basic motivation: national security. unprecedented and histor- man in Guantánamo He said the prison is used as a recruit- ic book, the first written Bay who had no con- ing tool for terrorists, harms our rela- by a current prisoner in nection to the attacks tionships with allies and “drains military Guantánamo Bay, is an es- of Sept. 11, 2001, and resources.” Based on the 2015 expenses sential contribution to the never had any inter- of running the prison camps, the cur- debate over the legacy of est in fighting against rent cost to imprison a man for one year the prison—and its future. the United States. It is in Guantánamo Bay is $5.6 million. By The author, Mohamedou an inside story of one transferring the remaining 76 prison- Ould Slahi, from the of the ugliest chap- ers to either other countries or a max- North African country of ters in post-Sept. 11 imum-security facility on U.S. soil, the Mauritania, arrived at the America—a chapter Obama administration predicts savings prison in 2002, has never been charged still being written today. of $1.7 billion over 20 years. with a crime and won a federal court Mr. Slahi became the first in his fam-

At the Edge of the Mississippi After years of watching a brick-lined horizon, in the metronome of water carving land, I returned to the river’s tattered body, listened but the river remained a river, nothing more. for a murmur to surface, to remind me that hope once abandoned can be regained. I scooped a handful of sand, rubbed it between my palms until they chafed. There were no flowers along the riverbank, I held a stone like ice to my lips and sank no ducks resting in the mud, only a shadow my feet into the silt until they numbed. cast by the highway overpass and some crows scurrying about the sidewalk for crumbs. I wish I could say the gestures changed me, or that the city was made whole for a moment What might have been a prayer by this act of veneration, in my willingness to hold was a boat gurgling in the distance, the river as a sacramental in a penitent’s hand. and the murky water veiled those pleas the history books obscure as when numbers Turning from the water, I saw a police caravan block several downtown streets without fanfare. steal prisoners’ names. I waited to see The silence spread its smoke between buildings if spirits would make themselves known and clung to my skin a stench I could not shake.

ANNA ELIZABETH SCHMIDT

Anna Elizabeth Schmidt is a doctoral candidate in American studies at Saint Louis University and also has an M.F.A. in poetry from Eastern Washington University. Her poems have appeared in Dappled Things, Penumbra and Pilgrimage and elsewhere.

34 America September 26, 2016 ily to attend college when he received a Americans are constantly told that out. Mr. Siems, the editor, helps the scholarship to study in Germany. He these men are trained to lie, especially reader through footnotes that explain momentarily left his studies to join the about their treatment in U.S. custody, redacted information when it is avail- U.S.-supported fight against the com- but Mr. Slahi’s detailed claims about able elsewhere in the manuscript or in munist government in Afghanistan, his brutal torture were later verified another public record. The best-selling which forbade the practice of Islam. by the U.S. Justice Department and a book has now appeared in 22 languages Once the government fell, Mr. Slahi U.S. Senate committee. Repeatedly in in 25 countries. returned to Germany, as he had no in- Guantánamo Diary the editor footnotes Guantánamo Diary belongs in a can- terest in fighting other Muslims. Later, the documentary evidence that corrob- on of great social justice memoirs not when Al Qaeda wanted to wage war orates the story told by Mr. Slahi. A only for the unique context in which against the United States, he said he military prosecutor, Lt. Col. V. Stuart the story was written but also for its had “nothing to do” with that effort. “I Couch, found the evidence of torture power and eloquence. Consider the cir- didn’t join them in this idea,” he said. in this case so problematic and con- cumstances. A man from Mauritania In 2000, when Mr. Slahi lived flicting with his deeply held Christian wins a prize to study in Germany, be- in Toronto, U.S. authorities ques- convictions that he withdrew from the comes an electrical engineer, knows tioned him twice about the so-called case and refused to cooperate with any four languages, is a gifted writer and he Millennium Plot to bomb the Los effort to prosecute him. is rendered, tortured and held for years. Angeles International Airport. Just 18 Everything Mr. Slahi wrote during The writing has color, texture, vivid de- days after Sept. 11, back in Mauritania, that summer was immediately classi- scription and emotional vulnerability. he was detained and questioned by the fied. It took six years for attorneys to At one point, Mr. Slahi admits: “I cried Federal Bureau of Investigation, and litigate and negotiate the declassifica- from the pain. Yes, a man my age cried again released. In November 2001, tion of the memoirs. One unique fea- silently. I just couldn’t bear the agony.” he drove to the local police station for ture of Guantánamo Diary is the pres- He showed desperation for signs of further questioning. This time he nev- ence of more than 2,600 black-bar re- hope, human contact and relationships, er returned home. The United States dactions. On two occasions, more than for some relief to the abuse and pain. rendered him to Jordan for nearly five pages of text are entirely blacked The story consistently defies any eight months, Bagram Air Base in Afghanistan for two weeks and finally Guantánamo Bay, where he has been held since Aug. 5, 2002. Larry Siems, the writer and human rights activist who edited the memoirs, writes, “I have, I believe, read every- thing that has been made public about his case, and I do not understand why he was ever in Guantánamo in the first place.” Mr. Slahi’s memoirs, 466 pages handwritten in the summer of 2005, detail the “special projects interroga- tion” that he endured from 2002 to 2004. The diaries are presented in three sections: rendition, pre-torture and post-torture. Mr. Slahi experienced months of extreme isolation, threats to his family, death threats to himself, a mock kidnapping and a host of other physical and psychological abuses and sexual humiliations. John Le Carré, author of A Delicate Truth, has called Guantánamo Diary “a vision of hell, be- yond Orwell, beyond Kafka.”

September 26, 2016 America 35 simplistic, monolithic view of the men FRANK FREEMAN in Guantánamo. It reveals their human- ity and complexity. In this way, it adds THE EYE OF LOVE to the legacy of Guantánamo Poems (University of Iowa Press, 2007). POLITICS OF THE PERSON AS cially infants, are expendable. Echoing “I have only written what I experi- THE POLITICS OF BEING Buber, Walsh responds, “The other enced, what I saw, and what I learned by David Walsh must always be a Thou if he or she first-hand,” Mr. Slahi writes. “I have Notre Dame Press. 312p $39 is to escape being an It.” And so he tried not to exaggerate, nor to under- endeavors to push personalism past state. I have tried to be as fair as pos- mere advocacy into the realm of devel- sible, to the U.S. government, to my The central insight of David Walsh’s opment and discovery. brothers, and to myself.” The fact that book is that “...the person is transcen- He does this by describing his vision he seeks fairness—and achieves it—for dence, not only as an aspiration, but of personalism in chapters devoted to a government that has unjustly impris- also as his or her very reality. Nothing personalism itself, morality, reality and oned him for more than 14 years is a is higher. That is what this book strives science, God, art, history and politics. testament to his character and commit- to acknowledge.” Walsh, professor In these chapters Walsh reiterates his ment. of politics at Catholic definition of the person Will Mr. Slahi ever leave University of America, as something transcen- Guantánamo? That day could be im- proposes that the dental—“transparent” minent. On July 14, a board of senior change that overcame like God, but not God. security officials determined by con- philosophy around The two chapters sensus that continuing to detain Mr. the time Descartes that stood out for this Slahi “is no longer necessary to protect declared his “I think reader were on morali- against a continuing significant threat therefore I am”—the ty and art. The chapter to the security of the United States.” shift from metaphysics, on morality is titled, in The board cited his “highly compliant or the study of being as Nietzschean parlance, behavior in detention,” “candid respons- being, to epistemology, “Persons as Beyond es to the Board’s questions” and his “ro- the study of knowledge Good and Evil.” Walsh bust and realistic plan for the future.” or how we know—is, admires “the great At the hearing in early June, a for- overall, a good thing iconoclast” because mer guard in Guantánamo Bay sub- that has veered off “Nietzsche’s critique of mitted a letter on behalf of Mr. Slahi course by focusing on conventional morali- that supported his release. The guard the autonomy of persons rather than ty was at root a moral critique.” Also: writes that he expected to find the their ultimate value. “Nietzsche has an unfailing ear for “worst of the worst,” “angry and brutal Walsh admires the work of Kant, the humbug that crept into the most men” in Guantánamo Bay, but his ex- along with that of Martin Buber, well-meaning exhortations to good- perience with Mr. Slahi was “nothing Nietzsche and Heidegger, among many ness. And he never failed to expose of the sort.” The guard described him others. Which is what makes this book it.” Nietzsche reminds us that life is as “polite, friendly, and respectful” and a surprise for one trained in scholastic “an unending struggle” and that truth able to “maintain a good sense of hu- philosophy. After all, hasn’t person- should be “integral to moral discourse.” mor despite his surroundings.” Most alism been done before? Mounier, Persons, Walsh says, are beyond good significantly, the U.S. soldier testified, Marcel and Maritain, led the way after and evil because they are always strug- “Based on my interactions with Mr. World War I. Yet, Walsh maintains, gling to move toward one or the other, Slahi while in Guantánamo, I would be they never managed “to engage the not because good and evil don’t exist. pleased to welcome him into my home.” intellectual mainstream” because they Kant described “this dynamic as a Guantánamo Diary is an opportu- mistook “the wish for the fulfillment” mysterious unfathomability that has nity to welcome his story into your and never dove into a “more sustained not been well served through its iden- home. reflection on the philosophical trans- tification with the notion of autono- formation that was sought.” my,” for since we have labeled what it LUKE HANSEN, S.J., a former associate editor Thus the idea of autonomy stole is to be human as autonomy, then “the of America, is a student at the Jesuit School of the show and led to philosophers like Theology of Santa Clara University, Berkeley, vitality of the moral life is arrested.” In Calif. Twitter: @lukehansensj. Peter Singer saying that persons, espe- other words, “Autonomy overflows into

36 America September 26, 2016 September 26, 2016 America 37 a metaphysics of the person...autono- my is itself overturned in the direction of the personal horizon with which it unfolds.” Everything must be looked at remembering who is doing the looking. The chapter on art is titled, “Art as the Radiance of Persons in Reality” and is itself a radiant exposition. Walsh be- gins by noting that the category of “art” did not really exist until modern times; previously, art was always in service of something else, usually “religion and power.” Because of the decline of reli- gion, “art and science have been released from all oversight but their own.” This has led to advances in both, yet also “a decline in accessibility.” Walsh describes how art should be radiant with truth and ends the chapter with his own phil- osophical paean:

All of reality is therefore one gi- gantic metaphor of the person, the disclosure of what cannot be disclosed that can nevertheless be glimpsed with the eye of love. The astonishment before the cosmos

to applications received by Oct. 17, 2016. is the same as the astonishment CLASSIFIED before the human heart, for they are continuous as the astonish- Religious Formation Sabbatical ment within which the person THE RELIGIOUS FORMATION NEW DIRECTIONS SABBATICAL at the CONFERENCE is seeking a full time Jesuit School of Theology in Berkeley. Enjoy dwells. Art lives within that irrup- PROGRAM DIRECTOR, who will work col- a semester or two at the only Jesuit sabbatical tion. It attests to the life beyond laboratively with the Conference’s national office program in North America. The scenic San life that is the source of life. staff, advisory and program teams, and others to Francisco Bay Area is the setting for this unique develop, design, market, coordinate and imple- program situating experienced ecclesial min- ment programs for women and men religious isters within the broader context of a major in- Politics of the Person as the Politics of engaged in the ministry of formation as well as ternational Jesuit formation center. Meet future Being is a dense and difficult read, but programs for newer members in initial forma- church leaders from over 35 countries: Jesuit also very rewarding. In trying to de- tion and for the lifelong formation of seasoned scholastics, women religious and laypeople. The members. The Conference has recently relocated holistic program is enriched by training and re- scribe the indescribable astonishment to Catholic Theological Union in Chicago, a site newal in the Ignatian vision. For more informa- that each person is, Walsh keeps alive rich in possibilities for collaboration with others tion, visit https://www.scu.edu/jst/academics/ the idea of philosophy not only as lin- committed to the flourishing of religious life. special-programs/new-directions-sabbatical/, or Qualifications include a master’s level degree in contact Rob McChesney, S.J., at (510) 549-5046 guistic analysis but also as the seeking theology or an equivalent credential. The success- or [email protected]. “Your time, God’s of wisdom and truth. ful candidate will have experience in initial or life- goodness!” long formation ministry and/or faith formation FRANK FREEMAN writes from Saco, Me. as well as in program design implementation and WANT YOUR AD HERE? Twitter: @FrankBFreeman. evaluation and some proficiency in technology, in Visit americamagazine.org. particular with its use in instruction and training. Email: [email protected]. America (ISSN 0002-7049) is published weekly (except for Please see www.relforcon.org for more detailed 13 combined issues: Jan. 4-11, 18-25, April 4-11, May 23-30, information.To apply, please submit cover let- Call 212-515-0102. June 6-13, 20-27, July 4-11, 18-25, Aug. 1-8, 15-22, Aug. 29- Sept. 5, Dec. 5-12, 19-26) by America Press Inc., 106 West ter, résumé and three reference letters to: Sister 56th Street, New York, NY 10019. Periodical postage is paid Ellen Dauwer, S.C., Executive Director, at rfc@ Ten-word minimum. Rates are per word per at New York, N.Y., and additional mailing offices. Circulation: (800) 627-9533. Subscription: United States $69 per year; relforcon.org. Applications will be accepted until issue. 1-5 times: $2; 6-11 times: $1.75; 12-23 add U.S. $30 postage and GST (#131870719) for Canada; or add U.S. $69 per year for international priority airmail. the position is filled, but preference will be given times: $1.50; 24 or more times: $1.25. Postmaster: Send address changes to: America, P.O. Box 293159, Kettering, OH 45429.

38 America September 26, 2016 THE WORD

“The tasks carried out inside the house (for the edification of the com- What Disciples Do munity) are, moreover, the indispens- TWENTY-SEVENTH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME (C), OCT. 2, 2016 able complement to activity on the out- Readings: Hb 1:2-3, 2:2-4; Ps 95:1-9; 2 Tm 1: 6-14; Lk 17:5-10 side, in the fields (the evangelization of the world).” Their service to the church “We have done only what we ought to have done” (Lk 17:10) and the world is modeled on the service here are two parts to today’s is tantamount to entering into God’s that their master Jesus offers to them Gospel reading from Luke, domain—and everything is possible for and to the world. The apostles are ex- which readers sometimes God. What is more, when divine pow- pected to carry out their tasks, plowing T and serving, without expecting admi- struggle to connect. In one, the apos- er is given to human beings, it is always tles ask for faith from Jesus (17:5-6); tied to a mission.” What is at ration or adulation. Yet even when the other is a parable about a master issue is not so much “a lit- this service has been completed, and slaves that is found only in Luke’s tle” faith or “a lot” of faith Jesus calls the slaves in this Gospel. They are connected by more but a genuine faith parable “worthless” (achreios). than just proximity, but understanding that is in tune with the This Greek adjective can also each of these passages on its own terms mission of God’s king- be translated as “useless,” “un- allows us to understand how the two dom. If the disciples usable,” “good for nothing” or parts fit together. would allow their faith “dispensable.” How can this In Luke’s Gospel, much of Jesus’ to grow, the things be? teaching of the apostles takes place that could be done for The shocking language while they are on their way to Jerusalem the kingdom would be of “worthless” disciples—I to fulfill a destiny the disciples struggle miraculous, momentous to comprehend. As they are on the road, and mind-blowing. the apostles grasp that they are lack- What seems like a sudden shift PRAYING WITH SCRIPTURE ing something, and they ask the Lord, from a discussion of the nature of Ponder the Gospel passage. Have you “Increase our faith!” At least that is faith to the parable of the master and asked for your faith to increase? How have one possible rendering of their request. slaves actually makes sense. If Jesus’ you experienced your faith growing? How have you responded to faith by working for The Greek prosthes( hēmin pistin) can disciples have faith, it will grow to the kingdom in the house and in the field?

be translated literally “add faith to us,” do miraculous things, and this faith DUNNE TAD ART: which could indeed mean “give us more is enacted in God’s kingdom by what faith than we already have” or “give us the disciples do. What they do seems far faith, since we are lacking it.” from miraculous, but Bovon sees this find it shocking every time I read it— Jesus’ answer implies they lack faith, parable as having “allegorical coloration” might indicate that performing one’s since he says that all they need is a little grounded in the life of the church. duty does not guarantee salvation. But faith, a mustard seed-sized amount, to Bovon notes that the verb diakoneō it is more likely that we are being in- perform astounding feats. But François (“to serve”) calls to mind table ser- structed that we cannot save ourselves; Bovon, the late Swiss biblical schol- vice, while the verb poimainō (“to tend regardless of what we do and accom- ar, says in his commentary (Gospel sheep”) describes a major function of plish, it is God who saves us. Faith is of Luke, Vol. II, pg. 496 ff.) that what Christian ministers from antiquity to essential to enter into “God’s domain,” Jesus wants is a “living and active faith today. The wordagros (“field”) denotes as Bovon puts it, but it is God who (resulting from faith),” for “to have faith the world, the missionary field of the graces us with faith. Once we enter disciples, and plowing “refers to the the kingdom, we respond to that faith JOHN W. MARTENS is a professor of theology spreading of the word of God.” The “al- through the work that we do, but it is at the University of St. Thomas, St. Paul, Minn. legorical coloration” does not stop there, God who has empowered us to accom- Twitter: @BibleJunkies. for Bovon sees the tasks of the slaves in plish our tasks. Boasting is excluded: the house, who care for the food and “We have done only what we ought to the drink, as suggestive of the Eucharist have done!” and service within the church. JOHN W. MARTENS

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