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THE NATIONAL CATHOLIC WEEKLY FEB. 24, 2014 $3.50 OF MANY THINGS Published by Jesuits of the United States state in the Abbey: it is an opportunity lived in London for nearly 106 West 56th Street three years before I set foot in for the truth of revelation to scandalize New York, NY 10019-3803 Westminster Abbey. Since the humankind’s nationalist fictions. Ph: 212-581-4640; Fax: 212-399-3596 I Yet does that happen? Throughout Subscriptions: 1-800-627-9533 16th-century English reformations, the my visit, I couldn’t help but wonder www.americamagazine.org Abbey has been the most prominent facebook.com/americamag and cherished place of worship in whether the Abbey was enacting the twitter.com/americamag the Church of England. Americans “comedy” of the city of God or the will know the Abbey from television “tragedy” of the city of man. The PRESIDENT AND EDITOR IN CHIEF coverage of the funeral of Princess monuments to the tragic figures of Matt Malone, S.J. Diana and the wedding of her son empire share cherished space with those EXECUTIVE EDITORS Prince William. The place is a curious to the equally tragic figures of a gloomy Robert C. Collins, S.J., Maurice Timothy Reidy admixture of church and state, Catholic modernity. In some ways, the Abbey has MANAGING EDITOR Kerry Weber and Protestant, self-adulation and simply swapped one metanarrative for LITERARY EDITOR Raymond A. Schroth, S.J. transcendent beauty. As a Roman another. Yet is either story truly inspired SENIOR EDITOR & CHIEF CORRESPONDENT Catholic, I experienced an unexpected, by, indeed authored by, the Gospel? I Kevin Clarke almost visceral parochial anxiety as wondered whether an ecclesial body so EDITOR AT LARGE James Martin, S.J. I entered the church, as if my body “dominated by and structured on the POETRY EDITOR Joseph Hoover, S.J. contained the relics of centuries of fear principles of liberal tolerance,” as Joseph ASSOCIATE EDITORS and resentment between Protestants Ratzinger once wrote, “in which the Luke Hansen, S.J. and Catholics. This should not have authority of revelation is subordinate ASSISTANT EDITORS Francis W. Turnbull, S.J., Olga come as a surprise, I suppose. Self- to democracy and private opinion” Segura, Joseph McAuley, Ashley McKinless inflicted wounds to the body of Christ is fully capable of publicly bearing ART DIRECTOR Stephanie Ratcliffe continue to gape and mar even today. witness to the obviously countercultural COLUMNISTS John J. Conley, S.J., Daniel P. Horan, imperatives of the Gospel. O.F.M., James T. Keane, John W. Martens, Bill As an American, I was uneasy McGarvey, Angela Alaimo O’Donnell, Margot with the entanglement of church and The eucharistic service in the Abbey Patterson, Michael Rossmann, S.J. state in the Abbey’s furnishings and was beautiful. It was not simply the CORRESPONDENTS ceremonial. Americans have a cultivated lovely music or the fine liturgica that John Carr – Washington, D.C. aversion to this sort of thing. We’ve made it so; it was the fact that an in- MODERATOR, CATHOLIC BOOK CLUB Kevin Spinale, S.J. made a paradoxical religion out of breaking of the Holy Spirit, a divine comedy, was being enacted right there EDITORIAL E-MAIL the separation of church and state, a [email protected] situation that is itself the historical amid the more prominent relics of progeny of what is represented in humankind’s tragic scheming. In front VICE PRESIDENT/CHIEF FINANCIAL OFFICER Westminster Abbey. While I harbor of the monument to George Canning, Edward Spallone the imperial prime minister (who, the some reservations about R. R. Reno’s VICE PRESIDENT/ADVANCEMENT essay in this issue, I concede his basic monument tells us without concern for Daniel Pawlus point that the next phase in that story Christian humility, rose “by his own OPERATIONS STAFF will involve “a shift from individual merit”), and just 100 feet or so from Ted Rosa Del Saz, Chris Keller, Kerry Goleski, Steven Keller, Glenda Castro, Judith Felix freedom from religion to a vision of Hughes in Poets’ Corner (also a place not overly concerned with Christian ADVERTISING CONTACT society as a whole free from religious [email protected]; 212-515-0102 influence.” That would be tragic. humility) there was this in-breaking of SUBSCRIPTION CONTACT/ADDITIONAL COPIES The separation of church and state Christ, a moment when the temporal [email protected]; is both prudent and necessary, but was touched by the eternal, a moment 1-800-627-9533 the separation of the church and the of incarnation. Yet for all its beauty, I © 2014 America Press, Inc. political is inconceivable. For my part, couldn’t help but wonder whether this I am more comfortable these days moment was the “scandal” it should have with the church and the state sharing been, whether it was really lifting our a common space, precisely because “the gaze from the Abbey’s monuments to city of God is not so much a space as a faded and ill-sought glory, to the living performance,” as William T. Cavanaugh and eternal memorial of the glorified has written. In a way, then, I rather Christ who was now among us. appreciate the proximity of church and MATT MALONE, S.J. Cover: Shutterstock.com/trekandshoot Contents www.americamagazine.org VOL. 210 NO. 6, WHOLE NO. 5040 FEBRUARY 24, 2014 ARTICLES 13 OUR SECULAR FUTURE The redefinition of religious liberty in American society R. R. Reno 20 A VIEW FROM ABROAD The shrinking common ground in the American church Massimo Faggioli 24 SUSPICIOUS MINDS The spirituality of the postmodern nones Michael P. Murphy 13 COLUMNS & DEPARTMENTS 4 Current Comment 5 Editorial Rain Delay 6 Reply All 8 Signs of the Times 11 Column A Mercy-Filled Lent Kerry Weber 28 Faith in Focus Lost and Found Carol LaChapelle 39 The Word My Anxious Heart John W. Martens 24 BOOKS & CULTURE 30 FILM “Son of God” OF OTHER THINGS Queer as Folk BOOKINGS Epistolary Treasures BOOKS This Town; Veiled Desires ON THE WEB At “The Living Word,” Brian B. Pinter writes on taunting in Scripture and how Jesus ministered to those who were bullied. Plus, a selection of articles on religious liberty and a podcast discussion of the Oscar nominees. All at americamagazine.org. 30 CURRENT COMMENT called Housing First that identified the chronically homeless Europe’s Nomads and designed strategies to supply permanent or transitional The French government has continued its harsh treatment housing to meet their needs. The state calculated that the of the Roma people in recent months. Despite protests from costs of emergency services and incarceration amount to the international community, President François Hollande $16,670 each year for a chronically homeless person but has followed up on the policies of his predecessor, Nicolas found that it could supply each person with an apartment Sarkozy, by clearing Roma camps. Over 21,000 Roma were and case management services for $11,000. deported in 2013, double the number of the previous year. As a result of the program, the number of chronically Many of them came to France after being evicted from homeless people in Utah has dropped from 1,900 in 2005 to Bulgaria and Romania. fewer than 500 today. How did this happen? The apartment The Roma, also known as gypsies, are unpopular itself, plus the attention of an assigned case worker, gives throughout Europe, where their makeshift camps have long people basic stability and enables them to get their lives in been a source of resentment. Prejudice against them goes order, search for jobs and confront physical and psychological back centuries but took a virulent turn during World War II, problems. And they are allowed to keep the apartment even when an estimated 500,000 Roma were killed at the order of when they fail. Housing is a basic human right. Other states Adolf Hitler. should consider the Utah solution. The United Nations has asked the French government to end the vicious cycle of forced evictions and to work alongside grass-roots groups that minister to Roma Tear Down This Wall migrants. Catholic leaders in France are heeding Pope Just as the peace talks between Israel and Palestine seem to Francis’ call to focus on the plight of the poor by advocating be sputtering, Israel has thrown still another obstacle in the for this persecuted minority. “People of Bulgarian and road: their attempt to extend the separation wall through the Romanian origin have come to live in our country, and Cremisan Valley. In the West Bank, just south of Jerusalem for several years now, we’ve seen no policy offered other and next to Bethlehem, the valley is a beloved oasis, if not than that of refusing acceptance to the greatest number,” stronghold, of Christianity. If the wall is built, a convent Archbishop Georges Pontier of Marseille said in November. of Salesian sisters who run a school with 400 students, a Even those “behaving reasonably and peacefully” were denied monastery of brothers and 58 Christian farmers would be cut basic necessities, the archbishop said, and were subject to acts off from their work, recreational lands and water sources. It of violence and “hateful, unrestrained remarks.” is far from the international border drawn after the Six Day A long-term solution is impossible without the War in 1967. cooperation of the whole European community. The well- Bishop Richard E. Pates of Des Moines, Iowa, along with being of the Roma cannot depend on the vicissitudes of local bishops from Europe, Canada and South Africa, visited the government policies. Continued pressure from the United agricultural valley in January.