OF MANY THINGS

nce again the fate of the what methodologies should the courts 106 West 56th Street New York, NY 10019-3803 president’s signature domestic employ when interpreting statutes? More Ph: 212-581-4640; Fax: 212-399-3596 achievement is in the hands important, what methodology should Subscriptions: 1-800-627-9533 O www.americamagazine.org of the chief justice of the United the U.S. Supreme Court employ when facebook.com/americamag States. That was clear enough last interpreting the U.S. Constitution? twitter.com/americamag week when the U.S. Supreme Court That conversation is really important, heard arguments in the case of King not least of all because there are two President and Editor in Chief Matt Malone, S.J. v. Burwell, the latest challenge to the widely divergent methodologies at work. Executive Editors Affordable Care Act of 2010. Unlike On the one hand, there are those who Robert C. Collins, S.J., Maurice Timothy Reidy the court’s landmark decision in 2012, subscribe to one of the variant forms Managing Editor Kerry Weber which upheld the constitutionality of of “originalism,” the doctrine that the Literary Editor Raymond A. Schroth, S.J. the law’s so-called individual mandate, Constitution should be interpreted Senior Editor and Chief Correspondent the issue in King is not whether the law according to the meaning of the words Kevin Clarke is unconstitutional per se but whether as those words would have been Editor at Large James Martin, S.J. the federal government has exceeded the understood at the time of their adoption. Executive Editor, America Films Jeremy Zipple, S.J. authority granted it by the statute itself. Another group holds fast to the doctrine Poetry Editor Joseph Hoover, S.J.

Apart from that, however, the dynamic of “living constitutionalism.” This is Associate Editor and Vatican Correspondent on the bench looks very familiar. Chief the notion that the Constitution is a Gerard O’Connell Justice Roberts is the decisive vote. dynamic document and that modern Senior Editor Edward W. Schmidt, S.J. Pundits and politicians spent much understandings of its meaning are Engagement and Community Editor of last week spinning the proceedings. therefore relevant, if not dispositive. Elizabeth Tenety Associate Editors Ashley McKinless, Olga Segura Across the nation, the conversation The living constitutionalists say that Assistant Editors Francis W. Turnbull, S.J., focused on whether Obamacare is the originalists think the Constitution is Joseph McAuley good public policy. That conversation is dead. The originalists charge the living Art Director Sonja Kodiak Wilder interesting but irrelevant in the present constitutionalists with thinking that the Columnists Helen Alvaré, John J. Conley, S.J., context. The question before the court Constitution should mean whatever they Daniel P. Horan, O.F.M., James T. Keane, John W. Martens, Bill McGarvey, Angela Alaimo O’Donnell, is not whether Obamacare is good law, want it to mean. Both characterizations Margot Patterson, Nathan Schneider, Robert David but whether the federal government are caricatures, of course, yet these Sullivan has acted beyond the law. Similarly, are still radically different theories of Correspondents John Carr (Washington), An- thony Egan, S.J., and Russell Pollitt, S.J. (Johannes- the question before the court in 2012 law, with radically different starting burg), Jim McDermott, S.J. (Los Angeles), Timothy was not whether Obamacare should points, that produce radically different Padgett (Miami), Steven Schwankert (Beijing), have been repealed, but whether it was outcomes. David Stewart, S.J. (London), Judith Valente (Chi- cago), Mary Ann Walsh, R.S.M. (U.S. Church) constitutional. We need to have a real debate about Moderator, Catholic Book Club These distinctions matter. When we these two philosophies. At a minimum, Kevin Spinale, S.J. treat the courts as mere extensions of the public might better understand that Editorial e-mail our partisan politics, then we strip them the ultimate outcome of the struggle [email protected] of their essential, vital function: to state between these two philosophical what the law is. “The interpretation of camps will determine not only how Publisher and Chief Financial Officer Edward Spallone. Deputy Publisher Rosa Del Saz. Vice the laws,” reads Marbury v. Madison, “is the Constitution is interpreted but President/Advancement Daniel Pawlus. Devel- the proper and peculiar province of the also how it is amended and applied opment Coordinator Kerry Goleski. Operations courts.” Now I’m not suggesting that the in real life. What we have instead is a Staff Chris Keller, Glenda Castro. Advertising contact [email protected]; 212-515-0102. U.S. Supreme Court is above politics. dangerous dialogical mix of ignorance Subscription contact/Additional copies By definition it is a political body, but and grandstanding. But how and [email protected]; it is a different kind of political body. It whether we change the Constitution is 1-800-627-9533 is not simply a third house of the U.S. the most important decision we make © 2015 America Press, Inc. Congress. as citizens, much more than choosing Another reason these distinctions a president. That is because in our matter: when we fail to appreciate the ingenious system it is the Constitution, unique mission of the judiciary, we not the president—or anyone else, for Cover: People carry a banner of Archbishop Oscar sidestep a very important question about that matter—that is sovereign. Romero in San Salvador, El Salvador, March 22, our constitutional arrangement—namely, MATT MALONE, S.J. 2014. CNS photo/Roberto Escobar. Contents www.americamagazine.org VOL. 212 NO. 10, WHOLE NO. 5083 March 23, 2015

ARTICLES 15 DEATH COMES FOR THE ARCHBISHOP The martyrdom of Óscar Romero Kevin Clarke

COLUMNS & DEPARTMENTS 4 Current Comment

5 Editorial Peace and Toilet Paper

6 Reply All

8 Signs of the Times 15 12 Column “No White Man Is Innocent” Nathan Schneider 20 (Un)Conventional Wisdom The Prison Trap Robert David Sullivan

22 Vatican Dispatch The Church’s Asian Soul Gerard O’Connell

23 Vantage Point Looking Back at Newman Theodore M. Hesburgh

26 Faith in Focus Hope and Joy-Joy Andrew Small

29 Generation Faith In His Time Mary Mullan

39 The Word A Little Thing John W. Martens

26 BOOKS & CULTURE

31 DANCE Exploring the Spiritual Exercises through movement OF OTHER THINGS A Litany for Flannery BOOKS Eucharist as Meaning; Occupy Spirituality; From Willow Creek to Sacred Heart

ON THE WEB A video profile of choreographerRobert VerEecke, S.J., and excerpts from his work. Plus an interview with Rudy López of Interfaith Worker Justice. Full digital highlights at americamagazine.org/webfeatures. 31 CURRENT COMMENT

and women without stable housing to get a job, public Faith in Sinai benefits or supportive housing that could help get them off “This is a great day of joy for Catholics in Egypt,” said the the streets. Some public officials seem to have realized this. Coptic Catholic Bishop Makarios Tewfik of Ismailia, hailing In California, state lawmakers are considering the Right to the consecration on Feb. 15 of the first Coptic Catholic Rest Act, which would guarantee the right to rest, eat and church ever built in Sinai. The church will accommodate perform religious observances in public spaces. the worship needs not only of the tourists who flock to A bill of rights for homeless people places an obligation the region’s spectacular coral reefs but also of the sizable on all residents: to confront the plight of those living on the community of Filipino guest workers employed in the margins. Proven, cost-effective solutions to homelessness tourism, hotel and construction industries on the peninsula. exist, including housing-first strategies, collaboration A large foreign workforce in Bahrain has likewise spurred between health and social service workers and law the construction of a new Catholic church there, slated for enforcement, and alternative courts. But first we have to see completion in 2016 (Current Comment, 4/14/14). the problem. Before the church was built, people in Sinai were able to worship only in their homes or makeshift chapels. Financial assistance was provided by Aid to the Church in Need, an The Rights of Unions international Catholic charity. Work on the church had been After a divisive and very public argument over public union ongoing since 2003, and the foundation stone was laid in contracts four years ago, Wisconsin finds itself embroiled 2005; but as with any ambitious project, roadblocks popped in another scorched-earth debate. With the backing of up. As Bishop Makarios noted, the logjam was broken when Gov. Scott Walker, the state legislature adopted a “right to an influential advocate, who had been taught by Catholic work” law that allows private-sector workers to opt out of a sisters, came to the church’s assistance. Thanks to the union—and union dues—even while enjoying the benefits support of Suzanne Mubarak, wife of the deposed Egyptian of union membership. Twenty-four states have passed president, the church was finished and given the name of her similar laws, and Missouri, Illinois and Kentucky are also choosing: Our Lady of Peace. considering “right to work” legislation. Supporters argue that On the same day that the church was consecrated, an these laws empower individual workers, but their long-term Islamic State affiliate in Libya released a video showing the effects are not difficult to predict. The more people opt out beheading of 21 Orthodox Coptic Egyptians. Our Lady of of paying union dues, the weaker the unions will be. Peace stands as a rebuke to such evil and shows, in a concrete The Wisconsin Catholic Conference released a public way, that death will never prevail over life. statement offering three questions to guide the debate. They included, “Does [the proposed law] protect the natural right of workers to assemble and form associations?” The statement The Right to Rest stopped short of offering an answer, which might have been Across the country, local governments seeking to revitalize the prudent course at a moment when the state’s electorate downtown areas, attract tourists or cater to wealthier was extremely polarized. Then again, the beleaguered residents have increasingly turned to laws that criminalize union movement could use all the help it can get. Last year, behavior associated with homelessness. A report by the law the Interfaith Partnership of Greater St. Louis, to which school of the University of California, Berkeley, published Archbishop Robert Carlson belongs, published a statement in February found that 58 cities in that state have enacted calling right-to-work laws “obviously and admittedly anti- over 500 restrictions on activities like resting in public places, union in their intent and render impossible or at least weaken living out of a car, panhandling and sharing food, in what the process of collective bargaining between management researchers call a municipal “race to the bottom.” and labor.” From the standpoint of Catholic social teaching, No one is winning this race—not taxpayers, who foot these laws are problematic: they privilege the rights of the the bill for the costly enforcement of such measures, and individual over the good of the group. certainly not the homeless people who are arrested or Unions are imperfect institutions, but Catholics should fined for basic acts of survival. If the goal is not just to resist political attempts to make them obsolete. As Pope clean up parks and sidewalks but to end homelessness, Benedict XVI wrote in “Caritas in Veritate,” “the promotion criminalization may in fact further entrench the problem. of workers’ associations that can defend their rights must A criminal record can make it even more difficult for men therefore be honored today even more than in the past.”

4 America March 23, 2015 EDITORIAL Peace and Toilet Paper

he issue of lethal force—employed by police against Rockefeller ordered state African-American citizens in Ferguson, Mo., Staten police to take back the prison TIsland, N.Y., Albuquerque, N.M., and Cleveland, from mutinous inmates. Ohio—remains in the public consciousness as the spotlight They killed 39 men, many shifts now to another deeply embedded abuse of power: of whom were innocent brutality in prison. In scandalous numbers, prison guards hostages shot down in the hail of responsible for the rehabilitation of prisoners abuse them bullets. Jump ahead to 2011 when, to punish a prisoner mercilessly—at times to death—and are rarely held to who had shouted a disrespectful expletive, three burly account for their crimes. officers at Attica yanked 29-year-old George Williams For the Christian, reports of this scandal recall images from his cell and beat him mercilessly, breaking two legs, a of Jesus the prisoner, whipped, ridiculed and crucified shoulder and an eye socket. (Witnesses say he was not the between a repentant and an unrepentant thief. For the U.S. man who yelled.) Unlike hundreds of similar victims over citizen, this treatment brings to mind the truths embodied in the years, Mr. Williams fought back and got legal support. the Constitution and the Bill of Rights. The attackers were indicted and scheduled to stand trial on Rikers Island, a complex of 10 jails located in the East March 2 of this year, but a last minute plea deal saved them. River in New York City, holds about 11,000 inmates, mostly They lost their jobs, but they will not go to jail. African-American and Hispanic men from low-income Meanwhile, The Atlantic (February 2015) has neighborhoods. About 85 percent of them have not yet been chronicled the devastating effects of prison rape, particularly convicted of a crime; nearly 40 percent have a mental illness. on young men housed with seasoned inmates, who will enslave Rikers has a history of violence, and now an investigation by a youth and rent him out to fellow prisoners. The authorities The New York Times has identified 62 instances between look the other way. In 2003 Congress passed the Prison Rape last August and January in which correction officers seriously Elimination Act to address the issue, but implementation of injured prisoners. As a result of these altercations, 70 percent the law has been slow. of the inmates involved sustained head injuries and half A crisis this widespread demands an inclusive political sustained broken bones. In a typical case, on Sept. 2, 2014, response in which a national advisory committee investigates four correction officers pulled José Guadalupe, a man classified the problem and proposes congressional legislation to solve as mentally ill, into his solitary confinement cell and beat him it. States should both strengthen the selection and training unconscious. Mr. Guadalupe suffered a concussion and spent of guards and raise the salary (the median is now $39,000 three weeks in a wheelchair. According to data from the New a year) to match regular police salaries. They should replace York City Department of Correction, guards used physical the current training programs, which last from three to 20 force against inmates 4,074 times in 2014. In spite of millions weeks, with a post-high school year at a selected university of dollars spent to improve conditions, last week Rikers went emphasizing social and ethical issues. Prison buildings should into lockdown for 34 hours to curb escalating gang violence. be redesigned to promote both security and surveillance but In Florida a record number of 346 prisoners died in also private and communal space consistent with human 2014, and hundreds of these cases are under investigation. dignity. At the same time, churches must make a coordinated Jerry Washington, a prisoner at the Santa Rosa Correctional ecumenical effort to strengthen their ministries in the jails. Institute, filed a sexual harassment complaint against two The bottom line: prisons must build character, not break officers. Hearing of the complaint, the officers threatened to spirits. kill him. Mr. Washington wrote his sister warning her that In 1971, before Attica exploded, two inmates prepared if he were to die suddenly, these men would be responsible. a letter to be sent to Governor Rockefeller. They wanted three A week later he was dead. The local medical examiner ruled things: better education, more religious freedom and more his death a suicide, a claim his family rejects; a fellow inmate than one roll of toilet paper a month—for the basic human claims Mr. Washington was poisoned. needs to learn, to pray and to be clean. Imagine the lives Now back to Attica, N.Y., the scene of the riot in that could have been saved and transformed if those simple 1971 that ended after four days only when Gov. Nelson requests had been granted.

March 23, 2015 America 5 REPLY ALL forts at “social stewardship,” as suggest- suit his preconceived thesis. The para- ed by Mr. Craig, must include a realistic graph subtitled “Winning: Not the Health Care Rhetoric and nonpolitical evaluation of short- Only Thing” is, I’m afraid, another sign Re “A Sense of Solidarity,” by Kevin P. and long-term economic models. I be- of the author ignoring the reality of the Quinn, S.J. (3/2): I was very disturbed lieve we must recognize that short-term behavior of fans whose teams have lost by the generalization and characteriza- political gain may not equal long-term big games and the acting out that results tion of “most, if not all, conservative op- good nor good stewardship. from the frustration of being a “loser.” position” in the review of Health Care as PHILLIP JOHNSON JOHN HOLLOHAN a Social Good, by David M. Craig. The Online Comment Naples, Fla. implication is that all conservatives be- lieve health care should be a “privilege, Football Fantasy Benefits Ban rather than a right.” This generalization In “Good Sports” (2/23), Rabbi Martin Re “Prison Addiction,” by Bishop Denis further contributes to the divisive polit- Siegel presents a garbled discussion J. Madden (2/23): Many are unaware ical rhetoric and our inability to pursue about “getting closer to God through of the obstacles faced by prisoners at logical discourse regarding true health athletics.” The entire piece is a mish- their release from incarceration—espe- care reform. mash of “five essential forces” that draw cially in finding a place to live and a job. Is it not possible that many “conser- creatures—as fans, apparently—into a In 1996 Congress added another major vatives” have equal concern for the long- closer relationship with their Creator. obstacle when it passed the Personal term ability of our health care system By taking part in witnessing athletic Responsibility and Work Opportunity to meet the needs of all citizens? I do events, “the fans are connected to [the Reconciliation Act. applaud Father Quinn’s observation Creator’s] energy through the imagery This law, which applies only to felo- that “secular liberal and economic ar- that the competition creates for them.” ny drug convictions, prohibits for life a guments” have not produced a “public Rabbi Siegel, who is working on person from receiving federal food as- narrative,” essential to long-term solu- a book entitled Renewing Religion sistance (S.N.A.P.) or cash assistance tions in the health care reform debate. Through Football, seems unaware of (T.A.N.F.). Perhaps a well-intentioned Perhaps the greatest benefit of religious recent discussions about the physical part of the war on drugs, this law is now engagement could be to force inappro- savagery of American football and its recognized by many states as a con- priate political rhetoric out of the dis- ill effects on the participants, especial- tributing factor to recidivism as well cussion in favor of a realistic planning ly at the college and professional level. as a great hardship on the spouses and process that excludes labels such as Apparently he has a thesis about how children of felons. Congress gave the “conservative” or “liberal.” the Creator can be approached through states the discretion to opt out of or “Constructive compromise” and ef- sports activities, and he fits his data to modify the ban. As of 2011, 37 states

STATUS UPDATE We met Father Ted on a visit to Notre gas for the priests’ fleet of cars. He’d Readers respond to the passing on Feb. Dame, when my wife was pregnant stop me in the Corby Hall foyer with 26 of Theodore Hesburgh, C.S.C., for- with our first child. Upon learning she all the car keys and start conversations. mer president of the University of Notre was pregnant and as if on cue, he bless- “When I met Gorbachev, we talked Dame and one of the most influential ed Susan and our unborn child with about President Duarte and emerg- Catholic priests in the history of the these words: “May you grow up to be ing democracy in the Communist church in the United States. a child of Jesus.” We sent him photos sphere....” This was terrific and funny, of the visit, and he took the time to re- because it showed two fundamental Father Ted shaped my alma mater spond in writing. Bea is now 12, grow- elements of his greatness of character: and by so doing shaped my life. He ing up beautifully, and probably tires of 1) He treated everyone like they mat- pushed for women joining the Notre us telling her that story. tered a great deal; and 2) he loved tell- Dame student body. I was a fresh- ROBERT BOLONGAITA ing stories. After a conversation with man the third year there were women Father Hesburgh, you felt as though on campus. He was one of the most As a student, I had the rare privilege he radiated history like an electrical humble, dedicated and good priests of speaking with Father Ted 20 or so current, and he couldn’t keep it bottled ever. His social justice teachings will times. First through the peace studies up. “How do you find yourself? Give go down in history as some of the program he started, second through yourself away.” A great man, certainly, most important. the Center for Social Concerns that but also a good one. ANNETTE GRANDE MAGJUKA he loved, but mostly because I pumped COLE McMAHON

6 America March 23, 2015 fully or partially enforce the T.A.N.F. als with the annulment process; and 2) a unique institution. ban, and 34 fully or partially enforce the pastors who are unaware of the resourc- MARY-PATRICIA MURPHY S.N.A.P. ban. While a number of states es to which they could be referring their Idaho Falls, Idaho have modified these bans, placing con- annulment-seeking parishioners. ditions or requirements on benefits, 13 Monsignor Garrity also wants to True Marriage states continue to deny T.A.N.F. aid to see pastors have a greater role in the I was perplexed, to say the least, on drug felons, and nine states continue to process. With all due respect to our reading “Communion Change?” (Signs deny them food assistance—for life— priests, most do not possess a basic of the Times, 1/19). It is pretty amaz- though they have done their time and literacy in matrimonial jurisprudence. ing that 66 German bishops “favor al- paid their debt to society. The current process for formal cases lowing divorced Catholics living in new M. BRENDAN CONLON, O.S.U. has been refined over the centuries; is civil unions to participate in confession Louisville, Ky. much sounder than most people would and receive Communion” and that the exclusion from these sacraments was no Keep Trying suspect and protects the rights of both longer comprehensible to them. Re “Saintly Sinners, Sinful Saints,” by parties to the highest degree possible. The relatively newCatechism of the James Martin, S.J. (2/23): The saints Some priests should become canonists Catholic Church makes it clear why the I love best are those who seem not to and work with marriage cases, but not exclusion should be very understand- have led perfect lives. The saints who all. CHRISTOPHER SIUZDAK able. Nos. 1650–51 speak to this issue give me example and courage are not the Online Comment and discuss why confession and the re- ones who appear never tempted but the ception of Communion cannot be con- sinners who managed to triumph over Single Life Sacrament doned or permitted for those Catholics their acknowledged demons—sinners, I find myself wondering if part of our so encumbered. It would seem clear like me, who give me hope for myself. current dilemma regarding marriage, that a second marriage cannot be em- Although not declared a saint, I love annulments, homosexuality, etc., might braced by the church while a first, earli- Thomas Merton because, while he was be caused by an “all or nothing” men- er one remains indissoluble. not perfect, he never gave up. He was tality. In the 12th century, marriage I do not for one minute doubt the a man: mortal, weak, brilliant, talent- was declared by the Catholic Church erudition or sincerity of those bishops, ed and dogged in his search for deep- to be sacramental. But no such support priests and others with genuine con- er communion with the divine. Robert has ever been offered to the single state cerns for the need for mercy as called Louis Stevenson said that the saints are of life, unless one enters the priesthood for by Pope Francis. But true marriage the sinners who keep on trying. How I or religious life. is under assault as it is, and one won- hope I will be one of them. How can this be, since both are MARION BODEN ders how much more undermining it Hampton Bays, N.Y. essential for society as a whole? It is can stand. perfectly obvious that not everyone GERARD V. McMAHON SR. A Sound Process should marry, that Syracuse, N.Y. In “The Annulment Dilemma” (2/16). many individuals can Msgr. Paul V. Garrity notes the prob- best thrive and serve lem of applications not completed others without the because of the obstacle posed by the constraints that mar- autobiographical essay. As a graduate riage and childrear- student in theology and an aspiring ing impose. Shouldn’t canonist who has interned in diocesan there be sacramental marriage tribunals, I can testify that support for this large most tribunals are very accommodating and vital part of any of people’s needs and capacities. community? Such I have worked with people who pre- a sea change might fer to converse rather than write their make a wider variety story, which I then type up and orga- of relationships val- nize logically. The problem is not the id in the eyes of the process. The problems are: 1) insuffi- church without sacri- cient financial and human resources ficing the procreative “Hey New York! How ‘bout this global warming? being given to tribunals to aid individu- quality of marriage as But seriously, folks...” CARTOON: BOB ECKSTEIN CARTOON:

March 23, 2015 America 7 SIGNS OF THE TIMES

TURKEY Bishops’ Delegation Reports Syrian Refugee Crisis at ‘Tipping Point’ fficials of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops warn that the Syrian refugee crisis—four million people have fled the war-torn state—has Oreached a dangerous “tipping point.” Turkey alone has absorbed almost two million refugees from Syria and is now the only regional power allowing more ref- ugees in. But for how much longer, officials wonder, can Turkey accept the burden? In addition to the Syrians, waves of other refugees—as many as 103,000—have already washed across the Turkish border from Iraq. Meanwhile, conflict in both na- tions continues to rage, driving more Christians, Yazidis and both Shiite and Sunni Muslims from their communities. Worried about its capacity to absorb many more refugees and the possibility of terrorist infiltration, Jordan has already closed its borders to people seeking to escape from regions controlled by the Islamic State. “Without more international support, we will find Syrians fleeing extremists being turned away and forced back to danger,” said Anastasia Brown, interim executive director for the U.S.C.C.B.’s Migration and Refugee Services. Turkey has continued to allow refugees in but now, especially in communities near the border with Syria, faces becoming “overwhelmed” by the crisis. A delegation of U.S.C.C.B. officials that visited the region in late 2014 re- A MAKE-SHIFT LIFE. A young Syrian leased a report on March 6—“Refuge and Hope in the Time of ISIS”—looking refugee in Lebanon in February. at the plight of Syrians in Turkey and during a growing and perilous migration to Europe through Greece and Bulgaria. Many other Syrians seeking to escape norities, who are targets of extremists ed” in these Turkish communities the violence have become part of the in the region. The lives of Assyrian without a legal status that will allow vast undocumented exodus across the and Chaldean Christians, along with parents to properly settle their families, Mediterranean, a humanitarian crisis Yazidis, are at risk. “Without a dramat- find health care, enroll their children in frequently lamented by Pope Francis. ic response to this unprecedented hu- school and accept work. Worse, accord- Of special concern is the impact the manitarian challenge, we will continue ing to Brown, most unregistered refu- crisis is having on as many as two mil- to see ongoing suffering and even death gee families have allowed their children lion Syrian child refugees. Among those in this population, especially among to skip school and take whatever jobs are many children who have lost or the most vulnerable,” Brown said. “The they can find. It is far easier for children been separated from parents or family global community, led by Europe and to find gray market employment than members and who have a special claim the United States, needs to increase its it is for their parents, and the need to on protection. “The number of unac- support in order to prevent a humani- survive is now trumping concern for companied children and other vulner- tarian crisis.” the future. able children from Syria and elsewhere How vast is this humanitarian prob- Brown argues that the United States is rising, yet there are few protection lem? Brown explains that so many are and the European Union not only have mechanisms in place to identify and now fleeing Syria and Iraq that those to do much more to assist the resettle- rescue them from harm,” said Nathalie able to meet with U.N. refugee officials ment, support and protection of refu- Lummert, director of special programs are being put on waiting lists—not to gees scattered across the region; they for M.R.S. “What we are seeing is an be extracted from the troubled region, must quickly reset refugee quotas to exodus of the next generation in Syria, but just to be registered as refugees— levels that more reasonably address with little hope for their future.” that are backlogged until 2020 and the severity of the crisis. “Right now, The delegation also expressed grave 2022. hundreds of Syrians have come to the concern for the plight of religious mi- That means families will be “strand- United States,” Brown complained, “ver-

8 America March 23, 2015 But Cardinal Edward Egan, archbish- path of fiscal health that freed his suc- op emeritus, 12th bishop, ninth arch- cessor of a heavy burden. bishop and seventh cardinal of the See America’s editor in chief, Matt of New York, steadied the archdiocese’s Malone, S.J., commented, “New finances, managed increases in school York has lost a good and holy pas- and parish enrollments and walked tor. America magazine has lost a true with New Yorkers as they struggled to friend.” Father Malone added, “He or- overcome an unprecedented trauma. dained me a priest just before I took He died of a heart attack on March 5 over as editor in chief. He opened doors at the age of 82. for me in this city and elsewhere, always Pope Francis offered his condolenc- championing our work and all the min- es in a telegram to Cardinal Timothy istries of the Jesuits. He was a quiet, but Dolan of New York. “I join you in com- truly generous man.” mending the late cardinal’s noble soul America’s church correspondent, to God, the father of mercies,” the pope Mary Ann Walsh, R.S.M., remem- said, “with gratitude for his years of bered in a post on the magazine’s web- episcopal ministry…his distinguished site how the cardinal “may have had one service to the Apostolic See and his ex- of his greater moments as a church- pert contribution to the revision of the man during 9-11 at ground zero.” She church’s law in the years following the wrote, “On that September morning Second Vatican Council.” Cardinal Egan began days of ministry For the Rev. Jonathan Morris, par- to workers, injured and deceased.... On ish administrator of Our Lady of Mt. the scene he risked contamination to (PHOTO CREDIT: CARITAS LEBANON MIGRANTS CENTER/ JEAN KHOURY CARITAS (PHOTO CREDIT: Carmel in the Bronx and a media the point that each night he had to get commentator, Cardinal Egan was the rid of all the clothes he wore—even his sus the thousands who need assistance.” grandfatherly archbishop emeritus who shoes.” Last year, the United States accept- welcomed him into a new role as a di- Just a few days after the attack, be- ed fewer than 70,000 refugees from the ocesan priest of New York. He worked fore hundreds of people crammed into entire world. Many thousands need to closely with Cardinal Egan to develop St. Patrick’s Cathedral for a Mass of be extracted from this troubled region Sirius Radio’s Catholic Channel. alone. U.S. refugee policy needs to be Cardinal Egan did not always O HAPPY DAY. Cardinal re-evaluated, Brown said, to effectively find the programs on the channel Egan outside St. function as the “timely and…lifesaving to his tastes, said Father Morris, Patrick’s Cathedral. mechanism it is meant to be.” “but he told me, don’t program KEVIN CLARKE it for what an old bishop likes, but think about the people who NEW YORK need to hear the Gospel in a way they can accept and be attracted City Bids Farewell to it.” Cardinal John O’Conner To Cardinal Egan was a difficult act for the for- ardinal Edward Egan’s time mer bishop of Bridgeport to as leader of one of the nation’s follow, Father Morris said, “and Clargest archdioceses was haunt- he didn’t try to imitate him.” ed by the unfolding child abuse scandal, Instead, “he was an analytic shocked by the terror spectacle of Sept. and precise manager,” skills that 11, 2001, and troubled by a period of served the archdiocese well, he fiscal uncertainty and parish closings. said, and set it on a long-term

March 23, 2015 America 9 SIGNS OF THE TIMES mourning, he had urged a level-headed response to a stunned and grieving na- NEWS BRIEFS tion. “I am sure that we will seek justice in this tragedy,” Cardinal Egan said, “as Barbara Moore, a sister of St. Joseph of citizens of a nation under God in which Carondelet who 50 years ago this March partic- hatred and desires for revenge must ipated in the civil rights march in Selma, Ala., never have a part.” said that events in Ferguson, Mo., and elsewhere Cardinal Egan was born on April show that more needs to be done on race relations 2, 1932, in Oak Park, Ill. He was or- in the United States. • Marking International dained a priest for the Archdiocese of Women’s Day 2015 on March 8, leaders from Selma Witness Chicago on Dec. 15, 1957. In 1988 he the United Nations’ three Rome-based food agen- was appointed bishop of the Diocese cies gathered to remind the world that women farmers play a central of Bridgeport by Pope John Paul II. In role in achieving food and nutrition security. • The Catholic Church in 2000 he was appointed archbishop of Russian-occupied Crimea fears it will lose its legal status after it re- New York and made a cardinal in 2001. fused to adhere to a March 1 deadline for reregistering under Russian Like many in the U.S. church, law. • Addressing the United Nations in Geneva on March 6, the Holy Cardinal Egan struggled to come to See’s permanent observer, Archbishop Silvano Tomasi, said no one terms with the sexual abuse crisis. His is exempt from the impact of climate change. • Delighted by “a new handling of cases in Bridgeport and beginning,” Maria Lioba Zezulka, prioress of the Visitandine Order, New York was criticized, though he described in early March how Germany’s 12th-century Beuerberg supported and helped implement the Abbey will be converted to housing for refugee families who have zero-tolerance policy that eventually fled from Syria, Iraq, Nigeria, Afghanistan and other conflict zones. became the official stance of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops. Tomasi said the “steady improvements Announcing the outcome, Attorney in the organization of the penal system” General Eric Holder said, “This in- End of Death Penalty? in most states make it “evident nowa- vestigation found a community that days that means other than the death was deeply polarized, and where deep The Catholic Church firmly opposes penalty” are sufficient to protect public distrust and hostility often character- the death penalty and urges all states safety against aggressors. In an unprec- ized interactions between police and to move toward its abolition, said the edented joint editorial on March 5, four area residents.” He said, “Our inves- Vatican’s permanent observer to United national Catholic journals—America, tigation showed that Ferguson police Nations agencies in Geneva. “My dele- The National Catholic Register, The officers routinely violate the Fourth gation contends that bloodless means National Catholic Reporter and Our Amendment in stopping people with- of defending the common good and Sunday Visitor—urged, “Capital pun- out reasonable suspicion, arresting upholding justice are possible and calls ishment must end.” them without probable cause and us- on states to adapt their penal system ing unreasonable force against them.” to demonstrate their adhesion to a He added, “It is time for Ferguson’s more humane form of punishment,” Ferguson Reports leaders to take immediate, wholesale Archbishop Silvano Tomasi told the On March 4, the U.S. Justice and structural corrective action. The U.N. Human Rights Council on March Department released the results of its report we have issued and the steps 4. The archbishop said the Vatican “fully investigation into the killing of Michael we have taken are only the beginning supports the efforts to abolish” the death Brown last August in Ferguson, Mo. of a necessarily resource-intensive and penalty and suggested two steps to reach It concluded in an 87-page report inclusive process to promote reconcil- this goal. The first is to “sustain the so- “that the facts do not support the fil- iation, to reduce and eliminate bias cial reforms that would enable society ing of criminal charges against Officer and to bridge gaps and build under- to implement the abolition of the death Darren Wilson.” But a second, par- standing.” penalty, and the second is to improve allel investigation revealed “a pattern prison conditions to ensure the hu- or practice of unlawful conduct with- man dignity of prisoners.” Archbishop in the Ferguson Police Department.” From CNS, RNS and other sources.

10 America March 23, 2015 SIGNS OF THE TIMES

DISPATCH | LONDON for 22 years of travels around Europe, during which he became a Catholic Scotland’s Martyr for Freedom and entered the Jesuits, was arrested after only 11 months of ministry. His significant celebration oc- voicing similar views in a Glaswegian arraignment, torture and trial were vi- curred on March 10 this year accent. At stake in these different con- cious. A in Glasgow, Scotland. The texts is religious freedom, and also civil He would suffer terrible tortures, city lauded St. John Ogilvie, S.J., on tolerance of one another and of differ- including being forcibly kept awake for the 400th anniversary of his martyr- ence itself. eight days and nine nights and a torture dom. On the previous weekend at the Who, then, was John Ogilvie? What called “the boots,” in which iron shack- Church of St. Aloysius in Glasgow, led this proud Highlander to the scaf- les forced the very bone marrow from staffed by the Jesuits, many gathered fold on that gray Glasgow afternoon his legs, to make him reveal the iden- for liturgical commemorations of this 400 years ago? tities of other Catholics. Ogilvie did Scottish Jesuit martyr who was put to His father had conformed to the re- not relent and was convicted of high death for refusing to abjure his faith cently established state religion by the treason for refusing to accept the king’s and thus became a symbol of reli- religious jurisdiction. On March gious freedom everywhere. 10, 1615, at age 36, John Ogilvie In our own time, as in John’s, Religious affiliation is was paraded through the streets of religious freedom and tolerance Glasgow and hanged at Glasgow are center stage, as Christians used as an excuse for Cross. everywhere reel in dismay at the inhuman barbarity. We honor John Ogilvie this outrages and persecutions visited month, in this 400th year since his on fellow Christians, particularly execution, as a martyr for religious the horrific murders, the imag- freedom. Our 21 young Coptic es callously posted online, of hostag- time John Ogilvie was born in north- martyrs, murdered by terrorists, did es and of 21 young Coptic martyrs. eastern Scotland in 1579. So John not have the choice to die for practic- Across four centuries and two very grew up a Calvinist during a tormented ing their faith that John was offered but different contexts, a common thread period of religious and political up- that he could never accept, such was his runs. Religious affiliation is used as an heaval. Those turbulent years were integrity. Both he and they died with a excuse for inhuman barbarity. marked by several fluctuations, now prayer on their lips, powerful symbols The dystopian distortion of what we toward Episcopalianism, now toward of our need to protect and struggle for have come to call social media cruelly Presbyterianism, while the skilled po- religious freedoms because, once again, mimics the travesty of religion it broad- litical philosopher King James VI (of that very freedom is becoming a press- casts, much more horrifying now than Scotland, 1st of England—the crowns ing concern in our day. in John’s time because more people get would be united in 1603) played one John’s was a local struggle in a small to see it, but just as unrepresentative of faction off against another. European state; the martyrdoms of true faith, be that Islamic or Christian. James’s kingdom had dabbled our 21 young Coptic brothers were There are other, less obvious and with state-appointed bishops. But displayed on the global screen. The less shocking persecutions, too, not those policies infuriated the Calvinist pressure on religious tolerance is, argu- least in 21st century Britain, where Presbyterian camp—which had no ably, an aspect of that “globalization of many voices are heard denouncing tolerance for anything that suggest- indifference” that the pope has repeat- faith as regressive and ridiculing people ed episcopal authority rather than edly emphasized; we can define that as of faith as bigots. These are voices that sola scriptura, sola fide—so Roman rooted in individualism and selfishness, seem unaware of the irony of their own Catholics were beleaguered from both intolerance and bigotry. Those celebra- position. In the time of John Ogilvie, sides. John Ogilvie, repudiating the tions in Glasgow on March 10 will similar voices would have been heard claim that the monarch could dictate have been a success if they stimulate and delimit anyone’s religious beliefs, even a few of us to think about our own DAVID STEWART, S.J., is America’s London was killed for that refusal. intolerance and what counts as true or correspondent. John, absent from his native land false faith today. DAVID STEWART

March 23, 2015 America 11 NATHAN SCHNEIDER ‘No White Man Is Innocent’ ne night William Stringfellow Stringfellow wrote from the echoes 1960s. They ring at least as true. dreamed that he was stabbed of Harlem, the North’s subtler but no Partly in anticipation of the coming Owith a knife on 125th Street less cruel counterpart to the Jim Crow papal encyclical on the environment, I in Harlem, at the hands of a black South. Harlem taught him a theology have been meeting with a group that man who had asked him for a light. of the demonic principalities—institu- seeks to support those on the front Stringfellow then lived in Harlem not tions, ideologies, idolatries—that lure lines of the climate crisis, who are far from there. He was a white man us into the dominion of death. Racism, disproportionately people of color. who graduated from Harvard Law as a principality, is not an aberration of We shared a supper recently with a School and, in 1956, promptly put his a few cross-burning racists but a con- group of organizers in the Black Lives training to use in the streets. He was dition that manifests itself most perva- Matter movement. This society heaps doing his part. Yet it was clear to him sively among those who pretend to be on our communities the waste it can’t in the dream, he later wrote, that “the innocent of it. Again, “No put anywhere else, they murder was retribution.” Further: “No white man is innocent.” reminded us. Yet in the white man is innocent.” “If you want to do some- It is for white-dominated envi- The re-emergence during the past thing,” Stringfellow told the people ronmental movement, year of outrage over racial injustice has an audience of concerned their voices remain on prompted many white people to won- members of the clergy in who know the margins. der what they might do. What policies 1963, “the most practical injustice White people have might one propose and advocate to thing I can tell you is: weep.” managed not only to combat economic inequality along the This was both a repri- best to reap the profits from lines of skin color? What condolence mand and a policy proposal. lead climate change, and to might one offer to the victims of mass The challenge before white predominate among incarceration? people was not more inge- the way. its deniers, but also to A leader in the Black Lives Matter nuity or eloquence but, as weaken efforts to stop protests, Alicia Garza, has said, “We he wrote in My People Is the it by making others feel need you defecting from white su- Enemy, “they must surrender their pre- unwelcome. As the journalist and ac- premacy and changing the narrative of rogative of decision.” It is for the peo- tivist Naomi Klein has written, “White white supremacy by breaking white si- ple who know injustice best, by having supremacy is the whispered subtext of lence.” But well-meaning speaking-out suffered it, to choose the path of liber- our entire response to the climate cri- can have its hazards, too. Another ation and lead the way. It is for white sis, and it badly needs to be dragged activist’s exasperated blog post, titled people to follow and to relinquish the into the light.” “Dear White Protestors,” repeats as a privileges of supremacy. “The pref- William Stringfellow had a tragic refrain, “This is NOT about you.” ace to reconciliation,” he continued, is tenor to his white ally-ship, but he also Much of Stringfellow’s output as when white people begin “risking their sought to be a Christian in it. (He was a lay theologian takes up the chal- lives and the future of this society in an Episcopalian, to be precise.) He af- lenge of what can usefully be said the hands of the Negroes.” firmed the gospel of life as much as he by white allies about racism in the Though I have no statistics on the railed against the kingdom of death. United States of America. (He died matter, the bylines and photographs And he believed them to be integrally 30 years ago this month; a collection that tend to appear in this magazine related. of his writings, Essential Writings, suggest that its readership is far more “My hope,” he wrote, “begins in the is now available from Orbis Press.) white than the actual makeup of the truth that America is Babylon.” Only Catholic population in the country when we recognize our fallenness is today. I wonder if to such an audience there the possibility of redemption. NATHAN SCHNEIDER is the author of Thank You, Anarchy and God in Proof. Website: Stringfellow’s words ring as scandal- “The good news is relative to the verac- TheRowBoat.com; Twitter: @nathanairplane. ously today as they did in the early ity of the bad news.”

12 America March 23, 2015 March 23, 2015 America 13 14 America March 23, 2015 The martyrdom of Oscar Romero CNS PHOTO/OSCAR RIVERA, EPA Death Comes For the Archbishop BY KEVIN CLARKE

o one may have noticed the red Volkswagen Passat as it glided slowly to a stop near the modest chapel of Divine Providence Hospital. Two other cars haunted the streets outside the small church: one filled with armed men working as “security” for the assassin and, in the other car, two men who loosely supervised the operation waited to assess its outcome. NA thin, bearded man, the Passat’s passenger and a stranger to its driver Amado Garay, told Garay to crouch down and pretend to repair something. On another typically hot evening in San Salvador, the Carmelite sisters had kindly left the wing-shaped chapel doors open, hoping for a breath of air to cool the congregants in- ¡ROMERO VIVE!A protest march in San Salvador on side. Through the open doors of the Divine Providence chapel the assassin had a clear view Dec. 16, 2014. of Archbishop Oscar Romero at the altar as he made his way through the homily he had

KEVIN CLARKE is senior editor and chief correspondent of America and the author of Oscar Romero: Love Must Win Out (Liturgical Press), from which this article is excerpted.

March 23, 2015 America 15 prepared for this requiem Mass, one he agreed to celebrate final moments, “let us all view these matters at this historic for the mother of a friend. moment with [hope], that spirit of giving and of sacrifice. Let “My dear sisters and brothers,” the archbishop was saying, us all do what we can...because all those longings for justice, his homily gathering steam. “I think we should not only pray peace and well-being that we experience on earth become re- this evening for the eternal rest of our dear Doña Sarita, but alized for us if we enlighten them with Christian hope.” above all we should take to ourselves her message...that ev- Outside in the red Passat, Garay heard a shot, turned ery Christian ought to want to live intensely. Many do not around and saw his anonymous passenger “holding a gun understand; they think Christianity should not be involved with both hands pointing towards the right side of the rear in such things,” Archbishop Romero said, referring to the right window of the vehicle.” Garay could smell gunpowder. “things” of the physical world, the problems of the times in The bearded man turned to him and calmly told him, “Drive which we live. “But, to the contrary,” he continued, “you have slowly, take it easy.” He did as he was asked; no one inter- just heard in Christ’s Gospel that fered with the assassins as they one must not love oneself so much departed. The two men drove in as to avoid getting involved in the silence to meet with the super- risks of life that history demands visors of the operation. “Mission of us and that those who try to accomplished,” the thin, bearded fend off the danger will lose their man told them. lives, while those who out of love for Christ give themselves to the The Power of the Word service of others will live, live like Everyone in El Salvador who the grain of wheat that dies, but could reach a radio or visit with only apparently. If it did not die, the Monseñor in person at Mass it would remain alone.” He was listened to his homilies. His words wrapping up yet another memo- brought hope and courage to thou- rable homily for those gathered in sands. But to some who listened— the church and those who would just as intently—they provoked listen to his words later on the ra- only a cold, seething hatred. The dio. “The harvest comes about,” he archbishop’s homily was “the little said, “only because it dies, allowing morsel for the day all over,” as one itself to be sacrificed in the earth of the conspirators in the murder and destroyed. Only by undoing would remember later. Everyone itself does it produce the harvest.” tuned in for them: the poor, the Soon he would elevate the host A CHURCH OF THE POOR. Archbishop Oscar workers, the revolutionaries, sure- Romero in Chalatenango, El Salvador, in 1979. above the altar, and he would speak ly, but also the leaders of the death the words of consecration; his eyes, squads and the members of the as so many hundreds of times before, would be on the host business and landowning class alarmed by the growing social held high before him. If for a second then he had glanced consciousness of El Salvador’s peasants. through the open doors of the chapel, would he have seen the On the night he was murdered, there was much celebrat- young man taking aim? Would he have been afraid? Would he ing among the military and members of El Salvador’s patron have been tempted to flee? It hardly matters. class, those who had ordered the killing of the archbishop and We know Archbishop Romero was focused on prayer those who were merely cheered to discover it had taken place. at the moment of his death, preparing for that prayer said There was much contentment on a farm in Santa Tecla, where during the Eucharist at Masses each day all over the world. the Salvadoran anti-Communist leader Roberto D’Aubuisson We know also that as he spoke his last homily the archbish- had been waiting with a group of his followers to hear the out- op knew that death was seeking him out; he knew his words come of the operation. But 30 years later, few of those direct- were pulling death closer to him. He surely knew, too, that if ly responsible would feel like celebrating. D’Aubuisson was he were only to remain silent, to stop speaking out about the dead—killed by throat cancer—as were many of those direct- killing and the oppression and the poverty, death just might ly involved in the assassination of the archbishop, some un- lose interest in him. There were so many others on death der highly suspicious circumstances. Perhaps there remain a lists in El Salvador in those days on whom it could slake its few who are happy to have their role in Archbishop Romero’s thirst. But he would not be silent. death whispered only to the grave. The man who pulled the “Dear brothers and sisters,” he said in this final homily, his trigger, in fact, has never been caught. DURAN CNS PHOTO/OCTAVIO

16 America March 23, 2015 Captain Álvaro Rafael Saravia was among those who cel- ebrated the night of March 24, 1980, but his delight was to be short-lived. One of the few direct conspirators today still among the living, his experience since the Salvadoran peace sputtered into life in 1992 has been one of exile and diminishment. But back then, as one of D’Aubuisson’s most trusted lieutenants, he could only have been gratified about how well the “operation” had turned out, how professionally it had been conducted. He had long been suspected of being the man in the Passat, the man who pulled the trigger. But, tracked down after years hiding in the United States and Central America in flight from a civil judgment against him for the killing of the archbishop, Saravia is finally ready to come clean, to tell what happened that night. After running for so long from the assassination, Saravia is happy to set the record straight when he is brought to ground by Carlos Dada, a founding editor and investigative reporter from El Salvador’s El Faro, a digital newspaper. “You wrote this, right?” Saravia says, referring to an ar- ticle that speculated that Saravia himself had pulled the trigger that felled the archbishop. “Well it’s wrong.... It says here, ‘several years after murdering archbishop Romero.’ And I didn’t kill him.” “Who killed him then? Someone from outside El Salvador?” Dada questioned. “No,” said Saravia. “An ‘indio,’ one of our own. He’s still out there somewhere.” Was Saravia denying that he had a role in the murder? “Thirty years and this is going to persecute me until I die,” Saravia mutters to the journalist. “Of course I participated. That’s why we’re here talking.” The man he helped kill can be said to have unknowing- ly begun to walk the path to martyrdom on Feb. 17, 1980, when he addressed a letter to President Jimmy Carter plead- ing that the American president not send military aid to the Salvadoran government. Archbishop Romero warned President Carter that whatever material support the United States provided would quickly be turned against the people of El Salvador themselves. That gesture was provocative enough, but the archbishop would soon generate even deeper animus among the men who held his life and death in their hands.

‘Cease the Repression’ The night before his murder, the archbishop made a per- sonal appeal in a desperate attempt to place some sort of moral obstacle before the escalating pace of the killing in El Salvador. He spoke directly to those soldiers of the night who were most responsible for the growing horror. “I would like to appeal in a special way to the men of the army,” he said, “and in particular to the troops of the National Guard, the police and the garrisons. Brothers, you belong to our own people. You kill your own brother peasants; and in the

March 23, 2015 America 17 face of an order to kill that is given by a man, the law of God said Mass for a murdered government official. that says ‘Do not kill!’ should prevail. No soldier is obliged He must have known they were coming for him and that to obey an order counter to the law of God. No one has to it was too late to turn back. He certainly knew that death was comply with an immoral law. It is time now that you recover stalking him. Since the killing of his dear friend, the Jesuit your conscience and obey its dictates rather than the com- Rutilio Grande, Archbishop Romero understood where the mand of sin.... Therefore, in the name of God, and in the path that he was following would lead. name of this long-suffering people, whose laments rise to Though he dismissed the concerns of others, he was heaven every day more tumultuous, I beseech you, I beg you, acutely aware that he could be preparing the ground for his I command you! In the name of God: ‘Cease the repression!’” own martyrdom, and he knew in all likelihood that his death The applause was so thunderous the radio station’s be- would be violent. He had already seen what had become of leaguered audio technicians at first took it for some sort of many who had threatened the political order in El Salvador, short circuit or feedback in the system that had knocked the and that specter of his own fate filled him with dread as it good archbishop off the air. would any person. He loved life; he loved his people. He was For Archbishop Romero to have said such words after re- not eager to leave either behind. ceiving so many warnings and direct threats is a testament to In his last retreat, he made a note of one of his final dis- his faith and his courage. As far as the men who were direct- cussions with his spiritual director. “It is not easy to accept a ing the violence against the “leftists” in El Salvador were con- violent death, which is very possible in these circumstances, cerned, he was speaking the purest blasphemy to the soldiers. and the apostolic nuncio to Costa Rica warned me of im- Salvadoran newspapers had already essentially called for minent danger just this week. You have encouraged me, re- assassination. They had condemned him as “a demagogic and minding me that my attitude should be to hand my life over violent archbishop” who “preached terrorism from his cathe- to God regardless of the end to which that life might come; dral.” One menaced, “The armed forces should begin to oil that unknown circumstances can be faced with God’s grace; their weapons.” that God assisted the martyrs, and that if it comes to this I And just two weeks before he was shot through the heart, shall feel God very close as I draw my last breath; but that a briefcase containing an unexploded bomb was found be- more valiant than surrender in death is the surrender of one’s hind the pulpit of the church where, the day before, he had whole life—a life lived for God.” Certainly there were men in El Salvador the night before who heard the assassination of Archbishop Romero’s implor- ing words to the soldiers in the streets of her cities and the hills of her countryside who knew exactly what he was doing with those last words. He was signing his own death warrant. The men of the death squads had long ago gotten over what- ever superstitions they might have had about killing a priest. Now they were ready to kill a bishop, even one standing be- fore an altar. At the Mass for Doña Sarita, Archbishop Romero was finishing the homily. “In this chalice the wine is transformed into the blood that was the price of salvation,” he told the assembly before him. “May this body immolated and this blood sacrificed for [humanity] nourish us also, so that we may give our body and our blood to suffering and to pain— like Christ, not for self, but to bring about justice and peace for our people.” The instant when a shot cracked the quiet of the church has been captured for eternity on audiotape. The assassin found his target, and Óscar Romero, mortally wounded, tumbled to the floor behind the altar. Some sisters and oth- ers at Mass quickly reached his side, indifferent to the pos- sible threat to their own lives as pandemonium erupted in the chapel. But the archbishop was already dead, and the red Passat, with the young man inside, was drifting away into the streets of San Salvador. A

18 America March 23, 2015

(UN)CONVENTIONAL WISDOM The Prison Trap hough the crime rate in the ex-convicts engage in behavior that ons. This is an especially cruel turn of United States has fallen sharp- sends them back to prison. The incar- events for family members and others Tly over the past quarter-centu- ceration of juveniles is especially costly, who want to keep in contact with in- ry, our federal and state prison popula- as the failure to complete high school mates and ease their eventual re-entry tion has been frozen for nearly a decade is likely to lead to recidivism and much into towns and neighborhoods. at a historic high of 1.6 million. By one longer prison sentences. The “ban the box” movement, estimate, America has 5 percent of the But our political system does not al- which seeks to limit the circumstances world’s population but 25 percent of its ways reward sensible reform. A single in which employers can ask job appli- prisoners. violent act, even if it is not indicative of a cants about criminal backgrounds, is A 2014 report by the National rising crime rate, can frighten the public one way to reintegrate prisoners into Research Council found that the num- enough to cause a return to blindly pu- society, but it’s also a hot-button po- ber has gone up and stayed up not nitive policies. The benefits litical issue, easily char- because more crimes are being com- of criminal justice reform, acterized as the gov- mitted but because more arrestees end including financial savings Our political ernment “forcing” busi- up behind bars for longer sentences. and the repairs to commu- system nesses to hire ex-felons. Mandatory sentencing and other “tough nities damaged by mass in- Egged on by too many on crime” measures have contributed to carceration, do not necessar- does not of our political leaders, a prison system that is financially and ily redound to prosecutors always Americans have come morally unsustainable. Pope Francis, in and judges, so they may not to see those released an address last year to the International be motivated to tighten the reward from confinement as Criminal Law Association, called for prison pipeline. The N.R.C. untouchables, and we reforms to a system that prevents too report estimated that only 5 sensible cut them off from jobs, many individuals from successfully re- percent of felony convictions reform. housing and public as- turning to society (see Am., editorial, come from juries; most of- sistance programs. We 8/4/2014). ten, prosecutors exact guilty see in-prison education Criminal justice reform is one of the pleas from defendants by threatening to programs as bad investments, despite few areas where activists of all ideolog- seek longer sentences at trial. the lower rates of recidivism associated ical stripes have found some common Even when policymakers want to cut with college attendance. ground. In February, the Coalition for prison spending, there is a temptation Though criminal justice reform Public Safety, a new group dedicated to take the cheapest and most short- is mostly a state issue, it is always at to reducing the U.S. prison population, sighted approaches. These can include risk of being derailed by national pol- announced that its supporters range bigger prisons that are more cost-effi- itics. Tough-on-crime grandstanding from the American Civil Liberties cient but provide fewer educational op- has benefited both parties—perhaps Union to Grover Norquist’s Americans portunities and rehabilitation services. the Democrats more, at least during for Tax Reform. Last year at least 30 In some cases, incarceration can be out- the administration of President Bill states enacted reforms to reduce sen- sourced to private companies with little Clinton. Next year brings a presiden- tences or provide alternatives to prison. oversight or accountability. (The private tial election, and we have not seen These changes are not entirely altru- prison industry has contributed more much nuance or compassion so far istic. Taxpayers stand to save millions than $45 million to political candidates when candidates for national office of dollars when fewer people become and lobbyists over the past decade.) talk about crime. For that reason, wards of the state and when fewer Local governments may save money by 2015 represents a better opportunity transferring prisoners to out-of-state to make gains toward a more humane facilities, as Wisconsin did a decade ago and more farsighted criminal-justice ROBERT DAVID SULLIVAN is a freelance writer and editor who lives in the Boston area. when it shipped 5,000 inmates as far as system. There is no time to waste. Twitter: @RobertDSullivan. Oklahoma, mostly to privately run pris- ROBERT DAVID SULLIVAN

20 America March 23, 2015 March 23, 2015 America 21 VATICAN DISPATCH The Church’s Asian Soul uring Pope Francis’ recent vis- He said Francis knows that the cluding mainland China. He had told it to the Philippines, I had the church in the Philippines is providing that “if God is the God who wants peo- Djoy of meeting once again a formation for priests and religious from ple everywhere to know him, and every man I have known for over a decade and many Asian countries, including China; people to know what goodness, kind- greatly respect: Cardinal Gaudencio and Filipino priests, religious, lay mis- ness, compassion and mercy there is in Rosales, the emeritus archbishop of sionaries and immigrants are bring- Jesus Christ, then there must be anoth- Manila. We talked about many things, ing the good news of Jesus to many er chance for mainland China.” He said but two in particular stood out: the lands and giving new life to many local he is convinced that “God will give an- vocation of the Filipino people in Asia churches worldwide. For these reasons, other chance to China; he’s a God who today, and the future of the church in he said, Francis also emphasized the gives many chances.” China. “special role” of the Philippine church Asked by participants what he The tall, distinguished looking in today’s world. meant by “another chance,” the cardinal 82-year-old cardinal attributed great Cardinal Rosales said explained that “histor- significance to the fact that three popes he is particularly impressed ‘Look at ically there were mis- had visited his homeland over the past by Francis and his extraor- calculations, mistakes half century: Paul VI, John Paul II dinary ability to reach the these people, [by Rome]. Remember (twice) and now Francis. “I think it’s Asian soul through his hu- the crowds, Matteo Ricci? He was about time that we Filipinos realized mility, humanity, empathy on the right track. Just our position in Asia, what we are as a and concern for the poor. the Holy imagine if Rome had al- people, what we are as believers, what When I mentioned that like Spirit must lowed Ricci to do what we are as disciples of Jesus Christ, what Francis Xavier and Matteo he was doing then, we’d we are as a nation,” he said. Ricci, Jesuit missionaries be touching be reading a very differ- All three popes delivered the same who preceded him, the first them!’ ent history of the world challenging message, he said. “They Jesuit pope has his eyes firm- today. The entire world told us Filipinos: ‘You are a special peo- ly fixed on Asia because he would have been differ- ple, with a special mission in Asia.’ They believes the future of the church lies ent, but they bungled the whole thing!” said, ‘You are a different kind of people there, Rosales responded: “He’s right. Rosales told me that at the end of in this part of the world, maybe in the It’s unfolding before our eyes. It’s being that conference he raised a question whole world but certainly in this part realized now. What the missionaries that remained unanswered: “If God of the world. Your mission is special, have done is beginning to unfold before gives another chance to China, are we as is the extraordinary grace that you us today.” One sees this not only in the ready? Are we ready spiritually? Are we have received. You must be touched by Philippines, he said, but also in Korea, ready psychologically? Are we ready in God.’” Vietnam and China. terms of understanding their history Cardinal Rosales revealed that when Like so many Filipinos, and four oth- and culture? Or are we still tied to our Francis drove into Manila on the night er members of the College of Cardinals, former interpretations of their history he arrived in the country and saw the Rosales has Chinese blood in his veins. and so on?” He believes these questions enormous crowds lining the route, He hopes and prays daily that relations are still relevant. he whispered to Cardinal Antonio will improve between China and the And when I put it to him that Luis Tagle, “Look at these people, the Holy See. But, he insisted, achieving Francis appears to be on the verge of a crowds, the Holy Spirit must be touch- this goal requires great sensitivity on breakthrough with China, Rosales said: ing them!” the Vatican’s part. “Pray for that! I pray for that. And may- He recalled attending a conference be, being a Jesuit, God will give him a of the Federation of Asian Bishops special light, special guidance, accompa- GERARD O’CONNELL is America’s Rome Conferences in Taiwan in the early niment and inspiration to accomplish correspondent. America’s Vatican coverage is sponsored in part by the Jesuit communities of 1980s that brought together bishops this mission.” the United States. Twitter: @gerryorome. and missionaries from all over Asia, in- GERARD O’CONNELL

22 America March 23, 2015 VANTAGE POINT:1962 Looking Back at Newman BY THEODORE M. HESBURGH

AT THE HELM. Theodore M. Hesburgh, C.S.C., left, as principal celebrant at an outdoor Mass for students on Main Quad of the Notre Dame campus, ca. 1977

hen anyone writes about before I do, let me say clearly that to concede the last word to Cardinal the idea of a Catholic uni- Newman happens to be one of my Newman. Think of what our world is Wversity today, or any other heroes, too. I cannot recall how many today in comparison with the world day out of the last century, there is al- times I have read and admired his in which Newman wrote. Newman ways the temptation to repeat in sub- great essays on the idea of a university. foresaw trouble, but hardly could stance what Cardinal Newman said in Yet it did occur to me recently, while have imagined all the trouble that ac- his incomparable classic on the subject. harried by the many developmen- tually occurred. Politically, the Pax To suggest that there is something new tal and administrative problems that Britannica has been followed by two or important to be said is to lay oneself face a university president today, that devastating world wars, and by a mil- open to plenty of criticism and even Newman, in fact, never did create the itant philosophy antithetical to all that denunciation. university he wrote about, nor did he Newman’s world accepted. This same I am about to take this risk, but have to administer it. perverse philosophy now ruthlessly There are many historical reasons governs one-third of mankind and to explain this, but it remains a fact covets the rest. We have also seen an- THEODORE M. HESBURGH, C.S.C., was the that it is easier to write about what a other third of the world come to new longest-serving president of the University of Notre Dame and one the most influential priests Catholic university should be than to political independence and strong na- in the history of the American church. He died create and administer one in reality— tionalistic autonomy, with the revolu- on Feb. 26 at the age of 97. He was known, to bring the total idea into being. tion of rising expectations strong in among many other things, as an innovator in Catholic higher education. This article was orig- There is another cold fact that is the souls of millions. Then there is the

GOD, COUNTRY, NOTRE DAME: AUTOBIOGRA - PHOTO BY BRUCE HARLAN FROM GOD, COUNTRY, 1990. REEDY, PHY OF THEODORE HESBURGH C.S.C. WITH JERRY inally published on March 3, 1962. often overlooked by those content Cold War, another modern reality that

March 23, 2015 America 23 constantly erupts in local volcanic ac- are still essential today, but what has when they get home, should they be tion, as widely separated as Cuba, the been learned in certain areas since forbidden to confront their students Congo and Vietnam. Newman would fill a new library with with the monumental and unprec- Economically, we have had the millions of volumes yet unwritten in edented problems that face modern Industrial Revolution and all of its af- his day. Research has grown by a fac- man all across the world? Should we termath. Scientifically, there has been tor of hundreds of thousands, if not keep the university isolated from the yet another revolution which might millions. Over ninety percent of all changing times and restrict ourselves successively be categorized as the mo- the scientists who have lived during to developing the idyll of knowledge tor and electric age, the nuclear and the course of human history are living for knowledge’s sake envisioned by electronic age, and now, most recent- today. And practically all of the behav- Newman? ly, the space age. Space has shrunk, ioral scientists in the world’s history I am sure that there are some who time is compressed: “around the world are still alive. Many legitimate new aca- would answer: “Yes, by all means.” If in eighty days” becomes around the demic disciplines are born each decade, you do not answer yes, then you have world in eighty-odd minutes. Now for such as astrophysics and cybernetics. the difficult problem of balancing the the first time in human university and the times history—again viewed without losing the universi- not as a few thousand, Theology and philosophy must ty in the balance. If this can but some hundreds of be done, then the university, thousands of years—man effectively play an important role especially the Catholic uni- can liberate himself from versity, becomes one of the those ancient evils of ig- in the intellectual life of most important institutions norance, disease, grinding a university in our times. of our day. poverty, homelessness and To justify this last state- hunger—or he can utter- ment, I must reveal at least ly destroy himself and all that he has Something else has taken place in one assumption about the Catholic created in the name of culture and civ- recent years, almost without univer- university with which Newman would ilization. sity people realizing it. The university heartily agree, as would some of his Let us not chide Cardinal Newman has been drawn, through its faculty, Anglican contemporaries, especially for writing in the middle of the 19th administrators and students, into this Dr. Pusey—and, it might be added, century instead of the middle of the new world in which we live. University the present president of Harvard, who 20th. But also let us not assume that people from America are scattered ev- bears the same name. This assumption what he had to say then, about a hu- erywhere in the world today—found- is that somehow, some way, theology man institution in a particular histori- ing new universities in Asia, Africa and philosophy must effectively play cal situation, had absolute and uncon- and Latin America; planning the an- an important role in the intellectual ditioned validity for all such institu- cient city of Calcutta’s new develop- life of a university in our times. tions in all times. ment; beginning the first systematic Many ask in our day: Why a Am I saying that the substance of research in rice in the Far East; testing Catholic university? What unique the Catholic university changes from the depth of the ice in Antarctica and contribution has it to offer? It is no age to age? By no means. But I am say- the composition of the earth’s crust in mere chance that Newman, faced ing that the mission of the Catholic the ocean depths; studying native lan- in his time with this same question, university is also redemptive, and that guages in New Guinea; planting new began to consider, first of all, three what needs redeeming today is quite a breeds of corn in Mexico, Colombia key subjects: theology as a branch of different kind of world from Newman’s. and Chile; digging up subhuman fossil knowledge, the bearing of theology on The man to be educated is the same, remains in Tanganyika; advising a new other knowledge, and the bearing of but what he must be prepared to face Nigerian government on its legal sys- other knowledge on theology. I shall is a world unimagined in Newman’s tem; and doing myriad other domes- not repeat what he had to say on these day. Newman is still with us, however, tic and foreign tasks undreamed of in matters, but I do say that his remarks for he portrayed the university as “not Newman’s age. are relevant today, indeed even more a convent, not a seminary; it is a place Should we say that this is bad, that relevant than they were in his own day, to fit men of the world for the world.” the ivory tower has been defiled, that a century ago. Teaching and learning were most the government should send all the Someone asked me recently: “What essential to Newman’s university. They university people back home? And is the great problem for the Catholic

24 America March 23, 2015 university in our modem pluralistic with gratitude that Newman did write destruction, life or death, civilized society?” I was obliged to answer that a book on the development of dogma. advance or return to the Stone Age? the modern Catholic university faces It has been alleged that the univer- These are real problems—of intellec- a dual problem. First, because every- sity is cheapened by contact with mod- tual content, of urgent consequence, thing in a pluralistic society tends to ern reality in all its complexity. I would of frightening proportions. Where become homogenized, the Catholic agree, if this means that the university are they going to be studied in all of university has the temptation to be- is looked upon as a kind of service sta- their dimensions, and where are truly come like all other universities, with tion to train people in superficial skills ultimate solutions to be elaborated, if theology and philosophy attached to like hair-dressing, fly-casting and folk- not in that one institution that is com- the academic body like a kind of ver- dancing. There are, however, modern mitted to the mind at work, using all miform appendix, a vestigial remnant, realities that fully challenge the uni- the disciplines and intellectual skills neither useful nor decorative, a relic of versity as an institution dedicated to available? the past. If this happens, the Catholic teaching and learning, in the context of The truest boast of the Catholic university may indeed become a great the age in which it lives. university is that it is committed to university, but it will not be a Catholic Can the university, its faculty, stu- adequacy of knowledge, which in ef- university. dents or administrators be indifferent fect means that philosophy and the- The second problem involves un- to such problems as racial equality, ology are cherished as special ways of derstanding that while our society is demography, the world rule of law, knowing, of ultimate importance. If, called religiously pluralistic, it is in fact, the deteriorating relationship between then, philosophy and theology do not and more realistically, secularistic— science and the other humanities, the in fact give special life and vigor to the with theology and philosophy relegat- moral foundations of democracy, the Catholic university of today, we will ed to a position of neglect or, worse, ir- true nature of communism, the un- not be faithful either to the ideal that relevance. Against this strong tide, the derstanding of non-Western cultures, Newman so well enunciated, or to the Catholic university must demonstrate the values and goals of our society, and very special challenges of our times. that all the human problems which it a whole host of other human prob- They are times which provide an un- studies are at base philosophical and lems that beset mankind caught in its paralleled opportunity for the Catholic theological, since they relate ultimately present dilemmas of survival or utter university really to come of age. A to the nature and destiny of man. The Catholic university must strive mighti- ly to understand the philosophical and theological dimensions of the modern problems that face man today, and once these dimensions are understood, it must show the relevance of the phil- osophical and theological approach if adequate solutions are to be found for these problems. It goes without saying that the Catholic university cannot fulfill this essential function in our day unless it develops departments of philoso- phy and theology as competent as its departments of history, physics and mathematics. We cannot adequately understand philosophical and theolog- ical dimensions unless we have in the university talented philosophers and theologians, fully skilled in their sci- ence, as cherished as other scholars on the faculty, and deeply involved in the full range of university intellectual en- deavor. At this point, we might recall

March 23, 2015 America 25 FAITH IN FOCUS Hope and Joy-Joy Experiencing the Gospel in Manila BY ANDREW SMALL hat can possibly make a ing a subject close to my church home. of plastic flowers? What had he done difference in these kids’ The intentional strangling of a person’s wrong to warrant such quarantine, ‘Wlives after all they have identity before it ever has the chance to apart from the tiara business perhaps? been through?” I asked. The director of appear should be too horrible for any- Had he stolen it? What kind of a bear the children’s shelter we were visiting one to contemplate and a sure sign that does such a thing? I wondered. What’s that Sunday morning took her finger evil comes from or leads to hopeless- going on? off the “enter” button she was using to ness. Where might hope show itself this I tuned back in, alighting on the flick through a PowerPoint presenta- morning? I wondered, smiling as the story of one of the residents in partic- tion and sat back in her chair. She ex- home’s residents greeted me warmly. ular—it is easier to fix on a few core is- haled at the ceiling, perhaps scanning What could really bring about change sues that way, I have found, and provide the slides in her head of all the kids in mangled lives? What could move a moving story afterwards. I was—in she had dealt with over the years, sud- things along? What actually gets peo- this instance—a chronicler, after all. denly focused on the summons before ple through? If a change serum could The director was sticking to statistics her. “For these girls, it’s hard to tell. be discovered, then surely this home and trends, and I wanted to know the Perseverance I would say is important, for abused and abandoned street chil- “what” of this untold story. I probed for but not always. It’s about teaching them dren was a good place to look for it. specifics. how to cope. Oh, and loving them.” Joy-Joy was born on the streets— The children’s home we were vis- Show and Tale literally on the streets. Abandoned iting that morning blended purpose- The format for visitors like me at the early on, she found her way to one of ly and perfectly into this suburban Home of Hope (and so many places Manila’s large cemeteries, which she subsection of Manila. For over 15 like it) was standard: a brief presenta- called home, bedding down each night years, the “Home of Hope” had res- tion by the director followed by a mini- on a piece of cardboard laid on top of a cued and sheltered some 600 of the “X Factor” show by the residents. Gifts, gravestone. She was one of thousands Philippines’ most forgotten daughters. applause, juice and a cookie and we’ll of Manila’s stewards of the dead. They For me, the visit was another stop on say farewell, never to see each other are crammed into a grim residency my trek through global suffering and again. All in approximately 90 minutes. within the capital’s cemeteries—except the Catholic Church’s response. Like Stories came pouring out describing for the month of November, when they hearing confessions, there was seldom unrelenting cruelty, and any hope that all politely vacate their tombs so the anything new or shocking in these con- change was possible for these girls and city’s bereaved can come and recite a cocted drive-bys. But in terms of my young women grew so foreign as to simple Ave for the eternally resting. odyssey through the sheer messiness of seem absurd. I became distracted by a Joy-Joy was truly stateless. She was other people’s lives, I might have found, menagerie of stuffed toys looking down Filipina for sure, verified by the many in the Home of Hope, the holy grail. from the top of the filing cabinet in the people who talked about her and her Abused and exploited children pres- corner. It was presided over by a brown kind in Congress and on television. She ent a particular case of messiness, one plastic teddy bear atop which someone was Filipina in that she was a Filipina that is hard to compare with poverty had squashed a tiara. The bear looked problem. Joy-Joy was stateless in that or disease, with or without a recent ty- indignant—resigned perhaps—like she possessed none of the fundamen- phoon. It also has the distinction of be- so many dolls and animals obliged to tal attributes that make somebody who go along with the whimsical dress-up they are. Or to be more precise, she had games of their owners. But why had he them; she just didn’t know what or who ANDREW SMALL, O.M.I, is national director of the Pontifical Mission Societies in the United wound up in the director’s office next they were, which is tantamount to the States, New York, N.Y. to a bottle of perfume and a bouquet same thing. She had come from no-

26 America March 23, 2015 where and no one. She had no name. So she went by a nickname until recently, when she claimed her constitu- tional right to acquire a surname; she decided on the one used by a volunteer she had grown close to in the shelter. She combined her nickname with that borrowed name: Joy-Joy Seng.

Undocumented With no traceable relatives, no history and no paper trail, Joy-Joy had no birth date. This created two problems. First, she didn’t know how old she was. In fact, when she came to the refuge she was sent for a bone scan to cal- culate her age. I surmised that it makes perfect sense to use a bone Home of Hope children’s scan to calculate the age of some- refuge in Manila one from a cemetery. But to use it on ent independence of the someone who is still alive was macabre. streets to an ordered rou- So, after figuring out her age, the tine designed to foster a next trick was to keep track of it. For common life among the this, one needs a birthday. Joy-Joy was 25 residents had been allowed to pick hers. She selected Dec. less than smooth for 25 because it was the birthday she felt Joy-Joy, as it is for many people would remember. A real ama- of her fellow street teur in the affection business, Joy-Joy survivors. The shout- failed to realize that Christmas babies ing fits and trauma always get shortchanged. I remonstrat- attacks by and among ed with the director. But Joy-Joy had the residents are a fea- simply wanted to share in Jesus’ special ture of the journey from where they day. And what was I worried about came from to where they are headed. gun to peek around the open door of anyway? Who celebrates their first Complaints from Joy-Joy and compa- the director’s office where the briefing birthday at age 11? ny’s esteemed neighbors, however, had was taking place, wondering when they The abuse she had suffered had grown so loud that the authorities were would get the chance to perform a song caused massive psychological scarring, running them out of the suburbs to the for the visitors as rehearsed. requiring constant treatment that in- outskirts of town. Joining the call for I kept coming back at the director, cluded heavy medication. Still, Joy-Joy their ouster was the city’s mayor, who badgering her for the formula to the had run away from the shelter more lived a couple of blocks away, as well as change serum that would help me un- than a dozen times, harming herself more than one member of the National derstand not just their world but also frequently, mostly by cutting, but more Congress. I wondered what the oppo- this world, my world. I had run through recently by drinking a bottle of per- site of neighbor might be. some usual scenarios from natural se- fume. This explained the tiaraed Teddy The briefing part of the visit had lection to God’s will, presuming a basic Bear’s solemn guard over the perfume gone on far too long, largely because belief in human goodness and a desire bottle in the director’s office. I pestered the director on the means and ability of every human being to During her latest flight from the needed to mediate between the nor- recognize what was good for them. Home of Hope, Joy-Joy had become mative and the alien worlds being de- Such explanations all seemed unsat-

PHOTOS COURTESY OF AUTHOR PHOTOS COURTESY pregnant. Transition from the appar- scribed. The younger residents had be- isfactory, and not for the first time. And

March 23, 2015 America 27 then the director paused, as if annoyed, I stared at her hand with the fingers At the same time, it was hard not to be and took a deeper breath than usu- spread out as if protecting as much of charmed by their coy confidence. Joy-Joy al. Gazing at the desk between us, she the desk as possible and coughed out sat this one out because of her advanced curled her bottom lip between her teeth one last protest: But how do you build pregnancy. and shook her head slightly and once. a bridge when you’re under water? How The briefing had been intense and Then she slowly placed her hand palm- does everyone not drown? This preacher draining. Scanning the room and tak- side down on the desk like a counselor was going to need some fresh magic. ing in the performance, I now felt oddly moving me toward a breakthrough: “We guilty, not just for what I knew about help them to build a bridge that can bear Ode to Joy-Joy Joy-Joy but because I sensed that she the load of their impossible questions I sat through the concert, offended by knew that I knew. Knowing Joy-Joy, I and then we wait—patiently—for an- the lyrics the residents lip-synched: “I felt responsible for having done nothing. swers to come.” got gloss on my lips, a man on my hips.” Was this the genesis of the change I was looking for? Joy-Joy had spoken of two perfectly normal reactions when asked about giv- ing birth. First, she said she was afraid. And second, she said she was excited about having the baby. That’s nice, I thought, even though baby Luisa would likely be put up for adoption soon after her birth. Joy-Joy was not thrilled about being a new mother as such or about having a child to call her own. Rather what of- fered Joy-Joy some brand-new, actual delight was the prospect of having—for the very first time—the certainty that she was connected in a vital way to an- other human being. Being sure that she belonged to someone was to Joy-Joy something full of promise. You see, knowing is beyond imag- ining. Knowing jostles with mystery, Poems are being accepted for the 2015 Foley Poetry Award. shucking it. Knowing is something to be pursued and seized. Knowing enables T Y Each entrant is asked to submit only one typed, unpublished poem on any topic. The poem should be 30 lines or fewer and not under us to tell the untold stories that medi- consideration elsewhere. Include contact information on the same ate meaning between our world and us, S page as the poem. Poems will not be returned. making sense of both. Knowing makes Please do not submit poems by email or fax. us responsible. It goes beyond seeing Submissions must be postmarked between Jan. 1 and March 31, and feeling: it forces us to understand 2015. and then to act. Everyone wants to know Poems received outside the designated period will be treated as and be known. regular poetry submissions and are not eligible for the prize. Hope for Joy-Joy welled up in me The winning poem will be published in the June 8-15 issue of with the possibility of her knowing America. Three runner-up poems will be published in subsequent and of being known, a kind of know- issues. Notable entrants also may be considered for inclusion on our ing that incorporates the merely carnal EY POET R poetry site, americaliterary.tumblr.com. and makes it holy. Genuine novelty had Cash prize: $1,000 presented itself in the patience practiced Send poems to: in the Home of Hope. Fresh magic may Foley Poetry Contest, America Magazine,106 West 56th Street, not, in fact, be called for because in some FO L CONTE New York, NY 10019 real, even heart-breaking places there are answers to impossible questions. A

28 America March 23, 2015 GENERATION FAITH In His Time Navigating the uncertainty of college life BY MARY MULLAN that seemed more open to other pos- sibilities and try to see where it would lead. The hope was that I would find my passion there. I chose my favorite subject from high school: English. I started my English classes during the next semester, and I suddenly felt at peace. The professors were passion- ate and helpful. Homework became enjoyable. I knew, too, that the peace I felt came from something other than the work itself. I had been worrying so much that I hadn’t taken the time to ask where God was leading me, but I now knew that he had been there all along. This peace I felt was his presence and will being revealed to me in his time. I enjoyed my English classes im- mensely. I formed great relationships y whole life was planned my house. On my first day, I was ner- with professors and made friends out when I stepped onto vous, but walking through the halls of who shared my interests in things like Mcampus my freshman year. the elementary school reminded me Chaucer and James Joyce’s Dubliners. Although I was undeclared, I knew of childhood. Every room was filled I started to pray about where this ma- I wanted to major in education and with bright, smiling faces. What else jor would eventually lead me. I came graduate in four years, no more, no less. could one want in a job? And yet, to my up with a few options, including the I was not exactly excited to be starting surprise, I did not enjoy being there. I possibility of becoming a librarian. I college, but I was excited to eventually could not pinpoint exactly why I wasn’t had come to enjoy spending my time become a teacher. In short, I knew what enjoying it, but I began to feel unset- in libraries and thought that it might I wanted in life—but I hadn’t thought tled. My plan was not working out. be a good fit. They were peaceful and too much about what God wanted for I finished up the semester knowing filled with wonderful literature. And my life. that I couldn’t continue with this rigor- so, I began to pursue this new interest. Despite this feeling of certainty, I ous program. Unsure of where to turn, I researched different programs around was not too sure what to expect of the I went to the career center, a building New York and across the country, and education program. I dove into the on the edge of campus. I took a test. I they all seemed extraordinary. At the work but soon found that I did not waited for the results. This test told me time, I felt as though this was where particularly like the classes. I hoped that my personality would work well in God was leading me. And so, I began, that the time I would spend observing some type of service or in education. I once more, to come up with a defini- real-life classrooms would be different. was disappointed. The test confirmed tive plan for this next stage of my life. I was placed in a school not far from my original plan, but I couldn’t shake Graduate school would be the next my discomfort with it. I felt no closer step. MARY MULLAN is a senior at Hofstra to reaching my goal. My counselor and God, however, had a different plan. I

ART BY BOB ECKSTEIN ART University. I decided that I should choose a major was given the opportunity, through the

March 23, 2015 America 29 English department, to go to Ireland in along this path of life. to trust in God in a way that I hadn’t the summer before I began my senior After about a month of this constant before. In his hands, in his time. The year. It was an eye-opening, amazing worry, I realized that this was not going small scrap of paper that I was given experience. Each day was filled with to get me anywhere. But I felt as though eventually found a home in my wallet. exploration of new landscapes, new God was silent. I felt abandoned. I drove I made a promise to learn how to trust food and new people. I explored cul- to my parish and stood in the line for without borders so that I may be where ture and literature in a new way. I found confession. The church was quiet and God leads. immense joy while I was there. I could dim. The line slowly moved and soon In the months since I began to pray see how God carried me through this my turn came. And so, I spoke with my this prayer, I have had to accept that time, bringing me to where I needed to parish priest about my anxiety about God’s time is certainly not our time. be. However, after expanding my world- the future and my issue of trusting God. This issue of trust, and trust in timing, view, I returned to school less certain of He was compassionate, and he wrote is one that I am learning to embrace where I wanted—needed—to be. I was down a simple prayer on a piece of scrap each and every day. I still cringe at the still in love with my major, but graduate paper and handed it to me. He said to question, What are you going to do with school now felt confining rather than pray it over and over as needed. The pa- your life? But things are getting better. freeing. per read: In His hands, in His time. I left The Father is continuously holding My senior year began with more the church knowing that I was about to me in his arms, encompassing me with questions about my future: What are embark on something new. his love. In hindsight I can see how you going to do with your life? What are Sitting in my car, I looked down at God led me to where I am now. I have your post-graduation plans? I cringed. I the piece of paper and began to pray learned that even though God some- didn’t have an answer anymore. I began this prayer. The church parking lot was times seems silent, he has not aban- to feel unsure about all of my options. empty, but I no longer felt alone. God’s doned me and will never forsake me. I began to feel extremely anxious. My loving arms surrounded me. I prayed He simply asks for my trust. I am look- thoughts constantly revolved around this prayer over the next few weeks each ing forward to seeing where God leads trying to figure out what exactly I was time I felt the beginnings of impatience. me, in learning his plan for me, however supposed to be doing in order to move I began this difficult task of learning long it takes. A

30 America March 23, 2015 Books & Culture

“For the Greater Glory of God,” choreographed by Robert VerEecke, S.J.

DANCE | ROBERT Ve r EECKE who has restaged some of these Jesuit Baroque ballets, describes in detail the GOTTA DANCE! philosophy and rationale that prompt- ed Jesuits like Ménestrier to use dance Exploring the Spiritual Exercises through movement as a pedagogical tool in her work, Terpsichore at Louis-le-Grand: hen I entered the Jesuits tradition in the arts that preceded the in 1966 at the age of 18, suppression of the Society of Jesus in At Louis-le-Grand, the Jesuit WI could never have imag- the 1770s. From the earliest years of collège on the rue Saint Jacques ined that I would spend a great deal the Society, there had been Jesuit mu- in Paris, the ballets began as in- of my ministry as a choreographer sicians, composers, visual artists, archi- termèdes for the school’s Latin and teacher of dance. Although I had tects and patrons of the art of dance. tragedies. These were lighter always loved to dance and to create Dance played an important role intervals of dancing, singing, dances, I had not had an opportunity in Jesuit schools in the 17th and ear- speaking and instruments in to study dance formally. It would never ly 18th centuries. Dancing masters between the acts of the somber have crossed my mind that it would be taught in Jesuit schools, and Jesuits drama. the Society of Jesus that would give me themselves wrote treatises on dance. the opportunity to use this hidden tal- Claude-François Ménestrier, S.J. In a commentary on the rationale ent for the greater glory of God. (1631-1705), who is considered the behind these ballets, Rock writes: I was fortunate to enter the no- first ballet historian, published his trea- vitiate at a time when Jesuits in the tise on dance at Paris in 1682. Judith The Jesuits made ballets because

PHOTO: J.A. LOFTUS, S.J. United States were rediscovering the Rock, a contemporary dance historian they cared about art and com-

March 23, 2015 America 31 munication, and communication graphed and staged and that has special theme comes to life in Arvo Pärt’s “Te meant body as much as it meant significance to me as a Jesuit is “For the Deum,” which uses prostration, stretch- words. The Jesuits ran schools Greater Glory of God,” a dance/theater ing and collapsing, trembling gestures for boys and taught them rheto- piece inspired by the Spiritual Exercises and finally an explosion of leaps and ric. Rhetoric was the art of public of St. Ignatius. turns to express the awesome relation- communication with body and I created this work in 1990 for the ship with the Creator. voice. Performing in ballets gave 450th anniversary of the founding of In the Second Week, or second pe- the Jesuits’ students strong, elo- the Society of Jesus and the 500th an- riod, of the Spiritual Exercises, the re- quent bodies and trained them niversary of the birth of St. Ignatius. treatant is invited into a relationship to dance well at court and every- Since that time, a company of musi- with Jesus, asking for the grace to know, where else. cians, dancers and actors has performed love and serve him. One of the pieces this piece in many Jesuit universities, of choreography that I use to give flesh As a young Jesuit, I knew none of parishes and retreat centers. and blood to this intimate relationship this. My “aha” moment came at the Jesuit In “For the Greater Glory of God,” is danced to Paul Melley’s “I Am.” In Institute for the Arts at the University I play the role of St. Ignatius “giving” this piece, those who follow Jesus move of Santa Clara in 1971, where I was the Spiritual Exercises. Using the ba- through Jesus the Gate, dance with able to participate in a ballet class for sic structure of the exercises—the Jesus the Vine, join with Jesus the Light Jesuits. It was as if I had waited 22 years “Principle and Foundation,” four and are comforted and cradled by Jesus to find my life’s passion. Thanks to the “weeks,” or parts, and a final contempla- the Good Shepherd. Dance has an ex- openness of some of my superiors, I tion on attaining God’s love—I wove traordinary power to visualize and ex- was able to make up for lost time and together music, dances and Scripture press one’s inner life. In this context the study dance throughout my course of texts that would bring the exercises to dances express outwardly what is expe- studies and Jesuit formation. life through artistic imagination. For rienced inwardly in prayer. One of the most important aspects those who know the exercises, imagi- I recently had the chance to view of my study of dance, however, was that nation is a key to St. Ignatius’ genius of this performance in a new way. Jeremy I immediately recognized its power to inviting people into Zipple, S.J., executive express the religious dimension of hu- an intimate rela- editor of America ON THE WEB man life. Dance had its origins in the sa- tionship with God. A video profile of Robert VerEecke, Films, filmed a per- cred, and there is a connection between Although this exer- S.J., and excerpts from his work. formance of this the symbolic language of prayer and cise of the imagina- americamagazine.org/film work. Through his worship and that of dance. The psalm- tion would happen work I could see the ist’s invitation to “praise the Lord in the in the prayer of the movement and ex- festive dance” would become a mantra person making the Spiritual Exercises, I pressions of the piece from many differ- for me as I began to explore how the art wanted to use the exercise of the artistic ent perspectives. It uses multiple cam- and craft of dance could give shape and imagination to help others to “see” and eras and angles, including using a drone form to religious experience. “feel” the exercises through the power of camera that made it possible to watch Over the past 40 years I have had the music and dance. the performance from above. It is as if chance to work with professional danc- The Spiritual Exercises begin with he has created a new sort of “choreogra- ers from major dance companies, with the “Principle and Foundation,” in phy.” The dances are familiar to me, but ordinary folks who love to dance and which Ignatius writes, “the human per- through this video I am seeing them in with whole assemblies of worshippers son is created to praise, reverence and a new way. This is in fact what happens willing to engage in simple movement serve God our Lord and by this means to each person making the Spiritual and gesture as part of their communal to save one’s soul.” And so I begin “For Exercises. The framework of the exer- prayer. I have used both the stage and the Greater Glory of God” with the cises is always the same, but the prayer the sanctuary as sites for my artistic and “Song of Praise” from Paul Winter’s of the individual and the work of the faith expression. “Missa Gaia.” The choreography uses Spirit enable him or her to experience As Jesuit artist-in-residence at movement that embodies an expression them in unique ways. Boston College for more than 35 years of praise; it has gestures that fluctuate and as pastor of St. Ignatius Church for between reaching up and outward and ROBERT VerEECKE, S.J., is pastor of St. more than 25 years, I have been able to contracting inward, giving a feel for the Ignatius of Loyola parish in Chestnut Hill, Mass., and the Jesuit artist-in-residence at create pieces for holidays and worship created person’s relationship of rever- Boston College. Learn more about his work at services. One of the works that I choreo- ence toward the Creator. This same www.blde.org.

32 America March 23, 2015 OF OTHER THINGS | ANGELA ALAIMO O’DONNELL A LITANY FOR FLANNERY

lannery O’Connor would be 90 sword of Damocles hung above her mercy”—glimpsed a God of grace who years old on March 25 had she head each morning as she sat at her measures and pours it out prodigally Fsurvived the disease that killed manual typewriter, pounding away, tell- and in astonishing ways. her slowly for 13 long years, leaving her ing stories like her life depended on it? She looked in the mirror of her char- dead at 39. Sickness made her bold. acters’ souls—saw her own slim virtues She grew up strange—an only child She had to believe in herself. She and her own broad flaws—and faithful- in a large extended family, a Catholic girl didn’t have the luxury of doubt, of lying ly watched them fall and founder and, in the Protestant South, an unconven- around and whining about her lack of a sometimes, rise. tional student the convent school nuns Guggenheim. She didn’t have time. She believed in our journey to the didn’t like. (The feeling was mutual.) She was brilliant in Father of Souls, in the She collected chickens for compa- the most ordinary ways. She gave us a dragon who sits by the ny—taught them tricks, sewed them She told terrible stories side of the road, waiting clothes and kept a lookout for “freaks” about everyday life, sto- vision and a to devour us. who lacked a wing or an eye or, better ries people don’t want to vocabulary She wrote, “No yet, a head. hear—yet we read them - matter what form the She learned to write fiction, honed hungrily, as if they con- taught dragon may take, it is her extravagant style and made her way tained news we need. ‘the terrible of this mysterious pas- to New York. She wrote, “Were it not She used the speech sage past him, or into for my mother, I could easily resolve not of country people—the speed of his jaws, that stories of to see Georgia again.” “folks” she lived with— mercy.’ any depth will always She boarded a southbound train shaped by limitation, be concerned to tell.” for Christmas vacation, and when she yet somehow eloquent She also wrote this: arrived she resembled “a shriveled old and elegant, full of grit “She would have been woman.” Full-blown lupus had set in. and grace. They talked a good woman if it had She was home to stay. like poets and didn’t been somebody there to She wrote for two hours every day know it. But she surely shoot her every minute for the rest of her life. On death’s door, did. of her life.” In her most she hid her manuscript under her pil- She was funny, al- famous story, a mur- low so the nurses wouldn’t take it away. ways seeing the awk- derer speaks this hor- She died at the height of her pow- ward angle of a thing—those thick rific-hilarious line with reference to his ers, leaving behind 32 short stories, glasses a joke, for her vision was keen— victim. But, like any piece of wisdom, it two novels, a dozen (plus) essays and and she made us see it, too. We begin could apply to any of us, including the hundreds of letters. All of this is genius, reading a story, put our Flannery gog- author of the story. and she’d have written more had she not gles on, and suddenly the world is trans- Flannery O’Connor was a good been brought to an abrupt and abiding formed—strange things seem normal woman because there was someone halt by the mortal illness she lived with and normal things odd. The drift and there to shoot her every minute of her and died by. depth of the simplest thing—a bratty life—call it The Misfit, call it the drag- Who knows what kind of life she cat, a lady’s hat, a new tattoo—always on, call it lupus, call it death. might have led without it, without the comes as a shock, a truth we forgot we She wrote with a shotgun cocked pressure and the threat, without that knew. and aimed at the bullseye of the heart, She lived deeply, felt powerfully, and she didn’t flinch. twigged and kenned and saw down into She was no saint. She was like us— ANGELA ALAIMO O’DONNELL is a writer, life. She told us things that surprised only brilliant and brave, full of stories professor and associate director of the Curran Center for American Catholic Studies at and sanctified, scarified and satisfied, all that were true. Fordham University. Her new biography, at the same time. She was holy in a way she never Flannery O’Connor: Fiction Fired by She gave us a vision and a vocab- knew. Like the rest of us—me and you. Faith, will be published by The Liturgical Press. Twitter: @AODonnellAngela. ulary—taught “the terrible speed of ANGELA ALAIMO O’DONNELL

March 23, 2015 America 33 BOOKS | BERNARD P. PRUSACK ify, Lonergan’s perspectives. Chauvet’s critique of metaphysics argues that it THIS IS MY BODY confuses the real with discourse about the real, thus reducing sacraments to the metaphysical categories of cause EUCHARIST AS MEANING illuminating the meaning of Catholic and effect. What happens in the sacra- Critical Metaphysics and Eucharistic doctrines.” Lonergan is ments “is not of the physical, moral, or Contemporary Sacramental said to have jettisoned the logically metaphysical but of the symbolic or- Theology rigorous metaphysics characteristic of der.” Chauvet thus advocates a starting By Joseph C. Mudd a classical culture concerned with the point which overcomes the metaphys- Liturgical Press. 270p $29.95 universal and necessary. In the present ical view, characterized by instrumen- cultural era, theology must first attend tality and causality, and moves into the Since the Fourth Lateran Council symbolic, characterized by the media- (1215), Christ has been said to be tion through language and symbol. present in the Eucharist by way of a Chauvet interprets the Eucharistic substantial conversion, or transubstan- presence of Christ as ad-esse, or “be- tiation, of bread and wine into his body ing for.” Unlike the scholastics, who and blood. The doctrinal tradition, treated bread and wine only as onto- particularly as reflected in Thomas logical substrates for the emergence of Aquinas, applied concepts such as sub- the body and blood of Christ, he in- stance and accidents, cause and effect, sists that to authentically proclaim the derived from scholastic metaphysics. bread as the body of Christ, one must This language has become increasingly emphasize all the more that it is indeed obscure in cultures no longer familiar still bread, essential bread, the bread of with medieval metaphysics. A discus- life “par excellence.” The mystery of the sion regarding how to talk about the Eucharistic body cannot be expressed presence of Christ in the Eucharist in a symbolic framework unless it reemerged at the time of the Second carries with it the symbolic richness Vatican Council. of bread as a social reality, a symbol In the 20th century, some asked of sharing. Chauvet moves beyond a whether metaphysical explanations of metaphysics that reduces grace to a Eucharistic change and sacramental commodity and supports the material causality segregated the presence of permanence of Christ’s presence in the Christ in the Eucharist from the litur- to method and only subsequently to Eucharist. His symbolic framework is gical life of the church and religious metaphysics. open to an awareness of “real absence” experience. In Eucharist as Meaning, Embracing J. Michael Stebbins’s ar- in the Eucharist. It enables “a theolo- Joseph C. Mudd states, “[c]ategories ticle on Eucharistic presence as mystery gy of the sacramental that integrates like ‘symbol’ and ‘sacrament’ were recast and meaning, Mudd seeks to recapture Scripture, sacrament, and ethics in a in ways that responded to the subjec- the valid insight on which the language work of mourning the absence of God tive and performative dimension of re- of transubstantiation rests, “within the who asks that the church give God a ligious experience.” context of a metaphysics grounded in body in history.” Mudd briefly refers to vari- a verifiable account of human know- Mudd insists that Chauvet nev- ous approaches, including Edward ing.” Stebbins pointed to the derived er really breaks out of the cause and Schillebeeckx’s proposal of “transig- metaphysics presented by Lonergan effect schema and is trapped by his nification,” Karl Rahner’s theology of in Insight. It avoids the onto-theologi- disjunction of the symbolic and the the symbol and the growing influence cal problematic that Chauvet, echoing metaphysical. Chauvet is said to in- of Louis-Marie Chauvet’s theology of Heidegger, rightly criticizes. terdict all questions that demand symbolic mediation. Each is said to Mudd’s first chapter explores “is it so?” Citing a critical analysis of be worthy of study, but Mudd turns Chauvet’s method and its application Chauvet’s work by the Irish Jesuit to Bernard Lonergan, “because his to doctrines dealing with Eucharistic Raymond Moloney, Mudd concurs philosophical and theological investi- presence and sacrifice. The motive is that Chauvet’s Heideggerian criticisms gations hold untapped resources for to contrast them with, and thus clar- of metaphysics find their mark only in

34 America March 23, 2015 the decadent scholastic emphasis on sacramental, endowed with a certain context must consider the meaning of certitude practiced by Ockhamist and meaning, but the mouse, unable to un- body and bodily resurrection. With post-Enlightenment neoscholasticism. derstand meaning, does not eat sacra- Karl Rahner, we say that the body is There is another kind of metaphysics, mentally, only “accidentally.” For Mudd, the symbol, or self-expression, of the “closer to that built into the nature of “the words of consecration are Christ’s self/person/soul. As Joseph Ratzinger the mind,” as elaborated by Lonergan. acts of meaning [which] means that in has noted, “the body gets its identity Lonergan distinguishes the worlds this case transignification is transub- not from matter but from the person, of common sense, theory and interi- stantiation….Christ is giving a new the soul. The physiology becomes truly ority. Chauvet focused on the first and meaning to this bread and by his word ‘body’ through the heart of the per- third. With Moloney, Mudd main- effects a new reality.” Mudd likewise sonality. Bodiliness is something other tains that “metaphysics and symbolism emphasizes that the divine presence than a summation of corpuscles.” And, are not two competing explanations mediated in the sacraments is not an as Ratzinger declares, “the real heart of but two different levels of discourse.” already-out-there-now-real but the pres- faith in the resurrection does not con- Metaphysics is capable of illuminating ence of the agent in act. sist at all in the idea of the restoration the intelligibility of the symbolic. Real presence is a sacramental pres- of the body.” Rather, “the real content For Lonergan, the real world, in ence in and through signs: the matter of the hope symbolically proclaimed which humans live, is a world medi- of bread and wine. In saying Amen to in the Bible” is “an immortality of the ated by meaning, motivated by val- the Eucharistic minister’s proclama- person.” Beyond death, the resurrected ues, and known through language. tion “The Body of Christ,” one is not person/soul has an abiding relatedness He resists polarizing the metaphysical affirming a molecular change in the to the body and integrates bodiliness and symbolic orders. The real is not bread and wine. As Lonergan empha- within its own reality. the already-out-there-now because sized, in the world of meaning the real The likely Aramaic words of Jesus at in the world of meaning the real is is known in a judgment regarding the the Last Supper, “This is my biśrî” and known in a judgment regarding the truth of particular meanings or values. “This is my demi / bidmî” (Mk 14:24; truth of particular meanings or val- The intellectual understanding of faith Lk 22:20) meant not just body and ues. Metaphysics is something in a maintains that the materiality of the blood but also self and life. In the ma- mind. It is progressive, subjecting the Eucharistic bread and wine conveys a teriality of Eucharistic bread and wine, operations of consciousness to critical new reality, the living, resurrected self Jesus, as the Word, becomes a human analysis. Lonergan sought a new syn- of Jesus. person, makes present and gives his thesis which would be in continuity A critical sacramental realism that living self, in his risen bodiliness—all with Aquinas, if it stood with modern recaptures key distinctions in Aquinas that he was and became as embodied science, scholarship and philosophy, as and transposes them into our new and alive in his earthly ministry, his dy- Thomism stood to Aristotelianism. Mudd admits that rediscovering the meanings of doctrines involves a tre- mendous amount of historical work. But his analysis begins from Berengar and Aquinas, and does not confront the underlying issues (naïve realism and how Jesus’ body at the right hand of the Father could be present in the Eucharist) that gave rise to their posi- tions. Mudd recognizes a need both for the aesthetic categories of “symbol” and “embodiment” advanced by Chauvet and for the clarification of meaning attainable through a critical-realist metaphysics in systematic theolo- gy. He finds support for his focus on Eucharist as meaning in Aquinas’s re- sponse to the question, What does the mouse eat? The Eucharistic bread is

March 23, 2015 America 35 ing on the cross and his resurrection. many are one body, for we all partake Readers hoping for a book about As Aquinas declared, “the dimensive of the one bread, (1 Cor 10:16-17).” the spirituality of the Occupy move- quantity (or matter) of the bread and By eating and drinking the material ment will be disappointed. The book wine are miraculously bestowed with elements that now make present Jesus’ is in the spirit of Occupy, but the chap- being the subject of subsequent forms” living-self, the assembly (ekklēsia) of ter devoted to Occupy and the New (ST 3, q. 77, a. 5, resp.). his disciples gathered around the ta- Monasticism is thin. The “Occupy In saying “Take and eat….Take and ble becomes his living body, sent out chaplains,” the “Occupy Faith” network drink,” Jesus made clear that he was to live his “Way,” in the world: feeding or tents devoted to altars or medi- not intending to make the bread and the hungry, giving drink to the thirsty, tation space at Occupy sites are not wine a stand-in for his earthly body clothing the naked and visiting the sick discussed. However, the book does and blood—so that we could primarily and those in prison. contain a foreword on the Arab Spring adore his presence. Rather, as Paul tells and a statement from young undocu- us, the bread that we break is a shar- BERNARD P. PRUSAK is a professor of theology mented immigrant Pancho Ramos- ing in the body of Christ. “We who are and religious studies at Villanova University. Stierle, arrested while meditating at Occupy Oakland. For readers looking for a call to in- JOAN BRAUNE tergenerational dialogue, this book is timely but needs to go further. Occupy THE NEW YOUNG CATHOLICS Spirituality sometimes reads as though alienation from organized religion is a OCCUPY SPIRITUALITY chapter opens with quotations from banner behind which all youth are and A Radical Vision for a New anonymous 20- and 30-somethings should be massing. One could read Generation about their varied spiritual experienc- Fox and Bucko without realizing that By Adam Bucko and Matthew Fox es. Fox and Bucko believe that youth young Catholics today are as likely to North Atlantic Books. 288p $17.95 are “interspiritual,” finding fulfillment be found chanting the “Tantum Ergo” through social movements like Occupy before a monstrance as doing yoga FROM WILLOW CREEK TO Wall Street and practices from within in a tent in front of Citibank (and SACRED HEART faith traditions (prayer, meditation) sometimes the same people do both). Rekindling My Love for and without (physical exercise, artis- Many young Catholics are hungry for Catholicism tic expression, scientific beauty, mystery and By Chris Haw wonder). transcendence, which Ave Maria Press. 256p $15.95 Bucko’s journey of is fueling an enthu- faith is grippingly told: siasm for traditional Something is stirring among young playing music in the practices. Implicit or Catholics. Two recent texts demon- subways as a young explicit is often a cri- strate two possible options. Matthew Polish immigrant, tique of contemporary Fox and Adam Bucko see a mass youth finding peace through society’s restless pur- exodus from organized religion lead- meditation, an en- suit of wealth, lack of ing to a new, emancipatory spirituality, counter with a hungry community, wasteful while Chris Haw finds the specificity street urchin in India treatment of creation of Catholicism oddly liberating. and serving homeless and quest for empty, Occupy Spirituality is a dialogue New York youth. Fox’s instant gratification. between young Adam Bucko and el- intellectual biography For intergenerational der scholar Matthew Fox. (Fox, who follows in brief, includ- dialogue to be effective, got into hot water with the Vatican ing the influence of older Catholics should some years back, is now an Episcopal radical Dominican Thomist Marie- hesitate to tell younger Catholics priest. Although he makes some very Dominique Chenu. Various themes what the “new” or “progressive” thing is harsh comments about the Catholic are then covered: vocation, intergen- (something that, in my experience as a Church in the book, he clearly still erational dialogue and recent develop- 20-something Catholic, happens quite identifies with the Catholic intellectu- ments including Occupy Wall Street a lot). al tradition.) Light but not fluffy, the and the New Monasticism (the move- Unlike Occupy Spirituality, Chris book is full of hope, joy and fun. Each ment to which Chris Haw belongs). Haw’s Willow Creek to Sacred Heart

36 America March 23, 2015 attacks the “spiritual but not religious” activist, Doyle had been one of “the Catholicism, including its alleged “pa- trend, which Haw terms “the search Camden 28,” who broke into a draft ganism” and its penchant for expen- for no accent.” Instead of religious office during the Vietnam War. When sive art. Though highly theologically neutrality, he encour- Father Doyle told Haw informed, the text has three particu- ages a deep encounter about a building he was larly visible sources: G.K. Chesterton, with Catholicism and hoping to convert into a William T. Cavanaugh and Rene reminds readers that Catholic Worker house, Girard. Haw blends a sort of dis- everyone is culturally Haw was intrigued. tributism or agrarian socialism from specific, with a “view Although they joked Chesterton and Wendell Berry with from somewhere.” The that they were more like the critique of idolatries of state and difference in approach- “Protestant Slackers” market that one finds in Cavanaugh’s es between the two than Catholic Workers, work (Torture and Eucharist, The Myth books is not adversar- he and his future wife of Religious Violence, Migrations of the ial; when I chatted on moved to Camden Holy). Cavanaugh has long argued Facebook with Adam to serve the poor of that modernity’s split between secu- Bucko, he had just been Doyle’s community. lar public space and private religious to Camden to speak at And one Good Friday, experience is illusory and has lent a Haw’s parish. Haw attended the lit- dangerous aura of sanctity to immoral Haw is a founding urgy at Sacred Heart, military and economic practices. From member of the New Monasticism, was overwhelmed by the beauty and Rene Girard, Haw draws an under- a largely Protestant Evangelical “severity” of the ritual and reverted to standing of the sacrifice of the Mass movement that builds intention- the Catholic faith of his childhood. as an antisacrifice, a protest against all al communities “in the abandoned The second half of the book is a oppressive “scapegoating.” places of Empire.” Before writing closer theological study, with chapters The New Monasticism, with which Willow Creek, Haw teamed up with grouped around common criticisms of Haw’s Camden intentional commu- New Monasticism superstar Shane Claiborne to write Jesus for President, a brightly illustrated, smart hermeneu- tic with Christian anarchist overtones, presenting the Bible as the story of a struggle against Empire. Willow Creek is a work of apologet- ics, a defense of Catholicism, but with- out the faults common to that genre— it is not triumphalist, haranguing or superficial. William T. Cavanaugh writes in the Afterword, “This is the one book I would put in the hands of people who wonder why they should join the Catholic Church or why they should not leave it.” Haw recounts his journey from childhood Catholic catechism classes, to a vibrant Evangelical megachurch (Willow Creek), to socially con- scious Evangelical projects (including a short stint in jail for protesting the war), to reversion to Catholicism at an inner-city Camden parish (Sacred Heart). As a student at Eastern University, Haw met Fr. Michael Doyle, pastor of Sacred Heart. A long-time

March 23, 2015 America 37 nity is affiliated, influences his theo- conscious Protestant church. Wilson-Hartgrove share an attraction logical approach. The term “New However, the New Monasticism to the Benedictine virtue of stability, Monasticism” can be misleading. also seems like a social movement, seeing staying put (and gardening) in Christian intentional communities of uniting Christians of various denomi- places of poverty as countering a fast- service are not “new,” arguably around nations to oppose U.S. military aggres- paced global economy. Claiborne is since the early Church, and the New sion and work for economic and envi- fascinated by Mother Theresa’s call for Monasticism resembles a Protestant ronmental justice. Bucko and some everyone to “find their Calcutta,” which version of the Catholic Worker. Since others are hopeful that a new, low- for the New Monasticism means re- New Monastics may marry and do er-case “new monasticism” might ex- locating, affixing oneself loyally and not take traditional religious vows, tend beyond the limits of Christianity long-term in a place of dire poverty. they are not “monastics” in a techni- and form the basis for a new “interspir- In New Monastic literature, there is cal sense either, though they do have itual” movement—Bucko is currently sometimes a tone of strategic retreat, a kind of “rule” (a list of “marks”). finishing a book on the topic. Upper- of keeping Christianity safe and un- Nationally there are some Catholic case, “institutional” New Monasticism corrupted from the world; one notices New Monastics like Haw, but it some- remains Christian, predominantly admiration for the Anabaptists (like times seems like a new Protestant de- Protestant. the Amish). If the New Monasticism nomination—one town’s branch that I New Monastics like Chris Haw, wants to be a transformative move- am familiar with is a friendly, socially Shane Claiborne and Jonathan ment, its emphasis on monastic stabili- ty could prove limiting. Perhaps today’s world is in greater need of mendicants. CLASSIFIED New Mendicants could confront cen- ters of power, rather than hewing to Positions ciety, politics and the arts. Our weekly magazine, America Media is looking for an editorial assistant America, has been published continuously since the periphery and protecting the faith to assist the managing editor with weekly produc- 1909, making it one of the oldest periodicals in the from the incursion of Empire. Urban tion duties. This includes processing incoming United States today. and mobile, New Mendicants would manuscripts, communicating with authors about occupy city centers, and like Haw’s submissions and processing stipends. The editori- Retreat al assistant would also assist with certain digital SAN DAMIANO RETREAT is a Franciscan re- Catholicism, find God in culture. work, including sending out weekly email newslet- treat house located 35 miles east of San Francisco The New Monasticism and the ters and uploading content to the web and other in Danville, Calif. We offer a peaceful, prayerful interspiritual movement might ben- digital distribution platforms. There will be op- setting for rest and renewal. Our location is ex- portunities to copyedit as well as write for print or cellent for retreats, meetings or conferences, with efit from a dialogue about personal online platforms and assist with the production of some weekends and mid-week space available. vocation and social strategy. Mother video and multimedia content. Applicants should Contact Lisa: [email protected]. Private re- Theresa went to Calcutta in obedience have an interest in and knowledge of Catholic treats with or without spiritual direction are also Church. This is a full time, entry-level position available. Contact Kateri: katerik@sandamiano. to what she understood to be God’s call, with full benefits. Please send cover letter, résumé org. Upcoming retreats: Holy Week, April 2-5, a personal vocation, which is different and writing sample to [email protected]. with the Franciscan friars; and Life Shift, “Work from having a strategy for mass social Requirements: Bachelor’s degree • Strong and the Christian Journey,” May 15-17, with Tom change. Some young Catholics are be- writing skills • Familiarity with Adobe products Bachhuber, Ph.D. and Jim Briggs. Contact: (925) and content management system technology • 837-9141; www.sandamiano.org. ing called to the margins, to the “aban- Excellent organization and communication skills doned places of Empire,” while others • Proficiency in Macintosh and Microsoft Office WANT YOUR AD HERE? About America Media: America is a smart, are finding their vocation in the heart Catholic take on faith and culture, the leading pro- Visit americamagazine.org. of the city and the belly of the beast, in vider of editorial content for thinking Catholics Email: [email protected]. nonviolent confrontation in the halls and those who want to know what Catholics are Call 212-515-0102. of power, occupying and resisting the thinking. America leads the conversation about faith and culture by producing excellent, unique, Ten-word minimum. Rates are per word per issue. Empire head-on. Still others are redis- relevant and accessible content across multiple 1-5 times: $1.50; 6-11 times: $1.28; 12-23 times: covering the contemplative life. Across platforms. Our contributors are the principal fig- $1.23; 24-41 times: $1.17; 42 times or more: $1.12. vocations, we can begin a conversation ures in the American Catholic Church today, the For an additional $30, your print ad will be posted on decision-makers and opinion leaders who drive America’s Web site for one week. The flat rate for a about how to strategically challenge the ecclesial and civic debate about religion, so- Web-only classified ad is $150 for 30 days. systemic injustice and how to build, in the words of Peter Maurin, a society in which it will be easy to be good. America (ISSN 000-7049) is published weekly (except for 13 combined issues: Jan. 5-12, 19-26, April 13-20, May 25-June 1, June 8-15, 22-29, July 6-13, 20-27, Aug. 3-10, 17-24, Aug. 31-Sept. 7, Dec. 7-14, 21-28) by America Press, Inc., 106 West 56th Street, New York, NY 10019. Periodical postage is paid at New York, N.Y., and additional mailing offices. Circulation: (800) 627- 9533. Subscription: United States $69 per year; add U.S. $30 postage and GST (#131870719) for Canada; or add U.S. $69 per JOAN BRAUNE teaches philosophy at Mount year for international priority airmail. Postmaster: Send address changes to: America, P.O. Box 293159, Kettering, OH 45429. Mary University in Milwaukee.

38 America March 23, 2015 THE WORD

grasp his Christological identity. Her identification of Jesus as the A Little Thing Christ by anointing went deeper, how- PALM SUNDAY OF THE LORD’S PASSION (B), MARCH 29, 2015 ever, than even she knew, for she could Readings: Jn 12:12–16; Is 50:4–7; Ps 22:8–24; Phil 2:6–11; Mk 14:1–15:47 not have known that she had also anointed Jesus’ body “beforehand for “What she has done will be told in remembrance of her” (Mk 14:9) its burial.” Faithful women will later seek to care for Jesus’ broken body af- f the Gospel accounts stopped just ointment on his head.” In this action, ter his death in order to anoint it with after Jesus’ entry into Jerusalem she simply supports the reception ac- burial spices, but they would not find on Palm Sunday, how would you corded Jesus as he entered Jerusalem as I a body. The unnamed woman, though, imagine the next few days playing out? the king. Themashiach (Greek christos) already had anointed Jesus not only as The Gospel of John quotes Zec 9:9– is the “anointed one,” and her a king but as the humble king who 10 as Jesus enters the city: “Look, your actions tell us that she not emptied himself out in death. king is coming, sitting on a donkey’s only understands that The humility of Jesus is colt!” The people were taking “branch- Jesus is the anointed one reflected by the generosity es of palm trees” and going “out to meet but that she has a need of this woman, who pours him, shouting, ‘Hosanna! Blessed is or responsibility to out all that she has as a the one who comes in the name of the anoint him. But who is witness for him. Who is Lord—the King of Israel!’” The scene she to anoint a king? she to anoint a king? Given could easily be imagined as a hero’s The people gathered the universal significance entry in advance of his great triumph around Jesus, however, of Jesus’ Passion week, her soon to follow. ask a different question: When Jesus entered Jerusalem, “‘Why was the ointment his disciples must have felt the same wasted in this way? For this PRAYING WITH SCRIPTURE weight of expectations, the portent of ointment could have been sold for what Jesus’ entry meant, not just for more than 300 denarii, and the Place yourself in Bethany at Simon’s house. What is your response to the woman’s themselves, but for everyone. If Jesus money given to the poor.’ And they anointing of Jesus? was the promised Messiah, the events scolded her.” Their question is not ART: TAD A. DUNNE TAD ART: to come were not just concerned without merit, for in scolding her with the realities of one Passover in they probably were attempting to anointing might seem a little thing, Jerusalem or the fate of the people of voice Jesus’ concern for the poor seen but it is the most any of us can do: Judah but with the world and, yes, the throughout his ministry. Jesus asks an- she recognizes Jesus, and gives all she world to come. What could one do other question, “Let her alone; why do has for him, not understanding com- but wait with sharp expectancy for the you trouble her?” pletely that her actions helped to pre- world-historical events to unfold? Somehow the concerned disciples pare the king, first for his death and And yet one unnamed woman does have missed something. “She has per- then for his triumph, but knowing more than wait. Her actions interpret formed a good service for me. For you somehow he is the Messiah. not only Jesus’ entry as the expected always have the poor with you, and you The significance of her actions king but the sort of king Jesus must can show kindness to them whenever is felt when Jesus says, “Truly I tell be. After his entrance into Jerusalem, you wish; but you will not always have you, wherever the good news is pro- Jesus went to Bethany. In Bethany, “a me.” Jesus’ response is not an attempt claimed in the whole world, what she woman came with an alabaster jar of to mark out the permanence of poverty has done will be told in remembrance very costly ointment of nard, and she as a social problem but to note that her of her.” We, too, are called to recog- broke open the jar and poured the “good service for me” has focused prop- nize Jesus the Messiah in faith, not er attention on him. Whether or not simply as a conquering hero but as a she knows the full implications of what servant willing to give himself up to JOHN W. MARTENS is an associate professor of theology at the University of St. Thomas, St. she has done, she has directed those death for us. Paul, Minn. Twitter: @BibleJunkies. present to see Jesus as the Messiah, to JOHN W. MARTENS

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