Five Myths About Nuclear Energy 12 21 Kristin Shrader-Frechette the New Nuclear Threat 17 Ronald E

HE CATHOLIC WORKER is part of is something of a gathering site and my my life, at least on Mondays favorite spot for supper. America when I stop by Maryhouse for Afterward I climb to the third floor Published by Jesuits of the United States a bite to eat and Evening with Communion for Frank Donovan TPrayer after saying Mass around the cor- and Ed Forand, 90 and 91 years old Editor in Chief ner at my former parish, Nativity. But on respectively, who worked closely with Thursday, May 1, I was also in that Dorothy Day. Frank, in fact, lives in the Drew Christiansen, S.J. neighborhood of Manhattan’s Lower very room in which she spent the final Acting Publisher East Side at the other Worker house, St. years before her death in 1980. Her desk Joseph’s, two blocks away. A special Mass and other furnishings are still there, James Martin, S.J. and celebration there marked the though her papers are now in a special Managing Editor Catholic Worker’s 75th year. On that collection at Marquette University. After date in 1933, Dorothy Day, Peter Maurin those visits, it’s back to Evelyn’s table in Robert C. Collins, S.J. and others walked up to Union Square, a the dining room for Evening Prayer. Business Manager rallying place for political protests, to sell Very old prayer books emerge from Lisa Pope the first copies of The Catholic Worker the nearby china closet, along with a can- newspaper. The very fact that the stated dle for the center of the table. Once Editorial Director aim of the Catholic Worker movement is Evelyn has set the ribbons in their proper Karen Sue Smith “to live in accordance with the justice and places (or scraps of paper if ribbons have charity of Jesus Christ” stands out as an disintegrated), she divides the people Online Editor implicit protest against the injustices of a around the table into two groups, so that Maurice Timothy Reidy world beset by violence and greed. As they can recite psalms antiphonally. Dorothy Day herself once said, “God When we reach the petitions, we offer Associate Editors meant things to be much easier than we many for ill or struggling people, and Joseph A. O’Hare, S.J. have made them”—especially as we have usually one “for an end to this dreadful made them for war in Iraq.” George M. Anderson, S.J. the poor and We end with Dennis M. Linehan, S.J. marginalized. Of Many Things a prayer Matt Malone, S.J. Catholic penciled into James T. Keane, S.J. Worker houses the backs of of hospitality are spread throughout the the books that begins, “May the Lord Peter Schineller, S.J. country and abroad, but it is those two bless us, protect us from all evil and bring Literary Editor on the Lower East Side that I know best, us to everlasting life.” A useful prayer though I have also visited the Worker with which to end the day. Patricia A. Kossmann farm north of New York City. In the The ministry at both houses—in its Poetry Editor 1970s, during my first stint in New York, personal care for the frail and in its advo- I remember seeing Dorothy Day at Mass cacy for Gospel nonviolence—stands out James S. Torrens, S.J. at Nativity; and I still recall where she as a needed sign of contradiction in a sat, a dignified figure dressed in whatever once poor but now gentrified area that Assistant Editor the Workers’ clothing room had to offer. nevertheless still attracts many poor and Francis W. Turnbull, S.J. A friend, referring to her as a living saint, homeless people in need of basic assis- had by then led me to her autobiography, tance. Dorothy Day herself contributed Design and Production The Long Loneliness. But it was only articles to America in the 1930s on the Stephanie Ratcliffe through visiting the two houses on the struggles of poor people, and near the Lower East Side that I came to have a altar for that May 1 Mass was the same Editorial Intern sense of what a Catholic Worker house is steel serving table in front of the ovens Luke J. Hansen, S.J. actually like. where she herself often stood. Over the When I knock on the Maryhouse years, thousands have received nourish- Advertising door on Mondays and walk down into ment in that room, both physical food Julia Sosa the large dining room, I see a varied and the bread of life whenever Mass is group of people, some healthy and celebrated, as it was that night. 106 West 56th Street strong, but most frail in body or mind or In 2000 the late Cardinal John New York, NY 10019-3803 both—the very mix of people with whom O’Connor of New York introduced the Ph: 212-581-4640; Fax: 212-399-3596. Jesus might have spent time. The home- cause for Dorothy Day’s beatification, E-mail: [email protected]; cooked dinner has arrived by then from and with that initial step she became [email protected]. St. Joseph House, in a rumbling shop- known as Servant of God. But through- Web site: www.americamagazine.org. ping cart pushed by the famous Eugene. out her adult life of ministering to the Customer Service: 1-800-627-9533. At the end of the Maryhouse dining poor and going to jail for just causes, she © 2008 America Press, Inc. room is a small table presided over by had long since earned that title many Evelyn, a longtime resident who immi- times over. grated from Haiti decades ago. Her table George M. Anderson, S.J. Cover photos Ian Klein, Cloki www.americamagazine.org Vol. 198 No. 20, Whole No. 4819 June 23–30, 2008 Articles Five Myths About Nuclear Energy 12 21 Kristin Shrader-Frechette The New Nuclear Threat 17 Ronald E. Powaski Courting the Latino Vote 21 Karen Sue Smith End of a Partnership 26 Jeffrey Odell Korgen Britain’s Brave New World 29 Austen Ivereigh Current Comment 4 26 Editorial A Small Light in Prison Darkness 5 Signs of the Times 6 Ethics Notebook 11 Pulpits and Politics John F. Kavanaugh From Our Pages: 1963 31 On Religious Liberty John Courtney Murray Faith in Focus Fidelity and Fecundity Kyle T. Kramer 32 My Brother and Lazarus Patrick J. McDonald 35 Book Reviews 38 Souled Out; Selected Poems of Robert Creeley; The Soloist America Connects Gems From the Web 44 Letters 45 The Word 46 The Pauline Year; The Wisest Teacher Daniel J. Harrington This week @ Karen Sue Smith analyzes the Latino vote on our podcast. Plus, from the archives, the editors on the "The Challenge of Peace," and John Courtney America Connects Murray on religious liberty at Vatican II. All at americamagazine.org/connects. Current Comment and actions in the light of the church’s regulations for all Political Excommunication Catholic priests.” Doug Kmiec is a former appointee of the Reagan and Bush There are multiple reasons why Catholic priests are I administrations, a former dean of Columbus School of not permitted to take partisan positions. Among them: the Law at The Catholic University of America, currently a church should be a sign of unity, representing all professor of law at the conservative Pepperdine University Catholics, not simply Democrats or Republicans; and and a longtime pro-life activist. In February, to the surprise parishioners object when their pastors make one group of his colleagues, he announced his support of Barack feel marginalized. There is also the thorny legal issue of Obama for president. Professor Kmiec reasons that after tax exemption: secular critics rightly object to a tax-exempt more than three decades seeking to overturn Roe v. Wade, institution making political demands on its members. But it is time to look at alternative approaches to preventing there is a deeper reason to avoid making explicit or implic- abortions. Among these is Obama’s recommendation for it partisan statements in the context of a sermon or a community education of pregnant mothers. “Good, even- prayer. Preaching about Scripture and praying on behalf of handed information and genuine empathy and love,” an assembly are sacred moments. Neither occasion is Kmiec has said, “save more children than hypothetical legal appropriate for divisive comments. In any case, mocking, limits—which, as best as I can tell, have saved: well, zero.” belittling or mean-spirited words are never appropriate for For that political offense a priest whom he will not identify a priest—or, for that matter, any Christian. denied Kmiec Communion at a private Mass celebrated in advance of an event at which the lawyer was to speak. The denial of Communion to a committed pro-life God and The New Yorker activist who, after firsthand experience of the political The New Yorker’s list of special issues seems to multiply wars, judges new options must be tried demonstrates the every year. Style gurus have an issue of their own, as do absurd and uncharitable extremes to which the pastoral gourmands, fiction fans, even cartoon lovers. Now believ- practice of excluding Catholics from Communion on ers can include themselves in this distinguished company. political grounds can descend. Furthermore, after three Although the June 9-16 issue was ostensibly devoted to professedly anti-abortion administrations since 1981 have fiction, the true focus seemed to be God. Several promi- failed to end abortion, one must in all honesty ask whether nent authors contributed essays to a series titled “Faith a hard-line pro-life position within the church serves as a and Doubt,” and the magazine’s literary critic, James Trojan horse for other, more partisan political goals.

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