Of Many Things

Of Many Things ou may not know that in Brits placed “infra-red cameras on the 106 West 56th Street addition to our entanglements Britannia rail bridge between Anglesey New York, NY 10019-3803 Ph: 212-581-4640; Fax: 212-399-3596 and the mainland.” Surely this unfair Yin the Middle East and Subscriptions: 1-800-627-9533 elsewhere, the United States is currently advantage offends the virile honour of www.americamagazine.org prosecuting a land war in Britain. For the reds, you say? Hardly, for the reds facebook.com/americamag more than five decades now, Britain’s are notoriously effete. But don’t take twitter.com/americamag native red squirrel has been locked in my word for it. Here’s what the Red President and Editor in Chief mortal combat with his cousin from Squirrel Survival Trust has to say: Matt Malone, S.J. across the pond, the American grey “When the red squirrel is put under Executive Editors squirrel. Every autumn, the British pressure, it will not breed as often.” Robert C. Collins, S.J., Maurice Timothy Reidy

press files reports from the various Really? The British red squirrel, then, Managing Editor Kerry Weber

theaters of operation. When I was living is unable to perform the procreative act Literary Editor Raymond A. Schroth, S.J. in London a couple of years ago, I was because his bombastic American cousin Senior Editor and Chief Correspondent amused to read one morning in The is making too much noise? Where is Kevin Clarke Telegraph newspaper that the greys or, the manly virtue that is said to have Editor at Large James Martin, S.J. “the American Expeditionary Force” triumphed at Agincourt? Poetry Editor Joseph Hoover, S.J. as I choose to call them, were on the What does any of this have to do Associate Editor and Vatican Correspondent Gerard O’Connell verge of a rout of the reds and were even with the present issue of America? Associate Editor Ashley McKinless “threatening the borders of Scotland.” Very little, I should think. But that’s Assistant Editors Francis W. Turnbull, S.J., Olga The British government was O.K.; there’s a reason this column is Segura, Joseph McAuley

attempting to spin the ignominious called Of Many Things. Still, even Art Director Sonja Kodiak Wilder

defeat into a victory of sorts à la casual observers of the U.S. Congress Columnists Helen Alvaré, John J. Conley, S.J., Dunkirk. The Prince of Wales was will note that the fight between red Daniel P. Horan, O.F.M., James T. Keane, John W. Martens, Bill McGarvey, Angela Alaimo O’Don- leading the propaganda effort, though and blue in Washington is nearly as nell, Margot Patterson, Nathan Schneider

his much-vaunted good nature did not ferocious as the fight between red and Correspondents prevent the deployment of the most grey in Britain. It is a good sign, then, John Carr (Washington), Jim McDermott, S.J. (Los Angeles), Timothy Padgett (Miami), Steven amusing stereotypes, revealing that the when two people like Paul Ryan and Schwankert (Beijing), David Stewart, S.J. (London), United States and our closest ally are Joe Kennedy, two congressmen from Judith Valente (Chicago), Mary Ann Walsh, R.S.M. actually fighting a proxy war. According different parties and with very different (U.S. Church) to The Telegraph, the red squirrel, ideological perspectives, come together Moderator, Catholic Book Club Kevin Spinale, S.J. “Britain’s most adorable mammal” for informed, civil conversation, as they Editorial e-mail (other than Her Majesty, presumably), have done in these pages this month. [email protected] was being “bullied by its bigger, pox- Civilization, wrote Thomas Gilby, O.P.,

carrying cousin, the American Grey,” is marked by people locked together Publisher and Chief Financial Officer who was said to possess a ravenously in argument. Let’s leave the baser and Edward Spallone disastrous appetite. This compares more brutal warfare, therefore, to the Deputy Publisher unfavorably, of course, with the reds, uncivilized lower animals. Rosa Del Saz Vice President/Advancement who have a “gourmet approach to food,” As for our mates across the Atlantic, Daniel Pawlus

according to the newspaper. (If that they need to face up to their true Development Coordinator is the case, then the reds are the only enemy in the battle being waged just Kerry Goleski British mammals with such culinary outside their backdoors: self-deception. Operations Staff sensibility.) The reds, accordingly, were The fact is, as one behavioral scientist Chris Keller, Glenda Castro Advertising contact referred to as “endearing natives,” while has written: “Although complex and [email protected]; 212-515-0102

the greys were mere “vermin.” controversial, the main factor in the Subscription contact/Additional copies None of this pap, of course, should eastern grey squirrel’s displacement [email protected]; distract the astute and fair-minded of the red squirrel is thought to 1-800-627-9533 observer from the essential fact of the be its greater fitness and, hence, a matter: Defeat is at hand. The reds competitive advantage over the red © 2014 America Press, Inc. did attempt a “fightback” on Anglesey squirrel on all measures.” Finally, a (an island theater of dubious import truth speaker: Adriano Martinoli, the Cover: Saint Angela Merici School, Bronx, N.Y. just off the coast of Wales), but this eminent Italian ecologist. Courtesy of Archdiocese of New York/John was only possible because the human Matt Malone, S.J. Raiola. Contents www.americamagazine.org Vol. 211 No. 11, Whole No. 5065 October 20, 2014

articles 15 Dignity for All Justice begins with economic security. Joe Kennedy 20 listen to the Spirit Cardinal Walter Kasper on the Synod on the Family Gerard O’Connell 25 learning Curve How one archdiocese adapted its Catholic schools for the 21st century. Timothy Dolan 27 our Bleeding Hearts Seeking more mercy from the media Elizabeth Stoker Bruenig COLUMNS & DEPARTMENTS 15 4 Current Comment 5 editorial Persons, Not Products 6 Reply All 8 Signs of the Times 12 Column Commons Sense Nathan Schneider 30 Vatican Dispatch Shock Waves in Rome Gerard O’Connell 31 Faith in Focus My Holy Fathers Charles M. Murphy 34 Philosopher’s Notebook The Blue Wall John J. Conley 43 the Word God’s Interest 20 John W. Martens BOOKS & CULTURE

35 ideas Tales of modern immigration poem Autumn BOOKS The Twilight of the American Enlightenment; Inside the Jesuits; All Good Books Are Catholic Books

ON THE WEB Gerard O’Connell interviews Cardinal Joseph Zen Ze- kiun about the democracy protests in Hong Kong and Sean Salai, S.J., interviews technology guru Peter Thiel. Full digital highlights on page 18 and at americamagazine.org/ webfeatures. 35 CURRENT COMMENT

Clyde Reed and his church, protesting what they consider Father Arrupe’s Return the town’s arbitrary limits on the size and number of church “The ship of the Society has been tossed around by the signs. waves, and there is nothing surprising in this,” said Pope According to the town code, temporary directional signs Francis during a Vespers service in Rome on Sept. 27 must be 70 percent smaller than “ideological” signs and 81 that marked the 200th anniversary of the restoration of percent smaller than “political” signs. While nonreligious the Society of Jesus in 1814, after its suppression by Pope signs may remain up indefinitely, Good News’s 2-by-3 foot Clement XIV in 1773. The pope urged his brother Jesuits: signs may stay up for only 14 hours. Town officials cite traffic “Row then! Row, be strong, even against a headwind! We safety concerns and aesthetics to justify the strictures on row in the service of the church. We row together!” church signs. A 32-square-foot political sign left standing for Afterward, the pope visited a side chapel to bless a new months, however, would apparently be acceptable. painting of the “Deposition of Christ,” showing three men On Sept. 15, A.D.F. attorneys filed their opening briefs removing Christ’s body from the cross. The faces of the with the Supreme Court. “No law should treat the speech of men are those of three Jesuits now buried in the chapel, churches worse than the speech of other similar speakers,” who guided the Society in times of persecution, struggle or said the senior counsel David Cortman. If this case is a sign misunderstanding. At the top is St. Joseph Pignatelli, S.J. of the times, it’s a worrying one. (1737-1811), the Spanish Jesuit who served as a guiding light during the four decades of the suppression. Beneath him is Jan Roothaan, S.J. (1785-1853), superior general Let Democracy Bloom during a period when Jesuits were still banished from many Rhetoric on both sides of the confrontation in Hong Kong countries. Perhaps most notable is the man at Jesus’ feet: has ratcheted up dangerously since the Occupy Central Servant of God Pedro Arrupe, S.J. (1907-91), the superior students’ campaign for democracy began on Sept. 28. Now general who, after suffering a stroke in 1981, appointed a student leaders are demanding the resignation of Hong vicar general who was subsequently removed by St. John Kong’s chief executive, Leung Chun-ying, and on the Paul II and replaced by a Vatican appointee. In response mainland editorials in party-controlled media have begun to that decision, Father Arrupe called for obedience from to complain ominously that the student demonstration Jesuits worldwide—and received it. has become a threat to the city’s economy and good public Early in his pontificate, Pope Francis paid a public visit order. The real fear in Beijing is, of course, the impact any to this small chapel, touched the marble covering of Father democratic liberalization in Hong Kong might have on the Arrupe’s tomb and blessed himself. For many years Pedro mainland, where millions likewise yearn to match China’s Arrupe’s legacy was the object of suspicion within some vibrant economic development with new political and Vatican circles. Today, however, it is gratifying to see one personal freedoms. faithful Jesuit honored by another. A makeshift Goddess of Democracy statue, a symbol of the long-ago occupation of Tiananmen Square, was raised again by these students, who are just as full of hope and An Unwelcome Sign determination as were the young people of 1989. May that They are a familiar sight to drivers everywhere: the be the last comparison to Tiananmen that this most recent posters that dot city streets and country roads providing campaign for democracy evokes. information on church services. They have long been part If President Xi Jinping is looking for a face-saving way of the landscape in many communities, as unremarkable out of the current crisis, he need only review the terms of as mailboxes on the sidewalk. But in Gilbert, Ariz., church the Basic Law that led to the July 1997 handover of Hong signs like these are stirring up a hornet’s nest of political, Kong. Recognizing that the demonstrators in Hong Kong religious and free speech issues that will head to the Supreme are calling for representation, not revolution, Mr. Xi should Court next year. embrace their demands and the spirit of the “two systems, The case involves the Good News Community Church, one nation” commitment his predecessors made. Article 45 a small Presbyterian congregation that does not have a of the Basic Law explicitly supports the universal suffrage permanent location and must rely on temporary signs to that this current generation of young people is demanding inform congregants about the sites and times of services. on the streets of Wan Chai. He may want to let this one The Alliance Defending Freedom and the Becket Fund flower of democracy bloom in Hong Kong to learn what for Religious Liberty have filed briefs on behalf of Pastor fruit it may one day bear for all of China.

4 America October 20, 2014 EDITORIAL Persons, Not Products

arlier this year the Minnesota Catholic Conference the country’s surrogacy industry is entered into an unusual partnership. As the state expected to reach $2.5 billion by 2020. Elegislature considered two bills that would have The Akanksha Clinic in Gujarat has legalized commercial surrogacy, Catholic leaders worked drawn praise from Oprah Winfrey for together with Kathleen Sloan, an executive board member “making mothers’ dreams come true.” of the National Organization of Women, to lobby against Left unsaid is that these dreams come at a cost: surrogate the measures. The proposed laws, which would have granted mothers from very poor communities are forced to live in judges the authority to adjudicate surrogacy contracts, were rooms with 10 or 15 other mothers, away from their families, ultimately defeated. for most of their pregnancy. A recent case in Thailand points The partnership is a sign that church leaders can work to the moral horrors that commercial surrogacy can introduce: with a variety of individuals and groups when they share a an Australian couple refused to take responsibility for one of common cause, even if they have sincere disagreements two twins born to a surrogate because the child had Down on other issues. Ms. Sloan is pro-choice, but she and other Syndrome. feminists have deep concerns about the practice of commercial Proponents of legalization argue that it is better to bring surrogacy because of its potential to exploit women both in surrogacy out into the open so it can be regulated properly. this country and abroad. Church leaders share these concerns They point to the sincere desire of many people to start a and are working to stymie commercial surrogacy legislation in family, even if, at the cost of hundreds of thousands of dollars, states across the nation. this procedure is only available to the wealthy. These desires They face a difficult challenge. An estimated 2,000 are surely heartfelt, and the children who are born of surrogacy or more babies will be born through surrogacy in the deserve our welcome no less than other children. Yet serious United States this year, though experts say the procedure questions must be raised about a practice that commodifies is underreported. Gestational surrogacy, in which a woman the body of one woman in the interest of fulfilling another brings to term an embryo created by another family, is treated family’s long-held dream. The long-term effects on children, differently from state to state. Paid surrogacy has been legal who will naturally have questions about how they were in California for many years. Surrogacy agreements have conceived and brought to life, are also poorly understood. It is been prohibited in New York since the Baby M debacle in the important to remember that, as the Louisiana bishops wrote, 1980s, but groups are actively lobbying for a change in the law. “a child is truly a gift to be given as opposed to a right to attain” Louisiana recently considered a bill that would have allowed and that individuals may be called to other forms of family for paid surrogacy agreements, but that bill was also defeated, life. thanks in part to the efforts of the Louisiana Conference of At a time when more women decide to have children Catholic Bishops. “Surrogacy arrangements commercialize later in life, and same-sex male couples are trying to start and objectify women, relegating them to a utilitarian purpose,” families of their own, the practice of surrogacy is sure to grow the bishops wrote. in popularity if other policy alternatives are not explored. The European Parliament has also spoken out strongly European nations may restrict surrogacy, for example, but against commercial surrogacy because of the obvious they offer many other family friendly policies. A robust potential for abuse. In a 2011 resolution aimed at combatting government-funded child care program would surely help violence against women, the parliament stated “that these new more women to balance a family and a career at an earlier reproductive arrangements, such as surrogacy, augment the stage in life. More research into the causes of infertility is also trafficking of women and children and illegal adoption across warranted. Finally, adoption friendly polices should be enacted national borders.” In Germany, France and Italy commercial on both the state and national level. The federal adoption surrogacy is banned outright, though some countries, tax credit should be expanded. Programs for foster children including Canada, allow for “altruistic surrogacy” between should be both adequately funded by local governments friends or family members. and heavily promoted by faith communities. When so many Local laws, however, can have limited effect when people are eager to start a family, it is critical to remember the families are able to hire surrogates in other countries. In India thousands of children who are just as eager to find one.

October 20 , 2014 America 5 REPLY ALL myself. I seek answers to two questions ment of “Insourcing School Discipline” arising from what could someday hap- and “The Minority Majority” (Current Guilty Nation pen: when receiving the Eucharist, I Comment, 9/15). For years public Re “Prison Possibilities,” by Valerie observe that she and/or he also receives schools have been operating on deplet- Schultz (9/29): Ours is a crazy society. the Eucharist. ed budgets that provide one teacher We believe that sending someone to First, what theological understand- per 30 children and a skeletal staff of prison for life will somehow restore jus- ing can be provided to satisfy my intel- support persons. In many schools there tice in the world for a loved one whose lect, especially in terms of eucharistic is no or limited counseling, nursing, life was cut short. At a rate of 716 peo- union in Christ, considering the situ- behavioral or rehabilitative discipline ple per 100,000, the United States ination of our sacramental matrimonial services. Money is not allocated by a carcerates more people than any other union in Christ? Second, what pasto- funding formula that supports the ed- nation on earth. Incarcerating that ral theology would satisfy my spirit if ucational needs of children who live many people suggests we must be less confronted with this situation? What in economically disadvantaged areas; discerning than other nations and a lot would I share with Jesus about them where more resources are needed to more vengeful. Is this who we are as a at this moment of Communion? These meet the greater hardships that schools nation? are genuine concerns that give some re- and students face, less is available. I have served as a prison minister for ality to the deliberations of the Synod How can schools insource discipline the last 13 years and am still amazed by of Bishops. when they do not have the resources? the number of people who are not sure Michael O’Connor The second piece states, “On average, why they are in prison. There was no Online Comment black and Latino students are more conclusive evidence. Often they were On the Lay Path likely to attend under-resourced and in a haze when the event occurred. If I get Russell Shaw’s point in failing schools.” Let’s reverse the school- Ministering to the innocent incarcer- “Everyone’s Vocation” (9/29), evange- to-prison pipeline by first reducing the ated is a lot harder than ministering to lization toward the world that Pope “majority of minorities” who are in pris- those who are guilty. Francis envisions requires a lay evan- on for offenses for which others man- I would never presume to know gelization that extends far beyond the age to avoid jail time. With less money what those in prison are thinking. In parish grounds. The “protagonist of needed to build and staff prisons, state the silence of your heart, I ask, what a lay path,” as Pope Francis refers to funding could be redirected to the be- are you thinking? I have often gotten the laity, evangelizes not so much in havioral support services that would the response: “Jesus was innocent. They the parish hall or the liturgy planning truly make a difference in the efforts of crucified him. Why should I be any dif- meeting as in the office cafeteria, the educators to turn around the behaviors ferent?” staff meeting, the board room, the vot- of their students. As a nation, we have (Deacon) Chris Schwartz ing booth—all those ways in which the power and ability to change this! Beltsville, Md. Do we understand that being “under Deacon Schwartz is the coordinator lay people affect the world every day. That makes sense, in light of the Pew God” means we have to give schools the for ministry to the incarcerated for the money needed to address and eliminate Archdiocese of Washington. Research Foundation findings that only 37 percent of Americans attend the “inequalities that are at the root of religious services weekly or more often the academic achievement gap”? Divorce’s Victims Mary A. McKenna Re “Remarriage, Mercy and Law,” by (and Pew suspects that number may be Philadelphia, Pa. The Editors (9/22): The church’s big- a bit overstated), and 29 percent attend gest sin in the clerical sexual abuse scan- “seldom or never.” Much of the work of Paying Repentance dal is its neglect of the victims. In the changing the marketplace, government In “The Message of Mercy” (9/15), divorce and remarriage issue the same and society at large needs to be done by Cardinal Walter Kasper writes that if could be happening. There are victims those of us who are out in those arenas. a person “repents of his failure to ful- to be considered. Unfortunately I am Joseph J. Dunn fill what he promised before God,” he Online Comment one of them. should be forgiven. After 29 years my wife left what she Funding the Gap I believe that one way of showing said was “a good marriage” to marry Having spent many years as a teacher repentance that should be obligatory is another divorced Catholic. There was and principal in Philadelphia’s Catholic living up to one’s responsibility to the no annulment. I love her and remain and public urban schools, I was struck first marriage, even after remarrying. It faithful to her, the church, my word and by the irony of the side-by-side place- is wrong that children or spouses in a

6 America October 20, 2014 new marriage should have a dramatically better lifestyle than the spouse or Status Update theology” daily and catechizing our children in the first, valid marriage. Readers respond to Pope Francis’ ap- youth as mothers and teachers. Heather Beasley My parents divorced many years pointment of a record five women to ago and my father re-married. He has the 30-person International Theological always paid my mom more than what Commission: Pope John XXIII allegedly once said, the court demanded because she gave “I have to be pope both for those with up her career to raise his and her chil- And women compose what percent- their foot on the gas, and those with dren. He knew it was wrong to make age of practicing Catholics and of their foot on the brake.” Though the her live a dramatically lesser lifestyle. I theology teachers in our schools and saying may be apocryphal, the wis- have always respected my father for this colleges? This is great news and I’m dom is spot on, and Francis’ recent and believe God forgives him for the di- genuinely pleased by it. It is still a personnel moves seem to reflect some vorce, which he wanted more than my small step toward an institution that of the same thinking. mother. recognizes the work of women “doing Craig Pilant Unfortunately, my father still does not go to a Catholic church. He said ed something similar to the European heaven forbid, tackle a 14,000-foot it would make him feel like an out- Economic Area, in which small Central peak. But those mountains are always cast not to be allowed Eucharist. If the American countries form legal and eco- in your consciousness, if only just to spouses who want to be accepted into nomic relationships with the United help you get your bearings. the church agree they will not abandon States similar to that of Puerto Rico? The church should be like that, Mert Molina with Jesus Christ and his presence their responsibilities to the old, still Spokane, Wash. valid marriages, then I think this can in word and sacrament, as well as in be considered a sign of ongoing repen- the community of believers, always Spiritual Heights tance for their failure to reconcile their visible, unavoidably present to our first marriage. In “Faithful Aspirations” (9/1), Frank awareness—not as a hurdle, but as an Nora Bolcon DeSiano, C.S.P., makes a strong argu- inviting, alluring wonder in our midst. Online Comment ment for inclusion in the church com- Members of the church need to be like munity—for not creating barriers by guides, welcoming the newcomer to American Commonwealth setting our sights too high for believ- ever deeper forays into those spiritual In “American Exodus” (9/15), Gabriela ers at various stages on their spiritual mountains, according to their confi- Romeri writes in depth about living journeys. With this I agree; but so, as I dence and willingness. Not all may conditions in Central American coun- read her, does Sherry Weddell. venture to the top, but it’s good they tries, the challenges that migrants face In Forming Intentional Disciples, know that those heights are there and coming through Mexico and the legal Ms. Weddell uses Pikes Peak near that there’s always the possibility of go- challenges for the lucky few who make her home in Colorado Springs as a ing deeper and higher. it to the United States. metaphor for the Eucharist as source Frances Rossi Puerto Rico provides an example and summit of our Christian lives. I Littleton, Colo. for a possible solution to the migration would like similarly to crisis. Because Puerto Rico is a territory propose my home state of of the United States, citizens who can’t Colorado as an image of find jobs on their island come to the the church. Here the ma- United States for employment with- jestic Rocky Mountains, out any legal obstacles. Pharmaceutical towering unavoidably in companies located several factories in the center of the state, Puerto Rico to take advantage of lower are impossible to ignore. operating costs, coupled with the added Even upon disembarking bonus that they can export their prod- at Denver International, ucts to the U.S. mainland without hav- visitors are aware that this ing to pay import duties. place is different. It may I believe that the first step to ending take a while before you this “American Exodus” is to expand this venture into the foothills “Today stocks dropped on news that the only thing model. What if our hemisphere creat- or up onto a ski slope, or, to fear is everything.” cartoon: harley schwadron cartoon:

October 20 , 2014 America 7 SIGNS OF THE TIMES

Hong Kong Student Demonstrations Persist As Beijing Refuses to Budge ensions between student demonstrators and authorities in Beijing rose as protests continued for broader democratic rights Tin Hong Kong in October. On Oct. 3 protesters accused police of allowing pro-government “thugs” to assault them in the city’s Mong Kok district. “Nothing like this has happened in Hong Kong before. I’m just praying that it won’t become like Tiananmen. The situation is similar in many ways,” said Cardinal Joseph Zen Ze-kiun, speaking by phone from the former British colony on Oct. 1. The retired 82-year-old cardinal, who led the Diocese of Hong Kong between 2002 and 2009, has been with the Occupy Central protesters since the beginning of the demonstrations on Sept. 27. “I’m very worried,” he said. “The authorities…don’t seem to realize the seriousness of the situation or how angry the people of Hong Kong are. They seem to have no sense of what has happened in these days. “The protesters are peaceful, but they are waiting for an answer from the government, but no wise answer is coming from the authorities. We have to remain united, nonviolent and peaceful till the end,” he added. Cardinal Zen suggests that the only way out of this impasse is for authorities to keep the promise given who succeeded Zen as bishop of Hong the chief executive of this semi-au- at the time of the colony’s handover Kong, has issued a statement calling on tonomous region of China, Leung in 1997 and allow universal suffrage the government to exercise restraint Chun-ying, to resign. “If he resigns, to the city’s 7.1 million residents. and to listen to the people. The diocesan then maybe it will be possible for the The colony’s Basic Law had promised Justice and Peace Commission works authorities to open a dialogue and broad consultation before reaching a in close contact with the student move- hold a consultation. Maybe Beijing decision for the 2017 elections, but ment and with the Occupy Central will send somebody who will be able when the pro-democracy movement leaders, and the cardinal said one of the to listen to the people and talk with came up with proposals through a new auxiliary bishops of Hong Kong, the leaders of the pro-democracy pro- public referendum months ago, Hong Bishop Joseph Ha, a Franciscan, cele- test,” he said. Kong and mainland governments ig- brated Mass in a crowded cathedral on The Shanghai-born cardinal spoke nored its input. Sept. 30 “to invoke the help of God in at gatherings as protests accelerated Instead, the Hong Kong executive, the present situation.” and students in schools and universi- together with Beijing, decided on a Cardinal Zen said he is going to ask ties across the city boycotted classes in plan that controls the selection of the faithful to pray the rosary through- a spontaneous pro-democracy demon- candidates in the election to choose out the month of October to ask God stration. Zen explained Catholic so- the next chief executive. The Occupy to enlighten the leaders in Hong Kong cial teaching and the right to peaceful Central movement arose in response and Beijing so that they will listen to resistance and scolded police after and soon converged with the sponta- the people and work out a plan for real they were too rough on the students, neous student protest efforts. democracy that the people can accept. reminding them that “students are The Hong Kong diocese with its “I ask people everywhere to pray for us their brothers and sisters.” 374,000 faithful is behind the call for as the situation in Hong Kong is dan- According to the cardinal, pro- greater democracy, according to the gerous right now. Anything can hap- testers want Beijing and Hong Kong cardinal. Cardinal John Tong Hon, pen.” Gerard O’Connell

8 America October 20, 2014 that if you are a member of the journal- nized if non-Catholic attendees are Does Democracy Have a Prayer? Catholic youth ism club you cannot require your mem- asked not to receive Communion, join demonstrators outside bership or leadership to be exclusively Uhlenkamp said, “From a broad per- a government office in Hong student journalists. Same with the spective, I think it would be acceptable Kong on Sept. 30. Republican Clubs, etc.” If a group wants [to deny Communion]. But I’d have to official school recognition, any student take it to lawyers.” must be free to attend and to lead it. InterVarsity and C.S.U. differ on the But InterVarsity groups require that tangible consequences of de-recogni- student leaders assent to a Christian tion. Uhlenkamp says, “De-recognized creed. And that, says Uhlenkamp, is groups are welcome to participate on “discriminatory against those who are campus. They’re just not going to get not of that faith.” recognition and the perks that come Greg Jao, spokesperson for with that, including discounted use of InterVarsity, expressed his disappoint- facilities, faculty advisement and access ment with C.S.U.’s decision. They have to student funding.” been negotiating the policy shift for But InterVarsity insists this is a three years. “In general we affirm the much bigger change than the C.S.U. is nondiscrimination policy; we believe letting on. The rates to reserve rooms every student should have a safe, wel- will effectively price them out of oper- coming diverse experience on campus,” ating on some campuses. he says. “But we believe a religious While Uhlenkamp believes that the group should be led by members who only real question will be “where the are representative of that religion.” group wants to meet and whether they Uhlenkamp reports that C.S.U. want to work with the campus to find a California officials have suggested ways in which meeting place—I can choose to live in a InterVarsity could be true to itself million dollar house or I can choose to Christian Groups and maintain recognized status. “They pay less,” the reality seems to bear out could have a vote, require leaders to at- InterVarsity’s concerns. ‘De-Recognized’ tend a minimum number of meetings, At Sonoma State, where nterVarsity Christian Fellowship pay dues, be in good standing with the InterVarsity has operated since 1962, organizations in the massive, club for a specific amount of time or the cheapest fee the group could find I 23 campus, 450,000 student take a skills-based test.” for its previously free weekly meeting in California State University system have “I’m really grateful that they’re try- a campus conference room adds up to to abide by new nondiscrimination ing to think of ways around it,” says Jao. an unusually high $28,000 a year. rules or else become “But what Cal State is For C.S.U., the fundamental issue is “de-recognized” as of- InterVarsity saying is ‘Remove the California state law, which requires “full ficial student groups. Spokesperson Greg Jao overt religious beliefs and equal access…to any program or The change comes as from your require- activity” that is sponsored by the state a result of a decision ments.’ ….It’s a form or involves state funding. in 2011 by system of dishonesty—a ter- But at the end of the day, says Jao, officials to enforce an rible model for stu- the real question is, “Is this good policy? “all comers” policy for dents in terms of in- I’m not sure I want public universities student club member- tegrity.” or the government to reach into the ship. When asked inner workings of religious groups and Mike Uhlenkamp, whether Newman say this is how you have to choose lead- C.S.U. director of clubs that have Mass ers if you’re going to have equal access public affairs, ex- on C.S.U. campuses to every student group on campus.” plains, “The idea is could be de-recog- Jim McDermott, S.J.

October 20 , 2014 America 9 SIGNS OF THE TIMES

Synod Looks NEWS BRIEFS At Remarried Catholics Cardinal Walter Kasper of Germany, The Obama administration announced plans in the author of a controversial propos- early October to allow minors to apply for refu- al to make it easier for divorced and gee status from within El Salvador, Guatemala and civilly remarried Catholics to receive Honduras, in an effort to discourage them from Communion, said on Oct. 1 that he be- making the dangerous trek to enter the United lieves Pope Francis backs the measure States illegally. • On Sept. 29, during a ceremony but would not apply it without support at Chicago’s Archbishop Quigley Center, Cardinal from the bishops at the upcoming syn- Francis George formally closed the investigation ods on the family. “I had the impression into the life of the Rev. Augustus Tolton, the first the pope is open for a responsible, lim- African-American diocesan priest, forwarding Augustine Tolton ited opening of the situation, but he documents supporting his sainthood to the Vatican. wants a great majority of the bishops • Rommel Banlaoi, executive director of the Philippine Institute for behind himself. He does not like divi- Peace, Violence and Terrorism Research, said on Oct. 2 in Manila sion within the church and the collegi- that authorities should take “very seriously” the threat of Islamic ality of bishops,” the cardinal said. The State fighters on Pope Francis’ life as planning for his visit in January special bishops’ synod on the family continues. • The Raskob Foundation awarded the Catholic Near is scheduled to begin Oct. 5 and con- East Welfare Association an emergency grant on Sept. 24 to sup- clude on Oct. 19. The issue is sure to be port two additional medical clinics serving displaced Christians in one of the most discussed at the syn- northern Iraq. • The California Catholic Conference filed a federal od, which will prepare the agenda for civil rights complaint on Sept. 30, describing a state ruling mandat- a larger world synod in October 2015. ing the inclusion of voluntary direct abortion in California health The later gathering will make recom- insurance policies as “coercive and discriminatory.” mendations to the pope, who will make the final decision on any change. doned their homes and businesses to tinues to increase rapidly in Liberia, Iraqi Refugees the militants. “In the end,” he said, “we Sierra Leone and Guinea. C.R.S. had to flee for our lives.” The United has worked with the local Catholic May Never Return Nations reported on Oct. 2 that the Church, religious leaders and the Iraqi refugees who fled Islamic State Islamic State has committed a “stagger- ministries of health in all three coun- violence after Mosul was overrun say ing array” of human rights abuses and tries on public awareness campaigns it will be difficult ever to return home, “acts of violence of an increasingly sec- aimed at teaching the population despite concerns by the church that tarian nature” in Iraq. about Ebola. “There is still a huge need more Christians are fleeing their an- to educate the public in all of the af- cient homeland in the Middle East. “I C.R.S. Continues fected countries about Ebola, how thought I was living in a kind of dys- it spreads and what actions people topian end-of-times film,” said Jassam, Response to Ebola need to take to protect themselves and 33. “I had lived in Mosul my whole life, Catholic Relief Services has commit- their families,” says Meredith Stakem, and never anywhere else had I expe- ted more than $1.5 million in pri- C.R.S.’s Regional Technical Advisor rienced the love and kindness I knew vate funds to continue its emergency for Health. With health care systems there. But what a violent upheaval of response to the Ebola outbreak in overwhelmed, many people aren’t re- fortune befell us after June 10, when the West Africa, which has so far killed ceiving care for non-life-threatening extremists took over,” he told Jordanian 2,800 people. While the World conditions, and now health officials Catholic and Muslim officials during a Health Organization has declared the are seeing an increase in preventable day of solidarity with the Iraqi refugees outbreak contained in Senegal and deaths from illnesses like malaria. held outside of the capital, Amman, Nigeria, the number of deaths and on Oct. 1. Jassam and his family aban- people infected with the virus con- From CNS, RNS and other sources.

10 America October 20, 2014 SIGNS OF THE TIMES

criminal classes” that, in its patronizing dispatch | Johannesburg form, reduces moral agents to objects of pity and control. Closer reading of ‘I Am Because We Are’ the crime statistics also shows us that he American novelist and cor- to March 2013 are worrying. Despite most victims of violent crime are the respondent Allen Drury once a slight decrease in some categories of poor themselves, precisely because Tdescribed his impression of robbery (car theft, bank robbery and they are the most vulnerable. Though South Africa in the 1960s as “a very cash-in-transit heists) as well as arson crime is not a preserve of the poor— strange society.” Twenty years after and damage to property, violent crimes almost every South African I know, apartheid I find myself agreeing with increased significantly. across the race and class spectrum, him. During this period murder in- knows someone who has been mur- On Sept. 24 we celebrated Heritage creased by 4.2 percent: 16,259 people dered or the victim of violence—most Day, in which we try to embrace the died, on average 45 per day, with a mur- crimes occur in poor areas. unity in the diversity of the African, der rate of 31.3 per 100,000 people— A more useful way to analyze the European and Asian backgrounds and more than four times the global aver- contradiction between Ubuntu and cultures that make up this country. age. Sexual offenses increased by 2.9 violence is to examine South Africa as Many South Africans talk of Ubuntu, percent, though most would observe a culture of resentment. Resentment our national understanding of takes on many forms. There is human-ness, as a philosophy: a widespread attitude of entitle- a person is a person because Ubuntu is important to the ment. The rich feel entitled to of other people. My identity is founding myth of the new their wealth and to show it off found in community. Reduced by conspicuous consumption in to a one-liner: “I am because South African nation. ways ranging from the absurd we are.” Ubuntu is important to the obscene. The poor feel to the founding myth of the entitled to an immediate share new South African nation because it that this is an unreliable statistic since in the material benefits of liberation. contributes to the narrative of free- a relatively small proportion of these There is a commonly held view that dom—the long and difficult journey offenses are reported. Robbery with now that apartheid is gone, govern- from segregation, apartheid and state violence or threat of violence, most no- ment will meet all material needs. violence to democracy and a recogni- tably street muggings, increased. In contrast to the myth of harmo- tion of common humanity. We may argue about the reasons ny presented by Ubuntu, there is the Ubuntu permeates our national for such violence, citing the terrible widespread belief in witchcraft, partic- way of proceeding, underpinning the income gap between the richest and ularly in black urban communities and restorative as opposed to retributive poorest in our land, endemic poverty rural areas. When a sibling or relative justice approach of the Truth and and the lack of jobs particularly for does well and I do not, it is not the re- Reconciliation Commission, the em- most school-leavers (the guesstimate sult of better education, hard work or phasis on human rights in the 1997 for unemployment among young dumb luck. It is clear that he or she has South African Constitution and the people is 50 percent and higher). We powerful muti, magic power, and this is emphasis on dialogue in dispute res- may cite the legacy of inequality un- at my expense. Resentment grows and olution. Procedurally, it stresses con- der apartheid and the wide perception with it hostility to others, passive and sultation, modeled on the African tra- from the past of the gangster as a kind sometimes active aggression. ditional lekgotla: the meeting of stake- of social outlaw who bucked the sys- This is the other founding myth of holders where positions are debated tem, found in African literature as far modern South Africa. Which myth, and an attempt is made at consensus. back as the 1950s. Ubuntu or Resentment/Entitlement, But.... The recently released South But.... Once again, these arguments is dominant in South Africa will ulti- African crime statistics for April 2012 presuppose more than they explain. mately determine our heritage and the Poor people are not automatically legacy to humanity of South Africa’s Anthony Egan, S.J., a member of the Jesuit Institute South Africa, is one of America’s corre- criminals. This is a profoundly unfair struggle for democracy. spondents in Johannesburg. Victorian notion of the poor as “the Anthony Egan

October 20 , 2014 America 11 Nathan Schneider Commons Sense s many as 300,000 people cyclical is in the making. In New York, dent that with the Reformation came a marched in New York on Cardinal Timothy Dolan wrote on his surge in the enclosure of land into pri- ASept. 21 to call for the United blog, “It would be wonderful if there vate estates. Nations to take action on climate were a strong Catholic presence at the Throughout history, commoners change—four times the number that march, to indicate our prayerful sup- have had to fend off the urges of the organizers predicted. In the inter- port of God’s creation.” wealthy to enclose common resources. faith bloc, behind a wooden ark on What the apostles were doing, and “The pre-eminent challenge is to as- wheels and a giant inflatable mosque, I what we should be doing to protect the sure the greatest integrity of the com- marched and sang with nuns and sem- planet, falls on neither side of the Cold mons, so that the fruits of commoning inarians, friends and strangers, sharing War binary. Acts is not talking about a are not siphoned away by clever, cov- our love for the planet we all have in state bureaucracy any more than about etous businesses and governments,” common. a stock market; it is talking about the writes David Bollier in his essential The Book of Acts talks twice about ancient practice sometimes new introduction to the the early church holding “all things in called “commoning”—that commons, Think Like a common,” in the second chapter and is, treating the means of The whole Commoner. While com- in the fourth. Both times, the phrase livelihood as the common moning might coexist “signs and wonders” comes right before. birthright of everyone. world, with a market or state, it Sharing things followed a shared expe- The whole world, after all, is neither. Commons are rience. There is some kind of connec- is ultimately God’s. Thus after all, governed by the customs tion, it seems, between holy spectacle Gratian understood that by is ultimately of the poor, not the bu- and how we treat the world around us. natural law omnia sunt com- reaucracies of the rich. Like how falling in love makes us see munia—all things are com- God’s. Today, movements miracles all around us, or how a wed- mon—and thus St. Thomas framed around the com- ding binds families together, signs and Aquinas held that poor mons are resisting at- wonders help us share what we once people’s right to necessities trumps the tempts to privatize such essentials as kept to ourselves. September’s climate property rights of the rich. Thus, along- water, seeds and medicines. Climate march was certainly a wonder. I hope side England’s Magna Carta came the change itself results from a kind of world leaders will also take it as a sign. Charter of the Forest, which ensured enclosure—an economic system that But what does the phrase “in com- that the landless masses would have allows polluters to treat the atmo- mon” mean? Cold War shudders the right to sustain themselves with the sphere as theirs to disrupt and profit might arise in us: Are we talking com- fruits of common land. Thus Leviticus from. That is why, the day after the big munism or capitalism? Was the cli- required that farmers leave the edges march, I helped to organize another mate march some kind of plea for an of their fields unharvested so that the event: Flood Wall Street. Following Earth-worshiping politburo? poor could live off the remains—and a call to action from poor and indige- I hope not. Heeding the scientif- so, to protect the health of the land, ev- nous communities, several thousand ic consensus and the cries of people ery seven years it was to be left fallow. people wearing blue filled the Financial enduring climate-induced floods and Commoning was the original bul- District. One hundred were arrested famines, popes from John Paul II to wark against poverty, an economic in a peaceful sit-in near the stock ex- Francis have spoken of inaction on cli- system built around meeting the needs change. mate change as a pressing moral crisis of the poor and sustaining the envi- First, we must see a God-given for Christians. An environmental en- ronment. It was a natural fit for early commons like the climate for what it Christians, many of whom were on the is. Next, we must organize to protect it. fringes of society. The medieval church Third, may we find the grace to become Nathan Schneider is the author of Thank You, Anarchy and God in Proof. Twitter: went on to maintain churches and good stewards of it again. @nathanairplane. land for common use; it was no acci- Nathan Schneider

12 America October 20, 2014

14 America October 20, 2014 Justice begins with economic security. /Jonathan A lcorn Photo: RE U TERS /Jonathan Dignity for All By Joe Kennedy Editor’s Note: This article is the second in a two-part series. We asked two prominent members of Congress, both Catholics with famous names, to respond to Pope Francis’ repeated calls to empower the poor. The first response, by Congressman Paul Ryan, Republican of Wisconsin, appeared on Oct. 13. PROMISES TO KEEP. An intersection in Koreatown, here was not much on the stretch of highway between Llanos de Perez and designated by the Imbert in the Dominican Republic: a few wooden shacks with tin roofs, a Obama administration couple of fruit stands, a small crowd gathered by the local lottery kiosk or as a promise zone in Los Angeles, Calif. watering hole. It was a poor but tight-knit community. Stalks of sugar cane swayed in the breeze and rolled on for what seemed like forever. Behind, a Tseries of foothills rose up, and Rio Damajagua weaved between them. By the time I arrived there as a young Peace Corps volunteer, tour companies from the North Coast had discovered Rio Damajagua and its stunning waterfalls, running to-

hon. Joe Kennedy III, Democratic congressman from the Fourth Congressional District of Massachusetts, is a member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee.

October 20, 2014 America 15 gether like Mother Nature’s perfect water park. They had staked life and liberty: all men are created equal. Whether set up shop, busing in tens of thousands of tourists a year in church or state, this country has been anchored by the and charging them up to $100 to climb the falls. The locals belief that the same spark of human dignity resides in all of served as guides, escorting the tourists up and down the riv- us, that there is inherent value and untold potential in each er, sometimes carrying them on their backs. For that gruel- person. ing work, the companies guaranteed them only a few dollars Today our commitment to human dignity is being tested, per trip. threatened by the growing number of people in this country Economic instability was unable to afford or access the constant, electricity inter- most basic of human neces- mittent, schools haphaz- Today our commitment to sities: a roof, a meal and a ard, illness frequent. Try as paycheck. The data has be- they might, families strug- human dignity is being come a drumbeat we cannot gled daily to put food on ignore. Forty-nine million the table. But their poverty tested, threatened by the Americans do not know if was not by choice or even growing number of people in there will be food on their chance; it was the result of table next week. Three mil- a system that had left them this country unable to afford lion workers have been out powerless. Corporate inter- of a job for more than six ests operated with impunity, or access the most basic of months, 1.6 million children government turned a blind will experience homeless- eye, and workers were de- human necessities: a roof, a ness in the next year and one nied the simple dignity of meal and a paycheck. in three American women providing for their families. lives in poverty or on the Over the next two years, brink of it. I worked with the community to regain a stake in its fu- These numbers have left us searching for something to ture. We convinced the government to put the park under blame or explain them away, and the loudest voices have local control, allowing the community to set wages and craft arrived at a resounding conclusion: Poverty is bred of in- safety precautions. We raised money and built a small busi- dividual inadequacy and government dependency. If he ness to run the park operations with more local autonomy. worked harder, he would not need food stamps. If she had We set up a community reinvestment fund so that a portion made better choices, she would not need affordable hous- of every entrance fee went into the local neighborhood—to ing. And if government had not stepped in to offer these build a bridge, buy a school bus, bring clean water to the things, he or she would have figured out how to eliminate community. need. Change did not happen overnight. The effort is very While this antigovernment rhetoric might make for col- much ongoing to this day. But as the weeks and months orful talk radio, it ignores a fact proven by history, econom- passed, there was a shift in those men I will never forget. ics and human experience time and again. Poverty is rarely It was not just the energy they felt at the prospect of being a consequence of individual choice; the families who turn to able to provide for their families. It was the way they actu- food stamps to keep dinner on the table after a lost job are ally held their heads higher. That pride rippled through the not trying to get a free pass. Rather, poverty is the product of community, empowering people who had never had much an economic infrastructure that builds heavy ceilings above reason to believe that their hard work might pay off. the weak and vulnerable instead of sturdy floors beneath It is the lesson of fundamental human dignity that lies at their feet. the very heart of our Catholic faith. Throughout the Gospel, It is a great legacy of the Catholic Church and Jesuit tra- we are called on to acknowledge the humanity of those who dition that communities of the faithful gather every day, are suffering, impoverished or oppressed. Matthew sum- around the world, to bless and to serve the poor, the meek, mons us to feed the hungry, clothe the naked, welcome the the mourning, the hungry and the persecuted. But “charity is stranger and comfort the afflicted. Luke tells us of the good no substitute for justice withheld,” St. Augustine reminds us. Samaritan’s gentle mercy, kneeling beside his bleeding neigh- The “economy of exclusion,” aptly named by Pope Francis, bor on the road to Jericho while others simply passed by. will require more than individual acts of service to include In the Catholic tradition, these stories elevate calls for those left out. It will require a collective effort to reverse de- charity and compassion into calls for justice. They echo cades of policy choices that have stacked the deck against the the same self-evident truth on which our founding fathers poorest among us.

16 America October 20, 2014 How Did We Get Here? try means realigning public policy with the fundamental As technology and globalization revolutionize our world American idea that what you start with does not determine and expand opportunity across the globe, U.S. workers face where you end up. That means reversing the deep and dra- competition from countries that did not see much playing conian cuts our safety nets have seen in recent years so im- time a generation ago. Technological advances expedited mediate needs of food, shelter and medical care can be met. the production of consumer goods but simultaneously hol- It is hard to think about going back to school or updating lowed out a once-robust pipeline of middle-class jobs. As your résumé if you are trying to figure out how to keep your the American middle class lost some of its strength in num- children from going hungry tonight. bers, it has become increasingly bookended by concentrated It means outlawing the manipulative practices of credit wealth on one end and the swelling ranks of the working card companies, payday lenders and debt collectors, which poor on the other. prey on cash-strapped families and trap them into a pay- Our recent political choices have succeeded only in com- check-to-paycheck cycle of just hanging on. Subprime credit pounding and entrenching these growing inequities. Led cards charge sky-high interest rates to consumers who are by a steady deregulatory drumbeat, the United States has already having trouble paying the minimum balance ev- made a gradual but profound shift in values and priorities. ery month. Payday loans that demand lump sum payments Tax loopholes, corporate inversions and a broken campaign lock borrowers into taking a second loan to pay off the first, finance system protect the interests of a few at a cost to drowning consumers in debt while the $9 billion industry many. Divestment in public education closes doors whose thrives. openness once defined our nation. Looking into federal Breaking the cycle of poverty also means investing in courts, we hear the bedrock Constitutional rights of indi- early childhood education. Our children are set up to fail viduals morphing into expansive rights and privileges for if they arrive for a first day of school after the achievement corporations. gap between high and low-income households has already In 2013, after-tax corporate profits as a share of the opened. It means increasing high school graduation rates economy were at the highest level ever recorded. Labor and investing in the career/technical education that opens compensation, on the other hand, comprised its smallest up pathways to middle class jobs in growing fields. share of the economy since 1948. A quarter of the jobs in It means eliminating the false choice between providing this country are paying salaries that keep a family of four for a family and caring for one. Laws that guarantee paid below the federal poverty line. And let us be clear: both the sick leave and paid family medical leave are critical for low- amount of corporate profit that escapes taxation and the wage workers, who too often must choose between a sick minimum level at which companies must pay their employ- child or a lost job. It means raising the minimum wage so no ees are bound by the laws we write. To blame market chang- full-time worker lives below the poverty line and exploring es is to ignore policy choices. ideas like a regionally indexed minimum wage to protect Walmart, the nation’s largest employer, has 1.4 million low-wage workers from falling further behind. It means ex- U.S. workers on its payroll and takes home upwards of $25 tending the Earned Income Tax Credit to childless workers, billion in pre-tax profit. At the same time, many of its em- an idea that has broad support on both sides of the aisle. It ployees are paid at levels so low they are forced to rely on means passing the Paycheck Fairness Act so that women are food stamps, Medicaid and housing assistance to make ends not paid less than men for doing the same job and passing meet. And that $6.2 billion tab to cover the basic needs of the Employment Non-Discrimination Act so that lesbian, Walmart employees falls at the feet of American taxpayers. gay, bisexual and transgender workers are not relegated to The federal benefits received by Walmart employees and the economic margins. other low-wage workers are not welfare; they are corpo- And it means reversing the deeply structural injustices rate welfare. Hard-working taxpayers are forced to subsi- and inefficiencies that keep our policies stacked against dize a corporation’s ability to pay its workers less than they those with very little, from reforming our badly broken need to live. And we cannot just blame Walmart when it is campaign finance system to improving access to legal re- Congress that sets the minimum wage and Congress that sources to resurrecting strong voting rights protections. has failed to raise it. Policy choices like these keep poverty A society founded on human dignity and equality cannot entrenched in the United States and trample on the dignity give the wealthy greater ability to have their claims heard in of hundreds of thousands of workers. court or their voices heard at the ballot box. None of these policies is a silver bullet. But together they What Can We Do? work to reform a system that routinely denies working-class Tackling the profound economic inequity in this coun- families mobility, opportunity and justice. Most important,

October 20, 2014 America 17 they build the one force poverty cannot overcome: individu- is important to us.” Or as President Theodore Roosevelt, a als with the means to invest in themselves, define their own Republican, put it: “The government is us; we are the govern- future and make their families better off. ment, you and I.” Building a system that protects the dignity of each of us Our most systemic shortcomings have always required is beyond the reach of any individual. It is not beyond the collective action. If man or market were enough to capture reach of our nation. Today, that very idea is being challenged. justice on their own, then we would have never written a Across the political spectrum we are increasingly faced with Constitution. We never would have needed amendments to people who insist that taking care of each other is a sign of abolish slavery, establish equal protection and due process or weakness, rather than strength. give women the right to vote. We would have never passed the It is a familiar playbook. The specter of government pow- Civil Rights Act, created Social Security, constructed a G.I. er has long been used to incite fear by special interests and Bill or passed the Affordable Care Act. those desperate to protect the status quo. When the Fair We did these things because nearly 250 years ago we prom- Labor Standards Act made permanent our minimum wage ised to build a country where every person was valued, recog- and child labor hours in 1938, there was panic that our busi- nized and counted. Our history is the story of a people fight- nesses would crumble and jobs would dry up. Instead, our ing—together—to live up to that ideal. economy soared to global leadership in the second half of the That promise strikes me each time we kneel for the ho- 20th century. Wall Street warned us feverishly that Dodd- liest moment of Sunday Mass. At the consecration, when Frank financial regulations would crush the vitality of finan- bread and wine become body and blood, the priest repeats cial markets, but our stock markets have rebounded from Jesus’ words “Do this in memory of me.” He is calling us to recession and surged to all-time highs in the four years since remember him in celebrating the Eucharist as Catholics the bill’s passage. San Francisco and Seattle currently tout the have done for centuries. But I believe that he softly calls us nation’s fastest rate of small business job growth. They are to do much more. This means gathering in community to also home to the nation’s highest minimum wage laws. share and support one another. This means going out into “Government,” wrote the U.S. Conference of Catholic the world to serve and to love as Jesus did. This means using Bishops in the pastoral letter “Economic Justice for All,” whatever gifts and talents we have to leave our world a little “is a means by which we can act together to protect what more just and fair than we found it. A

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18 America October 20, 2014 October 20, 2014 America 19 Listen to the Spirit Cardinal Walter Kasper on the Synod on the Family By Gerard O’Connell ot since the Second Vatican Council has a There is much interest in this synod, especially regarding how it gathering of representatives of the world’s will deal with the question of whether there will be some opening Catholic bishops sparked such interest and toward Catholics who are divorced and remarried. controversy as the Extraordinary General Yes, this interest in church questions is a positive thing, Assembly of the Synod of Bishops on the and we should be grateful for it. But the problem is that NFamily, which opened in the Vatican on Oct. 5. While the some media reduce everything at the synod to the question of agenda is very wide, public interest has mainly focused on Communion for divorced and remarried people. The agenda how this synod and the follow-up synod in October 2015 will of the synod is much, much broader and concerns the pastoral address the situation of Catholics who are divorced and re- challenges of family life today. The problem of the divorced married, and whether they can be readmitted to Communion. and remarried is one problem, but not the only one. Some me- As is well known, Pope Francis asked the German car- dia give the impression that there will be a breakthrough and dinal-theologian Walter Kasper, emeritus president of the started a campaign for it. I too hope there will be a responsible Pontifical Council for the Promotion of Christian Unity, a for- opening, but it’s an open question, to be decided by the synod. mer university professor and diocesan bishop and the author We should be prudent with such fixations. Otherwise, if this of a book on mercy, to give the keynote address on the fam- doesn’t happen, the reaction will be great disillusion. ily to the College of Cardinals when they met last February to discuss this subject. In one part of that long presentation, Some cardinals and bishops seem to be afraid of this possibility Cardinal Kasper envisaged a possible way forward on the and reject it even before the synod meets. Why do you think question of the divorced and remarried. The subsequent de- there is so much fear of a development in the church’s discipline? bate revealed two very different theological approaches to the I think they fear a domino effect; if you change one point question. all would collapse. That’s their fear. This is all linked to ide- Several cardinals—including the prefect of the ology, an ideological understanding of the Gospel, that the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, Gerhard Müller, Gospel is like a penal code. and the prefect of the Supreme Tribunal of the Apostolic But as the pope said in “The Joy of the Gospel,” quoting St. Signatura, Raymond Burke—have opposed Cardinal Kasper’s Thomas Aquinas, the Gospel is the gift of the Holy Spirit, opening of the question of those who are divorced and remar- which is in the soul of the faithful and becomes operative in ried, but Pope Francis publicly praised his contribution. love. That’s a different understanding. It is not a museum. It The temperature rose significantly, however, on the eve of is a living reality in the church, and we have to walk with the the synod, when five cardinals—including Cardinal Müller whole people of God and see what the needs of the people and Cardinal Burke—published a book rejecting Cardinal are. Then we have to make a discernment in the light of the Kasper’s line (Remaining in the Truth of Christ), while another Gospel, which is not a code of doctrines and commandments. Vatican cardinal, George Pell, wrote a preface to a different Then, of course, there is also a lack of theological herme- book in the same vein. Many in Rome perceived these initia- neutics, because we cannot simply take one phrase of the tives as a clear attempt to close the discussion on this delicate Gospel of Jesus and from that deduce everything. You need a topic even before the synod opened; some interpreted it as re- hermeneutic to see the whole of the Gospel and of Jesus’ mes- sistance to the pope. sage and then differentiate between what is doctrine and what In this context, America and La Nación—Argentina’s is discipline. Discipline can change. So I think we have here a leading daily newspaper—interviewed Cardinal Walter theological fundamentalism which is not Catholic. Kasper in his apartment in Rome on Sept. 26 and asked how he read the contrasting theological visions at work here and So you mean you cannot change the doctrine but you can change what he expected to happen at the synod. the discipline? Doctrine, insofar as it is official binding doctrine, cannot change. So nobody denies the indissolubility of marriage. I do Gerard O’Connell is America’s Rome correspondent. America’s Vatican coverage is sponsored in part by the Jesuit communities of the not, nor do I know any bishop who denies it. But discipline United States. Twitter: @gerryorome. can be changed. Discipline wants to apply a doctrine to con-

20 America October 20, 2014 aziani, p ool tefano Sp CNS p hoto/ S tefano

WEDDING INVITATION. Pope Francis presides at the wedding of 20 couples on Sept. 14.

crete situations, which are contingent and can change. So also just quote old texts of the last century. You have to look at the discipline can change and has already changed often, as we see situation today, and then you make a discernment of the spir- in church history. its and come to concrete results. I think this is the approach of Pope Francis, whereas many others start from doctrine and How did you feel when you learned that this book by five cardi- then use a merely deductive method. nals was being published that attacks what you said? Well, first of all, everybody is free to express his opinion. In a sense, the synod is like a replay of the Second Vatican That is not a problem for me. The pope wanted an open de- Council. bate, and I think that is something new, because up to now Yes, I think it is a very similar situation. Immediately be- often there was not such an open debate. Now Pope Francis is fore the Second Vatican Council there were Roman theolo- open for it, and I think that’s healthy and it helps the church gians who had prepared all the texts and expected the bishops very much. would come and applaud and in two or three weeks it would all be over. But it didn’t happen in this way, and I think it will There seems to be fear among some of the cardinals and bishops also not happen this time. because, as the pope said, we have this moral construction that can collapse like a pack of cards. In an Italian daily, Il Mattino, you are reported as saying Yes, it’s an ideology; it’s not the Gospel. that you think the real target of these attacks is the pope, not yourself. There is also fear of open discussion at the synod. Maybe it was a bit imprudent of me to say that. But many Yes, because they fear all will collapse. But, first of all, we people are saying this; you can hear it on the street every day. live in an open pluralistic society, and it’s good for the church I myself do not want to judge the motives of other people. It to have an open discussion as we had at the Second Vatican is obvious that there are people who are not in full agreement Council. It’s good for the image of the church too, because with the present pope, but this kind of thing is not totally a closed church is not a healthy church and not inviting for new. It happened also at the Second Vatican Council. Then people today. On the other hand, when we discuss marriage there were people against the aggiornamento of John XXIII and family, we have to listen to people who are living this re- and Paul VI, though perhaps not in this organized way. Even ality. There’s asensus fidelium. It cannot be decided only from Cardinal Ottaviani, the prefect of the Holy Office at that time, above, from the church hierarchy, and especially you cannot was against the intentions of the majority of the council.

October 20, 2014 America 21 Many analysts think it is no coincidence that this book is coming out now, precisely on Oct. 1. There has been resistance to Francis from the beginning, but this seems a more organized kind of resistance. Yes, it is a problem. I do not remember such a situation, where in such an organized way five cardinals write such a book. It’s the way it’s done in politics, but it should not be done in the church. It’s how politicians act, but I think we should not behave this way in the church.

In recent weeks the pope said we must read the signs of the times. He wants the synod to do this. Yes, to read the signs of the times was fundamental for the Second Vatican Council. I cannot imagine that the majority of the synod will be opposed to the pope on this point.

In recent weeks, too, Pope Francis, in his homilies, has spoken again and again about mercy and insisted that pastors must be close to their people and avoid having a closed mind.... It seemed as if he was referring to people like the five cardinals and supporting you on the question of mercy. I think there is often a misunderstanding on what mercy is all about. Some are thinking that mercy is cheap grace, and “light” Christianity. But it is not that. I think mercy is a very demanding virtue; it is not a cheap thing. It does not take away the commandments of the Lord; that would be absurd. But as it is the fundamental virtue, according to St. Thomas people living in difficult situations need the help of grace and Aquinas, mercy is a hermeneutical key for interpreting the need the sacraments. commandments. So in terms of the sacraments, do you think that at the end of Some were surprised that the pope appointed a number of very the day the decision should be up to the individual or the couple? “conservative” participants to the synod. No. The sacraments are not just private events; they are I think he did this because he didn’t want to be criticized public celebrations of the whole church. Admission to the by selecting only those who are in favor of one position. He Eucharist goes through baptism and, after sin, through the wants an open discussion; he wants the other group too to sacrament of penance—that is, confession and absolution. have their voice. He wants to be fair. He does not want to Absolution is an official act of the church, a juridical act. exclude anybody, but to include everybody and have all par- Therefore divorced and remarried people should find a good ticipate in the discussion. He wants to hear everyone, and ev- priest confessor who accompanies them for some time; and if eryone should have a voice. And I think this is very positive. this second, civil marriage, is solid, then the path of new orientation can end with confession and absolution. Absolution His understanding is that God speaks through the people and means admission to holy Communion. I do not start immedi- their real situations. ately with the question of admission to Communion but with Of course. That’s the theological conception in the last a penitential path. This does not mean to impose special acts book of the New Testament: Listen to what the Spirit is say- of penance, because normally these persons are suffering a lot. ing to the churches! In the synod there should be a listening A divorce is not such an easy thing; it is suffering. In this situ- and prayerful atmosphere. ation they need the help of grace through the sacraments; and if they have an earnest desire and do what they can do in their Coming back to the question of Communion for the divorced difficult situation, the church should find ways to help them and remarried: Is Communion the prize for the perfect one or in a sacramental way. is it something to help the sinner? We are all sinners. Nobody is really worthy to receive holy This, then, is a development of pastoral practice. Communion. Communion has a healing effect. Especially Yes, it is pastoral practice ending in a sacramental practice.

22 America October 20, 2014 The church by its nature is a sacramental reality. It’s not just pastoral counseling. It’s a sacrament, and the sacrament has its own value. To say, “I absolve you” is different from giving good human advice. It is saying: God says yes to you and accepts you anew; you have a new chance.

Some have proposed that there should be an easier and quicker process for the annulment of a marriage. The pope has now set up a commission to look at the annulment process. Well, there are situations in which such annulments are helpful and can be made. But take the case of a couple who are 10 years married and have children. In the first years they had a happy marriage, but for different reasons the marriage fell apart. This marriage was a reality, and to say it was canonically null and void does not make sense to me. This is an abstract canonical construction. It’s divorce in a Catholic way, in a dis- honest way.

You said there is fear that if you open a door, then the whole moral structure collapses. In the 1980 synod, for example, they didn’t want real free discussion and those who spoke openly got sidelined. Now there’s fear that if you talk openly, you may come up with other conclusions not only here, but in other areas too. Yes, there is not only the question of the divorced and remarried but also of same-sex unions, rainbow families, step- families, the whole gender problematic and many other problems. But I think all these are very different situations and problems. You cannot argue from one situation to the other. In each of these questions a different kind of argumentation is needed. But if fear is at work, fear is always a bad counselor. The church should not act out of fear. The church should be the people of hope. Often pastors want to control human life. It’s clericalism. They don’t trust people and therefore don’t respect the conscience of people. Of course, we have to give guidelines from the Gospel and remind people of the commandments of the Lord, but then we should trust that the Holy Spirit is working in the hearts and in the conscience of our people.

This synod process began with last year’s worldwide consultation. It was followed by the Consistory of Cardinals last February and preparation of the working document. What do you expect to come out of this synod? We have two phases of the synod. It’s not just one synod; it’s a synodal process. I think the general idea of the pope is to have this first synodal step in order to clarify thestatus quaestionis (the real situation of the family today). I think that’s very important because there are questions in Asia and in Africa that are different from ours in the Western world. After a clar- ification of the status quaestionis, we will have a whole year to discuss the problems on the local church level, in the dioceses, in the parishes and the bishops conferences. Then, after a year,

October 20, 2014 America 23 the bishops come back to the synod in October 2015 to make, text the mass media also can and should play their part. in communion with the pope, the necessary and adequate pastoral decisions. It seems that this whole debate on the divorced and remarried has become an issue that is in fact changing a lot in the church. So that year between the two synods is crucial. Yes, it is changing the whole atmosphere, the style in the I think it is very crucial. In this period the bishops will have church, and gives the image of the church as a dialogical time to speak to their people. Bishops will not be sitting in church. This goes back to what John XXIII wanted and also their palaces or residences. They will meet their people, listen what Paul VI wanted in his first encyclical on the dialogue to them and to the sensus fidelium, and then they may decide. within the church. In these last weeks I read again what Benedict XVI said in In this sense the questionnaire was also important. his famous talk to the Roman Curia about the hermeneutics To have such a questionnaire was a new way to listen. And of continuity regarding the Second Vatican Council. He was the working document (instrumentum laboris) that was pre- very clear: [there is] continuity in the principles, but there is pared for the synod is very different from the previous ones, a discontinuity in the application of the doctrine to concrete which were a doctrinal exposition of the whole question. But situations. He said there is continuity with newness and a this one is a résumé, a summary of the answers to the ques- discontinuity, because the principles have to be applied to a tionnaire. It’s a new kind of synod. It’s a synodal process which changing reality, as was done [at that council] in the question involves the whole of the church. of religious freedom.

This decision by Pope Francis to invite open debate throughout What do you expect will happen in the synod? the church on the subjects that are touching the lives of the faith- I think it depends a lot on how the pope himself will open ful is really a very courageous act. the synod, what he says. He cannot give us a solution at the It is courageous. It’s new, and I think it’s very helpful be- beginning, indeed he should not do it, but he can give us a per- cause it’s a question of the health of the church. A church that spective, a direction. I hope there will be a serene, friendly dis- cannot discuss what is going on or cannot speak out in an cussion about all these problems, and I think we will achieve a open discussion face to face will be a sick church. In this con- broad consensus, as we did at Vatican II. A

24 America October 20, 2014 Learning Curve How one archdiocese adapted its Catholic schools for the 21st century By Timothy Dolan

ike almost every other diocese in the United States, they require. The question raised in the late 1960s—Why the Archdiocese of New York is undergoing a seri- Catholic schools?—which, sadly, was taken up by some ous and daring refashioning of our beloved Catholic circles of prominence in the church, has been decisively elementary schools. Since 1727, when the Ursuline answered: because they work! Our alumni and supporters LSisters of New Orleans opened the first Catholic grade know this in their gut, and the scholarly data backs them up. school in what would become the United States of America, It often seems as if people outside the Catholic commu- our schools have never had an easy time. Even during the nity recognize the priceless value of our schools more than 1950s, an era now considered their heyday, only 50 percent we do, as journals, pundits, scholars and newspapers rarely of our Catholic children were enrolled in our schools, and known for their sympathy to Catholic causes trumpet the the cost, energy and sacrifice demanded to keep them going indisputable effectiveness of our schools and beg us not to has always been staggering. The past 45 years have present- Cardinal Dolan celebrated Mass and visited ed particularly pointed challenges, classrooms during his tour of Saint Francis as the numbers of religious women Xavier School in the Bronx in Oct. 2013. and men who formerly taught and administered in our schools have drastically diminished, costs of education have skyrocketed, competition has become more vigorous, the support for our schools among the wider culture has been severe- ly diluted, and our own passion for supporting them has sometimes flagged. We as a church are charged with keeping our schools excellent in education, effective in evange- lization and catechesis, and affordable to all. Five years ago, the Archdiocese of New York em- barked upon a fresh plan to meet these goals. The initiative is called Pathways to Excellence and, although still in development, it give up. Just ask the hundreds of parents of our inner-city is already giving hope and confidence to our parents, educa- children eagerly awaiting a scholarship from the renowned tors, clergy, students and the wider community. The strategy Inner City Scholarship Fund so championed by my prede- is based on three non-negotiable principles, each giving rise cessor, Cardinal Edward Egan, if Catholic schools work! As to practical implementation. a prominent Jewish benefactor of our schools often chides Catholic schools are, indeed, “a pearl of great price.” This me, “Nobody does it better than your schools! For God’s belief is bolstered by sound data and held firm by our par- sake, quit closing them!” ents, alumni and students. Our schools are singularly effec- Yet realism demands that we admit that our schools tive in educating our children and passing on our cherished cause headaches, heartburn and sweat and absorb every values, and are worth all the trouble, sacrifice and energy dollar we can scrape up. Honesty also insists that we quit foolishly asking if they are worth it and confidently thunder:

Cardinal Timothy M. Dolan is the archbishop of New York. You bet they are! Photo: maria bastone

October 20, 2014 America 25 We cannot do business as usual. In the Archdiocese of schools. But now, for the most part, our schools are region- New York, we had to admit that we had too many schools— al, belonging to all the parishes in a given area, whether the all of them very good, mind you, but just too many. The school is on their property or not. As one of our savvy pas- archdiocese was spending a bundle of money to keep open tors remarked, “It’s as if we’re finally implementing the Third half-filled schools in buildings costly to maintain, thus con- Plenary Council of Baltimore, which decreed in 1884 that suming resources better used to strengthen other schools every parish was to have a school.” and offer more scholarships. Rather than have two strug- In the Archdiocese of New York, all parishes support gling schools blocks apart, the reasoning went, we could Catholic education. Pastors and the lay faithful in a region have one solid, full, stable school. comprise school governing boards. This governing model As our superintendent of schools, Dr. Timothy McNiff, was first introduced by my predecessor, Cardinal Egan, for observed, “If we don’t close some, we’ll end up eventually the effective management of our Catholic high schools. After closing all of them.” Besides, he reasoned, we can make the the success we realized for our high schools, it also made tough decisions on which sense to move in this direc- ones should close—trusting tion with our elementary in a great deal of study and schools. These boards over- consultation—and get it Realism demands that we see shared resources among over with, so we could assure the schools of the region in our parents that, at least for admit that our schools cause maintenance, facilities, bud- the foreseeable future, there gets, payroll and, very impor- would be no more closings. headaches, heartburn and tantly, enhanced fundraising, Sure, it was painful, as, sweat and absorb every recruitment and marketing. over two years, 60 of our The priests and principals schools closed. Our main dollar we can scrape up. report a welcome freedom consideration was that all of in no longer having to mess our children would have a with the boilers and snow re- nearby school ready to wel- moval. This leaves more time come them. Our school office offered energetic assistance so for priests to focus on pastoral duties, with their presence in that nearly two-thirds of the students in the closed schools the schools now concentrating on the sacraments and cat- were able to attend another one nearby. echesis, and gives principals more time to focus on instruc- The result? We now have fewer schools—still a good tional leadership. number at 170—but they are in better facilities with larger I do not want to give the impression that it all is rosy enrollments and the choicest principals and teachers. And now here in New York. We still have challenges and snarls we do not anticipate a need for any large-scale closings in to work out. But as we enter our second year of this fresh the near future. strategy, enrollment is up, religion scores are up and test In addition, parishes that used to have their own parochi- scores are on the rise. Last June, for the first time in memory, al school on their property but that were closed in the recent not a single grade school closed in the archdiocese. The pas- process, now find themselves with fresh revenue, especially if tors and their parishioners are cooperating and paying their they can rent, lease or sell the former school building. In jus- freight, with parishioners proud that their parish now has tice, our plan concludes, a part of that new revenue—we set- a school to claim as its own. The pastors and their people tled on half—must be given to the archdiocese to help our have dug deep to pay their share of “their” school, even if it is ever-necessary investment in and subsidy of our schools. All not on their parish grounds. And, they reason, if the parish then share in the bonus. is helping support a nearby regional school they should en- Our schools now belong to everybody. Not only are our courage parents to send their children there. schools Catholic in values and atmosphere, but we made our Best of all, there is a renewed sense of confidence. As one schools catholic, with a small c. This meant a very dramatic parent commented, “It used to seem we were in a ‘hospice decision: the days of one parish supporting its own parochi- mode’ regarding our schools, thinking that they’re dying, and al school were mostly over. Is it practical, our board of con- our job was to postpone their passing as long as we could sultants asked, to expect that one pastor and parish could and make their death as painless as possible.” No more: We any longer support their own school all alone? I, for one, trumpet that our schools are well worth fighting for, but ad- mourn this realistic admission, as the parochial school mod- mit that we can no longer do business as usual and that it el was an example of subsidiarity and grass-roots attitudes is time to make them catholic, not only in character but in at their best. True, we still have about 40 classic parochial ownership by every parish. A

26 America October 20, 2014 Our Bleeding Hearts Seeking more mercy from the media By Elizabeth Stoker Bruenig

uring my year in the United Kingdom I kept up for just three hours, pursuant to a lengthy and public trial obsessively with news of home. It is not a habit that I followed with a sense of distant mourning. that is encouraged among students abroad, but I expected with the sort of headlines I followed Media Frenzy DI would not be missing much. How is it possible, I then rea- Coverage of the Smith case was immediately polarized, soned, to read about controversial or troubling events and unsurprising in light of comparable cases in recent memo- feel anything but gratitude for distance? But I estimated ry, most notably the killing of Trayvon Martin by George wrongly. I encountered the Byron Smith case while I was Zimmerman in 2012. More grim yet was the fact that the overseas and followed the coverage of the trial as it unfold- verdict against Smith was handed down—to mixed me- ed. And it did generate, contrary to my expectation, a kind dia response—just as news broke of an eerily similar case of homesick feeling: a longing to console someone or some- in Montana. In that case, a homeowner named Markus thing very far away. Kaarma allegedly baited 17-year-old Diren Dede, whom he suspected of burglary, into his garage and then killed him. Home Invasion As in the wake of Martin’s killing, heavily politicized me- On Nov. 22, 2012, Thanksgiving Day, 65-year-old Byron dia outlets quickly competed to interpret Smith’s murders Smith was home alone in Little Falls, Minn. He was in the so as to deflect all the usual critiques: of gun violence, for basement of his house, waiting, with bottled water and energy instance, and of laws that permit lethal force in admitted- bars for provisions and an audio recorder that was taping the ly hazy cases of trespassing and self-defense. On April 30, silence. He was also armed with multiple firearms. Eventually Sean Hannity covered the case on his Fox News show. Smith heard signs of a break-in: first the shattering of glass Hannity was suitably outraged that Smith was sentenced and then footsteps on old wood flooring. He waited. to life in prison for his murders. “They broke into the guy’s When 17-year-old Nick Brady began to descend Smith’s house,” he argued, while a guest claimed Smith should “get basement stairs, Smith fired multiple times without warning, a medal of freedom for what he did.” Both proclamations killing him. He then sat down in the chair he had been waiting in SEE THE VICTIM. Women pray at the New Life Word Center Church in Sanford, Fla., and remained there, still, for an- after the George Zimmerman murder trial. other 10 minutes. Haile Kifer, 18, approached next. Smith shot her but did not immediately kill her. Seeing that she had not died, he leaned over her prone body, placed the barrel of his gun under her chin and shot her. Smith waited a day to call the police. He was sentenced to life in prison on April 29, 2014, after the jury deliberated

Elizabeth Stoker Bruenig is a doctoral candidate in religion, politics and philosophy at Brown University. She earned a master’s degree in Christian theology from the University of Cambridge as a Marshall Scholar and has published in The Atlantic, The Boston Review and First Things. CNS p hoto/ S teve N esi u s, R e ters

October 20, 2014 America 27 were evidently premised on the fact that Smith had been, in uncomfortable with other people’s family holidays.” He says, his words and those expressed on Hannity, “repeatedly vic- “It’s not the kind of social thing I do.” Smith had very lit- timized.” tle interaction with his neighbors. “I’ve known since grade “What are you gonna do?” Hannity mused, “It’s easy to school,” he informs the officer taking his statement, “that be- say after the fact ‘I wouldn’t....’” When he finally convinced ing ganged up on is a sore spot with me.... I wasn’t thinking, his guest Geraldo Rivera that he I was just—they’re ganging up on would kill an intruder, Hannity me. So I killed her, too.” joked, “you’re becoming a There is much to love about In recounting the process of right-winger.” American culture, even the that murder, Smith claims Kifer Right-wing political ideologies laughed at him when his gun cannot be used to justify a sense media venues that endlessly jammed. The audio recording of victimization so strong that it taken that day in his basement results in the murder of unarmed hound their viewers with reveals no such laughter, only teenagers. Yet the culture of ce- empty, sonorous silence, shat- lebrity surrounding individuals relentless visions of fear and tered by a series of gunshots. who, acting within the contested dreadful vulnerability. After the shot that ultimately parameters of legal statutes al- ended Kifer’s life, Smith mut- lowing for the killing of intruders ters to himself: “I’m safe now.... upon person or property, do commit such murders is unfail- I’m totally safe.... I refuse to live in fear.... I am not a bleed- ingly generated among the pundits of the political right. ing-heart liberal.” There is a reason Joe Scarborough felt motivated to warn Whatever conflation of abject fear and the justification of the Republican Party against hailing George Zimmerman extreme measures (only loosely construed as defense) per- as a hero in the wake of so many gun factory photo-ops. meates the darker corners of right-wing punditry had clear- Nonetheless, the acquitted killer still signs autographs and ly taken root in Smith’s consciousness. His defense on “The snaps pictures with fans at gun shows from time to time. And Sean Hannity Show” was, therefore, yet another contribu- there is some association—ambiguous and vague, but con- tion to the strange celebrity that regenerates itself with every sistent—between individuals who commit killings that seem death it encourages. A keen media observer might identify just beyond the necessities of self-defense, the guns they use this morbid tendency as yet another iteration of a culture of and the laws giving wide berth to protection of self and prop- death; an Augustinian would at the same time suspect the erty that they arguably abuse. They are celebrities, it seems, bleeding heart—or the hardened one, in the case of Smith— of a terrible defensiveness, emblems of a society that views was at the center of it all along. itself as perpetually victimized and, finally, unwilling to toler- ate any more. Smith said as much in his statements to police Hearts Must Bleed regarding the murders. St. Augustine’s conversion, as documented in his Confessions, still strikes me as one of the more dramatic events in all of Culture of Death literature, though the core conflict occurs within the heart of Minnesota’s judicial department makes all media related to one man. And the fierceness of the battle concerns mostly the court cases available to the public. Two audio recordings of strength of the perimeter: Will Augustine allow God to come Byron Smith’s statements to police following the murders are into his heart, or will he harden his heart against God to seal currently available on its website, totaling nearly two hours him out? of painstaking dissection of the events. What comes most God prevails. Augustine writes: strikingly to the fore in Smith’s explanation of his behavior is not that his version of the story is not consonant with the You had pierced our hearts with the arrow of Your love, facts (he neglects to admit he attempted to lure the burglars and our minds were pierced with the arrows of Your inside and that he waited for them hidden in a homemade words. To burn away and utterly consume our slothful- blind) but that he himself seems caught up in a murky sort of ness so that we might no more be sunk in its depths, we paranoia. In explaining the 2012 murders of teenagers Brady had the depths of our thought filled with the examples and Kifer, Smith refers to a series of burglaries ranging back of Your servants whom You had changed from darkness 15 years, which he attributes to a neighborhood girl named to light and from death to life; and these inflamed us Ashley, with whom he has had extremely limited contact. so powerfully that any false tongue of contradiction did Smith lived alone, he explains. He was not enjoying a not extinguish our flame but set us blazing more fiercely. Thanksgiving meal because he is, in his words, “somewhat Confessions 9:2

28 America October 20, 2014 It is not by mistake that Augustine’s conversion brings with It seems a fair request. Mercy by nature confounds ex- it a heightened awareness of others; as a member of the church pectations, and so too would the most virtuous response to he puts himself not only in the service of the Lord but also in a deathly culture in media. Instead of participating in the the service of his fellow Christians. It is a decided turn from same old deriding and decrying that leads to a good deal of an otherwise deeply internal narrative, and the piercing of the self-satisfaction and a deliberate taking of sides, we could as heart seems key. Once a passage is made into one’s heart, com- easily reach out to the media infected by this tendency and munity is truly possible. plead for a reversal. It is a small step, but an available one, And so it is also with Christ’s teaching on divorce in Mt full of hope and longing; it is the sort of longing I associated 19:8; separation was permitted because the hearts of the with this country while living in the United Kingdom. It is Israelites under Moses were hard, repelling genuine bonds a longing I still associate with the United States, because I with spouses and the wishes of the Lord. But the original love it and because it is mine. A bond of marriage was predicated, we gather, on hearts of a decidedly soft- er kind, and it is that sort of heart that Christ requires of us and ultimately bears himself on the cross. For community to prevail, hearts must bleed. The hardened heart is a de- fensive one; self-interested and resistant to the pain that can be caused to it by the doings of others, it resists risk but also rejects authentic bonds. It is paranoid and soaked in fear, and fear has to do with punishment (1 Jn 4:18). But perfect love drives out fear.

Promoting Mercy The objects of political obsession are very often the objects of defense; American right-wing media have refined a morbid fixation on the protection of self and property in delirious extremes to a fine art. But the promotion of the likes of Zimmerman and Smith to folk heroes is a dangerous dealing in a culture of death, confirming for viewers the very fears that gave rise to murders like these and simultaneously proposing killing as the best solution. It is a vicious cycle in the most literal sense, a cycle of vice that isolates and estranges. And yet there is much to love about American culture, even the media venues that endlessly hound their viewers with relentless visions of fear and dreadful vulnerability. Familiarity may be little more than coincidental, but it does signal a kind of bond, and if there is an authentic bond, there is a community. All of us have it within our power to participate in a reversal of narrative. Dare we expect from our media the promotion of mercy?

October 20, 2014 America 29 Vatican Dispatch Shock Waves in Rome he house arrest of the former remove him. he said, “we are looking at the whole nuncio, Archbishop Jozef On the flight back from Tel Aviv on problem from the viewpoint of the vic- TWesolowski, on Sept. 23, May 26, when Pope Francis was asked tims and not from that of the church sent tremors through the ecclesiasti- what he would do with bishops who as institution” and “its image.” This is cal establishment in the Vatican and do not abide by the new Vatican reg- “something new,” he told the Italian worldwide. ulations in this field, he recalled that daily Corriere della Sera, adding that Never before in the history of the in Argentina, those “who get special “the pope’s line is clear; he cannot stop Vatican City State had a senior arch- treatment” are called “Daddy’s boys”; now, and certainly not in the case of a bishop been arrested for the sexual but in the church “as far as this prob- bishop. The church has need of purifi- abuse of minors and possession of a lem is concerned...there is no special cation and renewal.” considerable quantity of pornograph- treatment,” and “on this issue we need The Wesolowski case is still under ic material involving minors. The to keep moving forward: investigation and could Vatican could arrest him because he zero tolerance!” The age of bring further develop- was a Holy See diplomat and a citizen He made clear then and ments. The Italian me- of the Vatican when he allegedly com- again on July 7, when he immunity dia say investigations mitted the crimes. met six abuse survivors, are being conducted in The fact that his arrest was car- that the age of immuni- and all countries where he ried out with the pope’s approval sent ty and impunity in the impunity in served as a diplomat, a powerful message to the universal Catholic Church is over. and there are sugges- church and the wider world that a pol- Those responsible for the the Catholic tions (unconfirmed) icy of zero tolerance is being pursued abuse of minors or for pro- Church is that he might have had under this pontificate for those who tecting perpetrators or cov- links to an internation- sexually abuse minors and for those ering up their crimes will over. al pedophile network, who give perpetrators of such abuse be punished. This cleanup with protection in high cover or protection. operation is well under way. Started places. A Polish priest who was with That policy regarding those who under Benedict XVI, it is picking up him for a time in the Dominican give cover or protection was highlight- strong momentum under Francis, Republic has been arrested in Poland ed on Sept. 25 by the removal of the who is above all a man of action. for the abuse of minors. bishop of Ciudad del Este in Paraguay, Sources say Francis intervened di- On the plane from Tel Aviv, Pope Rogelio Livieres Plano, a member of rectly to speed up the judicial process Francis said three bishops were un- Opus Dei. He not only formally ac- in the case of the nuncio. der investigation for such crimes. It is cepted into his diocese an Argentine “The arrest of Archbishop presumed that Wesolowski was one of priest accused of sexual misconduct Wesolowski is a strong and unequiv- them. Vatican and other sources say a with minors in the United States, but ocal political choice of Francis,” the number of bishops in some countries did so against the advice of the bishop Italian Cardinal Velasio de Paolis stat- have covered up cases of abuse, and of Scranton and later promoted him ed. A member of the Vatican’s Court of they cannot expect to be ignored. On to vicar general. These actions, and Cassation who oversaw the renewal of July 7 Francis told survivors, “All bish- the fact that Bishop Livieres Plano the Legionaries of Christ, he described ops must carry out their pastoral min- has long been a divisive figure in the the arrest as “an act without precedent,” istry with the utmost care in order to bishops’ conference, led the pope to which is both “punitive and exemplary help foster the protection of minors, for the common good.” and they will be held accountable.” Cardinal Walter Kasper described Right now Francis’ clean-up is a work Gerard O’Connell is America’s Rome it as “a change of paradigm.” He re- in progress. Stand by for further devel- correspondent. America’s Vatican coverage is sponsored in part by the Jesuit communities of called that there was a time when opments. the United States. Twitter: @gerryorome. priests “were protected”; but now, Gerard O’Connell

30 America October 20, 2014 FAITH IN FOCUS My Holy Fathers Encounters with two popes By Charles M. Murphy was a seminarian in Rome when parole à nous en anglais était...” (“Your tree was a good idea!” Angelo Giuseppe Roncalli was holiness, your words to us in English After the pope celebrated Mass Ielected Pope John XXIII. More were…”) and searching for a word and individually greeted every single than five decades later, I found myself that would say how deeply impressed priest, seminarian and employee of the in Rome once more, on April 27, at the we were by his attempt, I chose mag- college, we sat down to dinner. It was canonization ceremony that celebrated nifique. Pope John then took my hands Lent, and the Vatican had instructed us Pope John’s holy life, as well as that of into his and said in French, “Let me tell to serve soup and bread. My conversa- Pope John Paul II. I was one of 800 you something St. tion with the pope priests distributing Communion that Philip Neri used consisted mostly day, and the experience offered me the to say. When peo- of him asking me chance to reflect on what these great ple say something questions. I real- men have meant to the church. negative about ized how reserved I participated in the visit by Pope you they may be he was in such sit- John XXIII to our seminary, the speaking the truth, uations, yet he also North American College, on Oct. 11, but if they say made me feel com- 1959. Although we listened closely to something pos- fortable enough to the pope’s homily in English—he had itive, they could finally ask him a been coached by his Irish priest secre- be making fun of question in return. tary—we understood nothing of what you.” He knew he To a much lesser he was trying to say. had failed in his degree than the A few days later, my bishop was attempt at speak- pope, I was try- given an audience with Pope John and ing in English and ing to balance my invited me to accompany him. The authen went on to scholarly interests dience was conducted in French, one comment how dif- with administra- of the two languages Pope John spoke ficult a language it tive duties, and so fluently, and his characteristic infor- is to master. I asked him how mality shone through. At the end of Years later I be- he was manag- our audience, instead of bowing po- came rector of the ing to accomplish litely, the pope himself walked us out. North American College, and I was this himself. He replied, “I take no As we walked to the door, I was present for the election of Karol Jozef appointments until 11 o’clock in the anxious to say something to the pope Wojtyla, who began his pontificate as morning. This allows me to devote and so, at that last moment, wanting to Pope John Paul II on Oct. 22, 1978. the early morning hours to reading express appreciation for the gesture he He later accepted my invitation to and writing, although at this point it’s made to us at the seminary by preach- come to the North American College, mostly writing.” ing in English, I said, “Sainteté, votre a visit that took place on Feb. 22, 1980. The visit lasted four hours. It began by This Is The Day Msgr. Charles M. Murphy, former rec- my asking him to plant a California I did not sleep well the night before tor of the Pontifical North American College, sequoia on our grounds, as it seemed the canonization Mass. There were re- is the director of the permanent diaconate a more fitting tribute than a marble ports that more than a million people for the Diocese of Portland and the author of Reclaiming Francis: How the Saint and plaque for this young and athletic would be converging, with busloads ar- the Pope are Renewing the Church (Ave pope. When he departed at 10 p.m. he riving daily from Poland and Bergamo Maria Press). turned and said to me, “Planting that in northern Italy. No tickets were be- megan halsey art:

October 20 , 2014 America 31 ing issued; people were sleeping in the prayerful atmosphere for the Mass. Paul to travel the world. John con- streets to get a good spot. The weather In his homily Pope Francis spoke vened Vatican II, which taught that all forecast included an 80 percent chance with eloquent simplicity about the he- Christians, lay, religious and clergy, are of rain during the outdoor ceremony, roic virtues of the two new saints. John called to one and the same perfection and I worried about getting from the XXIII transformed the papacy into a of holiness. John Paul underlined the North American College to St. Peter’s. position of world leadership and sum- point by canonizing more saints than I decided to leave the seminary moned the Second Vatican Council. all previous popes combined. John’s through a rarely used back gate and John Paul II participated in the fall of social teaching in his landmark encycli- walk down a blocked street toward the Communism and his papacy was the cals, “Mater et Magistra” and “Pacem in basilica. Friendly police created space second longest in history. Pope Francis Terris” were built upon by John Paul as to penetrate the crowds, and I arrived described them respectively as one who he sought to make a greater connection safely in the Blessed Sacrament chapel was open and docile to the inspiration between the church and the world. of St. Peter’s—the location designated of the Holy Spirit and “the pope who Vatican II called for more collegi- as the meeting place for the extraor- was devoted to the life of the family.” ality and consultation in church gov- dinary ministers of the Eucharist. He said: “They lived through the trag- ernance. Now Pope Francis has taken Ominous black clouds supplied a few ic events of the 20th century but were this to heart. With his rapport with rain drops, but as the morning unfold- not overwhelmed by them. For them, those on the fringes of society, Francis ed the sun appeared. God was more powerful, their faith has adopted the pastoral style of Pope Those quiet moments in the closed, was stronger—their faith—and Jesus John. Long before Pope Francis did so, darkened basilica were the most pre- Christ, the redeemer of man.” Pope John visited people in prison and cious for me that day. A few cardinals Pope Francis clearly saw the ap- shocked his entourage by saying, “I feel were praying at the nearby tombs of the propriateness of canonizing the two comfortable with you. Some of my rel- two popes, and I was able to savor this popes together, for John Paul II’s pa- atives have been in prison!” special moment. pacy would have been impossible On the day these men were can- Finally, our group moved to the without the accomplishments of John onized, I pushed myself to the lim- main church. Pope Francis chose to XXIII. For over a century the popes its, bringing Holy Communion to make his entrance behind the altar were self-proclaimed “prisoners of people in the square before being di- from the front doors of St. Peter’s. The the Vatican,” protesting Italy’s confis- rected to proceed down the Via della crowds were instructed to make no ap- cation of the papal states. Pope John Conciliazione toward the Tiber to still plause, not even to wave their banners; was the first to venture outside the more of the crowd. I was accompanied they were to join in the chanting of the Vatican, making pilgrimages to Assisi by a young priest professor from the Litany of the Saints and so enter into a and Loretto. This led the way for John University of Lublin, where Pope John Paul had taught. He came to Rome from Poland over the Alps on his mo- torcycle. Another of the priests near me was from the diocese of Sacramento. His trouser pockets were so filled with religious medals he intended to distrib- ute at home that he found it difficult to climb the stairs to bring Communion to the people on the bleachers on top of the Bernini colonnade. I traveled to Rome filled with memories of joyous encounters, and hope for what the raising up of Pope John XXIII and Pope John Paul II means for the church. At the audience with Pope Francis the following Wednesday, I recognized the beginning of a new phase with a new pope and returned home renewed in my joy, assured of my hope. A

32 America October 20, 2014 October 20 , 2014 America 33 PHILOSOPHER’S NOTEBOOK The Blue Wall

ast month a blue wall sprang up Unsurprisingly, the abstract monu- treatment of the disabled. Earlier in in Berlin. ment has attracted criticism from vic- the 20th century, people with mental L Seventy-nine feet long, the tims’ relatives and the general public. illness and serious physical handicaps soaring wall of glass is a monument Why are there no human figures or were to be hidden away, preferably in to the 300,000 victims of the Third even names on the wall itself? In fact, rural institutions with few visitors. Reich’s euthanasia program. From the designers Ursula Wilms, Heinz This social sequestration facilitated January 1940 to August 1941, German Hollman and Nicholaus Koliusis have the occult killing of the disabled. Few medical personnel killed 70,000 people created a window eloquent by its very questions were raised about the men- in gas chambers. Those with serious anonymity. dacious death notices concerning those mental and physical disabilities were The blue tint is not arbitrary. It whom polite society had already ban- soon joined by people simply judged reproduces the color of the question- ished as an embarrassment. to be social misfits. Protests by the naire used by euthanasia As visitors gaze Catholic Church, led by Clemens von supervisors to determine The eugenic through the blue glass, Galen, bishop of Münster, forced the who would die. As a nearby they perceive people on German government to announce the information panel informs dream the other side through end of the program in 1941. But it con- us, the most important one tinted lens. Just as tinued in secret. More than 200,000 question on the form asked was not the disabled can be per- new victims were executed through whether the candidate was eliminated ceived and dismissed on lethal injection or starvation. “productive.” By the end of the basis of one flaw, the Popularly known as T-4, the the war, the most damning by the observed visitor is re- National Socialists’ euthanasia cam- description of a potential Nuremberg duced to one dull color paign was housed at Tiergartenstrasse victim was “work-adverse.” in the monochrome blur. 4 in Berlin. In the mansion located The transparent wall tribunals. The tinted glass distorts at this address, scores of doctors and evokes the anonymity of the the image of those on the bureaucrats planned the program’s T-4 victims themselves. The memorial other side. A bandaged limb or a hear- victim rolls, construction of “hospital- to the euthanasia victims did not open ing aid or a limp is suddenly magnified. ity centers” and methods of execution. until years after Berlin had inaugurated The blue wall also serves as a mir- The euthanasia memorial stands on monuments to other Third Reich vic- ror for the spectators. A large number land immediately in front of the old tims: Jews, Roma, homosexuals. In the of those visiting the monument in its Tiergartenstrasse headquarters. The postwar Nuremberg trials, several ar- first weeks were seated in wheelchairs, building itself has an odd history. The chitects of the T-4 campaign were exe- a visual reminder of the progress made German government confiscated the cuted or imprisoned, but most partici- in recent decades to integrate the dis- mansion from its Jewish owners and pants eluded prosecution. Their crimes abled into mainstream society. But the then “Aryanized” it by putting it to eu- were quickly forgotten. Virtually no wall’s mirror also functions as an in- genic use. A sleek palace housing the one received compensation from either dictment. The eugenic dream was not Berlin Philharmonic now stands on the West or East German governments eliminated by the Allied victors or the the site. The strains of Mozart have for the suffering of a disabled relative. Nuremberg tribunals. It still seduces. covered over the T-4 staff ’s delibera- As historians work on the archives of The infanticide of the disabled and tive whispers, which had replaced the the T-4 program, German grandchil- the killing of the chronically ill are no Hanukkah songs of the earlier Jewish dren have suddenly discovered that a longer just memories from a distant, family. previously unknown aunt or uncle had censured past. The tragedy we com- perished in the euthanasia campaign. memorate and lament as we gaze at This long forgetting of these particular the blue wall on Tiergartenstrasse still John J. Conley, S.J., holds the Knott Chair in Philosophy and Theology at Loyola victims of Nazism reflects the irratio- threatens to become our own. University Maryland in Baltimore, Md. nal shame that has long shrouded the John J. Conley

34 America October 20, 2014 Books & Culture

ideas | Rob Weinert-Kendt pression: that the working poor everywhere, regardless of their immigration Dreaming on status or other obstacles, make a life and a home for themselves even amid Tales of modern immigration the worst conditions. This adaptive persistence, albe- cynic might suggest that one not unrelentingly bleak. Indeed, one of it in a more middle-class milieu, is way to keep immigrants from the play’s most sneakily shocking mo- also among the revelations of Aldo A wanting to come to the United ments comes when after a particularly Bello’s documentary/advocacy film States would be to show them a dys- tragic incident near the show’s end, the Dream: An American Story, which topian exposé like To the Bone, Lisa women calmly set out a card table and is being shown around the country Ramirez’s affecting if wildly uneven a cooler in their backyard for another this fall, presumably timed for the new Off Broadway play about undocu- of their impromptu social gatherings. midterm elections. Bello’s central case mented female poultry workers slaving This abrupt transition does more study is the story of the Gómez fam- away thanklessly in Sullivan County, than mark the passage of time; it also ily, Colombians who decided to stay N.Y. That is not entirely fair, though, drives home a point the show has been in Miami after their request for asy- since the tense, gnarly tale that unfolds quietly making all along, alongside lum was denied and their work per- among a quintet of Central American its more bold-faced statements about mits expired, all the while raising the women and a few men in their lives is structural injustice and economic op- two Colombian-born sons, Alex and Juan, they had brought to America as FOWL PLAY. Liza Fernandez, Annie Henk and Lisa Ramirez in “To the Bone” toddlers. These boys would hence become prototypical “dreamers,” young Americans in all but their legal status, whose liminal status the DREAM Act legislation was crafted to resolve. Juan in particular distinguished himself, attending Georgetown on a full scholarship and graduating summa cum laude, then working for a time as an analyst at JPMorgan in New York. Both of these achievements, however, followed his parents’ forced return to Colombia, a fate he and his brother avoided only when no less a personage than Senator Chris Dodd, Democrat of Connecticut, passed a private bill to delay their deportation. Though Juan, who emerges in the film as a stoical pragmatist and who now works in São Paulo, Brazil, lives a life far removed from the killing floors of Sullivan County, he is no less prey to the existential uncertainty that haunts the undocumented—those nearly 12 million people described as living “in the shadows” while the nation’s polarized immigration politics churn un- Photo: M oniq u e C arboni

October 20 , 2014 America 35 helpfully around them. could answer for Republican recalci- Neither “To the Bone” nor “Dream,” trance. though, directly engages these conten- By contrast, the debate that rages in Autumn tious politics or gives an explanation “To the Bone,” and which gives it in- as to why immigration reform has arguable momentum even as its plot become such a third rail that even the strands get tangled in melodrama, Autumn is the time of year relatively supportive President Obama is between dueling matriarchs, Olga when God’s invisible hand has bowed to pressure, opting to defer (played by the playwright Ramirez) action on the current border crisis until and Reina (Annie Henk). Olga is a paints the leaves after the midterm elections. This defi- dyspeptic, perpetually aggrieved fight- in broad strokes cit of perspective is less of a problem er whose ever-simmering anger, even of color, for Ramirez’s play, a work of dramat- when she is in the right, is compellingly ic fiction, than for Bello’s film, which unpleasant; Reina, meanwhile, is a go- then plucks them off aims to be persuasive. The voices of op- along-to-get-along peacemaker, better one by one. position we hear in “Dream” are bilious able to compartmentalize the indigni- snippets of talk radio, brief samples ties of the workplace and the comforts Alan Rice of House Republican talking points of hard-won domesticity. Between during the vote for the DREAM Act these two poles are the more tender (it is described as “affirmative action Juana (Liza Fernández), in mourn- Alan Rice, a Marine Corps veteran from the Central Valley of amnesty,” a clumsy bit of alliterative ing for a lost daughter, and Carmen California, is currently working on dog-whistling) and a sign or two at a (Xochitl Romero), a new arrival whose a children’s book series about the Washington march. The president’s disastrous fate gets caught in the cross- Miwok people of Yosemite. stunning decision in 2012 to take ex- fire between Olga and Reina. ecutive action to defer deportation for The true child of this warring some young undocumented immi- household, a quintessential teenaged offered as a stark diagnosis of the state grants is portrayed as the culmination “dreamer” named Lupe (Paola Lazaro- of the national character, the endear- of a drama in which activists worked to Múñoz), provides the most hopeful ingly tough, transparent Lupe points a raise the profile of the DREAM Act, note in “To the Bone.” She has Olga’s way forward for this nation of immi- only to see it dashed in Congress by strength, minus the bitterness, and grants—if we are willing to take it. Republican obstruction. Reina’s determination, minus the de- While the film does not spare nial. If “To the Bone” belongs reso- Rob Weinert-Kendt, an arts journalist Obama from the just criticism that lutely to the muckraking tradition of and associate editor of American Theatre mag- azine, has written for The New York Times and he has become a sort of deport- American storytelling, in which the Time Out New York. He writes a blog called The er-in-chief—there is a recurring title experiences of the “least of these” are Wicked Stage. card about the mounting millions who have been flushed from the United States during his presidency—it also books | Martin E. Marty leaves viewers yearning for a clearer sense of the election-year political cal- Consensus Lost? culus underpinning his executive action and the somewhat bumbling ma- The Twilight of the America that he claims prevailed about neuvers among cautious, Republican American Enlightenment three-score years ago. That was the ze- reformers like Marco Rubio of Florida The 1950s and the Crisis of nith time of public Protestantism and or John McCain of Arizona. The Liberal Belief “consensus-based” reliance on aspects film’s argument for a saner immigra- By George M. Marsden of the 18th century Enlightenment. In tion policy chiefly emerges through Basic. 219p $26.99 Marsden’s image for the change, “twi- a personal lens—the sad, lonely saga light” is now here. Over against the of over-achieving Juan Gómez, whose Historian George Marsden, an in- darkness which would naturally follow best efforts end up thwarted by our fluential expert on Protestant funda- dusk, he envisions a kind of wan possi- broken system. The political backdrop mentalism and also on secularization bility of dawn. for his story would be filled in immea- in the academy, chooses in this book Its final sentences summarize the surably by even just one voice who to critique two ways of conceiving book and issue a call: “All sides need

36 America October 20, 2014 to recognize that we cannot go back and even less in Protestantism, he has decades ago. So, we will pay attention to either a secular enlightenment or to come up with some sort of alterna- to Marsden’s Kuyper. a Christian consensus, and that cul- tive on the horizon of his hoped-for Let me spend a moment on ture-war stances are not helpful alter- dawn. He has the guts or, his critics Marsden’ context. First, his fine biog- natives. Rather, all sides need to rec- will say, the foolishness to suggest that raphy of Jonathan Edwards, proba- ognize that they should be searching fully inclusive pluralism, so needed in bly the most profound theologian in for ways to build a more fully inclusive our world of culture wars, is available our hemisphere’s history, shows that pluralism.” Marsden’s own account he is not frivolous in his choices and hardly leads to the conclusion that “all proposals. Second, Kuyper does mer- sides” might be ready to see the light. it attention. (James D. Bratt has re- Still, he urges that “journalistic media cently published a worthy biography, should provide leadership in cultivating Abraham Kuyper: Modern Calvinist, a public domain as fully inclusive of reli- Christian Democrat (Eerdmans, 2013). giously shaped viewpoints as is feasible.” Also, to show my readiness to take this Also, secularist commentators, rather alternative seriously, I confess that I than denouncing religion in the name of could also be described, with Kuyper “universal reason,” should wrestle with and Marsden, as an “Augustinian more generous approaches. Christian.” Marsden defines such as A reader may well ask—this one one whose “commitments involve a does—why Marsden finds so little recognition that people differ in their positive endeavor or achievement from fundamental loves and first principles, leaders and movements of the last time and that these loves and first principles around, in those fabled 1950s. Public act as lenses through which they see philosopher Walter Lippmann and everything else.” I am a bit wary about public theologian Reinhold Niebuhr Marsden’s added “Augustinian” view do come off with qualified good marks that “at the same time, all humans, as for their efforts, but they fail to do jus- fellow creatures of God, share many tice to–here’s that phrase again—the beliefs in common and can communi- “fully inclusive pluralism” which the in modified versions of what we may cate through common strands of ratio- nation needs. Marsden does sound call Kuyperism, which he describes nal discourse.” two cheers for what he calls the “main- and advertises in a dozen pages at the Marsden generously adds that his line Protestant establishment” which end of the book. This “alternative view own “pluralism” has been fed also by became somewhat tolerant in the mid- does not resolve all the remarkably many other sources, but in this book 20th century. But it promoted only a complex problems regarding religion he criticizes, for example, both the ec- “tri-faith (Protestant-Catholic-Jew) and culture. But it does offer a starting umenical Protestants like Niebuhr and inclusive pluralism.” Because it was point or framework for thinking about secular rationalists like Lippmann for based in liberal religion, it failed to them that differs from the dominant “Building without Foundations” (the include—count these samples!—“fun- American models.” title of Chapter 3). Lippmann’s cita- damentalists, Pentecostals, and oth- Influential chiefly in the smallish tion of “natural law” does, though, at- er conservative evangelicals as well as high culture of Christian Reformed tract Marsden. Mormons, Orthodox Jews, conserva- Protestantism in America, it was devel- The author is realistic enough to tive Catholics, Muslims, Hindus, and oped in the Netherlands by Abraham know that he is asking us to stretch many others who did not fit the main- Kuyper, a Dutch theologian, church- imaginations if we are to include the line religious profile.” Now, did any of man, political leader and publicist in eight or nine mentioned “others” we these other mentioned groups make the late 19th century. Let’s be clear: counted above, who were not invited any contribution to Marsden’s hoped- pointing to a figure unknown to vast- to the pluralist table by secular and for “fully inclusive pluralism?” Could ly vast majorities is not by definition Protestant establishmentarians at they have? pointless or futile. Picture, in a differ- mid-century last. Marsden even hopes Marsden is a wise, accomplished ent category, how an obscure Danish to interest some in “mainstream aca- and fair-minded scholar who knows thinker, Søren Kierkegaard, vivified demia” to be friendlier to religions. That that if he finds little resource in what some latter-day Christian circles and old “mainstream,” which Marsden dis- is left of the American Enlightenment also influenced French existentialism misses, was too Protestant-Catholic-

October 20 , 2014 America 37 Jewish. However, with a Kuyperian there was a place for shared rational- ing the order before ordination for a “fully inclusive pluralist base,” his alter- ity in holding a society together.” He career in journalism. He says he re- native framework promotes “equity for believed “that since all people share ex- mains “a Jesuit at heart.” communities that represent virtually perience in God’s ordered reality, these One of the book’s early chapters every religion in the world.” areas of agreement among peoples of is a very brief history of the nearly Some would consider this reach various religious or secular faiths could 500-year-old Society of Jesus, begin- to be utopian. Still, it may be good to be considerable.” ning with St. Ignatius Loyola and the have this sweeping vision come from a I end with questions: doesn’t assent early Jesuits, who “had a conviction conservative, some would say “evangel- to these propositions demand a great that most problems have solutions ical,” Protestant voice. But if a titanic a priori “leap of faith”? And doesn’t it and that they should try to solve them figure like Reinhold Niebuhr, for all expect a more generous attitude to the with imagination, perseverance, and the secular media attention and the near-miss secular and Christian think- an openness to new ideas.” Managing large following which was still possible ers who lack some of what Marsden to figure into the 10-page overview for one to gain in a more coherent, less called “foundations”? Still, while rais- is the West Coast Compañeros Inc., pluralist time, failed because he lacked ing these questions, many of us will Kaiser’s group of former Jesuits (“Like some of the Kuyperian-style foun- participate around the dialogical and Marines, we have a special identity,” dations, what chance is there in the political table Marsden would set, in- he writes). Less oddly, Jorge Mario post-modern chaos of today? Marsden stead of getting armed for tiresome Bergoglio plays a standout role in this writes, as the foundational point, that “culture wars.” remade history. Kaiser surmises that Kuyper “believed that God had created Bergoglio was a “lousy leader” serving a reality that all people could know, in Martin E. Marty is an emeritus professor at as Argentina’s Jesuit provincial during part if never completely. So he believed The University of Chicago. the 1970s, a dark period of bloody re- pression there. The author concludes that the man now called Francis is “a William Bole poster boy for Cardinal Newman’s ob- servation that ‘to live is to change, and Spiritual ExerciseRs to be perfect is to have changed often.’” The most thematic chapter is Inside the Jesuits idiosyncratic though interesting at al- “The Jesuit DNA.” Kaiser traces no How Pope Francis is Changing most every turn—is largely a journal- small part of this genetic structure to the Church and the World ist’s probe into what it means to think Ignatius’s Spiritual Exercises, which By Robert Blair Kaiser like a Jesuit in the Age of Francis. He turn Jesuits into “men who are self- Rowman & Littlefield. 238p $32 argues at the outset aware, with a confi- that Francis “has been dence and a sense of In July of last year, aboard a plane re- driven by his Jesuit freedom that compels turning to Rome from the World Youth DNA to make chang- them” to take risks for Day celebration in Rio de Janeiro, Pope es in the Church that God and the greater Francis made clear to the world that have been up to now good. At that point, he was pontificating in a new key. He unthinkable.” Kaiser runs with an- walked back to the press compartment Kaiser is a former other Pope Francis and stood in the aisle for 81 minutes, award-winning reli- quote, that “the Society answering every question in a spon- gion reporter for The of Jesus can be de- taneous exchange with reporters and New York Times, CBS scribed only in narra- uttering his now-emblematic “Who News, Newsweek tive form.” This meth- am I to judge?” remark about gays. and Time (which sent odology brings us to Scarcely noted was another comment him to Rome in 1962 the least edifying part by this product of the Society of Jesus: to cover the Second of the book, as Kaiser “I think like a Jesuit.” Vatican Council), and devotes 28 pages to his Robert Blair Kaiser contends that so his journalistic credentials are pal- own Jesuit story. Along the way he set- the latter quote is most revealing about pable. He is not, however, a detached tles old scores with fellow Jesuits and the Jesuit pope and where he is taking observer. Kaiser spent 10 years as a religious superiors who underappre- the Catholic Church. Kaiser’s book— Jesuit in the California Province, leav- ciated his ministerial talents (he sup-

38 America October 20, 2014 plies real names). Part of the literary derstanding of papal primacy.” Francis other expectations to Francis’s Jesuit problem here is that Kaiser is crib- is already reorienting Catholicism genes, which program him to reach bing from his engaging 2003 memoir, with his message that “we should care for the “magis,” or more without fear of Clerical Error, a genre better suited to more about Jesus than the Church,” failure. these recollections than a book subti- he writes, alluding to a back-to-basics One suspects Kaiser is saying unre- tled How Pope Francis is Changing the Christianity that preaches “in the key servedly what many Jesuits are whis- Church and the World. of mercy.” (On the other hand, Kaiser pering among themselves. If this is so, Kaiser is perhaps most eloquent acknowledges Francis’s limitations and and if Francis does think like a Jesuit, when writing about Vatican II and the urges reform-minded Catholics to cut then there are undoubtedly more papal Jesuits (John Courtney Murray, for him some slack—“If birth control is a surprises in store. one) who helped shape the Council, sin, Daddy cannot give them permis- which in turn “helped us all be more sion to practice it. And if it isn’t, he William Bole is an editorial consultant at real, more human, and more loving.” doesn’t need to.”) He links these and Boston College and an independent journalist. He is simply brilliant when profiling contemporary Jesuits including the likes of Paolo Dall’Oglio, “a tall, ani- Maureen O’Connell mated man on the move with flashing eyes,” who has devoted his ministry Surviving Anti-Modernism to dialogue with Arab Muslims. The Italian calls himself “a Jesuit Muslim All Good Books are ary culture in the first half of the last …because Jesus loves Muslims, the Catholic Books century, with particular focus on the same Jesus who is alive in me.” Kaiser Print Culture, Censorship, and years between 1917, when canon law also throws much light on the world of Modernity in Twentieth-Century prescribing censorship of Catholic lit- former Jesuits, with profiles of sever- America erature was promulgated, and 1966, al including California governor Jerry By Una M. Cadegan when books on “the Index” were no Brown. Cornell University Press. 240p $39.95 longer forbidden. While this period Throughout the book, Kaiser’s con- has recently received quite a bit of ret- tentions and observations are rarely A word of warning to book review- rospective attention in popular culture dull and often intriguing. ers, especially for Catholic periodicals with the pending centennial of the In a chapter on liberation theol- like this one: what you say about what Great War, it has long been overlooked ogy, he digresses into the question of Catholic authors are saying about our by theologians like myself because of priests who fall in love, naming among current cultural reality may someday the wet blanket Pope Pius X threw on them Karl Rahner, the preeminent become fodder for a theological innovation 20th-century Jesuit theologian. He critical construction of in his 1907 encyclical also infers (partly from the 2013 biog- what is not being said, “Pascendi Dominici raphy Francis by Argentine journalist or more precisely, what Gregis,” which un- Elisabetta Piqué) that Bergoglio was is forbidden to be said, equivocally rejected one such priest. The pope has spoken about the same in more modernism and any of a passing infatuation with a wom- theological and ecclesial engagement with it. an he met while a seminarian, but circles. In other words, Even the groundbreak- Kaiser speculates about a 50-year- whether you know it ing social encyclicals of old Bergoglio, in Germany, pursuing or not, you’re more the time were suscepti- a doctorate. The author resumes this than simply comment- ble to its stifling effect. conjecture later in the book, writing, ing about what’s going Theological dis- “No wonder Francis can laugh at him- on in Catholic books. course may have been self: he, a sinner, who is also now a You’re building the truncated, but Cadegan pope.” distinctively American mines a variety of Kaiser’s conclusions are lively and Catholic culture of the sources to reveal public often bracing. In the final chapter, he first half of the 21st century. and private conversations among those argues that Francis is perfectly posi- I learned this lesson from Una in the Catholic literary world awash in tioned to “bury the Church’s thousand- Cadegan’s masterful historical exam- insightful engagement with modern- year-old blunder, the non-biblical un- ination of American Catholic liter- ism. She sifts through book reviews

October 20 , 2014 America 39 and letters to the editor in Catholic two. She begins by naming the sources four pairings which Catholic literary periodicals like America and Catholic and contours of the Catholic aesthetic thinkers used in the classic Catholic World; letters between Catholic ed- that guided critical engagement with “both/and” fashion in order to navi- itors and authors; essays in literary literature and gave rise to the tools gate rather than reject or ignore mod- journals, symposia, annotated anthol- Catholics used ogies and library guides; lecture notes to engage the of Catholic professors; biographies of distinctively From our blog In All Things Catholic writers; and case studies of American litera- I think Christians can and will both help to create new things censorship. In all of these unexpect- ture of the time: and then also pioneer distinctively charitable ways to use ed places, Cadagen exposes a pointed the obligation to them. engagement with theological ques- seek and main- “Faith and Technology: Q& A with Peter Thiel,” by Sean Salai, S.J. tions that shaped the age and primed tain unity with- the pump for the Second Vatican in the American americamagazine.org/things Council—magisterial authority vs. the Catholic com- authority of personal conscience, en- munity through gagement with secular society and the an emphasis on the communal dimen- ernism: individualism/community; orientation of the moral life. sion of human experience, the imper- iconoclasm/orthodoxy, innovation/ Throughout the book, Cadegan ative of literature to awaken moral re- repetition and openness/closure. successfully defends her central thesis sponsibility given the scriptural roots Cadegan’s implicit recognition that that Catholic literary culture stood of story telling and the timelessness of the Catholic Church’s history of cen- squarely in the no man’s land between the Catholic tradition when oriented sorship, particularly in Hollywood modernism and Catholicism and by the Thomistic transcendentals of during this period, provides a signifi- offered a space for Catholics to en- goodness, truth and beauty. She then cant counter-argument to her thesis counter self-reflectively and embrace maps the contours of the theological in one of the most fascinating sections distinctively the tensions between the challenges of modernism and identifies of the book. Here she joins others in the field of American Catholic history in offering a detailed account of the way censorship actually functioned in the lives of all sorts of American Catholics—bishops, publishers, pastors, writers, readers, movie-goers— during this period. Pulling on her previously explicat- ed Catholic aesthetic, as well as a variety of case studies and interviews, she demonstrates how even in an assumed anti-intellectual climate of censorship, American Catholics engaged in literary culture created a “flourishing rhetoric of individual responsibility and communal solidarity that helped to bridge the gap between Counter- Reformation church discipline and modern American understandings of the mature ethical self.” Since it is the first of its kind to consider this historical period from a Catholic literary perspective, All Good Books Are Catholic Books is a must read for cultural historians; for theologians of liturgical, aesthetic or fem- inist persuasions; for literary scholars

40 America October 20, 2014 of American modernism or American Catholicism; or for those with even the faintest of memories of the after- math of this period in the American Catholic Church. Ever wonder how the Legion of Decency exercised so much authority during the “Golden Age of Hollywood” as to command the recitation of a pledge after sermons in parishes around the country and to dictate the fate of Roberto Rossellini’s 1950 film “The Miracle” because of his affair with Sister Mary Benedict (the characters played by Ingrid Bergman) before fading quietly into the lore of American Catholicism? Or how conscience came to trump canon law in creative self-expression as well as religious liberty in the 1960s? Catholic literature and popular culture, and more importantly the people who commented on them, hold the answers. Cadagen reminds us that it was not simply theologians who primed the church’s intellectual pump for Vatican II’s aggiornamento. Those who were writing about writing that engaged modernism also cracked those her- metically sealed windows. Moreover, formation about the application process can be CLASSIFIED found at www.satgtu.org/employment. she broadens our understanding of American Catholic history beyond Books Rosaries the familiar arch of the immigrant Religion & Civility (faith & reason) Together; Rosaries. Beautiful hand-crafted and Italian experience to an equally compelling www.wordunlimited.com. rosaries are available at The Rosary Beads Company. Visit http://rosary-beads.co. Catholic coming of age story set in Positions America’s predominantly Protestant Executive Director Position. The Online Course literary culture. While the plotlines School of Applied Theology (SAT), an affiliate Canon Law 101: 4 online sessions. More info: are similar, new players—cultur- of the Graduate Theological Union in Berkeley, www.ahereford.org/canonlaw. Calif., invites nominations and applications for al commentator Daniel Lord, S.J., the position of Executive Director. We are seek- Motion Picture Herald owner Martin ing an energetic, innovative, and faith-filled lead- Quigley and National Organization of er to advance the vision and mission of SAT. The Want your ad here? Executive Director serves as the chief executive Visit americamagazine.org. Decent Literature head Bishop John officer of SAT and is responsible for advancing Email: [email protected]. F. Noll come to the fore and familiar the organization’s vision, achieving its mission, Call 212-515-0102. providing strategic leadership, ensuring financial figures—like the iconic Jesuits John Ten-word minimum. Rates are per word per issue. and organizational sustainability and oversee- Courtney Murray and William Lynch 1-5 times: $1.50; 6-11 times: $1.28; 12-23 times: ing organizational operations. The Executive $1.23; 24-41 times: $1.17; 42 times or more: $1.12. or Flannery O’Connor and Graham Director reports to the Board of Trustees. Start For an additional $30, your print ad will be posted date: No later than June 15, 2015. A complete Greene—play new roles. on America’s Web site for one week. The flat rate for If all of the good books are indeed position description with qualifications and in- a Web-only classified ad is $150 for 30 days. Catholic, then Cadagen’s is quite Catholic.

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October 20 , 2014 America 41 GENERATION FAITH

42 America October 20, 2014 THE WORD

see and hear the poor among us are two commandments that Judaism taught God’s Interest and Jesus later proclaimed: “You shall Thirtieth Sunday in Ordinary Time (A), Oct. 26, 2014 love the Lord your God with all your Readings: Ex 22:20-26; Ps 18:2-51; 1 Thess 1:5-10; Mt 22:34-40 heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind”; and “You shall love your “If your neighbor cries out to me, I will listen” (Ex 22:26) neighbor as yourself.” The first com- mandment, known as the Shema (Dt n the covenant code in Exodus, in incumbent upon Christians. This con- 6:4), asks us to love God fore- which Moses reveals God’s prohi- cern also requires constant calibration, most; but if the love of God bitions and commandments to the for individuals and societies have I is our foremost guide, we will Israelites, we quickly learn that God is blind spots that block our vision shape ourselves in the im- a God who hears the voices of the pow- and hide from us the poor among age of the one we love, God, erless, who sees the needs of the poor. us. These impede our moral whose commandments allow The terms of the covenant directed the vision precisely in those areas us to see our neighbor as Israelites not to “wrong or oppress a where change is needed and God sees: as a beloved friend resident alien” or “abuse any widow or affect our ability to see clearly of God. When we see our orphan.” And “if you take your neigh- what God has demanded neighbors as God sees them, bor’s cloak in pawn, you shall restore of us. we will treat them with the it before the sun goes down; for it may I passed over just such clarity of God’s compassion. be your neighbor’s only clothing to use a command from this sec- These questions regard- as cover; in what else shall that person tion of the covenant code, sleep?” God offers the poor divine pro- whose intent is also to tection, a protection that is accompa- guard the poor and weak: “If nied by promises of judgment on those you lend money to my people, to the PRAYING WITH SCRIPTURE who exploit the needy. God says, “If poor among you, you shall not deal you do abuse them, when they cry out Examine yourself. Has reading the Bible with them as a creditor; you shall helped you to discover blind spots in your to me, I will surely heed their cry,” and not exact interest from them.” It is moral vision?

“if your neighbor cries out to me, I will not my intention to offer a discourse a. d u nne tad art: listen, for I am compassionate.” on what level of interest constitutes Amy-Jill Levine and Douglas usury, whether church teaching re- Knight write of God’s care for those in garding usury has changed or wheth- ing our neighbors go beyond asking need, saying: “Certainly not all widows er this teaching applied only to loans what is the letter of the law regarding were poor, and neither were all for- among Israelites. charging interest, or what is the least eigners and orphans. But they were the Instead I will simply ask some ques- I can do for the immigrant who lives most vulnerable members of the com- tions. Does exacting interest from the among us. But how can I hear what munity. Rather than leave their care to poor lead to the same sort of moral God hears? How can I see my neigh- the moral compass of those who were outrage today that oppressing the or- bors as God sees them? When we are better off or to the compassionate in- phan and the widow do? What sort of inspired by the word of God to imi- dividual, the law insists that all mem- interest do payday loan companies and tate God’s care for the weak and vul- bers of society bear responsibility for credit card companies charge? How nerable, to hear the cries God hears the care of its neediest members” (The much debt is required to attend “for and to see people as God sees them, Meaning of the Bible). profit” colleges or even, it must be said, then our blindness falls away. We are That we adopt God’s generous care nonprofit universities, which require transformed by God, who desires us for the neediest among us and not turn massive loans for most students? How to care for all among us who are in away from those most vulnerable is well is our financial system giving at- need, not just because particular laws tention to the poor? govern us but because the love of God John W. Martens is an associate professor of theology at the University of St. Thomas, St. Supporting all of these particular and neighbor burns in us. Paul, Minn. Twitter: @BibleJunkies. demands of the compassionate God to John W. Martens

October 20 , 2014 America 43