PRESIDENT'S PAGE

r: Lay Leadership'

Gerard V. Bradley 0 Timothee, depositum [ustodi, devitans profanas vocum novitates et oppositiones falsi nominis scientiae, quam quidam profitentes circafidem aberraverunt. Gratia vobiscum. 1 ad Timotheum 6 ituigium authenticam, the new Vatican document on transla- tion principles, just arrived. It supplies the occasion for a short reflection on the efficacy of papal documents addressed, as this one is, principally to bishops. And, in turn, a reflection on the laity's vocation. Fellowship There are more of these documents than you might think. You might think of the Instruction a few years ago concerning "the col- laboration of the lay f: . riests." Ex Corde of Catholic Ecclesiae,too, was . hops, and con- cerned their of these two documents, I effect in- tended by Scholars Do that VeritatisSplendor, too, all the bishops Catholic Church Regarding CertJ s of the Church's Moral Teaching"? VS responded, the "genuine crisis" in teaching-in seminaries and i f Quarterly theology-the foundations of moral theology. T ed his VOLUME 24, NUMBER 2 SPRING 2001 brothers in the Episcopate, with whom he sharec of safe- guarding sound teaching, to greater vigilance 0 the truths of the faith. CONTENTS VS has doubtlessly stirred much PRESIDENT'S PAGE: It has done good. But I doubt it has had Lay Leadership I author. ARTICLES: The newly received document on principles of translation has to Historical Perspectives on have significant effects. Not necessarilyb~tause the bishops will em- the Human Person 2 brace it. They might. But even if they do not, the Holy See retains a The Vocation of a Catholic TeacherlScholar 8 trump card: withholding needed approval for new translations. The fact remains that, bishops do not seem receptive to The Catholic Lawyer: Justice and the Incarnation 17 a particular papal call to c orward the new evangelization. And, let's face it: there is ve e that the Vatican can, or even should, do MEMBERSHIPMATTERS 21 in the face of opposition (often expressed through inaction) ttom a AROUNDTHE CHURCH 23 united, wealthy conference. Think of Germany. Cettainly ANNOUNCEMENT 26 with regard Ecclesiaiethe Vatican has done all can. The # DOCUMENTATION 27 fate of the papal constitutio . ishops, BOOK REVIEWS 31 and administrators (and faculty) ld pray for BOARD OF DIRECTORS 39 What else can we do? The rest of us must "Increase, even if it seems that, sometimes, episcopal authority has decreased. This is especially true for lay persons working in Catholic apostolates. Weare used to being the leaven. Now it looks like we are being called to ever greater leadership in our various undertakings. Always with the faith, and never contrary to the directives of our shepherds, it is indeed-as the Vatican Council suggested-the era of the laity. Whether we like it or not. ffi ISSN 1084-3035 .

:o.-~ ... f: ARTICLES

Historical Perspectives on the Human Person

Elizabeth Fox-Genovese showered upon us, preferring to assume that they are Eleanore Raoul Prcifessor ours by right or by our own merit. Our compla- Emory University cency and self-satisfaction constitute the very essence What is man that thou art mindful of him? of the culture of death against which the Holy Fa- And the son of man that thou visit est him? ther warns us, for our boundless self-absorption blinds us to the value of others. For thou has made him a little lower than the angels, and thou has crowned him with glory and honour. Caught in a dangerous paradox, our age simulta- (Psalm 8:4-5) neously celebrates the unique value of human life and, however inadvertently, dismisses it as of no ontemporary Western society-the consequence. The life we are told to value is our most materially advanced in the his- own, and the more highly we value it the more eas- tory of the world-stands alone and ily we are tempted to discount the value of the lives without precedent in the high value it of others. Preoccupation with self at the expense of attributes to the individual person. the other is nothing new: Cain established the model Simultaneously, it stands exposed for the cheapness at the dawn of time. But our culture is breaking new in which it holds human life. Individual rights, hu- ground in its attempt to establish selfishness as a man rights, self-esteem, and related concepts domi- higher principle, swathed in words like choice and nate our culture's sense of the good that must at all fulfillment and autonomy. costs be defended. Yet unborn babies, terminally ill In historical perspective, fixation upon the rights patients, or those who simply "dis" others in the and unique value of the individual is something new. street are deemed expendable. Some lives embody Until very recently, societies, including the most the essence of all that is admirable and worthy; oth- ers are to be brushed aside as mere encumbrances. sophisticated societies of the Western world, have primarily regarded individual persons as members- What remains to be explained is who gets to decide and often as representatives-of groups, notably as which lives deserve respect and protection and members of families, but also of clans, tribes, social which do not? Which of us has a right to decide castes or estates, religious orders, or various trades or which lives are worth living? professions. The preferred forms of classification The well known passage from the eighth Psalm have varied, but the prevailing principle has held with which I began reminds us of the unique place firm. A human person has been understood as the human person enjoys in creation, delicately someone's daughter, father, wife, or cousin-one poised between God, whom we are made to serve, link in a kinship that defines all of its members. and other living creatures-animals, fish, and birds- Christianity's insistence that God loves each in- over whom God has granted us dominion. Contem- dividual broke radically with these patterns. Chris- porary culture, certainly in the United States and tianity affirmed the value of each particular person Europe, readily embraces the idea of man's domin- independent of ethnicity or sex or social standing, ion, but it shows markedly less enthusiasm for the pronouncing, in the words of St. Paul, that "There is idea that we rank lower in the hierarchy of merit neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither bond nor than the angels and God. Our age has lost the free, there is neither male nor female: for ye are all Psalmist's marvel at the unique blessings that God has one in Christ Jesus." (Galatians3:28.) More, in af- firming the value of each, Christianity also affirmed Editors Note: This paper waspresentedin February 2001 at the National CatholicBioethicsCenter's annual workshopfor the value of all. In other words, Christianity viewed bishops. Thanks to Dr. Edward Furton, publications director, the human person as both particular and embodied and Dr. John Haas, President, for permission to print it, and and as universal. The parable of the Good Samaritan to Elizabeth Fox-Genovese for sharing it with our readers. was intended to teach Jesus' followers that the com-

.. FCS Quarterly. Spring 2001 v

mand to treat others with charity extended beyond human freedom has heightened the dignity and the members of one's own ethnic group. improved the lives of countless persons throughout In Christian perspective, it was not possible truly the globe. The same history that has brought us the to value any single person without valuing all per- progressive discrediting of ties among persons has sons or to value all persons (humanity) without valu- promoted a remarkable improvement in our under- ing each single person. In both respects, Christianity standing of the intrinsic value and dignity of each broke with the tribalism of Ancient Israel and of person. During recent centuries in many parts of the much of the rest of the world, establishing new stan- world, we have witnessed the abolition of slavery, an dards for the freedom each person should enjoy and improvement in the position of women, greater for equality among persons. Christians did not, how- attention to the discrete needs of children, respect ever, immediately attempt to impose their standards for the needs and dignity of those who suffer from of spiritual dignity and spiritual equality upon rela- various handicaps, and more. As Pope John Paul II tions among persons in the world. Over time, Chris- has emphasized, these gains are not trivial, and on no tianity powerfully influenced the character ofWest- account must we countenance their reversal. The ern culture and even political life, but it owed much puzzle remains that they have been accompanied of its success to its remarkable ability to adapt to by-and many would argue have depended upon- prevailing institutions and relations. a hardening of attitudes towards the intrinsic value of Only with the birth of modernism, notably in all human persons and, especially, towards the bind- the dangerous-if widely celebrated-cogito ergosum ing ties among persons. of Rene Descartes, did the disembedding of the indi- These two tendencies confront us with a para- vidual person from the collectivity that grounded his dox. On the one hand, we have a decreasing respect identity begin to be viewed as a positive good. And for the bonds among persons, and on the other an only with the Enlightenment and the great eigh- increasing commitment to the value and rights of teenth-century revolutions, notably the French previously oppressed groups of persons. On the one Revolution of 1789, did the ideal of individual free- hand we have an inflated concern for the rights and dom attain preeminence over all forms of depen- sensibilities of the individual, on the other a callous dence and connection. In the waning years of the disregard for any life that, in any way, inconve- eighteenth century a political and intellectual van- niences us. This paradox challenges us to rethink our guard proclaimed freedom the absolute antithesis of understanding of the human person, and especially slavery and promulgated an understanding of free- the nature of the freedom and rights to which each dom that favored the severing of all binding ties of us is entitled. A misguided understanding of free- among human beings. Freedom in this lexicon dom will inescapably shape our understanding of the means autonomy, self-determination, and indepen- claims oflife. Presumably, if one values human life, dence from binding obligations, and this is the idea one opposes its willful termination, especially in its of freedom that has triumphed in our own time. most vulnerable forms. Yet many of those who claim Significantly, it originated as a radically secular idea, to value human life view abortion, assisted suicide, one frequently launched as a direct challenge to and even infanticide as necessary to its God. At the extreme, its consequences have been defense. For only the right to secure liberation from disastrous, but its most chilling implications may yet unwanted obligations protects the individual's free- lie ahead. For it is the pursuit of this ideal of freedom dom, which many view as the essence of any life that has brought us sexual liberation, abortion, as- worth living. sisted suicide, and an entire battery of assaults upon There is nothing surprising in the inclination to human life. celebrate freedom as freedom from rather than free- Before focusing upon the ways in which the dom for, with the "from" understood as oppression radical pursuit of freedom has cheapened the value and the "for" understood as service. Throughout of the human person, however, it is necessary to history, the majority oflabor has been unfree and acknowledge its many benefits. For the pursuit of the majority of women have been subordinated to

FCS Quarterly. Spring 2001 . ARTICLES

men-initially their fathers or uncles and, later in twentieth century. Doctors argued that women's life, their husbands or brothers. The Old Testament bodies made them unfit for college, psychologists and Classical literature both abound with examples. argued that women had a distinct criminal disposi- Agamemnon sacrificed his daughter, Iphigenia, to tion, lawyers argued that women should not be ad- further his prospects for victory in the war against mitted to the bar, countless people argued that Troy. Until recent times, Hindus in India practiced women should not vote, and virtually everyone as- suttee whereby a widow was burned upon her sumed they should not engage in armed combat. Yet husband's funeral pyre. Even in England, the sale of within the comparatively brief span of a century or wives, although increasingly rare, persisted into the so, feminists began to convince growing numbers of nineteenth century. Similarly, serfdom and slavery people of the justice of their cause, and, in so doing, persisted throughout the world well into the nine- to convince many that the natural differences be- teenth century and may still be found in some tween women and men had been vastly exaggerated. places today. We would be rash to minimize the magnitude of Under conditions in which even upper-class their extraordinary rhetorical victory, which signifi- women rarely owned property in their own names cantly expanded the meaning of individual freedom and poor women might be beaten or bullied at will, and ultimately resulted in a reconfiguration of the it is not surprising that the early proponents of moral landscape. By rhetorically extending the abso- woman's rights embraced the analogy of slavery to lute opposition between freedom and slavery to the describe their own condition and spoke of breaking condition of women, feminists had declared any the chains of their bondage. In practice, the women limitation upon a woman's freedom-including who were most likely to protest women's condition those imposed by her own body-as illegitimate. were from the urban middle class and sought to en- The campaigns against slavery and the subordination joy the same advantages of education and profes- of women both embodied a worthy-indeed neces- sional careers as their brothers. Such women nor- sary-commitment to increasing the dignity ac- mally benefited from codes of middle-class gentility corded to all human persons and the equality among and did not suffer from the horrors of abuse, sexual them. Both, in other words, represented what we slavery, oppression, denigration, and desertion that may reasonably view as moral progress. Yet both plagued less privileged women-although some did. tacitly embraced the flawed premise that to be au- But they readily depicted their lot as indistinguish- thentic, freedom must be unlimited, or better, un- able from that of their less fortunate sisters. By the conditional, which, by a sleight of hand, reduced the early twentieth century, the more radical were be- ties among persons to another form of bondage. ginning to argue that marriage and childbearing were Throughout the modern period, material change the true seedbeds of women's oppression, and to has undergirded and, arguably, accelerated changing lobby for expanded legalization of divorce and artifi- attitudes towards the human person. Modern urban cial contraception. societies provide many more possibilities than tradi- Throughout these and related efforts, feminists tional rural societies for people to live alone. In rural continued to describe their goal as freedom from society the interdependence of persons constitutes bondage and to claim their right to be regarded and. the very fabric oflife, and none can survive without treated as full human persons. Most people initially mutual cooperation. Typically, rural societies also responded to the women's movement with hostility favor a clear articulation of authority whereby one or incredulity, but few, even among opponents, member of the family or group assumes primary claimed that women did not count as full human responsibility for and direction of the rest. Typically, persons. They simply insisted that they were very that person has been the male head of a household, different persons than men and, consequently, in family, or tribe. What modern critics are loath to need of a different social situation. The conviction understand is that rarely-if ever-could such a head that women and men, although both fully human exercise his authority without the tacit or active persons, differed by nature persisted well into the collaboration of those over whom he presides.

PCS Quarterly. Spring 2001 , . l ~ We should, nonetheless, err in romanticizing disadvantaged women and that abuse is the rule traditional societies, although many find it tempting rather than the exception. to do so. These were worlds in which life for many The acceleration of economic progress trans- could often be "nasty, brutish, and short." They formed the rural world, mainly by moving the eco- were worlds in which cruelty among persons nomic center of gravity to cities, which offered new abounded and in which death stalked young and old possibilities for people to live in smaller groups or alike. Not for nothing did the Palestine of Jesus' time even on their own. Drawing ever larger numbers of abound with cripples and lepers, hemorrhaging people into wage labor, capitalism insinuated itself women and desperately ill children. Population has into the interstices of families and households, rein- increased in the modern world because modern forcing the culture's growing tendency to encourage medicine has done so much to control disease and members to see themselves as individuals. defer death, more than because of an increase in the Capitalism's dependence upon an accelerating con- number of births. The prevalence of disease and the sumption of material goods furthered the cultural likelihood of early death have led many traditional emphasis upon the psychological goods of au- rural societies to value highly women's fertility and tonomy, satisfaction of desire, and instant gratifica- the birth of children. Here too, however, romantici- tion. Secular psychology contributed mightily to the zation misleads, for even groups that welcome births transformation of "I want" from evidence of selfish- might turn around and kill infants they could not ness or greed to a sign of mental health. In the same support. Traditional societies, even when Christian, spirit, it declared war on the idea of sin, which it did not necessarily manifest "respect for life" in the denounced as nothing more than a sadistic campaign sense we use the phrase today. They did, however, to thwart people's enjoyment oflife. Multinational know that their agricultural and military survival corporations have powerfully supported, and indeed, depended upon sustaining their population or in- advanced these tendencies, for their interests do not creasing it. benefit from stable families, but rather from a large These traditional rural worlds did not ordinarily pool of unencumbered employees, who are prepared celebrate the unique attributes of each person as we to live with their cell phones always turned on and a are wont to do today, but they did value each person suitcase always packed. as an essential member of the family, household, or Some modern scholars have delighted in expos- community. No family could function for long ing the ways in which traditional societies held per- without a mother or appropriate female substitute, sons in thrall to repressive norms, primarily fostered typically a maiden aunt, and widowers with small by punitive, misogynist, patriarchal, and hierarchical children were normally quick to remarry. Similarly, forms of Christianity-especially Catholicism. Oth- it could not function for long without a strong se- ers have tended to romanticize folk and working- nior male who, with or without assistance, could class cultures, presenting them as more spontaneous bring in crops, care for livestock, and defend against and less repressed than the middle-class culture of the predators. Personal autonomy did not figure as the modern urban world. Both views contain a measure summum bonum among rural folk for whom interde- of truth and a measure of falsehood. But both, how- pendence provided the best guarantee of family or ever inadvertently, suggest a greater emphasis upon community survival, Modern critics of those bonds the bonds among persons than commonly prevails frequently focus upon the injustice of specific forms today. Whether one views the traditional world as of subordination: slave to master, wife to husband, good or bad-or, more plausibly, a mixture of children to parents. But in repudiating the injustice both-it was a world in which people developed a of women's subordination to men, for example, they sense of themselves as persons as a function of their end by attacking all binding ties as obstacles to relations with others, often beginning with their women's liberation, not just specific abuses, which relation to God. Nor were these attitudes unique to cry out for uncompromising repudiation. The rea- Christians. In different versions, they prevailed soning seems to be that binding ties have always among Jews, Muslims, Hindus, and Confucians, as

PCS Quarterly. Spring 2001 III J ill J ARTICLES h well as among adherents to various forms of polythe- Those who fear the destructive potential of ism, animism, and other systems of belief Western cultures do not err. It is child's play to Here, I do not wish to engage in debates about muster examples of rampant consumerism and what the deeper character of the various faiths but simply Karl Marx called the fetishism of commodities, to underscore that all have shared a sense of that the which today seems to be degenerating into the individual could only prosper in union with the commodification of personal relations. Even the group. These were faiths that viewed the human most casual acquaintance with American media- person as an integral part of a larger group whose especially television-reveals a world that has all but needs would take precedence over the specific dehumanized persons by severing the binding con- person's whims and desires-faiths that promoted nections among them. For all the talk of the warmth unambiguous messages about good and bad, that and support of substitute, alternate, or proxy families, attributed little importance to individual subjectivity, American culture depicts a world in which family and that had little interest in progress. Like all others, represents no more than a person's current choice, traditional oral cultures do change, but as they lack which may easily be replaced by another choice. We written records, they do not register change but have never lacked for critics of the symptoms of this I I rather absorb it into "the way things have always culture of easy-come, easy-go, and recent years may I been." Modern secular cultures, in sharp contrast, even have seen an increase in the defense of mar-

, I focus upon the dynamism of change and the superi- riage, attacks upon the harm that divorce wreaks

1 I ority of the "new." upon children, and defense of the value of modesty Traditional societies' conservatism with respect and premarital chastity. We have dedicated groups to the rights and independence and of the individual, and individuals who oppose abortion and so-called ,of like their strong commitment to holding persons to assisted suicide, and we are apparently seeing an ap- \ prescribed social and familial roles, represented above preciable increase in the number of Americans who all a commitment to the survival and internal coher- have doubts about the desirability of legal abortion, ence of the family or community. In this spirit, they especially after the first trimester. What we lack- 11 rejected individual judgment as an appropriate guide and the lack is devastating-is an insistent, concerted for behavior, not least because they fully recognized counter-offensive. We lack it because more often 1 the disruptive power of individual passions, notably than not even those who oppose many specific forms anger and desire. Saint Paul said it clearly in Galatians of social decomposition accept the main premise that (5:13-15): "For you have been called to liberty, underlies them all, namely the primacy of the conve- brethren; only do not use liberty as an occasion for nience and comfort of the individual. - sensuality, but by charity serve one another. For the Recently, I had the opportunity to speak with a whole law is fulfilled in one word: Thou shalt love group of faithful Catholic women, many of whom ]: they neighbor as thyself But if you bite and devour attend daily Mass, all of whom rightly consider one another, take heed or you will be consumed by themselves devout. Blessed with considerable mate- ~; one another." Mindful of the dangers of strife rial comfort, they have all given generously to the within families and among neighbors, traditional parish for decades, and would all consider themselves societies might enforce their convictions through loyal supporters of the Church. During my talk, I methods that seem repressive or even brutal today. mentioned my growing horror at abortion as one of Even the more rigid, however, did not often rely the important elements in my own conversion to upon the extreme measures that some contemporary Catholicism. When we broke into informal conver- groups have been known to use, such as killing girls sation over lunch, one of the women drew me aside who try to attend school. Today's extremes, as Ber- because she wanted me to know that notwithstand- nard Lewis, the great authority on Islam, has argued, ing her respect for the teachings of the Magisterium, primarily embody a panicky reaction against what if she had a thirteen-year old daughter who was im- are perceived as the excesses of the disintegration and pregnated during a rape, she would whisk her off to t decadence of contemporary Western society. an abortionist before you could say "boo." Startled, p

(8 PCS Quarterly. Spring 2001

-- . Ir

I responded, "And what if she were twenty-three disconnected from others whom she can see only as and finishing law school?" She looked startled and objects to be manipulated or obstacles to be cleared suddenly abashed. away. An intelligent woman, my acquaintance readily Christianity led the way in promoting a view of understood my point that, with each passing day, we each person as valuable, unique, beloved, and en- Catholics seem to be finding it easier to acquiesce in dowed with freedom. Yet Christianity also presup- the logic of the secular world. The results are disas- posed that each person derived meaning from rela- trous for our understanding of the human person and tions with others-that the very essence of our ability to sustain binding relations with others. personhood lay in the recognition of the equal We have too readily acquiesced in the secular view personhood of the other. Thus, the Christian ideals of the human person as, above all, an individual who of the value and freedom of each individual coex- is fundamentally disconnected from other individu- isted comfortably with a culture that placed a much als. The disconnected individual may enter into rela- higher value on the group than the individual, who tions with others, but the relations remain contrac- was primarily understood as a member of the group. tual, subject to termination at the choice of either The Reformation placed a new emphasis on the party. Such instrumental relations are bad enough for individual, but Luther, Calvin, and their heirs re- adults, but they are disastrous for children, not to mained tied to a communal ethos. Their doctrine of mention the handicapped, the unborn, and the ter- Sola Scriptura, however, opened the way for a disas- minally ill. More, they are in direGt contradiction to trous slide into a rising secular bourgeois individual- the teachings and spirit of our faith. For how are we ism that, in our time, has largely overwhelmed the to understand Jesus' repeated commands that we protestant Churches and-let us admit frankly-is love one another as ourselves, if not as a command now threatening our own. For as individualism to recognize that our own personhood depends gradually triumphed over the collective values of upon our recognition of the other. In this sense, the traditional culture, it did so in radically secular terms modern era has not merely transformed the idea of and usually in direct rebellion against the Church. the person, it has effectively abandoned it in favor of This history has left us a dangerous and insidious the subjective individual. legacy, for the individualism that spearheaded a The irony of our situation is painful. In historical broad cultural revolt against the teachings of the perspective, we appear to place a higher value on the Church also insinuated itself into the thinking of individual-as an individual-than any previous Christians, including Catholics. The goods that indi- society, yet we increasingly view the individual as vidualism purported to otter are almost irresistibly essentially a subjective being whose will and desires seductive: tolerance of the behavior of others; de- should determine what he or she is due. Only in this light in bodies and sexuality; acceptance of oneself, spirit would it be so easy to present an unborn complete with flaws; the legitimacy of desire; and on baby-and, for some people, one that has been born and on. Consequently, any attempt to oppose or as well-as nothing more than an obstacle to its criticize them seems ungenerous, judgmental, and mother's freedom to pursue the goals she has chosen. intolerant. Who am I to tell another how to live his Rather than emphasizing the mother's obligation to or her life? What gives me the right to impose puni- the human life she is carrying, our culture increas- tive values upon another? ingly insists upon her right to be free of it. The In Writings on an Ethical Life, Peter Singer reaffirms mother's right to choose thus negates the unborn his argument that "the life of a fetus...is of no greater child's right to live, and by claiming this right to deny value than the life of a non-human animal at a similar the personhood of another, the mother negates her level of rationality, self consciousness, awareness, ca- own. No longer a person whose being, sense of self, pacity to feel, etc., and that since no fetus is a person, and place in the world depend upon her relations no fetus has the same claim to life as a person." This with others, beginning with her primary relation reasoning, Singer continues, necessarily applies "to the with God, the woman becomes an isolated individual, newborn baby as much as to the fetus." Thus, if we

PCS Quarterly. Spring 2001 . ARTICLES

but tree ourselves from the" emotionally moving but does our purported and seductive solicitude for the strictly irrelevant aspects of the killing of a baby, we freedom of each individual mask the ominous ten- can see that the grounds for not killing persons do not dency in our Western societies to objectify the very apply to newborn infants."! individuals we pretend to celebrate. Substituting Singer's chilling perspective exposes the ultimate rights for mutual bonds, we are substituting the indi- logic of the emphasis upon the individual's right to vidual for the human person, thereby freeing our- choose, for in Singer's world, the individual may first selves to deny the humanity of others. Thus does the decide what counts as life before deciding between slaughter of the innocents become "a woman's right life and death. By this sinister logic, the choices of to choose." ffi

rational individuals may never be judged evil, for 1 Quoted in Presbyterians Pro-Life News (Fall 2000): 3; they are always choosing life as they define it. Thus Pres Pro Life@;;ompuserve.com.

The Vocation of a Catholic Teacher/Scholar

William E. May his love, fully reveals man to himself, and brings to Michael]. McGivney Prifessor if Moral Theology light his most high calling" (Gaudium et spes, no. 22). John Paul II Institute for Studies on Marriage and Family In revealing to us our "most high calling" or voca- Washington, D.c. tionJesus summons us to follow him and to be "per- fect, as your heavenly Father is perfect" (Mt 5:48). want to provide a framework for my com- Truly, "the followers of Christ," as Vatican II insists, ments on the vocation of a Catholic teacher/ are" called by God not in virtue of their own works scholar by offering some reflections, first, on but by his design and grace." Moreover, "justified the universal call to holiness addressed to in the Lord Jesus, they have been made sons of God I every Christian, and then on more specific in the baptism offaith and partakers of the divine vocations, and, finally, on the personal vocation of nature, and so are truly sanctified" (ibid). each individual Christian. I will then focus on the This shows us is that the ultimate basis of our vocation proper to the teacher/scholar. vocation to holiness is our being as sons and daughtersif God himself. The basis of this vocation, in short, is The Universal Call to Holiness: what Blessed Josemaria Escriva called our "divine The Vocation Common to All Christians filiation," whereby we are literally divinized, made sharers in the divine nature.! We become God's chil- ne of the most profound truths cen- dren and answer his call to holiness when we accept tral to the teaching of Vatican Coun- the saving revelation given to us through Jesus and cil II is that "it is only in the mystery commit ourselves to be his disciples and to "follow in of the Word made flesh that the his steps." And we do this when we make our baptis- mystery of man becomes clear. mal commitment. Most of us, of course, wen; bap- Adam the first man, was a type of him who was to tized as infants, and others-our godparents-made come, Christ the Lord. Christ, the new Adam, in the this commitment for us, acting on our behalf But, as very revelation of the mystery of the Father and of we matured in the faith, we have made this commit- ment for ourselves, for instance, when we were con- firmed. Moreover, we are asked to renew this com- Editor's note: This paper wasgiven as the keynote address mitment-this commitment to become holy as the at the organizing meeting of the Catholic Teachers' Guild heavenly Father is holy and to take up our cross daily of Toronto, Canada on March 31,2001. V' and follow Jesus-every year during the Easter vigil.

- FCS Quarterly. Spring 2001 ~ And we renew this commitment every time that, something involves "a decisionabout oneself and a through God's grace, we repent of our sins, receive setting of one's own life for or against the Good, for his forgiveness in the sacrament of penance and recon- or against the Truth, and ultimately, for or against ciliation and pledge to amend our lives and walk wor- God" (no. 65). thily of the vocation to which he has called us. But some choices can rightly be called "commit- I have referred to our baptismal" commitment." ments" because they shape a person's entire moral But what is meant by "commitment," and why is life and serve as bounds within which other particu- the baptismal commitment so crucial? A commit- lar everyday choices can be, asJohn Paul II says, ment is a special kind of free choice, the kind that, as "situated and allowed to develop" (VS, no. 65). An Pope John Paul II emphasizes in his Encyclical example of a choice of this kind is the choice to be Veritatis splendor (no. 65), "shape(s) a person's entire married, whereby two persons, a man and a woman, moral life, and serve(s) as bounds within which other freely establish one another as irreplaceable and sub- particular everyday choices can be situated and al- stitutable in each other's lives and commit them- lowed to develop." Thus in order to understand selves to live as "one flesh" and to honor, respect, properly the significance of the baptismal commit- and pursue the "goods" or "blessings" of marriage, ment, we must recognize the existential and religious the goods of handing on and educating human life meaning of free choice. and of faithful conjugal love, and in living out their John Paul II emphasizes this in Veritatissplendor. married life they must see to it that their other, ev- There he eloquently expresses the truth that it is in eryday choices, are integrated into this overarching and through the actions we freely choose to do ev- commitment. ery day of our lives that we determineourselvesandgive But the most fundamental commitment or choice to ourselvesour identity aspersons; we make ourselvesto of the Christian is the baptismal commitment or choice be the persons we are. As the Pope says, "It is precisely to be a Christian, a living member of Christ's body, the through his acts that man attains perfection as man, Church. At the heart of this commitment is a free, as one who is called to seek his Creator of his own self-detennining choice, one made possible only by accord and freely to arrive at full and blessed perfec- God's saving grace, whereby a person freely commits tion by cleaving to him" (no. 71). Our freely chosen himself to live henceforward as a Christian, i.e., as deeds, he continues, "do not produce a change truly a child of God and brother and sister of Jesus, merely in the state of affairs outside of man but, to whose only will, like that of Jesus himself, is to do the extent that they are deliberate choices, they give what is pleasing to the Father. In and through this moral definition to the very person who performs overarching free and self-detennining choice one them, determining his profound spiritual traits" commits oneself to a way oflife, to the following of (ibid.). In developing this great truth John Paul II Christ, to the pursuit of holiness. Through this self- calls attention to a beautiful passage from Saint Gre- detennining choice one commits oneself, as St. Paul gory of Nyssa's Life oj Moses that magnificently puts it, to complete in his own flesh "what is lacking makes clear the existential, religious significance of in Christ's aillictions for the sake of his body, the our daily deeds: Church" (Co11:24). This most fundamental choice "which qualifies the moral life and engages freedom All things subject to change and to becoming never on a radical level before God" is, the pope reminds us, 'J remain constant, but continually pass from one state to another, for better or worse Now, human life is the decision of faith, of the obedienceoffaith (c£ ROM always subject to change; it needs to be born ever 16:26) "by which man makes a total and free self- commitment to God, offering 'the full submission of anew... but here birth does not come about by a for- intellect and will to God as he reveals. "'2 This faith, eign intervention, as in the case with bodily beings...; it is the result of a free choice. Thus we arein a certain which works through IQve (c£ GAL 5:6), comes from the core of man, from his "heart" (c£ Rom 10: 10), sense our own parents, creating ourselves as we will, by our decisions (citedin VS, no. 71). whence it is called to bear fruit in works (c£ MATT 12:33-35; LK 6:43-45; ROM 8:5-10; GAL 5:22) (VS, Thus each free choice a person makes to do no. 66).

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To carry out this fundamental commitment a know we ought not commit these sins if we are to Christian must try to integrate into it all the choices be fully the persons God wants us to be--his faithful he makes every day o(his life; he carries it out fully and loving children--but we nonetheless continue to only if he makes every choice of every day of his life commit them becausewewant to. conform to it. It is only if he succeeds in doing this that he can in truth become fully the being God More Specific Vocations and wants him to be: a saint. And this is quite a task! Personal Vocation Indeed, it is the basic task of our lives and one im- possible to carry out on our own but possible in, n carrying out their common vocation to with, and through Christ, our best and wisest friend,3 holiness Christians are called to more specific who will enable us to live truly as his disciples if we vocations. These include the states oflife to but ask for his help. which individual Christians are summoned, To summarize this matter in a slightly different some to the priesthood or religious life, oth- way I can say that in and through the choice to be I ers to marriage, and still others to the vocation of baptized, we give ourselves,with the help of God's unmarried men and women in the world. The great grace, the identity of children of God, brothers and majority of Christians are lay people. Their more sisters of Jesus. Our vocation to be holy, to which specific vocation is to seek the holiness to which we commit ourselves in choosing to be baptized, God calls them in the world in which they live. As means fundamentally that weareto becomewhat we Vatican Council II has so clearly taught us, alreadyare: God'sfaithful children,membersif the divine By reason of their special vocation, it belongs to the family, alivewith God's own life, willing to do only what laity to seek the kingdom of God by engaging in tem- ispleasingto theFather. poral affairs and directing them according to God's We know that some kinds of choices are utterly will. They live in the world, that is, they are engaged incompatible with our basic commitment "to be" in each and every work and business of the earth and other Christs. These are the choices to do what is in the ordinary circumstances of social and family life, gravely immoral, to sin mortally. Mortal sin, because which, as it were, constitute their very existence. it is irreconcilable with love of God and neighbor, is There they are called by God that, being led by the spirit of the Gospel they may contribute to the sancti- totally opposed to our baptismal commitment to fication of the world, as from within like a leaven, by holiness. But venial sin, too, although in some way fulfilling their own particular duties. Thus, especially compatible with love of God, is not compatible with by the witness of their life, resplendent in faith, hope, perfect love of God or with the holiness to which and charity, they must manifest Christ to others. It we are called. An analogy may be helpful here. Tell- pertains to them in a special way so to illuminate and ing a "small lie" to one's wife to preserve domestic order all temporal things with which they are so tranquility (e.g., telling your wife that indeed you closely associated that these may be effected and grow did mail the letter she gave you to post when in fact according to Christ and may be to the glory of the you had forgotten to do so) is in some way compat- Creator and Redeemer (Lumen gentium, no. 31). ible with love of your spouse (while adultery is com- pletely incompatible with such love), but it is surely Precisely because lay people work out their vo- not compatible with peifectloveof one's spouse, and cation in the world, "the 'world' thus becomes,asJohn Paul II says, "the place and meansfor the lay faithful to Ii' husbands (and wives) are called to deepen and per- fect their love for one another throughout their lives fulfill their Christian vocation" (Christifideles laici, no. and to root out everything that can mar or block 13). Their vocation to sanctifY themselves and to that love. Similarly, in our common pursuit of per- sanctifY the world, he continues, "ought to be called f~ction, in our efforts to become holy, even as the an essentialand inseparableelement of the new life if bap- heavenly Father is holy, we must root from our lives tism ... [and to be recognizedas] intimately connectedto deliberate venial sin. But, unfortunately, each of us mission and to the responsibility entrusted to the lay has, as it were, his or her favorite venial sins. We faithful in the Church" (ibid, no. 17). saying this, the

- FCS Quarterly. Spring 2001 I-" I

Holy Father echoes the thought ofBlessed]osemaria The Special Vocation of the Catholic Escriva, who insisted that "everyday life is the true Teacher/Scholar setting [place, lugarin Spanish] for your lives as ike other Catholics, Catholic teacher/ Christians... It is in the midst of the most material scholars, who undoubtedly desire, deep things of the earth that we must sanctifY ourselves, within themselves, to be of service to the serving God and all mankind. "4 Blessed] osemaria students entrusted to them, can at times likewise emphasized that we fulfill our vocation to fail, perhaps seriously, to be true to their be holy by sanctifYing our work, sanctifYing our- L vocation as persons called to live out their Christian selves in our work, and sanctifYing others through vocation to holiness in the classroom. In what fol- our work.5 lows I will not be concerned with the more serious Thus a more specific vocation of a Christian failures of teachers to serve their students, betraying incorporates not only the state of life to which he or them by deliberately poisoning their minds, planting she is called-the priesthood, the religious life, mar- seeds of skepticism and cynicism, etc. Rather, after riage, being an unmarried person in the world-but considering some "prior principles" that ought to also the work one freely undertakes to be of service guide a Catholic teacher/scholar in the carrying out to God and neighbor. And one specific kind of work of his vocation, I will focus on the everyday "work" is that of teaching. of the Catholic teacher/scholar that he is called to In addition, God speaks personally to each and sanctifY if he is to become holy and help others to be every Christian-priest, religious, lay person, doctor, holy. I will conclude by briefly considering some of lawyer, construction worker, business man, the "little things" that enter into the life of a teacher-calling him or her to a unique personal teacher/scholar and provide opportunities for fulfill- vocation, inviting him or her to playa unique and ing one's vocation as Christ wants us to. First, how- indispensable role in carrying out his redemptive ever, what "prior principles" are operative in the life work. Vatican Council II insisted that each one of us of a Catholic teacher? has a personal vocation to carry out: "by our faith," the Council Fathers declared, "we are bound all the Prior principles more to fulm these responsibilities [our earthly ones I believe that there are three major principles of this accordingto thevocationofeach as Christians) one" kind. The first is the unity if all truth; the second (a (Gaudium et spes, no. 43). And Pope John Paul II corollary, as it were to the first) isfidelity to the emphasized, in the first encyclical of his pontificate, magisterium of the Church; and the third is the dedication Redemptor hominis, that, "for the whole community of intelligenceto the serviceof Christ. of the People of God and for each member of it As we have seen already, a Catholic's basic com- what is in question is not just a specific 'social mem- mitment is the baptismal commitment, whereby he bership'; rather, for each and every one what is es- freely chooses to live with, in, and for] esus and to sential is a particular vocation We must see first shape his entire life in accord with the saving truths and foremost Christ saying in a special way to each I,t professed by the Church that is the Lord's life-giving member of the community, 'Follow Me'" (no. 71). ~ spouse so that he can become holy, as the heavenly Indeed, one of our important tasks in answering Father is holy. Thus the life of every Catholic, no God's call to holiness is to discern our personal voca- matter what his or her personal vocation may be, is tion and fulfill it.6 meant to be a faithful and ever-deepening unfolding Now let us consider the special vocation of the of this basic commitment. Catholic teacher/scholar.

First prior principle: the unity of all truth The specific vocation of the Catholic teacher/scholar commits him to seek the truth in a special way and to do what lies in his power to communicate truth

FCS Quarterly. Spring2001 . ARTICLES

to the students entrusted to him. The Catholic and bishops have the serious responsibility of feeding teacher/scholar, moreover, comes to his work intel- Christ's flock, of giving them the words of everlast- lectually certain, by virtue of his faith, that specific ing life. It has the God-given authority to settle dis- propositions about human existence are true and of putes that may arise within the Church and to settle utmost importance. Some of these truths, he realizes, questions about the faith and its meaning for human can be shown to be true by human intelligence, for existence.? instance, that man is a person and as such superior in In Veritatis splendor, Pope John Paul II took care kind and not merely in degree to other animals, that to note that the "Magisterium does not bring to the man is free to determine his own life by his own free Catholic conscience truths which are extraneous to choices. Others, he recognizes, cannot be shown to it; rather it brings to light the truths it already ought to be true by unaided human intelligence but God has possess, developing them from the starting point of nonetheless graciously revealed these supremely im- the primordial act offaith" (no. 64). This is a truth portant truths--for example, that human nature has worth pondering. In essence it means that the teach- been wounded by sin but that human persons, by ing of the magisterium is meant to remind us of who sharing in the saving death and resurrection of Jesus we are: God's ownchildren,brothersand sistersof Christ, Christ, God's Son made man, can become truly new led by the Spirit, willing to do only what is pleasing to the creatures, members of the divine family, alive with Father. In short, it is meant to remind us of our vo- God's own life and able, with God's never-failing cation to holiness. help, to live a new kind of life. And he holds that A third prior principle operative in the vocation belief in these truths, although beyond human rea- of a Catholic teacher/scholar is the dedication of his son, is not irrational but reasonable and credible. intelligence to the service of Christ. But the Catholic teacher!scholar's certitude Etienne Gilson, surely one of the greatest Catho- about these truths does not forestall honest inquiry. lic teacher/scholars of the last century, developed His motto is not faith at rest, but faith seeking un- this idea magnificently. Precisely as a teacher/scholar, derstanding--as John Paul II so beautifully shows in a Catholic dedicates his intelligence to Christ. He his encyclical Fideset ratio. He is certain that his faith realizes that if he is to be a good teacher/scholar, cannot be overcome. He knows that his Catholic piety alone is not sufficient. He must discipline him- faith and the certitude of truth acquired in any other self, acquire the skills necessary to achieve learning in way cannot come into conflict, because the font of a given field of inquiry, and devote himself to a life all truth is the one true and holy God who does not of study. "No one, nor anything," Gilson observed, ask his children to deny their humanity and intelli- "obliges the Christian to busy himself with science, gence but wants them to exercise it to the full. art, or philosophy, for other ways of serving God are Thus the first prior principle of the Catholic not wanting; but if that is the way of serving God that teacher/scholar is the unity

- FCS Quarterly. Spring 2001 ~ conform itself to God." But, he continued, "by tak- quick success to the toil of patient enquiry" (no. 6). ing itself as its own end, the intelligence has turned It is the Catholic teacher/scholar's vocation, at least away from God, turning nature with it, and grace in part, to "give cultural expression to his thinking," alone can aid both of them in returning to what is and he cannot rightly do this unless he disciplines really their end, since it is their origin. The 'world' is himself in order to master the subj ect matter he just this refusal to participate in grade which sepa- chooses to teach. This, after all, is the "work" he rates nature from God, and the intelligence itself is of freely undertakes and that he must sanctify if he is to the world insofar as it joins with it in rejecting become holy. How can one do this, how can'one grace."9 turn "the prose of each day into heroic verse," as The Catholic teacher/scholar, in short, rejects Blessed Josemaria put matters,10 if one is not properly the kind of "worldliness" exemplified by prepared for the work he freely chooses to do? Pelagianism, i.e., the pagan and worldly claim that Moreover, not only must the Catholic teacher/ man can redeem himself and perfect himself all by scholar acquire the learning and the skills necessary himself The Catholic teacher/scholar, by dedicating competently to teach in his chosen area, he must his intelligence to Christ, is inspired by the belief continually deepen and enrich this learning and ac- that the primary condition for attaining truth is hu- quire new skills in order to keep abreast with devel- mility and the obedience of faith, which he regards opments in his field of study. At times this may re- not as a restriction on intellectual freedom but as a quire him to gain at least reading knowledge of a wonderful, divine gift opening the human mind to new language or competence in new technological entire realm of truth otherwise inaccessible to it and developments that will help him to communicate at the same time enabling him to more fully under- better with his students. stand the truths that he can grasp by the exercise of his intelligence. Proximate preparation Proximate preparation is preparing first for the spe- The Catholic teacher/scholar's cific courses and then the classes that one is to give at everyday work the times scheduled. If the teacher does not ad- I will consider the following areas: equately prepare his courses and the classes for (1) preparation; (2) classroom presentation; each day, he is not only failing to carry out his God- (3) correcting papers and exams; (4) relations with given and freely chosen vocation but he is also students; and (5) research and publication. cheating his students, robbing them or their parents of money if tuition is paid, and cheating his em- 1. Preparation ployer. Moreover, since emergencies and unforeseen Preparing to teach can be considered as (A) remote; circumstances will inevitably arise that could prevent (B) proximate; and (C) immediate. one from preparing properly for a class, let us say the day before it is scheduled, a Catholic teacher/scholar Remote preparation who wants to carry out his vocation to the best of Remote preparation requires the Catholic teacher, his ability will have the prudence to keep several first of all, to acquire all the competency he can in steps ahead of the class schedule, so that he will not his chosen area. This is absolutely indispensable if be stumbling about or spouting hot air when situa- one is to dedicate one's intelligence to the service of tions of this kind arise. Christ and to pursue holiness oflife in one's work. Preparing classes, particularly if one is just begin- Here it is worth noting that in Fideset ratioPope ning to teach or is going to offer a course he has John Paul II noted with sadness that "many people never taught before, can be very demanding. But stumble through life ... without knowing where they even after a teacher has had years of classroom expe- are going," and that at times "this happens because rience the need to prepare each class properly still those whose vocation it is to give cultural expression exists. One should, perhaps, throwaway one's old to their thinking no longer took to truth, preferring notes, or at least revise them thoroughly in the light

FCS Quarterly. Spring 2001 III ... ~--~ - - ~ - -~ --- --~- ~ ARTICLES

of new knowledge. Not only ought the teacher it, then in honesty he ought to resign his post. assiduously prepare the subject matter to be covered, A second thing to avoid is a failure to speak he ought also adequately consider the way in which loudly enough so that one can be heard or to write it can be best presented to thisparticulargroup if stu- (if this is done on the blackboard) illegibly. Care dents.He realizes, or soon will realize, that modes of must be taken to present the material intelligibly to presentation that "clicked" with one group of stu- the students. dents, are completely out of sync with others, and More positively, any teacher, but above all a careful thought needs to be given to the best way of Catholic teacher/scholar, ought to do everything Ii presenting material. that lies within his power to communicate to the Moreover, even if one has prepared several students a love of learning, particularly of the subject classes in advance, a teacher/scholar conscious of his he is teaching. The teacher, in other words, ought responsibilities and filled with love for his students himself to be in love with learning and love the sub- will take the time, prior to entering the classroom, to ject matter he has chosen to teach. He has obviously review the material at least in his mind, anticipating found something attractive in it or else it hardly difficulties that may arise, devising fresh ways of pre- makes any sense why he would have chosen to mas- senting the material, etc. ter this area of study and seek to communicate it to others. Just as romance in marriage needs to be kept Immediatepreparation alive, so too the teacher must nurture his love of By this I mean how one prepares to enter the class- learning and in particular his love of the subject mat- room and begin the class. In the Gospel according to ter he teaches. Only if he does so can he hope to Matthew we read: "if you bring your gift to the altar pass this love on to his students. and there recall that your brother has anything The Catholic teacher/scholar ought also to be against you, go first to be reconciled with your cheerful in presenting the material. By this I mean brother, and then come and offer your gift" (5:23- that he must help his students to see that learning, 24). Analogously, if as we are about to enter the and particularly learning about this subject matter, classroom, we realize that we are not prepared ad- can be an occasion of joy, of corning to a deeper equately to teach the class scheduled, it would be appreciation of God's goodness and the bonds of better for us to give the students a study period so fellowship that the common pursuit oflearning can that we will not waste their time. I believe that a forge and of the joy that this can bring. The teacher Catholic teacher, prior to entering the classroom, ought not to come across to his students as a crab, as should ask for God's help in presenting the material one who thinks life in general, and teaching, particu- and, if possible, begin the class with a prayer. One larly teaching thesestudents,is a pain, a kind of mar- should remind oneself that classroom teaching, if it is tyrdom. Quite the opposite should be the mood to be integrated rightly into one's baptismal commit- communicated. ment to holiness, must be a work oflove. It cannot Finally, the teacher must be alert to student reac- be a work oflove if one sloppily prepares it and if tion, ready to clarifY difficult matters, patient in an- one does not love the students one is about to teach. swering questions but preventing anyone from mo- nopolizing his attention or leading matters astray, 2. Classroom presentation down dead ends or into irrelevant byways. Here I will be brief. I believe that certain things must be avoided. The first is a boringpresentation. 3. Correcting papers and exams We have all of us suffered through horribly boring This, I believe, is perhaps the hardest task in the classes, and usually they were boring because they teacher's life, but it is absolutely imperative that the were either inadequately prepared, or the teacher teacher carry it out meticulously and carefully. The found the subject matter boring or the job of teach- essential issue here is fairness to the students. It is ing it boring. If a teacher ever becomes bored with necessary to read their papers and exams thorougWy, the subject he is teaching or with the job of teaching and resist any temptation to give a higher or lower ii - FCS Quarterly. Spring 2001 -L. grade than merited because of any feelings toward skills and character traits, none should be the particular students. Some papers and exams will be a teacher's "pet" or special friend. I think that the joy to read and correct-the better ones, others will teacher should be friendly to all his students and, in a drive one to the wall in attempting to make sense of real sense, to be their friend. But teacher and student them, and still others may evoke anger-student must never become chums or buddies. I think that as incompetence and/or laziness. After a while, one one's graduate students come to the end of their begins to know one's students and to know which doctoral studies and when one has been the student's ones will do well and which ones will turn in papers mentor, a particular teacher-student bond can be and exams very difficult to correct an~grade prop- allowed to develop. It may even be possible at this erly. Although no hard and fast rules can be given, I stage to allow the student to address one by one's might suggest that one first correct exams and papers first name, but I believe that it is more prudent to that, one suspects, will be the most challenging to wait until one's student can be regarded as one's correct and grade properly. If one puts them at the "colleague" before allowing him to address one by end, it's possible that one will be in a hurry to get one's first name. It is, I believe, wrong to allow stu- the task over with and fail to give them the attention dents to call one by one's first name. If the Catholic needed for a proper evaluation. teacher is to do his work properly he must maintain I also believe that, ordinarily, particularly for a professional "distance" between himself and his high school, college and university students, one is students. It is not proper for him to become their not properly responding to student papers merely by chums or buddies because this would not honor the giving a grade. One should try to comment on the difference between teacher and student. Familiarity papers, offering constructive criticisms or suggestions can and does breed contempt, and true friendship is for further developing a topic if the paper is quite something far different from familiarity. good. To do this will demand more of the teacher's time and energy, but a Catholic teacher/scholar who 5. Research and publication wants to sanctifY his work, sanctifY himself in it, and Some Catholic teacher/scholars, in order properly to sanctifY others through it, will want to do it. Stu- carry out their vocation, are called to do original dents will deeply appreciate the teacher's efforts in research and publication. I thus wish briefly to ad- this regard. Only in this way will the love that the dress this matter. teacher should have for his students be deepened as it I think the principal thing to avoid is publishing should be. merely for the sake of publishing. In my opinion, many allegedly scholarly journals are filled with junk 4. Relations with students that is a waste of time to read, and at times, particu- It is only natural for teachers to find some students larly because of the "publish or perish" atmosphere easier to get along with than others and find others prevalent in many institutions, one is tempted to get very difficult to handle and still others whom one something published just for the sake of publishing would prefer not to teach at all because of their atti- something. tudes and behavior-and perhaps some students If research and publication is demanded or de- should be expelled. But the Catholic is required to sired, there is plenty to do. The Church needs good respect and indeed love each one of his students, to research and publication, not only in such areas as treat them with dignity and respect, while firmly philosophy, theology, Church history, etc. but in maintaining discipline. every area of human enquiry, for this contributes to It is wrong to treat students "equally," because of the glory of God and the redemption of the world. real differences among them that require different One should select an area for research because of its treatment. But it is absolutely imperative to treat intrinsic interest, its importance in one's field of them are "equitably," that is, justly, fairly, with study and/or to the lives of people today, etc., and consideration and respect. Although some may be an area where one can competently carry out one's "favorite" because of their intellectual and other investigations.

PCS Quarterly. Spring 2001 . - ,.J ARTICLES

In doing research for publication the principal alive with his life, led by his Spirit, obedient to his requirement is honest research and publication. One loving Father. The Catholic teacher/scholar executes must not make claims that are not rooted in the this specific vocation by doing well his work as a truth or that go beyond the evidence and arguments teacher/scholar. Only by sanctifYing this work, sanc- advanced, and this at times is a temptation. More- tifYing himself in it, and sanctifYing others through it over, one must be fair in presenting and particularly will he be faithfuho his baptismal commitment and ). in criticizing the views of persons with whom one become fully the being his Father wills him to be: a disagrees. All too frequently one discovers that a child as faithful to his Father as his only- begotten particular author's position has been caricatured or Son, filled with the Spirit oflife and love. ffi distorted, a straw man has been erected, precisely so that one can, as it were, demolish his opponent. I Endnotes could offer many illustrations of this, but there is no I need to do so. 1. On this see Blessed Josemaria Escriva, Carta, Roma, March 19,

II 1954; cited by Pedro Rodriguez, Vocacion,trabajo,contemplacion (Pamplona: EUNSA, 1986), p. 93; Blessed Josemaria Escriva, "Little" things Friends of God: Homilies byjosemarfa Escrivade Balaguer(New Roch- By "little things" here I do not mean those central to elle, NY: Scepter, 1986), nos. 2, 177, 294. II the Catholic teacher/scholar's work as teacher/ 2. Here John Paul II cites a passage from Vatican Council II's scholar (e.g., preparing classes well, taking care to Dogmatic Constitution on Divine Revelation, Dei Verbum, 5, which in turn cites from Vatican Council's I Dogmatic Constitu- correct a student's misunderstanding) but rather what tion on the Catholic Faith, Dei Filius, Chapter 3. Blessed Josemaria called the "trifling opportunities 3. See St. Thomas Aquinas, Summa theologiae,1-2, q. 108, a. 4, sed that come our way" every dayll-the way we greet contra: "Christus maxime est sapiens et amicus." II others, cope with the frustrations we encounter (traf- 4. Blessed Josemaria Escrivd, "Passionately Loving the World," in fic jams, missing chalk, computer failure, etc. etc.). Conversationswith Msgr.josemarfa Escriva (Manila: Sinag- Tala Pub- lishers, 1985), no. 113. All of these trifling opportunities must be turned into 5. See ibid, no. 55; Christ Is Passing By, no. 46; Friends of God, no. occasions of showing love to others. Indeed, these 9. trifling matters are, as it were, the "oil, the fuel we 6. On the subject of personal vocation see Germain Grisez, The need to keep our flame alive and light shining."12 Way of the Lordjesus, Vol. 1, Christian Moral Principles(Chicago: Blessed Josemaria says that one of the greatest dan- Franciscan Herald Press, 1983), pp. 559-561; 673-676. gers we face in fulfilling our vocation to be saints in 7. On this see Dei Verbum, no. 10, and Lumen gentium, no. 25. the midst of the world lies in imagining that "God 8. Etienne Gilson, The Intelligencein the Serviceof Christ the King (New Rochelle, N.Y.: Scepter Booklets, n.d.), Booklet # 167. cannot be here, in the things of each instant, because This essay originally appeared in Gilson's Christianity and Philosophy they are so simple and ordinary."13 Great holiness, (New York: Scribner's, 1939), pp. 103-125. References here are to the founder of Opus Dei rightly noted, "consists in the Scepter Booklet reprint. The passage cited is from p. 16. carrying out the 'little' duties of each day."14 9. Ibid. p. 9. 10. Blessed Josemaria Escriva, Christ Is Passing By, no. 50. Conclusion 11. Homily, "The Richness of Everyday Life," in Friends of God, no. 9, p. 6. The vocation of a Catholic teacher/scholar is a spe- 12. Ibid., no. 41, p. 36. ~ cific way ofliving out the common Christian voca- 13. Blessed Josemaria, Homily "Toward Holiness," in Friends of tion to holiness, a vocation given to every Christian God, no. 313,pp. 271-272. when he was baptized and freely choose to be a 14. See The Way, nos. 813-830. Christian, a follower of Jesus, his brother or sister,

I

I iu IIt t. - FCS Quarterly. Spring 2001 .. BaccalaureateMass Rljlection The Catholic Lawyer:Justice and the Incarnation

John M. Breen gone to brunch with your parents or friends. But Assistant Prcifessor you chose to come here because you see that your Loyola University Chicago School of Law faith and your chosen profession are related. They are connected in some fashion. This morning I would like to share with you deeply appreciate being given the opportu- some of my reflections on this connection, on the nity to share my thoughts with you today at relationship between the practice of the Catholic this Baccalaureate Mass. In offering this re- faith and the practice oflaw.! The first thing that flection, I would like to say something that is can be said about this relationship is that it is multi- worth hearing for everyone here, but in par- I faceted. Indeed, there are so many connections that ticular I would like to address the members of the we couldn't discuss them all even if we had the time. graduating class. I would like to focus, therefore, on two connections This is a truly joyful occasion: the day you that I think are especially pertinent to your future graduate from law school. I hope you know that work as attorneys. everyone here, your family and friends, the faculty, The first of these connections is your responsibil- staff, and administration of the Law School and the ity to see that justice is done within our legal sys- University, are proud of you and of your accom- tem.2 Justice is of course concerned with matters of plishments. Weare happy to be with you and to right and wrong, good and evil. Justice is the right share your joy as we celebrate this day. ordering of things, the right relationship among This celebration begins here, with our celebra- people within society, and between human beings tion of the Mass. We are commemorating and cel- and God. Ultimately the justice that each of us owes ebrating the learning you have gained and the sacri- to one another is love,3 and the justice to which God fices you have made during the past three or four calls us is communion with Him in heaven. years oflaw school by celebrating and commemorat- The justice of our legal system is a little different. ing the sacrifice of the Lord Jesus, the Divine It doesn't set its sights quite so high. It is still con- Teacher who fulfilled the law perfectly by embracing cerned with right and wrong, but it conceives the the Cross. In the life and person of Jesus, given to us question almost entirely in procedural terms. Thus, in the Gospel and in the Eucharist, we have some- justice in our legal system is primarily concerned with one to whom, no matter how educated we become, ensuring that the proper rules have been followed.4 no matter how many degrees we accumulate, we can This emphasis on rules and procedures might lead you always return and learn something new, and mean- to believe that justice really isn't your concern, that it ingful, and wonderful to behold. is an ethereal, other-worldly concept which you may I think it would be fair to say that you see some have talked about in law school, but which has no connection between your faith and your legal educa- bearing on the "real world" of practicing lawyers. tion, otherwise you would not be here today. You Make no mistake, nothing could be farther from certainly weren't required to come to the Baccalau- the truth. Every day when you go to work as a law- reate Mass. You could have skipped it and stayed yer, justice should be on your mind. For some of home this morning and slept in, or you could have you this will be easy: for the prosecutor seeking to incarcerate a brutal rapist, or the defense attorney This article is based on a riflection deliveredfollowing the representing an individual wrongly accused of a reading if the Gospel at the Baccalaureate Mass celebrated on crime or whose rights have been violated by the May 22, 1999 at Madonna della Strada Chapel, Loyola state. But justice is also at stake even where the University Chicago. competing interests in public safety and individual

PCS Quarterly. Spring 2001 . ARTICLES

freedom aren't so acute. When you, as a civillitiga- world ought to be. It is, instead, belief in an histori- tor in private practice, serve an overly broad discov- cal event, an event in human history of such singular ery request on your opponent, justice is called into and universal importance and ultimate meaning that question. When you, as a business lawyer, advise a its true significance can never be overstated.12 As corporation whether to purchase a competing busi- such, it has a direct, immediate, and intimate bearing ness, or to treat a certain item as a deduction on its on what you will do as lawyers everyday. What is taxes, justice is at stake. this connection? Indeed justice touches upon virtually everything Everyday you are in practice as an attorney, you you will do in your professional life, even the most will deal with the real concrete legal problems of real boring and routine, like keeping track of your billable human persons. For most of you, this will be a dras- hours at the end of the day.5 It's easy to lose sight of tic change £rom your experience in law school. This this, but your Christian faith requires you to be mind- is because for the past three years you have, as it ful of justice even where it isn't readily apparent.6 were, lived in the land of the hypothetical, where The second connection between faith and the one "party A" sued "party B" over the sale of some practice of law that I would like to share with you parcel of land called Blackacre, and where XYZ today is the Mystery of the Incarnation, a belief Corporation manufactured faulty widgets which which is at the very heart of our Catholic faith. injured plaintiffs John Doe and Mary Roe. This was Simply put, our belief in the Incarnation is this: all imaginary and you knew it, but it served its peda- some two thousand years ago, Jesus Christ, who is gogical purpose. The unreality of the hypothetical truly God, entered into human history as a man.7 He gave you the critical distance you needed to see the did not come in all the overwhelming splendor of point oflaw, to abstract the principle at work and to the Divine, but in a way that made the glory of God see how it might apply in other generically similar intelligible to human beings. As St. John so beauti- situations. Throughout your legal education you also fully writes in the prologue of his Gospel: "The surely read many real cases from the past that in- Word became flesh, he dwelt among us, and we saw volved the lives of real people, but even these had an his glory, the glory as of the Father's only Son, full of air of unreality about them. They were someone grace and truth."8 And so it is that Jesus Christ, the else's cases, a history already lived, not something to Word of God, took on our human nature and be- be touched here and now. came incarnate. He came as one of us, as a human Today, in graduating from law school, you have being who was nurtured in the womb of His human in a sense "graduated" from the hypothetical reality mother and taught the value of human work by His of the classroom to the incarnate reality of legal prac- human adoptive father, a carpenter.9 tice, and life will never be the same. Now you will Weare treated to a glimpse of this mystery in be dealing with real companies that manufacture real the Gospel reading for today, taken £rom the end of products, not widgets-.:..companies that engage in real St. John's Gospel. Here the Crucified and Risen transactions with real consequences not only for the Christ appears to the apostles by the Sea of Tiberi as. buyer and seller, but for all of society. There will be After seeing Him suffer and die on the Cross, the no more party A's and B's or John Does and Mary apostles now enjoy the company of Jesus once again, Roes. Instead, everyday you will come face-to-face revealing the glory of God. They know that as God with a real flesh-and-blood human being with a real Jesus is the master of all existence, of time future and name, with a real history, and with real problems to time past. He knows when and how St. Peter will be solved. die and give glory to God.lO Moreover, as St. John This concrete reality that you will soon experi- makes clear, because Jesus is the Son of God, the ence as lawyers has a profoundly religious and spiri- world could not contain all the books that could be tual dimension to it, a dimension whose meaning written about Him.ll He is the Word of God which becomes clear only in light of the Faith and in par- mere human words cannot fully capture or express. ticular, the Mystery of the Incarnation. From the Our belief in the Incarnation is not belief in a revelation that God shared with our Jewish brothers myth or a story, let alone a feeling as to how the and sisters long ago, the descendants of Abraham,

" - FCS Quarterly. Spring 2001 our father in faith,13 we know that every human per- ment, and even criminal guilt cannot erase the dig- son is formed in the image and likeness of God.14 In nity that every human person enjoys by virtue of the Mystery of the Incarnation the profound dignity God's love revealed in the wonder of the Incarna- of human nature is fully realized, and "the incompa- tion.ls It will not always be easy to see the world in rable value of every human person" is made mani- this way, but this is the demand of your faith, this is fest.15 Indeed, the Second Vatican Council teaches us the call of your baptism. that by the "very fact" that Christ assumed a human It is your baptism that continues to bind you to nature, He raised it up "to a divine dignity in our Christ even today.19 During your time at Loyola respect too. For by His incarnation the Son of God when you were hard at work in studying for exams, has united Himself in some fashion with every when you set out to learn some arcane point oflaw man."16 This unity with Christ is not a unity with dealing with federal taxation, the Uniform Commer- human nature in the abstract. Indeed, in reflecting on cial Code, or the law against perpetuities, or when this passage from the Council at the beginning of his you toiled away revising your moot court brief or pontificate, Pope John Paul II made it clear: "We are your research paper by poring over the tedious and not dealing with the 'abstract' man, but the real, 'con- insufferable rules of the Blue Book, you may have crete,' 'historical' man. Weare dealing with' each' thought that you were isolated and alone. man, for each one is included in the mystery of the But you were not alone. Christ was there with Redemption and with each one Christ has united you shouldering your burden, holding you up, and himself for ever through this mystery. "17 leading you on.20 And Christ, the Incarnate Son of Thus, the significance of the Incarnation for you God, will continue to be there with you through all as lawyers could not be more profound. The reality of the challenges you will face in your professional life. God having become one of us for our sake means that You have only to ask for His help. in your work as attorneys you must strive to find *** Christ in other people. Some two thousand years ago the Son of God be- Again, for some of you this will be easy. Because came Incarnate, and history will never be the same. Christ was Himself a victim who wrongfully suffered at Soon, you will be lawyers, and life will never be the the hands of others, you should be able to find Him in same. May God give each of you the grace to live those who are victimized today--the personal i~ury your vocation as a lawyer in the service of justice plaintiff who was crippled by the negligence, greed, or and in authentic witness to the Gospel. Amen. ffi indifference of another, the worker who was not hired because of the color of her skin, and the child who was Endnotes abandoned, abused, or neglected by his parents. The 1. See generally Joseph G. Allegretti, The Lawyer's Calling: ChristianFaith and LegalPractice(1996); Grace M. Walle, Doingjustice: A dignity of Christ Himselfcan be found in each of these Challenge for Catholic Law Schools, 28 ST. MARY'S L.J. 625, 632-34 persons, and you as a lawyer must work to serve this (1997). dignity through the instruments oflaw. 2. See, e.g., Teresa Stanton Collett, Speak No Evil, Seek No Evil, Do No But you must go beyond this. You must also see Evil: Client Selection and Cooperation with Evil, 66 FORDHAM L. REV. 1339 (1998); Walle, supra note 1, at 625-26, 632-34; see also Cohen v. Him where you least expect Him. You must find Hurley, 366 u.S. 117, 123-24 (1960) (describing members of the bar as Him not only in the innocent client who is a sympa- being responsible for the proper administration of justice); Eugene R. Gaetke, Lawyers as Ojicers of the Court, 42 VAND. L. REV. 39 (1989) thetic victim, but in the guilty person whom the state (discussing how the professional codes governing attorney conduct would condemn to death. You must see Him in the describe lawyers as having a decidedly public function and responsibility attorney who is your opponent, and in the judge who that goes beyond the private duties they owe to individual clients). oversees your case. This, I can assure you, will not 3. Seejohn 15:12 ("This is my commandment: love one another as I' love you. "); Leviticus 19: 18 ("You shall love your neighbor as yourself I always be easy. Indeed, sometimes it will be very am the LORD."); Matthew 19:19; Romans 13:9. difficult because sometimes your opponent will treat 4. See, e.g., Geoffrey C. Hazard, Jr., The Future if Legal Ethics, 100 you unfairly, and sometimes judges make decisions YALE L.J. 1239, 1266 (1991) ("[T]he legal profession's traditional ideal viewed the lawyer as the protector oflife, liberty, and property through that are wrong or even unjust. As a Catholic lawyer due process. The profession has sought to define this function in proce- you need not simply accept this unfair treatment, but dural terms, without express commitment to questions of distributive or you must remember that incivility, mistakes in judg- socialjustice."); seealsoALLEGRETTI,supranote 1, at 105 (remarking that "[l]awyers in general see justice as mostly a matter of procedures,of due process, or impartial rules impersonally applied").

FCS Quarterly. Spring 2001 . - [

ARTICLES

5. For accounts of how lawyers often take advantage of clients in the 13. See Romans 4:16-17 (discussing how Abraham is the father of all billing process either through fraud or conduct that approaches fraud, see believers). Symposium, Unethical Billing Practices,50 RUTGERS 1. REV. 2151 14. See Genesis 1:26-28 ("God created man in his image."). (1998). 15.JOHN PAUL II, ENCYCLICAL LETTER, EVANGELIUM 6. See CATHECHISM OF THE CATHOLIC CHURCH ~ 1807, ~~ VITAE § 2 (1995). 1928-33 (1994); Walle, supra note 1, at 628-30. 16. GAUDIUM ET SPES, supra note 9, § 22. 7. See id. ~ 461, ~ 464 ( "[Christ] became truly man while remaining 17.JOHN PAUL II, ENCYCLICAL LETTER REDEMPTOR truly God. Jesus Christ is true God and true man.");see also Luke 2:1-20 HOMINIS § 13 (1979). (recalling the virgin birth of Jesus which bears witness to his divinity); Matthew 1: 18-25. 18. SeeEVANGELIUM VITAE, supra note 15, § 9 ("Not even a mur- derer loses his personal dignity, and God himself pledges to guarantee 8.John 1:14. this.") 9. See SECOND VATICAN COUNCIL, PASTORAL CONSTITU- TION ON THE CHURCH IN THE MODERN WORLD, 19. Cj Romans 6:3-4 ("You have been taught that when you were GAUDIUM ET SPES § 22 (St. Paul. ed., 1965) [hereinafter baptized in Christ Jesus you were baptized in his death. In other words, GAUDIUM ET SPES] ("[T]he Son of God has united Himself in some when we were baptized we went into the tomb with him and joined him in death so that as Christ was raised from the dead by the Father's glory, fashion with every man. He worked with human hands, He thought with a human mind, acted by human choice and loved with a human we too might live a new life."); see also CATHECHISM OF THE CATHOLIC CHURCH, supra note 6, 1272-74 (commenting on the heart. Born of the Virgin Mary, He has truly been made one of us "). ~~ indelible mark of baptism). 10. See John 21:18-19. 20. See Deuteronomy 1:31 ( "[T]he LORD, your God, carried you, as a 11. See John 21:25. man carries his child, all along your journey until you arrived at this 12. See CATHECHISM OF THE CATHOLIC CHURCH, supra note place."). 6, ~ 464 (referring to "[t]he unique and altogether singular event of the Incarnation of the Son of God").

REA ~ST.

~ . l1li

0. I'

I ~, ill .. PCS Quarterly. Spring 2001 " -~ MEMBERSHIP MATTERS

delphia) on the theme of "Being "Confession of Sins as an Essential Membership Matters Catholic in a Pluralistic Society." Element of the Sacrament of Pen- Beginning with the 2001 conven- ance" by John M. Grondelski, Rev. Thomas F. Dailey, OSFS tion, the standard registration fee published in Angelicum, volume 781 Executive Secretary will be raised to $50 in order to 1 (2000), pages 49-67. offset costs. n this expanded edition of our Three pieces by George Maloof, regular column, we report on Members of the Fellowship con- MD, all of which were published Ithe actions of our board of tinue to be engaged in a variety of in the Bulletin of the Ovulation Officers and Directors and many activities that promote Catholic Method Researchand Riference Centre ongoing activities of the member- scholarship. of Australia: "NIH Recently Pro- ship. posed Guidelines on 'Research At its regular April meeting, CONFERENCE activities in Involving Pluripotent Stem Cells: the boardtook the followingactions which FCS members are involved An Open Letter" (27/3, Sept. of importance to our membership: include: 2000); "Physician-Assisted Suicide vis-a-vis Hospice Care" (27/4, Dee. "Hans Ursvon Balthasarand the (1) Accepting fifty-six (56) new 2000); and "Freud's Deadly Evangelization Culture: Alternative members into our Fellowship, if Legacy" (28/1, March 2001). including six new members in Approaches"-sponsored by Our Australia and thirteen from the Sunday Visitor Institute and the BOOKS recently published by or University of St. Thomas in Texas. Salesian Center for Faith and Cul- about our members include: ture at DeSales University, the con- (2) Electing a new editor of the ference took place in Allentown Women and the Future of the Family FCS Quarterly - Dr. Larry Chapp (PA) on April 27-29, 2001, under by Prof Elizabeth Fox- (DeSales University) who will the.1eadership of Dr. Larry commence his work with the Genovese, which "explores how Chapp. Summer 2001 edition. the drives for liberation and equal- The Newman LectureSeriesfor the ity have affected the family and (3) Announcing the summer University of California Medical calls for a return to self-sacrifice, 2001 elections. Members of the Center at San Francisco held at St. gendered family roles, and a Chris- board will elect new officers for the John of God Church, directed by tian understanding of sexual differ- Fellowship (president and vice- George Maloof and featuring a ence and human equality. First president). "Regular" members at- conference by Dr. Hanna Klaus delivered as the Kuyper Lecture, the book also contains three re- large will elect four new directors entitled "Natural Family Planning: to the Board. Please note: Only Is It Scientific? Is It Effective?" sponses and a concluding essay. "regular"memberswho arecurrentin The Mysteries if Life in Children's their payment if dues will receive bal- NEW ARTICLES published by Literature, a series of fourteen essays lotsfor the election. If your dues are our members include: not current, or your membership by Mitchell Kalpakgian (from status is not clear, please contact Two pieces by John F. Kobler, Neumann. Press) . CP: "Vatican II's Pastoral Theology the Executive Secretary at your The Structure if Human Fulfillment, earliest convenience! Needs Philosophy," in The Modern by Adrian J. Reimers (from Schoolman(November 2000), and (4) Setting the annual conven- Edwin Mellen Press), a study of "The Collapsing Birthrate in the Karol Wojtyla/John Paul II's ac~ tion programs. The 2001 con- Developed World," in Homiletic& vention will be in Omaha (NE) on count of human happiness in rela- PastoralReview (February 2001). the theme of "The Catholic Imagi- tion to the thought of Thomas nation" (with details to be mailed "New Commentary, Old Non- Aquinas. sense" by John Trigilio, published to the members in June). The The SecondSpring of the Church in 2002 convention will be held on in Homiletic & PastoralReview in America by Msgr. George A. the east coast (New York or Phila- March 2001. Kelly. Also, the papers from the

FCS Quarterly. Spring2001 . - MEMBERSHIP MATTERS

conference honoring the good With Mind and Heart Renewed: Fr. James Lyons (Chicago) on Monsignor have now been pub- Essays in Honor

&8 PCS Quarterly. Spring 2001

IiI " AROUND THE CHURCH

ardinals gathered in Rome Although his name was omitted in formulating the norms. Jesuit for a special consistory from the first list of cardinals ap- Father Thomas Reese, editor of C criticized what they called pointed in February, Bishop Karl America magazine, said the docu- the undue centralization of author- Lehmann of Mainz, president of ment marks a diminution of episco- ity in the Church. Cardinal Cormac the German bishops' conference, pal authority. Murphy-O'Connor of Westminster was named a cardinal a week later, *** (England) proposed the convening along with Bishop Kasper, who has Jesuit Father Roger Haight has been of a new ecumenical council, to been critical of the Holy See's meet somewhere other than Rome, document Dominus Jesus,which relieved of teaching duties and in- structed by the Congregation for the for which the Holy See would not affirms that salvation comes only Doctrine of the Faith to revise his ,; set the agenda and at which the through Jesus Christ. Earlier Bishop book Jesus: Symbol of God, in order pope would preside "only in love." Lehmann had suggested that Pope to make it faithful to Catholic teach- Cardinal Christoph Schonborn of John Paul II might resign because Vienna characterized the proposal as of ill health. ing. The CDF criticized the book for suggesting that Jesus is not neces- "an eschatological dream." Shortly after naming Bishops sarily the only way to salvation. Cardinal Godfried Daneels of Lehmann and Kasper to the Col- Haight is on the faculty of Weston Mechelen-Brussels (Belgium) criti- lege of Cardinals John Paul sent a School of Theology in Boston. cized the agenda of the periodic strong letter to the German bishops *** episcopal synods, because they are urging them to correct what he . set by the Vatican. He called for called "serious weaknesses" in the The CDF has issued a similar warn- the establishment of" a culture of Church in Germany. ing about the book Towardsa Chris- debate." *** tian Theology

PCS Quarterly. Spring 2001 . - tices of the Church are major ob- they snuggle and cuddle?," he Catholic Answers radio program stacles to the faith of young people. asked. If Mary and Joseph did not has been banned from the St. Pe- A married priesthood and the ordi- engage in sex, "We could annul that tersburg (Fla.) diocesan radio sta- nation of women are necessary steps marriage in a minute," he claimed, tion by Bishop Robert Lynch, towards attracting religious voca- suggesting also that Jesus was sexu- because of a program which ques- tions, according to several speakers. ally attracted to Mary Magdalen. tioned the way in which Catholic Dominican Father Paul Philibert, Refusal to entertain such possibili- News Service deal with the abor- author of a book defending the mo- ties is a sign of "sexual hangups," tion issue in the 2000 election. rality of homosexuality, told the Father Sparks said. *** ministers that parishes are "locked *** into the most tedious kinds ofliturgi- The decision by a Lafayette (La.) cal franchises." Kim Cavnar, who John J. DeGioia, vice-president of Catholic high school to ban the Georgetown University, was cho- teaches in aJesuit high school, works of novelist Flannery praised students for being tolerant of sen president of the school, making O'Connor from the classroom has him the first layman to head the homosexuality and for understanding been upheld by Lafayette Bishop that formal religious practice is not oldest Jesuit institution of higher Edward J. O'Donnell. The books learning in the United States. Fa- essential to faith. were banned after some parents Franciscan Father Richard ther Joseph O'Hare, president of claimed that they are racist. Rohr claimed that the teachings and Fordham University, expressed *** puzzlement at the choice, since practices of the Church are "ob- qualified Jesuits were available for Remarks by Baltimore Auxiliary stacles to having a relationship with God" and characterized the Church the position. "I can assure you that Bishop William Newman, apolo- my successor will be a Jesuit," Fa- gizing to homosexuals for "the sins as "like a funeral society" which ther O'Hare said. individually and collectively which "only programs us for death." He *** the Church has committed against also compared it to a dysfunctional gays and lesbians," were taken out "dating service" which sets up inap- Cardinal Roger Mahony of Los of context, according to Raymond propriate conditions for member- Angeles admitted that he made "a P. Kempisty, director of communi- ship. serious mistake" in asking former cations for the Baltimore archdio- Sister Mary Boys, a Catholic President William J. Clinton to cese. The archdiocese accepts theologian teaching at Protestant and review the conviction of drug church teaching that homosexual Jewish seminaries, said that Jesus is dealer Carlos Vignali. Clinton par- acts are immoral, Kempisty said. best understood as an observant Jew doned Vignali and 139 other people *** who nonetheless "relativized" Jewish just before leaving office. law in the interests of freedom. *** Pope John Paul II was "pleased" to Michael Downey, a professor be told by American bishops that at the Los Angeles archdiocesan Benedictine SisterJoan Chittester, a they are completing the implemen- seminary, argued that the doctrine leading feminist, denounced the tation of Ex GardeEcclesiae,accord- treatment of women in the Church of the Trinity, as a relationship of ing to Bishop Fiorenza. Ex Gardeis equality among the three divine in addressing the annual convention a Vatican document requiring or- of the National Catholic Education persons, can be used to promote thodoxy from professors in Catho- radical egalitarianism in the Church, Association. The delegates gave her lic institutions of higher learning. in which there is no need for hierar- a standing ovation before and after *** chy or absolute truth. her speech. The diocess of Pitts- Paulist Father Richard Sparks, burgh, Peoria (Ill.), Lincoln (Neb.), Theologians teaching in the arch- Catholic chaplain at the University Tulsa, and LaCrosse (Ws.), objected diocese of San Antonio will be of California (Berkeley), urged edu- to SisterJoan's presence on the asked to sign a statement affirming cators to imagine the Virgin Mary program, because of her opposition their acceptance of Church teach- and St. Joseph engaged in sexual to Church teaching on women's ing, but no action will be taken activity. "Did they ever neck, or did ordination and other subjects. against those who do not sign, ***

III FCS Quarterly' Spring 2001

-- i according to Archbishop Patrick F. Protestant members of Congress in Christians in India are increasingly Flores. Archbishop Flores said he general have a better pro-life vot- subject to harassment and persecu- has never received a complaint ing record than do Catholics, ac- tion, including personal violence, about any theologian in the arch- cording to Robert Kendra, who according to news reports in a diocese. has tracked the pattern over a pe- number of publications. *** riod of years. Only a minority of *** Catholic legislators consistently The term "culture of death" is Archbishop Emmanuel Milingo of vote against abortion, Kendra Zambia, who was deprived of his "simplistic and unworthy of Chris- found, and some always vote the tians," according to Jesuit sociolo- see by the Vatican because of his pro-abortion position. involvement in pagan practices, *** gist John A. Coleman, speaking to was "married" in a ceremony in National Conference of New Yark City presided over by Rick Heffern, a long-time editor of Catechetical Leadership. The Rev. Sun Myung Moon of the Playboy magazine, has been named phrase, which is chiefly associated Unification Church. The editor of Celebration, a journal of with the thought of John Paul II, archbishop's "marriage" was one of spirituality published by the Na- constitutes "sulking and sniping," sixty performed by Rev. Moon, tional Catholic Reporter. Coleman charged. who assigned the new spouses to *** one another. At the same cer- The Catholic Church in Vietnam emony Rev. Moon "married" Mgsr. Michael Wrenn, is not persecuted, although its free- George Stallings, a Washington dom to operate is "severely lim- 1998 Cardinal Wright priest who left the Catholic ited," according to Thomas Church some years ago to found Award Winner, 40 his own church. Quigley, an official of the United States Catholic Conference. Years a Priest *** Quigley, a long-time supporter of Speaking under Church auspices at left-wing groups in Latin America Monsignor Michael J. Wrenn, pas- Corpus Christi Church in Toledo and elsewhere, testified before a tor of St. John Evangelist Church in (Oh.), Congresswoman Marcy congressional committee investigat- New York City, was honored on Kaptur of Ohio accused the Catho- ing religious persecution. Pentecost Sunday for his forty years lic Church of having a "nefarious *** a priest of the Archdiocese of New theology" because of its refusal to York. Msgr. Wrenn, perhaps best The Church in India is moving ordain women to the priesthood. known as a scholar for his publica- She condemned the Nicene Creed away from Western ties, according tions on the new universal Cat- to several Indians interviewed by for its alleged male bias. echism, received the Cardinal *** the National Catholic Reporter. Wright Award from the Fellowship Father Julian Saldanha, a professor in Denver, 1998. (Kenneth White- A Center for Catholic Studies has in a Bombay seminary, said that head, noted collaborator in some of been established at Nassau Com- Indians are by nature "kind and Msgr. Wrenn's work, was honored ~. tolerant" and have little interest in munity College, a public institu- that year as well.) Among those tion on Long Island. The center is dogma or orthodoxy. Lorna Barrett, attending Msgr. Wrenn's anniver- headed by Joseph Varacalli, a pro- secretary of the Bombay y sary celebration was Most Rever- !I fessor of sociology at the college. archdiocesan women's desk, charged end Andre Dupuy, D.D., Apostolic *** that the Holy See is an impediment Nuncio to Venezuela. Stained-glass to the development of the Indian windows Les Vitraux, designed and Ludmilla Javorova, a Czech Church but that "the old men in executed by Mr. Serge Nouailhat, woman, was allegedly "ordained" the Vatican will die soon." were blessed by Archbishop Dupuy. to the priesthood in 1967 by Bishop *** Felix Davidek, a long-time per- Dr. and Mrs. Jose Antonio sonal friend. Cordido-Freytes were the donors. ***

FCS Quarterly' Spring 2001 . I' I

ANNOUNCEMENT

Fides Quaerens understanding of the editors, how- the fundamental issues of faith and ever, that philosophy and history life in a serious, scholarly fashion. lntellectum are neither opposed to each other, Though taking a broadly is a peer-reviewed, interdiscipli- nor does an emphasis on one ex- Catholic outlook, the journal wel- nary, scholarly journal, publishing clude the other in relation to faith comes articles from non-Catholic articles in theology, philosophy, and theology. Rather, the disci- perspectives. Characteristically, the and history, from a broadly Catho- plines and methods of theology, journal will consider any articles lic perspective. philosophy, and history operate dealing with the essential questions The journal reflects certain harmoniously in elucidating our of faith and life, of nature and convictions shared by the editors. human and Christian existence. grace, of ecclesial and historical The first and most essential is that These convictions are by no existence. Thus articles in system- faith, far from being opposed or means original; indeed, something atic, historical, and moral theology, inessential to serious scholarship, akin to them has been held by Scripture studies, philosophy of illumines understanding in all intel- many of the greatest Catholic religion, philosophical theology, lectual disciplines, but has special thinkers of the twentieth century, philosophy of history, history of reference to theology, philosophy, including Henri de Lubac, Jean the Church, history of theological and history. Though these are dis- Danielou, Hans Urs von Balthasar, and philosophical issues, and on the tinct disciplines with their own Yves Congar, Marie-Dominique historicity of human life are all proper methods and criteria, they Chenu, Etienne Gilson, Maurice appropriate. Articles addressing share a common aim: to elucidate Blondel, Philotheus Boehner, and connections of theology, philoso- meaning-the meaning of human Christopher Dawson, as well as phy, and history with other allied existence, in the world and before significant Catholic thinkers of the disciplines may also be considered. God. nineteenth century, such asJohn Articles need not be on the themes The project of "faith seeking Henry Newman and Johann mentioned, and need not be ex- understanding," moreover, neces- Adam Moehler. However, the plicitly interdisciplinary, but should sarily involves all three of these editors believe that there is a need manifest in some way the interdis- disciplines. Speaking broadly, for for a journal which expresses these ciplinary consciousness suggested the bulk of the Christian era, theol- convictions and allows for the above. All articles submitted for ogy took philosophy as its correla- fruitful interplay of ideas from consideration will be sent for blind tive discipline-as the ancilla each of these three disciplines. review to experts in the appropriate theologiae-which led to many of Furthermore, faith-illumined scholarly fields. the great achievements in Patristic study needs to occur in a commu- The journal is beginning with and Medieval theology. With the nal context, for faith is essentially two issues a year, with the possibil- advent of Romantic theology, in communal. Therefore, taking as its ity of more frequent publication in the late eighteenth and early nine- foundation the standpoint of faith the future. and posing the questions of par- teenth centuries, history was taken For more information, contact ticular moment to our common as a replacement for philosophy in The Editor this role. Since then, there has existence, FidesQuaerens Intellectum seeks to be a forum Fides QuaerensIntellectum perhaps been a tendency to take Egan Hall where scholars in theology, phi- one or the other, philosophy or Franciscan University J losophy and history can share their history, as the basic correlative 1235 University Boulevard discipline to theology. It is the fundamental insights, treating Steubenville OH 43952

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I . FCS Quarterly. Spring 2001 l DOCUMENTATION

The Idea and Prospects of a Center for Catholic Catholicism, in short, can make a contribution to just about every- Studies at a Public Institution of Higher Learning thing that goes on within the uni- versity, especially in the humanities and social sciences. By Joseph A. Varacalli, Ph.D. that understands that the logic of multi-culturalism must be inclu- Fourthly, Catholicism advo- cates what might be termed a "re- (Remarks given at the Opening Gala sive, the presence of at least several I;~ alistic interdisciplinary" approach if the Center for Catholic Studies, college trustees who have demon- to academic study, one showing Nassau Community College, Garden strated a willingness and ability to the good fruits of intellectual ex- City, New York, April 22nd,2001) resist political correctness, by the changes between and among such courage of at least a few Catholic disciplines as biology, psychology, heoretically, the instituting college professors willing to risk sociology, philosophy, and theol- of a Center for Catholic their faith commitments by exiting ogy which has as its goal the com- T Studies at a public institu- the catacombs and becoming pub- prehension of as much of ultimate tion of higher education (in the lic, and the presence of a significant truth as is humanly possible. specific case at hand, at Nassau core of serious and influential Fifthly, in "spanning the ages," Community College of the State Catholic citizens in the surround- Catholicism's memory brings with University of New York) is easily ing community who desire, very it the insights of many cultures and justified. This is so because the ever strongly, to see the concept take on historical ages and, just as impor- expanding corpus of Catholic social flesh. tantly, the lesson that tradition can thought and the ever evolving The Catholic contributions to be dynamic and relevant to the cultural heritage of the Catholic the serious academic calling are modern age. religion represents a source that can many, even if anyone contribution Sixthly, Catholic social enrich both the intellectual-schol- is not specifically or solely a Catho- thought brings to the academic arly-academic mission of the uni- lic one. First of all, Catholicism plate a host of important natural versity and its moral-ethical-social claims that there is an objective law concepts (e.g. subsidiarity, policy concerns to help construct a reality in the nature of things that solidarity, personalism, the univer- Good Society based on truth, can be reached through the critical sal purpose of goods) and philo- beauty, and justice. However, application of reason and that can sophical anthropological claims theoretical justifications, no matter be plausibly demonstrated through regarding the inherent nature, how intrinsically persuasive, logical, empirical application. Secondly, the and reasonable, oftentimes are ca- universal thrust of the Catholic freedom, and responsibility of hu- man beings as social creatures that sualties to a host of other empirical, sensibility breeds within its faithful can and should be debated honestly historical, and political realities. adherents a sense of obligation to within the academy regarding One doesn't have to be an expert pursue the truth courageously in an either their scholarly utility or in American history and the history non-politically correct manner and applicability in social policy to aid of higher education in this country to be fair-minded and even-handed in the social reconstruction of soci- ." to realize that what Michael to the students and all others in 't ety along more humane lines. I Schwartz has claimed to be the case one's dealings in the academic The social encyclicals of the in the general society is, if any- community. ;~ Popes and other elements of Catholic thing, even more true in the acad- Thirdly, there is a philosophi- social doctrine have something emy, i.e., that Catholicism has been cally distinctive and historically intelligent and important to say subject to the "persistent preju- demonstrable Catholic contribu- about all aspects of social existence. dice." On the other hand, in the tion to scholarship based on the These include, among many others, specific case of Nassau Community Catholic religion's understanding an understanding of the family as the College, the prospects for a Center of itself as incarnational, sacramen- basicunit of society,the need for other for Catholic studies are enhanced tal, and integrative-that can only intermediary institutions to protect somewhat by a series of factors: enrich and enlighten students and against the monopolistic tendencies the existence of an administration intellectual discourse in general. ~ PCS Quarterly. Spring2001 . .

I' I DOCUMENTATION

~ of either the State or corporate defined by the non-Catholic cul- from the academic periphery. capitalism, the requirements of a tural elite. The precipitating factor However, it can be, and often is, just economy and polity, the cre- in many Catholics "giving up the broadened inappropriately to de- ation of work that is dignified and Ghost," so to speak, was a dis- fend almost any utterance, however inherently meaningful, the inclu- torted, selective, and false under- intellectually indefensible, or artis- sion of spiritual issues in a discus- standing of the theology of Vatican tic or humanistic creation whose sion of human and social potential II, an interpretation or spin that sole purpose is the promotion, on and, conversely, poverty; the moral gave a religious veneer justifYing almost pristine political grounds, of obligation of wealthier societies to the "making it" in society as the some blatantly antinomian, ideo- those poorer; a balanced under- top priority of too many Catholics. logical, or utopian end. Multi- standing of environmental respon- Similarly, within the educational culturalism is a potentially useful sibilities, the rights and obligations community, both secular and philosophy that appropriately can of unions, and the protection and Catholic, too many Catholic aca- encourage the incorporation into development of life from the mo- demics bought, as a rationalizing the cultural center of groups and ment of conception throughout the device justifYing conformity and traditions hitherto and life course. acceptance by the cultural undeservingly under-represented. However, today the claim that gatekeepers of the time, the argu- Oftentimes, however, it can turn Catholicism can add something ment that Catholics were not up to into an instrument to foment the important, indeed perhaps indis- snuff in terms of intellectual de-Christianizing of American pensable, to the academy and to achievement and, at least implicitly, civilization and, within the acad- the larger Republic is, at very best, must learn from their non-Catholic emy, to grant an often monopolis- a hard sell. The contemporary academic superiors. tic advantage to secular leftwing prospects of a Center for Catholic Today, Catholicism faces the perspectives (e.g. Marxism, femi- Studies at a public institution of incredibly difficult task of putting nism, homosexualist, higher education are less than the its house back together in a situa- deconstructionist). Cultural relativ- merit of the idea itself This is not tion in which secular elites control ism was an idea originally pro- the case, again, due to any intrinsic the key idea and image-generating pounded by Western anthropolo- deficiency in the Catholic tradition, locations in society and in which gists as a methodology to guard but primarily because of the perva- too many younger Catholics-now against a narrow and excessive sive anti-Catholic bias historically two generations removed fi-om the, ethnocentrism in research. It is present throughout the greatest part at least relatively speaking, salad now routinely misused and ex- of American history, first generated days of a 1950's Catholicism-are panded into a full blown by a generic and hegemonic Prot- almost totally innocent of their worldview, a philosophy of cultural estantism and now by an almost 2000 year old Catholic heritage. relativity, that denies the existence pristine secularism approaching The same unhappy situation faces of objective truth, deprecates the monopolistic status in the Ameri- the Catholic heritage in the realm exercise of reason to pursue that can public sphere. It is important to of higher education, in both secular truth, and, in its place, exalts emo- point out that the Catholic com- and Catholic spheres. A strong tion and mere opinion. Likewise, munity, or at least a major part of case can be made, empirically, that the call for "tolerance" in the uni- it, also must bear a certain amount many of the overlapping philoso- versity was originally designed to of blame for insufficiently shaping phies, concepts, and programs that afford elbow room for a forum for the university and nation. Ironi- shape the present landscape of intelligent discussion for legiti- cally, just as Catholics, qua Catho- higher education are interpreted in mately debatable lifestyles. Now, lics, seemed poised, in the early such a way as to be inhospitable at many times, calls for "tolerance" 1960s, to take a leading position in best, to outright destructive, at are anything but that. Rather they American society, large sectors of worst, to the Catholic worldview. serve, as Allan Bloom has claimed, the Catholic community collapsed For instance, academic freedom is a to not only cut off any meaningful under the weight of its desire to needed concept to protect serious debate about the social and emo- conform to standards of success research and researchers who write tional consequences of some con-

. PCS Quarterly. Spring 2001 temporary social arrangements (e.g. To the naked eye, the modern cohabitation among both hetero- orthodox Catholic scholar sur- Fr. John A. Hardon- sexuals and homosexuals, out-of- rounded in a secular milieu will Eternal Priest wedlock births) and practices (e.g. have the odds stacked overwhelm- abortion, assisted suicide) but to ingly against him/her. The Catho- f there is one priest I didn't actually stigmatize those scholars lic scholar, however, will have a want to die he was John raising such questions as narrow fighting chance-and a chance bet- I Hardon. An attendant at the minded bigots. "'" ter than his opponents would ever founding meeting of the Fellowship, However misused, consciously publically acknowledge-because of he was sixty-four years a Jesuit and or not, the concepts of academic the increasingly widespread aware- fifty-three years a priest. Dying, freedom, multi-culturalism, cultural ness of the various failures of secu- because cancer got him last De- relativism, tolerance, and the like larism in education and social cember, and he bowing to God for can and must be utilized and reha- policy and because of a subliminal the last time. bilitated by Catholic scholars and acknowledgement of the incred- Fr. Hardon will live among us other serious but marginal schools ibly sophisticated intellectual, much longer anyway, because his of thought to get their ideas into moral, and organizational heritage legionnaires will keep him memory the university and the American of Catholicism. alive. Although he always looked public sector for debate and discus- Just how much of an impact like death warmed over - gaunt, sion. In short, Catholic scholars are the Catholic scholarly tradition can thin, circles under his eyes - this make in in the American educa- "academically free" to bring their Jesuit was indefatigable in his ser- philosophical presuppositions, in a tional system and within the civili- vice to the Church. Years ago, I zation that surrounds it remains an responsible and academically ap- visited him in a Connecticut hospi- propriate way, into their scholar- question presently without a de- tal, where he was recuperating ship and into their classroom teach- finitive answer. But only the arro- form quintuple by-pass heart sur- ing. A truly inclusive gant secular ideologue or the gery. He looked awful. About to multi-culturalism, similarly, has no simple fool would count serious leave, I said to him solemnly: good reason not to grant the and knowledgeable Catholics out "John, go home to Detroit and Catholic scholarly tradition a place of any enterprise that they put their rest." To which he replied: "I mind, heart, and soul into in a at the academic table. The logic of will. I will. I leave here Saturday cultural relativism, for its part, gives systematic, unified way. I end by for my Jesuit residence, where I Catholic scholars "the right to their making a plea to those in the audi- hope to do nothing for a week. opinion and voice" which much be ence who are sympathetic: I need Then I have a thirty-day retreat granted, at least formally, equal your prayers, your financial sup- back here in the East." ontological status with other philo- port, and your willingness to vol- John Hardon may not have sophical positions. And, finally, unteer your time and creative abili- been a bishop, but he surely had given that everyoneis expected to be ties. Together, we will make the fullness of the priesthood. I was tolerant of everythingand everyone, history at Nassau Community Col- surprised to learn that once in his this obviously includes tolerance to lege and beyond. ffi young years he planned to marry, Catholic scholars and their claims but the Jesuits got him first. Dr. Joseph A. Varacalli is Professor of that there are absolutes, an objec- Our relationship began in 1974 tive morality, and ultimate Truth. Sociology and newly appointed Direc- when he helped establish the Insti- To use these terms and ideas in tor of the Center for Catholic Studies tutefor Advanced Studies in Catholic such a manner is, following Peter at Nassau Community College. In Doctrineat St. John's University in 1. Berger, to "relativize the 1992, he co-founded (with Stephen M. Krason) the Society of Catholic New York. At that time Rome relativizers" and gives Catholic Social Scientists. He is the author, was anxious to counter-face the scholars, in the light of the day and most recently, of BrightPromise,Failed wrongful catechetics going on mano a mano, a chance to convince Community: Catholicsand the American almost everywhere on the Ameri- the open-minded, the searchers, Public Order (Lexington, 2000, 1-800- can continent. Not only did Fr. the curious, and the ambivalent. 462-6420) Hardon teach Catholic doctrine

FCS Quarterly' Spring 2001 . \. I

DOCUMENTATION

correctly, but he inculcated Catho- nize ConsortiumPeifectaeCaritatis, years later by Eternal Life, a pro-life lic piety while doing it. In his an association of religious women initiative. At the urging of Mother priesthood, right thinking went dedicated to their communal life, Teresa, he organized Marian Cat- hand in hand with a holy life. to evangelical vows, to religious echists,and in 1995 launched Catho- He was intellectual, to be sure, habits, and to the Pope. Five years licFaith, a new magazine for teach- but was better known for his way later he helped found the Institute ers. Even during his cancer-filled of life than for his theological on Religious Life, a support group last years, he was issuing directions musings. Yet, he mused a lot. for bishops, priests, laity as well as to his disciples. We always won- After his ordination in 1947 he nuns, dedicated to authentic reli- dered what he did with his spare became interested in the Japanese gious life. Nothing Fr. Hardon time. missions, but was deflected from ever did was as important as help- Fr. Hardon's Catholic faith and going to Tokyo by his superiors. ing create these two apostalates. If his low-key persistence as a fiery He became a teacher at West American priests, in the 19thcen~ disciple of the Church annoyed Baden College in short order, but tury, were called "sweet incense to many elite Catholics. He had many began also to teach in other than the Republic," the 20th century bishop friends from places like Jesuit colleges, even in Protestant was best recognized by its Reli- Scranton, Rockford, Arlington, seminaries. In 1956 he published gious Mothers - its nuns every- and Denver, was a recognized ProtestantChurchesin America for where, in the classroom best of all, theologian without receiving no- the edification of his separated but in hospitals and nursing homes, table public status, a peripatetic brethren. From 1962 to 1967 he and in the corner grocery store. evangelist for Christ without hold- taught "Comparative Religion and Almost overnight they disappeared, ing office almost anywhere. No Catholicity" at Western Michigan especially from the streets. Today, one would have thought of making University, and in 1963 published thanks to the likes of Fr. Hardon, him a Monsignor, even if his Jesuit Religions if the World. we have once more the Council if superiors were agreeable. He was His best work was still to Major Superiorsof Women Religious, welcome in Rome but not in the come, however. Vatican II had building anew the sisterhood the new power structures of the ended, a Catholic revolution was American Church badly needs. American Church. on its way, and somehow Fr. During the 1970's he founded Still, John Hardon remains one Hardon wormed his way into Mark Communicationsin Canada, of the great priests of the 20th cen- Rome's self-defense politics. The catechetical institutes in the United tury, sitting comfortably today Congregations for Religious and States, produced Christ Our Life, a somewhere near Someone's Right the Clergy became his homes away textbook series for elementary Hand. May his name continue to from home. Rome wanted to do schools, wrote The Catholic Cat- inspire those of us who remain something about the secularization echismin 1975, a forerunner of behind. of religious and clerical life, and John Paul II's official text, which about the flight from the convents appeared in 1994. In the 1980's he Msgr. GeorgeA. Kelly and from alta'rswhich had begum formed Inter Miriftcadedicated to in earnest. In 1969 he helped orga- the media apostolate, followed ten

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18 r PCS Quarterly. Spring 2001 BOOK REVIEWS

William E. May, Catholic Bioethics construct an entire bioethic on those Doctrine of the Faith texts (Donum and the Gift of Human Life, (Hun- flawed foundations. To their credit, vitae from 1987, the 1981 "Declara- tington, Indiana: Our Sunday Visitor however, they at least recognize and tion on Euthanasia" and the 1974 Publishing Division, 2000). Pp. 340. grapple with the core question. Alas, "Declaration on Procured Abor- PB. $17.95. ISBN 0-87973-683-6 their erroneous grapplings are often tion"). The exegesis of the teaching very influential in shaping public of those documents and the rationale early a quarter century opinion and policy. underlying those teachings are espe- A recent anti-Catholic slam has passed since Catholic cially necessary when so many N theologian and FCS mem- piece in the prestigious British people are often told to "form their consciences" on the basis of those ber William May wrote Human weekly The Economist noted this Existence, Medicine and Ethics,l his opinion-forming impact, observing documents without a clue of what 4 I first book on bioethics. In the ensu- that" ...the church is often not those documents teach or, even ing 25 years, the field has grown taken seriously on other issues, such more importantly, why they teach from a nascent secular discipline as embryo research, where health what they do. Pope John Paul II's (there had already existed a distin- and ethics collide," The journal, masterful defense of human life, guished tradition of Catholic medi- however, argues that the Church has contained in Evangelium vitae, re- cal ethics) into a veritable industry. only itself to blame, forfeiting its mains too little known in average Church circles. Despite the proliferation ofbioethi- "credibility" because "the birth calliterature and the accompanying control ruling still marks out the May acknowledges (p. 19) that handwringing, however, even a church as an irresponsible and ob- there are other key Magisterial docu- cursory comparison of Bill May's structionist voice in any debate on ments bearing on the questions he 1977 and newest books shows the over-population, poverty or, espe- treats, and some of these are refer- moral decline in bioethics. Bioethi- cially, the containment of AIDS."2 enced in the course of the book. Still, cal progress clearly does not stand in To borrow a phrase once in the omission of an explicit introduc- direct proportion to the number of vogue in Washington: they "just. tory treatment of Humanae vitae is a trees felled to write about it. don't get it." What the Church lacuna. Without discounting John Catholic Bioethics and the Gift of teaches about experimentation on Paul's yeoman work on matters Human Life is a welcome and needed embryos derives from what the sexual and.bioethical-his pontificate addition to the literature in this field. Church teaches about the dignity of alone basically coincides with the As its title indicates, May examines human life and its origins. A bioethic period since May's earlier book-the reviewer also feels a certain contemporary bioethical issues that avoids resolving when life be- through the prism of the dignity, gins, or pretends that the problem is "overdependence" on John Paul II's inviolability and giftedness of human insoluble, may broker compromises Magisterium. The incumbent pontiff life. Human life is, after all, what about embryo research based upon has certainly contributed enormously should stand at the heart ofbioethi- shifting calculations of good and evil to this field (remember that after cal discussion. . outcomes, but such a utilitarian Humanae vitae Pope Paul VI gave up Should but not always does. calculus can hardly ground a prin- writing encyclicals) but it is also im- "Bioethics," etymologically, is the cipled and consistent ethic oflife. portant to show that Pope John Paul ethics of deoo, "life." The paradox, William May, on the other II's Magisterium stands in continuity however, is that most secular bioeth- hand, does. The principle of respect with a much longer tradition of ics maintains an epistemological for the dignity of human life informs ecclesiastical teaching. Particularly in agnosticism about the very subject each of his eight chapters. what may be the twilight of the cur- matter of the discipline. Often- Before launching into specific rent papacy, it is important to be clear times, the question oflife is evaded bioethical issues, however, May that what is being taught is not just or readers are treated to a survey of gives his reader a broader perspective the brainchild of John Paul II. mutually contradictory opinions on Church teaching and moral Chapter Two, "Making True about it, without ever resolving the methodology. Chapter one, Moral Judgments and Good Moral key question which ought to illu- "Church Teaching and Major Issues Choices," presents an overview of mine the whole bioethical enter- in Bioethics," provides somewhat key principles of fundamental moral prise. There are, of course, those detailed resumes of four Magisterial theology germane to bioethics. authors who resolve the question documents: Pope John Paul II's These include an extended discus- erroneously and then proceed to 1995 encyclical, Evangelium vitae, sion of what constitutes a human act and three Congregation for the (actus humanus) and remarks about

PCS Quarterly' Spring 2001 . BOOK REVIEWS

the nature of human freedom. On children, and, for Christian spouses, nent opponent of this idea; May and human acts, May is careful to ex- the good of the "sacrament" (p. Germain Grisez deemed it morally plain the distinction between finis 68, emphasis original). licit. This entire debate, like May's operisandfinis operantis,clarifYingthe subsequent treatment of debates over confusion sown by proportionalism Would that this insight was the ongoing adequacy of "brain (without getting too explicitly into proclaimed in our pulpits and taught death" definitions of death (pp. 294- the revisionist project). On freedom, in our sex education classes! 306) show just how au courantthis May points out the basis of human The bulk of chapter three (pp. book is. dignity in freedom while noting that 72-108) focuses on specific artificial In Chapter Four, "Contracep- freedom exists for the good (and not reproductive technologies, most of tion and Respect for Human Life," simply as the good). Clarity regard- which did not even exist when May May concedes that" [c]ontracep-tion ing the latter, essentially Sartrean, wrote his 1977 book. He deals with is usually considered an issue in notion of freedom is critical to ad- in vitro fertilization/embryo transfer sexual ethics rather than one proper dressing the contemporary abortion (IVF-ET) and cloning. May also to bioethics" (p. 119). Pace,The debate. examines various moral means to Economistet al., however, who With Chapter Three, "Generat- address the problem of infertile blame the teaching on contraception ing Human Life: Marriage and the couples seeking children (e.g., perfo- for the Church's supposed marginal- New Reproductive Technologies," rated condoms to circumvent hypos- ity, May hits the nail on the head: May begins treating specific bioethi- padias, low tubal ovum transfer, and ".. .contraception is very much rel- cal issues. First, however, he frames a moving sperm deposited in the va- evant to respect for human life inas- context: the conjugal act is procre- gina into the uterus or Fallopian much as it is not, of itself, a sexual ative and unitive and the generation tubes). He likewise discusses those act but rather an anti-life kind of act. of new human life should occur "controverted techniques" -sperm It is indeed the 'gateway to abor- within the conjugal act. The term "capacitation," cumulative sperm tion'; widespread social acceptance "conjugal act" is neither a misnomer insertion, gamete intrafallopian tube of contraception has lead to the nor an ecclesiastical euphemism transfer (GIFT) and Tubal Ovum 'culture of death' . . . ."(ibid). Not- synonymous with "sexual inter- Transfer with Sperm (TOTS)-the withstanding claims that greater course." As May notes: latter two of which have been ap- access to contraception would de- proved by some Catholic theolo- crease recourse to abortion, two facts The marital act is not simply a gians who try to adhere to Church are indisputable: contraception and genital act between men and teaching. May, nevertheless, offers abortion have grown in direct, not women who happen to be married. persuasive reasons why those meth- inverse ratio, and no nation where Husbands and wives have the ca- ods cannot ultimately be reconciled widespread use of contraception pacity to engage in genital acts with Catholic teaching. became prevalent failed to legalize because they have genitals. Unmar- One of the victims of the IVF abortion within a generation. May's ried men and women have the business are "surplus" embryos. IVF critique of contraception is, there- same capacity. But husbands and typically involves fertilizing multiple fore, on target. wives have the capacity (and the ova, only some of which are subse- May does a masterful job ex- right)to engage in the maritalact quently implanted into the woman. plaining the anthropological and only because they are married, i.e., Those ova which are not destroyed ethical mindset that necessarily must husbands and wives, spouses. The are sometimes then cryopreserved. underlie the use of contraception, marital act, therefore, is more than Occasionally, the parents of these contrasting it with the presupposi- a simple genital act between people children die or abandon them, leav- tions that can underlie decisions to who just happen to be married. As ing these frozen embryos in limbo. use natural family planning (NFP). marital, it is an act that inwardly The question has arisen in Catholic The only thing lacking in this chap- participates in their marital unity, in circles whether it is moral to "res- ter might have been a brief excursus their one-flesh unity, a unity open to the gift of children. The marital cue" or pre-natally "adopt" these on today's types ofNFP, a subject still insufficiently known. act, in short, is an act inwardly children by volunteering to implant Chapter Five, "Abortion and participating in the "goods" or them in one's uterus and carry them to term, either with a view towards "blessings" of marriage, i.e., the Human Life," serves two purposes: it solidly defends human life and it good of steadfast fidelity and exclu- subsequently raising them or giving sive conjugal love, the good of them up for adoption. Msgr. Will- provides a useful rejoinder against iam B. Smith was the most promi- the arguments used by (not only) the

. FCS Quarterly. Spring 2001 "Catholics for a Free Choice" crowd clearly repudiating the use of em- lectual order to keep the definition who distort ecclesiastical teaching. bryos for cell salvage operations. of death equally discrete from the May first takes on the general argu- Critically, May also notes (p. 215) use of organs for transplantation?"4 ments against the humanity of the that human stem cells can be morally May traces the development of unborn child (largely rooted in a obtained in ways other than raping definitions of death to the position lack of" exercisable cognitive abili- embryos. The chapter also provides enshrined in the Uniform Definition ties"), then successfully repudiates lucid explanations of gene therapy of Death Act adopted by many those who maintain that "individual and genetic counseling, pre-natal American States, viz., death is spon- ,t personhood cannot be established screening and the human genome taneous and irreversible cardio- before implantation." The latter is project, all likely to grow in promi- pulmonary failure or irreversible particularly important for two rea- cessation of function of the entire IJ nence and frequency of application sons: it gives the lie to those by the time May next writes a bioet- brain, including the brain stem. May "Catholic theologians" who do not hics book. rightly argues that the underlying want to allow their faith in the Pill Chapter Seven, "Euthanasia, presupposition of that definition is to be shaken by reckoning with its Assisted Suicide and Care of the that irreversible cardio-pulmonary abortiofacient properties and it re- Dying," makes a critical distinction failure or irreversible cessation of all moves the figleaf of calling the un- between "euthanasia" and brain function (including the brain born "pre-embryos" as a way of "benemortasia" (the moral care of stem) signifies that the integrated justifYing using them for experimen- the dying). On euthanasia, May functioning of the human body has tal purposes or tissue harvesting. critiques the arguments, paying permanently ceased. The lack of an May concludes the chapter with a special attention to the "physician- integrating principle means death. useful moral discussion of contem- assisted suicide" crowd. On May prophetically sees the defi- porary treatments for ectopic preg- benemortasia, May discusses legiti- nition of death as the next major nancy, a phenomenon of increased mate care of the dying, making clear pro-life struggle. Already, significant incidence today. what is encompassed by the tradi- voices want to scrap the . Chapter Six, "Experimentation tional criteria of" ordinary" and nonfunctioning brain stem criterion on Human Subjects," is a particu- "extraordinary" means of preserving of death, arguing that permanent loss larly good illustration of how much life. He gives special attention to the of upper brain function (i.e., higher (waste) water has flowed beneath the debate over artificially-provided cognitive and communicative abili- bioethical bridge in the past quarter nutrition and hydration for the per- ties) is tantamount to human death. century. May opens by recalling manently unconscious, examining May rightly sees these efforts as the them, 25 years ago, the major debate the views of those who justifY re- next encroachment of a Cartesian about experimentation employing moval of such care before arguing- dualism that treats the body as some- human beings, between him and as this reviewer has3-that artificially thing subpersonal and purely instru- Paul Ramsey on one side and Rich- provided nutrition and hydration is mental. ard McCormick, S.J., on the other ordinary care that is morally obliga- New data and May's intellectual was whether proxy consent sufficed tory. honesty, however, force him to ask for certain nontherapeutic experi- Chapter Eight, "Defining Death an even more radical question: did ments. Back then, the issue was and Organ Transplantation," cap- the total brain (including brain stem) tures the nub of the issue: most of y whether a parent could justifY giving definition of death itself go too far? If consent for a minor child to be used the debate over definitions of death May admits that he once regarded h for experiments which were not is driven by the effort to procure this definition as correct. That defini- directly beneficial to the child but organs for transplantation promptly. tion presupposed that the brain was !) which might benefit medical re- May rightly reminds us that such the central integrating organof the search. May and Ramsey said no; a connections, even if only in the body. New medical research by Dr. child cannot be used for intellectual order, are conflicts of Alan Shewmon, however, appears to nontherapeutic research by proxy interest that distort ethical analysis. dispute that presumption. Shewmon consent. Quoting Paul Ramsey, he reminds has detailed 175 cases of individuals Today, of course, the issue has us that'" [i]f, in the practical order, declared "brain dead," placed on degenerated into lethal experiments we need to separate [the transplant mechanical ventilators, who survived on unborn children, including em- team from the doctor who attends more than one week (in one instance, bryonic stem-cell research. May the dying patient and certifies his 15 years), disproving the claim that explains the issues and the ethics, death], do we not need in the intel- brain death leads to imminent cardiac

PCS Quarterly. Spring 2001 . BOOK REVIEWS

arrest. Shewmon's work suggests that book. In the jungle ofbioethics, it Msgr. FrancisJ. Weber, Encyclope- if death is indeed the cessation of all will be a useful text for undergradu- dia of California's Catholic Heritage integrative somatic functioning, then ate and graduate/seminary courses in (Mission Hill, Calif, St. Francis we have been asking the wrong ques- that area. Clergy and helping profes- Historical Society, 2001, 1148 pp., tion. Instead of asking whether the sionals will find it a useful update $90.) brain'is the "central integrating organ and reference in addressing the of the body" (p. 293) do we rather moral questions they are likely to omeone ought to find an not need to ask instead whether there encounter with increased frequency. award worthy of Los is some other integrating principlein Educated general Catholic readers S Angeles' Msgr. Francis Weber. the body? To borrow Kuhn's termi- and open-minded readers of good Only a few years ago knowledgeable nology, is Shewmon invalidating the will will find this book an articulate opinion-moulders whined about the whole paradigm that has provided the defense of human life and explana- failure of Catholic historians to re- intellectual foundation for our practi- tion of Catholic teaching on issues, port fully and accurately on West cal action about when we declare like embryo stem-cell research, in- Coast Catholicity, preoccupied as people dead and take their organs? creasingly in the headlines. they were, from the American May himself is clear: "I can no May stands in the long line of Revolution onward, with ecclesiasti- longer in conscience accept 'brain Catholic moral theologians-like cal politics on the East Coast. Then death' as equivalent to the death of a John Ford, Gerald Kelly, Charles along came Msgr. Weber, author in human person" (p. 306). When a McFadden et al., who combined 1997 of a 700 page biography of serious Catholic theologian reaches professional competence in current James Cardinal McIntyre, LA.'s such a conclusion about so central a medical ethics with a commitment Archbishop 1947-1970; author again subject as the human good oflife, to Catholic thought. Catholic Bioeth- in 1999 of another 700 page biogra- the argument needs to be carefully ics and the Gift if Human Life is a phy of successor Timothy Cardinal examined. Stay tuned! worthy successor to May's earlier Manning (1970-1989); and now There are a few disappointments book. Highly recommended. only two years later this 1, 100 page in the book. Recognizing that this is encyclopedia, covering California not a treatise on all matters bioethi- John M. Grondelski Catholicity back to 1770, when Fra cal but a reflection on bioethics as it School of Theology Junipero Serra and the first impacts on human life, one palpably Seton Hall University Franciscan missioners graced what feels the absence of a treatment of South Orange, NJ would become the outer limits of a AIDS and AIDS containment (espe- new nation. 1. William May, Human Existence, Medicine and cially from a Catholic theologian Ethics (Chicago: Franciscan Herald Press, 1977). Leafing through the Encyclopedia noted for his sense of sentire cum 2. "Between This World and the Next," The brought back scary memories. About Ecclesia). Some treatment of the Economist, 358 (27 January-2 February 2001)/no. forty years ago I had a long meeting social dimensions of health care and 8206: 25-27, quotes on p. 26. with Cardinal McIntyre, while we healthcare access is also warranted. 3. John M. Grondelski, "Removal of Artificially were both in San Antonio. McIntyre Supplied Nutrition and Hydration: A Moral Given the merger tendency among Analysis," Irish TheologicalQuarterly, 55 (1989)/4: had been a new bishop in New hospitals, Catholic medical facilities 291-302; "Catholicism and the 'Right' to Die," York (1940) making sure that new may find themselves in affiliation Linacre Quarterly, 59 (November 1992)/4: 50-56. priests like me behaved. There, one Shewmon's subsequent research (post) might be with institutions less concerned relevant to some of the conclusions drawn in Saturday morning, within a cab ride about human life. In such cases, those articles. of the Alamo, the aging Cardinal some contemporary examples of 4. May, p. 284, quoting Paul Ramsey, The spoke of the mass of personal papers how the principles of formal and Patient as Person (New Haven: Yale University he had accumulated during his Press, 1970), p. 103. material cooperation might come dozen years in LA. Simplistically, I into play would have enhanced the offered to help him organize them. book. The same applies for how one He was graciously thankful, but no, bears witness to Catholic values he was about to name one of his within a secular health care frame- own priest to take charge of those work (e.g., the debate in Germany archives. I did not know Fr. Weber over abortion counseling comes to at the time but, thanks be to God, mind) . Weber got the job. Looking at these All things considered, however, three books on my shelf today, I this is an extraordinarily valuable realize I would never have done for I

III PCS Quarterly. Spring 2001 the Church of the West Coast what the Church, many of whom go to more than data on Catholicity. One Msgr. Weber has accomplished God with little more than a faint learns also things like General Dou- superbly. good-bye. I knew Fr. Peter Yorke glas MacArthur wanting San This Encyclopedia is remarkable. from reading about his work, and Francisco's John Mitty to be made a It opens appropriately with 200 Msgr. Thomas McCarthy personally, Cardinal, how Lawrence Well, the pages on "the California Missions," both of whom symbolize the priest- son of German immigrants, didn't and then offers reminiscences in hood at its best, both pastors. speak English until he was twenty order about California's hierarchy, Americans who live East of the years old, and how a retreat master it its laity, clergy, friars, religious, Hudson should be grateful for the told a new bishop: "Don't hesitate ecclesial institutions. The volume two hundred pages given over to the to use the lower end of the crozier, closes with Memoirs of forgotten Franciscan Friars and other religious. which is intended to chastise those people, words or events, and two Especially to the women who of our flock who disobey." The hundred pages of Topicalsfrom the helped found Catholicity in the reader will get more than be bargains Adobe to the Regan Library. West, about the time the American for when he buys this Encyclopedia. For East Coast denizens the Church was receiving its first bishop. early Franciscan mission material is I, for one, cannot get enough of Msgr. George A. Kelly fascinating-from the attack upon Blessed Fra Junipero Serra, monu- FraJunipero Serra by Indians upon ments to whose priestly enterprise his entry to San Diego, whose sav- dot the West Coast almost every- agery was assuaged by seeing the where. The 40 panels of commen- William May and Kenneth D. painting of Our Lady shown them tary on his life certainly tickle my Whitehead, The Battle for the by Serra, to the plight of the Indians, fancies. Born in Mallorca 1713 (died Catholic Mind, (St. Augustine's as the Gold Rush took off, and a in 1784), the Friar raised the first Press, South Bend, 2001, 519 pp.) defense of the mission system itself Christian cross in California on July The section on hierarchy, the 16, 1769, creating a chain of mis- his is a good title for a roots of which were first in Mexico sions up and down the coast for book dealing with "that City, contains some distinguished educating and training Indians. Serra T mind which is in Christ names. One prominent figure was had been a professor, with scripture Jesus, Our Lord: (Phil. 2, 5). One of Joseph Sadoc Alemany, Archbishop as his specialty, but the became a Christ's most fascinating lines during of San Francisco 1853-1884. Cali- teacher of doctrine and song to the life was that which he directed at his fornia historically may have been in unlettered in nine of those beloved Peter: "Get behind me, you the ecclesiastical shadows, yet it Franciscan missions. At some point devil...you're not on the side of begot impressive bishops: John almost half-of-all Indians fell under God, but of men." (Mt. 16,23). My Cantwell, Thomas J. Conaty, Rob- his sway. The Gold Rush later friend, Msgr. John Tracy Ellis, after ert Dwyer, Edward Hanna, Robert brought suffering to Indians at the Vatican II once walked away from a Lucey, Norman McFarland, George hands of whites. Some of the blame lecture to young Catholics, sputter- T. Montgomery, Denis O'Connell, fell wrongly on Serra's missions, ing: "They think like very other Patrick Riordan, John Ward, et al. which had done so much to uplift American, not very Catholic." The two sections on California's them. A good deal of what is known Catholics are not supposed to think prominent laity and clergy, with about Serra comes from his own like everyone else if they believe that names running beyond a hundred, writings, which as late as 1966 were Christ is the true Son of God and feature people who ordinarily re- published in four volumes and in that what he revealed about ceive even less attention from English. Finally, while this mankind's nature and destiny is true. Church historians, but who at a Franciscan exercised the authority of In some respects The Battle of the given time perform most of the a bishop (he confirmed 6,000 Indi- Catholic Mind is evidence that the work done for parishes and/or ans himself), he fled the designation. French Revolution has bested the ecclesial agencies. The names usually The remainder of the Encyclope- American Revolution, that Voltaire are not familiar, except for stars Kit dia is a potpourri of people and has triumphed over Thomas Carson and Leo Carillo of Holly- events - like the Methusalah Tree Jefferson. Jefferson at least was a wood fame, or oilman Edward and the Protestant Requiem Mass - deist, believed in God and "nature's Doheny. The priest segment will snippets on various dioceses, even laws." From his time came chap- obviously interest those who recog- something on William Randolph lains for Congress, bible reading in nize how priests make or unmake Hearst. The Encyclopedia supplies the public schools, and the Ten

PCS Quarterly. Spring 2001 . BOOK REVIEWS

Commandments as the under-law of conscience, natural law, pluralism, Walton, Clarence c., Archons and the land. He just didn't want the common good, natural family plan- Acolytes: The New Power Elites. American government to decide ning, the Catholic university, con- Lanham, MD: Rowman and religion for its citizens, as the French templation, etc. Some of the titles Littlefield, 1998. Pp. xii + 267. monarch did. Voltaire hated Chris- have more than a news quality: tianity and preferred godlessness in "The Governance of the Church," alton takes his lead its place. "Principles of the Catholic Scholar- from the 1956 book by The Battlefor the Catholic Mind is ship," "Four Developments in W Columbia University's II a compilation of the best thinking of Modern Physics that Subvert Scien- C. Wright Mills, The PowerElite. the Fellowship <1Catholic Scholars on tific Materialism," "To be or not to The "new power elite," Walton the secularist war that is going on be - Female," "The Church of argues, has gravitated from business within the Catholic Church over Christ and the Catholic Church," to the academy. What goes on "Americanism the 'Phantom Her- what it means to be a Catholic and a there, he is convinced, affects every member of Christ's Church. By esy' Revisited," "God as a Prisoner area oflife, notably law, govern- 1976 One, Holy, Catholic and Ap- of His Own Choosing: Critical ment, business, science, and one ostolic had gone out of fashion in Historical Study of the Bible," might say, culture in general. Be- Catholic academe as marks of the "The Bitter Pill the Catholic Com- wildered by the titanic changes oc- true Church. In that year Paul VI's munity Swallowed." curring simultaneously in law, in the Vicar for Catholic Education, The writers of these are no less business world, in education, and in Gabriel Cardinal Garrone, asked a attractive than the subject matter: the family structure, Walton draws J few Americans: "Is there no other Glenn Olsen, William B. Smith, II upon his considerable experience in ~ voice in the United States for Paul Vitz, Donald Keefe, S.J., the academy to explore the ideologi- Catholic higher education than the Ronald Lawler, O.F.M. Cap., John cal roots of these changes. Widely Jesuits and NCEA?" By that year, M. Finnis, James Hitchcock, Robert read, he is not only conversant with diversity, pluralism, and autonomy Young, Robert Georg, Joyce Little, the major philosophical trends of the from pope and bishops were the Janet Smith, Marvin O'Connell, last half of the 20th century but draws preferred marks of the new Catho- Brian Benestad, Paul Quay, S.J., upon his considerable experience in licity. The Fellowship was born to Gerard V. Bradley, John Cardinal the academy as a dean of Duquesne I fight for the original four marks. O'Connor, and others. In their University's School of Business, as Ii In 2002 the Fellowship will holds respective spheres these are all stars. dean of Columbia University's its 25th convention and will dutifully Dennis J. McCarthy, S.J., of the School of General Studies, and as publish its proceedings, some of Biblicum makes the point that we are president of The Catholic University which may prove to be oflittle so preoccupied today with where of America. His discussion is wide account. But William May, one- the Bible came from, in what cir- ranging, but the focus is on the time distinguished member of the cumstances it was born, and how it influence of Heidegger, Derrida, and pope's International Theological Com- was put together, that we neglect to Foucault. Philosophy, he fears, has mission, and Kenneth D. Whitehead, appreciate its very meaning. No one lost its character as a science based one-time Deputy Director of the U. will be deceived in the May- White- I on accurate and precise descriptions Ii head effort about what the Catholic I' S. Department <1Education, found of nature and human nature, one , Catholic gold in the hills of earlier Church or the Fellowship <1Catholic given to making distinctions and ~ Scholars holds and teaches as true. ~ convocations, worthy of publication. refining definitions and finally to They scoured earlier conventions to It is unfortunate that a book offering explanations. It is not and find 31 nuggets of Catholic thought, packed with such knowledge has no should not be, he insists, politics, i, worth re-publishing as a unit. And index, nor a full identification of its propaganda, or an evangelizing in- stellar authors. I gave them an appropriate title. strument for cultural change. I once thought of writing a Deconstructionism, post-mod- l,1 book called The Seven Lost Words Msgr. George A. Kelly ernism, feminism, and other fashion- which capsulated the old faith at its able "isms," he fears, have jeopar- very best. Things like orthodoxy, dized the humanities that constitute state of grace, Real Presence, etc. the core of liberal learning and have May-Whitehead deal with many encouraged a form of more: intrinsically evil, Catholic multiculturalism that scorns Western

.. PCS Quarterly. Spring2001 'I .. values. Not only that, but they have Joseph Pieper, Death and Immortal- times, it is seen as a violent assault - spawned politically correct speech ity. Translated by Richard and Clara - the attack of the "last enemy," (1 codes that threaten academic free- Winston. South Bend, Indiana: St. Cor 15) as the New Testament dom itself Augustine's Press, 2000. terms it, or the grim work of the In addressing what he takes to "Grim Reaper." be a growing list of American pa- he purpose of this rela- For its part, philosophy com- thologies, Walton's perspective is the tively brief philosophical mon speaks of death as the separa- classical Western intellectual tradi- T meditation on death is to tion of the soul and the body. To tion forcefully described by Werner explain and clarity what happens understand the separation, Pieper Jaeger in his monumental Paideia. when a person dies. The author examines the mode of communion The book opens with chapters admits the difficulties of the task, not of body and soul present before the on deconstructionism and post- least of which is the lack of first hand separation. The body is not a mere modernism. As in two previous knowledge about this fact of life instrument used and then left behind works, Ethos and the Executive and called death. For, in spite of the by the body as a sailor leaves his boat Conceptual Foundation if Business, many books written on the subject, or a prisoner his cell. Neither is the works which gained Walton national no one living really qualifies as an soul the essential part of man that recognition, he is ever attentive to expert in death, while the multitudes lives on contentedly after the death the influence of finely woven ab- who have had direct experience are of the body. Pieper terms this fre- stractions on everyday life, resulting "dead silent" about it. The other quent but false view a "spiritualistic in what he calls "the radicalization of side of this is, of course, that every- minimizing of dying" wherein death the nation's most important institu- one knows enough about death to turns out to be nothing much as all. tions. " be "dead certain" that it will come With Aristotle and Aquinas, he The book ends with a chapter sooner or later to every human be- insists on a relationship between soul on mainline religions, now reeling, ing. Indeed, Pieper stresses that each and body, so intimate and so defin- he is convinced, from attacks by person bears within himself an inner ing that the soul is "the form im- their own theologians who have sense of the certainty of his own pressing itself on the body from embraced the zeitgeist with a conse- death, even while being uncertain within." In death then, the whole quent loss of influence on the com- about its time. Even the modern man dies. This means that the soul, mon morality. Carefully reasoned, who claims to ignore, dety, or deny though indestructible, is "deeply never shrill, the book serves as a death, carries this certitude within affected by death," because, for man, powerful reminder that abstract ideas which is bound to have profound body and soul belong together. have consequences in the social and consequences on one's sense of self Taken together, the various political order. It could be read with and of one's life in this world. ways of speaking about death indi- profit by any who aspires to leader- In order to probe the signifi- cate our perception of it as both end ship in the academy. cance of death for life, the author's and beginning, terror and liberation, first order of business is to survey something imposed from outside and Jude P. Dougherty examples of everyday "vocabulary of something maturing from within; as The Catholic University if America death" to determine what truth it something we do ourselves and carries, often under the veil of eu- something happening to us. phemism. At times in speech, the To understand better the mys- focus is on death as a physiological tery hidden and revealed in our or temporal ending. Thus we say language about death, Pieper looks such things as that a person has for something analogous in our "passed away" of "has ended his experience that, like death, is not days." Other expressions emphasize natural and even against nature but the family of community's experi- that, in the whole scheme of things, ence of separation: "he is gone;" can be necessary, and even good. He "she has lost her husband;" "they finds it in the concept of just punish- have lost their parents." At times, ment where there is an evil that death is seen as an action: "he has ought not be, that of guilt, and an- handed over his soul to God" or other evil that, in some real sense, "she has entered eternity." At other ought to be, namely punishment

PCS Quarterly. Spring 2001 ...... BOOK REVIEWS

understood as a response to and a ence of the many who faced death totally from reality." Pieper, again consequence of guilt. Applying this on the "scaffolds of the Third following Thomas, locates this inde- to death, Pieper sees the "whole Reich," he notes the clarity and structibility in man's capacity for state of things" as disordered, the desire for truth that permeates the apprehending the truth, a capacity result of something that ought not testimonial letters of men and that demands the soul's indepen- have happened and should not be, women facing imminent death. He dence of the body and persists but has happened and cries out for cites the witness of a prison chaplain through its dissolution beyond ordering. It is not difficult to move during those dark days who found death. But since the soul requires the beyond philosophy and recognize person after person calm and com- body for its perfection, it likewise here the biblical and Christian con- posed, free from fear or hatred or a seems to require the resurrection of cept of a primordial fall that contin- desire for revenge, and enlightened the body from the dead. However, ues to affect man and his destiny. by "a great light [which] casts its to delve more deeply into this mys- With Aquinas, Pieper sees death as glow ahead and experiencing a tery, one must cross the boundaries partly natural and partly contrary to "boundlessly expanding realm of of philosophical to theology and nature and the result of sin. As a inner freedom." In Pieper's view, faith in the great good news of deliberate turning from God, the this freedom and light can come also Christ's resurrection from the dead. source oflife, sin deals death and is even to those who die suddenly or In this meditation on death and manifest in death. Before sin, man unconsciously, since little time is immortality, Joseph Peiper manifests would have been immortal, not by needed for this action, "man's last his usual clarity and simplicity as he nature but by free gift. As things will and testament," by which he opens up one of the deep mysteries now are, man must perceive and "simultaneously concludes and com- of human existence. The English receive the good within the punish- pletes his earthly existence." This translation reads quite well, aside ment that death is: he must ac- ~. final act is, the philosopher says, a from a few typographical errors, and knowledge and reject sin; he must "religious act ofloving devotion in preserves Pieper's characteristic lu- accept and submit completely to which the individual, explicitly minosity. A preface of some sort, God's authority in punishing. Thus accepting death as his destiny, offers placing these reflections in their freely accepted, death becomes, not up himself, and the life now slipping situation in the author's life and just something that forces itself upon from him, to God." work and introducing St. a person, but rather a personal deci- The end of the journey marks Augustine's Press, would have been sion. In the act of dying, the person for man a new beginning, the inde- most welcome. But even without who, up to this point has been a structible life that indeed he always these, the essay stands very well on pilgrim whose existence is not com- hoped for in his earthly pilgrimage. its own. plete, freely and finally completes his Once God creates the person, only existence "from within." he can annihilate him. A person SisterJoan Gormley Pieper takes issue with the no- cannot annihilate even himself "In Mount Saint Mary's Seminary tion that the person facing death is creation something happens that Emmitsburg, MD 21727 reduced to a state on non-freedom absolutely cannot be undone again; March 29, 2001 and darkness concerning his own the creature which has once entered existence. Appealing to the experi- existence can never again vanish

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.. PCS Quarterly. Spring 2001 BOARD OF DIRECTORS-200 I

OFFICERS DR. ELIZABETHFOX-GENOVESE REv. J. MICHAELMILLER,CSB President 1487 Sheridan Walk University of St. Thomas PROF. GERARDV. BRADLEY Atlanta, GA 30324 3800 Montrose Boulevard Houston, TX 77006 University of Notre Dame [email protected] 219 Law School PROF. LAURA GARCIA [email protected] Notre Dame, IN 46556 Boston College - Philosophy SR. MARYJUDITH O'BRIEN, RSM Gerard.v'[email protected] 140 Commonwealth Avenue St. John Vianney Seminary Vice-President Chestnut Hill, MA 02467 1300 S. Steele Street Denver, CO 80250-1645 DR. MICHAELJ. HEALY [email protected] [email protected] Franciscan University DR. JAMES HITCHCOCK Stuebenville, OH 43952 6159 Kingsbury Drive REv. JOHN ROCK, S.J. [email protected] St. Louis, MO 63112 Gonzaga University Executive Secretary [email protected] Spokane, W A 99258-0001 [email protected] REv. THOMASF. DAILEY,O.S.F.S. DR. CHRISTOPHERJANOSIK DeSales University Villanova University REv. PETER RYAN, S.J. 2755 Station Avenue 208 Dougherty Hall Loyola College - Theology Center Valley, PA 18034 Villanova, PA 19085 4501 N. Charles Street [email protected] [email protected] Baltimore, MD 21210-2699 PresidentEmeritus DR. STEPHENKRASON [email protected] REv. MSGR. GEORGEA. KELLY Franciscan University - Pol. Sci. REv. JAMESSCHALL,S.J. 107-10 Shore Front Parkway Steubenville, OH 43952 Georgetown Jesuit Community Rockaway Beach, NY 11694 Washington, DC 20057 REv. RONALDLAWLER,OFM CAP. [email protected] Editor if PCS Quarterly St. Francis Friary DR. LARRYCHAPP 2905 Castlegate Avenue DR. MARY SHIVANANDAN DeSales University Pittsburgh, PA 15226 John Paul II Institute 2755 Station Avenue DR. WILLIAMMAY 487 Michigan Avenue, NE Center Valley, PA 18034 Washington, DC 20017 John Paul II Imuitute [email protected] [email protected] 487 Michigan Avenue, NE DIRECTORS Washington, DC 20017 REv. MSGR. WILLIAMB. SMITH [email protected] St. Joseph's Seminary, Dunwoodie DR. J. BRIANBENESTAD DR. RALPH McINERNY 201 E. Seminary Avenue University of Scranton Yonkers, NY 10704-1896 Scranton, PA 18510 Jacques Maritain Center benestadj [email protected] 714 Hesburgh Library REv. EARLA. WEIS, S.J. Notre Dame, IN 46556 Loyola University DEAN BERNARD DOBRANSKI [email protected] 6525 N. Sheridan Road 6225 Webster Church Road Chicago, IL 60626-5385 Dexter, MI 48130 [email protected] Iii FRLLOWSHIPo[ CATHOLIC SCHOLARS ~' 24TH ANNUAL CONVENTION ~! "THE CATHOLIC IMAGINATION- ITS BEARING ON CONTEMPORARYCULTURE" TOPICS INCLUDE:

1'1 "Theological Aspects of Hans Urs von Balthasar I "The Sacramental Vision in JRR Tolkien" "Twentieth Century Catholic Literature" ~i "Church Architecture" If I "Music and Culture" Panel Discussion on "Catholic Impact on the Film Industry"

I" Bishop Fabian Bruskewitz of Lincoln, Nebraska will preside over the Vigil Mass celebration and will attend the Cardinal Wright Award banquet. more information is available online at E~MAIL ~ www.catholicscholars.org [email protected]

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Fellowship of Nonprofit Organization ~ Catholic Scholars U.S. Postage PAID II Ii Quarterly Notre Dame, Indiana /i Box 495 Permit No. 10 Notre Dame, IN 46556 i l

.. Fellowship I' of Catholic , Scholars

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