Liturgy 40 Years After the Council the Oneness of the Church
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Aug. 27–Sept.America 3, 2007 THE NATIONAL CATHOLIC WEEKLY $2.75 The Oneness of Liturgy 40 the Church Years After Richard the Council Gaillardetz Godfried Danneels Richard A. Blake on Ingmar Bergman as a religious thinker Willard F. Jabusch on Franz Jägerstätter NE SUMMER in Maryland I vol- would offer, to craft and enforce laws that unteered to teach in a local further the common good of all Ameri- America Head Start program, but what I cans. Humphrey fit the bill. What I Published by Jesuits of the United States needed instead was a paying didn’t expect was to be inspired by co- Ojob. So when my roommate dashed home workers. Editor in Chief with the news that the Democratic Yet I saw about me men and women Drew Christiansen, S.J. National Committee was hiring over at of varying ages, types and career levels the Watergate building, we rushed back who embodied another democratic ideal: Managing Editor to the District to apply and interview. the politically active citizen as party Robert C. Collins, S.J. That night we landed jobs in the press worker. These people toiled behind the office. It was 1968, a few months before scenes and within the system. Their hard Business Manager Election Day. And the Hubert Humphrey work, enthusiasm and dedication moved Lisa Pope versus Richard Nixon presidential race me; all of us worked nearly around the was entering its final critical leg. clock as the weeks sped by. And while Editorial Director This is the story of how a college senior staff members were surely sus- Karen Sue Smith sophomore, too young to vote or drink, tained by the hope of the power, status managed to become inebriated from her and financial reward victory would bring, Online Editor first big whiff of party politics. Or maybe they and many staff people at lower levels Maurice Timothy Reidy the story is this: the party-politics bug bit seemed motivated primarily by nobler our sophomore, inoculating her for civic goals. How ironic that in an era of Associate Editors decades against the twin democratic protest, I began to respect as well the Joseph A. O’Hare, S.J. demons of political apathy and cynicism. party system and those who worked with- George M. Anderson, S.J. I’m still working on the interpretation in it. (and I’m still under the influence). The experience did not prompt me to Dennis M. Linehan, S.J. So, Ms. Smith goes to Washington. run for office myself or to become a James Martin, S.J. Plopped career James P. McDermott, S.J. serendipitously staffer, but it into the press did ignite Literary Editor office, the center Of Many Things my lifelong Patricia A. Kossmann of the national interest in campaign, I was immediately aware of my politics. I minored in government, joined Poetry Editor political ignorance. Many on the staff had the League of Women Voters, helped James S. Torrens, S.J. come directly from the Democratic friends with their state and local cam- National Convention in Chicago, which paigns, worked on many a voter registra- Assistant Editor had been marred by the violent treatment tion drive, edited two magazines that Francis W. Turnbull, S.J. of a group of antiwar protestors. I had cover politics and never failed to vote. I not been present and did not understand relish the current campaign, too, even Design and Production what such violence, along with the though much has changed since then to Stephanie Ratcliffe national fractiousness over the war, might tarnish the political system I cherish, such portend for November. I knew only that, as the overwhelming power of PACs. Advertising like my parents, I was a Democrat who Though the Democrats lost the 1968 Julia Sosa supported the war on poverty, civil rights election, I continue to find surprising the for blacks and equal rights for women. degree to which that single positive expe- Unlike my parents, I was against the war, rience has influenced my adult actions though my brother served in the Navy. and views. It didn’t have to be that way. 106 West 56th Street Now here I was in Washington, not Had I been more objective, perhaps, I New York, NY 10019-3803 exactly a Humphrey devotee, but eager to might have concluded that party politics Ph: 212-581-4640; Fax: 212-399-3596. learn on the job more about the issues is ineffective, that it fails to produce the E-mail: [email protected]; and the candidate. As I prepared news best candidates. The winner that [email protected]. releases and press packets; typed, dupli- November, Richard Nixon, eventually Web site: www.americamagazine.org. cated, and mailed out the vice president’s resigned the presidency amid impeach- Customer Service: 1-800-627-9533. speeches; and read through sacks of mail ment proceedings, and his running mate, © 2007 America Press, Inc. sent to the candidates care of the D.N.C. Spiro T. Agnew, resigned after being (some letters were intensely personal and charged with tax evasion. heartfelt), I picked up what I could. Why not be cynical? Why cling to the In all innocence, I expected the presi- belief that the people’s voice can best be dential candidate to inspire me. After all, heard through political parties? Because he represented a democratic ideal I that is a goal worthy of effort and, I admired: the elected public servant. By would add from experience, a view that Cover art The domes of St. Peter's definition, this man or woman works can inspire the young. Basilica, Rome, at sunset. (CNS photo long and hard, for less pay than business Karen Sue Smith by Nancy Wiechec) www.americamagazine.org Vol. 197 No. 5, Whole No. 4783 Aug. 27–Sept. 3, 2007 Articles 13 Liturgy 40 Years After the Council 13 Godfried Danneels Have the profound intentions of Vatican II’s liturgy document been realized? The Church of Christ 17 and the Churches Richard R. Gaillardetz A theologian reflects on where the “means of sanctification and truth” are to be found. Good News From Brazil 21 Francis Chamberlain A report on the Latin American bishops’ meeting Current Comment 4 29 Editorial Restoring Worker Choice 5 Signs of the Times 6 Ethics Notebook 10 Capitobesity John F. Kavanaugh Faith in Focus Taking the Long View Mark Neilsen 25 One Man’s Decision Willard F. Jabusch 27 Film Ingmar Bergman, Theologian? 29 Richard A. Blake Book Reviews 32 Catholicism at the Crossroads; The Mystery of Death; Gertrude Bell Letters 37 The Word 38 Banquet Wisdom; The Cost of Discipleship Daniel J. Harrington Current Comment long-range needs of an aging infrastructure. At a time The Limits of Color-Coding when much public attention is focused on terrorist threats During the last two U.S. presidential elections, the media from abroad, national and local leaders need to recognize devised a catchy system for depicting the partisan divide the dangers from within. among the 50 states. Where a majority of the votes cast The Highway Trust Fund receives from each penny were Republican, the state was called red; where increase in the federal tax imposed on gasoline about a bil- Democrat, blue. Maps of the nation required just a glance lion dollars a year, which it provides to local governments to show where each party prevailed. The red and blue cat- for the repair and replacement of local infrastructure. egories proved helpful in discussions of the electoral col- President Bush has resisted Congressional pressure to lege, which decided the 2000 election for George W. increase the tax on gasoline so that more funds can be Bush, although Al Gore won the popular vote. The red available for investment in the future of the nation’s high- and blue labels worked because in most instances the win- ways and bridges. The cost of gasoline in the United ner of the popular election takes all (not a proportionate States is held hostage, of course, to the unilateral decisions number) of each state’s electoral votes. of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries on But the color-coding has limited usefulness. Complex- the cost of a barrel of oil. The president would be better ity gets lost. In some states, voters choose a president from advised to resist the monopoly of OPEC by challenging its one party and national legislators from another; are these violations of the Sherman Antitrust Act, as Congress has states red or blue? Two colors cannot account for other proposed. Increasing taxes on gasoline would provide the factors—like gender, marital state, education and income, necessary funds for a greater investment in the nation’s race and ethnicity, and urban, suburban or rural resi- future. dence—that must be considered when seriously discussing voting patterns. And the two colors apply only to those who vote, leaving out the more than 40 percent of eligible The Truth Will Out voters who did not vote. Finally, the red and blue labels It has now been established legally by a court of inquest in cannot adequately describe ideology, despite repeated Kenya that the death of John Kaiser, then 67, on the night assertions that blue states are liberal, red states conserva- of Aug. 24, 2000, on a road outside Nairobi was a murder. tive. The Minnesota native was a member of the Mill Hill Note the possibility that in post-primary 2008, Missionaries who had worked in Kenya for 36 years. He Rudolph Giuliani could be running for president against was an outspoken defender of human rights, even person- Hillary Clinton.