THE NATIONAL CATHOLIC WEEKLY AUGUSTSEPT. 14–21, 3–10, 2009 $3.50 OF MANY THINGS PUBLISHED BY JESUITS OF THE UNITED STATES am not a natural athlete. Like most always in a car, and the idea that I could EDITOR IN CHIEF Catholic school students, I played arrive there by my own means was Drew Christiansen, S.J. IC.Y.O. basketball, though I did lit- indescribably exciting. tle to distinguish myself on the hard- Riding alone allows for this kind of EDITORIAL DEPARTMENT wood. In high school I tried track and meditation. Riding with a group offers MANAGING EDITOR field, and then tennis, but I did not fall different rewards. On a physical level it Robert C. Collins, S.J. in love with either sport. My tennis is not as draining, since you can draft racket sits unmolested in my garage, behind your companions and cruise at EDITORIAL DIRECTOR Karen Sue Smith and though I still lace up my running speeds that would be difficult to sustain shoes from time to time, I do not crave on your own. Group riding also forces ONLINE EDITOR Maurice Timothy Reidy a daily run as many friends do. you to look out for one another, to So it is with some surprise that I make sure you do not drop a rider on a CULTURE EDITOR now find myself, in my mid-30s, with a tough stretch of road. Of course, some James Martin, S.J. new love: cycling. I bought my first cyclists enjoy breaking away from the LITERARY EDITOR road bike last summer and have put pack, and group rides have taught me a Patricia A. Kossmann over 2,000 miles on it so far. In the little bit about what kind of rider I am. POETRY EDITOR spring I trained with the New York When a cyclist pushes ahead, my com- James S. Torrens, S.J.

Cycle Club, learning how to ride with a petitive streak kicks in, and I pedal furi- ASSOCIATE EDITORS group and exploring routes in New ously to keep up. Yet I also find myself George M. Anderson, S.J. Jersey and Westchester County. On our checking behind me, to make sure the Matt Malone, S.J. final ride we climbed the hills of group is intact. That mixture of drive Peter Schineller, S.J. Harriman State Park, crossed the Bear and empathy is a stark manifestation of Kevin Clarke Mountain Bridge and cruised into Cold my own personality traits—an insight VISITING EDITOR Spring, N.Y. Even on a foggy day it that had not ripened in my mind until I Thomas Massaro, S.J. was, in more ways than one, a breath- took up the sport. ASSISTANT EDITOR taking experience. Fall is the cyclist’s favorite season. Francis W. Turnbull, S.J.

Cycling is often described as addic- The cool weather and autumn leaves DESIGN AND PRODUCTION tive, and I suppose I display symptoms lure us out of bed and onto the roads, Stephanie Ratcliffe of the addict. I subscribe to Bicycling where legs are strong after a summer magazine, and I enjoy spending part of of training. Many riders leave the city BUSINESS DEPARTMENT my weekend at a local bike shop, con- for the countryside, and I too will find PUBLISHER templating which gadget to purchase time to climb the Palisades and Jan Attridge next. In July I followed Contador and explore the farmland of central New CHIEF FINANCIAL OFFICER Armstrong on the roads of France, and Jersey. My favorite ride of the year, Lisa Pope last month I tuned in for the rain- however, is only a few miles from my MARKETING shortened Tour of Ireland. apartment. Eryk Krysztofiak If I had to name the reasons for my The Tour de Bronx is a 40-mile cir- obsession, I would begin with the thrill cuit of my native borough. It starts in ADVERTISING Julia Sosa of discovery. I have lived in New York the shadow of Yankee Stadium, hugs for most of my life, but riding through Long Island Sound and traverses the 106 West 56th Street it on a bike has introduced me to parts hills of Riverdale before looping back to New York, NY 10019-3803 of the city I had never encountered the New York Botanical Garden. New Ph: 212-581-4640; Fax: 212-399-3596 before. My first ride down Manhattan’s York cyclists like to describe the roads West side bike path was revelatory. of the Bronx as junk miles because they E-mail: [email protected]; [email protected] Along one stretch I passed the charred are clogged with traffic and spotted Web site: www.americamagazine.org. remains of the Hudson’s waterfront with potholes. For me they pulse with Customer Service: 1-800-627-9533 piers and then underneath the cathedral music and life, and for a few hours in © 2009 America Press, Inc. ceiling of the West Side Highway October I will find myself, once again, before emerging into sunlight again at in communion with the place my family Cover: Engraving of William Shakespeare from the First Folio of West 57th Street. I had been at that calls home. the year 1623. spot many times before, but almost MAURICE TIMOTHY REIDY Photo: Shutterstock/c. CONTENTS www.americamagazine.org VOL. 201 NO. 6, WHOLE NO. 4865 SEPTEMBER 14–21, 2009

ARTICLES 11 GOD AND THE TEENAGE MIND The case for reason in religious education Brad Rothrock

14 FAULTY GUIDANCE A new framework for high school catechesis fails to persuade. William J. O’Malley

COLUMNS & DEPARTMENTS 4 Current Comment 11 5 Editorial Camelot’s End 6 Signs of the Times 9 Column The Human Factor Thomas Massaro 19 Rosh Hashana The Binding of Isaac Harold Kasimow 24 Poem State of Dementia Mary Damon Peltier 39 Letters 45 The Word Gifts and Status; True Authority Barbara E. Reid 14 BOOKS & CULTURE 23 IDEAS Shakespeare’s religion TELEVISION TNT’s “Saving Grace” BOOKS Reforming the Liturgy; Stepping Stones; The Rising of Bread for the World

ON THE WEB ON THE WEB Thomas Massaro, S.J., considers the legacy of Robert McNamara on our podcast, and James T. Fisher reports from the New York waterfront on the Jesuit labor priests. Plus, the Rev. Robert Barron examines the philosophical questions posed by the film “District 9.” 3523 All at americamagazine.org CURRENT COMMENT

U.S. troops who were ready to fire on them. After testify- The New Old Liturgy ing before a Congressional committee about the atrocities, Catholics with a special interest in liturgical matters could the helicopter crew received hate mail and death threats. be forgiven for scratching their heads last month over sev- One survivor, Pham Thanh Cong, who saw his mother eral news stories that centered on the celebration of the and brothers killed in the massacre, said he accepted the Mass. First, Bishop Edward Slattery of Tulsa, Okla., apology, but “his apologies come too late.” Cong, director announced that in his cathedral he would henceforth be of a small museum in My Lai, told the news agency AFP, celebrating Masses ad orientem, that is, facing East with his “We want him to come back...and see things here. Maybe back to the people. Explaining his decision, the bishop he has repented for his crimes.” War-related massacres called the Second Vatican Council’s “innovation” of the have always been common, but apologies have been very priest facing the congregation a “serious rupture with the rare. In the case of My Lai, the conscience of the individual Church’s ancient tradition.” On the other hand, a few most directly responsible prompted long-overdue repen- weeks before, Vincent Nichols, the new archbishop of tance. We hope other deeds of repentance and signs of rec- Westminster, wrote the following to the Latin Mass onciliation will follow, not only for atrocities in Vietnam, Society regarding the Tridentine Rite: “The view that the but for crimes of war committed elsewhere as well. ordinary form of the Mass, in itself, is in some way defi- cient finds no place here.” The Tablet of London praised Nichols for a “timely display of clear leadership” in the Wheels of Misfortune matter. But then, in a letter to The Tablet, one of Nichols’s Every year drunk driving causes more than 17,000 fatali- auxiliary bishops wrote that the archbishop had not ties and 500,000 injuries. Alcohol-related fatalities in the intended to marginalize the Tridentine Rite in any way. past 25 years, according to the Web site AlcoholAlert.com, These recent developments fall under the rubric of reac- total well over half a million. A recent case in upstate New tion to Summorum Pontificum, issued motu proprio by Pope York has drawn extensive media coverage and elicited pub- Benedict XVI in 2007, which encouraged greater use of the lic outrage. Returning with her children and nieces from a old rite. It has been taken as a signal of the Vatican’s camping trip, a young mother drove the wrong way on a approval of forms of the Mass other than what most parkway, crashing head-on into a vehicle carrying three Catholics are now used to seeing every Sunday—in the ver- men. Eight lives were lost in an instant. Since the driver nacular, with the priest facing the people. Thus bishops are herself was killed, no criminal penalties can be imposed. now navigating among several desires: to hew to tradition, But what about the drunk driver who survives? States to respond to the needs of the faithful and to listen to the use varying criteria to impose penalties. In a case from pope. But another voice also needs to be heard: that of the 2006, an intoxicated young man drove the wrong way on Second Vatican Council, which clearly opted for encourag- an expressway and hit a limousine head-on, killing the ing the Mass that we have come to consider familiar. driver and decapitating a young flower girl returning from a wedding. Found guilty of two murders, he was sentenced to 18-to-25 years. But penalties meted out when there is Repentance for My Lai no fatality often range from a slap on the wrist to a few William Calley has apologized for his leadership role in months in prison. the massacre in 1968 of over 300 civilians in the village of In response to demands for stiffer penalties, some states My Lai in Vietnam. Now 66, he told Kiwanis Club mem- are now drafting harsher legislation and calling for manda- bers in Greater Columbus, Ga., in August, “There is not a tory installation of ignition interlocks after a person’s first day that goes by that I do not feel remorse for what hap- violation. The driver must blow into the device, which pened that day.” then registers blood alcohol level and renders the vehicle A young lieutenant at the time, he received a life sen- inoperable if the driver fails the test. This year 21 states tence, but President Nixon reduced it to three years in have passed new legislation about driving while under the Calley’s apartment at nearby Fort Benning. Calley was the influence of alcohol (see Dui.DrivingLaws.org). Still, the sole U.S. army officer convicted, although over 20 soldiers number of accidents reportedly holds steady: our nation’s were arrested. Seeing bodies, three helicopter crew mem- highways are becoming killing fields. Government agen- bers tried to stop the massacre, landing their helicopter cies, legislators and prosecutors must change their between a group of still living women and children and approach to the problem—and soon.

4 America September 14–21, 2009 EDITORIAL Camelot’s End

hen the history of the United States Senate is Like his five illustrious predeces- taught 100 years from now, the syllabus will be sors in the U.S. Senate, indeed like all Worganized around six names: Clay, Calhoun, of us, Kennedy’s life, in public as well as Webster, Lafollette, Taft and Edward M. Kennedy. Ted in private, was a mix of light and shad- Kennedy was arguably the most effective U.S. senator of the ow. Yet unlike most of us, his successes last century. His name graces nearly 1,000 laws, 300 of and failures were on constant public which he wrote himself, including some of the most far- display. His heroic defense of civil rights, for instance, even reaching and lasting legislation of the postwar period: the in the face of raging mobs during Boston’s school busing cri- Civil Rights Act, the Americans With Disabilities Act, sis, was accompanied by his tragic support for abortion vir- immigration reform, children’s health care, the Family and tually on demand. His courage during the depths of his har- Medical Leave Act. rowing, public mourning for his brothers was followed by He was the third-longest serving U.S. senator, yet his moral and political disaster at Chappaquiddick and, later, in success cannot be attributed simply to his 47-year tenure. Palm Beach. It was obvious that he knew something of sin Unlike his brothers, Kennedy possessed the character of a and suffering. In the end it seemed he had also learned legislator: a tenacious will, a keen, tactical mind and patience something about redemption. His second marriage, in to match his passion. His death on Aug. 25 silenced an unre- 1992, to a spirited Louisianan, Victoria Reggie, appeared to lenting advocate for the nation’s poor and marginalized, a life- rescue him from the worst in himself and the ghosts of his long champion for universal health care and a vehement past. It also brought new luster to his virtues. opponent of war as an instrument of foreign policy. One of the last survivors of America’s most famous As the nation’s gaze was again directed to Arlington Catholic family, he rarely spoke openly about his faith. At National Cemetery, where the Kennedys had assembled to Kennedy’s graveside, Cardinal Theodore McCarrick read bury the last of four brothers, we were reminded that Ted from the senator’s recent letter to Pope Benedict XVI: “I Kennedy’s death also severed our most visible remaining know that I have been an imperfect human being,” Kennedy link to another era: a time when Catholics had finally found wrote, “but with the help of my faith, I have tried to right their way in national politics, on a path that had led to the my path.” White House. As the senator’s hearse paused at the steps of Ted Kennedy had a complicated relationship with his the U.S. Senate in a final tribute, we had a moment to church. Her faith was his own, he said, sustaining him reflect on how dramatically Washington has changed since through more tragedy than anyone should bear in a lifetime. it first welcomed the president’s youngest brother in 1962. The Sermon on the Mount and the church’s social teaching Some of that change has been for the better, including a inspired his public life. Until his death, however, he Senate that looks more like America than it did in Ted remained at odds with some of those very same teachings. “I Kennedy’s earliest days. have always tried to be a faithful Catholic, Your Holiness,” Yet that increasing diversity has been accompanied by Kennedy wrote, “and though I have fallen short through a dramatic decline in gentility, one of the hallmarks of true human failings, I have never failed to believe and respect the statesmanship. Kennedy’s legislative career began in a capi- fundamental teachings.” tol in which partisans vigorously debated, but civility nearly In this final sentiment, perhaps, Ted Kennedy was always prevailed. This ethos shaped both his public and pri- not unusual, but simply one among many contemporary vate lives. Kennedy’s capacity for friendship was legendary; American Catholics who struggle to navigate the tension he numbered his friends in the thousands. They came from between their faith beliefs and their civic ideals and obli- both sides of the Senate aisle, from America’s boardrooms gations. America is a moral complex in which truth and as well as its union halls, from the mastheads of both The freedom appear in perpetual tension. This is truer today New Republic and The National Review. His death was than ever before. Perhaps no one knew that better than mourned by those both at the center and at the margins of Ted Kennedy, whose life was as complicated, as tragic and national life. His talent for building effective coalitions is ultimately as inspiring as the place and the times in which already greatly missed. he lived.

September 14–21, 2009 America 5 SIGNS OF THE TIMES

MIDDLE EAST Arab Christians Face New Wave of Violence n its 10th pastoral letter, the Council of Catholic Patriarchs of the Middle East examines the challenges facing Arab Christians across the Iregion. The council issued the letter at a time this summer when Iraq was suffering new waves of bombings against Christian churches in Baghdad and in the Kurdish north. Entitled The Christian Arab Confronts the Challenges of Today, the letter was released in Arabic and French. The patriarchs continue to regard Christians as integral members of the Arab society, who hope to be equal members of their respective communi- ties. While they regard Islam as a formative force in the Arab world, they see a shared future for Christians and Muslims if together they “form a common front to challenge new extremist movements which are a threat to all, Christians and Muslims alike.” Long-term Developments. The current troubles, the patriarchs sug- gest, began in 1967 with the Six-Day Arab-Israeli war, followed by the Lebanese civil war, the Iraq-Iran war, the first Persian Gulf war and the U.S. invasion of Iraq in 2003. At the same time, they explain, the Arab must live on the margin, even in mod- individuals” that are exaggerated by world has suffered from underdevel- ern Arab states. the international media. In Israel, the opment, demographic expansion and Country Reports. In Iraq, the letter reports, minority Christians the denial of rights by authoritarian patriarchs report, sectarian violence experience hostility from some Israeli governments. afflicts the whole society, but Muslims, including extremist groups, Christians have suffered from these Christians are kidnapped and mur- which inflame confessional “tension conditions along with their majority dered “because they are Christian.” In and fear.” Muslim neighbors. These pressures, Egypt, interconfessional hostility flares Peace and Pluralism. While some the council observes, result in emigra- up from time to time with the acquies- Arab Christians, the council says, “are tion and sale of ancestral lands, hol- cence of “the government or minor offi- firm in their faith and in their engage- lowing out the Christian churches of cials who permit themselves to harbor ment in society,” others “are disheart- the Middle East (Copts, Maronites, confessional attitudes [prejudices].” ened and no longer have confidence in Melkites, Syrians, Chaldeans, In Lebanon, where Christians are a their societies and their capacity to Armenians and Latins, or Roman diminished but still influential minor- obtain for them equality with all citi- Catholics). ity, they experience various pulls. They zens.” As a result, there is an age-old As religious minorities, the patri- find themselves simultaneously in temptation “to retreat into their archs report, Christians have also alliance with some Muslims and church and its institutions.” often suffered from discrimination opposed to others and divided among The patriarchs reject this strategy and persecution. Their neighbors do themselves. Political stability still as a symptom of weakness, however, not regard them as integral members seems out of reach. and recommend that their people “find of society, “as citizens, with the same Finally, in Palestine, Christians, like strength in the force of faith and love rights and duties” as the majority but the majority Muslim population, share and in social engagement.” Seeing the as “a people apart.” With the rise of the suffering and the consequences of fate of Christian communities inti- extremist religious politics, moreover, the Israeli occupation. Referring to mately bound to the surrounding they find that despite their efforts to Muslim-Christian tensions, the patri- milieu, the patriarchs conclude, “inso- participate in their societies and archs allow that there are on the local far as society analyzes and corrects its appropriate their Arab identity, they level “incidents and clashes between attitudes toward ‘the least of these,’

6 America September 14–21, 2009 warnings against war, depicting newspaper published a sharply worded A policeman guards a Christian Pope Pius as a prophetic figure critique of Allied governments for fail- church in Mosul, Iraq. who was ignored by those in ing to help European Jews despite hav- power. ing detailed information about the A week after the pope issued Holocaust. The article contrasted U.S. his appeal, German troops and British inaction with the quiet invaded Poland and ignited a efforts undertaken by Pope Pius to six-year war that would leave an save as many Jews as possible. estimated 60 million dead, Vatican media have presented the including six million Jews. pope as a trained diplomat who fol- “Today, when the tension of lowed the international events careful- spirits has reached a level that ly, noting that in May 1939 he made a makes the unleashing of the quiet but forceful push for negotia- tremendous whirlwind of war tions. In a speech in June of that year, appear imminent, in a spirit of the pope expressed optimism for his paternity we make a new and diplomatic offensive, but those hopes heartfelt appeal to governments and peoples,” the pope said in his 1939 address. “To govern- ments so that, laying aside accu- sations, threats and the reasons toward those who are different by for reciprocal mistrust, they try to virtue of their religion or personal resolve present differences through the characteristics, it will become capable only suitable means, that is, sincere of achieving peace for all its citizens.” joint agreements; and to peoples so that in calm and serenity, and without unbecoming agitation, they will ROME encourage efforts for peace on the part of their leaders.” Vatican Revisits Vatican Radio called the message “a Wartime Legacy milestone in the church’s service to peace.” On Aug. 24, L’Osservatore of Pius XII Romano argued that Pope Pius and Pope Pius XII prepares to give a radio his aides never stopped working for address in 1943. he Vatican marked the 70th peace throughout the conflict. The anniversary of the start of article, signed by the newspaper’s edi- slowly vanished as the months pro- TWorld War II with a series of tor, Giovanni Maria Vian, said the gressed. “We have tried and done what messages highlighting Pope Pius XII’s pope “helped the persecuted, without was in our power to stave off the dan- warnings against hostilities in the distinction,” inside the Vatican, in ger of war,” the pope later said, pre- weeks leading up to the war’s out- Rome, throughout Italy and in other dicting that the war would be unprece- break. In late August, Vatican radio European countries. dented in its “physical and spiritual replayed the pope’s address of Aug. 24, The role of Pope Pius during the destruction.” 1939, in which he told the world’s war has been much debated in recent Amid the Vatican publicity, no leaders that “the whole of humanity years. Against the accusations of indif- mention has been made of Pope Pius hopes for justice, bread and freedom, ference to the plight of Jews and inac- XII’s pending sainthood cause. Despite not the iron that kills and destroys.” tion on other fronts, the Vatican has a general recommendation in favor of L’Osservatore Romano, the Vatican’s stepped up its defense of the wartime Pius’s beatification, Pope Benedict put official newspaper, printed the papal pontiff. In early August, the Vatican the cause on hold last year.

September 14–21, 2009 America 7 SIGNS OF THE TIMES

Coalition Questions Jerusalem Evictions NEWS BRIEFS U.S. Catholic leaders have joined lead- Seeking to strengthen relations between ers of other faiths in protesting the American and Vietnamese Catholics, Bishop evictions in August of Palestinians William S. Skylstad of Spokane, Wash., led a from East Jerusalem. In a letter to small U.S. delegation on a tour of Vietnam that Secretary of State Hillary Rodham included a stop at a Marian shrine. • A Moscow Clinton dated Aug. 7, an interfaith court sentenced a man to 14 years in prison for coalition of U.S. religious leaders the 2008 murder of Victor Betancourt, S.J., called for the immediate reversal of the but failed to convict him of the murder of a sec- evictions. Israeli riot police evicted two ond Jesuit at the scene. • Nearly two-thirds of Palestinian families—more than 50 U.S. Catholics surveyed said they have no opin- people in all—from their homes in the ion on the increased availability of the Arab neighborhood of Sheikh Jarrah Tridentine Mass since Pope Benedict XVI on Aug. 2. Police later allowed Jewish made it easier for parishes to offer the traditional liturgy two years settlers to move into the homes where ago. • The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops has launched a Web the Palestinian families had lived for page (www.usccb.org/romanmissal) to educate Catholics about the more than 50 years. The U.S. religious forthcoming English translation of the new Roman Missal. • The leaders objected to the evictions in part Maryknoll Order has confirmed that Roy Bourgeois, M.M., was because they occurred close to the excommunicated in November 2008 for not recanting his public 1949 armistice line or Green Line, statements supporting the ordination of women. • The Missionaries which separates Israel and the of Charity have launched a year of programs celebrating the centenni- Palestinian territories. Among the al in 2010 of the birth of Blessed Mother Teresa, the order’s founder. Catholic signers of the letter were rep- resentatives of the Conference of Major Superiors of Men and the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops. which include teachers, students and leaders “object to the fact that their Delegation Reports church workers, have been calling for orders will not be permitted to see the the return of Zelaya to the presidency investigative reports about them” Violence in Honduras until the conclusion of his term later when they are submitted in 2011 to Nonviolent protesters opposed to the this year. Zelaya was removed from the Vatican’s Congregation for ouster of President Manuel Zelaya of office on June 28 during a predawn Institutes of Consecrated Life and Honduras are regularly intimidated, raid on the presidential palace in Societies of Apostolic Life and its pre- jailed, beaten and raped by the coun- Teg ucigalpa , the Honduran capital. fect, Cardinal Franc Rodé. try’s security forces, members of a del- Furthermore, no details about the egation of U.S. Catholic religious lead- Women Religious study’s funding have been released by ers have said. During a weeklong visit the office of the Apostolic Visitation to Central America’s second poorest Address U.S. Visitation of Institutes of Women Religious in country, representatives from Pax Leaders representing 59,000 women the United States. Mother Mary Christi International and the Sisters of religious are questioning what they Clare Millea, the apostolic visitor Mercy of the Americas met with call a lack of full disclosure about charged by the Vatican with directing dozens of people from several cities what is motivating the Vatican’s apos- the study, had said on July 31, “The who said they were attacked by tolic visitation to study the contem- reason we’re doing this is we want to Honduran soldiers and members of porary practices of U.S. women’s reli- help assess and promote the vitality of the national police as the security gious orders. In a press statement on all the sisters.” forces swept in to break up their Aug. 17, the Leadership Conference demonstrations. The demonstrators, of Women Religious also said the From CNS and other sources.

8 America September 14–21, 2009 THOMAS MASSARO The Human Factor

ajor news items this sum- McNamara to a figure from a Greek in-life memoirs and in interviews that mer evoked nostalgia at tragedy, with a tragic flaw intricately probed his mind, involve what the sec- M every turn: 40th anniver- related to his greatest attribute: a keen retary should have done as he came to saries of Woodstock and Apollo 11; mind dedicated to charting precise the realization, near the end of his deaths of celebrities like Michael courses of action based on the best Pentagon tenure, that war in Vietnam Jackson, Ed McMahon and Karl available facts and figures. President was an unwinnable proposition. Poring Malden. Saying farewell to Walter Kennedy lured him into his cabinet over troubling evidence, he faced the Cronkite alone dredged up reminis- with the flattering comment that perennial dilemma of the statesman cences of dozens of world events he McNamara was the smartest man he serving a demanding superior. reported on. had ever met. McNamara, however, failed the hon- Possibly lost in the news cycle was Yet, despite a knack for systems esty test, as he was unable to push the the death on July 6 of Robert S. analysis and technical point with President McNamara at age 93. He was surely the insight, however brilliant Johnson. Hundreds of most influential secretary of defense in and well informed, Grappling thousands more civilians U.S. history, serving from 1961 to McNamara and his with the and soldiers would die 1968, during such events as the Bay of Pentagon “whiz kids” some- before the United States Pigs, the Cuban missile crisis and the how missed the human fac- legacy of left Vietnam. The ethics massive escalation of America’s involve- tor in modern warfare. For Robert of war haunted ment in Vietnam. While Mr. all their precise calculations McNamara’s final McNamara accomplished much in his surrounding America’s in- McNamara decades. His death was remarkable life, filling top posts at Ford volvement in cold war-era and the met more with pity and and the World Bank, his name will Vietnam, even our best and scorn than admiration. always be linked with the war in brightest grossly underesti- Vietnam War The more I ponder Vietnam (“McNamara’s War”). mated the tenacity of those the life and times of Late baby boomers like Barack fighting in what they considered a Robert McNamara, the more I feel a Obama and me (we were born in the struggle for national liberation from sense of relief that I will never be in a first year of Kennedy’s presidency) Western colonialism. Add to this mis- position to send people to their death, mostly knew about McNamara after calculation the loss of support from whether for arguably good causes or the fact. By the time I reached college, average Americans due to a vigorous transparently unjustifiable causes. On one could (and I eagerly did!) take antiwar movement and media exposure the larger scale, it renews my convic- courses in diplomatic history and polit- to the horrors of war, and the outcome tion that every sane, peace-loving per- ical science that covered the Vietnam in Southeast Asia now appears son should be vigilant to press those conflict and the role McNamara played inevitable. who do shoulder the burdens of office in it. My interest in moral evaluations of To his credit, McNamara in retire- not to repeat the mistakes of Vietnam. America’s role in Vietnam was revived ment labored to articulate the central Of course, Vietnam was not the last by the fascinating 2003 documentary lessons to be appropriated for U.S. dubious land war in Asia that the “The Fog of War,” in which McNamara foreign policy: avoid over-reliance on United States has entered, and many consented to be filmed reflecting at quantitative data, like body counts and have drawn parallels to our current great length, and with no absence of firepower superiority, and do not over- involvements in Iraq and Afghanistan. emotion and even contrition, on the look those pivotal factors that touch I suspect we will be grappling with the quagmire in Southeast Asia. the hearts and minds of the people, moral lessons tangled up with the life Several obituaries likened without which modern warfare is of Robert McNamara long after we unwinnable. have gotten over the summer 2009 THOMAS MASSARO, S.J., teaches social ethics at the Boston College School of Theology The most excruciating moral ques- deaths of celebrities like Farrah Fawcett and Ministry, Chestnut Hill, Mass. tions, less than fully resolved in his late- and the ad pitchman Billy Mays.

September 14–21, 2009 America 9 PHOTO: CNS/BOB ROLLER

10 America September 14–21, 2009 God and the Teenage Mind

BY BRAD ROTHROCK

religion teacher today faces students schooled in both sci- entific methods and vague understandings of what is meant by the spiritual. Students often exhibit a strange mixture of hard-headed empiricism and naïve superstition. When I suggest to my students, for instance, that reality Aincludes the intangible, which can be glimpsed in the light of faith and reason, they nod in agreement and confess their belief in the predictions of Nostradamus, about whom they have seen a documentary. For them the intangible means the realm of fortune-telling and ghosts, to which they are willing to give assent because of the “empirical” evidence offered by television and the Internet. In such an atmosphere, teaching religion requires familiarity with a range of subjects seemingly unrelated to those covered in the religion textbooks. Teachers of religion need to be able to explain the distinctions between different kinds of knowing, the various ways human beings arrive at truth claims, the type of understanding proper to the spheres of science and religion, and the relation between mystery and faith. Too often both textbook and teacher simply assume that students understand what is meant by the term God. I have seen many student texts intended to be an introduction to Catholicism that use the word God from the first page to the last without once attempting to explain just who or what they are referring to. As John Haught states in his aptly named book, What Is God?, “Unless there is some common ground of reference when people speak of the divine…it seems pointless to speak to them of the divine at all.” Unfortunately, for many students God-talk is pointless. Five years of teaching high school religion have led me to concur

BRAD ROTHROCK teaches religion at St. Mary’s High School in Lynn, Mass.

September 14–21, 2009 America 11 wholeheartedly with the suggestion made by Christian rated, then, the confidence with which educators themselves Smith and Melinda Lundquist Denton that adults, includ- speak of God must be built up. Their education must go ing religious educators, need to “develop more confidence in beyond a passing knowledge of terms and formulations of teaching [adolescents] about their faith traditions and doctrines to include a fundamental and rigorous analysis of expecting meaningful responses from them.” This sugges- such concepts as meaning, truth, belief and knowledge, as tion, from their book Soul Searching (2005), is backed by well as the ways in which human beings arrive at these con- interviews and surveys of more than 3,000 teenagers regard- cepts in the first place. In other words, we need to place ing religion and spirituality. Among other findings, the philosophical theology at the heart of educating both reli- authors contend that most teenagers, even those in Catholic gion teachers and those they serve. schools, have an extremely poor understanding of the most basic concepts and beliefs held by their particular faith tra- Tapping Tradition ditions. While Smith and Denton do not lay the entire Most students in fact have already formed their own basis blame for this situation on the shoulders of religious educa- for belief or unbelief, and in both instances their implicit tors, their suggestion that adults attempting to communi- “philosophies” are cobbled together from some of the worst cate the faith to adolescents need both confidence and high God-talk popular culture has to offer. In this sense, there is expectations certainly challenges those of us whose job it is no question that students are up to the task of philosophi- to teach and transmit the Catholic faith to our students. cal reflection about God. The problem is that this reflection Before high school religious education can be reinvigo- is taking place without the direction and input of the Catholic intellectual tradition. For the last several years I have begun my classes with a lengthy unit on the Felician College doctrine of God. I have introduced stu- The Franciscan College of New Jersey dents to thinkers from Thomas Aquinas to Karl Rahner and Elizabeth Johnson. We have looked at what we mean by GRADUATE RELIGIOUS EDUCATION God from several perspectives, like the analogy of being, the logical movement ONLINE from creation to creator in natural theol- ogy and issues of gendered language. I Master of Arts in Religious Education (33 credits) have had to work hard to translate this Master’s Certificate in Religious Education (18 credits) Post-Master’s Certificate in Religious Education (18 credits) material into vocabulary, examples and conceptual models that my students are t $PVSTFT
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XXXGFMJDJBOFEV language when speaking of God. STUDENTS FIRST In these times of worry over the loss of the Catholic identity of both sec- ondary and higher educational institu- ON THE WEB tions, such explicit use of philosophy in America is building an online database of articles for classroom use. the service of understanding faith also Topics addressed include Scripture, medical ethics and Catholic serves to highlight the Catholic roots of identity. All articles are FREE and available at religious education. The inextricable americamagazine.org/education. link between faith and reason is one of the hallmarks of the Catholic tradition.

12 America September 14–21, 2009 When students understand that Catholicism has a rich his- tory of encouraging and using reason to approach mystery, they begin to overcome their sense that intelligence and faith are antithetical. They also begin to understand the dis- tinctly Catholic take on issues like evolution and biblical lit- eralism, issues fraught with conflict for many other Christians. In an age that often conflates knowledge with scientific empiricism and faith with uncritical fundamental- ism, it is important to provide students with a Catholic approach to understanding the complexities of the “God question” that enables them to give meaningful responses to questions about faith. Recently I witnessed an example of what can happen when students have engaged in the challenging process of thinking about God. A transfer student from another Catholic school arrived in my sophomore Scripture class several months after we had completed the unit on the doc- trine of God. As I was explaining that ancient Israelite cos- mology viewed the universe as composed of three tiers, with God residing above the dome of the sky, one of my students raised his hand to say that technically this could not be cor- rect because God is infinite and cannot therefore be con- fined to a single space; that would place a limit on God, who transcends all limits. The transfer student raised her hand in confusion, and I attempted to explain what the other stu- dent was talking about by mentioning that God has no body. Still confused, she said that she had always thought of God as being like Hercules, “but real.” Several students then tried to explain to her that God is not a “thing,” but rather the act of existence itself from which all “things” proceed. Though the transfer student remained confused, and I sug- gested she see me later, this was one of those moments teachers dream about. My students had actually listened, understood and were able to communicate that understand- ing in response to live questions.

A Personal, Relational God None of this is to suggest that religious education should focus solely on the philosophical comprehension of God. In fact, if this intellectual understanding is not followed by a pre- sentation of the personal, loving and gracious God of revela- tion, then the philosophical aspect might do more harm than good. Addressing the reasoned basis for faith in the God of revelation is only one component—albeit an extremely important one—of a faith education that seeks to form stu- dents as whole persons: mind, body and soul. Liturgy, prayer and service are equally necessary if students are to deepen the understanding they have begun in religion class. Nevertheless, if we truly desire to form a generation capable of facing the problems and promises of both the church and the world, we must make the ability to give a reason for the hope within them (1 Pt 3:15) a necessary precondition. A

September 14–21, 2009 America 13 Faulty Guidance

A new framework for high school catechesis fails to persuade. BY WILLIAM J. O’MALLEY

ore than 50 years ago, an elderly priest are admirably polite, but if you keep at it, you had better be told my education class that “the three entertaining! As they approach the age of reason, they begin most important things to high school to absorb cultural suggestions that the Roman Catholic boys are baseball, ice cream and holy Church might be something less than it claims. Communion.” Even in those days, when A few years ago, one diocese dismissed its entire cate- MLucy and Desi had twin beds and before consumerism had chetical staff, reasoning that “we have about 20,000 bap- subjugated adolescent hearts and minds, we howled. But tisms and about 20,000 marriages every year. Why are only that perilous naïveté still reigns unchallenged throughout a fraction of those going to church?” This is justified puz- much of the American church. zlement. But the question never seems to be posed as: The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops has launched “Why do nonpracticing Catholics demand engagement Doctrinal Elements of a Curriculum Framework for the with the church at the three crucial life-moments: birth, Development of Catechetical Materials for Young People of marriage, and death, yet feel no sense of loss—much less High School Age. It is a colossal effort and theologically guilt—for otherwise ignoring the church?” No one asks, unassailable, but in the judgment of this 43-years-in-the- “What if the liturgy were more engaging?” Or, “Why now, trenches veteran and others, it is pedagogically counterpro- without hell as our ace of trump, do we still force-feed our ductive. Inquiries revealed that no veteran high school cate- catechesis into kids so early and often that when questions chists were involved in the document; it is the product of about religion become relevant, our answers are no more theorists and administrators. meaningful than hero-worship and Barbies?” The Framework exemplifies how Jesus did not teach— I base my critique on decades of teaching religion to high analytically and preceptively; instead, he taught in stories, as school seniors, college freshmen, teachers and night school societies have done since the caves. It also ignores the adults, and on reading 80 to 100 reflections a year from church’s consistent practice of teaching first humanities, about 4,000 respondents. Conservatively, this means then philosophy and only then theology. Jesus often validat- 300,000 papers, which might be a Guinness world record. ed claims with Scripture, but to a people who all but adored Thus I respond to the Framework with the loyal frustration it. Presuming such reverence in today’s high school students of a Panzer commander ordered to advance on Stalingrad is risky. when the oil in my tanks is black ice. The Framework is inflexibly “top down,” preceptive, rigor- ously certain. It is, as theorists describe academic theology, Flaws of the Framework faith seeking understanding (fides quaerens intellectum). That In its Introduction, the Framework states: “The definitive could hardly be further from our primary task as educators. aim of catechesis is to put people not only in touch but in Our audience does not have personally validated Christian communion, in intimacy, with Jesus Christ.” Any catechist faith. A majority are baptized but never converted and prefer would warmly accept that goal. But then: “These ends are not to be. Many have a real, albeit vague, faith in God based evident in this framework—designed to guide catechetical on their parents’ faith, but the question is too peripheral to instruction for young people of high-school age...so that merit personal probing. After all, the reality of death (without each may come to know him and live according to the truth which resurrection has no meaning) is a lifetime of distance he has given to us.” from relevance for most young people. In my experience, kids Not really. Intimate knowing was the meaning of the word “know” for a Jew, whose primary understanding was knowing with the whole self, as in “he knew his wife.” But WILLIAM J. O’MALLEY, S.J., teaches religion at Fordham Preparatory School in New York City. His latest book, Help My Unbelief (Orbis), for the next 53 pages, the Framework’s “know” shifts defini- won a first-place award from the Catholic Press Association. tively into a Greek understanding, meaning to grasp as the

14 America September 14–21, 2009 result of logical research, as in “science tells us” or “2 + 2 = are as boring (therefore as unprofitable) as Mass? In the sec- 4.” (Or, more to the point, “the church says.”) That seem- ond semester they are asked “Who Is Jesus Christ?” out- ingly slight semantic shift makes all the difference between lined in a rigorously academic way, suitable for graduate stu- persuasion (conversion) and indoctrination (brainwashing). dents in religious education. This model syllabus does not aim at knowing God, but at The second year begins with “The Mission of Jesus knowing about God. The difference is vast. The exclusively Christ (The Paschal Mystery).” The very word “Paschal” cognitive smothers the affective. That’s why so many belies connection to 15-year-olds. It’s a buzz word for litur- Catholics are not “going to church.” gists and theologians, but meaningless to a normal teenager. The text remains as personally uninvolving as the In their second semester, sophomores consider how “Jesus Baltimore Catechism. No segment addresses kids the way Christ’s Mission Continues in the Church.” But kids might they are: polite but hostile. There is no attempt to make the ask: “You mean the same church that forbids artificial birth material even vaguely relevant to their lives and felt needs. control to committed parents? The one with child-molester (The framers say that is “up to the publishers,” but Internet priests? That church?” articles show that dioceses are scrambling to outrun them.) The first semester of junior year covers “Sacraments as No element pretends to elicit faith, but simply presumes it. Privileged Encounters With Jesus Christ,” which again no Despite excellent material to help students know about believer could gainsay, as long as students’ actual experience God, one finds not a flicker of inducement to intimacy, of parish rituals makes sacraments even remotely as engag- unless one can be “intimate” with a total abstraction. ing as a rock concert or “American Idol.” Those are, after all, The text cautions that “the order in which the doctrinal the actual competition. Finishing the core courses in 11th elements within each theme are identified should not be grade is “Life in Jesus Christ.” The very first item reads: understood to be an outline of a text or course.” But 53 sin- “God creates us to share eternal love and happiness with gle-spaced, double-columned-for-density pages seem hard- him in Heaven.” This is hardly a ploy for boys and girls in ly a neutral “suggestion.” an ethos where anyone over 18 who is still a virgin is puz- The content for the first semester of ninth grade centers zling. Experienced religion teachers might suggest searching on “The Revelation of Jesus Christ in Scripture.” No one for a more immanent, this-worldly motivation and payoff. could cavil with the subject’s worthiness, just its relevance. At least for starters.

PHOTO: CNS/OWEN SWEENEY III, CATHOLIC REVIEW What if the kids start from the assumption the Scriptures The very first segment is: “How Do We Know About

September 14–21, 2009 America 15 God?” Any parent or teacher or even camp counselor might atheist’s. Yet the Framework makes bold to begin by idealiz- assume this would start with 14-year-olds’ receptivities, ing a crucified felon who could have escaped if he had only perhaps nature walks, exercises in centering prayer, the story shut up. Kids cannot fathom that. of Helen Keller in her lonely, yearning darkness suddenly, miraculously, realizing at the pump that she was not alone, Needed: A Prologue then sharing experiences where each person felt God If the church to which I have given my life were to make a “touching” them. Not so here. Nothing can be put forth well-intentioned but tragic mistake and I kept silent, I unless it is preceded by written ecclesiastical validation. would be no loyal servant. The Framework needs a prologue Freshmen can no more discern a transcendent dimension to that acknowledges the horrific obstacles educators face just the onset of adolescent angoisse than an to get a hearing among teenagers. It pre- infant can tell why it’s O.K. to bite the ON THE WEB sumes too much of what our audience breadstick but not the cat’s tail. No expe- William J. O'Malley, S.J., does not have: faith, awareness of the rienced classroom teacher could ever have on teenage spirituality. transcendent, appreciation of altruistic americamagazine.org/pages approved such an uninformed document. values, among much else. It must make Under “Contemporary Arguments,” we explicit provision to: are directed to the Catechism of the Catholic Church, which • Heighten awareness of the miraculous order of the uni- offers not one concrete suggestion where to find modern tes- verse, the omnipresence of the immutable laws of physics, timony to God’s presence. Both works suggest sources like the innumerable elements that had to fall into place just for the Fathers and councils, utterly without persuasive force life, much less intelligence, to emerge from inert matter. It with young people, but lack even a hint about classic novels or should help students develop sensitivity to the numinous stories (much less films) to trigger a suspicion of God’s prov- presence of God in nature and not presume that science ident presence. teachers evoke this (even Catholic ones). They don’t. Freshmen study “Divine Inspiration,” which after my • Slowly develop, very early on, a familiarity with center- own four years of study of theology and decades of teaching ing prayer, a budding relationship with God, without which still baffles me. We would not offer this audience Carl Jung, “religion” (religare, to connect) has no meaning. Mircea Eliade or the apostate Joseph Campbell. • Demand at least a rough understanding of epistemology, the study of which opinions are true and why (it establishes The Audience that subjective opinions are valid only if they are substantiat- Would it be heretical to ask the preliminary question: ed by objective facts) to challenge nearly universal relativism. Why should any intelligent young person rooted in the Make clear that faith is not absolute certitude, as taught by kingdom of this world even consider the kingdom of Jesus Aquinas (who described absolute, physical and moral certi- Christ? tude) but moral certitude, which is a calculated risk. By the time high school students come to the Framework, • Through the legends and myths of all cultures, grasp the they will have spent unimaginably more hours in the grasp universal truth-bearing value of stories, which makes libraries of TV, video games, iPods, the Internet and movies than worth preserving. Few English teachers engender this. they will spend before all the teachers they will ever have • Foster a felt awareness of the insidious influence of through graduate school. Few religion teachers will be as media brainwashing; it is an influence high school kids convincing as “Survivor” (“To win you have to screw your routinely deny. Brainwashing is useless if the victim is teammates”) and “The Bachelor” (“If it feels good, why critically aware he/she is not free, so that awareness is not?”). Their sex education courses, even in Catholic critical. schools, thoroughly explain the mechanics, with little or no • Grasp what Ignatius Loyola called the radical difference emphasis on the fact that human beings make the inter- between the two standards—the self-serving of the world change much more than that. Through the media, students versus the self-giving of the kingdom. After 12 years of our have witnessed more deaths than a veteran in the army of religious education, would most kids choose a retreat over a Genghis Khan; as a result, death—and ipso facto resurrec- rock concert? Evangelize this audience. tion—have no felt meaning for them. The number of • Understand that morality means simply being a decent teenage drunken drivers caught yearly by police, and by human being, while Christianity goes a quantum leap fur- death itself, shows that many teens are unfazed even by the ther: forgiving before a perpetrator has “earned” it. law of cause and effect. The fear of hell that motivated my This audience does not need catechists with the skills of generation’s virtue is nullified, and the thought of spiritual Thomas Aquinas but those of Professor Harold Hill from atrophy carries no sting. In role-playing moral dilemmas, “The Music Man.” Jesus might admonish today’s sowers, their motives can be as relativistic and utilitarian as any “Plow before you plant!” A

16 America September 14–21, 2009 R E A L PR E SENCE NEEDED! CHAPLAIN SERVICE aid for by the U.S. Air Force. All rights reserved. by the U.S. Air Force. aid for ©2008 P

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September 14–21, 2009 America 17 A catalyst and resource for the renewal of the Catholic Church in the United States

18 America September 14–21, 2009 ROSH HASHANA The Binding of Isaac What if the angel had arrived too late? BY HAROLD KASIMOW

he Jewish New Year, Rosh for the miracle of Isaac’s birth. The movingly describes the experience of a Hashana, begins the High rabbis put these words in Abraham’s 7-year-old who hears the Akeda for THoly Days—a 10-day period mouth: “I have rejoiced and given joy the first time: of penitence and reflection on the to others, but I have never put aside meaning of life and death, when God for God a single bull or a single ram” Isaac was on the way to Mount decides who shall live and who shall (Midrash Rabbah Gn 55:4). Moriah with his father; then he die. The Torah reading for the second The rabbis also point out that the lay on the altar, bound, waiting day is the story of the binding of Isaac, command to sacrifice was not really a to be sacrificed. My heart began the Akeda. test of Abraham, for God knew that to beat even faster; it actually In this perplexing story, God says to Abraham loved him with a perfect sobbed with pity for Isaac. Abraham, “Take your son, your favored heart. God did not doubt Abraham, Behold, Abraham now lifted the one, Isaac, whom you love, and go to the but knew that humanity might. If knife. And now my heart froze land of Moriah, and offer him there as a Abraham were to within me burnt offering on one of the heights demonstrate his with fright. that I will point out to you” (Gn 22:1- own unconditional Suddenly, the 2). Abraham obeys. He is about to sac- faith in God, however, voice of the rifice Isaac when an angel intervenes the world would note angel was heard: and tells him not to slay his son. his greatness and no “Abraham, lay The story raises deep questions. longer question why not thine hand How can a God of love command God had singled him out upon the lad, for Abraham (chosen to be a blessing to for a special destiny. This now I know that all people) to sacrifice the son he loves? interpretation blunts the thou fearest God.” How can Abraham agree without a accusation that God’s And here I broke word of protest? And how can he be actions in the Akeda were out in tears and certain he is hearing the voice of God? capricious or reckless. wept aloud. “Why Why does Isaac, already a mature man Some rabbis also ask, are you crying?” according to many Talmudic rabbis, What really took place on Mt. asked the Rabbi. “You know submit to his ancient father? Moriah? The Bible says Abraham that Isaac was not killed.” Although it appears that neither returned from the mountain And I said to him, still Abraham nor Isaac deserved to go alone. Where was Isaac? Is it weeping, “But, Rabbi, through this ordeal, a predominant possible, as the ninth-cen- supposing the angel Talmudic interpretation is that where tury Jewish text Pirkei de had come a sec- there is suffering, there must be sin. In Rabbi Eliezer asserts, ond too late?” this view, both sinned: Isaac, by brag- that Isaac was sacri- The Rabbi ging to his brother Ishmael that he was ficed and resurrected? comforted me the more virtuous; Abraham, by Is it possible the angel and calmed me by showing insufficient gratitude to God arrived too late, or that Abraham did telling me that an angel cannot not listen to an angel because the come late. demand to sacrifice Isaac came direct- HAROLD KASIMOW is emeritus George Drake Professor of Religious Studies at ly from God? If anyone can relate to the tale of

Grinnell College in Grinnell, Iowa. Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel the Akeda, Heschel can. He was often PHOTO: SHUTTERSTOCK/ R. PAVEL

September 14–21, 2009 America 19 compared to the biblical Abraham. infinite value and dignity. You have always wanted to William Sloane Coffin, the charismat- When I was a young boy studying at Study in Jerusalem … ic Protestant preacher, called him Salanter Yeshiva in the Bronx, I never “Father Abraham” and told Heschel, heard my teachers say that the binding So come to the “I am sure the original Abraham, of Isaac was an especially problematic Tantur Ecumenical father of us all, looked just like you.” It text. They told us instead that it shows seems to me that how Abraham Institute Heschel, who lost his loved and trusted Jerusalem ON THE WEB In for a mother and sisters in A former Jesuit volunteer God above all • Six-Week Spring or Three- the Holocaust, can reflects on community living. things; the Akeda Month Autumn Programme also be compared to americamagazine.org teaches the world • One-Month Summer Isaac. The Bible does that sacrifice of chil- Programmes not tell us what traumatic effects Isaac dren must end once and for all. suffered from his ordeal, but we know Jonathan Sacks, the chief rabbi of • Christmas or Easter Laity Enrichment Programme that he continued to have faith in God. Britain, concurs. He says the most This is also true for Heschel, who con- important message of the Akeda for • Special “The Other Footsteps tinued to believe that God loves us. Rosh Hashana is “that a civilization is of St. Paul” Program, May For Heschel, “The greatest heresy is judged by the way it treats its children.” 2009 despair, despair of man’s power for Ultimately, no interpretation of the goodness, man’s power for love.” Akeda fully satisfies. I think the great- Contact : Fr. Michael McGarry Rosh Hashana is an appropriate est lesson of the story is that while it is FAX: 972.2.676.0914 time to look to Heschel as a model of beyond our capacity to understand Email: [email protected] faith and hope. The fundamental bib- fully the way God deals with the Visit our Website:www.tantur.org lical message, he insisted, is that every world, it is not beyond our capacity to Administered by the University of Notre Dame human being is created in the image sense God’s love and to love God in and likeness of God and therefore has return. A

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22 America September 14–21, 2009 BOOKS &CULTURE

IDEAS | KATHLEEN DOHERTY FENTY Fire (1930) for a Christian and bibli- cal Shakespeare that this view was THE BARD OF ROME? accepted by what might be called the Shakespeare and the Catholic question “Shakespeare establishment.” For the first time in over 200 years, the prob- as Shakespeare a While literary critics believed lem of how the poet of “fancy” could Catholic, a Protestant or Shakespeare too “fanciful” and “rustic” also be a serious, Bible-loving Wan atheist? Does it matter to be orthodox, many popular authors Christian was considered solved. Yet what his faith was? noted Shakespeare’s encyclopedic use this Shakespeare was the Protestant It would have mattered to of the Bible. In 1899, the Rev. H. S. Shakespeare of the British Empire, Shakespeare. For in his lifetime, athe- Bowden collected the evidence in The not the Catholic poet of Father ism was equated with immorality, and Religion of Shakespeare, using the work Bowden. Catholicism in England was equated of Richard Simpson to compile his The “Catholic Shakespeare” thesis with treason. Queen Elizabeth I had pro-Catholic compendium. entered mainstream English criticism executed Edward Arden, a relative of It was not until G. Wilson Knight with E. A. J. Honigmann’s book, Shakespeare’s mother, for his supposed successfully argued in The Wheel of Shakespeare: The Lost Years (1985). It Catholic treachery. Religion was a mat- ter of life or death; and Shakespeare, like everyone else, walked a precarious denominational line. What were the Bard’s religious beliefs? When Shakespeare died in 1616 at age 52, he was buried in Holy Trinity Church, Stratford- upon-Avon, which would have been an impossibility for a known atheist. Yet questions about his religion arose early, some 70 years after his death, when Richard Davies, an Anglican clergyman, wrote from local legend that the poet had “dyed a Papyst.” The controversy continued. In the 18th century, Samuel Johnson consid- ered Shakespeare a brilliant but irrev- erent poet. Consider the Bard’s lines: “Why, all the souls that were, were for- feit once/ And He that might the van- tage best have took/ Found out the remedy.” So speaks the Franciscan novice Isabella to the cruel judge Angelo in Shakespeare’s black comedy “Measure for Measure” (1604). Is the poetry here biblical or merely “univer- sal” in its meaning? A century later Samuel Taylor Coleridge found the Bard’s comedic forgiveness of the judge

ART: ENGRAVING OF SHAKESPEARE FROM HIS FIRST FOLIO. SHUTTERSTOCK/C. Angelo to be morally abhorrent.

September 14–21, 2009 America 23 demonstrated how a butcher’s son thesis—that the plays have a pro- inconsistency may lie in the fact that from Warwickshire triumphed in Catholic political subtext—has never the English Reformation was still in London through connections with an received broad acceptance. Is this due progress during Shakespeare’s lifetime. aristocratic Catholic family in to some lingering anti-Catholicism, or England remained Catholic in spirit Lancashire, without implying that the does it reflect legiti- and practice long Bard had a continuing allegiance to mate concerns? ON THE WEB after 1534, with Rome. The full development of the The answer lies Rev. Robert Barron parts of Lancashire Catholic thesis, however, came in the in this: The theater reviews the film “District 9.” still practicing the seminal work of Peter Milward S.J. seeks to entertain, americamagazine.org/culture “old faith” openly. It (Shakespeare’s Religious Background, preparing the heart is possible that the 1973), with further work by Ian and mind for reflection, while the pur- post-Reformation Holy Trinity Wilson (Shakespeare: The Evidence, pose of sermons is to preach and Church in Warwickshire was suffi- 1993), which meticulously researched instruct. Drama is never a sermon. ciently traditional to allow a Catholic- Shakespeare’s literary and political ties And this would apply to the portrayal sympathizer like Shakespeare to par- to Catholic patrons and politics. of Shakespeare as a proselytizing ticipate. If the Church of England Despite this, the Catholic recusancy Protestant, papist renegade or atheist authorities knew of the poet’s subversive. When ideology Stratford affiliation, then the fact that reduces a living drama to Shakespeare’s nonattendance at apologetics, voices of Puritan-leaning London parishes went State of Dementia protest will inevitably be unpunished could be explained. raised. The most promising avenue for The other problem with appreciating Shakespeare’s Catholicity You wake without your passport claiming that Shakespeare lies not in biography but rather in the in a foreign city: was a Catholic recusant is recognition of his Catholic imagina- the historical record: He tion, readily discoverable in his plays. jet-lagged, not sure of lived and died a member of Through metaphor, the poet enlarges the day, the time. Holy Trinity Church in the sensibilities through an encounter Stratford. Other close ties with inspired meaning. Reformed the- You have the wrong clothes, to the Reformed Church ology had posited an irreparable break the wrong money. include his lodging with between the divine and the human, You do not know the language, Huguenots when in whereas the Catholic imagination London, and the marriage seeks and finds the divine in broken the way to go home. of his daughter Susanna to humanity, bridging the gap between a Protestant doctor, John nature and grace. On the street, people rush about, Hall, after she was fined A reference to the passage “Why, all for being a Catholic recu- the souls…” from “Measure for busy, important. sant. That record need not Measure” demonstrates how a They jabber over your head. contradict what appears to “Catholic” imagination functions poet- be sympathy for ically. The speaker, Isabella, is a devout You need a bathroom, Catholicism, clearly evi- if initially self-righteous novice with don’t know how to ask dent in his plays; but the Poor Clares of Vienna. In her first in this tongue. Shakespeare also tried to meeting with the Puritan Angelo, she present an objective pleads for the life of her brother, who You have to approach to Rome. For is under a death sentence for impreg- live here now. example, Franciscans are nating his girlfriend. Angelo argues depicted for their honest that mercy is impossible because her MARY DAMON PELTIER vocations, although cardi- brother “is a forfeit of the law.” In a nals are notoriously por- Pauline argument, Isabella asserts that MARY DAMON PELTIER, a freelance writer, trayed as murderous cow- all were condemned by sin (Rom 3:23) lives in Sharon, Mass. This poem is third runner-up in the Foley Poetry Contest. ards. until the Son of God sacrificed his One possible explana- equality with God to achieve salvation tion for this apparent for the world (Rom 3:24-26).

24 America September 14–21, 2009 Other lines of hers, less well known, follow a similar theological theme: “How would you be/ If He, which is the top of judgment, should/ But judge you as you are? O think on that,/ And mercy then will breathe within your lips,/ Like man new made.” The novice points out that we need to forgive others’ sin in order to have our own sins forgiven, and once achieved, the “new man” of Christ drives out the “old Adam” of sin (Rom 5:15-21). It is untenable to call such complex religious ideas “universal.” This interpretation can be under- stood in the context of the entire play. Isabella desires to prevent the unjusti- fied execution, demonstrating her practical wisdom. Angelo will subse- quently attempt to seduce her in exchange for freeing her brother, mak- ing Angelo as guilty as the man he condemns. Like the brother, Angelo too will be forgiven in Act V (to the disgust of Coleridge), as the comedic The peaceful rhythm of a monk’s day denouement delivers abundant mercy consists of prayer, study, and manual labor. for the lost and fallen. How does this relate to the histori- While contemplation is at the heart of cal circumstances? “Measure for Trappist life, it is by the labor of our Measure” was written in response to hands that we support ourselves. At the Hampton Court Conference of New Melleray Abbey, making caskets 1604, where the Puritans sought to have fornication made punishable by is an expression of our sacred mission. death. The end result was that the new king, James I, kept premarital sex a Contact us for a free catalog and you noncapital crime. (Note: the 18-year- will receive a complimentary keepsake old Shakespeare impregnated Ann cross blessed by one of our monks. Hathaway in 1582, but was restored to the Church of England by loyal friends who paid the fine that made it Caskets and urns are available for possible for them to marry.) next-day delivery or can be ordered Today most academics hold the on a guaranteed pre-need basis. view that Shakespeare had no religion at all. This agnostic thesis became influential after the 1980s, despite the growing evidence of Shakespeare’s Catholic family background and the chaotic state of religious identifica- tions in England in the early 1600s. A resolution of this debate is not to 888.433.6934 | www.trappistcaskets.com | Peosta, Iowa be expected soon, as writers so often look in the Shakespearean mirror and

September 14–21, 2009 America 25 see their own faces. Critics with no that knows Shakespeare, it is possible handed storytelling, but it has found biblical training insist that that the dictum “What is not under- redemption in the cast’s talent and Shakespeare used the Scriptures only stood cannot be recognized” is applica- chemistry. Holly Hunter brings intelli- “decoratively,” while writers with no ble here. gence, strength and charm to her role professional theater background claim as Grace; she has created a character the plays reveal a pro-papal political KATHLEEN DOHERTY FENTY, whose doctor- who is resilient but retains an underly- subtext. With the loss of familiarity al dissertation at the University of Birming- ing vulnerability, which appears only ham, England, was on Shakespeare and reli- with the Bible among academicians gion, is a research fellow at Boston College in when she’s assigned to a difficult case, and the demise of a theater culture Chestnut Hill, Mass. like the rape and murder of a young woman. The series has seen Grace confront both the wrongs she has committed and the wrongs committed against her. TELEVISION | REGINA NIGRO While Earl encourages her to change her ways, he also wants her to cope THE ROAD TO REDEMPTION with the childhood abuse she experi- TNT’s ‘Saving Grace’ enced at the hands of the local parish priest—the root of her self-imposed If anyone was ever in need of a “last- lifestyle—binge-drinking, one-night exile from religion. The revelation of chance angel,” it is Detective Grace stands and an affair with her married Grace’s past casts a new light on her Hanadarko (Holly Hunter) on the partner, Ham (Kenny Johnson). But behavior, including her caustic attitude TNT series “Saving toward her brother Johnny Grace.” (Tom Irwin), a Catholic After a night of heavy priest, whose love for Grace is drinking, Grace plows her matched only by his frustra- Porsche into a lamppost— tion with her. Such Sturm und but not before hitting a Drang is typical of Grace’s rela- pedestrian. Stumbling out tionships. Earl works to help of her car, Grace gazes Grace reach a better under- helplessly at a man lying standing of herself by encour- motionless in the middle aging her to look closer at her of the street. Desperate, personal relationships—with she cries out for God’s her siblings, co-workers, her help. At that moment, nephew Clay (Dylan Earl (Leon Rippy), more Minnette) and her best friend, reminiscent of a member Rhetta (Laura San Giacomo). of Lynyrd Skynyrd than an Earl passionately wants

angel—with his long gray Holly Hunter, foreground, in “Saving Grace” Grace to see her own good- hair, flannel shirt and ness. Through dreams and down-home twang—appears to Earl proves tenacious, visiting Grace symbols, Earl spends most of the first Grace. He explains that she’s headed often to remind her of her spiritual and second seasons inspiring Grace’s for hell; he’s there to steer her on the obligations. Their rapport is charm- compassion for a death-row inmate, right path, if she’s ready to accept the ing, amusing, even sly, as Earl chastises Leon Cooley (Bokeem Woodbine), God she’s repeatedly rejected. Grace like a disapproving father with a someone for whom Grace would nor- Skeptical and dazed, Grace wakes a wayward teen. mally have little sympathy. Grace is at moment later to find her Porsche Grace is initially resistant, but over her best when she sheds her tough undamaged and all other signs of an the course of the series begins to exterior in the service of others, reveal- accident, including the man she hit, accept Earl as a part of her life. She ing, unsurprisingly, that the real saving gone. turns to him for guidance, while still grace is love and compassion. In the light of day, only mildly shak- grappling with her ambivalence about en by the incident, Grace forgets Earl’s religion. The show, which is in its third REGINA NIGRO is assistant to America’s lit-

PHOTO: ERIK HEINILA warning. She resumes her destructive season, struggled early on with heavy- erary editor.

26 America September 14–21, 2009 BOOKS | J. PETER NIXON the specific changes sought by many of those seeking to “reform the reform,” ENGAGING THE OPPOSITION such as a preference for worship ad ori- entem, a return to the exclusive use of the Roman Canon, a retrieval of many REFORMING THE LITURGY of the prayers of the 1962 Roman A Response to the Critics Missal and an end to distributing By John F. Baldovin Communion in the hand. Baldovin Liturgical Press. 192p $29.95 strives to be evenhanded in his treat- ISBN 9780814662199 ment of these topics and grants the critics a number of points. Overall, The last decade has been an uneasy though, he holds that many of the pro- one for those committed to the liturgi- posed cures are worse than the disease. cal reforms of the Second Vatican As a liturgical historian, Baldovin is Council. It opened with the strongest when addressing the ways in Congregation for Divine Worship’s which critics of the reformed liturgy rejection, in 2001, of a new English use (and sometimes misuse) history. translation of the Roman Missal more He argues well and persuasively that than 20 years in the making. In 2007, the liturgical reforms implemented two years after his election, Pope after the Second Vatican Council Benedict issued Summorum reflected the will of the council and Pontificum, which allowed for wider were strongly supported by Pope Paul use of the preconciliar Roman Missal VI and the overwhelming majority of of 1962. Most recently, on Jan. 24 of the world’s bishops. He also criticizes this year, the pope lifted the excommu- a Jesuit priest, is well poised to make a the view—popular among traditional- nications of four bishops from the contribution to the debate. More than ists—that the reforms departed from schismatic Society of St. Pius X, merely a “response,” his book is an certain principles of “organic develop- known for their ardent opposition to excellent field guide, providing an ment” that had governed liturgical the reformed liturgy. introduction to the best known critics reform prior to Vatican II. While con- These actions at the highest levels and an in-depth review of the disputed ceding that the council’s reforms did of the church have found an echo at issues. represent dramatic change, Baldovin the grass roots in a movement calling The material in the book is roughly questions whether the Roman Rite for a “reform of the reform.” While divided into two parts. In the first, has ever had the degree of unchanging supporters of the movement remain a Baldovin provides an introduction to stability that many critics of the minority among Catholics, they often the principal critics of the reformed reform seem to assume. He ultimately make up in persistence and commit- liturgy, organized by discipline. These turns the metaphor of an “organic” ment what they lack in numbers. Over include, among others, the philoso- liturgical tradition back upon the crit- the last 10 years, a number of books phers Catherine Pickstock and ics, asking, “Is it not possible or neces- have appeared that take issue with Jonathan Robinson, the historians sary that broken limbs must be reset to aspects of the reform, including Klaus Gamber and Alcuin Reid, and become useful again to the whole Alcuin Reed’s The Organic the anthropologists Victor Turner and organism?” Development of the Liturgy, Uwe David Torvell. Baldovin also devotes The book is somewhat weaker in Michael Lang’s Turning Toward the an entire chapter to the liturgical the- dealing with criticisms of the Lord: Orientation in Liturgical Prayer ology of Joseph Ratzinger, now Pope reformed liturgy that come from the and, of course, Cardinal Joseph Benedict XVI. The last is particularly perspective of anthropology and ritu- Ratzinger’s The Spirit of the Liturgy. useful given Benedict’s obvious cen- al studies. Baldovin offers, for exam- John Baldovin’s new book, trality in the contemporary debate ple, a strong challenge to the anthro- Reforming the Liturgy: A Response to over the liturgy. pologist Victor Turner’s idealization the Critics, attempts to assess this body In the second half of the book, of the pre-conciliar Mass, but he is of criticism. A liturgical historian who Baldovin looks at the issues at the cen- less successful in challenging Turner’s has trained a generation of seminari- ter of contemporary debates over the claim that the celebration of the ans and lay ministers, Baldovin, who is liturgy. He provides an assessment of reformed rites often lacks the sense of

September 14–21, 2009 America 27 Ministerial Priesthood in the Third Millennium: ‘Faithfulness of Christ, Faithfulness of Priests’ Symposium Speakers and Panelists “Biblical Foundations on the Priesthood: On Oct. 6 and 7, 2009, The Catholic University The Contributions of the Letter to the Hebrews” of America will host a symposium to explore the Very Rev. Ronald D. Witherup, S.S. mystery of the priesthood in light of the Church’s “Priesthood, Priestliness and Priests” theological and spiritual heritage. Monsignor Paul G. McPartlan To register or for more information, visit “Faithful Stewards of God’s Mysteries: Theological http://yearforpriests.cua.edu Insights on Priesthood from the Ordination Ritual” Rev. Michael C. Witczak Co-sponsored by CUA’s “Priest as Evangelizer” School of Theology and Religious Studies Panel Discussion Most Rev. Martin D. Holley and Theological College. Rev. Walter G. Lewis Rev. Vincent J. O’Malley, C.M. “Finding Our Way to God: Three Different Paths to Holiness” Very Rev. Lawrence B. Terrien, S.S. “A Contemporary Priestly Spirituality” Monsignor Kevin W. Irwin THE CATHOLIC UNIVERSITY OF AMERICA

REASON.FAITH.SERVICE.

Our future depends on you. Please remember America NEW ! in your will.

Raise For Information, The Master or to apply, your contact: liturgical of Arts Aquinas music Admissions 23 S. Spring Ave. skills in St. Louis, MO 63108 to a Sacred 800-977-3869 new [email protected] Music ______level. www.ai.edu Our legal title is: Designed especially for: America Press Inc. · Music Directors 106 West 56th Street · Instrumentalists New York, NY 10019 · Vocalists

28 America September 14–21, 2009 liminality proper to ritual worship. words. To the extent that the move- While he is critical of the positions ment to “reform the reform” is gaining taken by many of the authors he adherents, it is probably less because reviews, Baldovin is sympathetic to they are convinced of the timeless some of their concerns. He concedes value of the 1962 missal and more the point that the reformed liturgy can because of negative experiences with suffer from a surplus of words and the current rites. Defenders of the poverty of gesture. Baldovin is also reformed liturgy may need to recover skeptical about recent trends in church the spirit of the late Aidan Kavanaugh, architecture, commenting with some O.S.B., who combined an uncompro- obvious frustration that “we need to mising defense of the reformed liturgy stop designing churches that look like with withering criticism of incompe- slightly out of date living rooms.” More tence in its celebration. Baldovin may fundamentally, he argues that we must lack Kavanaugh’s rhetorical edge, but “combat the narcissistic notion that his book remains an important step in liturgy exists primarily for us to ‘get the right direction. something out of it,’” and recapture the notion that it is first and foremost J. PETER NIXON is a Catholic journalist who God’s gift and God’s action. writes regularly about the liturgy. He works in >8C@CF1 ?LGIreader initially has a

September 14–21, 2009 America 29 similar (and slightly jarring) sense here, as the exchanges between Heaney and O’Driscoll take the form of conversation, but are far too shaped to be spontaneous (allusions to Chaucer and T. S. Eliot in one sen- The Society of the Priests of Saint Sulpice … is a community of diocesan priests whose vocation is the service of those ordained to presbyteral ministry. -- Sulpician Constitutions, Article 1 tence, to James Joyce and Emily Dickinson in another). In fact, O’Driscoll submitted questions over a number of years, and Heaney answered them “principally in writing and by post” in any order and to what- ever extent he wished. Nonetheless, it soon feels as if one were listening in on talk between two old friends (there is even some amiable chaffing when it seems Heaney doesn’t care for a partic- ular question). Our Mission: The book begins in a singular fash- Preparing and Guiding ion: O’Driscoll asks Heaney to take Priests and Future Priests him through his childhood home, the Are you called to join us? family farmstead at Mossbawn, County Derry, Northern Ireland, giv- SULPICIANS ing not only its layout, the outbuild- 410-323-5070 www.sulpicians.org ings and furnishings, but the sounds and smells, where things stood in rela- tion to one another and so on. He clearly knows his man. There are few poets to whom the sense of place is Clergy Retreats 2010 more important, and Heaney is more Retreat . . . Renew . . . Return Refreshed than willing to acknowledge, indeed to Twenty waterfront acres in North Palm Beach, Florida honor, that he is the cattle-dealer’s son, grounded in the Ulster countryside, yet without romanticizing the facts: “It January 25-29 sounds very idyllic, but it was a small, With Fr. Michael Martin, C.S.P. ordinary, nose-to-the-grindstoney place. A subsistence-level life.” His February 22-26 With Archbishop Edwin F. O’Brien family was nationalist (though not Archdiocese of Baltimore aggressively so) and Catholic (but on good terms with their Protestant April 26-30 neighbors). Here is the beginning of With Fr. Mario Gallipoli, C.P. the book’s first section, “Bearings,” Private Retreats Also Available which, in taking us up to the publica- tion of his first volume, Death of a Naturalist (1966), locates the poet for Our Lady of Florida Spiritual Center us—“locate” being a key term for A Passionist Retreat Heaney, as when O’Driscoll asks him 1300 U.S. Highway 1 561-626-1300 Ext. 117 whether he regards his poetry as a way Contact Maggie Albee: [email protected] of describing his origins: Details on our Web site: www.ourladyofflorida.org The early-in-life experience has been central to me all right. But

30 America September 14–21, 2009 I’d say you aren’t so much trying Here Heaney speaks of how he has “a journey into the wideness of lan- to describe it as trying to locate lost his belief in an afterlife (though guage, a journey where each point of it. The amount of sensory mate- not the profound arrival—whether in rial stored up or stored down in sacramental sense one’s poetry or one’s the brain’s and the body’s sys- his Catholic faith ON THE WEB life—turned out to James T. Fisher, author of On the Irish tems is inestimable. It’s like a cul- has given him) and Waterfront, on the Jesuit labor priests. be a stepping stone ture at the bottom of a jar, of what poetry has americamagazine.org/video rather than a desti- although it doesn’t grow, I think, taught him: “That nation.” or help anything else to grow there’s such a thing These remark- unless you find a way to reach it as truth and that it can be told/ …that ably rich interviews are indeed step- and touch it. But once you do, poetry itself has virtue…possessing ping stones, leading us to Heaney’s it’s like putting your hand into a inherent strength by reason of sheer poems, again or for the first time. nest and finding something made-upness….” The title of the book ANDREW J. GARAVEL, S.J., is assistant pro- beginning to hatch out in your is taken from his Nobel Prize speech, fessor of English at Santa Clara University, head. in which he called the poet’s vocation Santa Clara, Calif.

The second and by far the longest section takes up the long process of hatching out: “On the Books,” GEORGE M. ANDERSON (almost) neatly divided into one chap- ter for each volume of poetry. One A LOUD, LASTING LOBBY topic was apparently off-limits: Heaney did not want to provide expli- THE RISING OF BREAD Art Simon describes himself early cations of individual poems. (For that, FOR THE WORLD on as “an ordinary pot put to unex- the interested reader can turn to Helen pected use.” What caused this “ordi- An Outcry of Citizens Against Vendler ’s Seamus Heaney, which Hunger nary pot” to become a powerhouse of would make an excellent companion to By Arthur Simon focused energy in combating hunger? this volume.) Instead, he gives back- Paulist Press. 176p $16.95 (paperback) It all started when, as a seminarian, he ground to the works (for example, the ISBN 9780809146000 spent time at a Lutheran parish in grandfather in one of his earliest and New York City. That parish was mid- most reprinted poems, “Digging,” was A remarkable life that began incon- dle class, but Art found time while actually his uncle) and traces his lines spicuously is how one might charac- there to visit one of the city’s poorest of poetic affiliation (he says he does terize the story of Arthur Simon, The neighborhoods, the Lower East Side. not particularly fret in the shadow of Rising of Bread for the The visit included a stop Yeats, while some British and World. The initially shy at the Catholic Worker, American figures have been far more son of a Lutheran pastor where Dorothy Day was important: Hopkins above all, along in Oregon who went on working full tilt on behalf with Lowell, Ted Hughes and Robert to become a pastor him- of the destitute. After his Frost). Though the focus is kept self, Simon (or simply ordination in 1959, he squarely on the work, along the way Art, as many refer to eventually became pastor we get the life as well: his marriage to him) is the founder of of Trinity Lutheran Marie, whom he met at Queen’s the citizen-based organi- Church in that same University, Belfast; teaching at zation Bread for the neighborhood of crowd- Berkeley and Harvard; pressures from World, which has been ed tenements, with all the the nationalist community to take a lobbying for 35 years to marks of entrenched more public stand on “the Troubles” in eliminate domestic and poverty—including Northern Ireland; and his enduring global hunger. The hunger. “I frequently vis- the characteristically (though not brother of the late Senator Paul ited families who ran out of food exclusively) Irish sport of resentful Simon, he has in an indirect sense before the end of the month,” he “begrudgery” among writers. been a co-worker with him in their writes. Although his parishioners “Coda,” the third and final section, battle for justice on behalf of the helped meet the immediate food needs covers the period since his illness. world’s neediest. of many, the larger solutions went

September 14–21, 2009 America 31 unachieved. Tending to a A breakthrough came one year dur- Life of Faith ing Lent. A parish mother suggested “an offering of letters” to their con- gressman asking for help in meeting Little Rock Scripture Study the problem of local hunger. The con- helps you branch out in cept of an offering of letters eventually your understanding of the became a key component in the work Bible’s message and develop of Bread for the World. According to a more personal relationship its Web site, this can take various with God as well as others in forms, from simple letters deposited in your faith community. Let church collection plates, to letters written in college dining halls after your faith grow with help hunger awareness events, to more from the most widely used sophisticated communications to Catholic Bible study in the members of Congress. But they all United States. serve the same purpose: urging those in positions of power to take steps to eradicate hunger. Simon had come to realize that the well-intentioned peo- ple in church pews were “largely clue- less about the use of citizenship to reduce hunger.” In other words, they did not know how to press their Congressional representatives to enact policies benefitting the world’s poorest people. For the latter, hunger is a The School of Theology and Ministry major scourge. In a sense, the first large-scale Shaping leaders, transforming lives “offering of letters” campaign in 1973 marked the real beginning of Bread Our faculty reflect the kind of integration for the World. As the author puts it, that we expect and desire for our students: “I wanted to launch Bread for the a commitment to academic excellence, World not because I was especially an appreciation for pastoral skills, and a willingness to explore one's own spirituality well prepared...but because the need in a community committed to justice. was so great.” He has done his home- work, in researching and writing half a dozen books on various aspects of Graduate Degrees Offered: hunger. Early on, for instance, realiz- Master of Arts in Pastoral Studies (MAPS) ing that he had little understanding of Master of Arts in Transformational rural hunger in the United States, he Leadership (MATL) Master of Arts in Transforming spent five weeks visiting Appalachia Spirituality (MATS) and southern states, “driving down Master of Arts in Pastoral back roads, knocking on rickety doors Counseling (MAPC) Master of Divinity (MDiv) and asking people what they faced” as Master of Divinity/Post-Master’s Certificate they tried to put food on their often ( MDiv/PMC) bare tables. The citizens lobby he cre- ated stemmed from Christian motiva- (206) 296-5330 tion, and both Catholics as well as (800) 778-3118 Protestants have been involved from [email protected] www.seattleu.edu/stm the start. Among them have been highly committed religious women,

32 America September 14–21, 2009 like Mary Luke Tobin, of the Sisters of Loretto. While Bread for the World has maintained its basic Dominican Women Christian identity, the organization We are has, in Art’s words, welcomed into its preaching the gospel through membership “people of any faith or no prayer, study, common life faith.” Bread for the World’s efforts have and ministry! met with both hard-won successes and failures. The latter were particularly evident during the administration of President Ronald Reagan in the 1980s, when Reagan’s policies were “exceptionally hard on poor people.” In President Reagan’s first year in office alone, a million people were removed from the food stamp program, one of the most important domestic anti- hunger initiatives. The agriculture sec- retary at the time, Earl Butz, com- mented: “Hunger is relative—if your www.catholicdominicansisters.org larder is empty, you cut back some.” DOMINICAN SISTERS OF THE NORTHEAST “Cut back on empty?” the author wryly Amityville zBlauvelt zCaldwell zHope z Sparkill asks. Contact us at [email protected] Art Simon stayed at the helm of Bread for the World until 1991, when David Beckmann, a fellow Lutheran whom he describes as “a missionary Do you hear God’s call? economist,” succeeded him as presi- dent. Art himself remains as president emeritus. The pun in the book’s title, “The Rising of Bread for the World,” may be lost on a few readers, but those lucky enough to have grown up in households in which the aroma of Prepare for ministry at the University of Notre Dame homemade bread was a reality will Master of Divinity Program understand why the title is appropri- http://mdiv.nd.edu | (574) 631.4256 ate. Lumps of inert dough rise over a number of hours, and once in the Full tuition scholarships for all admitted students oven, emerge as beautifully browned rolls and loaves. The word “rising” thus serves as a reminder that—thanks to Arthur Simon and his collaborators— the work of Bread for the World con- tinues to “rise” in the consciousness of more and more people who realize that hunger is unconscionable in a world with resources sufficient to feed all.

GEORGE M. ANDERSON, S.J., is an associ- ate editor of America.

September 14–21, 2009 America 33 Something good is happening in the world … www.cfcausa.org … and we need priests to tell folks about it

rdinary people are making a real difference in the you will serve people living in poverty and the Catholic faithful Ostruggle against global poverty. They are joining by bringing them together in mutually life-giving relationships. with Christian Foundation for Children and Aging, a lay Our priests travel for weekend assignments only. Both Catholic organization, to help families in developing countries full- and part-time opportunities are available. Spanish put food on the table, send their children to school, access speaking priests are especially needed. We offer competitive health care and have a decent place to live so that together, we compensation. can end the cycle of poverty. To apply, contact Tim Deveney at (800) 875-6564 or [email protected]. A message of hope CFCA is an international movement of people who support We need priests with a passion for serving the poor and and encourage children, youth and the aging in developing dynamic preaching skills to share the CFCA message while countries. Founded by lay Catholics acting on the Gospel call to celebrating Eucharist in parishes across the country. In so doing, serve the poor, CFCA works with people of all faiths.

34 America September 14–21, 2009 The William H. Shannon Chair in Catholic Studies at Nazareth College presents IN DIALOGUE WITH OUR WORLD

SPEAKERS INCLUDE: s John F. Haught s Daniel G. Groody, C.S.C. Evolution and Faith: Dying to Live: What Is at Stake? A Theology of Migration September 17, 2009, 7 p.m. March 25, 2010, 7 p.m. s William T. Cavanaugh s Christine E. Gudorf Christianity and the The Intrinsic Value of Marketplace: Confronting Life: Faith, Technology, the Global Economic Crisis and Society October 22, 2009, 7 p.m. April 8, 2010, 7 p.m.

These lectures are free and open to the public.

Forum, Otto Shults Community Center Nazareth College, 4245 East Avenue, Rochester, NY 14618 For additional information, call 585-389-2728 or visit www.naz.edu

St. Mary Student Parish at the University of Michigan GRADUATE SCHOOL OF RELIGION AND RELIGIOUS EDUCATION Presents The Fr. Gabriel Richard Lectures Preparing Future Leaders in the Calling us to examine current issues in light of our faith Vision of a Jesuit Education WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 23, 2009 What Happened at Vatican II? The Author Comments Rev. John O’Malley, S.J., Ph.D. Professor of Theology, Georgetown University

THURSDAY, OCTOBER 8, 2009 Can Ethics Really Be Taught? Carolyn Woo, Ph.D. Dean of Mendoza College, University of Notre Dame M.A. in Religious Education THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 12, 2009 M.A. in Pastoral Counseling and Spiritual Care Addressing Poverty in Troubled Times M.A. in Pastoral Care Mary Jo Bane, Ph.D. Ph.D. in Religious Education Academic Dean, Harvard Kennedy School Doctor of Ministry THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 18, 2010 Online Master’s Programs in Youth Ministry and Pastoral Care Meteorites, Asteroids and the Structure of the Solar Nebula Online Certificate in Faith Formation Br. Guy Consolmagno, S.J., Ph.D. Astronomer, Vatican Observatory Graduate Certificate Programs For more information about Fordham University’s THURSDAY, MARCH 18, 2010 Graduate School of Religion and Religious Education, Women and the Church visit www.fordham.edu/gre. Melinda Henneberger Author and Journalist Lecture co-sponsors: Commonweal Magazine, Center for Ethics in Public Life, Department of Astronomy, Gerald R. Ford School of Public Policy, Ross School of Business and School of Social Work stmarystudentparish.org

September 14–21, 2009 America 35 COME AND SEE…Master’s Degrees in Pastoral Studies and Religious Education

ON CAMPUS Study year-round, or summers only in New Orleans. ONSITE Our internationally known extension program is offered at nearly 50 sites around the globe. ONLINE The Loyola Institute for Ministry, a leader in providing graduate programs that are affordable, practical, and Catholic, now offers online study options. limus.loyno.edu

LOYOLA INSTITUTE FOR MINISTRY • (800) 777-5469 • [email protected]

36 America September 14–21, 2009 CLASSIFIED ST. CATHERINE UNIVERSITY Books WILLIAM CLEARY’S new book of short daily prayers, entitled We Side With the Morning. Sorin Dean of the Henrietta Schmoll Books, (574) 287-2831. Bishop Spong called it “full of gems.” Now available. School of Health Education DOCTOR OF MINISTRY, concentration in theo- logical reflection as transformative. Six quarters of Tuesday coursework plus thesis project. Accredited. University of St. Mary of the Lake/ Mundelein Seminary, Mundelein, IL 60060. St. Catherine University is a comprehensive university with the nation’s largest college Classes begin September 2010. Contact Rev. for women at its center. Located in the vibrant Twin Cities of St. Paul and Minneapolis, Raymond J. Webb, Academic Dean: Ph: (847) St. Catherine enrolls over 5,000 students in associate, baccalaureate, master’s and 970-4802; e-mail: [email protected]. Web site: doctoral programs. Its history as a health care educator is unparalleled in the Twin www.usml.edu Cities, and it is among the largest and most diverse private colleges or universities in the Minnesota Private College Council. The Henrietta Schmoll School of Health enrolls Parish Missions about 2,000 of St. Catherine’s students and employs 200 faculty members. Focused INSPIRING, DYNAMIC PREACHING: parish on the transformation of health care access and delivery through the preparation of missions, retreats, days of recollection; www competent, ethical, well-educated and engaged health care professionals, the School .sabbathretreats.org. is the fortunate beneficiary of a Perpetual Legacy Grant that enables innovative and transformative program development. Positions CAMPUS MINISTERS. Two positions. The Position Announcement Newman Centers at the State University of New The Dean of the Henrietta Schmoll School of Health at St. Catherine University is York at Buffalo seek applicants to serve a diverse a key strategic leader of more than 20 academic programs in health care fields at the undergraduate and graduate Catholic student pop- associate, baccalaureate, master’s and doctoral levels. The Dean is a visionary leader ulation on two campuses. Candidate qualifications: who encourages productive collaboration among program faculty and with external undergraduate degree in theology, pastoral min- partners, and who helps realize the President’s vision to make the School of Health istry, education or other related fields; experience a national leader in the transformation of health care delivery. in campus ministry or other ministry fields pre- ferred; genuine understanding of a university set- The Dean is a member of the Deans’ Council that advances the University mission ting and young adults (18-35). Salary commensu- in order to achieve the 2020 Vision strategic goals; she or he also provides leadership rate with experience. Send résumé to: Msgr. for the Women’s, Graduate, and Applied and Continuing Learning colleges. The Patrick Keleher, 3269 Main Street, Buffalo, NY Dean oversees curricular and faculty development; ensures academic quality; 14214; or [email protected]. prepares and monitors budgets; and leads efforts to develop new programs that respond to the market and emerging initiatives in health care. She/he demonstrates a strong commitment to student-centered learning through assessment practices Retreats that continually improve teaching effectiveness, program delivery and learning BETHANY RETREAT HOUSE, East Chicago, Ind., outcomes. offers private and individually directed silent retreats, including Ignatian 30 days, year-round in a The Dean demonstrates active commitment to the University’s Catholic identity. prayerful home setting. Contact Joyce Diltz, S/He also will be a strong advocate for professional programs within a liberal P.H.J.C.; (219) 398-5047; [email protected]; arts framework and for St. Catherine’s women-centered mission. The Dean will www.bethanyretreathouse.org. advance the St. Catherine University mission through a genuine commitment to diversity — a central goal of the University — and careful leadership in faculty Translator appointments, promotion and tenure. SPANISH TRANSLATOR. Luis Baudry-Simon, A terminal degree, preferably in a health care or related field, and progressively specialized in religion/human sciences, will trans- responsible administrative experience are essential, as are outstanding interpersonal late into Spanish any book, article, essay, blog, and problem-solving skills, evidence of proactive and innovative leadership and a Web site. E-mail: [email protected]; collaborative leadership style. Experience in alternative delivery models, especially Ph: (815) 461-0321. digital and distance learning, is essential. The successful candidate will demonstrate the ability to personally promote the Henrietta Schmoll School of Health, enhance its visibility and reputation for excellence, and develop relationships that gain Vocations national recognition, attract resources and increase enrollments. OVER 30? DESIRE PRIESTHOOD? Religious life? Lay ministries? Enriching sabbatical? Letters of application or nomination indicating interest and alignment with position Vocation-discernment retreat? Ph: (800) 645-5347 requirements should be addressed to Colleen Hegranes, Senior Vice President, St. (24 hours daily). See http://gonzaga.edu Catherine University, 2004 Randolph Avenue, St. Paul, MN 55105. Application /ministryinstitute. review will begin October 15 and continue until the position is fi lled. Volunteers SMALL CATHOLIC HOSPITAL in rural Haiti EEO/Drug Free Workplace Employer struggling to serve a community of 125,000 invites

September 14–21, 2009 America 37 young or not-so-young to serve a year or two. Talents needed include: M.D. specialists, nurses, medical-record specialists, technicians, administra- tors, development and personnel directors. Knowledge of French or Creole a plus. Inquiries: Recommended Reading [email protected]. Wills Please remember America in your will. Our legal The Cambridge title is: America Press Inc., 106 West 56th Street, Companion to New York, NY 10019.

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38 America September 14–21, 2009 LETTERS possibility of meaningful dialogue on We are saddened by his disappoint- vital subjects was increased because of ment in Notre Dame and other Notre Dame’s role as a place where a Catholic colleges throughout the world Support From the Board renewed effort built on courtesy and that subscribed to the landmark Land Re: “The Church and the University” respect could begin. O’Lakes Statement on academic free- (8/31): As Catholics we need to look During this period some have ques- dom and institutional autonomy. As to the future. We have a unique tioned whether the Notre Dame board the bishop has stated, “Notre Dame is a opportunity to learn from and lever- of trustees gave any consideration to splendid place.” age an event that took place in May this matter. A thorough and candid RICHARD C. NOTEBAERT on the campus of Notre Dame. In the Chairman, Board of Trustees discussion of the invitation to the pres- university’s tradition, the president of University of Notre Dame ident to speak and receive an honorary the United States, Barack Obama, South Bend, Ind. degree occurred. There was no need was invited to speak at the com- for a statement or a press release from More Dialogue mencement and accepted. There the that meeting because we stayed the No one doubts the authority of bish- debate began among many as to course that we were on. It should also ops to pronounce on moral issues. whether this was appropriate, given be said that the president of Notre Bishop John D’Arcy’s complaint is that the new administration’s stance on Dame, Father Jenkins, had then and Notre Dame has “honored” the presi- abortion. has now our total support. From dent of the United States, although he There is no debate as to Notre Father Hesburgh to Father Malloy does not accept the church’s teachings Dame’s position on the sanctity of and now Father Jenkins, Notre Dame regarding abortion. human life. As Notre Dame’s presi- has been blessed with great leadership. I myself “honor” many opponents dent, John I. Jenkins, C.S.C., has stat- I would also like to thank Bishop of the church’s teaching on abortion by ed many times, including at the com- John M. D’Arcy for his leadership and inviting them to my home. In doing so, mencement, we are unwavering in our counsel. For 24 years he has served the I do not express any dissent from the support of the Catholic Church’s diocese and supported Notre Dame. church’s teaching. On occasion, while teachings. We oppose President Obama’s policies on abortion and To send a letter to the editor we recommend using the link that appears below articles on embryonic stem cell research. America’s Web site, www.americamagazine.org. This allows us to consider your letter for publi- So what should we learn from this cation in both print and online versions of the magazine. Letters may also be sent to America’s editorial office (address on page 2) or by e-mail to: [email protected]. They should event, and what is the opportunity be brief and include the writer’s name, postal address and daytime phone number. Letters may that it created? The president of the be edited for length and clarity. United States came to our campus knowing our position on the sanctity of human life. He was willing to listen WITHOUT GUILE to us and was open to dialogue. We also listened to him with respect. The level of national attention to this issue has never been higher. This is the opportunity. In addition to honoring the office of the presidency, we hoped that this invitation would provide an opening for dialogue on those issues on which the Catholic Church and our president are not in agreement. That first step will need to be nurtured. We must not let this opportunity slip from our grasp. We must work hard at the relationship between our faith and our culture. We cannot take a position that lets the ground lie fal- low because we are unwilling to be teachers. It will be a long road. The CARTOON BY HARLEY SCHWADRON

September 14–21, 2009 America 39 they are there, we discourse on the subject of abortion, and this provides me with an opportunity to articulate the church’s position. Maybe, seeing my resolve, they may soften their hearts. SUSAN M. SMITH Wallingford, Pa.

A Remarkable Bishop I applaud Bishop D’Arcy for his article. During his time as bishop of the Diocese of Fort Wayne-South Bend he has demonstrated remarkable leader- ship and strength, especially on issues Year for Priests of morality. I firmly agree that it is due to the work of the passionate student Born of the Eucharist body of Notre Dame that the A Spirituality for Priests Catholicity of the university has Edited by Stephen J. Rossetti Msgr. Stephen Rossetti weaves together refl ections from over remained intact. Notre Dame’s first pri- twenty notable contributors on the importance of the Eucha- ority, as with all Catholic institutions of rist in the life of the priest and that of the Church.The perfect gift for busy priests. higher education, is to be a witness to the truth of the Gospel. Contributors Include: MONICA NISTLER Rev. Daniel P. Coughlin Cardinal Carlo Maria Martini, S.J. Fort Wayne, Ind. Archbishop Timothy M. Dolan Rev. Msgr. John J. Strynkowski Cardinal Avery Dulles, S.J. Rev. Msgr. Peter J.Vaghi Condemnation or Dialogue Cardinal Francis George, O.M.I. Cardinal Albert Vanhoye, S.J. There is an unfortunate tendency Rev. Benedict J. Groeschel, C.F.R. Archbishop Donald W. Wuerl Paperback / 192 pages / $15.95 among many to prefer to be “right rather than effective.” The two articles in America by Bishop John M. D’Arcy Available from your bookstore or from ave maria press Notre Dame, IN 46556 / www.avemariapress.com / Ph: 800.282.1865 and Archbishop John R. Quinn deal A Ministry of the Indiana Province of Holy Cross Promo Code: A8UØ9Ø9Ø5MA with this very conundrum—when is “witnessing” counter to Christ’s direc- tive to love above all else. My beloved Benedictine college, They’re not plaster statues, Saint Vincent, invited President Bush to give the commencement address. they’re personal friends! Many at the college felt this was inap- propriate; they claimed he did not James Martin, SJ, has learned that the saints are more than plaster objects—they are our compan- emulate Benedictine virtues. President ions. Now, his award-winning book and exciting Bush was invited on the Benedictine new DVD can help each of us develop a lifelong principle of “hospitality,” which wel- friendship with the saints as we take them off the comes anyone who comes to the pedestal and place them in our hearts. monastery. And so I tend to agree with My Life with the Saints Archbishop Quinn, Pope John Paul II 
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 with on many issues of social justice. Let’s hope Obama’s visit to Notre

40 America September 14–21, 2009 Dame will be the start of a deter- COMMUNITY CREDIT UNION HOPE COMMUNITY CREDIT UNION HOPE COMMUNITY CREDIT mined effort to gain mutual under- standing of how to promote reverence for all life. CHARLES F. KELLER Los Alamos, N.M.

Humbly Human Bishop D’Arcy’s take on the Obama- University of Notre Dame fiasco offers at least this practitioner of the faith such a balanced and intelligent, at the same time humbly human, range of insights as to all but restore trust in our hierarchy’s grasp of what its “world’s most important assignment” needs to consist of. JAMES C. G. CONNIFF Upper Montclair, N.J.

Truly Ecumenical Thanks to Archbishop Quinn. Civic respect and tolerance are essential val- And thanks to socially responsible ues in the Christian witness. We have THANKS TO investors like you who make HOPE learned to be ecumenical with those of possible, Marlissa Hopkins, a Head other religions. We must be ecumeni- Start teacher on a fixed income, was cal also with those who do not share able to refinance a car loan she received our moral values. from a predatory lender. The loan from MICHAEL MCGUCKIAN, S.J. HOPE Galway, Eire HOPE saved her more than $14,000, a significant savings for Marlissa and her family. Teaching Mission What a pity that Archbishop Quinn’s Supported by federally insured deposits from individuals and institutions all over the country, HOPE provides affordable financial products and services to thousands remarks were not presented and dis- of home buyers, entrepreneurs, and working families each year in the nation’s cussed at the bishops’ meeting! I hope most economically distressed region. that this can be remedied at the next one, because his recommendation is In this uncertain financial climate, HOPE is a great way to safely invest in your critical to the teaching mission of the own future while you invest in the futures of low-wealth people and communities church. in Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, and Tennessee. People like the Hopkins family While it is important to speak the who have dreams and the determination to make them come true with a little truth, how it is spoken and with what help…and a little HOPE. respect for the audience dramatically Please join in this great mission today by calling us toll-free at 1-877-654-HOPE, affects how the message is received. or by visiting www.hopecu.org and downloading an application. When the bishops are perceived as closed-minded, partisan and arrogant, their teaching on other justice issues will be ignored as well. PEGGY SAUNDERS San Carlos, Calif.

Support and Oppose Is there anyone in the United States, Strengthening communities. Catholic or not, who believes that the Building assets. Improving lives. 1-877-654-HOPE • www.hopecu.org University of Notre Dame, its admin-

September 14–21, 2009 America 41 istration, faculty or student body sup- port abortion? Would the bishop deny an honorary degree to someone who supports the death penalty? Would he deny such to George Weigel, who History (1933-1948) opposes the church’s position on the definition of a just war? These matters What We Choose To Remember are also part of the “Catholic faith in all of its fullness” and are also “life” issues. Let the church and its related univer- The Garaventa Center invites your participation in a conference examin- sities continue to support the president ing the influences of ideas and institutions in the unfolding of history on those life and social justice issues on April 15-17, 2010 – Memory · Truth · Justice which we agree and continue to oppose The purpose of this conference is to examine the ideas – legal, philosoph- him on the others. ical, religious, mythical, medical, and scientific – and the institutions – ROBERT M. ROWDEN secular and sacred – that informed and directed as well as opposed and San Rafael, Calif. thwarted the unfolding of events from the establishment of the dictator- ships in the western world to the establishment of the state of Israel so Dignity, Logic, Charity the lessons of history can guide the future. Bishop D’Arcy’s letter is a classic, Topics comparable in dignity and stature The Holocaust · The People of the Land: Palestinians and Jews · Struggle with Martin Luther King Jr.’s Letter for the Holy Land · Witnesses and Onlookers · The Lion of Münster · From Birmingham Jail. Without a The White Rose Student Movement · Concentration Camps and Gulags · scintilla of meanness and with a heart Between Communism and Nazism · The Threat of Communism · full of affection for Notre Dame, he Worthless Human Life · Teaching the Holocaust · Pius XII · Science and makes his case with dignity, logic and the Third Reich · Law and the Third Reich · Theology of the Holocaust · The charity. Three cheers for the good Medical Profession and the Third Reich · Resisters, Martyrs, and Onlookers bishop! · The Euthanasia Decree · The Numbers: Six Million, Twelve Million, One JOHN MCCARTHY Hundred Million · Research on Conformity, Obedience and Aggression · Weston, Mass. Creation of Character: Hitler and Churchill · The Bishops and the Third Reich · Christian Self-Reflection and the Holocaust · 1933 Vatican-German The Real Question Concordat · Theological Issues in Christian Anti-Judaism · The Führer Bishop D’Arcy has gotten right to the Principle · Terezienstadt and Special Jews · Music and Art at Terezienstadt point. The question is, What is the · The Role of the West · The Role of the Jewish Councils relationship between the Catholic Invited Speakers University and the local bishop? Does Keynote: Bishop Elias Chacour, Patriarch of Galilee the role of the bishop apply inside the Eugene Fisher, Gerald Fogarty, Hala Gores, Deborah Lipstadt, Michael Marrus, gates of the university? John Pawlikowski The actions of the president and The conference welcomes submissions of one page abstracts from a wide board of Notre Dame have not been range of specialties and submissions from established scholars as well as consistent with a Catholic identity. from graduate and undergraduate students. Notre Dame is free to honor whomever it wants, but it cannot be Catholic and Submit one page abstracts for individual papers by January 15, 2010; elec- not-Catholic at the same time. tronic submissions preferred to [email protected] or mail to SUSAN HUBBARD Rev. James Lies, C.S.C., Executive Director Bentonville, Ark. Garaventa Center for Catholic

Intellectual Life and American Culture America (ISSN 0002-7049) is published weekly (except for 14 com- University of Portland bined issues: Jan. 5-12, 19-26, March 30-April 6, April 20-27, May 25-June 1, June 8-15, 22-29, July 6-13, 20-27, Aug. 3-10, 17-24, 5000 N. Willamette Blvd. Aug. 31-Sept. 7, Sept. 14-21, Dec. 21-28) by America Press, Inc., garaventa center for 106 West 56th Street, New York, NY 10019. Periodicals postage is Portland, OR 97203-5798 paid at New York, N.Y., and additional mailing offices. Business catholic intellectual life Manager: Lisa Pope; Circulation: Judith Palmer, (212) 581-4640. and american culture Subscriptions: United States, $56 per year; add U.S. $30 postage Notification of acceptance by February 15, 2010 and GST (#131870719) for Canada; or add U.S. $54 per year for international priority airmail. Postmaster: Send address changes to: America, 106 West 56th St. New York, NY 10019. Printed in the U.S.A.

42 America September 14–21, 2009 In parishes, colleges and universities, in missions in 15 countries, from classrooms to impoverished city streets, Holy Cross priests and brothers have placed their hope in the Cross of Christ and serve as educators in the faith. Is God calling you to join us?

holycrossvocations.org

September 14–21, 2009 America 43 Illuminations by Thomas Kinkade

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Signature Exceptional value; satisfaction guaranteed Illuminations by Thomas Kinkade comes with a 365-day Mrs. Mr. Ms. Name (Please Print Clearly) money-back guarantee and is issued in a limited edition. Act now to obtain each piece in the five-piece collection (each Address of the four plates and the wall display) in two easy payments City Experience the beauty of of $14.97 each, for a total of $29.95* per-piece. You can cancel at any time by simply notifying us. But hurry... this Thomas Kinkade’s masterpieces State Zip is a limited time offer. Send no money now. Just return the 48921-E39411 by candlelight Reservation Application today! *Plus $5.99 shipping and service per piece. Limited-edition presentations restricted to 95 firing days. Please allow 4-8 weeks after initial payment for ship- ©2009 Thomas Kinkade ment of Edition One. Display shipped after Edition Four. Sales subject to prod- ©2009 BGE 01-01012-001-BILP uct availability and order acceptance. THE WORD Gifts and Status; True Authority TWENTY-FIFTH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME (B), SEPT. 20, 2009 Readings: Wis 2:12, 17-20; Ps 54:3–8; Jas 3:16–4:3; Mk 9:30-37 “Taking a child, he placed it in their midst” (Mk 9:36)

n some faith communities, the positions. Having interiorized Jesus’ peace-building and warns of the nega- same people are called upon time mandate to be “servant of all,” we tive consequences that befall them. It Iafter time to serve on the most may find ourselves falling prey to exposes the thinking of wicked ones influential committees and make all the subtle desire to become the who resent an upright person who the important decisions. They may be greatest of servants—the speaks the truth to them tried and true in terms of the wisdom one who sits on the most about the need to they have to offer, or they may be gen- committees, mend their ways. erous donors who deserve a say in spends the most They would sooner what is done with their contribution. hours in prayer, kill than heed such a Certain other people are always passed teaches the great- messenger. They plot to over. They themselves may not recog- est number of stu- torture and kill the upright nize the gifts they have to offer until dents, preaches the one, testing not only the gen- someone calls them forth and helps best homilies. Jesus uineness of the just one, but even them develop their talents. This is redirects his disciples’ putting God’s faithfulness on trial. what Jesus does in today’s Gospel. attention to those who While his disciples are wrangling are most vulnerable and whose gifts PRAYING WITH SCRIPTURE over who is the greatest among them, are undervalued and least developed. • What opportunities do you have to draw Jesus turns to those who are left out, Those of us who would be good lead- into your circle one who is usually over- wraps his arms around one, and pulls ers in the pattern of Jesus must turn to looked? him or her into the very center of the those of lowest status, embrace them • Ask the Spirit to purify in you any desires circle. Jesus teaches his disciples that and bring them into the midst of the for greatness and recognition. the one who appears most vulnerable circle. . . . and seems to need the greatest amount In this Gospel passage Jesus is • When have you experienced a healing word or touch from one who was not an of care can also be the one who has the addressing disciples who have some authorized minister? most to teach us about what it is to be measure of power, privilege and sta- Christlike and God-like. tus; he invites them to a leadership • How does the process of authorizing min- This teaching is especially ironic style based on relinquishment and ser- isters safeguard the church? because Jesus has just finished telling vice to all, especially the most needy. ART: TAD DUNNE his disciples that he will be killed and By contrast, Jesus’ leadership empow- then rise from the dead. They miss the ers those who are forced into positions They mistakenly think that the proof import. Instead, the Twelve are wor- of servitude in society and places them of intimacy with God is preservation ried about who is first in his affections at the center. from harm. St. Teresa of Ávila and in the exercise of his mission. This manner of acting diffuses the remarked on this paradox, complain- For most disciples the temptation is jealousy and selfish ambition that ing to God about the trials and tribu- not to seek honor and glory and high James decries in the second reading. lations she had to endure on account James chronicles all kinds of undesir- of her closeness to God, “If this is how BARBARA E. REID, O.P., a member of the able results that come from choices you treat your friends, no wonder you Dominican Sisters of Grand Rapids, Mich., is based on self-interest. The first read- have so few!” That God upholds the a professor of New Testament studies at ing, by contrast, like the Gospel, faithful, even if the manner of doing so Catholic Theological Union in Chicago, Ill., where she has been named vice president and speaks about a manner of leadership is inscrutable to us, is affirmed in academic dean. by persons devoted to justice and today’s responsorial psalm.

September 14–21, 2009 America 45 TWENTY-SIXTH SUNDAY IN leaders without their prior approba- his wish that all the people would ORDINARY TIME (B), tion. Take Eldad and Medad; they had prophesy in God’s spirit. He recog- not gone out to the tent of meeting nizes that while not all are officially SEPT. 27, 2009 along with the other 70, upon whom authorized to prophesy, all do have a Readings: Nm 11:25-29; Ps God bestowed a share of the spirit that measure of the prophetic gift to be 19:8–14; Jas 5:1-6; Mk 38–48 was upon Moses. Nonetheless, the shared. The community, moreover, “Would that the Lord might spirit came to rest upon them, too; like under the guidance of the Spirit, has a bestow the Spirit on them all!” the others, they began to speak responsibility to choose, prepare and prophetically in the camp. authorize its spokespersons. But even (Nm 11:29) This was most distressing to the best and most careful process can Joshua, who insisted that they be exclude some whose gifts do not elude residents of nations and other stopped. The text does not elaborate the Spirit, who always blows where she leaders with wide influence usu- on Joshua’s motives. Was he resentful, will. Pally have a designated because he had trained at Moses’ side A similar scene is played out in the spokesperson who makes sure that the from his youth and followed carefully Gospel, where Jesus’ disciples are leader’s message is conveyed accurately all the directives, whereas these two upset about an exorcist who claims and consistently. The leader exercises a appeared suddenly and began to min- Jesus’ authority as he casts out measure of control, ensuring that the ister with the others? Moses assures demons. Jesus insists that the disciples spokesperson follows the script, and Joshua that the prophesying of Eldad stop trying to prevent the exorcist that no one who is unauthorized is and Medad in no way diminishes from exercising his ministry, even given credence. That is not necessarily Moses’ own authority as a prophet. though he is not an official follower of the way it is in ministry, however. In fact, it was Moses’ own com- Jesus. In both the first reading and in the plaint to God about his too heavy bur- It is curious that in both instances, Gospel, individuals who are not autho- den of leadership that prompted God those who want to be officially recog- rized by Moses and by Jesus, respec- to bestow the Spirit on others who nized ministers are sadly focused on a tively, exercise a ministry akin to the could lighten the load. Moses exclaims perceived threat to their own authori- ty, rather than on the recipients of the ministry. Planning for Parish Reorganization Joshua might have asked: What is The Reid Group Forum for Diocesan Leaders the effect of the prophetic word spo- October 20-21, 2009 ken by the two who were not autho- Holiday Inn Express O’Hare - Chicago, Illinois rized? Is it unleashing God’s freeing This two-day seminar will teach your diocesan team a proven, successful approach to planning that will love in the hearers? Likewise, the disci- save hundreds of thousands of dollars and renew ples might have asked: Was the other the spirit of the faithful throughout your diocese. exorcist freeing people from torment- You will come away with: ing forces that blocked their ability to love and be loved? A word of approval Prophetic s 3KILLS AND MATERIALS TO DO PLANNING Presenters John Reid and Maureen Gallagher have a Planning FOCUSING ON PARISH REORGANIZATION IN from the wise leaders, Moses and YOUR DIOCESE combined experience of more than 50 years working with Jesus, served to re-orient their follow- s !BILITY TO SUPPORT YOUR BISHOP IN DIRECTING issues affecting parish and ers toward the important matter of DIOCESAN PARISH REORGANIZATION diocesan planning. ensuring that the pressing needs of Change and s 3KILLS AND MATERIALS FOR MINISTERING TO Who should Transition INDIVIDUALS AND COMMUNITIES IN THE MIDST attend? their people be addressed by whomev- OF CHANGE INCLUDING RITUALS OF LOSS AND GRIEF ! TEAM OF   er the Spirit empowered to do so. Jesus DIOCESAN LEADERS WHO s 3TRATEGIES FOR BEGINNING PLAN WILL WORK WITH THE also directs his disciples to reflect on IMPLEMENTATION BISHOP TO IMPLEMENT the ministry they receive from others. Conflict s ! COPY OF The Art of Planning AND COMPANION DIOCESAN WIDE Management $6$ BY *OHN 2EID AND -AUREEN 'ALLAGHER PLANNING INITIATIVES When they know themselves as needy, they can learn, by accepting the gift of For more information, call The Reid Group at 800-916-3472 a cup of water, to shift their attention Call now: 10% discount for the first five dioceses to register Plan away from the prerogatives of creden- Implemen- tialed ministry toward the neediness of tation Co-sponsored by the National Pastoral Life Center and the Conference for Pastoral Planning and Council Development those to whom their service is ren- dered. BARBARA E. REID

46 America September 14–21, 2009 TAKE THE JOURNEY HOME.

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September 14–21, 2009 America 47