The Christians” POEM C 24 of OTHER THINGS Just Having Lunch BOOKS the Prophet of Cuernavaca; Killing from the Inside Out; Pure Act

OF MANY THINGS 106 West 56th Street New York, NY 10019-3803 hat cry of “Lazarus, come out” for a less bellicose Canadian presence Ph: (212) 581-4640; Fax: (212) 399-3596 we heard north of our border at the United Nations, a more critical Subscriptions: (800) 627-9533 on the evening of Oct. 19 view of Israeli policies and Canada’s www.americamedia.org T facebook.com/americamag was the Canadian electorate reviving support for the nuclear treaty with Iran. twitter.com/americamag the fortunes of the long-thought- Above all, expect a resurgence of the moribund Liberal Party. In a stunning sort of hopeful Canadian nationalism so President and Editor in Chief Matt Malone, S.J. coast-to-coast triumph, the Liberals identified with Mr. Trudeau’s father, the Executive Editors won 184 of the country’s 338 seats in Canadian political titan who changed Robert C. Collins, S.J., Maurice Timothy Reidy the House of Commons—the largest the course of history with his dogmatic Managing Editor Kerry Weber increase in seats in a single election belief that “it is in our future in which Literary Editor Raymond A. Schroth, S.J. in Canadian history. Led by Justin we will find our greatness.” Senior Editor and Chief Correspondent Kevin Clarke Trudeau, the idealistic son of the late In many ways, however, the son Editor at Large James Martin, S.J. premier, Pierre Trudeau, the Liberals is a different man. While charming Executive Editor, America Films capitalized on a widespread perception and telegenic, Justin Trudeau lacks Jeremy Zipple, S.J. among Canadians that the federal his father’s distinctive style, what Poetry Editor Joseph Hoover, S.J. government had become too arrogant, Quebecers might call his élan, an Associate Editor and Vatican Correspondent Gerard O’Connell too centralized and too ideological. effective mixture of celebrity and Associate Editor and Director of Digital By contrast, the Liberals, writes Bob statesmanship, which he could deploy Strategy Sam Sawyer, S.J. Rae of Toronto’s Globe and Mail, were rhetorically to great effect. Yet while the Senior Editor Edward W. Schmidt, S.J. seen as “the hardest working, most elder Trudeau was warm and devout, Associate Editors Ashley McKinless, Olga Segura, Robert David Sullivan compassionate, most willing to listen, his chronic workaholism destroyed his Assistant Editors Francis W. Turnbull, S.J., and most capable of learning.” marriage. There then followed a number Joseph McAuley The new prime minister, who has of high-profile relationships with Art Director Sonja Kodiak Wilder spent most of his 43 years out of the Barbara Streisand and Margot Kidder, Editorial Assistant Zachary Davis public eye, was considered a lightweight among others, which put Mr. Trudeau Columnists Helen Alvaré, John J. Conley, S.J., Daniel P. Horan, O.F.M., James T. Keane, John W. and a long shot by most Canadian on the cover of People magazine and Martens, Bill McGarvey, Angela Alaimo O’Donnell, pundits. Former Prime Minister Brian put Canada on America’s pop cultural Margot Patterson, Nathan Schneider Mulroney said as much on election map. The younger Trudeau, the Liberals Correspondents John Carr (Washington), An- thony Egan, S.J., and Russell Pollitt, S.J. (Johannes- night, telling CTV News, “I think that are keen to stress, is in every way a burg), Jim McDermott, S.J. (Los Angeles), Timothy in some quarters he was underestimated devoted family man, a product of Jesuit Padgett (Miami), Steven Schwankert (Beijing), education and Quebec’s post-modern David Stewart, S.J. (London), Judith Valente and he got a real big bite tonight, and (Chicago) that’s what happened.” There are bigger but still Catholic culture. Moderator, Catholic Book Club bites to come as Mr. Trudeau turns his Nevertheless, it was Canada’s Kevin Spinale, S.J. attention to forming a government. In a Catholics who were in all likelihood Editor, The Jesuit Post Michael Rossmann, S.J. situation not entirely unlike that of the the most reluctant to pull the lever Editorial e-mail [email protected] United States in 2008, the immensity of for the Liberals. Mr. Trudeau is an the country’s challenges is outweighed unapologetic pro-choice politician, even Publisher and Chief Financial Officer Edward G. Spallone Deputy Publisher Rosa M. only by the expectations of the voters. going so far as to deny pro-life Liberal Del Saz Vice President for Advancement Daniel Mr. Trudeau has promised successive members of Parliament a free vote on Pawlus Advertising Sales Manager Chris Keller Development Coordinator Kerry Goleski rounds of annual deficit spending in the question. That move is disturbing, Business Operations Staff Khairah Walker, order to rescue Canadians from the not simply for what looks like callous Glenda Castro, Katy Zhou, Frankarlos Cruz vestiges of recession. His policies will disregard for human dignity, but for its Advertising Contact [email protected]; 212-515-0102 Subscription contact/Additional provide an interesting test case for neo- undemocratic impulse. In the words copies 1-800-627-9533 Reprints: reprints@ Keynesianism and a clear alternative to of his late father, “a society which americamedia.org the austerity policies of his European emphasizes uniformity is one which © 2015 America Press Inc. counterparts. creates intolerance and hate.” On victory The Liberals also promised a shift night, Mr. Trudeau told his jubilant in Canadian foreign policy, to align it supporters that “you can appeal to the Cover: Dr. Ben Carson, left, and Donald Trump at more closely in Mr. Trudeau’s mind better angels of our nature and you can the second official Republican candidates’ debate in the 2016 U.S. presidential campaign at the with the country’s traditional peace- win doing it.” Let’s hope that’s true. Ronald Reagan Presidential Library in Simi Val- building role in global affairs. Look MATT MALONE, S.J. ley, Calif., on Sept. 16. Reuters/Lucy Nicholson Contents www.americamagazine.org VOL. 213 NO. 13, WHOLE NO. 5106 November 2, 2015

ARTICLES 16 KEEP IT CIVIL A pro-life approach to public discourse Bryan Vincent 20 STRATEGIC OPPORTUNITIES Six chances to strengthen the church Dennis H. Holtschneider 23 HOLY ONES, LOVED ONES The journey from All Saints to All Souls Leonard J. DeLorenzo 16 COLUMNS & DEPARTMENTS 4 Current Comment

5 Editorial Euthanasia in California 6 Reply All 9 Signs of the Times

14 Washington Front Crossing Boundaries John Carr 28 Faith in Focus Grassroots Gospel Alexander Turpin 29 Generation Faith Stained-Glass People Mariele Courtois 38 The Word Widows and Scribes John W. Martens 23 BOOKS & CULTURE

31 THEATER “The Christians” POEM C 24 OF OTHER THINGS Just Having Lunch BOOKS The Prophet of Cuernavaca; Killing from the Inside Out; Pure Act

ON THE WEB John Sexton, president of NYU, talks about his Jesuit schooling and his career in higher education. Plus, a video conversation with Mary Karr and James Martin, S.J. Full digital highlights on page 19 and at americamagazine.org/ webfeatures. 31 CURRENT COMMENT

2002 U.S. bishops’ pastoral letter in response to the issue The Great Powers in Syria of domestic violence sought to remind those being abused The entrance of the Russian Federation into Syria’s multi- that the church should be a help, not a hindrance to them: front civil war begins a new, distressing chapter in the savage “As a resource, it [the church] encourages women to resist conflict. As millions flee and others huddle in ruined cities, mistreatment. As a roadblock, its misinterpretation can anyone who has wondered if the Syrian war could possibly contribute to the victim’s self-blame and suffering and to the get any worse now has an answer. abuser’s rationalizations.” Despite tough talk on the Islamic State, Russian forces The N.C.C.W. hopes to ensure that the church is never have concentrated on anti-Assad rebel targets. In return a hindrance, and its resources can prompt important U.S. restraint on weapons transfers to the Free Syrian Army conversations that can bring difficult subjects into the open and allied militias has abruptly lifted. The conflict now and help people to heal. They also remind individuals that shows all the initial makings of a new proxy war between neither Scripture nor the church’s teaching on marriage the great powers. At least the Russian aim in Syria is clear: can be used to justify violence in intimate relationships. salvage the Assad regime and protect strategic assets. But The effects of domestic violence touch not only women, what exactly is the goal of the continuing U.S. intervention but families, children, workplaces and parish communities. in Syria? The Obama administration properly abandoned Though the violence may target individuals, the healing a $500 million program aimed at training a perhaps more- response must come from a caring community. wished-for-than-real “moderate” resistance to President Assad. Now going tit-for-tat with the Russians begins a new adventure that is hideously indifferent to the suffering Innocence Lost of the Syrian people and the possibility of an accidental (or Across Latin America, girls mark their 15th birthday with a otherwise) encounter between U.S. and Russian forces. quinceañera, a celebration of their transition to womanhood. The administration should be redirecting its energy In El Salvador teens often wear a pink dress on that day and resources into promoting a U.N.-mediated cease-fire as a sign of their innocence, a tradition that belies the negotiation between the diminished Assad regime and harsh realities young people face in one of the world’s most whatever real moderates the Obama administration can violent countries. A new series from NPR, called “#15girls,” drag into dialogue. Even a brief respite from the mayhem tells their stories. Marcela was shot dead in the street in might give all parties a chance to remember what they have front of her younger sister. Mimi started helping victims lost in this war and to consider if other means might achieve of gangs as a volunteer ambulance worker at age 10. And something close to their goals. Syria will never be the nation one girl, unnamed for her protection, traveled 1,000 miles it was, but anything is better than perpetuating another north after her father, a gang member in prison for murder, moment of the combat zone it has become. threatened to have her raped and killed. She was turned back a few hours short of the U.S. border. Offering Healing and Hope El Salvador recently surpassed Honduras as the October was Domestic Violence Awareness Month, and the homicide capital of the world. Over 5,000 people have National Council of Catholic Women wanted to make sure been killed this year in a country with a population smaller that the occasion did not pass unnoticed. The organization than that of New York City. The mayhem comes amid a issued a 52-page resource manual on preventing domestic crackdown by the government on two warring gangs—MS- violence, with the hope that it will inform people about the 13 and Barrio 18—after a truce reached in 2012 broke prevalence and impact of domestic violence, as well as the down last year. According to the World Bank, the country church’s response, prayers and other resources. They also loses 10.8 percent of its gross domestic product each year to created a customizable safety flyer that can be posted in crime and violence. public locations. (Both are available at nccw.org.) President Salvador Sánchez Cerén has launched a five- According to the Centers for Disease Control and year, $2.1 billion plan to strengthen state institutions and Prevention’s National Intimate Partner and Sexual Violence help victims of crime. The United States should support Survey, “more than one in three women (35.6 percent) and these efforts to bring security and opportunity to El Salvador more than one in four men (28.5 percent) in the United with generous foreign aid. But we should also remember the States have experienced rape, physical violence, and/ names and stories behind the “unaccompanied minors” who or stalking by an intimate partner in their lifetime.” The come to our border seeking refuge.

4 America November 2, 2015 EDITORIAL Euthanasia in California

alifornia is now the fifth and largest state in the legislature was considering country to allow doctors to prescribe life-ending ways to address funding short- Cmedication to patients. With the signing of the End- falls for Medi-Cal, the state’s of-Life Option Act by Gov. Jerry Brown on Oct. 5, the so- health insurance program for called right to die movement scored a major victory. Several the poor. In that effort, they other states, including New York, are considering similar were unsuccessful. As the bills that will surely be boosted by the momentum initiated state’s Catholic bishops pointed out, California’s poorest in Sacramento. residents do not have access to palliative care, yet now they In attempting to allow individuals to “die with digni- have the right to end their lives. ty,” these laws end up devaluing life at all stages and elevate It is naïve to believe that people in California will not an idea of freedom that is fundamentally at odds with an feel pressure to end their lives as a result of the new law. To authentically human understanding of individual dignity in pretend otherwise is a failure of empathy. We are able to re- relation with God and community. But there are many oth- spond to the suffering of Brittany Maynard, a vibrant young er persuasive arguments against assisted suicide laws that woman who received a wave of social media support for her deserve a wide hearing. One need not be a Christian or a decision to end her life in the face of terminal cancer. Yet we believer to see the serious problems with laws that legalize a do not often think about what it will be like for an elderly “right to die.” woman who cannot pay her medical bills in a society that In a letter released on the day the California law was preaches the “right to die.” signed, Governor Brown explained his reasons for support- The law’s advocates argue that the scope of the legisla- ing it. “I do not know what I would do if I were dying in tion is limited. Physicians are allowed to prescribe life-end- prolonged and excruciating pain,” the governor wrote. “I am ing drugs only to individuals who are deemed mentally certain, however, that it would be a comfort to be able to competent and are expected to die within six months. Two consider the options afforded by this bill. And I wouldn’t doctors must sign off on the order. But medical prognoses deny that right to others.” are sometimes wrong. And the reasons most frequently cit- The governor’s argument was heartfelt and, from a ed for seeking life-ending medication have more to do with limited viewpoint, compelling. Many people who support loneliness and fear than disease. In Oregon, a state in which “right to die” legislation are motivated by a strong sense of assisted suicide has been legal since 1997, “loss of autonomy” compassion for those who suffer. Yet the scenario presented and “loss of dignity” are two of the most common reasons by Governot Brown presents only part of the picture. People given for wanting to end life. The fact that all we are willing who suffer near the end of their lives do not make these crit- to offer individuals in these circumstances is an opportunity ical decisions in a vacuum. Their suffering includes not only to die is an indictment of both our health care system and physical pain but sometimes also despair over the absence of the community in which it is embedded. people to depend on or resources they need. This law does In 2008 Barbara Wagner and Randy Stroup, both nothing to address that lack of support; indeed it suggests suffering from cancer, sought payment for their treatments that the right response is not to ask for help in bearing suf- from the Oregon State Medicaid system. Their requests fering but rather for assistance in removing the perceived were denied, but among other options listed, the state of- burden their lives have become. fered to pay for life-ending drugs. (The offer was later re- California’s new law was passed against the strong re- scinded when the letter was made public.) Their cases are a sistance of the disability rights community. These advocates reminder that introducing the “right to die” into our health have argued time and again that the introduction of assisted care system—especially in a large state like California, with suicide laws into a for-profit health care system is a danger- its complex bureaucracy—will have many unintended con- ous experiment. The plain fact is that it is less expensive to sequences. Passing such legislation does not make us more administer life-ending drugs than to pay for pain manage- “compassionate.” Instead, it reveals our failure to adopt the ment or extended hospice care. It should give us pause that perspective of those who are truly most in need of our com- California’s End-of-Life Option Act was passed while the passion.

November 2, 2015 America 5 REPLY ALL our country’s founders. Daniel Carroll today about deacons? Is changing min- was a member of the Continental istry landscape really about the pope’s Congress from 1780 to 1784, a dele- changes in pallium protocol? Next The Humble Truth gate to the Constitutional Convention was a pretty thin treatment of “mis- Re “Doctrinal Challenges,” by Peter in 1789, one of the signers of the sion work” by laypeople, and I never Folan, S.J. (10/12): I find it interest- United States Constitution, a member did figure out the connection between ing that Jesus was able to launch all of Congress from 1789 to 1791 and ministry in America and the poetry of of Christianity in just a few years, an one of three commissioners appointed Catholicism piece. All this says noth- achievement beyond comparison in the to lay out the site of the capital city of ing about the huge lacunae for this Western world, without much if any Washington. He himself donated the topic—for example no mention of reference to sophisticated intellectual land for the capitol building. women who do most of the “Ministry theology. His genius seemed to be his JOHN F. FINK in America”! How disappointing. ability to share profound truths about Indianapolis, Ind. MARY GARASCIA the human condition in a way that the Online Comment humblest among us could grasp. The Sacred Progression Perhaps there comes a point when Thanks to John Paris, S.J., for his article Expanding the Diaconate being intelligent, educated and sophis- “The Hour of Death” (10/5). Having Re “A Deacon’s Education,” by Jay ticated becomes a liability instead of done research on the spiritual dimen- Cormier (9/28): I was ordained to the an asset when considering the message sion of hospice care, and having served diaconate in 1983. We were extreme- of love that Jesus shared. Perhaps we in a parish both as a deacon and priest, ly fortunate in our formation to have make it complicated to sidestep the the blessings I have received minister- down-to-earth, practical instruction ruthless simplicity of love, to give our- ing to those in hospice care cannot be and a strong emphasis on service to selves many hurdles that must be over- counted. So often I take note that I am our parishes and outside world. I wish come before we can be who we already the only person at a bedside who is not there were five to seven deacons in every know we should be. “family,” and yet I am invited to share parish; some of us are getting old and Every day each of us faces a series that sacred, intimate time with some- infirm. The ministries we get involved of ordinary life situations, in which one on the threshold of passing from in all come from our liturgical presence we are called upon to choose between earth to heaven and with their loved directly serving our people. By becom- the tiny prison cell of “me” and love/ ones, who feel the pain of being left ing real ourselves, we make the vision God. When we love, we are with God. behind even before death gently takes and effects of our church real and pres- When we don’t love, we are on our their mother, father, sister, brother, ent to others. The next step will be a own. The vast majority of the time, we husband, wife or child. movement to ordain to the diaconate already know which we have chosen. My hope and prayer, for each per- women, who possess vast talents we PHIL TANNY son at the hour of our death, is that we do not yet understand or utilize. Their Online Comment embrace the sacred progression from ministry will save the church. life on earth to life in heaven promised MIKE EVANS The Cousins Carroll Online Comment by our baptism. Father Paris’s article is It’s highly unusual for Matt Malone, a wise reminder that the ethical ques- Learning From Cuba S.J. to make a mistake in history, but tions of proportionate care, within our Thank you for your recent cover story he did so when he wrote in “Of Many Catholic tradition, help each person by Miguel Díaz concerning the need Things” (10/12) that Charles Carroll to consider our human dignity as we for U.S.-Cuban reconciliation in re- was the brother of Archbishop John develop an informed conscience to ap- sponse to the example of Pope Francis Carroll. They actually were cousins. ply science and medical treatment with (“A Tale of Two Countries,” 9/21). I John was born to Daniel and Eleanor gentleness and pastoral concern for the heartily agree with the importance of Carroll at Upper Marlboro, Md., and person and their family. Charles was born to Charles Carroll (REV.) JIM GROGAN direct interchange between common of Annapolis and Elizabeth Brooke, Online Comment people of the United States and Cuba. who were not married at the time of To that end we should encourage both his birth. John and Charles were edu- Ministry Issues the administration and especially cated together, though, at St. Omer in There surely was a lack of connec- Congress to repeal travel restrictions France. tion for me between the cover banner that have been in effect for some 50 Archbishop Carroll did, however, “Ministry in America” and the four ar- years. have a brother, who was also one of ticles in the Sept. 28 issue. Is ministry Having been to Cuba over a dozen

6 America November 2, 2015 times, on sister church, sister city, pro- STATUS UPDATE fessional research and other types of all relatives who want answers after the trips, I do not share the view of Cuba On America’s blog In All Things, Jim fact about how it happened and why. A today as being divided into two societ- McDermott, S.J., responded to the deci- lesson on how to make a truly bad law ies, with much of the population mar- sion by Gov. Jerry Brown of California even worse. JERRY BOWERS ginalized based on sexual orientation, to sign assisted suicide legislation into race or religion. Cuba has many faults law (“Compassion and Choices,” 10/6). Readers weigh in. My aunt had ALS. She couldn’t move and weaknesses, some of which are ag- for years. It was awful. She used gravated by our continuing policy of He did what is compassionate. There Washington’s right-to-die law to end economic blockade, but there is a sense are so many safeguards in place to en- her nightmare with her family by her of shared community there, based on sure there is no “slippery slope.” People side. Hard to say it wasn’t the compas- both nationalism and international- who access this law do so because they sionate thing to do. I understand the ism, and above all based on sharing are dying. What is more compassion- worries over misuse but I’ve only seen and generosity towards your neighbor. ate: slipping away peacefully or being assisted suicide used with compassion. The people of each land have much to tethered to machines that offer no mir- ERIC HOFFMAN learn from each other, but this is one acle cure? lesson that we can all take to heart. JANET DIMINICH Why should this surprise us? The next ART HEITZER stop on this slippery slope will be the Milwaukee, Wis. Many people across the country know termination of lives deemed useless— little about this law other than its title. the elderly, the severely handicapped. A Rich Church This law also requires all records of the We aborted the peers of a whole gen- I appreciated very much the article termination proceedings to be held eration, why should we expect them “They Know the Suffering Christ” in secret, even against legal discovery. to respect our lives? (9/21), by Stephen P. White. He artic- The records will be sealed to any and ANNETTE LAMARCHE ALLEVA ulates well what a church dedicated to the poor should be. He repeats what we all know about the need to care for Taking Exemptions Poverty has never been eliminated the poor around us. And he acknowl- In “Of Many Things” (9/14), Matt in this country. The idea that there is edges that the church has a pretty good Malone, S.J., writes of the decline of nothing left for the charitable impulse record of charity but not so much of civil society in the United States, quot- to expend itself on seems spiritually justice. And he goes on to encourage ing William T. Cavanaugh, who said, bankrupt. us to explore how we can learn from “The rise of the state is the history of While it may be handy for church- the poor. the atrophying of such [intermedi- es to complain that the government is But he failed to mention that Pope ate] associations.” The premise that an undercutting them, the complaint is Francis, by his example and by state- over-reaching state inevitably shrinks bogus, much like the assertion that a ments, especially to some bishops, charitable activity by third-party actors loss of government subsidy impinges on has deplored the way the (like churches) poses a false dilemma. “religious freedom.” It seems somewhat church itself lives rich. duplicitous to pretend that Our churches are gorgeous we are restrained from do- and often richly endowed, ing the good we want, when and the higher one rises in in fact we are perfectly free church ministry the more to do so and pay for it our- one is likely to live in some- selves. Jesus never asked thing like a palace and to be that we fight for govern- served by others, the way ment tax exemptions or fa- the wealthy of this world vored status. We are called do and are. Jesus said that to pick up our crosses and his followers are to be ser- follow him. Is it a denial of vants of others. Until this is religious freedom that we taken seriously, the church are asked to put our money will not be a poor church. where our mouths are? LUCY FUCHS DEIRDRE PIERSON

Brandon, Fla. Online Comment BOB ECKSTEIN CARTOON:

November 2, 2015 America 7

SIGNS OF THE TIMES

SYNOD ON THE FAMILY consultations in churches worldwide before the 2014 and 2015 synods be- Francis Calls for Decentralization cause it was not possible to speak about And ‘Conversion’ of the Papacy the family without talking to families. “A synodal church is a listening church, [one that is] aware that listen- SYNODAL BLESSING. Pope Francis begins an event marking the 50th anniversary of the Synod of Bishops in Paul VI Hall at the Vatican on Oct. 17. ing is more than hearing. It’s a mutual The pope outlined his vision for a “listening church.” listening in which each one has something to learn,” he said. The pope’s talk was offered on the 50th anniversary of the establish- ment of the synod of bishops even as controversy persisted about the process followed at this particular synod. In an interview with America on Oct. 18, Cardinal Donald Wuerl of Washington flatly denied allegations by some of his fellow cardinals and bishops that the fathers attending the synod were “somehow” being manipulated by the pope and the synod structure that Francis approved. “I wonder if some of these people who are speaking, sometimes surrep- n a keynote talk before the Synod “The way of synodality is the way titiously, sometimes half-way imply- of Bishops on the family, Pope that God wants for the church of the ing, then backing off and then twisting I Francis reminded the 270 synod third millennium,” Francis declared. around, I wonder if it is really that they fathers that “the synod journey cul- He explained that what Jesus is asking find they just don’t like this pope,” he minates in listening to the Bishop of of the church today “is all contained in said. He suggested these charges may Rome, [who is] called to speak author- the word ‘synod,’” which means “walk- have already “tainted” the synod process itatively as ‘Pastor and Teacher of all ing together—laity, pastors, the Bishop in the public eye and so cast a cloud Christians.’” In other words, as many of Rome.” This is an easy concept, but over its outcome. debated what form a final statement it’s one that’s difficult to put into prac- “I thought the pope’s speech…fo- from the synod might take, he remind- tice, he admitted. cused exactly on where we need to be,” ed them that the buck stops with him. He recalled that the Second Vatican Cardinal Wuerl said. “The church ‘with In his address to the synod on Oct. Council had reaffirmed that “the and under Peter’ moves forward. There 17, Pope Francis emphasized the need People of God is constituted by all are always people who are unhappy to give new life to structures of syno- the baptized” and that “the entire peo- with something that is going on in the dality in the local churches worldwide. ple cannot err in believing.” Then, in church, but the touchstone of authentic He confirmed his intention to promote a statement that has far-reaching im- Catholicism is adherence to the teach- greater “decentralization” in the church plications, Francis declared that “the ing of the pope.” and to bring about “a conversion of the sense of faith impedes the rigid sepa- Cardinal Wuerl has a long experience papacy.” Pope Francis began by recall- ration between the Teaching Church of synods, having attended seven as a ing that ever since he became Bishop and the Learning Church because the bishop and having served as general rap- of Rome, “I wanted to give value to the flock possesses its own ‘sense’ to discern porteur at one. He insisted that he hasn’t synod, which constitutes one of the the new roads that the Lord reveals to seen even the slightest hint of manipu- most precious inheritances of the last the church.” He revealed that it was lation at this synod. On the contrary, he council gathering.” this conviction that led him to hold the says, the bishops have greater freedom

November 2, 2015 America 9 SIGNS OF THE TIMES than ever before to speak their minds. TENSIONS MOUNT. Palestinian “Now there are some bishops whose protesters clash with Israeli position is that we shouldn’t be discuss- soldiers in Bethlehem, West ing any of this anyway,” he said. “They Bank, on Oct. 6. were the ones at the last synod that were giving interviews and denouncing and claiming there were intrigues and manipulation. That, I think, falls on them. I don’t see it with a foundation in reality.” The cardinal said, “Pope Francis is calling for a church that, to my mind, is much more in contact with the Gospel, with the living out of the Gospel. Not just the articulation of the Gospel…but the late-September visit of Israeli Jordanian king, controls the area, while the personal living of it, and that seems Agricultural Minister Uri Ariel to Israeli security forces have control over to be what is the most attractive part of one of the smallest contested spots on the entrances to the compound. Neither this pope, why so many people find him earth—a 36-acre compound known Christian nor Jewish prayer is allowed inviting, why so many people follow him, by Muslims as the Haram al-Sharif on the site, though members of both why so many people are coming back to and by Jews as the Temple Mount. The faiths are permitted to visit during visit- the practice of the faith. And for reasons Israeli minister’s visit stirred controver- ing hours reserved for non-Muslims. known only to them, there are some who sy after he used the opportunity to say The new wave of violence is taking find this somewhat threatening.” a blessing for the Jewish new year. place in the wake of rumors that Israel GERARD O’CONNELL Today the Al-Aqsa mosque and plans to change the established status the Dome of the Rock stand on the quo and take over the compound—a HOLY LAND spot, which is the third-holiest site for charge the Israeli government denies. Muslims, who believe their prophet The tensions have been fueled by con- Violence Muhammad ascended to heaven on a tinuing visits of ultra-religious Jews white stallion from this spot. However, who attempt to pray at the site. Continues Over this site is also revered as the holi- Holy Cross Father Russ McDougall, Sacred Sites est site in Judaism, as the place where rector of Tantur Ecumenical Institute, the two Jewish biblical temples stood. noted that, unlike Christian theology, t has been painful to watch as vi- Here Jews believe Abraham was called both Judaism and Islam share the con- olence has taken over Jerusalem upon by God to sacrifice his son Isaac; cept of having sovereignty over a holy I once again, especially along the Muslims believe it was his son with place. Still, he added, though the spark Via Dolorosa, where Jesus suffered Hagar, Ishmael, whom Ibrahim—as that ignited this round of violence in order to dissuade the use of vio- Abraham is known by Muslims—was was the conflict over the holy site, it is lence, said Auxiliary Bishop William asked to sacrifice. Christians also be- also the result of pent-up Palestinian Shomali, Latin Patriarchate chancellor. lieve the site to be holy as the place frustration at both Israeli policies and This violence goes against Jerusalem’s where Mary and Joseph took the infant Palestinian corruption. vocation as a holy city, which should Jesus for the traditional Jewish ceremo- “In a perfect world it would be won- be open to all people of faith, he said. nial redemption of the firstborn and derful if Jews, Christians and Muslims “We are shocked at what is happening,” where Jesus returned numerous times were to pray alongside one another,” Bishop Shomali said in mid-October, to teach and preach. said Father McDougall, quoting the after two weeks of unrest. “Violence A tenuous status quo agreement has book of Isaiah, in which God says his does not help. We do not accept vio- been in place since 1967, when Israel house will become a house of prayer for lence by any side.” gained control of the site from Jordan. all people. “Unfortunately, we are not The fighting began following The Islamic Waqf Authority, under the quite ready for that. It is a very fraught

10 America November 2, 2015 SIGNS OF THE TIMES

issue, while the vision is beautiful.” times even of their own family members. act in response to the resulting death, “The Temple Mount has come to Entire populations of religious minority injuries and displacement.” symbolize a national focal point in groups have been targeted for killing. As if to confirm the State which the fate of the whole Jewish sov- Terrified young girls have been separat- Department’s grim assessment, a ereignty of the Land of Israel is to be ed out by religion and sold into slavery. disheartening report on the state of decided,” said Tomer Persico, a research “The repugnance of these acts,” he Christians worldwide was released fellow at the Shalom Hartman Institute. said, “is only multiplied when the per- the same week in London by Catholic A parallel process has occurred for petrators seek to justify themselves by relief and development agency Aid to Muslims over the past 20 years, he said, pointing a finger at God and claiming the Church in Need. A.C.N. warned and the compound has become first and somehow that God licensed these acts. that as persecution and conflict contin- foremost a symbol of nationalism, with We are, and we will continue, to oppose ue to threaten and dislocate Christian the Al-Aqsa mosque coming to define these groups with far more than words communities, the Christian presence Palestinian identity as Arabs. of condemnation that are contained in throughout the Middle East may be this report.” brought to an unwilling end within RELIGIOUS FREEDOM The report singled out non-state 10 years—even sooner in particularly actors like Boko Haram and Daesh troubled states such as Iraq. The anal- Reports Track for the specific incidents of brutality ysis, “Persecuted and Forgotten? A re- they have become notorious for, but port on Christians oppressed for their Plight of World’s the ineffective response of state offices Faith 2013-2015,” assessed the deepen- Christians to respond effectively to such groups ing plight of Christians in 22 countries. was also deplored. According to the re- A.C.N. reports that the contrac- he escalation of violence in port, “In the Middle East, Sub-Saharan tion and displacement of Christian the name of religion perpe- Africa, and throughout Asia, a range populations has been driven by the T trated by non-state actors of non-state actors including terror- well-founded fear of genocide after a is one of the major trends explored in ist organizations, have set their sights number of well-publicized and bru- the State Department’s International on destroying religious diversity. … In tal attacks conducted by Islamic State Religious Freedom Report for 2014. these regions, religious intolerance and militants and other extremists groups During a press briefing after the hostility, often combined with political, like Africa’s notorious Boko Haram. report’s release on Oct. 14, Secretary economic and ethnic grievances, fre- “Persecution has emerged as a key fac- of State John Kerry said these non- quently led to violence. Governments tor in a global upsurge of forcibly dis- state actors “are now the princi- stood by, either unwilling or unable to placed people,” the report notes. pal persecutors and preventers of religious tolerance and practice.” “Most prominent, and most harmful, ob- viously, has been the rise of international terrorist groups such as Daesh, al-Qaida, al-Shabaab, Boko Haram,” said Kerry. “And all have been guilty of vicious acts of unprovoked violence.” Kerry used daesh, a term with derogatory under- tones, to refer to Islamic State militants (otherwise known as ISIS or ISIL). “Under their control,” Kerry said, “captives have been given a choice between conversion or slavery or death. REFUGE. A Christian mother and child on Oct. 15 at a camp for displaced Children have been among the victims, people at a Catholic school in Manduamas, Indonesia. More than 4,000 Aceh and also among those forced to witness residents fled to North Sumatra following attacks by Islamic groups and the burning of two churches. or participate in executions—some-

November 2, 2015 America 11 SIGNS OF THE TIMES

According to the report, the vast ex- odus of Christians from Syria, Iraq and NEWS BRIEFS elsewhere in the Middle East “highlights the very real possibility that Christianity Pope Francis joined Archbishop could soon all but disappear from much Konrad Krajewski, the papal almo- of its ancient homeland.” A.C.N. re- ner and Adolfo Nicolas, S.J., supe- searchers found that Christians in Iraq rior general of the Society of Jesus, now number as few as 275,000. They in a visit to a new homeless shelter add, “Many, if not most, of those who for men in Rome on Oct. 15. • In 2014, a recent high of 1,400 cas- remain want to leave Iraq.” Vatican’s new shelter Iraq’s Christian diminishment is be- es of blasphemy were registered in ing replicated, according to the report, Pakistan, while its courts sentenced in Syria, parts of Nigeria and elsewhere three people to death and six to life imprisonment for blasphemy. • Until an in Africa. investigation into how the state twice received the wrong drugs for the lethal A.C.N. warns, “If the situation does cocktail used in Oklahoma’s executions is complete, Attorney General Scott not improve, Christianity is on course Pruitt announced on Oct. 16 that his officewould not request execution for extinction in many of its biblical dates for prisoners on death row. • The Constitution’s right to bear arms has heartlands within a generation, if not been “perverted” by a gun industry seeking profits at any cost, Archbishop before.” Blase Cupich of Chicago wrote in an op-ed published on Oct 9, arguing The State Department’s religious that the nation’s founding fathers could not have anticipated the widespread freedom report also raised concerns over availability of “military-grade assault weapons that have turned our streets a surge of anti-Semitisim in Europe last into battlefields.” • With 30,000 people gathered in St. Peter’s Square on year and noted “continued deficiencies Oct. 14, Pope Francis interrupted his catechesis to ask “in the name of the in the respect for and protection of the church…your forgiveness for the scandals which have occurred recently right to religious freedom” in Burma. both in Rome and at the Vatican.” A backlash against Christians in China and the continued abuses of blasphemy and apostasy laws in countries the volunteers gathered on shore to help said the decision was made “to com- like Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Egypt and them land. Some 169 people reported- pletely debunk” a series of 11 videos re- Sudan were also critically reviewed in ly drowned crossing the Aegean Sea in leased in recent weeks by the Center for the report. September; 44 of them were children. Medical Progress showing physicians In one week in early October, 7,000 and others associated with Planned Refugees in Winter people a day came ashore in Greece, Parenthood describing the harvesting said the International Organization for of fetal tissue and body parts during Greece is bracing for thousands more Migration. After Syrians, Afghans are abortions at their clinics. The resulting Syrians and other people to land on the chief nationality among the nearly controversy has prompted investigations Lesbos and other key island crossings half-million people who have landed by state and federal officials. Planned from Turkey, as those fleeing conflict on Greek shores from Turkey this year, Parenthood receives more than $500 remain undeterred by the worsening marking a tenfold increase from 2014. million of its $1.3 billion annual budget weather and colder autumn tempera- from federal and state programs. “While tures. “The waves were rolling fiercely Planned Parenthood Richards extols the wonderfulness of with the salt water nearly choking us,” Ends Fetal Tissue Sales the nation’s largest abortion provider, it said Syrian Um Tariq. “We thought we begs the question raised in House com- were going to die.” The trip, meant to be The president of the Planned mittee hearings: Why shouldn’t federal a half-hour long, took three hours in a Parenthood Federation of America said family planning money go to federally tightly packed dinghy. Women cried out on Oct. 13 that the organization’s clinics qualified health centers which don’t per- in panic and men shouted, desperate- will no longer accept reimbursement for form abortions?” said Dave Andrusko, ly holding onto their babies and young fetal tissue procured in abortions and editor of National Right to Life News. children, appealing for assistance from provided to researchers. Cecile Richards From CNS, RNS and other sources.

12 America November 2, 2015 SIGNS OF THE TIMES

DISPATCH | JOHANNESBURG Constitution was intended to prevent the subversion of law and the violation Courting Disaster? of human rights that had been part of the old regime. Many who wrote it had he decision of the ruling rule of law. been lawyers under apartheid who had African National Congress For these critics Bashir’s unmolested used an imperfect legal system to carve Tto withdraw South Africa departure from South Africa represents out spaces of freedom to challenge the from membership of the International yet another case where the ruling par- old state. The use of courts to challenge Criminal Court has drawn fierce criti- ty flouts the rule of law that it, as the imprisonment without trial or faulty cism from many within the country— governing party, is supposed to uphold. state declarations of martial law served from opposition parties in Parliament, The A.N.C. has done this on a number as temporary “holding actions against from civil society groups and from the of occasions. It has refused to comply unlimited state power.” But the state human rights community. This is a se- with instructions from the Office of would change laws to suit its interests. quel to a political standoff that occurred Public Protector regarding state fund- Seeing that the past problem was in June this year, when the government ing for improvements to President Jacob too much power in the hands of the ex- allowed Sudan’s president, Omar ecutive and legislature, the drafters Al-Bashir (wanted by the I.C.C. Two decades into a of the South African Constitution for human rights violations and made it the supreme authority, with crimes against humanity), to at- post-apartheid democ- laws and procedures subject to judi- tend an African Union meeting cial review and changeable only by in the country—and then slip out racy the law would parliamentary majorities. No one of the country even after a South simply be ignored. imagined that two decades into a African court ruled that he should post-apartheid democracy the law be arrested. would simply be ignored. The rationale for defenders of the Zuma’s private residence. More recent- At this time, the A.N.C.’s decision to Bashir action was summed up as a mix- ly the government did not instruct withdraw from the I.C.C. has no legal ture of pan-Africanist solidarity and the state-administered South African status. It is a resolution of a party con- skepticism about the I.C.C. itself. The Broadcasting Corporation to suspend ference, an expression of a policy that former is an assertion—filled with an- its director Hlaudi Motsoaneng, pend- the A.N.C. hopes to make law. One ti-colonial rhetoric—that the I.C.C. ing investigation into alleged corruption possibility is that the A.N.C. leadership seems to inordinately target African and deceit regarding his appointment. may be persuaded to back away from state leaders, almost never Western war (Mr. Motsoaneng is a party loyalist who the resolution for political reasons. Any criminals. The latter raises the perhaps enjoys the favor of Mr. Zuma.) withdrawal from the I.C.C. might, con- more subtle and arguable claim that On another level, critics observe that sidering the circumstances that gave since many powerful countries like the this latest incident is a mirror of how rise to it, look like South Africa endors- United States, Russia and China are the A.N.C. regards human rights and ing rogue regimes and dictators. not signatories to the I.C.C. agreement, the Constitution—that is, selective- If the policy is pursued, it it will have the court itself is of questionable global ly, according to what suits the party’s to go before a Parliament in which the effectiveness. needs. They see it as a disturbing ex- A.N.C. holds a majority. Even if it pass- Significantly, neither of these is- ample of how sectoral political interests es there, it could in theory be challenged sues seems to be considered by South are undermining the long-struggled-for in the Constitutional Court. One may African critics of the A.N.C.’s decision. culture of human rights and due pro- see in this an echo of the “holding ac- Their concerns are rooted in pressing cess that was the hallmark of the new tion” against state power that marked domestic issues, most notably how the democratic state inaugurated in 1994 human rights legal activism in the ruling party sees South Africa’s own and bolstered by a Constitution and bill apartheid era. of rights that was acclaimed as one of Whatever the case, critics of the the best in the world, a touchstone for A.N.C. are right to be worried about ANTHONY EGAN, S.J., a member of the Jesuit democracy. this latest move. Institute South Africa, is one of America’s Johannesburg, South Africa, correspondents. When it was created, South Africa’s ANTHONY EGAN

November 2, 2015 America 13 WASHINGTON FRONT Crossing Boundaries

hree years after Paul Ryan they say things about immigrants and Political but not partisan. Francis and Joseph R. Biden debat- Muslims that would disqualify ordi- told Congress, “Politics is...an expres- Ted as vice presidential can- nary candidates. sion of our compelling need to live as didates, Washington is anxiously In these extraordinary times, bish- one, in order to build as one the great- waiting for them to make anguishing ops and other Catholic leaders should est common good: that of a communi- choices about their futures—wheth- follow the example of Pope Francis in ty which sacrifices particular interests er Mr. Ryan will answer his fractured public life. Francis demonstrates how in order to share, in justice and peace, party’s pleas to serve as speaker and to share Catholic moral principles and its goods, its interests....” whether Mr. Biden has the emotion- priorities in ways that invite and per- Civil but not soft. Francis’ message al strength and single-mindedness to suade rather than alienate and push was strong but not strident, challeng- run for president. people away. Humility helps. Civility ing us on human life and care for cre- This political limbo comes after doesn’t hurt. It is better ation, on supporting Pope Francis’ address to Congress and to humanize issues than Civility family and ending the after John Boehner was brought to politicize them. Francis arms race. He told the tears by his own success in bringing a appealed to our best tradi- doesn’t hurt. U.S. bishops: “Harsh pope to visit Congress and broke out tions and values instead of and divisive language into song as he announced his resig- pointing to our failures and It is better does not befit the nation as speaker. The shocks contin- condemning our sins. He to humanize tongue of a pastor.... ued as Kevin McCarthy, the presumed reaches out to the sick and Although it may mo- speaker-to-be, withdrew as voting was vulnerable, not big contrib- issues than mentarily seem to win to begin, leading to the appeals to Mr. utors and ideological lead- politicize the day, only the endur- Ryan. ers. He seeks to reach the ing allure of goodness This disarray is not isolated. There unconverted, not just true them. and love remains truly are endless charges and excuses believers. convincing.” around Hillary Clinton’s emails. Some In “The Joy of the Engaged but not used. Republicans seek to paralyze govern- Gospel,” Pope Francis quotes the U.S. Francis stood with a smiling President ment and demonize immigrants. We bishops: “Responsible citizenship is Obama at the White House and with are fighting a war against ISIS with- a virtue, and participation in political a proud and tearful Speaker Boehner out Congressional authorization or life is a moral obligation.” Pope Francis at the Capitol, but he advanced the success. We repeat political rituals af- shows us several ways to practice church’s principles, not their agendas. ter multiple slayings in public places. the “faithful citizenship” the church President Obama said the pope asks We see a libertarian orthodoxy of the preaches. He is: “everybody all across the political spec- right and left, enforced by the Koch Principled but not ideological. Pope trum what more you can do to be kind, brothers or EMILY’s List, idolizing Francis does not like ideologues of left and to be helpful, and to love, and to the market or individual choice. or right, in the church or in public life. sacrifice, and to serve.... I think he is Ms. Clinton’s inevitability is un- He avoids culture-war rhetoric but speaking to all of our consciences.” dermined by questions about trust offers a principled call for a new cul- In the midst of partisan disarray, and the surprising strength of Bernie ture that protects human life and dig- ecclesiastical divisions and skepticism Sanders, who is not a Democrat but nity, family and creation. He warned about religion in politics, Pope Francis a socialist. Donald Trump and Ben Congress against “the simplistic reduc- offers a powerful example of the “cul- Carson lead the Republican race as tionism which sees only good or evil; ture of encounter” and the “path of the righteous and sinners.” We need to fearless dialogue” that strengthen the JOHN CARR is director of the Initiative on “confront every form of polarization.... church, enrich public life and advance Catholic Social Thought and Public Life at Our response must instead be one of the common good. Georgetown University in Washington, D.C. hope and healing, of peace and justice.” JOHN CARR

14 America November 2, 2015

Keep It Civil A pro-life approach to public discourse BY BRYAN VINCENT s a political notion, democracy seems to be firming qualities. Catholics also tend to place more empha- very popular; the work of democracy, perhaps sis on community than on individualism, which may isolate not so much. Full and morally responsible us from the American norm. Consequently, in the world of citizenship in modern American democracy actual policy debate, the pro-life moral compass does not demands a great deal. Active citizenship re- guide us clearly to one or the other side of the American Aquires us, for example, to be prepared to discuss social prob- conversation. lems with each other and participate in discerning whether So there is still much for us to discuss. But it is here in or not the solutions to these problems require government the discussion, in our civic discourse, that it seems that we action and, if so, what that action should be. so often fail to follow the guidance of the pro-life moral This is a tall order, as the policy questions we face today compass, adopting the tone and rhetoric of our American as citizens are numerous and complex. Maybe it is more of a political culture. Letting our Catholic values guide our civic burden than many can be expected to bear, so it should not discourse instead could have numerous benefits, not only for come as a surprise that engagement in community affairs is U.S. Catholics but for American democracy as a whole. in decline. Or perhaps it is not the work that turns so many people away from full, active and morally responsible citi- Looking for a Win-Win zenship. It could be the general unpleasantness of political Generally speaking, American politics is practiced as a ze- discourse in U.S. culture that is the deterrent. ro-sum game; there can be winners only if there are also For Catholics who wish to be engaged, citizenship can losers. As a result, discourse is typically motivated by the be a somewhat lighter burden. The pro-life teaching of the desire to defeat those who hold a contrary position. The goal church provides a moral compass that guides our analysis of of both candidate and issue campaigns is victory, which re- many of the difficult questions U.S. society faces. It would quires building majorities in order to win elections or votes be difficult to overstate the value of this gift. Even when in legislative bodies. The political rhetoric that results can Catholics disagree, we share in the great benefit of having be hysterical; insults can be brutal; anger can be palpable. a common Catholic vocabulary and shared goals to evaluate There seems to be very little concern with the damage being the issues we struggle with. done to civic life. Presumably, this is not the life-affirming But, as we have all experienced, this moral compass does discourse that pro-life Catholics would like to see, but most not point all Catholics to the same policy conclusions. One of us have come to accept this as normal. reason we end up in different places, even if we start from In our political culture, civic discourse, motivated by a the same beliefs, is that the ideological divisions over our na- desire to win, involves four closely related and mutually sup- tion’s social policy do not fall neatly into life-affirming and portive tactics aimed at building a majority. life-denying camps. Americans tend to embrace a belief in Simplify. Focusing on the complexity of an issue by pre- free and equal individuals but disagree on whether freedom senting careful analysis of the problem and the reasons why or equality is more important and therefore on what role the one particular solution is preferable to others is not a path government should play in the lives of individuals. to success in American politics; it demands too much of a A Catholic pro-life perspective values both freedom and potential supporter’s time and energy. On the other hand, equality to the degree that each recognizes and nurtures life, reducing the presentation of the same issue to powerful, but when freedom allows one person or group to enslave symbolic buzzwords and pithy phrases lowers the amount or oppress others, or when equality justifies denial of the of time and energy that must be invested by a potential sup- development and expression of the individual’s God-given porter of an issue or candidate. This approach is much more special talents and gifts, these values have lost their life-af- effective in attracting followers. Bifurcate. Presenting a social policy issue as if there were BRYAN VINCENT lives in Baton Rouge, La., where he is a member of St. Joseph Cathedral Parish and is in formation as an associate of the only two possible predetermined sides also facilitates “fol- Congregation of St. Joseph. lowship.” This tactic seems to grow out of the fact that de-

16 America November 2, 2015 CITIZENS UNITED. The audience at the Reagan Presidential Library applauds during the second official Republican debate of the 2016 U.S. presidential campaign in Simi Valley, Calif., on Sept. 16.

mocracy ultimately requires us to vote, and voting usually the opposition generally, “extreme liberals” or “radical conser- means choosing between two available options. When a vast vatives,” or on a proxy for the others, a president or Supreme array of theoretically possible policy options on a difficult Court justice, for example. Following this technique, even issue is neatly trimmed to two diametrically opposed sides the most mind-numbingly intricate policy question—how before we even start discussing the issue, we tend not to ask to provide health care for the poor, for example—can be re- more questions but simply pick a side. duced to the most primitive of narrative forms: good versus Exaggerate. Hyperbole is another effective tactic to re- evil. cruit followers and build a winning majority. Efforts to re- cruit supporters are generally aimed at persons who do not Zero-Sum Losses yet have an opinion on the party, candidate or issue rather From these elemental pieces, American civic discourse as- than at those who hold a contrary position. It is therefore sumes its character. Our discourse involves plenty of so- useful to present the party, candidate or issue in a way that called “debate” in which no one is listening. The parties and creates an impression that not having an opinion is not an interest groups attempt to cajole citizens to join their side option—that too much is at stake for a citizen to ignore the rather than provide arguments about why they should do so. question. The common approach to achieving this goal is es- Instead of policy discussion, we see competing public rela- calating the rhetoric and overstating the threat of inaction or tions campaigns focused on branding and counterbranding, of supporting the wrong side. The American way of life, we advertising campaigns playing off raw emotion and catchy are constantly told, is teetering on the edge of collapse. slogans. Vilify. Political operatives often seek to portray the dia- But what is lost on this path to defeating the opposition? bolical character of the opponent or opposing view. This is Real understanding of the issues is sacrificed by simplifica- often achieved through direct and personal attack, either on tion. In truth, few contemporary policy questions are simple. PHOTO: REUTERS/LUCY NICHOLSON

November 2, 2015 America 17 We abdicate the responsibilities of citizenship when we ac- sense of what full, active and morally responsible citizenship cept the reductionist rhetoric of the marketing professionals. looks like. Meaningful involvement with our democratic form of gov- This mode of discourse is antithetical to pro-life prin- ernment requires, at the very least, an effort to understand ciples. By cultivating hatred and hopelessness, it diminish- the sources of a problem and the implications of various es the role of human citizens and discourages them from proposed responses to it. As meaning- accepting their obligations to their ful involvement declines, we become communities. It is important, there- ever more dependent on the framers The pro-life teaching fore, that American Catholics look for of the “debate,” those who deliver it all life-affirming ways to discuss issues to us in bite-sized morsels. of the church pro- with each other and with non-Catho- Bifurcation closes the door on pol- lic citizens. icy options at the beginning of the vides a moral com- debate so that numerous possibilities pass that guides our A Pro-life Discourse are never considered. If we presume Though there is not a single path to that there can be only two positions analysis of many of adopting the practice of a pro-life dis- on an issue, only two answers to any course or a simple list of basic tactics question, a great deal of creativity is the difficult questions to facilitate it, I believe some of its precluded. Also lost is the possibility themes will be: of seeking win-win solutions; by defi- U.S. society faces. Moral clarity does not make an issue nition such outcomes are impossible simple. Though the Catholic pro-life when our civic discourse is founded on the principle there positions on the legality of abortion and the use of the death must be only winners and losers. penalty are quite clear, these issues are not easy as social pol- Hyperbole undermines a sense of context and our abil- icy questions. Only by turning a cold heart to a great deal ity to discuss priorities. When every issue is a pressing cri- of suffering and a blind eye to some rather thorny consti- sis requiring immediate action, we lose the awareness that tutional issues is it possible to see these issues as “simple.” governance is primarily concerned with allocating limited Awareness of human, legal and other complicating factors resources. Actual governing requires seeing needs in the would have a dramatic impact on the tone of our civic dis- context of other needs and establishing priorities. The con- course. sequences of an inability to prioritize are an incapacitated Because no issue is simple, investment of time and ener- government and a growing sense of panic about what gov- gy is necessary. Gathering information, listening to and un- ernment is failing to do. Citizens feel simply lost and angry derstanding other perspectives, reflection and creativity are and have the impression that governance is beyond their all essential to healthy civic discourse. If we wish to nurture comprehension. This undermines even a basic desire for respectful civic discourse, we cannot simply accept someone engaged citizenship. else’s hyperbolic rhetoric or succumb to other advertising Vilification destroys community. There is no broader “us” gimmicks. We also must recognize that a preoccupation that we are concerned about if we view our communities with private concerns that pre-empts consideration of pub- as being populated by two types of people, the good guys lic concerns undermines the best of pro-life intentions. and the bad guys. Furthermore, the space for compromise is We should not reject the humanity of any person in favor of closed off when any compromise is viewed as a deal with the an ideology or a short-term political end. Pope Francis calls us devil. Where would our nation be if our founders had held to authentic human interactions rather than ideology in his this view? There never would have been a nation. apostolic exhortation “The Joy of the Gospel” (see especially In summary, the zero-sum, competing-public-rela- Nos. 199, 213 and 243). tions-campaigns approach to civic discourse does not serve Most real-world policies require us to choose between two democracy well. It diminishes citizen participation in mean- goods rather than between good and evil. Fundamentally ingful civic discourse. Citizens are expected to pick a side sound values and reasoning are at the core of most policy and repeat what they are told. The beneficiaries of this sys- positions finding voice in the American polis today: lower tem are the institutional entities that run the campaigns. taxes are certainly a good thing, but so are better govern- Simplification, vilification, etc., are a perfect recipe for the ment services; smaller government has much to recommend fundraising and self-perpetuation of these institutions. it, but so does a government that meets its obligation to pro- Human citizens, on the other hand, are left with an impres- tect public health and safety. Freedom and equality are both sion of violence and chaos, of dysfunction and disarray and valuable social objectives. The host of policy positions that of the rapid decline of society. What is ultimately lost is any grow out of these principles can never be simply dismissed

18 America November 2, 2015 by one group as manifestations of the corruption of the oth- ment with our fellow citizens can we achieve the incremen- er group. This is not to say that any and all policy positions tal changes that move governmental policy and social values are valid or valuable, but in a conversation with a fellow cit- in a pro-life direction. And only through such active engage- izen with whom we disagree, righteous dismissal of his or ment do we establish a foundation on which to work for fur- her policy position should be a last resort rather than a first ther change in the future. In a pluralistic, democratic society, move. a compromise on policy does not require, or even indicate, a A change in governmental policy is usually only one aspect of compromise of values. the process of achieving pro-life social change. Changing hearts Ultimately, we will discover that pro-life and zero-sum and minds is also critical to most of the social issues that we discourse do not work well together. To bring about the so- as Catholics care about. Defending and advancing civil rights cial changes we would like to see in a life-affirming manner for African-Americans is an example of a policy that would will mean educating or being educated by others rather than be generally supported by pro-life American Catholics. But defeating others. We must be aware, however, that zero-sum legislation like the Civil Rights Act of 1964 does not in and culture is a powerful force in our nation, and American of itself establish those rights. Catholics are not immune to its influence. As history shows us, that act was the result of substantial Adopting a pro-life approach to our conversations with social change that made passage of the legislation possible, fellow citizens could have many benefits. It could make and we continue to strive to achieve the ultimate goal of full American democracy stronger by increasing the role of hu- citizenship. The passage or repeal of one law or a decision man citizens over that of institutional citizens. It could be in a single Supreme Court case does not suddenly resolve practically beneficial in achieving the social objectives of the problem at hand. Pro-life civic discourse must focus on pro-life Catholics by establishing stronger social bonds. building the social bonds that make broader societal change Theoretically, one would expect it to be difficult to argue possible even when a change of law is a desirable piece of the for a pro-life issue position while exhibiting a life-denying broader change. attitude about a neighbor and using life-denying rhetoric. A Policy compromise is a pro-life concept. In fact, compromise pro-life approach to discourse would also bring our practice should come naturally to those who recognize the human more in line with our professed beliefs. Practicing pro-life dignity of their fellow citizens. Only through active engage- civic discourse could be a win-win for everyone. A

FROM OUR BLOGS Thirteen Cardinals, Including Di Nardo and Dolan, Challenged Pope’s Decisions on Synod Gerard O’Connell

SYNOD ON THE FAMILY A House Divided, Joseph McAuley Vatican correspondent Gerard O’Connell reports California to Automatically daily on our Dispatches blog. Register Voters, Jim McDermott, S.J.

WHAT YOU’RE READING RADIO Church-Shopping, Kaya Oakes John Sexton, president of New York University, Group Discernment versus Group- talks about his Jesuit schooling and his career in think, James Martin, S.J. higher education. Pope to Synod Fathers: Don’t Give in to the Conspiracy Theory

VIDEO The First Canon: Mercy Rev. Kevin E. McKenna Mary Karr and James Martin, S.J., talk about their new books, The Art of Memoir and The Abbey. Pope: This Synod on the Family Must Be Seen as a Continuation of 2014 Synod

“The concept of looking for a different Catholic Mass, should be at its core, a contradiction in terms.” “Church-Shopping,” Charles Monsen

November 2, 2015 America 19 Strategic Opportunities Six chances to strengthen the church BY DENNIS H. HOLTSCHNEIDER

his November, the U.S. Conference of Catholic mon complaint of Catholics who stopped attending church. Bishops will set forth a new strategic plan. The And yet the solution is a relatively easy fix. The bishops notion of a unified national bishops’ confer- should require eight semesters of preaching training—one ence addressing major issues is complicated, of each semester in the four-year seminary curriculum. That Tcourse, because bishops remain independent actors in their is what was required in my seminary. We were required to own dioceses. Still, all organizations can be strengthened speak without notes from the first day and to view video re- if they set clear goals and aggressively implement them. If cordings of ourselves with faculty feedback after every at- the conference were to adopt some collective, achievable tempt. Eight semesters of feedback will raise the quality of and useful strategic goals, what might those include? It is a preaching. thought experiment, to be sure, but here is a first attempt. But then there is the matter of vacuous preaching. One does not always expect hard-earned wisdom from the newly Develop 21st-century religious education tools. Ask any ordained, but over time it is fair to expect real spiritual wis- Catholic college president: our Catholic students arrive un- dom from one’s priest: insightful, soul-searing knowledge able to list the seven sacraments. The students are reason- that recognizes the struggles within, gives language to them ably confident that their Catholicism requires them to live and shows one the growth opportunity that may be available a good life, perform public service, be charitable when asked in a faith context. One could hope that develops with expe- and attend Sunday Mass with at least some regularity. They rience, but that is not always the case. Years ago, feedback like the pope. But basic doctrine? Church organization? Our came mostly from the older pastor with whom young priests history? Nope. Methods of prayer? Catholic social teaching? lived and worked. Young priests do not live with older pas- Varieties of religious expression, from monasticism to char- tors for very long anymore, though, and the feedback loop ismatic? No again. needs a new model. The conference could help provide some The truth is, our present methods of providing religious basic structure for ongoing feedback on preaching. education fall short, and everyone knows it. We could, if we decided, develop powerful educational tools to enrich stu- Strengthen ministry. While the bishops’ conference debates dents’ knowledge and learning about their faith. Parishes the future of ministry and how to provide sufficient numbers could use those tools. Parents could homeschool with those of ordained clergy, it would do well to improve the working tools. Catholics—from pre-school-age children to adults— conditions of the ministers already active. would seek them out because they could be engaging and This generation of diocesan priests loves their work, but conveniently available in formats they desire and use. they are feeling stretched. Salaries are low; retirements are Catholic publishers have made starts on this front, but challenging. Parish priests increasingly live alone and travel every other sector of education seems to have more ad- to multiple communities. They are worried that they have vanced online tools. If seed-funded by Catholic foundations no recourse if an unfounded accusation is made in their di- and coordinated with Catholic publishers, the church in the rection. Non-native clergy and permanent deacons have ad- United States could create something truly educational, so- mirably stepped forward to fill the church’s ministry needs. phisticated and even self-funding. If the bishops’ conference More than a few within those groups could benefit from pulled everyone to the table, it could be a game changer. well-designed programs to support them once they have been placed into ministry. Improve preaching. A study of former Catholic parishioners Lay pastoral ministry needs equal attention. Health care in Trenton, N.J., published in America (“Why They Left,” chaplains are generally paid a living wage, but campus min- 4/30/12), identified poor preaching as the single most com- isters and high school chaplains less reliably so, and parish lay ministers, less still. All would benefit from some sort of DENNIS H. HOLTSCHNEIDER, C.M., president of DePaul University and educational loan program, which could be underwritten in chair of Ascension Health, lectures on strategy at the Harvard Graduate School of Education’s Management Development Program. connection with their work as chaplains in the years following their training. All would benefit from heightened status

20 America November 2, 2015 and attention, since they are now responsible for a great deal of the basic spiritual accompaniment the church provides.

Make Catholics proud. U.S. Catholics are proud of Pope Francis, but how about their U.S. church? Do they know that one out of six Americans get their health care from a Catholic institution, or that more than one out of five Americans living in poverty are served by Catholic Charities? Do they know Catholic schools are the largest provider of private K-to-12 education in the country, with almost two million students, and the largest provider of private higher education, enrolling nearly one million students? Or that the national Catholic school graduation rate is 99.4 percent of high school students? And that of these graduates, 84.9 percent go on to college, compared with 39.5 percent of public school graduates? Do they know that the Catholic Church is the largest re- percent compliance should be considered a scandal, not an settler of refugees in the country? That U.S.-based Catholic accomplishment. Relief Services serves nearly 100 million people in need in 93 countries? That the Society of St. Vincent de Paul serves over Adopt good business practices. The financial reserves parish- 14 million people in need in the United States each year? es once assembled for a rainy day have been whittled away The Catholic Church is the most important nongovern- in recent years, as parishes spend more than they generate to mental source of social good in the nation, and almost no make up for thinning collections. Dioceses are finding them- one knows it. Honestly, the bishops’ conference need not do selves supporting ever more parishes but unable to continue a thing but begin a more effective public relations campaign. this support because their own finances are stretched. Some It is time to show ourselves to ourselves—and to the na- dioceses are stopping the pretense of calling financial help tion—and build some pride. for parishes “loans,” since few expect the parishes ever to pay Attention must be paid, of course, to those matters that them back. Worse, the occasional media stories of parish embarrass churchgoers. At the moment, that includes a collections being misspent and unaccounted for are said to perceived lingering resistance when it comes to protect- be more common in practice than is realized. ing children. We all understand that a bishops’ conference To respond, most dioceses send new pastors to training cannot compel a local bishop to rigorously implement the in business affairs, but these programs are uneven and often revised Charter for the Protection of Children and Young cursory. The National Leadership Roundtable for Church People, but a conference can chide, pressure, refuse to ap- Management has a set of standards that is a simple and point a bishop to any committees and withhold other ben- powerful way to make sure a parish’s financial and manage- efits of participation in the conference if one of their own ment practices are strong. The bishops’ conference could do refuses to comply. It is time for the conference to step up a great deal of long-term good—and avoid a great deal of and use whatever collective powers it has at its disposal to future scandal—simply by creating an agreement among compel nonconforming bishops to step in line on this. Like themselves to implement these standards in every parish in

ART: BOB ECKSTEIN ART: it or not, when it comes to child protection protocols, 98 the United States.

November 2, 2015 America 21 It is time, too, to create strong, centralized diocesan sys- continue, to devastating effect for the American church. tems of Catholic schooling (or perhaps even a national one), so that costs can be lowered through group purchasing, so Rebuild political capital. Pope Francis has done the bishops that best practices can be implemented broadly and quickly a favor when it comes to the media and the church’s political and so that the larger system can “carry” schools in the poor- influence. Just two years ago, the typical media story was a er areas. These small local operations simply cannot survive version of “the church at war with itself.” Balanced or not, on their own. fair or not, the press repeated it ad nauseam. With Francis’ election, the nation has found someone who Fund theological education. This might sound surprising, inspires them. The U.S. church, especially its leadership, has but in fact, it is getting harder to find young theologians as a rare opportunity to restore some of its political capital by well trained as those just a generation ago. When priests and echoing Francis’ message and rebalancing some of its polit- religious were studying theology at the doctoral level, their ical energies toward the issues the pope speaks about, like tuition was fully underwritten by their religious order or di- immigration reform and environmental stewardship. To be ocese. This permitted them effective, though, the tone the luxury of a broad core must change. Experts will curriculum of Scripture, If the bishops want it, they have a doubtlessly advise the use philosophical groundings, of warmth and humility, church history, sacramen- rare opportunity to restore some combined with the skilled tal theology and spiritual use of personal example, as practice. This gave context of their political capital by echoing demonstrated so effective- and meaning to everything ly by the pope. they studied and showed Francis’ message. how that doctrine shaped Restructure the U.S.C.C.B. and gave rise to people’s Unfortunately, the con- spiritual lives and practices. These fortunate students spe- ference’s committee system prevents the organization from cialized in a particular matter for their dissertations but only accomplishing ambitious collective goals. Committees set an after a full and broad introduction to theology in its entirety. agenda and staffers are expected to make progress on those That broad education mattered for many reasons, and not items between meetings. But committees meet only twice a only because those theologians were called on to teach broad year and have a life cycle of three years before they receive survey courses to university students. Theologians serve as new chairs and set fresh agendas. That makes a total of six experts for the entire enterprise. They are the content ex- meetings in all. perts for the history of our religious knowledge, bringing it The conference’s history has countless examples of proj- to bear on the questions we raise as a people. They teach ects that were set aside, pocket-vetoed or simply lost track those who will be ministers how to bring the best thinking of because the committee structure stifles the setting and of the church to bear in ministry. They teach the chaplains accomplishing of ambitious goals. The situation grew worse and catechists. They write the books that everyone turns to four years ago when a cost-saving restructuring simply com- when they realize their religious answers are no longer suffi- bined committees but added no additional meetings. cient for the complexities of adulthood. They are critical to It is time to bring in a proper management consulting the church’s life. firm and reorganize. Bishops should play strong oversight Today, when universities go looking to hire theologians, roles similar to corporate trustees, and expert staff should be they find many lay specialists whose education was not un- recruited specifically for the goals to be accomplished. Many derwritten by the church and who may have needed to get standing committees should be set aside and project-based through their programs as quickly as possible to pay their task forces should be substituted. A strong executive com- expenses and meet family needs. People in such situations mittee of bishops as well as the individual task force chairs are good people and may well be good theologians, but they could receive regular updates on the major projects, give also may have been forced to approach their discipline nar- feedback and enable the projects to move faster. rowly as intellectual history or the sociological study of re- Several of these larger ideas require funding, but my ex- ligion. These are valuable, but they do not fully serve the perience is that the easiest money to raise is for ambitious purposes for which the church desperately needs them. and important ideas. In the end, the point is a simple one. That could change if the national bishops’ conference A few ambitious strategies and a bit of restructuring could creates a funding plan for the next generation of lay theo- make the bishops, and the church in the United States, more logians. If nothing is done, this invisible development will efficient and effective. A

22 America November 2, 2015 Holy Ones, Loved Ones The journey from All Saints to All Souls BY LEONARD J. DeLORENZO

had just seen my grandfather a few weeks before his stubborn man I have ever known was crying like a child in death. He was in the hospital; and in accordance with the rain. The woman who had been his wife for more than 50 the directives of his living will, the feeding tubes had years was lying in a cardboard coffin in the building behind been removed. He was unable to speak and mostly us, awaiting cremation, and he had just kissed her forehead Iunable to move, but it was clear he knew when my brother for the last time. Even at the end of a long and loving life, he and I walked into the room. I was the last one to leave his felt her loss as an unmitigated tragedy. Dorothy DeLorenzo hospital room that night, staying behind to say goodbye and was gone. to whisper a prayer over him, tracing the sign of the cross The month of November opens with two feast days that on his forehead. It was the first time I had ever prayed with have shaped my experience of celebrating and mourning the Louis DeLorenzo. lives and deaths of my paternal grandmother and grandfa- I had looked upon death with my grandfather once be- ther. On the solemnity of All Saints the church observes fore, five years earlier. On a characteristically warm and wet the treasury of blessings of the great number of holy ones. Florida afternoon, I stood with my arm around my unchar- The next day, on the feast of All Souls, the church observes acteristically vulnerable grandfather. The proudest and most the mystery of reaching for departed loved ones, in prayer or simply in longing, whether or not we have rationally or

LEONARD J. DeLORENZO teaches theology at the University of Notre emotionally accepted their deaths. Dame, where he directs Notre Dame Vision, the Notre Dame Catechist And while it might seem that the first day is pure cele- Academy and the Notre Dame Character Project within the Institute for bration, while the second alone makes room for concern and Church Life. He has two books forthcoming: one on the theology of the communion of saints and one on the mystery of grace and the practice of yearning, the deeper truth is that even the day devoted to storytelling. All Saints brings forth its own measure of concern. On that

ON THIS ROCK. Pope Francis and Cardinal Angelo Comastri pray at the tomb of St. Peter in the crypt of St. Peter’s Basilica on the feast of All Souls. CNS PHOTO/L’OSSERVATORE ROMANO CNS PHOTO/L’OSSERVATORE

November 2, 2015 America 23 first day, the concern belongs to the saints and is directed to- in that memory, though I cannot wrap my mind around that ward those still living as well as those who have died. On the meaning. second day those still living practice taking on the concern I do not have that memory of my grandfather’s faith. I common to the saints as we pray for our dead. tend to remember his childlike laugh when he teased my little brother, whom he loved with a special kind of devotion. I Memories Within Memories remember his voice rising above its normal volume to correct Although more than 1,600 days would pass between that or to command. I remember the picture of him clad in an day and his last day, a good part of my grandfather seemed orange hunting suit, smiling next to the carcass of the deer to die when he was forced he strung up at the end of to let go of his wife. There the day. He never came was a hole in his life that to Mass with us when I nothing else could fill; The strange logic of All Saints in- visited my grandparents and to be honest, I am not forms All Souls: for weeks every summer sure it was meant to be when I was younger. I filled. To pray for the salvation of our cannot recall a time when As far as I know, my I saw him pray. He was grandfather never at- loved ones is also to pray that they relentlessly disciplined tempted to explain where and principled, though his beloved went after will enter into the unceasing prayer he certainly was not what death. It would have been one would recognize as a comforting, I am sure, for our own salvation. Such is the person of faith. to imagine that she had mystery of the body of Christ. I loved both my grand- slipped out of the con- parents, and because of fines of this life into a that love I feel their loss better, happier place. But there was a certain discipline and even today. I do not feel that loss as greatly or regularly as authenticity to the way he thought about her after death. I should, but I do feel it. My love for them also springs for- Instead of trying to make her right for his own sake, he al- ward in hope. I want them to live in some way, even though lowed himself to be wounded for love of her. He had been they have died and I feel their absence. tied to her so deeply for so long that he could not replace her The difference between them for me, though, is that I with a thought or a wish about where or how she was now. lack for my grandfather what I have for my grandmother: a He refused to allow her death to be any less serious than it memory to anchor my hope. When I return to my faith and really was. She was gone, and that made a difference to him. seek to entrust my grandmother to the love of God, I can He longed for her, but to what end? move from what I myself have seen toward what I imagine It is hard, if not impossible, to give an account of exactly God sees when he looks at her, even now. I can hope that how someone has affected you. Not only am I unable to ex- God’s first memory of grandma is something like my own— plain what my grandmother meant to my grandfather, but it or that mine is something like God’s, as it were. I hope that is also difficult for me to explain what she meant to me. If I God sees her sitting at the table in the early morning, mov- sat still long enough, I could conjure up countless memories ing beads between her fingers, praying alone before the tasks of her: some that would cause me to chuckle, others that of the day. Maybe that is who she truly was, beneath all the would irritate me, others still that would perhaps leave me other memories. with tinges of regret and many that would fill me with grat- For my grandfather, I just don’t know what I hope that itude. Of all those memories, though, I find it curious which God sees. Does God see the delight of that childlike laugh? memory usually comes to mind first. Does God hear that voice ascending over the humdrum of What I remember first about my grandmother—in a viv- domestic life? Does God rejoice at a successful hunt? The id snapshot memory—is her sitting at the kitchen table in man whom I last saw fading away when the feeding tubes the slowly intensifying light of the early morning. The house had been removed in that lightly lit, modestly comfortable is silent. Her elbow is resting on the table, one hand pinch- hospital room more than 10 years ago is the same man who ing the skin above her brow, the other telling the beads of a I know entered into the darkness of death and was no more. rosary dangling near her knees. Her eyes are closed tight and Into that uncertainty I cast my hope—inchoate as my hope she has the look of intense, almost painful concentration on may be. Perhaps this is hope beyond hope: to believe that her face while her lips mutter prayers into the stillness of life may be called out of loss, without any assurance, without dawn. Something of what she meant to me is wrapped up any fully explicable reason, save one.

24 America November 2, 2015 I have struggled to know where that hope begins in my imagination; but over time, the memory that has tended to recur most frequently when I think of my grandfather is of our last moment together in that hospital room. Part of me is still surprised that I had the audacity to trace the sign of the cross on his forehead and pray over him. Perhaps the meaning of who he was to me is mysteriously wrapped up in that memory, even though I am still trying to understand it.

Searching and Sanctity My grandparents are not the only loved ones I have lost and try to remember, but the simultaneous connection and difference between them places me in the troubling predica- ment of how to pray for each and for both of them together. Without the practice of the liturgy, I would be left to my own to try to figure out what my partial notions mean and what I am therefore to do, or even hope for. To begin to grasp the gift the church gives on these simultaneously con- nected yet different liturgical observances at the beginning of November, we might pay attention to the prayer over the offerings at Mass from each of the two days. This prayer is offered at the conclusion of the presentation and prepa- ration of the gifts and at the threshold of the eucharistic prayer, when the work only God can do becomes the work the church engages. On the solemnity of All Saints, the church prays this prayer over the offerings:

May these offerings we bring in honor of all the Saints be pleasing to you, O Lord, and grant that, just as we believe the Saints to be already assured of immortality, so we may experience their concern for our salvation. Through Christ our Lord.

In this one prayer, the church makes a concession and a request. It concedes that there is no need to harbor concern for those celebrated in this Mass—both those whose names are known and the anonymous saints—for they already share in the eternal glory of God. The request, therefore, is not for them but for ourselves: that we may “experience their concern for our salvation.” To celebrate the saints means celebrating those who concern themselves with our good. They pray for us, and we pray that their prayers may be fruitful. I can recognize my grandmother in this prayer, if only in- distinctly, as in a murky mirror. If she enjoys beatitude with God in Christ, then she also joins with all the saints in their “concern for our salvation.” This touches on the strangeness of All Saints’ Day: in celebrating them, we are celebrating their concern for us. To recognize the saints as saints means recognizing ourselves as the ones they are concerned about. If the hope I draw from my memory of my grandmother

November 2, 2015 America 25 praying in the early morning at the kitchen table gives me all united” is to ask not only that those we love may be filled confidence in her salvation (which I cannot see), then the lit- with new life but also that that life may be filled with con- urgy teaches me that this confidence is also about accepting cern for our own salvation. myself as well as my grandfather as the very ones to whom The strange logic of Nov. 1 informs the strange logic of she would hasten in holy concern. I hope that she tells her Nov. 2: To pray for the salvation of our loved ones is also to beads for us. pray that they will enter into the unceasing prayer for our But what about my grandfather? Unlike with my grand- own salvation. Such is the mystery of the body of Christ. mother, my own memory and understanding make it diffi- What seems like an intellectual puzzle becomes a bodily cult for me to locate him on the feast of All Saints. Instead, I practice in the work of the church’s liturgy. By showing up feel myself forced to seek him on Nov. 2. He is one of those for the liturgy on these days, I practice words and prayers I for whom I am called to pray. In doing this, however, I am have to learn to understand and, in doing so, I slowly come formed for another kind of humility. Whereas the prayer to understand what it means to pray for Grandma and of Nov. 1 beckons me to accept the saints’ concern for us, Granddaddy, even now. I learn to imagine what I could not the prayer of Nov. 2 leads me to offer my own concern to otherwise imagine, and my heart moves. the Lord so that he may bring about what I can barely even As I learn to pray for them, I also learn the significance imagine: of yielding to the prayers of others for me. Like all acts of liturgy, those in the first days of November are practices Look favorably on our offerings, O Lord, so that your in communion. But here, perhaps more than at any other departed servants may be taken up into glory with time in the liturgical year, these practices of communion are your Son, in whose great mystery of love we are all ventured across the otherwise unthinkable difference and united. Who lives and reigns for ever and ever. immeasurable distance between loved ones, when death in- tervenes. This prayer is for those about whom we do still exercise In this way, the space between All Saints and All Souls concern. It is a prayer not to abandon but to commend: We is where we search in mourning, prayer and longing for the entrust to the mercy of God those whom we have no power loved ones we have lost. And the church teaches us that in of our own to help. And to ask the Lord to take our own searching for them, we discover ourselves anew as the ones loved ones into that “great mystery of love [in whom] we are pursued in love. A

26 America November 2, 2015

FAITH IN FOCUS Grassroots Gospel A seminarian reflects on Pope Francis’ bold vision BY ALEXANDER TURPIN have stopped trying to correct peo- is radical and pastoral and turns the has little relevance for the average non- ple when they tell me that Pope doctrinaire view of Christianity on its believer (or, frankly, the average be- IFrancis is “so much more like Jesus” head. Instead of reiterating the usu- liever). We must be willing to get our than his predecessor. Every institution al formulas that define right hands dirty and meet people precise- has a public image and, fairly or not, for thinking and living, the ly as free and thinking persons in the first time in a long time the whole pope is moving us back order to take their beliefs and world sees a man of the people at the toward the church’s rai- concerns seriously. church’s rudder. I admire Francis and son d’être: to initiate This approach does consider him saintly. But I am also con- and sustain person- not mean making fluid vinced that the previous man to wear al encounters with the boundaries between the white and gold, Pope Emeritus Jesus Christ. “The orthodoxy and here- Benedict XVI, is saintly as well. I have proclamation of sy; Francis himself found few sympathizers, however, even the saving love of has said that priests after I explain how Joseph Ratzinger’s God comes be- must know “how compelling portrait of Christ helped fore moral and to dialogue and to lead me into the seminary. religious imper- descend into their I offer these reflections as a semi- atives,” the pope people’s night, into narian with no expertise (or interest) said in an inter- the darkness, but in ecclesiastical politics. But I studied view published without getting lost” at a secular university while working in America and (emphasis added). But in a small-town pizzeria, so I have other Jesuit journals we cannot hope to accom- witnessed firsthand how ordinary (9/30/13). pany our people unless we are non-Catholics are rebuffed by the In other words, we must willing to run to the very edge of or- authoritarian spirit they sense in the place Jesus before everything if the thodoxy, straddle it and immerse our- church. Whether these perceptions are world is to hear anything we say. selves in the fog that covers their eyes. accurate is irrelevant. If people say they Culture wars—and liturgical wars and What matters most is that we claim are not being nourished by the church’s theological differences among believ- to have a truth that is meant to illumi- message, if they feel they are encoun- ers—be damned. The pope is direct- nate the life of each and every person tering “small-minded rules” instead of ing us to preach the saving message of we encounter. If all we offer is a pleth- Christ, there very well may be some- Jesus to individuals, into all the filth ora of abstractions—“a disjointed mul- thing wrong with the way our message and stress of real human lives, which is titude of doctrines to be imposed insis- is being presented. how it was meant to be preached. tently,” in the words of Francis—they Pope Francis’ shift of focus toward One of my brother seminarians will find our message irrelevant to their “the mystery of the human being” proposes that our culture is in a fog. concerns. Rather, we are being called is a bold restatement of what draws The Christian frame of reference has by our new pope to bring the simplic- me—and many others—toward the disappeared from both public and pri- ity and profundity of Jesus’ message ordained service of God’s people. It vate life; our society is post-Christian directly to people. It is a streamlined, in belief and pre-Christian in morality. missionary approach. A society that is In an environment like this, we cannot free to accept any number of teachings ALEXANDER TURPIN, a seminarian of the afford to be afraid of interacting with does not perceive hope in a seeming- Diocese of Rockville Centre, N.Y., is a student at the Cathedral Seminary House of Formation in heterodoxy. Theological hairsplitting is ly arbitrary set of guidelines. Instead, Douglaston, N.Y. necessary in seminary formation, but it the church’s ministers, and especially DUNNE TAD ART:

28 America November 2, 2015 its future ministers, must keep in mind that we might have life in abundance.” heal the wounds and existential wea- that they are to proclaim always “the Pope Francis seems to be taking this riness of a world that does not know freshness and fragrance of the Gospel.” charge seriously. He is not changing God. It was Pope Benedict XVI who dogma, as some fear, but rather is urg- Francis is calling the church to insisted in “Verbum Domini” (2010), ing those charged with preaching the concentrate everything on this mis- the post-synodal exhortation on the Gospel to strip it down to the essen- sion. “You have to heal [the person’s] word of God, that the church’s highest tials for greater potency. His vision of wounds,” he said. “Then we can talk task is “to enable the people of our time the church as “a field hospital after bat- about everything else. Heal the wounds, once more to encounter God, the God tle” is particularly constructive: we, as heal the wounds.... And you have to who speaks to us and shares his love so the body of Christ, exist solely to help start from the ground up.” A

GENERATION FAITH Stained-Glass People Reflecting the light of God through our imperfections’ BY MARIELE COURTOIS

e are surrounded by sev- love. The sister brushes the woman’s not a conversation. It is only an attempt eral young children. Some cheek. I introduce myself to the woman. to be present with her. Ware eager to befriend us, As expected, there is only silence and Along with many other Jesuit insti- and others are more careful. “How are intermittent moaning. She looks past tutions, Loyola Marymount University you?” we ask one young girl. She looks me. I talk to her. About school. About makes service and social justice a pri- at us. We talk to her. About school. the beautiful day. About anything. It is ority in its educational mission. Many About the beautiful day. About clubs, organizations, campus anything. It is not exactly a con- ministry programs and academic versation. It is only an attempt groups inspire students to follow to put her at ease. Her respons- in the footsteps of St. Ignatius es are short and guarded. Loyola by becoming men and A woman breathing heavi- women with and for others. Our ly with her mouth open lies in community serves a broad range of bed. One of the Carmelite sis- human needs, including foster care ter staff members tells me the youth, the elderly, battered women, woman’s name and explains that people with disabilities or those the woman does not respond or who struggle with homelessness, receive as many visitors as other often through direct individual residents, but she still deserves interaction. Sometimes collegiate dialogue is stirred as to whether charitable time spent tutoring, MARIELE COURTOIS, a 2015 grad- conversing or simply being present uate of Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles, is working toward a with those who live on the margins master’s degree in theological studies of society is as valuable as civic at the University of Notre Dame, work that can effect lasting change, South Bend, Ind. She is a Sorin fellow at Notre Dame’s Center for Ethics and like policy-making and advocacy.

ART: SONJA KODIAK WILDER ART: Culture. Furthermore, what happens when

November 2, 2015 America 29 our service seems to be of no avail or by the stained glass itself. ships illuminate a hope and a joy that brings about no tangible results? Stained glass is impractical. It doesn’t the struggles currently faced will some- As a member of Loyola Marymount help the stone wall stand. In fact, it is the day be vanquished. Before that time University’s all-women Gryphon Circle most vulnerable to breaking. It is made comes, we may have to accept that we Service Organization, I have often re- from broken pieces. It is a potential cannot change their lives; we can only flected on the words of our beloved weak point in the wall. But it is through do what we can to make whatever light late chaplain Peg Dolan, R.S.H.M. stained glass that light can bring color is present shine brighter. Even if the During her commencement address in to the darkened nave. Its intricate array change never comes, this doesn’t make 2008, Sister Peg encouraged students bears a secret in the night and a message their story any less a masterpiece. to “make the gift of your life become in the day. It makes the sunbeam strik- It is important to challenge injustice, a masterpiece each day that will help ing. By allowing something else to work to charge forth where we feel embold- make your life better for you and all through its stillness, it creates beauty. ened to bring change. But this is an you meet in your life journey, no matter abridged experience of service. What if where you are or what you do.” A Complex Beauty the time for a hero has not yet come? I imagine people who create mas- At our service sites, we come into con- We do not simply wait alongside the terpieces: the scientist who defends tact with people who embody some of road. What may be needed is a simple her characterization of a hypomorph, these qualities as well: stained-glass offer of companionship. We have the the dancer who strains in her pointe people. They did not choose their me- chance to better the lives of all indi- shoes and the inspired writer who dium, their time or their place. They viduals we encounter. We can provide casts bloodshot eyes over her novel. did not ask for their challenges. They accompaniment to others on their jour- They are heroes in their moment. They are people whom society reckons weak. ney, even when they are many pages are driven and self-sacrificing. Such is They are sick, abandoned, deprived, from the happy ending. an active form of creation. You choose vulnerable, too old, too young, lost, Sometimes there are sad, terrifying the medium; you choose the time; you pained, marginalized or just in need or painful moments that we do not choose the craft—something exqui- of love. But we see a light that shines want to include in the masterpiece of site, like stained glass. The purposeful through them. By serving in friendship our lives. But isn’t the reason we cele- artist selects humble shards, fits them and with love, we rejoice in their com- brate a masterpiece because we intuit together in an unexpected pattern plex beauty. We harmonize through that its creation involved a triumph over and then reveals her pictorial window, solidarity and want to care for each oth- difficulty? In a masterpiece, there are through which the world can gaze. er as members of an inclusive human elements of the unexpected. There are But I think there is also an equal, pas- family. In our gentle interactions with low notes in a song. There are chips in sive form of creation, one experienced them, we discover that these relation- a mosaic. There are edges to an artwork. There is pain on the dance floor. Even broken pieces have found their purpose in creation: to come together. We may have a terrible day. We may lose things on which we depended. The people we seek to help may turn away. The light may miss our stained glass completely. But we can still serve from wherever we stand, no matter how far from the turning point. It is true, we can make a gift of ourselves by being heroic. But at those times when swords cannot cut through shadow and glass cannot shine in darkness, we can make a gift of ourselves to others simply as signs of the light to come. Sometimes, even if it is just for one person, a glance through the window to the view beyond the wall makes the most transformative impact of all. A

30 America November 2, 2015 Books & Culture

stream of obscenities and insults. Then, SACRED SPACE late in the season, Jim Parsons of the hit television series “The Big Bang Theory” ‘The Christians’ explores heaven and hell on stage performed as a charming but befuddled God in a show called, appropriately, “An hile some studies have Mormon” opened more than four years Act of God.” described church atten- ago, won an abundance of awards and While the writers of “The Book of Wdance as declining in this still plays to packed houses of theater- Mormon” claimed that they were pok- country, the same cannot be said for at- goers willing to pay $299 for premium ing fun at religious faith but ultimately tendance at the shrines and temples of tickets. treated it with respect, many critics (in- the theater, on Broadway and off; and Last season, the bizarre farce “Hand cluding yours truly) disagree. And while many of the productions that people to God” told the story of a young man in “Hand to God” never questioned the have flocked to have not shied away an Evangelical church whose irremov- beliefs and practices of the congrega- from religious themes. Matt Stone and able hand-puppet, seemingly possessed tion, it portrayed some hypocrisy, sexual Trey Parker’s mega-hit “The Book of by the devil, spewed out a constant repression and, ultimately, the idea that the devil-puppet might simply be the voice of the young man’s shadow side. TO THE CHOIR. Emily “An Act of God” was more straight- Donahoe and Andrew forward, portraying God as imperfect, Garman in “The Christains” maybe not even real, and certainly not necessary for us to lead good lives or make the world a better place as hu- manists. But these are all comedies. Finally, a quite dramatic production recently opened off-Broadway to strong reviews and already has extended its run. The Christians, written by the young play- wright Lucas Hnath, is quite serious about the presence of religion in people’s lives today. He has said that prior to writing the play, he “was having a difficult time thinking of other contemporary plays that took on the subject of religion, and specifically Christianity, that did so without satirizing it or prompting us to roll our eyes at ‘those Christians’” (see the examples above). Hnath grew up in an Assembly of God church in Orlando, Fla. His mother was a minister, and he attended Christian elemen- tary and middle schools, helping out with youth ministry and tagging along with his mother to seminary classes, but he does not answer questions about his current religious beliefs and practices. The set is a brightly lit megachurch

PHOTO: JOAN MARCUS sanctuary with a 20-voice choir on-

November 2, 2015 America 31 stage, and the audience is treated as the ents a pretty convincing case). Another novel feature of this pro- congregation in the intimate space of Everyone in the choir as well as duction is the chalkboard in the lobby, this off-Broadway house, Playwrights Paul’s wife, Elizabeth (Linda Powell), which asks audience members to de- Horizons. (The concept of the audi- sitting beside him, maintains a calm scribe what religion they grew up with ence-as-congregation, one might recall, silence, but then the associate pastor and how their beliefs may have changed. was used quite effectively in the stage Joshua (Larry Powell) gets up to ex- The theater also encourages them to version of “Doubt” 11 years ago and in press his firm disagreement with that discuss the show on social media. “Mass Appeal” about 20 years before message. Paul and Joshua enter into Tim Sanford, the artistic director that.) an impressive debate, primarily of- of Playwrights Horizons, maintains in “The Christians” begins with a ser- fering different interpretations of the an essay in the play’s program that the mon by Pastor Paul (Andrew Garman) scriptural references to hell and vivid drama is not only about religious fun- celebrating, for one thing, the fact that descriptions of their own encounters damentalism. He praises the play for the congregation has paid off all its with evil. Neither one budges in his showing “the human face of ideology.” debts. It then morphs into a story to belief, and Joshua leaves the church to He writes: “We live in a world wracked explain why Pastor Paul no longer be- form his own congregation. From then by violence stirred by intractable con- lieves in the existence of hell (he pres- on, things descend into Pastor Paul’s flicts between warring belief systems personal hell on earth. [which] can be organized around reli- As the attendance at his church gious precepts, political agendas, or... C 24 services takes a steep dive and the interpretations of morality. But the one chairman of the congregation’s board common denominator sure to be found of directors steps down, there is some at the heart of any of these conflicts is Inside this monument a rain question even of how Pastor Paul’s the unslakable self-righteousness of it doesn’t want, coming by own wife will react to it all. Perhaps each warring party.” with winds and the flag the most poignant episode involves A week after this show opened, we a soft-spoken member of the choir, got to witness the visit of Pope Francis Jenny (Emily Donahoe), a single to our shores and listen to his inspir- this way and that reaching out mother dependent on the church’s ing messages. One word that showed financial assistance, who quietly but up quite often in his exhortations is as if the war ended relentlessly argues with him, even dialogue. The members of Pastor Paul’s smelling from all your letters home questioning his motives. congregation do not seem capable of An unusual feature in the produc- such a task. Why can they not focus on tion is the constant use of stage mi- the multitude of doctrines which they wet—they had to be wet, scented crophones. which seem altogether fit- share rather than the one on which they with thunder and kisses ting in the early scenes of the church cannot agree, a teaching that can seem left on the ground, already service but continue to be used rather marginal in the Christian belief throughout the rest of the play in system? One critic also wondered why the conversations outside the church. they are so devoted to the punishment this harvest—stones becoming Hnath has explained that “the prop of sinners rather than to trust in God’s of the microphones actually gives us mercy. other stones and blood a means to make visible the action A production of “The Christians” that no longer returns to your of speaking or decisions or refusing has just opened in London, and anoth- heart. to say something. We can all see the er staging is scheduled for the Mark moment when a character leans into Taper Forum in Los Angeles. The play, a microphone to speak…. And we with its small cast and its single setting, can tell the difference between lean- seems ideal for regional stages and com- SIMON PERCHIK ing into a microphone to speak ver- munity theaters around the country. I sus yanking the microphone from its recommend joining the congregation if SIMON PERCHIK is an attorney whose poems stand to speak.” Even the decision to this comes to a theater near you. have appeared in Partisan Review, Poetry, The use corded or lapel mics is intention- New Yorker and elsewhere. His most recent al, as the cords—and the conversa- collection is Almost Rain, published by River MICHAEL V. TUETH, S.J., is emeritus profes- Otter Press (2013). tions—become more tangled as the sor of communication and media studies at play goes along. Fordham University in New York.

32 America November 2, 2015 OF OTHER THINGS | DANIEL P. HORAN and more loyal people out there. And Jesus had many lunches with them, the JUST HAVING LUNCH many anonymous people of no historical significance. Despite imaginations uring Pope Francis’ recent There was no major story accompa- that suggest otherwise, most of Jesus’ apostolic visit to the United nying the photograph: no peace-treaty earthly life and ministry did not in- DStates I, like so many who brokered, no important speech deliv- clude grand gestures, fancy settings or were glued to television coverage or ered. It was just lunch. So what was important people. who made the pilgrimage to glimpse the big deal? There is an important lesson about him in person, was captivated by the It seems that the big deal was that Christian discipleship here. The words and gestures, both large and popes—like presidents, prime minis- Gospel is only lived out during the small, that captured the attention and ters and other world leaders—simply seemingly little things of the every- imagination of this nation and the weren’t supposed to be bothered with day. In office cubicles, on subway cars, whole world. From riding around in ordinary, everyday along rural highways, the visually humble Fiat to delivering people. According at home or at play— poignant words addressed to Congress, to this logic, lunches Popes these places are where it seemed as if everything Pope Francis with the pope were weren’t the quotidian reality said or did was destined to be of his- occasions reserved for of Christian life un- torical importance. important discussions supposed to folds, or doesn’t, ac- And yet, despite the abundance of of an ecclesiastical or cording to our choic- notable encounters, speeches and ac- international relations be bothered es. Too often we look tions that week, I found that I kept issue with power play- with ordinary, to saints or other ex- returning in my memory to an earlier ers, who have their emplars of Christian image of him from last summer. own entourages. That everyday living and romanticize The image is of Pope Francis having Pope Francis would their famous actions lunch. Yep, that’s it. Just lunch. elect to simply have people. or behaviors. We Sitting at an ordinary table in what lunch with just the en- forget that Francis appeared to be a cafeteria like any one tourage, the support- and Clare of Assisi, of thousands around the world, the ing cast, without any Ignatius Loyola, bishop of Rome sat in his white cas- “important” people Catherine McAuley sock amid uniform-clad employees of reflects the apparently and Dorothy Day all the Vatican pharmacy and facilities unusual priorities of woke up each morn- crew. And he ate his lunch. this bishop of Rome. ing, went to bed each That Pope Francis had lunch on Nobody was vetted in evening and tried July 25, 2014, is not what is real- advance; no political favors were neces- their best to follow Christ during the ly interesting to me. Nor is it that sary to get in. hours in between. What makes them he chose to dine with employees of But such priorities would not have models of Christian life is not some the Vatican. What is amazing was seemed strange to a certain first-cen- singular display of faithfulness but in- the way the world responded to this tury Jew from Nazareth. In fact, with stead the culmination of a lifelong ef- meal. Photographs provided to the the possible exception of an occasional fort to make the little things, like lunch Associated Press by the Vatican news- physical miracle, most of Jesus’ approx- or work, moments of encounter with paper L’Osservatore Romano went “vi- imately three years of public ministry others that help proclaim the good ral” on the Internet and appeared on was spent without much fanfare or un- news of God’s love to the world. the front pages of many of the world’s usual behavior and with ordinary, ev- Ever since that photo was published most well-respected, international eryday people. He spoke to them, even last summer, and even more since newspapers, including The New York when others thought he shouldn’t; he Pope Francis’ visit, I have been trying Times. touched them, even when religious to imagine a world in which simple convention forbade it; he welcomed acts of humility, kindness and concern them, even when they were of an- for others were more commonplace. DANIEL P. HORAN, O.F.M., is the author other community or faith; he invited of several books, including The Franciscan Perhaps then, such behavior, even by Heart of Thomas Merton. Twitter: @ them to be his followers, even when a pope, would not become front-page DanHoranOFM. there were smarter, more organized news.

November 2, 2015 America 33 BOOKS | JAMES R. KELLY school in Cuernavaca, Mexico, where Cardinal Francis Spellman of New INTERCULTURAL WARRIOR York, Cardinal Richard Cushing of Boston and the National Conference THE PROPHET OF his father an aristocratic Croatian and of Catholic Bishops wanted to train CUERNAVACA his mother a German from a family of North American priests and laypeople Ivan Illich and the Crisis of the Jewish converts. During World War for missionary work in South America. West II Illich was classified as a half-Aryan; None of Illich’s first supporters By Todd Hartch and when his father died, the family expected the scorching critique to Oxford University Press. 256p $29.95 fled to Italy, where Illich finished high come of what he called the instinctive school in Florence, studied chemistry Americanism of American missionar- Ivan Illich became an almost big name at the local university ies, which, he taught, briefly in the early 1970s, so why a and joined the resis- inevitably eroded the book nearly four decades after his tance movement. For indigenous peoples’ public intellectual sunset? After all, he reasons that Hartch nontraditional but au- solved no problems and was impossible describes as murky, thentic Christianity to categorize. While often considered a at 18 Illich decided by infecting them revolutionary thinker (while he himself to become a priest with a desire for an did not) he didn’t get along with the and was ordained in individualistic and anti-war activist Dan Berrigan, S.J., but 1951. He earned a competitive standard got along fine with Cardinal Francis doctorate in histo- of living that inevita- Spellman of “America right or wrong” ry at the University bly vitiated the com- notoriety. While both the left and of Salzburg, doing munitarian ethos of the right of his era cited him, neither his thesis on the Christianity. could claim him. The Federal Bureau global histories of This theme per- of Investigation spied on him but then Arnold Toynbee and vaded all Ivan Illich’s dismissed him as merely “an anti-Com- the epistemology of writing: The morally munist with a leftist-reform attitude.” historical knowing. underdeveloped West Some found him prickly, confronta- While working on could not resolve tional and difficult. Philosophically he his thesis, Illich re- the problem of glob- was hard to fathom: a fierce critic of the turned to the Gregorian University in al inequality. Nor could the Western political colonization by nations and Rome to study philosophy and theol- church. Following the criticism by of the economic colonization result- ogy, wrote on Romano Guardini and bishops after the publication of such ing from free markets, he was neither read Thomas Aquinas informally with works as “the Seamy Side of Charity” a liberation theologian nor a militant Jacques Maritain, who later viewed his (America, 1/21/1967) and his overt revolutionary. writings as antimissionary and traitor- efforts to “de-Yankeefy” American In this extensive review of archi- ous to the church. missionaries, Illich left the active min- val sources and personal letters, Todd In the early 1950s he came to istry (but not the priesthood) and Hartch, fair-minded and readable, the United States and at Princeton repurposed the religious Center for shows Illich as understanding himself University earned a second doctor- Intercultural Formation, the training as standing for true revolution in so- ate (on Albertus Magnus). It was center for missionaries, into the secular ciety and true renewal of Catholicism. in the United States, while serving Intercultural Documentation Center, Little done by either the left or the right at Incarnation Parish in New York which, in turn, he closed in 1976, very in the name of either renewal or revolu- City among Puerto Rican immi- soon after he had attracted wider attention passed his truth test. Readers find- grants, that the many-rooted but un- tion as a public intellectual and critic. ing themselves uncomfortable with all rooted intellectual Illich found his Hartch judges that Illich produced the available reform-revolution catego- life’s centering mission. Befriending major works of lasting value, among ries will find this appreciative yet criti- Joseph Fitzpatrick, S.J., of Fordham them Deschooling Society (1970), The cal Illich biography a good read. University, and Fordham’s president, Church, Change and Development Ivan Illich’s life prepared him for Lawrence McGinley, S.J., Illich se- (1970), Celebration of Awareness: intellectual nonconformity. Illich was cured the money and social capital A Call for Institutional Revolution born in 1926 and grew up in Vienna, he needed to start a language training (1971), Tools for Conviviality (1973);

34 America November 2, 2015 Energy and Equity (1974) and Medical scious communion with Christ.” ress, educational progress—to Illich Nemesis: The Expropriation of Health Illich’s anchoring focus was the are simply illusions that cannot create (1976). He gives a thorough account person-in-community, who inevitably the human solidarity they erode. Better of two of these, Medical Nemesis and is absorbed by the mega-groups and than anyone, Illich helps us to judge Deschooling Society, which show Illich’s metaphysics of modernity. Since Illich the term “expert,” a pejorative unless distrust of what the sociologist Max there have been many critiques of the persons and their communities are the Weber (1864-1920) called the “routin- top-down “tyranny of experts” practiced agents of their self-betterment and not ization of charisma,” whereby the insti- in think tanks, international financial the objects of our progress. tutionalization of some virtuous intent agencies and private foundations. The inevitably leads to self-serving arrange- components of the West’s hubris— JAMES R. KELLY is an emeritus professor of so- ments that subvert the very good they economic progress, technological prog- ciology at Fordham University in New York. once intended. The first two sentences ofMedical Nemesis provide a good sample of PAUL LAURITZEN Illich’s jolting style: “The medical es- tablishment has become a major A SCAR ON THE SOUL threat to health. The disabling impact of professional control over medicine KILLING FROM Our Soldiers. has reached the proportions of an ep- THE INSIDE OUT To this list of fine books I would idemic.” Medicine, he wrote, had be- Moral Injury and Just War add Robert Meagher’s Killing From come counterproductive and was actu- By Robert Emmet Meagher the Inside Out. Just as Morris, Klay ally sickening the culture through “the Cascade Books. 178p $22 and Sherman attend to the self-im- medicalization of life,” whereby people posed “moral exile” that veterans of become consumers of the commodity In February, the New York Times col- Iraq and Afghanistan appear to expe- of health care and in the process lose umnist David Brooks published an rience, Meagher begins with the grim their ability and responsibility to care essay on the concept of moral injury statistics of veteran suicides in recent for themselves while becoming depen- in war. Noting recent literature on the years: 33 per month in 2012, 22 per dent on officially sanctioned experts. topic of post-traumatic stress disorder, day in February 2013. Indeed, the ti- Anticipating the hospice movement, Brooks highlighted the fact that stud- tle of the book is taken from a com- Illich found most dismaying the wide- ies of the trauma U.S. ment that the mother of spread fear of dying outside of a hos- soldiers suffered in Iraq a suicide victim made to pital, which, he thought, had reached and Afghanistan has Meagher. Her son’s mor- the point of obliterating hallowed and rightly focused on the in- tal wound was not from ancient cultural resources that taught escapable moral harm of an I.E.D.; his wound, she people the meanings and proper re- war. In Brooks’s words, said, killed him from the sponses to disease, calamity and death. civilians “live enmeshed inside out. Central to Illich’s cultural argument in a fabric of moral prac- While Meagher would was his distinction between pain, the tices and evaluations. We certainly agree with physical sensation that humans shared try to practice kindness Brooks that war is always with animals, and suffering, a prac- and to cause no pain,” a crime, he goes much tice and art leading to courage and an but “people who have further than Brooks in acknowledgment that reality is harsh been to war have left this condemning war and and death inevitable. Modern med- universe behind. That’s the traditions of moral icine had neglected the deep human because war—no matter thought that sustain war. need for meaning and community and how justified or unjustified, noble or Pre-eminent among these traditions is had transferred pain into a demand for ignoble—is always a crime.” the just war theory, which Meagher re- more drugs, hospitals and medical ser- In defending this claim, which fers to as a “lie” sustained by Christian vices. “In a drug-induced stupor, med- will likely strike many as implausible, belief that must be cut out root and icated and managed to the last instant Brooks draws on David J. Morris’s branch. The burden of the book is to of life,” he wrote, “the modern patient book, The Evil Hours, Phil Klay’s perform this uprooting. had little awareness of being human Redeployment and Nancy Sherman’s When summarized this bluntly, and even less ability to suffer in con- Afterwar: Healing the Moral Wounds of readers might be inclined to dismiss

November 2, 2015 America 35 Meagher’s book as a polemical diatribe. dent on intentions. Meagher cites the the heart of the just war tradition. That would be a mistake. This is a words the author of Luke attributes to Unfortunately, this view can make no complex work that weaves together Jesus on the cross about his tormen- sense of the idea that an agent is mor- moral reflection, historical scholarship tors: “Father, forgive them; for they do ally harmed if he or she brings about and psychological accounts of P.T.S.D. not know what they are doing.” “These the death of another human being. The to frame an account of war that ex- words,” Meagher writes, “bring us to a idea that killing another threatens one’s plains the inescapable moral injury new place, a new conception of agency very humanity, that killing irrevocably that appears always to accompany war. and responsibility that will profoundly leaves a scar on one’s soul, cannot eas- I cannot do justice to the many as- reshape the discussion of war and sex... ily be accommodated by the just war pects of Meagher’s argument, but two in the early Christian centuries and tradition. Just war thinking thus leaves are worth noting. The first is his insis- clear down to the present day.” us particularly unprepared to respond tence that we hold ourselves account- According to Meagher, it is precise- to the existential despair that veterans able for actions done in ignorance or ly the idea that actions are one thing frequently experience. without intent to harm. Some will find and intentions and inner dispositions There is much to contest in this claim to be deeply counterintui- are quite another that Augustine uses Meagher’s volume, and it would have tive, but Meagher argues powerfully to justify killing by Christians in war. been better if he had directly engaged for its moral truth. He asks us to con- Meagher quotes Augustine: “When a some of the most important theorists sider the phenomenon of “forgotten soldier kills an enemy, or when a judge and historians of the just war tradition, baby syndrome.” On average, 38 chil- or an officer of the law puts a criminal like Michael Walzer or James Turner dren die in the United States every to death...the killing of a man does not Johnson. Still, no serious supporter year from heat stroke when they are seem to me to be a sin.” This killing is of the just war tradition can afford to left in a car by a parent who has for- not a sin because there is no malicious ignore this frontal assault on just war gotten they are in the car. In the vast intent on the part of the soldier or the thinking, particularly as it has been majority of cases there is absolutely no officer of the law. embraced and supported by Christian evidence of ill intent or premeditation; According to Meagher, the tradition. a child care schedule has changed or a Augustinian view that killing in war PAUL LAURITZEN is a theology professor at sleep-deprived parent is distracted by is not wrong so long as the war is jus- John Carroll University, University Heights, a crisis at work or something similar. tified and no evil intent is involved is Ohio. Nevertheless, in over half of these cases criminal charges are brought against the parent, and many of us JAMES S. TORRENS would say that the parent has done something horrible. The fact that the THE SEARCHER parent did not intend the death of the child does nothing to change the PURE ACT 1950s, and Ad Reinhart, soon to be a fact that something horrible has been The Uncommon Life of Robert Lax leading minimalist painter. done. As Meagher puts the point, even By Michael N. McGregor Lax, the son of Jewish immigrants, the unintended taking of a life leaves Fordham University Press. 472p. $34.95 had that hole in his heart that only one morally tainted. When we consid- God could fill. As World War II was er the self-lacerating reaction of those Pure Act is a painstaking and readable coming on, he and Merton and Rice whose actions resulted in the inadver- tribute to Robert Lax, the bearded sage spent summer months at his family’s tent death of a child, we should not be and avant garde poet who was a confi- cottage near Olean, N.Y., “pursuing surprised by the self-hatred that fre- dant of Thomas Merton. Lax became their sense of truth and of God,” as quently afflicts combat veterans. Even known to the world at large through the author, Michael McGregor, puts it. if the actions of soldiers are defensible Merton’s conversion story, The Seven The pursuit led him to baptism at St. in moral terms, they killed. Storey Mountain. The two were drawn Ignatius Church in New York on Dec. This argument about the polluting together at Columbia University on 19, 1943. nature of actions that result in death the staff of Jester, a sophisticated hu- Study of Thomas Aquinas during is intertwined with a second point mor magazine that modeled itself on those years drew Robert Lax to the about the role of Christian tradition The New Yorker. With them were Ed concept of God as pure act, a philo- and just war theory in framing the Rice, the pioneer of Jubilee magazine, sophical high point that St. Thomas moral assessment of killing as depen- that banner of Catholic culture in the reached with the help of Aristotle.

36 America November 2, 2015 From God as pure act he derived a his chief publishers and a depository the one he claimed to be writing for, lifetime ideal of acting consciously of his papers. was Mark Van Doren, his Columbia yet spontaneously, and always with Robert Lax and Merton both loved teacher and mentor. love. Lax found this exemplified in the James Joyce’s Finnegan’s Wake for its On Kalymnos, a Greek isle just off Cristiani Bros. Circus, clever diction, which the shore of a hostile Turkey, his po- with which he traveled they liked to imitate in litical naïveté cost Robert Lax dearly. and which impelled him their correspondence. During his absence in a crisis of the to a cycle of poems, The But Lax’s poetic idiom 1970s, suspicion spread that he was an Circus of the Sun. Later grew ever simpler. He American spy. On his return he tried the sponge fishermen of developed a stripped- to ignore this absurdity, but could not Kalymnos Island, poor- down vertical style of quite. He settled tranquilly on Patmos est of the poor, were to just a few words per line, for his last 18 years, as appreciation impress him by the same or even just one, or as lit- for him as a poet grew in Europe and conscious daring. tle as a syllable per line. America. His health all the while The major interest of These spare poems were was weakening until, in 2000, he was Pure Act lies in its tracing for the voice, for deliber- brought home to Olean to die. In the of the stages of a totally ate pacing and strategic Greek isles, many expressed their grief poetic life. Robert Lax repetition. He featured to have lost their “saint.” was not born for the la- primary colors and the bors of a 9-to-5 day. After college he stellar world. His audiences apparent- JAMES S. TORRENS, S.J., is a former poetry had a brief job answering letters at ly loved hearing him. Lax’s ideal reader, editor of America. The New Yorker, but the ambiance intimidated him. At Jubilee later he was judged undependable because he CLASSIFIED Poems got so lost in his own poetry and jour- Clothing XAVIER WAKES POEMS, mostly lyric, which naling. And then began his years of BAPTISM GARMENTS and Nativity sets from recall the life and reveal the afterlife of St. Francis wandering—the docks of Marseilles, Bethlehem. Allow 4 to 6 weeks for delivery; Xavier, by Michael T. Soper. Buy now at amazon. www.GuliGifts.com. com. the shrine of La Salette in the French Alps, the center of Jean Vanier near Paris—and wondering what he should do. One day a waiter in a Greek restau- rant in New York urged him, “You should go to Greece.” That he did, for the latter half of his days. There it was, on Patmos Island in 1985, that Michael McGregor, now a professor at Portland State, Ore., happened upon him and fell under his spell. Robert Lax deliberately chose in- security, scraping by with some family aid and chance benefactions. And he chose to live as a celibate. Divine providence favored him. At Jubilee, he found Emil Antonucci, an illustrator and designer, to respond excitedly to his writing. Buying an old hand press, he produced broadsides of poetry chosen by Lax, and then slim volumes of his poems. He filmed the poet in interviews or readings. Later two people in America (ISSN 000-7049) is published weekly (except for 13 combined issues: Jan. 5-12, 19-26, April 13-20, May 25-June 1, June 8-15, 22-29, July 6-13, 20-27, Aug. 3-10, 17-24, Aug. 31-Sept. 7, Dec. 7-14, 21-28) by America Press Inc., 106 West 56th Zurich founded a small press, Pendo Street, New York, NY 10019. Periodical postage is paid at New York, N.Y., and additional mailing offices. Circulation: (800) 627- 9533. Subscription: United States $69 per year; add U.S. $30 postage and GST (#131870719) for Canada; or add U.S. $69 per Verlag, for his benefit. They became year for international priority airmail. Postmaster: Send address changes to: America, P.O. Box 293159, Kettering, OH 45429.

November 2, 2015 America 37 THE WORD Widows and Scribes THIRTY-SECOND SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME (B), NOV. 8, 2015 Readings: 1 Kgs 17:10–16; Ps 146:7–10; Heb 9:24–28; Mk 12:38–44 “A poor widow came and put in two small copper coins, which are worth a penny” (Mk 12:42) oncerns about the economic other widow, who gives all of her mon- by taking advantage of her religious teachings of Pope Francis, that ey to the Temple treasury. piety. While the widow models “giv- Che is a Marxist for instance, are Just prior to this passage, Jesus has ing until it hurts,” who will supply her bandied about whenever he criticizes said, “Beware of the scribes,” who “de- economic needs now or ameliorate unfettered capitalism. These concerns vour widows’ houses and for the sake of her pain? Is Jesus praising her action ought to be forwarded to a higher appearance say long prayers. They will by drawing attention to it or griev- source, since the pope’s critique stems receive the greater condemnation.” ing that no one else would give all for not from modern political divisions but Immediately after giving this warn- God’s sake? Has the widow’s religiosi- from the biblical call to offer justice to ing, Jesus sits down by the treasury and ty been exploited? Should it be those in need. For it is God “who exe- watches “many rich people put in large the Temple and those who cutes justice for the oppressed; who sums.” Then “a poor widow came and serve the Temple—or, in our gives food to the hungry…. He upholds put in two small copper coins, which context today, the church the orphan and the widow, but the way are worth a penny.” Jesus tells his and those who serve the of the wicked he brings to ruin.” disciples that “this poor wid- church—who give to the The prophet Elijah demonstrates ow has put in more than poor widow? We know that God’s concern for those economically all those who are contrib- God gave abundantly to the oppressed when he goes to see the wid- uting to the treasury. For ow of Zarephath, a single mother, and all of them have contributed out of PRAYING WITH SCRIPTURE asks for water and bread. The request their abundance; but she out of her seems thoughtless initially, for the wid- poverty has put in everything she Reflect on the widow giving all that she had. How do we emulate her generosity? ow has only a little food for her and her had, all she had to live on.” How do we care for those most in need? son, and it is about to run out. She asks Whereas Elijah asks for a little

Elijah to let her “go home and prepare it sustenance from the widow and re- DUNNE TAD ART: for myself and my son, that we may eat turns God’s generosity to her and it, and die.” her son in abundance, here the widow widow of Zarephath through Elijah, Elijah instructs her to make the food has given “all she had to live on,” and it but who will supply this widow’s eco- as she had planned, but he asks that is not clear what she will receive from nomic needs? she “first make me a little cake.” Elijah God’s representatives at the Temple. Jesus is not focused on simply crit- promises her that God has spoken and There are two ways to look at her icizing first-century Jewish scribes. her food will be abundant, that she will action. The first, in light of the story of After all, earlier a scribe is described not run out of grain or oil. The widow the widow of Zarephath, is that since by Jesus as “not far from the king- prepared what little food she had for she has given all to God, she will like- dom of God” (Mk 12:34). But Jesus the prophet and, true to God’s word, wise be rewarded, even if Jesus does not is drawing our attention to the fact she was rewarded with an abundance. mention this. She demonstrated a love that it is the duty of God’s representa- The clarity of the widow of of God and love of neighbor by giving tives to serve those in need. The issue Zarephath giving all to God and being all she had to the Temple treasury. By for Christians today is to ask not only rewarded with abundance is, however, doing so, she has acted on her belief how we might model the widow’s gen- muddied in the Gospel account of an- that God will care for her and that erosity to God but how we can imitate she will rely on her neighbors to make God’s generosity toward the widow God’s care for her known in her life. and those like her who have given all JOHN W. MARTENS is a professor of theology at the University of St. Thomas, St. Paul, Minn. The second is that this is an instance to God’s service. Twitter: @BibleJunkies. of how “widows’ houses” are devoured JOHN W. MARTENS

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