THE NATIONAL CATHOLIC WEEKLY NOV. 15, 2010 $3.50

Dorothy Da y in Love ROBERT ELLSBERG Revisiting the McBride Case KEVIN O’ROURKE OF MANY THINGS

PUBLISHED BY JESUITS OF THE UNITED STATES ith another milestone tion was closed for the day. We could birthday fast approaching, see the trunk through the window, EDITOR IN CHIEF Drew Christiansen, S.J. I find myself waxing nos - there in the middle of the room. No Wtalgic these days. This is especially so problem: there was another family EDITORIAL DEPARTMENT during the month of November, one of whom we knew well, and they gracious - MANAGING EDITOR my favorites—except for the part about ly loaned us apparel for that evening. Robert C. Collins, S.J. raking leaves—a time to recall and Our home had only one television, EDITORIAL DIRECTOR honor the memory of the souls and but (miraculously) we seldom argued Karen Sue Smith saints who have gone before us. And over viewing choices. My parents ONLINE EDITOR above all, as we are reminded at gather - instilled in us the importance of shar - Maurice Timothy Reidy ings on Thanksgiving Day, it is the sea - ing. Every Tuesday evening, however, CULTURE EDITOR son for expressing gratitude, recognizing the program choice was clear: “Life Is James Martin, S.J. and appreciating our treasures, what we Worth Living,” with Bishop Fulton J. LITERARY EDITOR have, the favors we have received during Sheen. My father was a deeply religious Patricia A. Kossmann our lifetime. man and never missed seeing “Uncle POETRY EDITOR Most especially we remember family Fultie.” But he never insisted that the James S. Torrens, S.J. and friends, without whom our lives kids watch with him. The booming ASSOCIATE EDITORS might well have taken a different turn. voice and stirring words emanating George M. Anderson, S.J. And then there are traditions, both from the television set were enough to Kevin Clarke large and small. I remember on the eve bring us into the living room, where we Kerry Weber of the feast of St. Nicholas every year too got caught up in the cape! Raymond A. Schroth, S.J. how the four Kossmann kids hung Looking back over the years, I realize ART DIRECTOR socks over the fireplace for good St. the enormous sacrifices both my par - Stephanie Ratcliffe Nick’s treats; I always snatched one of ents made for our family in so many ASSISTANT EDITOR my father’s socks from his drawer—it areas. My mother was a stay-at-home Francis W. Turnbull, S.J. was larger and longer than my own. But mom. My father was an attorney in pri - ASSISTANT LITERARY EDITOR that didn’t matter: there were never vate practice, so income fluctuated from Regina Nigro favorites in our family. week to week. No matter what she was As for birthdays, the person of honor given, my mother was a budget balancer BUSINESS DEPARTMENT got to choose what kind of cake he or par excellence. Even in lean times, Pop PUBLISHER she wanted, which was shared with as made sure we had gifts under the Jan Attridge many friends as our basement could Christmas tree; sometimes I could see a CHIEF FINANCIAL OFFICER hold. Ours was a home with wide open small tear well up in his eye; no doubt Lisa Pope doors and wider hearts (in the persons he was offering thanks and praise to the ADVERTISING of Mom and Pop). In addition to gifting Lord for making it all possible. Julia Sosa the honoree, of course, my parents had a Our home, too, was blessed with the small gift for all the siblings. It may have gift of laughter. And music. Early on, 106 West 56th Street New York, NY 10019-3803 been just a rubber high bouncer, a color - my Irish great-aunt played the concerti - ing book, a paddle or some other small na, my oldest brother the accordion, my Ph: 212-581-4640; Fax: 212-399-3596 item, but each of us received something. father the wooden “clappers.” Later E-mail: [email protected]; (After all, kids don’t like being left out.) came the guitar and organ. But then [email protected] Web site: www.americamagazine.org. And then there was the annual fami - those in-home concerts during large Customer Service: 1-800-627-9533 ly vacation at a place called Brandt’s family gatherings—Thanksgiving Day, © 2010 America Press, Inc. Pleasant View in the Catskill for one—were missing a member. My Mountains. My mother packed for an father passed away in 1964 and the army (the girls wore starched dresses to younger of my two brothers in 1992. dinner every night), and a huge trunk But the beat goes on…and on. was shipped upstate a few days before That’s because we hold on to our mem - our arrival. One year we arrived late (I ories, we re-live them, we cherish them. Cover: Dorothy Day outside her bun - galow in Staten Island, N.Y., in 1925. can’t remember why), and the Railway And because blessings are forever. Photo: Marquette University Express Agency at the local train sta - PATRICIA A. KOSSMANN Archives. CONTENTS www.americamagazine.org Vol. 203 No. 14, Whole No. 4912 NoVember 15, 2010

ARTICLES 11 FROM INTUITION TO MORAL PRINCIPLE Examining the case of Sister Mary McBride in light of church tradition Kevin O’Rourke

COLUMNS & DEPARTMENTS 4 Current Comment

5 Commentary Two-People, One State 11 6 Signs of the Times 9 Column Poor Decisions Thomas Massaro

15 Faith in Focus Sisters in Faith Kaya Oakes

22 Poem A Leper on Molokai, 1880 Joseph Soldati 28 Letters

31 The Word Royal Forgiveness Barbara E. Reid

15 BOOKS & CULTURE 18 IDEAS The love letters of Dorothy Day BOOKS A Journey; The Amish Way; The Pope’s Maestro

ON THE WEB ON THE WEB Leo J. ODonovan, S.J., reviews “The World of Khubilai Khan” at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, and Sir Gilbert Levine dis - cusses his book The Pope's Maestro. Plus, Tim Reidy reviews the film “127 Hours.” All at americamagazine.org. 18 CURRENT COMMENT

cizing the government. He began his final hunger strike in Homeless Soldiers February after the death by starvation of his fellow dissi - Homelessness is an enduring scourge of the veteran com - dent Mr. Tamayo. But after collapsing in March, Farinas munity. The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs esti - was removed to a hospital, where he accepted intravenous mates that over 200,000 veterans spend at least part of the feeding that saved his life. He ended his hunger strike in year living on the street. Lack of a residence addres has July, when the Cuban government released dozens of polit - exacerbated the unemployment rate among veterans, which ical prisoners. Most fled to Spain. Their release was largely is now close to 20 percent. The majority of homeless veter - due to three-way talks between Havana’s Cardinal Jaime ans served in Vietnam, but the number of former soldiers Ortega, Cuba’s president Raul Castro and the Spanish for - from Iraq and Afghanistan is growing at a steady rate and eign minister, Miguel Moratinos. On ending his hunger is now close to 9,000, according to one estimate. Of all strike, Farinas commented, “I think the situation in Cuba homeless veterans, 7,000 are women, a reflection of the has changed...because the pro-democracy movement has growing number of female soldiers. fought for the freedom of political prisoners.” But with The V.A. has pledged $500 million to help eliminate some 190 dissidents still in jail, real freedom in Cuba homelessness among veterans within five years. It is an remains an unrealized goal. ambitious goal at a time when the problems facing return - ing veterans are quickly multiplying. Veterans of today’s Deepwater Clean-Up wars are hitting the streets much sooner than their coun - The oil spilling into the waters of the Gulf Coast terparts from the Vietnam War. (It took close to 10 years because of the Deepwater Horizon explosion was an for observers to recognize the problem among Vietnam inescapable presence in the national consciousness last vets.) The reasons are wretchedly familiar: addiction and summer. And then, suddenly, it disappeared—from the post-traumatic stress disorder wreak havoc in many veter - 24-hour news cycle and, supposedly, from the waters as ans’ lives. The frequent redeployments of soldiers to Iraq well. The federal climate czar, Carol Browner, even and Afghanistan have also played a large role. Adapting to announced that “the vast majority” of the oil was gone. A home life can be daunting when the specter of additional closer look at the situation has made it clear that—sur - service hangs in the air. prise!—4.9 million barrels of oil (at least) do not just The proposed infusion of government funds will pro - disappear overnight. vide much-needed services for all veterans. Yet the nation’s Oil continues to wash up along 576 miles of the Gulf obligation to the troops cannot end there. The decision to Coast. Greenpeace scientists have found oil 3,200 feet wage war must weigh the long-term burden it places on below the surface of the Gulf Coast waters, and they soldiers, both on and off the battlefield. The lessons of believe that the oil also has contaminated sediments from Vietnam have yet to be learned. For how long will the vet - the ocean floor and affected oxygen levels in the water. erans of Iraq and Afghanistan walk our streets, like their As part of its Operation Deep Clean, British Petroleum Vietnam brothers, faceless and ignored? is digging deep into the sand to extract tar balls; BP must move quickly, but the company also must take a closer look Rights Prize for Cuban at the long-term effects of its efforts to restore the land and The European Parliament has again awarded its Sakharov waters. Prize for Freedom of Thought to a Cuban dissident, BP’s next stage of clean-up must be more deliberate and Guillermo Farinas. He learned of the award in late thorough than its earlier efforts. Then the company spread October and is the third Cuban to receive it. Previous hon - dispersants to break up and sink the oil, despite the fact orees there have been Orlando Zapata Tamayo, who died that these substances contain compounds known to cause in prison in February, and the women’s group Damas de cancer, genetic mutations and harm to the growth of Blanco, who protested in 2003 against relatives’ imprison - embryos. Many Gulf Coast residents are now facing major ment. Begun in 1988, the worldwide prize is named after health issues, including respiratory problems and internal the late Soviet dissident Andrei Sakharov. hemorrhaging; and chemicals present in crude oil have A psychologist and journalist, Farinas spent 11 years even been found in the blood of clean-up workers. The behind bars, participating in two dozen hunger strikes on story of the damage caused by the oil is not over. It is just behalf of others who, like himself, had been jailed for criti - beginning.

4 America November 15, 2010 COMMENTARY Two Peoples, One State

hat began in September as hope for a two-state group a legal right in modern solution between Israel and Palestine has fiz - international law to a particular Wzled. Palestinians will not negotiate while Israel territory. builds settlements on the West Bank and in East Jerusalem, Once there was a which in international law are occupied territory; Israel will “Christian Europe.” But today’s great Western cities— not extend the “moratorium” on construction, during which London, New York, Paris, Geneva—teem with Christians, Israel continued to build settlements and segregated high - Jews, Muslims, Hindus: people of every land and color. ways and to demolish Palestinian homes. Israel’s self-definition as a one-religion state sealed off by a The United States offered Israel concessions to renew 28-foot-high wall, a network of settlements and segregated the moratorium, but Mr. Netanyahu proposed a law highways, projects an image that is disturbing to many, demanding that all would-be Israeli citizens, including including younger generations of American Jews alienated Israeli Arabs (20 percent of Israel’s population), swear alle - by Israel’s policies. Palestine has always had a multi-ethnic giance to Israel specifically as a Jewish state—in effect, a identity; and early Zionists, including Hannah Arendt and forced commitment to beliefs they do not hold. Now Martin Buber, saw Palestine as a spiritual center promoting Palestinians should consider alternatives. Should they uni - Jewish culture, not as a nation state. laterally declare themselves a state and ask for U.S./U.N. A plan for a single-state solution might include the recognition? Merge with Jordan? As the situation deterio - following: (1) With Belgium and Switzerland as models, a rates, it is time for new ideas. new constitution would set up either a binational state or Hostility throughout the Arab world and within one unified with a one-person-one-vote structure. (2) With Israel mounts. Even if the West Bank and Gaza were to its combined army and police forces, the more secure state become a state, settlers already in place would refuse to of Israel-Palestine would join the North Atlantic Treaty budge. As Hanan Ashrawi, a representative of the Palestine Organization. (3) A law of return would apply in some way Liberation Organization, said to The Washington Post, to both Jews and Arabs. (4) A new school curriculum would “How can you have a two-state solution if you are eating up teach accurate history to both peoples. (5) A truth and rec - the land of the other state?” onciliation commission would be set up. Many Israelis, particularly in Tel Aviv, distracted by Look at the map. Erase the lines setting off the West prosperity, seem not to realize that within a few years an Bank and Gaza; imagine highways connecting the whole Arab majority will emerge and “Greater Israel” (Israel, West territory with Jerusalem, the shared capital. Every citizen Bank and Gaza) will not be Jewish. If Arabs are not given has the same right to vote, the same access to water, land, full citizenship rights, Israel will not be a democracy either. education, marriage, health care, employment, property, and In this context, Israel must choose. It must either: (a) freedom of speech and religion. Walls disappear. dismantle the settlements and return to the 1967 borders; Settlements may remain, but Palestinians will build beside (b) try to remain in the occupied territory as a ruling minor - them. An emerging leadership class will shepherd Israel- ity, which is in effect apartheid; or (c) drive out the Arab Palestine into a peaceful future. The Jews are a gifted, ener - population, which would be ethnic cleansing. getic people. Even if in the future they become a numerical But Israelis might also consider an alternative, one minority in Israel-Palestine, they will still demonstrate lead - with roots in history and recently developed by Jewish, ership in the new Promised Land. American and Palestinian intellectuals: a one-state solution. About 25 years ago, when I was swimming in the Dead A nation state built around one religion might have Sea, two young men who saw my camera asked me to take worked in the unique, post-Holocaust context of the years their picture. As I wrote down their address to send them the after World War II; but today Israelis must ask, Has the idea shot, I couldn’t help asking, “Are you Israelis or Arabs?” of an ethnic state become an anachronism? Furthermore, a They replied: “What difference does it make? We are pre-historical promise to Abraham of a land for his descen - all brothers.” Where are they now? dants does not give any 21st-century ethnic or religious RAYMOND A. SCHROTH, S.J.

November 15, 2010 America 5 SIGNS OF THE TIMES

IRAQ Mayhem in Baghdad; No Change in U.S. Policies aghdad residents were still trying to make sense out of an orgy of violence at the city’s Syriac Catholic cathedral of B Our Lady of Salvation, when just 48 hours later mortar attacks and bombings again rocked the nation’s capital. In the church attack on Oct. 31, 78 were wounded and 58 killed, includ - ing two priests and women and children A spokesperson for the U.S. Department of Defense said that 18 explosions were report - ed during a 45-minute period on the night of Nov. 2, mostly in Baghdad’s Shiite neighborhoods. The latest reports count at least 64 dead and 360 wounded. The spokesperson said, “There was a chaotic period last night, but the situation calmed down by mid - night and the Iraqi Security Forces have control of the city. Reports of police abandoning their posts or widespread chaos are false.” The bloody resurrection of violence in Baghdad has so far not Mourners carry coffins during a funeral at the Syriac Catholic cathedral in Baghdad on Nov. 2. been enough to move the U.S. Operation New Dawn force in Iraq to consider emergency adjustments to its current deployment or its long-term schedule for withdrawal from Iraq. “The attack on the church troops by the end of 2011 in a respon - see sectarian retribution. Violent was tragic, and our deepest sympathies sible manner. That is a legally binding extremists are still intent on conduct - are with those who lost loved ones,” agreement between our governments.” ing high-profile attacks but do not the defense spokesperson said. But “in He added, “Despite recent attacks, have a strategic impact. accordance with the Security the important thing to recognize is “The U.S. has drawn down, but we Framework Agreement we signed with that [overall violence has] been on a have not disengaged,” he added. “Iraq Iraq, we will withdraw all of our downward trend, and we have yet to is an important strategic partner, and

ARMS CONTROL to the convention and one of the world’s Cluster Ban Quickly Saves Lives leading producers and deployers of clus - ter bombs. Ironically it is also one of the illions of stockpiled cluster rapidly demonstrates the treaty’s effec - world’s most generous funders of efforts submunitions have been tiveness in saving civilian lives, accord - to clean up the lethal materials left Mdestroyed years ahead of ing to Cluster Munition Monitor 2010, behind. The United States has been the deadlines mandated by the Convention a report released on Nov. 1. “There is largest contributor to clearing cluster on Cluster Munitions—a treaty ban - real momentum behind the ban on munitions in Laos, for example, where it ning the weapon that went into force in cluster munitions,” said Steve Goose of dropped more than 270 million subm u- August. Seven states that have joined Human Rights Watch, a contributing nitions between 1964 and 1973. the convention have already completely editor to the report. The United States has shown little demolished their stockpiles of cluster But one holdout is significant interest in multilateral efforts to ban munitions, destroying more than 13.8 enough to dampen any long-term suc - cluster bomb munitions and is a major million submunitions contained in cess of the drive to rid the globe of clus - supplier of such weapons to Israel, 176,000 cluster munitions. ter munitions. The United States which put them to use in Lebanon in That this milestone was reached so remains one of the nonsignatory states 2006, where unexploded “bomblets”

6 America November 15, 2010 Joseph III Younan, said that the secu - United States. Since 2007 the State rity being provided at Christian places Department has admitted altogether of worship by Iraqi forces is “far less only 53,689 Iraqis into the United than what we have hoped for and States. Of that four-year total only requested.” He added, “Christians are 22,729 Christians of all denomina - slaughtered in Iraq, in their homes and tions have cleared State Department churches, and the so-called ‘free’ world and Homeland Security Department is watching in complete indifference, hurdles and been admitted to the interested only in responding in a way United States. That total includes only that is politically correct and economi - 171 listed as Chaldean Catholics and cally opportune, but in reality is hypo - 6,017 as Catholic; 1,579 were critical.” described as Orthodox. Asked if the upsurge in violence In a statement on Nov. 2, Cardinal might encourage the State Francis George of Chicago, president Department to accelerate its efforts to of the United States Conference of resettle Iraqi Christians, thousands of Catholic Bishops, said that while the whom wait in Amman, Jordan, for an U.S. bishops welcomed the end of opportunity to be relocated to the U.S. military operations in Iraq, “we United States and Europe, Leslie share the Iraqi bishops’ concern that Phillips, a spokesperson for the State the United States failed to help Iraqis Department said, “I’m not aware of in finding the political will and con - any plans to change the number of crete ways needed to protect the lives refugees brought to the United States of all citizens, especially Christians we are committed to a long-term from Iraq.” She added, “Obviously we and other vulnerable minorities, and to partnership. The [Iraqi Security continue to be concerned about reli - ensure that refugees and displaced per - Force] is very capable, and we still gious freedom in Iraq and the protec - sons are able to return to their homes have a strong security presence to tion of all its minorities.” safely. Having invaded Iraq, the U.S. support them.” In each of the last two years a little government has a moral obligation not Responding to the violence, the more than 18,000 Iraqis have been to abandon those Iraqis who cannot Syriac Catholic patriarch, Ignace accepted for resettlement in the defend themselves.” remain a significant menace. The signatory states to end use, production just two states, Laos and Lebanon. United States was not expected to par - and transfer of cluster munitions, ticipate in a cluster munitions confer - destroy stockpiled cluster munitions ence held from Nov. 9 to 12 in Laos. within eight years of joining the con - Other convention holdouts and pro - vention, clear land contaminated by ducers of cluster ordnance include cluster munitions within 10 years and China, India, Pakistan, Israel and assist the victims of these weapons. Russia. Among the 108 countries that have Cluster bombs open when deployed, signed the convention are 38 former releasing hundreds of lethal anti-per - users, producers, exporters or stockpil - sonnel “bomblets.” Unfortunately, long ers of the weapon. after hostilities cease thousands of Cluster munition contamination unexploded bomblets remain scattered remains in at least 23 states and three behind, which can maim or kill farmers, disputed areas. In 2009, there were 100 Members of an all-woman battle area children and livestock years, even new confirmed cluster munition casual - clearance team search for cluster decades later. The convention obliges ties. Half of these casualties occurred in bomblets in a field in south Lebanon.

November 15, 2010 America 7 SIGNS OF THE TIMES

Fewer Interfaith Catholic Marriages NEWS BRIEFS Religiously mixed marriages are Noting that more than a third of registered Irish births becoming more common among those occurred outside marriage in the first three months of who practice Reform Judaism but have 2010, Patricia Casey, a professor of psychiatry at shown a significant decline among University College Dublin, called for a national debate American Catholics in the past 20 on the benefits of raising children in a married setting. years, speakers at the semiannual con - • Though supporters of the initiative could not cite a sultation of the U.S. Conference of single case of Shariah law being used in Oklahoma, vot - Catholic Bishops and the National Thomas P. ers there approved a ballot measure on Nov. 2 that Gaunt, S.J. Council of Synagogues said. Forty-six blocks judges from considering Islamic or internation - percent of married Reform Jews have al law when making a ruling. • Thomas P. Gaunt, S.J. , executive sec - spouses who identify themselves as retary for the Jesuit Conference in Washington since 2001, was named having another faith, while 26 percent executive director of the Center for Applied Research in the of Catholic marriages involve partners Apostolate at Georgetown University on Oct. 27. • A group of sur - who are not Catholic. The consulta - vivors of sexual abuse were prevented from observing a moment of tion, chaired by Archbishop Timothy silence in St. Peter’s Square by Italian police on Oct. 31, but their rep - M. Dolan of New York and Rabbi resentatives were allowed to leave letters for Pope Benedict XVI. Alvin Berkun, president of the • Israeli legislation proposing that community boards be allowed to (Conservative) Rabbinical Assembly, reject new residents who do not suit “cultural and social perspectives” took place on Oct. 19 in New York. provoked a walkout of the Knesset’s Arab members on Oct. 27. “Whereas 30 years ago a Christian- Jewish couple might have approached a rabbi with embarrassment about their intentions to marry, today they’re obstacles. Southerners have accused Indonesia to mount multiple efforts asking about spirituality programs in the northerners of stalling and warned to provide emergency services to vic - which the both of them can feel com - of violence if the referendum is tims. The disasters—a magnitude 7.7 fortable,” said Rabbi Charles Kroloff, delayed. The U.S. special envoy to undersea earthquake on Oct. 25, who chaired a task force on intermar - Sudan, Scott Gration, told reporters: which triggered a tsunami that riage for the Central Conference of “We are committed to on-time refer - swamped coastal villages in the Reform Rabbis. enda in both Abyei and in southern remote Mentawai Islands, and the Sudan. And it is really up to the par - eruption of a volcano on Java begin - U.S.: Sudan Must Vote ties to take the decisions and to take ning on Oct. 26—claimed more than The U.S. State Department made it the actions that will make this a reali - 400 lives and displaced thousands. clear that it wants the independence ty.” The Sudanese government and Authorities reported at least 400 peo - vote in south Sudan set for January leaders of former rebel groups have yet ple remained missing as of Oct. 29, 2011 to be held as scheduled, despite to agree on contentious post-referen - four days after 10-foot waves washed talks by northern officials about a dum arrangements for south Sudan, away homes and other structures up postponement and a fresh push by including issues of border demarca - to 2,000 feet inland. “Entire villages Egypt for the same. The referendums tion, wealth sharing, water and nation - were swept away,” said Silvano in southern Sudan and the oil-rich al debt. Zulian, a Xaverian priest who lives in region of Abyei were a centerpiece of the Mentawai Islands. Local priests and women religious were among the an accord in 2005 that ended two Death Toll Mounts decades of civil war, in which about first to reach the affected communi - two million people died. Preparations In Double Disasters ties. for the key votes have proceeded halt - A double dose of natural disasters led ingly amid political and logistical Catholic agencies working in From CNS and other sources.

8 America November 15, 2010 THOMAS MASSARO

Bad Judgment y desire to offer some post- made an egregious gaffe. When asked Citizens United v. Federal Election election commentary has to name a recent Supreme Court deci - Commission, which overturned many Mbeen thwarted by bad tim - sion with which she disagreed, previous restraints on political adver - ing. My submission deadline falls just O’Donnell inexplicably drew a com - tisements. This raises fears that corpo - before the Nov. 2 voting. Possessing plete blank. Obviously flustered, she rations and special-interest groups can neither crystal ball nor much confi - promised to post on her Web site right bankroll a range of political activities dence in pre-election polling data, I away her answer to that question. with little regulation or transparency. will have to settle for something other Now we all live in dread of being Foreign donors seeking to influence than detailed analysis of the mid-term flummoxed by “gotcha” questions like American politics are freer than ever election results. I will take the long this. I have been there myself, unable to engage in stealth spending. view regarding a perennial concern to recall a single title of a favorite novel The other disastrous ruling was in within U.S. politics. when a live radio interview - the case Holder v. One of the most closely watched er was making small talk The Humanitarian Law Senate races this season unfolded in with me on air some years Project. That decision, Delaware. The Democrats nominated ago. I even tell my students Supreme on June 21, defined all New Castle County Executive Chris facing job interviews to contact with any of the Coons (full disclosure: I was once on a keep on the tip of the Court has a hundreds of groups college debating team with him). His tongue answers to casual way of classified by the State Republican opponent was the Tea questions like “Who is your Department as terrorist Party-supported consultant Christine favorite theologian?” or trumping organizations as consti - O’Donnell. Luckily, the campaign “What is the best Catholic electoral tuting material support soon moved on past O’Donnell’s dab - weekly magazine in the for enemies of the bling in witchcraft to more substantial United States?” politics. United States. Main- topics. By the time you read taining such a broad For those outside Delaware, the pri - this, Christine O’Donnell is either a interpretation of material support pre - mary opportunity to assess the candi - Senator-elect or is looking for work. I cludes constructive initiatives like the dates was the CNN broadcast of a nevertheless wish to offer her some creative Track II diplomacy, which has debate on Oct. 13 (interrupted, to the advice on this aspect of campaign led to peace settlements in Northern dismay of few, by breaking news of the debate preparation. Ireland and elsewhere. rescue of 33 Chilean miners). If you favor a broad interpretation While both decisions cite lofty As surely as Nascar enthusiasts of the word recent , then consider citing principles (free speech, national securi - secretly yearn for multi-car pileups, Plessy v. Ferguson, the 1896 case that ty), I predict that the effects of these people watch candidates’ debates to cemented the principle of “separate but two rulings will be intolerable. While gawk at gaffes. After this debate the equal” into U.S. law for generations. people of good will might well dis - moderator, Wolf Blitzer, opined that Or go with Roe v. Wade, the horrific agree, I am convinced that each will O’Donnell must be judged the winner 1973 decision that allowed legal abor - seriously damage the common good. simply because she made no major tion in all states. O’Donnell’s public Supreme Court decisions have a missteps, a solid accomplishment for a record attests to her opposition to that way of trumping electoral politics and less experienced candidate like her. Supreme Court blunder. reshaping the structure of the entire I strongly disagree with Blitzer’s If the word recent means only this political system. A bad ruling may tilt assessment. The candidate in fact year, there are still many decisions the playing field in ways antithetical to from which to choose. I would identi - democracy. Every candidate should be fy two that are particularly objection - poised to identify and oppose decisions THOMAS MASSARO, S.J., teaches social ethics at the Boston College School of Theology able. In January the court reached a with harmful effects that will last long and Ministry, Chestnut Hill, Mass. much criticized decision in the case beyond a given election cycle.

November 15, 2010 America 9 St. Thomas Aquinas, O.P. (1225-74) EXAMINING THE PHOENIX CASE IN LIGHT OF CHURCH TRADITION Fro m In tuition to Moral P rinciple

BY KEVIN O’ROURKE

he excommunication in March of Sister Mary Margaret McBride for having participated in a decision to terminate a pregnancy threaten - ing the life of the mother has precipitated widespread discussion on the morality of her action. (Sister McBride, a member of the Sisters of Mercy, was vice president of St. Joseph Catholic Hospital in Phoenix, TAriz.) The discussion has been reflected in America articles, letters to the editor and in the media at large. In the following article, Kevin O’Rourke, O.P., continues a dis - cussion he began in “Complications” (Am., 8/2/10). —The Editors

Shortly after the case of Sr. Margaret Mary McBride became news, the Committee on Doctrine of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops issued a statement concerning abortion. The statement was occasioned by the Phoenix case (see sidebar, p. 12) but did not declare that a direct abortion had been per - formed and said nothing concerning the canonical penalty of excommunication. The statement did reaffirm the traditional Catholic teaching that “nothing can justify a direct abortion.” The purpose of this article is not to comment on the facts or decisions of the people involved in the Phoenix case, but rather to inves - tigate whether there is a foundation for determining that termination of a preg - nancy in such circumstances is an indirect abortion rather than a direct abortion. Since the Phoenix case became public, I have asked scores of people involved in Catholic health care—doctors, nurses and hospital administrators—whether they would approve terminating the pregnancy of a nonviable infant if a compe - tent medical team stated that “both mother and child will die unless the preg - C e nancy is terminated, but the mother will live if the pregnancy is terminated.” As h C e i

W far as I could judge, the people questioned did not approve of abortion. Without y C

N hesitation, however, all said they would approve the procedure in order to save the a N / S life of the mother. One veteran nurse practitioner said, “That wouldn’t be an N C

: o abortion.” An experienced administrator said, “Would you expect me to just sit t o h p there and let the mother die?” The responses were spontaneous, with no one ask -

KEVIN O’ROURKE, O.P., is a professor of bioethics at the Neiswanger Insititute of Bioethics and Public Policy, Stritch School of Medicine, at Loyola University Chicago.

May 10, 2010 America 11 ing for time to make a moral analysis. It seems there is an and thus ruled out transplants based on the principle of intuition that such an action would not be morally forbid - totality. den, would not be a direct abortion. In 1956, however, Gerald Kelly, S.J., a pioneer in the field of bioethics, stated “that it came as a surprise to physicians Intuition as a Moral Instrument that theologians should have difficulty with procedures Intuition, when it is the apprehension of a particular good which are performed with the purpose of helping others.” by an informed conscience, is a legitimate source of a justi - Kelly maintained: “By a sort of instinctive judgment we con - fied moral decision. Christians believe such intuitions are sider that the giving of a part of one’s body to help a sick often the result of virtue and the influence of the Holy person is morally justifiable.” Following this intuition, Kelly Spirit. Indeed, it seems that many of the good actions peo - and other theologians searched for a principle that would ple perform are the result of intuition, typically defined as a support transplantation of organs between living people. subconscious way of knowing. Some philosophers claim They realized that the principle of charity, in this case a this is the only source of moral action. In the Catholic tra - desire to help other people prolong their lives or at least live dition, however, intuition alone is not a sufficient explana - with fewer complications, would justify the transplants if tion of moral probity. Intuition must be supported by prin - functional integrity of the donor’s body were maintained. ciple in order to provide a firm basis for moral action and Functional integrity, as opposed to anatomical integrity, application to similar cases. allows continued homeostasis of the body, even though an In the history of Catholic moral theology, there is a organ is missing. For example, one kidney from a donor famous case in which intuition led Catholic theologians to could be transplanted to another person, provided the approve transplants of organs from one living person to donor’s remaining kidney continued to function. The prin - another. When transplants between living persons first ciple of charity is the basis for the Holy See’s encouragement seemed possible 60 years ago, some Catholic theologians did over the years of the gift of life-prolonging transplants from not approve of such transplants. They maintained that the one living person to another. principle of totality, typically used as the basis for such transplants, allowed one to remove an organ to preserve What if Both Mother and Child Will Die? one’s own life but not the life or well-being of another. A There seems to be an intuition that terminating a pregnan - statement of Pope Pius XII confirmed this interpretation cy that exacerbates pulmonary tension to such an extent

THE PHOENIX CASE: A SUMMARY In the fall of 2009, woman patient 10 weeks pregnant was immediate effect of the diagnosed with severe pulmonary arterial hypertension. procedure is termina - Pulmonary hypertension impairs the function of the tion of a pregnancy heart and is exacerbated during pregnancy by increased before viability.” Think- hormonal activity of the placenta. In this case the medical ing that both mother records state that the mother had right heart failure and and infant would die if carcinogenic shock. The medical team caring for the nothing were done, woman informed her and the ethics committee of the Sister Mary Margaret hospital that both the mother and the child would prob - McBride, speaking for ably die unless the infant were taken from the mother’s the ethics committee, womb. The mother originally did not wish to lose the gave permission to the infant but consented to the surgery when she heard the medical team to termi - pregnancy was life-threatening. nate the pregnancy. The ethical code for Catholic hospitals allows the early Within a few months Bishop Thomas J. Olmsted of delivery of a viable infant for a proportionate reason. At Phoenix, after learning that this procedure had been per - 10 weeks, the infant is far from viable. The code also formed in the Catholic hospital, interviewed the chief allows an indirect abortion, that is, when the direct effect executive officer of the hospital and Sister McBride, who of a procedure is the cure of a serious pathological condi - had given permission for the surgery that terminated the tion, for example removal of a cancerous uterus, and the pregnancy. The bishop declared that the sister had infant dies as a result of the procedure. The code does not incurred an excommunication because she had cooperat - allow a direct abortion, however, in which “the sole and ed in procuring a direct abortion.

12 America November 15, 2010 that both mother and child will die unless action is taken to remove the source of danger would result in an indirect rather than a direct abortion. Is there a moral principle to support this intuition? The eminent Catholic philosopher Germain Grisez has written that in some circumstances what seems to be a direct abortion may be performed if both mother and infant would die if nothing is done. In The Way of the Lord Jesus, Grisez lists four conditions that would justify removing a nonviable infant from the womb: 1) some pathology threat - ens the lives of both a pregnant woman and her child; 2) it is not safe to wait, for waiting will result in the death of both; 3) there is no way to save the child; 4) an operation that can save the mother’s life will result in the child’s death. Grisez uses as an example of a licit application of these con - ditions the case of craniotomy: “In such cases the baby’s 100 % death need not be included in the proposal to remove the OF PROCEEDS child with an oversized head from the birth canal. The baby FROM CARD SALES cannot remain where it is without ending in both the moth - er’s and the baby’s death.” BENEFITS POOR AND While Grisez’s opinion is not without merit, it does not ISOLATED seem to have carried the day. It has not been cited widely in CATHOLIC COMMUNITIES papal statements or standard textbooks as an example of THROUGHOUT indirect abortion. Perhaps it is because the example he con - AMERICA siders when applying the four principles, a craniotomy, does not occur frequently in the United States. Advanced imag - ing and caesarian-section deliveries enable physicians to cir - cumvent the danger that might occur if the infant has an oversized head. At any rate, Grisez’s opinion cannot be rejected out of hand.

Fetal Death and Self-Defense Another principle, perhaps more helpful in justifying the intuition in question, is that of self-defense. In his Summa Theologiae, Thomas Aquinas justifies the act of self-defense and in so doing explains the conditions that are the basis for the principle of double effect. (It seems Aquinas conceived of self-defense as an application of the principle we now call double effect.) Over the centuries a more explicit set of norms for this principle has been developed, but Thomas presented the essentials. When considering self-defense, he points out that one act may have two effects, one of which is intended and the other not. The intended effect is the preservation of life or well-being of a person in danger of attack; the unintended effect is the harm, even death, that is inflicted upon the person threatening grave harm. Aquinas adds that moral acts take their specific character from what is intended; the unintended effect is accidental and does not determine the morality of the act. Such acts of self-defense are morally acceptable because it is natural to keep oneself in being (alive). | | In moral reasoning the person threatening serious harm

November 15, 2010 America 13 to another is often called “an unjust aggressor.” Is it possible it would be better to concentrate on the pathology as the to consider an infant in the womb as an unjust aggressor in aggressor rather than to consider the infant as an unjust regard to the mother? Ordinarily no. But usually pregnancy aggressor. is not an illness; with proper neonatal care, pregnancy is not If the cause of the harmful activity were localized in the life-threatening. But in the Phoenix case the effect of the placenta, the removal of the placenta could be a means of pregnancy upon the mother is not “ordinary.” The activity of overcoming the danger to the woman. In the present day, of the placenta threatens the mother’s life. course, removal of the placenta also causes the death of the Elsewhere in the Summa, Aquinas maintains that in infant. some situations, factors that are usually circumstances of an Finally, invoking the principle of self-defense is not a case act are no longer accidental. They become the principal con - of using an evil means to procure a good end, as prohibited dition of the moral object. In the case in by the statement from the U.S. Phoenix, the moral object no longer envi - ON THE WEB Conference of Catholic Bishops’ doctri - sions a problem-free pregnancy but one An archive of articles nal committee. In the act of self-defense, that seriously endangers the life of the on bioethical questions. there is one human act, one moral object. mother. Something that in most cases of americamagazine.org/pages True, the act has two effects; but there is pregnancy is a circumstance, namely the only one intention. That intention is activity of the placenta, has become an essential element of morally good: the prolongation of the mother’s life. The act the moral object. of self-defense, as Aquinas explains, is a good, moral act. Considering an infant who cannot reason to be an unjust Avoiding personal harm becomes the principal condition of aggressor seems to be an overstatement, but there is no the act and thus specifies the human act in question. thought that in analyzing the act of self-defense the aggres - As a result of this discussion it seems there is sufficient sor must be rational. An irrational person or force of nature moral argumentation to support the intuition voiced at the (a disease, for example) that attacks a person may still be beginning of this article. In cases similar to the Phoenix resisted. The moral act in self-defense does not depend case, it seems reasonable to maintain that only an indirect upon the personal qualities of the cause of danger. Perhaps abortion is involved. A

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14 America November 15, 2010 FAITH IN FOCUS Sisters in Faith Finding renewal—and a dose of irreverence—in a women’s prayer group BY KAYA OAKES

or months after I completed the our short conversations. She asked if greater commitment to helping others. Rite of Christian Initiation of I’d like to join her prayer group—a Often we talk about our problems Adults in my parish, I would once-a-month gathering of a few like- with the big-C church. It’s not “blas - F minded Catholic women. “We pray phemy and a nice cup of tea,” but it is a often crane my head around during Mass, looking for the 15 or so other together,” she wrote, “and complain chance to hash out frustrations we feel candidates who had as lay people, and partic - become fully initiated ularly as lay women, in a Catholics along with me church that too often at Easter. But somehow fails to include our voic - they had all vanished. As es. My own decision to a returning Catholic come back to the church who had come bearing a was one fraught with dif - lot of doubts and ques - ficulties about the patri - tions after a 20-plus year archal structure of ramble through the Catholicism and the fields of punk rock and backpedaling from the Berkeley politics, I was reforms of the Second hungry for spiritual Vatican Council. I feared community, but I never that the church was cul - quite found it in the tivating a culture of RCIA. With five differ - secrecy. The priests and ent Sunday services to nuns I met shared some choose from, perhaps my of these doubts and con - class partners were just scattered about the church.” It took me about cerns, but here is the funny thing: they among them. A priest told me, “God five seconds to reply, “How soon can believed anyway. So do my friends. will know when to send you compan - we meet?” Catholicism at its best allows us to ions.” While he had been right about The prayer ladies may be a little think critically, to examine things from everything else so far, I suspected he irreverent, but they are also the best multiple angles. That is what we do might be wrong about that. Catholics I know. Two are single, one together. Their faith helps me hold on Every week I drifted to Mass in a is married with kids, one has a long - to my own, however tenuous it might bubble until I got an e-mail message time partner, and they are all actively sometimes be. from my confirmation sponsor, who is involved in ministries. From their Our small community harkens a feminist, a liberal and a social justice work—from giving spiritual direction back to the oldest days of the Catholic activist. We had been introduced by to teaching theology to running the Church. When the pastor of our our parish priest and had hit it off in parish monthly dinner for homeless sprawling parish recently asked people guests—they are role models as mod - to give him feedback on what the ern Catholic women, especially to me. parish could do to cultivate communi - KAYA OAKES is the author of Slanted and They are all feminists, and they are all ty, the answer came back clarion clear: Enchanted: The Evolution of Indie m a h

Culture (Henry Holt, 2009), and a poetry liberals in the best sense. We often talk more intimate connection with others, W e N collection, Telegraph (Pavement Saw, about the desire we share for social smaller group gatherings, a chance to y d

2007). She teaches writing at the University of N a m

equality, a solution to poverty in our finally learn the name of the person California, Berkeley and is writing a nonfic - : t r tion book about radical faith. communities, more people to make a you have been sitting behind for 15 a

November 15, 2010 America 15 years. Most of the people who came to that meeting were women, and their desire to forge lasting relationships Focus within the parish came from a very on your future human need: the need to be recog - Partners: John Reid, Tom Reid nized, the need to be heard, the need and Maureen Gallagher to be understood. Prophetic Do you need a dynamic organizational That is what Jesus did for his disci - Planning plan that will enable you to move into the future with confidence? ples, including the women who stood Do you need to find new resources of funding and staffing that will strengthen your organization? at the foot of the cross as he died and the women who went to the tomb Fund Do you need to help your leaders and staff deal with change and Development manage conflicts for a more positive, productive environment? when he rose to live again. At a time when the church often behaves as We can help. though it is combating its own death, Leadership The Reid Group offers services uniquely tailored to the challenges it is not surprising that lay people are Search faced by Catholic dioceses, parishes, colleges and universities, crying out for greater knowledge of religious communities, and professional associations. one another. If Jesus taught us to rec - Call us today ognize God in the poor and the out - Dispute and start transforming your challenges into opportunities. cast, it is up to us to learn to minister Resolution 800-916-3472 / [email protected] / www.TheReidGroup.biz to one another’s spiritual poverty and The Reid Group, 12535 15th Ave. NE, Suite 211, Seattle WA 98125 social rejection. SAMPLE OF PAST CLIENTS: On the evenings when our group Dioceses: Archdiocese of Newark / Diocese of Madison / Archdiocese of Anchorage / Diocese of Scranton | Diocese of San Bernardino Colleges & Universities: Spring Hill College / University of Notre Dame / Canisius College gathers, we learn what parts of our National Organizations: National Association of Catholic Chaplains / National Association for Lay Ministry / Catholic Health Association Religious Communities: Sisters of St. Francis, Joliet, IL / Benedictine Sisters, Erie, PA / Maryknoll Fathers, Brothers & Lay Missioners / Benedictine Sisters of lives require nurturing and healing, Chicago / Sisters of St. Ann, Canada Parishes & Schools: Planning, Team Building & Spirituality sessions with parishes and schools in Washington, California, Wisconsin, Florida, Arizona and Ohio then we read a short Scripture passage or prayer. We talk about whom we want to hold in prayer that evening, and we meditate together. It is in that time of silence that I most often sense Graduate the spiritual bond these women have cultivated for more than a decade. A Religious Education Poor Clare nun I met last year explained her understanding of God as “relational energy”—the mutual ONLINE exchange of compassion and love that Master of Arts in Religious Education (33 credits) our faith lives should provide. When Master’s Certi cate in Religious Education (18 credits) our contemplative group concludes Post-Master’s Certi cate in Religious Education (18 credits) meditation and recites a psalm, that energy not only lingers in the room, t
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16 America November 15, 2010 You will step into one of America’s premier Catholic universities and carry on a rich tradition of ministry when you join the team of men and women who serve as rectors of 29 single-sex residence halls at the University of Notre Dame.

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November 15, 2010 America 17 BOOKS &CULTURE

IDEAS | ROBERT ELLSBERG whom I entered into a common-law marriage, was an anarchist, an DOROTHY IN LOVE Englishman by descent, and a biolo - gist.” They met at a party in Greenwich New letters reveal the frank sexuality of a possible saint. Village in the early 1920s and soon enerally speaking, there is not how the “clear waters” of love were thereafter began to live together—as much to say about the sex invariably spoiled by the “black rivers she put it, “in the fullest sense of the G lives of the saints. Yes, they of lust.” Augustine describes his rela - phrase”—in a house on Staten Island. were great lovers of God, and if tionship with his unnamed mistress, Among their bohemian set there Bernini’s famous sculpture “St. Teresa the mother of his son, in these unflat - was nothing scandalous about such a in Ecstasy” is any evidence, one can tering terms: “In those days I lived relationship. It was evidently Dorothy appreciate that such love was not mere - with a woman, not my lawful wedded who liked to think of it as a “common- ly platonic. But what about passionate, wife, but a mistress whom I had cho - law marriage.” For Forster, who never erotic, physical love between flesh-and- sen for no special reason but that my masked his scorn for the “institution of blood humans? Even if one looked restless passions had alighted on her.” the family,” their relationship was sim - carefully at the lives of the virgin mar - ply a “comradeship.” Nevertheless, she tyrs and the celibate monks, priests and Dorothy and Forster loved him “in every way.” As she wrote: religious who dominate the religious It is striking to compare Augustine’s “I loved him for all he knew and pitied calendar, it would be hard to fill a page treatment with a similar passage in The him for all he didn’t know. I loved him on the subject of sex and holiness. Long Loneliness , the memoir of for the odds and ends I had to fish out There is St. Augustine, who writes Dorothy Day, the American-born co- of his sweater pockets and for the sand about his youthful search for “some founder of the Catholic Worker. There and shells he brought in with his fish - object for my love.” In different forms she introduces the story of her love ing. I loved his lean cold body as he got and persons, including his mistress of affair with Forster Batterham, and the into bed smelling of the sea and I loved many years, he evidently found it. But role he played in hastening her spiritu - his integrity and stubborn pride.” in every case Augustine wants to show al journey: “The man I loved, with Wait a minute! Day is here describ - ing, without any hint of Augustine’s Dorothy Day and Forster Batterham in Staten Island, N.Y. obligatory shame or regret, her physical relationship with a man to whom she was not married. Needless to say, she was not yet a Catholic. Yet her point is to show how this lesson in love, this time of “natural happiness,” as she called it, awakened her thirst for an even greater happiness. She began to pray during her walks and started to attend Mass. This religious impulse was strengthened when she discovered she S

was pregnant—an event that inspired a e V i h C

sense of gratitude so large that only r a

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As a dedicated anarchist, Forster q r a m

would not be married by either church

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or state. And so to become a Catholic, t o h Dorothy recognized, would mean sep - p

18 America November 15, 2010 arating from the man she loved. “It got to the point where it was the simple question of whether I chose God or man.” Ultimately, painfully, she chose God. In December 1927 she forced Forster to leave the house. That month she was received into the church.

The New Letters So goes the familiar story recounted in her memoir. But it is not the whole story. In editing Day’s personal letters, All the Way to Heaven , I was aston - ished to read an extraordinary collec - tion of letters to Forster dating from 1925, soon after their first meeting, until December 1932, the eve of her new life in the Catholic Worker. The early letters certainly reflect the passionate love described in The Long Loneliness. In her first letter she writes: “I miss you so much. I was very cold last night. Not because there wasn’t Dorothy Day and her daughter Tamar enough covers but because I didn’t have you.” In the next, “I think of you much and dream of you every night and if my ness and consent to marry her. ing in New York. In December she dreams could affect you over long dis - In vain, she assured him that he traveled to Washington, D.C., to cover tance, I am sure they would keep you would be “involving [himself] in noth - the Hunger March of the Unem- awake.” Separated for some weeks, she ing” if he married her. “Religion would ployed. There on the feast of the writes Forster: “My desire for you is a be obtruded on you in no way except Immaculate Conception, she offered a painful rather than pleasurable emo - that you would have to see me go to prayer that God would show her some tion. It is a ravishing hunger which church once a week, and five times a way to combine her Catholic faith and makes me want you more than any - year on various saints’ days. I would her commitment to social justice. thing in the world and makes me feel as have nothing around the house to jar Immediately afterward she would though I could barely exist until I saw upon you—no pictures and books. I am meet Peter Maurin, the French peas - you again...I have never wanted you as really not obsessed as you think I am.” ant philosopher who would inspire her much as I have ever since I left, from At times she could not hide her to launch the Catholic Worker and the first week on, although I’ve thought frustration: “Do I have to be con - whose ideas would dominate the rest before that my desires were almost too demned to celibacy all my days, just of her life. Whether there was any strong to be borne.” because of your pig-headedness? relation between the opening of this The letters skip over the time of Damn it, do I have to remind you that new door and the decision finally to Tamar’s birth and Dorothy’s conver - Tamar needs a father?” Her tone fluc - close the door on her hope of marrying sion, but after her parting from Forster tuated between tenderness and bitter Forster, Dorothy’s letter to him of Dec. they resume with poignant intensity. reproach: “I am not restrained when I 10 would be her last for many years. Despite the implication in Dorothy’s am lying in your arms, am I? You know After describing her strong com - memoir that her conversion had I am not a promiscuous creature in my mitment to the prohibition of sex out - marked an end, once and for all, to love.... But it is all so damned hopeless side of marriage, she writes: “The ache their relationship, this was far from that I do hope I fall in love again and in my heart is intolerable at times, and the case. In fact, the letters continue marry since there seems to be no pos - sometimes for days I can feel your lips for another five years, as Dorothy sibility for a happy outcome to our upon me, waking and sleeping. It is pleaded, cajoled and prayed that love for each other.” because I love you so much that I want Forster would give up his stubborn - By the fall of 1932 Dorothy was liv - you to marry me.” Nevertheless, she

November 15, 2010 America 19 concluded: “It all is hopeless of course, love described in Dorothy’s memoir, different. “It was because through a tho [ sic ] it has often seemed to me a thus underscoring the incredible sac - whole love, both physical and spiritual, simple thing. Imaginatively I can rifice she endured for the sake of her I came to know God.” understand your faith. That sacrifice If Dorothy Day is one day canon - hatred and rebellion ON THE WEB lay at the heart of ized, these letters will provide a fairly against my beliefs Read selections from Dorothy Day’s her vocation; it was unusual resource. They serve to and I can’t blame letters to Forster Batterham. the foundation for a remind us, if that were necessary, that americamagazine.org/culture you. I have really lifetime of courage, saints are fully human—perhaps, as given up hope now, perseverance and Thomas Merton put it in Life and so I won’t try to persuade you any - dedication. It marked her deep sense Holiness , more fully human: “This more.” of the heroic demands of faith. But in implies a greater capacity for concern, But even this did not mark the end no sense did it represent a conflict in for suffering, for understanding, for of their relationship. Over the years her mind between “merely” human sympathy, and also for humor, for joy, they remained connected through love and “higher” religious aspira - for appreciation for the good and Tamar. There would be friendly notes, tions. “I could not see that love beautiful things of life.” the exchange of gifts and visits in the between man and woman was incom - Dorothy considered her love for hospital. In Dorothy’s final years patible with love of God,” she wrote. Forster to be one of the primary Forster took to calling every day. He And if she had had her way, she encounters with grace in her life, one was present at her funeral in 1980, and would have embraced a happy family for which she never ceased to rejoice. later at a memorial Mass at St. life with Forster and the many chil - That insight and that witness are Patrick’s Cathedral. dren she dreamed of. among her many gifts. Although, as Dorothy reported, More Fully Human some of her radical friends insinuated ROBERT ELLSBERG, publisher of Orbis Books, So what, in the end, do these newly that her turn to God was because she is editor of The Duty of Delight: The Diaries of Dorothy Day and the recently published letters reveal? They cer - was “tired of sex, satiated, disillu - published collection of her letters, All the Way tainly confirm the deep, passionate sioned,” her true feelings were quite to Heaven, reviewed in America on Nov. 8. RXUIXWXUH \RXdepends on

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20 America November 15, 2010 BOOKS | AUSTEN IVEREIGH Northern Ireland and discusses why resentment is so corrosive in politics ATONEMENT and why politicians end up in sex scan - dals. He is dazzlingly intelligent and A JOURNEY often witty; and readers quickly see My Political Life where his leadership qualities lay: he By Tony Blair is scanning the far horizon while Knopf. 720p $35 others remain trapped in ideology or narrow self-interest. He was always This fascinating and frustrating an outrider, sitting lightly to party memoir by one of the great modern and ideology, alive to the addictions statesmen is full of good things. But and comforting myths the Left was there is a great gap in it. “I had always attached to, weaning his party away been fortunate,” says Britain’s former from them and on to electoral victo - prime minister (1997 –2007), a ry. This is the story of the first few Catholic convert and the founder of chapters, and it is fascinating. the Tony Blair Faith Foundation, “in Blair won a landslide election in having a passion bigger than politics, 1997 and two more—an unprece - which is religion.” He says this on p. dented record for a Labour leader— 663, just before the postscript, having because of his powerful intuition of mentioned his faith almost not at all. where public opinion stood on a He says it again a page before the range of issues. Blair reached over a end, where he declares that in the news media driven by impact and work of his foundation, religion and sensation because, like his mentor Bill politics “overlap.” But not so in his Clinton, he had a visceral, even mysti - memoir. Faith is put in a drawer cal, connection with “the people.” marked “private.” ment of him. Blair remains, as The He was a far better prime minister This is immensely annoying. Blair Guardian once described him, “a man in 2007, when he stepped down, than spends more time recalling his (incon - without a shadow.” he was in 1997. But by then the people sequential) supper with French pre - A Journey is, however, highly read - were out of love with him. The mar - mier Nicolas Sarkozy than his able, and as a manual of contemporary riage eventually broke down, by Blair’s (momentous) visit to Pope Benedict in politics, insightful. It will stand among account, because over time he intuited 2007, when he discussed his forth - the classic political memoirs, rising better what was right than what was coming reception into the church after above self-justification to capture the popular. resigning as prime minister. (“I saw the drama and constraints of contempo - The falling-out was over Iraq. Pope at the Vatican in the middle of rary politics and the immense, fateful Blair’s decision to take his country to June...it all passed in a bit of a blur.”) responsibility of governance in the war—and the carnage that followed, His conversion raised many questions, 21st century. Blair shares the lessons but above all the controversy sur - which he has never answered—and on peacemaking he drew from rounding the evidence used to justify which his memoir carefully avoids.

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November 15, 2010 America 21 that decision—led people to stop was a moral necessity; the terrifying But he had counted the cost. “At trusting him. He does not try to per - responsibility—which haunts him that moment, the fear of history’s suade the reader that he was right, but still—of sacrificing lives; and the lone - judgement was not the fear that came to show what was involved in the deci - liness of a decision of this magnitude, with action, but with inaction,” says sion: his reading of history after 9/11; in which decision means division and Blair of 9/11, like Churchill faced with his conviction that removing Sadaam the loss of many friends. the Nazis. “How to change the world was a tough challenge to answer; not to answer it, to be paralyzed in indecision, was deemed the greater risk, by a large A Leper on Molokai, 1880 margin.” As Iraq descended into sectar - ian carnage—“we had not counted,” confesses Blair, “on the deep hold this To the Father and to the sea extremism could exercise on the imagi - I confess my gross being, nation, will and way of life of its adher - ents”—there were “dark moments” embrace with withered arms when he pondered Jesus’ words about our rank God the man proposing to build a tower here at Kalaupapa. needing first to consider the cost. The war made Blair heavier and sadder, put lines in his Peter Pan face, My eyes dull moons, grayed his hair and skin. His life now I know the sun by its smell. has an element of atonement. “I can - not, by any expression of regret, bring More corrupt than Lazarus to life those who died,” he writes. “But I live this death before death, I can dedicate a large part of the life left to me to that wider struggle, to try live the reciprocity of flesh. to charge it with meaning, purpose and resolution...in the actions of a life, The death of our death stuns even the sky, my life, that continues still.” The final chapters show Blair most wailing birds reel in the unclean air. clearly as a reforming politician: The cemetery at Kalawa’o expanding and restructuring public services, modernizing the state much vomits our pitted bones, as Thatcher had modernized the mar - and the blind sun stares. ket. But his increasing isolation within government and from public opinion led him, after his third electoral victo - Kalaupapa is an open tomb— ry in 2005, to seek a dignified exit. He three walls of water, one of rock. handed over his post to Gordon When Lazarus died, Jesus wept. Brown in 2007, after 10 years fearing his chancellor would prove disastrous With corrupt voices we sang as prime minister (which he was). Mozart. The bishop wept. The Blair who emerges is unques - tionably impressive, not just as a politi - cian but as a figure of moral stature JOSEPH SOLDATI willing to sacrifice his popularity for the sake of what was right. But what JOSEPH A. SOLDATI , of Portland, Ore., has published numerous poems and essays, most recently in New Millennium Writings. was right? What we (and history) (Note: Under the direction of Father Joseph Damien de Veuster, the make of him will hang on our judg - patients sang a Mozart Mass for the visiting bishop on June 8, ment of where his conviction—that 1875.) inner core of steely resolve—is rooted. But we never find out. His policy

22 America November 15, 2010 agenda was essentially a liberal, social- who Blair is, what drives him, and authors, but most do not “resist the democratic one; he never mentions above all the Catholic Blair, these world as forcefully as the Amish do.” Catholic social teaching or the sub - remain, notwithstanding his relentless Amish faith is derived from the 16th- sidiarity principle; the star he follows candor, out of reach. century Anabaptist movement, whose is his own, mildly messianic convic - followers were burned at the stake or tion. He achieved great things, among AUSTEN IVEREIGH is European correspon - executed, often by Catholics, for insist - them peace in Northern Ireland. Yet dent for America . ing that baptism was for adults only, which was considered heretical. Like the early Christians, the Anabaptists CLAIRE SHAEFFER-DUFFY opted for pacifism or nonresistance as their response to persecution. Their KEEP IT SIMPLE early history of persecution first engendered their sense of separate - THE AMISH WAY “Things are going to happen in life,” an ness. Stories of their martyrs, still read Patient Faith in a Perilous World Amish midwife who had delivered sev - in Amish homes today, have helped By Donald B. Kraybill, Steven M. eral of the dead girls told the media. shape Amish understanding of the Nolt, David L. Weaver-Zercher “We are going to get hurt. But we have world as a place of spiritual perils and Jossey-Bass. 288p $24.95 to forgive.... If we give it to God, he’ll given them a sense of being part of take it and make something good out something greater than themselves. St. Francis advised, the story goes: of it.” For the Amish, “Preach the Gospel. Use words, if nec - Amish Grace , which separation from the essary.” The holy mendicant’s advice became a national world has bearing on came to mind as I read The Amish bestseller and inspired every aspect of life. Way: Patient Faith in a Perilous World , a movie, examined the Young people are per - a thoughtful work on the beliefs, prac - extraordinary Amish The mitted a time of “run - tices and affections of a people whose commitment to for - ning around” known exacting Christianity gives significant giveness. The subject Amish as Rumspringa , but witness. matter of this second the adult who chooses The book marks the second collab - book is less dramatic Way to be baptized in the oration for Donald Kraybill, Steven but equally meaning - church must submit Nolt and David Weaver-Zercher, aca - ful. Discussed here are Patient Faith in a Perilous World to the Ordnung demics who have written extensively Amish origin and DONALD B. KRAYBILL (“order”), the collec - on the Amish. In 2007, the three men organization, the texts STEVEN M. NOLT tive regulations, pro - DAVID L. WEAVER-ZERCHER co-authored Amish Grace: How and prayers that hibitions and expecta - Authors of the National Best-Seller Forgiveness Transcended Tragedy in the inform their spirituali - Amish Grace: How Forgiveness Transcended Tragedy tions for an Amish wake of the killings in Nickel Mines, ty, and the beliefs and lifestyle. The direc - Pa. On a bright morning in October, disciplines that shape their collective tives, which members ratify twice a 2006 Charles C. Roberts IV, a 32- life. The bulk of the book is devoted to year, vary according to each Gmay or year-old milk truck driver, entered a exploring Amish practice in everyday church district. Some are extremely one-room Amish schoolhouse in life—their views on children, family, detailed, dictating, for example, the Nickel Mines, armed with weapons possessions, technology, their response permissible construction of a buggy. and ammunition. Embittered over the to evil and loss—and appropriately so. The wayward are disciplined with con - death of his infant daughter, he tied up Pacifists with a strong commitment to fession, shaming or, in extreme cases, a dozen girls and shot them execution- family and rural living, the Amish are excommunication. style before turning the gun on him - among those Christians who reject a Exacting in their commitment to self. Roberts and five girls died; five “two-track system of salvation that live apart, the Amish are under no illu - others were critically wounded. separates grace from ethics,” belief sion that their rigorous Christianity Within hours of the horrific attack, from obedience. Faith in Christ, they exempts them from the troubles of members of the Amish community believe, requires holy living and the this life. Like the rest of us, they reck - were expressing forgiveness for the directives are quite specific. on with hateful acts, tragic loss and man who killed their children and “All forms of spirituality are acts of emotional suffering. Some of the reaching out to his widow and family. resistance in some respect,” write the book’s most poignant sections include

November 15, 2010 America 23 reflections from Amish parents grap - one of their bishops, “defer to God.” astonishing demonstrations of faith. pling with the death of a child. Nor are God, church, family, then self are The Amish are a people willing to live the Amish distinct from other the priorities of the Amish way. The within limits, which causes bafflement Christians in their explanations for authors recognize the pitfalls of such in our culture, which values the unfet - why suffering or evil exists. What sets an ordering—the potential for reli - tered life. Their way reminds us spiri - them apart are their responses: their gious legalism and severe constraints tual vitality has a cost and cannot be rejection of violence, even in self- on individual expression. They also divorced from community. We do not defense; their commitment to forgive recognize its strengths—stable, tight- get to heaven alone. and, remarkably, their refusal to pass knit communities where people are This book is an affectionate cri - judgment on others. On the subject of deeply committed to caring for one tique. Years of research and Amish salvation, the Amish, in the words of another, especially the vulnerable, and friendships have gained the authors intimate access to these somewhat reclusive Christians, who have shown The Chaplain and the Board of Trustees of little interest in explaining themselves Saint Thomas More to the outside world. Yet fond regard The Catholic Chapel & Center at Yale University does not prohibit the authors from preessent identifying problems and inconsisten - The Faayy Vincent, Jr. Feellowship in Faith & Culture cies. Amish adherence to traditional gender roles, permitting only men to Jack McKeon hold leadership positions in the Former Manager of the Florida Marlins church, has led in some instances to The Power off Prrayayer reluctance to deal with domestic and sexual abuse. While admiring the WWeednesday, November 17, 2010 at 7:00 pm Amish for their “uncommon patience,” The Thomas E. Golden, Jr. Center, 268 Park Street, New Haven CT the writers question whether this much patience is “a good thing. What

about working to change the world for

the better?” “Ordained is a book $1(:3$571(56+,3 While I was reading The Amish that raises the questions Way , public chatter about American we need to discuss, religious identities verged on the hys - not deny, not ignore, terical. A reportedly Christian pastor not repress if we are really prepared to commemorate Sept. 11 by going to be church.” burning copies of the Koran. The Joan Chittister, OSB radio talk show host Glenn Beck denounced social justice as a false gospel and was begging for a leader to come forward and tell Americans, “the $PHULFDLVSOHDVHGWR TRUTH!” DQQRXQFHRXU In the midst of such religious ten - FROODERUDWLRQZLWK sion, contemplating the Amish way 0LUDGD*OREDODQRQOLQH gives hope. As with any mature and MRXUQDOWKDWEULQJVWRJHWKHU well-practiced faith, their example

Available from DUWLFOHVIURP-HVXLW reaffirms belief in God’s presence Singing River SXEOLFDWLRQVLQ1RUWKDQG among us. Debbie Marcocci, a diner Publications, Inc. 6RXWK$PHULFD5HDGRXU cook, said after the Nickel Mines P.O. Box 72 ZHHNO\VHOHFWLRQIURP killing, “A lot of people say they know Ely, MN 55731 0LUDGD*OREDODW Jesus, but they don’t. The Amish do.” 218/359-3498 DPHULFDPDJD]LQHRUJPJ www.singingriver CLAIRE SHAEFFER-DUFFY , a freelance writer, 2UYLVLW0LUDGD*OREDODW is a member of the Saints Francis and Théresè publications.com PLUDGDJOREDOFRP Catholic Worker Community in Worcester, Mass.

24 America November 15, 2010 SCOTT KORB Levine’s mother-in-law Margit’s 18 months in Birkenau. During that first PAPAL OVERTURES meeting, John Paul’s startling youth - fulness, even at 67, disappears from his THE POPE’S MAESTRO Levine is received by the pope in a pri - face and is replaced by a pained look By Sir Gilbert Levine vate audience. In a way, that will over “centuries of misunderstanding Jossey-Bass. 456p $27.95 become familiar as his relationship and of hate” between Christians and with the Vatican deepens. As the men Jews. Of all people, longtime America read - part ways Levine is told of a concert he The Pope’s Maestro is Levine’s ers may be familiar with, if not the full is to conduct—one of the many, many account of their work together— story, then at least the enduring title of more that will follow in his service to always through music, concert after the American-Jewish conductor Sir Rome. He recalls: “ I concert after con - Gibert Levine’s memoir of his “deep was dumbfounded. cert—to overcome K_\K_\ spiritual friendship” with Pope John ‘What concert?’ I tried those misunderstand - to say to the closing ings and move toward Paul II. In November 1994, just door.” Gfg\ËjGGffg\Ëj greater, deeper recon - months after Levine’s celebrated collab - This is Levine’s D8@C9@C9

November 15, 2010 America 25 the first time, is able to say, “Allah is who for all his humanity must also be chance to express themselves in words. indeed great.” This moment, of course, seen as a kind of supernatural force. That’s mostly for the good.” Any of us recasts and reimagines the Arabic Throughout his life and often with few who care to know this maestro’s pope, phrase Allahu Akbar , which appears words—and even those were halting however, should be glad for the chance in his memories—and so many of near the end—the maestro’s pope deep - Levine took and, indeed, for that word ours—from 9/11. ened friendships, opened doors, forged “mostly.” For Levine, the credit for whatever understanding and healed wounds. at-one-ment he has achieved in his life, Near the end of The Pope’s Maestro , SCOTT KORB is co-author of The Faith Between Us: A Jew and a Catholic Search and what he aims to achieve in this Levine reflects on his life making for the Meaning of God (2007) and, most book, seems mainly due to John Paul, music: “Conductors don’t often get a recently, Life in Year One .

Positions ing, social justice education and/or community- CLASSIFIED based education and research; several years of DIRECTOR, WOLFINGTON CENTER. The experience working with community organiza - Director will lead the Wolfington Center’s mission Books tions; excellent writing and public presentation to weave students’ intellectual and spiritual devel - NEW BOOK. Understanding the Abuse of Adults by skills; comprehensive skills in grant writing and opment with commitments to social justice and Catholic Clergy and Religious , Kathryn Byrne, grant management experience; strong organiza - human dignity through experiential learning, on M.P.M. Foreword: Joseph Whitwell, Th.D., tional and time management skills. For further the continuum from volunteerism to service- and L.M.F.T.; $14.95, $2 S/H. Web site: www.Open details, visit www.cabrini.edu/hr. community-based learning and advocacy. In order HeartLifeCoaching.com. Interested candidates can apply by submitting to enrich community-based social justice education a résumé and cover letter to: Cabrini College, for all students, the Director will oversee the Human Resources Department, 610 King of Parish Missions implementation and building of key current Prussia Road., Radnor, PA 19087. Fax: (610) 902- FAITH BEGINS IN FAMILY LIFE. This mission domestic and international partnerships related to 8404; e-mail: [email protected]. promises to keep parents of all ages (grandparents the curriculum, particularly with Catholic Relief too) interested and entertained, ultimately deepen - Services and the Municipality of Norristown, and EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, MASSACHUSETTS ing the faith of each domestic church and creating will support the College’s partnership with the CATHOLIC CONFERENCE. The Conference in families a longing for greater participation in Missionary Sisters of the Sacred Heart of Jesus. advises the four Roman Catholic bishops of their parish church. Visit www.family The Director will work closely with the faculty Massachusetts on issues of public policy and acts as faithonline.com. and both the academic and student development the legislative agent for the Archdiocese of Boston leadership teams to support the Justice Matters and the dioceses of Fall River, Springfield and INSPIRING, DYNAMIC PREACHING : parish curriculum by providing support around Catholic Worcester. Must be a faithful and committed missions, retreats, days of recollection; www social teaching and social justice education. The Roman Catholic, in good standing with the .sabbathretreats.org. Director will provide vision and strategic direction church. Requires a bachelor’s degree; J.D. or grad - to the Center, develop new resource streams to uate degree in public policy is preferred. Pilgrimages support the Center’s efforts and support the wider Experience as a lobbyist or equivalent legislative, HOLY LAND PILGRIMAGES. Can be customized College’s efforts around social justice, Catholic executive, administrative or public policy experi - for your group of 12 to 20 persons. Visit social teaching and applied learning. The Director ence is required. Requires knowledge of Catholic Bethlehem, Jerusalem, Galilee, Dead Sea, Petra will represent the College and provide national and social teachings and the ability to develop rapport and more. Stay in Christian guesthouses. Meet international leadership on social justice education with legislators, lobbyists and other organizations, local people in their homes. See Christianity in through scholarship and public presentations. including ecumenical and interfaith organizations. orphanage and school for special-needs children. Qualifications required are a master’s degree Please forward résumés to: Very Rev. Bryan K. Visit fair trade shops. Next scheduled pilgrimage: (doctoral degree preferred); three years minimum Parrish at [email protected] by May 7-20, 2011. Visit www.HolyLandInstitute of experience in Catholic social teaching in a social Nov. 30, 2010. .org, or call Claudia Devaux at (805) 544-9088, service or educational environment; strong record Pacific time. of publication in the areas of Catholic social teach - PASTORAL THEOLOGY. The Catholic University of America, School of Theology and Religious Studies, invites applications for a full-time contract TWO-WEEK COURSE IN CHRISTIAN SPIRITUALITY position in pastoral theology with a specialization in RON ROLHEISER, O.M.I. homiletics. Rank and salary will be determined on the basis of academic credentials, publication record FOUNDATIONAL PRINCIPLES FOR CHRISTIAN SPIRITUALITY: and experience. The candidate must possess an Drawing some Clarity from an Intellectual, Biblical, Ecclesial, earned doctorate. Catholic priests are urged to and Mystical Tradition apply. Fluency in Spanish highly desirable. Responsibilities include teaching in undergraduate, January 3-14, 2011 Weeknights 6:30-9:30 PM graduate and seminary programs in the school,

Course may be taken for three MA-level credit hours advising students, directing doctoral dissertations (with pre- and post-course assignments) or may be audited (only reading required). and projects, and serving on committees. Send a cur -

Registration deadline is December 10, 2010. riculum vitae and three letters of recommendation to: Chair of the Search Committee in Pastoral For more information, contact the Office of the Registrar at [email protected] Theology, School of Theology and Religious OBLATE SCHOOL OF THEOLOGY Studies, The Catholic University of America, 285 Oblate Drive · San Antonio, Texas 78216 · (210) 341-1366 · www.ost.edu Washington, DC 20064. Applications accepted

26 America November 15, 2010

FORDHAM CENTER ON RELIGION AND CULTURE NEW! Avery Dulles and the PROFESSIONAL DOCTORAL Future of Theology DEGREE IN BIOETHICS WITH A CONCENTRATION Tuesday, 14 December 2010 | 6 - 8 p.m. Fordham University | Lincoln Center Campus IN CATHOLIC BIOETHICS Pope Auditorium | 113 West 60th Street Our professional doctorate in bioethics (D.Be.) is The publication of Avery Cardinal Dulles: A Model a first of its kind and meets the growing need for Theologian by Patrick W. Carey will be the point of advanced training in departure for this forum. A distinguished panel of bioethics for those theologians will discuss and debate the future of professionals that theology in light of Cardinal Dulles’ work. They will have increased look at the questions that Dulles asked and didn’t responsibilities related to bioethics o

ask, the answers he gave as a potential foundation g a

and health policy at c i h C

for future Catholic theology, and the significance

their institution. Such y t i s r of his method and style for addressing pressing e individuals may serve v i n U

as chair of a hospital’s a

theological issues. l o y o

ethics committee, L

0

MODERATOR: 1 0

perform clinical 2 Aristotle Papanikolaou, Associate Professor of Theology C and Co-Founding Director, Orthodox Christian Studies ethics consultations, Program, Fordham University have administrative oriented ethics work or are a steward for issues central to your institution’s PANELISTS: Terrence W. Tilley, Chair, Department of Theology and mission and values. The doctoral degree is offered Avery Cardinal Dulles, S.J., Professor of Catholic Theology, in three specialized concentrations: Catholic Fordham University Bioethics, Organizational Ethics, and Clinical Ethics. Phyllis Zagano, Senior Research Associate in Residence at Hofstra University and Adjunct Professor of Religion This is the first professional doctorate in bioethics which offers health care professionals an opportunity Robert P. Imbelli, Associate Professor of Theology, Boston College, and a priest of the Archdiocese of New York to obtain a high quality doctorate through a hybrid delivery system (asynchronous online courses Miroslav Volf, Director, Yale Center for Faith and Culture and Henry B. Wright Professor of Systematic Theology, combined with short on-campus intensive courses.) Yale University Patrick W. Carey, Professor of Theology, Marquette For more information or to receive our University, and author, Avery Cardinal Dulles, S.J.: program brochure, contact us: A Model Theologian E-mail: [email protected] Phone: (708) 327-9219 Web site: www.bioethics.lumc.edu FREE AND OPEN TO THE PUBLIC RSVP: [email protected] | (212) 636-7347 For more information, visit www.fordham.edu/ReligCulture.

www.bioethics.lumc.edu

November 15, 2010 America 27 until Jan. 3, 2011. The Catholic University of this position, and a list of four names of people sonal healing, behavior change and weight manage - America was founded in the name of the Catholic (along with their positions, affiliations, and contact ment. Local community housing arrangements. Church as a national university and center for information) whom the V.O.F. search committee Program for Psychology and Religion, St. Louis research and scholarship. All faculty members are can contact for letters of recommendation. These Behavioral Medicine Institute. Ph: (314) 289- expected to be fully committed to the University’s should be sent to: Search Committee, Vatican 9407. www.slbmi.com. mission. The University is an Equal Opportunity, Observatory Foundation, c/o Brother John Affirmative Action Employer Hollywood, S.J., at [email protected], or to 2017 E. Wills Lee Street, Tucson, AZ 85719. The deadline for Please remember America in your will. Our legal title SEARCH FOR PRESIDENT. The Vatican applications is Dec. 15, 2010. is: America Press Inc., 106 West 56th Street, New Observatory Foundation, which is a non-profit York, NY 10019. organization dedicated to providing material and Retreats financial support to the Vatican Observatory, is SANGRE DE CRISTO CENTER, Santa Fe, N.M. accepting applications for President. The role of Parish priests: preached retreat by George America classified. Classified advertisements are the President is to actively lead and manage the Aschenbrenner, S.J., May 22 –28, 2011; cost: accepted for publication in either the print version of Foundation and its board of directors, particularly $450. Register by Jan. 31, 2011, at www.sangrede - America or on our Web site, www.americam - its fund-raising initiatives and activities. As cristo.org; e-mail: [email protected]. agazine.org. Ten-word minimum. Rates are per word President of the V.O.F. he would also be on the per issue. 1-5 times: $1.50; 6-11 times: $1.28; 12-23 staff of the Vatican Observatory and would work WISDOM HOUSE, Litchfield, Conn.: retreats times: $1.23; 24-41 times: $1.17; 42 times or more: out of V.O.F. offices in Tucson, Ariz. Applicants include “Spirituality of 18th-Century Neapolitan $1.12. For an additional $30, your print ad will be should have proven leadership skills and adminis - Crèche at Abbey of Regina Laudis,” Mother Cecilia posted on America ’s Web site for one week. The flat trative/development experience as well as an Schullo, O.S.B., and Sister Angele Arbib, O.S.B. rate for a Web-only classified ad is $150 for 30 days. appreciation of the importance of and active inter - Plan an individual retreat, walk the labyrinth, visit Ads may be submitted by e-mail to: ads@americam - est in promoting the church’s scientific and educa - the art gallery and chapel. For information on pro - agazine.org; by fax to (928) 222-2107; by postal mail tional apostolates. Those interested in applying grams in spirituality, education and the arts see to: Classified Department, America , 106 West 56th can check the V.O.F. Web site at http://vati - www.wisdomhouse.org or call (860) 567-3163. St., New York, NY 10019. To post a classified ad canobservatory.org/VOF for further information online, go to our home page and click on “Advertising” about the V.O.F. and its fund-raising efforts. Treatment Center at the top of the page. We do not accept ad copy over Applicants should submit their C.V.’s, along with INTENSIVE OUTPATIENT PROGRAM , clergy the phone. MasterCard and Visa accepted. For more a brief letter outlining their reasons for interest in and religious. Multidisciplinary approach to per - information call: (212) 515-0102.

LETTERS rhaging they inherited and to bring The March Resumes order to the financial markets. They The column “Voting Angry,” by John brought the country kicking and F. Kavanaugh, S.J., (11/1) is dead on Disgruntled vs. Gruntled screaming into the middle of the 20th until he reaches a conclusion not justi - Acc ording to your editorial “Voting century with the health care bill. My fied by his previous trenchant analysis. Bloc” (10/25), the disgruntled folk are view is influenced by my experience liv - Pollyanna might claim that “if bad the more energized portion of the elec - ing in European countries where uni - things happen, maybe bad things will torate. For sure they are the most ener - versal health care has been in effect for draw us together,” but Father getic bloggers. But allow me as a rea - generations; and costs are lower and Kavanaugh really knows better. Any sonably “gruntled” citizen to put in a medical outcomes much better. It fair analysis of our national “regress” word. The Obama administration and stems from being a member of a com - since the Supreme Court’s electoral the much despised Congress have done munity, of being in it together rather interference in 2000 must acknowl - some very heavy lifting in the past 20 than every man for himself. If you want edge reality, despite a recent two-year months, for which they deserve a lot of to call that socialism, that’s your privi - pause in the march to the abyss. It is credit and my vote. Though partially lege. I prefer to think of it as Christian delusional to claim we’ll soon see the hamstrung by Republicans and Blue solidarity. light in dealing with war, poverty and Dog Democrats, they did what they RICHARD CROSS justice. Does anyone expect that a could to stanch the economic hemor - Bethesda, Md. brighter future awaits Iraq and To send a letter to the editor we recom - Afghanistan? Prisoners in mend using the link that appears below Guantánamo? The homeless and the articles on America ’s Web site, foreclosed? The unemployed? www.americamagazine.org. This allows The list could go on. I have seen a us to consider your letter for publication lot in my “three score and ten,” but this in both print and online versions of the magazine. Letters may also be sent to is as bad as it gets. I find it particularly America ’s editorial office (address on page 2) or by e-mail to: letters@americam - amusing that so many Catholics are agazine.org. They should be brief and include the writer’s name, postal address returning to the Republican party after and daytime phone number. Letters may be edited for length and clarity. a short flirtation with the Democrats.

28 America November 15, 2010 It must be the new-found commit - educate our neighbors about the of the Times on Haiti, “Bishops ment to “social justice” that the actions of the coal industry and com - Present Plan for Rebuilding Church Republicans are touting! panies like Pepsi Cola, which make Life” (10/11), I don’t know how much PAUL LOATMAN JR. their fortunes exploiting the poverty of control the bishops have over the dis - Mechanicville, N.Y. Appalachia. Our sisters and brothers position of real property in Haiti, but I in the mountains need us to speak up would hope that the concentration on Pepsi Cola Hits the Spot for them. A phone call or letter is a helping parishioners in their daily Thanks to America and Kyle Kramer simple but powerful tool. lives, to include shelter, safety and san - for “The Wounds of Appalachia” MARY NAUGHTON itation, would remain a priority for a (10/4). My husband and I fell in love Bronx, N.Y. while. As to the rebuilding of churches with the beauty of West Virginia in and cathedrals, I have been very 1994, when our son enrolled at Catholic Anti-Intellectuals impressed over the years with the Wheeling Jesuit University. Since then As the current comment “Halfway to adaptability of the Eucharist. It is a we have visited many times, becoming Heaven” (10/18) demonstrates, lack of mobile sacrament, going wherever the gradually aware of the destruction of knowledge about the Catholic faith is priest goes, including under shade the mountains and the lives of surprisingly common. I’m surprised trees. Appalachia. the bishops seem unaware of this. I C. R. ERLINGER One concrete way that those of us suspect many Catholics have been San Antonio, Tex. who live outside these mountains can trained in blind obedience concerning help to preserve them is to write and religion and knowledge. They are What About the Nuns? call our elected representatives to let encouraged to approach the faith As one of the 5.2 million Catholic them know this is happening and ask devotionally and not intellectually. For school students of the 1960s referred them to fight for justice in the region. this reason I encourage Catholics to to in “The Catholic Schools We Mountaintop removal is not only read the new U.S. Catholic Catechism Need” (9/13), I endorse wholeheart - destroying the beauty of Appalachia for Adults, which I use in a weekly class edly Archbishop Timothy Dolan’s forever; it is destroying a treasure of with inmates in the state prison. The argument for the extraordinary moral, the entire country. strong anti-intellectualism in the As to the health of the people there, Catholic community is disappointing, look no further than Pepsi Cola, which and it is amazing how many Catholics pours thousands, perhaps millions of hate The New York Times. LOOKING FOR gallons of their Mountain Dew drink Meanwhile many Catholics listen to into Appalachia every year, where provocateurs in the media, read because of poverty and the lack of tabloids and prefer to reside in an A JOB nutritional education, this high-sugar, intellectual ghetto. IN THE CATHOLIC SECTOR? high-calorie drink is consumed even BERNARD J. CAMPBELL Manchester, N.H. from baby bottles, causing widespread HIRING AT YOUR tooth decay, diabetes and other health Oasis of Syria CHURCH OR SCHOOL? problems. In your editorial “Truly Catholic” GET THE WORD OUT WITH Three years ago, a small group of us (10/4) you listed the six Catholic from St. Ignatius Loyola Parish in churches of the Middle East, and you Manhattan went to Wheeling, W.Va., AMERICA! called the last one Syrian Catholic; where the Appalachia Institute of actually it is Syriac Catholic. Also in Job Listings are accepted for Wheeling Jesuit University is working Signs of the Times you praised Jordan publication in America's print and to bring justice to the mountains. We web editions. as an oasis for Christians. The true were encouraged to come home and oasis for Christians in the Middle East For more information contact Julia Sosa at [email protected] America (ISSN 0002-7049) is published weekly (except for 13 is Syria, more than any other country. combined issues: Jan. 4-11, 18-25, Feb. 1-8, April 12-19, June 7- Telephone: 212-515-0102 or visit: 14, 21-28, July 5-12, 19-26, Aug. 2-9, 16-23, Aug. 30-Sept. 6, NAJI ARWASHAN Sept. 13-20, Dec. 20-27) by America Press, Inc., 106 West 56th Honorary Consul General of Syria Street, New York, NY 10019. Periodicals postage is paid at New York, N.Y., and additional mailing offices. Business Manager: Lisa Troy, Mich. WWW.AMERICAMAGAZINE.ORG Pope; Circulation: Judith Palmer, (212) 581-4640. Subscriptions: United States, $56 per year; add U.S. $30 postage and GST (#131870719) for Canada; or add U.S. $54 per year for interna - tional priority airmail. Postmaster: Send address changes to: The Mobile Eucharist America, 106 West 56th St. New York, NY 10019. Printed in the America U.S.A. In response to your item in the Signs

November 15, 2010 America 29 intellectual and ecclesial value of the paragraph—the longest one of the Catholic schools. article—in which Archbishop Dolan There is one facet of the decline of praises a series of American bishops those schools to which the archbishop for having the wisdom to prioritize does not refer, however. Not once in Catholic education, including, in par - nearly 2,000 words does he mention ticular, his predecessor Archbishop Catholic sisters. Surely their declining “Dagger John” Hughes. As the histori - numbers is the central factor in an Maureen Fitzgerald documents in Catholic schools being unaffordable her study of Catholic sisters in New for many less economically privileged York, Archbishop Hughes forced the Catholic families. separation of the New York Sisters of Admittedly, the archbishop refers Charity from their motherhouse in to “religious teaching orders,” but the Emmitsburg, Md., and then engi - engine that made Catholic schools neered the election of a superior who work was not generic teaching orders; shifted the New York Charities from it was Catholic sisters plain and sim - their traditional ministry of direct ser - ple. The editors of America get this, vice to the poor to the almost exclusive since the photo of a teaching sister staffing of Catholic schools. Yet still appears on the cover of the education they get no mention. issue in which Archbishop Dolan’s Several times in his article article appears. The archbishop, how - Archbishop Dolan mentions the ever, replicates the invisibility and essential role Catholic schools play in worse that was all too often accorded fostering religious vocations. sister-teachers by bishops and pastors Acknowledging explicitly the pivotal throughout the century-and-a-half role that Catholic sisters have played when they staffed the vast majority of in Catholic schools might help foster a American Catholic schools. few as well. Particularly striking in this regard is MARIAN RONAN New York Theological Seminary

WITHOUT GUILE N O R D A W H C S

Y E L R A H

Y B

N O O T

“Frankly, I don’t have much confidence in his diet book, either.” R A C

30 America November 15, 2010 THE WORD Royal Forgiveness THE SOLEMNITY OF CHRIST THE KING (C), NOV. 21, 2010 Readings: 2 Sm 5:1-3; Ps 122:1-5; Col 1:12-20; Lk 23:35-43 “Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom” (Lk 23:42)

n December 1997, Las taught. It is a powerful appropria - instead exercised power through for - Abejas, a group of 48 indige - tion of the example of Christ giveness and compassion when there Onous communities whose given us in today’s Gospel. were transgressions. name means “the bees,” came to the Some people in Jesus’ day Today’s Gospel paints in stark world’s attention when 45 of their were looking for a king like contrast the power of imperial members, mostly women and children, David, who would reassert Rome, which brooks no chal - were murdered. They were killed by Israel’s independence, rid lenges to its rule, and the “kingly” paramilitary troops while they were the land of the Romans ways of Jesus that rest on forgive - fasting and praying for peace in their and make wise deci - ness and love. Even as it appears rough-hewn wooden chapel in the vil - sions for the people. that the former may win out, lage of Acteal, Mexico. There were advan - the Gospel makes it utterly The indigenous people of Las tages to monarchical clear that Jesus’ merciful rule Abejas come from the highlands of rule: one man invest - cannot be extinguished by Chiapas, in the southernmost part of ed with authority death. Mexico. They call themselves Las could carry the weight of gover - Abejas because they see themselves as nance and make decisions on behalf PRAYING WITH SCRIPTURE a community of equal worker bees, of the people. But there were also striving together for peace, all serving disadvantages. What if the ruler did • Ask Christ to let the power of forgiveness the queen bee, which is the reign of not keep foremost the peoples’ best rule your heart. God. No person other than Jesus and interests? What if his judgment was his kingdom can be the center of their impaired by greed and hunger for • How is the power of forgiveness exer - hive of activity. power? What voice did the common cised in community? e

Several years after the massacre, a folk have in decisions that affected • How is Christ inviting you to be a servant- N N u d group of our students and professors their lives? What chance was there leader? d a t

:

were privileged to meet with their that women’s perspectives would be t r community. We asked if they were not heard? a tempted to abandon their commit - When Jesus appeared proclaim - ment to nonviolence after they had lost ing God’s kingdom, he offered an anti - Even as he is mocked and taunted so many of their mothers and sisters dote to imperial ways. He criticized in his dying moments, Jesus continues and brothers. the way the “kings of the Gentiles” to exercise the power of forgiveness Without hesitation, they replied lorded their power over their people both toward his executioners (23:34) that they must continue to forgive and demanded recognition for their and toward one of the criminals who their enemies and pray for their perse - benefaction. acknowledges his form of power and cutors because that is what Jesus By contrast, he urged the leaders asks to be included in his realm. among his followers to be the servants Followers of Christ the King find of all (Lk 22:25-26), a manner of life themselves challenged to form com - BARBARA E. REID, O.P., a member of the he modeled for them, as he took up his munities of “worker bees,” where the Dominican Sisters of Grand Rapids, Mich., is itinerant mission with people at the only royal figure is Jesus, where the a professor of New Testament studies at lowest rungs of society. Unlike an only kingdom is God’s and where the Catholic Theological Union in Chicago, Ill., where she is vice president and academic offended monarch who imposes harsh power of forgiveness reigns supreme. dean. punishments for infractions, he BARBARA E. REID

November 15, 2010 America 31