Remembering Jon Hassler Andrew M

Nov. 3, 2008AmericaTHE NATIONAL CATHOLIC WEEKLY $2.75

Remembering Jon Hassler Andrew M. Greeley The Catholic Vote Mark Silk and Andrew Walsh Fall Books 2 ONE-ACT PLAY about Dorothy Day protest for grape workers organized by on DVD—how did that come Cesar Chavez, a section of rented real about? bars was used. When traveling for live America The author and sole per- performances, though, Sarah carries what Published by Jesuits of the United States Aformer of “Fool for Christ,” Sarah she calls her bar unit of lightweight Melici, explained the genesis of her video wooden bars. She also carries a bag with version of the play (FoolforChrist.org) some books Dorothy loved, like a Editor in Chief during a conversation last summer: Dostoyevsky novel, her Bible and a note- Drew Christiansen, S.J. “People who saw the play kept nudging book. She brings her prison dress too, me, saying that a DVD would reach and a wig that makes her look remarkably EDITORIAL DEPARTMENT more people” and thus extend Dorothy like Dorothy. Managing Editor Day’s message of God’s love for the poor For the film, the director positioned Robert C. Collins, S.J. and the need for Gospel nonviolence. I three cameras for effective close-ups. One Editorial Director had been fortunate to watch the very first is of Dorothy speaking with her dying Karen Sue Smith live performance of the play in 1998 in mother about prayer and the life to the dining room of Maryhouse on come, leaning over the elderly woman Online Editor Manhattan’s Lower East Side, the with words of reassurance and hope. Maurice Timothy Reidy Catholic Worker house where Dorothy “Dorothy’s facial expressions would not Associate Editors Day died. be apparent to a live audience in a large Joseph A. O’Hare, S.J. Sarah continues to perform the play setting,” Sarah said. Many who have seen George M. Anderson, S.J. live around the country—so far, in over both the live performance and the DVD Dennis M. Linehan, S.J. 30 states and Canada—and she continues have told her they prefer the latter. James Martin, S.J. to receive invitations from churches, uni- Sarah herself says, though, “I am par- James P. McDermott, S.J. versities and other organizations. But the tial to a live performance” to convey the Matt Malone, S.J. nudging had its effect, and four years ago sense of who Dorothy Day was and the James T. Keane, S.J. she began the values she Peter Schineller, S.J. demanding task lived by. of bringing the Having seen Literary Editor play to a new Of Many Things the live play Patricia A. Kossmann format, one that twice, I can Poetry Editor could be viewed in living rooms and not vouch for that. Some of the most memo- James S. Torrens, S.J. just on stage. Little rewriting was neces- rable live performances have taken place Assistant Editor sary, she said. But where to film it? “We in prisons. She performed twice at Sing thought of various locations, a church, Sing, north of New York City. The pris- Francis W. Turnbull, S.J. the Catholic Worker farm north of oners responded enthusiastically, she said, Design and Production Manhattan, the beach on Staten Island to the depiction of the many facets of Stephanie Ratcliffe where Dorothy lived, but none seemed Dorothy’s life that are deftly woven into right,” she said. “This was partly because the play, focusing as they do on the poor BUSINESS DEPARTMENT with my representation of Dorothy at (most prisoners come from backgrounds Publisher various periods and with others taking of poverty) and on nonviolence. But the Jan Attridge part in her story, what works on stage play also resonated with the depiction of does not necessarily work in real-life Dorothy as a woman of prayer. “After Chief Financial Officer locations.” The de La Salle Christian one performance,” Sarah said, “we all Lisa Pope Brothers finally offered her appropriate gathered around the walls of a large room Marketing space at Manhattan College. and prayed together.” Eryk Krysztofiak With a check from Nina Polcyn, a In the course of her travels, Sarah has Advertising close friend of Dorothy, the fundraising visited numerous Catholic Worker hous- Julia Sosa had already begun. “I sent out letters, and es. Despite the many demanding situa- a man in California sent a check for $100. tions the Catholic workers face every day, 106 West 56th Street When I wrote to thank him,” she said, “what I have always noticed in them is New York, NY 10019-3803 “he wanted to know more about the pro- lots of joy and good humor,” she said, Ph: 212-581-4640; Fax: 212-399-3596. ject and then mailed a donation of adding: “How else could they survive the E-mail: [email protected]; $10,000.” Through other large dona- pressures of the many needs they face?” [email protected]. tions, like one from Maryknoll, some Her live presentation was a high point of Web site: www.americamagazine.org. who wished to remain anonymous and the celebration of the Catholic Worker’s Customer Service: 1-800-627-9533. another from the Archdiocese of New 75th anniversary celebration in Worces- © 2008 America Press, Inc. York, as well as many smaller donations, ter, Mass. “I was a little worried before Sarah received the needed amount. the performance,” she said. “After all, the For the most part, the basic props workers are the personification of what remained the same, except that instead of Dorothy stood for. But,” she concluded, artificial prison bars in the first filmed “they gave me a standing ovation.” Cover art Jon Hassler, by Frederick H. scene, showing Dorothy in jail for a George M. Anderson, S.J. Carlson, www.carlsonstudio.com. www.americamagazine.org Vol. 199 No. 14, Whole No. 4833 November 3, 2008 Articles 11 A Past Without a Future? 11 Mark Silk and Andrew Walsh In 2008, “the Catholic vote” looks just like the national electorate as a whole.

Torturer’s Apprentices 17 William R. O’Neill If the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, have taught us anything, perhaps it is to allow the one we call the Prince of Peace to undeceive us.

Current Comment 4 27 Editorial A Refugee World 5 Signs of the Times 6 Life in the 00s 8 Print’s Demise Terry Golway Bookings 21 The Last Catholic Novelist Andrew M. Greeley Fall Books 2 27 What Happened at Vatican II; Catholic and Feminist; Home; Sovereignty; The Forever War Letters 37 The Word 39 The Holy Dwelling of the Most High Daniel J. Harrington

This week @ John W. O'Malley, S.J., talks about Vatican II on our podcast, and Jon Hassler remembers J. F. Powers. Plus, William R. O'Neill, S.J., offers advice to per- America Connects plexed voters. All at americamagazine.org. Current Comment

recover from the recent market nosedive. Forward in Unity Government should promote new incentives for sav- From Oct. 10 to 12, a synaxis (gathering) of patriarchs, pri- ing. The most obvious change would be in the current tax mates and representatives of the Orthodox Church was on interest on ordinary savings and money market held at the Phanar in Istanbul under the presidency of His accounts. Why not exempt the interest from taxes, or cut All Holiness Patriarch Bartholomew I. He opened the the rate to a minimum? Though such moves decrease fed- assembly with an exhortation to unity: eral tax revenues, they would increase the stability of “Dearly beloved brothers in the Lord, we are called to lenders and bulk up the money available for the govern- contribute in every possible way to the unity of the ment’s own borrowing. Orthodox Church, transcending every temptation of Just as government encourages charitable giving by regionalism or nationalism so that we may act as a unified exempting legitimate donations from tax, so it can encour- Church, as one canonically structured body.” age other habits: deferred gratification, long-term financial The fathers issued an inspiring, forward-looking docu- planning and thrift. ment that signals special overtures to other Christian churches. The themes treated by the synaxis will have a familiar ring to Roman Catholic Christians. Pope Benedict, too, has been reminding us regularly of the need Gekko and Aquinas to overcome conflicts in the contemporary world, the need “Greed is, for lack of a better word, good,” said Gordon to resist the distancing of societal life from the life of faith, Gekko, the arbitrageur-protagonist played by Michael the need to protect the environment and the need to foster Douglas in the 1987 movie “Wall Street.” There are two the sacredness of the family and marriage. ways of interpreting the film’s most quotable line. If This convergence of pastoral concerns is a welcome “greed” means the self-interest that serves as the engine of development. We pray that it will advance ecumenism classic capitalism, as Adam Smith proposed, Mr. Gekko is between East and West. arguably correct. Self-interest motivates workers and companies to maximize their earnings, and therefore increases productivity, which benefits the overall economy. But if by “greed” he meant what Pope Gregory the Great and St. Encourage Savings Thomas Aquinas named as one of the seven capital sins, In 1974 and again in 1980, Congress passed legislation to then Mr. Gekko was dead wrong. At the top of the list of encourage taxpayers to save money for retirement. sins that led to the financial meltdown is greed, with pride Individuals with earnings under a certain cap could sock following close behind. away tax-deferred savings of up to $6,000 a year by pur- Greed (and recklessness) encouraged behavior by the chasing a traditional individual retirement account. I.R.A.’s top executives of many financial services companies that are long-term investments with early withdrawal penalties contributed to a predictable catastrophe. Greed led the that can be passed on to a beneficiary if the owner dies and mortgage industry to invite homeowners to take on that are protected from bankruptcy. Traditional I.R.A.’s mortages beyond their means. (There was not a little greed offer a short-term incentive (tax deferment on the initial among those homeowners, too.) Theoretically, an “effi- purchase) and a long-term incentive (tax deferment on any cient” market should punish overweening greed: stock gains). There are specific types of I.R.A.’s for small busi- prices in companies that overextend themselves in risky nesses (S.E.P.), those who prefer to pay taxes up front ventures will fall. But with few executives able to under- (Roth) and high earners (non-deductible). stand precisely how these financial instruments worked, the A second plan, the employer-sponsored 401(k), allows opposite happened: stock prices rose. (That’s pride: the workers to set aside earnings, tax-deferred, of up to companies thought they could weather any storm.) Though $15,500 to $20,500 a year, which can be invested. In these the risk-taking was excessive, C.E.O.’s were rewarded difficult economic times, they should be promoted and handsomely. The former head of A.I.G., Martin Sullivan, expanded. The maximum I.R.A. contribution could be received a $15 million golden parachute; and last year increased and the 401(k) ceiling raised significantly. And Richard S. Fuld Jr., the former chief of the now defunct for I.R.A. holders who do not need their I.R.A. money yet, Lehman Brothers, received a $484 million salary. “Is it Congress should lift the compulsory withdrawal rule for fair?” asked Representative Henry Waxman at the persons age 70-and-a-half who prefer to let their savings Congressional hearings. No, it’s sinful; and the sin is greed.

4 November 3, 2008 America Editorial A Refugee World

ILLIONS OF REFUGEES, asylum seekers work situations as they try to support their families. Many and internally displaced persons strug- are health professionals unable to secure employment as gle today throughout the world in lim- such, and their flight has created a brain drain from Iraq bolike situations. Some, like those in that will take years to overcome. Over two million Iraqis, Palestine, have been “warehoused” for however, were not able even to cross the border into near- Mgenerations. Children born in refugee camps and other by countries. They are now internally displaced, having confined settlements grow up, start families of their own fled their homes yet remaining within their country, in fre- and, in some situations, pass into old age. Often deprived quently squalid conditions with relatively little help from of free movement and the right to earn a livelihood in the nation’s government. their host country, they endure an uncertain existence that Barriers to admission have grown stricter for both offers little hope for achieving the kinds of basic human asylum seekers and refugees not only in the United rights that the authors of the 1951 U.N. Convention States but in other industrialized countries as well. Some Relating to the Status of Refugees had in mind. nations have in a sense extended their actual land borders Both refugees and asylum seekers flee their home by implementing various forms of interdiction. Italian countries because of “a well-founded fear of persecution authorities regularly patrol their surrounding waters to for reasons of race, religion, nationality, membership in intercept rickety boats filled with desperate emigrants a particular social group or political opinion.” Those from poor and violence-ridden countries hopeful of find- defined as refugees by the U.N. High Commissioner for ing meager means of support for themselves and their Refugees can hope to be accepted in another country for families. Many drown in the attempt, either as their boats resettlement. Asylum seekers, on the other hand, unable founder in the sea or because unscrupulous owners throw to count on their own governments to protect them, flee them overboard. The interdiction of Haitians at sea by to other countries in search of safety. There, through the United States is another example of such an extend- ever more arduous procedures, they must establish their ing of borders. claim to remain or face forcible deportation back to their country of origin—often to face imprisonment or BOTH AT THE NATIONAL LEVEL IN THE UNITED STATES and on death, dangers that led them to flee in the first place. the international level among other industrialized coun- Iraqis head the list of asylum seekers in industrialized tries, policy makers need to be far more mindful of the nations. needs of refugees fleeing persecution and civil conflicts, as In fact, Iraq now leads worldwide in the number of well as the life-threatening poverty endemic in the poorest people forced from their homes because of ongoing vio- nations. The United States, regrettably, has moved far lence. The U.N.H.C.R. estimates that almost five million from the invitation implied in the inscription on the Statue are in need of humanitarian care. Some have been allowed of Liberty, lines from Emma Lazarus’s famous poem “The to enter the United States as refugees. In the wake of the New Colossus”: “Give me your tired, your poor, your terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, however, their numbers huddled masses yearning to breathe free, the wretched fell. For the fiscal year that ended Sept. 30, 2008, the U.S. refuse of your teeming shore.” The huddled masses will State Department agreed to admit 12,000. The good news remain largely where they are until Western countries like is that not only was that number achieved, but that the the United States and other wealthy nations agree to reset- actual number admitted was nearly 14,000. But as advo- tle far larger numbers of vulnerable groups. cates also point out, given the huge number of Iraqis who Given its central responsibility for the devastation that fled to surrounding countries, like Jordan, Syria, Lebanon, has taken place in Iraq, which remains a violent and divid- Turkey and Egypt, the number admitted here is distressed society, the United States has a special moral duty to ingly small. Some of the host countries to which they fled help the millions of Iraqis displaced from their homes. It tend to view them more as “guests” than as refugees, with should play a special role in assisting refugees and asylum few rights or opportunities for work. There they lead a seekers from the Middle East, as well as from other parts twilight existence, exploited by employers in informal of the world.

November 3, 2008 America 5 Signs of the Times

several speakers said at a conference cel- Security Stepped Up for Christians in Mosul ebrating its anniversary. The false pre- sumption that this landmark list of fundamental principles is a Western, Judeo-Christian invention and therefore would be inapplicable to Eastern, especially Islamic, cultures seems to be on the rise, they said. The U.S. Embassy to the Vatican, with support from the Knights of Columbus, sponsored a conference on Oct. 16 titled “For Everyone, Everywhere: Universal Human Rights and the Challenge of Diversity.” It was one of three confer- ences the embassy is organizing this year to mark the 60th anniversary of the U.N. declaration. Mary Ann Glendon, the U.S. Ambassador to the Vatican, said the U.N. commission charged with drawing up a sort of “international bill of rights” asked philosophers to identify A displaced Christian gives pistachios to a U.S. soldier outside al-Saida monastery in Al-Qosh rights or values that people from differ- village, 28 miles north of Mosul, Iraq, Oct. 18. Christians in Iraq have been targets of sectar- ent cultures, religions and political ian attacks; in October, more than 1,500 Christian families fled the northern city of Mosul. bents could agree on as universal.

Increased security aimed at preventing stop Christians from fleeing their further attacks on Christians in the homes or to persuade refugees to Palestine a Testing Iraqi city of Mosul might have come return. “We are extremely worried Ground for Tolerance too late to halt an exodus of refugees, about the situation,” the archbishop said an Iraqi archbishop. The Iraqi told the British branch of Aid to the Though Palestinians would like to serve government has deployed extra police Church in Need, a Catholic charity as role models for Christian-Muslim on the streets of the northern city to that helps persecuted Christians, in an tolerance and brotherhood, they have try to end a wave of violence in which interview on Oct. 14. “It is absolutely not yet reached that stage, said the at least 15 Christians were murdered in crucial that the government send more retired Latin patriarch of Jerusalem. the first two weeks of October. But security and police to the area and “Our society is made up of freedom and Chaldean Archbishop Louis Sako of maybe—just maybe—it will encourage despotism, and we are trying to chart a Kirkuk, Iraq, said the force of 2,500 the Christians who have fled Mosul to path toward freedom. In Palestinian police officers might not be enough to go back,” he said. society there are Palestinians of different faces but on one single path,” said Patriarch Michel Sabbah, who retired in Traditional Chinese founded in and fostered by Confucianism June. “If we stumble on that path, we Wisdom and Christianity contains the “seeds of the word” of God can fall to despotism.” Religion for that the Second Vatican Council said are some of the faithful “can become a sort For the good of Chinese society and the present in all religions and cultures. of despotism when it does not take into defense of people, the Catholic Church Cardinal Zen said the church in Hong consideration respect for the other must engage in dialogue and work with Kong has developed a healthy dialogue believer,” he said at the opening of a those who defend the traditional values with followers of Confucianism, aimed conference at Bethlehem University on found in Confucianism, said Cardinal particularly at “trying to preserve the pre- Oct. 15. Though Patriarch Sabbah said Joseph Zen Ze-kiun of Hong Kong. cious heritage of Chinese wisdom.” kinship among Palestinian Muslims and Cardinal Zen told the Synod of Bishops Christians does exist, he blamed “devel- in Rome on Oct. 15 that before being 60th Anniversary opments abroad” for “shaking that written as the Scriptures and incarnated affinity.” The two-day conference in the person of Jesus, the word of God of Rights Declaration brought together about 100 European was the force that created beauty, the Sixty years after the creation of the and Palestinian experts to discuss the universe and the human person. And, he U.N. Universal Declaration of Human role of the media and education in said, the traditional Chinese wisdom Rights, these rights are under threat, Christian-Muslim relations.

6 America November 3, 2008 Signs of the Times

Racial Disparity in Guttmacher Institute on abortion trends said. “As an African-American I am sad- Abortion Rates between 1974 and 2004. The report dened by evidence that black women found that although abortion rates for all continue to be targeted by the abortion A leading black Catholic bishop called on racial and ethnic groups had declined industry,” Bishop Holley said in an Oct. African-Americans to “defend our com- between 1989 and 2004, the rates now 15 statement. “The loss of any child from munity” against an abortion industry that range from 11 per 1,000 non-Hispanic abortion is a tragedy, but we must ask: he said is performing abortions on women to 28 per 1,000 Hispanic women Why are minority children being aborted minority women at a disproportionate and 50 per 1,000 black women. In 2004, at such disproportionate rates?” rate. Auxiliary Bishop Martin D. Holley 37 percent of all abortions performed in of Washington, who chairs the U.S. bish- the United States were obtained by black ops’ Subcommittee on African-American women, 34 percent by non-Hispanic Bishops Urge Dual Affairs and serves on their Committee on white women, 22 percent by Hispanic Approach to Life Issues Pro-Life Activities, was commenting on a women and 8 percent by women of races Catholics are required to oppose abortion report by the New York-based other than white or black, the report on demand and to provide help to mothers facing challenging pregnancies, Patriarch Speaks at Synod on the Word of God the chairmen of two committees of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops said in an Oct. 21 statement. Cardinal Justin Rigali of Philadelphia, chairman of the Committee on Pro-Life Activities, and Bishop William F. Murphy of Rockville Centre, N.Y., chairman of the Committee on Domestic Justice and Human Development, also urged Catholics to study church teaching on matters per- taining to abortion rather than rely on statements and materials from outside organizations. The prelates’ statement was released in response to two arguments that have surfaced in the abortion debate during the run-up to the Nov. 4 election. The first maintains that the Catholic Church should accept the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision on abortion in the 1973 Roe v. Wade case as a “permanent fixture of Pope Benedict XVI walks with Orthodox Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew of Constantinople constitutional law” and that the only after a prayer service in the Sistine Chapel at the Vatican Oct. 18. The patriarch delivered a speech during a session of the world Synod of Bishops. way to reduce abortions is through broader government support for social Sitting below Michelangelo’s massive the Sistine Chapel, Pope Benedict XVI programs for pregnant women. The fresco “The Last Judgment,” the ecu- invited the patriarch, who is the spiritual second holds that the church should menical patriarch of Constantinople leader of Orthodox Christians, to focus solely on restoring recognition for said divided Christians must be address the synod. When Patriarch unborn children’s human rights and changed by God’s word and must work Bartholomew, the first ecumenical that proposals to provide life-affirming harder to bring the joy of the patriarch to address a session of the support for pregnant women distract Resurrection to all creation. “We must world Synod of Bishops, had finished from that effort. experience radical ‘metanoia’—a con- his 25-minute speech, the pope noted “We want to be clear that neither version of attitudes, habits and prac- that the church fathers quoted by the argument is consistent with Catholic tices—for ways that we have misused or patriarch are recognized as great theolo- teaching,” the prelates wrote. “Our faith abused God’s word, God’s gifts and gians in both the East and the West. “If requires us to oppose abortion on God’s creation,” Patriarch we have fathers in common, how can we demand and to provide help to mothers Bartholomew told the Synod of not be brothers?” Pope Benedict said. facing challenging pregnancies.” Bishops on the Word of God. After the “This was a joyful experience of unity— celebration of evening prayer Oct. 18 in perhaps not full, but true and deep.” From CNS and other sources. CNS photos.

November 3, 2008 America 7 Life in the OOs

Notions of objectivity, fairness, balance and even decency were beginning to fade Print’s Demise ‘ in the 1980s and 90s, but with the coming of age of the blogger, it is clear that expen- No one needs to be told that sive fact-gathering and educated analysis has given way to the inexpensive, look-at- newspapers‘ are nearing their end days. me world of opinion-peddling. All of which suggests a question: N EARLY OCTOBER I found lose about $30 million this year, even When newspapers no longer litter the myself scurrying out the front door though it is by far the largest and most lawns and doorsteps of American house- a little earlier than usual so I could important newspaper in one of the holds, where will our opinion leaders retrieve a pair of plastic bags, one nation’s wealthiest states, New Jersey. obtain the facts and knowledge required to blue, the other yellow, from my The blue bag paper, The Times, has just form intelligent arguments? Ifront lawn. Contained within were two discontinued having separate sections Perhaps that is just the kind of ques- newspapers—The New York Times, in devoted to metropolitan news and sports tion an old-fashioned, 20th-century media the blue bag, and my local paper, The coverage. type could be expected to ask. But that Star-Ledger, in the yellow. Their front While the impending demise of print doesn’t make it less urgent, because if this pages confirmed rumors I had heard that news surely has been discussed and year’s presidential election has offered us a the world was falling apart, or at least the bemoaned for some time now, I wonder peek into a post-newspaper world of cam- portion of the world that deals with how many of us realize that newspapers paign coverage, even the fiercest newspa- derivatives and subprime mortgages. will take with them to their graves the very per critic will soon pine for the days of Newspapers—the responsible broad- framework, culture, ethics and standards reliable sources. sheets anyway—have always served as my that have regulated news-gathering since This year the Internet proved to be a guide through the brambles of trivia and the beginnings of mass media. Some may convenient vehicle for vicious rumor- sensationalism. If somebody on television welcome this development, persuaded as mongering, outright lies and loads of self- uses the word “panic” or “catastrophe,” I they seem to be that newspapers are intel- righteous assertions. But it offered pre- chalk it up to a bid for higher ratings and lectually corrupt institutions devoted to cious little in terms of independent, vet- increased profitability. If a newspaper uses either the destruction of American values ted, verifiable, old-fashioned reporting. Of those words, I check to make sure I have or the suppression of truth. Or both. course, I am not referring to Web sites duct tape, canned goods and bottled water Such critics no doubt are looking for- operated by newspapers. I have in mind in my basement. ward to the day when the last print news- Web sites that specialize in posting unver- As I tried to come to grips with the paper rolls off the last printing press, for ified rumors and bogus claims that would sober financial narratives spread out on many seem to believe that journalism will never have seen their way into print back my breakfast table, it occurred to me that be better off without the conceits and bias- when newspapers mattered. I was engaged in an act that my children, es of elite newspaper editors and reporters Some argue that the Web should be or certainly their children, will have trou- who have distorted or covered up the celebrated for expanding the definition of ble understanding years from now. Why truth in order to promote their political news and for pursuing stories the old would anybody defy the predawn chill to views. I suspect they will live to regret media, particularly newspapers, ignored. fetch a sickly thin newspaper filled with their contempt for oh-so-20th-century There is merit in that argument. But then accounts of events that were at least 10 or newspaper reporters. For without them again, the unfiltered, unedited Web was 12 hours old? Why not stay inside, flip on and their standards—their obsessive responsible for promulgating a thousand a handheld mobile device and find out emphasis on objectivity, their dogged lies during the 2008 campaign, beginning what happened a minute ago? Pretty good search for, yes, facts; their determination with the “story” of Barak Obama’s secret question, I guess. to bring to light stories that governments life as a Muslim. No civic-minded citizen needs to be seek to hide—our political and civic cul- Obama’s more rabid foes delighted in told that newspapers are nearing their end ture will be gravely diminished. using the tools available to them to circu- days. All papers, great and small, are shed- A wise editor once told me that opin- late this falsehood. They were happy to ding jobs and cutting back coverage. My ion was cheap, while reporting was expen- note that such charges would never have yellow-bag paper, The Star-Ledger, sive. In the 20th century, news organiza- made their way into any respectable news- recently averted possible closure when tions spent freely if not always lavishly to paper. hundreds of workers accepted modest cover wars, political campaigns, natural They were absolutely right. Keep that buyout packages. The paper is expected to disasters, international summit meetings, in mind as our financial meltdown gives royal weddings and abuses of the public way to a prolonged recession, which in TERRY GOLWAY is the curator of the John payroll. In the 21st century, however, the turn finishes off the noble institution Kean Center for American History at Kean cheaper option has become the new known as the newspaper. University in Union, N.J. paradigm. Opinion rules. Attitude prevails. Terry Golway

8 America November 3, 2008 November 3, 2008 America Vol. 199 No. 14, Whole No. 4833 PHOTO: CNS/MIKE CRUPI, CATHOLIC COURIER A voter leaves a polling site at St. Pius X Catholic Church in the town of Chili, N.Y., Feb. 5.

Parsing the U.S. Catholic vote A Past Without a Future? – BY MARK SILK AND ANDREW WALSH –

N 2008, “THE CATHOLIC VOTE” looks just like the national electorate as a whole. It mirrored the electorate in the previous two national elections as well. In 2000 it split for Gore over Bush 50 to 47, just as the country as a whole divided evenly between the two. In 2004, Catholics chose Bush over Kerry by 52 to 47, while the country did the same by 51 to 48. (By contrast, mainline Protestants, the Ilarge religious grouping that next most closely mirrors the entire electorate, preferred Bush to Gore 53 to 43 and Bush to Kerry 55 to 45.) So the question remains: Is there a Catholic vote in the United States, or are there simply lots of voters who happen to be Catholic?

MARK SILK and ANDREW WALSH are, respectively, director and associate director of the Leonard E. Greenberg Center for the Study of Religion in Public Life at Trinity College, Hartford, Conn. Their new book is One Nation Divisible: How Regional Religious Differences Shape American Politics.

November 3, 2008 America 11 In the Beginning Catholic cartoon, “The American River Ganges,” which The idea that there might be a Catholic vote to contend for depicted vested Catholic bishops as crocodiles, their miters did not occur to American politicians until 1832, when lined with flashing teeth, swimming ashore to devour Andrew Jackson and Henry Clay Sr. competed to line up American schoolchildren), these attacks usually focused on the modest number of Catholic voters then on offer in New administrative rather than electoral politics, and especially York and Pennsylvania. Yet by the 1850s, massive immigra- on schooling. When it came to voting, the primary contem- tion from Ireland and Germany was creating big blocs of porary emphasis in politicking, journalism and scholarship new voters, particularly in the emerging industrial cities and tended to be on ethnicity, region and social class. Democrats towns of New England and were portrayed as poor the mid-Atlantic states. Irish immigrants or Many of these Catholic Registered Voters Southern white males, immigrants ended up forg- more than as Catholics or ing a long-term identity as More Catholics associate themselves with the Southern Baptists. Democrats, perhaps less at Democratic Party and moderate ideology than first because of the pull of all registered voters in general. The Turn of the Century the Democratic Party than Nonetheless, there was a because of the active hostil- Catholic vote in late 19th- ALL ALL PRACTICING NONPRACTICING ity of Protestant antago- CATHOLICS CATHOLICS CATHOLICS century America. Studies nists clustered in the Whig, published in the 1970s by Know Nothing and emerg- PARTY/IDEOLOGY Richard Jensen, Paul ing Republican parties, Kleppner and others assert- which pushed immigrants 50 ed persuasively that in the toward the Democrats. 40 presidential elections of the Nativists were deeply late 19th century, Catholics 30 fearful of the impact of pur- % of Irish, German and portedly priest-ridden 20 French background voted Catholic hordes. The first 10 for the Democratic candi- legislative proposal issued date at rates of 75 percent 0 by William Minor, gover- and higher. Catholics also nor of Connecticut in 1855, formed the voting base of was to extend the state’s Liberal the Democratic political Democrat Moderate residency requirement for Republican machines emerging in Conservative naturalization from five to Independent cities like Boston, New

20 years—a gambit trans- Survey conducted by telephone Sept. 24-Oct. 3 with 1,733 U.S. adults. An oversample was York and Chicago. conducted resulting in 813 interviews with U.S. Catholics. The margin of error is plus or minus 2.5 parently intended to neu- percent for all Americans surveyed and is greater, up to plus or minus 6.5 percent, for subgroups. In those days, however, tralize the voting power of Source: Knights of Columbus ©2008 CNS Catholics did not stand out immigrant Irish Catholics. as a unique religious voting American politics was powered by what political scientists bloc, since the entire electorate was a complex mosaic of call “negative reference”: mutual mistrust. “ethno-religious” groups. Seventy-five percent or more of The consolidation of Catholic and Democratic identity Northern Methodists, Congregationalists and was accelerated by struggles for the vote and for public Presbyterians just as reliably voted Republican, for example. funding for Catholic schools, many of which were led by There were also exceptions to the rule: Archbishop John pugnacious Catholics like Archbishop John Hughes of New Ireland of St. Paul, Minn., was a vocal Republican, and the York, known as Dagger John, who in 1844, in the wake of Republican urban machines of cities like Cincinnati and riots in Philadelphia in which two Catholic churches were Philadelphia depended on Catholic votes. destroyed by arson, told city officials that “if a single But by the early 20th century, the concentration of Catholic church is burned in New York, the city will Catholics in urban areas, the dynamic and mutually rein- become a second Moscow.” Napoleon had almost com- forcing effect of ethnic and religious identity, and the con- pletely destroyed Moscow by fire in 1812. scious Catholic practice of building a subculture supported While Catholic clergymen and the institutional church by institutions positioned to insulate Catholics from an were frequently savaged during the mid-19th century by aggressive, Protestant culture all combined to nurture a dis- nativist complaints (like Thomas Nast’s famous anti- tinctive and coherent Catholic vote. And a new factor

12 America November 3, 2008 helped perpetuate and perhaps even intensify the Catholic preference for Democratic voting—an alliance between working-class (and particularly labor union) interests and evolving Catholic social and economic thought that helped produce the American welfare state. Catholic voters were foundational partners in the New Deal coalition. Indeed, Franklin D. Roosevelt was quoting long passages from Quadragesimo Anno at Democratic rallies in 1934. The Catholic vote reached its all-time pinnacle of coherence in the 1960 election, when John F. Kennedy won NEW more than 80 percent of Catholic votes. That was something of a last hurrah. As Catholics moved quickly up the social scale and into the suburbs after World War II, many of the social bonds that held together the old urban Catholic subculture relaxed. Probably a majority of Catholics voted for Dwight D. Eisenhower in both 1952 and 1956, and widespread cold war suspicion of left-wing politics produced Catholic Republican elected officials like Senator Joseph McCarthy. By the late 1960s, the old Catholic Democratic voter bloc was breaking up, following the dissolution of the old urban Catholic subculture. The Catholic working class was eroding under pressure and unhappy with the new social policies of both the church and the Democratic Party, a process accelerated by Roe v. Wade in 1973. White Catholics were now firmly entrenched in the American mainstream and spanned the entire social scale. And educated suburban Catholics, like their neighbors, were voting more often for Republican candidates and registering as NEW Republicans or, more frequently, as independents. In many places, especially in the Midwest, even working-class Catholic voters could be swayed; and they moved to support Republican presidential candidates like Ronald Reagan. Catholics were plentiful in the leadership ranks of the Republican ascendancy that established itself in the 1980s and 1990s. During these years, the voting patterns of Catholics grew still more complex because of a countertrend: a new Classics with Commentary, round of mass immigration was transforming both the U.S. and Catholic populations after 1965. As they became citizens and voters, most of these immigrants, Latino Catholics primarily, tended to vote strongly Democratic. Since the 1970s, two pools of Catholic voters have evolved: one white and native born, the other immigrant and largely Latino. Available from your local bookstore or from: The Catholic Vote Today For their part, white Catholics have been much more evenly distributed between the two major parties than they were before 1970. They have been a key swing vote in presiden- 800-282-1865 tial elections, supporting Ronald Reagan and George H. W. Bush in the 1980s, Bill Clinton in the 1990s, and George W.

November 3, 2008 America 13 Bush in 2000 and 2004. But even white Catholic voters are In a recent New Yorker article, Peter J. Boyer recount- no monolith. From state to state, the vote differential ed how Karl Rove and Deal Hudson sought to capitalize on among Catholics in the 2004 presidential election ranged this phenomenon in 2004. According to Boyer, Rove and from a 27-point margin for Bush in Virginia to a 25-point Hudson recognized that while there was no longer a gener- margin for Kerry in Washington State. If mostly white ic Catholic vote, there was a traditional orthodox segment Catholic constituencies can vary by as much as 52 points of the vote just waiting to be enlisted in the Republican from one state to another, there is a real question whether cause. So they went out and mobilized traditionalist there even exists such a thing as a “white Catholic vote” in Catholics, turning the Catholic presidential vote from any meaningful sense. majority Gore in 2000 to majority Bush in 2004. Region counts for a lot here. Survey data show, for It made a good story, showing how those two boy example, that white Catholics in the South are much more geniuses managed to conjure up the long-awaited alliance of conservative than white Catholics in the Pacific Northwest. evangelicals and conservative Catholics. The only trouble is But even within regions, the white Catholic vote can vary a that it was not true. Bush won the Catholic vote in 2004 not good deal. In Michigan, John Kerry carried Catholics by 1 by making inroads among traditionalist Catholics, but percentage point whereas next door in Ohio, Bush carried among less observant ones. Infrequent Mass-goers account- them by 11 points. Why? Because white Catholics in ed for the lion’s share of the difference, going from sup- Michigan include many Eastern Europeans with union porting Gore in 2000 by 50 to 46 to supporting Bush in backgrounds in the auto industry, whereas Catholics in 2004 by 51.4 to 48.6. Ohio include large numbers of conservative small-business Central to much thinking about Catholic voting these types who trace their roots to Germany. days has been the partisan divide on abortion and life Over the past two decades, a significant split in the issues generally. By Democratic Party standards, Joe Biden American electorate has developed between more and less is center-right on abortion. His NARAL Pro-Choice observant Americans of all religious persuasions; that is true America rating is only 36 percent—a result of his opposi- for Catholics as well. Those who attend Mass regularly vote tion to public funding for abortions and his support of the Republican in considerably greater numbers than those who ban on the partial-birth abortion procedure. Biden accepts do not. as part of his faith his church’s teaching that life begins at REST • REFLECT • RENEW AMERICA’S PODCAST The Ministry to Ministers Featuring weekly Sabbatical Program interviews with the magazine’s editors and writers

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14 America November 3, 2008 conception, but strongly supports Roe v. Wade on the voters. “Post Vatican II” Catholics—those born after grounds that he does not want to impose his religious 1960—have trended Republican, but only 7 percent share views on those who do not share them. That is to say, he their church’s position on abortion. When it came to the declines to go along with the Catholic Church’s position issues, what pushed white Catholics toward George Bush in that, inasmuch as its position on abortion is derived from 2004 was their support for capital punishment and their natural law rather than revelation, it may be imposed by opposition to gay marriage; it was not John Kerry’s support law on non-Catholics. for abortion rights. Naturally, this position is beyond the pale for many, but This time around, it is not the Republicans who are among rank-and-file Catholics, it is a very common posi- working hard for the Catholic vote, but the Democrats. tion. According to the American National Election Studies, Hillary Clinton’s Catholic outreach was particularly effec- 1980-2000, 42 percent of white Catholics are either com- tive during the primary season, putting together the net- pletely pro-choice or believe that abortion should be per- works of activists and the e-mail lists that enabled her to mitted for reasons of rape, incest or danger to the woman’s give Barack Obama more than a run for his money in states life, or if the need for it has been clearly established. Only like Pennsylvania and Ohio. 19 percent follow the church’s teaching that abortion should Eric McFadden, who ran Catholic outreach for the never be permitted. Latino Catholics are more pro-life than Clinton campaign, believes that Obama, whose people are white Catholics, but not by much. now working the Clinton networks, has a fighting chance to What does this mean? In a recent study of the political capture the white Catholic vote in November. While that behavior of white Catholics, the political scientist Stephen may be overly optimistic, the Democratic candidate does Mockabee, of the University of Cincinnati, controlling for seem poised to capture Catholics as a whole. A survey con- such factors as age, income and education, discovered that ducted in September for the organization Faith in Public the candidates’ position on abortion had no statistically sig- Life found that Catholics 35 and older are evenly divided nificant effect on the Catholic presidential vote choice in between Obama and McCain, but that younger Catholics 2004. How could this be? One way to understand it is that preferred Obama 55 percent to 40 percent. As in the elec- while older white Catholics are much more pro-life than torate as a whole, the young seem to be leading the way this younger ones, they tend to be far more loyal Democratic year. A

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November 3, 2008 America 15 Torturer’s Apprentices Learning to love, not hate, after 9/11 BY WILLIAM R. O’NEILL

PRINCE, wrote Machiavelli, and detained, for example—in the name of dience to “present necessities” makes us must be a great “feigner and “present necessities.” Only “supreme willing apprentices to those who would dissembler,” for subjects “are so emergency,” we say, warrants a suspension deceive. Laudably, our bishops have spo- simple and so ready to obey pre- of the ethical. Only in extremis do we per- ken on the questions of immigration and Asent necessities, that one who deceives will mit torture, renditions, detention of torture. As citizens, though, we do not always find those who allow seem unduly disturbed by themselves to be deceived.” what is done in our name. Machiavelli’s infamy, alas, is We like our heroes neat, exceeded only by his emula- our vengeance sweet. But tion. For in the wake of the victims become execution- terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, ers—Machiavelli knew 2001, we too have allowed this—and there is a second ourselves to be deceived. act to the drama that began “We do not torture,” on 9/11, the one we are now President George W. Bush living. assures us. Yet mounting evi- We have suffered, to be dence from the Red Cross, sure. And it is innocent suf- Physicians for Human Rights fering that rendered our and the U.S. Army’s own anger righteous. At the heart investigators reveals execu- of the Christian narrative, tive branch complicity in after all, is suffering inno- what retired Maj. Gen. cence, crucified love. But to Antonio Taguba calls a “sys- speak of lost innocence to tematic regime of torture.” justify torture or mass depor- Deception and evasion are tation is a fond illusion. That hallmarks of the president’s innocence, as H. Richard brief for torture, abrogating Niebuhr once wrote, was the very human rights “slain from the foundations accords that provide our sole of the world.” And if the remaining casus belli in Iraq. cross speaks of innocent suf- On the home front, fering, it does so without immigration raids in the qualification; not only name of homeland security Americans figure in the cal- leave parents shackled, culus of innocence betrayed, detained and threatened with but all those “crucified on deportation. Children born many an obscure hill”: the on U.S. soil are forcibly separated from immigrant children and the like. But with innocent Afghan and Iraqi civilians killed their parents, whose greatest crime is their postmodern terror, the extreme becomes as “collateral damage,” the immigrant desire to work for their families at meager quotidian, supreme emergency natural- children detained, the parents deported. wages. Here too our readiness to be ized. Our Machiavellian logic is circum- Our righteousness has deceived us, deceived belies our belief in family values scribed within a moral world; to preserve letting us become the very thing we abhor. and the sanctity of marriage. this world we betray the very tenets that Are we truly so simple and ready to obey We recognize, so we say, the rule of make it moral. present necessities? Citizens of faith can- law; but we suspend its most basic provi- In the name of security, so different not evade the Gospel’s mandate. In St. sions—the human rights of the deported from the biblical promise of shalom, we Augustine’s words, for those called moralize our evasions, persuaded that Christian, “love of enemy admits of no WILLIAM R. O’NEILL, S.J., is associate pro- Americans value families and uphold the exceptions,” and those inflicting punish- fessor of social ethics at the Jesuit School rule of law. We are not torturers, we do ment in the name of law must “first over-

of Theology in Berkeley, Calif. not detain or deport; but our ready obe- come hate in their hearts.” A hard lesson, ART BY SEAN QUIRK

November 3, 2008 America 17 to be sure, after 9/11, but enmity cannot be a fitting memorial to our grief. Nature, graced even in tragedy, has equipped us with other, better weapons. If the 9/11 attacks have taught us anything, perhaps it NEW DIRECTIONS is to allow the one we call Prince of Peace SABBATICAL to undeceive us. In the words of Dorothy Day, whom Renew your spirit in a ﬂexible Machiavelli would have derided as an program, a global community, and “unarmed prophet”: “Yes, we go on talk- the scenic San Francisco Bay area. ing about love. St. Paul writes about Enjoy a wide range of spiritual, it…and there are Father Zossima’s recreational, and academic resources. unforgettable words in The Brothers Karamazov, ‘Love in practice is a harsh and dreadful thing compared to love in dreams.’ What does the modern world know of love, with its light touching of the surface of love? It has never reached down into the depths, to the misery and pain and glory of love which endures to death and beyond it. We have not yet begun to learn about love. Now is the time to begin, to start afresh, to use this JESUIT SCHOOL OF THEOLOGY at Berkeley divine weapon.” A a member of the Graduate Theological Union

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18 America November 3, 2008 Bookings The Last Catholic Novelist The grace-filled fiction of Jon Hassler BY ANDREW M. GREELEY

HEN JON HASSLER DIED last spring at the age of 75, he was the last “Catholic novelist” in America. A longW time ago a controversy raged in Catholic journals about whether a “Catholic novel” was possible. The “right” contended that a novel could be called “Catholic” if it presented orthodox Catholic teaching and edifying Catholic people (no “bad” priests) and was written by a “practicing” Catholic author. The “left” said that any quality novel was by definition “Catholic,” like James Joyce’s Ulysses. Most of the French “Catholic” writers were not Catholic enough by these standards—Francois Mauriac and Léon Bloy. Neither were their English counter- parts—Graham Greene and Evelyn Waugh. The rector of the major seminary I attended publicly denounced Greene. Sister Mariella Gable was banished from her monastery in Minnesota by the Bishop of St. Cloud for putting Catcher in the Rye on her reading list. The courses in “Catholic Fiction” disappeared from Catholic colleges and universities, even from Notre Dame, where some writers of allegedly Catholic fiction taught. I went through the catalogues of a few dozen Catholic novel carried the day. Hassler’s Powers and Betty Wahl, and John R. such schools 20 years ago and found that books, in violation of the intellectual con- Powers, James Lee Burke, Alice even G. K. Chesterton’s fiction had disap- sensus in Catholic circles, managed to McDermott, Edwin O’Connor, Flannery peared from public sight, as had that of become both critical and popular success- O’Connor, Louise Erdrich, William Cardinal Francis Spellman and Cardinal es. Handicapped in the later years of his Kennedy, Thomas Flannigan and Cormac John Henry Newman. life by a Parkinson’s-like disease, he could McCarthy among them. Those who argued for whatever rea- sustain only three hours of work a day. Yet son that there could be no such thing as a he produced at least a half dozen novels Catholic Storytelling that would belong in any course on The controversy of yesteryear might ANDREW M. GREELEY is professor of social Catholic fiction, should that relic of the have taken a different turn if the Rev. sciences at the University of Arizona and a past ever emerge again at Catholic cam- David Tracy’s theory of the analogical research associate with the National puses. In fact, they may define the genre. imagination had been available a half Opinion Research Center at the university. Thus the work of many Catholic writers century ago. It would have been difficult JON HASSLER was the 2008 recipient of may win acceptance as Catholic works of to deny the inevitability of Catholic nov-

America’s Campion Award. art—folks like Hassler’s good friends J. F. els, some of them patently and blatantly ART BY FREDERICK H. CARLSON

November 3, 2008 America 21 Catholic even though the authors might =FI;?8D:@FE8E;:LCKLI< have been unaware that they were writing Catholic fiction, like your man from Dublin (though I think he knew what he 5IF*OEFMJCMF.BSL was doing). In the arguments of yesteryear no one K_\Ni`k\iXe[X:Xk_fc`Z:_`c[_ff[ suggested that there might be a distinctive, if often implicit, Catholic imagination Kl\j[Xp#0;\Z\dY\i#-Æ/g%d% shaped by an analogical (or sacramental) =fi[_XdLe`m\ij`kpC`eZfce:\ek\i:XdgljGfg\8l[`kfi`ld((*N\jk-'k_Jki\\k perspective, which saw grace as available Q:What do you do with a Catholic childhood? in human communities and neighbor- A:You write about it. hoods, though many of those defending the possibility of Catholic fiction pointed The temptations, excitements, satisfactions and angst of going from child- to the pervasive impact of community in hood memories to written text—join us for an evening of readings and the stories the Catholic novelists wrote. discussion with four distinguished writers (who had Catholic childhoods). One might argue that the Catholic story- DF;parish for Alice McDermott. awards are a Guggenheim Fellowship and two National Endowment for the Arts poetry And Staggerford for Jon Hassler. fellowships. He teaches law at St. John’s University School of Law. Hassler had the rare talent of seeing Valer ie Sayers, author of Who Do You Love and Brain Fever—both named “Notable the absence of grace in human communi- Books of the Year” by The New York Times Book Review—Due East, How I Got Him Back ties, from family on up, but also the capac- and The Distance Between Us. She has received a Pushcart Prize for ﬁction and a National ity of forgiveness to flood a community Endowment for the Arts fellowship. She teaches at the University of Notre Dame. with grace—even the grace of his heroine Agatha McGee to forgive her lifelong =I<< 8E; FG

22 America November 3, 2008 In his brief memoir, Good People…From an Author’s Life, Hassler comments on the two priests of North of Hope:

One way to take the measure of goodness is to look at the way various people handle their voca- tions.... While the elderly Adrian Lawrence leads his life of loving kindness, impervious to doubts and difficulties, Frank Healy goes about his duties despite suffering through a dark night of the soul. “I’ve sprung a very big leak and my spirit is draining away.” Working under this strain, Frank Healy’s service to others strikes me as the more heroic sort of goodness.

Very few men who have chosen to stay in the priesthood when severely tempted to leave would react in such a way. And few contemporary Catholic authors would approve of Father Healy’s decision. A course on the fiction of Jon Hassler at a Catholic university in, say, 2015 might raise for young people some of the old The peaceful rhythm of a monk’s day questions, about which they ought to consists of prayer, study, and manual labor. rethink the answers. Hassler admitted that Agatha McGee, While contemplation is at the heart of who is based in substantial part on his Trappist life, it is by the labor of our mother, simply denied the Second hands that we support ourselves. At Vatican Council’s changes and expressed his own sympathy for her position, New Melleray Abbey, making caskets though he eventually supported the coun- is an expression of our sacred mission. cil. From the perspective of the middle of the next decade, the impact of current attempts to undo the council might raise Contact us for a free catalog and you some questions about what happens when will receive a complimentary keepsake a church decides to change and then to change back. cross blessed by one of our monks. He was a writer who liked his characters. He tells us that there are only four of Caskets and urns are available for his creatures that he dislikes and that he sometimes feels he has judged them too next-day delivery or can be ordered harshly because he had not worked hard on a guaranteed pre-need basis. enough to explain to himself why, like Imogene Kite, they have become so unattractive. Only a couple of his characters are thoroughly bad. A gentle man who suffered himself both physically and emotionally, Hassler defended his characters against his own rush to judgment. He also was uneasy about the happy endings that appear in many of his stories, 888.433.6934 | www.trappistcaskets.com | Peosta, Iowa not perfectly happy, but at least happy

November 3, 2008 America 23 enough to sustain his people into old age. He does not accept the postmodern notion that an ending, any ending, is a fal- lacy. He wondered, however, if a writer who is driven to seek happy endings for his people might be deceiving his readers. All lives end unhappily because everyone dies. We crave happy endings in the stories we read or the films we view because we want to believe that death is not the end. Jon Hassler believed that, but he did not want The Ninth Annual John R. Portman Lecture to present it as an easily achieved assur- in Roman Catholic Theology ance. Will Father Healy at the end of his life regret that he did not marry Libby The Ministry of the Pope: Girard? And will they meet again in the Challenges and Opportunities world to come? All an author can do is say that such may be the happy ending of our Fr. Thomas O'Meara, O.P., Ph.D. lives. The data so far are inconclusive. The Professor Emeritus, Department of Theology, University of Notre Dame ending is a subject for a leap of faith.

Tuesday, November 18, 2008 at 7 p.m. The Role of Imagery Joan B. Kroc Institute for Peace & Justice Theatre The appropriate response to the question University of San Diego of whether a novel can be called 5998 Alcalá Park, San Diego, CA 92110-2492 “Catholic”—as ought to have been evi- No Admission Charge dent before Tracy described the Catholic Refreshments Provided imagination—is whether a story could (619) 260-4525 have been written by someone whose imagination had not been permeated with the rain forest of Catholic imagery. Thus, Dave Robicheaux, the recovering alco- Ȭ holic Cajun detective in James Lee Burke’s mysteries, is patently both a Catholic and a mirror of Catholic ȱ imagery. Similarly, the characters in 7KH)UDQFLVFDQ&ROOHJHRI1HZ-HUVH\ Louise Erdrich’s stories may be folk

678'(176 ),567 Catholics (as she may also be) but they are still irrevocably Catholic. And the scribe *UDGXDWH5HOLJLRXV (GXFDWLRQ of Lake Wobegon may be a Lutheran, but he is a Catholic Lutheran. 21/,1( I wonder sometimes if Tracy’s work is ȱȱȱȱȱȱǻřřȱǼ known on Catholic university campuses. ȂȱęȱȱȱȱǻŗŞȱǼ His theories about Catholic imagery and ȬȂȱęȱȱȱȱǻŗŞȱǼ Catholic art are critically important to the definition of Catholic identity. I should like to think, however, a course on Ȋȱ ȱȱȱȱȱȱȱ Catholic fiction would be an excellent ȱȱȮȱȱ¢ǰȱ¢ȱȱ¢ȱ ęȱȱȱȱȱ ȱ opportunity to illuminate the pervasive ǰȱȬȱȱȱ¢ȱȱȱǯ impact of Catholic sacramentality on both theology and fiction. Even a review of four Ȋȱ ȱȱȱȱȱ¢ȱȱȱǯ of Hassler’s most important books— Ȋȱ ȱ¢ȱȱȱǰȱȱǰȱȱ Staggerford, North of Hope, A Green Journey ȱ¡ȱȱȱȦȱȱȱ and Dear James—might have a critical ȱȱȬǯ impact on the self-understanding of Ȋȱ śŖƖȱȱȱȱȱȱęȱǯ Catholics of the importance of religious symbols (sacramenta) on Catholic life. ȱȱǱ Sometimes I think that the issue is not ǻŘŖŗǼȱśśşȬŜŖŝŝȱȱȓǯ whether theology and fiction can be ŘŜŘȱȱȱǰȱǰȱ ȱȱȊȱȱ ǯǯ taught at the same time but whether it is

24 America November 3, 2008 possible to teach them separately. HOPE COMMUNITY CREDIT UNION HOPE COMMUNITY CREDIT UNION HOPE COMMUNITY C It may occur to the reader how many of the authors I have mentioned are products of the (German) Catholicism of Minnesota centered in St. John’s Abbey (which includes such Celts as Coleman Barry and Eugene McCarthy). The Jesuit sociologist Joseph Fichter once remarked that the centers of creativity in American Catholicism seemed to be concentrated in a triangle that reached from St. John’s to Chicago to Notre Dame. St. John’s pervasive and unique influence on the church in this country, in particular, demands more intense study. The environs and culture of Staggerford, Rookery College, the Abbey Press, Bad Battle River, Pluto, Ostrogothinburg (St. Cloud?) the Clementine Fathers, Godfrey Diekmann REBUILDING and Lake Wobegon seem to demand more coordinated and more intense IS REVITALIZING investigation. Perhaps they are also a challenge to Minnesota Catholicism to Call 1-877-654-HOPE today to open an insured Hurricane Rebuilding CD. understand itself while there is still time. I have suggested on occasion to the As the Gulf Coast continues to recover from the devastation caused by Hurricanes Katrina and Rita, the challenges confronting low-wealth residents are particularly monks of St. John’s that they are far difficult. Hope Community Credit Union is working to help these families make a more important and indeed far better fresh start. than they think they are. HOPE and its nonprofit partner, Enterprise Corporation of the Delta, have helped It is this world that Jon Hassler knew more than 4,600 individuals secure affordable mortgages, small business loans, so well, and in it he found not dogma home repair, financial counseling, legal advice, job training, and other much needed about happy endings but merely hints of assistance. their possibility, many such hints. The But that’s nothing new to us. At HOPE, strengthening businesses, nonprofits, Catholic imagination does not perceive homeowners, and residents in distressed Mid-South communities has been our certainty, but it does see grounds for calling for more than a decade. In the wake of the nation’s largest natural disaster, hope, indeed solid grounds—after all is our mission and the support of our socially-responsible investors has never been said and done there may be all manner of more important. things that justify hope. Perhaps even a To make a difference in the rebuilding effort, HOPE offers the Hurricane Rebuilding rain forest of hope in which love is as CD and several other federally-insured products that enable you to invest in strong as death. rebuilding communities on the Gulf Coast, without risk to your principal. Most Hassler’s work, I suspect, is not well importantly, your HOPE deposits foster jobs and homeownership for the region’s known among Catholics, even Catholics low-wealth families. who teach literature, because it is not grim Please join in this great mission today by calling our toll-free number (1-877-654- enough. The proper model, the teachers HOPE) or by visiting www.hopecu.org and downloading an application. might say for Catholic fiction, is Flannery O’Connor or Léon Bloy. Or, as I say to ECD/HOPE has recently been recognized with the following honors: my friend John Shea, it is a story that is Co-op America Building Economic Alternatives Award, Wachovia Excellence in Advocacy Award for entirely dark until the strike of one bolt of Opportunity Finance, Annie E. Casey Foundation Families Count Award, MS NAACP Jerry Mauldin Corporate Award, Mississippi Home Corporation Paver Award, National Rural Assembly’s National lightning, which briefly and suddenly illu- Rural Hero Award, NFCDCU Annie Vamper Helping Hands Award minates the sky and then permits the darkness to return. A reconciliation between lovers, tentative and problematic and of the sort that abound in Hassler’s work, also is a sacrament of grace. As the country priest says at the end of George Bernanos’s Diary, grace is everywhere. It was Jon Hassler’s gift that he saw that presence of grace. A Working for you. Working for your community.

November 3, 2008 America 25 Fall(think Books Cardinal Leon-Joseph Suenens and one important occasion, Pope John XXIII Momentous Bishop Josef DeSmedt, Gérard Philips gave the council a free hand,2 but Paul VI and Albert Prignon), which led more than intervened frequently; and the murky pro- Events one wag to say that the cedural arrangements council should have been resulted in a constant What Happened at called Louvain I, not stream of petitioners to the Vatican II Vatican II. O’Malley also papal apartments. calls attention to the con- Uncomfortable with the By John W. O’Malley, S.J. tribution of the 16 Melkite concept of episcopal colle- Belknap/Harvard Univ. Press. 400p $29.95 ISBN 9780674031692 bishops from the Middle giality, by the fourth ses- East, headed by the irre- sion, if not earlier, the fid- The church historian John O’Malley does pressible Maximus IV gety and apprehensive not reach the opening session of the Saigh, the Melkite patri- pontiff was as anxious to Second Vatican Council until the third arch of Antioch and clear- send the bishops home as chapter of this relatively short book, but ly one of O’Malley’s Louis XVI had once been there is hardly a wasted word in his favorites, who always to dismiss the Estates lengthy mise-en-scène. O’Malley uses this addressed the council in General before they mor- prologue to set the council in the context French, not Latin. Unlike phed into the National not only of Trent, as one might expect the Westerners, the Constituent Assembly. from an expert on that subject, but also Melkites had no need for ressourcement, At that point the bishops themselves within the wider framework of the other says O’Malley, because they had never lost were eager to go home, after listening to 19 ecumenical councils. In addition to contact with the patristic tradition. over 2,000 speeches. It is hard to avoid the delineating the conciliar background, he is Fortunately this is not history smoth- conclusion that they talked too much. The especially good at sketching the ecclesial ered by analysis. Once O’Malley reaches wonder is that despite so many obstacles, dimensions of the “long nineteenth centu- the opening of the council, he adopts a the bishops achieved as much as they did, ry” that extended from the French chronological approach and offers an especially at the fourth and final session, Revolution to the eve of the council and often riveting account of the interplay when they sometimes spent weeks doing had such a profound influence in shaping between the majority and minority, labels nothing but voting. O’Malley lists those the thinking of the council fathers both that he prefers to progressive and conser- achievements in such detail that no one negatively and positively. vative. Unlike the Alberigo-Komonchak can doubt that the council was the most Virtually every analysis of the council five-volume History of Vatican II, however, important event in the history of the today is based on the now familiar cate- O’Malley gives relatively little attention to church in the 20th century. gories of aggiornamento and ressourcement. the maneuvering that occurred during the O’Malley summarizes the deeper sig- O’Malley adds a third category, develop- three inter-sessions of the council, which ment, more exactly the development of Alberigo called “the invisible council.” But The Reviewers doctrine, which John Courtney Murray, Alberigo had 10 times as much space at his S.J., called “the issue under all the issues at disposal as O’Malley. Thomas J. Shelley, a priest of the Archdiocese of New York, is professor of the council.” O’Malley notes that all three Two of the fundamental flaws in the operation of the council were inadequate church history at Fordham University in New terms overlap in meaning and in an insti- York City. tution resistant to change often serve as regulations and overlapping levels of lead- “soft synonyms” for change and reform. ership. The classical Roman genius for Denise Lardner Carmody is a professor in organization was not much in evidence at the religious studies department at Santa For O’Malley, development and ressource- Clara University, Santa Clara, Calif. ment are indispensable because they are Vatican II. By contrast, says O’Malley, a crucial elements in shaping the corporate child could have understood the clear James T. Keane, S.J., is an associate edi- memory of the church and thus establish- rules of procedure at Trent. Except on tor of America. ing its identity. Thomas Massaro, S.J., is a professor of Like many other commentators on moral theology at Boston College School of Listen to an interview with John Vatican II, O’Malley notes the dispropor- Theology, Chestnut Hill, Mass. W. O’Malley, S.J., at tionately large role played by the Belgians, Peter Heinegg is a professor of English at both prelates and theological experts americamagazine.org/podcast. Union College, Schenectady, N.Y.

November 3, 2008 America 27 nificance of the council by identifying three “issues-under-the-issues.” The first NEW CITY PRESS was how the church was to cope with change. The second was collegiality, or 202 Cardinal Rd., Hyde Park, NY 12538 what the relationship was to be between the center and the periphery. The third was the elusive but critically important issue of the “style” with which the church New Release was to operate and address the world. The Patriarch Michel Sabbah Roman Synod of 1960, considered by Faithful Witness many as a dress rehearsal for the council, issued 755 canons; five years later Vatican On Reconciliation and Peace II issued none, opting for dialogue and in the Holy Land persuasion rather than coercion and con- demnation. Edited and with an introduction by The highest accolade that the late Drew Christiansen, S.J. John Tracy Ellis could pay a historian was and Saliba Sarsar, Ph.D. to say that he had written a “rich” book. Foreword by Cardinal There is little doubt that he would have Theodore E. McCarrick, Ph.D., D.D. been ready to pronounce that judgment on this book because of O’Malley’s thor- ough research, lucid presentation, bal- anced judgments, shrewd insights and ele- gant style. If you want to know what happened at Vatican II, begin with O’Malley Each chapter of Faithful Witness, a collection of Michel for an appetizer and go on to Alberigo- Sabbah’s essential writings, contains a theme developed during Komonchak for a hefty entrée. The chances are that you will be happy to his twenty-year tenure as Patriarch of Jerusalem. Beginning with return to O’Malley for a satisfying dessert “Reading the Bible in the Land of the Bible,” Faithful Witness and digestif that bring it all together. proceeds from God’s Grace and the Nativity to Lent and Jesus’ Thomas J. Shelley Resurrection. In between, Patriarch Sabbah addresses other important topics, including the role of the Church in the Holy Land, Jerusalem, ecumenism, Christian-Muslim dialogue, and Not an Palestinian-Israeli relations. Oxymoron “Patriarch Michel Sabbah has been a powerful and inspiring Catholic and Feminist force for peace, justice, and reconciliation in the Holy Land. The Surprising History of the His pastoral acumen in very complex circumstances as well as American Catholic Feminist his constant call for charity and hope have been a great gift to Movement the people he serves. Faithful Witness: On Reconciliation and By Mary J. Henold Peace in the Holy Land Univ of North Carolina Press. 304p $32 provides a remarkable insight into his ISBN 9780807832240 life and ministry as a vibrant and faithful disciple of Jesus.” Reading Catholic and Feminist has been a Most Reverend William S. Skylstad, Bishop strange experience. The book centers on Catholic Diocese of Spokane the years between 1960 and 1980, a two- ISBN: 978-1-56548-307-1, 208 pp., US$24.95 decade slice of American Catholicism as lived by women (and a few men) trying to be true to their faith and their feminism. The strangeness I felt stems from my Please see: www.newcitypress.com for additional coming of age during these years, follow- information on these and other titles. ing a similar life trajectory, and now read- 1-800-462-5980 [email protected] ing about it. The book has eight chapters, an introduction, epilogue and extensive footnotes.

28 America November 3, 2008 There are lists of oral history interviews, Christian Family Movement, which urged sacramentally celebrated spirituality. primary and secondary sources and middle-class married couples to commit The four chapters that follow enact archival materials. Perhaps most intrigu- their families and communities to Christ. the morality/passion play that still contin- ing are the many pictures scattered Both continue to foster lay leadership and ues. Chapter 5, “The Love of Christ throughout the text that give it the feel of spiritual growth, though neither was fem- Leaves Us No Choice,” focuses on the a family photo album. inist initially. A more first national Women’s Ordination While these features are direct feminist connec- Conference (1975). Chapters 6 and 7 pur- helpful to any reader, they tion is found in the Sister sue the strategies that marked the move- are invaluable if the book is Formation Conference, ment in the mid- to late 70s. Their titles adopted for courses, study established in 1954 to encapsulate their content: “Making groups or book clubs. promote the education Feminism Holy”—using liturgy to heal Catholic and Feminist is and professional status of personally and communally—and “A an example of feminist women religious. These Matter of Conversion”—using dialogue, scholarship that deserves “new nuns” were highly especially with local bishops, to renew the name: professional yet influential in Catholic (and reform) the church. Despite these personal, documenting feminist circles. Identified strategies, in 1978 the occasion of the sec- assertions without hedging or not, the enemy that ond Women’s Ordination Conference and offering a vision that both lay and religious revealed divisions within the movement. balances the real and the women faced was the Chapter 8, “Sustained Ambivalence,” ideal. The author, Mary J. entrenched image of the treats respectfully the various choices Henold, is an assistant pro- Eternal Woman, the por- Catholic feminists faced (and face). Here, fessor of history at Roanoke trayal of women’s nature perhaps, the choices are epitomized by College; her scholarship is careful, her as pious, pure, self-sacrificing, submissive two women. Theresa Kane was the nun writing style clean. to (male) authority and focused on moth- whose public words to Pope John Paul II Refuting the possibility that Catholic erhood (real or spiritual). The model was in 1979 registered the loyal opposition’s feminism is an oxymoron, Henold as a his- Mary, virgin and mother. speaking the truth to the pope. A short torian simply lays out the record of its ori- Chapter 2, “Demythologizing Our- time later Rosalie Muschal-Reinhardt, a gins, development, major participants and selves,” cites the writings of more than leader long committed to dialogue and significance. She marks the year 1963— three dozen Catholic women who debunk church renewal, decided she would no when a number of Catholic women pub- the myth of the Eternal Woman. Mary longer struggle with the institution, lished articles that clearly expressed femi- Daly, Rosemary Radford Reuther and choosing instead to work for change from nist sentiments—as the beginning of “sec- Sidney Callahan are highlighted. the margins. The examples of both ond-wave” Catholic feminism. Betty Common themes include an insistence in women should strengthen Catholic femi- Friedan’s The Feminine Mystique and the their writings on women as unique, self- nists whose sustained ambivalence may yet civil rights movement were capturing critical and searching; the same require- save our sinful church. attention. Still, Henold shows that neither ment for both sexes to become mature Denise Lardner Carmody was the primary impetus for the Catholic Christians; and the need for the church to feminist movement. That distinction abandon its misogyny. Catholic feminists belongs to the Second Vatican Council. linked feminism to church renewal; their The irony of Catholic feminism’s ori- feminism was an expression of a faith that Faith and gin is both appropriate and painful to fem- does justice. Another painful irony: 1968 inists of faith: the movement was not saw the publication of both Mary Daly’s Family merely an “add-on” to the culture; it was The Church and the Second Sex and Pope internally generated by the promise of the Paul VI’s Humanae Vitae. Home church to be the “people of God.” The Chapters 3 and 4 are paired, exploring A Novel council gave Catholics hope that the different ideological approaches. The first, By Marilynne Robinson church could and would change: become titled “No Cakes in Hands Unless Ideas in Farrar, Straus and Giroux. 336p $25 responsive to local and national concerns, Heads,” deals with radical feminism, ISBN 9780374299101 embrace collegiality and welcome the whose leaders brought the organization laity—especially women—into its sanctu- much creative energy but who were Small-town America does not enjoy the ary. When that promise went unfulfilled, unwilling to work within an institutional pride of place it once did in American fic- the faith of feminists was shaken and many church they felt was irredeemably sexist. tion, when spinning yarns about the sleepy felt betrayed. By the mid-70s they had left. “The Spirit environs and predictable residents of Chapter 1, “Origins,” reviews the Moving” captures the stories of women semirural life seemed a preferable artistic works of two earlier “Catholic Action” who declared, “We are feminists choice to recounting the frenetic and organizations (founded in the 1940s). BECAUSE we are Catholic.” Lay and angst-driven existence of urban dwellers These are The Grail, which groomed sin- religious, they rooted their feminism in forever on the brink of catastrophe. gle women as “lay apostles,” and the Catholic social justice teachings and a Storylines and characters these days rarely

November 3, 2008 America 29 develop in bucolic settings like that which Boughton. A widower for a decade and Boughton have saved Jack from his own Harper Lee once described in To Kill A now facing the indignities of failing health demons? Can he save him now? Or will Mockingbird: “There was no hurry, for (sound familiar?), Boughton needs the help Jack disappear into the night once again, there was nowhere to go, nothing to buy of his far-flung family to manage his daily leaving his father heartbroken on his and no money to buy it with.” affairs, and his loyal 38-year-old daughter deathbed? The appearance of Marilynne Glory surrenders her independence to Over the course of the novel one dis- Robinson’s bestselling novel Gilead in 2004 return to Gilead and care covers that while Jack, an was a compelling return to such locales of for him. She finds Gilead a alcoholic thief with a long so much American storytelling, places humdrum town and her history of jail time, has where family, tradition and religion inter- childhood home a garish many secrets (including a sect with characters’ lives in profound museum of knick-knacks, mystery lover in St. Louis), ways. Robinson won the 2005 Pulitzer and harbors some resent- he is not the only Prize for Gilead, her second novel, which ment toward her many sib- Boughton with a check- presented in almost diary form the rumi- lings for allowing her to be ered past. Glory, too, has a nations and memories of John Ames, an the only one to care for closet of some significant aged Congregationalist pastor living out their father, but gracefully skeletons, and both try to his final days in the small town of Gilead, fulfills her new role as care- keep from their increas- Iowa. There he faces a failing heart and taker in his final months. ingly feeble paterfamilias decides to put his thoughts to paper for the Trouble comes to this any information that benefit of his wife and 7-year-old son, who quotidian existence with might cause him further brought unexpected joy to his old age. the appearance on the heartache. Meanwhile, The sleepy town of Gilead is also the back porch of a well-worn Jack’s struggles with his setting of Home, Robinson’s follow-up man in a well-worn suit: Jack Boughton, personal demons parallel his and his effort published this fall. While the Ames Robert Boughton’s troubled son, “the father’s awkward attempts to reconnect family returns in this novel (which takes black sheep, the ne’er-do-well, unremark- and understand each other. Jack seeks his place in roughly the same time frame as able in photographs,” who has been gone father’s forgiveness, understanding only Gilead), the main focus is the household of for two decades after scandalizing his fam- slowly that they have such radically differ- Ames’s lifelong friend and fellow pastor, ily and the town but has always remained ent mental approaches to the universe that the retired Presbyterian minister Robert his father’s greatest concern in life. Could more often than not they simply speak

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30 America November 3, 2008 past one another. Even watching the faith and doubt in the lives of deeply reli- Before there were true states with evening news becomes an emotionally gious people and the admixture of pride aspirations to sovereign power there was precarious enterprise for the family, and and worry that confronts someone facing God, of whom all sincere believers are both men suffer unexpected setbacks dur- death. For readers seeking a return to obliged to predicate something very much ing their extended, fumbling reunion. these weighty tropes couched in the like sovereignty. Of course, Christians are Glory suffers as well, recognizing only late evocative sketches at which Robinson not the only ones to express the sentiment that she has fallen for her “old illusion that excels, Home has much to offer, though it “for Thine is the kingdom, the power and she could help her father with the grief is less rewarding than her earlier tale of the glory now and forever.” But it was Jack caused, the grief Jack was, when it was another pastor’s family down the street. within the Christian West that notions of as far beyond her power to soothe or to James T. Keane sovereignty, hitherto attributed exclusive- mitigate as the betrayal of Judas Iscariot.” ly to God, came to seep into theories Robinson’s prose is almost poetic regarding secular authorities and the when she describes the hearth and resultant prerogatives of political entities home—the smells and taste of homemade Explaining Our like empires and nation-states. cooking, the earthy joys of gardening, the The middle chapters of this book pro- way light and heat shine through the win- World vide an insightful and quite reliable guide dows of a home worn out from harboring to the historical events (including the the joys and sorrows of five decades of Sovereignty Augsburg and Westphalia settlements) family life. Like Gilead before it, Home also God, State, and Self and the intellectual developments that unfolds at a leisurely pace that allows By Jean Bethke Elshtain produced the political world as we know it appreciation of even the smallest of these Basic Books. 480p $35 today, where geographically defined details, forsaking action and tension for ISBN 9780465037599 national entities proceed as the major the languid unfolding of multiple lives and players on the world stage, based on complex human realities. Sovereignty is one of the most contested claims of legitimate territorial rule. However, Gilead it is not. One of and yet indeterminate concepts in the field Elshtain has rounded up all the right Gilead’s charms was how thoroughly of political science. The casual observer figures in her explanation of how Western Robinson probed Ames’s personality, will know that it has something to do with political thought groped its way toward a which over the course of that first-person “unity of power,” “legitimate right to gov- complete picture of sovereign power. novel was presented in such candid lan- ern” and “absolute control of territory,” Looming large in the history of ideas she guage and profound insight that the but may stammer a bit when pressed for develops are Augustine and Aquinas, author seemed to have channeled the greater precision. Not only is this concept Scotus and Ockham, Luther and Calvin, internal life of an elderly pastor. In Home, hard to pin down in contemporary conver- Hobbes and Locke, Machiavelli and however, Jack comes across as less of a sations, but the underpinnings of modern Rousseau. Beyond these usual suspects, full-fledged character than his godfather notions of sovereignty in ancient and however, Elshtain is not afraid to engage and namesake; perhaps Robinson wanted medieval thought are com- the contributions of lesser- to present him as an unfolding mystery? plex beyond all telling. known commentators on The same is true of Boughton, whose Into the fray steps Jean such topics as natural law, internal longings and misgivings are Bethke Elshtain, a promi- the “two swords doctrine” expressed less through exposition or dia- nent public intellectual and the nature of political logue than through the lens of Glory’s who teaches social ethics to authority: John of external observations. He seems to spend divinity and political phi- Salisbury, Marsilius of most of the book being helped to his bed losophy students at the Padua, Richard Hooker and propped up at the dinner table, mut- University of Chicago. In and Robert Filmer. tering the oddly cryptic phrase in this, a follow-up volume to As with “director’s between. her 2005-06 Gifford cuts” on film DVD’s, the These limiting factors are in part the Lectures on the subject, reader receives some inevitable consequence of choosing one Elshtain takes up the ori- bonus material near the particular voice and point of view, of gin and meaning of middle of the book. We course, but they also result in a novel sovereignty in a remark- get a fine reassessment of somehow less emotionally satisfying than ably comprehensive way. certain aspects of the Gilead. We do not know the heart of Central to her argument is French Revolution as well Glory, Boughton or Jack; and even Ames’s the reminder that although sovereignty as as Hegel’s take on state power. Even some periodic appearances force the reader to a term originated in the political realm, figures remembered today almost exclu- guess at the motives for his sometimes sur- specifically as a quality of the nation-states sively for their literary contributions, like prising actions. that grew up in the early modern era, the Dante and Shakespeare, are shown by In Home, Robinson explores many of concept possesses precursors as well as lat- Elshtain to have contributed in significant the themes that made Gilead a powerful ter-day extensions that spread its semantic ways to the discourse on sovereignty and work of art, including the interweaving of field considerably. rightful kingly power. One might quibble

November 3, 2008 America 31 that the author gives surprisingly short 2) exaggerated notions of a sovereign and claims seems highly idiosyncratic, even to shrift to the texts of Jean Bodin, who is inviolable self are key culprits; and 3) the the sympathetic reader. Still, it is easy to generally acknowledged to have taken the modern sovereign self is modeled on the agree with many of the arguments of the term sovereignty from an obscure term territorial state and its strong claims of book’s final chapters, especially regarding coined in the 13th century by French sovereignty. The author’s effort to link the horrors (including liberal abortion jurists and fashioned it into a full-blown statecraft to soulcraft starts out well regimes and the disturbing movement doctrine of support for royal power and enough, with apt analysis of the influence toward eugenics) resulting from certain legitimacy. of Descartes and Kant, but we soon find contemporary approaches to issues Somewhat less satisfying is the final ourselves on shaky ground. Elshtain’s for- regarding the sovereign physical body, an third of the book, where Elshtain attempts ays into cultural criticism are not nearly as area where the will to power has proved to trace the extension of the notion of convincing as her explication of philo- triumphant. sovereignty to modern selfhood. The key sophical texts and ideas. Her selection of Overall, Elshtain is quite successful in claims here seem to be these: 1) the indi- evidence (largely from recent novels, poet- establishing her argument that the con- vidual will to power has lately run amok; ry, film and jurisprudence) to establish her cept of sovereignty does indeed cut across many disciplines and applies richly to fields as diverse as law, political philosophy, theology and psychology. She argues persuasively against “monistic under- In her powerful and haunting memoir standings of the sovereignty of God, states and selves.” Reprising the message of sev- 1 eral of her most valuable previous works, Anne ‰ ce she demonstrates with great erudition the absence of bright lines separating religion and politics, the personal and the political, at last tells her own story the public and the private. And she makes a much-needed appeal for firmer limits to At the heart of exaggerated claims of autonomy. this, her first work One unfinished strand of this volume Anne‰ice of nonfiction, concerns the relation between theists (who hasten to recognize a vertical is the story of dimension of sovereignty) and atheists a spiritual (who would resist any references to tran- transformation: scendence, at least in public institutions). I wish Elshtain had addressed some of why and how, these tensions regarding political author- after years as an ity, which have hung in the air since at atheist, she has least the decades when Jacques Maritain now passionately proposed a “Christianly inspired civiliza- tion” without offering a convincing returned to her explanation of where non-Christians and Catholic faith. unbelievers would find a place in this otherwise appealing political order. If anyone is qualified to make constructive Called Out of Darkness suggestions along these lines, it is Elshtain, whose work so often touches upon these issues. • a spiritual confession • Although it proves hard to support all of Elshtain’s work as a public intellectual (her support for the war in Iraq and an extremely muscular version of the war on terrorism is well known), it is easy to “The author of”Christ the Lord: Out of Egypt admire her efforts to identify and even to offers her spiritual autobiography…[written] with build bridges between theological and —Library Journal political concepts. This volume provides a heart-breaking honesty and beauty.” fine treatment of the notion of sovereign- Knopf ty—an important point where these two annerice.com worlds of discourse intersect. Thomas Massaro

32 America November 3, 2008 campaign against Mullah Omar & Co. sectarian fury and madness seem to know A Plague on All All this is bad enough, but the time in no bounds. At one point, Filkins looks Iraq will prove to be far worse. Filkins away from the shattered corpses to list the Their Houses lived through the apocalyptic second bat- groups that claimed responsibility for tle of Fallujah in 2004, including an attacks on Americans and Iraqis from May The Forever War episode when he and an Australian pho- to October 2005. There are no fewer than By Dexter Filkins tographer went to check out a sniper in a 103 such zealous bands, and the fact that Knopf. 384p $25 minaret. A Marine corporal told them to stateside Americans have never heard of ISBN 9780307266392 wait while he went up the stairs to see if it the Al-Farouq Brigade or the Al-Furqan was safe, only to be instantly blasted by the Battalion does not mean that they weren’t As the horrors in Afghanistan and Iraq sniper (“his face was opened in a large V, doing some highly effective butchery. have rolled across our field of vision, split like meat, fish maybe, with the two Meanwhile, the world’s best- swathed in the smoke of lies, propaganda sides jiggling”). equipped army can barely control the and naïve ignorance, over the last five And so it goes, page after page. Iraqi chaos. The cluelessness of L. Paul years American readers have been given much clarification, if not consolation, by some remarkable books: They include Karl Meyer’s The Dust of Empire, Thomas Go to the Heart of Ricks’s Fiasco, Lawrence Wright’s The Thomas Merton’s Looming Tower, George Packer’s The Assassins’ Gate, Rajiv Chandrasekaran’s Imperial Life in the Emerald City and now Spiritual Journey Dexter Filkins’s The Forever War. But whereas those earlier accounts provided a more or less broad historical and political Don’t miss the PBS documentary background, this one gives us a tormented December 14, 2008 at 10 pm worm’s eye view of a world racked by non- CDT! stop violence, fanatical hatred and lethal stupidity, with only random flashes of kindness and self-sacrifice. Soul Searching Filkins, who visited Afghanistan both The Journey of Thomas Merton before and after 9/11, and who reported Book with DVD from Iraq for The New York Times from Edited by Morgan Atkinson, 2003 through 2006, understands the ideological motivations of all the various with Jonathan Montaldo killers; but as he keeps dodging their bul- Award-winning producer Morgan lets and RPG’s and noting the dead and Atkinson’s documentary and the wounded all around him, his main focus is companion book of the same title come together for the ﬁrst time in the sheer moment-to-moment terror, Soul Searching: The Journey of Thomas Merton book with DVD. The agony and revulsion that has engulfed him. War, to splice John Keats with Philip documentary DVD, which is scheduled to air December 14, 2008 Henry Sheridan, is all we know of hell on on PBS, is included in the inside back cover of this new hardcover earth, and all we need to know. edition of the companion book. The book opens with the Taliban S978-0-8146-3264-2 chopping the hand off a thief and the head 1 Book: Hardcover, 216 pp., 6 x 7 ⁄2, $39.95 off a murderer at a packed soccer stadium in Kabul. (“There was a special section for Documentary: DVD, 67 minutes the handicapped on the far side, a section for women. The orphans were walking up S978-0-8146-1873-8 1 and down the bleachers on my side selling Individual book, paper, 216 pp., 6 x 7 ⁄2 , $19.95 candy and cigarettes. A couple of older men carried whips. They wore grenade S978-0-8146-7967-8 launchers on their backs.”) It is 1998, and Individual DVD, 67 minutes, $25.00 the war has barely begun—if you ignore the 1979 Soviet invasion of Afghanistan and the counterattacks by the mujahideen. LITURGICAL PRESS Segue to the Twin Towers (Filkins was there) and the Northern Alliance-U.S. Phone: tOnline: www.litpress.org

November 3, 2008 America 33 Bremer and his staff in the first stages of But the larger truth that Filkins illu- As for the troops he is embedded with, he the occupation has been documented minates is the writhing snake-pit of is too old (now 47), too educated and too over and over; but even after the vengeance into which the Americans liberal to be their buddy. But there is American learning curve heedlessly stumbled— nothing like sharing mortal danger and shot up, there was (and is) and which they disas- repeated heartbreak to forge bonds; so no satisfactory way to trously stirred up. He when he returns to the United States, manage a centrifugal coun- cites the case of Abu Filkins makes a point of visiting some of try, where most of the Marwa, an insurgent the infantrymen—or, if they had died, occupied population— from the Islamic Army of their parents. once Saddam was Iraq (Group No. 81), He feels relief to be out of harm’s way, removed—hate your pres- whose uncle, a Shiite, was of course; but his final state of mind is a ence, and where you can- tortured with electric sort of permanent isolation. not tell friend from foe. power tools, beaten, From “surgical strikes” burned and killed by When I was in Iraq, I might as well gone awry to Abu Ghraib some Syrian (Sunni) have been circling the earth from a and beyond, even the most members of Al Qaeda. space capsule.... Like Laika in bellicose Cheneyites Abu Marwa and his men Sputnik. A dog in space. Sending would have to admit that had tracked the Syrians signals back to base, unmoored and grievous mistakes were down, finished them off, weightless, and no longer keeping made. And the survivors of and then presented their time. Home was far away, a distant such mistakes do not tend keffiyehs to his grieving place that gobbled up what I sent to forgive and forget. In the summer of aunt—along with a vial of the murderers’ back, ignorant and happy but 2005 the most popular videos in Iraq blood, which she drank. When it comes to touchingly eager to know. showed things like the bombing of the pure animosity, their civil war makes ours Palestine and Sheraton hotels and the look tame. Now that he is home, Filkins says he beheading of Nicholas Berg. And we One of the truisms of war reporting is still feels like Laika, the Russian space dog, have all seen the crowds celebrating over that a soldier’s ultimate loyalty is to his looking back up at the ship he once sailed the charred bodies of American contrac- buddies; and Filkins confirms that when- in, but floating “through the regular peo- tors dangling from the bridge over the ever he talks about his translators, drivers, ple in the regular world.” War will do that Euphrates. Iraqi friends and colleagues at The Times. to you. Peter Heinegg

34 America November 3, 2008 Classified Ideal candidate will have some experience/interest solicitation, planned giving, special events, alumni in engaging racial/ethnic diversity; Spanish-lan- relations, publications and a planned future capi- Appeals guage ability an asset. Starts fall 2009. Open until tal campaign anticipating the school’s 100th filled. Questions: contact Joe Iannone, Dean, anniversary. The V.P. manages a staff of four full- A TIME OF NEED. Please visit www.haitihealth.org. School of Theology and Ministry, at time associates. The V.P. candidate will express a Perhaps you can help. God bless you and thank [email protected] or (305) 628-6658. Complete passionate commitment to the mission and vision you! applications include a c.v. and letter with three of Cheverus. He or she will risk taking initiative, names and contact information of references, plus offer a strategic perspective, demonstrate strong Education copies of all post-secondary transcripts. Send to organizational skills, communicate clearly and OBLATE SCHOOL OF THEOLOGY offers an M.A. Human Resources, St. Thomas University (Ref. possess a strong work ethic. The V.P. will be both degree in spirituality. Regular semester and inter- 3276), 16401 NW 37 Avenue, Miami Gardens, a leader and a team player. An individual with sev- session courses. Visit www.ost.edu. FL 33054, or send MS Word or PDF attachments eral years of advancement experience is preferred by e-mail to [email protected]. St. Thomas and a working knowledge of donor software is Interviews University is sponsored by the Archdiocese of helpful. This is a full-time position starting Feb. 1, ANNE RICE interviewed by the Rev. Joe Cocucci Miami. Equal opportunity employer. 2009, or sooner. Compensation will be commen- on YouTube. Visit www.youtube.com/Anne- surate with experience and includes a competitive RiceDotCom. benefits package. Additional information can be THE UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO DIVINITY SCHOOL found at www.cheverus.org. Please send a cover Parish Missions seeks nominations and invites applications for the letter, résumé and references to: William INSPIRING, DYNAMIC PREACHING: parish mis- Andrew Thomas Greeley and Grace McNichols Campbell, S.J., President, Cheverus High School, sions, retreats, days of recollection. www.sab- Greeley Professor of Catholic Studies. 267 Ocean Avenue, Portland, ME, 04103, or by e- bathretreats.org. Established in 1988 through a gift from the Rev. mail at [email protected]. Deadline for Andrew Greeley, the Chair exists “to promote the submission: Nov. 21, 2008. Positions scholarly study of the Roman Catholic heritage.” The School seeks a scholar with significant GUEST HOUSE EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR PROGRAM Religious Art research accomplishment, distinction in the field FOR WOMEN RELIGIOUS. Guest House Inc. is CONTEMPORARY RELIGIOUS ART in an iconic commensurate with a named chair appointment conducting an extensive search for the best quali- tradition available. Go to http://www.contempo- and a promising agenda for future work in his or fied Executive Director for its very successful raryreligiousart.com for a gallery visit of original her area of study. The disciplinary specialization Program for Women Religious in Lake Orion, works. of the Greeley Professor is open, and the success- Mich., located 30 miles north of downtown ful candidate could be appointed in any commit- Detroit. This 16-bed inpatient residential addic- Retreats tee of the Divinity School faculty: constructive tions treatment center is CARF accredited. Since BETHANY SPIRITUALITY CENTER, N.Y., studies (ethics, philosophy of religion, theology); the inception of this program in January 1994, announces the following fall retreat: “Open Your historical studies (biblical studies, history of occupancy has been increasing dramatically. Heart...Transform Loss...Enjoy New Freedom in Christianity); and/or religion and the human sci- Responsibilities of the Executive Director include Later Life,” an interactive guided retreat with ences (anthropology and sociology of religion, providing high quality clinical care in accordance Ann Billard, O.L.M., Nov. 16-20. Bethany is one history of religions, religion and literature). The with established policy. Graduate degree pre- hour northwest of New York, in the mid-Hudson Divinity School faculty teaches courses that ferred, as well as extensive experience and knowl- Valley. Offering: $325. 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Address all inquiries/résumés to: Guest accepted for publication in either the print version of House Inc. Search Committee, 1601 Joslyn Road, America or on our Web site, www.americam- Lake Orion, MI 48360; e-mail: mmiller@guest- VICE PRESIDENT FOR INSTITUTIONAL ADVANCE- agazine.org. Ten-word minimum. Rates are per word house.org; fax: (248) 391-0210. Visit our Web site MENT AND ALUMNI AFFAIRS, Cheverus High per issue. 1-5 times: $1.50; 6-11 times: $1.28; 12-23 at www.guesthouse.org. School. The Vice President for Institutional times: $1.23. For an additional $30, your print ad will Advancement and Alumni Affairs is a senior mem- be posted on America’s Web site for one week. Ads may THEOLOGY FACULTY POSITION. The School of ber of the school’s leadership team and is a part of be submitted by e-mail to: [email protected]; Theology and Ministry of St. Thomas University, the President’s Cabinet. 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36 America November 3, 2008 Letters

Historical Precedents We voters, armed with our bishops’ Playing It Safe In his guest editorial, “Racism and the words and the guidance contained in Re your editorial on “Voting One’s Election” (10/27), Bishop Blase Cupich their document Forming Consciences for Conscience” (10/27): It seems to me that was correct to remind us of Archbishop Faithful Citizenship, as well as the inspira- a Catholic who is concerned with follow- Joseph Rummel, the courageous arch- tion of the Holy Spirit, are individually ing all of the church’s instructions on bishop of New Orleans who in 1962 pub- answerable for our decisions. how to vote would have no choice but to licly excommunicated three Catholics, I do not believe that my priest or my abstain from voting for either presidential including a politician, for supporting the bishop is responsible for my vote, or for candidate. Or perhaps one could write in intrinsic evil of racism. Rummel is cer- anyone’s individual decisions or actions, the name of, say, one’s bishop? That tainly a bishop to be proud of in our so long as they have made a prayerful would seem to be the only safe route to church’s history in this country. effort to teach and we have made a simi- pursue! I have been wondering when we will lar effort to form our consciences Skip Mendler have brave bishops in this era who are through prayer, study and reflection on Honesdale, Pa. willing publicly to excommunicate church teaching. Catholic politicians who support the I fill out my ballot with a sense of Grave Matter intrinsic evil of abortion. hope and a fierce love of my church and I completely disagree with what Stephen M. Koeth, C.S.C. my country, knowing that both fall short America’s editors are attempting in Portland, Ore. of God’s expectations. May God bless “Voting One’s Conscience” (editorial, our clergy, our candidates and our 10/27). You are trying to take our focus About Time nation. off the primary issue of abortion in order It is about time someone addressed the Todd Phillipe to justify a vote for the most pro-abortion issue of racism in our national politics. In Buena Vista, Colo. “Racism and the Election,” Bishop Blase To send a letter to the editor we recommend using the link that appears below articles on Cupich has given us an article that should America’s Web site, www.americamagazine.org. This allows us to consider your letter for publica- be read in all parishes. For those of us tion in both print and online versions of the magazine. Letters may also be sent to America’s edi- who have not always been happy with the torial office (address on page 2) or by e-mail to: [email protected]. They should be church’s political positions and its occa- brief and include the writer’s name, postal address and daytime phone number. Letters may be editied for length and clarity. sional Neanderthal tendencies (think of the truly enlightened theologians who have been unjustly censored or silenced), without guile it is simply fantastic to read this article. Where were all the thoughtful political reflections and considerations from sincere, well-meaning bishops four years ago? A. J. Carlos, M.D. Clifton Park, N.Y.

Clarity and Vision Re the guest editorial by Bishop Blase Cupich, “Racism and the Election” (10/27): It is refreshing to read episcopal advice that is not threatening or focused on abortion only. Bishop Cupich has rightly conveyed a sense of trust in the voting decisions of the electorate. Presidential elections are always a time of uncertainty, with a great need for clarity and vision, especially for Catholics who view elections and voting in a moral context based on church social teaching principles. Bishop Cupich and the other bishops who have written on the 2008 presidential election do so in part from a loving Suburbia 2009 obligation to teach and guide their flocks. CARTOON BY RICK PARKER

November 3, 2008 America 37 Letters candidate ever to run for office. As Instead, newspaper headlines feature sibility to recognize the overwhelming Forming Consciences for Faithful bishops calling for refusal of the Eu- weight of abortion in this election, as Citizenship points out, a number of charist to those politicians who do not compared to debatable issues such as who other political issues are important, but decry abortion. Other issues that might has the best health care plan, who is best they involve prudential judgments. be addressed are virtually ignored. for the economy and who will end the With abortion, we are dealing with an It appears quite often that the church war in Iraq sooner. intrinsic evil that cannot be supported considers life to begin at conception and Catholics must not allow themselves regardless of a candidate’s position on end at birth. to be deceived into thinking that there other issues when there is another can- Robert Gordon are anything even close to proportionate didate available who does not support Ewing, N.J. reasons that would override Barack abortion. This is why so many of the Obama’s radical views on abortion. I am bishops across the nation are speaking A Conscientious Objector not thrilled about John McCain, but out against people who are trying to Re your editorial “Voting One’s there is simply no conscionable way for a misconstrue the intent of Forming Conscience”: It is necessary for Catholic to vote for Obama. Consciences. Catholics to allow the church to form Michael Hallman Stop trying to lead people into grave our conscience. Conscience formation Villanova, Pa. sin with the illogical reasoning you used includes not only reading the bishops’ here. important document on faithful citizen- Intrinsically Disordered Mike Nygra ship and forming one’s conscience but “Intrinsic Evil and Political Indianapolis, Ind. also listening to the bishops as they Responsibility,” by M. Cathleen Kaveny continue to address us on these issues (10/27), was well written and pertinent, Preaching to the Choir and expand on this document in their but I think the argument could have been The editors’ remarks in “Voting One’s letters, homilies, speeches and other made stronger. Rather than using veiled Conscience” are all well and good. But addresses. and oblique references to the war in Iraq, this is not the reasoning that gets the The bishops have made it abundantly Kaveny could have included examples of attention of the people in the pews. clear that Catholics have a moral respon- “intrinsic evils” that are ignored in the current discourse of those who favor this term. You have always wanted to America The U.S. bishops have identified both racism and torture as intrinsic evils; TO SUBSCRIBE OR RENEW Study in Jerusalem … but both exist in our nation today, and ❑ ❑ New subscription Renewal one of them, the use of torture, has been So come to the Yearly rates are $48 for each subscription. Add $22 for postage, handling and GST on an explicit policy of the federal govern- Canadian orders. Add $32 for foreign sub- ment. But I have never heard a “pro-life” Tantur Ecumenical scriptions. Payment in U.S. funds only. voter argue that I should oppose a candi- Institute ❑ Payment enclosed ❑ Bill me On occasion America gives permission to date on those grounds. Jerusalem other organizations to use our list for pro- If it is immoral to vote for a presi- In for a motional purposes. If you do not want to dential candidate who supports an • Six-Week Spring or Three- receive these promotions, contact our List Manager at our New York offices. intrinsic evil, then anyone who voted Month Autumn Programme

W706 for George W. Bush in 2004 was guilty • One-Month Summer FOR of an immoral act. I suspect, however, Programmes CHANGE OF that if I were to press this argument, ADDRESS • discussions of prudential judgment that Christmas or Easter Laity AND Enrichment Programme are not allowed when discussing abor- RENEWAL: • Special “The Other Footsteps tion would suddenly be considered Please attach the legitimate. of St. Paul” Program, May mailing label from David Cruz-Uribe, S.F.O. the front cover 2009 when writing West Hartford, Conn. about service or change of address. America (ISSN 0002-7049) is published weekly (except for 11 com- Contact: Fr. Michael McGarry Allow 3 to 4 bined issues: Jan. 7-14, 21-28, March 31-April 7, May 26-June 2, weeks for change June 9-16, 23-30, July 7-14, 21-28, Aug. 4-11, 18-25, Dec. 22-29) FAX: 972.2.676.0914 by America Press, Inc., 106 West 56th Street, New York, NY 10019. of address to take Periodicals postage is paid at New York, N.Y., and additional mailing Email: [email protected] effect. Thank you. offices. Business Manager: Lisa Pope; Circulation: Judith Palmer, Name Address City State ZIP E-mail (212) 581-4640. Subscriptions: United States, $48 per year; add Mail to: America U.S. $22 postage and GST (#131870719) for Canada; or add U.S. Visit our Website: $32 per year for overseas surface postage. For overseas airmail www.tantur.org P.O. Box 693, Mount Morris, IL 61064-7578 Administered by the University of Notre Dame delivery, please call for rates. Postmaster: Send address changes to: or call 1-800-627-9533 America, 106 West 56th St. New York, NY 10019. Printed in the or visit www.americamagazine.org U.S.A.

38 America November 3, 2008 The Word The Holy Dwelling of the Most High Dedication of St. John Lateran, Nov. 9, 2008 Readings: Ez 47:1-2, 8-9, 12; Ps 46:2-3, 5-6, 8-9; 1 Cor 3:9-11, 16-17; Jn 2:13-22 “Do you not know that you are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwells in you?” (1 Cor 3:16)

ODAY THE READINGS for source of security, safety and hope because not as one huge church building (like St. the Feast of the Dedication of of Yahweh’s special presence there. John Lateran or St. Patrick’s Cathedral in the Basilica of St. John Nevertheless, the Temple built by New York) but as a campus with many Lateran in Rome supersede King Solomon was destroyed in 587 B.C., buildings and installations. By Jesus’ time, Tthose assigned for the Thirty-second along with the city of Jerusalem. The the Temple had become the major indus- Sunday in Ordinary Time. Built in the prophet Ezekiel was among the exiles in try of Jerusalem. It employed construction fourth century, this church remains a Babylon, and there he reflected on how workers and an administrative staff, and magnificent and lively place of worship such a catastrophe could have happened. innkeepers and other service-providers today. It is the cathedral church of the While his book is full of denunciations profited from crowds of pilgrims coming bishop of Rome (the pope). The various and warnings, it ends on a note of hope regularly into the city. Scripture readings revolve around the In this historical context the symbol- theme of the “temple” and illustrate the Praying With Scripture ic demonstration by Jesus the Galilean different ways in which that motif appears prophet of God’s kingdom against the in the Bible: the Jerusalem Temple, the • How could Jesus, according to John, excessive commercialization of the ideal temple, the person of Jesus and indi- identify himself as the temple of God? Jerusalem Temple complex is under- vidual Christians. • Do you ever think of yourself as a standable both in Jesus’ program and in The archaeological evidence for tem- temple of God? How might such a con- the effect it had on the local Jewish and ples in the ancient world goes back many cept affect your actions? Roman leaders. In John’s account Jesus thousands of years. A temple was a place • Why do you go to your local church? raises the stakes further by referring to where a god was believed to be present in What do you hope to find there? the Temple as “my Father’s house” and a special way, and where rituals honoring proclaiming himself as the locus of God’s the god (especially sacrifices) were con- presence (“this temple”). As readers of ducted. For a large part of ancient Israel’s when in Chapters 40 to 48 it provides a John’s Gospel, we already know that history from Solomon onward, the detailed verbal picture of the ideal New Jesus is the Word of God who has Jerusalem Temple was the people’s cen- Jerusalem and its rebuilt Temple. The become flesh and made his dwelling tral shrine and the only place where sacri- imagery of water in both Psalm 46 and among us. fices were to be offered to Yahweh, the Ezekiel 47 allude to its life-giving and life- As followers of Jesus and so members God of Israel. sustaining power and its healing proper- of the body of Christ, we as individuals Many of the Old Testament psalms ties. Even after the Second Temple was have become “the temple of God” celebrate the presence of Yahweh in the built in the late sixth century B.C. and through the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. Jerusalem Temple. Indeed, the Book of rebuilt in grand style under Herod the Through our faith in Christ and baptism, Psalms is sometimes called the hymnbook Great (37-4 B.C.), many early Jewish writ- we have been made into places where God of the Jerusalem Temple. We get a ers kept alive and embellished Ezekiel’s is now present in a special way. Of course, glimpse of how much the Temple meant hope for a new and better Temple. The we still need buildings where we may wor- to ancient Israel in today’s excerpts from Qumran New Jerusalem texts and the ship God in community and express our Psalm 46. There the psalmist describes the Temple Scroll, as well as the New shared identity and dignity. Yet we do so Temple as “the holy dwelling of the Most Testament Book of Revelation, are good convinced that Christ is the reality to High” and as Israel’s “stronghold,” its examples of these hopes. which all earthly temples, shrines and The Jerusalem Temple to which Jesus churches point, and that through Christ DANIEL J. HARRINGTON, S.J., is professor of came, according to John 2, was a large God dwells in us and makes us holy New Testament at Boston College School of complex of buildings whose Herodian through the Spirit. As God’s people in Theology and Ministry in Chestnut Hill, refurbishing had been in progress for 46 Christ, we are now dwelling places of the

ART BY TAD DUNNE Mass. years. We ought to envision the Temple Most High. Daniel J. Harrington

November 3, 2008 America 39