The Synod on the Word

Sept. 29,America 2008 THE NATIONAL CATHOLIC WEEKLY $2.75 The Synod on the Word Richard J. Sklba Richard J. Clifford John R. Donahue Pheme Perkins John B. Klassen Ronald D. Witherup shops. For a couple of seasons, the Big America Apple Circus set Published by Jesuits of the United States up its tents there. Eventually, it grew as a cultural center with a museum, art Editor in Chief galleries, a theater Drew Christiansen, S.J. and artists’ ateliers. Starting in 1977, EDITORIAL DEPARTMENT the Staten Island Managing Editor Botanical Garden Robert C. Collins, S.J. began to establish a Editorial Director series of thematic gardens there, the Karen Sue Smith most intriguing of Online Editor which is the New Maurice Timothy Reidy AILORS’ SNUG HARBOR was a resi- York Chinese Scholar’s Garden. Associate Editors Modeled on a 14th-century garden dence for retired merchant sea- Joseph A. O’Hare, S.J. outside Suzhou, China, it replicates the men located on the north shore George M. Anderson, S.J. kind of ex-urban retreats Chinese man- of Staten Island along the Kill Dennis M. Linehan, S.J. SVan Kull, the narrow strait separating the darins (scholar-bureaucrats) created for James Martin, S.J. island from New Jersey. Established in themselves during the Ming (1368-1644) Matt Malone, S.J. 1833 through a bequest by Robert and Qing (1644-1911) Dynasties. An art- James T. Keane, S.J. Richard Randall, a wealthy New York ful blend of architecture, plants, water Peter Schineller, S.J. merchant who died in 1801, the Harbor and stone, the walled garden teases and was the site of pleases the Literary Editor one of the imagination at Patricia A. Kossmann most distin- every turn. Poetry Editor guished sets of Of Many Things There are vis- James S. Torrens, S.J. Greek revival tas and invit- buildings in the country. When Snug ing, half-hidden aperçus. Unpaned win- Assistant Editor Harbor was built, Richmond Terrace, the dows of every design frame charming Francis W. Turnbull, S.J. waterside avenue along the north shore, views. There are porches and towers, Design and Production was a tree-lined boulevard populated with bridges and pathways paved in changing Stephanie Ratcliffe more Greek revival mansions, the sum- designs made of oblong, white and black mer residences of wealthy New Yorkers. river pebbles. There is a stream, three BUSINESS DEPARTMENT As a boy I visited the Harbor a few ponds, a waterfall and a canal. In addi- Publisher tion, there is natural stone, sometimes months before it closed. The farm ani- Jan Attridge mals that had grazed its 83 acres had with the appearance of contemporary been sold off, and the snugs, as the sea- sculpture and at other times clearly part Chief Financial Officer men were called, were preparing to of a Chinese aesthetic intended to bring Lisa Pope depart for North Carolina, where costs mountain landscapes inside the garden Marketing were cheaper and the weather milder. and to contrast the solidity of the stone Eryk Krysztofiak What caught our boyish sense for yucky with the fluidity of the water. Advertising curiosities were the spittoons, a fixture of The curators provide guide boards— the snugs’ recreation room but by then in English and Chinese—on the plant Julia Sosa unknown in most private homes. In addi- life, water and stone, calligraphy and tion, a model ship museum and especially architecture, so visitors can do several a collection of ships in bottles astonished walkabouts with a different focus each 106 West 56th Street us. To this day, the secret craft of build- time. I must confess that as a Westerner, New York, NY 10019-3803 ing a ship in a bottle continues to fasci- I have sometimes found Chinese aesthet- Ph: 212-581-4640; Fax: 212-399-3596. nate me. ics, and especially its symbolism, strained; E-mail: [email protected]; [email protected]. The Harbor lay boarded up for nearly but after a couple of guided walks Web site: www.americamagazine.org. two decades until local preservationists through the garden, I find myself taken Customer Service: 1-800-627-9533. began raising funds to save the buildings. in. The Scholar’s Garden is a miniature © 2008 America Press, Inc. For 14 years my mother volunteered world-within-a-world in which a harried there, helping with bake sales, collecting urbanite is wrapped in tranquility and a admission and event tickets, and taking in religious Westerner easily learns the spir- the culture. There were local and nation- itual comforts of Eastern aesthetics. PHOTO: STATEN ISLAND BOTANICAL GARDEN al art shows, concerts and craft work- Drew Christiansen, S. J. Cover photo Shutterstock/Milos Luzanin www.americamagazine.org Vol. 199 No. 9, Whole No. 4828 September 29, 2008 Articles 24 ‘Nourished and Ruled 10 By Sacred Scripture’ Richard J. Sklba The Original Testament 15 Richard J. Clifford ‘A Hymn With Many Voices’ 18 John R. Donahue Sowing the Word 24 Pheme Perkins Ever Ancient, Ever New 28 John B. Klassen From Council to Synod 31 Ronald D. Witherup Current Comment 4 35 Editorial The Word and Mission 5 Signs of the Times 6 Reflection Place 8 Thoughts From a Spiritual Toolkit Margaret Silf Poem Clotheslines Camille D’Arienzo 27 Faith in Focus 35 Pomp and Simplicity James Martin Book Reviews 39 Original Sin; Yours, Jack; Little House, Long Shadow; World Made by Hand Letters 45 The Word 47 God’s Vineyard Daniel J. Harrington This week @ Drew Christiansen, S.J., previews the Synod on the Word of God on our pod- cast, and the editors pose questions for the first presidential debate. Plus, from America Connects the archives, the editors on Dei Verbum. All at americamagazine.org. Current Comment were not for the fact that from 2006 to 2007 the number Reading Paul of people who receive Medicare grew by one million. One of the less dramatic, though no less necessary, issues Military health coverage also increased significantly during the upcoming Synod of Bishops is likely to address is the same period. But the biggest jump of all was in how to make the second Sunday reading intelligible to Medicaid, which increased by 1.3 million users. Ron the congregation. As Pheme Perkins explains in this Pollack, executive director of the nonprofit health advoca- issue, even some well-instructed lectors do not seem to cy group Families USA, has pointed out the irony in the know what to make of the Pauline and other epistles Bush administration’s attempt to cut back Medicaid. that parishioners hear read on Sundays and feasts. Some President Bush made two attempts to veto legislation exegetes favor reading longer passages to provide greater intended to expand the Children’s Health Insurance context. But longer readings by themselves will be no Program, and yet Medicaid’s biggest increase was for chil- help without more knowledge of the early church and its dren. The number of children covered either by the latter theology. or by the Children’s Health Insurance Program grew from Informed biblical preaching by the homilist on the 20.1 million to 20.9 million. The next president will need epistles and Acts of the Apostles at intervals, or at the to tackle affordable health care as among the most press- beginning and end of a given sequence of readings, might ing of domestic priorities. Health care reform is long over- increase biblical literacy among the faithful. From time to due, with too many Americans looking to hospital emer- time, a series of homilies on a particular letter or on a the- gency rooms as their only resource for health care. ological question or theme, rather than on the Gospel reading, would also contribute to greater understanding. Failing that, brief introductions, as found in many missals, A Neighbor in Need could provide a minimalist solution. Of course, there is The widespread poverty in Haiti has for too long stood as also the option given to bishops’ conferences to omit one a stark reminder of the failure of Western powers to rescue of the readings before the Gospel but that would undercut a neighbor in need. The poorest country in the Western the Second Vatican Council’s goal of acquainting people hemisphere, Haiti now faces almost unimaginable hard- with more of Scripture. ships as hurricanes have ravaged the country’s crops and The second reading represents an important part of left tens of thousands of people displaced. The United our liturgical heritage; texts presented there amount to States has offered $10 million in emergency assistance and more than half the New Testament. Without some seri- has sent a naval ship equipped with planes and helicopters ous reconsideration, the proclamation of the second to help deliver relief to hard-to-reach areas. This is a com- reading is at risk. Like the washing of the priest’s hands mendable response, but Haiti will require much more help after the preparation of the gifts, it could become a vesti- from its Western neighbors, and the United States in par- gial rite from another time that no longer speaks to ticular, if it is to recover from these natural disasters and Christians today. emerge from the decades-long grip of poverty. What is needed is a long-term financial commitment from Washington and other Western powers to the Worsening Health Coverage Haitian cause, something akin to a Marshall Plan for Poverty in the United States increased in 2007, according Haiti. Imagine leaders from the United States, Mexico and to the Census Bureau’s annual report released on Aug. 26. maybe even Venezuela putting aside their differences in a A Catholic Charities USA spokesperson has said that of common mission to eradicate hunger and disease in this the 800,000 more people living in poverty, half a million corner of the Caribbean.

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