Torture and the Rule of Law WILLIAM MICHAEL TREANOR • DAVID COLE • MARY ELLEN O’CONNELL of MANY THINGS PUBLISHED by JESUITS of the UNITED STATES

THE NATIONAL CATHOLIC WEEKLY AUGUST 3–10, 2009 $2.75

Torture and the Rule of Law WILLIAM MICHAEL TREANOR • DAVID COLE • MARY ELLEN O’CONNELL OF MANY THINGS PUBLISHED BY JESUITS OF THE UNITED STATES

ig cats—lions, tigers, leopards back at one another for several minutes EDITOR IN CHIEF and jaguars—are admired for as it twice moved its lookout along the Drew Christiansen, S.J. Btheir strength, their speed, their ridge. Finally, another group of hikers agility. They figure prominently in her- came along and the cat fled deeper into EDITORIAL DEPARTMENT aldry, in folk tales and in children’s sto- the woods. MANAGING EDITOR ries. They inhabit our imaginations all Some years later I was doing my Robert C. Collins, S.J. the more because they are elusive. We annual backpacking retreat near Glen EDITORIAL DIRECTOR see signs but not the cats. We catch a Aulin in the northern region of Karen Sue Smith glimpse, and then they are gone. Their Yosemite National Park. I had begun elusiveness sometimes makes them hiking along the Tuolomne River, ONLINE EDITOR Maurice Timothy Reidy stand-ins for the divine presence. where I have had some vivid prayer Peter Matthiesen spun an unforget- experiences in past years. Before I had CULTURE EDITOR James Martin, S.J. table tale of the mysterious snow leop- gone very far I was forced back by the ard in his travelogue of the same name. threat of thunderstorms. I turned LITERARY EDITOR As he trekked with the naturalist around and my eye fell on a peak that Patricia A. Kossmann George Schaller in the Nepalese towered over the valley. On a promon- POETRY EDITOR Himalayas, the story of spotting a tory, I saw the silhouette of a large James S. Torrens, S.J. snow leopard at high altitude became mountain lion. I looked a long time to ASSOCIATE EDITORS intertwined with Matthiesen’s search be sure of what I was seeing. The long George M. Anderson, S.J. for a legendary lama and ultimately the tail was the giveaway. Matt Malone, S.J. Buddha himself. He met the lama, but The sighting stretched out to 15 or Peter Schineller, S.J. mistook him for the monastery care- 20 minutes, and I was filled with an ASSISTANT EDITOR taker. At the end of the trip, he won- enormous sense of grace. The Francis W. Turnbull, S.J. dered whether his Sherpa guide might encounter was so unusual I took it as a DESIGN AND PRODUCTION have been the Buddha; but like the blessing. Stephanie Ratcliffe snow leopard, the man had vanished A couple of months later I used the from sight. story in a retreat homily to illustrate BUSINESS DEPARTMENT In June, New York’s Central Park the elusiveness of our experience of PUBLISHER Zoo announced its latest guests: three God. One of the retreatants, Jim Jan Attridge snow leopards—born and bred in cap- Weber, a rugged outdoorsman, was CHIEF FINANCIAL OFFICER tivity. Most snow leopards now living wearing a T-shirt with a mountain lion Lisa Pope were bred in captivity. The survival of silhouetted in black on the chest. MARKETING the species depends on it. The day I When I told my story, Jim wept. Jim’s Eryk Krysztofiak went to meet our new neighbors, the wife, Marjorie, had died some months ADVERTISING 12-year-old was not to be seen and a 3- before. As it turned out, she had cho- Julia Sosa year-old twice came close to the glass sen the mountain lion as her own partition only to disappear in the blink totem; and her sister had made the T- 106 West 56th Street of an eye. shirt as a remembrance of her. New York, NY 10019-3803 In the western United States I have The elusiveness of the big cats Ph: 212-581-4640; Fax: 212-399-3596 had a couple of encounters with moun- makes their appearance a special reve- E-mail: [email protected]; tain lions. On a hike in Point Reyes lation. My own encounters make me [email protected] National Seashore, we spotted one long for the wild lands where the elu- Web site: www.americamagazine.org. running across the trail below us. Just sive appearance of the big cats comes as Customer Service: 1-800-627-9533 as we crested a small rise, it dashed a joyful surprise, filling one with a © 2009 America Press, Inc. into the underbrush. sense of unity in creation and blessed- When we had descended a little, I ness before God. As George Schaller suggested to the group that we stop, wrote, “When the last snow leopard quietly turn around and see whether has stalked among the crags...a spark of Cover: A protester dressed to repre- we could spot the cat. Sure enough, life will have gone, turning the moun- sent a detainee of the U.S. government demonstrates against torture there it was looking out at us from tains into stones of silence.” outside the White House, November underneath the manzanita. We stared DREW CHRISTIANSEN, S.J. 2005. Reuters/Jason Reed CONTENTS www.americamagazine.org VOL. 201 NO. 3, WHOLE NO. 4862 AUGUST 3–10, 2009

ARTICLES 11 A FORUM ON TORTURE AND THE RULE OF LAW Introduction LEGAL OBLIGATIONS The proper role of White House lawyers William Michael Treanor TRUTH AND CONSEQUENCES The case for a commission on torture David Cole NO EXCUSES Our obligation to prosecute human rights violations 11 Mary Ellen O’Connell COLUMNS & DEPARTMENTS 4 Editorials A Shabby Welcome; The Stakeholder Society 6 Signs of the Times 9 Column Filling the Gaps Maryann Cusimano Love 19 Faith in Focus The Eyes of a Child Stephen Martin 28 Letters 30 The Word Nourishing Word; Food for Life Barbara E. Reid 19 BOOKS & CULTURE 21 FILM Michael Mann’s “Public Enemies” BOOKINGS The Faith of Abraham Lincoln

ON THE WEB ON THE WEB Jon M. Sweeney reviews the art of James Ensor (right), and William Michael Treanor discusses torture and accountability on our podcast. Plus, from the archives, the editors on Pope Paul VI's view of capitalism, and a look at the perils of translating encyclicals. 3521 All at americamagazine.org. EDITORIAL A Shabby Welcome

s U.S. troops are preparing to return to the United Widows face especially harsh States, millions of Iraqis continue to endure hard- struggles. Most are from traditional Aship both as displaced persons within Iraq and as backgrounds in which the wife or refugees in surrounding countries. But even Iraqi refugees mother was not expected to be the pri- in the United States face harsh pitfalls. Since the war’s mass mary breadwinner in their families. displacements began in February 2006, barely 30,000 Iraqis But the requirement to find employ- have been admitted to the United States, and few of these ment quickly applies to them as well as to men. Male rela- were admitted prior to August 2008. Now, because of the tives attempting to join them face additional security checks sharp economic downturn, nonprofit resettlement agencies and therefore longer delays in being reunited. And yet fam- are finding it increasingly difficult to help them find jobs. ily reunification is one of the strongest indicators of reset- Many face eviction and homelessness. tlement success. The I.R.C. report tells the story of a widow The title of a recent report by the International living alone in Phoenix. Like others who have received evic- Rescue Committee tells the grim story: In Dire Straits. The tion notices, she has nowhere to go, and homeless shelters report focuses on two cities, Atlanta, Ga., and Phoenix, are full. The waiting list for subsidized housing is two years. Ariz., which were chosen by the I.R.C. because the relative- The most immediate need is for increased federal ly high numbers of Iraqi cases in those cities, as an I.R.C. assistance in the form of cash and better access to medical spokesperson told America, have been significantly affected treatment. Also needed is a leveling of the widely disparate by the economic crisis. The I.R.C. plans to settle approxi- amounts individual states offer for refugee resettlement. mately 230 Iraqi refugees in Atlanta in 2009 and an equiv- The I.R.C. urges that Congress provide $97 million in sup- alent number in Phoenix. But resettlement has become plemental funds for the Office of Refugee Resettlement in increasingly difficult, because all refugees are expected to the Department of Health and Human Services to cover find employment within a few months of their arrival in a emergency rent payments for refugees at risk of eviction. city. This past spring the State Department released $5 million The State Department’s Bureau of Population, in emergency rent stipends to assist those facing eviction, Refugees and Migration provides a reception grant of $900 but such modest steps are mere stopgaps. The entire per refugee upon arrival at their destination—an amount refugee resettlement program needs to be reinvented. meant to cover immediate necessities like security deposits The United States has agreed to admit 17,000 Iraqis on rental housing, food and other immediate needs for the in fiscal year 2009 (October 2008 to September 2009), a first month. But this falls far short of actual needs, especial- shamefully small number, given that many Iraqis have ly with housing costs varying widely by city and state. In a even risked their lives working for the U.S. military and strange reversal of roles, better-off relatives in Iraq some- government and for American companies in various times send assistance to loved ones in the United States. capacities—for example, as interpreters. Whether that Individual states in which the refugees resettle provide number will be reached remains to be seen, although so far some public assistance, but the amount varies widely from the U.S. government is on track and resettlement groups state to state—an inequity in itself. The average for a fami- are optimistic. As of June 30, 2009, 13,537 had been ly of four nationwide is $575 per month, but in some states received. Roughly a third are Christians, still a targeted the amount can be as low as $309—which adds to the pre- group in Iraq. Some four million refugees in all have fled cariousness of the refugees’ lives. Medicaid, which is gener- their homes because of a war for which the United States ally included, is crucial because many arrive in poor physi- bears primary responsibility. cal and mental health. But Medicaid does not cover all med- The least we can do is to better share the load with ical needs, such as those of trauma victims. The trauma can Iraq’s neighbors and provide adequately for those Iraqis make it more difficult for them to begin work in their new who manage to arrive here as traumatized refugees. The country. In addition, a number have serious medical prob- voluntary resettlement agencies that care for them are lems or physical disabilities that can undermine their imme- increasingly overburdened as the recession continues and diate employability. unemployment climbs.

4 America August 3–10, 2009 EDITORIAL The Stakeholder Society

ratuity” is a genteel term for a tip for services ren- means a private virtue. Rather, it is akin dered by a waiter, taxi driver or bellhop. Of to what the ancients called magnanimi- ‘G course, it also refers fundamentally to any gra- ty, a greatness of soul that acts in the cious act that is not strictly expected. In times past it understanding that one’s deeds—in this referred to the beneficence of kings. In its most exalted case one’s business transactions—affect sense, it denotes the transcendent goodness of God to us. the whole of society. Thus, the primary Perhaps the most remarkable proposition in Pope Benedict meaning of the economy of gratuity for business seems to be XVI’s encyclical letter Caritas in Veritate, therefore, is the that businesses function within a “stakeholder society.” controversial assertion that gratuity—or as the official “Business management,” the pope writes, “cannot concern English translation frequently reads, “gratuitousness”—is itself only with the interest of proprietors, but must also essential to economic life. Can a gesture of politeness or a assume responsibility for all the other stakeholders who supernatural relationship have anything to do with every- contribute to the life of the business: the workers, the day commerce? What has Jerusalem to do with Wall Street? clients, the suppliers...the community of reference.” The Is it not true, as the late philosopher-theologian Paul notion of a “stakeholder society” is already a familiar one to Ricoeur wrote about the Gospel, that “the logic of generos- business ethicists, management consultants and political ity clashes head on with the logic of equivalence which philosophers. It is an idea whose day, the pope believes, will orders our everyday exchanges, our commerce and our come. penal law”? Aware that critics may regard this ethic as utopian, Over the centuries, the reduction of economics to Benedict points to businesses that already follow this pure commercial exchange has resulted in the fraying of the model. “Alongside profit-oriented private enterprises, there social bonds that both made the real economy run and com- must be room for commercial entities based on mutualist pensated for its worse excesses. Now, in a flat, globalized principles and pursuing social ends....” He expresses the world with egalitarian aspirations for material success hope that from the interplay of such groups with tradition- everywhere, the system is gravely troubled. Economics, al commercial sectors, new hybrid forms of commercial moreover, as the pope points out, has come to dominate all behavior will continue to emerge and serve to “civilize” the other sectors of life—the state, the economy and civil soci- economy. Following the publication of the encyclical, the ety—so that few people are any longer concerned about the Catholic lay movement Focolare reminded its friends that well-being of others; and, in practice, most people presume Chiara Lubich, its foundress, had promoted this kind of they need be concerned exclusively with pursuing their pri- enterprise. Today the movement sponsors more than 700 vate accumulation of wealth. such for-profit companies based on an ethic of gratuity and The metaphor underlying the term “gratuity” is that communion. of gift-giving; and Pope Benedict believes the neglect of gra- For Benedict, however, it is not enough that there be tuity, of a generous readiness to give for the good of others, a special socio-economic sector operating on this model. All is a root cause of the current world economic crisis. businesses must conduct themselves as members of the “Marked by grave deviations and failures,” he writes, stakeholder society. Only 30 years ago the principle that “today’s international economic scene requires a profoundly business has moral ties to the wider society was made pop- new way of understanding business enterprise.” He elabo- ular by the investor responsibility movement, and it was for rates: “The great challenge before us” in the unfolding of a time affirmed by many corporations. Unfortunately, that globalization and in the current economic crisis is not only realization was eclipsed in the last generation by an Ayn the need for “the principles of social ethics, like transparen- Rand-style of individualism and the prominence of high cy, honesty and responsibility,” but also the need “that in finance, the branch of business most abstracted from real commercial relationships the principle of gratuitousness people and fundamental human interests, as a leading sec- and the logic of gift as the expression of fraternity can and tor of the economy. In the wake of the global financial crisis, must find their place within normal economic activity.” the relevance of the stakeholder conception of business This generosity has a public dimension; it is by no should be clearer than ever.

August 3–10, 2009 America 5 SIGNS OF THE TIMES

THE VATICAN President, Pope Discuss G-8 Commitments, Bioethics he church’s positions on bioethical issues and matters of global social justice received marked attention during Pope Benedict TXVI’s meeting with President Barack Obama on July 10 in Rome. Mr. Obama had traveled to Rome for the Group of 8 summit, an annual meeting of the world’s wealthiest industrialized countries, which had concluded that morning in L’Aquila, Italy. The G-8 summit had focused on the global economic crisis, climate change and global ten- sions. The pope and Mr. Obama touched on each of these topics in their 35- minute closed-door meeting, as well as immigration and the issue of reunit- ing families, the Vatican said following the session. The two men also touched on international politics, such as the peace process in the Middle East, “on which there was general agreement,” the Vatican added. “Dialogue between cultures and religions, the global economic crisis and its ethical implications, food security, development aid—especially for Africa and Latin America—and the problem of drug trafficking” were all discussed. “Finally, the importance of educating young people everywhere in the value of tolerance was highlighted,” Mr. Obama arrives at the Apostolic Palace the Vatican said. Pope Benedict and the president audience that “great serenity and great dent asked the pope to pray for his discussed other issues that represent “a cordiality” characterized the meeting. family and expressed his appreciation great challenge for the future of every Father Lombardi said he spoke with for the role Cardinal Óscar Rodríguez nation and for the true progress of the pope after the meeting and that the Maradiaga of Tegucigalpa, Honduras, peoples, such as the defense and pro- pope “seemed extremely satisfied with was playing in trying to resolve the motion of life and the right to abide by how the meeting went.” He said the political crisis in his country in the one’s conscience,” according to the pope found the president to be “atten- wake of the June coup that ousted Vatican. During their time together, tive and ready to listen,” adding, “The President Manuel Zelaya. the pope gave Mr. Obama a signed president explicitly expressed his com- In addition to the encyclical and copy of his encyclical Caritas in Veritate mitment to reducing the numbers of Vatican bioethics document, Pope (Charity in Truth), as well as a copy of abortions and to listen to the church’s Benedict gave Mr. Obama a mosaic the recent Vatican document on concerns on moral issues.” showing St. Peter’s Basilica and Piazza biomedical ethics, Dignitas Personae Denis McDonough, U.S. deputy and a medal marking the fifth year of (The Dignity of a Person). “Oh, what national security adviser, later spoke to his pontificate. The president in turn we discussed earlier,” said Mr. Obama, reporters about many of the points in gave the pope a liturgical stole that had referring to their talks, “I will have the Vatican statement, adding that the adorned the body of St. John Neumann some reading to do on the plane.” two men also discussed Cuba, of Philadelphia, the first male U.S. citi- According to Msgr. Georg Gänswein, Honduras and outreach to Muslim zen to be proclaimed a saint. papal secretary, the president was given communities. “I think the president President Obama also delivered a the instruction to help him better was eager to listen to the Holy Father, private letter to the pope from Senator understand the church’s position on [and] was obviously eager to learn Edward M. Kennedy, Democrat of bioethics. more about his views” on issues such Massachusetts. Senator Kennedy has The Vatican spokesman, Federico as abortion and stem cell research, he been battling brain cancer for the past Lombardi, S.J., told reporters after the said. McDonough reported the presi- year.

6 America August 3–10, 2009 authorized “lethal covert actions” The emergence of global terror net- against Osama bin Laden and al-Qaeda works intent on mass terror raised new operatives. Previously, the government questions. Are terrorists, who are not had been using pilotless aircraft to tar- members of a national army, but are get terrorist camps. The new plan carrying out lethal attacks often under involved deploying teams of assassins to civilian cover, open to direct attack as kill individual senior terrorists, requir- if they were armed military? Is the ing the assassins to strike “at two feet fight against terrorism best carried out instead of 10,000 feet,” according to an as “a war against terror” or as an inter- intelligence official quoted by The national police action? Washington Post. The anticipated ben- David L. Perry, a former ethics pro- efit of assassination over drone attacks fessor at the Army War College in is a potential decrease in “collateral” Carlisle, Pa., addressed the matter in a civilian casualties. 1995 issue of The Journal of Conflict The new program, according to Studies: “Just as it is not a crime to kill some analysts, violated the spirit, if the enemy during wartime, so too not the letter, of executive orders should it not be regarded as a crime or issued by previous presidents. Those a morally reprehensible act when a executive orders came in the wake of a nation, acting in concert with its obli- series of government reports on U.S. gation to protect its own citizens from intelligence activities in the 1970s that harm, seeks out and destroys terror- detailed abuses of power. Among the ists outside its borders who have com- matters investigated were attempts to mitted, or are planning to commit assassinate foreign leaders, includ- SOCIAL ETHICS ing Fidel Castro of Cuba and the brothers Ngo Dinh Diem and Is Assassination Ngo Dinh Nhu of Vietnam. Just War Analysis. The new Ever Justified? disclosures have prompted a debate about how government- he recent disclosure that the sponsored assassination should be U.S. Central Intelligence viewed in light of the Catholic TAgency was developing a pro- moral tradition on just war theory. gram to track down and kill individual Traditional just war theory was Al Qaeda leaders has re-awakened inclined to prohibit assassination legal and ethical questions about of political and military leaders on assassination as a tool of national poli- two grounds. The first was that to CIA director Leon Panetta cy. The program had been kept hidden “decapitate” the enemy might from Congress until this spring, when make negotiation of peace more diffi- atrocities on its territory or against its it was uncovered and cancelled by the cult and lead to protracted fighting as citizens.” Yet “the assassin in effect current C.I.A. director, Leon Panetta. a result of chaos or competition for acts as prosecutor, judge, jury and exe- In a succession of executive orders, command in the enemy ranks. The cutioner combined; the target is pre- Presidents Ford, Carter and Reagan other was that civilian political leaders cluded from being represented by had proscribed assassination as a poli- were technically “innocents”—that is, counsel before an impartial court,” cy of the U.S. government. they were not bearing arms and direct- added Perry. President George W. Bush, in “an ly threatening the other side. Armed Gerard F. Powers of the Kroc intelligence finding,” without formally personnel were permitted to attack Institute for International Peace rescinding the earlier prohibitions, only other armed personnel. Studies at the University of Notre

August 3–10, 2009 America 7 SIGNS OF THE TIMES

Dame, in Indiana, distinguished among targets of assassination. “You're NEWS BRIEFS not talking about killing political leaders. You're talking about killing Al Security has been tightened around churches and Qaeda leaders. You're talking about Christian towns in Iraq following a series of killing terrorists,” he said. “If terrorism attacks in recent weeks that have targeted is treated primarily as a crime, then the Christians, according to The Washington Post. • targeted killings would probably be Church officials in Zimbabwe said that the problematic, unless they occurred in church there “is well-positioned to reach people the effort to arrest. And all the normal and bring them into the process” of drafting the rules of police work apply,” Powers new constitution. As part of a power-sharing Eddie Panlilio added. agreement, Zimbabwe is to draft a constitution “But to the extent that terrorism that will go before voters for approval in 2010. • Catholic bishops in can be seen as an act of war, then the western Mexico called for three days of prayer for the end to a wave targeted killings of known terrorists of revenge-driven, drug-cartel violence that has engulfed the State of who are actively engaged in terrorism, Michoacan. • Eddie Panlilio, a Catholic priest who serves as gover- or actively planning terrorist acts, then nor of the Philippine province of Pampanga, has written the bishop the terrorist becomes more like a com- requesting a dispensation from his priestly responsibilities so that he batant in war,” he explained. “And the may run for president in 2010. same criteria that would apply to war would apply to the killings of terrorists.” In the case of Al Qaeda, Powers said, there “are elements akin to war” Aid Official Describes Conditions ‘Improve’ and “others more akin to crime. That's where the issues become blurred.” Starvation in Eritrea for Russian Catholics A Catholic aid official who just An official of the Russian bishops’ con- returned from Eritrea described chil- ference said the Catholic Church’s Honduran Cardinal dren too weak to walk and orphanage working conditions in Russia have Addresses Coup Crisis staffers overwhelmed by the number of improved, and that he is hopeful that Cardinal Óscar Rodríguez Maradiaga children being dropped off because this would lead to better relations of Tegucigalpa has endorsed a their families cannot feed them. between church and state. “Our Honduran bishops’ conference state- “Unless you’ve been there and seen it, church’s ties with state and society here ment saying that deposed Honduran you cannot understand the gravity of have significantly improved recently, President Manuel Zelaya engendered the situation,” says Gabriel Delmonaco and we hope this process will now “class hatred.” The cardinal denied that of the Catholic Near East Welfare develop further,” said the Rev. Igor the church supported the coup d’état, Association. “We are trying to save one Kovalevsky, the secretary-general of the saying that those who accuse the life at a time.” Nearly half of Eritrea’s Russian Catholic bishops’ conference. church of siding with Honduras’s elite population is undernourished, and “A full relationship will clearly facilitate “are not listening.” Cardinal Rodríguez more than 85,000 children are mal- links at a time when both the Holy See said he has seen an unwelcome change nourished as a result of widespread and Russian Federation share common in the politics of Honduras, which he famine, according to Amnesty views on many international questions,” attributes to Zelaya’s alliance with International. Eritrea’s 2002 drought said Father Kovalevsky. Venezuela’s President Hugo Chávez. resulted in severe water shortages and The Interfax news agency reported “Recently, I have observed something an almost complete failure of that year’s earlier in July that Archbishop that did not previously exist in harvest. Since then, rainfall has been Antonio Mennini, the Vatican’s repre- Honduras: class hatred,” the cardinal inadequate, and last year’s drought sentative in Moscow, said that talks on said. “Zelaya had advisers in made conditions significantly worse. diplomatic relations between the Venezuela, and stirring up class hatred Vatican and Russia had covered “a lot was the strategy.” From CNS and other sources. of ground.”

8 America August 3–10, 2009 MARYANN CUSIMANO LOVE Filling the Gaps

he world has a governance But all these efforts are still not States, existing and new international problem. We need more of enough. People are dying, but states institutions, civil society partnerships, T it—at a time when we have cannot save them. The United States more ethically oriented businesses, less of it. Globalization has created and other strong states cannot solve churches and individuals—all have a gaps between the problems we face these problems alone; their institutions role, and no one is off the hook. and our ability to respond. The prob- are not wired for it. Nearly a third of the Media controversy focused on No. lems move quickly, but our institutions people on earth live in the weakest states 67, “the urgent need of a true world do not. Problems like the meltdown of in the system, as described in detail in political authority…universally recog- the global financial system and global The Failed State Index, a new report by nized and vested with the effective climate change cross borders and the Fund for Peace. Their citizens are power to ensure security for all, regard require urgent and coordinated action the most vulnerable, yet these states are for justice, and respect for rights.” across countries. But governance stops the least able to respond to the chal- Few noted No. 41, which urges us at the borders of our primary institu- lenges of globalization and “to promote a dispersed tions, sovereign states. some deny their people the The pope political authority, New forms of governance are ability to participate in or effective on different emerging to fill the gaps, especially in hold their governments calls for levels,” and No. 57, the private sector, sometimes in pub- accountable for the activities international which notes that “the lic-private partnerships, sometimes undertaken in their name. governance of global- alone. Civil society combines in The worst of these states are institutions ization must be marked transnational networks to change cor- predatory, deliberately to serve by subsidiarity, articu- porate and government behavior on killing the very citizens they lated into several layers issues from debt relief to land mines. are supposed to protect. the most and involving different Nongovernmental organizations and Sovereignty—the ideas levels that can work private companies provide services that governance aligns with vulnerable. together. Globalization previously deemed the purview of territory and that those out- certainly requires states—from building roads to provid- side the geographic boundaries have no authority, insofar as it poses the prob- ing security. Civil society and compa- authority to meddle in internal affairs— lem of a global common good that nies develop and hold businesses is problematic for most of the people on needs to be pursued. This authority, accountable to corporate social the planet. But most leaders and schol- however, must be organized in a sub- responsibility codes. A private regula- ars ignore the problem of sovereignty in sidiary and stratified way.” Pope tory body governs the Internet, to the world politics, focusing on government Benedict calls for effective interna- extent that anyone does that. action even as states are less able to tional institutions, as did his prede- The public sector also attempts to resolve global problems alone. cessors, but he also calls for updating increase capacity and collaboration I am not a neutral observer of these and making all our institutions more across borders. We create new interna- issues. I had recently finished the fourth ethical and effective. tional institutions (the World Trade edition of my book on globalization, The pope calls for neither one Organization) and adapt old ones Beyond Sovereignty: Issues for a Global world government nor untrammeled (NATO and the United Nations). Agenda, when Pope Benedict XVI sovereign autonomy, but for effective Religious actors are part of the mix as released his encyclical Caritas in global governance. Institutional plural- well. Veritate. The pope reveals himself to be ism carries costs, including overlap- an institutional pragmatist. When the ping jurisdictions and coordination MARYANN CUSIMANO LOVE, professor of challenges are as urgent as they now are, difficulties. But these institutions international relations at The Catholic we have to use all available tools and already exist, and so can be more University of America in Washington, D.C., is the author of Beyond Sovereignty: Issues work through, reform, strengthen, quickly reformed to serve better the for a Global Agenda. expand and improve many institutions. needs of the world’s most vulnerable.

August 3–10, 2009 America 9

Torture and the Rule of Law

orture, detention without trial, secret surveillance of citizens, power to strip Tcitizens’ rights on suspicion of terrorism—the list of alleged misdeeds by the Bush administration in its so-called war on terror is highly troubling, reminiscent of the abuses for which the American colonies declared independence from Britain. For months debate has stirred on how the nation should address these violations of civil liberties and discipline the officials responsible for them. America has asked three distinguished lawyers to make the case for one of three alternatives: taking preventive action, convoking a blue-ribbon committee of

inquiry or bringing criminal charges. PHOTO: SHUTTERSTOCK/FRITZ KOCHER Please send us your comments on the current issue page of the America Web site: americamagazine.org.

August 3–10, 2009 America 11 Legal Obligations The proper role of White House lawyers BY WILLIAM MICHAEL TREANOR

n opinion issued on Aug. 1, 2002, by rescinded the torture memo in 2004, has written that the Assistant Attorney General Jay S. Bybee of torture memo and other opinions were “deeply flawed: the Department of Justice’s Office of Legal sloppily reasoned, overbroad, and incautious in asserting Counsel held that the federal statute that extraordinary constitutional authorities on behalf of the Amakes it a crime to commit torture outside the United President.” States should not be read to “apply to the President’s Underlying the torture memo and other memoranda detention and interrogation of enemy combatants pur- was a stunningly broad theory of executive power. “In suant to his Commander-in-Chief authority.” The opin- wartime,” the memo states, “it is for the President alone to ion further concluded that if the statute did criminalize decide what methods to use to best prevail against the interrogations ordered by the president, it was unconsti- enemy.” The memo reflects an approach under which the tutional. president even has the power to disregard statutes govern- The memorandum, which has become known as the ing the military or the conduct of war. “torture memo,” figures prominently in the ongoing public This conception of presidential power is at odds with debate about whether there should be prosecutions of the Constitution. While the drafters of the Constitution Department of Justice officials or a truth commission to made the president the commander in chief of the armed investigate the treatment of detainees by U.S. officials. But forces, they also gave Congress great powers in military and as important as the memorandum is to any consideration foreign affairs, including the power to declare war. This of the past, it is at least as relevant to any consideration of constitutional framework is one of shared authority, and how to ensure that in the future, the Department of Justice governing judicial precedent reflects that understanding. and the executive branch as a whole honor the rule of law The torture memo ignored all this as its authors single- and the U.S. Constitution. mindedly pressed an expansive view of presidential power. Since its inception, the Office of Legal Counsel, the What made the torture memo and similar memos office that issued the torture memo, has played a critical authorizing war-related actions by agents of the executive role in ensuring that the executive branch follows the law. branch even more of a threat to the constitutional order Operating as a kind of court within the executive branch, and the rule of law is that they were secret. Congress had the office rules on the legality of potential executive branch no way of knowing that the executive branch was disre- actions. In both Democratic and Republican administra- garding U.S. law. There are three crucial steps needed to tions, the office has understood its mission as making protect the rule of law. decisions that reflect the best view of the law, without First, as former O.L.C. head Walter Dellinger has sug- regard for politics. “It is not our function to prepare an gested, the executive branch needs to adopt and make pub- advocate’s brief or simply to find support for what we or lic a careful statement setting forth its conception of the our clients might like the law to be,” Ted Olson, who head- proper role of the different branches of government with ed the O.L.C. during the Reagan administration, has regard to war powers and foreign affairs. Unlike the tor- observed. Rather, the O.L.C.’s duty is to make “the clearest ture memo, that statement should reflect the balance of statement of what we believe the law provides and how the congressional and executive power embodied in the courts would resolve the matter.” Constitution’s text, structure and history, as well as judi- The torture memo, as well as other important cial precedent. Such a statement would establish a frame- Department of Justice memoranda approving counterter- work for future decision-making. It would help avoid the rorism activities, reflected a very different approach. result-oriented and crisis-driven reasoning reflected in the Former Assistant Attorney General Jack Goldsmith, who torture memo, and, by being made public, it would facilitate a needed public debate by allowing Congress the WILLIAM MICHAEL TREANOR is dean of Fordham University School opportunity to respond to the executive branch’s concep- of Law in New York. tion of its role.

12 America August 3–10, 2009 Second, there is a need for greater transparency. While has introduced legislation embracing this approach. concerns about the protection of classified information are Third, the O.L.C. must return to its traditional role. Its important, Congress cannot defend its powers if it is opinions must reflect straightforward analysis of the law, unaware of what the executive branch is not advocacy, even when that legal analysis doing. A mechanism for informing ON THE WEB would keep the executive branch from Congress while protecting classified William Michael Treanor on torture pursuing policies it wants to pursue. The information must be established. Dawn and accountability. Constitution states, “the President shall Johnsen, President Obama’s pick to americamagazine.org/podcast take Care that the Laws be faithfully exe- head the Office of Legal Counsel, has cuted.” Honest O.L.C. opinions are critical argued passionately during the past few years for the if the president is to satisfy that constitutional obligation. O.L.C. to return to its traditional role, and she has urged Our constitutional framework is a wise one. It provides passage of a statute that would require the administration for a strong national defense while it protects individual to notify Congress whenever it is not enforcing a law liberties and the rule of law. The lessons of the past will because of constitutional concerns. Senator Russ Feingold help us ensure that that framework is honored. Truth and Consequences The case for a commission on torture BY DAVID COLE

hy are so many so afraid of the truth? The proposal of Senator Patrick J. Leahy, Democrat of Vermont, for a nonpartisan truth commission to Winvestigate possible crimes committed in connection with the Central Intelligence Agency’s interrogation of detainees has sparked resistance from President Obama and a wide range of Republicans, all of whom urge us to look forward, not backward. But in the face of credible evidence that high-level Bush administration officials authorized torture, a crime against humanity, the least we should do is undertake a serious, independent investigation. Accountability is the touchstone of the rule of law. We owe it to the victims, the world and ourselves to hold the wrongdoers accountable. Moreover, without an official acknowl- edgment of wrongdoing, we risk repetition of the abuses of the past. We know already that U.S. officials up to and U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder testifies on April 23, 2009. including Vice President Dick Cheney authorized waterboarding. We also know that lawyers in the Justice inhuman or degrading treatment. President Obama, Department’s Office of Legal Counsel, including Jay Bybee, Attorney General Eric Holder, and C.I.A. Director Leon John Yoo, Daniel Levin and Stephen Bradbury, wrote mem- Panetta have all since conceded what the world already oranda that gave a green light to the practice by arguing that knew—that waterboarding is in fact torture. waterboarding does not constitute torture, or even cruel, As a legal matter, the United States is compelled by the U.N. Convention Against Torture, a binding treaty that we ratified in 1988, to “submit the case to competent authori- DAVID COLE is a professor at Georgetown University Law School. His book, The Torture Memos: Rationalizing the Unthinkable, will be ties for the purpose of prosecution.” Those authorities “shall

PHOTO: REUTERS/YURI GRIPAS published by the New Press in September 2009. take their decision in the same manner as in the case of any

August 3–10, 2009 America 13 ordinary offence of a serious nature.” At a minimum, then, torture by U.S. authorities acting on information provided Attorney General Holder must investigate and make a deci- by Canada, Canada conducted an official inquiry, resulting sion as to whether to prosecute. in a 1,100-page report that exonerated Arar and castigated Canadian authorities. Canada’s Parliament unanimously Vague Standards Defining Torture apologized to Arar, and the government paid him $8.7 mil- A prosecution of Vice President Cheney or, for that matter, lion in damages. These forms of accountability, while not the Justice Department lawyers would be deeply divisive, criminal, nonetheless help create a bulwark against repeti- but that is no justification for declining to prosecute. The tion of the wrongs. attorney general could decide, however, that a prosecution is Whether or not a criminal case proceeds, as a country we not warranted on the grounds that there is not proof have a moral obligation to investigate and acknowledge ille- beyond a reasonable doubt that anyone knowingly autho- gal abuses committed in our name. That process would be rized torture. The cabinet officials who gave the go-ahead, best advanced by a blue-ribbon commission that could rise and the C.I.A. agents who carried out the interrogations above partisan politics, assemble all the facts and issue an will claim that they relied on opinions from the Justice official report addressing the question of whether the prac- Department and concluded that these tactics did not rise to tices employed by the C.I.A. were not only a bad idea, but the level of torture. And the lawyers will argue that they illegal as well. sought only to identify the line between torture and abuse Some complain that a truth commission is not enough. short of torture. Given the vague standards used to define Crimes require criminal prosecutions, but empaneling a com- torture, this was no simple task. My own view is that when mission does not foreclose that possibility. Depending on the Justice Department memos are read carefully, they show what the evidence shows, prosecution may be the appropriate that the lawyers contorted the law to facilitate brutality, response in the long run. For the moment, however, that con- instead of requiring the C.I.A. to conform its practices to clusion is not yet obvious. It may have been wrong, but not the law. But without more evidence, a prosecutor might rea- criminally wrong, to rely on flawed legal advice from the sonably conclude that such a case cannot be proven beyond Justice Department that waterboarding was not torture. The a reasonable doubt, as the criminal law requires. legal advice itself may have been morally repugnant and pro- A criminal prosecution, however, is not the only way to fessionally incompetent without necessarily being criminal. achieve accountability. It took more than 40 years to do so, Only further investigation can tell whether criminal prosecu- but in 1988 Congress officially apologized for the wrong of tion is warranted. But a truth commission would be an interning 120,000 Japanese and Japanese-Americans during important first step toward both restoring the rule of law in World War II, and paid reparations to the survivors. After the United States and restoring the United States to its place a Canadian citizen, Maher Arar, was rendered to Syria for as a law-abiding member of the community of nations. No Excuses Our obligation to prosecute human rights violations BY MARY ELLEN O’CONNELL

e Americans have a clear and definite legal reasonable ground to believe that an act of torture has been duty to investigate and prosecute the crime committed in any territory under its jurisdiction.” of torture. Under the 1949 Geneva Our nation is a party to these and other treaties pro- Conventions, each party is “under the obli- hibiting torture and mandating investigation and prosecu- Wgation to search for persons alleged to have committed or to tion. have ordered to be committed, such grave breaches [of the We know that high officials in the Bush administration duty not to torture], and shall bring such persons, regardless violated these treaties. We have unimpeachable documents of their nationality, before its own courts.” confirming that individuals taken into custody since Sept. Similarly, the 1984 Convention Against Torture requires 11, 2001, were waterboarded and worse. The controversy each party to “ensure that its competent authorities proceed over whether waterboarding is torture is entirely specious. to a prompt and impartial investigation, wherever there is In fact, the United States has prosecuted Japanese military

14 America August 3–10, 2009 personnel at the end of World War II, American soldiers during the Philippine Insurrection, (1902–13) and others for waterboarding. Investigating and prosecuting such crimes is obligatory; it is not a “witch hunt,” as some charge. Nor is it something optional—a matter of “prosecutorial discretion”—that the president may choose to forgo. The only issue is whether the Obama administration will follow the violations of the Bush administration by a violation of its own. Senator Patrick J. Leahy, Democrat of Vermont, proposes a truth commission to look into the scandal. We should praise him for his courage. But a truth commission will not meet our obligations as a nation, which are to hold violators

judicially accountable. Protestors dressed as Guantánamo Bay prisoners in front of the White House Some think that recent domestic legislation prevents the United States from fulfilling its obli- reliance on legal advice may be immune from prosecution. gations in the aftermath of torture. The presence or absence The advice in the memos, however, is anything but reason- of specific domestic legislation is, however, irrelevant to our able. The memos are full of basic errors. They do not focus nation’s duty. After World War II, during the trials in on what the law requires of interrogators but rather on how Nuremberg and Tokyo, the United States prosecuted indi- to avoid prosecution; as such, judges are unlikely to permit viduals for what the United States judged to be wrong, even the memos as evidence at trial. The lawyers who prepared if arguably authorized by German or Japanese law. the memos cannot credibly contend that they acted in good We also hear that torture committed since 2001 by U.S. faith in their preparation. Nor do the memos address what personnel is not illegal because it violates “only” internation- should be our greatest concern: the liability of superiors al law. Treaty obligations are, however, part of the law of the who authorized the use of torture or failed to prevent it. United States. The Constitution specifically provides that Former officials insist that “harsh interrogation” pro- treaties are the “supreme” law of the land. International law duced essential intelligence, but such advocacy cannot prohibitions on torture are the law of the United States. change the fact that torture is morally and legally wrong. Moreover, the prohibition on torture is a peremptory norm When judges and jurors see the techniques at issue demon- of international law—a higher norm that cannot be changed strated, they will recognize them for what they are. No pres- by merely changing a treaty. The concept of peremptory ident can change these facts. norms owes much to Catholic natural law scholars, includ- Finally, some argue that even if the use of torture is ing St. Thomas Aquinas. wrong, interrogators may rely on an affirmative defense of Government lawyers produced thousands of pages of “necessity.” The Geneva Conventions and the Convention legal memoranda on the subject of torture and internation- Against Torture, however, reject necessity as a defense for al law, ironically demonstrating how serious these interna- torture. tional law obligations are. Some now—incredibly—con- America’s obligation to investigate and prosecute is tend that prosecution is not possible because of the exis- clear. Other countries are obligated to prosecute if ours tence of these same memos. does not. Some cases are already under way. But this is In fact, officials who act in reasonable and good faith fundamentally our nation’s duty. If we Americans do not prosecute our own perpetrators, in addition to compound- MARY ELLEN O’CONNELL holds the Robert and Marion Short Chair ing our wrongdoing, we weaken our right to demand that in Law and Research Professor of International Dispute Resolution— Kroc Institute, University of Notre Dame. She is the author of The others end a practice that our church rightly teaches is

PHOTO: REUTERS/ JIM YOUNG Power and Purpose of International Law (2008). intrinsically evil. A

August 3–10, 2009 America 15 ITISTIME TO END THE TRAIL

As our country teeters on the brink stakeholders in the region toward of a deepening military quagmire in It is clear to us that reducing a regional peace process backed by Afghanistan, Pax Christi USA lifts up the the U.S. military footprint the UN; b) greater support internally impassioned cry of Pope John Paul II: would be one of the most for civil society and civilian rule of “No, never again war, which destroys law in Afghanistan; c) reconciliation the lives of innocent people, teaches effective measures to weaken processes and negotiations with how to kill, throws into upheaval the armed opposition. A shift elements of the Taliban; d) ensuring even the lives of those who do the the participation of women. killing and leaves behind a trail of in U.S. policy in support of a 3. Employ multilateral approaches resentment and hatred, thus making multilateral diplomatic and to protect the people and strengthen ϔ ϔ institutions, including support for solution to the very problems which development surge has far local law enforcement, government provoked the war.” greater potential for achieving and judicial reform, as well as non-U.S. The “trail of resentment and hatred” peace-keeping forces if necessary. in Afghanistan has deep roots—a tragic long-term peace and stability 4. Promote a surge in development history of foreign occupation, proxy wars in Afghanistan. . . . aid. Afghanistan will not begin to and the support of extremist Ǧϐ elements—the consequences of needs rise to the top of the which contributed to the rise of U.S. agenda there. Reform the Taliban and al-Qaeda. The U.S. the delivery of humanitarian “war on terror” has not proven aid: a) prioritize Afghan ơ organizations over foreign ensuring security nor reducing contractors; b) discontinue the terrorism. Instead, this reliance use of the military-led Provincial on military strategies has fueled Reconstruction Teams which the spiral of violence and further have militarized the aid process; destabilized the region. . . . and c) support long-term We fear that a “surge” will sustainable development. ϐ 5. Promote a robust public region, putting at greater risk U.S. debate on our country’s approach and Afghan lives, without building toward Afghanistan.... the deeper foundations for a long- As a faith community, we call term peace. . . . on our church leaders to: A January 2009 public opinion 1. Elevate a moral voice and poll showed that only 32% of reject a military escalation in Afghan citizens believe that the Afghanistan. . . . U.S. strategy has worked well, a 2. Ensure that U.S. tactics are drop from 68% in 2005; only 18% in accordance with proscriptions want more U.S. troops in their against harming civilians, country. including the immediate harm A separate survey of Afghan caused by aerial bombardment civil society leaders warned that and the lingering harm caused one result of a troop surge would by the use of cluster munitions. be to create greater recruitment ͵Ǥơ opportunities for the Taliban; the interreligious dialogue at both leaders stressed that the United the international and local levels States needs to shift its approach, to build greater understanding emphasizing diplomacy and development. Photograph courtesy of Linda Panetta, ơ ǡ As opposed to the United States’ exclusive challenges and aspirations.... focus on attacking the Taliban and building www.OpticalRealities.org Let this be the moment when our the Afghan central government, these nation experiences a “metanoia”—a leaders emphasized that strengthening civil Before risking even more lives, we call conversion—when we turn around, change society is the key to holding government on our nation’s leaders to: direction and chart a new course. As leaders accountable and ensuring long- 1. Immediately halt air strikes church, as people of faith and good will, term stability. and the use of drones on targets in we must raise our voices and create the History has shown that there is no Afghanistan and Pakistan. . . . public groundswell that makes real change military solution in Afghanistan. . . . 2. Lead with diplomacy, which possible—here, in Afghanistan, in Iraq, in includes: a) robust engagement with Palestine/Israel and everywhere. A Pax Christi USA Statement on Afghanistan OF RESENTMENT AND HATRED ALASKA Peter Mihaly John Kavalunas SIGNED BY Noreen Kerrigan Chestnut Hill Catherine Rumschlag Jackie & Edward Debevec James & Jane Schweitzer Ms. Virginia M. Costello Marie Lucey, OSB Mary Pat O’Gorman Mary Yelenick MaryJo Gallagher John Downing Blanche Crandall Janet Minella-Didier Margot Worfolk Mary Anne Sonnenschein Loretto Gettemeier, D.C. Gillian Frasier Joan Pilat Beth Davies ALABAMA Nancy Costello Mary Southard, CSJ Luisa Saffiotti Madonna Kuciejczyk- Sr. Joyce Kavanagh, R.S.M. Maxine Parent Dennis Warner Jean Scott Liz Nugent Ms. Diane Sue Imhoff MASSACHUSETTS Kernan Andrew Blake (St. Andrew Jenaro Rodriguez PC Virginia Middle Peninsula Yvette Cashio Mary Beth Johnston Tom & Kathleen Higgins Mary Gallagher David Gibson Church) Anthony Day Eunice Hyer ARIZONA James Schweitzer Joan Krebs George Krol Sharon A. Plankenhorn, Mary Moore Bernie & Joan McNelis Ray Gingerich Raymond O’Neil Rosemary Ahern Sheldon & Mary Ann Schafer Roberta C. Flynn D.Min. Rev. Paul J. Kelly Theodora Sweeney Judith A. Kelly Ms. Jo Ann M. Stoneman Suzanne MacAvoy Charles Strain Mr. Richard Rivard MONTANA M. Kathleen Pritty, RSM Marlene Bertke Beth Davies, C.N.D. Donald Larmore Eva Gierat Barbara Reid Pax Christi Massachusetts Mary Kay Craig & George Mary Hofstetter Dave & Mary Robinson Margaret Keating Frank & Jean Witte DELAWARE INDIANA Ellen M. Donahue Waring Rev. Thomas G. Pettei Jubilee Pax Christi Elizabeth McGowan Dave Fronske William F. Graney Mary C. Gibson George C. Brown Mary Dostal Peter & Mary Grace Harrisburg S.T. Gregory the Great Kathleen Brophy FLORIDA Patricia C. Rowan Jerry Fix NEBRASKA James C. Venter Daniel & Patricia Schulder Dr. Joe Blair Joan Spatti Sue Koechlin David W. Albert Pax Christi Boston Richard & Renee O’Brien Mr. John K. Sanborn Neil Himber VERMONT John Zemblidge Catherine Miner Bernard & Teresa Batto Marc Trudeau NEVADA Ann & David Loretan Kari Lundgren Judith & Dennis O’Brien Leo Graff Sebastian Muccilli Joseph Stevens Rev. William T. Kremmell Barbara Carmody Kathleen Byrnes, S.C. Myles T. McDonald Michelle Jungwirth Estela Garcia Ms. Peggy Hanley Sister Joan Arnold JJ & Sue Malone Pax Christi Nevada, Reno Timothy J. Taugher John Trudeau Beatrice Parwatikar CALIFORNIA C. Thad Susan Blackwell Fenna Lee Bonsignore Ellie Hays John Goetschius David L. Smith WASHINGTON Betty McElhill Elizabeth Smith Pearlette Springer Peg & Tom Goss M. James Toner M. 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18 America August 3–10, 2009 FAITH IN FOCUS The Eyes of a Child BY STEPHEN MARTIN

round 10 a.m. one Sunday, You know how in the movies, my wife and I wrapped up before something bad happens, an Aour quarterly shift supervis- actor will sometimes yell, ing the church nursery. For the previ- “Nooooooooooooo!!!” in slow ous hour, we had chided, coddled and motion; and the word emerges not so consoled 15 kids (including our own much like language but as a desper- two) ranging in age from 1 to 5, all in ate, terrified, primordial roar? I recall a space about the size of a modest liv- sounding something like that as I ing room. We careened through the swatted my son’s hand away from the morning in a whirl of tipping chairs, fire alarm. But it was too late. The airborne Legos, broken crayons and red plastic handle was halfway down. smelly diapers I had no intention of Frantically, I shoved it back into its changing. Given the circumstances, original position. Two seconds of the morning had passed reasonably silence followed. I started to tell my well. It was about to go badly awry, wife, “Maybe it’s….” but I did not know that yet. And then came the impossibly In my experience, successfully shrill, irrevocable shriek of the siren. managing the church nursery hinges If your son or daughter has never on two key principles: keeping pulled a fire alarm in a highly public injuries to a minimum and looking place, try to imagine your reaction if at your watch as infrequently as pos- it happened. Having trouble? Here’s sible. Jaw clenched for the duration, how I felt: sick. Followed by: cow- I violated Principle No. 2 only five ardly. or six times. As for Principle No. 1, It’s bad enough to be responsible the good news is no bandages were for getting a fire truck called to your necessary. and loud, even by the standards of 6- church, but things were worse than When it was all over and we had year-old boys. “Sorry,” I told her rather that. A twice yearly sale of handmade assured the last parents their little boy smugly, “nursery’s closed.” I nearly goods from our sister parish in Peru had behaved spectacularly the whole added, “Why don’t you teach that kid was under way in the fellowship hall time, we headed for the door. There a thing or two about manners?” next door. Scores of addled parish- we ran into a rather notorious child of Were these charitable thoughts for ioners, who until moments earlier had the parish—let’s call him Brandon— a Sunday morning? Of course not. Did been inspecting sweaters from the whose grandmother was attempting to I deserve what happened next? You be mountain village of Manazo, came drop him off in the nursery so she the judge. streaming out onto the sidewalk could enjoy a quiet cup of coffee in the Out of the corner of my eye, I saw clutching their ears. Overwhelmed by adjoining fellowship hall. I couldn’t my 3-year-old son reach up to grab the sudden crush and the relentless blame her. I had seen Brandon in something on the wall. That was not wail of the alarm, my first instinct was action before. He was twitchy, bratty unusual: he has never met a light to run. Very fast. And very far. The switch he didn’t love. But this time it only one who knew the truth was was not the light switch he was going Brandon’s grandmother, and she could STEPHEN MARTIN has written for America, Commonweal and U.S. News & World for. It was not art work or a rogue fly. hardly go around pointing fingers at

Report. He lives in Greensboro, N.C. It was the fire alarm. anyone else’s kid. ART: DAN SALAMIDA

August 3–10, 2009 America 19 It was my wife, a convert to I had never even noticed the alarm was Buchner. Most people, including Jesus’ Catholicism (perhaps made more there. own Apostles, were not really ready to upstanding by her Presbyterian Not long after that shameful see the humble son of a lowly family as upbringing), who rose to the occasion. Sunday morning, I happened to reread a savior. They looked at Jesus, and they Seizing my son by the hand, she a passage from Matthew 13: “This is saw what they were trained to see: an marched into the church to take the why I speak to them in parables,” Jesus eccentric teacher, a rebellious self-pro- blame and to find someone who could tells his disciples, “because seeing they moter, an insidious threat to authority. turn off the blasted alarm before the do not see, and hearing they do not Jesus told them precisely how to entire fire department arrived. As I hear, nor do they understand.” The look at him and the kingdom of heav- cowered outside with my infant words took on a whole new meaning. en: with the eyes of a child. It turns out daughter, fittingly enough in the With the hindsight of 2,000 years, it’s that’s not easy. If I could see with the church’s new columbarium, she easy enough in studying the Gospels eyes of a child, I would have noticed a tracked down Someone in Authority to shake our heads in befuddlement at red box with a large, inviting red plas- and made my son apologize to her. the legions of poor men and women tic handle just a few feet up a wall, and Meanwhile, I started assigning blame. who simply could not see what they I would have done something about it (Be assured I wasn’t pointing to most needed to see, the things that long before it was too late. It makes me myself.) “What kind of pea-brain,” I Jesus tried his best to put right in front wonder: What else am I not seeing? wondered, “would install a fire alarm of their noses. You read about one What miracles and mysteries do I look four feet from the floor in a nursery of stunning miracle after another and right past each day? any kind?! And if you’re going to do think, “He was raising people from the There is a sign hanging in our that, don’t you at least encase the han- dead, turning water into wine and cur- church nursery now that’s hard for dle in glass?! Where was the stinking ing the impossibly ill—and people still even me to miss. “Fire alarm out of glass?!” Clearly, I should have com- didn’t get it!” order. Call 911 in case of emergency.” plained about this disaster-in-waiting But what you see depends on how It is a wicked reminder of just how before. But here’s the truth: Up until and where you look, to borrow a much I have yet to see and hear and the moment my son’s hand touched it, phrase from the design guru Dan understand. A

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20 America August 3–10, 2009 BOOKS &CULTURE

Johnny Depp in “Public Enemies”

FILM | RICHARD A. BLAKE More than Al Capone and Jesse James, Dillinger stands at the pinnacle COPS AND ROBBERS of the pantheon of mythologized American criminals. A loner, defying all Michael Mann’s ‘Public Enemies’ authority to protect his peculiar understanding of personal integrity, Dillinger y childhood friend Jackie our comic books. Anyone Jackie played by his own rules. That’s why Reilly spent more time in picked for his side became simply Jackie Reilly wanted to imitate him. Yet Mthe principal’s office than another gang member. It made little society destroys people like Dillinger in the principal did. Or so he would have difference, since J. Edgar Hoover and order to survive. us believe. Whenever we chose up his G-men would always chase them Defiance and self-induced destruc- sides for a game of “guns,” our postwar into Pudgy Donohue’s backyard and tion provide the stuff of tragedy. The version of “cops and robbers,” he shoot them with Tommy guns. Jackie combination has given dramatists a played John Dillinger. Typecasting. died spectacularly every Saturday library of complex characters over the For obvious reasons, no one wanted to morning, spinning backward and centuries. In one culture after another, play Baby Face Nelson or Pretty Boy twitching on the lawn as he breathed we return to the brave hero who would

PHOTO: CNS/UNIVERSAL STUDIOS Floyd, equally famous characters in his last. rather sacrifice himself than compro-

August 3–10, 2009 America 21 mise. We weep at the destruction of the fashioned for ourselves in 21st-centu- much emotional investment. One man of singular valor, yet we gloat when ry America. Whether the director senses a conscious strategy here. society makes him pay for his ambi- Michael Mann, who co-authored the Johnny Depp, as the protagonist, and tions. By placing our own arrogance or script with Ronan Bennett and Ann Christian Bale, playing his nemesis sinfulness in this perversely admirable Biderman, had such a purpose clearly Agent Melvin Purvis, stand at a dis- figure and then sacrificing him, we try in mind does not alter what he put on tance from their characters, appearing to purge ourselves of evil. This held the screen. Directors and screenwrit- content to accompany them as they true for our band of nine-year-olds. ers claim to be storytellers, but the wander from one action sequence to When World War II ended, we kids no best of them, like fiction writers, do the next. Their motivation remains in longer dug foxholes in an empty lot more than tell a story. Melville’s Moby- the background. Does Dillinger need from which to shoot foreign invaders. Dick, for example, offers readers more the money, or does he want to humili- Looking for a worthy enemy, we turned than the chronicle of a fishing trip ate law enforcement agencies? Or does from Nazis to Dillinger, a criminal who with a crazed sea captain. he merely enjoy living on the edge? had been dead for over a decade. “Public Enemies” presents a good Purvis becomes obsessed with his job, “Public Enemies” resurrects the story, but nothing surprising: Dillinger but does he seek personal satisfaction perennial tragic hero for one more rit- went on a crime spree and the F.B.I. or a leading role in the new F.B.I.? Or ual slaughter. To what purpose this killed him as he came out of a Chicago has he allowed himself to become a time? The question holds the key to movie house in July 1934. The film Hoover sycophant? understanding the film, since gangster gains interest with spectacular action Gangsters reach the screen as men films tell us more about the culture sequences. Mann offers enough bank for their own season, not all seasons. that produces them than they do robberies and shootouts to keep even a James Cagney in “Public Enemy” about the characters they present or restless 12-year-old boy in his seat for (1931), Paul Muni in “Scarface, Shame the historical period they ostensibly the full two hours and 15 minutes. Yet of a Nation” (1931) and Edward G. analyze. This film recreates the the story lacks sparkle. And the char- Robinson in “Little Caesar” (1932) Depression-era events, but uses them acters, even Dillinger himself, fade created the template for gangsters of to comment on the tragedies we have into the narrative without demanding the Depression era. They rose to the top of the mob, yet despite their inge- Ȭ nuity they overreached. They stepped out of the crowd and became captivat- ȱ ed by their own ruthless success. Society had to crush them for their 7KH)UDQFLVFDQ&ROOHJHRI1HZ-HUVH\ pretensions. In the Depression, society 678'(176 ),567 crushed everyone, regardless of their *UDGXDWH5HOLJLRXV (GXFDWLRQ hard work and single-mindedness. In “White Heat” (1949) Cagney’s Cody 21/,1( Jarrett became a psychopathic killer, ȱȱȱȱȱȱǻřřȱǼ who blows himself to pieces rather ȂȱęȱȱȱȱǻŗŞȱǼ than surrender. During the cold war ȬȂȱęȱȱȱȱǻŗŞȱǼ this insane strategy, when applied by the two nuclear powers, was called Ȋȱ ȱȱȱȱȱȱȱ Mutual Assured Destruction. In ȱȱȮȱȱ¢ǰȱ¢ȱȱ¢ȱȱ “Bonnie and Clyde” (1967) we saw ęȱȱȱȱȱ ȱȱ ǰȱȬȱȱȱ¢ȱȱȱǯȱ images of the loveable flower children of the 1960s, who defied social cus- Ȋȱ ȱȱȱȱȱ¢ȱȱȱǯ toms in their search for freedom on the Ȋȱ ȱ¢ȱȱȱǰȱȱǰȱȱ open road. In the “Godfather” series of ȱ¡ȱȱȱȦȱȱȱ ȱȱȬǯ the mid-1970s, Francis Ford Coppola presented a highly moral critique of the Ȋȱ śŖƖȱȱȱȱȱȱęȱǯ world’s descent into amorality. Among ȱȱǱ the Corleones, good and evil have no ǻŘŖŗǼȱśśşȬŜŖŝŝȱȱȓǯ clear margins; it’s “only business.” In ŘŜŘȱȱȱǰȱǰȱ ȱȱȊȱȱ ǯǯ “Bugsy” (1991) Warren Beatty flashed

22 America August 3–10, 2009 that broad goofy smile and made Bugsy Siegel into a used-car salesman about to make his fortune in the dot.com boom. Now Mann has given us a Dillinger for the bailout generation. The action sequences make him an old-time gangster, whose Tommy gun rains death on lawmen and bystanders without dis- crimination. Yet Dillinger remains opaque, in the image of today’s but- toned-down gangsters. Today’s mob- sters do not rob banks; they loot them with credit-default swaps. Faceless and all but anonymous in their striped suits, they no longer race their black sedans down country roads to evade the sirens of their tormentors. Today, gangsters ride their corporate jets and stretch limos to board meetings and Senate committee hearings. They don’t brandish machine guns; they send e-mails from their laptops. They don’t have sworn enemies in law enforcement; they have well-paid lawyers who find the loopholes to The peaceful rhythm of a monk’s day make their activities appear legal. And consists of prayer, study, and manual labor. what of their motives when they have more millions than they could possibly While contemplation is at the heart of spend in a lifetime? Ego? Proving to Trappist life, it is by the labor of our themselves that they are above the law? hands that we support ourselves. At The thrill of the chase? They are ruth- New Melleray Abbey, making caskets less, but dull. Mann’s John Dillinger would fit right in. But would Jackie is an expression of our sacred mission. Reilly insist on being Bernie Madoff during our Saturday game of Ponzi Contact us for a free catalog and you scheme? will receive a complimentary keepsake As a narrative device, Hoover’s cross blessed by one of our monks. F.B.I. functions as antagonist, but the- matically the organization is Dillinger’s henchman. Of course. The Caskets and urns are available for screenplay grew not from a novel but next-day delivery or can be ordered from Bryan Burrough’s historical on a guaranteed pre-need basis. study, Public Enemies: America’s Greatest Crime Wave and the Birth of the F.B.I., 1933-34. Note the plural in the title. Could it include the F.B.I. itself as an enemy of the people? J. Edgar Hoover (Billy Crudup) needs a highly publicized arrest to secure funding for his new organization and 888.433.6934 | www.trappistcaskets.com | Peosta, Iowa increase his personal power. He enlists

August 3–10, 2009 America 23 lawmen, little more than hired thugs to the F.B.I. appears from nowhere, Andrew Delbanco’s splendid antholo- actually, from Texas to provide muscle and his relationship to her or one of gy of Lincoln’s public and private writ- to back up his band of “scientific inves- her workers pops up too suddenly to ings. tigators.” He authorizes wire-taps, has be convincing. The script never gives The second was the Lincoln admin- the Immigration and Naturalization Billie, Dillinger’s real girlfriend, istration’s interaction during the Civil Service threaten to deport an uncoop- enough context either. Marion War with New York’s archbishop John erative witness and even urges Cotillard, an Academy-Award win- Hughes, in which the president sought “enhanced interrogation techniques” ning actor, has too little to work with Catholic opinion on the preservation to encourage in her role as the of the Union and the emancipation of Dillinger’s girlfriend ON THE WEB obligatory “girl” slaves. Hughes advised the secretary of Billie (Marion Jon Sweeney reviews brought on to war that Catholics would fight only for Cotillard) to reveal the art of James Ensor. humanize the gang- the Union, but he also undertook an his whereabouts. americamagazine.org/culture ster. An F.B.I. agent informal diplomatic mission to Paris Hoover and Purvis who has previously and Rome to explain Lincoln’s policies are odious. We don’t want them to had only two lines at a staff meeting to the French and the Vatican. Hughes succeed, but we have little emotional draws the crucial dramatic task of also helped Lincoln by working to connection to Dillinger. Events just reporting Dillinger’s final words to her quell the draft riots of 1863 in New play themselves out for these equally in what could have been a climactic York City. Later, Lincoln would lobby ruthless thugs. coda to the story—who is he? the Vatican to appoint as Hughes’s The script, too long by a quarter For action and entertainment, successor John McCloskey, who was hour, presents a fragmented story. Like “Public Enemies” stands out among elevated to the rank of cardinal 10 today’s headlines, it forces us to fill in this year’s summer films. Depp’s years after the president’s death. several gaps. Frank Nitti and the Dillinger fits into the pattern of today’s Chicago mob turn against Dillinger super criminals. He’s not a fascinating Faith Struggles, Social Choices because, as a celebrity criminal, he has sociopath, like Cagney’s Tommy These relatively few contacts should swayed public opinion and Congress Powers. He’s just doing business like not obscure the fact that Catholic to allow the F.B.I. jurisdiction over Michael Corleone. I don’t think Jackie thought can shed light on Lincoln’s interstate crimes, thus endangering the Reilly would be interested in playing own thinking, and that Lincoln’s Mafia’s nationwide syndicate. How him either. example can inspire fresh Catholic they reach this conclusion and what thought. As Thomas Keneally demon- they do about it remains shadowy. strates in Abraham Lincoln: A Life RICHARD A. BLAKE, S.J., is professor of fine Other characters are equally nebulous. arts and co-director of the film studies program (Penguin), Lincoln’s faith struggles The madam who turns Dillinger over at Boston College in Chestnut Hill, Mass. were rooted in grave doubt about the Calvinistic teaching of predestination. Lincoln spent much time wrestling with this “doctrine of necessity,” mov- BOOKINGS | THOMAS MURPHY ing from a firm belief in it during his THE FAITH OF ABRAHAM youth to a modified version of it during the Civil War. The Second Inaugural Address, in 1865, was the In this bicentennial year of Abraham how human beings come to experience last expression of his religious think- Lincoln’s birth, a spate of recently pub- God and act morally. ing. Allen C. Guelzo, the author of lished books has added to his reputa- Lincoln figured in American Abraham Lincoln as a Man of Ideas tion as one of the most written about Catholic history in at least three (Southern Ilinois Univ. Press), figures in American history. In consid- instances. The first was a famous pre- believes that by then Lincoln’s fatalism ering some of these books, a new presidential letter he wrote to his had taken a more optimistic tone, approach emerges—the possibility of friend Joshua Speed in 1855 con- assuming that necessity would compel developing a Roman Catholic perspec- demning the Know-Nothing Party’s North and South to work for reconcil- tive on Lincoln’s politics. It is also anti-Catholicism as a hypocritical con- iation “with malice toward none and intriguing to ask whether Lincoln the tradiction of American ideals. This charity for all” whether they wished to man can reveal anything about spiritu- letter is reproduced in The Portable or not. al discernment to anyone interested in Abraham Lincoln (Penguin Classics), As Guelzo also notes, however,

24 America August 3–10, 2009 there are theories that Calvinism was Lincoln’s embrace of the Whig plat- directing the Civil War according to not the only force that motivated form on American internal improve- his own purposes. And White’s biog- Lincoln and other 19th-century ments—canals, bridges, highways— raphy, by tracing Lincoln’s life through Americans. The historian Thomas sprang from a desire to help poor his written words, both public and pri- Haskell argued in the 1980s that the Americans create wealth. vate, reveals a soul formed by many rise of market capitalism created a things—e.g., the soil, Scripture, sense of human empowerment that Ambiguities Shakespeare, the law and humor. became a direct cause of the abolition- Lincoln was that most challenging of Lincoln may not have had a spiritu- ist movement. There was a renewed subjects for spiritual direction—the al director in our modern understand- emphasis on the human choice to soul focused on ambiguity. Ronald C. ing of that term, but he did have a spir- shape social life and do good. itual mentor of sorts during In Keneally’s book, we are his presidency in the person told that a key incident in of Eliza Gurney, a Quaker Lincoln’s young life was the activist whom he met in the first time he was paid with fall of 1862. She came to his cash rather than a commodi- office to encourage him and ty. This, Keneally says, made to pray with him for divine Lincoln realize that he could guidance, and they subse- choose a lifestyle other than quently corresponded. the manual, physical labor of White emphasizes that the cashless frontier and while Lincoln met with a pursue his dream of making great many religious leaders a living with his mind. during the Civil War, When we compare the per- Gurney was the one to spectives of Guelzo and whom he opened himself. Keneally, we may affirm that Unfortunately, not all their Lincoln could have been torn letters have survived, but between a sense of fatalism what we do have indicates and a yearning for freedom. that Lincoln developed his Did this make him theology about God’s quintessentially American? greater purpose in directing While there is no evidence the war partially through that Lincoln himself was exchanging opinions with actually influenced by the Gurney. Lincoln’s sense of Catholic teaching that faith ambiguity may have been and freely chosen good works are both White Jr., the author of A. Lincoln: A fostered by pondering the distance critical parts of the moral person, such Life (Random House), understands between the Quaker tradition of paci- a perspective can form a useful com- this characteristic, illustrating it with fism and his own desire to find a moral parison against which to measure a quotation: “I am almost ready to say justification for the war against the Lincoln’s complex efforts to distin- this is probably true.” He reconstructs seceded states. guish between what was fated and a means by which to trace the growth Another ambiguity that Lincoln what was ours to decide. of Lincoln’s mind. Lincoln did not sought to clarify was the tension Some commentators have criticized keep a formal diary, but preserved between the Constitution and the Catholic social teaching for not hundreds of fragmentary notes to Declaration of Independence. Many of addressing adequately the possible role himself over the years. An immense his contemporaries believed that there of wealth creation in establishing a just advantage of the Delbanco anthology could be no true reconciliation social order. This is another reason is that it reproduces many of these between the ordered liberty protected that Guelzo’s reference to a possible musings—one example is a for some in the Constitution and the connection between the market econo- “Meditation on the Divine Will” from equality for all celebrated by the decla- my and abolitionism can provoke help- early September 1862, which fore- ration. Guelzo demonstrates, however, ful reflection among Catholics who shadows the Second Inaugural that by adapting a phrase from the

ART: SHUTTERSTOCK/JOSEF PRCHAL study Lincoln. Keneally believes that Address’s theme of the Almighty Book of Proverbs, Lincoln presented

August 3–10, 2009 America 25 the Constitution anew to the nation as from personally abhorring slavery to known to exist. It is a sequel to their a picture of silver, designed to preserve, demanding actively its abolition will Lincoln, a pictorial biography pub- frame and exhibit the Declaration, an find this chapter illuminating. It is also lished in 1992. apple of gold. He had no desire to dis- a chapter that may foster thought Those who want to read reflections card the Constitution because it about whether Americans of any polit- on Lincoln’s life from beyond the circle allowed slavery. Instead, he sought to ical persuasion are inclined to make of his acquaintances should still turn make the nation’s plan of government decisions too hastily and too absolute- to Merrill Peterson’s Lincoln in more reflective of the Declaration. ly in our own day. American Memory (1994), which This reasoning explains why he began traces interpretations of Lincoln into the Gettysburg Address by grounding A Lasting Legacy the late 20th century. Among its other the nation in the proposition that all Since Lincoln was himself such a dis- advantages, Peterson’s book tells how men were created equal. It also point- cerning person, it is appropriate that the civil rights movement of the 1960s ed the way to the three great the nation has devoted so much time altered the way Lincoln is remem- Reconstruction Amendments to the since his death to reflecting on his bered. Constitution, which abolished slavery, legacy to the United States. This The Kunhardt book stresses two inspired the civil rights movement that search for a legacy is detailed in important points. The first is that the would revive in the mid-20th century, Looking for Lincoln: The Making of African-American community kept and granted African-Americans the an American Icon (Knopf ), a collec- the memory of Lincoln alive at a time right to vote. tion of photographs and other when white Americans preferred to In one chapter, Guelzo praises mementos from the first six decades remember him only as savior of the Lincoln’s prudence and recommends it following Lincoln’s presidency. Unlike Union. The second is that Robert to today’s Americans. Lincoln was able the other books I have cited, this one Lincoln, who could be both ambiva- to avoid hasty decisions because he begins on the day of Lincoln’s death. lent and negative about his father’s realized that while we must accept the The three editors are all members of legacy, nonetheless did the nation a will of God, it is often difficult to fig- the Kunhardt family (Philip III, Peter service by preserving the Lincoln ure out. He sought to balance the and Peter Jr.), a clan that has been col- papers in the Library of Congress. He integrity of means and ends, accepted lecting Lincoln memorabilia for five did so despite the tragic aftereffects a need to work through imperfections generations. The material presented that the Lincoln presidency had on the rather than rush to absolute resolu- here extends to the death of Lincoln’s family, including the death of Lincoln’s tions and was willing to wait for prov- last remaining son, Robert, in 1926. It youngest son, Tad, and the madness of idence to reveal its hand. Those who also includes a useful scholarly his widow, Mary. are puzzled by Lincoln’s progression appendix on every Lincoln photograph Taken together, these books challenge the tendency to view Lincoln’s work as complete at the time of his death. Like Franklin D. Roosevelt, They’re not plaster statues, who also died at a moment of victory in war, Lincoln is celebrated as a figure they’re personal friends! of accomplishment. If these books do nothing else, however, they reveal that James Martin, SJ, has learned that the saints are more than plaster objects—they are our compan- the inquisitive-minded Lincoln con- ions. Now, his award-winning book and exciting stantly re-examined policy. We simply new DVD can help each of us develop a lifeling cannot know how such a mind would friendship with the saints as we take them oﬀ the have responded to the day-to-day pedestal and place them in our hearts. events of the Reconstruction period. It is ironic that a mind as active and keen My Life with the Saints as Lincoln’s should have been stilled by t1Ctt)Dt an assassin’s bullet to the head, leaving Who Cares about the Saints? DVDtNJOVUFT him brain-dead for hours before his death. TWO EASY WAYS TO ORDER: Lincoln has become a symbol of A J ESUIT M INISTRY 7*4*5XXXMPZPMBQSFTTDPNTUPSFt$"-- global freedom, the Kunhardts note in the preface to their book. It is unfortu-

26 America August 3–10, 2009 nate, then, that these books do not do lences to Mrs. Lincoln after the assassi- thoughtfully and wisely was his great more to situate him in the internation- nation. Keneally does not bring up triumph and the reason why the books al context of his era. Keneally, for these associations, but there is an echo reviewed here are all worth examining. example, is Australian, and it would of his Australian perspective on econo- Despite his melancholy and his per- have been interesting had he said more my in his account of the incident when sonal tragedy, Abraham Lincoln is a about how Lincoln appears in the con- Lincoln’s discovery of cash first offered hopeful symbol for the United States. text of the Australian struggle to over- him a way out of the prison of the fron- He demonstrates that it is possible for come their colonial penal system. tier barter economy. idealism to exist and for the will of Transportation of convicts to Australia Our nation’s 16th president God to be fulfilled through human was abolished just three years after emerges from these books as a soul action. Lincoln pushed the Thirteenth who sought God, wanted to help his Amendment through Congress, and neighbors and found a way to do so THOMAS MURPHY, S.J., is associate profes- the city council of Sydney sent condo- through politics. That he did so sor of history at Seattle University.

including Ignatian 30 days, year-round in a prayerful on our Web site, www.americamagazine.org. Ten-word CLASSIFIED home setting. Contact Joyce Diltz, P.H.J.C.; (219) 398- minimum. Rates are per word per issue. 1-5 times: 5047; [email protected]; www.bethanyre $1.50; 6-11 times: $1.28; 12-23 times: $1.23; 24-41 Positions treathouse.org. times: $1.17; 42 times or more: $1.12. For an addition- HEAD OF SCHOOL, Saint Dominic Academy, al $30, your print ad will be posted on America’s Web Jersey City, N.J. Saint Dominic Academy Translator site for one week. Ads may be submitted by e-mail to: (www.stdominicacad.com) in Jersey City, N.J., a SPANISH TRANSLATOR. Luis Baudry-Simon, [email protected]; by fax to (928) 222-2107; Catholic college preparatory secondary school for specialized in Catholic matters. Books, articles, by postal mail to: Classified Department, America, 106 young women sponsored by the Sisters of Saint essays. E-mail: [email protected]; Ph: West 56th St., New York, NY 10019. To post a classi- Dominic of Caldwell, N.J., seeks a visionary Head (815) 461-0321. fied ad online, go to our home page and click on of School able to plan and implement a long-range “Advertising” at the top of the page. We do not accept ad strategy for the school and articulate the school’s America classified. Classified advertisements are accepted copy over the phone. MasterCard and Visa accepted. vision and case for support to engage a higher level for publication in either the print version of America or For more information call: (212) 515-0102. of alumnae, parent and community involvement. Founded in 1878, Saint Dominic Academy is one of the oldest independent schools in New Jersey. It offers an excellent academic program, including an international baccalaureate diploma and enrolls 450 students in a school community rich in diversity. Applicants must be practicing members of the Roman Catholic faith, demonstrate successful secondary school experience and make evident a com- mitment to Catholic secondary education for young women. An advanced degree and experience in a diverse school community are strongly desired. NEW ! The successful applicant will have proven success in strategic and operational planning and management, institutional advancement and financial management. Salary is competitive and commen- Raise For Information, surate with experience. The Master or to apply, Interested and qualified candidates are asked your contact: to submit electronically a letter of introduction; a liturgical Aquinas résumé; names, addresses, telephone numbers and of Arts e-mail addresses of five professional references; music Admissions and a statement describing the importance of in 23 S. Spring Ave. Catholic secondary education for young women, skills St. Louis, MO 63108 based on their personal experiences, to: Saint to a 800-977-3869 Dominic Academy, Head of School Search, Sacred Catholic School Management Inc., Attn.: Jennifer new [email protected] C. Kensel, at [email protected]. ______Review of applications will begin immediately and level. Music www.ai.edu continue until the position is filled. Position is available Sept. 1, 2009. Designed especially for: Retreats · Music Directors BETHANY RETREAT HOUSE, East Chicago, Ind., · Instrumentalists offers private and individually directed silent retreats, · Vocalists

August 3–10, 2009 America 27 LETTERS unwittingly but powerfully accepted neglect the main focus of offices for our nation’s racism by accepting as the black ministry, euphemistically renam- boundaries of their faith communities ing them offices of cultural affairs or In Saecula Saeculorum America’s racially structured neigh- offices of diversity. Re the article by Thomas G. Casey, borhoods. Then as now, I see this as a Black parishes need to exist in this S.J., suggesting we replace Latin with profound problem with our Catholic dialogue on race and in all aspects that English as the official language of the communities in their determination of make the church truly Catholic. church (“Ave atque Vale,” 6/8): While parish boundaries. (REV.) THEODORE K. PARKER I may be biased as a student of the Detroit, Mich Perhaps in addition to episcopal classics, I think that Latin holds a sig- teaching on racism, we might see preach- nificant place in the Catholic Church War No More ing in action by creative experiments in and should continue to do so. The Thank you for the reflections by Matt boundary-crossing parish structures. church uses Latin in official docu- Malone, S.J., on the hope for peace (Of Our faith structures could then struggle ments precisely because it does not Many Things, 7/20). Keep saying to unite what our social structures divide change. In other words, what the pope what you’re saying. It is awful what we and alienate. That combination of word- writes today will be interpreted or are doing to our own soldiers and our teaching and deed-preaching about understood in a similar manner, country, to say nothing of the horrible racism would surely shed light and breed dependent on the original Latin text, damage we are inflicting on the rest of hope. perhaps even in 100 years. JACK GLASER the world. BRUCE BYROLLY Because English, as Casey states, Santa Ana, Calif. Cambridge, Mass. “never stops venturing into new territory,” there is the possibility for error Forgotten Partners Atomic Omission and confusion later on. Eternal truths While I appreciated Gerald J. Beyer’s You published an article on energy should be communicated in eternal comments in “Why Race Still choice (“The Ethics of Energy Choice,” words. Matters,” I would like to make an by William H. Rauckhorst, 7/6) with BEN EMMEL addendum. In order for a dialogue South Orange, N.J. no mention of the word “nuclear.” about race to continue among Future historians will get quite a chuck- Catholics in the United States and Words of Wisdom le when they read this. among African-American Catholics I hope Julie Irwin Zimmerman’s MORRIE PONGRATZ in particular, we need the continued Los Alamos, N.M. “Science and the Path to Parenthood” presence of black Catholic parishes. (7/6) will be circulated widely around These parishes are today experienc- Get Over It the world. The response of the church ing more unfair and unjust situations Re your editorial, “For the Common to reproductive technology is often than ever before, and their existence Good” (7/20): How can “single-payer clouded, and as the article states, is threatened to a far greater degree healthcare” be considered by a Catholics know what is forbidden but than that of their suburban sister Christian intellectual? Have we not know little about what is allowed or parishes. seen the consequences of government possible. It is good to remember that the monopolies anywhere? Are children and young people American bishops called racism a sin I must confess that I was shocked in given enough correct information even in 1979. African-American parishes my youth to find I did not have a right to know about the church’s stance on need to be lifted up, encouraged and to free sheets and towels when I first reproductive technologies, even when supported if there is to be a Catholic occupied a dorm room. I got over it. we now have so much more informa- dialogue about race that is meaningful The American people, with the help tion than ever? ROSEMARY KEENAN and holy. (not hindrance) of the church, must Perth, Australia Even though African-American get over it. Only a capitalist system has Catholics are encouraged by Barack worked to create wealth. If we want a Parish or Perish Obama’s election, the ordinary daily America (ISSN 0002-7049) is published weekly (except for 14 com- When I read “Why Race Still life of African-Americans remains the bined issues: Jan. 5-12, 19-26, March 30-April 6, April 20-27, May 25-June 1, June 8-15, 22-29, July 6-13, 20-27, Aug. 3–10, 17-24, Matters,” by Gerald J. Beyer (5/18), I same. American Catholics need to Aug. 31-Sept. 7, Sept. 14-21, Dec. 21-28) by America Press, Inc., 106 West 56th Street, New York, NY 10019. Periodicals postage is was reminded of Gibson Winter’s know that black parish life has not paid at New York, N.Y., and additional mailing offices. Business Manager: Lisa Pope; Circulation: Judith Palmer, (212) 581-4640. book from 1962, The Suburban become any easier these days, but is Subscriptions: United States, $48 per year; add U.S. $22 postage and GST (#131870719) for Canada; or add U.S. $32 per year for Captivity of the Churches. 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28 America August 3–10, 2009 quality health care system, it must har- entire church, that conversation needs as those in favor of the restoration of ness the attention of all of us. to take place among those with the women to the order of deacon need to CHRIS MULCAHY education to examine the texts and consider several points. Fort Myers Beach, Fla. evidence in the original languages. It First, whether or not women were will also require a firm grasp of how sacramentally ordained in the past is On the Other Hand… the disciplines surrounding holy not determinative of the current needs “For the Common Good” (Editorial, orders have historically differed in the of and possibilities for today’s church. 7/20) should be required reading for all East and West. In a popular magazine Second, the diaconate is a creation of citizens of the United States and our like America, it is a serious oversight the church (Acts 6:1-6), and as such is representatives. If there is no common to suggest a “full and open conversa- not bound by the argument from truth, then both parties can hide under tion” without being clear that such a authority (that Christ chose only male the cover of postmodern philosophical conversation will need to be conducted apostles) regarding priesthood. Third, gibberish. Dueling ideological carica- largely by specialists. while there is a modern instruction tures are no substitute for the good of CECILIA LOPEZ from Rome telling bishops not to train the whole society. As a nation that Sioux City, Iowa women for the diaconate, there are no claims a religious core, we must ask: higher authoritative statements on the “Where is the consideration of a loving Considerations matter other than those conciliar and God in this modern mess?” Re “Married and Ordained,” by papal documents from the early RAY MOSTER William T. Ditewig: Mere mention of Port St. Lucie, Fla. church that state at what age and the restoration of the female diaconate under what conditions a woman is to in the Latin church can raise hysterical What Witness? be ordained to the diaconate. hackles across the board and divert the Thank you for your clear presentation Let the conversation continue, in discussion from the needs of the in “It’s Not All About Eve” (Christine charity. church to some imagined line that can- Schenk, C.S.J., 7/6) of how I often PHYLLIS ZAGANO not be crossed. Those opposed as well Hempstead, N.Y. feel as a woman in the Catholic Church. Like Schenk, I too worry To send a letter to the editor we recommend using the link that appears below articles on about the witness we are giving to our America’s Web site, www.americamagazine.org. This allows us to consider your letter for publication in both print and online versions of the magazine. Letters may also be sent to America’s daughters and sons. I remember hear- editorial office (address on page 2) or by e-mail to: [email protected]. They should ing one notable Catholic theologian be brief and include the writer’s name, postal address and daytime phone number. Letters may tell the story of his daughter who was be edited for length and clarity. denied the opportunity to be an altar server because she was a girl. Her response was, “Then why do we WITHOUT GUILE belong to this church?” Thank you to Christine Schenk for her faithful, prophetic witness; may her efforts help to enlighten minds and soft- en hardened hearts. SUSAN MCCARTHY, R.D.C. White Plains, N.Y.

Expert Opinion In “Married and Ordained” (7/20), William T. Ditewig writes that historians like Gary Macy and Phyllis Zagano must be considered vis-à-vis the ordination of women as deacons, and that women have been ordained to diaconal ministry in the past and they could be again. While a “full and open conversation” about the ordination of women to the diaconate might well benefit the CARTOON BY HARLEY SCHWADRON

August 3–10, 2009 America 29 THE WORD Nourishing Word; Food for Life NINETEENTH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME (B), AUG. 9, 2009 Readings: 1 Kgs 19:4-8; Ps 34:2-9; Eph 4:30–5:2; Jn 6:41-51 “Whoever eats this bread will live forever” (Jn 6:51)

ometimes things are so horrible instructs him to anoint kings over the bread of life, the emphasis is on we say we just want to die. Most Aram and Israel and to anoint Elisha bread as a nourishing word. In the Sof the time we intend that as prophet to take his place. This second half, which we will hear metaphorically. Elijah, in today’s first last part of the narrative is next Sunday, the emphasis is on reading, seems to mean it literally. He not included in today’s eucharistic nourishment. is fleeing for his life, as Jezebel is deter- reading. When The source of this nourishing mined to kill him because he van- read as a whole, word is a point of contention. quished the prophets of Baal and put however, the story The people think they know them to death. Parking himself under points us to the Jesus’ origins and family; is a broom tree a day’s journey into the ways in which God he not one just like them? desert, he prays, “This is enough, O can tame the fierce- Another stumbling Lord! Take my life, for I am no better ness in us, when, like block is his unusual than my fathers.” Elijah, our passion for manner of teaching. It is not clear whether Elijah is fed justice can find us in up with the difficulty of his ministry, bloody battles with PRAYING WITH SCRIPTURE or whether he is lamenting his own opponents. We emerge actions, having just killed the victorious, but at what • Find a very still, quiet place. Wait for God’s voice. What do you hear? prophets of Baal. Perhaps it is both. In cost? any case, the frailty of God’s fiery In the desert Elijah learns of God’s • Ask God to draw you to the One who is prophet is most visible. When Elijah nonviolent ways. He does not find the Bread of Life. What nourishing word is is at his lowest, God’s messenger Holy One in the violent wind or the being offered to you? comes with food and water, urging earthquake or the fire, but in the • Pray with the image of Jesus as mother him to continue onward. Obediently, silence that instructs him to anoint who feeds us with his body and blood. he gets up and takes nourishment, others: an act of consecration and also continuing his sojourn in the desert of healing. • Ask Christ to draw you into his abiding for 40 more days, a trek that is remi- In the Gospel, there is murmuring love, letting go questions of “how.” niscent of the Israelite desert wander- in the desert by the people surround- ART: TAD DUNNE ing of 40 years. Elijah’s quest will cul- ing Jesus, just as the Israelites did minate at Mount Horeb (also called with Moses. In the latter instance, He does not preach in Elijah’s fiery Sinai in the J and P strands of the the complaint was about not having way but waits for God to draw open Pentateuchal narrative). There, like food, to which God responded by hearts to himself, letting themselves be Moses, he encounters God. sending manna and quail. In the taught, through listening and learning, But the Holy One is not in the Gospel, the problem is with the while not seeing entirely, and finally fierce wind or the earthquake or the source of the spiritual nourishment responding with belief. This is “living fire, but in the voice that emerges out being offered. Jesus claims to be the bread,” a nourishing word that leads of sheer silence. The divine voice “bread that came down from heaven,” one to cherish all life, to choose life echoing God’s promise in Is 55:10- and, ultimately, to relinquish one’s BARBARA E. REID, O.P., is a professor of New 11 of the nourishing and effective own life for the life of the world, Testament studies at Catholic Theological word that comes “down from heaven.” believing that this is the way to life Union in Chicago, Ill. In this first part of the discourse on eternal.

30 America August 3–10, 2009 TWENTIETH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY from her own body after it is born, so but our precious mother, Jesus, can TIME (B), AUG. 16, 2009 Jesus nourishes with his very self all who feed us with himself. He does so most Readings: Prv 9:1-6; Ps 34:2–7; Eph are birthed to new life through him (Jn courteously and most tenderly, with 3:3). Similar to the union of mother and the Blessed Sacrament, which is the 5:15-20; Jn 6:51-58 child while the latter dwells in the precious food of true life.” (See the “Whoever eats my flesh and womb, so Jesus promises, “Those who translation of Julian’s Revelations of drinks my blood has eternal life” eat my flesh and drink my blood abide Divine Love, by M. L. Del Mastro, (Jn 6:54) in me and I in them” (Jn 6:56). The life New York: Doubleday, 1977, portions that results is eternal (6:54, 58) and for of which are available online at ow can this man give us his the whole world (6:51). The mystery of www.gloriana.nu/mother.htm.) Our flesh to eat?” One’s sympa- how this life will last forever is also response to the one who gives his flesh ‘H thies easily go with the peo- expressed by the Fourth Evangelist in a and blood for our life and that of the ple who ask this question in today’s birthing metaphor when at the Last world is not only intellectual assent. Gospel, struggling to understand what Supper Jesus likens his coming passion Jesus gives his “flesh and blood,” an Jesus meant by offering as “bread” his to the pangs of a woman in labor (Jn expression that connotes the whole “flesh for the life of the world.” The pre- 16:21). The death of his earthly body is person. So we entrust our whole selves vious part of the discourse, heard last the birth to new life for all. to him, body, mind and spirit, Sunday, which focused on “bread” as Some of the medieval mystics also expressed in our physical partaking of instruction, asking for a response of found the image of motherhood a help the eucharistic body and blood. There belief, was difficult enough. The shift for understanding the mystery of Jesus is no adequate answer on an intellectu- this Sunday to “eating his flesh” strains to giving us his flesh to eat and his blood al level to the question, “How can this the limit our ability to comprehend and to drink. Blessed Julian of Norwich man give us his flesh to eat?” Rather respond. Elsewhere in Scripture this spoke of “God-all wisdom” as “our nat- than trying to explain the “how,” he expression carries a very negative conno- ural mother” and elaborated on how “a simply invites us into the depths of the tation. “Devouring flesh” is the action of mother can give her child milk to suck, “who.” BARBARA E. REID evildoers from which the psalmist prays to be delivered (Ps 27:2). Drinking blood is forbidden because the life is in the blood, over which only God has Our future TO SUBSCRIBE OR RENEW power (Gn 9:4; Dt 12:23; Acts 15:20). ❑ New subscription ❑ Renewal Coupled with the first reading, we Yearly rates are $48 for each subscription. Add depends on $22 for postage, handling and GST on Canadian can see in John’s Gospel clear parallels orders. Add $32 for foreign subscriptions. between Jesus and Woman Wisdom. Payment in U.S. funds only. She prepares her meat and wine and you. ❑ Payment enclosed ❑ Bill me On occasion America gives permission to other sets her table and calls out to all to come organizations to use our list for promotional purposes. If you do not want to receive these promo- and partake. She offers instruction to Please remember tions, contact our List Manager at our New York the simple and understanding that leads offices. to life. Likewise, in the Prologue (1:1- W706 America FOR 18) there are other unmistakable paral- in your will. CHANGE OF lels between the Logos and Wisdom, ADDRESS who existed with God from the begin- AND ning (Prv 8:27, Wis 9:9, Jn 1:1), RENEWAL: “pitched her tent” among humankind Please attach the mailing label from (Sir 24:4, 8; Jn 1:14), lights the path for the front cover when them (Bar 4:2, Jn 1:4-5), and yet suffers writing about service or change of rejection (Prv 1:25, 29-31; Jn 1:11). address. Allow 3 to It is in this likeness to a woman that 4 weeks for change Our legal title is: of address to take we may find one way to understand effect. Thank you. Jesus’ words in Jn 6:51-58. Just as a America Press Inc. Name Address City State ZIP E-mail mother gives her very flesh and blood to 106 West 56th Street Mail to: America P.O. Box 693, Mount Morris, IL 61064-7578 nurture a new life carried within her, New York, NY 10019 or call 1-800-627-9533 and then continues to feed the child or visit www.americamagazine.org

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