APRIL 30, 2018 THE JESUIT REVIEW OF FAITH AND CULTURE Catholics in Trudeau’s Canada By Dean Dettlo p18 Refl ections on ‘Gaudete et Exsultate’ p42 A Life (With Disability) in Full p26 Bruce Springsteen’s ‘Crookedly Blessed’ Imagination p44 1 | AMERICAMAGAZINE.ORG APRIL 30, 2018 AMERICA | PB Purchase your commemorative issue today Featuring beautiful full-color photos and content from America’s contributors, with an introduction by America editor-at-large Fr. James Martin, S.J., and a concluding essay by award-winning Catholic journal- ist and author David Gibson, this one-of-a- kind issue includes in-depth explorations of Pope Francis’ background, impact and hopes for the future. 100 pages with over 50 photos $14.95 With over 50 1-800-627-9533 or contact us at https://americamag.org/francis5 Asking the right question I am writing this from Saint Louis opinions with which we disagree? best hope. As long as you believe that University, where I am taking part How many of us complain about the the problem is someone else, then in a lecture series celebrating the content in our social media feeds there is nothing you can do about it, 200th anniversary of this great insti- while somehow forgetting that we and you will continue to feel helpless tution. My topic is Pope Francis, U.S. actually chose to follow every one and at the mercy of forces beyond politics and polarization, a subject of those people? How many of us, your control. But if we are all able I am often called upon to discuss. I deep down in places we don’t like to acknowledge how we are a part of think in five years I have taken part to talk about, take some pleasure in the problem, then we can begin to in at least a dozen panels, all of which the adrenaline rush that comes from imagine how we might be part of the were asking, “What are the causes of clicking “like” and thereby instantly solution. polarization?” creating an us and a them? We can begin the conversation Yet in contemporary politics, the The 2016 presidential election by focusing on what we all have in question is not “What is the cause was one of the closest in U.S. histo- common rather on our differences, a of polarization?” The question is ry. It was weeks, in fact, before we move that is itself subversive of po- “Who is the cause of polarization?” learned the final tallies. It was that larization. And the answer is: You are. You are close. Yet consider this: 65 percent What is the issue at its heart? the cause of polarization. And I am. of Americans live in a congressio- Pope Francis told us when he ad- Together, we are the causes of polar- nal district that favored either Mr. dressed the U.S. Congress: “The ization. Unless we are willing to ad- Trump or Mrs. Clinton by 20 points contemporary world, with its open mit that, then the situation will only or more. We do not even live near wounds which affect so many of our get worse. For polarization is not people with whom we disagree. That brothers and sisters, demands that something that is happening to us is the result of our choices, yours and we confront every form of polariza- but something we are causing. And mine, and those of our elected repre- tion…. We know that in the attempt the temptation to think that you or sentatives. to be freed of the enemy without, we I are not complicit in it and that the Pope Francis sees this clearly for can be tempted to feed the enemy fault lies entirely with someone else what it is. The phenomena involved within. To imitate the hatred and is actually what polarization is. in polarization reflect a deeper spir- violence of tyrants and murderers is After all, what does polarization itual crisis in modernity, within you the best way to take their place.” require? Two poles. By that I do not and within me. That is why this is “The enemy within” is nothing mean two people or groups of people the most important thing that Pope more than our age-old nemesis: fear. who disagree with each other. That Francis has ever said about politics: We are afraid. All of us. And that’s is actually what democracy requires. “I am a sinner.” The first question he good news too, because it means What polarization requires is two was asked in his very first interview, that we all have something else in people or two groups of people who which we published in America, was common and an additional means of disagree, each of whom believes that “Who is Jorge Mario Bergoglio?” To relating anew to each other, by the the other is entirely at fault and is which the pope replied: “I am a sin- grace of God. To do that we simply politically, philosophically and per- ner.” I suggest that this is where we need to do what God, through the haps even morally irredeemable. should start the reform of our poli- risen Christ, is always urging us to do This is the fault line of our contem- tics, by recognizing our individual anyway: “Be not afraid.” porary politics, the result of our complicity in the sin of polarization, choices. by what we have done and by what Matt Malone, S.J. How many of us have stopped we have failed to do, and by asking Twitter: @americaeditor. reading opinions with which we dis- for the grace to change. agree? How many of us have stopped I appreciate that this may not be watching news channels that feature what we want to hear. But this is our APRIL 30, 2018 AMERICA | 3 THE ISSUE GIVE AND TAKE DISPATCHES FEATURES 6 12 18 YOUR TAKE THE CHURCH’S DIGITAL THE COMPLICATIONS OF Whose interests should be the first COUNTER-WITNESS CANADIAN CATHOLICISM priority for U.S. trade policy? Church life under the “celebrity Infographic: Ordinations in 2018 secularism” of Justin Trudeau 8 Dean Dettloff OUR TAKE Protecting water as a human right Pregnant women in detention; in El Salvador 26 questioning police seizures; the call A LIFE IN FULL to holiness Is the Trump administration My friend’s cystic fibrosis has closing the door on asylum seekers? indelibly shaped her view of life 10 —and mine SHORT TAKE In North Ireland, the Good Friday Anna Keating Life without parole is the death agreement is imperiled by Brexit penalty in disguise By Katie Rose Quandt 4 | AMERICAMAGAZINE.ORG Pope Francis blesses an electric car that is part of the Formula E ahead of the Rome EPrix street race, April 11 Cover Image: Prime Minister Justin Trudeau of Canada in Ottawa, March 19 Justin Tang/The Canadian Press via AP Media CNS photo/Vatican FAITH & REASON IDEAS IN REVIEW THE WORD 34 44 58 CHURCH TEACHING ON THE ENDURING CATHOLIC When Christians act in love, they HOMOSEXUALITY IMAGINATION OF BRUCE allow Christ to continue his ministry Responding to a commonly SPRINGSTEEN asked question Andrew Greeley was right about Jesus guides the Christian community James Martin the Boss and empowers it with the Spirit Brian P. Conniff Michael Simone FAITH IN FOCUS Books 38 Dagger John; Faith on the Avenue; LAST TAKE Vatican I; College Hookup Culture SENIOR CALLING 62 I joined the Jesuit Volunteer Elder and Christian Ethics HOSFFMAN OSPINO Corps at 68—and never looked back New home, new neighbors, a Helen Donnelly Goehring Culture “Angels in America”; “Summer in changing society 42 the Forest” Reflections on “Gaudete et Exsultate” APRIL 30, 2018 VOL. 218 NO. 10 WHOLE NO. 5189 YOUR TAKE Whose interests should be the fi rst priority for U.S. trade policy? Forty-eight percent of respondents to the above ques- ity; the interests of workers should not be allowed to su- tion told America that U.S. trade policy should prioritize persede the imperatives of human rights or world peace.” workers worldwide. Creede Caldwell of Madison, Wis., Megan W. of Portland, Tenn., agreed that U.S. workers explained: “In a global economy, what aff ects other coun- should be prioritized. “We need to make sure our own tries aff ects us all. If we want to have a just and prosper- workers are taken care of fi rst, followed by consumers. It ous home, our businesses must sustain ethical practices needs to be what is best for the American people fi rst, not everywhere.” businesses.” Michael Finocchiaro of Wilmington, Del., concurred: Of the remaining respondents to our poll, 18 percent “The Catholic social teaching principle of solidarity re- said that U.S. consumers should be the fi rst priority of U.S. quires us to think globally and act locally. National bound- trade policy, and only 1 percent of respondents thought aries are artifi cial and do not aff ect each worker’s right to business owners should be prioritized. dignifi ed work and livable wages.” Related to the above question, America also asked Thirty-four percent of respondents to our infor- this sample of readers: Do you make an eff ort to “buy mal survey, distributed on social media and in our email American?” In response, 72 percent said yes. “I tend to newsletter, told us that U.S. workers should be the fore- buy American when I can,” said Zach Wilson of Saint Paul, most priority for U.S. trade policy. “A government’s fi rst Minn. “Not for nationalistic reasons, but because there is a priority is to its citizens, particularly those citizens who higher likelihood that the workers involved in its produc- need protection,” wrote Will Redmond of Silver Spring, tion were treated more fairly than those in many of our im- Md.