Helen Alvaré on Having 'The God Talk'
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HELEN ALVARÉ ON HAVING ‘THE GOD TALK’ OF MANY THINGS ut of our memory of the governments were at best modest 106 West 56th Street New York, NY 10019-3803 Holocaust,” said President and slow. Apart from allowing Ph: (212) 581-4640; Fax: (212) 399-3596 Jimmy Carter in 1979, “we Christians to enter their region, Subscriptions: (800) 627-9533 ‘O the Kurdish government did www.americamedia.org must forge an unshakable oath with facebook.com/americamag all civilized people that never again not offer any aid either financial twitter.com/americamag will the world stand silent, never again or material…. Thankfully, the will the world...fail to act in time to Church in the Kurdistan region PRESIDENT AND EDITOR IN CHIEF Matt Malone, S.J. prevent this terrible crime of genocide.” stepped forward and cared for the displaced Christians, doing her EXECUTIVE EDITORS President Carter made those remarks Robert C. Collins, S.J., Maurice Timothy Reidy very best to handle the disaster. as he received the official report of MANAGING EDITOR Kerry Weber Church buildings were opened the presidential commission on the LITERARY EDITOR Raymond A. Schroth, S.J. to accommodate the people; Holocaust, or Shoah, the deliberate SENIOR EDITOR AND CHIEF CORRESPONDENT food and non-food items were Kevin Clarke and singularly horrific mass murder provided to meet the immediate EDITOR AT LARGE James Martin, S.J. of millions during the Second World needs of the people; and medical EXECUTIVE EDITOR, AMERICA FIlmS Jeremy Zipple, S.J. War, most of them European Jews. It is health services were also provided. POETRY EDITOR Joseph Hoover, S.J. worth remembering this pledge now, as Moreover, the Church put out the plight of Christians in the Middle ASSOCIATE EDITOR AND VATICAN CORRESPONDENT a call and many humanitarian Gerard O’Connell East makes “again” terrifyingly nearer. organizations answered with aid ASSOCIATE EDITOR AND DIRECTOR OF DIGITAL Last spring Sister Diana Momeka, of for the thousands of people in STRATEGY Sam Sawyer, S.J. the Dominican Sisters of St. Catherine need…. SENIOR EDITOR Edward W. Schmidt, S.J. of Siena from Mosul, Iraq, appeared But the current persecution ASSOCIATE EDITORS Ashley McKinless, Olga Segura ASSISTANT EDITORS Francis W. Turnbull, S.J., before the House Foreign Affairs that our community is facing is Joseph McAuley Committee. The following is an excerpt the most brutal in our history. Not ART DIRECTOR Sonja Kodiak Wilder from her testimony. only have we been robbed of our EDITORIAL ASSISTANT Zachary Davis MATT MALONE, S.J. homes, property and land, but our COLUMNISTS Helen Alvaré, John J. Conley, S.J., heritage is being destroyed as well. Daniel P. Horan, O.F.M., James T. Keane, John W. Martens, Bill McGarvey, Angela Alaimo O’Donnell, In November 2009, a bomb was ISIS has been and continues to Margot Patterson, Nathan Schneider, Robert David detonated at our convent in demolish and bomb our churches, Sullivan Mosul. Five sisters were in the cultural artifacts and sacred places. CORRESPONDENTS John Carr (Washington), An- thony Egan, S.J., and Russell Pollitt, S.J. (Johannes- building at the time and they were Uprooted and forcefully displaced, burg), Jim McDermott, S.J. (Los Angeles), Timothy lucky to have escaped unharmed. we have realized that ISIS’ plan is Padgett (Miami), Steven Schwankert (Beijing), Our Prioress, Sister Maria to evacuate the land of Christians David Stewart, S.J. (London), Judith Valente Hanna, asked for protection from and wipe the earth clean of any (Chicago) MODERATOR, CATHOLIC BOOK CLUB local civilian authorities but the evidence that we ever existed. This Kevin Spinale, S.J. pleas went unanswered. As such, is cultural and human genocide. EDITOR, THE JESUIT POST Michael Rossmann, S.J. she had no choice but to move us The only Christians that remain EDITORIAL E-MAIL to Qaraqosh. On June 10, 2014, in the Plain of Nineveh are those [email protected] the so-called Islamic State in Iraq who are held as hostages. PUblISHER AND CHIEF FINANCIAL OFFICER and Syria, or ISIS, invaded the I am but one, small person—a Edward G. Spallone DEPUTY PUblISHER Rosa M. Nineveh Plain, which is where victim myself of ISIS and all of its Del Saz VICE PRESIDENT FOR ADVANCEMENT Daniel Pawlus ADVERTISING SALES MANAGER Chris Keller Qaraqosh is located. Starting with brutality. Coming here has been DEVELOpmENT COORDINATOR Kerry Goleski the city of Mosul, ISIS overran difficult for me—as a religious BUSINESS OPERATIONS STAFF Khairah Walker, one city and town after another.... sister I am not comfortable with Glenda Castro, Katy Zhou, Frankarlos Cruz ADVERTISING CONTACT [email protected]; As this horror spread the media and so much attention. 212-515-0102 SUBSCRIPTION CONTACT/ADDITIONAL throughout the Nineveh But I am here, and I am here to ask COPIES 1-800-627-9533 REPRINTS: reprints@ Plain, Nineveh was emptied you, to implore you for the sake of americamedia.org of Christians, and sadly, for our common humanity, to help us. © 2015 America Press Inc. the first time since the seventh Stand with us as we, as Christians, century A.D., no church bells have stood with all the people of rang for Mass in the Plain of the world and help us. We want Nineveh…. To add insult to nothing more than to go back to Cover: The Cuban and U.S. flags are displayed on the front of a residence in Havana on Aug. 14, injury, the initiatives and actions our lives; we want nothing more the day the U.S. Embassy in Cuba reopened. CNS of both the Iraqi and Kurdish than to go home. photo/Enrique De La Osa, Reuters Contents www.americamagazine.org VOL. 213 NO. 7, WHOLE NO. 5100 SEPTEMBER 21, 2015 ARTICLES 15 A TALE OF TWO COUNTRIES A Cuban-American reflects on the pope’s journey to ‘nuestra America.’ Miguel H. Díaz 18 SCRIPTURE AND OUR SELVES Reflections on the Bible and the body M. Shawn Copeland 24 LIVING FOR THE CITY Spiritual exercises from Detroit David Nantais 27 THEY KNOW THE SUFFERING CHRIST Why we need a church that is poor and for the poor 18 Stephen P. White COLUMNS & DEPARTMENTS 4 Current Comment 5 Editorial The Refugee Crisis 6 Reply All 9 Signs of the Times 14 Column Having the God Talk Helen Alvaré 30 Vatican Dispatch Francis in the U.S.A. Gerard O’Connell 31 Faith in Focus One in Spirit Gregory Hillis 27 34 Philosopher’s Notebook “Tired of Living” John J. Conley 42 The Word The Challenge of the Word John W. Martens BOOKS & CULTURE 35 THEATER “Whorl Inside A Loop” BOOKS Frog; Beyond the Abortion Wars; Music at Midnight ON THE WEB Mayor Mitch Landrieu of New Orleans, right, talks about Hurricane Katrina and the city’s resurgence, and Rhona Tarrant begins the “America News Brief” on “The Catholic Channel” on SiriusXM. Full digital highlights on page 29 and at americamagazine.org/webfeatures. 35 CURRENT COMMENT say that is the percentage needed for a minority group to Micro-Accord truly play a role in relation to the majority. Gender-based A statement of regret from a political leader may seem like quotas have helped many nations to achieve greater parity in a minor diplomatic breakthrough, but when the country in their legislatures. Such quotas seem unlikely to be embraced question is the autocratic and nuclear-armed North Korea, it in the United States, but other solutions are possible. is cause for tentative hope. After a tense few days in August, Encouraging political participation and activism among girls in which North and South Korea were threatening aggression at a young age through programs like Model Senate, Mock following the maiming of two South Korean soldiers by a land mine, the two sides agreed on a brief accord that ended Trial and the Model United Nations can help spark an early the crisis. After over 40 hours of negotiations, the South interest in politics and law. But supporting female politicians promised to end its propaganda broadcasts directed at the is even more vital, especially at the local level. Studies have North, while Pyongyang issued its statement of regret. shown that women are less likely to have the connections How long the hard-won truce will last is unclear. The needed to raise campaign funds quickly, and many may be two sides have been fighting for so long that it does not discouraged by the cutthroat nature of campaigns. Greater take much to reignite tensions. Already North Korea is public funding for local campaigns and grassroots support complaining that its statement has been reported as an for female candidates could help women get the footing they apology. One piece of good news is that both sides continue need to make a difference. to work together to facilitate the reunification of families divided by the Korean War. The current president of South Overexposed Korea, Park Geun-hye, also remains committed to better On Aug. 26, Vester Flanagan shot and killed a reporter and relations with the North. a cameraman, Alison Parker and Adam Ward, during a live President Park is hopeful that the latest accord can serve local news broadcast in Virginia. A video of the shooting was as the start of fruitful dialogue. Perhaps; but the issues immediately shown on major news networks and various the two Koreas face are challenging, to say the least. The social media platforms. Facebook and Twitter accounts six-nation talks aimed at ending North Korea’s nuclear allegedly belonging to Mr. Flanagan showed video from the program are officially on hold, and the United States has shooter’s point of view.