BOOKS ON THE BIBLE THE NATIONAL CATHOLIC WEEKLY MARCH 10, 2014 $3.50 OF MANY THINGS Published by Jesuits of the United States ou might expect a 92-year-old borrow a phrase from Christology, 106 West 56th Street man who has lived through the Vitoria’s analysis proceeded “from New York, NY 10019-3803 worst of the 20th century to below.” He looked first to the individual Ph: 212-581-4640; Fax: 212-399-3596 Y Subscriptions: 1-800-627-9533 have a certain gloomy angst about the human person and then to the political www.americamagazine.org future of humanity. Not so with Ladislas community; then, through rational facebook.com/americamag Orsy, S.J., a world-renowned professor reflection on both, he drew conclusions twitter.com/americamag of law at Georgetown University and and formed concepts. What is important a frequent contributor to these pages. about this method, according to Orsy, is PRESIDENT AND EDITOR IN CHIEF A couple of years back, I had the good that Vitoria’s analysis, even at its most Matt Malone, S.J. fortune to attend a series of lectures conceptual, was never divorced from EXECUTIVE EDITORS Father Orsy gave at Oxford University human experience, particularly the Robert C. Collins, S.J., Maurice Timothy Reidy on the thought of Francisco de Vitoria, experience of those most closely affected MANAGING EDITOR Kerry Weber O.P., and the origins of international by his ideas. LITERARY EDITOR Raymond A. Schroth, S.J. law. Father Orsy, mind you, is no naïve That is similar to the methodology SENIOR EDITOR & CHIEF CORRESPONDENT idealist either. He has spent much of the that John Langan, S.J., employs in this Kevin Clarke last 20 years contemplating the 16th- issue. Father Langan would be the first EDITOR AT LARGE James Martin, S.J. century clash between European powers to point out that he is no Vitoria, and POETRY EDITOR Joseph Hoover, S.J. and the indigenous civilizations of the no one is comparing 21st-century gay ASSOCIATE EDITORS Americas. people with 16th-century Amerindians. Luke Hansen, S.J. The conquistadors, according to Still, there is an echo of Vitoria’s method ASSISTANT EDITORS Francis W. Turnbull, S.J., Olga Orsy, did not think of themselves as in the way Father Langan describes Segura, Joseph McAuley, Ashley McKinless brutish or ungentlemanly. The conquest how the church needs to consider the ART DIRECTOR Stephanie Ratcliffe of the Amerindians, in their minds, experiential as well as rationalistic COLUMNISTS John J. Conley, S.J., Daniel P. Horan, O.F.M., James T. Keane, John W. Martens, Bill had rock-solid philosophical, legal dimensions of its stance toward McGarvey, Angela Alaimo O’Donnell, Margot and theological justifications. The gist homosexuality. We need to place the Patterson, Michael Rossmann, S.J. of their excuse, of course, was that person, in other words, at the heart of CORRESPONDENTS the Indians were neither rational nor the question. In a certain sense, that is John Carr – Washington, D.C. responsible and were therefore not precisely what the pope has also been MODERATOR, CATHOLIC BOOK CLUB Kevin Spinale, S.J. really people; they were no-ones. Since asking us to do. EDITORIAL E-MAIL “no one” owned the land, the Spanish In Orsy’s judgment, too many [email protected] imperialists felt justified in claiming it modern philosophers and legal scholars for their king. Francisco de Vitoria, the tend to philosophize “from above” and in VICE PRESIDENT/CHIEF FINANCIAL OFFICER 16th-century Dominican, thought that their pre-occupation with the internal Edward Spallone all the conquistadors’ justifications were coherence of their ideas or the narrow VICE PRESIDENT/ADVANCEMENT just so much pap. “Vitoria,” said Orsy, grammatical exegesis of law, they lose Daniel Pawlus “affirmed that the Indians were no less sight of the very reason law exists in the OPERATIONS STAFF rational and free human beings than first place: to safeguard the rights and Rosa Del Saz, Chris Keller, Kerry Goleski, Steven Keller, Glenda Castro, Judith Felix the Spaniards, and they were therefore dignity of the human person, not as he ADVERTISING CONTACT protected by the jus gentium, the law or she exists in some imagined platonic [email protected]; 212-515-0102 of nations.” Vitoria “then elaborated form but in the real world. SUBSCRIPTION CONTACT/ADDITIONAL COPIES on the norms and demands of such an Here is where Orsy’s mildly [email protected]; international order, advocating universal astonishing optimism shines through: 1-800-627-9533 freedom of religion.” In the face of staggering injustice and © 2014 America Press, Inc. In addition to looking at what Vitoria violence, Orsy, like Vitoria, still has some taught, however, Father Orsy says we faith in the power of human reason, must also look at how he reached his married to empathy, to formulate moral conclusions, because his method reveals and just positive laws. In the main, I something equally important. Vitoria tend to share this optimism. But it does began his work, according to Orsy, not invite an unsettling question: If we can with ethereal philosophical concepts, do it, why so often do we not? but with empirical observation. To MAtt MAlone, S.J. Cover: Shutterstock.com/ollyy Contents www.americamagazine.org VOL. 210 NO. 8, WHOLE NO. 5042 MARCH 10, 2014 ARTICLES 13 SEE THE PERSON Understanding Pope Francis’ statements on homosexuality John Langan 18 WORDS THAT HEAL Finding strength in Scripture Kathleen Norris 21 REMEMBERING DANIEL J. HARRINGTON Speaking the Word of God James Martin A Scholar’s Life Frank J. Matera 26 THE PRISON CLASS A risk worth the investment Andrew Skotnicki 13 COLUMNS & DEPARTMENTS 4 Current Comment 5 Editorial When the Law Is a Crime 6 Reply All 8 Signs of the Times 11 Washington Front When in Rome John Carr 30 Poem Nothing Can Compare G. E. Schwartz 39 The Word Away With Fear John W. Martens 18 BOOKS & CULTURE 29 FILM “The Monuments Men” OF OTHER THINGS When Projections Attack BOOKS ON THE BIBLE Archaeology, Art and Faith ON THE WEB A photo gallery detailing the restoration of St. Patrick’s Cathedral in New York. Plus, Charles Camosy makes the case for Christian vegetarianism on our podcast. All at americamagazine.org 29 CURRENT COMMENT that the regulations are followed. King Philippe is expected Probation for Profit to sign the measure into law. Two people receive a $400 citation for driving without a The legislation has faced resistance. The proposal is valid license. One mails a check to the court and moves on. rightly opposed by some Belgian pediatricians as well as The other, unemployed and unable to pay the fine in full, is Archbishop André-Joseph Leonard of Brussels. On Feb. 6, placed on “pay-only probation.” The person is required to the archbishop helped lead a day of prayer and fasting in make smaller payments plus additional “supervision fees” protest against the legislation. He said in a statement that over months or even years—under the constant threat of the protest was intended to “wake up people’s consciences.” jail time for a missed payment—until the ever-growing The U.S. Supreme Court, in Roper v. Simmons (2005), debt is paid down. The poorer an offender is, the longer ruled it unconstitutional to apply the death penalty to it takes to scrape together payments and the more fees anyone under 18. The decision rightly pointed to the accumulate. Private probation companies, working with European consensus that it was barbaric to execute over 1,000 courts across the United States, exploit this children. With the passage of the Belgian law, the tables fundamental injustice in order to make a profit. will have been turned. If children are not to be held fully A report released by Human Rights Watch on Feb. accountable for a capital crime, which might lead to their 5 details abusive practices in Georgia, Mississippi and execution, should they be considered capable of making a Alabama, where this offender-funded model of criminal decision about when to end their own lives? justice prevails. Probation companies offer cash-strapped counties a deal that seems too good to be true: at no cost to the taxpayer, they will collect debts owed to the court Beyond Celebrity by low-level offenders, who are required to pay supervision Italy has a new prime minister, a charismatic politician fees to the company as a condition of their probation. In who has been compared variously to Britain’s Tony Blair 1983 the U.S. Supreme Court ruled it unconstitutional to and to John F. Kennedy. Until recently, the 39-year-old revoke probation because a person is unable to pay a fine. Matteo Renzi was the mayor of Florence. On Feb. 17 he While it is the responsibility of a judge to determine a was appointed by President Giorgio Napolitano to form a probationer’s ability to pay, in practice this decision is often coalition government following the “irrevocable” resignation delegated to the service providers, who have a financial of Enrico Letta, who tried to hold his government together stake in the outcome. According to Human Rights Watch, for nearly 10 months. Mr. Renzi ousted Mr. Letta as head private officers routinely threaten and use incarceration of the Democratic Party. to extract payments from indigent offenders and their Mr. Renzi’s political rise has been extraordinary. At families. 29, he was Italy’s youngest provincial president. Then The report concludes that predatory practices are not he became mayor of Florence, head of his party and the result of privatization of probation per se but are prime minister. He is known as Il Rottamatore—“The “inevitable without strong government oversight.” Unless Scrapper”—but his tenacity has brought him less courts can dedicate the public resources necessary for such flattering comparisons with another prime minister, Silvio oversight, private probation companies have no business Berlusconi.