2019 CPA MAGAZINE OF THE YEAR THE JESUIT REVIEW OF FAITH AND CULTURE AUGUST 19, 2019 The God- Haunted Characters of Choosing Perinatal James Lee Burke Hospice By Edward W. Schmidt p18 p38 Grace in a Troubled Marriage p34 Dante and the G.O.P. p10 1 | AMERICAMAGAZINE.ORG AUGUST 19, 2019 AMERICA | PB ADVERTISEMENT THE CURRAN CENTER FOR AMERICAN CATHOLIC STUDIES AT FORDHAM UNIVERSITY PRESENTS “EVERYTHING THAT RISES MUST CONVERGE”: RACE & GRACE IN FLANNERY O’CONNOR THE CURRAN CENTER FOR AMERICAN SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 28, 2019 CATHOLIC STUDIES AT FORDHAM Symposium | 2–4 p.m. UNIVERSITY will sponsor an afternoon Duane Library | Tognino Hall symposium devoted to discussion of Fordham University | Bronx, NY Flannery O’Connor’s powerful story, Performance by Compagnia “Everything That Rises Must Converge,” de’ Colombari | 7 p.m. Leonard Theatre | Fordham Preparatory School followed by an evening performance by Fordham University Campus | Bronx, NY Compagnia de’ Colombari. The story is adapted for the stage and directed by This event is free and open to the public. Seating Karin Coonrod. is limited and registration is required. For more information and to register, send an email to [email protected], or visit fordham.edu/etrmc. This event is cosponsored by America Media and The Mary Flannery O’Connor Charitable Trust 2 | AMERICAMAGAZINE.ORG AUGUST 19, 2019 AMERICA | 3 Virginia Is for Lovers Sometime in 1921 the good people feated the British during the Ameri- ues, literal and figurative, we would of the Commonwealth of Virginia can Revolution only with the substan- do well to remember that the even- decided to present a statue to the tial help of the French Navy, whose tual decline of U.S. power and influ- people of the United Kingdom of defeat Trafalgar Square celebrates. ence is as inevitable as death and, of Great Britain and Ireland. That’s what The French blockaded Yorktown, in course, taxes, those infamous levies the sign says. Virginia, preventing the British Gen- that led us to revolt in the first place. Whom does this statue depict? eral Charles Cornwallis from receiv- I’m not one who thinks the demise of The English virgin queen, Elizabeth ing reinforcements and forcing him to the republic is imminent, mind you, I, perhaps, after whom the common- surrender to Washington. The rest, as but it is inevitable. History tells us wealth is named? No. How about Sir they say, is history. so, and it would be sheer hubris to as- Walter Raleigh, an early English ex- So what in the world is this statue sume otherwise. plorer of Virginia? No. Rather, the doing here? One possibility is that it is So whose statue should we add in statue depicts George Washington, simply an expression, albeit an awk- Philadelphia if we want to follow the the first president of the United States ward one, of the sense of solidarity be- British example? I don’t know. But and conqueror of the first British Em- tween two peoples who forged a bond like this one in Trafalgar Square, who- pire. An odd gift, indeed, which makes in the world war they had just fought ever it depicts should serve to remind one wonder whether Virginians might together. And perhaps the Virginians us that there is, in the end, only one have been doing all this with their and the British both did all this with a king, the King of Kings, and that the tongues planted firmly in their cheeks. wink and a nod, appreciating the iro- fortunes of a people can rise and fall as What’s even more bizarre, howev- ny, perhaps even reveling in it. Still, it’s quickly as the tide. er, is where the British elected to dis- hard to imagine that Americans would Too bad Nelson of Trafalgar isn’t play this statue of Washington: in Lon- place a statue of Lord Cornwallis or around. He knew a lot about tides, don’s Trafalgar Square, the busiest, King George III in front of Indepen- literal and otherwise. You’ll recall most popular public space in the city. dence Hall. Somewhere, perhaps, but that he died at the battle of Trafalgar, More to the point, Trafalgar Square, not in a place that is such a focal point struck down by a French marksman. you will recall, celebrates the greatest for the nation’s pride. Among his last words were these: naval victory in British history, that My best guess is that our British “Now I can do no more. We must trust of Admiral Horatio Nelson against a friends probably didn’t give it much to the Great Disposer of all events much larger French fleet off Cape -Tr thought and they didn’t feel threat- and the justice of our cause.” afalgar during the Napoleonic War of ened. They could erect a statue of the Would that all people and nations the Third Coalition. man who destroyed the first British did that more often. I can’t imagine Nelson would Empire because, in 1921, they were approve of sharing his square with enjoying the fullest extent of the sec- Matt Malone, S.J. Washington. He once said that sailors ond British Empire, the one, they Twitter: @americaeditor. “must consider every man your enemy were told, on which the sun never set. who speaks ill of your king; and...you Yet the sun did set. So, in a strange must hate a Frenchman as you hate way, this statue of Washington, which the devil.” was permitted by an excess of imperi- All this left me scratching my al pride, now serves as a symbol of the head as I stood in Trafalgar Square humbling inflicted by the vicissitudes recently. I mean, George Washington of history. was a traitor according to his British There is a lesson in that. While contemporaries; and I suppose by half of our country is supposedly Nelson’s definition, he technically still making America great again and the is. Moreover, General Washington de- other half is busy tearing down stat- 2 | AMERICAMAGAZINE.ORG AUGUST 19, 2019 AMERICA | 3 THE ISSUE GIVE AND TAKE DISPATCHES FEATURES 6 12 18 YOUR TAKE A BATTLE FOR THE FUTURE GRACE AMID THE GRIEF Readers respond to Dean Dettloff’s IN HONG KONG Honoring a child’s last days Catholic case for communism Kerry Weber Infographic: In U.S. South and 8 West, child numbers and poverty 28 OUR TAKE on the rise A BLESSED BROADCAST Threats to the election process; Inside Uganda’s award-winning fixing social media dangers Trump’s rhetoric spreads fear among Catholic radio station migrant communities J. J. Carney 10 SHORT TAKE After governor’s ouster, is reform What Dante would say about possible in Puerto Rico? Republicans who enable Trump Charles Sykes More national sorrow after August weekend of mass shootings 4 | AMERICAMAGAZINE.ORG AP Photo/Christian Chavez AP Photo/Christian People gather in Juarez, Mexico, on Aug. 3, in a vigil for three Mexican nationals killed in an El Paso shopping-complex shooting. 22 people were killed and more than two dozen injured in the incident. THE ISSUE Cover: Frank Veronsky for Simon & Schuster FAITH IN FOCUS IDEAS IN REVIEW THE WORD 34 38 50 BEFORE THE THAW THE GOD-HAUNTED Our faith and struggle continue My wife left me after 33 years. I can CHARACTERS OF JAMES Christ’s work of salvation still choose to love her. LEE BURKE Pasky Pascual A theological study of the prolific God gives each of us 1,440 minutes crime novelist every day, and they are impossible Edward W. Schmidt to store up POEM Michael Simone BOOKS 43 Chances Are…; El Norte; Unjust; Our MARY, PIETÀ Women on the Ground LAST TAKE Whitney Rio-Roos CULTURE 54 “Upstart Crow”; an interview with RICHARD G. JONES Maysa Daw Future journalists should be formed in compassion AUGUST 19, 2019 VOL. 221 NO. 4 WHOLE NO. 5225 YOUR TAKE Monica Hildegard Miyashita How do we challenge the statements by conservatives that socialism results in situations such as those in Venezuela or Cuba? How do we counter the point that the other side often makes regarding the disdain socialists seem to have for religion? Dean Dettloff Thanks, Monica. Some socialists avoid these arguments by saying we can separate socialism from certain countries, much like Christians often separate Christianity from certain Christians. Personally, I don’t take this approach, although I know many people who do. Much more effective, I think, is to consider why life is so difficult for people in places like Venezuela or Cuba. Both of these countries, in particular, have made mistakes—no doubt about that, as have all capitalist countries, of course—but they are also uniquely blockaded and sanctioned by the global economy. This makes normal relationships difficult, and it is impossible for one country to be fully self- sufficient in our industrial age these days. Even with these obstacles, both Venezuela and Cuba Isaiah Ritzmann I was interested that you brought have managed some unique achievements at their Dorothy Day and the Catholic Worker into this height, and today Cuba’s life expectancy remains discussion. I feel like the Catholic Worker’s higher than that of the United States, for example, “communitarian personalism” shares some of the and Cuba consistently ranks among the top in U.N. same spirit as communism but is philosophically and studies for access to quality health care. I always politically distinct. Would you argue that communism encourage people to look again at the histories is superior to the personalism envisioned by Peter of socialist and communist countries, and to ask Maurin, Day and the Catholic Worker movement? hard questions about why things happen the way they do.