OF MANY THINGS 106 West 56th Street New York, NY 10019-3803 Ph: (212) 581-4640; Fax: (212) 399-3596 Matt Malone, S.J., is traveling. pro-life and involved in left politics Subscriptions: (800) 627-9533 www.americamedia.org do not remember when I first can be “a bit of an island.” Almost all facebook.com/americamag learned what an abortion is. I do the women express frustration over twitter.com/americamag remember when I first got into a a political landscape that does not PRESIDENT AND EDITOR IN CHIEF I Matt Malone, S.J. fight over it. In seventh grade, a friend accommodate a consistently pro-life, of mine announced she was pro-choice, pro-woman ethic. “Agitated is a very EXECUTIVE EDITORS Robert C. Collins, S.J., Maurice Timothy Reidy so my other friend called her a baby- good word,” says Addie Mena, “that MANAGING EDITOR Kerry Weber killer. I had not given much thought there doesn't seem to be a place for pro- LITERARY EDITOR Raymond A. Schroth, S.J. to the issue, but I must have heard life feminists in modern society.” SENIOR EDITOR AND CHIEF CORRESPONDENT Kevin Clarke something about it in C.C.D., and I While learning that Ms. Bennett was EDITOR AT LARGE James Martin, S.J. knew my parents were Republicans, so minutes away from being terminated CREATIVE DIRECTOR Shawn Tripoli I decided to stick with my tribe and join in the womb may not convince staunch EXECUTIVE EDITOR, AMERICA FIlmS Jeremy Zipple, S.J. defenders of reproductive rights to in the name-calling. POETRY EDITOR Joseph Hoover, S.J. One might think the adults in support a 20-week abortion ban, it ASSOCIATE EDITOR AND VATICAN CORRESPONDENT the room would have found a more may help someone understand why Gerard O’Connell ASSOCIATE EDITOR AND DIRECTOR OF DIGITAL productive way to talk about abortion she, as a black woman, sees the right to STRATEGY Sam Sawyer, S.J. than middle school mean-girls. Anyone life as fundamental to the civil rights ASSOCIATE EDITOR & DIRECTOR OF AUDIENCE tuned in to the recent debates knows her heroes—Harriet Tubman, Martin DEVELOpmENT Eric Sundrup, S.J. SENIOR EDITOR Edward W. Schmidt, S.J. otherwise—that people on both sides Luther King Jr.—risked their own ASSOCIATE EDITORS Ashley McKinless, Olga are all too ready to assume the worst lives for. And I do not doubt that there Segura, Robert David Sullivan about the other’s motivations. Pro-life are Americans who likewise have felt ASSOCIATE EDITOR, FIlm José Dueño, S.J. ASSISTANT EDITOR Joseph McAuley advocates accuse Planned Parenthood stigmatized or shamed for being pro- ART DIRECTOR Sonja Kodiak Wilder of seeking to profit from baby parts. choice or having an abortion. Sharing EDITORIAL ASSISTANT FOR DIGITAL MEDIA Pro-choice advocates frame the slightest the stories of women on both sides of Zachary Davis EDITORIAL ASSISTANT Eloise Blondiau restriction on abortion by pro-life the debate has value beyond political O’HARE FEllOWS Teresa Donnellan, Nicholas advocates as an all-out war on women. point-scoring; it can change if not Genovese, Wyatt Massey That both Democrats and Republicans minds, then hearts. COLUMNISTS Helen Alvaré, John J. Conley, S.J., Daniel P. Horan, O.F.M., James T. Keane, John W. have made abortion a litmus test of “At its best, reporting is an effort Martens, Bill McGarvey, Angela Alaimo O’Donnell, party purity has not exactly elevated the to bear witness to the heartbeat of the Margot Patterson, Nathan Schneider NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT Michael O’Loughlin tone of the discussion. world and to name it, describe it and REGIONAL CORRESPONDENTS John Carr (Wash- But if you listen to the people behind give it back to the world in a way that ington), Anthony Egan, S.J., and Russell Pollitt, S.J. (Johannesburg), Jim McDermott, S.J. (Los the positions, you quickly realize how opens new conversations to understand Angeles), Timothy Padgett (Miami), David Stewart, unhelpful and obsolete such partisan truth.” So writes Elizabeth Dias, the S.J. (London), Rhona Tarrant (Dublin), Judith Valente (Chicago) framing is. Can you be pro-life and recipient of the 2016 George W. Hunt, MODERATOR, CATHOLIC BOOK CLUB a feminist? What about a pro-life S.J., Prize, in this week’s issue. As a Kevin Spinale, S.J. socialist? Can a small-l libertarian journalist for Time, she does not tell EDITOR, THE JESUIT POST Michael Rossmann, S.J. EDITORIAL E-MAIL support restrictions on abortion? No stories with an agenda. But every act [email protected] question, say the millennials featured in of storytelling can be an exercise in PUBLISHER AND CHIEF FINANCIAL OFFICER a new video from America. For the film, empathy. “Once you know the heart’s Edward G. Spallone DEPUTY PUBLISHER I had the chance to speak with young, beat, its aches and loves can take deeper Rosa M. Del Saz VICE PRESIDENT FOR ADVANCEMENT Daniel Pawlus ADVERTISING pro-life women from across the political shape,” she writes. “And in all of this SALES MANAGER Chris Keller ADVANCEMENT spectrum who have encountered in messiness, the very human approaches COORDINATOR Timothy Bouffard PROGRAMS AND EVENTS COORDINATOR Nicholas Sawicki their respective corners much that is the very sacred.” BUSINESS OPERATIONS STAFF Glenda Castro, dispiriting and dysfunctional about This is a beautiful way to understand Ryan Richardson, Anastasia Buraminskaya ADVERTISING CONTACT ads@americamedia. abortion politics in this country. the vocation of a journalist. And it org; 212-515-0102 SUBSCRIPTION CONTACT AND There is the Republican Christina might just be the best way forward for ADDITIONAL COPIES 1-800-627-9533 REPRINTS: [email protected] Bennett, an African-American woman the country to begin to close the deep who has been called a racist for her divisions laid bare by this dispiriting © 2016 America Press Inc. pro-life advocacy. Elizabeth Bruenig, a and dysfunctional election year. Democratic Socialist, says that being ASHLEY MCKINLESS Cover: iStockphoto.com/MarioGuti. Contents www.americamagazine.org VOL. 215 NO.16, WHOLE NO. 5147 NOVEMBER 14, 2016 ARTICLES 15 THE HEART BEAT Reporting on the rhythms of faith Elizabeth Dias 21 SPIRITUAL COSTS OF DEBT Financial servitude is shaping the faith of young American Catholics. Sean Salai 24 PAYDAY PREDATORS Protecting our most vulnerable from debt is an act of mercy. Edward J. Weisenburger COLUMNS & DEPARTMENTS 15 4 Current Comment 5 Editorial What to Do About Dictators? 6 Reply All 9 Signs of the Times 14 Column Answering Our Daughters Helen Alvaré 26 Vatican Dispatch Francis for the Poor Gerard O’Connell 27 Faith in Focus Correction Course Donald Lee 29 Philosopher’s Notebook Undercover Grief John J. Conley 21 38 The Word Kingdom of the Son John W. Martens BOOKS & CULTURE 30 THEATER “The Alchemist” BOOKS American Maelstrom; The High Places; Free Speech POEM Iphigenia Leaving Tauris ON THE WEB James Martin, S.J., begins a weekly series of short video reflections on hisfavorite saints. Plus, Los Angeles correspondent Jim McDermott, S.J., talks religion and television on “America This Week.” Full digital highlights on page 19 and at americamagazine.org. 30 CURRENT COMMENT decreases in the cost of renewable infrastructure. It expects A Spiteful Marriage Law renewable sources to produce nearly 30 percent of the global "We don’t want terrorists obtaining green cards and electricity supply by 2021. These developments suggest the citizenship through marriage.” That was the rationale behind practical timetable for a transition to renewable energy— Louisiana’s ban on issuing marriage licenses to foreign-born which could significantly mitigate the effects of climate applicants who cannot produce birth certificates, according change—may be accelerating. The argument that renewable to the state legislator who sponsored the law. In reality, the sources are unreliable or too costly seems increasingly thin in ban, which took effect this year, does nothing to combat the face of such rapid real-world adjustments. terrorism. Its effect has been to deny licenses to dozens of China, fighting a profound air pollution problem in refugees, primarily from Southeast Asia, who have no way of its major cities, is increasing its renewable energy at twice obtaining birth certificates. the rate of the United States. It will have the edge in The law is no more than an expression of hostility renewable technology and commercial production unless toward immigrants and refugees, similar to the poisonous Washington wakes up to the challenge and the opportunities rhetoric that has been directed toward refugees of the of this evolving energy landscape. Instead of becoming civil war in Syria. It is echoed in the unnecessary bans on bogged down in fights about pipelines, state and national Shariah law passed by at least nine states out of fear that it policymakers should focus on advancing the coming might somehow override the U.S. and state constitutions, transition to renewable energy sources and in the hostility toward providing basic health care for undocumented immigrants. In the closing days of the presidential campaign, Bishop Free Speech on Facebook Eusebio Elizondo of Seattle, chairman of the Committee When Facebook employees noted that a number of Donald on Migration of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, J. Trump’s posts—for example, his call for a ban on Muslims wrote that Catholics “have a special responsibility to reject entering the United States—violated the site’s hate speech the hostility that dominates the public conversation about policy, Mark Zuckerberg stepped in to preserve them in the immigration today.” The Louisiana marriage license law, name of free speech. In a leaked internal message published which panders to xenophobic voters, is now being challenged by The Wall Street Journal, Mr.