THE NATIONAL CATHOLIC WEEKLY JAN. 19–26, 2009 $2.75 Dear Mister President Advice for Barack Obama OF MANY THINGS PUBLISHED BY JESUITS OF THE UNITED STATES napshots of family and friends Pauline Belt, an African-American res- EDITOR IN CHIEF taken over the decades, some ident at Sursum Corda, seated in the Drew Christiansen, S.J. dating back to the 1960s, lie in church’s little social hall. S EDITORIAL DEPARTMENT small packets in my desk drawer. From The photo is in a glass display case time to time I take them from their there, near a hand-drawn crayon pic- MANAGING EDITOR envelope to look again at those familiar ture of Horace done by one of the Robert C. Collins, S.J. faces. Most are smiling, and you can homeless men he served. Pauline was EDITORIAL DIRECTOR almost hear them responding to the old then, and now is with God. Karen Sue Smith command, “Say cheese!” About half, Sursum Corda, designed as a model ONLINE EDITOR though, are no longer physically pre- inner-city village with trees, open Maurice Timothy Reidy sent in this world, and so I like to see spaces and units with five bedrooms CULTURE EDITOR them in my mind’s eye as smiling in the for large families, is facing its own James Martin, S.J. presence of the God who has received death as real estate developers close in LITERARY EDITOR them. with plans that have already displaced Patricia A. Kossmann Among the oldest of the snapshots many low-income residents. POETRY EDITOR are two of my parents, taken when Other social hall snapshots show James S. Torrens, S.J. they visited me at the Jesuit novitiate two African-American men nattily in Wernersville, Pa. We made an dressed for the Easter Vigil. A nun ASSOCIATE EDITORS Joseph A. O’Hare, S.J. afternoon excursion to nearby Hawk who worked at a facility for persons George M. Anderson, S.J. Mountain, where each fall thousands with AIDS had brought them to St. Dennis M. Linehan, S.J. of hawks circle high in the currents of Aloysius that evening. The date on the Jim McDermott, S.J. air as they begin their annual migra- back is 1991, and the inscription also Matt Malone, S.J. tion southward. Binoculars over her notes that these two men died soon James T. Keane, S.J. shoulder, my mother stands looking afterward. An earlier picture shows the Peter Schineller, S.J. directly at my camera. My father sister, Lenore Benda, S.S.J., with two ASSISTANT EDITOR stands apart, adjusting his own binoc- other men for whom she was also a Francis W. Turnbull, S.J. ulars, while other visitors nearby gaze source of support and encouragement. DESIGN AND PRODUCTION upward at the dozens of gliding But not all these small photos are in Stephanie Ratcliffe hawks. Behind the group rises a grove the social hall or my desk drawer. of trees whose golden leaves still stand Some I keep before me, in a frame BUSINESS DEPARTMENT out even in the now-faded color of the propped against a plant by the window PUBLISHER snapshot. to the left of the computer where I sit Jan Attridge The modest collection is divided not typing these words in my office at CHIEF FINANCIAL OFFICER only chronologically, but also according America House. One shows two of my Lisa Pope to places where I have worked as a dearest friends, both members of the MARKETING Jesuit. Some photos show people met Religious of the Sacred Heart, taken Eryk Krysztofiak during my assignment at St. Aloysius during a trip to the order’s retirement ADVERTISING parish in Washington, D.C. The sur- home in Albany, N.Y. The older, then Julia Sosa rounding neighborhood includes a low- in her 80s, sits in an easy chair. The income housing development called much younger sister stands beside her. 106 West 56th Street Sursum Corda (“Lift up your hearts”), And yet it was the younger who died New York, NY 10019-3803 words from the opening dialogue of the first, of cancer, not yet 50 years old. I Ph: 212-581-4640; Fax: 212-399-3596 preface of the Latin Mass. It was feel that although physically gone, they E-mail: [email protected]; bestowed on the development partly are with me still as they look out from [email protected] because of the involvement in its cre- the snapshot meeting my every glance. Web site: www.americamagazine.org ation of Horace McKenna, a Jesuit And so it is with the increasing Customer Service: 1-800-627-9533 whose ministry among the poor has led number of pictures of loved friends © 2009 America Press, Inc. to his reputation as a saint. who are now alive with God. One St. Aloysius snapshot shows GEORGE M. ANDERSON, S.J. Cover Reuters/Carlos Barria CONTENTS www.americamagazine.org VOL. 200 NO. 2, WHOLE NO. 4842 JANUARY 19–26, 2009 ARTICLES 12 MISTER PRESIDENT Letters and memos to the incoming executive Agbonkhianmeghe E. Orobator • Matthew P. Moll • Peter Quinn • Helen Prejean • Bob Finocchio Jr. • Gabino Zavala • Amy Uelmen • Daniel Callahan • James J. Zogby • Frank Brennan 19 THE FOOD ON OUR TABLES The flaws of U.S. agricultural policy Bob Peace COLUMNS & DEPARTMENTS 12 4 Current Comment 5 Editorial The Roots of Terrorism 6 Signs of the Times 10 Column Blessed Are the Poor Thomas Massaro 21 State of the Question A Response to ‘The Chaplain’s Dilemma’ 36 Letters 38 The Word No Ordinary Time Barbara E. Reid 19 BOOKS & CULTURE 25 ART The art of George Tooker FILM John Patrick Shanley’s ‘Doubt’ BOOKS Tw o v i e w s o f In d i a ; Giordano Bruno; Deaf Sentence ON THE WEB ON THE WEB Jim McDermott, S.J., on the TV season in sci-fi (right, a heroine from “Heroes”), and video messages for President Obama. Plus, a slideshow of George Tooker’s artwork; and Jeff Johnson, S.J., discusses a documentary on St. Francis Xavier on our podcast. And from the archives, the editors on the partition of India. All at americamagazine.org. 2535 CURRENT COMMENT The L.R.A. has abducted an estimated 20,000 children, After Gaza forcing boys to fight as soldiers and girls to serve as sex- Gaza has been Israel’s tar-pit, a quagmire from which it slave “wives.” In 2005 the International Criminal Court extracts itself only to be pulled back in. It never seems to issued arrest warrants for Kony and his top leaders, charg- learn. In 1993, under the Oslo Accords with the Palestine ing them with crimes against humanity. On Nov. 29 he Liberation Organization, Gaza and Jericho were the first was to have signed a peace agreement that had been territories handed over to Palestinian control. Following reached last April in Juba, Sudan. The agreement included the Al Aqsa intifada in 2000, Israel re-occupied Gaza and disarmament of his army and reintegration of troops into then in 2005 withdrew unilaterally. After each of its civilian life. The U.N. special envoy, Joaquim Chissano departures, it obstructed economic development and even (former president of Mozambique), waited for him at the emergency relief. Now, once again, the Israeli military is border between Sudan and the D.R.C., but Kony never back, following a bruising air assault on the Gaza Strip. appeared. Now, with Kony having eluded the military The objective of Israel’s latest effort is to end terrorizing operation, carried out by combined Uganda, Congo, rocket attacks on the cities of southern Israel, like Sderot, southern Sudan and U.N. forces, the eventual outcome Ashkelon and Beersheva. To do so, however, requires remains unclear. The L.R.A.’s violence continues as part of “breaking the will” of Hamas (the Islamic Resistance one of Africa’s longest-running wars. The combined multi- Movement). Most experts believe that Hamas will not be national forces must find and capture Kony, so that he and broken. As the Washington Post columnist David Ignatius his followers may be held accountable for the deadly havoc has written, “If there is one lesson in this conflict, it’s that for which they bear primary responsibility. efforts to ‘break the will’ of the other side almost always fail.” Instead, the long-term results will be a revival of sup- Lives of Gays and Lesbians port for Hamas among Palestinians and greater hostility On Dec. 19, the U.N. General Assembly voted on a non- to Israel across the Arab world. How will Israel escape the binding resolution aimed at “decriminalizing” homosexual- quagmire? How will it break out of the violent illogic of ity. The measure was directed at countries where homo- war, repression and resistance? sexuals can be executed for sexual relations. As Human A fresh beginning requires that Israel acknowledge that Rights Watch notes, “over 85 countries criminalize consen- in any negotiation it holds most of the cards and therefore sual homosexual conduct.” In some countries, including must make most of the concessions. Palestinian resistance Afghanistan, Iran, Saudi Arabia, Sudan and Yemen, it is continues because Israel has repeatedly refused to allow its punishable by death. whip-hand to go slack. In every cycle of peacemaking, it The Holy See condemned “all forms of violence against has retained control of commerce, of security, of tax homosexual persons” and urged countries to “put an end receipts, of water. Resistance—and with it Hamas—will to all forms of criminal penalties against them.” Nonethe- wither only when Israel is ready to make a peace that relin- less, along with 68 other countries, it rejected the resolu- quishes the upper hand over Palestinian life.