Catholic Tradition and the Health Care Debate VOL. 201 NO. 4, WHOLE NO. 4863 AUGUST 17–24, 2009 35...

Catholic Tradition and the Health Care Debate

MICHAEL D. PLACE

T H E N A T I O N A L C A T H O L I C W E E K L Y A U G . 1 7 - 2 4 , 2 0 0 9 $ 2 . 7 5

PUBLISHED BY JESUITS OF THE UNITED STATES

hen I told a friend thatDrew Christiansen, S.J.,asked if I would be the

magazine’s new “culture editor,” hesmiled. “Will that mean you’ll have towear an ascot and a monocle, go to theopera every night and change yourname to something like Osgood St.John Montcreif?” I checked with FatherChristiansen, who assured me it didnot.

What it does mean is furnishingweekly articles on a variety of topics, aspart of the magazine’s redesign. Avidreaders now know to check the new“Books & Culture” section not simplyfor fine book reviews presided over byour literary editor, Patricia A. Koss-mann, but also for pieces on film, the-ater, television, fine arts, music, archi-tecture, as well as two other looselydefined areas: “new media,” whichlooks mainly at Web-based media, and“ideas,” which addresses the intersec-tion between culture and faith.

Part of the fun of editing the new cul-ture section has been gathering a stableof talented writers. Starting out, we didnot have far to look. One of our mostpopular writers is Richard A. Blake, S.J.,the film studies professor at BostonCollege. He is still faithfully penningmovie reviews for us, like our last issue’slook at “Public Enemies.” But he hasnow been joined by Richard Leonard,S.J., and Michael V. Tueth, S.J., scholarsof film and communications who work,respectively, in Australia and New York.Leo J. O’Donovan, S.J., emeritus presi-dent of Georgetown University, has beenhandling many fine arts reviews; and theRevs. Robert Barron and Robert E.Lauder, two well-known Catholic writ-ers on the arts, have been tackling“ideas.”

Too many priests and Jesuits, yousay? Not so fast. One of our new theaterreviewers, Rob Weinert-Kendt, whoconsidered the Pulitzer Prize-winningplay “Ruined” a few weeks ago, is a pro-fessional theater critic who has appeared

in The New York Times and writes ablog called “The Wicked Stage.” Andour literary assistant, Regina Nigro, hasalready contributed her youthful voiceto TV reviews, having zeroed in on“How I Met Your Mother” and, comingsoon, “Saving Grace.”

We are planning to balance“thought” pieces—like this week’s arti-cle by Father Leonard on Jesus andsuperheroes—with outright reviews.(Father Leonard’s doctoral thesis, bythe way, was on mysticism in the filmsof the Australian director Peter Weir.)We want to surprise you, too. In theearly fall, for example, you will read aconversation with Liv Ullmann aboutfaith. (I just ruined the surprise.) Andwe’ll offer writers from beyond theboundaries of “Catholic Land.”Recently, Joyce Polistena, a world-classart historian, argued that the painterEugène Delacroix, so long seen as “sec-ular,” was deeply religious.

But there is more to the culture sec-tion than what you see in print. Usingour Web site, we can not only providemore culture pieces overall (they’reusually posted on Fridays) but makethem more timely. Sometimes a reviewof a new film arrives too late to run inAmerica’s print edition. So we’ll directyou to the Web. And some clever“Web only” material, like the slideshows produced by our online editor,Tim Reidy, adds greatly to a review ofan art exhibition.

Why have any of this? Because thearts are not only part of the humanexperience, and of an engagement withthe modern world, but are also a pri-mary way of experiencing God. Whatwould our faith be without Giotto,without the Book of Kells, withoutChartres, without the play “A Man forAll Seasons,” without the film “DeadMan Walking,” without, well...culture?Immeasurably poorer. We hope to cele-brate that spirit in America’s culturesection. But without an ascot or amonocle. JAMES MARTIN, S.J.

WOF MANY THINGS

Cover: Two-year-old Nora Sample,who suffers from a genetic disorder,is massaged by the therapist JuliaAlaimo at the Sisters of St. JosephDaystar foster care program inPittsford, N.Y. Photo: CNS photoby Karin von Voigtlander, CatholicCourier.

EDITOR IN CHIEFDrew Christiansen, S.J.

EDITORIAL DEPARTMENT

MANAGING EDITORRobert C. Collins, S.J.

EDITORIAL DIRECTORKaren Sue Smith

ONLINE EDITORMaurice Timothy Reidy

CULTURE EDITORJames Martin, S.J.

LITERARY EDITORPatricia A. Kossmann

POETRY EDITORJames S. Torrens, S.J.

ASSOCIATE EDITORSGeorge M. Anderson, S.J.

Matt Malone, S.J.Peter Schineller, S.J.

ASSISTANT EDITORFrancis W. Turnbull, S.J.

DESIGN AND PRODUCTIONStephanie Ratcliffe

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www.americamagazine.org VOL. 201 NO. 4, WHOLE NO. 4863 AUGUST 17–24, 2009

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O N T H E W E B

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CONTENTS

A R T I C L E S

13 A TIME FOR REFORMHow the Catholic tradition can shape the health care debate

Michael D. Place

16 OBAMA’S LONG WARHow long is the United States prepared to stay in Afghanistan?

Alon Ben-Meir

20 DEMYSTIFYING MEDICINEThe tension between faith and science in West Africa

John Perry

22 MODERN MANBrilliant and temperamental, the Abbé Lamennais anticipated many

of the reforms of the Second Vatican Council.

Thomas C. Kohler

C O L U M N S & D E P A R T M E N T S

4 Current Comment

5 Editorial Teilhard at Vespers

8 Signs of the Times

11 Column Homework for Congress John F. Kavanaugh

26 Faith in Focus “I Love You for Hating Me” Barbara J. Kouba

36 Letters

38 The Word Hard Choices; Inner Motives Barbara E. Reid

B O O K S & C U LT U R E

29 IDEAS Searching for Christ in a comic book culture

BOOKS The Street Stops Here; God Drops and Loses Things;

A Long Retreat

16

20

Maryann Cusimano Love examines Caritas in Veritate, and Michael D. Place takes questions on health care reform.Plus, Guerric DeBona, O.S.B., critiques the portrayal ofpriests on the silver screen, and Emily Brennan reviews“Julie & Julia.” All at americamagazine.org.

O N T H E W E B

Lights OutLike many other corporations, General Electric saw itssecond-quarter earnings plummet this year. Net incomefell 47 percent to $2.9 billion, down from $5.4 billion ayear ago. But there is a story buried within those coldnumbers that sheds light on the parlous condition of theU.S. economy. One of the main reasons for the earningsdecline is the poor performance of G.E.’s formerly prof-itable financial services arm, G.E. Capital. That divisionsaw its earnings fall by a staggering 80 percent, from $2.9billion last year to just $590 million.

You didn’t know G.E. was in the financial services busi-ness? Well, beginning in the 1980s the company longadmired for its reliable light bulbs and toasters began tojettison those traditional businesses in favor of somethingmore profitable—financial instruments. In 1984 the com-pany sold its small appliance division to Black & Decker.(That explains where your G.E. irons went.) Last year itannounced it would soon spin off, of all things, lighting,which may mean the end of the familiar G.E. light bulb.Where has the company focused its hopes? G.E. Capital,which originally helped homeowners finance purchases ofrefrigerators, but moved into arenas like real estate finance.It became the company’s leading profit center and one ofthe largest “non-bank” financial institutions in the world.Then came the crash.

G.E. mirrors the American economy, which has beenmoving away from “old-fashioned” businesses like manu-facturing into high finance. Perhaps it is time to rememberthe value of actually “bringing good things to life” ratherthan simply speculating on them.

Imbalance of Power?As Congress works out its proposals for health carereform, the spotlight has focused on the powerful SenateFinance Committee. If the committee agrees on a bill, itssix members—three Republicans and three Democrats—would offer the promise of significant bipartisan support.The power of this committee is especially striking whenone looks at the population of the states the members rep-resent. Wyoming (532,668), North Dakota (641,481) andMontana (967,440) are among the smallest in the nation;and Maine (1.3 million), New Mexico (1.9 million) andIowa (3 million) are not much bigger. In total, these sixsenators represent fewer than eight million people, lessthan the population of New York City. Yet they weigh inheavily on the future health care of all Americans, not just

for the 46 million uninsured or for the “other 46 million”who are on Medicare. The latter figure is expected to riserapidly over the next two decades.

One could regard this committee’s position as a prob-lem of immense disproportion, an imbalance of power thatshould somehow be checked. (Indeed, the House ofRepresentatives, which is the structural check on Senatepower, has proposed two bills of its own.) Or one couldview it idealistically, as an example of the genius of ourfounding fathers, who expected senators to govern withtheir own states in mind, which, when tempered by theHouse, would lead to the public good.

Given its scope, health care reform is an authentic testof how well our government works, or does not work.Still, another “check” must be considered when speaking ofgovernment: the people’s voice. In the national health caredebate so far, this voice has only begun to be heard.

Time CyclingLance Armstrong’s bid for an eighth Tour de France victo-ry came to an end in Paris last month as he placed third incycling’s storied event. The 37-year-old Texan did manageto make it to the podium, however, placing third to twoyounger rivals, including his Spanish teammate, AlbertoContador, who finished first for the second time.Armstrong was the second oldest cyclist to place at thetour, and his age granted him an underdog status he didnot enjoy during his record-setting string of seven victo-ries. Back then, he endured verbal assaults and worse fromFrench spectators who suspected he was doping. This timearound, the French largely greeted him with cheers, andthe usually stoic Armstrong seemed to enjoy the attention.

Armstrong left cycling in 2005 at the top of the sport,following the model of Sandy Koufax and other athleteswho preferred to end their careers early rather than allowthe public to watch age dull their brilliance. The urge tocompete lured Armstrong back, though surely the moneyhelped too. In the days before the race, it was easy to beconvinced that he would don the victor’s yellow jersey onceagain, even if he was still recovering from a collarboneinjury. In the end he failed, yet there was something just assatisfying about watching him compete fiercely but finallybe eclipsed in the critical moments. Like the 59-year-oldgolfer Tom Watson, who lost by one stroke at the BritishOpen, Armstrong failed to complete the storyline thatsportswriters longed to write, but that almost does notmatter. He will return to France to compete again nextyear, and the story will begin again.

4 America August 17–24, 2009

CURRENT COMMENT

Teilhard at Vespershe church seems forever to be embracing thoseshe once held in suspicion. Galileo Galilei, theItalian astronomer, is the most famous among

them. But there are others, too, like Thomas Aquinas, Joanof Arc and Ignatius Loyola. The most recent candidate forrehabilitation is the Jesuit paleontologist, evolutionaryphilosopher and spiritual writer Pierre Teilhard deChardin. Vatican watchers have taken note of PopeBenedict XVI’s appeal to Teilhard during an evening prayerservice he celebrated July 24 in Aosta, Italy, as a sign of re-appraisal of the priest and his thought. Citing Teilhard’s“great vision,” Pope Benedict urged that “we consecrate theworld, so it may become a living host,” a phrase reminiscentof the French Jesuit’s eucharistic theology, in which all cre-ation becomes an offering to God.

Teilhard articulated his vision during an expedition tothe Ordos Desert of Inner Mongolia in 1923. Lacking theelements of unleavened bread and wine to celebrate Mass,he composed a poetic prayer, “Mass on the World” (pub-lished in Hymn of the Universe; Harper, 1961), offering thewhole of creation in its evolutionary history as a host toGod. Pope Benedict has previously praised the sense of cos-mic liturgy in the Eastern church. His appeal to Teilhardadds the distinctive resonances of the Frenchman’s vision: acosmos evolved over time and increasingly known by scien-tific investigation; a spiritual process that comes to con-sciousness in humanity, a humanity whose spirituality isfound in activity as well as passivity; and a humanity callednot only to live in the world but also to transform it.

The pope’s prayer in fact puts emphasis on our obliga-tion to “transform the world.” In adopting this theme, histhinking seems to have developed along the same trajectoryas that of Pope John Paul II. After the Second VaticanCouncil, both expressed dismay at the optimistic,Teilhardian tone of the “Pastoral Constitution on theChurch in the Modern World,” with its focus on the cosmicChrist and its affirmation of the transformative power of theresurrection in history. Then-Bishop Karol Wojtyla com-plained that Christ the redeemer had been eclipsed byChrist in glory. As Pope John Paul II, he revised his opinionin his encyclical On Social Concern (1987). Likewise, PopeBenedict has come to write increasingly of the transforma-tion of the earth as a Christian vocation. He writes inCharity in Truth, for example, “Man’s earthly activity, when

inspired and sustained by charity con-tributes to the building of the universalcity of God, which is the goal of the his-tory of the human family” (No. 7). Thepope appears to acknowledge that thekind of sensibility Teilhard possessedbelongs to the full flowering of ourhuman nature. To an unexpected degree, he voices trust inthe graced capacity of human beings to transform the worldand in so doing make it a more fitting offering to God.

Like Teilhard, Pope Benedict reminds us that theworld we transform by our labor, our learning and our inge-nuity contributes to Christ’s great offering of the world toGod. The pope has pointed to an array of problems await-ing solution and transformation: the protection of humanlife and the environment, the expansion of the “responsibil-ity to protect” to include provision of food and water forneedy populations, and the creation of international struc-tures to regulate speculation in financial markets and gov-ern a global economy. Will American Catholics rise to theoccasion, leading our fellow citizens to meet these chal-lenges by taking new initiatives on behalf of the human fam-ily? Or will we allow ourselves to fall back, enthralled by theidols of self-aggrandizement and self-amusement that socaptivate our culture?

Decline is our civilization’s future if recovery from theglobal fiscal crisis returns to the consumerist pattern of thelate 20th-century America. Consumption has its place increating a floor of material well-being. But after a point itbecomes debilitating to the soul and to society. The trans-formation of the world certainly involves the expansion ofmarkets—not primarily among the affluent, however, butrather among the poor. Furthermore, human creativityneeds to be directed by fuller aspirations than improvementsin material welfare alone, because human beings are moreand desire more: aesthetically, intellectually, athletically, eco-logically, religiously. In whatever field we endeavor to trans-form the world—science, engineering, communications,business, the arts—we must aim at promoting sustainable,fully human development at rising levels of well-being for alland for everyone. At the end, when this transformation hasreached its fullness, as Teilhard wrote, “the presence ofChrist, which has been silently accruing in things, will sud-denly be revealed—like a flash of light from pole to pole.”

T

August 17–24, 2009 America 5

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and which the international communi-ty did not oppose, thereby undermin-ing the purpose of international law.

Similarly, the American academi-cian Noam Chomsky pointed out,during a panel discussion before theGeneral Assembly the same week,that Israel’s use of superior force hadthe backing of the United States,thereby compounding the damageinflicted. He also pointed out thatearly warning signs of impendinghumanitarian disasters tend to beignored when responding mightinterfere with profit motives. Hecited eastern Congo as an even worsedisaster than what is happening inDarfur, with Western corporationsalso “robbing” the region of valuableminerals. Western governments,Chomsky said, have done nothing toprevent this theft.

SIGNS OF THE TIMES

The second pillar focuses on theresponsibility of the internationalcommunity to assist sovereign statesthat are struggling with impendingviolence within their borders, aidingthem through capacity building andby establishing early-warning capabil-ities. Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon noted in a report on July 21 tothe General Assembly that “the worldhas underinvested in preventivecapacities” and had “failed to noticelooming mass murder” in Rwandaand elsewhere. Such failures reflectwhat he termed both a “paucity ofwill” and a “vicious cycle of...finger-pointing in the face of unfoldingatrocities.” The same failings havealso contributed to the internationalcommunity’s failure to stop the pre-sent-day mass violence in Darfur, theDemocratic Republic of the Congoand Somalia, the three most pressingunresolved conflicts.

nation-state’s duty to support and defend its population,known as the responsibility to protect, or R2P, was the subjectof a debate at the United Nations General Assembly in July.

The global body had already affirmed the concept of R2P at a meetingwith almost 150 world leaders in 2005. R2P is invoked in order to pre-vent four major crimes—namely, genocide, war crimes, ethnic cleansingand crimes against humanity. The July debate, the first on the subject atthe United Nations since 2005, reflected the fact that not all memberstates agree on how to implement the three pillars that support it.

Pillars one and two have received overall support from U.N. memberstates. The first pillar underscores the responsibility of nation-states toprotect their own people from violence that may arise from within,including prevention of both the crimes themselves and the incitementto crime. The 1994 genocide in Rwanda, with an estimated one millionslain, stands out as the most horrific example in recent decades of astate’s failure to fulfill this primary duty. Other tragedies like theHolocaust, the Khmer Rouge “killing fields” in Cambodia and the mas-sacres in the former Yugoslavia also stand out as matters for shame.

Controversial elements. The thirdpillar of R2P is more controversial. If acountry fails to protect its own people,and all subsequent peaceful attemptsby the international community toassist a people fail, then the R2P prin-ciple permits the collective use of forceunder the authorization of the UnitedNations. Key issues revolve aroundwho is using the force and upon whatpopulations, and whether the use offorce is proportionate and clearly pre-scribed by the R2P principle. Migueld’Escoto Brockmann, president of theGeneral Assembly, said on July 21 thatrecent events have engendered a “pre-vailing lack of trust among developingcountries” regarding any use of forceby the developed countries. He citedGaza as an example of an inappropri-ate use of force by Israel, which inflict-ed numerous civilian deaths deaths,

A

U N I T E D N A T I O N S

The State’s Duty to Protect: Enforcement in Question

Displaced Sudanese family at a shelter in Darfur


Sovereignty principle. The veryconcept of R2P stems from a positiveview of sovereignty as responsibility.But past events like those in Rwanda, aswell as ongoing conflicts in Darfur, theDemocratic Republic of Congo andSomalia, show that this positive view ofsovereignty is not shared by all. Thethree pillars of R2P are not thought tobe of equal height, and what rests ontop of them can therefore be unbal-anced. The answer may well lie, asd’Escoto Brockmann said in his open-ing statement, in the creation of “a morejust and equal world order, including inthe economic and social sense, as well asa [reformed] Security Council.” In themeantime more needs to be done tobuild trust and to recognize that pillarthree may provide the only solution tosome otherwise intractable situations.As Archbishop Desmond Tutu put it

in an open letter to the memberstates, “If a state cannot or willnot prevent or end these crimes,then the international commu-nity must...take decisiveaction...by protecting vulnera-ble peoples when States areunwilling to do so.”

Most would not deny thatthe R2P principle has beenmisused by powerful nation-states. Susan Rice, the U.S.ambassador to the UnitedNations, has said that it hadbeen inappropriately used inconflicts like the largelyAmerican-led invasion of Iraq.But there have been somenotable victories. In his report,the secretary general spokeapprovingly of the way theinternational community’stimely intervention in Kenyatook place early enough to fore-stall further bloodshed afterthe disputed election of 2008.

As he put it, “If the international com-munity acts early enough, the choiceneed not be a stark one between doingnothing and using force.” Less thanstark choices are now available, if theneeded political will is brought to bear.

GEORGE M. ANDERSON, S.J., is an associ-ate editor of America.

H E A L T H C A R E D E B A T E

Catholic LeadersDenounce‘Distortions’

s the House of Repre-sentatives headed out ofWashington for a five-week

summer recess, with the Senate soon

to follow, members of Congress werevowing to listen to their constituents’views on health care reform. Whatshould the American Catholic publicbe telling their representatives and sen-ators in light of Catholic social teach-ing? “We need health reform thatrespects the life and dignity of everyperson, from conception to naturaldeath,” said Carol Keehan, a memberof the Daughters of Charity who ispresident and chief executive officer ofthe Catholic Health Association.“That means the unborn, it means thepatient with multiple sclerosis, thepatient with cancer, the young mother,

Carol Keehan, D.C.

A

the addicted, the mentally ill, the dyingpatient and the frail, frail elderly.”

In an interview on Aug. 3, SisterKeehan decried the “deliberate distor-tions” about health care reform beingcirculated by “those who for whateverreason don’t want health reform tosucceed.” The worst of the distortions,Keehan said, is that C.H.A. andCatholic Charities USA are “workingat cross-purposes” with the U.S.Conference of Catholic Bishops on theabortion issue in health reform.


when a crowd attacked the easternPakistani town of Gojra, setting fire todozens of Christian homes.Authorities said tensions were runninghigh in the area, fueled by a false rumorthat a copy of the Koran, the sacredbook of Islam, had been desecrated. Atelegram sent in the pope’s name saidthe pontiff was “deeply grieved to learnof the senseless attack” on the Christiancommunity. Noting the “tragic deaths”and the immense destruction in theneighborhood, he sent condolences to

According to Sister Keehan, allthree groups are sending a clear mes-sage that health reform must be “atleast abortion-neutral” and mustinclude conscience protections forhealth care professionals and institu-tions that do not want to participate inabortions or other morally objection-able medical procedures.

Topics Identified forApostolic VisitationOrders of women religious in theUnited States will be asked to com-plete a comprehensive questionnairethat looks at six areas of religious life inpreparation for a series of apostolic vis-its set to begin in January. Topics to beconsidered are outlined in a workingdocument distributed on July 28 to341 leaders of religious congregationsof women. The topics are related tothe life and operation of the orders:identity; governance; vocation promo-tion, admission and formation poli-cies; spiritual life and common life;mission and ministry; and finances.Members of the orders are being askedto reflect on the working document. Aseparate questionnaire based on theworking document will be distributedto superiors general on Sept. 1, mark-ing the opening of the second phase ofa comprehensive study of U.S. insti-tutes of women religious. The study,ordered by the Vatican, wasannounced in January.

Pope Deplores Killings in PakistanPope Benedict XVI has deplored thekilling of eight Christians in Pakistanby a Muslim mob and urged the minor-ity Christian community not to bedeterred by the attack. The Christians,including four women and a child, wereeither shot or burned alive on Aug. 1

• The highest court inBritain has ordered aclarification of the lawon assisted suicide afterhearing a plea from amultiple sclerosis suffer-er who wanted to knowif her husband would beprosecuted if he helpedher to travel to aeuthanasia clinic inSwitzerland. More than100 British citizens have killed themselves in the clinic. • SevenCatholics who were detained after a violent police raid at a disputedVietnamese church site will face criminal charges, a Vietnameseofficial announced July 28. The group was taken into custody on July20 after trying to erect a cross at the ruins of a parish church that hadbeen destroyed by U.S. bombers during the Vietnam War. The bish-op’s office of the Vinh Diocese immediately denounced the decision.• The Mexican Catholic bishops’ conference has criticized federalpolice for bursting into a Mass in Mexico’s western Michoacan Stateto apprehend an alleged drug-cartel lieutenant. “We make an ener-getic protest against the lack of respect and the violence,” the bishopssaid on Aug. 3. • Despite a personal request from Pope BenedictXVI and repeated requests by Christian leaders in Turkey, theTurkish government has decided that the only church in Tarsus, thecity of St. Paul’s birth, will remain a government museum. TheChurch of St. Paul, built as a Catholic church in the 1800s, was con-fiscated by the government in 1943.

SIGNS OF THE TIMES

N E W S B R I E F S

the families of the victims andexpressed solidarity with the survivors.The telegram, sent to Bishop JosephCoutts of Faisalabad, asked the bishopto “encourage the whole diocesan com-munity, and all Christians in Pakistan,not to be deterred in their efforts tohelp build a society which, with a pro-found sense of trust in religious andhuman values, is marked by mutualrespect among all its members.”

From CNS and other sources.

Federal police patrol streets in Morelia, Mexico.

an open letter, titled “Getting ReformRight,” to members of Congress,applauding them and the president fortheir efforts to reform the system andnoting that Medicare now “pays themost to ten states that often providepoorer outcomes, safety and service athigher cost and much less to most ofthe country, where providers demon-strate generally better outcomes, safetyand service at lower cost.”

The present threat to Medicare andto our entire health systemis caused by our fixation onquantity rather than value.The problem is that insur-ance companies wantgreater volume in profits,lawyers want greaterrewards in lawsuits,patients want more proce-dures, and hospitals want abigger census for beds occu-pied. If you make M.R.I.machines, the more you sellthe better. If you provide costly M.R.I.technology at your hospital, you wantit used. If you have lots of I.C.U. beds,you want them occupied. If theseimpulses prevail, the health care sys-tem, as well as our economy, will col-lapse.

On the C-Span program Dr.Gibbons, with an openness to whichmany politicians and ideologues seemaverse, advised that all of us “will haveto give something.” And yet taxpayers,the wealthy, the poor, the lawyers, theinsurance companies and many healthcare providers appear to be unwillingto give up any of their demands forquantity.

Nonetheless, Dr. Gibbons does notsee the situation as futile. Like the“Getting Reform Right” open letter, he

lthough President Obamahad wanted a health carepackage delivered to him

before the congressional recess, I thinkit was crucial that the House andSenate delayed their judgment. Thehealth care crisis is central to both oureconomic troubles and our well-beingas a national community. As the presi-dent said, “We want to do it right.” Inaddition to the daunting task of read-ing the proposed bills of both houses,our elected officers would be wise tospend part of their vacation doingsome extra homework.

A good place to start is the MayoClinic, in Rochester, Minn., one of themore successful providers of qualitycare with excellent outcomes forpatients at lower costs. After hearingthe news stories claiming that the clin-ic did not support Obama’s healthplan, it was a relief to find Mayo’s RayGibbons, M.D., an eminent cardiolo-gist and strategist at the clinic’s HealthPolicy Center, talking about the healthcare crisis on C-Span on July 22.

In an eminently sane and fair dis-cussion, something seldom seen ontelevision or in Congress, Gibbons fre-quently affirmed that the Mayo Clinicsupports Obama’s call for universalcoverage. What the clinic, with a num-ber of other prominent medicalgroups, wants to see in the bill is areform of the payment system, whichnow rewards quantity of procedures(even if ineffective and sometimesunwarranted) and neglects quality.

The Mayo Clinic, along with 18other health system organizations, sent

recommends that all of us, especiallyCongress, consider the MedicarePayment Improvement Act sponsoredby Representative Ron Kind,Democrat of Wisconsin, and others. Asummary of the bill, available on Kind’sWeb site under the heading “QualityAffordable Health Care,” highlightsnot only the issues of coverage, choiceand affordability with controlling costsbut also the much overlooked issues ofshared responsibility, prevention and

the key challenge for usto invest nationally inthe education of healthcaregivers. The onlyaddition I would maketo this bill is a provisionthat protects institu-tions and taxpayers whocannot in consciencepay for or perform abor-tion and euthanasia.

One of the signers ofthe letter to Congress is

the Dartmouth Institute for HealthPolicy and Clinical Practice. If youvisit their Web site you will find,among other informative offerings, abrilliant five-page summary of thequantity-value problem. Titled“Health Care Spending, Quality andOutcomes,” it provides powerful evi-dence of the ineffectiveness and wastein the present health care system. Anyserious reader should make a hardcopy of this document and send it toone’s senators and representative.They have some homework to do.

If our legislators investigate theways of reforming the payment systemand challenging every vested interest—that is, the vested interests of us all—for the sake of the common good, theirhomework will have paid off for all.

‘We don’twant to just

do it quickly,we want todo it right.’

Barack ObamaJuly 29, 2009


JOHN F. K AVANAUGH

JOHN F. KAVANAUGH, S.J., is a professor ofphilosophy at St. Louis University in St.Louis, Mo.

Homework for Congress

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Camillus McGoldrick, aFranciscan sister, talksto a patient in the emergency room at St. Francis Hospital inWilmington, Del.

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A Time forReformBY MICHAEL D. PLACE

ccording to the U.S. Census Bureau, nearly 46 millionAmericans were without health insurance in 2007. FamiliesU.S.A., a health care advocacy group, has estimated thatover the course of 2007-8, 54 percent of Americans underage 65 were without health insurance at some point. Unpaid

medical bills are a primary reason people file for bankruptcy. At the sametime, the cost of health care coverage continues to escalate, with the aver-age cost exceeding $4,000 per year for a single person and $10,000 for afamily. Health care expenditures now constitute 17 percent of the grossdomestic product. These realities have contributed to a growing consensusthat now is the time for us as a nation to address the related health carequestions of cost, coverage and quality.

For several reasons, I am cautiously optimistic that substantive legisla-tion will be passed and signed this year. First, health care reform is a clearpriority of the new presidential administration, which, consciously avoid-ing some of the mistakes of the past, is working collaboratively withCongress. Second, congressional leadership in both houses seems commit-ted to overcoming the turf wars that contributed to the demise of theClinton health care proposals. Third, interest groups whose conflictshelped derail the last reform attempt have been involved in discussion withboth the administration and Congress. Various coalitions of these groupshave even tried to draft consensus statements to guide future deliberations.Notably, the president of the association that sponsored the infamous“Harry and Louise” ads in the 1990s pledged at a White House summit tobe a constructive participant in the reform discussions. Finally, and unfor-tunately, the growth of joblessness during the current recession has exacer-bated and highlighted the problem of lack of coverage.

Past FailuresStill, there are reasons for caution. First, we have been at this conversation

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HOW THE CATHOLIC TRADITION

CAN SHAPE THE HEALTH CARE DEBATE


REV. MICHAEL D. PLACE, a priest of the Archdiocese of Chicago, is past president andchief executive officer of the Catholic Health Association and current chair of the

International Federation of Catholic Health Institutions.

for over 64 years; President Harry Truman called for“health security for all” in 1945. The momentum of historydoes not favor success. Second, when the 110th Congressbegan, there was near universal consensus that the StateChildren’s Health Insurance Program would be reautho-rized and its coverage expanded. No one was against cover-ing children. In fact, reauthorization did not happen in the110th. Though it did occur in January, at the beginning ofthe new Congress, this failure shows how difficult it can befor our federal legislative process to translate aspirationsinto action. Third, the president is asking Congress todevelop policies and programs that will provide coverage forall or nearly all Americans now and also to find a sustainableway of funding a reformedsystem. While theoretical-ly this approach is prefer-able, many wonderwhether the complexity ofdoing both will doom theentire effort; some ques-tion whether it would bebetter to take an incre-mental approach. Fourth,included under coverage, cost and quality are myriad dis-tinct but interrelated issues that require attention and willnot be easy to address effectively.

As an observer of political and legislative processes, Ithink cautious optimism is a reasonable perspective. Butwhat if one changes the frame of analysis from the politicalto the ecclesial? Such a change radically alters my perspec-tive; I turn from cautious optimism to deep concern. Why?

Catholic ConcernsAs a Catholic theologian, I was struck when PresidentObama recently began speaking of health care reform as acore element of an economic recovery program. While thepresident has spoken of expanding coverage in terms broad-er than containment of cost and a healthy economy, his useof an economic rationale for action is not surprising. Sincethe Reagan era, and most noticeably in the last administra-tion, the public policy language of health care has shifted.Health care has come to be considered a commodity thatshould be subject to market forces. As an informed con-sumer, the patient should be entitled to the best product atthe lowest cost. Competition will drive innovation and effec-tive delivery. And the role of government is to be involved aslittle as possible, lest government impede market forces.

While that is a simplification of a complex series of socialdevelopments, it is fair to say that at the level of governmentand of some social theoreticians, the perspective has shiftedsignificantly on the nature and role of health care in oursociety. That shift is increasingly is at odds with the

Catholic social justice tradition. In Catholic theology, access to health care is a fundamen-

tal social good, because health is essential to human flour-ishing and the preservation of human dignity; as such,health care is an aspect of the common good. Society andthe state have a dual obligation to protect the right to healthcare and to provide the means necessary for its fulfillment.

Clearly this theological perspective is in tension withaspects of the current American ethos. Polling conductedseveral years ago by the Catholic Health Association of theUnited States indicated that Americans are uncomfortablespeaking of health care as a “right.” Yet respondents did notconsider it to be the same as any other “commodity.” For

those polled, health carewas “special.”

Building on thatinsight, I proposed in theBrennan Lecture atGeorgetown University inApril, 1999, that we con-sider health care an essen-tial building block for afree society, much like the

provision of public education or of police and fire protec-tion, which are necessary for the well-being of society. TheCatholic Health Association has outlined values and princi-ples that can inform public discourse on the subject. Lastyear it published Our Vision for U.S. Health Care, whichbrings the richness of the Catholic tradition into dialoguewith the American political and economic heritage.

While our Catholic social justice tradition has an inter-nal coherency and the Catholic health care ministry in thiscountry has a common voice, as a nation we do not have asimilar consensus about the nature of health care and theterms of our social responsibility. Absent such consensus,we lack a framework for evaluating any forthcoming legisla-tion. If our country were attacked, there would be over-whelming support for mounting a vigorous defense, even ifthat meant increasing the national debt, because we agree asa nation that collective security is essential to our well-being. We do not have a similar agreement about access tohealth care. Many argue that health care reform must bebudget-neutral. But how do we know whether that is thebest approach?

Resources Versus RationingConcern about the increasing share of the G.D.P. consumedby health care is understandable, but how does one deter-mine what is too much? As a nation we seem incapable ofhaving an honest discussion about what Cardinal JosephBernardin once spoke of as “the allocation of scarceresources.” Theologically and practically, there are limits to

Access to health care is a

fundamental social good, because

health is essential to human

flourishing and the preservation

of human dignity.


pro-choice. Will one or the other feel pressure (or commit-ment to principle) to use health care reform legislation toexpand access to abortion? If they do, will they allow “con-science clause” protection for individuals and institutionsmorally opposed to abortion?

Though the president has demonstrated a commitmentto common goals and an appreciation of the importance ofreligious discourse and values in advancing the well-being ofsociety, it is not clear that his administration appreciatesthat for Catholics religion is not just a private matter. Whileour faith informs and guides our personal lives, it alsoguides us as faithful and responsible citizens. Opposition toabortion is like opposition to murder or slavery. Though attimes there is disagreement among Catholics about the bestway to advance this commitment in a pluralistic society, itwould be a mistake for any policy maker to underestimatethe Catholic commitment to the dignity of all human life.

Finally, the Catholic Church as a social institution—through its ministries of education, health care and socialservice—is an essential element of the public life of thisnation. It is difficult to imagine that legislation could passthat would deny conscience protection to these ministries.But no one should doubt that if forced to make the choice,these institutions would leave the public square before theywould abandon their commitment to life from conceptionto natural death.

The Preferred RouteHow do we proceed? We should avoid the pitfall of somewho seem to refuse to engage in reasoned dialogue. Ourposition is nuanced and complex. Many Catholics, includ-ing Catholics in public office, do not appreciate the three-fold distinction: private practice, public voice and socialinstitutional presence. We need to educate and inform ourleaders about these and other Catholic principles. We musttranslate our faith commitments into language that can beunderstood in the public square. In a society increasinglyinfluenced by 24-hour news cycles and shrill sound bites, weought to provide a counterpoint of reasoned, respectful dia-logue. A commitment to life does not replace the virtue ofcharity. The moment might come when moral outrage andprophetic witness are necessary. Until then, strength of con-viction and participation in a political process that buildscoalitions of support for the right cause are the preferredroute. This requires that we reach out to others who shareour perspective and that we work together as a church—laity, bishops and our Catholic ministries. Perceived internaldivisions only diminish our effectiveness.

Cautious optimism and deep concern are reasons for us asa community of faith and as a nation to see these next monthsas a time of opportunity. The momentum of history is againstus. But who says that history must repeat itself?

what government or society can or should do; it is a fictionto believe everyone can have access to everything they wantor need with regard to health care. Attempts to addressscarcity, however, are sidetracked by the way the conversa-tion is framed, not in terms of the allocation of scarceresources but rather in terms of “the rationing” of healthcare. Because rationing is perceived as un-American, thepublic conversation ends at that point. But the scarcity ofresources persists.

Without a national consensus, we make ad-hoc decisionswith serious consequences. The uninsured are denied accessto preventive health care, a primary physician or the fullrange of medical services and instead receive care in emer-gency rooms; Medicaid patients in one state have access toservices not available in another state; providers who carefor Medicare or Medicaid patients are not paid for the costof providing services and so pass those costs on to patientswho have insurance. We already ration health care; we justrefuse to admit it.

While substantive, all these concerns do not preclude thepossibility of good legislation being passed. But these con-cerns invite us as advocates for change to resist beingtrapped by the commonly used terminology of commodityand balanced budget. They also invite Catholics to becomeinvolved in the discussion of reform and to use the resourcesdeveloped by the C.H.A. and others to raise the conversa-tion to the level of principle: evaluating all that is proposedin light of social justice, with our first question being whatany proposal will do to or for the poor and vulnerable.

The Question of AbortionThere is a second reason for deep concern: Will the issue ofabortion block reform? While there were many reasons theClinton health care proposal failed before it came to a vote,the issue of abortion was very much in play. Pro-choiceadvocates insisted that if there were to be universal coverage,abortion must be a covered benefit. From a public policyperspective, the U.S. bishops were strongly supportive ofuniversal coverage, but they opposed expanding access toabortion by making it a covered benefit. The bishops alsofeared that as a condition of participation in the new deliv-ery system, Catholic health care institutions would berequired to provide abortions. Finally, the bishops wereopposed to Catholic taxpayers supporting governmentfunding of an immoral activity. There were many attemptsto work through this impasse. I was present in the WhiteHouse when a final effort was made. After it failed, thebishops were among those who raised objections to theClinton legislation.

The current effort might avoid such pitfalls. That beingsaid, it is a matter of fact that the current administrationand a majority of the House of Representatives are solidly


A

he Obama administration is struggling tofind a solution to the current upheaval inAfghanistan and Pakistan. After a successfulmilitary strategy in Afghanistan that over-threw the Taliban rule in 2002, the absence

of a strong U.S. presence in the interim has allowed theinsurgents to regroup in full force. The Obama administra-tion is now pursuing a new strategy unveiled this spring,waging war in the tribal areas within Afghanistan itself andalong the Pakistan border. The United States must realizeearly on that there is no shortcut in dealing with ruthlessTaliban and Al Qaeda forces.

If the United States is not prepared to stay in the regionfor a generation, it must muster all the necessary resourcesnow to pursue its objectives wholeheartedly. For success inthis region cannot be achieved without rebuildingAfghanistan from the bottom up and aiding the Pakistangovernment and military in dealing with the danger itscountry is facing. Unless the infrastructure of the Talibanand Al Qaeda and their sanctuaries in Pakistan aredestroyed, both the war in Afghanistan and the new andescalating chaos in Pakistan will persist.

President Obama’s sending of 17,000 more Americantroops to Afghanistan is necessary to stem the rising tide ofthe insurgency, but their focus must be on training andstrengthening the Afghan military and police. The current80,000 troops that compose the Afghan National Armywill probably need to be doubled within two or three years.To achieve this, more resources must be allocated for train-ing and equipment while, at least initially, carrying outcounterinsurgency efforts alongside the Afghan military. Afocused campaign should be undertaken to woo the non-ideologue Afghan foot-soldiers fighting for money besidethe Taliban insurgents, by offering them better-paying jobswithin the new security apparatus, and co-opting some ofthe tribal leaders, who might switch sides for the right com-pensation. Although this idea has been afloat between theAfghan government and U.S. military for some time, noconcerted effort has been made. Once potential “converts”are identified, U.S. military leaders should hand this task

over to Afghan and American civilians as part of recon-struction and rehabilitation.

Poppies and Afghan FarmersThe United States also must end the farming and cultivationof poppies that subsidize the Taliban and Al Qaeda by offer-ing farmers crop alternatives and subsidies. It is estimatedthat less than $400 million could achieve this criticallyimportant objective. Without significant alternatives, theTaliban will not only continue to finance the insurgency, butmaintain mutually beneficial relationships with thousands ofdestitute Afghan farmers and their families who have noother way to make a living. What is needed is a systematicengagement of Afghan farmers in sustainable farming pro-jects fully subsidized by the United States, while the U.S.uses trained Afghan civilians to supervise such efforts underthe protection of the U.S. military. There are no shortcuts.Spraying existing fields without first providing the farmerswith alternate sources of living has only alienated farmers inthe past. The farmers need a steady income and U.S. protec-tion until the Taliban no longer threatens them.

Even more critical to the future stability of Afghanistanis a major focus on reconstruction, sorely neglected by theBush administration. A nation torn by bloody conflicts andcivil war for more than three decades must be healed fromwithin. Afghans need to feel that their children will be edu-cated, that health care is available and that their governmentcan deliver other basic services and protection. Personalinsecurity and a lack of human necessities can make even aTaliban regime preferable to chaos. The United States hasno choice but to fund these projects adequately. Now thatmore than a $1 trillion have been squandered in Iraq overthe years, the Obama administration must find the few bil-lions needed each year for this indispensable aspect of thewar in Afghanistan.

The United States should guide the Afghans in thebuilding of democratic institutions, especially the formationof national political parties that can produce leaders withnational appeal. Economic assistance must also expand sus-tainable development projects that empower ordinary peo-ple, especially women, while fostering collective interest inmaintaining the flow of new wealth these projects generate.Existing projects require increased security so that the suc-cessful models can grow. The Provincial Reconstruction

Obama’s Long War BY ALON BEN-MEIR


ALON BEN-MEIR is professor of international relations at the Center forGlobal Affairs at New York University, as well as the Middle East pro-ject director at the World Policy Institute.

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Teams, instrumental in protecting ground operations,should be expanded and further supported by NATOmember states. Incorporating qualified and fully trainedAfghans into the P.R.T.’s is essential to ensure their contin-ued success.

Relentlessness should characterize the United States’efforts to involve its NATO allies directly. Many wouldresist deep involvement in a counterinsurgency war, butthese reluctant NATO members must realize that the waragainst terrorism in Afghanistan and in Iraq has globalimplications. In the past few years AlQaeda and other affiliated terroristgroups have repeatedly attacked Europe,not the United States. The Obamaadministration should focus on howNATO countries can contribute more.The Turks, for example, have offered military and policetraining. Other nations could help train and equip theAfghan police and security. The Obama administrationmust encourage the United Nations to take the lead insecuring donor nations to share in the building ofAfghanistan. Over the years the United Nations hasdemonstrated that it is best suited for such tasks, providedthat donor countries actually pay what they have pledged(which has not always been the case). The United States canstrengthen the U.N.’s position as a clearinghouse and coor-dinator of all nonmilitary efforts in Afghanistan.

What About Pakistan?The solution for Pakistan is much more difficult, and it ishere that the war against the Taliban and Al Qaeda will bewon or lost. The focus of the war must now shift to thesanctuaries and terrorist safe havens along Pakistan’s north-west border with Afghanistan. The Pakistani Taliban pro-vides perfect shelter to Al Qaeda leaders, fuels the Talibaninsurgency in Afghanistan and destabilizes Pakistan’sFederally Administered Tribal Areas. It is from this areathat the leaders retool and plot their next attacks, which is

why it has become a focal point for theU.S. military strategy.

The Obama administration mustundertake several critical measures nottaken by the previous administration andthat led to a crisis of confidence between

Pakistan and the United States. The U.S. must make asupreme effort to improve its image there. The Bush legacyleft most Pakistanis with a bitter distaste for American pol-icy and outreach. This may be attributed to PresidentBush’s unconditional support for the unpopularMusharraf, the rising toll of civilian casualties caused bydrone attacks and a general distrust toward Americans,who might abandon Pakistan as they have twice beforeabandoned Afghanistan.

The United States should make it clear that the fightagainst the Taliban and Al Qaeda is as much a Pakistani war

ON THE WEBA conversation

with Alon Ben-Meir.

americamagazine.org/podcast

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as it is an American or Afghan war. When Pakistan’sPresident Asif Ali Zardari agreed to allow the Taliban toinstitute Shariah law in the Swat region and the Talibanstormed into Bonier, Pakistanis were awakened to theincreasing danger of the Taliban forces among them.President Obama must emphasize that unlike U.S. aid usedagainst the Soviets in the cold war, or against the Taliban in2002, this time the United States has the stamina to perse-vere for as long as it takes to create stability in the region.The powerful Pakistani army must take the lead with adetermination to root out the Taliban and Al Qaeda fight-ers; currently the Pakistani army wields far more power andinfluence than the government. President Obama must clar-ify that in exchange for training, equipment and long-termU.S. support, the Pakistani army and the Inter-ServicesIntelligence must make the fight against the Taliban and AlQaeda their top priority.

Four PrerequisitesThe goal cannot be achieved, however, without putting inplace four prerequisites. First, the Pakistani military mustshift its focus from the Indo-Pakistani dispute over Kashmirto the Afghan-Pakistan border, as it has started to do.During the past seven years billions of dollars in U.S. mili-tary assistance to Pakistan was spent on weapons procure-ment and training against India. The United States shouldbolster efforts to reduce the tension between India andPakistan, and disabuse Pakistan of the presumed imminentIndian threat. The United States should mediate betweenthe two sides to find a peaceful solution to the Kashmir con-flict. At a minimum, India and Pakistan can commit them-selves to a nonbelligerent approach to the issue. ThePakistani public must support this shift, which would givethe government latitude to focus on the internal and moreominous threat. The Obama administration should assurethe Pakistani military intelligence elite that there is no U.S.-Indian-Afghan “conspiracy” designed to dismember thePakistani state. Here, better cooperation between the C.I.A.and the I.S.I. would help to assuage such concerns while

dealing with the Taliban more effectively.Second, the Obama administration must provide the

Pakistani army with the necessary tools and equipment towage a war against insurgency—a war the military is reluc-tant to fight and does not yet know how to execute. Scoresof combat helicopters, night-vision devices and training areneeded to battle an invisible foe. These should be part of theUnited States’ increased military assistance. Training willtake time, as will changing the mindset of the militaryforces. Meanwhile, the United States should insist quietlyon an end to all collaboration between the Pakistani intelli-gence and terrorist groups. The Pakistani military and civil-ian authorities must realize that this war will not be won byhalf-hearted efforts, and that the fate of their own state isintertwined with peace and stability in Afghanistan.

Third, Pakistan and Afghanistan must fully collaborate intheir fight against the Taliban and Al Qaeda, which requiresimproved relations between the two countries. The Obamaadministration’s recent effort in Washington to improve therelationship between Afghan President Hamid Karzai andPresident Asif Ali Zardari of Pakistan is extremely impor-tant and should be pursued. Settling the border disputebetween the two countries will help resolve their historic dif-ferences and will allow the Pakistani army to deal more effec-tively with border crossings by the Taliban fighters and withthe smuggling of narcotics and weapons.

Fourth, U.S. concern over the safety of Pakistan’s nucle-ar stockpile is genuine and justified. Although the Pakistanimilitary offers assurances about its safety, the United Statescannot take safety for granted. The danger of nuclearweapons or material falling into the hands of a terroristgroup cannot readily be ruled out. Pakistan is extraordinar-ily sensitive about its nuclear weapons and suspects that theUnited States might have some design in mind to seizethem. The Obama administration must work out anarrangement whereby the Pakistanis would feel safe and incontrol of their weapons, while the United States is satisfiedthat under no circumstances could such weapons or materi-al fall into the wrong hands.

With the best of intentions and withall the efforts and resources needed tosecure a peaceful ending to the war inAfghanistan and Pakistan, there is still noassurance of success. President Obama’scampaign has just begun, and this warmay be his longest. The United States canleave the region successfully only whenAfghanistan and Pakistan realize thatthey must fight the war against terror astheir own. America must stand ready andwilling to help them win it, with stayingpower this time around.


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eorges Bernanos began his novel The Diaryof a Country Priest with the words of thecurate: “Mine is a parish like all the rest.”While this characterization may have beenaccurate for a parish in rural France, it is not

true here in Liberia. For the past eight months, as I haveministered to the faithful people of God in Holy FamilyParish in Caldwell, outside of Monrovia, I have had a grow-ing awareness that some of my faith judgments may not bethe same as those of my parishioners, in part because I comefrom Canada and am not African.

Last September, as I presided and preached on the feastof the Exaltation of the Holy Cross, the first reading fromNm 21:4-9 required careful handling. The striking image ofa bronze serpent with healing power in the desert wouldresonate well, I thought, among the people, many of whomstill carry fetishes or magical amulets to ward off negativepowers, known here as juju. My worry, though, was that Imight be understood as saying that the cross is simplyanother powerful and effective juju, which is not what Imeant.

Around the same time I visited a seriously ill parishionerin the Catholic hospital in Monrovia. She was in a cataton-ic state from which she never recovered. The clinical diag-nosis was meningitis, but many members of her family andsome fellow parishioners believed the problem had to do

Demystifying MedicineThe tension between faith and science in West AfricaBY JOHN PERRY


JOHN PERRY, S.J., an associate professor of religious studies at theUniversity of Manitoba, Canada, is currently on study leave at HolyFamily Parish in Monrovia, Liberia.

A young Liberian boy eats as his mothertalks with a doctor at a clinic of theInternational Rescue Committee inMonrovia in September 2003.

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with her late twin brother, who had died the previous year.Since she was his twin, West African traditional beliefscalled for her to be physically lifted up by family membersafter his death and passed over his corpse; then there wouldbe a ritual bath for her. The purpose of the ritual was tocounteract her twin brother’s efforts to make her spirit joinhis in death. Since she had not done this, she sensed hisspirit at night in her bedroom urging her to join him. Howcould I as her pastor respond to this, except to grieve withthose who mourned for her after she died in the hospital,celebrate a prayerful funeral liturgy and do whatever I couldto be of assistance to her children and husband?

Modern Medicine and ‘African Science’For most of our Liberian parishioners, there are two ways ofproceeding regarding health and illness. The first is decid-edly “modern”; one seeks the best available treatment onecan afford from the many clinics, pharmacies and healthcare professionals. The second level is “traditional”; it doesnot subscribe fully to the “germ theory” of illness. Onegroup of traditionalists uses herbs and other natural reme-dies. Another insists that illness is caused by a spirit invokedby an enemy. The solution is to seek someone in touch withan even more powerful spirit, who calls forth that spirit toheal the one who is ill.

People say that a particular parishioner has gone to the“sick bush,” which means to the witch doctor who is helpingthem get well. Liberian pragmatism precludes ruling outone level in favor of the other. Whenever modern medicinedoes not yield the hoped-for result, one turns to the secondlevel, sometimes referred to as “African science.”

Among the most feared participants in African scienceare “heartmen”—human vivisectionists who remove vitalorgans from unfortunate victims for the practice of juju.People are terrified of these “medical” practitioners and fearbeing associated with them. An effort by the Justice andPeace Committee of our parish at mediation in a rape casewas derailed when someone referred to the rapist as a heart-man; the meeting ended in acrimony.

Some priests and most of their lay assistants endorse adual-track approach to medical problems. I know one priestwho was involved in a serious and long-lasting conflict witha parishioner. Suddenly large abrasions appeared on his skinover his kidneys. They reminded him of tribal facial marksand caused him discomfort. Even more troubling was theway his genitals became enlarged. Upon hearing of the prob-lem, his lay assistant introduced him to a practitioner of“reverse juju,” who could cause physical harm to the perpe-trator. Unwilling to retaliate in this way, the priest declinedthe offer and sought medical attention. None of the nurses ordoctors he consulted attributed his problem to African sci-ence. After a thorough physical examination and various

tests, his physician spoke of an unidentifiable pathogen thatwas causing his trouble and prescribed a strong antibiotic,which eventually cleared up the condition.

Holy Family Parish may not be entirely typical of WestAfrica or even of Liberia. During the 14-year civil war thatended in 2003, the parish was occupied at different times bythree rebel militias, which fought pitched battles with oneanother, with the armed forces of Liberia and with the WestAfrican peacekeepers known by the acronym Ecomog. Manyparishioners became “internally displaced persons” or leftLiberia as refugees. Others who stayed suffered various formsof trauma. Catholic pastoral care for them at the time was hitor miss, because for 11 years priests came only on Sundays, ifthey came at all. Out of ignorance or necessity, traditionalbeliefs and practices competed with Catholic ones.

Perhaps these topics will be discussed at the Synod forAfrica in October 2009. One paragraph (No. 32) in thepreparatory document for the synod states that “some falsebeliefs and practices from African cultures demand specialattention” and mentions witchcraft and ancestral rites of wid-owhood as special concerns. The idea of Bernanos’s curé, thatone parish is like all others, still informs some official teachingin the church. This leaves country priests in Africa wonderingwhat they should do with their people. It is my hope that frankdiscussion of African traditional beliefs will take place, per-haps behind closed doors, at the coming synod.


PRESIDENTCatholics in Alliance for the Common Good, anational social justice organization in WashingtonDC, is seeking an extraordinary leader to direct itstalented staff and mission to promote Catholic SocialTeaching and its core values of human dignity andthe common good. The Alliance works on a range ofcommon good issues to advance the cause of socialjustice through the media, field organizing andstrategic coordination. Since 2005, Catholics inAlliance has transformed the ways in which Catholicvalues are represented in the mainstream media andthe public discourse on religion and politics.

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A

he already elderly Pope John XXIII—electedonly weeks earlier primarily to sit as a “placehold-er” on the chair of Peter—startled the church andthe world 50 years ago last January by announcing

his intention to convene an ecumenical council. Since themoment of its announcement, heated quarrels over theadvisability, meaning and fruits of the council have gone onunabated—a sort of Fifty Year (and counting) War—leav-ing many of us who have few memories or none at all of theSecond Vatican Council to wonder how and why it all cameabout in the first place.

Major events typically have deep and tangled historicalroots. John XXIII said that the idea for a council came sud-denly to him, as a “heavenly inspiration,” and bloomed like aflower “in an unanticipated spring.” Of course he and thecouncil fathers had predecessors who helped set the condi-tions for what would occur there. This anniversary year pro-vides an occasion to remember one of them: Félicité Robertde Lamennais (1782-1854). Although he died over a centurybefore the council took place (1962-65), Lamennais antici-pated some of its most significant developments. Even now,his ideas and concerns have a remarkably modern ring tothem. An acquaintance with his life and work may provide anappreciation for some of what the council addressed and why.

Largely unknown today, Lamennais played a larger thanlife role in the church and world of his time. Even theAmerican press widely took note of his passing. “A notabledeath belongs to the French news,” reported Harper’sMagazine in the “Editor’s Easy Chair” section of its June1854 edition. “It is that of the strange old man, the AbbéLammenais [sic].” “He was a strange French compound ofsaint and sinner,” the editor continued a bit luridly, “beingfull of humanity” and “indulging in grand conceptions aboutfaith and immortality, and yet (as we ordinarily use the lan-guage) irreligious and infidel; he was intensely intellectual,and yet, at times, in his long life, sensual—to a crime.”

Modern ManBrilliant and temperamental, the Abbé Lamennais anticipated

many of the reforms of the SecondVatican Council.

BY THOMAS C. KOHLER

T


Little about Lamennais’s rigorous life betrays sensualityof any sort. Paradox, however, filled it. Prodigiously intelli-gent and hardworking, deeply principled and courageous, healso could be impatient, unyielding and, when convinced ofthe rightness of his views, tragically headstrong. If aprophetic voice possessed him, a prophetic personalityafflicted him as well.

Despite this, Lamennais’s work and character drew alarge and accomplished circle to him. Pope Leo XII (d.1829) was said to have admired Lamennais so much that hekept a portrait of him in his chambers and considered rais-ing him to the cardinalate. Lamennais’s circle included Dom

THOMAS C. KOHLER is concurrent professor of law and philosophy atBoston College Law School. This essay is drawn from a forthcomingbook, Solidarity Forever: The Story and Significance of an Idea.

Prosper Guéranger (who refounded the Benedictine Abbeyat Solesmes and reintroduced Gregorian Chant);Emmanuel d’Alzon (founder of the Augustinians of theAssumption); Jean-Baptiste Henri Lacordaire (the celebrat-ed preacher and reorganizer of the Dominicans in France);as well as people like Franz Liszt, George Sand, VictorHugo (who made his first confession to Lamennais) andAdam Mickiewicz (poet, Polish revolutionary and favoriteof Pope John Paul II), to mention but a few. Like many con-temporaries, Alexis de Tocqueville was well acquainted withhis work.


engaged in intensive studies under Jean’s direction. Aftersome indecision, Lamennais was ordained in 1816.Although he once promised himself to stop writing, as ameans of suppressing pride, the intellectual apostolateformed the core of his life. His pen never lay far from hishand. Lamennais wrote what he personally experienced.Political revolution, religious persecution and socialupheaval seared and suffused the experience of his times.The renewal of the church and civil society, developing theprinciple of solidarity, promoting authentic self-rulethrough subsidiarity and responding to social questions ofthe day represent key themes in Lamennais’s work.

His 1817 work Essay on Indifference in Matters ofReligion, catapulted Lamennais to fame. There he argues“without religion, no society.” The declaration of self-sovereignty and the sufficiency of one’s own reasoning abili-ties that lie at the heart of both Protestantism and moder-nity, he contends, corroded the basis of religious and tem-poral authority alike. The essay did more than present ahead-on challenge to Cartesian skepticism and theReformers’ claims. Whatever its shortcomings, in the essayLamennais also built a systematic argument for “absolutetruth.” In his view (later called “traditionalism”), truthreveals itself through general reason (sensus communis)—that is, in the ideas and understandings universally assentedto by people through time. The communal basis of ourknowledge supported Lamennais’s arguments for our innatesociality.

Lamennais’s strong ultramontanist views and his insis-tence on church-state separation put him at odds with muchof the French hierarchy. Their Gallicanism posited thattemporal authority limits papal primacy, and that a generalcouncil of bishops is superior to papal teaching authority.This, Lamennais argued, made the state the supreme judgeof morals and belief and subjected the bishops to state con-trol, while curbing the pope from carrying out his responsi-bility to act as the “defender of justice and the rights ofhumanity.” Any alliance between church and state, headamantly maintained, injured both while putting individu-als at risk.

Renewal represented more than a matter of theory toLamennais, who always joined his words with action.Convinced that renewal demanded new forms of priestlyactivity, he founded the Congregation of St. Peter, whosespecial task would be the analysis of the old and the buildingup of the new society. Training put an emphasis on commu-nication with the culture. Studies included mastery of atleast three languages, mathematics and the natural sciencesand the writing of pieces for the popular press on contempo-rary issues. Seeing laymen as indispensible collaborators inany revitalization, Lamennais opened his house of studies tothem. Earlier than perhaps anyone else, he understood that

Apostolate of the PenLamennais was born in 1782 at Saint-Malo, on the Brittanycoast, just doors away from the house in whichChateaubriand had been born 14 years earlier. Lamennais’smother died when he was 5, after which an uncle tookcharge of his education by locking the boy in the uncle’swell-stocked library and letting him read whatever suitedhim. Lamennais lost his early religious ardor, but with theguidance of his older brother, Jean, a priest, he returned tothe faith and received his first Communion at the age of 22.

For the next several years, Lamennais taught mathemat-ics at a college where Jean taught theology. There he

Sixty years before the

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modes of knowing” that are “united by a natural and indis-soluble bond.” The world stood waiting for a “Catholic sci-ence,” a science yet to be created that would provide “a gen-eral system of explanation, a true philosophy conformed tothe needs of the time” and “founded on the constitutive laws

of intelligence.” Sixty years before the firstsocial encyclical, Lamennais also foresawthe responsibility the church would havein addressing problems of work, propereconomic arrangements and the laboringpoor. The “principle of association” amongworkers, he noted, would have an impor-

tant role here. An “immense career” also was opening forpriests “called to serve in new ways” this new and rising class.

L’Avenir was a sensation, its articles translated and wide-ly reprinted throughout Europe and even in the UnitedStates. The voice of a liberal Catholic movement, the news-paper championed the efforts of Catholics and liberals forBelgian independence, led a petition drive to gain Frenchgovernmental support for Polish freedom and raised largesums for the relief of victims of the Irish famine.

Opposition and Distance from RomeProphets rarely meet a happy end. While very influential,L’Avenir failed as a business enterprise and ceased publica-tion in late 1831. Lamennais’s hopes for papal approval ofhis liberal Catholicism were met by Gregory XVI’s 1832encyclical, Mirari Vos. It never mentions Lamennais byname, but it censured numerous doctrines announced inL’Avenir, including liberty of the press (“harmful and neversufficiently denounced”), liberty of conscience (an “absurdand erroneous proposition”) and “associations and assem-blages” that combine Catholics with members of other reli-gions. It also termed “absurd and injurious” any notion thatthe church stood in need of “restoration and regeneration.”

Gregory also condemned “the plans of those who desirevehemently to separate the Church from the state” andwarned against “writings which attack the trust and sub-mission due to princes;” through their influence, “the torch-es of treason are being lit everywhere.” Citing Scripture andthe example of the early Christians under Roman rule,Gregory admonished that “both divine and human laws cryout against those who strive by treason and sedition to drivethe people from confidence in their princes and force themfrom their government.”

Lamennais and his L’Avenir collaborators quickly madetheir submission to the pope, and Lamennais told friends andcolleagues that in the future, he “would speak as a Frenchmanand not as a Catholic.” When rumors and reports called hisintentions into question, an exhausted and dispiritedLamennais made a second, unqualified submission. With it,he announced that he would refrain from all priestly functions.


the hour of the laity truly had struck.Lamennais’s influence in the church reached its zenith

with the founding in 1830 of the first daily Catholic news-paper, L’Avenir (The Future), which carried the program-mic motto “God and Liberty” on its masthead. In an earlyissue he summarized its doctrines: reli-gious liberty, liberty of education (“thefirst liberty of the family...without whichreligious liberty has no point”), liberty ofassociation, liberty of the press (“the mostactive instrument…to hasten theprogress of general intelligence”), univer-sal suffrage and the abolition of political centralization infavor of the “right to administer ourselves.”

In a good example of his ability to foresee historicaltrends, Lamennais early recognized that a democratic futureimplied a multicultural future, and with it, the problems ofsocial unity that association could reduce if not fully resolve.“Imagine,” he wrote in one essay, “a house inhabited, in itsdifferent stories, by a Jew, a Muslim, a Protestant and aCatholic; certainly, their beliefs and their obligations are tooopposed to make a true society among them.” Nevertheless,out of “fear that fanatics not come to set ablaze the roof thatcovers them all,” the inhabitants of this house should uniteto prevent persecutions against any of them. Associationgoes beyond security. It “would create between them rela-tions of benevolence” and promote peaceful “discussions ofdoctrine on the points that divide them. In any case, theywill have lived and lived in peace.”

In a remarkable essay, What Catholicism Will Be in theNew Society, Lamennais made an urgent appeal for thereunification of science and religion. They constitute “two

ON THE WEBFrom the archives,

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Considering himself free to write on temporal andpolitical issues, in 1834 Lamennais published the pam-phlet Words of a Believer. Apocalyptic in tone and image,the work decried political tyranny and the economicexploitation of the peasant and working classes. It calledon the poor to organize, but also counseled respect forproperty and the rights of others, and reminded readers ofthe duty of charity.

The book was a spectacular hit—but not with the pope,who condemned it in his 1834 encyclical, On the Errors ofLamennais (Singulari Nos). The encyclical also marked theend of Lamennais’s remarkable role in the life of the church.One contemporary mournfully wrote to him that in learn-ing of the encyclical, “it seemed to me that I had heard thebeating of the wings of a falling angel.” Others describedhim as “Robespierre in a surplice” or as an “infidel.”

Never excommunicated, Lamennais was never reconciledwith the church. His departure, however, came incremen-tally. As late as 1836, the Archbishop of Paris was told thatLamennais still heard Mass.

For the remainder of his life, Lamennais remained activein publishing and in political affairs. In the wake of theRevolution of 1848, he and Alexis de Tocqueville wereelected as delegates to the Constituent Assembly andappointed to write a draft of a proposed constitution.Lamennais submitted a draft whose preamble began, “In thename of God, in the presence of humanity in which all thepeople of the world are united in solidarity as members ofthe same body....” The suggestion that the drafters beginfrom the level of the communes, the level of governmentclosest to the people—in accordance with the doctrines ofL’Avenir—was supported by Tocqueville and others, butrejected by the majority. Sensitive as ever, Lamennaisresigned, and Tocqueville could not convince him to return.

As he lay dying in late February 1854, Lamennais stout-ly refused the last rites and was unwilling to have his con-fession heard. At his insistence, he was buried in a pauper’sgrave, without priest, ritual or a memorial of any kind. Anadmiring essay entitled, “An Hour With Lamennais,” pub-lished in Putnam’s Monthly Magazine shortly after hisdeath, described Lamennais as “saddened but not subduedby disappointment.”

The “what if ” question surrounds the tragic life ofLamennais. Had he not been so temperamental, hadGregory XVI been better at scrutinizing the signs of thetimes, had the political situation the pope faced been lessfraught..... However one might answer these hypotheticals,whatever one thinks of the parties involved, the issues thatpreoccupied Lamennais make clearer some of what laybehind John XXIII’s apparently impetuous decision to callan ecumenical council and puts into perspective some of thematters the council fathers eventually addressed.

Tuesday, 15 September 2009 | 6–8 p.m.

Is the consumer society dead? Does it deserve to be? It gave millions of ordinary Americans a better life—but at what cost? How has it changed us, our values, families and communities, our patterns ofwork and leisure, our religious practices and our politics? Can we live with a new burst of mass consumption? Can we live without it?

Perspectives from the fields of economics, history,sociology and theology.

M O D E R AT O R

Paul SolmanThe NewsHour with Jim Lehrer

PA N E L I S T S

Lizabeth Cohen

A Consumers’ Republic: The Politics of Mass Consumption in Postwar America and Making a New Deal: Industrial Workers in Chicago, 1919-1939

George RitzerThe McDonaldization of Society, The

Globalization of Nothing and Enchanting a Disenchanted World

Vincent MillerConsuming Religion:

Christian Faith and Practice in a Consumer Culture

F R E E A N D O P E N T O T H E P U B L I C

R.S.V.P.

www.fordham.edu/ReligCulture

Consuming AmericaWhat have we done

to ourselves?

FORDHAM CENTER ON RELIGION AND CULTURE

HEADLINE FORUM


A

s a sometimes mischievousteenager, I was never confusedwith Mother Teresa. Still, a

relationship with God was at the coreof my being. It began with parents whogave me a strong spiritual foundationmeant to sustain my pilgrimage intoeternity. Priests, nuns, siblings andbaby-boomer friends reinforced thisfaith throughout my schooling in theArchdiocese of Chicago. An averagekid, I lived an ordinary life. In the mid-dle of my 17th year, I graduated fromhigh school and embarked on a careerin corporate America. God hadblessed me with a great family, caringfriends, outstanding health and abright future.

By the autumn after graduation thisNorman Rockwell harmony had disin-tegrated into an Edvard Münch scream,when painful and energy-zapping bruis-es spread from my forehead to my bigtoe. Invasive tests ruled out leukemia,but the diagnosis was grim: a rare blooddisease, a distant cousin of hemophilia,spawned bursting blood vessels. Somepatients experienced spontaneousremission; others died from internalhemorrhaging or kidney failure.

At first I managed to accept myown illness. But when I witnessed thesenseless suffering and death of the

‘I Love You For Hating Me’A struggling believer encounters the divine. BY BARBARA J. KOUBA

A

BARBARA J. KOUBA is an assistive technolo-gist at California State University SanBernardino.


hospital ward’s young patients, I sank.All patients under age 20 were put onthe same ward, and terminal caseswere the norm. In colorless rooms, Isaw listless infants with immense nee-dles sticking out of their tiny limbs andnecks. Some babies’ heads were thesize of a light bulb; others were the sizeof a basketball. Hollow-eyed childrenhad incurable cancers, birth defects orlife-threatening injuries inflicted byabusers. Life-support machinespumped oxygen and fluids through amaze of tubes, yet many of the young-sters became shrunken wraiths.Normal child noises were replaced bymechanical ones. These gray-skinnedlittle people were too ill and toodrugged to talk, laugh or cry.

There were no Hail Marys, OurFathers or Acts of Contrition for this.My rock-hard faith in God shatteredinto sand. What kind of God wouldallow innocents to suffer so much?Where was the just and loving God Ipersonally knew and believed in all mylife? A sense of betrayal, anger andrage consumed me like an out-of-con-trol wildfire. My final prayer of 1971summed it up: “I will not love you,God. You’re a monstrous sadist.”

After several hospitalizations andmonths of inactivity, my energy trick-led back and the bruises faded. Buttsunami waves of survivor’s guilt sweptme into a furious sea of darkness. Whyshould I live when so many children

would never walk through a prairie inspringtime, sled down a snowy hill orplay kick-the-can until the streetlightscame on?

My hematologist consulted a psychi-atrist. After one brief outpatient ses-sion, I was deemed depressed enoughto spend the next few months in a psychward. I went through a revolving doorof psychiatric hospitalizations over thenext several years, but each trip foundme more deeply depressed.

The psychiatrist believed in drugs;five times a day I was given a paper cupfull of pills. When I failed to improve,he increased the dosage. He hookedme up to an electroshock machine acouple of dozen times, but incineratingbolts of electricity failed to vaporizemy haunting memories of sick babies. Iwas injected with high levels ofinsulin; these 20 induced comas hadno therapeutic value.

I made feeble attempts to talk withmy psychiatrist, a Freudian whorevealed himself to be an embitteredatheist. When I shared a few details ofmy spiritual breakdown, he scoffed atGod’s existence and proudly describedbeing in lockstep with Karl Marx’sbelief that religion is the opiate of themasses. He spent hours of our sessionsattacking Catholicism as a twisted reli-gion whose clergy members beratebelievers into submission withunhealthy levels of guilt and supersti-tion. My problems, however, were

FAITH IN FOCUS


with God, not with the clergy, theCatholic Church or any religion.Rather than confide in the psychia-trist, I grew quiet and hopeless. Likean elevator with severed cables, mybroken mind and spirit plunged until Icrashed—not alive, yet not dead.

The Encounter

One desperate evening, I asked a hos-pital staff member to lock me insidethe Quiet Room—a tiny padded cellin the psychiatric unit. Theroom’s thick padding providedme with a cocoon-like safetyzone. Huddled in a corner, myknees pulled close to my chest, Iwas alone except for a vigilantorderly, who made his roundsevery 15 minutes. Lights behindthe small observation windowilluminated his concerned face.

I was a ball of twisted pathol-ogy when an unexpected visitorflung open my spirit’s bolteddoor, refusing to be ignored orrejected another moment.

“I love you. I am proud ofyou.” The simple message wasnot delivered by the hospitalorderly; nor was there a voice, apsychic sign or a Cecil B.DeMille production. But thecommunication encompassedmy total being. It was God. Themodus operandi was easily recogniz-able.

After a long pause, my nonverbalresponse was as subtle as a sledge ham-mer: “I hate you.”

Without pause, God replied, “I loveyou for hating me.”

I was incredulous.“It is understandable.”“What’s understandable?”“That you blame me for all the suf-

fering you witnessed.”“Only a monster would let innocent

children suffer. I can’t believe in acruel, sadistic monster.”

“That is why I love you.”My battered brain ached. My Irish

temper seethed. I needed clarification.“You agree that you’re a monster?”

“I love you and am proud youwould never believe in anyone youthink could be cruel or sadistic. I wantyour suffering to end.”

“Why me? Why not the others?”“Why not you?”“But so many die.”“Life is a series of dyings and ris-

ings. People accept this in nature, butsometimes fear death on a personal

level.”How quickly God got me to the

core of things. “I don’t fear death. Iwant death.”

“It is not your time. I decide when itis time for souls to move on.”

“Life has no purpose.”“It is when there is no purpose that

you must find a new one.”My mind turned into a mental

video camera stuck on play. No pauseor stop button. Sick baby scenesreplayed with endless looping. It felt asif an icy hand gripped my heart. Mybreathing became labored. I criedhelpless tears. I heaved with years ofbottled-up anguish.

“Like it or not, the past is an essen-

tial part of your life. But you must findlife’s goodness again.”

“How, God?”“By looking within.”“No, I’m hollow inside. I did noth-

ing to help those kids.” It was the firsttime I had revealed my failures andlimitations to myself.

“Once you find your goodness, youcan use it to help others.”

“How? How will I ever find it?”“I will help, but only if you open the

door and accept me. You have free will,so it is your choice.” God’s reaction wasgentle but firm.

“But I’m still angry.”“Anger can be a positive emotion

when it’s transformed to do good.”“If you’re God, why not give me an

instant miracle?” I reasoned.“Miracles abound. But you must

stop self-destructing. Trust me. Thenevery day for the rest of your life youwill find a gift from me to you.”

Ever so timidly I opened my heart,mind and soul. Unconditional love,comfort and peace surrounded mefrom the inside out and the outside in.

Before I fell into a restorative sleep,God repeated the original message. “I

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love you. I am proud of you.”I refused to share this transforma-

tive experience with the atheist psychi-atrist, yet even he noticed a definitechange. Within a week, I was dis-charged from the hospital; withinmonths, I stopped all prescriptiondrugs and turned completely to God,the Master Healer.

The Healing Process

Over time, I learned more about God.Saintly contemporary heroes, includ-ing Mother Teresa, Cardinal JosephBernardin, Cardinal Avery Dulles,S.J., and the Rev. Lawrence Jenko,modeled love, faith, conversion, for-giveness and a God-centered life. I metother virtuous people, like a psychi-atric social worker who went out ofher way to refer me to a parish churchthat needed a secretary. Few employerswere willing to hire a recently releasedmental patient, but the young pastor atthis parish, the Rev. A. Paul Reicher,did not hesitate.


practitioner. I combined both pas-sions—service and technology—tobridge the “digital divide” for peoplewith disabilities. While unable to healfragile bodies, minds and spirits, I amable to help people focus on their owncapabilities.

For me, healing has not been a linearprocess. I was reluctant when God re-opened the door. Inch by inch itcreaked, until it was wide enough for

me to pass throughto all that waited onthe other side.Today 36 yearsworth of cumulativegifts are evidence of

God’s love that resonates through me.The most extraordinary of God’s giftsemerge from ordinary relationships.Topping my list is my husband, David,a gentle and caring man who in 19years of marriage has loved and accept-ed me in a way no one else has.

What about my anger? It’s stillthere. But rather than self-destructing,I channel my emotions constructivelyinto organizations like the SpecialOlympics, St. Jude Children’s ResearchHospital and Catholic Charities.

A byproduct of healing is maturity.God is no longer my scapegoat for life’sproblems; instead, I find answersrevealed through prayer, acceptanceand interactions with others.Accepting death, especially a child’sdeath, is still a challenge, but I betterunderstand the process of dying andrising as exemplified by the death andresurrection of Jesus Christ.

God’s complexity is daunting; God isprobably not a person, place, gender,consciousness, time or anything else Ican conceive. We humans will neverunderstand the full nature of an infinite-ly omnipotent God. Yet I have grown tocherish the mystery. And I have beenblessed for decades with nonstop giftsfrom this loving source of goodness.That is why I know with certitude thatGod is the grandest gift of all. Faith ismy humble expression of gratitude. A

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For several years I worked part timewith the pastor and the parish lay lead-ers, and part time with sisters fromCatholic Charities. Together wehelped to improve the lives of hun-dreds of hurting, destitute people. Ibegan to understand Jesus’ message asa living Gospel. The most enjoyablepart of the job was the 30 minutes Ispent each school day monitoring theplayground. Listening to children’slaughter and watch-ing them run andplay was a healinggift.

Buoyed by thepiety and selfless-ness of the parish workers, I enlistedand served four years as a U.S. Armychaplain’s assistant, where I developedprofessional faith-based counselingand therapy techniques to serve fellowsoldiers better. Then I earned a mas-ter’s degree in instructional technologyand embarked on a new career as anassistive technology instructor and

ON THE WEBEmily Brennan reviews

the film “Julie & Julia.”

americamagazine.org/culture

done. And while I believe that thesuperhero mythology affects boys morethan girls, we know that this film genreis an equal-opportunity attraction, andso it must be influencing girls in impor-tant though different ways, even bycontinuing the sexist stereotype of thefemale victim in need of a male rescuer.Wonder Woman does not seem tohave had the same impact as Batman.

uring a recent Q&A in aCatholic school, I asked thefourth-graders about their

upcoming confirmation. One brightyoung lad said: “Jesus is so cool. He’sbetter than Superman.” No one in theclass laughed or looked bemused atthis suggestion. “I don’t think so,” Ibegan, but before I could explain fur-ther, the young theologian excitedlyinterrupted. “No; you’re right, Father,”he said. “Jesus was human, so he ismore like Batman or Iron Man, onlybetter.” Considering the circum-stances, having Christ come out as thebest of the superhero bunch should becounted as a win.

It should not surprise us that thesuperhero genre forms a theologicalparadigm within which the story ofJesus is understood. The films thatmake up the top 10 superhero catego-ry at the box office include: “The DarkKnight” (2008); “Spider Man II”(2004); “Batman Begins” (2005);“Iron Man” (2008); “X2: X-MenUnited” (2003); “Spider-Man” (2002);“X-Men” (2000); “Superman” (1978);“Batman” (1998) and “TheIncredibles” (2004). “The DarkKnight” was the biggest box office filmlast year—$231 million ahead of “IronMan.” Overall, this collection of filmshas grossed a staggering $5.5 billion.

While these famous Western,white and male superheroes have hitthe cinematic big time, many othercharacters fill out the generic canon,including the Fantastic Four, WonderWoman, Ghost Rider, Catwoman,Hellboy, the Hulk, the Punisher andthe Spirit.

There is only anecdotal evidence ofmy claim that these superheroes areforming young people’s way of imagin-ing Christ. Formal studies are yet to be

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I D E A S | RICHARD LEONARD

MORE THAN SUPERSearching for Christ in a comic book culture

Brandon Routh in “Superman Returns”


It would be a mistake, however, tothink that superheroes are a new phe-nomenon. Greek and Roman religionshad pantheons of gods with super-powers, a pagan heritage to which cur-rent-day superheroes owe a huge debt.The premise of the superhero isfounded in Greek philosophy, espe-cially that of thegood vigilante whorestores moral jus-tice. Aristotle said inhis Politics, “Thereare men, so godlike,so exceptional, that they naturally, byright of their extraordinary gifts, tran-scend all moral judgment or constitu-tional control. There is no law whichembraces men of that caliber: they arethemselves law.”

Yet it was Victorian and Edwardiannovels that gave birth to the presentmovement. Robin Hood and theScarlet Pimpernel were among the ear-liest modern adventurers, followed byZorro and Tarzan, to name but two.In the 1930s and 1940s, the threegreatest modern superheroes wereinvented: the Shadow, Spider-Manand Superman.

Superheroes share a number ofcommon traits. Apart from their spe-cial powers, several also have a secretweapon (like a lasso, webbing or ashield). Starting with an extraordinarybirth narrative, they feel a personalvocation to achieve their destiny bydefending the common good. Theirreal identity is often hidden, but inpublic they wear distinctive clothesand use a symbol as a calling card.Their profound moral codes see thempursue the guilty, though many inno-cent people are sacrificed in their questto eliminate evil. Often they work asloners, have access to unknown funds,and their public reception can bemixed—from adoration to misunder-standing to repudiation. Here we canstart to see some parallels with theGospels.

Take what the most recent

Superman film has made of his legendin comparison to Jesus. Superman isstabbed in the side with Kryptonite;Jesus is stabbed with a spear.Superman, when dying in a hospital,vanishes from sight to live anotherday; it is not unlike Jesus’ empty tomband post-Resurrection appearances.

Superman hoversabove the earth in acruciform pose;Jesus comes to earthand is lifted up onthe cross. Superman

is cradled in his mother’s arms in apose borrowed from Michelangelo’s“Pietà.” Superman is sometimes called“the people’s savior” by a police chiefor a mayor; Jesus is “Savior of theWorld.” Superman is often shownbearing the weight of evil actions ortheir outcome on his shoulders.Indeed, in “Superman Returns” hecarries the metal globe that sits atopthe Daily Planet building. Jesus borethe burden of sin though his tortureand death.

Borh Superman and Jesus, more-over, were sent to our world by an all-powerful father to show us the lightand save us from destruction. Bothreveal their powers in miracles, buteven death cannot contain them; theyrise to continue their mission.

As Christians, we cannot claimthese parallels just for ourselves. Thereis a strong case to be made that one ofSuperman’s creators, Jerry Siegel, sawhim as a contemporary messianic fig-ure. Superman’s father’s name, Kal-el,is a play on the Hebrew word for“voice of God.” In either case, it is nowonder that some secularized fourth-graders are confused about where andhow Jesus fits into this pantheon.

So can we use the superhero genreto our advantage when speaking andteaching about Jesus? Perhaps.

First, it is important to keep under-lining for young people that Jesus isnot a fictional character. Tacitus, Plinythe Younger and Josephus, in texts

independent of the New Testament—somewhat contested though they maybe—establish that Jesus of Nazarethwas born, lived and was put to death.

Second, Jesus is not the “best of agood lot,” superhero or otherwise, forthose who believe in him. Rather,Jesus is the definitive revelation of Godfor the world. As Christians we holdthat to see Jesus in action is to see Godin action. Therefore God, in andthrough Jesus Christ, is a departurefrom what had come before. There isno death, destruction, retribution orvengeance in Jesus. In its place heoffers us healing, reconciliation, chal-lenge, forgiveness, love and sacrifice assigns of the reign of God.

While one of Jesus’ titles in earliestChristianity was the Divine Magician,in the New Testament “sign faith” is theweakest of all faiths. “How blessed arethose who have not seen but believe,”Jesus told St. Thomas. Signs drawattention to themselves, and people canend up believing in “the power,” butJesus wanted people who saw the signsto experience the love of God and cometo believe in the Father. To borrow oneof the best lines from the recent film“Bruce Almighty,” “You want to see amiracle, son? Be the miracle.”

Jesus has at times has been picturedand spoken of as fighting with one armtied behind his back in the cosmic bat-tle between good and evil. But his spe-cial weapons are of another sort. Insome early church writings we are toldthat the model Christian wears thebelt of truth, the breastplate of justice,the sandals of peace, the shield of faith,the helmet of salvation and the swordof the Spirit, God’s word. While Jesus’weapons are portrayed as similar tothose of other heroic crusaders, theimmediate effects are of a differentorder. Captain America, eat your heartout!

Third, Jesus saves us from theforces of evil and destruction, but weare not passive in our salvation, as arethe beneficiaries of the intervention of

ON THE WEBGuerric DeBona, O.S.B., on the

image of priests in the movies.

americamagazine.org/culture


the superheroes. While amazing graceis unearned and undeserved, it is notforced upon us. We can reject faithand hope and love. And we are notsaved by Jesus the way Batman savesthe citizens of Gotham City. Rather,we are invited to enjoy the saving loveof God in an ongoing relationship withthe Father, the Son and the HolySpirit.

Despite the parallels between theliterary device of Mark’s “Messianicsecret” in regard to Jesus and the secretidentity of a host of superheroes, wefollowers of Jesus are called not to besecretive, but to be prudent. We havepersonal faith, but we are not privatebelievers. We share in Christ’s missionto the world.

One of the most important thingsthe superhero genre helps adults to

grasp is this: In an increasingly visualculture, iconography matters. Weshould conduct an inventory of ourhomes, classrooms and churches to seethat the images of Jesus we provide,not only for our young, are consonantwith showing that (with due respect toSt. Irenaeus) the glory of Jesus’ divini-ty is revealed in his humanity fullyalive. Jesus is the definitive hero whosesuperabundance of life should be soclear that he leaves the fictional com-petition in the shade. Reclaiming Jesusin that light might mean that thehomespun robe will return as thecoolest costume ever.

RICHARD LEONARD, S.J., is the director ofthe Australian Office of Catholic Film &Broadcasting and the author of Movies ThatMatter: Reading Film Through the Lensof Faith (Loyola Press).

about such a variegated community.Yet McCloskey is a diligent craftsmanand that makes the book work, andmakes The Street Stops Here a standoutin the welter of educational wonkery.

The central characters of the storyare the African-American principal, “acharismatic and complex visionary”named Orlando R. Gober, and theIrish-American president of Rice,Brother J. Matthew Walderman, amember of the Congregation of theChristian Brothers that founded theschool in central Harlem in 1938. Aswith most schools run by religiousorders, the role of lay people hasexpanded as the presence of priestsand religious has diminished sharply.That transition is not without ten-sions, and the fraught relationshipbetween the tall, athletic and impul-sive Gober and the bald, thick-setBrother Walderman is told withunflinching honesty. “They get alongby avoiding each other as much as pos-sible,” McCloskey writes early on.That Walderman granted McCloskeysuch uncensored access is a rare thing,and yet the portrayal here rewards thatmagnanimity.

Race is anothercentral tension, onethat is in manyrespects unique toinner-city Catholicschools like Rice,but one that can per-haps be moreinstructive forCatholics than tra-ditionally homoge-neous settings.Readers will (orshould) cringe attimes as racial issuesare laid bare, and thestories of the stu-dents who pass

through Rice are not always feel-good,made-for-TV-movie fare. McCloskeyalso deals with the complex questionsplaguing education in America, espe-

B O O K S | DAVID G IBSON

A WORKING MODEL

THE STREET STOPS HERE

A Year at a Catholic High School

in Harlem

By Patrick J. McCloskeyUniv. of California Press. 456p $27.50

ISBN 9780520255173

If you are looking for a convincingargument in support of voucher pro-grams for Catholic schools, you coulddo no better than Patrick J.McCloskey’s new book, The StreetStops Here: A Year at a Catholic HighSchool in Harlem, a profile of NewYork City’s all-boys Rice High School.Yet as the title indicates, the power ofthis work is not so much in its policyanalysis—though McCloskey skillful-ly lays out the issues—but in the frankand moving narrative he unspools overthe course of 400 richly detailed pages.

In the end, that narrative makes thecase for Catholic schools, but does soalmost obliquely, and because of thatperhaps more convincingly than the

usual efforts. As the journalist andauthor Samuel G. Freedman writes inthe foreword, this book is not “anadvertising brochure”for Catholic schools,even thoughMcCloskey is clearlya fan. Instead, asFreedman writes,“By admitting toimperfection…thisbook makes the mostpersuasive case pos-sible for whatCatholic educationhas achieved andhow its example canhelp improve publiceducation.”

McCloskey doesthis by sticking to thestory, or rather stories. The book is anomnibus of sorts, which as the authoradmits is part of the “unavoidablestructural complexity” of writing


cially in poor urban areas: academicsversus athletics, communicating reli-gious values versus indoctrination, andbalancing tough love with an under-standing of the even tougher life thatawaits the students when they leaveschool.

So what can this book tell us aboutthe future of Catholic schools? Can theybe saved? That is the question everyonein the church is asking today, and theone McCloskey set out to answer.

Born in Canada and educated inCatholic schools in Ottawa—whichreceive state funding with little fan-fare—McCloskey was drawn to hissubject by the furor over school vouch-ers in the United States. He alsowrites from the perspective of a fathertrying to find good schools for his ownchildren, rejecting first a soulless pub-lic system in upscale New Jersey sub-urbs, then the mediocrity of publicschooling in New York City, and final-ly settling on a private school inBrooklyn that provided a superb edu-cation but at a cost that entailed seri-ous financial sacrifices.

Propelled by a desire to find outwhat works in education, and whatcould be improved and made afford-able, he decided to make a “qualitative”study of a single school to see whatlessons he could learn and then impart.The Street Stops Here is the result.

The book impressed me. As anadult convert to the church, I missedout on the classic parochial schoolexperience—uniforms, Latin declen-sions, nuns both stern and encouragingand, above all, the chance to transformmy miserable grade school years into acomedy routine or memoir of lament.Darn. But that lacuna has also left me,regrettably, with a certain indifferenceto the plight of Catholic education. Iam not against Catholic schools by anystretch; rather, my parish life experi-ence is one of churches and diocesesthat struggle so mightily to keep theirschools alive that they too often—or soit seems to me—sacrifice outreach pro-

grams for young adults and familieswho could encourage more youngstersto attend those schools.

McCloskey does not necessarilydispel all my biases, but he does some-thing more profound: he forces me toface up to the challenge as well as thepromise of Catholic education. Thereis much talk about shoring up“Catholic identity” these days, yet oftenlost in that navel-gazing is the axiompopular among Catholic educatorswho are forming young people with lit-tle or no connection to the church:“We’re here because we are Catholic,”they say, “not because they are.”

To be sure, Catholic schools andparents everywhere are gettingsqueezed by rising costs. But thedecline in Catholic education is mostpoignant for urban areas where chil-dren, often African-Americans, des-

perately need good alternatives, andfor Latino immigrants who cannotfind the good and affordable Catholiceducation that previous generationsenjoyed. Some four in 10 Catholicschools are still located in inner cities,but the trend is to close those and shiftCatholic education to the suburbswhere there are more Catholics whocan afford a Catholic education.

It is a painful transition with noeasy answers, if there is an answer atall. In that sense McCloskey’s bookillustrates what Catholic schools canbe and pays tribute to what theCatholic Church in America maynever again achieve.

DAVID GIBSON is the author of TheComing Catholic Church and The Ruleof Benedict and covers religion forPoliticsDaily.com.

JOHN HAWLEY

‘HOW LONG, O LORD?’

GOD DROPS

AND LOSES THINGS

By Kilian McDonnell, O.S.B.Liturgical Press. 70p $11.95

(paperback)

ISBN 9780974099248

The titles of Kilian McDonnell’s twoearlier collections of poetry, Swift,Lord, You Are Not andYahweh’s Other Shoe, con-firm what the latest mightsuggest: the author has funwith words. One wonderswhat “God drops” mightbe. As the conclusion of atrilogy, of course, the titlesuggests that this is theother shoe we have beenwarned about. As such,McDonnell moves relent-lessly through the Bible and on to hisown daily life in the monastery, andfinally to old age and a stark con-

frontation with mortality, as his fellowmonks drop (but not from God’shands) like flies (or old shoes), and heechoes the psalmist’s lament: “Howlong, O Lord?”

But first there is the “losing” toendure. McDonnell has a knack oftaking Yahweh to task by inhabitingthe personalities described in the Old

Testament, the cynicalcomplainers who kvetchabout their devotion to theone true God. Arguing thenature/nurture controver-sy, a skeptical spokesper-son from Deuteronomyputs respect aside and asksthe rhetorical question,“Who parked Your well-greased/ chariot of war inmy oafish/ genes?” The

relationship between Sarah andAbraham, with a little Hagar thrownin, gets the monk’s attention, resulting

A LONG RETREAT

In Search of a Religious Life

By Andrew KrivakFarrar, Straus & Giroux. 336p $25

ISBN 9780374166069

The American Catholic (and secular)landscape is abuzz with thevoluble presence of formerJesuits: from the stentoriantelevision news commenta-tor John McLaughlin to theCalifornia politician JerryBrown to the scholar-jour-nalist Garry Wills to thePulitzer-Prize-winner JackMiles to the popular histo-rian Thomas Cahill. (Fulldisclosure: this non-famous reviewer was aJesuit too, from 1959 to 1966.)

Now add to the list AndrewKrivak, a gifted Pennsylvania-born,London-based poet and writer, whospent eight years in the Jesuits beforeleaving—as most Catholic seminari-ans have, alas, been doing for over ageneration—in 1998.

One thing most of these authorsand activists have not talked muchabout is their own lives within, andtheir departure from, the Society. Oneexception might be the memoir Ours,by Francis E. Peters (1981), a distin-

guished professor of Islamic studies;but that book is chilly and unrevealing.

Like his fellow former priest turnedwriter, James Carroll in PracticingCatholic, Krivak is both passionate andeloquent; and he gives us a powerfulpicture of what has become a major

narrative pattern in con-temporary Catholicism:Young cleric/religiousbails out after runningaground on the shoals ofcelibacy. (Krivak met andfell in love with his wife-to-be at the Weston JesuitSchool of Theology inCambridge, Mass.)

The most strikingimpression anyone raisedin the pre-Vatican II

church is likely to carry away from TheLong Retreat will be of how much sem-inary life has changed. The numbershave slumped dramatically (the com-bined New York and Buffalo Provinceof the Jesuits had 30 novices in its1959 “class”; by 1989 it had five, ofwhom one persevered). Candidates areolder, more educated and more experi-enced than they used to be. (Krivakentered with an M.F.A. in creativewriting from Columbia.) Jesuit forma-tion now offers—earlier and morethan ever before—amazing opportu-


death, there God.”It is no surprise that a late poem

suggests the poet draws inspirationfrom Seamus Heaney, EmilyDickinson and Robert Hass. Theywould welcome him as a brother onthe road.

JOHN HAWLEY is chair of the department ofEnglish at Santa Clara University, SantaClara, Calif.

observation that “at eighty-seven/ Iguard my ralentando/ days, but theygo.” There is an echo of John in prison,but a clear sense of waiting, of expecta-tion: “So I sit beneath/ the maple witha blister on its trunk/ branches brokenby a storm./ Someday I’ll be found.”The poet echoes Abraham Hescheland Francis Thompson, awaiting thehound who is seeking him. And, likeJohn Donne, he concludes, “Where

in pithy proverbs that are culledthrough gritted teeth. Then there’sIsaac, rarely heard from as he lies onthe altar about to have his blood shed.He asks the question theologians sug-gest we are all meant to ask: “whatkind/ of deity is this who asks thishorror/ whose will lies in the absurd/and in the abyss beyond?” Such is theconclusion of the first third of thebook: “I do not speak of antiseptic rec-titude/ but fire’s absolute autonomythat scolds me/ for putting dirty san-dals on glowing cinders/ but invitesme to approach barefoot.”

As the poems move into the NewTestament, the complaints are lessangry, but the hope more tenuous.John the Baptist, sitting in prison,asserts that “Whatever else/ I doubt,him I do not”; nonetheless heacknowledges that “God speaks to me/no more. …[and] all I hear/ are camelsgrunting outside/ my window and themusic fading.” The faith that isdemanded in such silence echoes in thesubtle refusal of Jesus to consider mar-riage in place of a mission: “Jesusshakes his head, runs his hand alonghis cedar plank/ feeling its smoothgrain.” At the last supper, the disciplesface a stark choice: “When they lookdown/ no solid ground beneath them/except my hand upon the table.”

Confrontations with the inexplica-ble are frequent throughout thepoems—surely they are there in theaccounts from the early books of theBible, but equally in the more directlypersonal encounters with the deaths ofMcDonnell’s friends. As evocative asthe personae of the biblical poems are,these later poems about a man facinghis oncoming death are more immedi-ately gripping and sincere. Theexhaustion of old age is compared toOdysseus’ dog, “who alone/ can recog-nize his master in disguise/ when hereturns to Ithaca after twenty years./The mutt, too weak to raise his head,too old to wag his tail, dies of joy.” Asimilar note is struck with the rueful

PETER HE INEGG

DEVOUT DROPOUT


nities for travel and adventure, spiritu-al, intellectual and otherwise: Krivakworked in Santo Domingo and theBronx, studied at Yale, lived inMoscow and Slovakia, taught collegecourses in literature and, withoutbeing ordained, served as a chaplain inschools and hospitals.

Apart from solid companionship,Krivak got just about everything hecould have desired, including privatelessons in Russian and Slovakian, psy-chiatric care in periods of maladjust-ment, and so on. It’s all a far cry fromthe quasi-monastic life, with frequent,if largely symbolic, ascetical routineslike self-flagellation, and endlessrestrictions (rural isolation, cassocksand clerical uniforms, rigid schedules )of the old days. Of course, we do live ina radically different world. Candidatesfor the Jesuits now have to be testedfor H.I.V./AIDS. Altogether, itsounds like a grand system: open-minded, innovative, supremely gener-ous—if it weren’t for that dubious

retention rate. One minor observation:judging from Krivak’s stories, whilstamong themselves today’s Jesuits usefour-letter words as frequently andvigorously as the rest of the male pop-ulation.

Krivak’s title refers to the full-bore,30-day version of the SpiritualExercises of St. Ignatius Loyola, whichall Jesuits make at the beginning andend of their training. Krivak, in fact,appears to have been rather more givento contemplation than many of hisconfrères. Always something of aloner, he had beendrawn by the exam-ple of ThomasMerton and theTrappist ideal ofsilence and seclusion. An instinctivelyprayerful person, he did not gothrough the usual doubts and ques-tionings one might have expected froma graduate of the ultra-humanistic St.John’s College, in Annapolis.

Krivak was not bothered by St.Ignatius’ grimly literalist meditationson hell (which terrified the adolescentJames Joyce) nor by the tensionsbetween Loyola’s combative Counter-Reformation mentality and the irenic,ecumenical mode of present-dayCatholicism. A student and teacher ofphilosophy, he did not so much grap-ple with Nietzsche as cheerfully shrughim off. On the other hand, the fre-quent, inevitable contacts with youngwomen on college campuses (LeMoyne, Fordham and elsewhere) putincreasing pressure on a seminarianwho also happened to be tall andgood-looking, and who is now a happyhusband and father.

No doubt literature about the sem-inary scene is so sparse because even inthe hippest religious communitiesvariety, change and conflict are in fair-ly short supply. St. Augustine neverbothered to write a sequel to theConfessions. Krivak solves that prob-lem with flashbacks to his hardscrab-ble boyhood in northeastern

Pennsylvania and his various seasonalhe-man occupations (shipyard worker,deck hand, lifeguard). Unlike mostold-style seminarians, Krivak bringssome grownup life and painful guiltwith him. Most notably, a late-nightwalk on the beach with an old girl-friend had led to an unplanned preg-nancy and an abortion (her decision),which haunted him all the way intothe cloister—and beyond.

Polls taken during the recent mediahullabaloo over the Rev. Alberto Cutiéshow that Catholic laypeople, at least

the ones in southFlorida, have a gen-erally positive atti-tude toward mar-ried clergy. But

even if the rules were changed forparish priests, that would have noimpact on religious life, rooted as it isin the vows of poverty, chastity andobedience. So the paths of AndrewKrivak, as well as countless men likehim, and the Jesuits were bound todiverge—permanently.

Still, the broken-off journey did himan enormous amount of good, helpingto humanize, socialize and enlighten a“fringer” (a sometimes selfish non-con-formist). For his part, Krivak feels botha sense of gratitude and a continuingconnectedness with Christian disciple-ship and Ignatian spirituality—morestrongly, it seems, than a lot of conven-tionally pious “exes.” His Jesuit superi-ors (now on a previously unthinkablefirst-name basis with their youngercharges) can congratulate themselveson a job well done.

Both they and he had other ideaswhen they welcomed him into the“modern sanctum” of the Jesuit resi-dence on the campus of LeMoyneCollege in Syracuse; but sometimesjourneys that fail to reach their intend-ed destination can prove unusuallyfruitful.

PETER HEINEGG is a professor of English atUnion College, Schenectady, N.Y.

ON THE WEBSearch our book review archive.

americamagazine.org/books

several fields of religious and theological studies

represented. We seek someone who can offer a

range of undergraduate courses to serve the

department’s participation in the new core cur-

riculum, which stresses interdisciplinary and a

connection between local and global religions.

Candidates must have completed the Ph.D. or its

equivalent by the time of hire. A letter of applica-

tion, current c.v., evidence of effective teaching,

examples of scholarly work, graduate transcripts

and three letters of reference should be submitted

by Sept. 9, 2009, to: Chair of the Search

Committee, Religious Studies Department, Santa

Clara University, Santa Clara, CA 95053-0335.

S.C.U. is a Jesuit, Catholic university located in

the Silicon Valley in the San Francisco Bay Area,

and is an Equal Opportunity/Affirmative Action

employer. This position is contingent on available

funding. For full details, visit www.scu.edu

/hr/careers.

RetreatsBETHANY RETREAT HOUSE, East Chicago, Ind.,

offers private and individually directed silent retreats,

including Ignatian 30 days, year-round in a

prayerful home setting. Contact Joyce Diltz,

P.H.J.C.; (219) 398-5047; [email protected];

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TranslatorSPANISH TRANSLATOR. Luis Baudry-Simon,

specialized in Catholic matters. Books, articles,

essays. E-mail: [email protected]; Ph:

(815) 461-0321.


CL ASS IF IED

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Classes begin September 2010. Contact Rev.

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Parish MissionsINSPIRING, DYNAMIC PREACHING: parish

missions, retreats, days of recollection; www

.sabbathretreats.org.

PositionsSOCIAL SCIENTIFIC APPROACHES TO THE

STUDY OF RELIGION. Santa Clara University

invites applications for a tenure-track, assistant

professor position in social scientific approaches

to the study of religion, with a focus on contem-

porary Asian-American and/or Latino/Hispanic

religion. The ideal candidate will have the

methodological expertise to explore forms of reli-

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scholars, the department is multidisciplinary, with

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what can the Latin rite church gleanfrom studying in earnest the rich his-tory, theology and spirituality of thediaconate in the Eastern rite churchesor the Orthodox?

BOB YERHOT

Dakota, Minn.

A Small and Angry Reaction

I have a nagging feeling in my gut thatthe diaconate (“Married andOrdained,” 7/20) subtly supports anordination practice that is painfullybroken in our church. I know wonder-ful people who are deacons. Deaconsdo good work. Still, I feel an instinctu-al resentment at the ways the dia-conate 1) still excludes women and 2)enables the current ordination policy.Deacons fill some staffing shortagesand they reinforce the clericalism thatchokes lively faith in action. The dis-cussion about the role of wives seemssilly to me. The wives are put in a pub-licly and structurally subordinate posi-tion no matter how personally sup-

Burning Flame

Just one question regarding “ADeacon’s Lessons,” by Greg Kandra(7/20): What about those of us whoare called to the diaconate but havebeen given a resounding no for ananswer? We are left with a burningflame, placed in the deepest part of oursouls by God, which cannot be extin-guished, even “on a cold floor.”

STEPHANIE SIPE

Akron, Ohio

Learning From History

Re “The Modern Diaconate” (7/20):A coherent theology of the diaconate, Ibelieve, cannot be developed without aclear, accurate understanding of theentire history of the diaconate, startingwith the original seven who some saywere the first deacons. No doubt thediaconate as currently lived has itsvariances from the diaconate in thefirst century of the church or the dia-

conate of the 12th century. Is today’sdiaconate the same calling of the Spiritas that to which were called the firstdeacons, or the deacons described bySt. Ignatius of Antioch and others? Inwhat way has the Holy Spirit’s callingremained consistent, and in what wayhas it changed? These questions seeminadequately answered today.

Perhaps more easily answered ishow the church’s calling of men to thisvocation has remained consistent andhow it has varied. As the SecondVatican Council strove to accomplish,we too need to return to our roots, allthe while reading the “signs of thetimes,” and respond. Most of what Ihave read regarding the diaconate is acontemporary snapshot, a descriptionof what it is now, with partial attentionto its historical development. Theentire period of time from about A.D.800 to the Council of Trent goes large-ly unnoticed. At least I have not beenapprised of any good reading for thistime period in the Latin rite. Finally,


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20036

Red Alert

Regarding the essay “The Eyes of aChild” (8/3): Many years ago, inBangor, Me., my 2-year-old camewithin a second of pulling the firealarm (the pretty red box) right next tothe area that housed the linear acceler-ator for which her physicist father wasresponsible. I suspect the responsewould have made the Maine statenewspapers. I now notice all firealarms within reaching distance of my2-year-old grandson.

MARY JOAN GRAVES

Baldwin, N.Y.

Truly an Improvement

I compliment you on the new designintroduced earlier this year. I love it!The use of photos and color is muchbetter; the new font is elegant yet easyto read; and the new layout of the artssection is much improved. I especiallylike that the information on the bookreviewer is included with the review,instead of having to page back to findout more about the reviewer.

I have seen many magazines imple-ment new designs in the past few yearsand have hated every one until now.This is the first magazine redesign thatis truly an improvement. Congratula-tions on a job well done!

CYNTHIA CHOVAN-DALTON

Jersey City, N.J.

Beyond the White House

Re the article “Legal Obligations” (8/3):Instead of the executive branch unilater-ally writing its conception of what warpowers may be, shouldn’t this bebrought before the federal judiciary?There has been an interpretation of thelaw by one branch of government, theexecutive. Isn’t it for the judiciary todecide if that interpretation of the law isin line with the Constitution?

ANDREW J. RUSSELL

Appleton, Wis.

see Christ in them. He shines in theirsuffering and I am moved to tearswhen they smile and are so grateful Ibring him to them. Sometimes atMass when distributing holyCommunion, my eyes fill with tears asI say “the Body of Christ” to my fellowparishioners. Yes, the hours are long,and some weeks I’m out four nights atmeetings and prayer groups. It is hardbut it is also rewarding.

I have never experienced that coldstone floor and I know I never will,because I am a woman and I cannot beordained a deacon. But I have experi-enced the living Christ in the joy, thecamaraderie, the fun, the teasing andthe love of those I serve with in myparish. That joy brings the assuranceand knowledge of the living God whoholds and guides me as I serve his chil-dren.

I will never be ordained, but I tooserve and am grateful to God for thatprivilege. Maybe someday we will havewomen deacons who will experiencethat stone floor and ordination too.

MARGARET C. JONES

Brooklyn, N.Y.

.

The Missing Elements

Re “The Stakeholder Society”(Editorial, 8/3): The current econom-ic crisis in the U.S. banking-capitalistsystem, affecting the whole world, isbased on the greed of corporate execu-tives taking gross profits whilebankrupting investors and clients’bank accounts and giving loans with-out capital backing. Gratuity does noteven touch the real problem. Thehomeless, unemployed and underpaidneed a good fishing pole, not the gift ofa fish from the overflowing nets of awealthy patron. Morality, ethics andaccountability are missing from the“gratuitousness” equation.

MICHAEL R. SASO

Los Angeles, Calif.

portive or ministerially active they are.What are we doing when we holdthem up as models?

And speaking of subordinatewomen, it could be said that we offerordination as “bonus,” if you will, formen in the diaconate formation pro-grams, while (mostly) women in thelay pastoral ministry programs studymuch the same material, undergosimilar faith formation and end updoing similar work without the sacra-mental privileges. Would many ofthese men be willing to study for pas-toral certification and work in parish-es if they were not offered the prestigeof ordination at the conclusion oftheir studies?

I am a little afraid of my reactionson this topic because they are notinformed by research or even muchexperience. They seem, well, small andangry. But my reactions persist evenupon reflection.

So I wonder what reactions are mypeers in the pew having? Are there anytheologians or scholars out there writ-ing about whether the diaconate min-istry perpetuates harm?

LISA MAECHLING DEBBELER

Cincinnati, Ohio

That Cold Stone Floor

I commend Greg Kandra for his heart-felt article, “A Deacon’s Lessons”(7/20). I am a lay pastoral minister inmy diocese. As such I am the pastoralcare minister, chairperson of theparish liturgy committee, and incharge of the extraordinary ministersof holy Communion in my parish.Deacon Kandra is correct—the workin ministry is difficult, time-consum-ing and at times frustrating.

I too am moved to tears when I visitthe homebound and look into the eyesof an Alzheimer victim, a paralyzedelderly person and a cancer sufferer. I

To send a letter to the editor we recommend using the link that appears below articles on America’s Web site, americamagazine.org.


America (ISSN 0002-7049) is published weekly (except for 14 combined issues: Jan. 5-12, 19-26, March 30-April 6, April 20-27, May 25-June 1, June 8-15, 22-29, July 6-13, 20-27, Aug. 3-10, 17-24, Aug. 31-Sept.7, Sept. 14-21, Dec. 21-28) by America Press, Inc., 106 West 56th Street, New York, NY 10019. Periodicals postage is paid at New York, N.Y., and additional mailing offices. Business Manager: Lisa Pope; Circulation:Judith Palmer, (212) 581-4640. Subscriptions: United States, $48 per year; add U.S. $22 postage and GST (#131870719) for Canada; or add U.S. $32 per year for overseas surface postage. For overseas airmaildelivery, please call for rates. Postmaster: Send address changes to: America, 106 West 56th St. New York, NY 10019. Printed in the U.S.A.

he commitment to be boundto another person for life isnever made once and for all,

but must be renewed again and again.This is true not only of our commit-ments to one another, but also of ourcommitment to God through Jesus. Atparticular moments we must decidedefinitively and not simply driftalong.

In the first reading, Joshua callstogether all the tribes of Israel andtheir leaders. For some of the peoplethis may have been an occasion of ini-tial commitment; for others it was are-affirmation of a way they hadalready chosen. Joshua puts a choicebefore them: either serve the Lordwho brought them out of slavery inEgypt, who performed great miraclesbefore their eyes and who protectedthem all along the journey, or servethe other gods of the land in whichthey dwelt. It seems impossible andillogical to make any choice otherthan to respond wholeheartedly toGod, who had begun the relationshipwith such extraordinary saving acts.Joshua leads the way by declaring thathe and his household will serve Godalone.

A similar choice is set before thedisciples of Jesus in today’s Gospel.The decision is whether to believe inthe one whose words are “spirit andlife.” The setting is the aftermath ofJesus’ feeding of the multitude and his

invitation to eat his flesh and drink hisblood. Unlike the first reading, thechoice here is not so evident and logi-cal. The disciples say, “This saying ishard; who can accept it?” What Jesusasks of them is shocking, as hehimself recognizes.It includes a mys-terious element ofgift that is inex-plicable (like thefact that we cannever fully or log-ically explain whywe would chooseto spend our wholelife with another when such a com-mitment is bound to entail great diffi-culties). Love and the gracious gift ofGod are often all we can offer toexplain such a choice.

Hard choices must also be madewhen we face changed circumstances.Sometimes commitments once madehave to be re-evaluated. FormerPresident Jimmy Carter recentlydescribed the painful decision hemade in 2000 to break his ties with theSouthern Baptist Convention, becausethey insisted on the subservience ofwomen to men and barred womenfrom serving as deacons, pastors orchaplains in the military service. Afterbelonging to this denomination for sixdecades, he made a difficult choice.

The second reading today invites usto re-examine patterns of relationshipthat can harm women rather than fos-ter greater love. This segment ofEphesians is a Christian adaptation ofthe household codes common from

the time of Aristotle. These outlinedthe proper workings of a Greek homein terms of the paterfamilias as ruler, towhom the women, children and slaveswere subordinate. The version in

Ephesians begins by exhorting themutual subordination of hus-bands and wives to one anotherout of reverence for Christ, but

then elaborates only one directionof the relationship: the responsi-

bilities of husbands and thesubservience of wives to them.This reading is most often

used to reinforce male dominationover women.

Yet the model presented to hus-bands is that of Christ’s complete self-sacrificing love for the church. If hus-bands exercised such self-surrender inlove toward their wives, it wouldresult in the dismantling of structuresof male domination and initiate awhole new pattern of mutual respectand self-giving love. This manner ofrelating goes against the grain of most


Hard Choices; Inner MotivesTWENTY-FIRST SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME (B), AUG. 23, 2009

Readings: Jos 24:1-2, 15–18; Ps 34:2-3, 16–21; Eph 5:21-32; Jn 6:60-69

“Decide today whom you will serve” (Jos 24:15)

T

PRAYING WITH SCRIPTURE

• Reflect on the life-choice commitments

you have made. What reaffirmations need

to be expressed in words?

• What commitments do you need to re-

examine?. . .

• Invite Jesus to help you conduct an

inventory of your heart. What are your

motivations for the religious practices you

have embraced?

• How does the love in your heart express

itself in action on behalf of the most vul-

nerable?

AR

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THE WORD

BARBARA E. REID, O.P., is a professor of NewTestament studies at Catholic TheologicalUnion in Chicago, Ill.

cultures. Just as Jesus’ disciplesexclaimed in the Gospel about howhard it was to accept his self-gift offlesh and blood, so it is not easy for usto make a commitment to new pat-terns of relating if they require mutu-al self-surrender to one another inlove. One must make a deliberatechoice to learn about and put intopractice egalitarian ways of relating,which also involve leaving behindfamiliar ways. It is an urgent choicefor life or death. Choose today.

TWENTY-SECOND SUNDAY IN

ORDINARY TIME (B), AUG. 30,

2009

Readings: Dt 4:1–8; Ps 15:2–5; Jas

1:17–27; Mk 7:1-8, 14–23

“Religion that is pure...is to care

for orphans and widows in their

affliction” (Jas 1:27)

n today’s Gospel the Pharisees andscribes challenge Jesus, asking whyhis disciples do not follow prac-

tices regarding ritual washing. Theroots of these practices are found in Ex30:19 and 40:12. They concern thecustom of priests to wash their handsand feet before entering into the tentof meeting. By the second centuryB.C.E. some Jews who were not priestshad voluntarily assumed the practiceof ritual washing of their hands beforemorning prayer and before eating. Inthe Gospel reading the washingextends also to the utensils for prepar-ing the meal and to the purification ofthe dining couch. The Pharisees seemto presume that these should be uni-versal practices. But such observanceswould have been nearly impossible forpeasant farmers, fishermen and itiner-ants like Jesus to observe, given thescarcity of water and contact with deadfish and other pollutants. This “tradi-tion of the elders” (v. 3) was likely onelargely defined and maintained byurban elites.


I

In response to the Pharisees, Jesusquotes the prophet Isaiah to exposethe disconnection between lip-serviceand motivations of the heart. It is notonly that Jesus’ opponents have forgot-ten the true motivation for their reli-gious practices; they have substitutedhumanly contrived practices for God’scommandments. Jesus points towardexamination of our inner motives. Ourpractices must flow from and reflectour profound experience of God’s loveand care.

It can happen, however, that origi-nally good practices deteriorate overtime into meaningless customs or,worse, showy external observance. It ishelpful to examine periodically ourreligious practices, assessing how wellthey embody God’s love and impel ustoward greater love of one another.

It is also important for us to recog-nize the ways in which the heart canstray, as the ending of today’s Gospelemphasizes. The enumeration of vicesis a typical teaching device used by

Hellenistic philosophers (see alsoRom 1:29-31; Gal 5:9-21). Jesuswarns that it is not external observanceor lack of it that determines one’s rela-tionship with God, but a heart that isever being transformed by divine love,which becomes visible in concrete acts.

The Letter of James elaborates onhow our care for the most vulnerableserves as the measuring rod for howwell we are putting into action the sav-ing word we hear. It is not enough toexperience love within our hearts; lovemust find expression in outwarddeeds. And it is not only the individu-al recipient of a kind act who benefitsfrom heart-motivated devotion toGod; the faithful keeping of God’scommandments gives far-reachingwitness to others. In the reading fromDeuteronomy, Moses tells the peoplethat their observance of God’s com-mands is not only for their benefit; itwill also cause the other nations tomarvel at God’s graciousness and jus-tice. BARBARA E. REID

“This book is Rembert Weakland at his best — synthesizing, analyzing, and truth-telling. . . . Read this book. It has a great deal to say about our own lives.”— JOAN CHITTISTER

“All readers will be moved by this honest, riveting, and exceedingly well-written story of frustration and hope, of sin and redemption. I recommend this book enthusiastically and without reservation.”— RICHARD P. MCBRIEN

“An invaluable historical record and a moving personal confession.”— PUBLISHERS WEEKLY

A PILGRIM IN A

PILGRIM CHURCH

Memoirs of aCatholic Archbishop

Rembert G.Weakland, OSB

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Foreword by Margaret O’Brien Steinfels

ISBN 978-0-8028-6382-9

www.eerdmans.com

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Without a Catholic priest’s presence, our Catholic Airmen go without the Eucharist. That’s where

you come in — your presence is needed in the Air Force Chaplain Service to nurture our Airmen’s

Catholic identity through the sacraments and continued faith formation. Join us for “Come Be

With Us,” an Air Force–sponsored, three-day ministry familiarization tour. Experience and see the

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REAL PRESENCE NEEDED!CHAPLAIN SERVICE

Catholic Tradition and the Health Care Debate VOL. 201 NO. 4, WHOLE NO. 4863 AUGUST 17–24, 2009 35...

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Transcript of Catholic Tradition and the Health Care Debate VOL. 201 NO. 4, WHOLE NO. 4863 AUGUST 17–24, 2009 35...