THE NATIONAL CATHOLIC WEEKLY Dear Mister PresidentTHE NATIONAL CATHOLIC WEEKLY JAN. 19–26, 2009...

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 J A N . 1 9 – 2 6 , 2 0 0 9 $ 2 . 7 5

Dear Mister PresidentAdvice for Barack Obama

EDITOR IN CHIEFDrew Christiansen, S.J.

EDITORIAL DEPARTMENT

MANAGING EDITORRobert C. Collins, S.J.

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CULTURE EDITORJames Martin, S.J.

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POETRY EDITORJames S. Torrens, S.J.

ASSOCIATE EDITORSJoseph A. O’Hare, S.J.

George M. Anderson, S.J.Dennis M. Linehan, S.J.

Jim McDermott, S.J.Matt Malone, S.J.

James T. Keane, S.J.Peter Schineller, S.J.

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PUBLISHED BY JESUITS OF THE UNITED STATES

napshots of family and friendstaken over the decades, somedating back to the 1960s, lie in

small packets in my desk drawer. Fromtime to time I take them from theirenvelope to look again at those familiarfaces. Most are smiling, and you canalmost hear them responding to thecommand, “Say cheese!” About half,though, are no longer physically pre-sent in this world, and so I like to seethem in my mind’s eye as smiling in thepresence of the God who has receivedthem.

Among the oldest of the snapshotsare two of my parents, taken whenthey visited me at the Jesuit novitiatein Wernersville, Pa. We made anafternoon excursion to nearby HawkMountain, where each fall thousandsof hawks circle high in the currents ofair as they begin their annual migra-tion southward. Binoculars over hershoulder, my mother stands lookingdirectly at my camera. My fatherstands apart, adjusting his own binoc-ulars, while other visitors nearby gazeupward at the dozens of glidinghawks. Behind the group rises a groveof trees whose golden leaves still standout even in the now-faded color of thesnapshot.

The modest collection is divided notonly chronologically, but also accordingto places where I have worked as aJesuit. Some photos show people metduring my assignment at St. Aloysiusparish in Washington, D.C. The sur-rounding neighborhood includes a low-income housing development calledSursum Corda (“Lift up your hearts”),words from the opening dialogue of thepreface of the Latin Mass. It wasbestowed on the development partlybecause of the involvement in its cre-ation of Horace McKenna, a Jesuitwhose ministry among the poor has ledto his reputation as a saint.

One St. Aloysius snapshot shows

Pauline Belt, an African-American res-ident at Sursum Corda, seated in thechurch’s little social hall.

The photo is in a glass display casethere, near a hand-drawn crayon pic-ture of Horace done by one of thehomeless men he served. Pauline wasold then, and now is with God.Sursum Corda, designed as a modelinner-city village with trees, openspaces and units with five bedroomsfor large families, is facing its owndeath as real estate developers close inwith plans that have already displacedmany low-income residents.

Other social hall snapshots showtwo African-American men nattilydressed for the Easter Vigil. A nunwho worked at a facility for personswith AIDS had brought them to St.Aloysius that evening. The date on theback is 1991, and the inscription alsonotes that these two men died soonafterward. An earlier picture shows thesister, Lenore Benda, S.S.J., with twoother men for whom she was also asource of support and encouragement.

But not all these small photos are inthe social hall or my desk drawer.Some I keep before me, in a framepropped against a plant by the windowto the left of the computer where I sittyping these words in my office atAmerica House. One shows two of mydearest friends, both members of theReligious of the Sacred Heart, takenduring a trip to the order’s retirementhome in Albany, N.Y. The older, thenin her 80s, sits in an easy chair. Themuch younger sister stands beside her.And yet it was the younger who diedfirst, of cancer, not yet 50 years old. Ifeel that although physically gone, theyare with me still as they look out fromthe snapshot meeting my every glance.

And so it is with the increasingnumber of pictures of loved friendswho are now alive with God.

GEORGE M. ANDERSON, S.J.

S

OF MANY THINGS

Cover Reuters/Carlos Barria

A R T I C L E S

12 MISTER PRESIDENTLetters and memos to the incoming executive

Agbonkhianmeghe E. Orobator • Matthew P. Moll • Peter Quinn

• Helen Prejean • Bob Finocchio Jr. • Gabino Zavala • Amy Uelmen

• Daniel Callahan • James J. Zogby • Frank Brennan

19 THE FOOD ON OUR TABLESThe flaws of U.S. agricultural policy

Bob Peace

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

4 Current Comment

5 Editorial The Roots of Terrorism

6 Signs of the Times

10 Column Blessed Are the Poor Thomas Massaro

21 State of the Question A Response to

‘The Chaplain’s Dilemma’

36 Letters

38 The Word No Ordinary Time

Barbara E. Reid

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

25 ART The art of George Tooker FILM John Patrick Shanley’s

‘Doubt’ BOOKS Two views of India; Giordano Bruno;

Deaf Sentence

CONTENTSwww.americamagazine.org VOL. 200 NO. 2, WHOLE NO. 4842 JANUARY 19–26, 2009

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O N T H E W E B

CONTENTS

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Jim McDermott, S.J., on the TV season in sci-fi (right, aheroine from “Heroes”), and video messages for PresidentObama. Plus, a slideshow of George Tooker’s artwork; andJeff Johnson, S.J., discusses a documentary on St. FrancisXavier on our podcast. And from the archives, the editorson the partition of India. All at americamagazine.org.

O N T H E W E B

CURRENT COMMENT

After GazaGaza has been Israel’s tar-pit, a quagmire from which itextracts itself only to be pulled back in. It never seems tolearn. In 1993, under the Oslo Accords with the PalestineLiberation Organization, Gaza and Jericho were the firstterritories handed over to Palestinian control. Followingthe Al Aqsa intifada in 2000, Israel re-occupied Gaza andthen in 2005 withdrew unilaterally. After each of itsdepartures, it obstructed economic development and evenemergency relief. Now, once again, the Israeli military isback, following a bruising air assault on the Gaza Strip.The objective of Israel’s latest effort is to end terrorizingrocket attacks on the cities of southern Israel, like Sderot,Ashkelon and Beersheva. To do so, however, requires“breaking the will” of Hamas (the Islamic ResistanceMovement). Most experts believe that Hamas will not bebroken. As the Washington Post columnist David Ignatiushas written, “If there is one lesson in this conflict, it’s thatefforts to ‘break the will’ of the other side almost alwaysfail.” Instead, the long-term results will be a revival of sup-port for Hamas among Palestinians and greater hostilityto Israel across the Arab world. How will Israel escape thequagmire? How will it break out of the violent illogic ofwar, repression and resistance?

A fresh beginning requires that Israel acknowledge thatin any negotiation it holds most of the cards and thereforemust make most of the concessions. Palestinian resistancecontinues because Israel has repeatedly refused to allow itswhip-hand to go slack. In every cycle of peacemaking, ithas retained control of commerce, of security, of taxreceipts, of water. Resistance—and with it Hamas—willwither only when Israel is ready to make a peace that relin-quishes the upper hand over Palestinian life.

Kony’s Ravages ContinueThe self-styled messianic rebel leader in Uganda, JosephKony, head of the brutal Lord’s Resistance Army, contin-ues to wreak death and destruction through a wide swathof territory in central Africa. Having escaped a multina-tional military offensive that targeted his jungle hideout inthe Democratic Republic of Congo, most of his armed fol-lowers fled in late December to the D.R.C.’s northeasterncorner. There, according to the United Nations, they mas-sacred over 200 people and kidnapped at least 20 childrenfrom villages over a three-day period.

The L.R.A.’s two decades of violence have caused thedisplacement of an estimated two million people inNorthern Uganda and the deaths of tens of thousands.

The L.R.A. has abducted an estimated 20,000 children,forcing boys to fight as soldiers and girls to serve as sex-slave “wives.” In 2005 the International Criminal Courtissued arrest warrants for Kony and his top leaders, charg-ing them with crimes against humanity. On Nov. 29 hewas to have signed a peace agreement that had beenreached last April in Juba, Sudan. The agreement includeddisarmament of his army and reintegration of troops intocivilian life. The U.N. special envoy, Joaquim Chissano(former president of Mozambique), waited for him at theborder between Sudan and the D.R.C., but Kony neverappeared. Now, with Kony having eluded the militaryoperation, carried out by combined Uganda, Congo,southern Sudan and U.N. forces, the eventual outcomeremains unclear. The L.R.A.’s violence continues as part ofone of Africa’s longest-running wars. The combined multi-national forces must find and capture Kony, so that he andhis followers may be held accountable for the deadly havocfor which they bear primary responsibility.

Lives of Gays and LesbiansOn Dec. 19, the U.N. General Assembly voted on a non-binding resolution aimed at “decriminalizing” homosexual-ity. The measure was directed at countries where homo-sexuals can be executed for sexual relations. As HumanRights Watch notes, “over 85 countries criminalize consen-sual homosexual conduct.” In some countries, includingAfghanistan, Iran, Saudi Arabia, Sudan and Yemen, it ispunishable by death.

The Holy See condemned “all forms of violence againsthomosexual persons” and urged countries to “put an endto all forms of criminal penalties against them.” Nonethe-less, along with 68 other countries, it rejected the resolu-tion, preferring to hold out for a more clearly worded doc-ument. The Holy See feared “uncertainty in the law,”which might lead to the marginalization of heterosexualmarriages. Cardinal Renato Martino, head of thePontifical Council for Justice and Peace, also feared thatthis resolution could limit the freedom of the church toteach that homosexual acts are immoral.

Though the Holy See last year endorsed a similar butmore carefully worded document, these distinctions mayprovide little comfort to those who pray for the church’s sup-port in places where violence against gays and lesbians stilloccurs. Last year, according to the Federal Bureau ofInvestigation, hate crimes in this country against gays and les-bians rose by 6 percent, while crimes against almost everyother group fell. Stronger public steps are necessary tooppose the execution and murder of gays and lesbians.

4 America January 19–26, 2009

EDITORIAL

The Roots of Terrorismmong the array of challenges facing BarackObama in his first year in office will be the ongo-ing struggle against terrorism, both at home and

abroad. As the vicious terrorist attacks in Mumbai inNovember and the recent Hamas rocket attacks againstIsrael made clear, no nation involved in international poli-tics and commerce is free from the threat of political vio-lence. The past few years have shown that civilization restson a much more precarious footing than we might havebelieved even a decade ago.

But who is the real enemy in the global fight againstterrorism? Even to call this conflict a “war on terror” is mis-leading, given that our enemies are of such disparate originsand intentions. Sweeping generalizations—that our enemyis the Islamofascist, the Muslim fanatic, the anarchist, theignorant youth—are often harmful in the formation of anyeffective response to terrorism.

A sincere yet harmful truism is that our real enemy isignorance, that if our opponents could be freed of propa-ganda and false conceptions, their rage against Euro-American civilization would abate. But any truthful analy-sis of terrorist motives requires the concession that the realroot cause of their actions is resentment. Often enough,education actually leads not to greater appreciation forWestern culture, but to even deeper antipathy. The hijack-ers of Sept. 11, 2001, are a case in point. Many of theattackers had achieved high levels of education as engineers,scientists and academics. Many studied abroad, and sever-al—ringleader Mohammad Atta among them—would fitthe definition of upwardly mobile young professionals.Nevertheless, they were seduced by an ideology that con-vinced them that their death, and the deaths of thousandsof innocents, was the appropriate response to their condi-tion.

While scholars like Lawrence Wright, author of TheLooming Tower, the best-selling study of Islamic terrorism,have shown the powerful influence of fundamentalist reli-gious beliefs in terrorist recruitment, groups like Al Qaedagain from the religious and from the resentful, drawingdevotees from those who find that the adoption of Westerneconomic and social practices does not always translate intoeconomic opportunity or social progress. Oftentimes thevery technological advances that should have led to greaterupward mobility—the Internet and global communicationsamong them—have provided terrorist groups with the

means to link up previously isolatedcells. Access to the media has two illeffects, offering greater awareness ofsevere economic disparities and anintroduction to a global entertainmentenvironment profoundly at odds withthe religious and cultural sensibilitiesof many peoples.

Another alarming portent of future terror is the realpossibility of widespread state failure. In its most recentanalysis of global trends, the National Intelligence Councilsuggested that by 2025, as many as 36 nations (with a totalpopulation of 1.4 billion) will face shortages of fresh waterand sustainable food supplies. A number of these nations,which are overwhelmingly in Africa and the Middle East,are already unable to provide consistent law and order.These same countries are also experiencing a “youth bulge”of young men and women now entering adulthood.

State failure also represents a failure of compassion onthe part of the wealthy and stable nations of the world.Imperiled nations support exactly the populations amongwhom resentment will be strongest if the world communityfails them, if instead of jobs and security they find chaos,disease and suffering. In the past, the international commu-nity has failed to intervene effectively when neglected situa-tions became humanitarian catastrophes, with Zimbabweand Somalia as prime examples. As Pope Benedict XVInoted in his visit to the United Nations last year, the “dutyto protect” is not just an internal matter for nations, but aninternational duty.

It is crucial that the United States abandon therhetoric that casts the international struggle against terror-ism exclusively in terms of a crusade against religious fanati-cism. The anger that accompanies the ongoing and worsen-ing social ills among the world’s poorest populations alsocontributes mightily to terror’s allure. Remedying suchwidespread resentment will not be easy, and cannot be donealone. A reasonable beginning would include greater inter-national cooperation on sustainable development, renegoti-ation of lopsided trade agreements, a rethinking of the eco-nomics of globalization and an end to military and politicalunilateralism on the part of the United States. All this will,of course, require money—but far less than the world willspend combating the terror and violence that will otherwiseflourish amid the ruins.

A

January 19–26, 2009 America 5

for a halt to the violence in Gaza. AtSt. Stephen’s the retired Latin patri-arch of Jerusalem, Michel Sabbah,

s committed Catholics,Timothy and Dawn Smithof Fitzwilliam, N.H., respect

Vatican pronouncements, but recentstatements by church officials regard-ing frozen embryo adoption havebewildered these parents of three chil-dren who came into the worldthrough this process. “If the churchdid come out and say you can’t adoptfrozen embryos, we wouldn’t openlychallenge church teachings,” saidTimothy Smith, 44, in an interviewwith Catholic News Service. His wife,

sgr. Manuel Musallam, pastor of Holy FamilyParish in Gaza City, says Gaza is “drowning inblood” as its hospitals overflow with patients. In

a message to participants read during a special Mass forpeace at St. Stephen’s Church in Jerusalem on Jan. 4,Musallam wrote: “What you see on television cannot becompared to what is happening. The word love is choking inmy throat.... We are living like animals in Gaza. We cry andnobody hears us. I am asking God for mercy and pray thatthe light of Christianity continues to shine in Gaza.”

Israel launched a ground attack in Gaza on Jan. 3 afterseveral days of airstrikes to stop the Palestinian militantgroup Hamas from launching rockets into Israel. As of Jan.8, at least four Israelis and more than 500 Palestinians,including 100 civilians, had been killed.

Church leaders from the Holy Land attended the Massat St. Stephen’s while local and international Christiansgathered elsewhere in Israel and the West Bank to pray

death for Palestinians as well asIsraelis,” Patriarch Sabbah said at theMass. “What is happening in Gaza

N E W H A M P S H I R E

Couple Questions Vatican Instruction

SIGNS OF THE TIMESG A Z A

Christians Pray, Plead for Peace

M

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Dawn, 40, has given birth to three chil-dren who were adopted as frozenembryos and believes their road to par-enthood was morally righteous. “But,the door is still open a crack here. Untilthat is shut, we would like to say wethink this is a very good thing to do.”

In the document Dignitas Personae(The Dignity of a Person)—released atthe Vatican on Dec. 12—church lead-ers did not condemn frozen embryoadoption, the procedure throughwhich couples may adopt embryos thatare not used during in vitro fertiliza-

tion, but said the practice raises seri-ous ethical concerns. Vatican officialsinsist no fully moral solution exists fordealing with frozen embryos, not eventhe idea of adopting or “rescuing”abandoned embryos to bring them tofull development and birth.

When the Smiths married in 1991they knew they wanted three or fourchildren, but learned in 1997 theywere infertile. As they researchedtheir options, the couple—who wereliving in Delaware at the time—dis-covered that people who go throughin vitro procedures sometimesdonate their excess frozen embryosto others who cannot conceive chil-dren through marital sexual inter-course, and decided this was the

St. Catherine’s Church in Bethlehem, West Bank

said the Israeli incursion into theGaza Strip means death for bothsides. “What is happening now is


Church, adjacent to theChurch of the Nativity inBethlehem, West Bank,Christians also attended a spe-cial Mass. “This is genocide,”said one Bethlehem resident,Adel Sahouri, 70, who attend-ed the Mass. “Israel is sostrong and has all the weaponsthe world can afford. Whatdoes Hamas have? Just rock-ets, nothing.” Another toldCatholic News Service afterMass he was praying “not justfor the people in Gaza but alsofor those in Tel Aviv. Every[Israeli] soldier going intoGaza now has a mother who issitting glued to the televisionwith her heart in her throat.He who truly has God in hisheart loves everybody.”

This parishioner said hedid not understand the purpose ofHamas’s rockets, given their inaccura-cy, and he emphasized the fact thatthere is only one Palestinian govern-

ment, headed by Palestinian PrimeMinister Mahmoud Abbas. In June2007, Hamas split with Abbas’s Fatahmovement and took control of theGaza Strip. Abbas’s government stillcontrols the West Bank. “What are wefighting over—for a piece of land?Take the land. In the end the land willswallow us all,” he said, noting that,given the situation, he was not able tospeak so freely with many of hisfriends and acquaintances.

After the Mass in Bethlehem morethan 50 worshippers—carrying aflower wreath, placards calling forpeace and black and Palestinianflags—processed around MangerSquare reciting Psalm 50, traditional-ly said at funerals. “What is going onis war and I am praying to stop it. I amnot waiting for people to hear [myprayer]. I am waiting for God; andwhatever God’s plan is, we will follow,”said Rosemarie Nasser, 55. “No oneunderstands that God has his owntime. So many times in our lives Goduses the bad for good.”

course they wanted to take. Though they subscribe to church

teachings that artificial methods ofprocreation, such as in vitro fertiliza-tion, are immoral, the Smiths believethey protected the lives of their threechildren by adopting them as frozenembryos and providing Dawn’s wombas a nurturing place for them to grow.

They say they were surprised at thecontents of the bioethics documentreleased by the Congregation for theDoctrine of the Faith. “I would havethought that, after some reflection onthe matter, they would have leaned alittle more” in favor of the practice,Smith said. “It doesn’t read like theytalked to people—especially Catholics—who had gone through this and

weighed the moral issues involved.” The only completely moral way of

acting is to stop creating and freezingembryos, which possess the dignity ofall human beings, the document said.

Speaking at the Dec. 12 Vaticanpress conference to explain the docu-ment, Bishop Elio Sgreccia—formerpresident of the Pontifical Academyfor Life, who helped prepare theVatican’s new bioethics document—told reporters: “The basic advice,explicitly stated in the document, isthat embryos must not be frozen. It isone of those actions that has no reme-dy. Once it is done, correcting itimplies committing another error.”

Erin Smith and her twin brothers,Conrad, left, and Dominic

has made us all come to pray andjoin in a prayer that says stop themassacre.”

Earlier in the day at St. Catherine’s

From CNS and other sources. CNS photos.

6, more than a quarter of its memberswill be Catholics, roughly matching thepercentage of Catholics in the U.S. pop-ulation and consistent with the statisti-cal trends of the past decade. Four yearsago, when the 109th Congress con-vened, it included 153 Catholics. Twoyears later there were 155 Catholics inthe 110th Congress. The new group ofsenators and representatives has 162members who identify themselves asCatholics. With nearly all the 2008 elec-toral battles settled by early Decemberand the Senate seat of President-electBarack Obama still not filled, theCatholic delegation includes 17Democrats and nine Republicans in theSenate and 98 Democrats and 38Republicans in the House.

blamed for the church massacre aswell as continued tensions in north-eastern Congo. In early December,Ugandan, Congolese and southernSudanese forces launched an offensiveagainst the group. Sister Marie-Bernard said the local justice andpeace commission currently is takingscores of people to the local hospital.

Number of Catholics inCongress Grows The number of Catholic members ofCongress is slowly growing and theCatholic contingent, like the fullCongress itself, has taken a decided turntoward the Democratic Party. Whenthe 111th Congress is sworn in on Jan.

U.S. Bishops ApplaudConscience RegulationsThe U.S. bishops’ pro-life spokeswom-an welcomed a final regulation issuedon Dec. 18 by the U.S. Department ofHealth and Human Services that pro-tects the conscience rights of health careproviders. Deirdre McQuade, assistantdirector for policy and communica-tions, said the regulation is a way toprotect medical personnel from “beingcoerced” to violate their consciences infederally funded programs. The newregulation clarifies and implementsexisting federal statutes enacted byCongress over the last several years,most recently in 2004. “Individuals andinstitutions committed to healingshould not be required to take the veryhuman life that they are dedicated toprotecting,” McQuade said in a state-ment. “The enforcement of federal lawsto protect their freedom of conscience islong overdue.” She said, “Catholichealth care providers will especiallywelcome this mark of respect for theexcellent life-affirming care they pro-vide to all in need.”

Ugandan Rebels KillingCongolese Civilians A Catholic Church official said theUgandan Lord’s Resistance Army iskilling Congolese civilians to avengemilitary attacks by the Congolesearmy. “It is the civilian populationwho are paying the price of this vio-lence,” said Marie-Bernard Alima, aSt. Joseph Sister who is executive sec-retary of the Congolese bishops’ jus-tice and peace commission. SisterMarie-Bernard told Catholic NewsService on Dec. 29 that 50 bodieswere found in the courtyard of aCatholic church in DorumaChristmas morning. The L.R.A., aUgandan rebel group, has been

Eugene Fisher, a retired official at the U.S.Conference of Catholic Bishops, has beenhonored by two organizations for his workin promoting understanding betweenCatholic and Jewish communities. • Archbishop Allen H. Vigneron ofOakland was named archbishop of Detroiton Jan. 5 • A new online survey conductedfor the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishopsfound that 78 percent favored requiring thatabortions be performed only by licensedphysicians and that 72 percent favor requir-ing that women who are seeking abortionsbe told of the potential physical and psycho-logical risks. • The president of Caritas Internationalis called for animmediate cease-fire in the Gaza Strip to allow the wounded and theirphysicians to reach the region’s hospitals. • Despite the bombings in theGaza Strip, the six Missionaries of Charity working there say life has somenormalcy and they plan to remain. • Benedictine Brother DietrichReinhart, former president of St. John’s University in Collegeville,Minn., died Dec. 29 at age 59. • Catholic bishops in southern Africapaid tribute to the anti-apartheid campaigner Helen Suzman, who diedon Jan. 1 in Johannesburg at age 91.

Dietrich Reinhart

N E W S B R I E F S


SIGNS OF THE TIMES

N E W S B R I E F S


THOMAS MASSARO

Blessed Are the Poorhe best homiletic advice Iever received was to remem-ber always that I am a fellow

pilgrim sharing the path of discoverywith a congregation. As a new regularvoice at this magazine, I will do mybest to bring this call to intellectualhumility to my columns. Fellow trav-elers are more likeable than self-appointed gurus, after all.

Keeping my pledge to avoid“know-it-all-dom” will come easilyenough in this initial column, becauseI will share some tentative thoughtson a pressing topic on which nobodycan speak with final authority: how torespond to the current economicdownturn in a way that is true to theGospel and Christian ethics.

To employ a medical metaphor,one could say that economists by nowgenerally agree on a basic diagnosis ofwhat went wrong to precipitate thiscrisis, and they can discern a reason-ably clear prescription to foster recov-ery (bailouts, stimulus packages andnew regulatory oversight). Theymight even come up with a reliableprognosis and timeline for crawlingout of this, the sharpest recession indecades.

But a distinct set of challenges aris-es when we turn our attention to thepersonal level. How should we thinkabout what is happening “at streetlevel,” to actual people and the budgetsof their hard-pressed families? Someof the challenges I have in mind regardhow best to describe the effects of therecession, while others pertain to theshape of the proper moral response to

these hard times.Poverty—there is a word we have

heard too seldom since the financialdominoes started tumbling last fall.Financial crises and the recessionsthat follow cause poverty rates to soar.Jobs are lost, incomes decline, invest-ments shrink, savings are tapped out,health care coverage expires, foreclo-sures strike, and retirement plans arescuttled. No household iscompletely immune fromthe threat of insecurity.Correlated with decliningincome are a host of per-sonal hardships, frommarital strain to drug useto declining health, evensuicide. These spreadingripples, worthy of deepconcern, often originate inthe stubborn reality ofmaterial deprivation.

Downward mobility—another starkterm that demands our attention. Forsome it means a modest scaling backof expenses and expectations, for oth-ers the alarming prospect of anincreasingly desperate struggle forsurvival. As maddeningly imprecise asthis term is, it always involves the“bite” of dashed aspirations and theloss of social status. Families confront-ed with involuntary downward mobil-ity are generally not different fromtheir neighbors; they simply findthemselves at the wrong place at thewrong time.

Pope John Paul II challenged theworld to grow in the virtue of socialsolidarity. What does it mean to be insolidarity with those affected mostacutely by this recession? The answerto this question turns out to be quiteindividual, with no one-size-fits-all

response. At the very least, it entailsavoiding those “Marie Antoinettemoments” that reveal ignorance of theless fortunate and insensitivity towardthem. While some point to the NewYork Yankees’ recent spending spreeon free agents and new stadiumamenities as an unconscionable dis-play of callousness, we all need toreassess our priorities.

Notice that phrasejust above: “the less for-tunate.” The lessonsavailable from observingthe roller coaster ofrecent business cyclesmust include an appreci-ation for the limits ofself-reliance amid unsta-ble modern economies.“There but for the graceof God (or the burst ofthe bubble) go I!”

For those who persist in a blanketpolicy of blaming the poor for theirpoverty, John Paul offered this chal-lenge in his encyclical CentesimusAnnus (1991): “But it will be neces-sary above all to abandon a mentalityin which the poor—as individuals andas peoples—are considered a burden,irksome intruders trying to consumewhat others have produced.”

If any good comes of this recession,it may just consist in a more honestand nuanced view of the true causes ofpoverty and greater fellow-feelingwith those suffering its effects. Whilehard times do not automatically settledisagreements on policy issues, likethe proper extent of social safety nets,the recession does present a privilegedopportunity to reassess certain moraldimensions of our economy and todiscern our own “option for the poor.”

T

What is the proper

moralresponse to these

hard times?

THOMAS MASSARO, S.J., teaches social ethicsat the Boston College School of Theology andMinistry, Chestnut Hill, Mass.

America asked a diverse group of readers whatadvice they would give to Barack Obama.

MisterPresident:

ere in Kenya, your ancestral land, we claim you as a true sonof Africa. Your name, Baraka, means blessing. You assumethe leadership of the United States at a time when Americansgroan in the throes of economic woes. A man whose house ison fire does not care about his neighbor’s dying ox.

Understandably, you will focus your energy on extinguishing the fire of eco-nomic recession currently menacing Americans. This may sound nepotistic, butin Africa we say that a person whose relative sits on top of a mango tree alwayseats ripe and delicious mangoes. Africa expects many blessings from you, as ourrelative, in your exalted position as president. Yes, you can bless Africa by lead-ing the international community to bring peace to the Democratic Republic ofCongo, Somalia and Darfur; political stability to Zimbabwe and economicdevelopment in trade and aid to Africa.

For too long we have heard lofty rhetoric from world leaders, including yourpredecessor, that Africa matters—rhetoric that rarely translated into reality.You stand on the cusp between despair and hope for America. Change hascome to America, you once said. Africa also pleads for change, and you can helpbring it about on our continent. The power you wield is to kindle hope, createopportunity and generate change in America and the world. For no matter howpowerful a man, he cannot make the rains fall on his farm alone. God bless you,Baraka!

AGBONKHIANMEGHE E. OROBATOR, S.J., is a lecturer in theology at Hekima College JesuitSchool of Theology in Nairobi, Kenya, and rector of the college’s Jesuit community.

ou set out to assemble a cabinet and group of advisors much like a lib-eral arts university would select its faculty. Your “team of rivals,” as theyare called, allows you to be the professor in chief, welcoming ideas from

myriad political experiences. Presumably this is no accident. You have attendedhighly regarded institutions of higher education and were once a professor oflaw. Now you have taken a model inspired by American universities and appliedit to your nascent presidency, at least in part to provoke the type of debate andperspective that stimulates revolutionary thinking. You have said on many occa-sions that if it were not for your education, you would not be where you aretoday.

Unfortunately, the cost of higher education is already increasing at a greater

LETTERS AND MEMOSTO THE INCOMING EXECUTIVE


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rate than middle- and lower-class families can afford.According to a biannual report by the National Center forPublic Policy and Higher Education, “College tuition con-tinues to outpace family income and the price of othernecessities, such as medical care, food, and housing....Whatever the causes of these tuition increases, the continu-ation of trends of the last quarter century would place high-er education beyond the reach of most Americans andwould greatly exacerbate the debt burdens of those who doenroll.”

There will be no bailout for families who have alreadytaken on sizeable debt to pay for education, but since theeconomy you inherited will need time to rebound, this situ-ation can only be projected to continue. While Americalimps, it is the obligation of all levels of government not tolose sight of its future. Education cannot simply be put onhold while solutions are sought for failed banks and autocompanies.

President Obama, the opportunities you had to advanceyour education still influence you today, but if proper atten-tion is not given to reducing the cost of a university degree,these experiences may not be possible for all segments ofAmerica. Good luck!

MATTHEW P. MOLL, a 2003 graduate of Marquette University, servedin the Jesuit Volunteer Corps and is studying new media at theColumbia University Graduate School of Journalism.

have not had higher hopes or greater expectationsfor any president since John F. Kennedy. You are everybit as intelligent, articulate and capable as he was. You

seem wonderfully agreeable and genuinely decent. Your callfor a new era of bipartisanship is admirable.

You have set out an ambitious agenda that includes res-cuing the economy, undoing the free-market idolatry thatresulted in ruinous deregulation, reversing arrogant andself-defeating unilateralism in the conduct of foreign affairs,repairing the decades-long neglect of our infrastructure,instituting sane, long-range environmental protections andachieving universal health care.

But do not be deceived. Great presidents must take onpowerful enemies as well as tackle great crises. Lincoln hadthe Copperheads. Franklin D. Roosevelt had the “economicroyalists.” You will have yours, too. Sooner or later, as dayfollows night, the diehards will set out to frustrate any pro-cess of significant change.

Be resolute. Be tough. Stick to your beliefs. Marketswere made for man, not the other way around. Free enter-prise is a guide, not a god. The world is now and foreverinterdependent. No country or society can go it alone.The environment is our home; it is not for sale. The poorwill be with us always; and as always, the poorest and

most vulnerable will need our help.With malice toward none, Mr. President, but with

firmness to do what is right, remember you cannot makeeveryone a friend. Partisanship is not pleasant. But thereare times when it is necessary. Sometimes a measure of apresident’s success is the vehemence of the enemies hemakes.

PETER QUINN, a novelist and essayist, was the speechwriter for twoNew York governors. His latest book is Looking for Jimmy: InSearch of Irish America (Overlook Press, 2007).

here is a psalm in the Bible that says, “Truthsprings up from the ground.” The ground is whereordinary people live, the people you addressed most

frequently during your campaign. But I want to direct youreyes and your heart to brothers and sisters who live belowthe ground, Mr. President, those deemed so unredeemablethat they have been condemned to die.

For 20 years now I have accompanied the condemned totheir deaths and have been there for them at the end so theycould see the face of someone who respects their dignity. Ihave seen state killing close up, seen with my own eyes theagony, the torture of human beings anticipating death, try-ing to bolster courage to walk to the killing chamber. Theyplead with me, “Please pray that God holds up my legs.”

Is it possible, Mr. President, that as a country we are inmoral trouble for sanctioning torture of suspected terroristsin Guantánamo because we already practice torture indeath chambers across the land? There men and women,bound hand and foot, are forced down onto gurneys andkilled—often with family members watching, their ownmothers bearing mute witness to their deaths.

You have ushered in hope for a new America, PresidentObama. Join me in the hope that we will soon shut downnot only Guantánamo, but our own killing chambers aswell. Only then can we stand tall alongside the vast majori-ty of countries around the globe that have embraced humanrights by no longer killing their citizens.

I pray, I work for this new America.

HELEN PREJEAN, C.S.J., is the author of Dead Man Walking andThe Death of Innocents.

hile I speak only for myself with this advice, Iam fortunate to be a participant in the extraor-dinary phenomenon of Silicon Valley, a culture

and business model that I would boldly argue has been asource of substantial good as well as economic growth, notjust for our country but for the world. We have seen unprece-dented progress in information technology, health care and


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emerging clean technologies. So please, Mr. Obama:• Champion entrepreneurism, risk-taking and innova-

tion with your words, legislation and regulation. Allow fail-ure. Do not make business failure illegal.

• Do not overreach with regulatory and legislative “fixes”for the current economic crisis. While many proposals maybe crowd pleasers, consider the impact on futureentrepreneurs and the capital formation they need to pur-sue their dreams. Consider the moral hazard created withmany well-meaning ideas to soften blows. Help rebuild anenvironment where initial public offerings are possible andsmall public companies can afford to exist.

• Given our recent economic interventions, push backagainst the inevitable pressures to politicize the govern-ment’s new investments in private companies. We do notneed new Fannie Maes and Freddie Macs. As soon as ourstabilization objectives have been achieved, sell these posi-tions back to the private sector.

• Make science and engineering education a national pri-ority. Challenge the resistance to change in our calcifiededucation bureaucracy. Use your ability to communicateand connect with young people to make the case that sci-ence and engineering are “cool” and noble professions thatcan make the world a better place. Encourage immigration,especially among scientists and engineers.

• Although the benefits of free trade may not be perfect-ly distributed, you do know that the benefits to our countryand our trading partners are overwhelming. Do not panderto fears of free trade for short-term political advantage.

• Finally, do not seduce Silicon Valley with the narcotics ofsubsidies, protections and bailouts, making us just anotherpig at the trough of the federal government. May we have thecourage and intellectual honesty to resist these temptations.

BOB FINOCCHIO JR. is a corporate director, private investor, part-timeprofessor and consultant.

irst and foremost, I would suggest that you find waysthat help you to remain centered and grounded, inorder to meet the new demands of your daily life and

the well-being of your family. I would recommend that yourwork as president of the United States focus on cultivatingthe common good and promoting the dignity of everyhuman person, both for the family of nations and our ownnational community. Restoring good international relation-ships based on mutual respect and equal regard is impor-tant for bringing about genuine peace and justice. Since youare coming into office in this difficult time globally andnationally, I would suggest that you focus on issues that arerelated to the dignity of the human person, and that youmake it a priority to address the wars in the Middle East

and other parts of the world that have torn apart our fami-ly of nations.

There are other related concerns that rob people of dig-nity, such as the food crisis, trafficking of human personsand genocide. Nationally, it should be your priority torestore those systems that affect the most vulnerable in ourmidst: education, health care, immigration, housing andemployment. I would also encourage you to reconsider yourpledge to sign the Freedom of Choice Act in light of the far-reaching and devastating effects its implementation willhave on so many.

GABINO ZAVALA is auxiliary bishop for the San Gabriel Region,Diocese of Los Angeles.

ealing the wounds of division was an importantpart of your campaign message, and I hope thistask remains in the foreground of your presiden-

tial agenda. We are in dire need of the height, depth andbreadth of a vision in which we recognize our commonhumanity and so can reach across divisions of every sort tocare for one another as brothers and sisters.

Undoubtedly, one of the festering wounds is discord overabortion law and policy. Is there any hope for healing thiswound? Openly acknowledging that abortion is not a tri-umph for anyone, expressing appreciation for how manyefforts to reduce abortion may be deeply attuned with thegoal of social justice, and demonstrating in domestic andinternational policy agendas a commitment to work towarda society in which abortion is rare would all be steps in thisdirection. These efforts could also help to set the tone for arobust bipartisan national conversation on how to eliminateall forms of brutality—including torture and the deathpenalty—and respond to the needs of all of the poor andmost vulnerable in our own communities and throughoutthe world.

In all that you do, help us to move beyond the narrowand rigid confines of individualistic rhetoric toward a visionthat inspires a true sense of solidarity and the sacrifices thismight entail. In this lies our identity, our dignity, our futureas a people and the positive contribution we can make toour increasingly interdependent world.

AMY UELMEN is director of the Institute on Religion, Law & Lawyer’sWork at Fordham University School of Law in New York City.

Memos to the President

propose that President Obama take back his pledge tolower taxes, and instead persuade Congress to raisethem. Amid the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, our many


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infrastructure needs, universal health care and the costs ofthe economic bailout, the government needs more money.

The American middle class, the target beneficiary of thecuts, is not suffering from any serious shortage of consumergoods. It gained them by going down the primrose path ofcredit card debts, bad mortgages and no savings. It wasseduced without much difficulty by an excessively deadlyconsumerist culture—more and more of everything thatsuits one’s fancy.

The middle class now needs government help in creatingnew jobs and relieving people of some of their debts, even iffoolishly incurred; and a tax cut will be of little help tothem. A government stimulus package oriented towardinfrastructure needs and improved education would helpthe middle class more in the long run. It could surely helpto put in place a budget-increasing universal health careprogram.

Democrats have themselves been seduced by aRepublican, conservative-driven ideology, always wantingto put more money into private pockets. We have beenthere, done that. If any change is most needed, a rejection ofthat ideology should be near the top of the list. Raisingtaxes would be a good start.

DANIEL CALLAHAN is a senior research scholar and president emeritusof The Hastings Center.

he Arab world celebrated Barack Obama’s victorybecause many understood the historic significanceof an African-American becoming president of the

United States. Given the toll taken by eight years of theBush administration’s policies, Arabs, too, longed for“change we could believe in.” Having justreturned from the region, I know thatexpectations for the Obama administra-tion will be hard to meet. This couldprove dangerous, because even a small dis-appointment could bring a negative moodswing that would spell trouble for the United States andembolden extremists.

Since resolution of the “big issues” (like the establish-ment of a Palestinian state or ending the “occupation” ofIraq) will not happen quickly, President Obama must lookfor “bite-sized” early actions to sustain the hope that he willopen a new chapter in U.S.-Arab relations, giving him timeto address more fundamental concerns. The speech he haspromised to deliver to the world’s Muslims within his first100 days in office is an important start. Appointing Arab-Americans to meaningful roles in his Middle East peace-making team could also send an important early signal ofbalance to Arabs.

Obama’s pledge to work to open a dialogue with Iran andSyria should not be seen as coming at the expense of theArab allies whose friendship with the United States hascost them. An early meeting with the leaders of the PersianGulf States, Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon and the PalestinianAuthority would make it clear that U.S. dialogue with Iranand Syria will be done with and in support of our friends.Finally, because close attention will be paid to every wordPresident Obama will say about the Arab-Israel conflict, hemust be balanced and instill confidence. If Palestinians aregoing to be asked to wait yet again, the new U.S. presidentcannot be seen “giving away the store” or letting Israel con-tinue to take what it wants while the Palestinians sufferunder a harsh occupation.

JAMES J. ZOGBY is president and founder of the Arab AmericanInstitute in Washington, D.C.

s Barack Obama steps forward to take the oath ofoffice, he will be taking that next step in the jour-ney through the paddy fields of Java and on the

dusty roads of Kenya, finding himself and asserting hisidentity as an inclusive leader. On election night, he stoodin Grant Park in Chicago proclaiming to the world, “Ifthere is anyone out there who still doubts that America isa place where all things are possible, tonight is youranswer.” At his inauguration, he will look down the Mall,knowing that at the other end stood another African-American in 1963, proclaiming “I have a dream.” Whilepledging health care and good economic management athome, he has the opportunity to pledge his country’s sup-port for those who work for peace and prosperity in all

those paddy fields and on all those dustyroads where human flourishing remainsbut a dream. The wealth and power ofhis nation will yield more internationallyif he works inclusively with other govern-ments, respecting the culture of the

Javanese rice farmer and acknowledging the aspirations ofthe Kenyan trader.

Gone are the days when the United States can go it aloneor with “coalitions of the willing,” reconstituting the globallandscape. The paddy fields and dusty roads will be saferand more productive if President Obama rekindles thedream of due process in international forums and equalprotection for people of all races, regardless of their nation-ality. Change will not be easy; but together, as one world,“Yes we can.”

FRANK BRENNAN, S.J., is a professor of law at Australian CatholicUniversity.


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The Food On Our TablesThe flaws of U.S. agricultural policy BY BOB PEACE

ost of us are happy with the food available in our markets, which to a largeextent offer products of United States agriculture. As taxpayers we helpto support agriculture through direct payments, or crop subsidies, paid tofarmers. Many indirect subsidies, like government-sponsored research,crop insurance and import quotas on crops like sugar, also benefit our

farmers. Such subsidies, however, have an unintended social consequence; they allowAmerican farmers to grow an abundant crop and to sell it at prices often below world foodprices—an advantage for us, a disadvantage for others.

To see the effect of the policy on a neighboring nation, consider Mexico, where the maincrop of family farmers is corn. Mexican farmers have no comparable subsidies, and withoutthem they cannot compete with U.S. farmers whose corn is exported to Mexico. As a result,many Mexican farm laborers cannot find work in their home country. Many of these come tothe United States looking for work. Studies show that poverty fuels migration.

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BOB PEACE is an Alumni Distinguished Professor in the College of Management at North Carolina StateUniversity in Raleigh, N.C.

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Nationwide, direct payments to U.S. farmers in 2008will total about $5 billion. In 2007, North Carolina farmersreceived some $66 million in direct subsidies, which placedthe state 23rd among the 50 states. Not all farms and farm-ers receive direct payment subsidies; two-thirds of U.S.farmers do not grow subsidy program crops. And there isan income limit in the 2008 Farm Bill; a person or a legalentity, like a corporate farm, with an adjusted gross incomeover $750,000 averaged over the previous three years, is noteligible for a direct subsidy.

Farm Laborers From MexicoEvery year thousands of farm laborers from Mexico migrateto North Carolina with temporary visas, called H2A visas,approved by the U.S. Department of Labor. Under theH2A program, agricultural employers can hire foreignworkers if they can show that they tried to hire local work-ers first without success, and that the work is seasonal ortemporary. North Carolina’s farmers are among the largestusers of this temporary agricultural visa. Though H2A visaholders are temporary residents, they are in the UnitedStates legally. Studies show that about 48 percent of foreignagricultural workers in the United States hold H2A visas.That means that more than half of our foreign agriculturallaborers are here illegally.

Part of what is perceived to be an illegal immigrationproblem is thus of our own making, as taxpayer-financedagricultural subsidies trigger a migratory flow. This prob-lematic result should generate in us a sense of responsibili-ty toward those we have, perhaps unconsciously, lured overour borders.

Federal and state laws provide protections for migrantfarm laborers on issues that include wages, housing, healthand safety. Since migrant farm workers are isolated from thegreater community and depend on their employers for basichousing, transportation and wages, workers are under-standably loath to point a finger at their employers whenabuses under the law occur. And many, particularly undoc-umented farm workers, are unable to take advantage of tax-supported government services like Medicaid and foodstamps.

Whether migrant workers are here on H2A visas or arehere illegally and undocumented, their labor remains vitalto our healthy farm production. Migrants contribute to theavailability of the food on our tables.

Many of North Carolina’s migrant labor camps are wellorganized, clean and safe, while others are not. The NorthCarolina Department of Labor maps and registers migrantlabor camps and conducts pre-occupancy housing inspec-tions before the camps can take in workers. Follow-upinspections are conducted to ensure compliance with thefederal government’s Occupational Safety and HealthAdministration. North Carolina’s labor departmentemploys three full-time compliance inspectors, but there areabout 1,600 registered camps throughout the state. Thenumber of unregistered camps is not known, but could bein the thousands. Despite the department’s good efforts toensure employer compliance with the law, abuses will anddo occur.

Along with the efforts of the North Carolina labordepartment and the state’s Department of Agriculture, thefarm-worker unit of Legal Aid of North Carolina conductsan outreach initiative for migrant agricultural workers, part-ly through the state’s Witness for Justice Program. LegalAid attorneys administer the program, and an unpaid cadreof law students and members of the Jesuit Volunteer Corpsconduct tours of the labor camps. The program solicits cit-izen volunteers through word of mouth and church bul-letins. The initiative provides migrant farm workers withinformation that explains their rights. The citizen volun-teers play an informational role; they enlighten those notprofessionally involved in the issue about what is learned onvisits to the camps. The initiative allows community mem-bers with an interest in social justice to develop a betterunderstanding of immigration issues. As a citizen volunteermyself, I was able to get a better look at where our foodcomes from and what happens to those who harvest it.


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A Response to ‘The Chaplain’s Dilemma’

STATE OF THE QUESTION

n “The Chaplain’s Dilemma” (11/17), Deacon TomCornell articulates well the need for priests in themilitary, but I disagree with his (and GordonZahn’s) proposal that the chaplaincy be “civilianized”

to be more effective. I spent 27 years as a chaplain in the United States

Navy. I served as Executive Assistant to the Navy Chiefof Chaplains, as Fleet Chaplain for the U.S. PacificFleet and as the Pacific Command Chaplain. I alsotaught the courses on conscientious objection, privi-leged communication and confidentiality at the NavyChaplains’ School and to officers in Newport, R.I.

Cornell’s position often relies on misguided generaliza-tions, uninformed opinions and skewed perceptions. Just asa missionary who learns the customs and language of a peo-ple becomes effective in preaching the Gospel, so priests inthe military who make the same sacrifices and endure thesame risks and hardships as other service members com-mand their respect in a way civilians never could.

Last year, a U.S. Marine General in Iraq, General JimMattis, claimed that his most trusted resource was his chap-lain. He had ordered his Marines to demonstrate a show offorce in full battle gear when faced with a local Iraqi demon-stration. His unit chaplain, Father Bill Devine, suggestedinstead that the troops warmly greet the demonstrators andgive them bottles of water. Father Devine explained that thegesture would be understood as hospitable and might evenbe disarming. The general thought the idea bizarre at first,but ordered his men to do what his chaplain advised. “Andit worked,” the general explained. “There were smiles allaround, even some embraces, and our friendly relationsresumed on the spot and have remained ever since.” This isa good example of how a priest in uniform influenced thevery general Cornell criticized in his article for his hard-nosed attitude. I doubt a civilian cleric would have enjoyedsuch influence; security wouldn’t have allowed him in thewar zone.

Cornell also maintains that the government trains chap-lains. In fact, chaplains come to the military fully trained bytheir own faith groups. The government merely provideseach Chaplain Corps with a school so that experiencedchaplains can teach new chaplains about the local culture toenhance their own effectiveness.

Cornell’s criticism of chaplains not being trained to sup-port Conscientious Objector Status is unfounded. The sub-ject is addressed specifically with every new chaplain.

Military instructions support all those who are authenticand sincere in their newfound beliefs that all warfare is con-trary to their conscience.

Some chaplains might compromise themselves, but noone is above temptation when an opinion may jeopardizestatus or security: It is a human flaw not confined to themilitary. There is a defining moment in each of our liveswhen we are called to stand up and be counted, and how werespond either can define us as a hero or make us lookpathetic. I can point to many Chaplain Corps heroes whohave demonstrated personal courage and credibility. Twosuch chaplains are, in fact, being considered for sainthood.

When the bishops were asking their people to protestpending partial-birth abortion legislation, I was directed byNavy lawyers to tell Navy priests they were not to partici-pate; the Uniform Code of Military Justice specifies thatofficers cannot become involved in political activity. Ireminded all our priests not to become involved in politicalactivity when in uniform, but that once they put on theirvestments they represented the church, and all the faithfulhad a constitutional right to hear what other Catholics werebeing told. My directive went unchallenged.

A Baptist friend of mine, a chaplain, tells the story ofhow his orders to the Naval Academy in the 1970s wereabout to be cancelled because he was black. Cardinal JohnO’Connor, then senior chaplain at the academy, threatenedto pull out all his chaplains if the orders were cancelled.They never were. Similarly, as a senior chaplain, I had anevangelical chaplain being pressured to reveal the confi-dences of a marine who had been murdered. The rationalewas that since the marine was deceased the privilege of con-fidentiality no longer held. I threatened to pull out all chap-lains should any action be taken against the chaplain. Thatended it.

In all three instances, a civilian chaplain would neverhave had such influence.

The spiritual writer Brother Roger of Taizé wrote: “Theequilibrium of a Christian is comparable to that of a manwho walks on the edge of a razor. Only God can maintainhis balance.” So it is with Catholic chaplains who ministerin the military—it is a very challenging place to live out theGospel. We have to do it compellingly and with credibility.It is like walking on the edge of a razor, and God alone canmaintain our balance.

(MOST REV.) JOSEPH W. ESTABROOK

Auxiliary Bishop, Archdiocese for the Military Services, U.S.A.

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In “Ward” (1970-71), the artistpresents a roomful of hospital bedsoccupied by identical looking youngmen under white sheets; these bedslook like open coffins. Three older fig-ures, not reclining, are awake, but noone relates to anyone else—a commontheme in Tooker’s protest paintings.Hanging U.S. flags indicate a military

hospital. Made during theVietnam War, this painting canbe interpreted as a war protest,but it also exposes the imperson-al way our society “cares” for theill or injured. It remains relevantthough nearly 40 years havepassed.

Ironically, Tooker is an artistwho records contemporary lifeusing Renaissance techniques.He mixes his own egg temperain the colors of Umbria and isinfatuated with perspective andarchitecture, as were the ItalianRenaissance painters. His mostfamous painting, “Subway”(1950), shows a subway stationfrom the inside, with its low ceil-ings, multiple stairwells andturnstiles—a complex exercisein perspective. But the subject isalienation. Anonymous individ-uals look past one another, a fewmen peer out eerily at the view-er, and a distressed woman in a

red dress gestures as though sensingdanger. Tooker applies tiny methodi-cal brush strokes to create his images;a perfection of technique used todepict imperfection within society.

In “Landscape With Figures”(1966) the “land” is a warren of cubi-cles, each of which contains a man or awoman, like workers in a vast officeseen from above. Some have closedtheir eyes (perhaps to find more spacewithin), while others look up. No oneengages with the others who sit just a

EORGE TOOKER (b. 1920) is aliving American artist whosework, and in some respects

whose life, seems especiallypertinent to our times.Deeply spiritual andattuned to social injusticeand destructive societaltrends, Tooker painted hismost provocative works asprotests against racism,alienation, governmentsurveillance of citizens andhomophobia. On his omi-nously affecting canvases,Tooker shows what intoler-ance, suspicion, prejudiceand lack of community looklike. Like Edward Hopper,Andrew Wyeth and JacobLawrence in the UnitedStates, and like Balthus inEurope, Tooker insisted onmaking figurative art whenthe avant-garde had movedinto modernism andabstraction and had pro-nounced representationalart passé, if not dead.

“George Tooker: A Retrospective,”is the first retrospective of Tooker’swork in 30 years. After closing at theNational Academy Museum in NewYork City on Jan. 4, it will travel to thePennsylvania Academy of the FineArts ( Jan. 30–April 5) and to theColumbus Museum of Art in Ohio(May 1–Sept. 6, 2009). The showshould not be missed.

These three museums collaboratedon the exhibition and produced anexcellent catalogue. A recipient of the

2007 National Medal of Arts and amember of the American Academy ofArts and Letters, Tooker deserves to

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BOOKS & CULTURE

A R T | K AREN SUE SMITH

BEYOND PROTEST

GThe art of George Tooker

be more widely known.In his art Tooker found a way of

cultivating an interior life, and it gavehim a powerful tool for communicat-ing his observations. “Painting,” heonce said, “is an attempt to come toterms with life.” Over six decades theartist has reflected on social injustices,on personal memories and on classicalthemes. Tooker focuses on the figurebecause his insights concern personsand how they do—and do not—relateto one another.

“Dark Angel,” 1999

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thin wall away. Red pervades thepainting, as though blood could coursethrough these individuals if only theywould reach out to each other.

“I am after paintingreality impressed on themind so hard that itreturns as a dream,”Tooker has said, “but I amnot after painting dreamsas such, or fantasy.”

Of Cuban-Dutchdescent, Tooker was edu-cated at PhillipsAcademy during theGreat Depression and atHarvard before WorldWar II. In these settings,Tooker felt keenly hismixed ethnicity andunderstood something ofthe “outsider status” thatracial discriminationimposes. In “Lunch” (1964) solitarymen and women sit at lunch counters,all eating identical sandwiches. ButTooker adds a lone black man at thecenter. He seems especially alonebecause he is racially different. Tookermay be showing that integration doesnot mean the end of segregation, forisolation lies deeperstill and separatespeople.

Tooker depictsLatinos andAfrican-Americansin crowds and street scenes, but alsoshows mixed-race couples at home. In“Window VII” (1963), a lovely nudefemale pulls back a yellow curtain andmodestly gazes out; over one shoulder,the face of a gorgeous black man looksout; in the soft red-orange backgrounda bit of the bed is showing; it is sensu-ous and carnal. Tooker also painted ablack Christ in the act of blessing thebread in “Supper” (1963); Jesus is withtwo other men, both white. Tookersaid that this image recalled the storyof Christ at Emmaus. In “Dark Angel”(1999), Tooker expressed his under-

standing of the vocation of the artist asdivinely given. In this self-portrait, ablack angel blesses Tooker, laying hishand on Tooker’s head as the artist

holds a paintbrush. Tooker’s oeuvre offers more than

social comment. Some of his works arebeautiful, even sublime. In “Embraceof Peace II” (1988), named for a partof the Catholic Mass, Tooker shows ayoung woman and man reaching foreach other and looking directly at each

other with intense,but not sexual, long-ing. Perhaps be-cause our culture isoversaturated withimages of lovers,

many in poses overtly sexual, Tooker’simages of lovers are less memorablethan his protest pieces, which show uswhat others do not.

“Girl Praying” (1977) is quietly mov-ing. Perhaps a Latino or an African-American, the subject holds her handsover her heart in a gesture like that ofMary at the Annunciation. She seemsin the midst of a mystical experience,communing with someone we cannotsee. A golden glow behind projects areligious mood. Such images are sereneand contemplative, warm and peaceful.This too is countercultural.

An Artist in New York

During the 1940s Tooker studied atthe Art Students League of New York,where Reginald Marsh and Edward

Hopper were teaching.Tooker studied withMarsh, a strong socialcritic. He met PaulCadmus, an artist 16years older than he was,and the two becamelovers. Their friendsincluded the artists Jaredand Margaret French,the ballet impresarioLincoln Kirstein and thephotographer GeorgePlatt Lynes.

During this decade,Tooker’s work exploredimplicitly homosexualthemes. One example is“A Game of Chess”

(1946-47), in which Tooker deals withsocietal expectations of marriage. Herea young man who looks like Tooker isabout to run away from a huge motherfigure and her daughter, ready todeclare “checkmate.” The very floor onwhich the young man stands looks likea game board, on which his future willbe determined.

In 1949 Tooker formed a relation-ship with William Christopher,another artist, who would become hislifetime partner until Christopher’sdeath in 1973. The two eventuallybought a home in Vermont, whereTooker still lives. Tooker andChristopher, who was raised by anAfrican-American family after his par-ents died, became ardent supporters ofMartin Luther King Jr. and the civilrights movement.

Raised an Episcopalian, Tookerconverted to Catholicism in 1976 afterChristopher’s death, a transition facili-tated by his friendship with a localCatholic priest. One finds a palpablesense of peace in Tooker’s later works.His most overtly religious worksinclude stations of the cross, a depic-

ON THE WEBView a slideshow

of George Tooker's work.

americamagazine.org/slideshow

“Lovers I,” 1959

The sun does not shine much in theBronx neighborhood where JohnPatrick Shanley’s powerful film,Doubt, is set. The atmosphere is grayand cold; its melancholy mood is dis-turbed only once in the film by a fiercewindstorm that blows down many ofthe bare limbs of the convent trees.The winds of change are blowing inthe Catholic Church in 1964, andSister Aloysius Beauvier, the principal

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F I L M | MICHAEL V. TUETH

UNCERTAIN SYMPATHIESJohn Patrick Shanley’s ‘Doubt’

tion of the seven sacraments (commis-sioned for a Franciscan church inVermont) and a post-ResurrectionChrist, all shown in the catalogue butnot on exhibit.

This retrospective allows a viewerto appreciate the balance Tooker hasachieved in his lifetime. His work

points to what needs repair in oursociety and in our relationships, and itattests to the strength and beauty oflove, community and faith.

KAREN SUE SMITH, editorial director ofAAmmeerriiccaa, is a student at the NationalAcademy of Design School of Fine Arts inManhattan.

of the St. Nicholas parish school,seems determined to protect herdomain from any corrupting influ-ences in the air.

Catholics of a certain age might betempted toward nostalgia by the film’sopening shots, showing a quiet Sundaymorning in this Irish-American neigh-borhood. The altar boys prepare thecruets of water and wine and negotiatewhich one of them will light the char-

coal for the incense and which will ringthe altar chimes for this pre-Vatican IISunday Mass. The working-classparishioners, smartly dressed, with thewomen wearing the prescribed head-coverings, gently greet each other asthey walk to church. Maybe SisterAloysius has a point. Catholic lifeseemed simpler and more reliable then,with none of the questions and changesthat the Second Vatican Council andall the other forces of the 1960s wouldbring to the church.

But things are not as solid and cer-tain as they seem. The first hint comesfrom a sermon given by a young priest,Father Brendan Flynn: “What do youdo when you’re not sure?” he asks thecongregation. He reminds them of thebond of despair and uncertainty theyshared a year earlier, when theirbeloved president John F. Kennedywas assassinated. He compares this,however, to a lonelier situation, offer-ing as a parable the story of a sailoralone on a lifeboat who cannot see thestars to guide him. The priest propos-

Philip Seymour Hoffman and Amy Adams in John Patrick Shanley’s “Doubt”


es this as an image of the lonelinessmany in the congregation might feelbecause of some secret fear or pain intheir lives that no one knows about.He suggests someone might be think-ing, “No one knows that I’ve donesomething wrong.”

Before long, Sister Aloysius sus-pects that someone has been doingsomething wrong: Father Flynn him-self. She already clearly has a funda-mental distrust of the young assistantpastor. He is too jovial for her tastes;he suggests that the school Christmasplay should include a secular song like“Frosty the Snowman,” which SisterAloysius considers a heretical messageabout magic. As for his personalhabits, he likes too much sugar in histea, wears his fingernails too long,uses a ballpoint pen and possessesother hints of sensuality and adapta-tion to the modern world.

Father Flynn harbors a similar dis-approval of Sister Aloysius’ strict atti-tudes and demeanor, which he consid-

ers to be holding the school and theparish back from the newer vision of “awelcoming church.” Sister Aloysius ismore than ready to suspect him whena naïve young nun suggests that hemight be engaging in an inappropriaterelationship with one of the eighth-grade boys. Sister Aloysius determinesto get to the truth ofthis matter, whileFather Flynn respondsto her accusations withferocious self-right-eousness.

To tell here how the question isresolved would be more than a disser-vice to our readers, because as thestory develops, the audience learnsthat there is much more than the pos-sibility of sexual scandal lurking in theworld of St. Nicholas Parish. Shanley’sscreenplay reveals layers of evil thatreach to a heart of darkness worthy ofJoseph Conrad or Graham Greene.Sister Aloysius has her own demons,many of which are revealed in the sev-eral scenes that Shanley has added tohis Broadway script, not only “openingup” the setting but providing opportu-nities to see both Sister Aloysius andFather Flynn interact with other mem-bers of their community. While theoriginal play was set in only three loca-tions—the parish church, SisterAloysius’ office and the convent clois-ter garden—and employed a cast ofonly four actors, the film makes excel-lent use of other locales and characters.

Sister Aloysius, for example, isshown tyrannizing the grade schoolchildren in the church, the classroomand the playground. When the youngSister James tells her that the studentsare “all uniformly terrified of you,” sheresponds, “Yes. That’s how it works.”With little respect for anyone’s agendabut her own, she invades Sister James’sclassroom in the midst of a lesson, andshe feels free to wander up and downthe pews of the church to monitorchildren’s behavior during FatherFlynn’s homily. She presides over the

convent meals with a mixture ofgloom and sarcasm. The nuns eattheir dinner in silence until SisterAloysius rings her bell and begins theconversation; when the other nunsspeak, she counters their commentswith ridicule. And she certainly disap-proves of Father Flynn’s comfort with

and affection forthe students,especially DonaldMuller, who, inci-dentally, is thefirst African-

American student admitted into theschool.

Meanwhile, Father Flynn’s behav-ior gives Sister Aloysius furthermotive to suspect him. He embracesDonald after he is bullied by anotherstudent; the priest is spotted mysteri-ously returning Donald’s undershirtto the boy’s locker; and he callsDonald out of a class for a private con-versation in the rectory, after whichthe boy returns to the classroom withthe smell of alcohol on his breath.Father has several of the boys over tothe rectory for soft drinks and “shoot-ing the breeze.” In one awkward scene,after a basketball practice, he encour-ages the boys to keep their fingernailsclean and well manicured, lettingthem grow longer than Sister Aloysiuswould want. And, as Sister discovers,he has been assigned to three differentparishes in the last five years.

The conflict between the priestand the nun, however, is more thanpersonal; it signifies a more universalmoral divide. When Sister Jamesattempts to defend Father Flynn fromany suspicion of misbehavior, SisterAloysius responds, “You just wantsimplicity back.” There is somethingadmirable in her relentless determi-nation not to let the issue lie unre-solved but to pursue the truth, to “dowhat needs to be done,” no matterhow complicated or unpleasant thetruth may be. On the other hand,Father Flynn analyzes Sister

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ON THE WEBJim McDermott, S.J., on the

TV season in sci-fi.

americamagazine.org/connects

he?” This portrayal of a clerical boys’club, especially in the U.S. church ofthe 1960s, might be even easier fortoday’s film audiences to visualize afterthe many reports of official mishan-dling of sexual abuse cases among theclergy in recent years.

Not enough praise can be given tothe performances of Meryl Streep asSister Aloysius and Philip SeymourHoffman as Father Flynn. How muchmore evidence do we need of their ver-satility? Just last year, Hoffmanappeared onscreen as a depressed butarticulate English professor in “TheSavages,” as a sleek executive-turned-murderer in “Before the Devil KnowsYou’re Dead” and as a fast-talkingalpha male C.I.A. agent in “CharlieWilsons’ War.” His portrayal in “Doubt” of this likeable and eloquentyoung priest who may be hiding asecret draws on all of those characteri-zations to add complexity to the battleof wills in this drama. Ms. Streep hasbeen even busier and more adventur-


Aloysius’s search for “the truth” as adangerous consequence of her gener-ally joyless approach to life. As he tellsSister James: “There are people whogo after your humanity…who tell youthat the light in your heart is a weak-ness. Don’t believe it. It’s an old tacticof cruel people to kill kindness in thename of virtue.” The drama pulls usbetween our admiration of SisterAloysius’s uncompromising search forthe truth and Father Flynn’s promo-tion of tolerance and compassion, or,as he puts it, Christ’s message of “love.Not suspicion, disapproval and judg-ment.”

Yet another level of evil operative inthe parish neighborhood is revealedwhen Sister Aloysius holds a privateconference with Donald’s mother, whoworks as a cleaning woman in a nearbyapartment complex. In one electrifyingconversation, Mrs. Muller reveals otherfacts about the boy’s home life and hispersonal confusion as well as her ownattitude toward the accusations, expos-

ing some even darker truths about race,class and the desperate search forupward mobility that private educationpromises to inner-city children. Allthese revelations seem to take SisterAloysius by surprise.

Finally, the film exposes a deeperlayer of institutional injustice that mayaccount for Sister Aloysius’ need todominate the only realm under hercontrol. As she remarks at one point,in the Catholic Church, “men runeverything.” Even she must admit thatin the church’s patriarchal system,Father Flynn is technically her superi-or. Her only recourse to any higherauthority is to talk to the pastor, who,she is convinced, will side with FatherFlynn. She is not allowed to appeal tothe bishop of the archdiocese. Indeed,when Father Flynn later upbraids herfor speaking to someone else about thematter, saying: “The church is veryclear. You’re supposed to go throughthe pastor,” she responds: “Why? Doyou have an understanding, you and

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ous in the 10 films she has made in thelast three years. While her recent roleshave displayed a vast range of emo-tions, her portrayal of the conscien-tious and humorless Sister Aloysiusrequires instead a grim intensity and awillingness to forgo any audience sym-pathy or even approval. In every close-up and every debate with Hoffman orAmy Adams, as the innocent but ulti-mately confident Sister James, andparticularly with Viola Davis (whoseten minutes on screen are a knockout)as Donald’s worldly-wise mother,Streep employs the subtlest of expres-sions and body language to create themost chilling effects.

Only a few of Broadway’s mostacclaimed dramas in recent years(“Closer,” “Proof ” and “The HistoryBoys,” for example) have made it to the

screen, and none was very successful ineither financial or critical terms.“Doubt,” the Tony Award winner forBest Play in 2005, might well havebeen destined for the same fate.However, as both director and screen-writer, John Patrick Shanley may beatthe odds this year with a film that issure to garner many nominations andperhaps some awards at Oscar time.By expanding his narrative with morescenes and characters, Shanleydemonstrates how a film can improveon a play’s psychological tensions. Itcan also deepen our awareness of thedarkness to be encountered even with-in the most sacred locales of humanfaith and doubt.

MICHAEL V. TUETH, S.J., is a professor ofcommunication and media studies atFordham University in New York City.

B O O K S | CHARLES BORGES

AN ASIAN GIANT FLIES HIGH Two views of India

“Flying Hanuman (monkey-god)” and“Asian Giant” are colorful metaphorsthe authors Maria Misra and DietmarRothermund use with good effect todescribe Indian history and develop-ment from the coming of the British tothe subcontinent in the 17th centuryto the present day.

Misra, a fellow at Keble College,Oxford University, believes that theBritish colonial model of governmentcontinues in some degree to affectIndian political workings today. Thetitle of her book, Vishnu’s CrowdedTemple: India Sincethe Great Rebellion,and sections of thebook itself do seemto have a Hindu bias,likening India to aHindu temple in which all groups andcommunities vie for a place. In his

book, India: The Rise of an AsianGiant, Rothermund, a senior profes-sor of South Asian history atHeidelberg University, cites varied fig-ures to show how India has madeimpressive strides in its developmentwhile dealing at the same time withsocial issues and the large economicdivide among the people. (Both booksare from Yale Univ. Press.)

Toward Modernity

Misra states that the history she delin-eates is not “a tale of straightforward

liberal westerniza-tion, nor of a strug-gle between all-powerful elites andthe hopelessly sub-ordinated poor, but

of its complex and halting evolutioninto a very particular kind of modern

nation.” The British government inIndia, known as the Raj, saw itself as apartner with Indian collaborators whowere selected and rewarded accordingto their effectiveness in working withit. India was a temple, one in whichworshippers were carefully scrutinizedfor their closeness to the presidingdeity, the British.

The British wanted India to bemodernized, but many Hindu groupsdid not wholeheartedly accept themodernity offered to them. As an earlyopposition, groups like the BrahmoSamaj (Divine Society) in the 1880sworked at accepting only certain ele-ments from Christianity in order toreform Hinduism into a modern andvibrant belief system. The introduc-tion of English educational institu-tions helped groom Indian personnelfor British administrative services.Various forms of racism were apparentearly on. Recruitment for the eliteIndian Civil Service was open toIndians, but they had to qualify beforethey were 19 years of age and couldtake the tests only in England.

Misra’s method of always seeing aclear plan in all that the British under-took in India leads her naturally to thegame of cricket. The British, she con-cludes, saw the game as “the greatestgift imperialism could bestow, becauseit could transform ‘natives’ into gentle-men.” Cricket was meant to encourageall castes, communities and religions ofIndia to mingle together, but in realitythe game boosted division, with vari-ous religious groups playing spiritedlyagainst each other rather than witheach other.

Breaking Away

Britain borrowed heavily from the Rajexchequer in India during the twoWars. Indian politicians had hopedthis favor would result in more devolu-tion of political powers to Indians, butthis did not come about easily.Mahatma Gandhi, who had returnedto India by 1919 after 20 years as a

ON THE WEBFrom the archives, the editors

on the partition of India.

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lawyer in South Africa, involved him-self fully in the freedom struggle. Heheralded the concept of the spinningwheel, the charka, which stood for abreak with foreign exploitation.Trained as a lawyer in England, hespent 20 years in South Africa, wherehe fine-tuned his doctrine of satyagra-ha (soul force, or hold-ing on to truth).

Gandhi had a rawpolitical cunning,Misra believes. Heknew that the Rajneeded Indian cooper-ation, so he urged hisfellow Indians to with-draw it. “Indians wereexhorted to disdainforeign goods, boycottthe new elections,abjure the British-runcourts, play truantfrom the state’s schoolsand councils and rejectthe Raj’s honors, titlesand other demeaningbaubles of servitude.”The British hadbelieved that their rulein India was eternal.But Aug. 8, 1942, sawthe launch of the QuitIndia movement by theIndian National Con-gress, the most seriousrebellion since theMutiny of 1857 (awidespread revolt inNorthern India byHindu and Muslimsoldiers against the British rule), lead-ing to independence in 1947.

The partition of 1947, which creat-ed the state of Pakistan, led millions ofHindus, Muslims and Sikhs to aban-don their homes on either side of theborder. The British were blamed forthe massacres, but Misra concludesthat “in fairness to the British, theywere acting in concert with Indianpoliticians who wanted the handover

to be as swift as possible and who alsogrossly underestimated the turmoilthat would ensue.”

Jawaharlal Nehru, India’s charis-matic first prime minister, plungedhimself into the freedom struggleunder the guidance of Gandhi butlacked Gandhi’s genius for dealing with

the masses. The centerpiece of hisreforms was economic and industrialplanning. In global affairs, he saw thefreedom of India as a prelude to theemancipation of the colonial world.

Indira Gandhi, Nehru’s daughterand third Indian prime minister,learned the political ropes under herfather’s guidance. But in mid-1975 shewas found guilty of a minor electionirregularity and was forced to resign

from office. Rather than do so, howev-er, she declared a state of nationalemergency and suspended democracy.Her younger son, Sanjay Gandhi, andhis Youth Congress then ranroughshod over the Indian politicalscene, which eventually led to hismother’s defeat in national elections.

At the beginning ofher hefty and well-docu-mented book, Misraspeaks of “a very particu-lar type of modernnation.” India, unlike anyother nation, had to dealwith the issue of castes asshe tried to weave thepopulation into a singlepeople after 1947. TheMandal Commissionstudied the issue of equaljob and study opportuni-ties for all citizens andrecommended a 27 per-cent reservation of postsin the government and inscientific and professionalinstitutions for marginal-ized groups. The govern-ment’s decision to acceptthis recommendationgenerated fierce opposi-tion, mainly from upper-caste students.

Over the last threedecades, the 29 Indianstates have seen variouspolitical alignments byparties hoping to stay inpower. Regional partieshave become an impor-

tant element in Indian democracy.All this bodes well for the nation,says Misra, since “India has devel-oped its own form of modernity themost striking feature of which is itshighly atomized, fragmented anddiverse citizenry.”

Post-Independence

If in her analysis Misra appears veryforceful, incisive and determined in


JANICE FARNHAM

HIS UNIVERSE WAS INFINITE

what she thinks of British influence inIndia and how politics is playing outtoday, Rothermund, on the otherhand, appears more discreet, lookingat the picture almost as an impartialobserver, though his long associationwith Indian affairs shows. He delvesmore into the post-Independenceyears and into how India has workedat developing itself as a democraticnation.

The economic graph of India hasseen an upswing under the presentprime minister, Manmohan Singh.The national government, a coalitionof the Congress Party and other par-ties, has attracted private business,both national and foreign, and hasopened the power sector to privateoperators. It has deregulated the econ-omy and made structural adjustmentsto it while reducing import duties. Itsmain coalition partner, theCommunists, supported the govern-ment since 2004 but opposed the pri-vatizing of the public sector and optedout of the coalition this year because ofdifferences over the nuclear treatysigned between India and the U.S.government. Rothermund alsodescribes in detail the success story ofIndia especially in the diamond, gar-ment and software fields, a trade thataccounts for over 40 billion dollars inearnings, as well as promising stridesin the field of agriculture.

Both of these books, with their dif-ferent emphases, are valuable readingfor attaining a better understanding ofIndia in terms both of her historicalbackground and future potential. Forthe political historian Misra, India isan open, pluralistic and highly diversesociety from which creativity flows.She is struck by how giant-sized stat-ues of Hanuman, the Hindu god of“fluidity, practicality, compromise,change and connections,” dot the land-scape of many Indian cities, reflectingthe flourishing face of India today.

For Rothermund, “the Indian giantis rising like Gulliver after being

released from the web of thread withwhich she had been pinned down.”And what does he think is the face ofIndia today? “Indian society encom-passes a spectrum representative of allof mankind, from the desperately pooreking out a living in remote rural areasto metropolitan professionals in themost advanced lines of work and high-ly talented scientists operating at the

cutting edge of research.” India recently became the fourth

country in the world to send its ownunmanned probe to the moon—nomean achievement. The Indian Giant,or Hanuman, has really and truly beenflying high.

CHARLES J. BORGES, S.J., is associate profes-sor of history at Loyola College, Baltimore,Md.

GIORDANO BRUNO

Philosopher/Heretic

By Ingrid D. RowlandFarrar, Straus and Giroux. 352p $27

ISBN 9780809095246

Every weekday, the piazza of Rome’sCampo de’ Fiori (Field of Flowers)serves as a thriving mar-ketplace, offering a sym-phony of sounds andsmells that have beguiledand beckoned to visitorsfor centuries. Contem-porary tourists are forthe most part unawarethat the site once servedas an execution ground.If they happen to bethere on a 17th ofFebruary, however, theywill witness a unique,annual Roman ritual,dedicated to one of theInquisition’s most infa-mous victims, who in 1600 was burnedat the stake on this spot as an “impeni-tent, obstinate, pertinacious heretic.”

The mayor of Rome, accompaniedby a contingent from City Hall, lays alaurel wreath at the bronze statue ofGiordano Bruno, whose hooded andglowering countenance dominates thepiazza, facing the Vatican. All throughthe day, groups of freethinkers, athe-

ists, students and artists perch on oraround the statue for declamatorycontests, while floral pieces, poemsand candles are piled high like votiveofferings to a saint. Four hundredyears after his death, the erstwhileDominican friar, wandering philoso-pher, reformer, visionary thinker and

author still challengesand invites reflectionfrom the “generation heforesaw, here where thepyre burned,” as isengraved on the stat-ue’s pedestal.

A contemporary ofErasmus, Shakespeare,Robert Bellarmine andGalileo, GiordanoBruno remains, likethe statue erected in1889 in his honor, adark and shadowy fig-ure. Ingrid Rowland’ssympathetic new biog-

raphy brings to light many aspects ofBruno’s life and thought by probingthe systems of literature, religion andphilosophy he inhabited. Formerly aprofessor at the University of Chicago,now based in Rome, Rowland haspublished works on the Renaissanceand is a frequent essayist for The NewRepublic. Her style is energetic andlucid, and her elegant translations of


large segments of Bruno’s worksinserted into every chapter add toRowland’s lively portrait of a geniuswhose personality defies neat charac-terization or stereotyping.

As Rowland indicates, Bruno, thesmall man with great ideas, “could becharming or infuriating, charismaticor repellent.” Her overall portrayal is astudy in those contrasts as they emergein Bruno’s unorthodox quest for truthand peace. That unlikely journey tookhim from his native Nola, near Naples,to Rome, Venice, Geneva, Toulouse,Paris, London, Wittenberg andPrague. It included profession andordination as a Dominican friar; train-ing in Aristotelian and Platonicphilosophies; dabbling in the HebrewKabbalah; teaching mathematics,astrology and the “art of memory” andmnemonics, for which he was justlyfamous.

Despite this peripatetic existence,Bruno was able to write and publishseveral works, often in the form ofPlatonic dialogues. These texts weredevoted primarily to the area of natu-ral philosophy, but they included col-lections of sonnets and an anthology oflove poems. Rowland analyzes Bruno’swritings thoroughly; but lengthy liter-ary citations at times detract from thebiographical narrative.

Hounded by critics because of hisoutspoken and “heretical” views ondoctrinal matters like transubstantia-tion, universal salvation, the divinity ofJesus and the virginity of Mary, Brunoabandoned the Dominican priest-hood, yet never publicly renounced hisfaith. Still, it would seem that his adultlife was a series of flights from inquisi-torial tribunals of every stripe. In thecourse of his travels, he was excommu-nicated by Anglicans and Lutherans,Calvinists and Catholics. But hevaliantly maintained and defended hisideas and his outrageous, independentstyle to the end.

What tantalizes the modern readermost are Bruno’s ruminations on the

nature of the universe and the unity ofGod. A number of scientific Websites, including one by NASA aboutits Terrestrial Planet Finder, point toBruno as a kind of patron saint, thefirst Westerner to entertain the possi-bility of many planets harboring life,and the idea of an infinite universe.They find inspiration from Bruno’slines, written in 1584: “Innumerablesuns exist; innumerable earths revolvearound these suns in a manner similarto the way the seven planets revolvearound our sun. Living beings inhabitthese worlds.” Indeed, by the end ofthe 20th century, astronomers hadalready discovered new solar systemsand over 20 giant planets orbitingother suns.

While Bruno’s forays into astrono-my were radical enough to raise eccle-siastical hackles, he was ultimatelycondemned for refusing to recant hisdoctrinal errors and accept the

authority of the cardinal-investigators,among whom was Robert Bellarmine,the first Jesuit appointed to theRoman Inquisition. On a cold AshWednesday, after seven years lan-guishing in Venetian and Roman pris-ons, Giordano Bruno was led naked tothe pyre awaiting him. If, as Rowlandasserts, he came into this world tolight a fire, this rogue Renaissancecharacter did just that, and in the endit consumed him. Likewise, she wouldcontend that the “generation he fore-saw, here where the pyre burned” hasyet to appear. While Galileo has beenrehabilitated by the church thatsilenced him, Bruno still broods, man-acled and unpardoned, over the fieldof flowers where his last journeyended.

JANICE FARNHAM, R.J.M., is an adjunct pro-fessor of church history at Boston CollegeSchool of Theology and Ministry, ChestnutHill, Mass.

JOSEPH CUNNEEN

SOUND OF SILENCE

DEAF SENTENCE

A Novel

By David LodgeViking. 304p $25.95

ISBN 9780670019922

David Lodge’s earlier books won him areputation as one of the leading comicnovelists of the past century.Small World and Nice Work,both send-ups of the academicworld, were finalists for theBooker Prize. What makesseveral of his novels especiallyhilarious to America readersis his use of Catholic centralcharacters whose ridiculousactions parody the life situa-tion of a younger Lodge. The BritishMuseum Is Falling Down, for example,

presents a day in the life of a marriedCatholic graduate student working onhis dissertation. When Adam gets tothe library, he is so worried that hiswife may again be pregnant that hegets nothing done. (They already havethree small children, and have notmastered the rhythm method.)

Unfortunately, this wonderfulCatholic farce—perhapssomewhat dated today—failed to reach the audience itdeserved when published inthe United States in 1967,perhaps since most churchgo-ers were too upset by thechurch’s condemnation ofbirth control, renewed in

Humanae Vitae (1968). Two later nov-els, How Far Can You Go? (1980) and


Paradise News (1991), successfullydraw on the confusion of Catholics inthe aftermath of the Second VaticanCouncil.

Lodge’s new book, Deaf Sentence, isset in Rummidge, a stand-in forBirmingham; and its hero, DesmondBates, a linguistics professor like theauthor himself, has taken early retire-ment because of a severe hearing loss.The humor is mostly restrained, start-ing with Bates’s difficulty in following

simple exchanges with his wife, Fred(short for Winifred). Desmond is pre-sented as an agnostic who had a nom-inal Anglican upbringing; Fred hasreturned to Catholic practice andlaunched a successful interior-designbusiness. At an evening party Batesmeets Alex Loom, a shapely graduatestudent from America, who flirts withhim in the hope that he will mentorher doctoral thesis. Unable to makeout what she is saying in the crowd

noise but finding her quite attractive,he is maneuvered into seeing her againat her apartment—but fails to tell hiswife about it.

Reminding himself that deafness iscomic, while blindness is tragic, Batesstarts a journal to keep his life some-what in order. Alex has revived thesexual desire of late middle age;besides, he enjoys the prospect of help-ing this young woman make a closestudy of suicide letters, while drawingon his own specialization in linguisticsand discourse. But Lodge is less suc-cessful in drawing humor from theBates-Alex relationship than from sex-ual intrigues in earlier novels, primari-ly because readers remain uncertain asto whether they should see the youngwoman as an opportunist or a victimof her American past.

Bates spends much of his timegoing to London to see his father, aman who had worked for years as ajazz musician, now nearly 90 anddegenerating but stubbornly refusinghelp. The frustrating relationshipbetween father and son, though treat-ed with sympathy, constantly revealscomic aspects. Messages from Alexbring further confusion, arriving at thesame time as e-mail ads for Viagra; heis even driven to write a suicide note hehas no intention of acting on.

Events pile up, with varying degreesof emotional impact on Bates. Adaughter produces a grandchild; herecalls the grim reality of his first wife’sdeath; there is a threatening note fromAlex; he helps his father through theold man’s final moments. Lodge some-how manages to bring these disparatethreads of his story together withcredibility and humanity. DeafSentence is not the author’s funniestbook, but readers should appreciate itsmellow wit, close observation of lan-guage and compassionate understand-ing of aging and suicide.

JOSEPH CUNNEEN was founder and long-time editor of the ecumenical quarterly CrossCurrents.

VILLANOVA, PENNSYLVANIA

Villanova University offers a two-year graduate Campus Ministry Internship for those pursuing a graduate degree in the academic field of their choice. One year of post college volunteer and/or general work experience is required. Faith filled applicants are a “must” and need to be willing to share their journey of faith in God with others. Interns work and live in Freshmen residence halls modeling, building, and living Christian community. They offer students opportunities to develop personally and spiritually through liturgy,service projects, retreats and evenings of reflection. Interns receive room and board, tuition remission and a stipend.Additional information and the application form is available through our website, http://www.villanova.edu/campusministry/internships/. E-mail [email protected] call 610-519-4484 for more information. Deadline is February 15, 2009.

GRADUATE INTERNSHIP

Poetry ContestPoems are being accepted for the 2009

Foley Poetry AwardEach entrant is asked to submitonly one typed, unpublishedpoem of 30 lines or fewer thatis not under consideration else-where. Include contact infor-mation on the same page as thepoem. Poems will not bereturned. Please do not submitpoems by e-mail or fax.Submissions must be post-marked between Jan. 1 andMarch 31.

Poems received outside the designated period will be treated as regular poetry

submissions, and are not eligible for the prize.

The winning poem will be published in the June 8-15 issue of America. Three runner-up

poems will be published in subsequent issues.

Cash prize: $1,000.

Send poems to: Foley Poetry ContestAmerica, 106 West 56th Street, New York, NY 10019

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person in the car.After he transferred to Fordham,

Dulles frequently met me near theLincoln Center campus in Manhattanfor long lunches. Though he didn’t eatmuch himself, he patiently answeredquestions until we were the onlypatrons left in the restaurant.

His great gift, I always felt, was hisinstinct for the lively center of theCatholic tradition, which allowed himto appreciate what had been lost in thepostconciliar church as well as whathad been gained. I never could getaround to calling him “YourEminence,” and I’m sure he was glad ofthat.

KENNETH L. WOODWARD

Former Religion Editor, Newsweek

Briarcliff Manor, N.Y.

Example for All

Re your tribute to Cardinal Avery


A Great Gift

Thank you for your review of the lifeof Cardinal Avery Dulles, S.J.(Current Comment, 1/5). One aspectof Avery Dulles should not go unre-membered: he was never too busy totake time for journalists who soughthim out.

I especially remember one timewhen I was writing a Newsweek coverstory that took me on a round of inter-views with theologians in Washington,D.C. Avery offered to pick me up him-self at Dulles Airport. So there he was,waiting for me at an airport namedafter his father, John Foster Dulles, atthe wheel of a beat-up sedan given himby his uncle, Allen Dulles, formerhead of the C.I.A. He treated me as ifI, not he, were the most important

LET TERS

“I amMaryknoll”Compassion is at the heartof the global ministries of theMaryknoll Fathers and Brothers.Whether providing life-giving medicines,nutritious food, blankets, or somethingas simple as a glass of clean water . . .

it is compassion at work.

www.maryknollsociety.org1-877-MARYKNOLL

Father Ed Szendrey, M.M.

M Fathers and BrothersTM

To send a letter to the editor we recommend using the link that appears below articles on America’s Web site, www.americamagazine.org. Thisallows us to consider your letter for publication in both print and online versions of the magazine. Letters may also be sent to America’s editorialoffice (address on page 2) or by e-mail to: [email protected]. They should be brief and include the writer’s name, postal address anddaytime phone number. Letters may be edited for length and clarity.

Dulles, S.J. (Current Comment, 1/5):It is only in recent years, as a theologystudent myself, that I have grown tolove and appreciate Cardinal Dulles.His example is one to be emulated inall aspects of life, particularly in hishumility and openness of thought. Weask his continued prayers for hisbeloved church. May those of us leftbehind to further his work continue toshow the same deep respect for oneanother and for all we encounter inour daily lives.

ANGELA MARCZEWSKI

Schenectady, N.Y.

Transparency Needed

Archbishop Donald W. Wuerl pre-sented an insightful and pragmaticessay on “How to Save CatholicSchools” (12/22). I have spent almostevery day of the last 35 years workingwith and for more than 3,000 Catholic

can count on the fingers of one handthe consumer cases of debtor fraud orabuse that I could not correct.Bankruptcy debtors are our neigh-bors, friends and retired parents whoare in financial difficulties because ofjob loss, divorce, illness or the birth ofa new child. They are honest and hardworking. Our laws need to give themthe respect and help they are due ifour society is to measure up.

C. TIMOTHY CORCORAN III

Tampa, Fla.

Just a Coincidence?

The juxtaposition of the headline“What to Do With Bad Gifts” in theonline edition of your recent issue(Current Comment, 12/22) with anonline ad reading “Father Martin’sbooks—a gift they’ll open again andagain” may or may not have beendeliberate, but it certainly succeededin tickling my funny bone.

GINI PARKER

Duxbury, Mass.

permanent deacons in the modernchurch.

Alas, there was not a word aboutdeacons. What a missed opportunityfor the magazine really to talk aboutthe modern church!

(DEACON) TONY CUSEO

Delray Beach, Fla.

Helping Homeowners

Thank you for “Forgive Us OurDebts,” by Jennie D. Latta (12/15).One measure of the fairness of a capi-talistic society is how it treats thosewho fail economically.

Under current law, bankruptcyjudges cannot modify the terms of ahome mortgage in a Chapter 13bankruptcy case. They regularly canmodify the terms of virtually allother secured loans. The single leg-islative corrective action most neededtoday is to permit home mortgagemodification in consumer bankrupt-cy cases.

In 14 years as a bankruptcy judge, I

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schools across the United States. Myexperience suggests that the archbish-op’s call for partnerships with individ-uals, organizations and businesses isvery much on target and necessary.

What Archbishop Wuerl did notsay, however, is that in order to developand maintain these partnerships, bothtransparency and accountability areessential. Unfortunately, all too manyCatholic schools, parishes and diocesesfail to require accurate and under-standable financial reports, annualaudits and disclosure of test data.

My experience suggests that whenCatholic school administrators andboards provide the informationrequired to ensure transparency andaccountability, donors respond, part-nerships are formed and maintained,and Catholic schools thrive.

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Metanoia

Thank you for the wonderful jobredesigning the magazine (Of ManyThings, 1/5). Your effort has resultedin a more readable format. The newfonts and layout have come as a wel-come change to my aging eyes, andonce again I can sit down and read thearticles without trouble.

MICHAEL TRUSCOTT

Washington, D.C.

Feeling Left Out

The cover of your recent issue pro-claimed “The Harvest Is Great” (1/5)and promised stories of vocations in amodern church. I couldn’t wait to getthrough the stories of religious womenand of attracting young adults to thepriesthood and religious life, so that Icould get to a story about the role of

ive me chastity, but not yet.”This famous prayer of St.Augustine well captures the

reluctance that most of us have tochanging our ways. Yet we hear theexact opposite in today’s readings,when the Ninevites instantly repent atJonah’s preaching and the fishermenimmediately leave their nets to followJesus. There is an urgency with regardto the time, and a totality of responseis needed. In Ordinary Time in theliturgical year, it may seem more natu-ral to settle into the ordinary ways inwhich we have been living out our dis-cipleship. Instead, we are urged to rec-ognize that a new time presses uponus, requiring different responses frombefore.

St. Paul, thinking the parousia wasright over the horizon, insists that timeis running out and that our usual wayof doing things will no longer serve.Similarly, Jonah prophesies to Ninevehthat their destruction is imminent.When we think the end is near, we losesome of our inertia toward change.Today we hear this kind of urgencyfrom those who study climate change,or the causes of poverty, food short-ages, war and epidemics. To turnaround these global ills requires a pro-

found turning around of our patternsof living. Still, we find ourselvesreluctant, praying withAugustine, “Yes, but not yet.”

In Mk 1:14-20 theresponse of the fishermenis instantaneous. Theseadroit fishermenimmediately acceptJesus’ invitation touse their skills to“fish for people.”They are savvy busi-nessmen who have hired workers, andwho likely moved their enterprise toCapernaum for a tax break. ( Jn 1:44says that Peter and Andrew were orig-inally from Bethsaida, under theadministration of Herod Philip,whereas Capernaum was in the terri-tory of Herod Antipas.) Abandoningtheir nets is a way of speaking of whatmust be left behind when oneembraces radical discipleship. Thefishermen do not leave their families,as the next episodes in the Gospelshow. Rather, Jesus becomes part oftheir family, making Capernaum hishome (Mk 2:1), and the disciplesbecome Jesus’ new family, reorientingall relationships.

There are also many women,including Mary Magdalene, Mary themother of James and Joses, Salomeand many others, who become part ofJesus’ family of disciples. While theEvangelists do not preserve the story

of their call, all agree that thesewomen had been following Jesus andministering with him when he was inGalilee and continued to do so all theway to the cross (Mk 15:40). The costof such a radical response to Jesus isalready in view when Mark prefacesthe call of the first disciples with thenotice that John had been arrested.

But like impulsive loverswho commit themselves toone another while stillwrapped in their initialmutual infatuation, a com-

pelling love causes disciples tofollow Jesus instantly. Just as a

couple grows into love, and learnsthe costly self-surrender it takes tomake that love continue to flourish,so too disciples learn the deeperconversion demanded as they growin their radical love affair with the


THE WORD

THIRD SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME (B), JAN. 25, 2009

Readings: Jon 3:1-5, 10; Ps 25:4-9; 1 Cor 7:29-31; Mk 1:14-20

FOURTH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME (B), FEB. 1, 2009

Readings: Dt 18:15-20; Ps 95:1-2, 6-7, 7-9 (8); 1 Cor 7:32-35; Mk 1:21-28

“This is the time of fulfillment” (Mk 1:15)

No Ordinary Time

BARBARA E. REID, O.P., of the DominicanSisters of Grand Rapids, Mich., is professor ofNew Testament Studies at Catholic Theologi-cal Union in Chicago Ill.

G‘

PRAYING WITH SCRIPTURE

• How is Jesus inviting you into a deeper love

in ordinary time?

• What change of heart is visible in your man-

ner of living?

• What urgent response is needed now?

Holy One. It is then not so much thethreat of destruction that moves us toconvert our ways, but an irresistiblelove that turns our hearts.

Paul speaks about how this loveaffair requires an undivided heart.His examples about married peoplebeing more anxious about pleasingtheir spouses and concerned aboutworldly matters (1 Cor 7:32-35)reflect Paul’s bias in his own situation.Thinking that the end was near, hepreferred that no one get married andthat slaves not try to gain their free-dom (1 Cor 7:8, 17-24). To a certainextent, the notion that those who are


Georgetown University

FOR MORE INFORMATION, PLEASE CALL OR E-MAIL MICHAEL PETERSON AT GEORGETOWN UNIVERSITY

An intensive six-day institute in Washington, DC

JUNE 14 - 20, 2009

INSTITUTE ON CHRISTIAN-MUSLIM RELATIONS

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• Church and Society

• Christianity in America

• Visits to Chrisitan Churches

Costs for the week:

PRESENTERS:

Steven Blackburn, Hartford Seminary Suendam Birinci, Hartford Seminary

John Borelli, Georgetown Univ. Yvonne Y. Haddad, Georgetown Univ.

Sulayman Nyang, Howard Univ. Leo Lefebure, Georgetown Univ.

John O. Voll, Georgetown Univ.

THE SPIRITUAL EXERCISES OF ST. IGNATIUS LOYOLA36-DAY PROGRAM—JUNE 21-JULY 28, 2009

The 30-day individually directed retreat will have seminar days of reflection on:

PSYCHOLOGICAL DEVELOPMENT AND THE SPIRITIUAL EXERCISESRobert Fabing, S.J., Author, Founder and Director of the Jesuit Institute for Family LifeInternational Network; Liturgical Composer, Los Altos, CA.

WESTERN CONTEMPLATION AND THE SPIRITUAL EXERCISESHoward Gray, S.J., Advisor to the President of Georgetown University, Washington, D.C.Former Provincial and Tertian Director of the Detroit Province of the Society of Jesus.

DISPOSITIONS FOR THE SPIRITUAL EXERCISESWilliam Barry, S.J. Author and Co-founder of the Center for Religious Development in Cambridge.Former Jesuit Provincial of New England, and, presently, Tertian Director. Weston, MA.

PROXIMATE PREPARATION FOR THE SPIRITUAL EXERCISEDavid Fleming. S.J., Author, Editor of Review for Religious, Saint Louis, MO.

GIFTS PROPER TO EACH WEEK OF THE SPIRITUAL EXERCISESJulio Giulietti, S.J., President of Wheeling Jesuit University, West Virginia. Former Director ofthe Center for Ignatian Spirituality, Boston College, Chestnut Hill, MA.

Our experience has shown that competently guided theological preparation and reflection bringto the fore skills that are beneficial in making the 30-day retreat and in preparing oneself forfuture work as a spiritual director. We have found that the addition of these days of guided the-ological reflection have served to accentuate the gifts received within the 30-day retreat itself

—Robert Fabing, S.J., 36-Day Program Director

JESUIT RETREAT CENTER300 Manresa Way, Los Altos, CA 94022Ph: (650) 948-4491; Fax: (650) 948-0640

e-mail: [email protected]; web: www.jrclosaltos.org

vowed to celibacy are more single-hearted toward God has persistedthrough the ages. The “DogmaticConstitution on the Church” of theSecond Vatican Council, however,insists that all disciples are equallycalled to holiness and all are given themission to make “manifest in theirordinary work the love with whichGod has loved the world” (No. 41).The “Pastoral Constitution on theChurch in the Modern World” makesclear that it is precisely throughengagement with the concerns of theworld that Jesus’ followers exercisetheir discipleship.

The prophet Jonah reminds us thatGod’s concern for the world includeseveryone, even those we consider ene-mies. Jonah had initially refused to goto Nineveh, and afterward becomesangry with God for showing favor toIsrael’s enemies. It took a lot longer forJonah’s heart to turn than it did for theNinevites—and he was supposedly theone closer to God! This reluctantprophet stands in contrast to Moses,the ideal prophet (Dt 18:15-20). Godgives the assurance that we are neverleft to our own devices. God will sendanother prophet like Moses who willfaithfully speak God’s word. ForChristians, this points toward Jesus,who teaches with an astonishingauthority, not like any other (Mk 1:21-28). It is by his power that all obstaclesto the coming reign of God, like anunclean spirit, are overcome. There isnothing ordinary about the invitationto follow Jesus more radically in thisurgent time. BARBARA E. REID

ON THE WEB

Visit “The Good Word,” our blog on

Scripture and preaching, for more

commentary on the week’s readings.

Featuring the writing of

John Kilgallen, S.J., John W. Martens

and Barbara Green, O.P.

americamagazine.org/word

THE NATIONAL CATHOLIC WEEKLY Dear Mister PresidentTHE NATIONAL CATHOLIC WEEKLY JAN. 19–26, 2009...

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