In All Things

Took some last minute shuffling of flights owing to Washington winter storm wipeout (and more is on its way), but I have arrived at the annual Catholic Social Ministry Gathering. The event brings together diocesan and parish-based directors and supporters of social justice and peace offices for some motivational recuperation, capital hill lobbying and general information sharing. They also pore over the domestic and international issues that will be on the agenda in the coming year for folks working in Catholic social ministry. They will have plenty of time to do so this year as we are about to all be snowed in for the week.

I’m particularly sorry to have missed John Carr’s keynote because I wondered if he would respond personally to the attack campaign being launched by the American Life League and confreres (and eagerly embraced by right wing Catholic bloggers) regarding his past participation as board chairman with the Center for Community Change, a national community organizing advocacy, training and support organization. Carr left CCC in 2005 and since then it has adopted some rhetoric and positions at odds with Catholic teaching. Additionally a number of Catholic Campaign for Human Development funded community groups are listed as “partners” by the CCC, though that relationship indicates little more than they may have received CCC training or worked with CCC on specific anti-poverty campaigns, not that they endorse all CCC statements or campaigns.

At first glance the connections drawn by the ALL et al depict a deep ignorance about the nature of community organizing in the United States or its history and offer the kind of head-scratching guilt by association that would be familiar to folks who can remember Sen. Joe McCarthy and the regular House and Senate inquisitions during the Red Scare of the 1950s. Instead of lists of unidentified communist enemies, ALL and allied groups wave embarrassing CCC statements and attempt to backtrack them to assorted USCCB staff. I’m told John Carr only briefly touched on the controversy during his annual keynote speech opening the gathering but other voices from the USCCB have already stepped forward to defend Carr and by extension the USCCB and CCHD.

Carr told me some time after his speech: “I’ve spent my whole life trying to bring together social justice and pro-life, so to be attacked as somehow having undermined that is both unfair and hurtful.”

He was reluctant to say much else about the internet flame war erupting around his reputation except: “I would distinguish between those who have a real concern for the poor and wonder if we’re doing this the right way, those who simply disagree with the priorities and methods of CCHD and [those] who frankly have been attacking the bishops, the conference, the CCHD, and now me and they’ve never found anything good to say about the church’s [anti-poverty] work.

“The idea that the American bishops are soft or lax in their defense of unborn children is just ridiculous. You go down to the march for life . . . and you take away Catholic parishes, Catholic schools, Catholic bishops, its not a march it’s a small rally. For people that know me, the idea that I’m a secret agent for a prochoice issue . . .  and the idea that the America bishops are funding abortions and soft on gay marriage is just ludicrous.”

Carr worries the style of the attack suggests that “polarization in public life is now coming over to Catholic life.”

“We don’t need war rooms and attack ads in our community of faith,” he said. “We ought to give each other the benefit of the doubt. We ought to have civil discourse and not assume the worst of each other.

“Their new thing after four days of attacking me is that ‘this is not about John Carr.’ Well, I think that is insightful: This is not about John Carr, this is about the priorities of the poor and whether or not we are going to act on them. . . . When you do bottom up organizing instead of top down, it doesn’t always fit the neat categories, but my wish is that people would see what actually happens to people’s lives and communities as a result of this work.”

Forgive the New York-centric nature of this post, but the fate of St. Vincent’s Hospital has ramifications far beyond the isle of Manhattan. Founded by the Sisters of Charity, St. Vincent’s is the last Catholic hospital in the city and is now in danger of closing. A local health care consortium had offered to buy the facility and turn it into an out patient facility, but that offer was withdrawn late last week. The state floated a loan to help St. Vincent cover its operating budget, but a temporary injection of funds may not be enough to insure the hospital’s long-term stability.

Just a few years ago, there were as many as eight Catholic hospitals in New York, but for a variety of complicated reasons that number was reduced to one in just over a year. That story was largely untold until Daniel Sulmasy reported it in our pages last March. Dr. Sulmasy listed five reasons for the demise of Catholic health care in New York, including what seems like the most pressing fact for St. Vincent’s right now: “the market is a harsh environment for faith-based institutions.”

Catholic schools have been roundly supported by donors, but why have Catholic hospitals (and adoption agencies) not received the same loyalty from the Catholic community? Perhaps the time has come to let these institutions pass away? To focus our money and energies on smaller causes, ones less tied to brick and morter institutions? Sulmasy disagrees:

Personally, despite all the obstacles, I continue to be convinced that Catholic institutions (and, in particular, Catholic hospitals) are worth fighting to save. Catholic institutions help to nourish the faith of those who work in them and are served by them. Our Catholic hospitals also provide a vehicle for proving that our moral convictions are compatible with 21st-century technology, and they embody the ideal that service institutions ought to have service missions. In health care, patients and practitioners alike are becoming alienated from the health care delivery system. Hospitals that treat patients with true respect, recognize their dignity, attend to their spiritual needs, value people over technology and value service over the bottom line are precisely the remedy that people need. Given their mission, Catholic institutions should be leading the way.

But in our current health care environment, can Catholic hospitals that value "people and service over the bottom" line survive? It doesn't look good. The demise of St. Vincent's is one more sign that the health care system as it exists now is in drastic need of an overhaul. 

Tim Reidy

Hindsight isn’t always 20-20, but often it is. Now that the Democrats have lost their shot at a filibuster-proof majority in the Senate (which is all it ever was, really, given the two independents and the pack of Blue Dogs), they must be flagellating themselves over the obvious. Before tackling health care reform they ought to have changed the procedural rule that makes the 60 votes necessary. Had they accomplished that, nearly all Americans might be insured now, and other future reforms would be much easier to legislate. As it is, that opportunity may be irretrievable.

“May be,” because sunny President Obama still hasn’t given up his efforts to bring both parties together. And Congress may yet find some way to turn much or some of the reform measures into law.

Health care aside, the Democrats’ failure to put first things first (to put the procedural over the substantial, in this case) brings up the importance of foresight now, instead of hindsight later. Foresight is never easy, and especially today with so many global and domestic crises roiling the political waters all at once. But foresight, learning from mistakes, perseverance and building some unity where polarity threatens to divide the nation are what leadership is all about.

Consider the next Congressional election: What can be done now to ensure a fair and accurate race? Both parties ought to make certain that voting machines work in each district; that eligible voters are encouraged to vote, not dissuaded from voting by threats, misinformation or other impediments. The Supreme Court’s recent unleashing of limitless corporate money in electoral campaigns must be curtailed as much as possible. What about campaign finance reform--is that completely dead? Or can more be done? Such questions and focus are just a start for starters.

Citizens ought to demand serious actions and policy proposals, too. Not just sit back and watch political football: one team runs toward a goal and the other knocks them down. The national and international goals are too serious for such spectator-like behavior. Democracy itself is the game we’re playing.

Karen Sue Smith

Our latest video, a modest proposal from Father Jim Martin on what to do with Wall Street bonuses, is now up on our home page. Have  a look:

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Tim Reidy

The best part of last night’s Super Bowl was the game. But, the ads and the ceremonies that peppered the televised spectacle were more instructive about the state of our culture and the verdict they rendered was decidedly mixed.

I am generally a fan of President Obama. But, I don’t want to see an interview with the guy in the middle of my Super Bowl prep unless he is showing us a family chili recipe.

And, what is with the aging rock stars? Was anyone thrilled by the half-time show that featured the rock group "The Who"? Who knew the Who were still singing? They are ancient. Old news. Not at all hip. I am sure they were tested by market strategists and deemed safe for one of the largest national audiences of the year, and safety seemed to be the theme of both the ads during the game and the hoopla surrounding it. Another golden oldie, by Steve Winwood, "Bring me your Higher Love" was sung before the game. I remember that from high school. And the hard rock group "Kiss" appeared in an ad, their once fit bodies now clearly showing middle aged paunches. Are there no new rock groups? Is "retro rock" a cultural meme?

Of course there are new groups and edgier themes, but market researchers and ad execs like safe, as do their corporate bosses. Businesspeople prate on about innovation and risk, but they really like government subsidies, tax breaks and safe marketing strategies that are so boring they could not possibly offend. Even the controversial Tim Tebow ad about abortion was not really about abortion, in fact I am not sure what it was about except a nice looking Mom being loved by her nice looking son, which is fine, but I wonder how many people put down their buffalo wings to write down the website name of Focus on the Family that sponsored the ad. And, the Tebow ad was completely upstaged by the Betty White ad for Snickers. That was funny. Funny, too, were the E-trade ads and the Doritos ads. But, most of the ads were bizarre or boring. You have to wonder what is going on in the zeitgeist when so many ads feature people in their underwear.

Avant-garde is not an English phrase. Nor is bella figura. It is a shame. I could not help remembering the celebrations in Paris for the bicentenaire. In addition to the traditional military parade, they had a very avant-garde parade in the early evening, that finished at the Place de la Concorde. All the lights went out except for a few spotlights at the foot of the great column in the center of the square. There was American singer Jessye Norman, wrapped in a giant tricoleur, singing the French national anthem. I remember thinking what kind of outcry you would get if an American celebration of Independence Day featured a French singer? But, the whole French festivities had a, dare we say, joie de vivre, that the producers of the Super Bowl and its ads entirely lack.

I just finished reading Alan Lichtman’s book "White Protestant Nation" which has been my bedtime reading the past few weeks. A central theme of that work is the way our culture yearns for an anti-pluralist cultural ethic that is more than a bit dull. Lichtman shows the ways that Protestant culture, especially southern Protestant culture, intermixes with the corporate ethos to produce this dull, conservative bias in the broader culture. Or, in light of last night’s Super Bowl, we might ask: Who dat running the ad agencies (and the corporate boards that hire them) that produce so many boring ads and retro rock stars?

I caught just the tail end of this much-talked-about ad last night on the Superbowl.  It's simple and effective.  And I wonder, How could anyone object to this?  Actually, I would have preferred for it to have been even stronger on the pro-life message, but maybe understatement is the way to go.  Dave Gibson said the ad's rollout was a brilliant strategy, too.

James Martin, SJ

The Church of England's Parliament, known as the General Synod, meets this week, beginning today with an announcement on women bishops which is certain to have an impact on the numbers of Anglican traditionalists choosing to take up the Pope's ordinariate offer.

Synod voted two years ago to move towards consecrating women bishops, but is yet to come up with a formula for doing so which doesn't at the same time alienate traditionalists who oppose the move. Suggestions of an "alternative network" of traditionalist bishops overseeing traditionalist parishes -- an extension of the current "flying bishops" model -- have so far failed; and the so-called "Revision Committee" -- created to examine the various options -- will say today (a) that their work is unfinished, and will be until at least July; (b) that attempts to find a safe space for traditionalists have not succeeded. Ruth Gledhill at The Times has been leaked today's speech by the bishop in charge of the Revision Committee, whose tortuous language and stupendous opacity will give little comfort to opponents of a female episcopate.

The circle is closing on the traditionalists in other ways. Ruth writes:

The existing three flying bishop posts are to be abolished and not replaced. Instead, any women consecrated bishops will be asked to “delegate” authority to another bishop, such as a suffragan, to carry out confirmations and other episcopal duties in parishes that refuse to accept her ministry.

Does this make it more likely that C of E traditionalists will accept the Pope's ordinariate offer? Yes and no. For those that have already decided, in principle, to accept the offer and are waiting on the details, it will confirm their decision. But the view among most traditionalists I have spoken to is that an early exodus would weaken their attempts to safeguard the 'Catholic' place in the Church of England. Supporters of women bishops be able to say, in effect, "they're going anyway. Why agree to what they want?" As long as traditionalists remain in the C of E, the threat of their departure is likely to make supporters of women bishops more likely to negotiate.

Hence the decision by leading Anglo-Catholic bishops -- including those who went to Rome to ask for the ordinariate -- to postpone their response to the Pope's offer. Initially they had scheduled 22 February as the day in which they would vote on whether to accept the ordinariate offer and begin negotiations with the bishops of England and Wales. One of the "flying bishops", Andrew Burnham, told the BBC that 22 February had been designated as "an appropriate day for priests and people to make an initial decision as to whether they wish to respond positively to and explore further the initiative of the Apostolic Constitution". But this had assumed that this week's Synod would debate the Revision Committee's proposals for accommodating opponents of women bishops. Because that debate has been delayed until the Synod next meets in York on 9-13 July, the flying bishops now view 22 February "as a day of discernment and prayer, and not a day of decision".

So what was going to be a major Easter story -- a vote by most of the traditionalists on whether to explore further the ordinariate -- looks like it's been kicked into the long grass.

But my hunch is that there will still be some parishes who will vote anyway to negotiate with the Catholic bishops, because they have long since given up on Synod. They will be few in number. But what they negotiate will open up a path for the majority of traditionalists to go down after the summer, helping to assuage their fears.

Francis Cardinal George, archbishop of Chicago and president of the US Conference of Catholic Bishops, has denounced New Ways Ministry, a national organization based in Mt. Rainier, Maryland, which reaches out to gay and lesbian Catholics, runs conferences on issues concerning gay and lesbian Catholics, and sponsors regular retreats for that same population.  (It also offers a variety of resources on its websites, such as a list of Catholic parishes where gays and lesbians would feel welcome.)  Valued among the gay and lesbian Catholics, the organization and its founders (Sister Jeanine Gramick, SL, and Father Robert Nugent, SDS) have often found themselves at odds with the Catholic hierarchy.  Sister Gramick and Father Nugent have been for some years officially barred "from any pastoral work involving homosexual persons," as the USCCB statement affirms.  New Ways Ministry, which includes on its board and advisory board both priests and religious, said in a statement today that it was not contacted by the USCCB to explain its positions before the bishops' statement was released.  Here is part of Cardinal George's statement, dated yesterday.

New Ways Ministry has recently criticized efforts by the Church to defend the traditional definition of marriage as between one man and one woman and has urged Catholics to support electoral initiatives to establish same-sex "marriage." No one should be misled by the claim that New Ways Ministry provides an authentic interpretation of Catholic teaching and an authentic Catholic pastoral practice. Their claim to be Catholic only confuses the faithful regarding the authentic teaching and ministry of the Church with respect to persons with a homosexual inclination. Accordingly, I wish to make it clear that, like other groups that claim to be Catholic but deny central aspects of Church teaching, New Ways Ministry has no approval or recognition from the Catholic Church and that they cannot speak on behalf of the Catholic faithful in the United States.  The full text of Cardinal George's statement is here.

Today Francis DeBernardo, executive director of New Ways, responded, in part: 

We are astonished that Cardinal George released such a statement, since New Ways Ministry has never been contacted by the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops to discuss the nature of our work. We were not even extended the basic courtesy of being informed of the statement as it was being released to the press. Instead, we learned about it only by reading a press account.

When dealing with such a sensitive topic as homosexuality, it is not surprising that questions will arise from individual Church leaders. Yet, for more than three decades, New Ways Ministry has had its programs reviewed by scores of Catholic bishops, theologians, and pastoral leaders, and we have always been found to be firmly in line with authentic Catholic teaching. If the USSCB had concerns about our ministry, why didn’t they contact us before a judgment was made? Why was New Ways Ministry not given an opportunity to explain our positions?  The full text of their statement is here.

James Martin, SJ

Cambridge, MA. We just finished the second week of the semester at Harvard, and things are settling down. I am team-teaching a first year Master of Divinity course, “Theories and Methods in the Study of Religion,” which raises some interesting questions about whether and where academic scholarship about religion meets the perspectives of insiders, and whether thinking about religion helps religious people think more clearly in their faith and works of service. More on that in a later blog, but here I would like to introduce my seminar, “Tamil Love.”

     This is a seminar devoted to the close reading of selected texts, in English translation, from the Tamil language tradition of south India. Tamil, you may know, is one of the world’s oldest living languages, with literature dating back two millennia, and currently serving as the mother tongue of more than 75 million people. The course focuses on religious poetry expressive of devotion to God, particularly the songs of the alvars (7^th-9^th century poet saints who wrote songs, poetry, in praise of the deity Narayana (who descends into the world as Rama, Krsna, and in other ways) with his consort, Sri Laksmi. The poetry is lovely, elegantly composed, and rich in religious meaning, sentiments of praise, worship, longing, service. This is the first verse of the 9^th century Tiruvaymoli, the most famous alvar work: “Who possesses the highest, unsurpassable good? that one / who graciously gives the good of a mind without confusion? that one / who is the first lord of the unforgetting immortals? that one / so bow down at those radiant feet that destroy affliction, and arise, my mind.” (We read everything in English, but keep puttering and fighting with the translations, including my own.)

     But first we read some still older poetry, from a 1^st century anthology known as the “Short Poem Collection” (the Kuruntokai), expressive of the mixed emotions of a young woman in love. Attuned to every facet of nature, from geography to flora and fauna to times and seasons, the poetry, these short poems explore subtly and indirectly the desires and expectations of a lover. Thus, we read poems such as this one, wherein the young woman is not sure whether her beloved is delayed, or the monsoon rain early: “These fat konrai trees / Are gullible: / the season of rains / that he spoke of / when he went through the stones / of the desert / is not yet here / / though these trees / mistaking the untimely rains / have put out / their long arrangements of flowers / on the twigs / / as if for a proper monsoon.” (as translated by A K Ramanujan, my teacher in graduate school, in his lovely collect, The Interior Landscape, Indiana University, 1967). Hundreds of such elegant little poems gently and powerfully disclose how the mind and heart of people in love care for, await, get angry at, despair of, melt into one another.

     Such poetry is spiritual, to be sure, and it sets up a model for later explicitly religious poetry. Consider for example another poem from Tiruvaymoli: “The south wind fragrant with mallikai scent cuts deep, / the sound of the splendid kurinji is piercing, / the evening’s waning light bewilders me, / those fine clouds red in the waning light bring ruin, and / my lord, his eyes lovely delicate lotuses, / my lord, great bull among the cowherds, great lion, / my dark one once tightly clasped my shoulders, my breasts — / but now I don’t know where to find shelter, I am alone.” (IX.9.1) Here too the beloved does not come — yet now the mystery is all the deeper and more poignant, since it is God who is delaying. (Some of you may remember that I have commented on these songs back in the summer; what I research often finds its way into my teaching.)

     We are still near the course’s beginning, but we will in time go further, reading the Song of Songs along with the Tamil songs, notably passages in which the Song’s young woman in love wonders where her beloved is: “Upon my bed at night? I sought him whom my soul loves;? I sought him, but found him not;? I called him, but he gave no answer. ?‘I will rise now and go about the city,? in the streets and in the squares;? I will seek him whom my soul loves.’? I sought him, but found him not.” (3.1-2; NRSV) Part of the inquiry of the course is interreligious, as I encourage my students to relate what we read to their own religious and spiritual traditions, but the inquiry is this time around more poetic than philosophical, more the dynamic of reading one poem next to and after another.

     So for me, and implicitly in the course, the questions are not, “What does Christianity have to do with Hinduism?” or “What does Krsna have to do with Christ?” since such questions are easy to ask, easy to answer in a self-reassuring way, hard to answer in a way that helps anyone. Rather, we ask, what is it like to hear and learn from early south Indian love poetry? how did gifted artists in medieval India turn that subtle psychology and longing and doubt toward God? how do Catholics like me find a way from that poetry to a new hearing of the Song of Songs, and new sense of what it means to say we really do desire God, and often enough miss a seemingly absent God? And finally - how can we make sense of Christ who comes, who goes, as one we cannot take for granted? I think this through more clearly after studying Tamil Hindu poetry.

     I have a fine group of students, and they approach the course and its readings from many different angles; yet we all read together. All this is, I suggest, not only wonderful opportunity in the classroom, a cultural exchange, a crossover among languages and translations and histories; it is also, for those who choose to take it this way, an interreligious dialogue as deep as any we might imagine, a dialogue in the heart. I'll tell you more, as the semester progresses.

The "lesser of two evils" is an important concept from the Catholic moral tradition that is being applied in a new way in the diocese of Albany, as RNS's Daniel Burke reports in this story of its needle-exchange program.  (In the past few decades a few theologians have argued that that traditional moral stance could be applied to the use of condoms in countries where AIDS is rampant.)  In any event, here is the story from Albany.

In launching its needle-exchange program earlier this week, the Catholic Diocese of Albany, N.Y., said the decision came down to choosing the lesser evil. Illegal drug use is bad, but the spread of deadly diseases is worse.  The medical evidence is clear, the diocese argued on Monday (Feb. 1) when it began “Project Safe Point” in two Upstate New York locations through its local branch of Catholic Charities. Public health studies document that exchanging used syringes for new ones can effectively stanch the spread of blood-borne diseases such as AIDS, and even lead drug abusers to treatment and recovery.  “To guide us, the church provides us with the principles of licit cooperation in evil and the counseling of the lesser evil,” the Albany diocese said in a statement.  “The sponsorship of Catholic Charities in Safe Point, then, is based upon the church’s standard moral principles.”

Read the rest here.

James Martin, SJ

On Feb. 2, Pope Benedict XVI, in his homily marking this year's World Day for Consecrated Life, praised the commitment of men and women in religious orders.  "Each one of you," said the Holy Father, referring to men and women religious, "has approached [Christ] as the source of pure and faithful love, a love so great and beautiful as to merit all, in fact, more than our all, because a whole life is not enough to return what Christ is and what he has done for us. But you approached him, and every day you approach him, also to be helped in the opportune moment and in the hour of trial."

Two days later, Cardinal Franc Rode (pictured at right), prefect of the Congregation for the Institutes of Consecrated Life, which is carrying out the apostolic visitation of women religious in this country, has said that religious orders are in "crisis," because of their abandonment of traditional practices.  Here is the story, in full, from CNS:

Vatican official says religious orders are in modern 'crisis'

Catholic News Service.   VATICAN CITY -- By John Thavis.  A top Vatican official said religious orders today are in a "crisis" caused in part by the adoption of a secularist mentality and the abandonment of traditional practices.  Cardinal Franc Rode, prefect of the Congregation for Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life, said the problems go deeper than the drastic drop in the numbers of religious men and women.  "The crisis experienced by certain religious communities, especially in Western Europe and North America, reflects the more profound crisis of European and American society. All this has dried up the sources that for centuries have nourished consecrated and missionary life in the church," Cardinal Rode said in a talk delivered Feb. 3 in Naples, Italy.

"The secularized culture has penetrated into the minds and hearts of some consecrated persons and some communities, where it is seen as an opening to modernity and a way of approaching the contemporary world," he said.  Cardinal Rode said the decline in the numbers of men and women religious became precipitous after the Second Vatican Council, which he described as a period "rich in experimentation but poor in robust and convincing mission."  Faced with an aging membership and fewer vocations, many religious orders have turned to "foreign vocations" in places like Africa, India and the Philippines, the cardinal said. He said the orders need to remember that quality of vocations is more important than quantity.

"It is easy, in situations of crisis, to turn to deceptive and damaging shortcuts, or attempt to lower the criteria and parameters for admission to consecrated life and the course of initial and permanent formation," he said.  In any case, he said, "big numbers are not indispensable" for religious orders to prove their validity. It's more important today, he said, that religious orders "overcome the egocentrism in which institutes are often closed, and open themselves to joint projects with other institutes, local churches and lay faithful."

Cardinal Rode, a 75-year-old Slovenian, is overseeing a Vatican-ordered apostolic visitation of institutes for women religious in the United States to find out why the numbers of their members have decreased during the past 40 years and to look at the quality of life in the communities.  He spoke Feb. 3 to a conference on religious life sponsored by the Archdiocese of Naples. The Vatican newspaper, L'Osservatore Romano, published the main portions of his text.

Cardinal Rode said it was undoubtedly more difficult today for all religious orders to find young people who are willing to break away from the superficial contemporary culture and show a capacity for commitment and sacrifice. Unless this is dealt with in formation programs, he said, religious orders will produce members who lack dedication and are likely to drift away.

The challenge, however, should not be seen strictly in negative terms, he said. The present moment, he said, can help religious orders better define themselves as "alternatives to the dominant culture, which is a culture of death, of violence and of abuse," and make it clear that their mission is to joyfully witness life and hope, in the example of Christ.  --CNS

James Martin, SJ