Just wanted to remind our readers always to be on the lookout at our "Books and Culture" section for plenty of "online only" content that we will be posting on a regular basis. We're always limited in terms of page space in the magazine, and sometimes it's hard to turn around time-sensitive articles (particularly reviews) given our production schedule, but the web enables us to give our readers (and viewers) a lot more Culture coverage--and in a timely manner.
So, for example, be sure check out Leo J. O'Donovan S.J.'s review of the landmark new Cezanne show at the Philadelphia Museum of Art under our "Fine Arts" section here. And a fascinating series of reflections by the estimable John W. O'Malley, S.J., Francis A. Sullivan, S.J., and Msgr. John Strynkowski on a hard-hitting article by Marco Politi in the London Tablet on collegiality in the Vatican. And George W. Anderson, S.J., on a new PBS documentary on mentally ill prisoners. (Our Culture headings are Film, Television, Theater, Fine Arts, Music, New Media and Ideas.)
Here's Francis A. Sullivan in Ideas on collegiality:
Indeed, since Vatican II the popes have continued to take important decisions affecting the whole church without the collaboration of the episcopate. I have in mind Humanae vitae, Ordinatio sacerdotalis, Ad tuendam fidem and most recently, the lifting of the excommunication from the four schismatic bishops. In each of those cases the pope could have called an extraordinary synod and given the presidents of the episcopal conferences deliberative voice so they would have really shared responsibility for the decisions. Would the decisions have been better than what the popes decided without their help? God only knows. But they would surely have met with a better reception from the faithful than the decisions that the popes have made without them.
And George Anderson in Television on the new doc:
"The title is ironic: the men in the film leave prison physically free, but their mental illness keeps them as enchained as if they were still behind bars. In secure settings where they receive appropriate medication, these men seem like normal human beings. Once on the streets, however, their fortunes turn. Typically set free with little more than their two weeks worth of medication, $75 and a bus ticket, the majority are back behind bars in three months."
All on the online section of "Books and Culture"
James Martin, SJ
