Correspondence
CORRESPONDENCE O'Rourke Dismissal Marina City, Cal. To the Editors: Maybe I'm old hat (50 years are probably sufficient for that title), but wouldn't it have been prudent for Father...
...I felt my authoritative qualifications slipping away...
...But until I find some more satisfactory answers to those questions, I am going to assume that the whole affair was contrived for the purpose, not of baptizing a child, but of generating precisely the kind of publicity it brought to Baird and to the Catholics for a Free Choice--an organization of which, I am sure, very few people had heard before...
...quite simply will not wash...
...To the Editors: Maybe I'm old hat (50 years are probably sufficient for that title), but wouldn't it have been prudent for Father O'Rourke to have advised the parents of the Morreale baby to baptize their child themselves...
...At least two of your statements set me thinking: 1) religious orders are a public trust in a sense, 2) the internal procedures of these orders should be aligned more with the American policy of due process...
...S7c, three times: 54r seven times...
...He's no longer a Jesuit, officially...
...13031...
...My only regret So Right So Often A recent editorial in the National Catholic Reporter generously commended Commonweal and urged support for our 50th Anniversary campaign...
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...Its greatest leaders--Jefferson, Jackson, Wilson and Roosevelt--were believed because they spoke from a consistent liberal-humanitarian philosophy translated into practical proposals...
...and perhaps the parents would come to realize the privilege of Catholicism and the profound joy of meeting that responsibility in all its forms...
...COMMONWEAL...
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...To the Editors: Thank you for your thoughtful editorial concerning Fr...
...And why did we never hear about him again...
...4.95 o, oo o o, abingdon Commonweal: 45 The Church that I believe in does not express its innermost reality by facing a child and saying: You are not welcome...
...Printed in the USA and published weekly, except biweekly Christmas.Hew Year's and June to mid.September...
...It should be pointed out that baptism does not usually require "consuiting procedures...
...I find it ridiculous...
...The Morreale child should have been baptized as routinely as Catholic infants usually are, with the spiritual responsibility for his proper religious formation left to the consciences of his parents and sponsors...
...Their decision, as you point out, seriously affects us all...
...O0000000Q Abigatl McCarthy (Cont...
...Baird could muster...
...Participation in ether ClOOC events $3 weekly...
...Theology Godfrey Dlekmann, O.S.8., Louis Bower and Dr...
...Father O'Rourke should not have been expelled for performing the ceremony...
...As we struggle to learn new and faithful ways of living with pluralism, are we to use the sacraments as instruments of sanction and publicity in regard to controversial issues...
...Morreale's agent throughout the controversy, had not held his press conference and broadcast his "worldwide appeal" for someone to baptize the baby until the 15th, the holy day...
...GORDON C. ZAHN LEARN SPANISH...
...it ill behooves someone whose career has been gloriously maverick to take refuge now in the narrow legalism cited in your editorial...
...Morreale had not had Father O'Rourke who finally performed the baptism in mind from the beginning...
...Baird, who advertises a running total of the abortions he has arranged in much the same manner that McDonalds counts hamburgers, struck this observer as being much too well equipped to have orchestrated the grand controversy on a moment's notice...
...As for the Iesuit authorities, they could certainly have found some temporary and less severe penalty for Father O'Rourke's act of disobedience, especially when it reflected, at least in part, an extension of sacramental grace to an infant who was completely innocent of any of the questionable motivations that may have governed the actions of the adults involved...
...Sic, thirteen times...
...Commonweal "The Latinization of West Roxbury" July 2 6 ) - - a fact which Certainly disproved Mr...
...And if its issues and candidates fail to speak to both aspects of this crisis, the public will smell politics-asusual, and voter participation in national elections will continue to go down...
...And who is to make such a decision...
...I base this on the Boston press and television reports which were quite extensive and not particularly favorable to parish or diocesan authorities...
...O'Rourke any disciplinary action, she was willing to have the baptism "withdrawn," simply does not demonstrate a wholehearted commitment to the sacred ritual of entry into the Church or, for that matter, a very clear idea of what was involved in the sacrament...
...We will drift along as a has-been country managed by mediocre men, with grafitti and porn as our national literature, lotteries in place of tax reform, a bent flip-top coke can as our national emblem, and Billy Graham and Evel Kneivel alternating as our most admired men...
...That is an argument the prohibitionist really ought to develop---if he dares...
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...Father Keane, when I talked to him, was equally puzzled...
...SIS a year...
...Cardiff, Ca...
...monthly in advance for more than three times...
...Does the attention of journalists substantially alter the ethical and theological issues involved in this...
...WILLIAM G, AYLWARD Boston, Mass...
...discernment, etc.--and the greatest fruit of the Spirit, perfect love...
...Why was his offer not accepted...
...Copyright _9 1974 Commonweal PubllsMng Co., Inc...
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...BIOGRAPHY PRESS, Rt...
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...To the Editors: Your editorial [Sept...
...Are the sacraments the potsession of the clergy...
...The Partakers Holy Spirit Power for Persevering Christians Robert G. Tuttle, Jr.--theologianevangelist--believes that Christians can receive all that God has to offer and still have balance in their lives...
...He thinks babies should be baptized no matter what and is equal to Father O'Rourke in his willingness to tell it to the world...
...Francis Xavier Church 30 W. lath St., New York 10011, Is collecting funds and coordinating transportation of medical supplies, food and clothing for the hurrlcane refugees In Honduras...
...Certainly the definition of the church as the People of God allows one to err in this extreme...
...Six weekends, November-April...
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...they must decide what kind of an alternative program they will offer America as the nation approaches what may well be a watershed Presidential election in I976...
...After all, my main interest was that that little child would have a chance to become an angel, which he couldn't without baptism...
...Baird's own predilection for communicating via press conference...
...Do we really want ortho(Continued on page 45) NEWS & VIEWS: 26 CORRESPONDENCE: 27 EDITORIALS: 2 7 EYEING THE PACIFIC: Agostino B,mo 2 8 NO CHEERS FOR FATHER KEANE?: Abigail McCarthy 3 0 THE ECONOMICS OF DEATH: Douglas Mattern 31 CATHOLICS I N EAST GERMANY: Willard F. Jabusch 3 4 THE SCREEN: Colin L. Westerbeck, Jr...
...Its wide-ranging interest in the church, political affairs, moral concerns, human events, literature and entertainment, labor and the ecumenical movement has marked it as a publication unafraid of taking stands or of being 'controversial.' And the greatest marvel of all, perhaps, has been that Commonweal has been so right so often and so far ahead of its time...
...You see, on Monday Father Keane had asked to have only the Morreale family present at the baptism--he does not agree with Mr...
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...At which point Father O'Rourke entered from the wings...
...Given the instability of religious journalism and publications today, we marvel that Commonweal has made it for a half century--with dignity, intellectual honesty and integrity...
...I read Commonweal...
...Commonweal is right to protest the injustice being done to Father O'Rourke, but I fear the underlying issue is much more complicated than its editorial would lead one to believe...
...Single copies SOc O O e O 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 e O e 000 THE PARTY TO BELIEVE The wake of last week's economic summit and Senator Edward Kennedy's wise withdrawal from the Presidential race give the Democratic party a good chance to show some spunk after months of floundering around, slyly--and perhaps irresponsibly--sitting back while the Republican President and party self-destructed, and the wages of Watergate took their toil...
...REV...
...10016...
...Baird on abortion, of course, and at that time a Jesuit besides...
...To the Editors: I read the lengthy editorial on Joseph O'Rourke with interest [Sept...
...In any case, I don't think it would hurt to have a little public sunlight shine on the internal procedures of religious orders...
...Baird's second objection, he pointed out...
...Commonweal: 27 Having set aside the standard arguments, we are left with the only real argument operative in this debate: the assumption that, before God, women are inherently inferior to men...
...To the Editors: I am in complete agreement with the conclusions expressed in your editorial [Sept...
...What would the meaning of baptism be under such conditions...
...Baird...
...I prefer a full-year subscription at $15...
...No Father Keane...
...baptize the baby the minute he heard baptism had been refused---so he insists...
...In the first place, how is one to reconcile the urgency and insistence with the fact that the child was already three months old at the time he was presented for baptism...
...Baird refused to answer Father Keane's calls...
...Why, taking it at face value that Father O'Rourke's concern was to provide the sacramental grace that had been so callously withheld, could the baptism not have been performed in the parents' home (or quietly in some Jesuit chapel) instead o f at a public demonstration scheduled to take place at a stated time on the steps of the parish church--with, of course, the fullest complement of reporters and television cameras Mr...
...I even said I would baptize the baby in English," he added...
...Workshop SPIRITUAL VENTURE GROUP...
...It seems to me, under any" circumstances, a crude and trivializing idea...
...I really didn't know what to think...
...I am grateful to my brother Joseph O'Rourke for helping me and the rest of the Church express ourselves in fidelity to the Spirit of Christ in relation to this child, this new life among us...
...Father Keane thought that was pretty ridiculous in view of Mr...
...C l a s s i f i e d RATES: 60r a word, one time...
...1-74S, Aranses Pass, Toxns 70336...
...10/11/74 is that the Jesuits haven't dismissed Nixon's McLaughlin...
...Rather, his grandstand appeals for help for the spiritually deprived mother and child gave every indication of having been prepared in advance...
...It was all very confusing...
...Term 1993, Department of eulogy, ~amotic university, Washington, D.C...
...Father O'Rourke is still in good standing in the church and in his "community...
...But I think Father Keane should get mention...
...And of course the final, gruesome irony is that people who claim to be deeply concerned about the welfare of the fetus should be so unconcerned about the welfare of an infant...
...Any society has a democratic right to require its members to fully accept its legitimate principles...
...There was a third objection-- that he was insincere because he communicated through the news media...
...Writing from his own personal experience, he deals with the gifts of the Spirit-healing, tongues, miracles, wisdom, prophecy...
...He said I was full of hate, and then he said I was in collusion with the Cardinal...
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...He hasn't been one in actuality for some time, according to your account...
...Baird and Mrs...
...This new "idea" moves us one step further toward a view of the Church as a private club, one among many institutions in society, a voluntary association with a disregard for personal rights and for communal decisionmaking...
...You say: "It is a relatively new and hardly-ever-applied position that the beliefs and morals of the parents should be scrutinized before baptism is granted," and go on to suggest that this might be a good idea under certain circumstances...
...Yet I cannot think of two ideas that stand in greater opposition to the idea of religious orders as traditionally understood...
...Nor can one overlook the involvement of Bill Baird, a man who has been conducting a public vendetta against the Boston archdiocese for several years...
...James Corlden, Department of Theelegy, CATHOLIC UNIVERSITY Washington D C. 20014...
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...It was not that he had come on late in the game with his offer, He had made it on the 13th of August--he heard the news on the 12~----and Harry Sabas of NBC radio in Boston had carried it on the air...
...Father O'Rourke had received a call asking him to baptize the child on the 13th the same day he, John Keane, had offered...
...Morreale had an unlisted number and Mr...
...Even on purely pragmatic grounds: it is possible, indeed highly probable, that had the parish priests complied, their action could have been publicized as 11 October 1974:46 evidence of "inconsistency" or as a "weakening" of the Church's doctrinal opposition to abortion, but that was a minor risk compared to the certain reaction they must have known their refusal would provoke...
...Even more disgraceful, however, is what amounts to the "instrumental use" of the Morreale baby (principally by Baird but presumably by his mother and Father O'Rourke as well), subjecting him and his spiritual welfare to a kind of depersonalized public display to serve their own polemical ends...
...Having said this, however, one must go on to other equally important dimensions of this altogether shameful affair...
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...Finally, was it really necessary, or even appropriate, for him as officiating priest to invite so outspoken an opponent of the Catholic Church as Baird to finish off the ceremony by making a Sign of the Cross on the child's forehead...
...One must ask why, with a Boston priest proclaiming his readiness in the public press, it was necessary for someone, presumably Baird, to telephone St...
...If the Democrats lose sight of this and simply spend the next two years jockeying for power they will have no more credibility than Nixon, Agnew, Scott, Rockefeller, Stans, Mitchell or the pardon-tarnished Ford...
...An average high school debater might very readily tear to shreds the flimsy premises and gratuitous assertions...
...That Boston's ecclesiastical authorities were so easily suckered into the trap is no credit to them, but this should not excuse those who set out to exploit a tragic situation and, in the process, demean the Church and its sacraments by creating a public spectacle...
...Father O'Rourke was more in sympathy with Mr...
...That, no doubt, is why it has attracted many talented persons to its editorial staff and why even today its high caliber and intellectual quality is taken for granted, even by its opponents...
...What kind o f theological rationale can be offered for this de facto ex-communication of a child...
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...Father O'Rourke would not seem like a headline hunter...
...Baird, who acted as Mrs...
...Joseph O'Rourke [Sept...
...The thought might be unworthy but he wondered if Mr...
...And I think I read everything in the New York Times...
...Who is thought to have the authority to "authorize" a baptism...
...Second class postage paid at Hew York, N.Y...
...I, for one, cannot escape the suspicion that the whole thing was a carefully calculated "set-up...
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...MANATTA CALKINS Chicago, I11...
...It should be made clear that Father Keane is of the Boston Archdiocese but "without assignment" because he insists on celebrating the Tridentine Latin Mass for a small congregation without the Cardinal's approval (cf...
...This one point I hope you will reconsider...
...Foreign $17...
...Paul to enlist the services of a New York Jesuit...
...Incidentally, O'Rourke's act has to be considered one of disobedience regardless of the objections attributed to his defenders...
...If you want to belong, you pay your price, shut your mouth, and stay on the good side of whoever happens to be in charge...
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...If we deny baptism to the children of sinners, what will be left of the Church in a generation...
...This seemed dubious theology to me, angels being distinetly different from human beings, but I heard Father Keane explain on Channel 27 later that Boston Irish spirituality emphasizes the heart rather than minutiae of theology...
...Within the next two months the Democrats will be preparing their biannual mini-convention...
...If the fear of God doesn't prevent superiors from acting in a highhanded way, no doubt the fear of the People will...
...Appropriately, it is also the Bicentennial year, and the media, schools and many local communities will certainly try to make these next two years a period of public reflection...
...POWELL HOUSE, Old Chatham, N.Y...
...I read Time, I read Newsweek...
...But this time you've goofed...
...Honduras HONDURAS EMERGENCY COMMITTEE St...
...I and many of my fellow Jesuits are dismayed and deeply saddened by the grave, hasty action taken by his superiors...
...The depression, therefore, to which the Democratic party must respond is not just economic but moral...
...But then I might be old hat...
...JAMES T. CALLAHAN Philadelphia, Pa...
...Let me repeat: the child should have been baptized...
...The dismal notoriety would have been prevented...
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...20] concerning Father O'Rourke's dismissal from the Jesuit Order...
...at that it was almost sidetracked by the unprogrammed offer from a Boston priest (himself in some ecclesiastical difficulties because of his ultra-traditionalism) to perform the baptism, an obstacle that publicist Baird was able to ignore and overcome...
...000 0 0 0 0 0 0 CORRESPONDENCE (Continued from page 27) doxy tests for the laity in order for them to qualify for a sacrament...
...Baird about abortion...
...But he had given various reasons for the refusal of the offer to newsmen who made it for Father Keane--all before the press conference and appeal...
...20] on "Joseph O'Rourke, Ex-S.J...
...I believe Commonweal is contributing to a deeper appreciation of the American Catholic Church by advancing these two proposals...
...They are eminently reasonable and they sprout right from the soil of the New World...
...It perhaps indicates that I am more of a populist than you, when I say that religious orders are a public trust in every sense...
...It was significantly entitled "Fifty Uncommon Years" and began: "For those of us who grew up intellectually on Commonweal, its 50th anniversary this year is a nostalgic and memorable event...
...This, coupled with the astonishing statement attributed to the mother that, to spare Ft...
...Father's tack of moving in like a holy bull benefited no one or no thing except Father himself and his tasteless aberration towards "good" publicity...
...At least in a free society...
...Or to refuse to "grant" a baptism...
...I didn't know what to say to Father Keane about that...
...24 Austrelian Xmes stamps J?B7 thru 1972 plus Rwandaisu Pol~s Plus XI XII, John, Paul for 30~ wlth approve s. Re gious, Xmas, Vatican City stamps...
...37 MANAGING LITERARY HISTORY: John Deedy 3 8 ROOKS: Jeffrey Meyers, Richard McBrien 41 ILLUSTRATIONS: Front cover: Wetzel, Rothco: page 31: N,rmic/LNS: page 38: Auden photo by George Cserna JAMES O'GARA: Editor JOHN DEEDY: Managing ~d|tor RAYMOND A. $CHROTH: Associate Editor ANNE ROBERTSON: Editorial Assistant COLIN L. WESTERBECK...
...Later he relaxed on this point to appease Mr...
...Historically, the Democratic party has been distinguished by its trust in the people and its programs for social justice based on the right of every individual--weak or strong--to full participation in his society and a standard of living fitting his human dignity...
...We will search again for the roots of our national character and, we hope, ask hard questions about the future direction of a society now paralyzed by apathy, demoralized by the failure of its economic system to sustain a high standard of living for all its citizens, disillusioned by the toolate realization that its White House had been taken over by a gang of crooks...
...So I was glad when we went back to talking about the Pardon in Chatham (although there are some theological problems in that topic, too...
Vol. 101 • October 1974 • No. 2
