Correspondence
Correspondence Defeat or stand-off? Chicago 111. To the Editors: The editors' eye-catching title of Thomas Sheehan's report from Italy, "Abortion 1, Pope 0: A Crusade That Failed" [June 6],...
...However, Wilton Wynn, Time magazine's correspondent in Rome, reported that the pope "was careful not to talk about the referendum itself...
...1, 1924, to current issues available through University Microfilm, 300 N. Zeeb Road, Ann Arbor, Mi...
...Illustrations: Cover & p. 523, Bas., Tachyd-romos, Greece...
...On May 17 and 18," Sheehan writes, "the Italian electorate, 97.5 percent Catholic on the books, roundly defeated a church-sponsored referendum that in effect would have rolled back Italy's three-year-old abortion law...
...My italics...
...p. 530, Bird, LNS.1975...
...Throughout the entire piece the liberal assumption that formal democracy is a real solution to social and ecclesial problems underlies the attempt to link liturgy and people, spirituality and the world, and doctrine and life...
...Perhaps he is right...
...He writes that the vote marked a "somewhat personal setback" for a pope who "seems to have lost what he wanted to gain...
...Sheehan says that "Italians who opposed the church's referendum spoke universally of abortion as a tragedy, but one which could become worse without the existing law...
...p. 530, Bird, LNS...
...In this context, therefore, one might conclude that while the pope did not succeed, he did not fail, either - in a characteristically Italian stand-off...
...I cannot comment on what the grassroots are saying in the rarefied atmosphere that Professor Kiefer inhabits, but I can assure him that the after-Mass crowd around here does not talk in terms of "the dichotomy between a primary liturgical ministry and liturgical style'' nor are they chatting wide-eyed about the "symbiosis of authority, liturgy, and doctrine...
...Sheehan's choice of the word "enormity" to describe the magnitude of the pope's defeat was therefore infelicitous in more ways than one...
...July 3 ] Ralph A. Kiefer warns his readers that this new book by Schillebeeckx will most likely evoke a Roman investigation which will not lead to exoneration...
...BILL McTAGGART Liturgy & our lives Carbondale, 111...
...Architectonic to Sheehan's analysis of what he calls John Paul ll's "far more serious challenge - not to his life but to what he stands for" is " the enormity of the defeat at the polls - 68 percent to 32 percent'' in "this most Catholic of countries...
...where the dominant attitude treats abortion strictly as a medical matter...
...God may not be officially designated an "intruder" but he certainly has never been welcomed as an honored guest...
...Is it not premature then to describe, as Sheehan does, the results of the referendum and the events preceding it as a "bad fall" for the pope...
...p. 527, from The Iron Fist & The Velvet Glove, Center for Research on Criminal Justice (1975...
...Microfilm from Vol...
...A strong case can be made, however, that the pope knew full well the risk he was taking, that he did in fact understand the Italian situation and that he chose deliberately to exert his leadership in order to change the status quo rather than accept it...
...That moral climate in Italy over there appears to be far more civilized than ours here in the U.S.A...
...In view of the above, may I suggest that your headline might better have read: "Abortion 1, Pope 1." ED MARCINIAK Institute of Urban Life One man's grassroots Logansport, Ind...
...But before we all get our liberal ire up and rush to the defense of the theses Kiefer proposes apropos Schillebeeckx, it is important to take note of some of the dubious assumptions involved in the argument of Kiefer's review...
...Second-class postage paid at New York, N.Y...
...He also states that "a male and celibate priesthood was acceptable . . . as long as God could be perceived fundamentally as an intruder in the world...
...Serials Data program No.: ISSN 0010-3330...
...In support of my hypothesis, let your readers consider the meaning of these very same political events and papal intentions, which I will interpret a bit differently: . John Paul IPs outspoken opposition to abortion and to any law legitimating it is seen by Sheehan as a "crusade" against the referendum...
...The pope had staked a lot on this vote...
...Copyright 1981 Commonweal Publishing Co...
...Embedded in Sheehan's analysis is the conviction that the pope would not have undertaken his "crusade" had he been more familiar with Italy's church-state relations and with the accommodating style of the Italian hierarchy...
...This is a subtle but all-important distinction...
...48106...
...To the Editors: In his review of Schillebeeckx's book, Ministry, "Herald of a new reformation...
...To the Editors: In regard to Ralph Kiefer's article on Schillebeeckx on ministry [July 3 ]: the author comments on the growing attunement of better theology to new grassroots concerns...
...Despite the "win/lose" caption on Sheehan's report from Italy, his actual words are muted...
...Furthermore, the Italian ballot in May carried a second abortion referendum which would have liberalized the present law further but which, as Sheehan notes, "was defeated by an even greater margin than the Catholic proposal...
...p. 521, from the TV film "The World of Mother Teresa...
...Later in his report, Sheehan acknowledges that in Italy ' 'eight out of ten Catholics do not actively practice their faith.'' Using that as a political yardstick to assess the consequences of the referendum's defeat for the pope's leadership, I conclude that the "crusade" against abortion did indeed appeal to the many non-practicing Catholics who voted against the referendum...
...Specifically, the (Continued on page 542) Commonweal is indexed in Reader's Guide to Periodical Literature, Catholic Periodical Index, Index of American Periodical Verse, Book Review Digest and Review Index...
...To the Editors: The editors' eye-catching title of Thomas Sheehan's report from Italy, "Abortion 1, Pope 0: A Crusade That Failed" [June 6], adapts the rhetoric of a sports writer to a volatile political and ethical issue...
...Beckett may be Wojtyla's model rather than Richelieu...
Vol. 108 • September 1981 • No. 17
