Correspondence
Correspondence
I Aye, there's the rub-out Albuquerque, N. Mex. To the Editors: Robert Bell's "Take My Wife, Please" [ 13 July] was the funniest bit of political commentary yet to appear on...
...Moreover, the phenomenal spread of new notions about anti-bureaucratic management (as in Pe- ters and Waterman, In Search of Excel lence) has confirmed my suspicion that even if Max Weber was right in his time about the virtues of pyramidal bureauc- racy, the notion is now outmoded (in the churches, civil states, and elsewhere...
...Surely this is what the Vatican II heroes (Rahner, Congar, Murray, Lonergan) taught us --and they were not "Protes- tants," either...
...Certainly, the principles for which America stands were flouted by the soft treatment given fascist businessmen and the employment of ex-Nazis as Com-munist hunters...
...but his idea of Christian unity seems to be the return of the rest of us to the Roman communion, made as cordial and hospitable as possible...
...John Paul II is a gracious, open-hearted man and many of his visions are heart-lifting (e.g., distributive justice...
...PHILIP BECKERT Commonweal is indexed in Reader's Guide tq Periodical Literature, Catholic Periodical Index Index of American Periodical Verse, Book Reviev Digest and Book Review Index...
...Peter's Basilica, Rome...
...To the Editors: Robert Bell's "Take My Wife, Please" [ 13 July] was the funniest bit of political commentary yet to appear on the 1984 election in any magazine or newspaper that's fallen under these poor old eyes...
...Correspondence I Aye, there's the rub-out Albuquerque, N. Mex...
...ALBERT OUTLER Tolerating repression Madison, Wis...
...1, 1924, to current issues available througl University Microfilm, 300 N. Zeeb Road, An1 Arbor, Mi...
...out of the bottle and it will never be fully stoppered again...
...Second-class postag, paid at New York, N.Y...
...Illustrations: Cover, Bronze statue of St...
...The restoration to preeminence of the erstwhile slavers of the managing board of IG Farben, and Klaus Barbie's American-aided flight from justice are two well-known exam- ples of American complicity with fascists in a spirit of anti-Communism...
...Peter, St...
...Now is the time when the council texts begin to be significant in a new way to a new generation that scarcely remembers John XXIII and the early years ,of Paul VI...
...Copyright .9 1984 Corn monweal Foundation...
...The depiction of Friedrich Ebert as a fence-sitter between the bad guys of the left and the bad guys of the right misses the significance of the events in Germany at the end of the First World War...
...low those vocations within the leeways of discretion and "subsidiarity...
...The illusion of a fresh start in the Weimar Republic bears much similarity to the evolutiort of the post-World War II order...
...now it is barely hanging on down there on the Via dei Corridori...
...It was in Rome that I first learned how the principle of subsid- iarity allowed for loyal and benign sub- version, and I began to suspect even then that the images of a massive hierarchical pyramid, with a "trickle-down theory" of ecclesiastical authority were facades for a far more chaotic and creative real- ity...
...All the alternatives are worse...
...Loyalty and faithful obedi-ence do not entail self-stultification...
...It is only to add to the list of issues on which many of the Christian people are a good way ahead of many of their leaders...
...But here is where I take a certain kind of muted courage...
...The Secretariat for Promoting Christian Unity used to be an anteroom to the Apostolic Palace...
...If Bell is not rubbed out by the New Jersey Mafia as a result of that piece, you should sign him on as a regt[lar colum- nist...
...WILLIAM C. DOWLING Chill in the church Dallas, Tex...
...ter,for Neighborhood Technology...
...To the Editors: D.H...
...Richter's review of November 1918: A German Revolution [May 18] should provoke some disturb- ing reflections...
...For example, there are still many Catholics who continue to read the conciliar decree on ecumenism in its original progressive intent, but many others in high places, who are reading it in as conservative a way as the text allows...
...And the "bilateral dialogues" are languishing, even with the Anglicans...
...Without defiance or schism, it is possible to appeal to "higher authority" (i.e., the pope in council) as guidance in one's vocation, and still be truly obedient in that vocation...
...The ease with which American policy-makers support repression in the third world, and our postwar behavior, too, suggest that Ebert's example is more relevant than some might imagine...
...The 'polarizations' which you point out and others you did not mention have worded me now for a long time...
...To the Editors: I enjoyed your editorial "Polarization in the Church" [May 18]: clear, firm --and civil --which is more than one tan say for the Concilium manifesto in the-New York Times...
...Ebert's accommodation with Prussian militarism reveals the permanent crisis of the twen- tieth century...
...The evolution of German fascism out of a social-democratic regime in the inter-war period is perhaps one of the most frightening legacies of the twentieth century...
...I think their pride and expectations have been more severely wounded than their vocations and their freedom to fol...
...I have been saying now for twenty years that Vatican II let the genie of "Christian liberty" (not "pri-vate judgment...
...Serials Data pro gram No.: ISSN 0010-330...
...Microfilm fron Vol...
...This means that notions that our future is being shaped from Rome (or 475 Riverside, for that matter) need trans-valuation...
...This is not to overlook the multitude of lapses and forfeited kairoi on the part of the Protestants...
...Since then, the conviction has grown that the Roman Catholic church comes nearer being run "from below upward" (and from "the middle") than "from above downward...
...p. 490, Vida Nueva...
...The willingness of democ- ratic regimes to accommodate them- selves with totalitarian elements in an effort to preserve "the republic" has en- sured the persistence of repression and world conflict...
...Lookirig around today, I see many Catholics suffering a sense of victimization...
...p. 488, Paul Valerry...
...I Commonweal: 482...
...48106 and on Microfiche from Bell d Howell, Wooster Ohio 44691...
...502, 503, Steve Star, The Chicago Rehab Network Report, from The Neighborhood Works, Cert...
Vol. 111 • September 1984 • No. 16
