Correspondence
_9 I Correspondence Mary Meehan replies Washington, D.C. To the Editors: As a major architect of the Hatch amendment strategy, David O'Steen did the best he could to defend his position; but...
...Yet the bishops pressed ahead with it long after its disastrous effects on the movement were clear for all to see...
...p. 235, Bas., Tachydromos, Greece...
...Secondly, you refute the distinction i that, as you state, "it is a choice of which goal-setting myths we choose to live by - - since, whatever the case, live or perish by them we dq...
...we'll help you with this constitutional amendment that has absolutely no chance to pass...
...First, you are incorrect in ascribing the caption of the article to me...
...In fact, since your editorial, by and large, consists of a rephrasing of the arguments I put forward in my article, I can hardly argue against them...
...Without the slightest the Hatch amendment knew this...
...231,236, Paul Valerry, Frankfurt, W. Germany...
...Serials Data program No...
...The Teresa of Avila, Thomas Merton, and complaints go back to the mid-1970s, others, all of whom were, or are, fmnly and they cut fight across the political spectrum...
...I interviewed Robinson at rooted within the Christian tradition and are not representative of the sort of unhinged mysticism that permeates much of the cultural trend today...
...Commonweal: 226...
...Did he think she had nothing better to do with her time...
...so d i d trace of embarrassment, Robinson reI certainly did not say that an appreciation of myth is evidence of moral weakness or a refusal to grow up, nor did I either write or in any way suggest that the choice is between a sterile, bureaucratic r e a s o n . . , and myth...
...The caption was, in fact, written without my knowledge and without consultation with my editor at the Times...
...O'Steen's kindly view of USCC/ NCHLA lobbying is not shared by proplied, "I have not had, and nobody on my staff has had, any discussions with Helms or Hyde on theft human life bill...
...Mystical yearnings, like much of those today, that are not tied to a coherent mythos tend toward a grotesque inflation of the human ego and proffer belief in a limitless, grandiose self of the sort that psychologists length in the fall of 1981, after the associate with narcissism...
...Incompetent" is the kindest word I can think of to describe this kind of lobbying...
...The opponents of life lobbyists who have seen some of had drawn between myth and mysticism their best efforts sabotaged, wittingly or by referring to St...
...If they want to...
...bishops' committee had already done much damage to the Helms-Hyde human t life bill...
...There was much grass-roots opposition to it for the same reason...
...That was, precisely, the point of my article...
...Neither was ever close to having the two-thirds vote required for a constitutional amendment...
...And why did they do this when congressional leaders who have proved many times that they can count were calling for a statutory approach...
...1, 1924, to current issues available through University Microfilm...
...John of the Cross, unwittingly, by the bishops' men...
...The point of my article was that the West has lost a coherent mythos or worldview and that what we are seeing in the culture are contrived and chaotic efforts to prop up a system of meaning to fill the void...
...MARY MEEHAN No coherent mythos New York, N.Y...
...i stated that the shaping of a (Continued on page 253) I l L _9 JL J [ Is Commonweal is indexed in Reader's Guide to Periodical Literature, Catholic Periodical index, Index of American Periodical Verse, Book Review Digest and Book Review Index...
...p. 233, _Rita Corbin...
...The point I was making is that myth presents a sobering perspective of humanity's limits and inherent weaknesses...
...48106 and on Microfiche from Bell & Howell, Micro-Photo Division, Old Mansfield Road, Wooster Ohio 44691...
...To the Editors: I am writing in response to your editorial [Jan...
...Illustrations Cover & pp...
...Both Senate voting records and early comments from Senate offices made this very clear...
...The writer of the caption apparently felt that this was a way to attract readers to the piece...
...One of my questions: Had he ever sat down with Helms or Hyde to talk about their bill...
...Microfilm from Vol...
...But the Catholic bishops can turn the situation around in a day...
...Second-class postage paid at New York, N.Y...
...9 Brown and many other movement leaders also felt that the Hatch amendment had serious philosophical flaws...
...They are made by conservatives and also by liberals like Thea Rossi Barron, who formerly lobbied for the National Right to Life Committee...
...p. 238, Colin Wheeler, Daily Telegraph, London...
...300 N. Zeeb Road, Ann Arbor, Mi...
...Copyright _9 1984 Commonweal Publishing Co...
...Nothing that O'Steen said dealt with the major practical defect of the Hatch amendment and its even weaker successor, the Eagleton amendment...
...O'Steen was correct in saying that the president of the American Life Lobby (Judie Brown)opposed the Hatch, amendment...
...i was deeply disturbed by it...
...While I did discuss certain social and political dangers growing out of the crisis in Western culture today, I would never have dismissed this state of affairs simply as "scary," nor would I have defined the trend itself only in terms of a "desire for fantasy and science fiction...
...After O' Steen and his allies had worked so hard to sidetrack or kill the human life bill, did he really expect that Brown and other supporters of the bill would say to him, "OK, fine...
...ISSN 0010-3330...
...On the contrary, the words I quoted represented quite fairly the aloofness from the pro-life movement communicated by Robinson in his 1979 speech and subsequently...
...but his comment was not persuasive ["Neither Incompetent Nor Indifferent," Mar...
...What was the point of the long, painful, and expensive campaign for the Hatch amendment...
...I thoroughly agree its supporters, if they could count at all, Why did O'Steen and his allies in the Catholic bishops' committees push a constitutional amendment that had no chance of passage...
...O'Steen said that I took out of context remarks by USCC lobbyist James Robinson...
...27], which focused on an article, "The Return of Enchantment," I had written for the New York Times Magazine...
Vol. 111 • April 1984 • No. 8
