After the pastoral
Douglass, R. Bruce & Gould, William J. Jr.
l THE BEGINNING OF A DISCUSSION? lr L7 ...
...present in one way or another in the minds of those responsible Especially is this question appropriate when one considers for the drafting...
...is a doctoral candidate in the same department to be...
...Indeed, in hindsight, many a'"killing" off Israeli inflation...
...There is much in this letter that appropriateness of any sort of "intrusion" by the church into this realm...
...The majority of Palestinians of today's third world countries are young (between the ages the West Bank are indeed young, landless, illiterate, and of five and twenty-five), landless, illiterate, and village village people...
...R. BRUCE DOUGLASS is the chairman of the department of government, Georgetown University, Washington, D.C...
...Witness, in this relation, the primacy attached to Reaganomics may have lost some of its luster since 1984, abortion by at least some of the bishops in the consideration of but the point of view which the letter expresses is hardly in the candidates for public office...
...Many of the themes that would need to most basic teaching...
...theological and moral critique of the current American Why is this the case...
...Is it the beginning of a is a general presumption that the American economy as pres- discussion or the end...
...Only a sustained effort over religious people profess to seek...
...Now more than richnessasd complexity of the topic, and for this reason invites ever, moreover, as liberal theorists search for a more expandisbelief...
...This mentality's settle into an apologetic posture...
...But the obvious question, they do not really convey a clear, coherent vision of the place which is certain to arise in the mind of anyone who is at all economic activity should have in our lives...
...Conference of like the ongoing debate occasioned by the bishops' earlier Catholic Bishops undertook an ambitious project: a pastoral on defense issues...
...two assumptions that are pervasive and deeply rooted in our culture...
...But especially in this day subject is simply too important - and laden with philosophiand age (and place) it is to be taken for granted that such efforts cally charged choices - to be taken for granted...
...Frantz Fanon called them "the wretched of the earth...
...There is an important abortion, medical ethics, and nuclear deterrence, it is time to place, to be sure, for the hierarchy in both stimulating and insist that room now be made for economics as well...
...Nor has the letter really succeeded in stimulating course, the complex, highly controversial set of issues having much debate in the public realm...
...effect the bishops had in mind...
...If the pastoral will be complemented by contributions from others, both does nothing more than awaken us to this fact, it will have been within and outside of the church...
...and the empirical evidence to support the optimistic conclusion to which the assumptions lead is, to put it charitably, not in the least self-evident...
...and the difficulty the bishops have faced in getting across even this proposition should be taken as Commonweal: 652 represents a sound basis for future reflection in the church on critical - examination is the relationship between Catholic economic issues...
...To this have now been added, of ascendancy...
...Modern individualism is not, after all, be addressed - the moral and spiritual significance of work, self-evidently in keeping with the communitarian motifs the uses of leisure, the role of consumption in human well- which, even today, tend to characterize Catholic thought, and being, the social consequences of economic behavior, and one wonders whether it really makes practical sense to elide above all, its religious significance - have obviously been the difference...
...that theory as the primary philosophical instrument available What might this entail...
...There is no way, in any case, that the issue can be avoided...
...It is more than just circumstances of the moment, however, 5 December 1986: 651 which have been at work in determining the letter's reception...
...Nor has it_ managed to excite much discussion within the scholarly world...
...For both these assumptions are in serious tension, if not contradiction, with the church's historic teaching...
...More, however, will be required than ently constituted runs well - far better than the available just perseverance...
...Merely to identify these assumptions, however, is to illustrate the need for what the bishops have undertaken...
...This ment of this sort is to be evaluated...
...where the resources needed to address the concerns expressed But it makes an enormous difference whether or not it is here are most readily available...
...Admittedly it is a revisionist liberalism which they in order to illustrate the tasks that lie ahead...
...concern...
...attention devoted to other topics of comparable practical imIt may well be that it tends in just the opposite direction, and port...
...Catholicism itself which clearly have had the effect of upstagAt first glance, the answer is that very little of what the letter ing the pastoral...
...religious belief and practice would assert that everything about Much will depend, therefore, on the way in which they treat the economic life of this country is ideal...
...Especially in regard to political and economic above all that American Catholics can be expected to have themes, positions taken by the hierarchy should reflect discusdifficulty appreciating what is distinctive about their religious sions taking place elsewhere - in the academy, public life, the - as opposed to their national - tradition...
...profess is problematic...
...lr L7 --~ After th e p pastoral R. BRUCE DOUGLASS & ment in 1984 - most of which was negative - the letter has been reduced to a minor story on the religion pages of major WILLIAM J. GOULD, JR...
...specializing in political theory...
...attaches to the fate of the poor - which, for all of the conserva- Even though this is a problem with a long and complex history, tive kibitzing, remains persuasive and very much to the point...
...One thing needed affirm, and the revisions in question go a long way toward above all is greater clarity, coherence, and vision with respect removing the grounds for antagonism between Catholic teachto the purposes to be pursued in economic life...
...Indeed, what the bishops think is the bishops who have a particular interest in and commitment problematic the average American is probably even inclined to to this concern can be expected almost as a matter of course to treat as perfectly natural, if not exemplary...
...It is a revision, the bishops have sought to stimulate a wide-ranging time for preoccupation with efficiency, which the letter delibdiscussion both within and outside of the Catholic community...
...publications...
...Even the committed, active Catholic probably harbors considerable doubt about the utility of anything approaching specific direction from the clergy on matters of economic policy...
...Again and again the secular responses to the letter convey more than a little skepticism about the appropriateness of the whole exercise, and this reaction is not limited to the commentators in question...
...They tend to the practical implications of embracing a liberal way of frambe treated in a fragmentary way because of the overriding ing the way in which we conceive of these matters...
...erately reduces to a subsidiary position...
...problematic, therefore, the average American is not inclined to Especially in the face of conservative criticism, those among see as problematic at all...
...which unavoidably place it in tension, if not contradiction, This is not at all to suggest that the elements for such a vision with what the church must say if it is at all faithful to its own are altogether absent...
...But there the project that is now coming to a close...
...Deep-rooted without interference from external influences - like religion...
...But the fact remains that the logic of the made by critics of the supposed lack of sophistication of the concepts involved is still unmistakably liberal, and the impresauthors in dealing with technical economic considerations...
...For reasons that have to do, presumably, with the cance...
...One is that economic life is an autonomous realm I T IS ONE thing, however, to identify a challenge of this sort which, for the most part, should be allowed to run on its own, and quite another to address it successfully...
...Virtually everything is made to really make sense to reinforce the individualist and even conform to this concern, and little is considered which does not egoist orientation which tends to accompany talk about rights bear on it...
...odds with the other, and even if the pastoral itself treats the However much importance one attaches to considerations of concept of rights in a manner that overcomes this difference, justice (and the bishops are surely justified in believing that there is no certainty at all that this will be reflected in the this must be a central part of any recognizably Catholic treat- effects which it has...
...At their November predisposition to turn a deaf ear to the challenge the bishops are meeting in Washington, the bishops endorsed by an over- seeking to mount...
...country today...
...and hunger are on the rise as the rural economy collapses, the In the 1950s, Fanon was attempting to warn others not only urban industries falter, imports swell the shelves of the about the widespread poverty of the time but also about the boutique shops and food stores, and the money-changers make power of these "wretched" ones...
...and Works Agency (UNRWA) refugee camps overflow - othercamps exist in the Highlands either in villages or in towns THOMAS M. RICKS lived in Ramallah and taught at Birzeit University but are not registered with UNRWA - and more land is for two years (1983-1985...
...proof positive that a major piece of education is in order...
...This is hardly the place to explore in to them in developing their evaluation of the American econdetail an agenda for the future, but a couple of observations are omy...
...we would prefer not What has been achieved in this process...
...In addition to the growing poverty, hunger, and housing Commonweal: 654...
...Has it produced the to be bothered...
...Much has been ing and liberalism...
...and if this occurs, the results can be expected to be have undertaken something in this particular letter that will morally and even theologically defensible...
...What the authors of the letter assume to be part of those responsible for the letter to treat it as definitive...
...For which the letter suggests between the teaching of the Bible and all of the thousands of words which the authors have written, the American political tradition...
...which they attribute to the ideas expressed in the pastoral...
...To date those resources have confronted knowledgeably and self-critically...
...It is a project unprecedented in the history of the Ameri- current condition of the American economy is something can hierarchy - obviously part of its new attempt to play a which, it is safe to assume, the majority of Americans would more active and "prophetic" role in American public life...
...letter identifies are real and pressing...
...Especially is this true of the priority the letter teaching and liberalism as a political and economic ideology...
...Far from it...
...wider church, other religious communities, etc...
...Part of the answer is to be found in the economy in the form of a pastoral letter addressed not only to bishops' deliberate choice to swim against the mood of the the nation's Catholics but to the wider American public as country...
...At the very least one would expect informed Catholics to take it for granted that the "Take it from me, John...
...Palestinian Teachers' General Committee...
...Does it preoccupation with justice...
...ment of the subject), this imbalance cannot be allowed to Given the enormous hold that liberalism has come to have persist...
...sion is thus created that the concerns which the church has in But surely that is not the primary criterion by which a state- this realm can be appropriately defined in liberal terms...
...and the more influential Catholicism becomes The real reason this pastoral has had such a difficult time as a cultural and political force, the more important it is that getting a serious hearing is that it challenges by its very nature this problem be confronted...
...Nor is the tenor of public debate on given the impression that abortion was the more pressing economic issues noticeably different...
...it is treated in the pastoral in a rather simple manner which But it is one thing to treat the letter as a point of departure gives the impression that it has an obvious and unambiguous and quite another to attach to it any more fundamental signifi- solution...
...The particular line the letter takes in interpreting the well...
...Christmas A second theme which needs greater - and much more 5 December 1986: 653 definitely a risky business, and nowhere is it riskier, perhaps, moreover, by contributions from other quarters, but informed than in the realm of economics...
...Even if the political and ecclesiastical climate were different, Surely it must not be considered an understatement to suggest the letter would probably have fallen well short of the sort of (as did the original draft of the pastoral) that "the Christian impact to which its authors aspire...
...So there is a strong That process is- now complete, of course...
...The giving direction to such a discussion...
...The bishops realm...
...Up to a point, moreover, this further effect, moreover, is to create a presumption against the makes perfectly good sense...
...Economic philosophy is in a state of comparative neglect the issue is hardly something which can be left to chance...
...This is not to say, require ongoing commitment if it is to be pursued at all seriof course, that those Americans who are serious about their ously...
...Even if some of what they say is true - and whelming majority the finished text of Economic Justice for who can deny that to some extent, at least, the problems the All...
...Being rich beyond he dreams of relationship between modern economic life and the faith they a1'aric'e isn't enough an nore...
...Living space is at a premium will undoubtedly record that often they were the "shakers" of as housing shortages grow, the twenty United Nations Relief the earth of Algeria, South Africa, Vietnam, and Nicaragua...
...The economic insecurities of the last has been under discussion and subject to revision through decade have created a climate of opinion which is simply not multiple drafts...
...But at the same time it is cal sense of economic life, and the only way, in turn, that the church's teaching can have any staying power is by speaking Give Commonweal for responsively to this intuition...
...Something more fundamen- perspective on economic life...
...The one seems to be directly at barely acknowledged...
...He is the co-editor of Birzeit Research confiscated by the Israeli occupation authorities (65 percent of Review and is completing research on the history of the West Bank the total land area is now in that category...
...For a theology of economics which tion to answer, and the authors of the pastoral are hardly the gives the impression that justice is the only thing that matters is first to think that it can and should be resolved by reaching an simply not plausible...
...Certainly there has been nothing B ETrER THAN FOUR years ago the U.S...
...Not only complemented, well worth the effort...
...In This mentality creates a presumption, in turn, against view- view of the time and energy which have been involved in the ing the economic life of the nation as either morally or spiritu- preparation of this text, there will be a natural tendency on the ally problematic...
...With respect to economics far more than, say, sexuality, American Catholics appear to be ignorant of their own religious tradition...
...But they are not well developed...
...Certainly the more attention to what the bishops have to say about abortion, substance of public policy has not changed noticeably since the in no small part because the bishops themselves have often first draft appeared...
...After a brief flurry of com- to do with ecclesiastical authority raised by the recent Vatican actions against Father Curran and Archbishop Hunthausen...
...For all of the obvious significance the letters have thrown down a provocative challenge...
...We have in mind in particular the academy, cultural and political force, the more pressing it will surely be...
...particularly among those who are capable of thinking theologWe do not mean to suggest that the responsibility for carry- ically about such matters...
...Even the theology of the letter is essentially a in this society, when the professed goal is the creation of a theology of justice, and the notion that there are other aspects political and economic order characterized by a sense of of modern economic life with theological significance is mutual care and accountability...
...He is also the Here again, the effect has been to deflect attention from what editor of a forthcoming volume of essays on the economic pastoral the pastoral on the economy offers and to convey the impresentitled The Deeper Meaning of Economic Life, to be published this sion that even for the bishops themselves economic justice month by Georgetown University Press...
...Without denying for a moment the ing forward the discussion of such issues lies exclusively - or value of the time and energy invested in such themes as even primarily - with the bishops...
...Certainly no one proThe other is that if the economy is in fact allowed to function nouncement by any religious body on economic life is likely thus, the results will be reasonably compatible with the ends by itself to make much difference...
...In an unusually public process of review and receptive to considerations of justice, much less charity...
...It does not begin to comprehend the accommodation with the tradition of Locke...
...Even the untutored sense intuitively that there is sive and complete concept of the human good, there may be more to be taken into account in attempting to make theologi- grounds for such accommodation...
...Indeed, for the sake of the concern with justice it on the American mind, this is, admittedly, not an easy quesneeds to be remedied...
...It It is at least equally, in turn, from such other sources that the is simply too basic to the whole enterprise of relating Catho- initiative needs to come in pursuing the issues that now need to licism to the American experience not to be confronted, and be addressed if the promise of the economics pastoral is really the more influential Catholicism becomes in this country as a to be fulfilled...
...It rather not hear right now...
...For it is in this aspect of life by them as well...
...The fact, in turn, that so many American Catholics seem to accept so uncritically this way of thinking only points up how far the church in this country has to go in making its teaching effective in the lives of its own members...
...Has the result been worth the Also, there have been other developments in American effort...
...is not well understood in our tal is at issue...
...In particular, they sensitive to the history of this problem in the development of do not provide a vision that is clearly differentiated from that of modern Catholic social thought, is whether there may not be the surrounding culture, or that is well integrated into the features of liberalism, even in its American manifestations, theological claims they make...
...PALESTINIAN STUDENTS FACE THE FUTURE Coming of age on the West Bank THOMAS M. RICKS The Palestinians of the Israeli-occupied West Bank (that is, the Palestinian Highlands) are no different from peoples in I T IS SOMETIMES stated that the majority of people in other parts of the third world...
...The real deficiency of the impression is only reinforced, moreover, by the coincidence text lies precisely in what should be its greatest strength...
...At its best, the text the bishops have approved is a step desire to situate Catholicism squarely in the mainstream of in the right direction, and what is needed now is to carry American public life, the authors embrace what to all appearforward the discussion in pursuit of a more complete and ances is an essentially liberal theory of rights and then employ nuanced analysis...
...In taking the tended not to be employed in a manner that pertains very innovative position that they have on this issue, the authors of directly to these concerns...
...Every bit as important in determining the alternatives - and that the results are not fundamentally fate of the initiative the bishops have now taken is the status incompatible with our religious traditions...
...assumptions are not changed in a day...
...In other words, economic life an extended period of time is likely even to begin to alter the ought to be left to the determination of the professionals in that way in which Americans think about this matter...
...may be something less of a priority than the letter makes it out WILLIAM J. GOULD...
...All along, the popular media have devoted far intended to produce has in fact been achieved...
...Again, like others of the third world, poverty people...
...But the which economic forces have in our lives, economic life simply argument is yet to be made that the position they have taken is has not attracted anything like the sustained philosophical capable of yielding anything like the results they have in mind...
Vol. 113 • December 1986 • No. 21
