Correspondence

...There is in the Constitution a process of amendment, and Supreme Court justices change over time and may move from stnct observance to broader intepretation or vice versa It is a strength of the American legal system that these modes of change are rarely invoked Whatever one may think on the substance of abortion, the Court majority ruling in Casey, affirming the importance of not overruling recent precedent (Roe), displayed essential constitutional wisdom Suppose we transpose the structure of juridical constitutionalism to the church The result will be the position of Professor George's gloss on Ordinatio sacerdotalis There are two significant additions to the constitutional assumptions in ecclesiastical theory First, although Madison, Adams, Hamilton, et al...

...The simple question to be asked is whether the New Testament story translates into the framework of "constitutionalism", it seems plain on its face that it does not Judaism, with its allegiance to Torah and the Law, seems a more likely candidate for constitutionalism, but at least the Rabbinic schools avoid "definitive" interpretation What has been definitive and effective about Christianity is not a set of constitutional laws and prescripts, but the story of Jesus crucified and raised by God's hand In a recent novel, Ins Murdoch has a skeptical priest mull over what Christianity would be if all we had were the sayings of Jesus and not that harrowing life story Not much—but it could be "constitutional" (if it remained at all in anyone's recollection) Ages of sages or a progression of popes might well mull over these Jesus sayings to arrive at the deep meaning of the master, one could be as strict or loose a constitutionalist as temper allowed But what if the church is not finally a constitutional institution organized around definitive statements and is, as has been claimed, in some my stenous manner the ongoing life of Jesus as Christ9 If "the church" is Jesus alive with us, all this constitutional legahsm seems just plain odd To be sure, even ordinary law reflects life but by weirdly redescnbing it Second-degree felony battery reflects some sort of life, but we don't live that life Despite the generosity of Commonweal's columns, this is not the place to attempt even a sketch of the nature of "church...

...A similar sort of differentiation may be drawn regarding Alleva's own work Alleva's reviews may not be poetry, but they are a breed apart from the film criticism usually offered in newspapers and magazines...

...CORRESPONDENCE Alleva is collectible Arlington, Va To the Editors Near the end of his review of "The Boys of Saint Vincent" [July 15], Richard Alleva urges that we approach this film "as a work of dramatic poetry" presenting "a portrait of irreducible evil," rather than as a journalistic effort to examine an issue impartially...

...George's approach is "definitive" provided one holds that the church is basically to be understood juridically In the Amencan legal system, for instance, there is a wntten Constitution which is the "law of the land" as interpreted by designated officials (the Supreme Court as final arbiter) In our legal system the "definitive" character of judgments is subject to two significant modes of radical change...

...The use of the term NFP obscures this purpose...

...It is not always easy Few things in life are...

...Lots Wilmington, N C. To the Editors Your July 15 editorial, "It Still Doesn't Scan," forcefully reminds us that the purpose of "natural family planning" is to prevent the transmission of life...

...And, in a penod when women serve in many parishes in our country as pastors in every way except by presiding over the Eucharist, it is past time for them to be ordained...

...In pastoral work, the wives of today's deacons who study everything their husbands do should also be ordained, as was the case with Pnsca (Pnscilla) and Aquila, who are given equal mention by Paul for their work as a pair...

...Much—perhaps the bulk—of the reservations they expressed were feelings of regret, disillusionment, hopelessness But feelings are not reasons to assent to or dissent from any proposition Feelings are not reasons at all A pervasive criticism is that the teaching on women's ordination is unjust But that claim is adequately met by George's reply Catherine Mowry LaCugna's contribution does speak at times of the types of reasons—tradition, revealed truths—that might form a predicate for withholding religious assent But LaCugna nowhere claims that the teaching—that ordination of women is impossible—is contradicted by such sources Rather, she offers counterarguments (unsound, at that) to some of the pope's arguments for the teaching But the truth of the teaching does not logically depend upon the arguments adduced for it And LaCugna cannot reasonably believe that religious assent may be withheld because of doubts about the pope's arguments Nothing in the tradition supports such a claim The claim itself is nonsense If it were sound, there would be no need for the concept of "religious assent" The arguments for a teaching would have to be conclusive before one could be required to give religious assent But if the arguments were conclusive, no rational person could doubt the teaching anyway "Religious assent" drops out of the picture entirely Any Catholic who is unhappy with Ordinatio has only three options He or she can (1) Deny that Ordinauo is the type of teaching that calls for religious assent, (2) Accept George's advice to help formulate better arguments for the proposition that women's ordination is impossible, (3) Deny Lumen gentium 25, the council document which specifies the duty of religious assent, and by implication deny the magistenum itself Of these, the first is hardly a live possibility, since the pope's use of "definitively" makes clear that Ordinatio is precisely the type of document the council had in mind in promulgating Lumen gentium The third is hardly an option for Catholics, since it entails denial of an essential truth of the faith Faithful Catholics, then, can only opt for the second choice GERARD V BRADLEY The writer is a professor of law at the University of Notre Dame Church law, church life Middlebury, Vermont To the Editors In the Commonweal retrospective on the ordination of women, Professor Robert George's comments were particularly staking because they were so completely contained within his own disciplinary perspective legal philosophy...

...The papal judicial interpreter, however, is never in error Admittedly Ordinatio is not that solemn, ex cathedra infallible, but it 29 does brush the border of such claims All this makes perfect sense—except that it is not at all clear that laying on of all this legal constitutionalism can be derived from the New Testament...

...Priestly ordination is at the essence of church and who shall minister to the people of God By trying to close the issue, the pope opens in the most fundamental manner the nature of church itself— including among other things the role of popes DENNIS O'BRIEN The writer retired this year as president of the University of Rochester Don't be wimpish Sacramento, Calif...

...To the Editors The comments in your issue of July 15 on the pope's recent letter concerning the ordination of women strike me as wimpish The pope's grasp of the evidence from Scripture and early church history is faulty For example, the second chapter of Acts clearly states that women and men alike received the Holy Spirit Peter was inspired to confirm this by quoting from the prophet Joel 3-l-5 (New Amencan Bible) In Romans 16, Paul names many women, beginning with Phoebe, the deacon, who probably delivered his letter to Christians m Rome This dimension of our history is seriously neglected in our liturgy and teaching We need to ask, as I did in a letter to the pope, why the use of inclusive language, as adopted in the New Revised Standard Version, was rejected in the new catechism I use that language and have no intention of changing Again, the lectionary sorely needs revision to include more mention of women in the readings, particularly the many instances in which Jesus treated women as equals to men He revealed his true identity for the first time to the Samaritan woman at the well, and she promptly told everyone she saw, acting as a true apostle Mary Magdalen earned the news of the Resurrection to the male disciples, who refused to believe her In catechetics, children should learn about the women who were followers and friends of Jesus, as well as memonze the names of the Twelve...

...The Supreme Court rarely confesses error and reverses past precedent, but it does happen, e g , Brown v Board of Education...

...Commonweal readers are much favored to be able to read Alleva Is a collection of his columns in the works...

...Hopefully, a wider acceptance of Humanae vitae will increase this number (MOST REV ) GEORGE H SPELTZ The writer is the retired ordinary of the diocese of Saint Cloud What's in a name...

...He offers not only penetrating analysis, but also a little piece of his own soul in every column Most other reviews I see are supercilious by comparison...

...that was what Jesus intended at the Last Supper PATRICIA M LEIPER 30...

...It may make sense for an organized church—any organization needs some sort of "constitution"—but, as one commentator noted, "Jesus came to proclaim the Kingdom of God, and what happened was the church " Let me hasten to say that I am not herein suggesting some sort of free-wheeling community of instant chansm, or a starchy sect of biblical literalism...

...The sacrament comes before the rules...

...JOHN GALLIVAN 'Boys of Saint Vincent' Chicago, 111...

...are revered Founding Fathers, they do not enjoy the extraordinary stature of speaking God's word to humankind Presumably because of the recognized fallibility of even the best of human constitutions, provisions are made for their amendment A second significant difference between our political Constitution and the church constitution rests in claims about the judicial interpreter, the pope...

...All Christians are entitled to the Eucharist...

...To the Editors Richard Alleva's review of "The Boys of Saint Vincent" was sensitive and balanced I only wish he had mentioned the efforts of church leaders who sought to quash the film On two separate occasions, church officials and attorneys in Canada sought to block the showing of this powerful film Just forty-eight hours prior to its scheduled broadcast on national Canadian television, they won an injunction to stop it A similar attempt was made last year, but fortunately it failed The movie, which will air this fall in the United States, should do much to provoke further discussion of this cntical ISSUe BARBARA BLAINE The writer is founder and president of Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests (SNAP) NFP and sexuality Port Washington, N.Y To the Editors You are to be congratulated for publishing Paul Murray's article on Humanae vitae [July 15] It is refreshing to read a lay person's praise for natural family planning based on personal experience His points are right on the mark My wife and I married in our thirties...

...KEVIN HICKSON The logic is beautiful Saint Cloud, Minn To the Editors • I write to congratulate you for your fairness and good judgment in publishing Paul Murray's article on Humanae vitae The logic of his thought is beautiful to follow Thank you' With respect to the relevant editorial ["It Still Doesn't Scan"] in the same issue In agreement with you, I am genuinely glad that more women are rising to claim respect, and that more men are coming to realize the Tightness of these claims...

...I would only assert definitively that the "logic" of church is not easily borrowed from law...

...Not only that, the term begs thorny philosophical questions about natural law and alienates the unconvinced by its implicit claim of righteousness and moral superiority (Continued on page 29) 2 (Continued from page 2) Would not serious discussion of the moral and ethical aspects of birth control be better served by a more neutral terminology9 To this end, I offer a modest proposal First, let us recognize that every practice designed to prevent intercourse from resulting in pregnancy is a form of contraception, and call it that Second, let us distinguish among these practices by descriptive phrases that identify briefly, without problematic philosophical and moral connotations, how each practice attempts to attain this same goal For example, we might call the use of condoms and diaphragms "contraception by physical barrier" (CPB) and the practice of coitus interruptus "contraception by early withdrawal" (CEW) And what about the rhythm method7 No need to use the troublesome phrase NFP Instead, call it CSI—"contraception by scheduling of intercourse " THOMAS O MITCHELL Grounds for assent Notre Dame, Ind To the Editors In his response [July 15] to Ordinatio sacerdotahs, Robert George correctly points out that religious assent to a pronouncement of this status may be legitimately withheld only where some factual error or teaching of superior authority requires the conclusion that the pronouncement in question is false Of your six respondents, only Professor George and Father Avery Dulles seem prepared to follow the council and give religious assent to Ordinatio Did any of the other respondents supply a predicate for withholding religious assent7 I think not...

...After a year and a half we were blessed with the birth of our daughter We have been practicing NFP since the death of our second child, a son, eight years ago, since then we have been blessed with another son...

...Along with our experience of Marriage Encounter, NFP has led to a deeper understanding of our spirituality and of each other Rather than being linked with sacrifice, as the editors contend in their response, NFP needs to be looked at as a key opening a door through which a deeper sexuality may be explored, whereby all our actions become acts of life-giving love...

...The church first of all is God's presence in the life (not the law) of Jesus of Nazareth By way of contrast, the U S Constitution is not James Madison revived, for all that he may have contributed to that splendid document The pope's ruling on women's ordination is more cntical than he may have realized...