Correspondence
Revisionist Latin No matter what anybody says, you'll always be my favorite demotic rag. Only...could you admonish whoever wrote the headline on the lead-off letter in the Correspondence...
...It is must reading for anyone concerned with Christian triumphalism and its devastating effects...
...len W. Wood, author of Hegel's Ethical Thought Paper $30.00 On Faith Nathan Rotenstreich Edited and with a Foreword by Paul Mendes-Flohr "On Faith serves as a type of summary of Rotenstreich's remarkable career as an interpreter of religion and as a major phenomenologist...
...On the basis of researching Catholic schools, parish religious education, and lay ministry locally and nationally for many years, and of teaching in a Catholic school and several parish religious education programs and attending dozens of national conferences, I can confidently predict the following "worst-case scenario" that would follow if the course advocated by Tilley and Zagano were to be adopted: Yes, the "respectful investigation by professionals" of Gary Macy's plenary address at the CTSA convention proceeds apace and is submitted to refereed journals for publication in the 1999-2000 academic year...
...Austin believes it is impious or a sign of hubris to suggest that a pope may have been morally at fault in his direction of church policy, he needs to become more familiar with the enormous literature on the history of the papacy...
...At first I presumed that this was intended to be Latin for "Are you Roman...
...one result is a lack of money to remedy the lack of formation among adults...
...JAMES A. EGAN, S.J...
...The reverberations of Elshtain's observation should be quite self-evident in context, specifically the deafening silence from feminists that has greeted the allegations of sexual impropriety against President Bill Clinton...
...Finally, if Mr...
...She admits that the Catholic school system now eats up a disproportionate share of church resources...
...Persons must have commitment to Catholic faith and values, according to the letter and spirit of Vatican II...
...The silence reveals a significant admission: the personal may not be as political as politics: what one does in private may not, in fact, determine inexorably one's political positions or the nature of political life...
...It may make the writer feel good for a moment, like a dose of heroin...
...For additional information call 212-662-4200 or write COMMONWEAL, 475 Riverside Dr., Rm...
...Josephs's School in Greenwich Village, 111 Washington Place, New York, New York, 10014...
...His thoughtful opinions are a healthy antidote to the screamers and shouters (Continued on page 28) Commonweal 4 May 22, 1998 power is everywhere, politics is in fact nowhere and the vision of public life as the touchstone for a revitalized ideal of citizenship is lost.'" Elshtain's prescience is in evidence throughout this book, but here it is rather stunning...
...As Nietzsche said, when there is no God, there is no right or wrong...
...Very soon, however, the more politically attractive and provocative aspects of the address, the theological equivalent of sound bites, will find their way into presentations in undergraduate classrooms (reaching hundreds of potential catechists) and then into talks at summer institutes, the Los Angeles Religious Education Convention, and the NCEA convention (reaching hundreds of actual catechists...
...Against this full and entire Catholicism, neither what we call "conservative" nor "liberal" Catholicism is enough...
...I am surprised that there is so little comment on the connection among the shortage of priests, the restriction of ordination to celibate males, and the debate over whether the ordained ministry as historically understood is, in the end, necessary...
...I'm sure this is not the outcome envisioned by any of the speakers, nor will it be the conclusion of the professional theologians arguing fine points among their peers--but it is the likely result for many teachers exposed to limited information...
...If the bishops of our country can adopt and implement principles and guidelines to promote harmony and to resolve misunderstandings between ourselves and theologians, I am hopeful that our Catholic theologians might be able to develop similar principles and guidelines to assist them in their vital role for the good of the church...
...A community of faith I have read with interest the articles [March 27] by Sister Mary Ann Donovan, Father Avery Dulles, S.J., and Peter Steinfels on the annual meeting of the Catholic Theological Society of America held in June 1997...
...Its procedure for formal doctrinal dialogue is a splendid model for others within the church...
...The writer is associate professor of theology at Loyola University Chicago...
...And, whereas in most languages the verb "to be" takes the nominative case (as in Romanus), Polish often uses the instrumental, which corresponds to the ablative in Latin (as in Romano...
...Cells for sale I am glad you pointed out the sale in human flesh that is becoming common in our society [editorial, "Eggs for Sale," March 27...
...Steinfels raised some interesting questions, but they emphasize one of Cardinal George's points which she did not quote, his distinction between a Catholic faith based upon "negotiation" and that based upon "surrender," the point being that in faith we "surrender" to Christ, that living, loving, concrete, real, eternal, resurrected person...
...But how we treat disagreements among us speaks loudly to the entire world about the depth of our faith and our trust in the Holy Spirit working within the church...
...Do the graduates of our Catholic schools see any conflict here...
...Then again, maybe this is a breakthrough into postmodernist Latin...
...does it translate into "Is he she it you to or by means of a Roman male...
...Jay P. Dolan, Church History Paper $17.00 Historical Studies of Urban America Avanableatbookstores...
...everything is permitted...
...I too wish that I had taped the homily by Cardinal Francis George...
...Faith is caught, not taught, and it is caught primarily in the home...
...From the editors: In context, the sentence containing the phrase that offends our correspondent does not impute culpability to Pius XII but says the issue of whether he was culpable can't be dealt with fairly without access by independent scholars to all the relevant documents in the Vatican archives...
...What kind of faith formation is revealed by these examples...
...So, knowing your inerrancy, I realized there must be a subtle explanation...
...His analysis of 'faith' as a distinct phenomenon is one of the most original and important discussions of the concept in modern philosophy...
...Politicizing liturgy As Barbara Zapzalka [Correpondence, April 10] correctly surmises in her comment on my letter of March 13, I have never been involved in a parish l i t u r g y committee...
...MARY BETH CELLO Seattle, Wash...
...So now it's clear: By using Polish grammar in a Latin sentence you were slyly sending the message that you are not only Roman, but Polish-papal...
...thus: "Esne tu Romanus...
...A dose of heroin...
...As for the flight to the suburbs, many graduates of our schools fled to avoid integration...
...Incidentally, this also explains why some people misread the pope...
...Send letter and r6sum6 to: Reverend Aldo J. Tos, Pastor, St...
...Whether the theologians like it or not, their speculative presentations at professional gatherings all too often and all too soon become the theologi(Continued on page 4) Commonweal 2 May22, 1998 (Continued from page 2) cal certainties presented by the classroom teacher...
...Only...could you admonish whoever wrote the headline on the lead-off letter in the Correspondence section for April 24...
...What is the most subtle Indo-European language...
...Meantime, however, copies of Macy's paper dealing with "spiritual communion" are being discussed in graduate school classes led by members of CTSA who had given it "unalloyed approval...
...comes to mind here...
...From the editors: Delendus est Irias...
...Whatever the benefits of the Catholic school system--and there have been many--I think Kathleen McGarvey Hidy [April 10] has idealized the system, while overlooking some important questions...
...Would not the concluding words of "Doctrinal Responsibilities" become an opportune path for theological scholarship and dialogue as well: We believe that, with the guidance of the Spirit, the many different parts of the Body of Christ can be knit together in justice and love and thereby become more truly themselves before God...
...As she notes, Gloria Steinem explained that Packwood's alleged activities should be taken in context, specifically the context of his voting record, which consistently supported causes dear to feminist organizations...
...PHILIP E. DEVINE Providence, R.I...
...For example, the first letter to the editors in the April 24 issue is headed: "Esne tu Romano...
...But that would be "Esne tu Romanus...
...is "Jestes Amerikaninem...
...Without disparaging the Catholic school system, and agreeing with the author on the need to maintain our inner-city Catholic schools, I for one would rather steward our funds to address, creatively and successfully, the need for lifelong faith formation...
...But who else believes it...
...In her recent book Democracy on Trial, Elshtain places Plato--a famous critic of democracy--in a fictional discussion with Abraham Lincoln about the place of transcendent truth and wisdom in politics...
...This is a hope even a qualified faith--that many share, but which has at times been subject to radical doubt...
...In constructing this scenario, I could have used any one of the reported CTSA addresses...
...A new clericalism, which dismisses men and women critical of the decisions of lay ministries, is no more acceptable than is the o l d e r variety...
...This we did, to the best of our abilities...
...This is indeed a question Lincoln might have posed to Plato, but, on the other hand, Lincoln also consistently rejected the notion that one could trust entirely the democratic process to settle an issue such as of slavery...
...Lincoln asks Plato, "How can one know, save through democratic give and take, the rough and tumble of politics itself, who is the wisest and who is the best...
...Applicants must be adept with computers...
...I-I'I :I ,I 4-I J ' l : I . I ~1 [ 14 4I (Continued from page 4) and special pleaders who seem to dominate the Op Ed pages these days--and one hopes he may even rein in the editors of Commonweal, who, with unexpected belligerence, seem ready to lob "smart bombs" on the Iraqi people in a new twist on that old refrain, "we had to destroy the village in order to save it...
...The remark which Professor Lamb uses to accuse Sister Mary Ann Donovan of making a false claim about the committee's work was based on a single misstatement by a committee member who explicitly corrected it during the subsequent public discussion...
...Catholicism in these parts is again about to get very interesting...
...Aged people with diseases like Parkinson's are paying high prices for this "commodity...
...Teaching Positions Available STRONG, LOVING, WISE AND EXPERIENCED PRINCIPAL AND TEACHERS needed for Catholic, multi-racial, ecumenical, K-8 school, accredited by Middle States Association, located in the heart of Greenwich Village, NYC, since 1855...
...Discounts 5 percent, 3 times...
...Theologians are to be commended for continuing the church's efforts to articulate ever more deeply and fully its eucharistic faith--a task that needs to be done in each age...
...Despite all the vinegar therein, I must assent to his statement...
...Leave it to the National Enquirer, which is in business, Commonweal 2 8 May 22, 1998 more honorably, strictly for the money...
...David Tracy, University of Chicago Paper $15.00 Now in Paper Parish Boundaries The Catholic Encounter with Race in the Twentieth-Century Urban North John T. McGreevy "[A] very insightful study of the Catholic encounter with race in the twentieth century . . . . This is an important book that deserves a wide reading...
...In seeking clear and equitable ways to resolve disagreements about our faith, we recommit ourselves to being a church that is one and open, a genuine community of faith sharing the truth freely given to it...
...One could not have asked for a more poignant juxtaposition: While academics contend over the ordination question, the people in small towns like Pursglove pay the ultimate price for the failure of the hierarchy to respond pastorally to the spiritual needs of the faithful...
...15 percent, 12 times...
...The "multiple constructions" of the address envisioned by Professor Michael Slusser in his letter ["Master Macy'] might well be included in the graduate seminars...
...No, Polish-ed Latin I want my favorite magazine to be right always, but sometimes you make it hard...
...Your writers on the difficult matter of the persecution of Jews seem not to be acquainted with the enormous literature in the field, especially that written by Jews...
...Hey, you did good The issue of A p r i l 24 is superb...
...The writer is director of research in the Office of Planning and Research of the Archdiocese of Seattle...
...In the Lincoln-Douglas debates it was Stephen Douglas who defended the doctrine of "popular sovereignty," and Lincoln who invoked "truths" that we "hold to be self-evident...
...informed, several-sided discussion of the issues in more accessible and "real time" publications like Commonweal (as Tilley and Zagano seem to favor) would deny on-theline teachers the opportunity to learn that there is disagreement, that a plenary address does not equate to a church teaching, that a sound bite doesn't convey a complete picture...
...EDWARD BLIVEN Portland, Ore...
...A recent report spoke of an ethical question raised by an experiment in which half of a test group of Parkinson's patients received a transplant of fetal brain cells and half did not, with the promise that if the first group benefited the second would be offered the same procedure...
...Nitpickers may grumble about the use of "estne" instead of "esne...
...Patrick J. Deneen is assistant professor of politics at Princeton University...
...1-800-695-9599...
...It is also divisive: Those who find themselves shut out are likely to take extreme and sectarian positions...
...and, second, because I have many reasons to believe that a theological perspective which emphasizes the transcendence of God would not be welcome there...
...Discounts and monthly billing available for repeat advertisers...
...For example, in Polish the word "American" is "Amerikanski" (nominative...
...With a generation of parents whose own formation is poor, the problem is compounded...
...In carrying forward this effort, some disagreement is unavoidable...
...Their challenge is to blend traditional educational basics with enthusiasm for innovative, creative changes that will contribute to the school's mission into the next millennium...
...JON NILSON Chicago, Ill...
...Commonweal 3 0 May 22, 1998...
...To wish to discourage (or forbid...
...Who's sorry now...
...12 word minimum...
...Not only does she anticipate the direction of postmodernism, exemplified by the work of Michel Foucault who found power everywhere, but her criticism of this feminist mantra should have served as fair warning for the potential hypocrisy that this position might entail...
...Can anyone doubt that if Peter had resisted the Spirit, Cornelius would have found a home elsewhere in the embryonic Christian community...
...m-m w : m ~ m m a m ~ .m ~1-1~s: $1.10 per word...
...Despite the impassioned pleading of Professors Tilley and Zagano ["Wrong venue"], I want to stress the very practical importance of presenting such contrasting views in "popular journals" such as Commonweal...
...If, as she says, "notions of stewardship, the common good, the responsibility of all Catholics in a community to rear the young have weakened or disappeared," where were the graduates of Catholic schools while this was happening...
...The bishops of the United States adopted a comprehensive document setting forth principles and processes by which bishops and theologians, who may have differences, can be reconciled...
...Health-Care Reform," by Kip Sullivan, gave information not r e a d i - ly accessible and confirms what one amateur has been feeling in his gut about the HMO revolution...
...Approved by the bishops in June 1989, "Doctrinal Responsibilities: Approaches to Promoting Harmony and Resolving Misunderstandings between Bishops and Theologians" remains a remarkable resource document as well as a guide for the resolution of difficulties and disagreements...
...rhe University of Chicago Pres, Visit us at http://www.press.uchicago.edu Commonweal 2 9 May 22, 1998 talk to one another, it looks as though it could be fun for all of us...
...And finally, the letters from the trio at Boston College as a follow-up to the three o u t s t a n d i n g pieces you published on the CTSA convention: It is not only enlightening when Catholics of different perspectives f o r some Good Books Abraham Geiger and the Jewish Jesus Susannah Heschel "Susannah Heschel's superb analysis of the last hundred years of Jesus-research and its implication in the promotion of antiSemitism has profound implications for anyone interested in religion...
...The headline ["Estne tu Romano?'] contains two errors in a three-word sentence: The verb that starts the sentence is put into the third person when it should be in the second, and the final word is in the dative or ablative case when it should be in the nominative...
...Manuscripts Wanted MANUSCRIPTS WANTED...
...I am exposed to his wellreasoned world view only on those too rare occasions when I can get the International Herald Tribune...
...Is Cardinal George right in using the phrases, "exhausted p r o j e c t . . . unable to pass on the faith in its integrity...
...Catholics are now very well represented in the upper echelons of business, where the values espoused are increasingly counter to the gospel...
...A wider discussion, not a narrower one, seems called for...
...The study asked whether this was permissible...
...Advance payment required...
...Other sentences in the same paragraph refer to the "distortions"of Rolf Hochhuth's play, The Deputy, and to exaggerated notions of the p o p e ' s ability to end Nazi genocide...
...When Hidy writes that the parish school "completed the circle of faith formation begun in our home," she is talking about those children who had a strong Catholic family life, which was not the case for many even in the time she is discussing...
...Saint Peter's somewhat rhetorical question-"Who will grudge us the water to baptize these [uncircumcised] men who have received the Spirit just as we have...
...And next spring I am certain that one of my teen-agers will pass on what she has been told by her religion teacher or parish Confirmation preparation leader--Catholic theologians now recognize that spiritual communion on the ski slopes of the Cascade Mountains is equal to or better than participation in the eucharistic liturgy and reception of Communion...
...In this climate, it becomes difficult to speak of the sacredness of human life...
...10 percent, 6 times...
...Thanks to James Finn and John Lynch for writing on war that took us where we would rather not go b u t are the b e t t e r for visiting...
...Oh, for more theological reflection of such quality...
...Nevertheless, the perspective of a "consumer" (if we must talk that way) has some r e l e v a n c e - - a s every other contemporary institution acknowledges...
...As the spiritual dies, the desire for longer life becomes obsessive, even to the point of buying kidneys from the bodies of politically executed prisoners in China...
...His Polish mind is too subtle for them...
...That's an error density too low to seem genially impudent, and just high enough to appear inexcusably careless...
...I d i d not understand that having done so was a condition on taking part in Commonweal's discussion of the liturgy...
...She notes this hypocrisy in an essay on the Clarence Thomas-Anita Hill hearings, when feminist voices were nearly unanimous in their condemnation of Thomas's alleged sexual harassment, but were suddenly quieter when more substantial charges were leveled against Senator Robert Packwood...
...As for sectarian Catholicism being a failure, few will disagree...
...ALL TYPES...
...LARRY HANSEN Aloha, Oregon Welcome to William Pfaff What a treat to find William Pfaff in Commonweal...
...Thank you for providing a forum...
...Many of their children are fallen-away Catholics, just as many among their grandchildren are now fallen-away Democrats...
...Experienced FT/PT teachers with science, math, and English strengths are particularly needed for Grades 6-8 to become cooperators within an enthusiastic faculty...
...In that sense, I ' d much rather be among the listeners and learners, than the teachers--if these teachers insist on being recognized solely upon their own terms...
...But "Are you Jan[ American...
...Elisabeth SchOssler Fiorenza, Harvard University Divinity School Paper $19.00 Chicago Studies in the History of Judaism Hegel's Idea of a Phenomenology of Spirit Michael N. Forster "There are so many books on Hegel's Phenomenology of Spirit, and such different ones, that it is foolhardy to suggest that any one of them is the 'best.' But if I had to pick a single book which seems to me to shed the most light on all the issues that surround Hegel's Phenomenology, it would certainly be this one...
...Paying the price After reading the many letters in the April 24 issue concerning the flap over the CTSA, my eyes were drawn to the Last Word essay, "There goes the church," by Virginia AultmanMoore...
...Elshtain's essays--and subsequent works--reveal an abiding hope in the prospects for democracy and the ability of citizens to make reasonable and even moral judgments in a democratic setting...
...PETER l- RIGA Houston, Tex...
...Polish, of course...
...I have no intention of joining such a c o m m i t t e e - - f i r s t , because I have enough of that sort of politics in the academy...
...they use cells from fetuses precisely because these young cells are human...
...GABRIEL AUSTIN New York, N.Y...
...My own notes from his talk read, "Catholicism in its entirety...
...CARDINAL ROGER MAHONY Los Angeles The CTSA's task As chair of the CTSA committee which drafted "Tradition and the Ordination of Women," I want to correct a distortion in Matthew Lamb's letter [Correspondence, April 24...
...10115...
...REV...
...But everyone is aware that in most languages the use of the third person verb is a common polite usage, as in "Does Your Honor agree...
...Few will also disagree that in Cardinal Francis George we have one of Catholicism's most provocative thinkers, whose extemporaneous musings should be regularly transcribed...
...JOSEPH D. POLICANO Luquillo, Puerto Rico Did parish schools work...
...A less formal but equally important model for dialogue is offered by the Catholic Common Ground Initiative...
...Simply Catholicism," by Cardinal George's own definition quoted by Steinfels, "in all its fullness and depth, a faith able to distinguish itself from any culture and yet able to engage and transform them all, etc...
...Technicians do not put brain tissue cells from horses or cows or rats into these aging human brains...
...FAX: 212/741-2147...
...405, N.Y., N.Y...
...It would be a wonder for all of us to meet the saintly editorialist who can write so easily of "Plus XII's moral culpability...
...Even more grotesque is the sale (from abortion clinics) of brain cells from aborted fetuses whose brains are removed while they are still alive, as in partial-birth abortion techniques...
...Subsidy Publisher with 75-year tradition...
...It did not ask about the ethical question of the source of those brain cells, or the price paid (by the emerging fetus) for obtaining them...
...We've been doing a lot of negotiating with each other over ecclesiology these days, and less surrendering to Christ...
...The task of the committee was not to refute the Vatican document...
...Catholic charitable gifts, traditionally the lowest among Christian groups, have dropped further...
...is something of an oxymoron...
...When leading-edge Latin is published, Commonweal will publish it...
...The Eucharist is central to Roman Catholicism, and truly defines us as a eucharistic people...
...Instead, the CTSA board asked the committee to answer, in light of the Responsum by the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, the question, "What is the theological status of the tradition about women's ordination, and by what criteria is this arrived at...
...Likewise, if the pope and his advisers continue to insist that the mandate of Christ, "Do this in memory of me," must be subservient to the requirement of celibacy, can they be surprised if hunger for the Eucharist and the healing sacraments of reconciliation and anointing causes people to consider alternative understandings of the ontological and ecclesial foundations of ordained ministry...
...Omaha, Neb 'Catholicism in its entirety' As a board member of the National Center for the Laity, I attended the same January 17, 1998 liturgy described by Margaret O'Brien Steinfels in her Notebook, "Simply Catholicism--Please explain" [April 10...
...Let it all hang out I want to affirm, thank, and congratulate you for publishing the CTSA critiques/responses [March 27] and the many interesting responses thereto [Correspondence, April 24...
...But fortunately I did bring my pen and took notes, having learned early on that Cardinal George speaks entire paragraphs extemporaneously...
...Ditto for John Garvey's "Jonesboro, Arkansas: Something does not love u s ' - - t h e bite and compassion of the gospel in one wellwrapped package...
...Elshtain is constantly and admirably attentive to the limits of politics and the finite nature of human knowledge, but to what extent she thinks that democracy must finally rest on selfevident truths that transcend "real politics" is not entirely clear...
...DEIDRE HETZLER Scottsville, N.Y...
...Maybe both traditions are right, but not because of themselves, but because Catholicism "listens" to all, and learns from all...
...instrumental...
...Let's see...
...Both are too limiting of what Catholicism can be...
...Indeed, I am not sure there is a saint in all of our history who would have used such a phrase especially because we are enjoined, for our own benefit, to avoid the mental position which that phrase assumes...
...Steinfels's claim that liberalism somehow "taught" Catholicism, reminds me of the recent neoconservative claims that their defense of the relationship between capitalism and freedom somehow also "taught" recent papal social teaching...
...ALBERT SCHORSCH, III Chicago, Iil...
...In this regard, it might be suggested that it was Douglas who was the good democrat and Lincoln who was the "Platonist...
...I have lived and worked for quite some time among Catholic activists, and have noted that very, very few of my most active, public Catholic friends have succeeded in passing on the faith to their own children and grandchildren--to their own open regret...
...This is shabby stuff for an "intellectual" journal...
...editorial] took me to a level of reflection on public apology I ' v e experienced in no other place...
...JULIAN IRIAS San Francisco, Calif...
Vol. 125 • May 1998 • No. 10
