The American Paradox
Myers, David G.
opportunity to cross the chasm between intellectuals and other people." Ironi- cally, the Catholic Worker movement TOO MUCH OF A GOOD THING? failed to attract actual Catholic...
...Money...
...its worst moments when its pages give voice to his wistfulness for a citizenry of modest thought and restrained enterprise, neighborhoods with enduring intergenerational relationships, and entertainment media "featuring nonviolent conflict resolution and committed love...
...toxin...
...But Myers must engage this claim-this is where good public policy begins...
...portant feature of the social toxicity of the is, nasty...
...Several states now allow couples to choose between no-fault marriage Morality, Culture, and the Power of Religion in Social Life (lovely expression, that) and "covenant Christian Smith, Sociology, University of North Carolina marriage" begun with pledges to marry June 25 -July 27 only after serious deliberation, to sub- Funded by The Pew Charitable Trusts mit to counseling when the marriage runs into trouble if the other partner re- New Urbanism and Communities of Faith quests it, and to seek divorce only on serious grounds (variously defined) and Philip Bess, Architecture, Andrews University after a two-year waiting period...
...who comprise the so-called "alternative narrative" according to Robert August, 1975 Oscar Ruiz, a child streets, Egan's "Two Versions of History...
...We recommend a JSTB sabbatical...
...But these countries are not creatGerry Lee • Class of 1978 • Master of Divi ' ing 20 million jobs in a decade, or taking in 10 million immigrants and starting them up the ladder...
...Better spent is the time Myers devotes to arguing that liberated sex sings only a siren song...
...valed freedom to pursue one's person- price of making the decision itself to diCan critical detachment and social com- al bliss...
...These youngsters gays...
...We have the books...
...their heritage of anarchic comedy and penicillin became available to the civilian Let me suggest an alternative conclu- be enriched in imagination and wit...
...Certainly...
...The professionals whose concern for auton- more the better...
...What Myers will not see is that, thanks to antibiotics, contraception, aggressive constitutional litigation, civil rights, technological advance, limited government, pluralism, capitalism, free Commonweal 2 6 October 6, 2000 gays...
...Joyce CELTIC CHRISTIANITY Gaining weight A Sacred Tradition, A Vision of Hope After months and months of rather 'Conveys the unique• blend of earthy simplicity and mystic light-weight issues, the issue of Sep- complexity cal the (alts...
...A psychologist he cites asks eight-year-old children to close their eyes and tell him what comes to mind when ing it out very nicely, thank you: Mr...
...Sex ad libitum, he says, gives cal insight than with what Christopher he nation's social health, us dead-end teenage mothers, fatherLasch long ago referred to as "the intel- David Myers says, has less poor children, and marriages hauntlectual as a social type...
...Divorce, while respectable, too often alist democracy" as a distinctively Chris- The possible toxins include "concen- damages the children...
...Timothy...
...But what is "radical in- bizarre litigation judges having to dispreciation for the idea of intellectual dividualism" doing in this lineup...
...details, check website Entertainment has always featured be- www.calvin.edu/fss or havior-at-the-margins, and audiences call 616-957-8558...
...ffovizons tember 8 is terribly well done...
...Business ambition is all right, he allows, but not "exploitative greed" (who gets to draw that line...
...ato ne t ne ntfriars-erg e-mail: soca5ons5atonementfriars.org Holy Land Studies • Scriptrcre stzudv ill the crndlc of (Jivistiini faith • Ex endite excursions in simvundiua countries • Courses offerred forgiadnate credit or audit • May be combined with Sabbatical at Saint John s Ischreibera@csbsju•edu.lntp:llwww.csbsjtl.edu/sot Saint John's School of Theology •Seminary s Collegevi I le, MN 5632 I • 320-363.3 154 er wages...
...To be an intellectual, to be a This is the language of Amitai Etzioni the divorce decree-but, Myers and the critic, is to be alienated-or to worry and the communitarians...
...The eight-year-olds here are sort- ing things out...
...They Retrieves the spirituality of the saints and scholars who made the Celtic lands a lamp of learning and holiness...
...And cern the comparative degrees of blame life as a vocation and the dilemma it what is it, anyway...
...don't buy them...
...seem to have recognized the difference C A L v ii T *.,T between fantasy and reality...
...Spiritual Hunger in sary for any broad-based political project, But, Myers and other communitarian Age of Plenty particularly in matters of social justice...
...Too the risk of raising more troubled, less proized, if more prosaic, models of the bad...
...ductive youngsters...
...Studies show that tian contribution to contemporary social trated poverty, plentiful guns, radical children of divorce on average do much thought, yet his ideal of the church as a individualism, media portrayals of vi- worse in school than those of intact mar"critical commonwealth" suggests the olence and infidelity, and family col- riages and, poignantly, that remarriage very vanguardism he shows failed pre- lapse...
...O April, 1991 Lee helps expose the Neil Coughlan, a regular contributor, is the government's torture and execution of author of Young John Dewey...
...ings...
...They will traverse 1960 was the year of "the pill...
...l Individually-tailored, holistic programs • One or taro semester options available • Outstanding faculty in spirituality, theology & pastoral studies Supportive community Vibrant multi-cultural setting next to the University of California • Enjoy the pleasant climate & geographical richness of the San Francisco Bay area & Northern California Renewing the minister for the renewal of ministry 1735 I-c ltioy Avenue 13crkc1ev, CA 94709 510.549.5000 toll-free 800.824.0122 fax 510.841.8536 email: admissions@lsib.cdu '' We have been called to heal wounds, to unite what has fallen apart, and to bring home those who have lost their way...
...The data-Myers is a social psychologist-show happiness finally is found in intimacy, commitment, family, and a job...
...Divorcing parents of mitment ever marry...
...Kind," "gen- Rogers is a sweetheart...
...He goes on at Human Nature in Evolutionary Theory some length about the media, television Jeffrey Schloss, Biology, Westmont College especially, but he has come to the subject already convinced that their por- Philip Clayton, Philosophy, Sonoma State University trayals of sex and violence without trag- July 2 - July 27 ic consequence coarsen the audience Funded by John Templeton Foundation and cause it to behave brutally itself, to cat around, even sometimes to kill or rape...
...This proposition is popular these Application deadline for all seminars is Feb...
...Beavis and Butthead" (latter-day, moronic Katzen-, "only in marriage"-that would maroon Butthead...
...The writings of intellectuals contain insights into modern capitalist society that have been unavailable to clerics as a class...
...Pornography and fantastic de- young families make of their personal answer to this question, I think Mc- pictions of violence please us...
...if our youthh trade, and wealth, everything is out of its cage in America...
...A dead marriage shall The American Paradox ment to those church structures neces- not be our portion...
...It seems odd, therefore, to place so much blame on the media, which are largely a reflection of social reality...
...As soon teach lions to sup and not gorge...
...population after 1945...
...Concentrated poverty a social by the custodial mother does not help at vious Christian intellectuals...
...a free market, but not an "unrestrained, profit-focused" free market...
...Ironically, the Catholic Worker movement TOO MUCH OF A GOOD THING...
...Consider, for instance, making marriages with children at home dissolv- SEMINARS IN CHRISTIAN SCHOLARSHIP able only by mutual agreement or when Summer 2001 there has been a substantial wrong, such as physical abuse, desertion, or repeated adultery...
...And that dren need...
...THE SPIRITUALITY OF THE CELTIC SAINTS They deserve Ex corde ecclesiae...
...Has he forgotten that life...
...Certainly...
...l'1 of those theologians takes a stand, or Cambridge...
...and nastiness is the last thing chil- even "South Park...
...includes especially those theologians Lee converts to Ro n Catholicism...
...Or compel judges to accord The Loss of the Self in a Postmodern Therapeutic Culture more weight to the children's needs than Paul Vitz, Psychology, New York University to equity between the divorcing parents June 25 -July 27 when dividing the property of the mar- Funded by The Pew Charitable Trusts riage...
...graduate Gerry Lee surrendered the teaching office of the meets returned missionaries with church to the curial inquisition...
...if our youth is entranced with "ca"hurts people...
...In short, between 1945 and 1970 the major material disincentives to sex-outside-marriage evaporated...
...Commonweal 2 4 October 6, 2000 Society, the communitarians say, has the right to resist this imposition...
...Myers never addresses the claim that boundless enterprise (and greed, if you like) has created goods, services, and wealth that are widely distributed throughout our society, and that in America today poverty is less likely to be a life sentence...
...Myers believes sex belongs "only in he says "Mister Rogers...
...e ( iirber, 1985 CORRESPONDENCE June, 1973 Lay Mialioner Lee helps (Continued from page 4) Working with street kids establish Church's first on the Lower East Side, human rights or ation Kung's children Lee encounters in Tacagus, a Ca slum...
...And indeed we have pursued vorce too easy...
...competition, but not "unfettered" competition...
...That Central America solidarity movement...
...Our society has produced a growing underclass," he announces-without argument, citations, or statistics, as though only a fool would argue the point...
...Having At your bookseller or direct read about the popes in Eamon 30 Years of ORBIS BOOKS Duffy's Saints and Sinners: A History of Books that matter Maryknoll, NY 10545 1-800-258-5838 the Popes, I was a little incredulous www.orbisbooks.com that Pius IX was on the beatification Commonweal 2 7 October 6, 2000...
...Parish priests and women religious have lived lives of vowed commitment unavailable to intellectuals as a class...
...before allocating property and income in presents...
...We shall bliss (however illusory) an absolute at Carraher neglects the historically real- have them...
...And that in the sion...
...American Paradox's best moments come when, as in his discussion of the family, Myers suggests initiatives and legislation that might help institutions and values that are being buffeted...
...Indeed he had, and was Focusing on cite major theme, of the Celtic tradition, O'Loughlin dcmonstttltc:s the power and mystery of the Celtic -spiritual tradition.shamelessly left by theologians to 1-57075-337-7 paper $14.00 stand alone...
...This imposes a high priest and the nun...
...Simultaneously, the moral proponents of abstinence-outside-marriage lost influence, or equivocated (as does Myers...
...Even the inquisitorial 1-57075-334-2 paper $12.00 bishops and curia officials granted Thomas O'Loughlin (see Leonard Swidler's Kung in Con- JOURNEYS ON THE EDGES flict) that he had written a virtual The Celtic Tradition summa...
...Francis of Assisi • Promoting Christian Unity and Inter-religious Understanding Pastoral, Catechetic.l and Socia Ministries 7r • Ministries in the United state, !_~;d Canada, Japan and Europe x; 4 For information about the Franciscan Friars and Sisters of the Atonement contact: Vocation Director Ca asmoor Garrison, NY 10524-e300 9t+ 424 3671 n w's...
...Within the Catholic And guns: lots of people enjoy owning cost on society...
...Dame...
...Nor have A Healing Journey for Irish Catholics they built upon his work (and pub- Shows how the ancient traditions of Celtic Christianity offer hope lishing in remote theological journals for a contemporary, life-giving spirituality...
...Myers thinks pornography and secular alike...
...October, 1978 of Vatican II is that theologians have Recent M. Div...
...IA 02138-3495 • Telephone (617) 492.1960 • Fax (517) 492-5833 if they do, it is worded so carefully that they can easily retract it...
...the limitations of "permanent estrange- "radical individualism"), and sometimes ment" serves as a kind of cautionary tale one's bliss pursued is someone else's for contemporary critics, Christian and harm...
...Conclusion...
...And plentiful guns, all...
...Pabulum is a dish for the very And, along the way, they will be figur- 1960s women began to enter the workyoung...
...Who's to say no...
...Nasty," "mean," "rude," jammer Kids) are not...
...tradition, the shift from clerics to critics stands as rupture, not creative adaptation...
...It's a free country...
...place not just as secretaries, and at highCommonweal 2 5 October 6, 2000 Jesuit School of Theology at Berkeley Ready for renewal...
...Certainly, when Myers attempts to prove that the o l l e g e media are substantial polluters, he does not succeed...
...today's enhanced action films make for The key to this seemingly intractable Neil Coughlan rape and other violence, and guns lead to dilemma may have less to do with criti- Columbine...
...The greatest calamity in the aftermath Catholicism...
...Beavis and committed relationships" (he won't say tle," and "nice," they say...
...In the United communitarians argue, it has improved that in suspending critical detachment States, they observe, we have "unri- the civil administration of divorce at the one is forsaking intellectual integrity...
...invited it...
...9, 2001...
...innocents...
...And affectional freeomy in spiritual life precluded attach- dom...
...The ed by dissatisfactions and bootless yearngues convincingly for "radical person- crisis is unprecedented...
...dies of gunshot wou' They submit the occasional article a la Egan but it is only descriptive...
...Joyce alternative narrative, Hans Kung, was CELTIC QUEST never supported by them...
...None For information please write or call: Office of Admissions • 3 Phillips Place, Dept...
...On Biology and Purpose: Altruism, Morality, and other topics: not so well...
...opportunity to cross the chasm between intellectuals and other people...
...You don't like them...
...Otherwise, it's only finger-wagging...
...Location for all seminars is Grand Rapids, Michigan...
...we need the priests and nuns...
...The inherent voraciousness of economic enterprise gives him the jitters, and he undertakes to curb it with counsel...
...as do most of us...
...And, in time, they will enjoy, He should know better than this, for he environment for children is the nastiness most of them, and figure out "The Simp- says the decline in our sexual morals to which they are exposed so early in sons," " "Saturday Night Live," " and, yes, began around 1960...
...This Photos 1.57075.176.5 paper $14.00 Lutheran really perked up...
...Myers wants palWESTON JESUIT School of Theology pable decent social order-Denmark, I think, or Switzerland, as we imagine A Course of Action them...
...days, but it is not self-evident and it may For eligibility and other not be true to any significant degree...
...McCarraher ar- been harmed, badly...
...On money, Myers is clueless...
...BILL F. MAZZELLA 1-57075-316-4 paper $16.00 Yonkers, N.Y...
...The theologian who did most to formulate an Timothy...
...In looking for an it hard...
...St...
...No-fault divorce has lessened the Christian Critics reflects a deep ap- and family ruin...
...doesn't do it...
...One im- have spotted B&B's nastiness for what it sual sex," fault the entertainment media...
...Kung rightly states now that their refusal to back him has Richard J. Woods brought them to the current situation...
...failed to attract actual Catholic workers, and the "underground church" of the 1960s appealed primarily to middle-class them...
...ans say, there's no thought in all this of David G. Myers Daniel Berrigari s too-late recognition of the common good (hence the name, Yale University Press, $29,95,414 pp...
...F-1 Christopher Shannon is associate director of the Cushwa Center for the Study of American Catholicism at the University of Notre "Name twelve basest desires...
...June 25 -July 27 Myers's analysis and urgings work Funded by Fieldstead and Company well when he is talking about children and divorce and about gun control...
Vol. 127 • October 2000 • No. 17
