September 11 & beyond
CORRESPONDENCE To the Editors Disrespect Your disrespectful attitude toward the United States and the president is sad ["September 11, 2001," editorial, September 28]. BRIAN R....
...I think not...
...BONAVENTURE SCULLY, C.P.X...
...September 28] lays out the basis for an ethical defense against terrorism...
...He also used his authority to support unionization of immigrant workers and to encourage Mexican Americans to vote...
...My reaction to in vitro fertilization was delight that those who wanted a child could now bear and rear one...
...Takoma Park, Md...
...response to the attacks of September 11 should reflect our nature as a country that respects human dignity and rights...
...establishing an inhouse library with more sophisticated periodicals such as the Atlantic Monthly, Commonweal, and America...
...BRIAN R. MCGINNIS Macomb, Mich...
...BERNARD L. KREILKAMP, M.D...
...But even he has to add that big "if...
...Our response must clearly distinguish us from our attackers who kill indiscriminately in service of their "cause...
...mass media provide poor or no coverage of Japan's fascinating constitutional debates...
...I spent fourteen years as rector of a residence hall at the University of Notre Dame, where I made it my priority to promote the spiritual and the intellectual, and the seeking of peace and justice among the three hundred resident college men...
...If this gut feeling of mine were ever accepted by the church, there would never be any controversy over embryonic stem-cell research...
...Therefore, a United Nations tribunal should impose binding arbitration to resolve this conflict...
...This priority was expressed in such ways as inviting speakers (like Richard McCormick, S.J...
...Your editorial ["The Stem-cell Sell," August 17] suggested that they "were not human persons...
...Hillenbrand does an unusually competent job of sorting out key elements in the situation...
...In a world of "fragile peace and broken promises," they are trying to foster in their own children what Anna has...
...Would an all-wise, all-knowing creator endow a morula of some twenty-four to ninety-six cells with a soul before it gets safely implanted in a loving Commonweal 28 October 12,2001 mother's womb...
...The most powerful microscope in existence cannot, nor ever will be able, to answer this question...
...FRANCIS X. CUNNINGHAM Arlington, Va...
...Yes, of course, we should tighten our borders and our immigration policies, strengthen our security at airports and on commercial airplanes, and improve our surveillance of aliens who are a potential threat to the United States (there's a big difference between "information" and "intelligence," isn't there...
...I can accept that, but I would like to read it to mean, "We don't know enough about when human life begins, so out of an abundance of caution we are selecting the earliest possible moment, but we are open to exploration, because history has taught us that we have much to learn about the world in which God placed us...
...MARY A. CHAFFEE Toledo, Ohio Hispanic Catholics Thanks for Timothy Matovina's "Hispanic Catholics" [September 14...
...Mercer Island, Wash...
...BRO...
...RUSS PATE Dallas, Tex...
...E. THOMAS MCCARTHY MARY C. MCCARTHY Berkeley, Calif...
...we should also insist that every other civilized nation do its part...
...Yes, we even had Helen Prejean as a speaker, before she became famous...
...Much more could be said about the growth of Opus Dei and its influence...
...It is rendered entertaining and accessible by Douglas Hofstadter in his Godel, Escher, Bach: An Eternal Golden Braid...
...All the pros and cons of embryonic stem-cell research revolve around the presumption of human life appearing at the moment of conception...
...Great job...
...There is much to be gained from such an analysis...
...I don't know, and it appears to me that those who say unequivocally otherwise are making a judgment on limited information...
...KENNETH C. BURT Sacramento, Calif...
...As the president continues to shape the national response to terrorism, he would do well to develop further several of White's points . For example, working closely with moderate Arab states to address the legitimate grievances of communities from which terrorists are drawn should be a basic component of our "war on terrorism...
...a UN peacekeeping force should separate the two sides until such time as they can treat each other with mutual respect and decency, as equal members of the human family...
...Actually, since 1945 no major nation has had more peaceable international relations than Japan under its constitutional renunciation of war (Article 9...
...Humility needed Thank you for the editorial, columns, and letters on stem-cell research...
...I believe this ensoulment occurs only after implantation, some seven to eight days after conception...
...So, haltingly we understand more of God's wonders and "work" them for moral ends...
...john w. weiser Kentfield, Calif...
...As a historian, I appreciated the reference to the Spanish settlement of Saint Augustine, Florida, in 1513, as well as the comparisons to European(Continued on page 4) Commonweal 2 October 12,2001 (Continued from page 2) nationality parishes of an earlier era...
...All this is to say that an outstretched hand and good liturgy aren't the only ways to welcome our Latino brothers and sisters...
...I was acutely aware of the Opus Dei presence and the questionable ways their members enticed our brighter, simple, and pious students...
...This would certainly be the essence of Cardinal Newman's The Idea of a University, and, more recently, in the person and works of Flannery O'Connor...
...It is a profoundly important matter...
...Principia Mathematica is the giant on whose shoulders Godel reached that achievement, and it is a sad thing if Russell couldn't rejoice in his participation in reaching that truth...
...Our Sunday liturgies were also oriented with these priorities in mind...
...Godel's incompleteness theorem is one of the most important human achievements ever...
...It is my hope that this letter will stimulate articles on ensoulment— maybe by Sidney Callahan and her husband, who will write much more authoritatively and fluently than this octogenarian...
...In 2001, Japan's government is considering possible ways of depoliticizing mourning, for example, establishing a purely secular national monument or cemetery and figuring out ways to mourn even the war criminals in a humane manner with no suggestion of approving wartime aggression or atrocities...
...Commonweal 29 October 12,2001...
...Textbooks on embryology state that about 40 percent of all fertilized eggs never get implanted in a mother's endometrium, but are washed out with the next menses...
...Ethics & opportunity Robert E. White's thoughtful and analytical response to "What Kind of War...
...All these efforts were always made with the students involved in the arrangements and coordination...
...Because of a background in embryology and hematology, the present embryonic stem-cell controversy stimulated me to send this let(Continued on page 28) Commonwal 4 October 12,2001 (Continued from page 4) ter to you in the hopes that it be published in my favorite magazine...
...Commonweal is definitely one of my beacons in this world...
...We will be successful if we can recognize and properly utilize the opportunity that flows from this horrible tragedy...
...KATHARINE BYRNE Chicago, III...
...Ensoulment I'm no theologian, just an eighty-fiveyear-old retired internist and retired permanent deacon of our beloved church...
...They can only become human beings...
...Sidney Callahan wonders whether we have stepped onto a slippery slope ["Philosopher on Call," September 14...
...Thank you, Anna...
...My years with today's college students in a quality institution tell me that, in spite of the pressure to excel, it is worth the effort to entice them to a unified, intellectual, spiritual, and peace-and-justice-seeking Catholic stance...
...Last but not least, after more than fifty years of human-rights violations, terrorism, and warfare, it seems clear that the Israelis and Palestinians are unable to make peace by themselves...
...What we stand for The U.S...
...Russell's shoulders Concerning Bertrand Russell ["He Didn't Add Up," September 28]: While Wittgenstein may have created the aura of doubt about Principia Mathematica's ambition to create a consistent and complete account of arithmetic, it was Kurt Godel who drove the mathematical stake through the book's heart...
...I am now struggling with the realization that I have not been outraged by the fact that extra embryos were created and that, in some way, they were discarded...
...sponsoring a fall and spring forum on peace and justice issues...
...Praise for Anna On September 13, while taking a moment of respite from the news coverage, I happened to read Anna Nussbaum's "Axioms of Faith...
...But has it also been endowed by our creator with a spiritual center, a soul, at this moment...
...Since World War II, Japan has had a hard time meeting the universal human need to mourn the dead (in Japan's case, about 2.5 million war dead) without stirring up Asian memories of Japanese actions in the 1930s and 1940s...
...Information Agency and Voice of America are poised to spread the word about the new international climate that White sees as necessary to gain the cooperation of the world...
...Once a just peace is achieved in the Middle East, 85 percent of the world's terrorism will disappear...
...What I conclude from this is that some humility is in order...
...Beef found I write to concur with Maurice Timothy Reidy's "Where's the Beef...
...There would never be any controversy over taking a "morning after" pill to prevent an unwanted pregnancy in the case of rape or incest...
...Thinking of mourning the war dead, shouldn't we do something more to remember the more than 2 million Vietnamese war dead to balance out our understandable sorrow at sixty thousand U.S...
...The fertilized ovum in a petri dish has the potential for human life, but is it at that point a "human" being, with all the implications of that conclusion, or is it one small but morally huge step away...
...We stand for human rights, for justice, for presumption of innocence, for protection of civilians—or we stand for nothing...
...First, we must assist those devastated by the attacks...
...casualties in the Vietnam War...
...True it is that this fertilized egg, this zygote, has all the physical potential and essentials of human life...
...Thank you, Anna Nussbaum, and thank you, Commonweal, for making it available to us...
...Japan has the world's second ranked economy and is our most important Asian ally, but generally the U.S...
...I am proud to be a subscriber...
...Respect When I got my September 28 issue, as usual, I could not do anything else until I had at least read the editorial...
...Middle East peace Yes, of course, we should pursue and punish the terrorists responsible for the horrible attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, taking care not to harm innocent women and children, while trying not to make more terrorists and enemies...
...I agree with Garvey that if they were implanted and if they took, they would not become cabbages...
...As one person recently remarked on the radio: "If killing terrorists brought peace, then Israel would be the most peaceful nation in the world...
...lawrence w. beer Boulder, Colo...
...Third, we must seek out, identify, and punish those responsible...
...The bishops have stated that human life begins at the moment that sperm and ovum connect successfully in the petri dish...
...Wise & true Regarding "Axioms of Faith" [September 14]: What a beautiful essay, wise and true...
...I have sent copies to my four adult children...
...It is very important that we welcome our co-religionists from Mexico and Latin America...
...STEPHEN SCHAEFER Chapel Hill, N.C...
...What gives me pause is the realization that I (and apparently many others) had not equated them with human beings...
...Second, we must take measures to make it less likely that such attacks will take place in the future...
...Anna's are Words Of Support...
...Was I wrong...
...And the U.S...
...Perhaps...
...And a glance at Korea's losses in the Korean War should not be out of the question...
...Enemies meet after death, no longer enemies, no longer Americans or Japanese or Afghans...
...In addition, our leaders should be asking whether it is a prudent foreign policy for the United States to provide arms and other assistance to groups like the Taliban in Afghanistan, which turn around and become our enemy a short time later...
...Our Catholic Church has never issued a definitive statement on the time of ensoulment, and probably never will...
...While serious and extensive effort is made to expand them intellectually, today's college students are under great pressure to succeed with high grades in order to gain graduate and professional school acceptance and high-salaried positions...
...Solidarity in their daily struggles is also important...
...Its clarity of thought held me from the first word to the last...
...The more mature and thinking student avoided them...
...There are also valuable lessons to be learned from a new examination of the pioneering work of Archbishop Robert E. Lucy of San Antonio, who was for many years the head of the Bishops' Committee for the Spanish Speaking...
...It seemed a small and happy step in mankind's growth in understanding and taking responsibility for the world...
...September 14...
...Then I read Grant Gallicho's Notebook, the four contributors in Short Takes, Patrick Jordan in the Last Word...
...anthony j. dIstefano Alexandria, Va...
...He began working in the forties to make dioceses across the country more inviting to Spanish speakers...
...Honoring the dead As a recent subscriber and as a student of Japan's constitutional law and politics, I was surprised and delighted to read Barry Hillenbrand's piece on the complexity of war remembrance in Japan ["No Easy Choices," September 14...
Vol. 128 • October 2001 • No. 17
