Correspondence: You name it...
~.4RRE:SPOM'DEWCE Say it ain't so After reading Sidney Callahan's article in the June 4 issue ("A Prolife Case against Bush"), I have to say that I'm disappointed in her. I have read her articles...
...Here is a man who repeatedly votes to protect partial-birth abortion, who vows that he will have a pro-Roe litmus test for Supreme Court justices, and who eagerly courts the political support of America's most rabid champions of abortion—how can such a man honestly say that he agrees with the church's teaching that abortion is a form of homicide...
...We can call up two divisions—and associated forces—out of the Guard and Reserve and activate the Civil Reserve Air Fleet...
...Didn't she read about his record in Texas be-fore she voted for him...
...EILEEN M. FORD Rockport, Mass...
...This assertion is in no way obvious or self-evident...
...Ecclesiastical Art RARE, ORIGINAL ECCLESIASTICAL ART—Custom-order a hard-to-find saint...
...As a contribution to her side of the story, I offer the chart below which shows, not so much approval for artificial birth control (I have many charts which do that) but rejection of the church's right to prescribe methods of birth control—proof that Catholics turned away on that subject thirty years ago...
...C. R. KRIEGER Lowell, Mass...
...This seems to contradict the doctrine that in sins against the Sixth and Ninth Commandments there is no parvity of matter: except for possibly insufficient awareness or not fully deliberate consent, all such sins are, by their very nature, mortal...
...PHYLLIS L. TOWNLEY New York, N.Y...
...Find the whole story in God En-countered, vol...
...Would it not fall under Christian charity to supply these women with a safe place to have an abortion...
...JOSEPH P. SPAMPINATO Wayne, Pa...
...and at any rate widely enough taught in moral theology courses, to make any college student of the 1950s think twice before doing what a then popular song suggested: "standing on the corner, watching all the girls go by...
...Unfortunately, we have let the religious right define the dialog thus far...
...She concretely summarizes why many of us feel that Bush's leadership has been a disaster for our country and the world...
...But I can re-mind my "disappointed" critics that intelligent people make mistakes and often differ among themselves...
...The effort of Congress-woman Rosa DeLauro (D-Conn...
...Culture of death Frans Jozef van Beeck's otherwise sophisticated and nuanced article agrees too readily with Archbishop Raymond Burke's gratuitous claim that "the port of entry for the culture of death in our society has been the abandonment of the respect for the procreative meaning of the conjugal act...
...Paul Parish Development Search Committee, 617-354-7092...
...On a more personal note, as the father of a large family and grandfather of an even larger brood, I now sit helplessly in a world of young people who have become alienated from the church I love...
...The church I love Commonweal is to be commended for providing a forum for examining Humanae vitae's legacy...
...ANDREW GREELEY Chicago, Ill...
...In truth, the value assigned to a new life is independent of whether it is "wanted" or not...
...Two/4B, section 170, especially numbers 10 and following...
...If Archbishop Raymond Burke's pronouncement finally encourages Catholic Democrats to acknowledge publicly that we are the inheritors of a church tradition that believes in collective responsibility for the poor and oppressed, then it will have been worthwhile...
...I CORRESPONDENCE (Continued from page 4) To my third correspondent I confess I still tell young people that knowing they were wanted at birth is a grace, regardless of the abortion issue...
...The editors reply: Nowhere does our editorial blame President George W. Bush for the "mess" in Darfur...
...FRANS JOZEF VAN BEECK, SJ Getting religion Amy Sullivan's article ("Kerry & Religion," June 4) offers hope that the controversy regarding prochoice politicians will prompt committed Catholic Democrats to attest to their religious beliefs rather than hiding from them...
...So has this rigorous teaching been quietly dropped...
...MATTHEW SHADLE Dayton, Ohio The author replies: All right, I have repented and made public confession so I have little defense against accusations such as "You should have known better in the first place, stupid...
...Restoring credibility...
...So how could she vote for George W. Bush in 2000...
...You have called for action and then ensured it would not happen...
...In the case of the first Bush administration, that meant keeping Saddam Hussein in power after the Gulf War, leaving the Shiites and Kurds to their fate, and looking the other way as crisis erupted in Bosnia...
...Who thinks that Russia or China or India or Japan will act...
...I have never been a one-issue voter and refuse to be de-fined by anyone's litmus test...
...For additional information, call 212-662-4200 or write COMMONWEAL, 475 River-side Dr., Rm...
...You can't blame him for this mess...
...We made an arrangement for her paper to be late...
...We can take her at her word: she accepted this burden as a writer...
...JAMES P. WARD Claymont, Del...
...After all, his policies on taxes and guns were keystones of his election platform, and as governor of Texas he presided over a record number of state-sanctioned executions...
...to compare her stance with the bishops' on fundamental moral issues would have been unheard of just four years ago...
...Johnson that only a blockhead does not write to earn money...
...Even as philosophically savvy a bishop as John Paul makes no claim that the church can rely on rational means alone to justify its position on abortion...
...not on ac-count of its main thrust, but by an obiter dictum...
...405, New York, NY 10115, or e-mail copy to Malena Seldin at: circulationmgr@commonwealmagazine.org (e-mail is preferred...
...Which is it to be...
...Yet it is only fair to let Fitzgerald say overtly what she took on as a writer of fiction: I have remained true to my deepest convictions—I mean to the courage of those who are born to be defeated, the weaknesses of the strong, and the tragedy of misunderstandings and missed opportunities, which I have done my best to treat as a comedy, for otherwise how can we manage to bear it...
...TIMOTHY J. FOLEY Washington, D.C...
...troops and logistical support, little can be done in Darfur...
...A scant two hundred U.S...
...Van Beeck should realize that when a politician like John Kerry expresses his support for unrestricted abortion with the enthusiasm that he does, he is advancing abortion, not just tolerating it...
...That said, I found it jarring to read Hagen's description of "older Catholics, preoccupied with the battles of the late 1960s running the risk of be-coming a sort of Jacobite league or Confederate veterans' association, aging and dwindling and increasingly marginalized in the life of the church...
...When we cease to be efficient producers or good consumers we become dispensable...
...I remember the consternation that Humanae vitae caused, not only because of the prohibitions it placed on married couples, but also because it was seen by some as a call to blind obedience...
...None of these feelings and perceptions can impinge on the inherent sacredness of life...
...Responsibilities: direct fundraising and communications, expand annual funds and alumni appeal, build endowment...
...embassies there and 9/11...
...We can protect our vulnerable transports by escorting them, taking our losses as they come, or by destroying the Sudanese Air Force on the ground...
...I wonder how Callahan could have been so blinded by her concern about "life" in 2000 to be fooled by Bush...
...May I rephrase his remark by pointing out that all of us are tempted to live at the expense of others' lives, but that we can all be converted, especially by Jesus Christ, to "think of others as more important than ourselves...
...REV...
...And, we haven't even faced Sudanese ground forces...
...The reason she came to me was that she had an important paper due on the following Monday and she wanted an extension...
...She describes the atmosphere of the time and the place perfectly...
...Nor is Sudan unaware of the potential for U.S...
...A venial sin...
...My problem is that I see his religious and patriotic ideals as simplistic, skewed, and dangerously destructive to both justice and peace...
...Each human being has been carefully constructed and crafted by God to fulfill a purpose on earth and to glorify God...
...He commends Bush's idealism, but I surely made it clear that I see Bush as a true believer...
...The UN Security Council didn't support that war either...
...Claudius Acquaviva, fifth superior general of the Society of Jesus (1612), allegedly endorsed by Pope Paul V, and reiterated as recently as 1975 by the Holy Office (pardon me, Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith) in its Persona humana...
...I do not see how the complaints of the advocates of natural family planning (see "Humanae Vitae's Legacy," June 4)—however useful that method might be for some couples—are at all pertinent to her thesis...
...I protest this uncharitable and cruel characterization...
...I wonder...
...There will always be some women who, for their own very personal reasons, will want to have an abortion...
...Urging action means accepting the consequences...
...For me this is a question of his fundamental honesty, and so I am deeply troubled by his ambivalent stand on this issue...
...Let's hope Catholic leaders heed Tentler's advice and "begin to speak about living the vocation of Christian marriage in the real world...
...response has been hesitant and tardy, in part because of Washington's weakened credibility and lack of focus following the invasion of Iraq...
...Remember the Kosovo War...
...Either way, we are now into killing to avoid being killed...
...Is this a job Commonweal 36 July 16, 2004 for NATO—or have France and Germany had their fill...
...If I defend as right and good laws that allow millions of people to opt for abortion, isn't it a comforting dodge to say that personally "I am not for abortion...
...Conference of Catholic Bishops nor individual bishops have had the courage to challenge bishops who enabled and facilitated the sexual abuse of children...
...Louis, Mo...
...Requirements: 5-7 years in-creasing responsibility with annual giving and major gift programs...
...Blaming Bush C'mon guys, I know you have a burning need to blame everything on President George W. Bush, but claiming that his unilateral actions in Iraq have prevented the world from doing any-thing in Sudan is pretty ludicrous...
...At one time, he recalls, he told students that knowing they were wanted at birth "was a grace...
...Is this what Commonweal is recommending...
...Visit www.sacredartwork.com Books / Publications 963 974 Church's Right to Teach Birth Control, byYear and Cohort Birth Cohort Source: Catholic School Studies BECOME A PUBLISHED AUTHOR...
...That said, I am disappointed that she couldn't resist resorting to common antiabortion invective by labeling John Kerry "proabortion...
...2. John Kerry very publicly rejects an ancient moral doctrine of the church, namely that abortion is a grave evil...
...I believe that the church should lose its tax-exempt status if it continues to inject a selective enforcement of Catholic teachings into elections...
...This over-looks the fact that the church's argument against abortion is ultimately a religious one...
...3-line mini-mum...
...Renewed diplomatic relations with Sudan's neighbor Libya (one of the Bush administration's signal foreign-policy achievements) suggests potential access to Darfur...
...Faculty In-Service...
...We would also have to increase Army strength by 175,000 and Air Force strength by 25,000...
...In voting against this measure Kerry failed to exercise his right to validate what he claims as his private view—that abortion is wrong...
...This makes him a heretic (to use an old-fashioned but technically correct word...
...Sudan is land locked, so this means getting flyover rights...
...Now we get to the hard part...
...The writer is a retired Air Force colonel...
...Wouldn't that be the pro-life thing to do...
...The world refused to do anything about Sudan long before Bush was president...
...but lacking U.S...
...Military intervention is only the last of a series of options, including UN sanctions...
...It is a measure of our present plight that even "amoral realism" can look good...
...Discounts 5 percent, 3 times...
...If there is to be intervention to pre-vent another wave of mass murder it is up to the United States, Great Britain, and Australia and a few friends...
...Calling them "proabortion" is as accurate as using "prolife" to de-scribe those whose exclusive concern is for life in the form of sperm, ovum, stem cell, embryo, and fetus...
...I sure would like to know...
...This system demands that we consume more so that more can be produced...
...Our sinful nature often influences us to judge another's worth based on whether he is useful or attractive or wanted...
...missile strikes, or the increased presence of U.S...
...She may be right, but not in the way she suspects...
...e-mail to agrisw@stpaulparish.org Dynamic Creative Preaching PARISH MISSIONS, RETREATS FOR RELIGIOUS...
...But even then, only small forces could prove significant...
...As it turned out, that was the last time I spoke to her...
...What Bush meant by "humble" was not humbly listening and working with other countries but rather no nation building and no humanitarian intervention—in other words, "humility" about our responsibility to the rest of the world...
...Gift of life Frans Jozef van Beeck argues that our abortion-on-demand culture has actually reinforced the notion of life as a gift...
...He suggests that Humanae vitae implied that contraception is intrinsically evil, nevertheless may be, within marriage at least, merely a venial sin...
...In The Gospel of Life, John Paul II wrote that "over and above all scientific debates and those philosophical affirmations to which the magisterium has not expressly committed itself, the church has always taught and continues to teach that the result of human "Catln/, tali 10)0 plrrtSt 1,1ii1' in llt<' 1011'S lilt', latr>t Ill) (,~r• i Ill lhr urJ,co nor r,~tirr, urt~L..uk, t0 5, a 10th Ol MARK ANDERSON Commonweal 35 July 16, 2004 constrained by Roe v. Wade, and the solution is not to criminalize abortion, but to change hearts and minds...
...Urging action does indeed imply accepting consequences...
...This is baffling since the majority of Americans do not favor unrestricted abortion rights and find the partial-birth procedure morally and physically repugnant...
...Can we do it...
...the honest care and respect she pays to those who made their living by the writer's trade...
...In my opinion a more obvious claimant to that title would be the all-pervasive and all-powerful capitalistic ideology which creates citizens who are consumers even before they are mature and free persons...
...None of the above Your editorial "Kerry, the Catholic" perfectly articulates my own difficulty with Kerry's prochoice politics...
...Prolife people had better be careful...
...The original article by Leslie Tentler (April 23) and her exchange with John Hagen (June 4) provide telling insights into two op-posing views...
...The United Nations is not going to act...
...Many of them (though apparently not Callahan) are going to vote for Bush on the abortion issue alone, ignoring all the other ways in which this administration is antilife...
...3. If Kerry contends that he is not heretical since he is "personally op-posed" to abortion, this only compounds the offense, adding insincerity to doctrinal deviance...
...How-ever, in an imperfect world it is possible to limit the incidence of abortion, which the partial-birth ban would clearly do...
...The editors reply: It is good to have former columnist and old friend David Carlin back in Commonweal's pages even when he is advancing misguided policies...
...From whom...
...The recent visit of Secretary of State Colin Powell to the region is welcome, but it came only after increased domestic pressure...
...I think David Smith makes a good point, albeit a bit ideologically...
...She had gone to an "abortion mill" and was killed during the procedure...
...Matthew Shadle's analysis of re-cent foreign policy makes him leary of my endorsement of Kerry as the next national leader...
...Edward T. Wheeler is dean of the faculty at the Williams School in New London, Connecticut...
...I also tell them that what their parents wanted was "a baby," and then they came—a divinely demanding surprise to their parents...
...We would add the following points: Although most Catholic prolifers may not be working for the recriminalization of abortion, official church statements appear to be advocating that...
...EDMUND F. KAL Fresno, Calif...
...Ending abortion With regard to your "Communion Politics" editorial (May 21), four points: 1. Contrary to what you seem to suggest, most Catholic prolifers are not seriously aiming at the universal recriminalization of abortion...
...As Joshua Micah Marshall recently wrote in the Atlantic Monthly (July/August 2004), Kerry's projected foreign policy will be closer to Bush I than Bush II...
...JOSEPH F. BRINLEY St...
...10 percent, 6 times...
...military personnel in East Africa following the bombing of two WILKIE Commonweal 37 July 16, 2004 U.S...
...Why would they rock the ecclesiastical boat on this subject...
...But I must confess there are times I wish there was a ballot choice for "none of the above...
...Unfortunately, I must refer my sharp-witted fourth correspondent to one of my books for a detailed argument...
...leadership, the situation has become a humanitarian disaster...
...A few days later, police found her body in a dumpster...
...Finally, I disagree with Tentler and her critics that the sexual behavior of Americans is as degenerate as often claimed...
...He has commanded a fighter wing and served as chief of the Joint Staff Strategy Division...
...The church's appeal to absolutist rhetoric, like David Carlin's imprecise use of the terms "heresy" and "murder," " makes the prolife case less convincing to many and the possibility of political compromise that would reduce the number of abortions less likely...
...Do we have the forces...
...That said, the U.S...
...All of us are more than the sum of our individual genetic codes, important as they maybe...
...This has been true since at least the mid-1990s...
...Quietly, as the long-gone strict prohibition of lending money at interest...
...The loss of the odd C-17 and Boeing 747 or a quick bombing campaign...
...CLASSIFIED RATES: $1.20 per word...
...Early in my career, before Roe v. Wade, a female student came to me and told me that she was pregnant...
...C. JAMES SCHRENKER JR...
...But not acting in Dar-fur will spell disaster for hundreds of thousands...
...But that will be easy considering amoral "realism" is already the policy of France, Russia, and China...
...Kerry had nothing to lose...
...The writer is president of the National Democratic Ethnic Leadership Council...
...Should they be forced to undergo this procedure illegally, it would most likely be very unsafe...
...This may turn out to be a long and messy intervention and we need to be prepared for that outcome...
...Both as someone who answered rectory telephone calls about birth control in the late 1960s and subsequently did sociological research on the subject, I must side with Leslie Woodcock Tentler ("A Bitter Pill," April 23...
...We are not preoccupied with the past but are appreciative of the mischief occasioned by the church's past decisions...
...It hasn't in the past and nothing suggests it will do so now...
...BRIAN O'DWYER New York, N.Y...
...Joseph P. Spampinato chides me for saying that Kerry or anyone else is really "proabortion...
...Before `Roe' Regarding your issue on abortion politics (June 4): I am a former seminarian and a retired high-school teacher...
...www.sabbathretreats.org Born before 1910 1931—1940 1941—1950 After 1950 19[1—1920 1921—1930 Commonweal 38 July 16, 2004...
...Since Humanae vitae, the church has become largely irrelevant to them as they face the larger battles of the sexual jungle...
...We disagree...
...In your editorial, you maintain that the church has already "embraced religious pluralism, freedom of con-science, and democratic rights" in the manner called for in The Declaration on Religious Freedom...
...That, in my opinion, is the "port of entry to the culture of death...
...This was going to be a re-turn to the "realist" foreign policy of Nixon and Kissinger, and of Bush's father, which supported stability and the balance of power over liberal values, even if it meant keeping in power the worst dictators...
...To any-one who was really paying attention, it was clear in what direction he was going to take our country...
...GERRY GILLESPIE Meriden, Conn...
...Summerville, S.C...
...ROBERT SCHWARTZ Silver Spring, Md...
...A good press conference might do just as well...
...Their aim is to overturn Roe v. Wade, which would throw the abortion question back to the states, some of which (for example, many Southern states) would recriminalize, while others (for example, New York and California) would maintain the highly permissive status quo...
...4. While the bishops are obliged to sanction Kerry in a strong and conspicuous manner, they don't necessarily have to do it by denying him Communion...
...It seems you have set up the perfect situation...
...The thrust of Colonel Krieger's argument is that without massive infusions of U.S...
...I don't know Kerry personally, but I do know a lot of feminists and liberals, and not one of them is proabortion...
...Yes, they are not antiabortion, but they do believe that the difficult choice of having an abortion lies with the woman involved...
...We would probably have to impose ourselves on Ethiopia and eat the added cost of flying around Egypt...
...1-800-695-9599...
...15 percent, 12 times...
...DAVID L. SMITH, CSSp Pittsburgh, Pa...
...Human life is valuable, even sacred, because it is an act of providence...
...This has not "prevented" others from acting in Sudan...
...Some of the issues he raises were addressed in a subsequent editorial, "Kerry, the Catholic," (June 18...
...bishops fail to make a forceful response to his heresy, they will have failed in their teaching office, sending a message to Catholics that the church is not truly serious in its condemnation of abortion...
...GENEVIEVE K. BOGUCKI Peters burgh, N.Y...
...troops deployed to Liberia last year helped to end the brutal civil war there...
...Quietly, in order not to mislead the "simple faithful" into thinking that even such a commandment, "taught constantly and everywhere for four hundred years" could eventually (upon better psycho-logical and medical insight) be changed...
...Frans Jozef van Beeck's article both puzzles and intrigues me...
...I have read her articles in Commonweal over the years, and always thought of her as an intelligent woman...
...procreation, from the first moment of its existence, must be guaranteed that unconditional respect which is normally due a human being in his or her totality and unity as body and spirit (italics mine...
...Read Philippians 2, 3 (not 4!) to 11...
...This comes down to what we mean by "pro...
...She asserts, in effect, with Dr...
...Director of Development CAMBRIDGE CATHOLIC PARISH, Harvard Catholic Student Center and Choir School...
...Intelligent voters understand that pro-choice and prolife labels conceal a multitude of sins, but uninformed Catholics may follow the lead of their bishops and pastors, regardless of their lack of knowledge about other important issues...
...Of course Bush II's idealism has been clumsy, and Kerry supposedly will be more "multilateral...
...If the U.S...
...Is Kerry sincere in stating his personal opposition to abortion...
...The "personally opposed, but" position is not only totally fraudulent, it is also dishonest and dishonorable...
...Legislators are obviously publicly Church & state In your editorial "Kerry, the Catholic" (June 18), you maintain that, in its opposition to abortion, the church is not "trying to impose its religious views on others...
...excellent communications and organizational skills, self-starter...
...Quality subsidy publisher accepting manuscripts...
...Advance payment required...
...Callahan says she is looking for a foreign policy of "international cooperation aimed at peace-making," but that would be "peace" at the expense of justice...
...DAVID R. CARLIN Newport, R.I...
...Stopping genocide I was confused by the statement in your editorial on Sudan ("Collateral Damage," June 4) that the American people and their representatives must, in concert with other nations, act to end ethnic cleansing in Darfur...
...Under such circumstances, the possibility that a simple, clear booklet from the hierarchy will re-store the credibility of that right seems negligible...
...most are opposed to it 'personally'—a bad choice of words...
...Nation building Sidney Callahan longs for the "humble" foreign policy that George W. Bush promised in 2000 and now believes that John Kerry is the best hope for such a policy...
...or at least making sure he didn't "fully con-sent to the pleasure...
...Now, we have to get our forces in place between the Sudanese government forces and those they have been attacking...
...Censure the bishops I agree with your editorial on "Communion Politics" (May 21), but do not share your hope that "individual bishops" will challenge Archbishops Myers and Burke on their statements about denying Communion to pro-choice politicians...
...I expect they have...
...Abortion rhetoric Thanks to Sidney Callahan for her strong statement and detailed condemnation of President Bush and his policies and actions...
...SIDNEY CALLAHAN (Continued on page 4) Commonweal 2 July 16, 2004 (Continued from page 2) Advancing abortion In his article "Denying Communion to Politicians" (June 4) Frans Jozef van Beeck writes: "I know of no Catholic politicians who have purposely sought to actively advance abortion...
...The only local nation that might be able to intervene is Egypt and it is occupied with the consequences of the Israeli pullout from Gaza and the spread of terrorism from Saudi Arabia...
...So far neither the U.S...
...Fax resume to St...
...If this were true, however, the bishops would be calling for Catholic politicians to seek common ground with other persons of good will in making civil law on abortion, and those who followed Catholic teaching would no longer be vulnerable to charges that they were simply trying to legislate their own religious beliefs...
...Continued on page 35) SCHWADRON Commonweal 4 July 16, 2004 words she has done as reviewer and essayist...
...At least that was the teaching of Fr...
...The author replies: Like any teacher, I am happy to be taken seriously enough to receive re-quests for clarification and signs of disagreement...
...On the contrary, we put the onus squarely on the Sudanese government, and praise the Bush administration for drawing the UN's attention to the disaster...
Vol. 131 • July 2004 • No. 13
