Commonweal back issues from June 2004:
He stands alone.(To the Editors)(Letter to the Editor)
Jun 04, 2004; ... There is no one now writing about Jewish-Christian relations whom I read more willingly than Irving Greenberg ("Anti-Semitism in 'The Passion,'" May 7). In a dialogue that so often lumbers under the dead weight of cliche and boring earnestness, he invariably writes with a freshness and ...
No satisfaction.(To the Editors)(Letter to the Editor)
Jun 04, 2004; ... Rabbi Irving Greenberg is nothing if not straightforward. When I first read his article, I was surprised by his shift of focus from Mel Gibson's movie to the Gospels themselves. It felt like being at a dinner party where a respected guest not only declines a second helping of his host's ...
Watered down.(To the Editors)(Letter to the Editor)
Jun 04, 2004 ... The violence of Mel Gibson's The Passion of the Christ seemed to me aesthetically excessive, but the charge of anti-Semitism is a blatant attempt at emotional blackmail. Gibson portrays Jesus, Mary, Mary Magdalene, the male disciples, and Simon of Cyrene as Jewish in appearance and, for ...
The author replies.(Correspondence)
Jun 04, 2004 ... The author replies: Both Ralph Scheidler and Philip Devine are clearly troubled that a non-Christian wrote so candidly in a Christian publication. Personally, I thank Commonweal for inviting and publishing a dialogue of equals, including loving criticism and respectful ...
Priests & contraception.(To the Editors)(Letter to the Editor)
Jun 04, 2004; ... Leslie Tentler's article on contraception ("A Bitter Pill," April 23) awakened many memories in this priest entering the declining years of life and ministry. I was one of many priests who had to guide couples who agonized over family growth. It was sad to watch them struggle ...
The bishops & NFP.(To the Editors)(Letter to the Editor)
Jun 04, 2004; ... Leslie Tender's article on contraception presents an incomplete history that rests on negative presumptions. Tentler presumes a negative intention behind the not-yet-published bishops' document on contraception, referring to it as an "episcopal fait accompli." Had the author ...
Supporting Catholic schools.(To the Editors)(Letter to the Editor)
Jun 04, 2004; ... I read with great interest the thoughtful articles in the April 9 issue by Maurice Timothy Reidy ("Needed: The Vision Thing") and Anthony Andreassi ("Higher Ed"). In June of 1973 I finished a field study on The Role of Religious Teachers in the Future of Catholic Schools. The study ...
Who is responsible?
Jun 04, 2004 ... It is becoming increasingly clear that the torture of Iraqi prisoners at Abu Ghraib prison was not an isolated incident or merely the work of poorly trained and undisciplined Army reservists. Similar outrages, including the murder of prisoners, are emerging concerning other prisons in Iraq ...
Collateral damage.
Jun 04, 2004 ... Sudan is Africa's largest country, greater in size than Texas and Alaska combined. For decades, an unrelenting civil war has raged there between the Muslim-dominated north and the black animists and Christians in the south. Estimates say that more than 2 million people have died and twice ...
Politics or idolatry? The limits of compromise.(Of Several Minds)
Jun 04, 2004; ... There is a cliche floating around that people drop as if it were a self-evident truth--a category that may not exist, despite our Declaration of Independence. In anything involving religion, morals, medical ethics, or sexuality, whatever you choose to do is "between you and your God." ...
Humanae vitae's legacy: two views.(Continuing the Conversation)
Jun 04, 2004; ... John D. Hagen Jr. A few years ago in Commonweal, a young Catholic scholar referred to older colleagues "whose intellectual clocks stopped in 1968 with the ecclesiastical politics of Humanae vitae." He challenged this older cohort of Catholic academics to desist from end lessly ...
Catholic & political: between a rock & a hard place.
Jun 04, 2004; ... The first presidential election I gave any thought to was Nixon-McGovern, 1972. My first-grade teacher asked if we knew whom our parents would be voting for. After we raised our hands it became clear that my parents were the only ones for McGovern. (I was grateful for the support when one ...
Oratio Pro Caravaggio.(Poem)
Jun 04, 2004; ... <Pre> Devouring desire, Longing indiscriminate, Two-souled (like the rest of us) Driven to despair. Beauty-besotted child, Craving beyond measure, Passionately ...
Kerry & religion: can he reach 'persuadable' Catholics?
Jun 04, 2004; ... It was only a matter of time after Senator John Kerry (D-Mass.) declared his candidacy for the Democratic presidential nomination that the question of whether he could reconcile his prochoice views with his Catholicism would become a campaign issue. Although the Kerry campaign seems not to ...
A prolife case against Bush: it's about more than abortion.
Jun 04, 2004; ... I voted for George W. Bush and I'm heartily sorry now. My support was motivated by prolife convictions, but so is my present dismay. I opted for Bush in 2000 because I thought he'd try to protect embryonic life in and out of the womb, and also support faith-based social initiatives. As for ...
The Dialectical Development of Doctrine: a methodological proposal.
Jun 04, 2004; ... If Christianity--including Christian faith and theology--is to avoid becoming totally out of touch with the world--a museum piece at best, a force of baleful reaction at worst--it must constantly update itself by constant interaction, dialogue, dialectic with all the important intellectual ...
Denying communion to politicians: a theologian explains why it's wrong.
Jun 04, 2004; ... So Archbishop Raymond Burke of Saint Louis has thrown down the gauntlet, instructing his clergy to refuse prochoice Catholic politicians Communion. In his previous jurisdiction he had done the same, except he included euthanasia in his published bill of particulars. Other bishops have ...
Credo.(Poem)
Jun 04, 2004; ... <Pre> Because the leaves fall softly when they drop, I will follow the vole's track. Because my blood is the shape of sky, I will look to not man nor woman. A theory of beauty? Listen: wing and toil, breath. All measure is a ...
Mythology lite: Wolfgang Petersen's 'Troy'.(Screen)(Movie Review)
Jun 04, 2004; ... Strictly speaking, Troy isn't an adaptation of The Iliad. The closing credits of Wolfgang Petersen's production tell us that David Benioff's screenplay was "inspired" by Homer's epic. But actually most of the movie is an expensive guess at what inspired Homer. If a Trojan War really took ...
What works & what doesn't.(Books)(Stand Up Fight Back: Republican Toughs, Democratic Wimps, and the Politics of Revenge)(Radical Middle: The Politics We Need Now Mark Satin)(Book Review)
Jun 04, 2004; ... Stand Up Fight Back Republican Toughs, Democratic Wimps, and the Politics of Revenge E. J. Dionne Jr. Simon & Schuster, $24, 256 pp. Radical Middle The Politics We Need Now Mark Satin Westview Press, $19.95, 219 pp. It is ...
All too human.(Books)(Flesh in the Age of Reason: The Modern Foundations of Body and Soul Roy Porter)(Book Review)
Jun 04, 2004; ... Flesh in the Age of Reason The Modern Foundations of Body and Soul Roy Porter W. W. Norton, $29.95, 574 pp. The suggestiveness of the human body is inexhaustible. To the ancient Greeks, the body was an object of esthetic contemplation, raised by their ...
Religion booknotes.(American Catholics and Civic Engagement: A Distinctive Voice)(American Jesus: How the Son of God Became a National Icon)(Walking a Literary Labyrinth: A Spirituality of Reading)(A Season in Bethlehem: Unholy War in a Sacred Place)(Book Review)
Jun 04, 2004; ... American Catholics and Civic Engagement is the product of a three-year study co-sponsored by the Commonweal Foundation and the Faith and Reason Institute, and funded by the Pew Charitable Trusts. Edited by Margaret O'Brien Steinfels, former editor of Commonweal, this is the first of two ...
Dateline: Colorado Springs.(The Last Word)
Jun 04, 2004; ... The Catholic Church in Colorado Springs usually flies under the radar. We are a small diocese, carved out of Denver's archdiocese in the 1980s, with a tradition of strong lay leadership. We are a diocese of soldiers and peace activists, and our cathedral's long association with the Marian ...
Tough love.(To the Editors)(Letter to the Editor)
Jun 18, 2004; ... I very much appreciated Donald Senior's response to Rabbi Irving Greenberg ("Blame the Gospels?" May 7). However, I was disturbed by Senior's dismissal of Greenberg's argument that "satisfaction theology" is at the heart of Mel Gibson's The Passion of the Christ and, by extension, the ...
Fuzzy theology.(To the Editors)(Letter to the Editor)
Jun 18, 2004 ... Donald Senior's reply to Irving Greenberg's reflections on Mel Gibson and the Gospels struck me as "politically correct" ecumenism resulting in fuzzy theology. Greenberg provides a good study of the tactics of "victimology." Like Luther, he wants to censor many significant passages of the ...
The bishops & 'The Passion'.(To the Editors)(Letter to the Editor)
Jun 18, 2004; ... In his article, "Anti-Semitism in 'The Passion'" (May 7), Rabbi Irving Greenberg quotes from a review of The Passion of the Christ by the Office Film and Broadcasting (OFB) of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB); he uses the review to claim that the conference ...
Abortion politics.(To the Editors)(Letter to the Editor)
Jun 18, 2004; ... It was good to see your editorial, "Communion Politics," in the May 21 issue. The day it arrived, I had just finished speaking with a friend who is running as a Democrat for Congress. He is committed to social justice and has a long public record of being prolife. He is running against an ...
The gift of fertility.(To the Editors)(Letter to the Editor)
Jun 18, 2004; ... I have been following with interest the debate in your pages over Natural Family Planning (see "Correspondence," May 21.) What strikes me most is the amount of passion that the topic arouses. I was born in 1968 and so I missed the turbulent years leading up to and immediately following ...
Kerry, the Catholic.
Jun 18, 2004 ... Defending a Catholic politician's access to the Eucharist (see "Communion Politics," May 21) is not the same thing as defending his or her support for unrestricted access to abortion. Sad to say, Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry's position on the legal status of abortion is ...
Survey says: who's reading 'Commonweal'?(Notebook)
Jun 18, 2004; ... About every four years since the 1980s, Commonweal has conducted a reader survey, and each one has provided a fascinating snapshot of who's reading the magazine at a given time. Our most recent survey, conducted last fall, proved no different. It consisted of thirty questions spread over ...
Sonia Gandhi steps down: the power of renunciation.(Of Several Minds)
Jun 18, 2004; ... Should an Italian woman be the prime minister of India? That question transfixed this nation last month. It was answered finally by the people themselves, who said yes, emphatically. The recent elections in India were fought with Sonia Gandhi's leadership as one of the most ...
The pope on PVS: Does JP II's statement make the grade?
Jun 18, 2004; ... A recent address by Pope John Paul II regarding the care of patients in a persistent vegetative state (PVS) has left many people--Catholics and others--scratching their heads. If the withdrawal of tube feeding or artificially administered hydration can be the equivalent of "euthanasia by ...
From reassembling the bodily relics of st. Gemma Galgani.(Brief Article)(Poem)
Jun 18, 2004; ... I do not wish to deceive: Letter from Gemma Galgani to Msgr. Volpi, 1899 <Pre> As a child, I knew grief as a bank in the business of salvation. It was there I held allmy accounts--Mother said, You are never to touch them to buy something for yourself. ...
Above the law: president Bush & the Constitution.
Jun 18, 2004; ... The Abu Ghraib prison scandal casts a long shadow. Reports of American soldiers' atrocities against prisoners at Abu Ghraib, elsewhere in Iraq, and in Afghanistan have already eroded Americans' support for the Iraq war, emboldened opposition abroad to the "Bush Doctrine" of preemptive ...
Listening to Koko: a gorilla who speaks her mind.
Jun 18, 2004; ... This is the story of an embrace: the story of Koko the gorilla, or as she describes herself, "the fine animal gorilla," and Dr. Penny Patterson. Koko, as you may know, has been featured in National Geographic, on PBS, and on Mister Rogers. Koko is a gorilla who understands human language ...
English Catholics: a singular history & an uncertain future.
Jun 18, 2004; ... Once, England was a Catholic country. The evidence lies all around, in the medieval cathedrals and churches now given over to Anglican worship, the ruins of abbeys despoiled by Henry VIII, and the names of older Oxford colleges, such as Corpus Christi, All Souls, Magdalen. After the ...
Jonah's whale addresses the almighty.(Brief Article)(Poem)
Jun 18, 2004; ... <Pre> Ruler of oceans, who can fathom this awkward summons? Pity my moans, this long throat aching for everyday air. Doubts are lice. They eat into brain and heart. With a word, I'm consigned to unknown shores. Oh, Maker of magnificent tails, reconsider stranding this body, far from ...
Nice guys finish last: 'Still, We Believe: The Boston Red Sox Movie'.(Screen)(Movie Review)
Jun 18, 2004; ... As I write this, it is the cusp of summer, and the Boston Red Sox are winning. They've won seven out of ten and sit in first place, a half game ahead of that barnstorming assemblage of all-stars, that billionaire's vanity toy, also known as the New York Yankees. The Sox lead despite a ...
Reconstructions: 'Jumpers,' 'Bombay Dreams' & 'Assassins'.(Stage)(Theater Review)
Jun 18, 2004; ... Sometimes too much just isn't enough. That was the only conclusion to draw from some of the wild flights of fancy that skidded to a landing on Broadway this spring. In an era when surebet revivals multiply like gerbils and producers frantically hedge their bets by casting celebrities ...
Valerie Sayers.(Summer Reading)(Brick Lane)(The Madonna of Excelsior)(Hot Chocolate at Hanselmann's)(Book Review)
Jun 18, 2004; ... Three recent novels I've found compelling braid politics, religion, and families so tightly that it's nearly impossible (and probably pointless) to pull out the strands. All three explore the ways family life and religious belief can both reflect and deflect the oppressions of their ...
Benedicta Cipolla.(Summer Reading)(Aeneid)(Wittgenstein's Mistress)(Headlong)(What Am I Doing Here?)(Book Review)
Jun 18, 2004; ... With a beefed-up Brad Pitt kicking off the summer movie season as Achilles in Troy, what better time to revisit the ancient epics? The obvious choice is to turn to Homer, and perhaps, in response to Hollywood's continuing interest in sexing up Greco-Roman adventures, many will. I, however, ...
Rosemary Deen.(Summer Reading)(Homosexuality and Civilization)(The Body in Pain: The Making and Unmaking of the World)(Book Review)
Jun 18, 2004; ... Shaw famously said that polite society does not allow the three most interesting topics of discussion: religion, politics, and sex. For a thorough and thoroughly civil account of sex, we have now Louis Crompton's monumental but compendious study, Homosexuality and Civilization (Belknap ...
Michele Dillon.(Summer Reading)(American Pastoral)(The Professor's House)(By the Lake)(The Gnostic Gospels)(Book Review)
Jun 18, 2004; ... No matter how you spend your summers or what memories they evoke, the prospect of summer is full of the promise of endless freedom. Summer offers us time to restore the soul, to build up the harried self buffeted by the raw chills of winter. What better way to lose one's self than to get ...
Julia Vitullo-Martin.(Summer Reading)(Waterfront: A Journey around Manhattan)(The Outlaw Sea: A World of Freedom, Chaos and Crime)(The Ordinary Seaman)(The Dialectical Development of Doctrine: A Methodological Approach)(Book Review)
Jun 18, 2004; ... Summer would be unthinkable without water--its tempering of heat, its romance, its beauty, its infinite offerings of fun. Yet our benign view of water is a very recent phenomenon, as a walk around many major American cities reminds us. Even as waterfront property is today prized above all ...
'You're lucky, Kid'.(The Last Word)
Jun 18, 2004; ... The older of my two sons called from his job in New York to tell me he had just bought his airline ticket home. "I want to be there for Passover," he said. If he had thought at all about Easter, he didn't mention it. I paused, and thought of my old friend Beebe. She was Jewish. Smart and ...