8/2/2019 "A Tale of Two Jesuits" in Touchstone magazine (January-February 2006) by Dimitri Cavalli

1/4

Betty Friedan's Restless Ghost (p . 1 0 ) Narnia Enhanced (p. 45). WWW. T OU C HST ON E M A G. C OM L

A Journal o f Mere Christianity J A N U A R Y / F E B R U A R Y 2006

The LifeW e HoldAnne Barbeau Gardiner

Jennirer Roback MorseTO

Russell D. Moore

Jtili Loescn W iley

Mar Walsk

William Luseo A/ ^

O C

S5.00US S7.00CAN

0 I I I I74470M04200 IM I6 I

Plus:Allan Carlson on me Future oj me Family in America

Graeme Hunter onImmortality & DeathDimitri Cavalli on A. Tale of Two Jesuits

8/2/2019 "A Tale of Two Jesuits" in Touchstone magazine (January-February 2006) by Dimitri Cavalli

2/4

he lived th e life most of us would wish to live.That same day in the afterno on Rice went to anotherhouse of sorrow. He had to find words to comfort parentswhose infant child ha d lived only a few days and thenpainfully died, without gaining an y appreciation of theworld into which it had been born, or the parents w hoha d brough t it here with such hig h hopes, or the joys of

a life it would never know."Mr. Rice," said th e grieving father to the minister,"W hat is the u se of having lived at all?" It w as a heart feltinqui ry of the kind that puts our own life in question,exposing our usual excuses for living as threadbare. Butas sometimes happens in such situations, a light flashedinto th e darkness of that question, a light that, Rice says,did not come from his own mind. "You are an engineer,and have learned a little calculus," he said spon taneo uslyto the father,Yo u know therefore that w hen placed next to infinityan y finite number is the equal of any other. It seemsstrange at first, but it is mathematically certain. Theinfinite member of the equation being incomparablygreat, whatever we compare with it has the same sig-nificance. Now let us do a little human calculus withyour baby. Take him, or your 30-year-old self, or theold man I burie d this mo rning and lay up against youall the immortality fo r which each of you was born.The result is the same. Th e real greatness of a h u m a nlife is not how long it shall live on this earth, but thefact that it is an immortal life, destined to live foreverwith God.

T H E B A T T L E G R O U N DIn his sudden i l lumination th e pastor ha d seen a t ru ththat can easily be forgotten. It is not our earthly lives bu tGod's gift of immortali ty that defines our worth .Eternal life cannot be affected by the decisions ofabort ionists or euthanizers or the weak-willed adults whoseek out their services. W e adults , s truggling throug hth e middle of life's way, m ay destroy ourselves, if wespu rn the lives God en trusts to us. But we will not bepermitted to harm them. Their affairs are not neglectedby God.God's perfec t will is for us to struggle against evilwherever we find it, in an attempt to win back those whoare attracted to the dark logic of death. But the babiesthey kill belong to God no less than do the lives of agedsaints. The battle in the abortion mills that are, and in theeuthanasia factories that are to come, is for the hearts ofthose w ho work there, w ho have been deceived by death 'sseductive simplicity.Contributing editor Graeme Hunter teaches philosophy at th e Universityof Ottawa.

A Tale ofTw o JesuitsD I M I T R I C A V A L L I on Why the MediaCelebrated One & Ignored the OtherON M A Y 9 , 2 0 0 5 , th e Reverend ThomasReese, S.J., announced that he would resignas the editor-in-chief of America, the highlyrespected Jesuit weekly magazine. Many lib-eral Catholics blamed the newly elected Pope BenedictX V I with forc ing Reese ou t because he published articlesques t ion ing th e church 's teachings and the V at ican ' spolicies on such topics as same-sex marriage, homosexualpriests, an d denying Holy C omm union to pro-abortionC atholic poli tic ians.Several months later, many details about Reese'sresignation still remain sketchy. It is known that BenedictX V I , when he headed the V atican's Co ngregation for theDoctrine of the Faith (CDF) as Joseph C ardinal Ratzinger,com plained about cer tain ar t ic les that America ha d pub-lished. But did the new pope actually force Reese out? TheReverend Jose M. de V era, S.J., a spokesman for the Societyof Jesus in Rome, was quoted by the C atholic News Servicas saying that R eese "tendered his resignation. It was notimposed, contrary to what w as written."Reese's only statem ent on the con troversy, which wasposted on America's website, did no t shed any light on whyhe decid ed to resign. "I am pro ud of wha t my colleaguesand I did with the magazine, and I am grateful to them,our readers, and our benefactors for the supp ort they gaveme," Reese said. "I look forward to t ak ing a sabbaticalwhile my provincial and I determ ine the next phase of myJesuit ministry."Fath er Reese is hardly a marty r, even if C ardinalRatzinger did ask for his removal. Unlike some otherJesuits w ho have gotten into t rouble with their superiors,he has not been barred from teaching, pub lishing , or evenspeakin g to the m edia. Last July, Reese joined the facultyof the Jesuit- run Santa C lara University in C a l i forn ia .

R A L L Y I N G A R O U N D R E E S EWhatever Reese's motivations fo r resigning are, his de-par ture outraged many l iberal C atholics, w ho expressedfears of a new Vatican crackdown on the free discussionof issues importan t to the future of the church."A s a consequence," Commonweal, the lay liberalC atholic m agazine, warned in a May 20 editorial, "thefirst thing many Americans are now likely to associatewith Pope Benedict X V F s papacy will be yet another ac t

18 T O U C H S T O N E J A NUA R Y / F EBR UA R Y 2OO6

8/2/2019 "A Tale of Two Jesuits" in Touchstone magazine (January-February 2006) by Dimitri Cavalli

3/4

of Vatican repression. Does this mean that the zeal withwhich then-Cardinal Ratzinger harried theologians whilehead of the CDF will continue during his papacy?"

Some critics argued that Reese did nothing wrong.In an interview with New York Newsday, the ReverendRichard McBrien, a professor of theology at the Universityof Notre Dame and a prominent dissident theologian,defended Reese. "[He] has been very careful to be even-handed, fair-minded, and restrained in any comments he'sever made, either in the run-up to this papal election orin his books," McBrien asserted. "Iwould be astonished ifanyone except extreme right-wingers would be offended byanything he's either written or said." He told the Associ-ated Press that Reese's removal implied that the Vaticanand its American allies "don't think it's possible to discussboth sides."

Others spoke more dramatically. In a press release onits website published the same day as Reese's announce-ment, the Association for the Rights of Catholics in theChurch (ARCC), a dissident organization led by long-timedissen ting theologian Leonard Swidler, called on thepope

to recall his childhood under a fascist regime thatruthlessly stifled freedom of the press and to use hisauthority to allow Jesuit superiors to reinstate Fr.Thomas Reese, S.J., as Editor of America Magazine. . ..Unless and until this in jus t ice has been officiallyrectified, A R C C calls on all t ru th-seeking C athol ic sto withhold their annual Peter's Pence cont r ibu t ion[a donation to the V at ican] and to put a note in theenvelope, indicating why there is no donation andwhere the money is being sent instead.The media gave Reese's resignation extensive atten-

tion. The wire services such as the Associated Press andReuters picked up the story. The New York Times publishedan article on the front page. The television networks, PBS,cable television stations, and National Public Radio (NPR)covered it.

Not surprisingly, most of the media coveragewassympathetic to Reese. Many of the stories and seg-ments quoted liberal Catholics, who criticized the Vati-can for forcing Reese out and warning of a new waveof censorship coming from Rome. Tom Roberts, theeditor-in-chief of the liberal National Catholic Reporter,told Newsday that Father Reese was "forced out" by theVatican, and condemned the action as "an appallingaffront to intelligent discourse."

INTO E X I L EThree years earlier, another prominent Jesuit priest wasdisciplined for voicing controversial opinions. A theo-logian who studied for his doctorate under then-Father

Ratzinger in Germany, the Reverend Joseph Fessio, S.J.,co-founded Ignatius Press in 1978 to publish translationsof the works of European Catholic theologians, philoso-phers, and authors. Under his leadership, it has becomeone of the top publishers of Catholi c literature in theUnited States, including Cathol ic World Report, a monthlynews magazine, and a journa l called the Homiletic andPastoral Review.

Several years ago, Fessio became disillusioned withthe Jesuit-run University of San Francisco, where hetaught theology and founded a great books programcalled the St. Ignatius Institute. He publicly criticized theuniversity for overhauling the institute and taking "un-Catholic" actions such as hiring an openly homosexualdean and staging Eve Ensler's sexually explicit play, T heVagina Monologues, during Lent.

In March 2002, Fessio announced the formation ofCampion College, a two-year Catholic institution thatwould provide an alternative to the University of SanFrancisco. Fessio's actions immediately brought downthe wrath of his Jesuit superiors.

On March 11,2002, the Reverend Thomas Smolich,S.J., the provincial of the California Jesuits, sent Fessio aletter telling him that "Campion College was not and isnot part of your assignment from the Society of Jesus, asdetermined by me as your provincial." Smolich continued,"You are to have no role, public or private, in CampionCollege, just as Campion has no relationship with theSociety of Jesus."

In what was clearlya pun ishm ent, Smolich assignedFessio to serve as chaplain of Santa Teresita Hospital inDuarte, a small town in southern California. Smolichallowed Fessio to continue running Ignatius Press, butwarned him that it could be taken away from him if it

JANUARY / F E B R U A R Y 2OO6 TOUCHSTON E 19

8/2/2019 "A Tale of Two Jesuits" in Touchstone magazine (January-February 2006) by Dimitri Cavalli

4/4

w as no t kept separate fro m C amp ion C ol lege. Fessiocomplained that his superiors w ere trying to silence himand get him out of the way.How much media at tent ion did the exile of one ofth e most prominent C athol ic publ ishers in the UnitedStates receive? The wire services ignored it. There wasnothing in the New York Times. In fact, the only main-s tream newspaper that covered Father Fessio's "reas-signment" was the San Jose Mercury News. The televisionnetworks, PBS, the cable news shows, and NPR showedno interest.Wh a t about l iberal C athol ics w ho have rallied toReese's defense? Both Commonweal and the National Catho-lic Reporter were silent on Fessio's exile. O ne would thinkthat Reese would have come to the aid of his fellowJesuit, but America passed on the story as well. (I t mighthave been problematic for America even to discuss th eFessio case, since Smolich is also Reese's superior withinth e order.)T he of ten-quo ted Richard M c B r i e n made n os tatement. Th e A R C C , w hi ch was established by C a th o -lic dissidents in 1980 in response to the V atican's removalof Father Hans Kiing's l icense to teach C atholic theology,issued no press releases.

After a publ ic outcry from many conservative C atho-lics, in June 2002 Smolich allowed Fessio to accept anoffer to serve as the c hancellor of Ave Ma ria U niversity inNaples, Florida, where he is today.

A D O U B L E S T A N D A R DW hy was the liberal Reese portrayed as a marty r for hisalleged dismissal, while th e real exile of the conservativeFessio was practically ignored?Unlike Reese, Fessio has never been popular withliberal Catholics, including some of his fellow Jesuits,who resent his influenc e and unapologetic defense of thechu rch's tea chings. A V atican loyalist, he does not fit themainstream media's image of a contemporary martyr . Bycontrast, th e Reese episode gives liberal C atholics an dtheir allies in the secular media another opportuni ty tocriticize th e V atican and to raise doubts about the newpope, whose comm itment to C athol ic orthodoxy offendstheir sensibilities.O ne would take m ore seriously th e demand of liberalC atholics for tolerance and g reater democrac y within thechurc h if they did not tu rn a blind eye to repressive mea-sures used by liberals and dissidents w ho have obtainedpositions of power within the church to harass, intimi-date, and silence conservative Cathol icsif , that is, theywere truly liberal.Dimitri Cavall i is an editor and writer in New York City. He is plan-ning to write books on both Pope Pius XI I and Jo e McCarthy , th e latemanager of the New York Yankees.

Friends, Foes &CountrymenM I C H A E L E. B A I L E Y on th e Problem ofPatriotismM Y S U B J E C T is an embarrass ing one for educated and sophisticated, people lprofessors, college adm inistrators, th e etors and writers of the major magazinand newspapers , and those w ho produce ou r moviIt takes more courage among th e sophis ticated in Academy and elsewhere to state without qual i f icatthat you love Am erica than to declare yourself friento the United Nations , the idea of world government,the ideals of socialism.The key words here are, of course, "without qualifition." It is perfectly acceptable to praise Americaeventh e Academyas long as you make absolutely clear twhat you are prais ing is not America as she presentlbut Amer i ca as she can be. Praising th e idea an d ideof A meric a, in fact, requires that we temper our loveAmerica as she presently is .

S O P H I S T I C A T E D L O V E R SW hy is this? Why are sophis ticated people so uneabout loving their nation? For C hris tians , skepticiabout patr iotism is sometimes rooted in the legacyC hris tian thou ght. Scripture reminds followers of C hthat their deepest citizenship is in heaven, not in aearthly nation. We can never place our full conf idein this world, because even the most awesome produof hum an greatness and labor may be reduced to aswit h relative ease.Somehow I suspect that most of the unease in academythe part of the world of the sophisticateknow bestis not explained by rampan t Augus t in iism. Its unease may reflect i ts intellectual biasesapretensions.

2 0 T OUCHST ONE J A NUA RY / FEBRUA RY 2OO6