Inside
NCR
Once upon a time if you worked for
National Catholic Reporter and wrote a book, you could be assured it
would never be reviewed or excerpted in these pages.
I never understood the policy. The noble intent behind it sought
to protect against conflict of interest and use of the pages to unfair
advantage by those who work here. What a pity. As far as I know, groundbreaking
work by the late Peter Hebblethwaite and the late Penny Lernoux -- he about the
Vatican and the papacy of John XXIII and the early papacy of John Paul II, she
about the church and politics of Latin America -- never got its fair due in
NCR.
I thought the policy overdid some sense of modesty and several
years ago reversed it, mostly with the blessings of everyone around here. Since
then we have reviewed and even excerpted at times books written by Rome
correspondent John L. Allen Jr., editor-at-large Arthur Jones, publisher Thomas
C. Fox, columnist Sr. Joan Chittister and long-time special report writer
Robert J. McClory.
My thinking is that we print the work and opinions of these
writers because they are good journalists and compelling thinkers. These books
are not, for instance, fawning biographies or the latest spin on public policy
meant to spike the revenue stream of some think tank. The books, for the most
part, grow out of reporting that our readers first saw on these pages. They
contain much more research and a much fuller treatment than we could handle in
the paper. In that spirit, we give you some excerpts (Page 14 ) from Fox’s
latest book, Pentecost in Asia: A New Way of Being Church, a logical
extension of his earlier reporting for NCR and his nearly lifelong
fascination with Asia.
It will be reviewed in a later issue, but enjoy this introduction
to a book that looks down a fascinating path. Though it was not intended at the
conception of the project, Fox’s new book may also offer the Western
church some direction for extricating itself from its current scandals.
Charlie Davis is a patient and wise
man who knows the world the way only a former Navy pilot and former
intelligence officer can know the world. He is patient, I know, because even
though he understands the hard-bitten world of international intrigue, he
listens more than politely to someone like me, who, to put it mildly, stands in
a different spot on the spectrum when it comes to issues of war and peace. (The
same is not true, I might add, when it comes to matters ecclesiastical, where
he becomes nothing short of radical.)
I value our conversations because Charlie, who has contributed
opinion pieces in the past, forces me to think longer and harder about a topic
and at times (though I don’t always admit it to him) causes me to
reconsider a position. We generally end up at odds, respecting each other and
thanking each other for the time and the thoughts.
When he does decide that a war is unacceptable, he makes serious
demands of himself and his reasoning. His rationale for not going to war with
Iraq is spelled out in an article on Page 7. Some might oppose the impending
invasion on the basis of nonviolent principles; others might be looking for the
kinds of reasons -- strategic and ethical -- that Davis lucidly outlines. He
invites anyone to join him in a petition he’s devised asking the
government to avoid war with Iraq. And we invite any other publication so
inclined to reprint Davis’ article. He can be reached at
cndppm@aol.com.
Want a break from the relentlessly
distressing news about the institutional church? We can sometimes lose sight of
the fact that 40 years ago this October the beginning of something wonderful
happened in Rome when Pope John XXIII surprised the world and convened the
Second Vatican Council. In the past year I have done some reading of histories
of that period and am continually fascinated with how alive and full of
expectation that era was. I am also newly aware of how determined some in the
church have been in recent decades to turn back the reforms of that period.
Something significant happened four decades ago, and we will be
devoting our Oct. 4 issue to that event, with a lead essay by Garry Wills,
author most recently of Why I Am a Catholic and Papal Sin: Structures
of Deceit. The issue also will contain an array of personal views of the
council and its effects from people who covered the council, who benefited from
its opening to other religions, from religious who experienced the changes it
brought, from a leading conservative voice and from younger Catholics who only
know the Catholic world of post-Vatican II.
-- Tom Roberts
My e-mail address is troberts@natcath.org
National Catholic Reporter, September 20,
2002
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