Mirror of Justice

A blog dedicated to the development of Catholic legal theory.
Affiliated with the Program on Church, State & Society at Notre Dame Law School.

Tuesday, April 4, 2006

"Crunchy Con" reading list

By Rick Garnett

The "Crunchy Con" blog that author Rod Dreher has been running for the last few weeks is shutting down, after playing host to a series of very interesting posts, threads, and conversations.  One of the final posts, here, includes a reading list with some very good books (e.g., Jane Jacobs and Alasdair MacIntyre).

I have mixed feelings about this "crunchy con" business -- I can't help liking Starbucks and big-box retail, and I don't like organic stuff or patchouli -- but there's no getting around the fact, I think, that some elements of Dreher's vision -- subsidiarity, family, community, faith, urbanism -- resonate with the "Catholic thing."

A tribute to Ralph McInerny

By Rick Garnett

Here is Joseph Bottum's account, at the First Things blog, of the well deserved and (it sounds like) delightful tribute banquet for Notre Dame's philosopher Ralph McInerny, marking the establishment of a new center for Thomistic Studies in Washington, D.C.

Posner on the "ministerial exception"

By Rick Garnett

Here (thanks to Howard Bashman) is the Seventh Circuit's opinion, written by Judge Posner, in Tomic v. Catholic Diocese of Peoria, which provides a thorough and -- in my view -- excellent discussion of the so-called "ministerial exception" to federal anti-discrimination laws and of the church-autonomy idea more generally. 

Tomic was fired from his position as music director and organist at a Catholic church in Peoria.  He was fired, after a dispute with the Bishop's assistant about Easter music, and replaced by a younger person.  Tomic filed an age discrimination suit.  In this opinion, Judge Posner emphasized that "courts may not exercise jurisdiction over the internal affairs of religious associations," and affirmed the district court's dismissal of the case.  I liked this bit:

or to “Three Blind Mice.” That obviously is false. The religious music played at a wedding is not necessarily suitable for a funeral; and religious music written for Christmas is not necessarily suitable for Easter. Even Mozart had to struggle over what was suitable church music with his first patron, Archbishop Colloredo, whom the Mozart family called the “arch-booby.” “[M]usic is a vital means of expressing and celebrating those beliefs which a religious community holds most sacred. Music is an integral part of many different religious traditions,” including the Catholic tradition. . . .

At argument Tomic’s lawyer astonished us by arguing that music has in itself no religious significance—its only religious significance is in its words. The implication is that it is a matter of indifference to the Church and its flock whether the words of the Gospel are set to Handel’s Messiah

So, we now have a legal reason -- as opposed to the overwhelming aesthetic ones -- for urging pastors and Bishops to reduce Catholic music directors' and cantors' reliance on warbly, treacly junk:  If they are not careful, it will no longer be possible to insist on a distinction, in age-discrimination cases, that the music at Catholic masses really is different from "Three Blind Mice."  (A joke.  Sort of.)

Catholic judges

By Rob Vischer

Frank Paul-Sampino, an editor of the Catholic online magazine, Dappled Things, sent me a link to an essay he wrote on the moral obligations of Catholic judges, and has invited comments on his analysis.

Rob

Fr. Sirico at Notre Dame

By Rick Garnett

Fr. Robert Sirico, president of Mark's favorite free-market Catholic think-tank, the Acton Institute, is speaking at the business school here at Notre Dame on April 5.  Click here for more information.

The Acton Institute for the Study of Religion and Liberty is named after the English historian Lord John Acton, best known for his famous statement, “Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely.” Inspired by his work on the relation between liberty and morality, the Acton Institute seeks to articulate a vision of society that is both free and virtuous.

Monday, April 3, 2006

Hostility to Atheists?

By Rick Garnett

Ilya Somin, at the Volokh Conspiracy, has some thoughts here, here, and here on "hostility to atheists as the last socially acceptable prejudice."  Philip Jenkins, though, wrote a book recently on "The New Anti-Catholicism:  The Last Acceptable Prejudice," as did Fr. Mark Massa.  Catholics and atheists unite!

American Family

By Eduardo Penalver

Here's an interesting article from USAToday about the how the American middle-class family is viewed around the world.  I was particularly struck by the reaction from the Catholic country included in the study (Mexico) where the American family comes in for criticism as being overly individualized.  At the same time, however, people virtually everywhere are drawn to American patterns of consumption.  It seems to me, though, that you can't have the one (American patterns of consumption) without the other (family breakdown).

American families are envied, disdained
Posted 4/2/2006 10:00 PM

By Sharon Jayson, USA TODAY
ATLANTA — Experts who study families around the globe say America's middle-class family is the one people in other countries both love and loathe.

Anthropologists and sociologists at a weekend conference here on family myths say people from other countries hold up the American middle-class family as the modern ideal. They see movies, television programs and advertising that suggest wealth and prosperity — and they want some.

But researchers such as Ann Marie Leshkowich, assistant professor of anthropology at the College of the Holy Cross in Worcester, Mass., also say these families understand that not everything about modern U.S. families is ideal.

"There's a vision of independence and material prosperity, but the downside is that other kinds of social connections are being lost," she says. "American families may have money but don't have time and bonds together."

Leshkowich and other panelists at Emory University talked about visions of the modern family as viewed from other countries. Since the late 1990s, she has spent months at a time in Vietnam, where she says American families are criticized for being too materialistic and too focused on the individual rather than on extended family relationships.

"There is a sense that maybe the family is a residential center and people are going off during the day into his or her world," Leshkowich says. "They see family life as emotionally empty."

Similar views were noted by other researchers, who have spent time in Barbados, Egypt and Mexico. Others are working with colleagues studying families in Argentina and Nepal.

"There's a very clear criticism of American life, at least in Mexico, as being overly individualistic, as being selfish," says Jennifer Hirsch, associate professor of sociomedical sciences at Columbia University. "My experience of life in rural Mexico is that it's a society that takes much more pleasure from human connection."

But she says there also are aspects of America that Mexicans seek to emulate. "People want to shop like Americans," she says. "There is a great global envy for American patterns of consumption."

To find out just how pervasive is this idea of emulating American families, Emory University social demographer Kathryn Yount, along with Arland Thornton of the University of Michigan, have launched what may be a decade-long project in Argentina, China, Nepal and Egypt, as well as the USA.

"We're interested in seeing the impact of these ideas on family lives globally," she says.

"Political Agape"

By Rick Garnett

I just returned from a great two-day roundtable at Emory's Center for the Study of Law and Religion.  The focus was a work-in-progress -- "Political Agape:  A Defense of Prophetic Liberalism" -- by an Emory theologian, Prof. Timothy Jackson, who has written about -- among other things -- Dr. King, Christian charity, adoption, and social justice.  The participants included theologians, philosophers, social scientists, and lawyers, and the conversations -- at least, the parts I was able to understand, after I looked up words like "alethiology" and "kenosis" -- were really rich. 

Jackson's project is to build a defense of liberalism -- or, sometimes he says "liberal democracy" -- around a moral anthropology grounded in (his words) "sanctity", which is itself a function of human dependence and need for "agape" (love of neighbor), rather than "dignity", which Jackson thinks has become too closely tied to capacities ("rationality") and autonomy.  His version of liberalism is one that is "morally perfectionistic" -- thicker -- than the versions he associates with, say, John Rawls.  (In Jackon's view, it is a mistake to require of citizens in a liberal democracy that they offer, or even that they be prepared to offer, non-religious arguments and proposals in the political arena.)

Again, I am afraid that a lot of the discussion about the book was over my head, but I was and am intrigued by and attracted to political theorists who put anthropological questions -- i.e., what are we, what (if anything) are we for, and what are the implications for how we may be treated and treat others of the facts about who and what we are -- at the center of the inquiry.  Here, for anyone who might be interested in Jackson's earlier work, is his book, "The Priority of Love:  Christian Charity and Social Justice."

Islam and Religious Freedom

By Rick Garnett

Here is a passionate and provocative essay by Samir Khalil Samir, SJ, from the "AsiaNews" site, about the Abdul Rahman case, Islam, and human rights.  "Islam humiliates religious freedom of Christians and human rights of Muslims," he argues, and "it’s time for change."

“Woman, behold your son.”

By Amy Uelmen

I’d like to respond to some of the points in our continuing discussion about Jesuit legal education.  First, for the record, just a few of the facts about what has been happening at Fordham since 2001. 

For faculty, our Faculty Colloquia on Religion and the Law school is now in its fifth year.  It meets six to eight times per year, and draws the voluntary participation of 25% of the full time faculty.  While the faculty themselves set the agenda, it has for the past five years “privileged” the Catholic intellectual tradition, engaging topics such as Ex Corde, the Jesuit approach to education, the role of conscience, faith and politics, the history of Catholicism at the law school, etc.  Currently two of its participants (besides myself, and not the usual suspects) are exploring how to integrate CST into their scholarship.  The way some of the faculty have described these gatherings-again, not the usual suspects-are a “joy” and a “grace.” 

For the students, since 2004 we have offered a seminar on Catholic Social Thought and the Law, which surveys just about the entire corpus of CST.  We will continue to offer this course, and are currently exploring areas for more specialized focus.  Next year we will offer a new course on CST and Conflict Resolution.

For faculty, students and lawyers in the community, we offer an annual conference on religious values and legal practice, in which CST engages other faith traditions; and a Catholic Lawyer’s Program as a forum to explore how Catholic faith, teachings and traditions might inform the practice of law.  This year’s series, For All the Saints, explores how the lives of extraordinary Catholics- Thomas More, Bernard of Clairvaux, Teresa of Avila, Ignatius of Loyola, and Thérèse of Lisieux might shed light on the ordinary practice of law.

I agree that this is just a start.  But I think it would be fair to say that this could be described as “flesh on the bones,” and certainly more than a platitude or a tired formula.  And it is being carried out with the full, enthusiastic, unwavering support of the dean, the broader administration, and a significant group of the faculty.

Tenured faculty cannot be “pruned.”  For me it has been a grace to work with who we have.  I have discovered beautiful people with profound commitments to justice, and who in the context of an open and respectful community of conversation, also appreciate how their own visions of justice are at many points in deep harmony with the Catholic intellectual tradition. 

Reading some of the posts reminded me of some of my students' reactions to CST at this point in the semester-we have been harping on these problems for a hundred years and the Church has still not resolved them!  I gently point out that there are these other small details at work – like the culture, like original sin…. CST moves through time, responding to the ever-changing challenges of the culture and of history.  We can keep refining our analysis of exactly who is to blame for the state of Jesuit legal education, and who is worse off.  I agree that we need to face our limitations and shortcomings squarely, and in the light of the height and depth and breadth of the faith and love to which we are called.  But at a certain point I feel that efforts to pinpoint blame and measure how deep is the abyss of failure are just not constructive.  The Gregorian is in Rome, Baylor is in Waco, and Notre Dame is in South Bend.  Clearly these cities will create a certain baseline of religious cultural context and belief.  Fordham is in New York City - and so is working against the backdrop of a quite different cultural context.  We are working hard to move beyond platitudes.  We need your prayers and support and encouragement more than your criticism.

And even if we were to conclude that everything is in a hopeless and abysmal state?  What would Jesus do?  What would Mary do?  One of the moments of Mary’s life which is most helpful for me is when she was at the foot of the cross and Jesus said, “Woman behold your son.”  John was not Jesus.  John was a fragile, trembling, incredibly limited human being.  It was not a good deal to trade Jesus for John.  But Mary did embrace humanity in John, and that was her own work of redemption, this is how she generated the Church.  At this point, for whatever reason, Jesuit legal education may be fragile, trembling, and incredibly limited - more John than Jesus.  We are called to embrace John, with all of the love we can muster, and in this act of love to generate the community which is the Church.  And I believe - and have experienced - that this is the most fertile ground for communicating the essence of the Catholic intellectual tradition.

Thanks for listening.  Amy

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