Inside
NCR
The Great American Lockup.
Thats one of the designations the NCR staff, during a
meeting early in the summer, gave the growing penchant we seem to have as a
culture for locking folks up, for handing down increasingly stiff penalties and
for the growing use of capital punishment. Those are areas well continue
to cover in the coming months -- look for the crime and punishment logo.
In this issue, the logo appears first on the cover story dealing
with the lockup of immigrants under the draconian provisions of the 1996
legislation. It also appears, with a story that describes the Italian reaction
to the execution of Derek Barnabei in Virginia. To the Europeans, we appear
barbarous, keeping company on capital punishment with China, Iran and Saudi
Arabia.
When you read the story about immigrants, think back through your
family tree. All four of my grandparents emigrated from Italy (my last name is
a casualty of immigration proceedings) and they wouldnt meet todays
criteria. I think they would wonder whats happened to their adopted
countrys political and justice systems, and I think theyd wonder
whats happened to its soul.
The editors jealously guard the
space on the back page where unsigned pieces represent the voice of the paper.
So it was not a decision taken lightly to hand over that spot to a reader. But
Paige Byrne Shortals words capture better than any editorial the jarring
effect the recent Vatican document Dominus Iesus has had on some whose
lives of faith are lived out in other traditions. This is particularly true in
cases where someone is married to a Catholic or considering joining or learning
more about the Catholic church.
Some argue that there really is nothing new in the document, only
that the language is a little harsher than necessary. I find it difficult to
imagine, however, that one could construe nothing new in all the papal
statements about other religions and other denominations in the years since
Vatican II. If there were no new impulse during the past 35 years, no desire to
go beyond what had been the attitude toward other religions and denominations
prior to that reform council, then a lot of Catholic leaders were playing a
terrible game with the good faith of dialogue partners and the deep yearnings
of millions of the Catholic faithful.
You may have noticed a change in
staff e-mail addresses. Were trying to simplify things by giving everyone
a standard address: first initial and last name at natcath.org. That
formulation ought to work for anyone listed in the top portion of the
masthead.
-- Tom Roberts
My e-mail address is troberts@natcath.org
National Catholic Reporter, September 29,
2000
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