 |
About Woodstock | Programs | Publications | Search |
[Woodstock Report, June 1996, No. 46]
This issue of the Woodstock Report features the insightful keynote address of Washington Post columnist and Woodstock Board member E.J. Dionne, inaugurating the first conference of Woodstock's new program, "Public Discourse and the Common Good." A companion piece to E.J. Dionne's talk is an interview with R. Randall Rainey, S.J., the director of this new program. In the interview he explains what this program is and what it aims to accomplish.
No one needs convincing that government is not working well and that the level of political exchange is in need of improvement. It was to address this problem that Father Rainey convoked a major conference this past year. The topic was welfare reform but the stated goal of the conference was not simply to rehearse the arguments of the proponents of various positions. The conference aimed, rather, to have the panelists listen to one another more attentively than they normally do, to seek to understand and empathize with the arguments others offered, and to strive genuinely to appreciate, if not agree with, the values that motivated one's opponents. We hoped, thereby, to encourage self-reflection: having listened better and, in the process, discovered whether and where each might be missing or minimizing some important facts, misinterpreting their implications, or being motivated by bias or ideology, they might forge a more adequate welfare reform proposal than any one of them may have started with.
To ask speakers to engage in this kind of reflective dialogue was no mean challenge. Key to its success was the facilitation of conversations. Therefore, discussion moderators were carefully chosen: Cokie Roberts, ABC News, William A. Galston, Institute for Philosophy and Public Policy, University of Maryland, and Timothy J. Russert, NBC News. Some of the many fine panelists were: John Carr of the U.S. Catholic Conference, Father Fred Kammer, S.J., and Sharon Daly of Catholic Charities USA, syndicated columnist David Broder, Father Bryan Hehir, Harvard Divinity School, Isabel V. Sawhill, Urban Institute, Robert Woodson, National Center for Neighborhood Enterprises, Senator Dan Coats, Charles Murray and Michael Novak from the American Enterprise Institute, and Thomas Mann of the Brookings Institution.
Did the conference succeed in its ambitious aim? You will find an answer in the interview I conduct in these pages with Father Rainey.
You will also notice in this issue of the Report that we have come into the modern age, thanks to Tom Reese, S.J. Read about our new site on the Internet.
And, finally, the ultimate reality! Woodstock is desperately aiming to close in the black this fiscal year (June 30). We have $35,000.00 to go as of this writing. If you can contribute to the cause-for more information, see below--we will be eternally grateful.
Have a blessed summer and be sure of our prayers,
James L. Connor, S.J.
Dear friend of Woodstock,
"A house divided against itself cannot stand," Jesus warns in St. Luke's Gospel (11:17). We resonate with this warning today, seeing as we do the deep and heated divisions in U.S. society. Think, for instance, of divisions about abortion, welfare reform, gay rights, affirmative action, Bosnia, or what constitutes a family. Will our house stand?
In his book, Culture Wars: The Struggle to Define America, James Davison Hunter shows that our divisions are disagreements not simply about particular issues, but about the very sources of moral truth.
"What is ultimately at issue are deeply rooted and fundamentally different understandings of being and purpose . . . different conceptions of the sacred . . . the lifeorienting principles of individuals and the larger community" (page 131).
Can we find common ground on which to stand together? Jesus told a story about two houses, one built by a wise person, the other by a fool. The former built on rock, the latter on sand. The winds howled, the rains fell. The rockbased house stood firm and stable, the sandbased house fell to pieces (Matthew 7: 24-27).
What is the rockbase on which we can ground our house, our society, our culture? It is our common humanity. To uncover the grounds of our unity and purpose, we face a task of excavation. We need humbly, patiently, and honestly to dig through layers of group prejudice and personal anxiety, pretensions and vanity, to discover in our deepest longings their ultimate origin and goal: the God that Jesus called "Our Father." He thereby revealed that we humans are not strangers locked in combat, but sisters and brothers called to build together God's household now and for eternity.
Woodstock's mission is precisely to address social problems and divisions from this perspective of our God-given and common humanity. And it is the only rock-base that will bring all of us together. If "In God we Trust," then we will become "e pluribus unum." And only then. Please join us in this absolutely essential mission.
Help us with your prayer, your advice, and with your financial support for our work. Please complete the reply form below and mail it by June 30 along with your tax-deductible contribution to me at:
Woodstock Theological Center
Georgetown University
Washington, D.C. 20057
Please make your check payable to: Woodstock Theological Center. We rely on your interest, prayers, and generosity. Be sure of the grateful prayers of all at Woodstock.
James L. Connor, S.J.