James Foley: Catholic Martyr or Apostate? The Two Faces of Islam and the Unfathonable Mystery of the Human Heart!

Sunday NY Times (Feb.22, 2015) featured a fascinating piece on James Foley, the photo-journalist who was brutally executed by Isis: while he was being honored as a Catholic martyr, word was spreading from fellow captives that he had converted to Islam in captivity. His family offered a window of insight: in an earlier captivity in Libya he had taken to praying with Muslims and he later described his ambivalence. He was aware of the tension of his prayer to Jesus and theirs to Allah and yet he felt a certain union with them in prayer. After the Libyan captivity, he spoke at Marquette, (his Jesuit Alma Mater where he would likely have imbibed a positive attitude to Islam): "So, from then on out I prayed with them five times a day. It was so powerful, and it was something I needed to do to commune with these guys who were relying on their faith in Allah. But it was difficult. I was thinking, 'Jesus, am I praying to Allah? Am I violating my belief in you?' I don't have an answer to that. I just know that I was authentically with them, and I was authentically praying to Jesus. I don't know theologically. But I thought I was being authentic." And so, it seems that later, in his fatal captivity, he also "converted" probably for practical reasons to be free of beatings and have peace to pray five times a day. He seems to have intimately engaged with the two faces of Islam: the dark and the light. He suffered torture and execution. At the same time, he bonded with his fellow captives in shared prayer. One of his fellows latter said he was most interested in the Koran and understanding Islam. I imagine he was in a life-and-death struggle of "discerning" in that ancient tradition what would be good for his still-Christian soul and what bad. Islam is in large part an acceptance of Divine Revelation: monotheism, creation, the Torah. But, much like Mormonism and other "Christian" cults, it deviates in profound ways: basically Arian, it explicitly rejects the divinity of Christ and the Trinity, it reverts to primitive and pre-Christian acceptance of polygamy and therefore misogyny, and it rejects Jesus' mysticism of forgiveness in favor of violence. As Pope Benedict pointed out in his brilliant Regensburg Address, it is also irrational in its dismissal of reason and truth in favor of a willful deity. While we can abstractly parse out the demonic from the angelic in the religion, when we meet a Muslim we face a far deeper Mystery, a person with a heart and intellect and spirit! The weeds and wheat flourish together and practically they cannot be disengaged this side of the Parousia. This ambiguity calls to mind one of the very few theological disagreements between the Great Popes, John Paul and Benedict: the prayer with the religions at Assisi. St. John Paul was quite comfortable in this communion; but Benedict feared confusion. Perhaps the first was more fervent in his hunger for the good, for communion, for reconciliation; and the later more passionate about the truth and the right. Perhaps both were "right" in complementary ways: so catholic and broad is the Church! Foley seems to have been closer to St. John Paul. I consider him a saint, although one who probably won't be canonized. May he pray for us and for peace with our Muslim brothers and sisters!

A Marian Take on "50 Shades of Grey"

The fascination with Fifty Shades of Grey and its masochism has been perceptively related to the overload on women in a post-feminist world: they are stressed with pressures from the marketplace of work/career and that of popularity/appeal, they are overachieving in industry and academy even as they are taking care of the kids, the home and the parents. They are so active, so in control and in charge of so much...the logic goes...that they welcome retreat into a fantasy of passivity, inertia, and submission. This is probably accurate. If the "feminine" includes a dynamic of reception, than it will re-assert itself, in an unfortunate form, if repressed by a hyper-masculine culture of unbalanced agency, achievement and control. The problem goes beyond women: men also are drawn to masochism. The same-sex male act is defined by domination...an ugly reality entirely avoided by those who so cavalierly legitimate the act. The theme of the female dominatrix has wide appeal, even in softer forms as the pornographic classic Lolita in which the weak, older man is overcome by the underage female aggressor. This "submission" theme, in conjunction with its complement "domination," suggest an underlying privation: an obsession with control, action and achievement and an aversion to reception, contemplation, and "the feminine." As creatures, gratuitously brought into being by a generous, loving God, we are always first and foremost in the posture of reception: we receive existence as well as this particular mother and father, family, time in history, DNA, and so on. And if we are created to love we are first loved...by family, and others, and God...long before we can ever love even in the slightest. And so, the appeal of masochism suggests that so many of us have not been loved, have not received, have not learned to surrender to love... be that in family or romance or friendship or religion. It suggests we need to learn to open our hearts to the wholesome, ennobling, freeing and strengthening love that comes, in so many marvelous manners, from the God who created and saved and loves us!

Katniss Everdeen: Icon of the Feminine as Fierce

As portrayed by Jennifer Lawrence, Katniss (Hunger Games)is a refreshing, inspiring image of woman as a warrior...courageous, fierce, and resilient...but yet feminine and maternal. As such, she retrieves Catholic traditions of a fierce, fearless femininity. We think of our Blessed Mother as gentle, quiet, almost passive...but recall that she is the one who crushes the head of the serpent, Satan. As such, she is the penultimate warrior, fearless and reckless in defense of her children. This is Katniss: gracious, gentle, but relentless in defense of the victimized. Think of St. Catherine of Sienna rebuking kings and popes; of Joan of Ark leading her troups. Think of the many virgin-martyrs who sprang up spontaneously in the fertile soil of early Christianity: in a Roman culture where women were the possessions of men, they asserted an independence, an interior strength, a courage, an invincible determination. Their courage and strength of course were wed to their purity and chastity. Katniss models this as well. She is more than capable of eros love. Indeed, she loves and is loved passionately by two young men. Interestingly, she herself is confused in her feelings for her two lovers but what is clear to all is that these romantic loves must defer to a deeper, truer, more passionate love...her devotion to her family and people. While not explicitly Christ-centered, this celibate, chaste commitment reflects a heroic, transcendent, sacrificial and agapic love. Her vigorous, natural longing for companionship and intimacy surrenders itself on behalf of a more generous, selfless, heroic love. Katniss, like every celibate and virgin, shows us that romantic love never fulfills itself but needs to be poured into the deeper agapic love for God, family and community. This is the pattern of the virgin martyrs, of our Lady, of Joan and Catherine. Femininity is at once generous, tender, pure and fierce!