
##4074551 It is always risky to make speculative statements about historical figures , but I 'm going to go out on a limb and make one : If St. Paul were alive today , he would have a blog . And whether he called it Paul 's Ponderings or Tarsus Tome , it would light up the computer screen with his provocative insights . Musings about Paul as a blogger came to mind when I read that Pope Benedict XVI is encouraging priests to embrace online communication tools . Publications on the World Wide Web like blogs ( regularly updated online journals or forums ) can " open up broad new vistas for dialogue , evangelization and catechesis , " according to the pope . Paul , that passionate evangelizer and masterful letter writer , would probably have immediately grasped the potential of a medium that allows access 24/7 from any computer anywhere in the world . I agree with the pope that these new forms of communication hold great promise for the church . More surprising are the ways in which they can shape the spiritual lives of @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ new blog , I speak from experience . I have been a freelance writer for more than 20 years , writing books and articles on a wide variety of subjects . In the past few years I have focused increasingly on spiritual topics and last September launched a blog called The Holy Rover . I gave it a subtitle , " Travel Tips for Inner and Outer Journeys , " figuring that would allow me a wide range of topics to cover . It took me a while to get used to this new writing form and to figure out how to post pictures and videos and how to link to other sites on the Internet . The daily routine was overwhelming at first as I tried to come up with something new each day . I started The Holy Rover , frankly , in large part as a marketing tool for my work . But as I have followed the discipline of blogging six days a week , I 've discovered that its primary benefits have been to my soul rather than to my career . Digging Deeper During Advent @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ shaping my spiritual life . Each day I was forced to dig a little deeper into the meaning of the season , trying to find a new facet of Advent to write about . I knew that some of my readers were not Christian , and that others were half-hearted Christians at best . I struggled to find ways to interpret doctrines like the Incarnation and even searched for images from great works of art that might convey ideas that I could not express well in words . Occasionally I came across something that made me sit back in my chair , moved to tears . I read a line by the author Anne Lamott , for example , in which she says that perhaps when a lot of seemingly meaningless things start to go wrong all at once , it is to protect something big and lovely that is trying to get itself born and that we need to be distracted so it can be born perfect . Then I found a poem by Wendell Berry , so lovely as to be almost crystalline , a piece that describes discovering @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ . I never would have stumbled across such beauty if I had n't been searching for material . In months of blogging I have come to relearn an old truth : Many of us know what we think only after we 've written about it . Just as my experience of Advent was deepened , so my Lenten practice also was richer this year because of the blog . In trying to explain to my readers why fasting is traditionally part of Lent , for example , or why the seven deadly sins convey eternal truths about human nature , I keep discovering new insights into ancient themes . While I have never been a huge fan of St. Paul , I have come to have much more respect for his skills as a writer . A blog like mine is essentially a letter , addressed both to people you know and to others you do n't know . Those who lived alongside the historical Jesus had a chance to experience his mystery in person , but those who came after him , like Paul , had to communicate Jesus ' @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ you do it at a computer keyboard or with ink on papyrus . I also have grown ( grudgingly ) to appreciate the discipline blogging requires . I 've struggled for years to try to keep a regular prayer life , but knowing that people are reading my blog each day motivates me . It keeps me alert to the movement of the Spirit around me , and it has helped me realize that writing itself can be a form of prayer . Paul and Me Conventional wisdom says that online communication is inherently isolating . It can be , with people connecting by Facebook and Twitter instead of conversing face-to-face . But we should n't quickly dismiss the connective power of online media . I have corresponded with people around the nation and in several other countries simply because they happened upon my blog , I treasure those links because as a writer , I do work that is basically solitary . One drawback of blogging , of course , is that it is time-consuming , particularly for those who already have very busy lives . Even with my flexible @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ like one more duty to cross off my list , a lot of effort for little reward . I wonder about the value of blowing literary dandelion seeds into cyberspace . I do , however , know one person whose life has changed for the better as the result of my blog : me . I have become a more thoughtful , disciplined Christian as a result of keeping this online journal . And on a good day , I can feel a kinship with St. Paul , sitting in prison as he pens an epistle to a scattered church , not knowing who will read it or how they might respond , but living in faith that the effort is worthwhile . 
##4074552 ART DIMENSIONS OF THE HOLY Sacred Spanish art at the National Gallery Describing Jesus and his disciples as they go up to Jerusalem , Mark the Evangelist writes : " Jesus was walking ahead of them ; and they were amazed , and those who followed were afraid " ( 10:32 ) . That coupling of amazement and fear , according to Rudolf Otto in his classic The Idea of the Holy ( 1919 ) , is the essence of human experience of the divine or numinous . When God appears to human beings , it is , in Otto 's memorable phrase , as mystcrium tremendum etfascinans , a holy mystery that awakens both fear and fascination . There are , of course , a variety of ways the experience can be expressed - as humbling and exalting , as awe and embrace , as deepened desire yet remorseful recoil . The experience can lead to tears of consolation or the desert of immense distance , both beyond words . Such an experience of mingled awe and enchantment arises as one enters " The Sacred Made Real @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ currently at the National Gallery of Art in Washington . Somewhat abbreviated from an earlier installation in London 's National Gallery , the show offers stellar examples of two types of art , one twodimensional , the other three-dimensional , which are generally shown separately but here enter into revealing conversation . During the Catholic Reformation , the artists of Spain 's Golden Age developed an intense realism to stir and even shock viewers with stark , emotional and often anguished presentations of Christ , the Virgin and the saints . Several of the era 's greatest painters are represented in the current exhibition , including Francisco de Zurbarn and Diego Velazquez . They are matched by less well-known sculptors like Juan Martinez Montas and Pedro de Mena . No pairing of works more vividly represents the interaction of painterly and sculptural interests than two versions of the Immaculate Conception ( see pg . 17 ) , one a sculpture attributed to Montas ( c. 1620 ) , the other an early painting by Velazquez ( 1618-19 ) . Both depict the Virgin slightly larger than life-size , according to the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ with the sun , and the moon under her feet , and upon her head a crown of twelve stars " ( 12:1-2 ) . Together they exemplify ' a typology developed by Baroque artists in 17thcentury Seville : a naturalistic young girl takes all her dignity from her clothing and surroundings . Velazquez places his Mary , with her broad face and full cheeks , against an inky night sky , whose billowing white clouds give cosmic dimension to her swirling blue mantle . ( She may have been modeled on Juana Pacheco , the daughter of Velazquez 's master , Francisco Pacheco , whom the painter married . ) At her feet are symbols suggesting her purity - a temple , a fountain , a palm tree . The sculptural effect is striking , and Velazquez may well have studied an earlier Immaculate Conception by Montas . The Montas Virgin evokes a similar serenity . But additional majesty attaches to the figure through the tunic decorated with pale flowers under a black cloak enriched with effulgent golden arabesques . Delightfully , the angels at her feet and on the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ be there . You can stand before these two wondrous works , beguiled by the lovely faces , imagining the inner grace of each figure , drawn into the mystery of innocence enduring all experience , transported to another time and still sensing a deeper root in your own . Art that enthralls begets otiier art that enthralls , and nearby are three interpretations of St. Francis of Assisi that could define the word . Zurbarn 's mid-career masterpiece , " Saint Francis Standing in Ecstasy " ( c. 1640 ) , from the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston , shows the saint anachronistically in the habit of the reformed branch of his order , the Capuchins , his hands folded in sleeves and his face looking heavenward , the whole figure lit by a suggestion of candlelight . ( Legend has it that when his tomb was opened before Pope Nicholas V in 1449 , the saint 's body was found in exactly this position , miraculously preserved . ) Next to the larger-than-life-size painting is the half-life-size , polychromed statue of " Saint Francis Standing in Ecstasy " @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ inspired by the Zurbarn . A celebrated object of veneration by pilgrims , the piece has never before left the Cathedral of Toledo . Next to it is one of the greatest of all representations of prayer : Zurbarn 's " Saint Francis Kneeling in Meditation " ( 163539 ) , from London 's National Gallery . You can enter the darkness with Francis as he kneels silent and enraptured , a skull cradled in his exquisitely painted hands . Light falls over your left shoulder onto his right shoulder . Looking up toward his face , you realize that you do not see his eyes , deep in the shadow of his cowl , but only his handsome nose and parted lips . No words come , to him or you , no motion , no desire to be anywhere but here . The presence of God suffuses this image of the poorest and perhaps most beloved of all the followers of Christ . Your eye moves across the canvas , from the strong hands with the slight indication of the stigmata on his right hand , to the tattered @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ his waist , over to the folds that cover his feet and knees , up again to the holy face . The figure is almost entirely on the right side of the painting , yet it balances because the coarse white of the habit at Francis 's right arm pulls the figure to the left and gives it a pulsing stasis , an insistent silent presence . You wish the gallery were empty so that you could kneel . The face of Francis is holy , not sacred . An unfortunate perpetuation of the dichotomy between the sacred and the profane continues to be used in art criticism ( and many other places as well ) when dealing with Christianity . It was , for example , the cause of considerable conceptual confusion at a major exhibition on religion in art two years ago at the Centte Pompidou in Paris , " Les traces du sacr . " But what " sacred " means , in contrast to " profane " ( that which lies outside the temple and is purely of this world ) , is " something set apart @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , by some form of consecration , for religious usage . But for a faith that confesses God 's living among us and enduring for us death itself in Christ , our human world is no longer a realm apart but , rather , radically God 's own . Its story and ours have come to be because the holy mystery of God graciously chooses to create a story that will be God 's own , the story of God 's holiness enfleshed in human holiness and suffering for it . Of all the words that might speak less deficiently of the God beyond all language , it is " holiness " that best accompanies " love . " And so the representations of Christ and Mary and the saints that are magnificently brought together at the National Gallery might be said to be sacred , as art or music or dance in a church might be said to be . But the human beings represented by the art are holy , because the God of holiness has dwelt in them through God 's own Spirit - and always will . 
##4074556 " If I went back to China , I would probably be arrested , " the Rev. Joseph Ruan told me , as we sat in the rectory of St. Joseph Church in the Chinatown neighborhood of Manhattan . A quiet , energetic priest in his mid-40s , Father Ruan has ministered to the Chinese immigrants here for more than five years . Like him , most are from the Fujian Province in southern China . Three decades ago these people began to migrate to New York in large numbers , fleeing the religious persecution of the Chinese Communist government . Chinatown is a microcosm of what many Chinese immigrants who come to the United States face when they seek asylum . Many pay human smugglers , known as snakeheads , up to $70,000 to reach the United States , said Father Ruan . Typically the immigrants arrive in California or New York , the two states with the largest concentrations of Chinese-born populations . In order to pay off their travel debt , including interest , many work 12-hour days in local Chinese restaurants - for years @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ cluster together to share a single room . And like so many other immigrants from around the world , those without documents have virtually no rights until their appeals for asylum are successful . The young Chinese , who arrive in roughly equal numbers of men and women , sometimes work double shifts , an arrangement made possible by local restaurants that occasionally provide workers with on-site beds where they can sleep for a few hours . Few speak English when they arrive , and few have the time or resources to take formal lessons . Gradually , some do acquire an ability to communicate in English , especially those who move on to other states where the pay is better , the hours are fewer and the rents are lower . As they progress economically , some open take-out restaurants of their own . Most hope that hard work will enable them to marry and start a family , Father Ruan said . Here their children will receive an education that they themselves never had . Meanwhile , such immigrants ' existence is precarious . Few can afford health care @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ been granted asylum avoid hospitals except in emergencies and rely instead on over-thecounter medications or folk remedies . Asylum Appeals The Catholic immigrants typically arrive with a letter from their pastor in China stating they are bona fide Catholics . After they have attended Sunday Mass at St. Joseph Church in nearby Greenwich Village for three months or more , they qualify for a " letter of certification " from the parish . " I then give them a certificate stating that they are members here , " Father Ruan said . They can present the certificate in court at their immigration hearings , accompanied by a lawyer , whose fee tends to be another big expense . Father Ruan often accompanies the parishioners , too . Most of the appeals for asylum are accepted , he said , on tiie basis of religious persecution . " Even if the appeal is not immediately granted , another effort can be made the following year , without the danger of immediate deportation back to China . " He explained that in this respect , the situation of Chinese immigrants is very different @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ is not typically an issue . Some Chinese immigrants seek to become Catholics . " I offer a course in basic catechetics for six months or more , " Father Ruan said , " then I test them to see whether they grasp fundamental Catholic teachings . " The priest baptizes those who pass the test , typically during the Easter Vigil . " The whole worshiping community takes part in welcoming them at that liturgy , " Father Ruan said . Others are baptized on the feast of the Assumption or at Christmas . Each year some 150 to 200 young adults seek baptism at the parish . Underground Churches In China many Catholics worship in so-called underground churches , which the Chinese government does not recognize as legitimate . Until relatively recently , many worshippers attended Mass in house churches that date back to the Cultural Revolution ( 1966 to 1976 ) , when Christian worship was forced underground . In some regions house churches have become a bit more tolerated since the 1980s , when economic reforms were initiated by the former Chinese Communist leader Deng Xiao Ping @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , and seminaries reopened in places like Shanghai and Beijing under the control of the so-called Catholic Patriotic Association . But harassment and imprisonment are still common for members of the underground churches . International pressure has softened the situation somewhat with respect to the selection of Catholic bishops . Once the Chinese government would not accept as bishops those whom the Vatican proposed . The situation remains anomalous , Father Ruan said , because the power of selection still lies with the Chinese Patriotic Association . This group , he noted , continues to cause difficulties for Catholics in the practice of their faith . Some lay people who belong to the association " work for the government and report on the activities of priests and lay people that could result in imprisonment . " As he put it , " the association controls the bishops and priests . " Yet many bishops of the Chinese Patriotic Association who applied to the Vatican for recognition have been accepted as legitimate by Rome . What impresses Father Ruan is the faith of the parishioners . For the main Sunday afternoon liturgy @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ away as Boston , Philadelphia and Washington , D.C. AU three cities have Chinese-operated bus companies that offer low fares and make it possible for the people to attend the 3 p.m. liturgy . Except for the presider 's prayers , the congregation sings nearly the entire Mass . When I attended the Mass one afternoon , I noted the intense concentration of the people present . The same was true at a Sunday afternoon funeral Mass for a young Chinese man who had died of cancer . Though a funeral Mass , it was nevertheless the community 's Sunday worship , and the church was almost full . At Christmas , over 700 people attend the midnight Mass and the Masses on Christmas Day . Father Ruan celebrates in Mandarin , the official government language . Parishioners learned it in state-run schools in China , even though in their families they speak one of the various Fujianese dialects used in Fuzhou , the capital city of Fujian Province . A Pastor 's Long Journey Father Ruan 's own spiritual journey was long and hard . His desire to be a @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ family rose before dawn in their village to pray the rosary and other devotions on their knees before beginning the farm work ; they prayed again before going to bed . Since they had no electricity , the Ruans prayed by candlelight . Their small house with simple furniture had no place to hide forbidden objects like crucifixes , rosaries and holy pictures when government agents came to search for them and take them away . The priests father was persecuted during the Cultural Revolution and beaten by Communists . These events , said Father Ruan , the youngest child in his family , date back to the period when the Chinese government regularly imprisoned priests and bishops . Despite his family 's objections because of the difficulty and length of time involved in becoming a priest , Father Ruan persevered in his desire . His studies began at age 17 in a clandestine seminary in a mountainous area reachable only on foot . He and other seminarians slept in one big room on mats spread on the wooden floor of a house . Sometimes , when they learned that the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ move to another sequestered mountain location . Eventually they returned to their homes . " But we never lost our vocation , " the priest said . From 1983 to 1989 , Father Ruan studied philosophy and theology at a seminary in Shanghai . There at the She-shan Basilica , the seminary rector , Bishop Aloysius Jin , ordained him to the priesthood . Bishop Jin " wanted to keep me there to teach in the seminary , " said Father Ruan , " because there were not enough priests . " For nine years he worked as a pastor in various parishes and taught in the minor seminary in Fujian Province . Then he expressed a desire to continue his studies on the doctoral level . No such programs were available in China . For doctoral studies , he would have to leave China , but the government would not grant him a passport . Despite numerous complications , the priest obtained a passport with the help of a parishioner friend who ran a travel agency . Father Ruan went to Hong Kong with a letter of recommendation from his @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Cardinal Joseph Zen . The cardinal sent him to Rome to study for a doctorate in moral theology at the Pontifical Lateran University . The opportunity came with a warning . Bishop Zheng warned Father Ruan that the police would be waiting to imprison him if he tried to return to China after receiving his degree . " I was offered an opportunity to work in Rome for the Italian Web site agency Asianews " he said . Around that time , however , Cardinal Edward Egan of New York met with Cardinal Zen in Rome and expressed his need for a priest to serve the Fujianese Catholic community in New York . Cardinal Zen recommended Father Ruan . Ironically , the Chinese governments refusal to accept him as a priest gave Father Ruan the freedom to come to America . He was assigned to St. Joseph Church . At the end of our conversation , Father Ruan expressed dismay at the attitude of the Chinese government : " China is now so open to the world ; why then is it so afraid of religion ? " That question may @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ but in the meantime , the Chinese who worship at St. Joseph Church know that the struggles involved in their search for asylum and the freedom to worship according to their own faith have been worth the dangers and costs involved . 
##4074557 When the story of sexual abuse of minors by members of the Catholic clergy and the story of how that abuse was dealt with by church officials exploded in the United States , most Vatican officials and European churchmen considered it an American problem . Then when Canada and Ireland experienced a similar crisis , it became a problem of the " English-speaking world . " Instead of seeing the crisis in the United States as a warning to put their own houses in order , too many European bishops continued with business as usual , believing that the crisis would not touch them . Now that the crisis has arrived in Europe , what can the European bishops and the Vatican learn from the U.S. experience ? Begin with the context . The sexual abuse crisis did not start in Boston ; it first came to public attention in the mid-1980s with a court case in Lafayette , La . The crisis was covered by The National Catholic Reporter long before The Boston Globe noticed it . It was in the mid-80s that insurance companies told bishops @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ insurance . This should have gotten the attention of any prudent C.E.O . A Long Learning Curve Before 1985 few bishops handled these cases well . The tendency was to believe the priest when he said he would never do it again and to believe psychologists who said the priest could safely return to ministry . The bishops were compassionate and pastoral toward their priests , while forgetting their responsibility to be pastoral and protective of their flock . They tried to keep everything secret so as not to scandalize the faithful . Between 1985 and 1992 , the bishops began to learn more about the problem . They held closed-door sessions with experts at their semiannual meetings . At one closed meeting , at least one bishop told his brother bishops of the mistakes he had made and urged them not to do the same . The number of abuses declined during this period . In 1992 , under the leadership of Archbishop Daniel Pilarcyzk , the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops adopted a series of guidelines for dealing with sexual abuse . Data collected by researchers at the John @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ abuse cases plummeted in the 1990s , indicating that by that time most bishops " got it . " The guidelines were opposed by Cardinal Bernard Law , however , and ignored by other bishops . The guidelines were not binding on the bishops , and they continued to leave open the possibility that an abusive priest could return to ministry . And at a meeting in St. Louis , Mo. , that same year , a group of psychologists who were treating priests urged the bishops to keep open the possibility of returning the priests to ministry . The scandal in Boston showed that voluntary guidelines were insufficient . It also showed that no one trusted the bishops ( or their advisors ) to decide who could safely be returned to ministry . As a result , in 2002 the bishops , with Rome 's consent , imposed binding rules requiring zero tolerance of abuse , the reporting of accusations to the police and mandatory child protection programs in every diocese . Under the zero-tolerance rule adopted at their meeting in Dallas , any priest involved in abuse should never @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , he was to be expelled from the priesthood , with possible exceptions if he is elderly and retired or infirm . The Dallas rules also required a lay committee in each diocese to review accusations against priests who are suspended from ministry while an investigation takes place . The Dallas rules were controversial in that many priests saw the zero -tolerance rule as draconian . They also feared false accusations and that the rules made them guilty until proven innocent . They objected that Dallas dealt only with priests , not with the bishops who were guilty of negligence . In any case , it took the American bishops 17 years to figure out how to proceed , from the 1985 lawsuit against the Diocese of Lafayette , La. , to the establishment of the Dallas Charter for the Protection of Children and Young People in 2002 . The European bishops need to travel the same ground very quickly , and the Vatican needs to make zero tolerance the law for the universal church . What Not to Do While the Europeans can learn from what the American bishops got @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ mistakes the Americans made during the crisis . From the beginning , the American bishops underestimated the size and gravity of the problem . Prior to 1993 , only one-third of the victims had come forward to report the abuse to their dioceses , so not even the church knew how bad the crisis was . Most victims do not want others to know they were abused , especially their parents , spouses , children and friends . Media coverage of abuse by clerics encouraged and empowered victims to come forward as they recognized they were not alone . Today , Europeans are shocked by the hundreds of cases that are being reported . They should get ready for thousands more . In the United States over 5,000 priests , or 4 percent of the clergy , were responsible for 13,000 alleged instances of abuse over a 50 -year period . There is no reason to think Europe is different . Hope for the best , but do the math and be prepared . The biggest miscalculation the American bishops made was to think that the crisis would pass in a @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ to pass is a failed strategy . Unless they want this crisis to go on for years as it has done in the United States , the European bishops need to be transparent and encourage victims to come forward now . Better to get all the bad news out as soon as possible than to give the appearance of attempting a coverup . One school in Berlin , a Jesuit school , did the right thing . It knew of seven cases of abuse , went public , hired a female lawyer to go through their files and deal with victims and then wrote to the alumni asking victims to come forward . When at least 120 victims did so saying that they were abused at Jesuit schools in Germany , the foolish concluded that the school had been crazy to issue the invitation . But not only was it the Christian thing to do , it was also smart public relations . No one is accusing the current school administration of covering up . In addition , rather than having three to five years of negative publicity as one victim @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ months of unwanted publicity before the media move on to something else . American bishops also made the mistake of blaming the media , faulting the permissive culture and trying to downplay clerical abuse by pointing out that there are 90,000 to 150,000 reported cases of sexual abuse of minors each year in the United States . While there is truth in all this , it is counterproductive for the bishops to make these arguments , which come across as excuses . Rather , the bishops should condemn the abuse , apologize and put in place policies to make sure that children are safe . Nor is one apology enough . Like an unfaithful spouse , they must apologize , apologize , apologize . Finally , the American bishops excused themselves by saying they made mistakes but were not culpable because of their ignorance . Sorry ; this wo n't wash . American Catholics wanted some bishops to stand up and say : " I made a mistake ; I moved this priest to another parish . I did not think he would abuse again . I got bad advice , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ I resign . " If 30 bishops in the United States had done this , the crisis would not have gone on as long as it did . People would have said , " Good , that is what leaders are supposed to do . They get it . With a new bishop we can have healing and move on . " Bishops have to be willing to sacrifice for the sake of the whole church . It is a scandal that Cardinal Law was the only U.S. bishop to resign because of this crisis . It is encouraging that four Irish bishops have submitted their resignations . Unless the church wants this crisis to go on for years in Europe as it did in the United States , some bishops will have to resign . Will the European bishops learn from the U.S. experience ? I hope so . 
##4074558 Here is an academic theory that every moviegoer can appreciate . The theory of the " look " or " gaze " of the cinema argues that whatever attitude a viewer brings to the screen determines what kind of interaction he or she will have with the film . In recent years cinema scholars have defined all sorts of gazes related to race , color , class , gender and sexual desire . Those who once loved the 1935 Shirley Temple hit " The Little Colonel , " for example , can not watch that film in the same way now . Many can barely watch it at all . Since the civil rights movement of the 1960s , viewers see the assumed superiority of a 7-year-old white child over African-American adults in a radically different light . There are also male , masochistic , abject , colonial , post-colonial and disabled gazes . There is even the " look away , " when one can not bear to watch what happens next . These looks are not simply personal . They are embedded in us through usage @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ of watching a film in which the villain is physically or mentally disabled . With a debt to Shakespeare ( " Richard III " ) and Victor Hugo ( The Hunchback of Notre Dame ) , the cinema has so taken over this convention that many of us may not even notice when it is used . But think of the implications of such a portrayal and the appalling messages perpetuated by linking evil behavior to physical disability . In recent years Hollywood has come in for critical drubbing for making its baddies not just disabled ( think of all the Jekyll &; Hyde films , as well as " Dr. Strangelove " ) but often homosexual ( " The Silence of the Lambs , " " Cruising , " or films where a pedophile character is also gay ) . If they want to make the characters especially evil , then writers go for the Hollywood trifecta and make them British to boot . Hannibal Lectet - evil , gay and British - take a bow . In my own research and writing , I have tried to define a @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ one of the elements that can be operative in a spectator 's view , whether a film has a religious theme or not , is openness to an encounter with otherness . Since the late 1960s , organized religions have seen a significant decline in the participation of teenagers and young adults for a variety of reasons . At the same time , these groups , perhaps because they have more disposable income than previous generations , increased their attendance at the cinema . What they saw there also changed . In every year since 1968 , beginning with " 2001 : A Space Odyssey , " the most successful genre films for teenagers and young adults have been fantasy films , in all their wonderful variations . It is no coincidence that as young people walked away from the liturgical temple , they walked into a celluloid temple that offered them other worlds , other forms of being , altered consciousness , metaphysics , meta- ethics and transcendence in vivid ways . This was not a one-generation phenomenon . The trend has been a constant element in cinema over the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ with otherness in a church transferred their expectations to the cinema . And some directors exploited such latent openness to mysticism . Of the top 30 box office films of all time , 23 belong to the fantasy genre , " Avatar , " the " Lord of the Rings " trilogy , the " Star Wars " films and " The Dark Knight " among them . And in case you think this phenomenon is only about blockbusters , or that it is a passing fad , here is another figure : The top 20 box office films last year included six science fiction fantasies , one apocalyptic fantasy and one actionhero fantasy . Some of these films are explicitly mystical in style , tone and content . Mysticism comes from the Greek word muein , meaning " close the lips and eyes . " Christianity defines four types of mysticism . First , apophatic mysticism , into the darkness , where one empties the mind to encounter God ; second , kataphatic mysticism , or the mysticism of light , to illuminate a path to God ; third , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , personal action , where the encounter with God may lead some to face martyrdom . The mythic stories of fantasy films often act out one or more of these types - not that a film has to be a fantasy film to be mystical . Take Peter Weir 's film " Witness , " a stunning 1985 police thriller set among the Amish in Lancaster County , Pa . Among the mystical elements in this film , one stands out : the barn raising . Comprised of 34 individual scenes , this powerful sequence starts in silence with the Amish families appearing almost to rise up from the earth to raise a neighbor 's barn from the ground . It finishes with a hymn of thanksgiving as that day 's work is done . Weir uses three cinematic devices to structure the scene in a " mystical " way . First , the spectator is positioned to see an extraordinary event not just as an eternal observer of the action , but also as a knowing participant . As the community gathers , as love blooms , as personal rivalries @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the viewer in an omnipotent position at the center of the action , in an empathetic , participative place to watch an Amish community act out its faith . The idyllic action also embodies key teachings of a host of major religious collectives in regard to communitarian and agrarian beliefs with which many viewers would be sympathetic . Second , Weir 's camera keeps the viewer focused on John Book ( Harrison Ford ) , the outsider , who through hard work and growing affection for Rachel Lapp ( Kelly McGillis ) is starting to feel at home within this foreign , religious community . That mirrors the feelings of the viewer . Third , the masterful use of silence and then Maurice Jarre 's stately Quakerstyle hymn underscore the ritual elements in the action . As the barn rises as if from nowhere , the music emerges out of silence and grows into a lyrical , fully orchestrated reverie . For this film Weir uses a story laden with religious overtones , positions the viewer with the outsider coming in , and balances silence and liturgically styled music to enable @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ police thriller . Some viewers may have an experience of otherness , of something " more . " Peter Weir is not the only director whose work has often been described as mystical . The films of Kurosawa , Fellini , Bergman , Hitchcock , Altman , Bunuel , Coppola , . Kubrick , Russell , Truffaut and Wertmller have attracted similar commentary . Even the way some films are marketed sets up an expectation that they will be mystical . The public is told that a film " transports " viewers to different places , times , circumstances , emotions , thoughts or states ; you hear that a film " changed my life , " that " time stood still , " that " I know where I was when I saw that film because it had a dramatic impact on my life . " You hear that there are films you will " never forget " or " wo n't believe " ; films that will " break your heart , " " move you to laughter and tears " and " scare you out of your skin @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ to " Avatar " to understand that mystical transportation in the cinema is not just about esoteric directors or weighty stories . An explicitly mystical story , " Avatar " constantly positions the viewer to both preside over and be emphatic with the outsider as he is initiated into an eco-spiritual community . The mystical potential of the cinema arises not just from the hardwiring of the brain , but from the characteristics that movie theaters and churches share , like the play between light and dark ; the creation of special spaces wherein both silence and attention are focused , demanded and enforced ; the suspension of time ( few or no clocks in either place ) ; the reliance on the visual and auditory as entry points into the experience ; the deployment and investment of symbols ; the public space wherein a private encounter is encouraged ; rituals involving food and drink ; the establishment of hierarchies of power , of saints , celebrities and stars who live in the world viewers behold and hope to enter . So what are people encountering when they exercise the mystical @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the classical sense , not an encounter with God . The study of cross-cultural mystical traditions may provide insights into what unchurched Westerners , especially young adults , experience when they flock to these films . Daniel Madigan , S.J. , a scholar of Islam , has argued that even if mysticism is an element common to most religious collectives , it can not be claimed that mystics the world over encounter the same single being or truth . Madigan opines that what they encounter , and what gives mystical experience its diversity and richness , is an experience of believing . The mystical look of the cinema underlines the belief that we are not alone , that we are connected to something and some others we can not see , hear and touch . There are things in this world and in other worlds that we struggle to explain but can still experience . These metaphysical realities offer us hope . In a Western culture often bereft of religious experience , these films initiate the spectator into a world of transcendence , of something greater and more . That is @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ time . As members of a church that wants to talk to the young about this world and the next , we should take the cinema very seriously indeed . 
##4074561 THEATER Three plays showcase stage and screen talent . The days when the American theater minted its own bona fide stars seem to have faded like so many yellowing playbills bearing the names of the Lunts and Sarah Bernhardt , Uta Hagen and George Grizzard . In the Netflix age , can an actor build a commanding body work , let alone engender a devoted following , with the stage as the main platform ? Three recent Broadway plays that had limited runs gave a hearteningly affirmative answer , even as they exemplify what looks like a trend toward celebrity casting that has invited much critical hand-wringing but was mostly vindicated by the fine performances all around . In " Time Stands Still , " Donald Margulies 's well -crafted new play about war reporters adjusting poorly to the home front , Laura Linney played an obsessive photojournalist with a magisterial mix of wariness , wit and well-concealed pain , alongside a cast of stage pros and one Broadway newcomer , Alicia Silverstone , who slotted into the ensemble effortlessly . In " A View From the Bridge @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ and repression , Liev Schreiber and Jessica Hecht gave towering , indelible performances as a strained married couple , while the young Scarlett Johansson , in her first major stage appearance , held her own as the unwitting cause of the marital strain . And in an uneven new revival of William Gibson 's " The Miracle Worker , " a diminutive firecracker named Alison Pill , as the willful governess and teacher Annie Sullivan , staked her claim as a native stage talent alongside Abigail Breslin , " Little Miss Sunshine " herself , who disappeared convincingly and movingly into the showpiece role of Helen Keller . But those are not " stage stars , " I hear you protest . After all , you 've seen Linney and Schreiber in many movies . ( You might recognize Hecht from a recurring role on " Friends " and Pill from a memorable turn in the biopic " Milk " ) Well , yes ; no working actor with any ambition , not to mention rent to pay , can afford to forgo lucrative film and television opportunities . But with @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ not everyone rushes to see them onstage because they were brilliant in " Love Actually " or " Scream . " Linney and Schreiber , in particular , are the kind of stage-seasoned actors actors whom discerning theatergoers line up to see primarily on the strength of their stage work , and whose performances they will talk about for years . Hecht is not far behind their rank , and Pill is fast becoming the same kind of you-mustsee-her-live theatrical star . It is easy to see why great stage actors attract devotees . The best among them are a unique blend of long-distance athlete and fine-grained craftsperson . To realize a role onstage every night requires a mastery of time and space no editor or director of photography can provide , as well as a heightened sensitivity to the small moments , accidents and felicities that crop up differently every night . Few actors anywhere can catch and release a stage with such firm delicacy as the hulking Schreiber , who played the Brooklyn longshoreman Eddie Carbone with a burn so slow you did not notice it until the whole @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Schreibers intensity almost never rose to a full roar . What 's remarkable is how little he does to convey even the hugest of emotions . He understands that even in a big Broadway theater , acting is still about capturing nuances of behavior that illuminate larger truths . This is particularly true of Miller 's thematically ambitious 1955 play , which traces the disastrous effects of Eddies quasi-incestuous infatuation with his wife 's niece , Catherine , when she reaches maturity and finds a likely mate in a fey Italian immigrant . Miller , writing outside his own culture , seems to have been inspired by the play 's Italian - American setting to strive for a kind of gritty operatic verismo la " Cavalleria Rusticana . " In the process , he also included his most explicit references to one of his lifelong projects : to graft the pressing moral quandaries of everyday American life onto the god- crossed tragedies of the Greeks . Here , a lawyer named Alfieri ( played with casual lyricism by Michael Cristofer ) offers narration that would have been provided by the chorus @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ unfold among Eddie and his long-suffering wife Beatrice ( Hecht , pinched yet sympathetic , without a drop of sentimentality ) , the budding Catherine and a pair of illegals from the old country , Marco and Rodolpho . Schreibers overwhelming restraint , under Gregory Mosher 's unflustered , concentrated direction , set the sobered-up tone and rendered the play 's stark colors - rage ! jealousy ! betrayal ! - in burnished , battered shades rather than in florid extremes . That may explain in part why the resourceful Johansson blended in so well . Adjusting herself to this grayishbrown world , she was more russet than Scarlett . " Time Stands Still " handled its pressing moral dilemmas - the proper role and responsibility of those who document the world 's worst atrocities , the passivity of the audiences who consume their work - in a more familiar contemporary register . No operatic soliloquies about justice here , just a tetchy ongoing argument between Jamie ( Brian d'Arcy James ) , a traumatized war reporter who is ready to pack it in for a saner life stateside , and @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ home only because she has been injured in Iraq and who plans to return as soon as she is back on her feet . Their bond , initially forged but now frayed by frontline adrenaline , is further tested in contrast with the all-too-cozy romance between Richard , Sarah 's phlegmatic assignment editor ( Eric Bogosian ) and Mandy , his much younger girlfriend ( Silverstone ) . This is a finely made and serious play , and it was smoothly directed by Daniel Sullivan . But there is no suspense in its central relationship drama . For all D'Arcy James 's eloquent sputtering , we could predict the ending from Linney , who remained too stubbornly true to her character 's complications for us to have believed that Sarah will relent . All that 's left between the curtains , then , is moderately amusing and mildly challenging banter over divergent lifestyle choices , the cultural representation of violence and the state of publishing . In other words , " Time Stands Still " is more or less indistinguishable from a slightly edgy dinner party . " The Miracle Worker @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ trio because the real draw here was not any actor but the play itself . Sure enough , on the night I attended die show , the house was packed with parents and tweens on hand for this generation 's ritual retelling of Annie Sullivan 's inspiring breakthrough with a young , nearferal Helen Keller . Seen today , William Gibsons 1957 play remains an engaging but almost shockingly slight work that looks like a TV-movie prototype . But if its structure is spindly , its tentpole moments still hold up . Our introduction to the feisty orphan Annie ; her repeated faceoffs with Helen 's stubborn parents ( Jennifer Morrison and Matthew Modine , both of them weak tea ) ; and , above all , her brutal scrimmages and hard-won progress with the blind-and-deaf but hardly disabled little bully Helen , reaching its peak in the easily parodied but still effective water-pump epiphany . Kate WTioriskey 's uneven direction never made peace with Circle in the Square 's in-the-round configuration . We seldom felt we are where we want to be as the action unfolds . But as she @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ excels at shaping scenes of connection , and competition , among women in close quarters . As Annie struggles first to tame , then to teach Helen , we are privy to the emergence of what will be a lifelong bond , though the play ends with but a hint of it . We are also witness to the emergence of a true stage star - not Breslin , who was good as Helen but remained , in part because of the role 's unique demands , somewhat opaque . The title , after all , tells us whom the play is really about , and the indomitable Pill worked her own brand of miracles . The first of these is to take full possession of a role created by Anne Bancroft , a stage-minted star if there ever was one . That Pill owned it so neatly and totally is cause to hope for the future of this irreducibly live art . 
##4074565 Many years ago I received a passionate love letter written on a scrap of paper three inches square . It was placed in my jacket pocket by a 6-year-old boy as I strolled through his classroom encouraging him and the other children as they wrote and illustrated poems . I had no idea he had put it there until much later that day . His attempt at anonymity was futile ; I had noticed him bent over something small , working with such intense concentration that I did n't dare to intrude . This boy was terribly shy and had blushed deeply the day before , when I praised a drawing he had made of a brontosaurus , with its yearning neck fully extended , singing a song to the moon . As for the content of his note , it moved me deeply , bringing tears to my eyes and also joy and wonderment . Border to border , he had filled that paper with scribbles , tiny wiggly lines , etched deeply onto the page . Much effort had gone into it , and the result @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ to do with Easter , I am not sure . But I will try to explore and explain . That little boy , his teacher told me , was not a particularly good student , though he tried hard . He was not accustomed to being told he had done something well . And now , courtesy of the North Dakota Arts Council and its Artists in Schools program , change was afoot . The teacher said she hoped this program would give her something to build on to make this child 's school experience less painful . On the way to becoming Christian , we are all learners . When it comes to fully accepting what it means to be a Christian , I am not a particularly good student . For one thing , my prayer life is much too haphazard for a Benedictine oblate . If I am fortunate enough to be visiting a monastery , going to the Liturgy of the Hours every day , I do fine ; but left to my own devices I falter . I know very well that church is the right @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ I do n't always make it . I am inspired by the many people I know who practice their faith with great compassion and fervor , ministering to others with an impressive reliability that I lack . I am convinced that God loves us all . Telling the Stories I am sometimes told by readers that my books have ministered to them , and that is welcome news . Many of my letters from readers contain eloquent expressions of gratitude . After The Cloister Walk appeared ( a book about my experience of Benedictines and their observance of the liturgical year ) , a man whose wife was in the last stages of lung cancer wrote to tell me that he was reading the book to her and that they were both finding solace in it . I am glad to hear such things , but I know that I could not have written the book with such a goal in mind . All I can do is tell my stories as best I can , and let a book find its own way in the world . It is grace @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ promote The Cloister Walk gave me a new appreciation of the Easter season . A book tour is hard-core business travel and can be sheer drudgery ; I once visited 17 cities in 21 days . But it also provides me with a welcome opportunity to meet booksellers and readers . In the 1990s I always toured in the spring , becween Easter and Pentecost , and one passage from the book that seemed appropriate to share with my audiences was about visiting an elderly Benedictine who had been hospitalized after a fall . He was badly bruised , with his pain muted but not fully extinguished . Upon seeing his visitors , myself and a fellow monk , he exclaimed in a weak voice , " Ah , it 's a sweet life . " Because of his injuries , he would soon move to the monastery nursing home and have to give up his long-term ministry at a local prison . But two people had come to visit him , which made life pure sweetness . The old man was hospitality incarnate , and his radiance reminded me of @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the Great . St. Benedict had gone to great lengths to become a hermit , but one day a visitor arrives . He explains that because it is Easter , he has brought a gift of food . Benedict replies , " I know that it is Easter , for I have been granted the blessing of seeing you . " Being able to say that to audiences made Easter come alive for me . These strangers had indeed become a blessing for my tired eyes . I was especially thankful because I find Easter difficult to talk about . Slogans like " We 're Easter people " too easily degenerate into Christian jargon that drives doubters and strugglers away . In this suffering world of failed states , failed relationships and natural disasters exacerbated by human greed , it makes a lot more sense to say , " Jesus wept " than " He is risen . " But making sense is often overrated . And when it comes to the Resurrection , I have nothing to prove . My late husband convinced me that outside the ether-laced realms of @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ If sense and proof were all life had to offer , who would want it ? From Death to Life As a writer and as a Christian , I find that my basic task is translating what seems abstract or otherworldly into something that people can grasp and that resonates with their experience . Talking about Easter might mean asking people if they have ever felt dead inside , with their lives stripped of meaning . Maybe they were wrapped in the grave clothes of drug addiction or depression . What was it that brought them back to themselves , to a renewed sense of purpose and freedom ? The writers of the early church are generally of more use to me than modern theologians when I am trying to make theological concepts come alive . John Chrysostom , for example , packs his dogma into plain speech and concrete imagery . A human voice comes through . The homily he preached in Constantinople before being forced into an exile from which he would never return is fortified with biblical allusion and still heart-rending more than 1,600 years later : " @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Though waves rise up against me , the seas , the wrath of rulers : These things are no more to me than a cobweb . " He encourages the congregation not to lose hope because : " Where I am , there also are you ; where you are , there too am I ; we are one body ... We are separated by space , but we are united by love . Not even death can cut us apart . For even if my body dies , my soul will live on and will remember my people . " To me , this is Easter truth speaking through ordinary language . To someone else , it might seem the ravings of a fool . For we are always tree to choose what meaning to give to the events that shape us , to opt for fear or hope , despair or joy , bitterness or love . Two men I knew both received a dire prognosis , one of liver cancer , the other of stage IV melanoma . The man with liver cancer , a tavern owner and @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ he had several years of remission . He told me that on his worst days in the hospital he promised himself that if he ever got out again , he would devote himself to " looking out for number one . " And that is exactly what he did ; living selfishly and self-indulgently until the day he died , alone and mostly unlamented . The other man was a Benedictine monk who died just three months after his initial diagnosis . " I realized , " he wrote to friends , " that everything I 've experienced since my original bout with melanoma 20 years ago has been a grace ... not a bad realization for a monk . I have never felt so surrounded by love . This is the most grace-filled time in my life , an unending source of hope and well-being at the core of my being - pure gift . " In thanking the many who had been praying for him , he wrote : " Thanks for helping me to choose life in this time of fear and uncertainty . Something wondrous is afoot @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ A man named Paul , facing execution , once wrote from a jail cell : " Rejoice in the Lord always ; again I will say , Rejoice " ( Phil 4:4 ) . A man named Jesus , on the night before he died , ate his last meal with friends , talked up a storm and no doubt startled the company by proclaiming , " I am saying these things to you so that my joy may be in you , and that your joy may be complete " ( Jn 15:11 ) . Wondrous things afoot : an inexpressible but ever-present love , a joy so profound that even death can not diminish it . Happy Easter ! 
##4074567 One of the reasons my wife and I have such a good marriage is that we allow each other small indulgences . These take the edge off the daily grind of stinky diapers and dirty dishes . Jessica appreciates it when I keep our little sons occupied so she can paste family photos in her scrapbook . My special treat is being allowed to watch the evening news in peace . Yet on a sweltering day in August , as my then-pregnant wife finished preparing dinner in our sixth-floor Bronx apartment , I made a request that I knew would test her saintly tolerance : I strode into the kitchen and announced that I would like to begin keeping kosher . Jessica looked at the meal she had spent the last hour making - roast beef , baked potato with melted butter and a fresh salad with bacon bits . After an uncomfortable silence , she rolled her eyes and said , " If you insist on starting this interreligious dietary experiment tonight , you 'll be sleeping on the couch ! " Biblical Foundations The question of @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ days of the church . According to Acts 15 , Peter , Paul , James and John agreed that Gentile converts would not have to follow Jewish laws , specifically circumcision and dietary regulations , in order to become Christians . But considering the relationship we modern Christians have with the animals we eat , biblical dietary laws might again have a place in our religious observance . Much of the meat we consume is raised , slaughtered and prepared in the confines of factory farms . The treatment of animal life in these places is torturous , cruel , abusive and inhumane . A cursory search of the Internet will uncover gruesome videos of defenseless chicks having their little beaks clipped with hot scissors , turkeys living in cramped , sweltering , dark coops and cows having their tracheae removed while still conscious . Our impersonal and often cruel treatment of animals contradicts die responsibility we are given as creatures made in the image and likeness of God , a special status that explicitly obligates us to look after the wellbeing of other creatures . The Jewish tradition in which @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ dietary restrictions as a reminder of God 's command to exercise " dominion " over the earth and all other living creatures . The first chapter of the Book of Genesis ( 1:26 ) links the affirmation that human beings are created in the image and likeness of God ( a concept often referred to as the imago Dei ) with our stewardship of animal life : Then God said , " Let us make humankind in our image , according to our likeness ; and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea , and over die birds of the ait , and over the cattle , and over all the wild animals of the earth , and over every creeping thing that creeps upon the earth . " Many theologians have interpreted the imago Dei as referring to attributes unique to the human person : the immortal soul , the intellect and our ability to love . Recent biblical scholarship , however , has recovered an additional meaning : a relational dimension . This interpretation underscores that we are able to relate to the Creator in a @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ are to act as God 's viceroys vis--vis the nonhuman world . Genesis 1 stresses die special nature of the relationship between human and animal , strongly suggesting that animals , at least in the mind of the author of this account , are the subjects of our kingly stewardship of creation . In illustrating the singularity of this relationship , many scholars hold that the order of creation in Genesis 1 can be characterized as concentric circles that represent increasing levels of intimacy with God . Humans and animals share the same circle , thus the same level of closeness with the Creator . The two also share the same table : The Creator explicitly tells both that they " have been given every green plant for food " ( Gn 1:30 ) . The verse suggests that it is God 's intention that the relationship between humanity and animals not be marked by bloodshed or violence . Not until Gn 9:3 is the prohibition against eating animal flesh relaxed , though it includes restrictions : One is not to eat the blood of any animal . Blood , in @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ life force they believed belonged solely to God . The Old Testament adds further boundaries to our use of animals for food by prohibiting their abuse and mandating that we accord them respect and dignity . The Book of Deuteronomy , for instance , forbids the taking of a mother bird along with her young or the boiling of a young goat in its mother 's milk . Leviticus commands that no animal be castrated or mutilated . Rabbinical regulations build on these texts by mandating that an animal be slaughtered in a manner that causes it no anxiety or pain . Each precept is grounded in the belief that animals can suffer emotional trauma . The New Testament also views animals in the context of a relationship with humans that carries ethical imperatives . The theologian Joshua M. Moritz , in his essay ' ' Ajrimals and die Image of God in the Bible and Beyond , " notes several instances in which Jesus shows compassion for animals . At the beginning of his ministry , Jesus goes to " be with the wild animals " ( Mk 1:13 ) @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ strongly conveys a positive sense of friendship and companionship . Other Gospel stories record Jesus teaching that mercy should be extended to animals much as one would to a person . Perhaps the most familiar stories touching on this subject portray Jesus in debates about Sabbath observance : " If one of you has a small animal or an ox that has fallen into a well , will you not immediately pull it out on a Sabbath day ? " ( Lk 14:5 ) . Such passages suggest that Jesus looked upon animals with gentleness and care , much in keeping with tenets of his ancient biblical faith . Contemporary Church Teaching The modern church has also spoken to the issue of animal welfare . A growing body of theological reflection has concluded that ethical treatment of nonhuman creatures is an issue of justice and mercy . Pope Benedict XVI , when serving as prefect for the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith , stated , " A sort of industrial use of creatures , so that geese are fed in such a way as to produce as large a @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ that they become just caricatures of birds , this degrading of living creatures to a commodity seems to me in fact to contradict the relationship of mutuality that comes across in the Bible " ( God and the World : A Conversation With Peter Seewald ) . While the Bible describes the relationship between humans and animals as one to be governed by ethical norms , and contemporary theologians explore the moral implications of our use of animal life , little in Catholic piety reminds the faithful of our foundational command to exercise custodianship over other creatures . Judaism , by contrast , has maintained its dietary restrictions , which call to mind this responsibility whenever a Jew sits down to eat . According to Rabbi Hayim Halevy Donim , author of an exhaustive guide to Orthodox living entitled To Be a Jew , Orthodox theologians have long interpreted dietary regulations as a way of instilling in Jews an aversion to bloodshed and a sensitivity for all living creatures . But while these laws are grounded in solid biblical precepts and convey a spirit of solidarity and respect for animal life @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Granted , for the non-Jew , adherence to kosher laws would be vexing if not impossible . Nonetheless , the observance of some biblically based dietary laws by Catholics might be helpful as a reminder of the care , compassion and mercy God has commanded us to show our fellow , nonhuman creatures . A few simple restrictions - ' like eating the meat only of animals slaughtered in a humane fashion , abstaining from the mixing of dairy and meat products and making an effort to clean the flesh of blood - might serve to remind us of the life that has been sacrificed for our sustenance . Christian theology has long recognized that all human beings , because we are created in the image and likeness of God , are deserving of dignity . But our commissioning as the imago Dei also calls us to a relationship of care for other creatures , a sacred task we often neglect . The dietary regulations of our ancestors in faith serve to remind God 's people of our obligations to our animal companions . The great rabbis have long held that @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ of savagery and unnecessary violence , so might our relationship with our fellow human beings . Perhaps there is still a place for those observances in the life of modern-day Christians - even in a Bronx apartment . 