America – Tony Lusvardi, S.J.

Signs of hope and goodness in the USA

At the beginning of the summer, I posted about three short trips I took in Europe during the first half of the year that left me encouraged about ways in which the Church here is experiencing renewal. I spent a summer in the USA filled with pastoral activity and reconnecting with friends, so I thought it only fair to point out the many encouraging moments I had in the States as well. With quite a bit of international experience, I have to say that it is striking how much the American Church has going for it — energy and pastoral creativity, lots of committed and generous lay people, big families, sincere seminarians, and a sense of discipleship adapted to the religious pluralism of post-modernity.

I spent a good part of the summer giving retreats, first an 8-day retreat for Jesuits centered on the liturgy. It’s particularly humbling to lead a retreat for my Jesuit brothers, and I’m grateful to all the guys who were on it. Reviews were good, and I’ve already had sign-ups for next year’s retreat (June 30-July 8).

I also preached back-to-back weekend retreat at Cloisters on the Platte outside of Omaha; the days in between gave me time to enjoy the beautiful retreat center grounds in a way I never had time to before. Plus, I got to catch up with friends and an aunt and uncle in Omaha. The conversations one has on those retreats are always moving and inspiring. It’s wonderful to see people putting away their devices for a few days and turning the time over to God…

I made it back to South Dakota, where I was delighted to see that the trees I’ve planted at St. Isaac Jogues parish over the past couple of years are all alive and flourishing — the apple trees already had apples and the oaks had acorns. More digging and planting are planned for next year.

One of the summer’s most exciting events for me turned out to be a panel discussion sponsored by the tremendous Theology on Tap team at St. Wilfrid’s Church in Woonsocket, South Dakota. Woonsocket is, let’s just say, a long drive from wherever you are, so I was expecting a handful of people. Instead, 200 turned out. Woonsocket is a lovely small town, and St. Wilfrid’s overlooks an idyllic little lake. The town is said to produce the best melon in the country — and it didn’t disappoint. The panel’s theme centered on the story of Baby Brian, baptism of desire, and infant loss. Serious stuff, and I was really impressed to see so many people turn out, stick around to chat afterwards, and show such a strong desire to dive deeper into their faith on complicted issues.

Discussing Baby Brian and baptism of desire at St. Wilfrid’s in Woonsocket, South Dakota

Looking back on 9/11

Robert Gould Shaw and Massachusetts 54th Regiment Memorial, Boston

A few weeks ago I recommended checking out the new Substack of my friend Rachel Lu. Yesterday, Rachel posted a piece looking back on 9/11 in Law & Liberty which I highly recommend as well. It’s a piece I find especially resonant because Rachel writes about joining the Peace Corps in the wake of the attacks, and I did exactly the same thing.

In fact, we were classmates at Notre Dame at the time, and both happened to end up as Peace Corps volunteers in different former Soviet Republics in Central Asia — Rachel in Uzbekistan and I in Kazakhstan. Uzbekistan was certainly the more Islamic of the two, Kazakhstan more cosmopolitan and secular. More than the biographical similarities, however, I found myself resonating with the sentiments Rachel expresses — from a slightly naive but still fundamentally good youthful idealism to a deeper concern over the self-destructive tendencies American culture has shown in the quarter century since 9/11. I even learned a new word — oikophobia — which seems apt.

Here’s Rachel’s blurb about the essay in Substack:

I never risked life or limb like [those who signed up for military service], and signed on only for a form of service you’re allowed to quit at any time (though I didn’t, at least not until my term of service was up). Still, my little contribution meant something, at least to me, and I go on to reflect on how Americans’ understanding of themselves has changed over time. So much, in fact, that one sometimes wonders: Did Osama bin Laden finally win the war of hearts and minds?

Check out the whole essay “Mirrors of 9/11” here.

Is the Great Gatsby the Great American Novel?

The dome of the Cathedral of St. Paul from Summit Avenue, not far from where F. Scott Fitzgerald grew up.

As an undergraduate, I was an English major, so it was a real treat for me to have the chance to reread one the classics of American literature, F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby this spring. This year marks the 100th anniversary of the novel’s publishing. My essay to mark the occasion recently appeared in Law & Liberty, and you can check it out here. The occasion prompted me to dig up another essay I wrote several years ago about “Benediction,” one of Fitzgerald’s few stories with an explicitly Catholic theme (check it out here).

As much as any other book, I think, Gatsby can stake a claim to be the Great American Novel, in part because the novel itself grapples with the question of what it really means to be “great.” Equally important, it wrestles with the nature of the American character. It is an elegantly slim novel but, as I realized while writing and rewriting my reflection on it and still feeling like I couldn’t quite do it justice, it is taut with beauty, irony, and subtle meaning.

A “monumental study… unmatched in what it positively contributes”

With a year approaching since Baptism of Desire and Christian Salvation‘s publication, I’m pleased to see reviews starting to appear. I just read a great one by Joseph Arias of Christendom College in the journal of liturgical theology Antiphon. Arias provides a summary and identifies “controversial” points where I challenge the received wisdom. I’m grateful to have such careful readers and can’t say I mind having the book described as “monumental” and “unmatched”!

Here’s just a sample:

“The author takes the reader on a profoundly illuminating historical and dogmatic theology journey from the apostolic age to our own, acting throughout as an immensely capable and careful guide, making sure we do not miss either major or minor attractions that can enhance the experience of trying to arrive at a deeper understanding of a profoundly significant (though sometimes underappreciated) teaching that is firmly rooted in the Catholic tradition…

… this volume is unmatched in what it positively contributes towards a better understanding of this area of theology.”

And more good news — it looks like the price of the book may have dropped on Amazon as well.

Also, following up on my previous post on the Ukrainian bishops’ statement about the war in their country last week, I have a new piece out on the subject in America. It is equally about what is dysfunctional in our own American political culture right now.

Our Great American Holiday

As an American abroad, I’ll readily confess to a bit of nostalgia come Thanksgiving time. As a national rite, the holiday is sublime in its simplicity: turkey, family, eating–and an implicit spirituality as unobtrusive and essential as bedrock. I do celebrate here in Rome with other expats, but the Italian interpretation of cranberry sauce, stuffing, and pumpkin pie, while sometimes whimsical and frequently tasty, is never quite the same. Thanksgiving is quintessentially American, expressing what is best about our country–and perhaps also something of what we seem to be losing.

Washington’s Birthday

I paid a visit to chilly Mount Rushmore on my last trip to South Dakota and was stuck by the way the sunlight hit Washington’s face, casting it half in light and half in shadow. It occurred me how little I knew of our first president, whose birthday–with characteristic American efficiency–we combine with Lincoln’s to produce a three-day weekend.

To remedy my lack of knowledge–and perhaps because Americana takes on added interest when you live abroad–I read a biography of our first president.¹ And it stuck me just how fortunate those thirteen colonies were to have a man like George Washington as their leader.