Just Ask Charlie

You won’t be surprised to hear that I get questioned, from time to time, about what sort of work MR prefers to publish. Generally the query comes from folks who know we’re a literary quarterly and don’t have to be told what one is. Come to think of it, perhaps you yourself have asked me this question already, or soon will, standing in front of our table at the annual AWP pilgrimage. If so, you probably got my stock answer—that we’re more interested in the world than the self.

I don’t, at least entirely, mean this capsule comment to be a salvo against the onward-marching forests of memoir. To my mind, it just seems the quickest, and a relatively fair, summary of what this magazine has meant, and done, over its over half-century. Rather than the solipsistic self-world, we’ve been interested in capturing collectivities, and collective action; we see literature as a means of intervening in, experimenting on, and expanding the world, not just the mind.

Here’s an example—indirect, but representative. Yesterday I happened to have the radio on (not a rare occurrence). The last half of the WBUR program “Here and Now” was airing. Then my ears perked up: I heard they were interviewing Charles M. Sennott, co-founder and executive editor of the internet news service GlobalPost and author of (among other works) Broken Covenant, an early book on sexual abuse and the Catholic church. The interview touched on a wide range of topics, but, quite obviously, was primarily intended as background on the papal resignation.

Just for the record: when the subject comes up, I usually describe my own attitude toward religion as “apatheistic.” Really. As of late, as a result, what I’ve most often been thinking during exposure to the media blitz surrounding Pope Benedict’s exit has been downright dumb. Questions like, why the hell is the BBC spending half of their allotted hour on this?

Yet, even if you’re in my club, you really need to hear this interview. In a few short minutes, Charlie explains it all to us; moreover, he reminds us how and why it matters. For example, he asks, “How is it that a pope who has been so protective of tradition, breaks that tradition, by being the first pope in 600 years to resign? And what does that do to the institution’s longevity?”

I won’t cite the whole interview, because I want you to hear it. But I will summarize two points: first, Charlie’s answer to that “why now?” question. The papal resignation, he believes, is a direct result of the weight of scandal. That strain, he argues, represents a level of challenge to the church authority not seen since the day when Martin Luther nailed his ninety-five theses to that door in Wittenberg. Not that Sennott is expecting a new schism, or necessarily even real movement, from the Catholic hierarchy. He doesn’t believe, for example, that the new pope is likely to come from the 75% of the world’s 1.2 billion Catholics that live in the developing world.

That’s the second point. Charlie’s essential diagnosis comes down to a matter of definition. What is the Catholic church anyway? The collective body of Catholics worldwide, of their hopes, dreams, beliefs, desires and needs? or simply the conservative hierarchy of the Vatican—what they think, want, and do? GlobalPost has already been covering the organized, conservative assault on the leadership of progressive nuns, women dedicated to social justice. The name given to these reports offers readers a reminder of Ratzinger’s resumé—“The New Inquisition.”

By now, though, you may be wondering why I’m telling you all this? what does any of it have to do with literature? Well, that’s where I come back to my stock answer. Real writers—or at least the ones that blow up my skirt—are people with the sort of engagement, scope, and intelligence that responds to such seismic, planetary shifts, and that make us see what’s truly at stake in them. Even if—as in this particular case for me—we didn’t even know we cared. The world, not just (your) self. Not that you have to be T.E. Lawrence. Jean Rhys will do just fine.

One other thing. After hearing that interview, I sure am happy that Charlie Sennott agreed, not all that long ago, to join the MR masthead as Contributing Editor. Damned proud to have him aboard.