Introduction

THIS ISSUE IS HARD TO DESCRIBE: it "covers more ground" than any previous one that readily comes to mind-there is certainly no one theme or story-line to it, and thus no obvious order for what we think is an unusually good collection of articles. So we will play it safe, and begin with Faith Abbott's memoir of what it means to realize that Woolworth's won't be there anymore.

As usual, Faith goes on to a great deal more, including a moving postscript: just after she had finished the piece, word came first that Princess Diana had been killed, and then that Mother Teresa had died. As it happens, Faith and your servant share an amusing "real life" memory of that formidable woman, which I'll try to tell briefly now. Some 15 years ago, the Human Life Foundation (our "parent") helped sponsor a forum in Washington; "Mother rs was to be the featured speaker, and we invited our contributors to donate for a "purse" we'd present her there. In the event, it came to just a few dollars short of $25,000, so we gleefully took a check for that amount to Washington; on the train down I composed a little presentation speech to go with it.

She duly spoke her usual piece (she never failed to attack abortion, as everybody knows), and was then surrounded by well-wishers-but the meeting's chairman managed to get her aside for my "presentation" and, bending down from his six-foot height to whisper in her ear, explained what I was there for. As he did, I cleared my throat and prepared to give my speech. Mother Teresa then turned and looked up, straight in my face. My hand came forward with the check, my mouth opened, and I heard myself say weakly "Here." She took the check with a smiling nod, went back to her place at the table and, after lunch, left it therea waiter saw it, and ran after her to put it back in her hand. Faith was of course next to me through all this and, after my great, glorious moment, we looked at each other dumbfounded, and then burst into gales of laughter (later she claimed it was the only time in my life that I'd been speechless).

There is a postscript here too: a week later I got a sharp letter, from the then Boss-nun of the Missionaries of Charity up in the Bronx, telling me I had no business using Mother's name to raise money-I'd better wash out my typewriter with soap, and never do it again! I hadn't thought of that, but of course she was quite right: good intentions were never sufficient for Mother Teresa, who was eminently practical, like a saint should be. That's what so impressed Malcolm Muggeridge when he first met her. Again, we need to pause for a bit of history: it was Muggeridge-then Britain's foremost TV "personality"-who in effect produced Mother Teresa's original world-wide audience via his 1969 film for the BBC. Shortly afterwards, he wrote about the shock of that experience for the London Catholic Herald, which reprinted it after Mother's death, and has kindly permitted us to do likewise here. We think you'll appreciate what amounts to a "first-hand" account of a meeting that changed the history of our time. We ought to add that "St. Mugg" later became our editorat-large; he often recounted tales of Mother Teresa, both in our pages and in person-later still, he cited her as a principal influence in his conversion to Roman Catholicism (in turn, he was largely responsible for her Nobel Peace Prize-he was a most effective agitator!).

What follows is also inspired by saintliness: Doctor Margaret White begins with the Pope's amazing reception in Paris (Le Figaro headlined "Le triomphe de Jean-Paul II") last August-the million-plus crowds were well over twice all "expectations"-but the French Left bitterly attacked le Saint-Pere for daring to make a "personal" pilgrimage to the tomb of his old friend Jerome Lejeune, a world-renowned scientist who was also France's leading anti-abortionist. Dr. Lejeune was a dear friend of Dr. White as well, and thereby hangs the remarkable tale she spins for you here, in which the late Princess of Wales plays a bit part: although it was not one of the "good deeds" she was praised for, Diana was the loving God-Mother to a little Down's Syndrome girl, who is a patient at Dr. White's "Lejeune Clinic"-but you will have to read it all yourself.

Next, we interrupt this issue to provide another "current events" story. Actually, it gets its own introduction (see page 30): all we need say here is that we think you will find our "exclusive" (as they say in the trade) interview with Mr. Steve Forbes very interesting indeed, not only because of his strong views on abortion, but also because his interrogator was our own William Murchison-as you will see, both men are quite outspoken.

Then it's back to our regular articles, and more on a recent event that seemed to get too little-certainly too uncritical-attention. When former Justice William Brennan died (on July 24 last), all major obituaries portrayed him as a great champion of "rights" for "the people" (not least criminal people). Without doubt Brennan exercised enormous power and influence on the Supreme Court during his long tenure, and his name is linked to many seminal decisions, famous or infamous depending on one's viewpoint. As you will see, Attorney Ann Coulter considers his pornography decisions to be most infamous, and we expect that, after reading even her quite brief descriptions of the stuff Brennan legally baptized, most of our readers will agree-we also expect that some of you (at least) will be outraged at the language, and/or that we would print it in our usuallychaste pages. Alas, we had to agree with Miss Coulter: you can't know how bad it is without seeing it for yourself.

To us, however, Brennan's great claim to infamy was a rarely-noted fact: he was the intellectual "god-father" of the historically-infamous Roe v. Wade decision; it was the "good Catholic" Brennan who dominated small-minded Justice Harry Blackmun's "thinking" on the disastrous fiat that legalized the slaughter of the innocents (surely well over 30 million, and counting). Thus we also agree with Miss Coulter's title-"Women: Prey for Brennan"-and think that many readers will second the notion.

The awful fact is, Roe was in effect a "snap" decision: in their rush to win a "final solution" on abortion, its advocates (on and off the Court) gave scant thought to what defying Western moral history would actually mean in practice-specially for women. So we are glad to reprint here a sobering rundown of some answers to those un-asked questions, by an experienced "health reporter," Candace Crandall-sobering is too mild a word, a great deal of what Miss Crandall reports is shocking stuff to be happening in our "health-conscious" society-but then on abortion, the ordinary rules don't apply?

At this point the reader may long for some comic relief-it's been pretty heavy going so far-we wish we had some to offer, and indeed Mr. William Murchison may give you a few laughs, however wry. His topic is The Great Tobacco Purge in general, and Vice President Al Gore's shameless exploitation of it in particular. And what can you do but laugh at the spectacle of smoking being raised to Public Enemy No. #1 status, not only above the mass-killer abortion but also above obviously equal "health hazards" (which kills more Americans, fat or tobacco?). Then there's the hilarious irony that "government's" answer is to raid the rich tobacco conglomerates for more spending loot, while leaving the "killer" loose! We couldn't blame you if you light up while you laugh (even secondclass citizens have rights?), the hypocrisy of it all is too much. But as Mr. Murchison makes clear, no smoke-screen can hide Mr. Gore's blatant hypocrisies, even if many come second-hand from his Mentor.

It's also possible that you will find a certain kind of relief in what follows: our old friend Jo McGowan's short story about the decline of her beloved adopted daughter Moy Moy into a sad state that only a mother could endure; while politicians calculate "programs" and the like, many "ordinary" people face extraordinary problems no government can alleviate. The question is: What would you do if it happened to you? Lord willing, exactly what Mother Jo is doing, however unimaginable it may seem to you (as it surely does to us) now.

Believe it or not, we think we have a fitting finale, even (perhaps especially) after little Moy Moy's saga. It comes from Professor J. Budziszewski, who begins his unusual essay by admitting that it is all too human to will good while doing evil-that this mystery cannot be solved unless we admit "that one can only understand the bad from the good, not the good from the bad." Makes you uneasy? The Professor's whole approach to "Why We Kill the Weak" will, we predict, make you ponder a great deal that seems "new" (in the magazine trade, it's rightly called a "think piece"), whereas it is all about what we ought to have known long since: just as darkness is the absence of light, so evil is the absence of good-"spoiled" good, he calls it, because there's no such thing as perfect evil (we imagine Thomas Aquinas would like this one).

Our appendices this issue are somewhat fewer than usual-just half a dozenbut they are a varied lot, beginning with two columns by the redoubtable Ray Kerrison, in praise of the indomitable Mother Teresa (Appendix A). Kerrison writes:

What never ceased to amaze me about Mother Teresa was her unwavering public stand against the degradations of modern culture while, at the same time, winning the hearts of everyone from kings and presidents to waifs and orphans.

Sure, he adds, she "had her critics, inside the Church and out, but they were mercifully few"-yes, and few of them reputable, the tablout Christopher Hitchens personifies their typical disreputability. Of course we don't know what some others might have said if they dared: e.g., Mr. & Mrs. Bill Clinton when, on her last "official" visit to Washington, Mother T yet again denounced abortion while the President and First Lady flanked her on the speaker's dais.

In Appendix B, you get more praise in Bill Murchison's "Death of a Saint" column (which first ran in his home paper, the Dallas Morning News); we might add that, unlike Kerrison, Murchison is not a Roman Catholic (he might fairly be called an "Anglo-Catholic" Episcopalian), but such mundane distinctions really don't apply vis a vis Mother Teresa?

On another occasion we were there when Mother Teresa addressed (at the invitation of then-Sen. James Buckley) a beyond-capacity audience in the U.S. Senate's largest hearing room; she was "delayed" while her unprepared hosts scrambled to find a milk crate so she could reach the microphone, after which she began "Our Fater who aarr 'tin Hayven. . . ." as if it were the most natural possible opening-in startled confusion, the jam-packed crowd tumbled all over each other like Keystone Kops trying to get to their knees. She then went straight to her message: abortion was the great destroyer of "peace"-an evil that begat more evil. Surely that prophecy is being fulfilled by the latest "rage" among unwilling young mothers who have made headlines by having their babies before killing them, or simply tossing them in the trash? In Appendix C, Mr. Brad Stetson argues that we have indeed spawned an "Abortion rights mind-set" that encourages this grotesque "choice" to deny the reality of unborn life.

If we've lost Mother Teresa, an Angel of Mercy, we still have our Archangel of Death in the ghoulish guise of "Doctor" Jack Kevorkian. In Appendix D, Mr. Wesley Smith-who has written a great deal about the "assisted suicide" crazepoints out that Kevorkian not only gets away with murder but also demonstrates his utter contempt for the disabled: you need not be dying to qualify for his lethal ministrations, just "imperfect"!

In Appendix E, you get a very interesting review of a new book that attemptsfor the umteenth time-to provide a "justification" not only for abortion but also for government funding of it "for rich and poor women alike." The author, with the disarming name of Eileen McDonagh, argues in effect that the unborn baby "without permission or consent" invades the body of its mother, and thus can be evicted with deadly force as a matter of self defense. Mrs. Frederica MathewesGreen provides an analysis of this "latest spin" in the Abortion War which we think makes an important addition to our permanent record.

Finally, we have Professor Budziszewski again (Appendix F); here he reviews not one but five recent books on "death and dying"-obviously publishers see a lucrative new market in the current fascination with "assisted suicide" and the like. Without doubt there is, and long has been, a lot of "mercy killing" going on, in hospitals and elsewhere-the Professor calls it simply "playing God"despite the fact that there is "A law written on the heart" that tells us "We can't not know that killing is wrong; we can only hold the knowledge down." Amen to that-this one too belongs in our "active archive," to which we expect to add much more, coming soon.

J.P. MCFADDEN EDITOR

Postscript: sad to say, there is something that ought to be here, but is not. On September 9 last, Doctor Joseph R. Stanton died, aged 77, in Needham, Massachusetts. No mere obituary can do him justice-it would take many more pages than we have here to even try. We always called him the God-Father of the antiabortion cause: indeed, he was an "activist" before there was a "pro-life" movement; he saw what was coming years before Roe, and it is accurate to say that the immediate resistance to that infamous 1973 decision would not have been possible but for the groundwork Dr. Joe put down. All this from a man who, stricken with crippling polio at age 15, was strong only in mind, heart, and spirit: to watch him drag himself from the White House to Capitol Hill on the annual March on Washington (which he insisted on doing for many years) made you want to laugh and cry simultaneously-he was the purest fool about courage. Happily, he had many blessings in this life; an honored physician and teacher, he was an almost laughably-perfect "family man," father of ten himself, avuncular elder to countless others, and perhaps best of all, his good works were done with irrepressible good humor (his jokes were legendary, not least for bizarre twists). But no, best of all is his Mary, the prototype Good Wife who shared it all: if you can imagine the Movie Director telling Central Casting "She's gotta be not just sweet and look the part, she's gotta make it believable"-you can see Mary herself, as tough as Himself, in her own way (she had to be). R.LP.

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