Some believe that there is no hope for moving beyond the culture wars in the United States—especially when they are connected to the persistently difficult abortion debate. This article argues, however, that the situation is more hopeful than most realize. The imagined “choice” and “life” camps do not map onto the complex reality of public opinion, especially among the Millennials. This article contends that “nonviolence” is an important common value for different kinds of people who imagine themselves to be on very different sides in the abortion debate. When applied consistently to rhetoric, individual persons and bodies, and social structures, a commitment to nonviolence not only provides an opening for productive and authentic discussion but also highlights broad areas of agreement and common ground.

This article explores the crisis in the Catholic Church in Ireland in light of the child-abuse scandals exposed in recent reports and outlines some of the theological responses to that crisis. It suggests that it is necessary to examine not just the crimes of the perpetrators of abuse and the inadequate response of individual church leaders but also the structural sin within the Church that is at the root of the crisis. It is argued that the collusion between Church and State in modern Ireland that emerges from these reports can be defined in terms of Hiberno-Christendom, drawing from Charles Taylor definition of “Christendom”. In the midst of the crisis, the ongoing revelations of clerical abuse and the accompanying analysis, there is still pastoral vibrancy and people are trying to cultivate hope. The Catholic Church in Ireland may need to learn how to become what Juan Luis Segundo calls a “creative minority”, re-imagining the parameters of its power and developing a new political theology.