June 3, 1998

When did teenagers start gunning down their classmates and teachers? Over the past two years, nine different schools have become scenes of murder. Twenty-one people have been killed and 46 injured at the hands of high school or middle school students. Adolescence has always been a time when alienation, uncertainty, aggression and aimlessness mix in volatile ways. Acts of teenage nihilism are not new. But at some point aggression started being acted out not with words or fists but semiautomatic weapons.

The faces of Monica Lewinsky, Ken Starr and Bill Clinton are like red figures against a blue background, dancing in a Matisse-like circle, arms outstretched, hands touching, each one mysteriously (even fatally) related to the other two. Two are intelligent lawyers from small southern towns. Two (at least) have vigorous sexual appetites. Two think of themselves as invulnerable. Two come from dysfunctional families. One is pious and wishes the other(s) ill; one may bring the other down without wishing to.

A naÏve celebration of parents and parenthood sometimes takes place in church on Father’s Day. But this year, I am encouraged by the launching of a new initiative in the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.): a 12-member task force “Healing Domestic Violence: Nurturing a Responsive Church Community.” It has been appointed to explore the causes of domestic violence and examine the church’s complicity in it. The panel will propose policies to educate church members about domestic violence, offer strategies for preventing it and formulate guidelines for responding to it.

There is good reason to believe that Americans are receiving an overly optimistic picture of charitable giving in the U.S. As a result, church members do not have accurate information to help assess their own giving or to evaluate broader trends. Solid information about giving is also crucial in light of current discussion about the private sector’s ability to take on social service programs that governments are relinquishing.