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OPINION 6A THE DAILY ASTORIAN • TUESDAY, JUNE 30, 2015 ‘He’s Jesus Christ,’ healing the sick Founded in 1873 By NICHOLAS KRISTOF New York Times News Service IN THE NUBA MOUNTAINS, Su- dan — If you subscribe to the caricatu- reof devout religious believers as most- LAURA SELLERS, Managing Editor ly sanctimonious hypocrites, the kind BETTY SMITH, Advertising Manager who rake in cash and care about human life only when it is unborn, come visit CARL EARL, Systems Manager the doctor here. JOHN D. BRUIJN, Production Manager Dr. Tom Catena, 51, a Catholic DEBRA BLOOM, Business Manager missionary from Amsterdam, N.Y., is the only doctor at the 435-bed Mother HEATHER RAMSDELL, Circulation Manager of Mercy Hospital nestled in the Nuba Mountains in the far south of Sudan. For that matter, he’s the only doctor per- manently based in the Nuba Mountains for a population of more than half a million people. Just about every day, the Sudanese gov- ernment drops bombs or shells on civilians in or the second year in a row, a computer failure has caused a the Nuba Moun- tains, part of a farmworker shortage in the West. scorched-earth Nicholas This renews legitimate com- Though the hardware glitch- strategy to defeat Kristof plaints that the government’s sys- es are unfortunate, Fazio says an armed rebel- tem for approving guestworker the problem does not lie with lion here. The United States and other powers have averted their eyes, visas is unnecessarily complex. the State Department or its com- major so it is left to “Dr. Tom,” as he is uni- A hardware glitch prevented puters. The problem is that the versally known here, to pry out shrap- the State Department from pro- system depends on the seamless QHOIURPZRPHQ¶VÀHVKDQGDPSXWDWH cessing visas for H-2A guest- coordination of six separate gov- limbs of children, even as he also deliv- ers babies and removes appendixes. workers on the Mexican border ernment agencies. He does all this off the electrical for nine days, preventing workers Five years ago the Obama grid, without running water, a telephone already hired by fruit and vege- Administration made the H-2A or so much as an X-ray machine — while under constant threat of bombing, table growers from entering the program less user -friendly. for Sudan has dropped 11 bombs on United States and delaying the The program requires em- KLVKRVSLWDOJURXQGV7KH¿UVWWLPH'U picking of perishable crops. SOR\HUV WR ¿UVW DGYHUWLVH MREV WR 7RPVKHOWHUHGWHUUL¿HGLQDQHZO\GXJ According to the State U.S. citizens, and to give pref- pit for an outhouse, but the hospital is surrounded by foxholes in which Department, a hardware fail- erence to any local applications now patients and the staff crouch when mili- ure in its Consular Consolidated that may come thereafter. Even tary aircraft approach. “We’re in a place where the govern- Database left it unable to process when unemployment is high, lo- ment is not trying to help us,” he says. visas or passports at embassies cal workers seldom take to the “It’s trying to kill us.” and consulates worldwide. ¿HOGV *URZHUV KDYH WR SURYLGH *LYHQWKHVKRUWDJHRIUHVRXUFHV'U The problem left thousands of transportation and housing, and a Tom relies disproportionately on make- shift treatments from decades ago. foreign workers with jobs wait- guaranteed wage. “This is a Civil War-era treatment,” ing in the United States, but who And even if a grower meets all he said, pointing to a man with a broken had not yet had their visas issued, the requirements, any number of leg, which he was treating with a meth- STEPHEN A. FORRESTER, Editor & Publisher *XHVWZRUNHULPSDVVH shows need for reform Congress must modernize immigration F stuck in Mexico. And it left grow- ers in the U.S. scrambling to try, largely unsuccessfully, to arrange their legal crossing. “We cannot bypass the le- gal requirements necessary to screen visa applicants before we issue visas for travel,” the State Department said. “Security mea- VXUHV SUHYHQW FRQVXODU RI¿FHUV from printing a passport, report of birth abroad or visa until the case completes the required national security checks, While many employers of- fered to pay worker expenses as they waited in Mexico, many workers could not afford to wait and returned home. Dan Fazio, director of the Washington Farm Labor Association in Olympia, is more than a little frustrated. A simi- lar glitch last year caused delays in getting legal workers into the ¿HOGVDQGRUFKDUGVRIWKH:HVW glitches can keep workers on the wrong side of the border. The answer is meaningful immigration reform, passed by Congress and not by administra- WLYH¿DW We continue to believe the an- swer is to offer illegal immigrants temporary legal status and a path to permanent residency after 10 years if they meet strict require- ments — no prior felony convic- tions, no violations while await- ing residency, learning to speak (QJOLVKDQGSD\D¿QHDQGEDFN taxes. We think the border should be secured. Employers must ver- ify the work status of their em- ployees. And of course, a viable guest- worker program must be estab- lished without the politics and the nonsensical requirements. Whether taken piecemeal or in a comprehensive measure, it’s time Congress moved forward. Africa, and this is not the best place to date (although hospital staff members are plotting to introduce him to eligible Nuban women as a strategy to keep him from ever leaving). )RUKLVULVNVDQGVDFUL¿FHV'U7RP earns $350 a month — with no retire- ment plan or regular health insurance. (For those who want to support his work, I’ve posted how to help on my blog at http://nyti.ms/1NqIXP6.) He is driven, he says, by his Catho- OLFIDLWK³,¶YHEHHQJLYHQEHQH¿WVIURP the day I was born,” he says. “A loving family. A great education. So I see it as an obligation, as a Christian and as a hu- man being, to help.” There also are many, many secular aid workers doing heroic work. But the people I’ve encountered over the years Dr. Tom Catena in the most impossible places — like Nuba, where anyone reasonable has od known as Buck’s traction, using a ÀHG²DUHGLVSURSRUWLRQDWHO\XQUHDVRQ able because of their faith. bag of sand as a weight. I’ve often criticized the Vatican’s “Sometimes these actually work,” Dr. Tom said. “You use what you have.” hostility to condoms, even as a tool to Pope Francis seems to be revital- ¿JKW$,'6 DQG ZH VKRXOGQ¶W WROHUDWH izing the Vatican and focusing on the religious bigotry against gays (which needy, and I have a dream — OK, an the latest Supreme Court ruling may implausible one — that he’ll journey chip away at). But we also shouldn’t to this Catholic hospital in the Nuba tolerate another kind of narrow-mind- Mountains as a way of galvanizing edness, irreligious bigotry against peo- opposition to the evil of Sudan’s bomb- ple of faith. Diversity is a virtue, in faith as well as race. ings. Certainly the Nubans (who include One reason I’m so impressed by Dr. Tom is that most of the world, including Muslims and Christians alike) seem to world leaders and humanitarians, have revere Dr. Tom. “People in the Nuba pretty much abandoned the Mountains will never for- people of the Nuba Moun- He is get his name,” said Lt. Col. tains. President Barack Albino Kuku of Obama and other global driven, Aburass the rebel military force. leaders have been too silent “People are praying that he about the reign of terror he says, never dies.” here, too reluctant to pres- A Muslim paramount sure Sudan to ease it. by his chief named Hussein Nalu- That’s the context in kuri Cuppi offered an even which Dr. Tom stands out Catholic more unusual tribute. for his principled commit- faith. “He’s Jesus Christ,” he ment. Dr. Tom has worked said. in the Nuba Mountains for Er, pardon? eight years, living in the hospital and The chief explained that Jesus remaining on call 24/7 (the only excep- tion: when he’s unconscious with ma- healed the sick, made the blind see and helped the lame walk — and that is laria, once a year or so). Dr. Tom acknowledges missing what Dr. Tom does every day. You needn’t be a conservative Cath- pretzels and ice cream, and, more se- riously, a family. He parted from his olic or evangelical Christian to celebrate serious girlfriend when he moved to WKDWNLQGRIVHOÀHVVQHVV-XVWKXPDQ Gay conservatism, straight liberation less binding than the gay left derstood, and from wedlock once feared. and family, period. In vain, social conser- The traditional under- vatives have argued that efore there was a national de- standing, which rested on sex this combination isn’t a bate about same-sex marriage, difference, procreation, and coincidence, that support real permanence, went into there was a debate within the gay crisis in the 1960s and 1970s. for same-sex marriage and community about whether it was a But in the 1990s, when The the decline of straight mar- ital norms exist in a kind Atlantic informed readers worthwhile goal to chase at all. of feedback loop, that an that “Dan Quayle Was Right” This debate was tactical (since the idea can have conservative about unwed motherhood Ross cause once seemed quixotic) but also and today’s Democratic consequences for one com- Douthat philosophical. munity and revolutionary front-runner fretted about One current of thought saw the insti- the costs of no-fault divorce, implications overall. tution of marriage as inherently oppres- there were reasons to think that a kind of This argument was ruled out, irra- sive, patriarchal or heteronormative, bet- neo traditionalism might still have pur- tionally, as irrational, but it probably ter rejected or radically transformed than chase in America. wouldn’t have mattered if the courts simply joined. Not so today. Since the ’90s, approv- were willing to consider it. Too many This liberationist perspective en- al of divorce, premarital sex, and out- Americans clearly just like the more dured in academia, but mostly lost the of-wedlock childbearing have climbed relaxed view of marriage’s importance, SROLWLFDO DUJXPHQW *D\ FRXSOHV ZDQW steadily, and the belief that children are and the fact that this relaxation makes ed the chance for normalcy, straight “very important” to marriage has col- room for our gay friends and neighbors Americans were surprisingly receptive, lapsed. Kennedy’s ruling argues that is only part of its appeal. Straight Amer- and so a conservative case for same-sex the right to marry is essential, in part, ica has its own reasons for seeking liber- marriage — the argument that marriage because the institution “safeguards chil- ation from the old rules, its own hopes of LVHVVHQWLDOWRKXPDQGLJQLW\DQGÀRXU dren and families.” But the changing joy and happiness to chase. Unfortunately I see little evidence ishing — became the public case for gay cultural attitudes that justify his jurispru- equality. dence increasingly treat this safeguard as that people are actually happier in the And now that case rings from every inessential, a potentially nice but hardly emerging dispensation, or that their children are better off, or that the cause paragraph of Anthony necessary thing. Kennedy’s marriage And the same is of social justice is well-served, or that UXOLQJ IURP WKH ¿UVW The case for true of marriage itself. declining marriage rates and thinning lines to the “no union America is not quite so family trees (plus legal pressure on reli- same-sex is more profound than “advanced” as certain gious communities that are exceptions to marriage” peroration. European societies, this rule) promise anything save greater marriage But in one of the but our marriage rate loneliness for the majority, and stagna- ironies in which the arc is at historic lows, with tion overall. has been The case for same-sex marriage has of history specializes, the millennial genera- pressed in while the conserva- tion, the vanguard of been pressed in the name of the future. support for same-sex But the vision of marriage and family ith a new Miss Oregon be- helped the nation in its healing in tive case for same-sex the name of marriage triumphed marriage, leading the that made its victory possible is deeply ginning her reign, it’s time the aftermath of the Sept. 11, 2001, in politics, the liber- retreat. Millennials present-oriented, rejecting not only les- the future. to say goodbye and thanks to its terrorist attacks. ationist case against may agree with Ken- sons of a long human past but also many PRVWVLJQL¿FDQWZLQQHU :KLOH ¿WQHVV SRLVH DQG WDO marriage’s centrality nedy’s ruling, but of the moral claims that inspire adults to The North Coast should thank ent count, contestants promote a WRKXPDQÀRXULVKLQJZDVZLQQLQJLQWKH they’re making his view of marriage as privilege the interests of their children, or culture. “a keystone of the nation’s social order” indeed to bring children into existence at Dana Phillips, who is stepping platform that enhances awareness wider You would not know this from Ken- look antique. In their views and (lack of) all. down as executive director of the of key social issues. The annual nedy’s opinion, which is relentlessly vows, they’re taking a more relaxed per- Perhaps, with same-sex marriage an annual scholarship program, a post event focuses statewide attention upbeat about how “new insights have spective, in which wedlock is malleable accomplished fact, there will be cultur- she has held since 1986. on Seaside, whose merchants are strengthened, not weakened” marriage, and optional, one way among many to al space to consider these lessons and claims anew. Perhaps. bringing “new dimensions of freedom” love, live, rear kids — or not. Her dedication to the program among its foremost longtime sup- to society. But seeing little such space, and lit- In this sense, the gay rights move- over more than three decades has porters. But the entire North Coast But the central “new dimension of ment has won twice over. Its conserva- tle recognition that anything might have been exemplary. Scores of young HFRQRP\EHQH¿WVIURPWKHLQÀX[ freedom” being claimed by straight tive wing won the right to normalcy for been lost along the road we’ve taken to ZRPHQ KDYH JDLQHG FRQ¿GHQFH of visitors during pageant week America is a freedom from marriage — gay couples, while rapid cultural change this ruling, in the name of the past and from the institution as traditionally un- KDV PDGH WKH GH¿QLWLRQ RI QRUPDOF\ the future I respectfully dissent. By ROSS DOUTHAT New York Times News Service B She made the pageant Dana Phillips has gone the extra mile W and earned an astonishing $2 mil- lion for college scholarships while competing in the program. Phillips won’t be bowing out entirely, At 65, she plans to work through the Oregon Scholarship Foundation to increase the mone- tary awards given to contestants. The program highlights tomor- row’s leaders who represent the best of America. Katie Harman, the only Miss Oregon to win the 0LVV$PHULFDFURZQVLJQL¿FDQWO\ every summer. Now new leaders taking over the program, April Robinson, Nichole (Mead) Lahner and Stephanie (Steers) West. We wish them well. All are former Miss Oregon title holders, which will give them inside expertise to con- tinue the high standards of the program. We note with some wry amusement that it will take three people to replace the dynamic Phillips. Where to write • U.S. Rep. Suzanne Bonamici (D): 2338 Rayburn HOB, Washing- ton, D.C., 20515. Phone: 202- 225- 0855. Fax 202-225-9497. District RI¿FH 6: 0LOOLNDQ :D\ Suite 220, Beaverton, OR 97005. Phone: 503-469-6010. Fax 503- 326-5066. Web: bonamici.house. gov/ • U.S. Sen. Jeff Merkley (D): 313 +DUW 6HQDWH 2I¿FH %XLOGLQJ :DVK ington, D.C. 20510. Phone: 202-224- 3753. Web: www.merkley.senate.gov • U.S. Sen. Ron Wyden (D): 221 'LUNVHQ6HQDWH2I¿FH%XLOGLQJ:DVK ington, D.C., 20510. Phone: 202-224- 5244. Web: www.wyden.senate.gov • State Rep. Brad Witt (D): State Capitol, 900 Court Street N.E., H-373, Salem, OR 97301. Phone: 503-986- 1431. Web: www.leg.state.or.us/witt/ Email: rep.bradwitt@state.or.us • State Rep. Deborah Boone (D): 900 Court St. N.E., H-481, Salem, OR 97301. Phone: 503-986-1432. Email: rep.deborah boone@state.or.us 'LVWULFW RI¿FH 32 %R[ &DQ non Beach, OR 97110. Phone: 503- 986-1432. Web: www.leg.state.or.us/ boone/ • State Sen. Betsy Johnson (D): State Capitol, 900 Court St. N.E., S-314, Salem, OR 97301. Telephone: 503-986-1716. Email: sen.betsy john- son@state.or.us Web: www.betsyjohn- VRQFRP 'LVWULFW 2I¿FH 32 %R[ 5 Scappoose, OR 97056. Phone: 503- 543-4046. Fax: 503-543-5296. Astoria RI¿FHSKRQH