Behind "enemy" lines.

I have a confession to make: I once worked for Crisis magazine. Yes, I, a left-of-center, social-justice, feminist Catholic, once proofread for arguably the most conservative Catholic magazine out there. Let me explain: I once took a college class taught by Crisis founder and former publisher Michael Novak. I was a good student--and one interested in journalism--so he offered me a summer job proofreading. It was, shall we say, an eye opening experience.

Even at the relatively conservative University of Notre Dame I had been sheltered from this whole other uber-conservative Catholic world. What I remember most was the special issue that celebrated the anniversary of Humanae Vitae and bashed any Catholic who used contraception or defended its use. The tone of judgmentalism throughout the magazine scared me, and the people I worked with, though nice on the outside, seemed to think nothing of excoriating those who disagreed with them in the magazine. Still, I stuck it out.

Little did I know I was doing what Ronald Rolheiser, O.M.I., the subject of this month's Expert Witness interview ("Knock it off," pages 12-16), calls "reading against your temperament." In other words, if you tend to be liberal, you should occasionally read conservative publications. If you have a more natural conservative bent, pick up a liberal magazine or two. It's one of his many suggestions for ways to bridge the liberal/conservative divide that currently plagues our church and wider U.S. society.

Rolheiser, who has become known as a voice of reason in the church through his books and weekly column, repeatedly urged us, as U.S. CATHOLIC editors, to avoid focusing only on the extremes of both liberal and conservative ideology and their tiresome no-win arguments. There's good and bad in both liberal and conservative thinking, he pointed out, and a responsible Catholic magazine should try to show the full diversity of our church and challenge people on both ends of the spectrum. Ideologically-based publications may sell more subscriptions, but he urged us to be prophetic rather than popular.

We like to think we have been doing that all along. And we know we're doing a good job when we hear from both liberal and conservative readers who aren't always happy with our content. Although the "middle" of American Catholicism seems to have shifted in recent years, we are still committed to celebrating "the vibrancy and diversity of contemporary Catholicism," as our mission statement says.

It would be nice if I could say that my stint at Crisis illuminated how we are all more alike than different, but, honestly, I didn't have that insight. If anything, it probably made me more sure of my own beliefs. But I do believe Crisis helped broaden my vision, and that's why I still occasionally pick it up and read it.