SHOULD ANYONE SAY FOREVER?: Or Making, Keeping and Breaking Commitments

The answer, not surprisingly, is yes. But Father Haughey's explanation, running to six chapters of nuanced psychological and theological reflection, is an eye-opening essay on the value of interpersonal commitment. Writing amid the current crisis in Catholicism and the general distrust of marriage, Haughey directly challenges the prevalent opinion that freedom means keeping one's options open, the only alternative being a fanatical devotion to a life project that stunts full human development. He argues persuasively that meandering is a refusal of life; the rootless can't grow. The old-fashioned committed life, imprisoning as it may seem, constitutes a gradual self-determination that is true liberation, and vows may be broken only when they become a kind of juridical lie, masking the absence of common growth. The latter half of the book, taking Jesus' life and teaching as paradigmatic, elaborates Father Haughey's ideal. The writing is too stuffy and badly needs editing.