Although over the next 15 years Archbishop O'Connor would become known as a

controversialist, we see him here, in his first year in the most prominent Church position in the United States, as threading his way thoughtfully and respectfully through matters on which, ex officio, he must now have an opinion. On points where he is sure, he is not shy about saying so: "The preponderance of teleological evidence [on the unborn child] is that you are talking about human life, ab initio.... We would argue categorically, unconditionally, that the taking of a human life is the taking of a human life, and this is morally wrong." On matters where he is less sure, like the bishops' pastoral letters on nuclear weapons and on the economy, he is diplomatic: "There are a great many of us who do not consider ourselves experts on tactical nuclear weapons ... but most people

consider themselves pretty close to the business of taxation, of poverty, of hunger,

homelessness ..." A good conversation between two people who care deeply about the role of the Church in modern society.