Newspaper Page Text
PAGE 4—The Southern Cross, November 8, 1973
The Southern Cross
Business Office 225 Abercorn St. Savannah, Ga. 31401
Most Rev. Raymond W. Lessard, D.D., President
Rev. Francis J. Donohue, Editor John g. Markwalter, Managing Editor
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Prison Reform
Because of its rising rate and growing
ubiquity, crime has become a greater
concern of the average citizen than at
any time in our country’s history. What
concerns him most is the ever increasing
incidence of violent crimes.
In many urban areas, people are afraid
to walk the streets after dark. Indeed, in
some cases certain streets in certain cities
are not entirely safe even during daylight
hours.
This wide-spread fear could well be
the reason why it seems so difficult to
enlist public support for prison reform.
People feel that the only way to make
the streets safe is to put criminals in
prison and to make life so difficult for
them that when they are returned to
society they won’t risk going back to
prison by breaking the law again.
Unfortunately, that feeling is not a
reliable one. There are more Americans
in prison now than ever before, but the
crime rate continues to rise, with much
of the crime being committed by people
who have been imprisoned for previous
offenses. In fact, more than half of
America’s prison population has been
there before.
Clearly, the present prison system is
not working.
Because it is not working, because
instead of returning prisoners to society
as responsible citizens, it is sending most
of them back as hardened criminals, the
Administrative Board of the United
States Catholic Conference (USCC)
recommended in 1972 the development
by a USCC standing committee of a
document which would speak to the
moral questions involved in the nation’s
present penal system.
Such a document has been developed
during the past year or more and will be
submitted for their approval to the
entire body of the bishops at their
annual meeting in Washington next
week.
We have not seen the finished
document, but we do know that during
its preparation a wide variety of
individuals with personal competence in
the field of corrections were consulted.
Ideas contained in the document were
discussed with the American
Correctional Association at its meeting
this past August and found wide
agreement, according to the chairman of
the committee which prepared it.
It is our hope and prayer that the
document is good enough to enlist the
support of the entire body of bishops,
and that if it is that good, Catholics, at
least, will stir up within themselves the
courage to follow the recommendations
of the bishops as moral imperatives in
the struggle for a more just society and
the reclamation of damaged souls.
When God Speaks...
Are You Listening?
My father is 74 years young. Retired now
from business, he is more active than most half
his age, working on the many things that
interest him.
The other day I was complaining to him that
I had a chore I just didn’t seem to be able to get
done. Whenever I started to work on it,
something happened. Week after week, my
efforts were frustrated.
He said, “Maybe God’s telling you this isn’t
the best time to do it.”
He went on, “Almost sixty years ago, I had
just gotten my first job, commuting by train to
the city. One morning, little delays slowed me
down. I found myself running frantically to
catch my train. I missed it.
“I was only about sixteen. .. and not
particularly good at hiding my feelings. A man,
old enough to be my father, had missed that
train too. But it wasn’t upsetting him the way it
was me.
“He came over to me and struck up a
conversation ....
“He said that he used to get upset when
things didn’t go right. . . until something
happened that changed his thinking. Several
years earlier he had been in England on
business. He received word that it was
absolutely vital that he get back to New York
immediately. He cut short his overseas
appointments and booked passage on the last
possible ship that would get him to New York
in time for the crucial business meeting.”
My father continued with that man’s story.
“That day there were countless little delays as
he traveled to the pier at Southampton. He
blamed himself for not having anticipated
them, allowing more time.
“He rushed . .. but missed the boat.. . and
was furious.
“But he said that he’d learned from that
experience that sometimes these little delays
can be beneficial .. . and they no longer annoy
him.
“The boat he missed was the ‘Titanic.’”
God does work in mysterious ways.
Mary Carson
Another of these mysteries is why God
“doesn’t answer” our prayer. We pray for
sunshine . .. and it pours. But why blame God
for “not listening?”
Certainly, as a mother, there are many times
when I don’t give my children the answer
they’d like, because I can see a reason that what
they ask wouldn’t be good for them.
Yet when God tells us, “Not this time,” we
accuse Him of “not listening.”
We expect our children to take our advice, to
trust us, to know that we care about them, to
understand that our prime interest is their
ultimate good, to have confidence in our deep
love for them ... to accept our “no’s” and
“later’s” ... as well as our “yes’s.”
Then we turn around and say, “God ... I
want things my way . . . right now!”
There would be much more serenity in our
lives if we gave God one-tenth of the
confidence we expect from our children!
And even when we are praying, we often
make it most difficult for God to give us any
advice. We do the same thing to Him that our
children do to us.
Suppose my teen-age son wants to buy a car.
I can explain that he can’t afford it... that the
car will own him . . . that he doesn’t have the
time because of studies . .. not at this time . ..
But, HE’LL STILL WANT HIS CAR!
Who’s “not listening?”
But then, if I were to “Pray” for a bigger
house, and God tried to tell me that we can’t
afford it. . . that the house would own us. ..
not at this time. . . Then GOD’S “not
listening!”
If several children are badgering me for
favors at once, you know who I answer first. ..
the one who says “please”; the one I know will
say “thank you”; the one who means it when
he asks “what do you think”; the one who says
“when it’s convenient.”
Next time you send a prayer up to God,
pretend God is you .. . and you are your child.
Now .. . does God listen? Does He answer?
Perspective On Expertise —
9
Don’t Let Yourself Be Snowed
Reverend John Reedy C.S.C.
Nowhere in the Gospel is it recorded that
Jesus told us, “Go, therefore, become
professionals and make disciples of all men.”
I have no desire to be anti-intellectual or to
canonize incompetence. If one offers himself as
a scholar, as a psychologist or as an educator,
he should have his credentials in order, whether
he is serving in a Church institution or
elsewhere.
Rather, my concern is with two distortions
which arise from our tendency to deify
professionalism.
The more serious is the tendency of many
“non-professionals” to equate professionalism
with self-worth.
I have a friend, a priest about my age, who is
extraordinarily gifted in his ability to establish
rapport with all kinds of people, sharing their
difficulties, providing sympathy, compassion
and support.
Yet, this man went into a crippling period of
listlessness and self-mistrust - in my opinion,
because he felt he was unable to keep up with
all the new theology, new scripture studies, the
rising requirements for professional counsellors.
In fact, he was not teaching professional
theology, nor was he serving as a professional
counsellor. The people he served couldn’t care
less about the theological debates between Karl
Rahner and Hans Kung. They didn’t come to
him for analysis or for marriage counselling in
the professional sense.
Instead, they came to him because his faith
and his ability to share their problems provided
encouragement, inspiration and some relief
from the loneliness of much personal anguish.
It was a tragedy that his service was crippled
by a completely unrealistic reverence for
professional expertise. In fact, I suspect that
there are far more people who need the pastoral
support he was giving than there are those who
need any particular professional service.
The second distortion arises from the narrow
gauge dimensions of most professional
competence. Though I am not a part of the
academic life, I’ve spent most of my years in an
academic community which swarms with all
kinds of specialists.
My observation is that there are an awful lot
of dumb professionals. Here, I’m not talking
about the people who have degrees which do
not represent real ability in their fields. Rather,
I’m talking about those who are really expert in
their field but inept or unwise in most other
dimensions of life.
There are biologists who know just about all
there is to know about genetic patterns in the
red eyed fruit fly; and if I ever want to know
anything about red eyed fruit flies, I’ll certainly
go to them.
But if I want highway directions or human
wisdom or the perspective of Christian faith,
I’m just as likely to go to a person whose
qualifications and experience would never rate
him as a professional in any man’s judgment.
In fact, the specialized concentration
required for professional competence tends to
preclude the breadth of experience and
reflection which contribute to wisdom and the
experience of Christian faith. There are some
marvellous exceptions — people who are
professionally expert as well as deeply human,
wise and religious - but that combination seems
to be pretty rare.
The point of all this is that more and more
people, especially priests and religious, who
seem to be accepting the absurd notion that
personal worth and significant service can be
measured only on standards of professional
competence. If these men and women lose
respect for themselves and the service they can
offer, they become psychological basket cases.
For myself, I find it useful (even if it sounds
like sour grapes) to remember that just about
every expert I know is a complete amateur in
all dimensions of life other than his narrow
field of specialization.
There’s much more to life and religion than
red eyed fruit flies, professional counselling and
debates about the theological basis of
infallibility.
Marriage Is
Worship of God
Joe Breig
I feel, at the moment, like a stuck
phonograph needle.
The Canon Law Society of America has
called for deeper research into the theology of
marriage as one way of coping with the deadly
problem of broken marriages and divorce.
I say deadly, because not only are the lives of
husbands and wives and children terribly
injured when family life is wrecked, but the
community, the nation and the Church are
underminded.
I feel like a stuck phonograph needle because
for years I have been pleading for a better
theology of marriage-or at least for better
teaching of the theology we already have,
which is very far from being superficial.
For years I have been saying, in my columns
and other writings, that we will not make the
progress we should be making in this matter
until marriage is clearly seen, throughout, the
Church, as first and foremost a divinely ordered
vocation in life.
There is not much use in talking about
marriage as a contract, or about its primary
purpose being the procreation and education of
children. It is immensely more than a contract.
And surely its primarly purpose is the
sanctifying of persons,. . .the making of
saints .. .the closer uniting of humankind with
our Creator.
Normally, this sanctifying is achieved chiefly
through the procreating-the co-creating with
God-of immortal sons and daughters, and their
religious and secular education.
What must be emphasized, over and over, is
that this God-ordained way of life is mutually
created by the bride and the bridegroom. It is
they who make the marriage. It is they who
confer the sacrament on each other. And this
sacramental vocation is their life’s work. Its
success is their responsibility - with the help, of
course, of others.
If a deeper theology of marriage is to be
developed, the theologians can do no better
than to start with an intensive study of
Benedictine Father Maur Burbach’s essay in
“Readings in Sacramental Theology”
(Prentice-Hall), Englewood Cliffs, N.J.)
Marriage, Father Burbach reminds us, is a
revelation from God-“a divinely established
and divinely revealed plan for life.”
Marriage also is a mystery of God’s creative
and redemptive will. Husband and wife are
“two in the one flesh of the Lord . . .God’s love
meets mutual human love.. .and the three
loves become one ...”
And because marriage is a sacrament, it is
liturgy; it is worship of God. It abides through
the married life as part of the Church’s liturgy.
Finally (adds Father Burbach) marriage “fills
up what is wanting in the sufferings of Christ,
and leads infallibly to the ecstasy of the eternal
marriage feast of Heaven.”
Life
In the
Spirit
Rev. Joseph Dean
The words of life on these sheets will help
you to pray. They are words that God has
spoken in the scriptures. He means to speak
them to you now. There is one for every day in
the week. Meditate on them each day in the
time you have set aside for prayer, and the
Lord will speak to you through them.
Day 1: God is not someone who lives far
away in a place you can never reach. Nor is he a
heavenly warden, eager to punish you for doing
wrong. He is a father who loves you. He says to
you: “I have loved you with an everlasting love,
so I am constant in my affection for you.”
Day 2: You can know God and know how
much he loves you. He wants to be in a
personal relation with you. He wants you to be
his son or daughter. He does not want there to
be any barrier or distance between you and
Him. He promised through the prophet
Jeremiah: “I will be their God and they shall be
My people.”
Day 3: He loves you. God the creator of the
universe, the one who made all things out of
nothing, loves you. He wants to care for you
and give you a better life. He promised: “I
myself will pasture my sheep, I myself will
show them where to rest - It is the Lord God
who speaks. I shall look for the lost one, bring
back the stray, bandage the wounded and make
the weak strong I shall watch over the healthy
and the strong. I shall be a true shepherd to
them.”
Day 4: Because He loves us, God sent His
only son to save us. He sent Jesus so that we
might have life, a better life now, a life that will
last eternally. “For God so loved the world that
he gave his only son, that whoever believes in
Him should not perish but have eternal life.”
Day 5: God loves you. He is speaking to you
now, reaching out to you. He is saying to you:
“Oh, come to the water all you who are thirsty;
though you have no money, Come! Why spend
money on what is not bread, your wages on
what fails to satisfy? Listen, listen to me, and
you will have good things to eat and rich food
to enjoy. Pay attention, come to me; listen, and
your soul will live. With you 1 will make an
everlasting covenant because of my sure,
steadfast love.”
Day 6: If you wish to know God, if you wish
to have the life He offers, you can. Just turn to
Him and reach out to Him. He invites you: “I
know the plans I have for you - it is the Lord
who speaks plans for peace, not disaster,
reserving a future full of hope for you. When
you call to me, and come and pray to me, I will
listen to you. When you seek me, you shall find
me.” (Jer 29:11 13)
Day 7: Sometimes God seems far away:
Sometimes it seems like we can never reach
Him. But He is not far away. He is very close to
you, and right now He is trying to show himself
to you in a fuller way than ever before. He
promises:
“The Lord is near to all who want to call
upon Him, to all who call upon Him in truth.”
(Ps 145:18)
Just
A Little
Bit
Reverend Janies Wilmes
Everyone can benefit from the fable about
the king who invited his officers to a banquet.
Each was to bring a flask of wine as his
contribution to the king’s great mixing bowl.
Guess what? One thought his small gift would
make such a slight difference that he brought
water instead. When the “wine” was served,
everyone received water, because everyone had
figured alike: “my bit will be be missed!”
Psychologists tell us that the “victim image”
is widespread today, afflicting young and old,
jobless, minority groups, and even middle class
people. “Victim image” is a self-image which
keeps telling you that you don’t count, that no
one would miss you if you failed to show up,
that what you do or say or think is of little
importance. No one is exempt, at least now and
then, from this dire affliction.
Stephen Grellet (1773-1855) cured himself
with the realization that his precious
contributions would really be missed if he did
not pour them out for the good of the whole.
Deeply interested in care of the poor, hospital
and prison conditions, and education, he paid
his own expenses to visit rulers and governors in
Europe and in the United States with useful
recommendations which were met with respect.
His driving motivation has inspired many to
follow him.
“I expect to pass through this world but
once. Any good thing, therefore, that I can do,
or any kindness that I can show to any
fellow-man, let me do it now. Let me not defer
or neglect it, for I shall not pass this way
again.”
The moral of this story is: Do your bit,
because every little bit helps, especially when
united, elevated, transformed with the merits of
Christ Jesus.
RESOLUTION: Be more God-centered than
self-centered since He can multiply our “little
bit” just as Jesus multiplied the little boy’s
loaves and fishes. Love, and be as generous as
the boy.