Newspaper Page Text
PAGE 2—July 24, 1975
BICENTENNIAL SERIES -
Father Kieran McCarty, O.F.M.,
(left) is author of the bicentennial
series article on the Church in the
Southwest. At top is Mission San
Jose de Tumacacori, founded in
the Tucson, Ariz., area 86 years
before the Declaration of
Independence. The Church in the
Southwest helped America win its
freedom from Britain, said Father
McCarty (NC Photo)
★★★★
BY THE DAMEANS
Rhinestone Cowboy
I’ve been walking these streets so
long,
Singin’ the same old song,
I know every crack in these dirty
sidewalks of Broadway,
Where hustle’s the name of the
game
And nice guys get washed away
Like the snow in the rain.
There’s been a load of
compromisin’
On the road to my horizon,
But I’m gonna be where the lights
are shinin’ on me.
Like a rhinestone cowboy
Riding out on a horse in a
star-spangled rodeo,
Like a rhinestone cowboy
Getting cards and letters from
people I don’t even know,
And offers cornin’ over the phone.
Well, I really don’t mind the rain,
And a smile can hide all the pain,
But you’re down when you’re
riding the train
That’s takin’ the long way.
And I dream of the things I’ll do
With a subway token and a dollar
tucked inside my shoe.
There’ll be a load of compromisin’
On the road to my horizon,
But I’m gonna be where the lights
are shinin’ on me.
Like a rhinestone cowboy
Ridin’ out on a horse in a
star-spangled rodeo
A rhinestone cowboy
Getting cards and letters from
people I don’t even know
And offers coming over the phone.
Like a rhinestone cowboy
Ridin’ out on a horse in a
star-spangled rodeo
A rhinestone cowboy
Getting cards and letters from
people I don’t even know.
, by Larry Weiss
(c) 1975, 20th Century Music
Coro, and House
of Weiss Music Co. ASCAP)
Anthony Padovano is a religious
writer and speaker who inspires
many in this country. He has the
incredible ability to touch people
exactly where they most feel their
aches and frustrations, passionate
desires and cool wells of
peacefulness.
In recent days, Padovano has
been describing the American
religious experience using the image
of the cowboy. According to him,
the myth of the cowboy is a vital
part of the American way of life.
The hero held out in our culture is
the rough, tough John
Wayne-figure. He is ruggedly
independent in his associations and
in the end, he will predictably
disappear into the sunset.
y\
The key, of course, is that the
K cowboy is a detached, reserved
personality. He is a Clint Eastwood
who avoids involvements like
rattlesnakes on the prairie, who
remains cool and is a sure bet to
come out on top - alone.
Glen Campbell’s “Rhinestone
Cowboy” is a pointed statement of
this American myth. When there is
no investment in other people, then
the story is one about a sham
person, a mass of glitter with no
real value.
Padovano’s comments and
“Rhinestone Cowboy” hit us right
between the eyes. They ask
whether we cut ourselves off from
others as we walk the road of life.
Do we find ourselves compromising
honest relationships thinking that
the horizon holds something better
in store for us?
It is really very easy for us to
identify with “Rhinestone
Cowboy.” Each of us feels a
kindred spirit, a sympathy for the
man so like us. We all hide opr pain
behind well-practiced smiles. We
spend long hours dreaming of the
things we’ll do one day. We feel the
frustration of being put off, “riding
the train that’s taking the long
way.”
The fault may very well be ours.
We eat too fast, fail to write letters,
have too many appointments and
meetings, avoid talking to those in
our own homes. Unbelievable as it
is, we don’t take the time to
compliment those we admire and
love until it is too late. We dodge
the words of supportive criticism
which make growth possible in our
friends. What a daily load of
compromising there is on the road
to our horizons.
Padovano makes a strong case for
the necessity of facing our lives in
light of the cowboy myth. IL
becomes increasingly important to
take time out in the present to
share words with each other and
with God. If there are solutions to
the personal despair that individuals
experience, to the family problems
in our communities, and to the
painful inability to pray
experienced in our culture, it is in
learning to talk and to relate in a
way that is not so unthinkingly
independent. It is in learning to
open ourselves and others to
growth - to open sensitively and
gently.
“Rhinestone Cowboy” jars us
into looking at our myths. It says
to us that there will be as many
people on our horizon as we bring
there.
If you choose to compromise by
being a rhinestone cowboy, simply
stated, the sun will set on only you
and the horse.
(All correspondence should be
directed to: The Dameans, P.O. Box
2108, Baton Rouge, Louisiana 70821).
LIFE IN MUSIC
THE CHURCH IN SOUTHWEST 1776
Liberty And Justice For All:
American Catholics 1776-1976
BY FATHER KIERAN
MCCARTY, O.F.M.
The momentous year of 1776
launched an era of new freedom and
expanding horizons, not only in the
Anglo society of our eastern seaboard
but in our Mexican-Hispanic Southwest
as well. Recent research has dispelled
some of the dark legends of royal
oppression in the Spanish colonies of
our borderlands, and it has also revealed
sympathetic activity, promoted in the
Southwest by the Spanish crown itself,
aiding the cause of the American
Revolution. The Catholic Church played
an essential role in fostering this
activity, in expanding frontier horizons,
and in increasing frontier freedoms
generally.
In May of 1776, two months before
the Declaration of Independence, Spain
granted local government to the frontier
provinces of New Spain, and urgent
appeals no longer had to go all the way
to Mexico City. High-level decisions,
pending royal approbation, could be
made in the city of Arispe and affect
our borderlands from the Gulf of
Mexico to the Pacific Ocean.
Arispe, in present-day Mexico near
the Arizona border, and other Spanish
settlements in the Arizona-Sonora
desert, had also been hampered in
Church matters by distance. Their
episcopal See, Durango, was 800 miles
eastward on the opposite side of the
Mexican Rockies. In May, 1779, three
years after the designation of Arispe as
civil capital of the northern provinces,
Pope Pius VI declared Arispe the
headquarters of a new and independent
diocese.
The Southwest was mainly mission
territory at this time, and would be for
a long time to come. The new civil
jurisdiction at Arispe listed some
thirty-five Indian missions for Spanish
Sonora, including Arizona, and
twenty-eight for New Mexico,
administrerd by Franciscans from
Mexico City, Queretaro and
Guadalajara.
The dream of independence from
Britain in the Atlantic-coast colonies
coincided in the Mexican-Hispanic
Southwest with dreams of new horizons
and new beginnings. Catholic
churchmen played an outstanding part
in this heroic task of exploration and
new settlement. Such were the
Garces-Anza colonizing expedition from
Tubac (Arizona) and the
Dominiguez-Velez de Escalante
exploration trek from Santa Fe (New
Mexico). Both were taking place in
1776, the year of our Declaration of
Independence.
Father Francisco Garces, Franciscan
missionary at Mission San Xavier del
Bac near Tucson, was pathfinder for the
expedition that founded the first
Spanish colony on the shores of San
Francisco Bay. Earlier in the decade he
had explored southwestern Arizona and
southeastern California to establish the
route for 240 men, women, and
children to cross some of the harshest
terrain in North America. In 1770
Captain Juan Bautista de Anza,
commander of the royal Spanish fort at
Tubac, discussed with Father Garces a
dream of an overland route to
California. Word had reached them
recently through the Indian grapevine of
the arrival of Spaniards in upper
California.
Two expeditions resulted: the first an
exploration in 1774 and the second a
colonizing trip in 1775-1776. Father
Garces did not accompany the second
expedition all the way to the coast.
Hoping for still another route further
north to connect Santa Fe, New
Mexico, with the newly founded port of
Monterey in California, he left the
second Anza expedition on the lower
Colorado river to head northward along
its shores, then westward all the way
into the San Joaquin valley of
California, then eastward onto the Hopi
rocks of present-day northern Arizona.
July 4, 1776, found Father Garces at
the Hopi village of Oraibi and at the end
of his northern explorations. It also
found an Acoma Indian, named Lazaro,
hurrying eastward with a Garces letter,
written the day before at Oraibi, to the
Franciscan missionaries at Santa Fe.
Neither knew that at the other end was
a fellow explorer who was not only
dreaming of but actively engaged in the
same project, a northern route from
Santa Fe to Monterey.
Father Silvestre Valez de Escalante
and Father Francisco Atanasio
Dominguez had planned their departure
from Santa Fe for July 4, 1776.
Circumstances delayed their leaving long
enough for Lazaro to arrive with Father
Garces’ letter, containing helpful
information. Late in July, the two friars
left Santa Fe with a handful of
Spaniards and Indians and spent nearly
four months on the trail. They did not
reach Monterey, but they brought back
valuable information on the Great Basin
country of the West.
But the Spanish empire in the New
World was not acting in isolation from
other world events. The important role
of Spain and her colonies in the
American Revolutionary War has long
been underestimated. Without the
Spanish offensive along our southern
seaboard and her patrols up and down
the Mississippi River, protecting the
Thirteen Colonies from rearguard action
by the British, the outcome of the war
might have been very different. In
addition, recent research has revealed a
monetary contribution, a free-will
offering, made by both Spanish and
Indian settlements in the Southwest to
defray Spain’s expenses in the war.
In August 1780, berating “the
insulting tyranny of the English
nation,” Charles III of Spain appealed
to his New World colonies for a
“donativo” or free-will offering of one
or two pesos each. An instruction to the
commissioners of the collection strictly
forbade them to use any coercion or
even show any sign of displeasure if the
prospective donor gave nothing at all.
The royal decree urged the Church’s
involvement by publicizing the
collection from the pulpit and by giving
good example in donating.
At the time six to eight pesos would
buy an excellent riding horse. In the
final tabulation in Arispe, the Spanish
settlements and Indian missions of our
greater Southwest had donated 22,420
pesos to the war that won U.S.
independence.
Recommended reading: Much of the
material in this article is from primary
and unpublished sources, soon to be
published by the Arizona Historical
Society, Tucson, Ariz., in “Spanish and
Mexican Arizona: A Desert
Documentary,” edited by (Father)
Kieran McCarty.
(Father McCarty is Arizona state
commissioner for the national bicentennial,
Franciscan priest, Indian missionary, and
resident historian at Mission San Xavier del
Bac in Tucson.)
Outdoor Setting For Hearings On Rural Life
U.S. Catholic Bishops will take an
unprecedented trip to the people they
serve when they head for rural
Clarkesville, Ga. for an open revival tent
and a day of public hearings on rural
and Appalachian concerns. The colorful
program August 8 is one of three days
of hearings on “The Family” being
hosted in Atlanta as part of the Catholic
Church’s Bicentennial program keyed to
social justice.
The unusual rural session of the three
day program will be held at Tidy Creek
Camp grounds, part of the
Chattahoochee National Forest, located
seven miles south of Clarkesville. Father
Gerald Conroy of Clarkesville, chairman
of the arrangements for the hearings
there, said the “revival tent”
atmosphere would resemble an old
fashioned country church fair, complete
with booths, country musicians, crafts,
picnic lunch and barbecue dinner.
The booths surrounding the huge tent
will represent church resources for
justice from Miami to Pittsburgh,
projects of various groups concerned
with Appalachia, special organizations
EMMITSBURG, MD. (NC) - The
Seton Shrine at Emmitsburg is priming
for the influx of visitors expected on
September 14, the day Elizabeth Ann
Seton will be canonized at Rome.
A “first” for a native of the United
States, the canonization has no
precedent to serve as a guideline for the
scope of public interest in the event, in
particular the number of visitors that
might be expected at the Emmitsburg
shrine that day to celebrate the event.
Estimates range from a conservative low
of 8,000, four times the population of
the small town located in northern
Frederick County, Md., to a speculative
high of 50,000, the number of visitors
to the New York shrine of Italian-born
Mother Cabrini the day of her
canonization.
To accommodate visitors who wish to
attend mass at the shrine of St.
Elizabeth Ann on September 14, six
Eucharistic liturgies in honor of the
canonization are scheduled. Principal
celebrants are as follows: 9 a.m., Bishop
Joseph H. Hodges, diocese of
Wheeling-Charleston; 11 a.m., Bishop
Michael J. Begley, diocese of Charlotte,
N. C.; 1 p.m., Bishop Walter F. Sullivan,
diocese of Richmond, Va.; 3 p.m.,
Bishop Ernest Unterkoefler, diocese of
Charleston, S.C.; 5 p.m., Bishop F.
Joseph Gossman, diocese of Raleigh, N.
that work with the people of the region
and area culture groups who will display
craft work, quilts, music and art.
The informal setting for the public
hearing will seek the grassroot opinions
of people of the area with participants
expected from the East Coast states.
Father Conroy said the trip to rural
Georgia was intended to bring the
Bishops directly to the people. “The
Church must be a living Church,” he
said, adding that it was an excellent
opportunity to see the area and hear the
feelings directly from the people of the
region. “This will be a listening and
responding situation, and a healthy one,
for the Bishops,” he noted.
The Atlanta Hearing Committee
stated that they had sought the rural
tent session as a chance for those who
cannot come into Atlanta to have their
turn at expressing their feelings and
needs to the hierarchy of the American
Church.
A spokesman for the local group said
“this is an honest effort to keep the
entire feedback process completely
C., 7 p.m., Bishop T. Austin Murphy,
archdiocese of Baltimore.
Priests wishing to concelebrate are
asked to write the Planning Committee,
St. Joseph’s Provincial House,
Emmitsburg, Md. 21727, and indicate
the time of the mass of their choice.
The Shrine is open to the public, and
admission tickets are not required to the
masses.
The Seton shrine in the chapel of St.
Joseph’s Provincial House is being
remodelled to provide added protection
for the remains of Mother Seton, which
are preserved in a bronze casket beneath
the shrine altar. The casket reliquary is
being enclosed in marble which will be
inscribed with the name of the new
saint, the dates of her birth and death,
and the three historical dates associated
with the progress of her cause toward
sainthood: the date she was named
Venerable, the date she was beatified,
and the date of her canonization,
September 14,1975.
Extensive renovations are being made
on the grounds for the convenience of
visitors. Signs are being erected for
self-guided tours of the sites Elizabeth
Seton inhabited the 12 last years of her
life. Ramps replacing stairways to
several buildings are being constructed
open and taking the Bishops to where
it’s all at made far more sense than
trying to discuss rural problems on an
isolated academic level here in Atlanta.
We want those who are living in rural
WASHINGTON (NC) - In the face of
an “atmosphere of permissive divorce”
in the United States, the Church must
“strongly emphasize that marriage is
meant to be a permanent union,”
according to an official of the National
Conference of Catholic Bishops
(NCCB).
In a statement reflecting on recently
published national divorce statistics,
Msgr. James McHugh, the NCCB’s
secretary for pro-life affairs, suggested
strongly that selfishness or an inability
to give or love might be among the
primary reasons for marital breakdowns.
to permit easy access for visitors in
wheelchairs.
Other innovations include the new
Shrine Center to greet visitors and to
orient them to the shrine sites with a
narrated slide presentation, a gift shop,
and expanded rest room facilities. The
Cheverus Room in the White House is
being renovated as a museum featuring
Seton memorabilia.
On a year-round basis, the Shrine
Center has no plans for a food
concession, however, on Sunday, the
fourteenth, light refreshments will be
sold in the Student Center.
A Planning Committee, chaired by
Sister Jerome Nossell, D. C., councillor
for the Emmitsburg Province, is in
charge of arrangements for September
14th. Heading various subcommittees
are: Sister Margaret James Hussey,
arrangements; Sister Camilla Harant,
chapel; Sister Mary Augusta Von Drehle
and Sister Marian Hagner, liturgy; Sister
Ethelreda Flannagan, traffic, parking,
and security; Sister Kathleen Hemelt,
reception; Sister Anne William Rickie
and Sister Margaret Hickey, Shrine
Center and guides; Sister DeSales
Wisniewski, refreshments; Sister Helen
Marie Kling, commemorative program;
Sister Carroll Eby and Sister Clare
Lindner, information center; Mrs. Valli
Ryan, publicity.
areas to tell it themselves in their own
words and in their own environment.”
The hearings on August 7 and 9 will
be at the Civic Center on other topics
related to “The Family” theme.
He noted that the U.S. divorce rate
has nearly doubled within a decade,
from 2.3 divorces per 1,000 married
couples in 1963 to 4.4 per 1,000 in
1973.
Experts, he said, provide various
explanations, with some citing the
increased independence of women
because of smaller family size and
increased educational and employment
opportunities, while others cite other
causes: “the greater social acceptance of
divorce, the relaxation of opposition to
divorce by some religious groups,
greater equality among the sexes and
the reform of divorce laws.”
Urging a strong Church stand on the
permanence of marriage, Msgr. McHugh
said, “It is meant to be a mutual
partnership in which each person
develops his or her human attributes
and talents, and in which each partner
contributes to the stability of the
union.”
This requires “mutual respect,
fidelity and an investment of self,” he
said, and “considerable input and
sacrifice by both partners, the
development of communication and
intimacy, and the common sense to
recognize that satisfaction is
proportioned to the mutual effort
involved.”
He also scored a purely self-centered
approach to marriage arguing:
“Marriage will not endure as a closed
relationship. Couples must be open to
childbearing and childrearing, to the
needs of aging parents and relatives, and
to a more general responsibility to
improve the society of which they are a
part.”
Affirming a belief in the endurance
and adaptability of the family, the
NCCB official said, “Many of the
circumstances of contemporary life that
are frequently described as threats to
marriage - education, mobility,
increased equality for women, changes
in the perception of marital roles -- can
in fact be highly supportive of marriage
and family life.
“In many ways,” he added, “the
demonstrated ability of the family to
adapt to new challenges is the greatest
assurance that the family will out-live its
critics. And it will do so not by giving
way to every new alternative structure,
but by maximizing its capacity to meet
the perennial human needs for intimacy,
community and independence from the
overall society.”
Seton Shrine At Emmitsburg
Plans For Sept. 14 Visitors
U.S. Church Must Emphasize
Marriage Permanent Union