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PAGE 4—The Southern Cross, August 7,1975
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Bicentennial Lesson?
(Reprinted from the GEORGIA BULLETIN, Atlanta, Ga.)
A couple of generations ago they
called it “just being practical” or “facing
reality.”
Then later some intellectuals took the
idea and raised it to the dignity of a
philosophy. They called it pragmatism.
Meanwhile life went on about the
same as always, beecause new ideas don’t
catch on very fast. They had inherited
certain notions of what is right and
wrong, and they held to them.
Then someone came up with a new
name for pragmatism. They called it
Situation Ethics. It was based on the
idea that each moral decision stands on
its own. In each case one makes the
decision which seems right at that time
and in those circumstances.
By now the time had arrived for the
old idea under its new name to take
root. Situation Ethics became the rage in
academic circles, but more important, it
became more and more the popular
method of operation.
As practical as the idea might seem on
the surface, the Situation Ethics
approach to human conduct had its
drawbacks, too. For before long, many
people kicked over the old moral
restraints and announced their
new-found freedom to the world. They
were happy and felt “fully human” for
the first time, they declared.
Others, too, began to be attracted to
the old idea with its attractive new look.
They also began to “do their own
thing,” glorying in their freedom from
restraint.
After a time, the people began to find
that something was wrong with the
quality of American life. Crime rates
shot up. People were afraid in many
cities to go out on the streets at night.
Respect for property value went down
the drain.
People began to ask, “Is nothing
sacred any more?” They really should
have known the answer. When
everything is relative in life, then nothing
can be sacred.
Then the people began to grow restive
and ask, “Where are we to find those
values in life which are unchanging, on
which everything else can be built?”
With the Bicentennial celebration,
they might try looking into the
principles on which the nation was
founded. This government was based on
the ideas that everyone has the right to
life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.
These rights were held to be
“self-evident,” so clear that they could
not be disputed.
And what was the source of these
rights? They were held'to be God given.
Doesn’t it follow that when a nation
abandons God, it abandons the source of
its rights?
Could this be the real lesson of the
Bicentennial?
ROBERT SHULTHEIS.
A Happy Marriage
Joe Breig
Mary and I are celebrating, quietly, our 45th
wedding anniversary; and the thought comes to
me that in marriage, as in other joint
enterprises, there is never a perfect equality of
what is termed, in our gobbleygooky times,
in-put.
Usually it is the wife who is chiefly the artist
creating a happy and successful marriage; and
the colors with which she paints are mainly
those known as humility and patience. Yet I
know that Mary would insist that I contributed
something.
If true, J am glad. All the same, there comes
a time, sooner or later, when any husband with
an ounce of sense begins to realize what he
owes to his wife. At that point, he begins to do
what an ancient marriage vow describes as
worshiping her.
In this, of course, there is nothing even
remotely idolatrous. Rather, in worshiping his
wife, the husband finds himself adoring God in
a special way; for only the grace of God can
fully account for a happy marriage.
That is why it is immensely important that a
wedding be a religious event. The union of a
husband and wife -- a union out of which
should spring new lives and a new kind of love
-- is something miles above the office of a
justice of the peace or a ship’s captain.
Marriages ought to be made in Heaven; for out
of them come the new images and likenesses of
God who will live as long as God lives, forever.
It is always a grave error for young people to
hold older people, and old customs, in
contempt. Time does convey to the elders
certain insights and wisdoms; and customs
become old only because their origins were
rooted in lasting truths.
Like any other young couple, Mary and I, in
the flush of youthful romance and
adventurousness, would have liked, in one way,
simply to fly off together and unite ourselves
without bothering with ceremony. But we were
humble enough that no such thought was given
serious space in our minds; we respected and
loved our parents, our pastor, our relatives and
friends, our parish, our Faith. And so, at 8
o’clock one summer morning, we stood
together at an altar, in a sanctuary, and heard
the priest intoning the Church’s ancient wisdom
about marriage - that it is a sacred state, a
sacrament, in which love makes sacrifice easy,
and perfect love makes sacrifice a joy.
Then we endured a small wedding breakfast,
at which neither of us could eat; and as we got
into our Model-A Ford to depart for our
honeymoon, Mary’s mother, with a wisdom
acquired through the years, handed us a box
lunch which we devoured before we had
motored for more than an hour.
Then came what I might call the childlike
period of marriage -- the period when it is just
fun to be together, and there is hardly any
consciousness of the responsibilities of
marriage. That was a brief time;, then the
children started entering into our love, and
expanding and deepening it.
Mary and I have many, many hearts. She has
a heart for me, and I a heart for her. Then each
of us has a heart - or rather together we have a
united heart -- for each of the children. Then
for each of the grandchildren.
The more hearts, the more love, the more
joy, the more happiness. Maybe we will live to
welcome great-grandchildren into this assembly
of hearts. And of one thing we feel confident -
sometime there will be a rollicking family
reunion in the Kingdom of God.
OUR PARISH
“Since Walter retired, Father, his
back goes out more than he does.”
Plea For Bicentennial Quiet
John Reedy, C.S.C.
It was completely predictable, of course, that
the exploitation of the bicentennial -- in
commercialism, local boosterism, and
journalistic space-filling -- would turn many of
us off before the observance got into high gear.
It’s right that we should commemorate our
nation’s history, struggles, values (yes, and its
mistakes) just as it is right for us to
commemorate our parents’ wedding anniversary
or a major birthday in the family.'
Such commemorations should be occasions
for reflection and understanding, for
appreciation and, at times, for renewal of
purpose or change in direction.
But in this sprawling, disorganized,
communications-glutted nation of ours, there is
an irresistible tendency to overdo, to exploit, to
trivialize. We take the serious, painful struggles
of the people who launched a nation and turn
them into an occasion for selling barbecue
grills, above-ground swimming pools and airline
tickets.
ideals did emerge for our respect and our
commitment.
It seems to me that the approach to the
bicentennial by the American Bishops’
conference was basically sensitive and sound.
No one knows how much lasting effect the
program will have, but it is an effort to look at
ourselves and our society in the light of the
better strains of our tradition, in the light of
the values we like to profess in our national
rhetoric.
It’s not clear that our politicians and
financial manipulators of today are more or less
corrupt than those of our past. Nor is it clear
that our problems of national unity and human
exploitation are much worse than those of the
Civil War or the periods of mass immigration.
What could be useful for us would be a time
of deeper reflection, a time for greater
sensitivity to those humane and decent values
which somehow emerged from the chaotic
efforts of very ordinary people.
Called
By Name
Sr. Genevieve Sachse, O.S.B.
Parish Education for Ministry/Service
Various opinion polls and scientific studies
are performed year after year in an effort to
determine the effectiveness of advertising
campaigns or changing trends in the thinking of
the grassroots public. Rarely do the findings
indicate any drastic reversal of attitudes.
The same psychological and cultural factors
apply to the attitudes and thought patterns of
most parish communities. If an adult found
that the religious habit or clerical collar really
did engender his respect for that person, he will
find it difficult to understand why it does not
have the same effect on another person, or even
that there could be the same respect without it.
On the other hand, FUTURE SHOCK has
taken its toll within the same parish
community, as attitudinal change has not been
able to keep up with the rapid changes in
externals within the Church.
The implication of all this for the person
engaged in ministry within the Church is that
there is a tremendous responsibility for each
minister to do whatever can be done to help the
persons within the Church community to sort
out the essential principles and qualities within
the Church and the Gospel message from the
accretions of externals which, no matter how
valid the symbol, can never be equated with the
mystery itself.
Narrowing the focus still further, there is a
great need for attitudinal education concerning
the nature of ministry itself. Much unhappiness
and unrest within parishes results from an
unrealistic expectation of the priest or priests in
that parish. By the simple fact of his
ordination, a man is expected to be financier,
orator, psychologist, marriage counsellor,
athletic director, healer, make a complete
parish visitation each year regardless of the
number of parishioners, etc.
No man can be expected to perform all these
tasks adequately; if a priest is an administrator,
he is criticized for not taking time with the
people; if he is constantly visiting the hospitals
and homes, he is criticized for never being
available at the rectory. Such complaints in
these or related versions are almost bound to
increase as the number of available priests
decreases and the expectations of the people
remain the same or even increase.
There are at least two possible remedies.
First, there will have to be a dawning of the
reality of the situation upon both priests and
people; with that realization will come the
awareness that each community must call forth
its own ministers. If a parish wishes to have
priests in the future to serve their needs in the
Church, they will have to realize that those
vocations must come from parishes like their
own and begin to encourage those interested to
follow such a vocation rather than discouraging
them as is so often the case.
Secondly, the expansion of the broad base of
ministry will be called forth and recognized.
This is already in process with the permanent
diaconate and the utilization of lay ministers of
the Eucharist. The consideration of the role of
catechist and minister of music as an ordained
ministry is presently under discussion.
Within a couple of days the Freedom Train,
that rolling museum of American history, is
going to back into our town. (It’s backing in
because there’s no other way for it to be
pointing in the right direction when it moves
out across our deteriorating rail system to other
communities.)
The train is going to be parked just across the
street from my residence, within easy walking
distance. And I haven’t the slightest interest in
visiting it.
It might be possible for us to emerge from
this commemoration with a slightly improved
appreciation of what is good in our heritage,
with a renewed commitment to make our own
modest contribution to the preservation and
realization of these decent and humane ideals.
It might be possible, that is, if we can clear
our minds of all the jabber about patriotic
barbecues and bicentennial air fares.
St. Paul reminded the Corinthians (I Cor. 12:
4-11) that there are many differing gifts to be
exercised within the Church.
This reminder is just as timely today not just
in the consideration of the expansion of the
official ministries of the Church, but in all of
the differing roles to be utilized within the
liturgy and the administration of a parish
community.
Helpful Habits
Rev. James Wilmes
Oh, I would enjoy viewing many of the
exhibits. In fact, I did spend a good deal of
time in such visits during the years I lived in
Washington.
But that kind of viewing is not like watching
a fire-works, display or catching a glimpse of a
political celebrity. It calls for time, a mood of
quiet thoughtfulness, to appreciate the reality
and significance of important human
documents and symbols. You need a sense of
leisure and reflection to establish mental and
emotional links with the people and conditions
of our history. It’s not done with mobs of
people behind you waiting for you to get out of
the way so they can get in.
Much of the ceremonial publicity being
dumped on us falls into one of two categories.
Either it is a romantic glorification which turns
the people of our past into giants of virtue,
wisdom and endurance; or it is a mean-spirited
debunking which would strip away everything
that is good or noble about our history.
Obviously, the truth falls between the two
extremes. The men and women who founded
and built our nation were basically similar to
the people with whom we associate.
Much of what they did was influenced by
self-interest, which does not completely
obliterate idealistic vision and generous
commitments. Some of the heritage they left
represented extraordinary human
accomplishment; some of it was characterized
by insensitivity and brutality similar to that
which we see in our own times.
We commemorate our history not because it
was without flaw and defect, but because it was
human. Somehow, in spite of all the weaknesses
and corruption, some good things were
institutionalized, some national values and
If you want to make friends, or having made
them, keep them, there are five helpful habits
which practically insure success. But let any of
the five be omitted and the others become
about worthless.
The first is the habit of cheerfulness. We are
drawn to people of happy disposition, and they
to us. We are repelled by sour-minded,
fault-finding and helpless people. Lift the spirits
of others, make them believe more in
themselves, and you make them your friends.
The next is the habit of showing a friendly
interest in others. This includes the art of
listening, of noticing, of drawing reserved men
and women out of their shells. Self-centered
people do not make friends.
•
The third is the habit of thoughtfulness. To
keep friends, we must bear them in mind, doing
for them, remembering them in their sorrows
and joys, standing in their shoes, seeing what
they are looking at.
Fourth is the habit of give-and-take. This is
reciprocity on the personal level; the
recognition of mutual advantage in
compromise, in reconciling differences.
Friendship is a two way street. All take and no
give is a dead-end.
Finally, the habit of giving praise and
recognizing merit where these are deserved.
And sometimes, where they are only partially
deserved. Flattery is not called for between
friends, but appreciation is. These five will help
make and keep friends, with the help and grace
of God. Omit any one of these or regard it as
unimportant, and you ruin the product. They
are all of one piece.
RESOLUTION: Form these habits by
concentrating on each for a month at a time.
Examine yourself at noon and at evening daily
to see how often each virtue was practiced so
that the habits become part of self, like food,
rather than artificial additions like clothes.
SCRIPTURE: Jesus said, “Which of you shall
have a friend and shall go to him in the middle
of the night and say, ‘Friend, loan me three
loves, for a friend of mine has just come from a
journey and I have nothing to set before him.’
And he from within should answer and say, ‘Do
not disturb me; the door is now shut, we are in
bed and I cannot get up and give it to you.’”
Lk. 11,5.
PRAYER: Lord, keep me cheerful,
interested, thoughtful, reconciled, and
appreciative. Amen.