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PAGE 5 — The Georgia Bulletin, November 21,1985 Father Gerald Peterson Thank God For Farmers “Our Farmers Feed the World.” The sign along Main Street — Highway 441 in front of the Farm Bureau office in Clarkesville caught my eye. Also the headline in a brief article in “Rural Georgia” magazine stated a truth we can easily forget. It read: “The on ly people who shouldn’t be concerned about the farm economy are those people who don’t eat.” As we prepare for Thanksgiving, it is good to remember the blessings of abundance of food we have known in this coun try and give thanks to God for food and for the farmers who produce it. Miriam D’Entremont, a 13-year-old member of my parish wrote an excellent page for one of her school classes on “Why I Depend on the American Farmer.” I told Miriam I’d like to share her short essay with you, the Georgia Bulletin readers. “The American farmer is a big part of our everyday lives. Most of the food we eat is somehow connected to our farmers. If we did not have farmers we would not have any vegetables or meats that are safe to eat. In fact, almost everything we eat comes from some kind of living thing. “We do not think about it much because all we have to do is walk into a store and pick out some food, but the farmer does all the work for us. He has to buy and plant the seeds. He waters, fertilizes and harvests all the crops and takes care of the meat producing animals. The farmer provides raw materials for our clothing. Leather, wool and cotton are all supplied by the farmer. “There are some agricultural products that America does not produce, so we export our surplus farm products and im port the goods that we cannot produce ourselves. We are very lucky to have farmers!” I agree with Miriam: “We are very lucky to have farmers!” Through good farm management, ample rainfall and a moderate climate, forecasts indicate that 1985 is another bumper crop year. For this, let us give thanks to the Lord for our farmers. As Catholics, we are a Eucharistic people. Therefore in this period of the autumn harvest, those words which are repeated when Catholics gather for the Eucharist seem to be so appropriate: “Blessed are You, Lord God of all creation. Through your goodness we have this bread to offer which earth has given and human hands have made.” Rural Reflections Through the vast grain belt stretching from Indiana and Ill inois westward to California and Washington state, God has entrusted to our American farmers some of the earth’s most productive soil. For this reason, we can count our blessings in this land of plenty. We can be proud of the fact that our country produces 25 percent of the world’s food. Very few of us have experienced real hunger from a lack of enough to eat. We owe a debt of gratitude to God for the farmers, who are good stewards of the earth. They put in long, hard hours to produce the vegetables and meats that will adorn our tables at Thanksgiving. Many small farmers are in a crisis situation presently. Together we need to work and pray that the farmer will get a reasonable price for his product, a price that will enable him to continue producing at the level necessary to keep this country in abundance of good food. So as we prepare for Thanskgiving, I totally agree that the only people who shouldn’t be concerned about the farm economy are those people who don’t eat. And when you sit down to dinner on Thanksgiving Day, thank God for farmers. I’ll join you in that prayer. Father Eugene Hemrick On The Human Side Is The Pastor Sensitive Enough? What do you think is the most important quality of a parish pastor? Many Catholics, according to the Notre Dame Study of Catholic Parish Life, rank “sensitivity to others” first, followed by “holiness” and “learning.” A “sense of humor” and “good parish organizer” end up at the bottom of the list. This raises a question: What can be expected in terms of a pastor’s sensitivity toward others, especially if he was train ed before Vatican II? In the church before the council, the world was suspect, as was esteem for human emotions. Most theology training was strong in developing the mind and instilling a Spartan at titude that restricted sentiment to a minimum. Almost nowhere in seminary curriculum would you find seminarians studying psychologists such as Karl Rogers or Sigmund Freud and others whose works centered around what creates as well as what blocks human sensitivity. Instead, spiritual exercises were the main means of getting at the psychological. The exercises emphasized the need for growing personally in perfection, for self-mortification and for continuous examination of conscience. These methods, which dwelt on sacrifice, were employed to help seminarians learn about themselves and what part of the self needed to be put aside in order to grow closer to Christ. The lives of saints like Theresa, John Vianney, Ig natius, John of the Cross and Francis DeSales and their journeys of self-denial and intimacy with Christ were esteem ed. It was argued that if a seminarian learned self-discipline in the manner of the saints and through it drew closer to Christ, the seminarian would be a good mediator, as priest, between God and people. The emphasis was on first getting oneself in spiritual shape in order to help get others in shape. Although training in hearing confessions dealt with some of the psychological problems people experience, it did not cover the range of concerns required of a person majoring in the study of psychology. Often the courses at the end of seminary training were short, with the implication that a priest would learn quickly enough through practice how to understand the problems of others. Today sensitivity toward others is valued highly: sensitivity toward persons of other colors, races and nationalities; toward the rights of women — and men; toward the aged, the dying. And although a pastor before Vatican II was not trained in all the variations on the theme of sensitivity, I don’t think one can fault the spirituality that took its place. To be able to respond deeply to others one does have to get self out of the way. Self-denial and sacrifice are extremely essential for this. And too, being sensitive to others means more than being a do-gooder. Too often, when sensitivity to others requires much involvement and becomes ponderous, the do-gooder disappears. To really do good for another there has to be an outside force, preferably God, to which the person doing good is dedicated. The principles of spirituality taught this better than any other discipline. The Notre Dame study did not evaluate how sensitive pastors actually are. Important and necessary developments have been occurring in seminary education to meet the needs of the times. Still, my bet is that many priests trained before Vatican II, because of their spiritual training, have a sensitivi ty that even they might not realize they have. (Copyright (c) 1985 by NC News Service) Father John Dietzen Question Corner Two Questions On Marriage Q. My husband and I have been married 36 years and have two fine married sons, both faithful Catholics. However, my husband and I were married by a justice of the peace. When he was 15 years old he married a young girl, was divorced and married her again. The second time he married her, she insisted on a Catholic ceremony even though she was not a Catholic herself. He was 19 when I met him and we were married shortly after. Father, is there the slightest hope that we could be married in the church and receive Holy Communion like the other parishioners in our parish? My husband is a diabetic and has been very ill. All our Catholic friends have taen praying for him. We need something to hope for if it is at all possible for us to be full members of the church again. We have never talked to any priest about our problem until now, which is why I am writing to you. (Ohio) A. There certainly is hope for you. I’m just sorry you waited so long. Much as I would be anxious to assist you directly, you must talk with a priest in your area, your pastor, another priest in whom you have confidence or, failing one of these, at least to the tribunal (marriage court) of your diocese. Someone must talk with you personally, first of all to ob tain more specific information necessary for a next step. Please do not delay further. I wish you good luck and will pray for you. Q. I am concerned about the validity of my marriage. Eigh teen years ago I married a convert to the Catholic faith who had been previously married to a man who was either an atheist or an agnostic. Their marriage lasted about 15 months. After instructions and her conversion to the Catholic faith, the priest looked in to our marriage, said it was valid and that we need not ques tion it. We since learned that this priest left the priesthood and married. What is our standing? We both want to be good prac ticing Catholics. (California) A. My first reaction is that you should continue to follow the instincts which have guided you during the past 18 years and accept what the priest told you at that time. The fact that the priest left his ministry since then does not nullify his advice to you. Unless you now have some positive and substantial reason to think otherwise, you may still ac cept what he told you with good faith and honesty. If you are concerned for some reason, ask a priest to clarify the situation for you. (A free brochure explaining Catholic regulations on membership in the Masons and Masonic organizations is available by sending a stamped, self-addressed envelope to Father Dietzen, Holy Trinity Parish, 704 N. Main St., Bloom ington, III. 61701.) (Questions for this column should be sent to Father Dietzen at the same address.) (Copyright (c) 1985 by NC News Service)
