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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)
