Life to Come

As director of the Office of Prayer and Worship for the Diocese of Albany, I found Terry Golway’s essay It’s Your Funeral (6/5) disturbing. I can only speak for the Diocese of Albany; but like diocesan officials in many areas of the country, we have found it necessary and helpful to establish guidelines for the selection of music and the reflection on the life of the deceased at funeral liturgies. Yes, there were a few horror stories that initiated these directives, but there is also a need for catechesis and a desire to provide positive liturgical experiences reflective of the Christian belief in death and the life to come.

It is in this respect that I disagree with Mr. Golway. The Catholic funeral Mass is not about the individual; it is a celebration of the paschal mystery, Christ’s ministry, passion and death, resurrection and promise to come again as made evident in the life of the one whose earthly time has passed. It points the mourner not only to what has been, but more importantly to the belief that life has changed, not ended. It offers hope to those who grieve that there will be a time when all will be united again and every tear will be wiped away.

Roman Catholic liturgy is forever attempting to call us back from the rampant individualism that pervades United States culture to a sense of community, a sense of identity within the larger group, the body of Christ. It is for this reason that the Order of Christian Funerals recommends that as the casket is received into church it be covered with a pall that recalls the baptismal garment, the sign of Christian dignity given through the sacrament of Baptism. The white pall also signifies that all are equal in the eyes of God.

With regard to Mr. Golway’s complaints about music selections, perhaps he can appreciate that music is part of the prayer of the funeral and all liturgies, not a decorative finial tacked on to provide accent. Prayer is addressed to God. It too is not merely about us.

Also of Irish descent, I am chilled by the affection he feels for the song by Sting and the Chieftains played at the end of James Davitt’s funeral, whose words were sung in a language he did not know. He believes the song was about defiance and courage and life itself. How does he know that the song did not also glorify or call others to acts of violence? Was there any way for him to experience the song as prayer?

I would suggest that instead of being concerned about whether or not one has a friend on the inside and the need or inability to cultivate relationships with clergy to serve one’s own ends, Mr. Golway and others who share his perspective enter into and maintain a greater familiarity with the rituals of the church and the theology that underlies them. I hope America will not let Mr. Golway’s text be the only word on this subject.

Elizabeth Simcoe

Something Different

As a lover of France and French, I have long been fascinated by Joan of Arc, although I find her truly problematic (Believe Me If You Like, by James Martin, S.J., 5/22). Why would God call her to lead an army and fight to put a weak king on the throne of France? But aside from that, I delighted in the fact that she followed by doing what she believed she was called to do, no matter what anyone said. The proceedings of her trial show her to be a spirited and witty young woman, a match for the ecclesiastical court in spite of her lack of theology or education. When asked, shouldn’t she be doing weaving and cooking and all the other things women do, she answered that there were plenty of other women doing those things. Surely one could be spared to do something different. She was well aware that her refusal to wear women’s clothing irked the bishop too, never mind that he himself wore silks and laces and gowns as women did. And I do not think that she was not sexually assaulted by the soldiers because she was plain. Since when have soldiers been that discriminating? I believe it was because she projected an utter trust in God and conviction of her calling, a quality that set her apart. Ultimately, it has always seemed to me that she was condemned because she was a woman who managed to get out from under male control both in the church and in society.

Lucy Fuchs

Get It?

I’ve been smiling off and on ever since I read Timothy Hanchin’s article, Messianic or Bourgeois? (5/8), about the young men who shortened man for others into the catch phrase M.F.O. Unlike Mr. Hanchin, I think this is something that should cause rejoicing, not concern. When I coordinated adult initiation groups, I told the candidates and catechumens that they wouldn’t really be Catholic until they could get the jokes and the slang. By their somewhat tongue-in-cheek reference, the young men have shown that they have indeed internalized the concept. Although it is true that the calling to be a person for others opens one to a depth of challenge, most of us spend our days toting water jugs rather than facing firing squads. In fact, there are days when I feel I would willingly embrace the drama of a firing squad if only it would remove me from the treadmill of my life. But that is not my calling! And so I smile (or try to) and reach out to the person nearest me, trying to become more of an M.F.O. (P.F.O.? W.F.O.?) I am not trying to reject the prophetic dimension, but rather allowing it to permeate a rather ordinary life.

Kristeen Bruun

Take to Heart

In The Moment, the Message, the Messenger (4/24), Tom Fox has issued a timely and eloquent plea for our collective commitment to convey the treasure of Catholic social teaching to our country. I share his conviction that our teaching can effect profound social change. At Catholic Relief Services, our re-examination and reflection on the church’s social teaching over the last decade has fueled an institutional transformation. We moved from being an agency that primarily engages in relief and development to one that also promotes justice, human dignity and global solidarity through all of our programs.

In that spirit, and at the risk of ruining a good Catholic construct of seven points, I would like humbly to propose an addition to Mr. Fox’s list of suggestions not only for better communicating the church’s social teaching but also for helping Catholics to live it. We must foster a sense of solidaritywith God, with all of humanity and with creation.

Solidaritythe conviction that we are responsible for and connected to one another, especially those who are poor and marginalizedcalls us to cherish and uphold the sacredness and dignity of every person, commit to and practice peace, justice and reconciliation, and celebrate and protect the integrity of all creation. At C.R.S. we believe that global solidaritystanding with our brothers and sisters overseaswill transform the world.

There are many ways for Catholics to practice global solidarity, such as making just economic choices by buying fair trade products, participating in a partnership with a parish or diocese overseas, advocating for just and transparent government policies or supporting missionary or relief efforts overseas. Catholic Relief Services provides these opportunities and more, to help Catholics put their faith into action on an international scale.

Both the Gospel and Catholic social teaching compel us to live as one human family by respecting the dignity of every human person, loving our neighbors as ourselves and promoting more just and peaceful societies. In other words, we are called to live in global solidarity. It is a message we all must hear and take to heart.

Joan Neal

Missing Reference

I was astonished on reading your editorial The Worst of All Options (5/8), describing Iran’s nuclear future and American response options, to find not one mention of Israel. Given that nation’s multiplicity of actual and potential roles in this matter, the absence of reference to Israel is at best an intellectual sin of omission. It would be foolhardy for the United States to omit Israeli considerations in drafting its policy regarding this situation, as you did in drafting your editorial.

Robert V. Levine

Not Too Hysterical

If what the Rev. Michael Kane writes about New Standards for Pastoral Care (4/10) is true, I wonder, as a psychiatrist, why any man would even venture to become a priest. The priestly role is already a lonely one in our day, but according to him things are likely to make it even lonelierwith his bishop becoming an advocate for the diocese, and not a support for the priest, and his parishioners so likely to jump on him because something goes amiss in his counseling role that he had better get himself some malpractice insurance.

Frankly, I think the author is being carried away, perhaps because he may really be overly identifying the priest’s role with that of a psychotherapist, whose professional role is so much more clearly defined, while the role of a priest is much broader and not to be guided by rigid boundaries (the buzz word these days for mental health workers).

As I read the Virtus Model Code of Pastoral Conduct,I really get no sense of the doom and gloom he implies to be there. Rather I get a good picture of very reasonable principles to guide a priest in his counseling role, some rather common-sense principles that I assume are easily followed by men with the level of education enjoyed by current priests. Nor do I sense a stage being set for bishops to abandon their supportive role to the clergy. Please, let’s not get too hysterical in the aftermath of the sexual abuse debacle.

Donald J. Carek, M.D.

Long-Suffering People

In the whirligig of Philippine politics, faceless power brokers in the shadows are constantly trying to destabilize the elected government (Current Comment, 4/24).

When the maverick Col. Gregorio Gringo Honasan led the final coup attempt against then-President Cory Aquino, a major Manila daily published my single-sentence letter: After six coup attempts, who is behind them? That question remains unanswered. Honasan, instead of being shot for treason, was later elected senator!

Nor has it ever come to light who ordered the assassination of Ninoy Aquino when he stepped off a plane from Boston in Manila airport. A handful of foot soldiers, including the triggermen, are, of course, in prison. President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo must watch her back.

I served in the Philippines for over a decade and sadly observe that with all the fun and games in Manila, the long-suffering Philippine people are worse off than ever.

(Rev.) George P. Carlin

Equitable Rights

Thanks for the informative, if sobering, article by Fred Naffziger on the bankruptcy situations in the Portland and Spokane dioceses (3/27).

I have never been able to understand why our Catholic dioceses do not simply implement the spirit and letter of Canon 1256 and set up each parish’s property in an express trust, with the bishop as the sole trustee. That way, instead of having to argue from canon law, apparently ineffectually thus far, that this property ought to be considered a constructive or resulting trust, despite the fact that the bishop holds legal title, American courts might then be forced to recognize the equitable rights of local parishioners and their successors in such property. This would at least offer protection to the majority of parishes that never had any instance of sexual abuse by the clergy.

Paul A. Becker, Esq.

Truly Distinguished

I write this as a board member of the Venerable John Henry Newman Association. It has been a concern of the association for some time to distinguish itself from the Cardinal Newman Society, which society appears so prominently in your editorial, Measuring Catholic Identity (3/27).

The Venerable John Henry Newman Association was founded in the 1980’s by the late Vincent Giese, a priest of the Archdiocese of Chicago, whose present diocesan bishop, Cardinal Francis George, is the association’s spiritual advisor. The purpose of our organization is to encourage research into and to disseminate knowledge of the life, views and writings of John Henry Newman; to contribute in various ways to the cause of John Henry Newman’s beatification and canonization.

The association fosters the first purpose of research into and dissemination of knowledge of this great pastor and teacher through an annual conference, this year being held on Aug. 3-5 at the University of St. Mary of the Lake, Mundelein, Ill. The theme of the conference is Newman in the 21st century. Further information on the Venerable John Henry Newman Association is available at its Web site, www.udallas.edu/newman.

What I have said about the association also applies to the National Institute of Newman Studies (N.I.N.S.), located in Pittsburgh, Pa., with whom the association is closely allied. N.I.N.S. is dedicated solely to promoting the study and spreading the knowledge of the life, influence and work of the Venerable John Henry Newman. The institute accomplishes this mission by maintaining the Newman Research Library, sponsoring the Newman Scholarship Program and publishing the Newman Studies Journal.

The Venerable John Henry Newman Association and the National Institute of Newman Studies thanks America for this opportunity to distinguish ourselves from the Cardinal Newman Society.

Edward J. Enright, O.S.A.

Watchful Eye

In reading Will the Seminaries Measure Up? by Ronald D. Witherup, S.S., (3/20) the jump-off-the-page statement that there is only one question in the Instrumentum Laboris about homosexuality seems as if that should cover the sexuality issues in the church. What disturbs me is that the question should be, Is there evidence of any inappropriate sexual activity in the seminary? To me the implication of the first question is that sexual activity between a man and a woman is O.K. because it is evidence that the seminarian is not homosexual. Isn’t celibacy the issue here? Why does the church have to go around an issue before facing it? We the people of God have to continue to keep a watchful eye on the leaders of our church, who are not all honorable men.

Christine Ring