Tue Dec 24 20:39:59 1996
Happy Christmas Eve to you all. Here's DD20. Hope this work:
DD20 - Dates in parentheses refer to first profession
Dear on-liners.
You are receiving — in segments — the much less edited version of Diaspora
Digest 20. For those of you I found through the Provincial email address list,
we are the fringe friars who have been in contact since about 1981. The mailing
list is over 300 strong now but a bunch of them are active friars who have
asked to be included on our mailing. It is edited by me, Gael Stahl, profession
class of 1960 (started novitiate in 1959. Pius Barth said our class brought the
friar strength to 815 member. Something like that).
Let me know if you aren't interested in receiving this. I don't mean to intrude with such a huge mailing.The snail mail is drastically edited to 12 sides of 6 pages and goes out under a 32-cent stamp.
To all of you, I just want to say I have gloried in the vast input from the diaspora and active friars, and am experimenting in sending out this unedited version. It may not happen again. Let me know if you prefer more editing, less output here. I've been online a few months and may be overdoing it here.
Greetings: [Some material was leftover in September. It didn’t make DD19. That issue’s final entry was this: 17 Aug 96: I talked with Bill Stachura (1964). “His health holds steady, and he flies out to Nebraska today in his brother’s company plane to join Carol who went earlier.” He told funny stories about Cowboy Mazar (1966) missing - by a day - the diaspora gathering when Bill’s son Mike graduated and missing a party two weeks earlier for Steve Laslo’s (1965) daughter’s. The Zangs (1964) came through for a visit a month ago. - The De-Scattered Brethren reuniting. -- What I didn’t say was Bill wasn’t doing as well as he’d hoped, and that it could get worse. He made me promise not to make a big deal about his health in the September issue. He may have known we’d next be reunited at his death.] - Here’s where DD19 left off.
19 Aug 96: Lawrence Jagdfeld (1968) sent me his and Bob Pawell’s address: Holy Evangelists Friary, 4513 N. Ashland Avenue, Chicago, IL 60640-5401, (312)878-3723. The new definitors are Herb Rempe, (4th term) Tom Nairn, (3rd term), Art Anderson, (2nd term), and first-termers John Eaton, Michael Cusato, and Louis Davino. Kurt Hartrich & John Doctor continue as provincial and vice at the Mutterhaus. Tom Nairn is at 5495 Hyde Park Blvd, Chicago IL 60615-5810 near CTU. Herb Rempe’s new address is: St. Gratian Friary, 5536 Englewood Ave., Countryside, IL 60525.
1 Sept 96 Jack Brennan (1960) who had just helped me proofread DD19: Zeke, you are pretty amazing to do all that typing and to do it so well, spell checker not withstanding. We need a glossary for all the acronyms. [I don’t know what you’re talking about. You do it.] I was at times so taken by the stories that I wonder if I missed any errors. I didn’t actually cut anything or summarize. But I appreciate the concerns about the pure bulk of it. The only way to preserve the high quality of the DD is to do it the way you are doing it.
The world is so small. Larry Ragan was a dear friend of my brother Dan. Dan spoke with Larry the day before he died. I knew Larry from the Third Order at St. Pete’s and he was at my first Mass. I’ll always remember something he told me: “I judge a man by the number of patches he has on his clothes; the more patches, the closer he is to God.”
Another small world. My daughter Becky was born in ’69 at Martin Luther Hospital in Anaheim where Bill Kimlinger was ill. I don’t think I told you that Luis Runde and his 95 year old dad stayed a night with me a few years ago. Luis and I had a great time and I think we perfected the art of talking at the same time so that we could share all we had to share with each other. I wish Paul had been with him. Zoderer is one of my favorite people in the world.
Dick Korn need not feel badly about starting late. I will be 61 soon and my children are 27, 14, 11 and 8. I had never heard the squirrel story; at least not that one. I was touched by GK’s letter and his warmth. That’s how I remember him; warm and a great listener.
Your river run story was a masterpiece. Only you and Mooney could get away with the cell phone on a wilderness trip; I’m sure that Lewis and Clark would have understood.
7 Sep 96: Keith Eckrich (1960): I have been looking for your email address on Switchboard, Big Foot and the other Internet white pages. Let’s face it: privacy is gone, go ahead and list yourself on the Internet and have the guys submit their material electronically.
With two stepchildren in college, with Helene volunteering full blast on Parent-Teacher stuff and Girl Scouts for 9-year old Kristen, it is a rarity that I get to use the computer. And the older kids are now complaining that I take too much time on Internet thus disrupting their romantic telephone calls with significant others. I am patient: I will outlast them: they will eventually leave home and I intend to waste hours surfing the web looking for wonderful information. Like the Library of Congress on the Web? Oodles of interesting topics, pics, etc., at http://www.loc.gov.
I did find some interesting material about beekeeping on the net which was useful to Kristen and me as first year beekeepers. A colleague at work introduced me to it, I ordered two pounds of honeybees through the mail, and we were off and running. A neighbor had me collect a swarm off her eaves, and so we doubled the size of the hive immediately. We rob the hive next Saturday, and many co-workers are looking forward to the local honey to combat allergies.
Chris Reuter says you are in Chicago soon for something. I haven’t been there for many years. We have spent our time visiting the West with trips to Zion National Park, Bryce Canyon and the Grand Canyon and a week recently in San Francisco. Don’t rent a car there: there are no parking places at all. In February Helene surprised me with a trip to New York to see Turandot at the Met. Remember when we saw the opera with Tars at the Lyric in about our fifth year at St. Joe’s? The Met production was terrific. [So was Anna Moffo and Birgitt Nielsen in 1958, nicht wahr?]
9 Sept 96 Jerry Etzkorn (1950): Allan Wolter just left to return to Santa Barbara. We finished collating about half of Scotus’s Parisian lectures on the First Book of Lombard’s Sentences, so it was a productive summer.
Got a call from Cowboy yesterday and he is his inimitable self! A wonderful guy! Evan Eckhoff is working at the Chancery office in Knoxville and has been coming here to help out since the pastor here has retired. Both he and Allan would like to get the Diaspora Digest. Evan didn’t know you were in Nashville, so I’m sure he would be glad to hear from you.
10 Sept 96 Ron Pfeifer (1958): In DD17 there is a statement relating to my “being denied ordination at the last moment for being too obedient...” What happened was I answered, “Yes,” to a question you asked when a group of us were talking about the seminary system back then. Even in the context of the subject matter, “Yes,” seemed to stretch my thought a bit.
It seems to me a person could go through the system then, and comply with the rules/agenda (obedient was your word) without having an in-depth discussion dealing with a candidate’s vocation.
The reason I was denied ordination at the last moment is that I seemed unable to take charge or I didn’t take charge to pull out at the end of my philosophy years. The state of mind was so different back then. I hope the system is different today. Hey, you current candidates need to talk to fringers. - Best wishes and prayers for all of us.
12 Sept 96 Keith Eckrich (1960): Finding the NY Times crossword puzzles is as easy as calling up the NY Times on the internet. The exact address, though, is http://www.nytimes.com/partners/xword/. Before being able to print puzzles it is necessary to download the Lyric program located at that address. Easy as pie. Have been working them since grade school. I was probably the only elementary schoolboy who owned a paperback crossword dictionary by Dell. I still have it with many others. Thanks for Bob Pawell’s email - I need to write to him too.
17 Sept 96 Scott Kuhle (1959): I received his long Dec. 25, 1995 (sic) newsletter. Here are some headlines: Andrew spends summer in New Mexico mountains, Mary Ann’s father passes away in Kansas, summer vacation spent in Southwest (New Mexico, Mt. Rainier summons and is kind to us, Anna & Bill’s mountain-top wedding is the gala event of Spring, Reaching summits, Third granddaughter born (to Ted and Shana). Personal note dated May 29, 1996 (sic): For some reason correspondence just doesn’t get done by itself, or in my case, by being too busy hiking, biking, or playing in the great Northwest outdoors. Thank you for your efforts to keep us informed of each other’s whereabouts. I feel young and am going strong, but as I’m writing this I realize that it is 30 years since I left T-town. Hope you find your way Northwest again.
20 Sep 96 Keith Eckrich: It is predicted the internet will crash of its own weight within the year, so we need to write furiously before armageddon. An attorney who has background in Colorado and summer stock theater in Triple Creek recently introduced me to Robert William Services’ poetry: black humor and wonderful rhymes about the hardscrabble life in 1890 Yukon tail end of the Gold Rush times. Kristen and I have enjoyed the pictorial large editions of “The Cremation of Sam McGee” and “The Shooting of Dangerous Dan McGrew.” Service’s humorous poetry makes a rainy day welcome.
I liked Bob Pawell’s story about the wolf. Here in Albuquerque we are big on “el lobo.” The University of New Mexico basketball team are The Lobos.
[DD#19 was mailed on 23 SEPT 96. We lost two diaspora households due to returned letters: Bill Hrudicka: moved left no address, Joe and Maria Emerson: Forwarding order expired. And the Cantlon e-mail address I had is out of date.]
27 Sept 96 Joe Smith (1945): As usual, I’m responding “toute suite” to Gael (Keltic Druid?) otherwise it would never happen — and wouldn’t that be a relief for you and DD?
Somehow I missed the OFM’s “in 20 years” when Jack and I were negotiating seven years ago [wasn’t there something about the Province setting 2009 as the date by which to do something?]. After it was all over I’d read in DD that Tom had been interested. But he has NOT responded to recent calls or letters. Whatever the case, Jack and I were only calling them on their own proposals. In 20 years from now I’ll be 91. And of course, not yet thinking of actual retirement. I’m still playing the (pipe) organ and teaching at a rehab institute (Chicago Teen Challenge).
Meantime, to friend Rup: Kolbe was a virulently antisemitic writer and editor and he did not substitute for a Jew” at Auschwitz. (Source Alan Dershowitz’s “Chutzpah”, i.e., ‘cheek’ or nerve’. The Vatican knows this but continues anyway with what seems outrageous and self-serving propaganda for ‘sainthood.’ See Dershowitz - I’m only reporting sources.
We’ve taken in a couple stray cats and are willing to take in wandering monks (monachi gyrovagi) or friars too, actual or diasporatic.
That’s it. If any of you need rehab, I am good at turning your brains into workable potter’s clay in just one salvific (and soporific) lecture. Only $100 an hour with nickel rebate for colleagues. - Will write in 20 years. [See Oct 14, Dec 4, below.]
28 Sept 96 Don Awerkamp (1962): Thanks for DD# #19 and for the years of maintaining the bond. I’ve enjoyed reading even though I’ve not contributed by writing. It’s great that you’ve moved into E-mail. Somehow it seems to take less effort to send messages this way rather than by letter or phone.
Just in case you are wondering, “azstarnet” in my E-mail address is for the online service of our local newspaper and not a network of local movie stars. I do live with two movie stars though—Risa and Barbara are starring in “Blue Rodeo,” a made for TV movie that is supposed to air on CBS in a month or so. Ann Margaret and Kris Kristofferson are in supporting roles.
28 Sept 96 Bob Pawell (1960): We appreciate the effort put into publishing the DD. I can hardly remember some of those other guys from previous classes or those after us. Thus I am not too invested in their stories, but I am glad that our class can get together - little by little. Always enjoy looking through the DD and was especially happy to get Chris’ e-mail, and Manuel’s snail-mail addresses. Now that there are four of us on the Internet I thought I’d create the classmates section in my e-mail address book. Having done that, it was a short step to dropping you guys a line.
I woke up this Fall morning with the smell of steam coming through the radiators of this 106 year old house. I’m definitely not in New Orleans anymore!! This will be my first Fall in many a year. I look forward to it.
The carpenter is working in the house putting up shelving in the kitchen; the painter has finished except for a return trip needed to touch things up after the carpeting has been installed. The next thing to be done is the installation of the carpeting and the window coverings - blinds and shades. Little by little this house becomes a home.
Tomorrow I’ll join with others on the Lakefront doing the Chicago AIDS walk - I hope the sun shines and it is a crisp bright day. The last few days have been kind of messy - like Ferruci’s rain in “The Life of God.” (see below).
Between fixing up this house and planning for preaching and some workshops, I have been reading a few books - all at the same time. Some books are “for riding to and from places on the CTA”, others “for morning coffee,” and still others “for evening relaxation sitting by my window watching the flow of traffic on Ashland Avenue.” I’ll let you guess which books get read where.
The first book on my list is James Hillman’s: “The Soul’s Code” - In search of Character and Calling, Random House 1996. I had never run across this hardback. Hillman works with the metaphor of the “daimon, author, genius, guardian angel” — the guiding spirit of a person’s life: the inner direction that neither nature nor nurture can account for. In this he attacks the foundations of the “victim” attitude. See Alice Miller’s “Drama of the Gifted Child.” Hillman’s point of view is profoundly spiritual, albeit not too religious. He indicts contemporary psychology, which is profoundly deterministic; you are what nature or nurture has set you up to be and there’s no escaping the inexorable fates placed before you. One will spend their life reacting to childhood events. Hillman is a masterful writer and I recommend his work to you. He especially deals with the dynamics of the manifestation of one’s call in early childhood and the role of the mentor in guiding this to realization.
The next volume is Jamake Highwater’s: “The Language of Vision - Meditations on Myth and Metaphor” Grove Press 1994, paperback. In this book, the author, a protege of the late Joseph Campbell, addresses the role of myth and metaphor using the cards of the Tarot as points of departure as he discusses various aspects of the topic.
To complement a week-long workshop I shall be giving at the end of October in New Orleans, I found Clarence Thomson’s story in “Parables and the Enneagram,” Crossroad Book, 1996, very helpful. The author applies the parables of Jesus to the English and Spanish.
Back In T-Town I was introduced to the poetry of W. H. Auden by Fr. Ron Trojack of the Springfield diocese. He used to come to Medard for spiritual direction and hang around with us for the sake of intellectual companionship. Through Ron’s introduction I began reading Auden’s christmas oratorio, “For the Time Being” every Advent. To enhance my appreciation of the poetry I have begun to read Richard Davenport-Hines: “Auden” a biography, Pantheon 1995. I have loved Auden for a long time and for too long I have lived on hearsay about his life story. The Sunday Telegraph reviewer wrote of the book: “Literary biography at its best!” An additional reason for the reading is to prepare for the Saturdays before each of the Advent Sundays. I am going to host a “salon” each Saturday afternoon from 4 - 6 pm in which we will do Auden’s christmas oratorio, “For the Time Being.” After the reading we shall do an Advent evening prayer. This will be the first event I will be hosting in our house. Last year in New Orleans some friends gathered for a wonderful meal on St. Stephen’s night. After the dishes were cleared away we read to one another some of our favorite holiday poetry. The whole evening was delicious. We were a group of adult men who are friends, sharing fellowship and poetry. Although I can not re-capture that St. Stephen’s night I want to do something like it - this too is ministry of the Word.
While guiding a friend around town the other day I spied this novel, “The Life of God - as told by Himself” by Franco Ferucci. University of Chicago Press 1996, hardback: When I read the opening lines, I was hooked, here they are:
“For long stretches at a time I forget that I am God. But then, memory isn’t my strong suit. It comes and goes with a will of its own.
“The last time it came back to me I was sunk in one of those late-winter depressions. Then one night I switched on the television set, and a firestorm of events burst before my eyes. I saw a volcano spewing lava, a skiing race in the Alps, a film on Paris as it was forty years ago, hunting in Ecuador, an office in Ottawa, open heart surgery telecast live, a documentary about submarine landscapes of the North sea. Life caught me again in a hypnotic net. As the camera circled around a flower on a seabed, I suddenly remembered that I had created all this. >From that moment, I began feeling as I always do when I remember that I am God. I felt like a child again, eager for springtime, ready for open skies.
“I admit, right from the start, that it was foolish to create winter. I couldn’t help it, though. It banged at my door and demanded to be let into the world. It was stirring inside me, insisting on being recognized. I’ve always been a bit of an odd-ball, full of contradictions, and for all my love on the light I still have my dark side.
“Winter wasn’t my only half baked idea. I can’t really warm to the heavy, damp days of in-between seasons either. How pig-headed the rain seems, coming down as though everything were about to turn into water, or as though gray clouds and wet asphalt were all there is to the world. I am not talking about thunderstorms, which nobody likes except me and a few other dramatically inclined souls, poets and lovers especially. I am inside the thunder as well as the lightning. I am inside all blasts of passion, for it is there that I rejuvenate myself.” .... sounds interesting doesn’t it?
I’m glad that we are reconnected online I have not yet loaded AOL’s new version and there are some problems with my old AOL program right now but not enough to cause a shut down. There are too many irons in the fire to worry about fine tuning on the Internet. I am able to do my work with what I have. In the months ahead I hope to take care of some of those pesky details.
Well folks I need to get away from this computer and attend to other things. Have a great weekend. Fraternally.
29 Sept 96 Keith M. Eckrich (1960): [Hi Chris, Jack & Gael: Our symphony’s first concert of the season last night was a ripsnorter with William Tell Overture and Beethoven’s Fifth, the latter an incentive to help the orchestra raise money to retire an irksome $300,000 debt going back some years. The music was winning. The 5th symphony was clearly done and just beautiful. A new client at work turns out to be a world class cellist who had contact with Pablo Casals. He plays an Amati cello produced in 1613. I guess I will try to interest him in playing with the symphony. Peace.
29 Sept 96 Rafael Ruiz: (1958): The last time we saw each other was many years ago at St. Joe’s. Fellows like Dick Mayer, Al Merz, Frank Flinn, Kurt Hartrich, etc., were my classmates. Fr. G.K. followed Edward Lutz as Subrector. I have been receiving “Diaspora” from the beginning, I suppose. There are few things I enjoy reading more. I was at St. Joseph’s for nearly 5 years and I must say they were some of the best in my life. I got to know great people. I have not kept up with them personally, but I always remember them and ask about them whenever I come across people like Nick Baxter. In fact, I almost made it to your last reunion, but things just did not work out at the last moment.
I am writing this just to thank you for keeping all of us connected and in many ways energized. Many of the “brethren” followed different paths, it is so obvious that the great spirit of Brother Francis lives strong in each of you. My warmest regards to all who may remember me. (Rafael is mission director for ELCA Division for Outreach/assistant to the bishop, ELCA Southwestern Texas Synod).
2 Oct 96 Bob Pawell OFM: Happy Feast to Diaspora, etc.! Dear Brothers, Friends through Tau House far and near, and “kind classmates....” Your Guardian Angels are buzzing in my ears today. Tomorrow morning and afternoon we shall have a Day of Recollection concluding with a House Chapter. At 4 pm we drive into Chicago’s Loop to Saint Peter’s Church to join in the “Transitus” with those who worship there. Perhaps next year we shall host the Transitus for our friends and families. Afterward we will go out for dinner at The Italian Village restaurant which is near St. Peter’s for our weekly “dinner out.”
Our dear brother Albert Haase, now a missionary in Hong Kong once commented that: “We are a crazy bunch following one of the greatest religious personages in the history of the world who cried out for “Cookies!” on his death bed. In your honor, all my sweet friends, my Brother Jacoba’s - gay, straight, male, female, young and old - who have served me more than cookies - I shall toast you tomorrow night with almond cookies and a glass of Sambucca.
Celebrating our brother Francis I want to extend to you all my love and prayers and share with you these words of Leonardo’s Boff’s “St. Francis:” ...He begins his movement in a small church, the Portiuncula, which in itself constituted a symbol, because “it is the poorest of the churches of the whole region around Assisi.” It is on the periphery where power is not the structural parameter and the principle of control, where life flourishes in all its exuberance and as a challenge, where those who hope and live at the margins of all organization, find the necessary soil for the creativity and emergence of what is new and not yet taught. It is precisely toward the periphery that Francis directs himself. From the periphery he begins to converge on the center, calling all to conversion. The periphery is where the great prophets arise, where the reforming movements are born, and where the Spirit flourishes. The periphery possesses a theological privilege, because it is there that the Son of God was born.
Love to all of you out on the periphery of power.
2 Oct 96 Bill Bergman (1962): Sent internet address and brochures from his company, one entitled Empowerment (“Let your power out. Encourage others to value their own power”) and Vision and Mission (“peace at home and at work”).
3 Oct 96 Tom Shannon (1961): Now that you have gotten online I can finally use the guilt to respond and log in with the rest of the folks. Reading the DD is always a treat and it is nice to keep up with every one. Being on the East Coast tends to keep me at a distance from the Midwest which is where the action is. We have been doing well here in Worcester and have a wonderful community around us. Cathy has been teaching in the elementary system for a while and is now in a new program focused on getting the bottom 20% of a first grade class to grade level in reading by the end of the year. And I’ve been busy at WPI teaching a variety of undergraduate courses in religion and ethics. A special treat is that for the last few years I’ve been teaching a course in moral theology each semester at the JESUIT seminary in Boston. I would think that this might count as one of the signs of the approaching apocalypse. But that has been a delight since these individuals have a wide variety of experience and various advanced degrees such as MD and JD, so that has been good. One of the other faculty and I collaborated on a book last year so many blessings have come from that. And I do manage to slip in my work on Scotus every now and then. Another wonderful experience is that I have been able to do some work with Allan Wolter on Scotus and also on the moral standing of the human preimplantation embryo. Coauthoring an article with him was a real experience and a delight. It is dismaying to find out that an 89-year-old can work longer and harder than I could. And this May, Cathy and I were invited to Quincy University where I was given an honorary doctorate. A very warm welcome from everyone and also got to see Jerry and Linda Etzkorn who were attending their son’s graduation. We have a summer house near St Bonaventure’s so we had been seeing each other then. The next week, we went to Notre Dame for our older daughter’s graduation and then moved our other daughter back from Fordham where she is currently a sophomore and on the women’s rugby team which is interesting for a parent to watch. So we grin and bear it, but did not participate in the dring (sic) up afterwards which seems to be the main purpose of rugby anyway.
3 Oct 96 Paul Suding (1958): This letter has been delayed long enough. I apologize for my slowness. While reading DD#19, I recognized so many of the names of my era at St. Joe’s, T-town, and OLA. How quickly time moves on; and the older I get, the quicker it goes.
I was in the era of Fr. Paul Zoderer, Dick Korn, Dennis Gustafson; around the time of Kurt Hartrich (whose parents were neighbors of mine), Luis Runde, Robert Flores, Fr. William Schmidt. The days at St. Joe’s and the education I received there and at OLA have stayed with me throughout the years.
A brief history post-OLA. I was drafted into the Army four months after leaving the seminary; what a change from the peace-full life we led. While in basic training at Ft. Benning, I was unable to yell “kill,” “kill.” The master sergeant sent me to the CO. In short I ended up as the company clerk (sort of a Radar type) and held that job for the remainder of my duty tour. After the Army episode, Bonnie and I were married and our union has been blessed for more than 33 years. All four of our children are grown, the youngest having graduated from college this past July.
We have maintained relationships with the friars since 1960 through many fashions. My brother, Steve, for one, is a Franciscan Brother from the Sacred Heart Province serving in the School of Theology in Kolwezi, Zaire, with Dr. Damien Isabell and others; we live down the street from St. Roch Church where Fr. Mike Ewert was recently assigned and to whom I will give the current copy of DD#19; Bonnie and I frequently go to Mass at Sacred Heart; and through the FMU. - Thanks for helping me maintain knowledge of friends.
3 Oct 96 Bill McGee: Aloha from Big 50 [Hawaii]. Your newsletter was great. I wish you had written pages about your canoe trip. What you wrote was enticing for more. We are here for two months. House exchange. Beach, beach, water, water. I’m growing scales. Alice growing fins. We think of you. [Bill wrote a poetic prose three-page account of his bike trip through the Canadian Rockies, Kalispell, Montana, Glacier, Waterton Lakes in Canada, Banff, Lake Louise, Sunwapta Falls Jasper: ...and the wind roams the forest floor playing with Bear Grass. Like goblin ghosts they bob and sway as if October’s moon is on them scaring them to run away. “Don’t run away,” I yell. “Stay another day.” - 700 miles and 30,000 feet of climb. More than 20 people.
I took a ride/ in a broken teacup/ upon sapphire lakes and pearls of snow/ Above jagged maintains/ I flew/ I cut through the clouds./ In waters’ crystal mirrors/ among nature’s beauty/ I saw myself as the moon/ sees me, how soft!/ When my bike I laid down, I came home/ to human beauty more/ than what the eagle sees/ and the water feels./ Nothing lasts forever,/ journeys end,/ memories fade.../ A moment I had.
5 Oct 96 Isaac Braun (1956): Peace. It has been almost a year since we have written. First of all, thanks for sending a copy of DD#15, which was missing. We also received #18, and don’t know if #19 already has come off the press. [Did you ever receive it?] We enjoyed the rest of the description of Bob Hankey’s visit in New Market, Tenn., to visit the roots of Wally Spivey. The vigor of Julian Woods is inspiring, but it was saddening to learn of the car accident of his son.
Toward the end of this past June, we spent about two and half weeks on a trip to the States for a reunion of the Brauns. Every three years, the descendants of my grandfather have this reunion and because this time, my sister in Wahpeton, N.D., was on the planning committee, we had to go. According to the genealogical book, as of last February there were more than 1,100 descendants including husbands and wives of descendants. About 380 were at the reunion, which included a banquet one evening and a Mass and picnic the next day. The celebrant of the Mass was a cousin’s son. The only other time that I attended this reunion was in 1984, and that time it was I who celebrated the Mass. This was the first trip to the States for Kaline, our little girl of six and a half years, and she enjoyed it very much.
Toward the end of July, I went by bus (37 hours each way) to Brasilia for the 4th International Congress of the Married Catholic Priests and the Families. Attending were about 350 persons from 25 countries. It was good to see what the others are doing. The main theme of the Congress was ministries for the third millennium. I guess you can say that the message of the congress was that even if the church doesn’t let the married priests function officially as priests, you should do what you can where you are in order to further the kingdom of God.
One of the guest speakers was Margaret Hebblewaite from England, and one of her affirmations was that if the fundamental struggle is not to spread the Good News, then all the other struggles are in vain. Rosemary Radford Reuther from the U.S. had confirmed her presence as one of the guest speakers, but, because of a conflict of dates, she was not able to attend. However, she sent ahead of time a copy of her talk, “The Challenge of being a Catholic at the end of 20th Century,” which was translated and distributed to everyone of the congress. Anthony Padovano from Corpus in the States was present, as well as several members of Corpus-Canada. The next International Congress will be in Atlanta in 1999; so you all can go there [not by bus, if we’re lucky].
In our parish, Socorro and I are Eucharistic ministers, and Socorro has some elderly persons that she visits every week. Since I’m usually at home in the morning, I take her with the car. Socorro is also in charge now of the parish liturgy committee. We had two training encounters for the readers or lectors of the parish, and during the Sunday Mass of Sept. 22, the pastor gave the official commissioning or sending of the lectors as ministers of the Word.
In the beginning of the year Socorro started some pastoral work among some 120 poor families along the river near home, with different activities according to the time of the year. She is also giving them some lessons in crochet, cross-stitch, and simple quilting in order to give the women something to do better than passively looking at the TV soap operas.
Since March, my work hours have become better. I’m with the same boss, but now as a receptionist in a small hotel along the ocean front in Recife. My work hours in general are from 3 PM to 10 PM. On weekends when one of the others have the day off, I have the night shift. Usually there is extra time, which I use at times for writing letters, and that is exactly what I’m doing right now at 2:45 AM. Best wishes for Christmas and the New Year to all readers of the DD.
8 Oct 96 Gregory Sadlek (1971): Sends address change: In DD#19 I particularly liked the note from Gene Katoski, whom I well remember along with his peg dates from my days at OLA. My new address is: 1331 S. 78th Ave., Omaha, NE 68124. Keep up the good work! Dept. of English (402) 554-2635 University of Nebraska at Omaha FAX: (402) 554-3296
8 Oct 96 Bob Hickman (class of 1961): In DD#19 it was good to get an update on who’s who of and current events. We are doing well here in Huntsville, Alabama. I had a tour with the big “C” recently. Thanks to the blessing of the Good Lord I came away with a fairly positive prospect for the future after surgery. Some of my friends have not fared so well. Anyway, my friend and partner for life, Mary Ann, and I are settled into our life here in Huntsville. Our four children and four grandchildren live within close proximity of Huntsville. Paul, our youngest son is a neighbor of yours at Dickson, Tenn. Mary Ann is employed with the State as a Vocational Rehab Specialist for the Hearing Impaired. She is providing a real need for the deaf community both here and in Jackson County. Just a side note, we are interested in locating any Catholic Churches in the Tenn. Miss. or Ala. areas, that provide liturgy for Deaf Catholics. (American Sign Language). We are trying to get our local parish to enhance their liturgy for the deaf community.
As for myself, went to St. Joe’s with Chuck Gunti, Mike Kellett, Chuck Faso, Cyril Wagner. etc. We had a class of about 98. You probably know more about that than I can remember. I can relate well to an article in one of your early editions that so eloquently described how St. Joe’s affected our lives. It became my home away from home for the five years of my life. I can’t help but feel a certain sadness in my heart when I think of its passing. However, you can’t take away the fact that we all left a little piece of ourselves in spirit there regardless what they may do to it. Anyway, after St.Joe’s, I spent the next 21 or so years doing my patriotic duty with the US Navy. Since then, I have been working for an Electronics Company here in Huntsville. It’s a high tech area until your drive about three miles outside of town to gaze upon the bean and cotton fields.
Mary Ann and I do our small part in Good Shepherd Parish with Evangelization, Vocations, Ecumenism and Outreach to Inactive Catholics. There is a great need and a long way to go.
Chuck Gunti and I stay in contact and we communicate with Chuck Faso when we can find him. Understand that Cy Wagner, in Memphis, is not doing well. Kidney problems along with diabetes. Please keep him in your prayers.
I am always glad to get your newsletter. It is encouraging to know that so many of the St.Joe’s family continue to serve their communities and parishes. You do yourself justice in providing this service and I personally thank you for that.
8 Oct 96 Keith Eckrich: We’re back safe and sound from our trip to northern New Mexico. The train ride from Antonito, Colorado back to Chama, New Mexico was fun with many scenic vistas. Kristen seemed to enjoy it very much and for the second half of the trip she stood outside between two cars not to miss anything. She saw two deer disappearing into the woods. We stayed at a bed and breakfast one night. Interesting. It was in a house built some 130 years ago by the Martinez family. Thick adobe walls. The present owners, Corlinda and Medard Martinez, have a good eye for decorating and having everything tip top shape.
On the way home, after visiting many art galleries and shops on the Taos plaza, we took the high road to Taos, a very windy trip through the mountains. We drove through old small towns like Penasco, Las Trampas, Las Truchas and Chimayo. Many believe that Chimayo’s dirt from the church has miraculous power, and Kristen gathered her few spoonfuls of dirt. I tried to teach a bit about faith being the mover, not the dirt, and I think she sort of got it.
A tasty southwestern meal in Santa Fe finished off the four-day vacation, and we arrived home with only fifteen minutes to spare for me to take off for chorus practice and Helene and Kristen to head off to Girl Scouts meeting. We were a busy bunch on the weekend.
Today’s highlight was Kristen getting her first rental clarinet as her school begins to put together a band. Hope she takes to music. Peace.
Tue Dec 24 20:41:13 1996
Addendum: For those who wondered what Keith Eckrich meant when he said he liked Bob Pawell’s Wolf story, here’s what Bob sent Jack Brennan and me after a discussion about one’s dark side. {September 20, 1996.}
Regarding the dark side: Here is an ancient Franciscan story, you will recall. Some might consider it a fairy tale—they are foolish who do so. The story goes like this:
In the 13th century, in middle Italy, the little town of Gubbio was ravaged by a fearsome wolf.
Because of its ferocity the young children of the city were not allowed to play in the meadows outside the city walls, the maidens would not dare to go there to gather wild flowers for home and church, physicians dared not leave the protection of the city’s walls to gather healing herbs.
Everyone stayed well within the walls. Or, if they did venture out, it was with armed assistance. The shepherds lived in fear for their flocks and their own lives. One day they heard news of a little man from a neighboring village in the Umbrian valley, Brother Francisco, by name. He was renowned for having a way of bringing peace to both beasts and bumpkins. So the podesta [the mayor] of the town sent an emissary to the town of Assisi and sought the little brother out with the request: “Would you come to us, we are vexed by a fearsome problem that we feel only you can fix?” The little brother agreed to come. The day arrived when he came to town. Everyone assembled in the square, bishop, mayor and all the townspeople told Francis about “their problem” — a terrible and terrifying wolf has been holding them captive within these city walls. The little brother agreed to help as best he could and asked to be escorted to the city gate leading to the meadow most frequented by the “town menace.” The city assembled on the walls looking over the parapets, and watched the brown robed figure calmly walk out into the center to the meadow. No sooner had he arrived at the center of the plain, than the wolf came snarling out of the surrounding woodland.
Francis greeted the wolf, “Peace and All Good, brother wolf.” The wolf became calm and sat at Francis’ feet. The townspeople were awe struck and strained to hear the conversation between the two in the meadow. But distance and a blowing wind prevented that. After a short time Francis and the wolf parted—the wolf went off to the woods wagging its tail like a puppy and Francis turned toward the city. The gates swung open, people rushed from the parapets to the town square; bishop and podesta and the whole town awaited the little man’s arrival. Coming to the center of the square Francis met the towns’ people. They were ready for a long explanation to their problem. Scribes and clerics were ready with parchment and quill to take down the little brother’s solution. But, to their amazement, all the little brother said was: “Brothers and sisters, FEED YOUR WOLF.” To the Praise of Christ. AMEN. Happy Easter!
Diaspora and classmates’ e-mail addresses:
See Bob Pawell’s listing (Dec. 8 above) of active friars with e-mail addresses from the provincial home page: (http://www.quincy.edu/shp-friars/). As we go to press, I’ve reserved space for a home page at GeoCities Personal Home Page Program. It’s http://www.geocities.com/Athens/Acropolis/2421, but I haven’t gotten the page built yet.
["Webmaster" Update: refer to e-mail page for a more current listing. The "geocities" reference above is no longer valid.]
Well, that's it for now. Stay in contact. And let me know with a short reply, if you got this. I won't know until then. Thanks
Tue Dec 24 20:40:22 1996
9 Oct 96 Bob Hickman: Thanks so much for the Diaspora Digest. I hope all is well with you and Susan. I e-mailed you a short line or two last week. I would like to hear more about the free e-mail service, Juno, that Chris told you about. Enclosed is some funds to help pay for the cost of mailing etc. Hope it will cover your expenses. It is good to hear from you. God bless.
9 Oct 96 Jim Tye (1957): Hi to all my friends out there. Thanks for giving your online address Gale. It makes it easier for me. Nice to be able to do this on my laptop as I take some heat on my back from my first golf game in 40 years. Found a few muscles I didn’t know I had.
As always it is a joy to read the Diaspora Digest. All is well with me here in Wheaton, Home of Billy Graham’s College and our high school state football champs. I always like to hear how my friends are doing. Nick Baxter hasn’t called in over a year. Dick Lohkamp is out east somewhere in New Jersey.
We had a full summer here. Maria and my son Dan went to Brasil for 2 months. It was a real eye opener for both of them. The “Order and Progress” which is so proudly displayed on the flag is not evident in the life of the people. My oldest daughter got a job at a bank in Sao Paulo with a lot of help from George Rexing and she spent two years there. Now she is working with an investment brokerage firm here in Chicago. The Brasilian experience was very helpful. My youngest daughter is in Champaign in her second year at the U of I.
Reading a book about the history of the Brasilian people and there is some very heavy stuff in it about the conquistadors and the missionaries. It is very sad very sad. I have come to the firm conclusion that we in the northern American countries are very very fortunate that we were not “found, explored, and christianized” by those Catholic countries like Spain and Portugal. But enough of that. That is my commuter reading. I was glad to get together with Louie Runde. And Bob Link and I get together quite often. My best to Ivan Wemhoff if he reads this.
9 Oct 96 Bob Pawell on occasion of his mother’s death: Thank you for your prayers and words of fraternal support at this time of loss, pain, gratitude and joy. Mother was a great soul, full of passion and care for her family, her church and the world. Before her tragic fall four years ago she was a daily communicant and dedicated eucharistic minister deriving great joy in bringing communion to those in nursing homes. She was a profoundly political woman, a Chicago Democrat, who cared deeply about her city and country and our nation’s response to those who were poorest and least able to care for themselves. My Dad loved to call her a “Domestic Wizard” because she maintained an elegant house, cooking daily meals and baking and at the same time held a career working for the Chicago Board of Education as Secretary to the Principal of Crane Tech High School, Treasurer of Lane Tech High School, Administrative Assistant in the Treasurer’s Office of the Main Township High School Systems. She was a LADY who wore “heels”into her late seventies and white gloves when she “went out”. She knew the wisdom of the old Latins: “Verba docent, exempla trahunt.” — Words teach but example draws you. Hence — from the time I could walk, Mom took my brother and me to galleries, museums, concerts, plays, Saturday after Saturday my brother Dick and I spent part of the day being initiated into an appreciation for the “beautiful.” I think we rebelled around age eight and wanted all of our Saturdays to play, but by then, the damage was done. We had been exposed to the infectious power of the Beautiful and nothing could ever change that. I shall always be grateful for this gift.
She was her father’s daughter. Anthony Thomas Mikulski, the son of a potato farmer who came to Chicago from Poland as a young man in his late teens. Mom revered her father, he was her first SAINT ANTHONY. She loved to quote the peasant Polish wisdom that he had taught her: “A Guest in the house is God in the House!” Her house and heart were open to all who came to our door. And when she visited me in New Orleans she was able to be also a gracious Guest — sharing with table fellowship and a warm embrace at the Kiss of Peace with all and everyone at Tau, including those disfigured with full blown AIDS. ALL of our friends were welcomed in her heart and house. “Self-praise stands in a corner!”
Mother believed that who you are shows. One doesn’t need to promote oneself. She was rarely uncomfortable with people. Those with overblown self importance irked her somewhat.
“Each morning you look at your face in the mirror. If there is something there that you don’t like you are the one who has to change it.”
She had this sense of one’s personal responsibility for one’s life. Although she was alive to the issues of human difficulties and very compassionate toward human weakness in many of its forms she really called us to take responsibility for our lives.
Shortly after her death my sister-in-law Pat and I were talking of Mom’s great joy in being an extraordinary eucharistic minister to the sick, homebound, and those in nursing homes. Pat observed that she was first the “eucharistic minister” in the sanctuary of her own home: welcoming all and every, feeding them with great joy, listening to their stories and sharing hers with them. As Pat said that I felt a deep “YES!” Yes that was my Mom.
She has been freed now and is with the Lord. At Vespers tonight we prayed Psalm 131: Lord, I am not proud, holding my head too high, reaching beyond my grasp. No I am calm and tranquil like a weaned child resting in its mother’s arms’ MY WHOLE BEING AT REST. Let Israel [let my Mom] rest in the Lord, now and forever. - Thanks for your expression of sympathy, Bob
9 Oct 96 Mary Lou Zehnfuss: Read Digest #19 from beginning to end twice. So many names are known to me. Your get togethers make me envious. Took a trip but after the first night alone in a hotel without Ed after 18 years was too difficult and I checked out the next morning. I will be going to Columbus 10/31 for CITI -- see enclosed brochure about Celibacy Is The Issue (and the Rent a Priest service). Will know everyone. Everyone will have a spouse but me.
If in better health, I intend to make Tennessee in the Spring. Still sleep with oxygen and rely on the wheel chair. Why did Bob Tavaris give up his newsletter? I bet he would have some classic remarks about JPII’s surgery. [By now you have received the October Wind & Waves. He has a new address: 305/949-8381, 11563 Northwest 6th Court, Coral Springs, FL 33071.]
12 Oct 96 Bishop Jim Ryan of Santarem (1932): It was such a joy to receive Diaspora Digest #19 - especially since I am really in the diaspora. This is my 53rd year in Brazil. I just read the quote of T.S. Eliot (via your classmate RF Pawell): “Old men should be explorers.” Was he ever in the Amazon? [No, but he’s been in the Amazing Big Easy.] I still find so much to interest me.
Keep up your good work. And keep me on your mailing list. My best and warmest to all the friends of those wonderful times gone by. As ever.
12 Oct 96 Arnold Wieser (1945): “Erant olim in Thessalia duo fratres quorum alter Aeson alter Pelias appellatus est. Aeson primum regnum obtinuerat.....” The above is not a feeble attempt at a showing of erudition, but a necessary step in getting this article in print. You see, after my long, long delay in writing for the Diaspora, I feared my writings would be spurned by “discipulus exemplaris meus linguae Latinae”, aka Gael Stahl, aka, especially, editor of DD. Also, I’m ashamed to have Len Korgie be my “press agent” with his periodical references to me — thanks a lot, Len; I appreciate it. Yes, I’m still alive and mobile, yet unable to ignore the many comrades and OFM friends who have left us. Since I personally have enjoyed the “historical articles” relating the departure of individuals from active membership in our OFM, I shall risk boring you with some details of my own departure and activities since that fateful day.
First of all, my departure did not result from anger or disillusionment with the work of the priesthood. Lack of family life and the failure of our “community life” to fill that need are probably at the base of my decision to leave the Community. I made my final decision in the late 1960’s while Pastor at St. Thomas (formerly St. Augustine) Parish and Bertrand High in Memphis. My “escape route” lay through OLA Parish and Seminary in Cleveland. Here I met the first “roadblock” in my path. I noticed that none other than the PASTOR met me at the airport. A friendlier welcome I’ve never met anywhere. Gradually, as the days passed and new, unexpected assignments came my way (e.g. moderator of the Young Adult Club) I realized that he thought I was the new Second Associate Pastor he had expected to get. OOOPPS! A call quickly went in to Fr. Provincial who straightened things out. My final days as an OFM-er passed quietly as “Mass-Priest” for the Poor Clares a couple blocks up the street. They really didn’t ask me to be moderator of their Young Folks Group!!
From Cleveland I went directly to Des Moines, Iowa, the home of the future Mrs. Wieser. Yes, we met in Memphis as members of our respective religious orders, and no, we did not leave because of each other — at least not at the beginning. Each of us had decided for reasons of our own that the lay person’s life would be better for us. After my arrival in Des Moines, thoughts of marriage soon changed into words — we were married in 1970. I’m stopping this account now (with hopes of continuing later) because at this point I can honestly conclude with the fairy tale ending “And they lived happily ever after!”
13 Oct 96 Keith Eckrich: We have jettisoned our po box for our regular street address: 10708 Cielito Lindo NE, Albuquerque, NM 87111-3919.
14 Oct 96 Joe Smith: First of all, Sir Druid, my sympathies to SuSun for putting up with a Keltic druid as hubby - probably an old goat - or worse, a young one. This is just a whimsical note after two “tall ones” (British Ale) with sourdough pretzels Landjaeger sausages and Canadian Diamond cheddar. The devil made me do it: purchase the Oktoberfest goodies - bless his damned heart.
Meantime, let me tell you how weird life has become for an “old revolutionary” - ever yet perky, active (don’t ask) and pugnacious. I have this year been asked to be music director for the Knights Templar, whose investiture will be October 26th at St. James (Episcopal Cathedral. They have transmuted from a medieval Catholic order to an ecumenical one. We’ll be giving them organ, brass, and tympani - and seatbelts for their annual ritual. Earlier they offered me a knighthood - can you imagine? But I demurred. [Joe/demure - that oxymoron, I cannot imagine.] I am by profession (musicologist) a medievalist, but I’ve had enough ceremony, swishing robes, and candle sticks, etc., for several lifetimes. I feel more comfortable as the simple and friendly guy that I am (don’t ask my wife for any further data). However, it is fascinating being invited to play by all these ecumenists, in this case a really jolly group of “sirs and dames” who do philanthropy, esp. for needy kids, albeit with medieval togs.
Where I teach drug-rehab (no, I’ve never been a junkie, except in food, before marrying my cook), I am known as “Bro. Smith,” by the ecumenical group there. I’m truly touched by their religious charisma and its resulting cures, even as I disagree with the rather conservative theology. It’s too bad we have to wait 20 years for the friars to awaken to such things. With individual exceptions, of course. So what’s new? bless all your little hearts, ‘pon my word. - (Sir?) F.J. Smith
21 Oct 96 Bob Tavaris: The hiatus of Winds and Waves turned out to be a false alarm. Another issue arrived with six pages of the usual material such as “A married bishopric is not an anomaly; Why not a married bishopric?” Also a recounting of his family’s trip to England). He devoted a page to Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson’s flat at 221b Baker St. “Resting on the tufted velvet sofa is Holmes’ famous double-brimmed hat, which makes for a memorable photograph when modeled while clutching his saxaphonish pipe.” The deerstalker and calabash are seldom described so warmly. Mentioning the Diaspora Digest, he says “Leave it to Gael Stahl to round up the Franciscans... her letter makes their day.” Bob, despite my name, I don’t go for those swishing robes Joe Smith secretly relishes. I’m a boot-wearing, ass-kicking male.]
22 Oct. 96 Anton Braun (1960): Thanks for the written word. I liked the description of the canoe trip. I see you made it most of the way, as I read in the newspaper and in the DD. Good for you and the Moons. I was particularly struck by the solitude you experienced, as in not seeing many people.
About my computer adventures... Just when I was getting hooked, it gave out. I’m in quest of another. Dave Barry had a funny Internet article in a recent Newsweek. [I heard he has an hilarious book or two out about the Net.]
Thanks for all the pages on the rip-off funeral industry. I did make my own casket and will use it for a book case until it is needed. Then I am planning on cremation so my ashes can be spread in the Bear Tooth Mountains in Montana and Wyoming. My kind of country. - Carry on. I’ll be in touch. I like DD a lot.
Thanks for the funny New Yorker drawings.
23 Oct 96 Jerry Hiller (1968) left voice mail re my phone message to him about his DD being returned: We have not changed addresses. You have been misspelling the name of our street. Wife Marilynn kept her name (sounded like Rochon). Six years ago, I started Repair My House at St. Pete’s, “Psychology at Lunch.” Mike Crosby took off time to host us. 15,000 people in 200 sessions attended over six years. The attenders give St. Pete’s a couple dollars. It came about because Jack Bartz invited us to St. Pete’s to get together and I decided I’d offer my service there since they have so much adult education already. Marilynn and I do the program. We’re excited the program keeps going on. A great service. A good feeling.
I met you when I lived at Corpus Christi in 1970-74 and taught there 1970-77. Was there with Bill Stachura, Andrew Knoell, Terry Nieburgge, and met you and Mike back then. Thanks for your concern.
25 Oct 96 Arnie Wieser responded to my on-line request as to who was the User276@aol.com who had written DD an unsigned note.
28 Oct 96 John Behl (1960) called to say that our classmate Chris’ dad, Otto Reuter, died the day before. John has been active in the Re-Membering program of his church. He and Candy invite lapsed Catholics to their home and build a bit of community for them to return to. About 8 to 10 from that “other diaspora” are participating this year.
Asked what it was like to have the kids all off to college or beyond, John said, “I assure you that the empty nest is greatly underrated.” John was amused by John Paul II’s announcement that evolution might be more than a theory.
28 Oct 96 Julian Woods (1937) sent a letter and donation: Dear brothers in St. Francis, the occasion of Diaspora Digest is the twofold ‘vocation’ most of us have enjoyed in God’s providence. Earlier in life, we decided to join the ranks of that rebellious Francis who stood naked on the streets of Assisi and renounced a life of ease and pleasure. Often, I enjoyed picturing myself on that scene. It’s chilly.
Again, I reflect on the response Francis gave later when called upon to write a ‘rule’ for all those fellows who shared his enthusiasm for the simple life. “Our rule is the Gospel,” retorted Francis, but these Church theologians couldn’t be satisfied. Obliging them, Francis wrote down some of the things they do. The canonists proceeded to invent 24 precepts biding under sin. Throughout these 700 odd years, how many friars saw the humor in this situation.
At some time later in life, what we have in common is our response to another kind of vocation: falling in love. In this we could identify with 99% of the human race. Of course, I don’t know how many church theologians classify this as a vocation - for us.
Have you ever let your imagination wander back to about 1100 when the celibacy rule was established for the Roman Catholic Uniate Church? When all those married bishops and pastors heard about the rule, how long do you think it took to go into effect? Or did it? That story about “Rodney the Rat,” bishop in Scotland was so entertaining, I distributed the clipping to the seniors in our parish called “Nifty Fifty.”
You would get a kick out of our parish with the friendliest and most intelligent pastor I ever met, Fr. Joseph Patrick Breen. In two different years, he has written to the bishops of USA, with whom Fr. Breen studied in Rome in the days of John XXIII, [asking them to consider a married clergy] faithfully, always urging prayers for vocations.
After the Good Lord relieved my beautiful wife, Pat, of Alzheimer, and took her to heaven, I wrote to the bishop asking to discuss my reinstatement. After two months, no response.
Meanwhile, as an old teacher who started with accounting and economics in the early ’40s, I spend time on realistic ways of earning a living. As we are seeing, we can’t count on big corporations any more. Let me know if you or anyone you know needs some help. There is hope as soon as we catch on that human persons are more important than money.
29 Oct 96 Gene Katoski OFM (1939): Niech Bedzie Pochawalony Jezus Chrystus! (Polish): Enjoyed Diaspora Digest # 19 very much. As I said last time, I am very pleased and edified that you “Dispersed” are still very Catholic and Franciscan. May God bless your admirable work and efforts.
I am sending you a copy of the October issue of our SFT (Senior Friars Talk), a monthly newsletter for the friars of our province who are 65 and over.
I type it out every month and mail it to the secretary of the province in St. Louis, and she types it out on her word processor. I also publish some of the 400+ cartoons that I drew during philosophy and theology classes in West Park and Teutopolis.
[Thank you, Gene, for SFT. It includes thoughts from Francis de Sales, letters from Gregory Kemner in Brazil, from Silas Musholt in the Holy Land, Flavius Czuba in Indian River, Mich., Jason Kommer, Jo Windolph, and Fred Schneider; also an obit of Alphonse Kirn, an announcement that the Teutopolis Monastery Museum is open Sundays from 12:30 to 4 p.m., nostalgic OFM tid-bits from the T-Town Press Page called yesteryear, cartoons by GK, and some wit and wisdom of Archbishop Sheen. - Gene, you didn’t mention — do you still have a copy of your famous peg dates list?]
31 Oct 96 Bill Bergman (1962) sent card announcing Bergman & Associates, Inc., has moved. No note
Nov 96: Chris Reuter (1960): His dad Otto died Oct. 27 as the skies were pouring down their baptismal rains, and there was even some thunder and lightning. He had just turned 93 five days earlier, and his life was certainly both long and remarkably full.” He died in a spirit similar to Francis and Cardinal Bernadin [and Billy Stachura], says Chris.
1 Nov 96 Len Korgie (1945): Gael’s request for more material for the Christmas issue prompts me to add a few things. Your query about the “shelter belts” of the dust storm ’30s in Nebraska calls for a little explanation. The shelter belts and the irrigation and power canals cracked the dust storms and brought fertile lands to the plains. The rivers were diverted for the canals. Millions of tree seedlings were planted in the country in long rows to stop the dust. The Veterans Conservation Corps (WWI vets) and the CCC and WPA did the job throughout Nebraska. Thousands of seedlings were stored in the lots in our neighborhood in Columbus. The men came in daily, loaded up, and planted the trees. Suffice it to say our neighborhood is fully grown with a great variety of trees today.
In the “Now it can be told” department, I was stunned by the “Squirrel” episode — especially it’s possible implications. I smiled at the “sleuthiness” of the priests involved because I knew them. Great guys.
As to the “beer and pizza party” incident and the release of three clerics in ’47, I was absolutely ignorant until about 10 years ago. At that time an OFM from my hometown told me I was the fourth one in the party and was released from OLA in ’48. I was flabbergasted. I was so stunned I hardly remember the details of the episode or episodes that he related to me. I thought he was joshing me, but he was serious. Some things stick faintly in the back of my memory and hence I decline commenting on them. He did say I earned my Purple Heart - not in Korea but playing football and baseball on regimental teams in Japan. I met two of the former clerics a few times since ’47, but we never mentioned leaving OLA. I presumed we all left for the same reason - to find more space.
As to the historian John Toland interview, he sent his secretary to one of our reunions in Chicago to talk to some of us. He wanted us to talk into a tape recorder. I told him I had better things to do at a reunion than spend a few hours talking into a recorder.
My writings are contained in three books available in any sizable library or book store. Vols. I & II called The Korean War (an oral history) by Donald Knox, Harcourt, 1985 & 1988. First is subtitled Pusan to Chosin, second Uncertain Victory. Vol. III is Fighting on the Brink (oral history) Pusan Perimeter by Gen Yzal Ent, Turner Press, Paducah, Jan. 1997.
Enough military. Next time St. Joes. [Can’t get enough of that. And our holiday greetings to you too.]
3 Nov 96 Maury Smith OFM (1959): I get so busy, been meaning to finish this and send it to you. Kept getting interrupted. But then I like being busy. August is spent promoting all our parish programs. September we get all the balls into the air: PRE, RCIA, Bible Study, Ministry Conference, Parish “Family Day” with town Hall meeting, Pastoral Council, Finance Committee, Evangelization Com., Liturgy Com. And this year the Pastoral Council is sponsoring an “Issues of the Heart” speaker and discussion. We have our Home Coming celebrating 144 years of St. Mary’s this year. Chuck Gunti was the speaker this year. We have had John Ostdiek and Kurt Hartrich; both were stationed here.
Now it is November so that I have been gearing up and PR-ing our Preparation for Christmas program we sponsor for the downtown. We should have gotten courses in finances, PR, maintenance and fund raising. I spend time doing posters all the time. Of course if I did not have a computer with clip art, I would not do them.
Cy Wagner had several bypasses and now his kidneys have failed and he is on
dialysis. E-mail him:
14 Nov 96 Bob Pawell: All of Chicago grieves the passing into eternal life of a great man, Joseph Cardinal Bernardin. Bernardin was a Bishop I could love and one I wanted to follow. He was a friend of the Friars and came through for them when the Roman hit-squad was going from theological school to theological school enforcing their brand of “orthodoxy.” Bernardin stood up to them and saved CTU from disaster. He governed the archdiocese by a graceful gentleness and the integrity of his life. His last efforts — the common ground project told the truth — seeking ways for folks of different view points to get together and listen to one another. As he said a week of so ago, one facing death has not time for peripheral concerns—he/she is focused on what is real, what is true. How foolish to waste the precious time we have here fighting over little things.
I weep not for Bernardin but for the huge hole his passing leaves in the leadership of the Church. He was a truly HOLY man. I was in his presence on the feast of St. Francis at our St. Peter’s Church. As he entered the church the whole placed exploded in loving applause, young, old, gay, straight, people from different ethnic groups all of Chicago loved the man and he love all of the people of Chicago—AND HE WAS ABLE TO DEMONSTRATE THAT LOVE IN ONE HUNDRED AND ONE LITTLE WAYS. He treated everyone with “infinite respect and reverence”— he has been for me the model of authentic priesthood.
Pray for the Church of Chicago that we receive a leader like Joseph of our brother to be our next bishop.
19 Nov 96: I awoke to tell Susan about a long intricate dream about Bill Stachura (1964): He looks slimmer and younger, does a witty routine with Dan Mazar. Then he, Cowboy (1966), and their friends show such affection for each other that Susan asks me how can we ever be satisfied with our love life after seeing that.
At supper, Cowboy calls to tell me Bill is dying, and his wife Carol wants me to call. Carol’s sister give the phone to her. She is lying in bed, and the toxins are rising quickly to Bill’s brain. We talk a long time, a beautiful Carol, so happy to be next to Bill to help him go away. She lets me tell him how much I thank him and love him. She thinks he knew who I was. Mel Griffith enters the room as we talk, she says. We don’t know how long it will be. But shortly after midnight he dies, early Wednesday morning, the 20th.
Not knowing, I drive west 100 miles for all day research on a story. Susan finally finds me at 8 p.m. after Bob Hoffman, Cowboy, some others have left messages to relate the news. I feel as graced, as complete, as Carol, that I was able to connect with Billy in his last moments of consciousness. Had he slipped away, I don’t know. The wake on Friday, the funeral on Saturday, will complete a life cycle we shared somewhat intensely at times. I was lucky in that the better preachers around were out of pocket when he was ordained so he asked me to preach at his First Mass in Columbus, where I fell in love with his family and home town.
20 Nov 96 Chris Reuter: I’m back in Chicago and reading the mail, at least once or twice a week. For a while I was between here at St. Louis so often on family and/or provincial business that I was nearly disoriented. That has all slowed down a little as we head into the holidays.
John Behl stopped by at my Dad’s wake, and we had a chance to visit for a short time. And I got a short letter from Anton, which I will need to answer soon. Is he on e-mail, or do I do it by USPS?
Today is Cardinal Bernardin’s funeral here in Chicago. It is “by ticket only”; so I will watch the proceedings on TV with the common folk. I did attend a prayer vigil last night at the Cathedral, and it was a highly emotional experience. More deaths in the news: Two of our former teachers, Loran Fuchs and Roy Hassett, died in the past several weeks.
22 Nov 1996 Bob Pawell: Thanks for the message about Bill Stachura. I heard of his death in a conversation with Jim Hoffman — what was that line from the Bard? “When sorrows come they come not as single spies but by battalions!” — I have had enough, Lord, try me with another discipline. I wish to know that other path that Emily Dickinson wrote of when she penned:
I can wade grief Whole pools of it. — I’m used to that. But the least push of joy Breaks up my feet, And I tip drunken. Let no pebble smile, Twas the new liquor, — That was all! Power is only pain, Stranded through discipline, Till weights will hang, Give balm to giants, And they’ll wilt like men. Give Himmaleh,— They’ll carry him.
I leave you with these words of Bonhoeffer: Nothing can make up for the absence of someone whom we love, and it would be wrong to try to find a substitute; we must simply hold out and see it through. That sounds very hard at first, but at the same time it is a great consolation, for the gap, as long as it remains unfilled, preserves the bonds between us. It is nonsense to say that God fills the gap; God doesn’t fill it, but on the contrary, keeps it empty, and so helps us to keep alive our former communion with each other, even at the cost of pain. Take care!
22 Nov 96: I (Gael-1960) drove up to Indianapolis, visited with Anton Braun (1960) and learned from him the address of Don Kenny (Frater Hubert in the novitiate with us): 708/355-8980, 1500 Brookdale Rd., Naperville IL 60563 (Joliet diocese). Anton had a funeral the next day and couldn’t go up with us to Billy’s wake.
Mike Mooney (who loved the inspiring “Call to Action” conference in Detroit last weekend) and I drove to Joan Porche’s and she drove us to Elgin where we found 150 people including, Mazar, Bartzes, Grushes, Roy Hoffman, Andrew Knoell and Earl Summer, Frank Daniel, Jerry Hiller, Lou Spoonhour, Steve Laslo, J&M Zangs, Mel Griffith, Joan Burds and Ed Taylor, Donna Burds, Jim Roethli, Cora Gilmore, Bob Willford, Bob Dougherty (who saw Brian and Jeannie Szorady and their 5-year-old recently, and Tarsicius who was sharp as a tack. Got addresses for Joan Burds/Ed Taylor, Donna [Burds], 19979 Cave (Cove, Cane) Rd, Ste. Genevieve MO 63670 at 573/543-2538 and Cora Gilmore, 2314 W. Roscoe, Chicago Il. 60618 and Joe & Angel Bizek, Rt. 1, Box 180A, Crane MO 65633.
Many spoke at the ceremony, (led by Andy Knoell, aided by Fr. Russo the pastor of St. Thomas More, and three women choir leaders) including speakers Carol and the Stachura boys, Bill’s brother, many who knew him as friars, and co-workers. Brother Francis was not much more appreciated at his death, I think.
The Mass and dinner afterwards on Saturday were a great reunion, liturgically, socially, and in the spirit of Il Poverello. My eyes were teary but my heart filled for the rest of the trip (in all meanings of that word/experience).
23 Nov 96 Jim Zangs (1964): I later asked Jim and Mary to send me a copy of the eulogy Jim gave after Billy’s funeral Mass on this day. Here’s how it went: For those of you who don’t know me, I am Jim Zangs. Steve Laslo called Tuesday night and told Mary that Bill was not doing well, and that Bill had talked about what he would like at his funeral. Bill asked to have one of us say something at the Mass in the form of an eulogy. My name came up in that discussion since Bill and I go back a few years. We entered the Minor Seminary at Westmont together 39 years ago when we were both 14 year old. I called Steve back on Wednesday morning to learn that Bill had died during the night.
We talked about his death. We also discussed this eulogy thing further. I told Steve that: 1) I didn’t think I was qualified to do this, and 2) I wasn’t sure I could get through it. Steve was very reassuring and offered assistance in preparing this. And I told him I would do it.
So, on Thursday night, six of us gathered. Steve and Teresa Laslo, Andrew Knoell, Earl Summers, Mary and I. We spent a couple of hours sharing our thoughts and feelings about Bill. Mary took some notes. I will just share some of those reflections.
We are gathering as a family to say goodbye, but we are not saying goodbye to the memories, the fun times, and the joy of knowing Bill.
By way of explanation, the six of us are part of a group that is much like an extended family. It originated in Chicago. A number of the group were (or are) in the seminary, priesthood, religious life, but many were not. Most of the group are originally from other cities and states, and ended up settling in Chicago (at least for awhile). Probably for a variety of reasons this group formed unbelievably strong bonds. There is a tremendous closeness among the people in the group, and the only word that seems to fit is “family.” The group shares a lot of common values, there is a lot of Franciscanism present in the group, above all there is a lot of love. Of course, Bill and Carol are a couple of centerpieces to this group.
Anyway, as we reflected Thursday night we all had very similar perceptions of Bill. Probably because with Bill there were never any hidden agendas. What you saw is what you got.
Bill took life as it came. Accepted what is, and dealt with it. When we were high school freshmen Bill already had severely restricted eye sight, as he has lived all his life with retinitis pigmentosa. But, he didn’t let that stop him from doing anything. He played basketball, baseball, volleyball and gave it his very best. He took walks with us outside in the dark, where he could see nothing. One memory is from the summer of 1967 when a group of us were working at Corpus Christi Parish on the South Side, and would occasionally stop in the Woodlawn Tap. Bill would barge in the darkness of the place like he owned it. He did more than accept his vision impairment. He challenged it. He went through life with banged up shins, but he kept on going.
He didn’t dwell on limitations. He kept striving, he kept moving on. Just a few years ago he went back to school, commuting downtown to the University of Ill. Campus. Took on a tough academic program and got his MSW. The discipline that required!
So, Bill had this stick-to-itiveness, he had this inner toughness, he knew what he was about. But Bill, as we all know, had nothing tough about his manner. He was spontaneous, he had an easy charm about him. He loved to talk - to just sit around and go on for hours about the everyday things in life. In recent years I would call Bill every once in awhile - not often enough - and I knew I better figure I’d be on the phone for at an least an hour.
Bill had great respect for others. He had a real skill of making people feel at ease. There was this quality of inclusiveness - in conversation, jokes, whatever, he included everyone. He had such common sense and ability to put things in perspective. He saw the wisdom in the common things and was able to share that with those around him. I am sure some of that came from growing up on a Nebraska farm. He always managed to get down to what was really important.
He combined this with a great sense of humor. He made us laugh, - Oh, did he make us laugh. We could go on for days telling Billy stories, and we probably will. Didn’t he have a knack for coming up with nicknames. How many of us have a nickname Bill hung on us and made it stick. Some of us have had 3 or 4. And it wasn’t just the name, it was the way Bill said it with his laugh. He named vehicles too: The Big Orange in Quincy, Terry Nieburgge’s truck was the Big White. Of course, we reciprocated - Archie.
I can remember only a few times in my life that I laughed so hard I ended up rolling on the ground. Most were initiated by Billy.
Tue Dec 24 20:40:43 1996
In Novitiate - 1963, I have one vivid memory of a touch football game, in franciscan habits, everybody played, regardless of athletic skill. Including everyone was very Franciscan. Bob Dougherty was one of our classmates, a man of many talents but not on the athletic field. Bob’s religious name was Ansbert. That day Bill quickly created a new nickname - Spurt Doug-Hurt-Tee - and started doing play-by-play commentary on the game. He had us all rolling on the ground with side-splitting laughter. Bill has this great ability to see the humor in the everyday, and he made us see it too. When we took things too seriously, especially things that shouldn’t be taken that seriously, Bill with his humor often brought us back to really.
A few of Bill stories probably are better told outside of church, but some of us can’t go down South Lake Shore Drive without humming a little of “Moon over Miami.” [Reference is to an apocryphal (ahem) story of Billy mooning some Floridians.]
I wasn’t around Chicago when Bill and Carol met. It didn’t take long to get to know her when we moved back to Chicago in 1977. Everyone agreed they were perfect for each other. She is just as honest, upfront and down to earth as Bill.
Thursday night we talked about how they journeyed together. We talked about how she has been such a gift for Bill. How she was with him and helped him to die. Of course, last night Carol talked about what a gift it was for her to take care of Bill. They obviously have been gifts for each other.
A lot happened at the funeral home last night that told us something of Bill’s fatherhood. His fatherhood was so important. How proudly and with love he talked about his boys.
Bill taught us so much in the way he lived. Now he has taught us about dying. There have many comments about the uncanny parallel to Cardinal Bernadin. I heard one last night that was great. Someone told me that Bill’s doctor, Dr. Kennedy, referred to Bill as the common man’s Cardinal Bernadin. He said he never saw a man approach death with such dignity as Bill did.
I can vouch for that. Mary and I were fortunate enough to visit with Bill and Carol two weeks ago today. Bill talked about dying, with his usual ease and commonness. And Bill, as only he could do, made us comfortable talking about it.
Steve Laslo was out at Bill and Carol’s a few days ago, helping replace a lock on the door. And Steve has a similar experience. Bill made Steve feel comfortable just talking about what was going on that day.
Of course Bill’s sense of humor never left him. There was always thought behind his humor and he came at you with it subtly. Steve tells that while he was at Bill and Carol’s the other day, the Regional Transportation people called. This is an organization that arranges transportation for handicapped and had gotten Bill to work. I guess they were a little difficult to deal with and frustrated Bill at times. Bill kind of laughed and said something to the effect he wouldn’t have to put up with them any more.
On this Wednesday, the day Bill died, Mary thought our 16-year-old son, Matthew, had done something wrong. She sat down to talk to him and found he hadn’t done any wrong. She ended the discussion telling him he was a great kid and hoped he would grow up to be like our friend Billy.
May all our sons grow up to be like our friend Bill.
23 Nov 1996 Keith Eckrich: Thanks for the note about Bill Stachura. I am writing this at about 8:00 a.m. Saturday, and I guess his funeral starts in one hour in Chicago. I recall he was a short fellow with thick glasses. Am I right in that he was about two classes below us? The years are too many and the memory is shot!
I don’t recall having Roy Hassett in class but I have a memory of what he looked like. Loran, of course, we knew in Cleveland and I guess at St. Joe’s prior to that: stern-looking. He was the one we called “Stone Face.” Bless them all.
Does Jim Schmitt have e-mail? It would be fun to reconnect with him. I will call him today to find out.
Jack Brennan wrote to remind me that 33 years ago, Nov 22, he and I drove into Effingham to visit the print shop that printed the ATP (I was editor at the time), and the woman at the front desk was the one who told us about Kennedy’s being shot minutes earlier.
I haven’t had much access to the computer lately because the two college kids are groaning and moaning under the burden of papers and homework. Do young people in your area characterize anything to their disliking or misunderstanding as “stupid?” Heather’s a riot: “this is stupid, that is stupid.” It takes a helluva long time to grow up, doesn’t it?
I feel like a hacker out of a movie: I rose early due to a severe headache, and I type in a darkened room. I wish to ascribe the headache to sinuses, but I truly believe it is caused by the ingestion of too many peanuts. Peanuts give me a headache. There must be something powerful in them. Ten years ago, during my stint at the Willmar State Hospital, an insane asylum, a doctor there told me that one of his patients regularly “lost it” each Thursday morning. He checked the woman’s diet and found out that either Wednesday or Thursday morning breakfast each week offered peanut butter.
He took the patient off the peanut butter, and voila, no more episodes. I don’t know what this all means except I love the peanuts I buy at the local Furr’s Supermarket. They are grown in southern New Mexico and they have a wonderful sweet taste to them. Unfortunately I will never have anymore of them because I now renew, for the eleventh time, that I will never again eat peanuts!!! Say, are you interested in some nice real estate in New York: it even sports a bridge?
It is rainy this morning. Rain is an event here since outside of July, August and September, the time for regular, oft heavy, annual rainfall, it is mostly sunny and dry, dry, dry. We average 8 inches a year. A going-to-bed-time rainfall is most delicious: auditory delights. Till next time.
Missing: A great treasure should go in this spot. A short letter from Tarsicius Fischer that I can find nowhere among the various piles of manuscript I’ve had piled around me for this issue. I think it might be in the book I lost at the time of traveling to the funeral: The Discoverers by Daniel Boorstin. Tarsicius was full of news about this season’s opera season. And when I saw him at Bill’s wake, I was enthralled at his wit, his memory, his ability to recall details about Mooney, that he’d lived in California, was an Indianapolis native. He is happily hearing confessions et al. again at St. Pete’s, Cowboy told me, since Tom Aldworth became pastor. - Please give us another chance, Tars. Write again. I’m aghast, but you knew I could never KEEP a tune as a soprano, alto, or baritone, let alone precious documents.
25 Nov 1996 Jim Schmitt (1959): Greetings from Nebraska: Received an e-mail today from Keith Eckrich and he gave me your e-mail address so thought I would see if I can get this thing to send one to Tennessee. I gave myself a birthday present of a new computer on October 7th and so am just gradually learning how to accomplish a few tasks on this thing.
Always enjoy the Diaspora Digest. It is good to hear what the guys are up to these days. I am always moved by the depth of fraternity that exists among all of us that shared the Franciscan experience. There were some mighty powerful things that happened in those years for sure.
I am starting my sixth year in Grand Island. I am pastoring Resurrection Church, a parish of about 360 units. It is mostly young couples with young families with mortgages and soccer games coming out of their ears. Somehow in the midst of this the Gospel is proclaimed and it is amazing once in a while it seems the Word Becomes Flesh.
Having communicated with Keith last evening I was motivated to call Medard in Joliet to find out about his health. He tells me he is well at 81 years old still ministering in the parish. We had a good discussion about the state of the Church,its hierarchy, and its future. I knew he was well when he reminded me that Nebraska got beat by Arizona State in football this year and he said he had conveniently forgot that the Cornhuskers won the national championship the last two years. He always loved to remind me when Oklahoma beat Nebraska and that was a lot in the days that I lived with him.
The only other person that I have much contact with is Cullan. We visit occasionally on the phone and I have been able to get to Cleveland and enjoy his tickets to the Indians on a couple of occasions. Mooney usually calls me on the Feast of St. Francis but did not hear from him this year- so there is an emptiness in my life. Does Mooney have e-mail? [No, dang it.] Have been able to travel around a little bit in recent years. One of the highlights of my life was last year when I visited the grave of Franz Jaegerstetter in Austria. I remember that you introduced me to Franz Jaegerstetter through Gordon Zahn when he came to talk to us. If you don’t remember [Ha! don’t you remember what a vicious conscientious objector I was in theology? the pacifist course of Paul Edwards in Presby. Sem. in Louisville I took by mail?], Franz Jaegerstetter was a conscientious objector to serving in Hitler’s army. Is now up for beatification in the Catholic Church. [Joe Smith, if FJ was anti-semitic, I don’t want to know. Write Musky directly.]
Originally, he was encouraged to go to war by his wife, priest, bishop and was rejected by his townspeople but now his little town has big celebrations honoring him with the local Austrian religious authorities participating - how times change. Anyway thank you, Gael, for introducing me to Franz. [And thank you for making your trip known to us.]
Still remember the visit you and Susan made to my house in Elm Creek when I was there - do you still have the aqua and pink old post office truck? It was perfect. Pax et Bonum from Musky who can be found at JSEgg@aol.com
26 Nov 1996 Jack Brennan (1960): R.I.P. for Bill Stachura. I remember him, but did not know him well except to recall that he was a nice kid. The word “kid” reveals my age. He was three or four classes behind us and had very thick lenses and seemed always to be of good humor.
We just had an “ice storm” which took down a lot of power lines. We were without electricity for just over 48 hours. Some of our friends are now one week without the benefits of energy. It gets old fast. Fortunately, we have a wood stove on which we could cook and heat water. It had been so long since we used it that it was in need of fresh gaskets and was not very energy efficient. Our wood supply was old and overly dry and burned up relatively quickly. This necessitated me getting up at odd hours to stoke it. Not a very good sleep to be sure.
One day our 8 year old, Sarah, poached eggs and I burned bread on a log. It actually looked and tasted like toast. I don’t see how the pioneers did what they did. It’s amazing how we take electricity for granted. Our current metaphor/reality query is: “do you have power.” When our friend got back her power, Rachel, our 14 year old, played John Lennon’s “Power to the People.
I am ready and more experienced to edit DD 20, so start sending pieces of it. I appreciate your ‘missing our classmates’ feeling. It has always amazed me how deep and rich those relationships are and how they withstand the test of time.
Peace, good brother, I love you too. Jack
26 Nov 1996 Jim Schmitt (1959): Sorry to hear of Billy’s death. I was the prefect at his table when he first came to the seminary at St. Joe’s. A good old Columbus, Nebraska, boy. We became better friends after he went to CTU and after he was ordained. Knew he was having health problems. Would like to hear about the funeral and his death. May he rest in peace! Amen. Musky
28 Nov 96 Dan Mazar (1966): [After hearing so many friends of Billy speak at the wake, but not Cowboy, I asked him to put his thoughts on paper, as we wouldn’t feel the circle was complete without them.]
Thanksgiving a.m., My own “memento mori” has little to do with Bill’s death and more to do with his life. He was without guile and had an acute sense of equity and fairness. He, like John Huxel, had a very sensitive BS meter. It was fun to watch it twitching and spinning especially over a bag of potato chips and a beer.
The class separations dissolved in the clericate at OLA in Quincy. That really cemented our feelings for one another and fostered the sense of caring and charity. We also discovered that the rules of the religious life were no substitute for humanity and generosity. We began to see that we were no better than the laity and that we were owed no special treatment because of vows. Bill often said that he didn’t know what poverty was until he left the order and began a family. That insight surely skewed how we looked at our life in vows after we left.
Theology at CTU surely took us out of the cloister forever. I remember Billy dancing the polka at John Weiss’s tap and toppling the Christmas tree. (Too much Jaegermeister!) To watch Billy boogie to Diana Ross and the Supremes was awe-inspiring. They became “Archie’s girls.” Bill’s name in religion was Arnold and was corrupted to Archie. For a time he was known as Little Belly in contrast to Bill Kimlinger, Big Belly.
Bill took a job as a security guard for Purolator. He rode in armored cars. This was part of a program to bring a few bucks into the friary. Several of us worked outside and also went to school. This was a little reality therapy. Also provided some walking around money. I would meet him on the midnight train from downtown. Bill carried a massive flashlight that took at least 8 D-batteries. He led the way home and I followed. Bill and I would gossip and laugh all the way to CTU, while making sure we didn’t trip over a fire hydrant or whatever [due to his night blindness]. His shins were always black and blue but he never hesitated to put on shorts. He, of course, was teased about his barked shins.
Years later we would laugh at where we had gotten in life. His kids just couldn’t see him as a priest, although they could see their mom as a nun. During CCD, the teacher asked if anyone knew a priest. One of the boys responded: “My dad is a priest and my mom is a nun.” Talk about a show stopper. In fact, the kids found it hard to believe that we were all religious at one time. Billy said his kids were vaccinated against church. Didn’t want to go near the place. We laughed at the irony and had another beer.
Bill practiced his priesthood faithfully and kept his indelible mark highly polished. He may not have done Eucharist and the sacraments, but he surely did the most important things well, i.e., how to live and how to die.
Now he rests easy and without pain. He is with John Huxel, Terry Niebrugge, Bill Kimlinger, Larry Felts, [Henry Pierkowski, Charles Potocki, Jesse Fratus, Jim Lyke, Mike Schaefer] and others. He remains with us in memory and will be present whenever two or more are gathered to celebrate anything.
Psalm 132 says: “Ecce quam bonum et quam jucundum habitare fratres in unum.” I am thankful that we had Billy to add a little spice to the “Habitare.” Requiescat in pace, Billy.
28 Nov 96 Bob Pawell: The turkey is in the oven, the pumpkin pies are baked, the veggies are ready to nuke [I made them yesterday] and we are awaiting our guests— we will be ten at table tonight. This is our Friary’s first big act of hospitality. We have a make-shift dining room table and still we need to purchase some furniture for the common rooms. But you know how it is with an artist around. We can distract you with “pretty” so that you do not even notice the nicks on the furniture and/or other “lacks.”
Today as I await our guests I want to reach out to you wherever you are to Thank You for the part you play in my life— your friendship and fraternity are important sources of nourishment for my soul. Thank You and may God bless you richly.
28 Nov 96 Keith Eckrich: Happy Thanksgiving!! It’s early and I have already been put to KP duty dicing the celery and onions for Helene’s world-famous stuffing. I wish I could FedEx you some. I yearly try, though, to get her to throw in some raisins and apples like the German recipe my mother used to make, but I always fail: “You married me for my stuffing, right?” is Helene’s reply. I relish it.
My mother will be here and perhaps Heather’s boy friend, Ryan, whose mother is out of town: otherwise, it’s just us today for dinner. We usually have a friend, Elaine, but she is in Arizona today with family.
Kristen, mom and I are checking out the Macy’s parade on TV. Fun parade. Helene and I strolled through Macy’s last February when Helene sprang an early, surprise anniversary trip on me to travel to New York to see Turandot at the Met. I had earlier stated “I would kill to see Turandot at the Met.” I got my wish. We lucked out with 40-degrees weather shortly after a blizzard. We squeezed it in in four days: Statue of Liberty, Ellis Island, Museum of Natural History to see a spectacular exhibit on amber, the plays Les Miserables and CATS and Empire State Building. The subway is great: uptown and downtown in minutes.
The opera was fantastic. When the huge curtain rose on the palace scene in Act II, there were gasps from jaded opera goers at the lavishness of it all. I was in heaven.
The night before Turandot, in a light rain, we had walked to Lincoln Center where Cecilia Bartoli was debutting in Cosi fan tutti. I tell folks I was at Cecilia Bartoli’s debut at the met but unfortunately it was raining and I didn’t have a ticket. We arrived in mid-opera, and the lone usher on duty didn’t appear prepared to let us sneak in.
New York is fun to visit. Just let the traffic proceed when they have green right of way or you’ll wind up wrapped around their horn. Happy feast day, brother: eat a lot of turkey. Turkey contains a sleep agent, name unknown to me, that will grant you a wonderful postfestival nap. Peace.
30 Nov 96 Mary/Jim Zangs: They sent me a MIME encapsulated copy of Billy’s eulogy I couldn’t decode. Later they sent it by disk so I could print it - above. On this day they sent a note and marvelous photo: Here is the picture of Corpus Christi’s summer of ’67 crew [25 friars and OFM nuns]. We were so glad that you and Mike Mooney were there with us. Billy really loved you guys and so do we.
1 Dec 96 Jerry Etzkorn (1950): Jerry and Linda’s holiday form letter tells how they enjoy living on the Cumberland Plateau, their newly built house, the Oldsmobile 99 they won in a raffle. They’ve had corrective surgery on his shoulder, her eye, travelled extensively, made new friends around home, Jerry is still working on critical editions of medieval authors’ texts (with Allan Wolter as their guest for nine weeks). They welcome visitors.
2 Dec 96 Jack Brennan: I am sometimes insensitive to money issues, perhaps because I don’t have any. I’m serious when I say that I wish I still had the vow of P. I never had it so good financially when I could go to the box in Remy Stiglitz’s office and take whatever I needed and write it down.
Remy never, never questioned me about it. In fact, other than Alban’s little tests about razor blades and soap, the only other time I remember feeling any sting over it was when Medard wouldn’t let me get a new watch band. Even then, the next day he smiled and said in his inimitable way, “Oh, go ahead and get one.” I think he asked me what time it was and I fumbled through the multiple crannies of my habit to find my bandless watch. Which reminds me of what Odo Schmalz used to chant to me:
What a wonderful bird is a Franciscan,
His capuche holds more than his belly can
But I don’t know how the hell he can.
Anyway, my practice is suffering from the restrictions of managed care. Not long ago, I got permission from a managed care company in Arizona to see a suicidal teenager for three sessions. This guy, the managed care troll, looked up something on his computer to determine the number of sessions. He didn’t know me, my patient, nor anything about mental health. However, I’m sure he helped make it possible for his CEO to continue to draw an obscene amount of money for his salary.
Since I have heart disease, I have to pay almost $300 a month for insurance. My family is one of those statistics who do not have adequate coverage. And on and on.
Back to the DD. Why not have a home page? Folks could leave their messages thereon and the news would be fresh and we could download or print whatever we wanted from the page. [I’m not sure it’s that simple now that I’ve gotten into it.] - A Pax on you and your computer. Love.
4 Dec 96 Joe Smith: We lost Cardinal Bernardin recently, a good man. We had corresponded on church music, ecumenism, and the classic anti-Judaism of Christendom. His mind and heart were on target with regard to eliminating all antisemitism. I had congratulated him on this, being in an interfaith marriage myself, but had asked him to implement excising antiJudaic texts especially in the Advent and Lenten liturgies. ... The Cardinal was aware of this but his illness precluded further action.
While he was indeed a good man, many RCs feel ambivalent about his record, nevertheless. He enforced draconian anti-gay policies that shattered “Integrity” and pushed them out. Recently, he threatened to suspend a local pastor for inviting married clergy to participate in church activities. He went along with the proscription of signers of that NY Times ad on human sexuality, and he has declined to curb out-of-control and abusive pastors re employees and unionization. There’s more, and this need to be part of the picture. He remained a sincere and good man; but he was a faithful (but nice) enforcer for ultraconservative Vatican decrees. He was likeable and genuine in his outreach to Jews and other denominations. But, without disparaging the good he did, it is also true that it’s easier to be nice to outsiders; the test is how you treat your own - all of them, including dissenters, ‘disbelievers,’ and people of variant life styles. He also discouraged bringing clergy and people into the (ecumenically accepted and usual) election of the bishops and pastors, depending instead on the archaic process of papal (clone) selection of his successor.
Nevertheless, I found him personally a good man and true. A successor will find his a tough act to follow. He ended his life hoping for and promoting a dialogue between schizoid elements in the RC. He surely should be honored for that, even as some see it as an attempt to control dissent. Whatever the case, I felt I needed to state my (fallible) positions and perspective for the brothers. Isn’t it great not to be infallible? Best. (Hope you’ll print the whole piece.) [Pretty much did, because you asked, except for some anti-semitism sentiments we’ve heard a couple times before. I think you’ll be called on some of this. - And I’m sure you were around toward the end of Francis’ life and that of his successors when it was ascetics vs. regulars, the Fioretti vs. Celano. No one but no one is or was perfect. As Jack Brennan wrote Bob Pawell and me May 1, “For the wonderful thing about saints is that they were human. They lost their tempers, got hungry, scolded God, were egotistical or testy or impatient in their turns, made mistakes and regretted them. Still they went on doggedly blundering toward heaven. - Phyllis McGinley. Jack said, “I think of both of you in this way, i.e., very human, in a divine sort of way.”]
9 Dec 96 Francis Roetheli (1963): “To DD from Brasil.” It was sure good to get DD #19, and even better to see that now we can communicate by e-mail. Also it was good to have been able to find the Home Page of the Province.
I really do appreciate receiving the Diaspora Digest as it is good to hear about some many people we used to be with and about who we have heard so much. Here is a letter from us down here in Brasil just giving an up-date on the family: Christmas, 1996, Merry Christmas to All. The angel we used on the front of the card, an African conception, is a reminder that Christmas is a celebration of Good News, and once again we would like to share with you a little bit of the Good News from our lives during the year that has passed, hoping that at the same time there is a lot of Good News in your lives which you can also celebrate this Christmas.
One of the good things this year was that in July all of us were able to spend three weeks in Washington, Mo. once again and we had a wonderful time. The last time all of us were there was in 1992. Gramma Roetheli, the main reason for our visit, is in a home and is doing very well for her 88 years. She gets a little mixed up at times, but she did recognize all of us, and she is no longer able to walk. It was good to see that she is getting the care she needs and that she has plenty of peace and rest.
One of the best bits of news is that on August 21st, Ron, Francis’s brother completed one year without drinking and on that date was able to celebrate the first year of a new and wonderful life. Even though we weren’t there on that date to celebrate with him, during the three weeks we were there we had a most wonderful time together experiencing and being part of his new life. Also, Tom, Francis’s brother who lives in Ohio, and his two sons were able to be there for a few days, so we were all able to get together a little bit, which was real good.
Last year, with the help of the Diaspora Digest and the address list we were able to make contact with several friends we haven’t had contact with for years. It was good to be able to remake these contacts. In June we were finally able to get into Internet and with that into e-mail, which is really handy for quick contacts. Once again Diaspora Digest #19 came around with some e-mail addresses and the Province Home Page. So maybe that will open a new means of communication. By the way our e-mail address is: francis@castelo.com.br.
On Dec. 15th we will be completing four years here in Macae. Francis is still working for the work boat company and right now things are looking pretty good for the future. Hopefully we will be able to continue living in one place for quite a while yet.
This coming year we will have two teenagers, Eddie (16) and Joel (14), in high school with all the white hair and worries this brings, plus all the challenges and learning experience for us. It is a good opportunity for us to grow up together with them. Ronnie (9) will be going into the 4th grade and with him we can still breath a little easier.
Elisia is still kept busy with the house and the three boys, more so with the boys. She continues to struggle with English, but it is difficult when you’re surrounded with Portuguese all day long and it is easier to communicate in Portuguese.
One again we just wanted take this opportunity at Christmas to share a little Good News from our side and we all want to wish you a Very Merry Christmas and a Very Happy 1997. Also it would be real good to hear a little Good News from your end. Letters, cards, notes are welcome. - Francis, Elisia, Eddie, Joel & Ronnie
9 Dec 96 Tony Lutz (1946): (2nd Sunday of Advent) Veni, veni Emmanuel! In early September, Sue, I and my youngest son and his wife vacationed on the Yellowstone river, south of Livingston, Montana, on the Double AA Ranch in Paradise Valley. This is one of the most beautiful valleys in Montana, surrounded by spectacular mountains and 52 miles north of Yellowstone National Park. I swore off horseback riding after my soreful experience of last year and so enjoyed the atmosphere, the company, relaxation, good food and reading.
I want to offer all readers of the Diaspora Digest a bed at my home outside of D.C. Here we have ample accommodations in lovely country. Just try our hospitality. We rarely see any of you. Por Dolor!
These must be the best of times and also the worst of times. The best of times because so many Catholics are developing a personal relationship to Christ and are awakening to the gifts of the Holy Spirit. Dr. Scott Hahn, a Presbyterian Minister convert, said recently he is in contact with over 100 ministers who are on the verge of converting. Fr. Ray Ryland, convert from Anglicanism, is helping 26 Anglican priests who are in transition. A cloistered nun, Sr. Angelica, in Irondale, Alabama, has the only countrywide 24-hour TV Catholic station and a worldwide shortwave Catholic radio station. On the other hand only 1/3 of American Catholics believe in the Real Presence, 5,000 Catholics, including bishops, priests, and religious, show up at Call to Action’s convention in Detroit, and a majority of Catholic politicians don’t give a true public witness to their faith.
But, to end on a high note, an inactive priest and his wife, friends of mine, recently were deeply converted from a most liberal Catholicism to a profound belief in the church’s Magisterium and a beautiful devotion to the intercessory power of the Bl. Virgin Mary. Thank you, Lord and Benedictus qui venit in nomine Domini.
One other thing, there are some great new Catholic magazines launched in the last few years: a list would include This Rock, Sursum Corda, Crisis, Inside the Vatican, New Oxford Review, Catholic Dossier, Culture Wars, The Catholic Faith, and Catalyst (Journal of the Catholic League for Religious and Civil Rights). Have no fear that any will insult your intelligence. There simply is a new wave of Catholic writers.
As usual this Christmastide, I will go carolling in my neighborhood. May all of you hear the angels sing.
8 Dec 96 Bob Pawell (1960): First Vespers of the Anniversary of Thomas Merton’s death. Happy Advent!
Regarding your query about getting on the Provincial Web site I suggest you e-mail your request to ProvOff@aol.com attention Brother Chris Lambert, Secretary of the Province with copies to Kurt Hartrich [khartrich@aol.com] and John Doctor [vicardoc@aol.com] you might also include Greg Bumm [brgreg@quincy.edu] —I think Greg manages the mailing list. I am including the latest up-date on the mailing list with new names etc. http://www.thefriars.org/maillist.html
Hope this helps. Here’s an Advent lagniappe: by Jack Clark Robinson, OFM, entitled:
“When you least expect”
The Son of man is coming
at the time you least expect.
Very simply,
that is what Advent is all about,
that Jesus is coming,
we don’t know exactly when,
we don’t know exactly where,
but Jesus is coming.
I hesitate to tell this story.
It happened hundreds of miles from here,
and a couple of years ago,
but still this story rubs my heart raw.
I suppose that is why,
no matter what I tried to think of,
this story came back to me
as why we must prepare, for,
The Son of Man is coming
at the time you least expect.The call came from the family
while I was out.
The message was not completely clear,
and I suppose a day had gone by,
when the second call came,
and caught me at home.
Yes, I would come and visit their son,
their brother.
And still, for some reason, I hesitated.
Finally, fearful that the family would call again,
I went.
I had heard a little of the story,
through the grapevine,
but was not ready
for the emaciated young man,
trapped in the bed in front of me.
Quickly,
the rest of the family fled the room.
I am not certain of exactly what miracle
they expected.
But he and I were left quite alone.
As this young man and I talked,
I heard of good times and bad times,
of parties
which no one seemed to think would end,
much like the eating and drinking
right up to the day Noah entered the ark.
And through a lot of pain,
I heard this young man say,
“I guess that I was trying to love,
but didn’t know how,
and now I’m going to die.”
It was AIDS. He was gay.And in that moment, a miracle did happen.
It happened in me, for I realized
that this dying young man was me,
and you,
and Christ.
The Son of Man is coming
at the time you least expect.
Very simply,
That is what Advent is all about,
that Jesus is coming,
we don’t know exactly when,
we don’t know exactly where,
but Jesus is coming.
In days gone by,
we tended to think of that
as the pronouncement of judgement,
and maybe in a way it still is,
but even more,
I have come to believe,
it is a proclamation of hope
that Christ is to be born
in us,
in our families,
in our neighbors,
and in our world.
What could I say to that dying man?
I looked so wise, so “official,”
I had even brought a stole
to wear over my habit. But I doubt my clothes hid my uncertainty.
I prayed.
I summoned what courage I could,
and I said,
“God loves you.
No matter what you might have heard about....”
And my words dried up.
With no more strength than a child,
he took my hand,
but as securely,
as if it had been a part of his own flesh.
With my other hand,
I reached up and touched his hair,
ran my fingers through it.
Once again I repeated,
“God loves you.”And I leaned forward,
as if the weight of my own heart
were pulling me.
I was going to kiss him on the forehead,
for I had no more words.
And that
is when I saw how his forehead glistened,
and the terrible thought
raced through my mind.
“What if the virus is in the sweat of his brow?”
Do I stop?
Do I retreat?
Do I pull back?
>From such a little thing?
Is fear to rule my life?
Or will it be love?”
Very simply,
that is what Advent is all about,
that Jesus is coming,
we don’t know exactly when,
we don’t know exactly where,
but Jesus is coming.
I leaned forward and gently touched him,
my lips to his forehead.
Slowly, I pulled back, and said again,
“God loves you.”
Then he smiled, the tiniest of smiles,
and said,
“Thank You.”
The Son of Man is coming
at the time you least expect.
Love, Bob
8 Dec 96 Bob Hickman (1961): I haven’t got up [from Huntsville, Alabama) to Nashville to see the lights at Opryland Hotel and all yet. We usually visit our son and daughter-in-law in Dickson and then go see the lights. I tried to call Chuck Gunti the other day, but he is busy as usual with fulfilling his responsibilities as the Post Chaplin at Fort Carson, Colorado.
8 Dec 96 Carol Stachura sent letter and a final substantial gift from her and Billy to their beloved Diaspora family: How wonderful, Gael, that you came to Bill’s funeral. A real celebration, wasn’t it? Bill’s roots ran deep to the plains of Nebraska as well as to his Franciscanism and his family. It is so important to tell his story, and each of us - you - were a big part of that story. That story was told by some master story-tellers too [at the wake and funeral]!
I find myself going over the details of the last few days of Bill’s life. I need to remember - and comprehend. I don’[t know what kind of glue was holding him together, but it was wonderful stuff. I’m much less fearful of dying as taught me - and my sons - how.
He had such trust in me. The last few hours he became so receptive of my leading - my prompting. I’m so privileged to have helped Bill die. And now - I know I can have trust in him. He will watch over us all now in ways new and unfathomable.
[In her general greeting to family and friends Carol said: (We have commended Bill to the ages - to that great community of Saints. And now, we all begin a different journey with his spirit. Bill never liked anything staged categorized or rushed, including death. So this journey of grief for so many of us will not fit into compartments. We will all search and find ways to keep him alive.)
There is a tremendous peace and joy as well as grief in my heart. I feel like God gave me - through Bill - great gifts for being steadfast and faithful to him. I am going to hang on for dear life to that experience.
My sons will be walking this journey of grief, too. Their journey is in such uncharted waters. Bill will surely be there, and now they will need to find him along that path.
(There are no words that adequately express our thanks for all the support that each of you gave to us. But we are so grateful.)
We are all connected in a new way because we have shared in Bill’s dying and rising, and we will remember. And, I will ask myself and you periodically - “Are our sons growing up to be like Billy.” - Lovingly, Carol, Mike, Mark, and Marty.
With that uplifting note, we end this issue. Anything coming after this date, will be in the spring issue.