Diaspora
Digest #22
June 1997
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Co-editors: |
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Gael Stahl (Ernest 1960 “Zeke”) Founder & Publisher |
Jack Brennan (Ternan-1960 “Terry”) |
We begin this issue of Diaspora Digest with two letters that came in
time for inclusion in DD21 but were misfiled and found too late.
8 Feb 97 Joe Smith: Some brief reminiscences of our many good teachers:
Jim Ryan - literature, poetry, and speech at old St. Joe's: a fine teacher and wonderful person we confided in and admired as kids and on into adulthood. I still remember lines from Mort d'Arthur we recited for him in the 1940s.
Gervais Brinkman - a fine man and Latin teacher, friend and mentor.
Harold Jochem: mathematician extraordinary, excellent musician (organ, violin, choir, piano). "You may know your Latin, Smith, but your math leaves a bit to be desired" (my doctoral thesis: "The philosophy of music as math" in 3 volumes).
Joachim Daleiden: a gentleman's gentleman and litterateur par excellence, excellent teacher of writing skills.
Hermy Dressler: formidable Greek and Latin teacher, not too friendly.
Julius Schott: Great personality and German teacher, sense of humor. Easy to talk to.
Edward Lutz: "Points for the day" history teacher, woodsman and workaholic.
Allan Wolter (Cleve OH): philosopher and scientist of exceptional skills and knowledge, good man.
Geron Fournelle (T-town): Fascinating scripture scholar. Walked corridors all the time; met himself once coming around a corner. Good friend and fine teacher.
George Wettenkamp: Church history prof; witnessed most of it. No friend of Luther's.
Famous quote: "Thank God those rats are finally out of here." (Hermy on our class.) "Who can live with Smith." (Hermy.) "Smith, get the hell out of the organ loft, you woke me up." (Harry - We later laughed about it.)
"Can any good come from Superior, Wisc.?" (Herby D. said in jest, of course.)
[Joe also sent a program sheet of his daughter in the "Blithering
Heights" production.]
12 Feb 97 Tony Lutz: Ash Wednesday. Pax et Bonum in Xto Jesu. In reading the literature of "Call to Action" [a brochure I'd sent him] I am impressed with the man-centeredness and not God-centeredness. This human activity to change the Church and society puts too much emphasis on man. I think the first emphasis must be on a personal relationship to the living and all-present God, to a vigorous life in the sacraments and esp. to the Holy Eucharist, to Sacred Scripture daily reading and meditation. All external activity must flow out of that and be entirely subservient to God's will as shown in his divine revelation and on the living church tradition.
What is being emphasized in "Call to Action" are man-centered ideas. ... What I learned in theology (before it was corrupted by heretical texts) is not the ideas put forward by "Call to Action."
Human Life Int'l publishes reports on what is going on in the Catholic
Church today with special emphasis on the "life issues." Its report
on "Call to Action - 1996" is its perspective as seen through the
eyes of two investigative reporters. There is a lot of negativity there - don't
let it put you off. - God bless and thanks for the paper. [Tony also sent a
cassette about contraception.]
5 Mar 97 Dr. Joseph Smith: form letter to DD, publishers, Husserl Conf., Heidegger Cir., etc. etc. about his hand-written journal now going into its 81st volume, 200 pages each. 22,000 entries covering several decades, consisting of a critical philosophy and phenomenology of music, etc. Also a lot on Holocaust studies.
"So, why am I telling you this? Frankly, I'm not sure! As you may know, I was academically 'marginalized' in 1973 by KSU for politically incorrect activities and the exercise of free speech, as well as incautious investigations. I don't want to involve anyone it that! But as a matter of record, it was only in 1990 that I got back on board with Chicago City Colleges, where I was also an AFSCME chief steward."
Due to the hiatus, material that would have gone into lectures and seminars
ended up in the journal. He's looking for suggestions short of "consigning
it to redemptive flames." He asks, "Am I indulging myself, or what?
Don't answer! I merely present myself - again - as a regular colleague whose
journey, not unlike that in The Odyssey, is recorded in voluminous
journals. - Is there some archival zoo out there somewhere, where this
leviathan can be housed?"
10 Mar 1997 Bob Pawell: Saturday returned from a Parish Mission at St. Anthony's in St. Louis driving our new "used car" from the provincial "used car lot"-- a spiffy red 1991 Thunderbird.
Yesterday I presided at Dignity Chicago's Sunday Liturgy, next Saturday I
fly south to West Monroe, LA for another "mission." I'm tempted to
get a dark fedora and sunglasses -- a la the Blues Brothers -- I'm on a mission
from God. Ciao!
11 Mar 97 Joe Smith: Sure, and begorrah! Recently I listed some great friar teachers we had and to whom we should be grateful, even though we ended up in a different (and unexpected) part of the ballpark. Now let me list a few great former - or departed - friars.
Bill Carroll, prof. of law at John Marshall Law School, Ph.D. in religion Univ. of Strasbourg, J.D. Northwestern, and certified psychologist state of Illinois. Also a friend who has literally given friends (like me) the shirt off his back. He'd have made a great federal judge, but he says he didn't' have the heart to pass sentence and was lecturing the legal establishment on metanoia (change of heart, N.T.).
Jim Hartke M.B.A., now departed, classmate, known as "Diamond Jim, would call just to bitch and was glad I had settled down and was finally faithful (Fidelis) in marriage. We tolerated the ideological difference and enjoyed mutual dining and heckling. Basically a good man. We had been close friends since we were kids at Westmont. Opposite ends of the ideolo. spectrum; big yakkers, always yucking it up. Telephoned him days before he died. RIP. Similarly with his cousin Simon who died after I called. Beware of calls by Smith.
Pat Curtis ofm, a man of commitment and Irish integrity, very sharp, became liberal and progressive, witty, spots a phony a mile away, devout without the hype. We had a roller-coaster relationship, starting as teenagers at Westmont, but kept on course and even keel with each other through the years. Still in there and feisty. Good man.
Arnie Wieser M.A., whom Len Korgie once called "smart for a farm boy." He was smart, period, and went on to major in Latin - with no help from Hermy at D.C. Also library science. Has two boys and a wonderful wife, whom I finally met at a recent picnic near Westmont.
Francis Jerome Gray, "The Missing Link" who received the mantel of Basil Vogt ofm of yore: a professional (Ph.D.) historian with flair and humor. Good confrere, who long ago willed his body to science (anthropology).
Paul (Robert) Smith M.L.S., my eldest brother, friend to many, in a life-long struggle with illness but a man of great integrity. Like his cousin Paul McKeague ofm he drowned and was taken before his time. Most like his paternal grandfather (an elder and treasurer of T? Presbyterian in Superior, Wisc.). The rest of us three took after our maternal grandfather. But we all partook of that druidic spirit of feistiness and "Don't tread on me," Erin go brah and all that. Happy St. Pat's Day!
There are others, but that's it for now. - Shalom
15 Mar 1997 Nick Baxter: My fax and email are not working
well. I have new email address: dnbaxter of nhmccd.campus.mci.net - I was
saddened to hear of Ben's death. Keep all of us in touch. Thanks. Nick, alias
Tobias
16 Mar 1997 Margie Cantlon: Thanks for the issue of DD. I know Chas will be thrilled to be getting it online. No way to misplace it, no need to find a file to store it in!
Chas left Friday with his boys, Nathan (23) and Zack (14) for Indianapolis because his mother, Lorraine, is gravely ill with pancreatic and liver cancer and not expected to see the summer. Chas, his brother Bob, and his four sisters are all together with their mother to spend as much time with her as they can in these last days.
Lorraine is the personification of death with dignity. When diagnosed, she said, "I believe in miracles, but I also know this is a serious illness. I have had a good life and we have had two miracles already. A third is a lot to ask." The other two miracles were Lorraine's survival of a serious heart attack two years ago, and Chas' sister's survival of cancer about 15 years ago.
Lorraine has been blessed these past few weeks by a seeming miracle of lesser, but highly significant, proportions. She has been without pain, apparently because the tumor has somehow blocked off the nerve that would have put her in excruciating discomfort. As a result, she has been able to direct the handling of specific personal possessions - bequeathing jewelry to certain nieces, etc., and discussing specifics of her final services.
This will be a sad occasion because Lorraine is so well loved by so many people, and because her attitude has given joy, hope, and encouragement to everybody she has known. But we will cry for ourselves, not for Lorraine. She will be moving on, and she'll be just fine. When she does make the move, we'll let you know electronically.
PS I know a few of you. I graduated from Quincy College in 1969. Chas,
Cynthia, my ex (John Bachmann, also a 1969 QC grad) were friends since 1968,
having met in T.O. (Third Order)
16 Mar 97 John Miller: While there are many people I do not know, I feel a certain kinship as I read their notes to you. It is enlightening to read the views of the various brethren. Also sharing our journey with each other, weaves wonderful tales and friendships together, so we know and appreciate who and what we are. We were all transformed in our experience with becoming "Franciscan."
I read, with great sorrow, about the death of Carol Hankey, Bob's (Ansgar) wife. I sent my condolences to him. Thanks again and keep in touch.
P.S. Dennis (Newman) hasn't been on-line for some weeks, and he tells me he doesn't have the time. I know he had the Irish Mass to get ready, and he also has all the Easter liturgy that must be done to perfection. Perhaps after Easter. . .
17 Mar 97 Francis Henry Roetheli: I did get the DD20 which
Gael sent by e-mail in December and also the one on Ben Skonieczny and the New
Archbishop of Chicago of Feb. 13th.
17 Mar 97 Jack Brennan: I checked the SHP (provincial) home pages for an update and got the missing addresses. I also wrote a letter to Bro. Jack Hardesty and picked his brain about a DD home page; if he responds positively, we may be able to get him to do the work! I have never been above begging and hopefully will always remain a mendicant at heart. I'll keep you informed if I hear from him. He was already helpful to me in transmitting better.
The SHP mailing list home page address is:
http://www.quincy.edu/shp-friars/maillist.html.
I assume that Hardesty was the one who did the work on those pages. They are
beautiful.
(This is Hardesty, "Actually Br. Greg Bumm
does the province's pages.")
18 Mar 97: Jack Hardesty: [Jack Brennan notes: Brother
Jack has been a great help in cluing me in on some of the finer points of
e-mail; if not for him, I'd be scratching my head and you online would still be
waiting for DD21. Here he responds to my question about John Behl.] Yes, I
do know John Behl. We went to school together through 8th grade when he went to
St. Joe's. I was in the class just behind you in Novitiate, known then as Br.
Neal, in West Park at OLA from '62-'65 and in T-town off-and-on '65-'67. At
OLA, I was porter, so, I was "outside the enclosure" most of the time
while you guys were locked up in the backyard!
18 Mar 97 Nick Baxter: I received and printed the new
Diaspora. Thanks so very much. I am in the learning stage with email and fax so
I appreciated your patience. I will now sit down to read the Diaspora. It is an
amazing "rag," isn't it? When is the next diaspora conveniat? Pax.
Nick. [Create a ground swell, Nick, most of us are waiting. JB]
19 Mar 97 Francis Roetheli: Your admitting to a lack of knowledge of the finer points of computing made me feel real good. I felt double good as I now have my copy of DD21 here in my old machine and now I will be able to read it slowly. Thanks for all the efforts. I owe a few lines about our trip to Santarem, Para, Brasil in January, but that will come later. Let me get to reading the DD21.
21 Mar 97 Kay Skonieczny: Dear Jack, I do remember you and the wonderful celebration we had at the Mooney's. Ben did speak of you fondly. I'm sorry, too, that he wasn't as good at keeping in touch as being THERE with you at the moment. If you are ever near Sacramento, please give me a call. I would love to see you. Wasn't Ben so special? As Molly said recently, "Why did dad have to be so cute, so full of life?" It makes the loss so much greater. I am grateful for every day I had with Ben and I know he felt the same way. Who could ask for more in life? Of course, I would have liked to have grown much older with him. We always told him he was going to be such a "young" old person! Thanks for writing to me. It helps so much to continue to get the calls, cards, notes. Even though life moves on (sometimes that part is hard to take!), it is always comforting to us to know that many others with us continue to remember Ben. I know he is very close to me - I feel his presence very strongly and when I ask for his help to cope or in making decisions, I get it. I've been reading a lot of Henri Nouwen and that has been very helpful.
Molly leaves right after Easter (Ben's birthday is Holy Saturday) so that
will be another major phase for me. It is right and it has been a great comfort
for me and her to be able to be together this long. My other daughter, Amy, had
to return to work on Feb. 3. She only lives a couple of hours away (Santa Cruz)
so it is easier to keep in close touch with her. Molly will be returning to
Arcata, near Eureka on the north coast (about 6 hours from here). Again, my
thanks for comfort and prayerful support. Please do keep us in your prayers and
let me know if you are ever in this area. Love.
21 Mar 1997: Vince Zimmerman: Hello. Just had a call from
"Cupertine" Zetzl that Carroll, Melory, and Roberto's mother died
today. I didn't know if you had heard. I guess the wake, etc., is in Streator.
I see "Ralph" on a regular basis. He is stationed at Sherman, just
north of Springfield, and helps out at two parishes there. He comes by the hospital
and we shoot the breeze. I went out there a week or so ago and saw Fabian Merz.
He knew who I was, and mentioned that "Chrysostom" (Kemner) had
stopped by to see him. I mean to go out there more to see some of the friars,
but haven't been too good at it. Gael, you mentioned how Ben and I had met
Dorothy Day while in New York in 1964. My meticulous brother, Joe, saved my
letters from those days. I found a section where we had returned to the
Catholic Worker House one evening because they were hosting a nun from India,
Mother Theresa. I guess it was a sign of my lack of culture that I didn't know
who she was until I read that letter years later. At the time, I remember
wondering what the big deal was. Peace.
21 March 97 Arlene Niehaus: I sent you the Effingham area
code as you said in DD21. The other pic was the tower at T Town on the front of
the Effingham phone (book). Yes, things have changed. [I had said she sent
a newspaper clipping about Chuck Faso trying to raise $10 million for St.
Pete's. I guess I forgot who sent that.]
22 Mar 97 Tony Lutz: My wife Sue Ann will be 60 tomorrow. She tells me she is too young to be 60. I am nearing the 71 mark. Recently, I invoked the Family Leave Act and will be off 12 weeks from United Airlines for health recuperation. After a stress test my doctor gave me the options: Bypass surgery, angioplasty, or chelation therapy. I chose non-invasive chelation. With exercise, proper eating, sleeping, prayer, and chelation, I hope to see dramatic results in 12 weeks. In chelation I am fed intravenously with a drug that is specific for removing metal poisons from the body. It so happens that a by-product is also the removal of plaque from the veins and arteries. And so, Fratres, remember me to the Lord.
Bill Carroll was in the DC area on a consultation assignment with the American Psychological Association. A month ago, he was in Prague, representing the U.S. Government to the Czech Republic on our judicial system. Bill is a professor of criminal law at the John Marshall Law School in Chicago. He has doctorates in law, theology, and psychology. I asked him what area of studies he enjoyed the most. His answer was: theology. Over an elegant German meal (an oxymoron?) at our home outside Vienna we had a lively discussion on the state of the Church.
Bill remembers Mother Angelica, founder of the Eternal Word Network (EWTN) form his days as visitor to the Poor Clares. He is prejudiced against her because he still thinks of her as a rather liberal contemplative. We told him she has a conversion experience and is now a great evangelizer in America. While the entire Catholic Church in the USA has something like six radio stations out of thousands, Mother Angelica has a 24-hour nationwide TV station, AM/FM radio stations, and the largest privately owned shortwave station in the world. When you align your will with the will of God anything is possible. By the way, the theme song of Hell is: "I do it my way."
I am surprised to see that Joe Smith's new hagiographer is lawyer Alan Dershowitz, who surprisingly claims that St. Maximilian Kolbe wrote some anti-semitic statements. He says the same thing about Pat Buchanan and Joe Sobran. Being critical of any nation or group is not the same as being a racist. I wish Joe would have spelled out the works in the Church's liturgy that he considers anti-semitic. I think he smells smoke when there's no fire. [As your editor, I hope Joe and you can write each other personally, or that both of you send email or computer disks so I don't have to retype the zillions of words that are bound to flow. Just kidding. - Seriously, our prayers for your quick recovery, Tony.]
Sue and I vacationed for a week in Bermuda. It is 21 miles long by half mile
wide, has 70,000 inhabitants of whom 18,000 are Catholic. There is no income
tax and no unemployment. The dollar is just as acceptable as the local
currency. The pastel colored homes are a delight to the eye and the golf
courses are gorgeous. The safest and cheapest transportation is to buy bus
passes that can be used without limit on buses and ferries. The tax on hotels
is 24.5% and all meals have a 15% gratuity added. If you want to buy a home on
Bermuda the price starts at $1.7 million but first you have to get the
government's permission and pay 22% of the purchase price up front to the
government. While in Bermuda we attended the funeral of the retired former
bishop at the Catholic Cathedral of St. Theresa. The present bishop read the
homily prepared by the deceased some 10 years before he died. It was a unique
and nice touch to a well-done burial service. Some of the best dressed men wore
Bermuda shorts as they are proper for every occasion except in the Bermuda
Parliament. Sincerely.
21 Mar 97 Jack Brennan: I'm beside myself with excitement. Jack Hardesty has done it all. He's set up a beautiful home page for us. It is complete with a place to leave your address and a message. You must look at it and feel the excitement! His letter to me follows:
[The address of the Diaspora Digest Home Page is: http://www.quincy.edu/~hardeja/digest/ ]
It might be a good idea to put this address in the next DD22 for those who want to read the DD21 and DD20 issues which are reproduced there in their entirety. I don't know how people feel about having their addresses, personal thoughts, etc., put out over the Internet. You might want to look into that; it might be a consideration as to whether I should be putting the DD on-line. But, it's up to you - I'm happy to do it. - Brother Jack Hardesty]
Can you believe it? I'm so excited, I almost forgot to go to work this
morning, but I must be on my way. Let me know what you think about Jack's
question in the last paragraph above. I don't see a problem [me neither],
but we can put it out there and see what people think. We should advise them
that their words are already out there on the Net. The page has a great picture
which is precious in itself.
22 Mar 97 Dick Korn: Just got finished doing the most reading I've done at one sitting in a long time. You guessed it! Like everybody else, I couldn't put down DD#21, and the stories and the memories that make me laugh out loud. That's something I don't do often enough.
This, of course, was the Ben Skonieczny issue. Like several others, I was privileged to be part of Ben's Brazilian experience, and had lost touch with his comings and goings after his return to the States. It was good to be updated. One of the things I laughed at, of course, was Vince Zimmerman's anecdotes about trips to Rio. I fondly remember Paraense Air and the wind blowing through the fuselage. Madeleine asked me if we really did things like carry civvies and change our clothes on shopping trips to Rio. I don't remember doing that, but I do remember the corona haircuts we had (I'm a couple of years ahead of Ben), so it wouldn't have been possible to pass as civilian when everybody called you "urubu" (which means "buzzard" in Portuguese). Madeleine points out that we could have bought hats!
It's good to hear from other "Brazilians" like Juvenal, Vince, and Luis Runde. Other voices in the issue remind me of "Brazilians" with names like Dolesh, Mizicko, Windolph, Tiago and Tye. This DD was special, because it seemed even more a place where people revealed treasures from their autobiographies.
I was pleased to see that John Miller, whom I don't remember meeting, lives in my home town of Crete, where my brother Tom still teaches at the high school.
Madeleine and I are planning a trip to Brazil. It may take us a year to get everything in order, but I'd like to show her the Amazon, or at least what's left of it. She's already met Paul Zoderer, and, of course, I'd love to have her meet the other American friars. If we can't make it to Brazil--maybe to Chicago, because I owe Dennis Griffin a visit. I told him in the Christmas letter that nobody has worked on my teeth since I was in the Order. He said, "Yes, it's about time to make an appointment!"
That's about it for this time. You can find me at Madeleine's email address.
Peace. [Reply from Gael: Brennan will add you to the email address
list and send you the longer version of DD21. Yes, this was a kind of Brazilian
reunion what with Tiago and Tye and the rest of you getting involved. Roethli
writes emails, Isaac Braun writes snail mails during his work breaks, Vince Z
his memories. I love it. I wanted to go to Brazil. Now I'm not sure I missed it
if you all keep writing.]
22 Mar 97 John Miller: I've heard Toal is leaving Quincy University. I never knew Toal, as I was there when Julian Woods and Brinkman were president, Peter was Academic dean, and Mel, Dean of Students, after Elmo's famous reign. Elmo and Lucille Danker, the Dean of Women used to raid the bars and get the QC students out. They didn't believe in fun!
Those were the days when we had 8 p.m hours in the dorms on week days,
except, of course, for the athletic dorm, Solano Hall, which had 10 p.m curfew
and 1 a.m on weekends. They put me in Solano Hall my freshman year of college.
I had a now famous roommate, John Mahoney, budding actor. We were the only
non-athletes. He encouraged me to go out for a play, and I was the friar in
"Much Ado About Nothing," where I also met Sandy, my wife, who helped
Fitz with sewing and making costumes.
23 Mar 97 Bill Carroll: DD21 arrived today and has finally moved me from intent to act: to send a note of thanks and small check to cover some of the postage for the mailings these several years.
Another factor probably 'goosed' me into action. I was in Washington for some consultations the past week and one evening I sneaked over to Vienna, Va., to enjoy the exquisite hospitality of Tony Lutz and his wife, Sue. As some of you may know, no visit with Tony is bereft of intense theological/political repartee. He somewhat impatiently abides my lack of certainty and clarity in those areas that he believes to be self-evident. But this is the way it has been since the '40s and we both enjoy immensely the camaraderie of these encounters. My roles in legal, psychological (and even still theological) fields brings me to Washington with some regularity and so Tony and I have a chance to go at it from time to time. This last visit brought up memories of old friends and then came DD.
Yet another reason that terminated my procrastination. Earlier issues reported the goings-on of names that I did not recall, of younger members before (sic) my time. But recently the old timers have been reporting in, like Arnie Wieser, Len Korgie, and Phil Windolph. Joe Smith, of course, has been a regular - but I see him from time to time in Chicago (not nearly enough). These fellows were in classes ahead of me but I was on athletic teams with them, shared 'artistic' productions and took some courses with them. At any rate it occurred to me that some out there might be curious about where I have wandered over the years.
After about six or seven years as associate editor at the Franciscan Herald Press in Chicago with Mark Hegener and Skippy Nemeth, I spent a couple of delightful years in Humphrey, Neb., replacing "Rup the Poop" (the same Rupert/Tony Lutz) when he went off to war as military chaplain. It was a hard act to follow. Tony was revered by the parishioners and especially by the high school students. (Tony could throw a football a country mile.)
Then came an opportunity to resume studies I had been doing while with the Press (at the University of Chicago and the Adler Institute). Under the sponsorship of John Wright, later cardinal prefect of the Congregation of the Clergy, I went to Pittsburgh to teach theology and continue studies. Subsequently I was off to Europe. While finishing a doctoral dissertation at Strasbourg, I received by mail an offer to join the faculty at the major seminary in Chicago (Mundelein). It was to teach moral theology. But on my return to the States after defending the doctoral thesis, the dean of theology at Mundelein apologetically notified me that Cardinal Cody would not approve of my appointment. I had been one of the early signatories of the theological dissent to Humanae Vitae. I was black listed. But the dean notified me that the Jesuits were anxious to have me teach and so I ended up at Loyola University in Chicago. However, the Chancery Office (I had old friends there) told me that the Cardinal would not allow me faculties and I should not let it be known that I was even in the diocese.
As my priestly functions were nil, I obtained a postdoctoral scholar position at the University of Chicago while teaching at Loyola. There I became interested in some constitutional issues, took up the study of law and graduated from Northwestern University School of Law with a doctor of law degree. While in my senior year a murder trial was proceeding in federal court. The mental state of the defendant, a naval officer, was one of the issues. Someone in the federal defenders office knew I was also a licensed clinical psychologist (I had gotten that along the way) and so I was asked to assist in the defense. As a result, on passing the bar, I was prematurely sworn in and put to trial as a staff attorney.
So began years as a trial attorney in federal court defending war protesters and draft resisters - but also less "honorable" offenders such as drug dealers, mobsters, rapists, kidnappers and bank robbers (all 'alleged,' of course). I handled all the insanity cases. Then there was a period of civil law as corporate counsel for a cable television company and a supermarket chain. Throughout these strange combinations of activities I kept up intellectual interests teaching part time law and psychology at various colleges and doing some writing in theology. Thus I decided to return to the classroom full time when both DePaul University Law School and John Marshall Law School asked me to join their faculties. I accepted the John Marshall position because it seemed at the time to offer a better opportunity to continue some active practice as well. (I'm a believer in the view that one with pretensions of being an "intellectual" should also be "un homme engage" a la Malraux). And so I have passed 22 years as a law professor.
Like all you old timers, I've a lotta years on me now but continue to keep involved. I am consultant to the American Psychological Association on legal issues and policy, counsel to the state ethics committee, served as drafter of the American Bar Association Criminal Justice Mental Health Standards, drafted proposals adopted in the Federal rules of Evidence and went to Europe a couple of months ago at the request of the State Department to represent the U.S. at a meeting called by the Council of Europe. Some of the emerging Central and Eastern governments have been considering adopting elements of the Anglo-American adversary system in their criminal justice proceedings. There is strong opposition from supporters of the traditional Continental inquisitorial approach who view our system as sacrificing truth to procedural preoccupations. My assignment was to clarify the philosophical rationale for the common law approach. The opposition had a leg up after the worldwide publicity of the O.J. trial. Justice department representatives of all the Western nations were present. The Lord High Potentate of some sort from England spoke along with me but the opposition ganged up on me. I was able to quiet the fires but gained few converts, I believe. These emerging former communist regimes are attempting to create ethical standards for all their professions. Last year I lectured in Prague and Brno in the Czech Republic on medical and psychological ethics. Had an interesting exchange with the professor of medical ethics of their main medical school. She is a committed Christian but cannot present Christian tradition as a basis of an acceptable ethical standard in her post-Christian world. Physician-assisted suicide a la the Dutch model is creeping into acceptance, she fears.
I was telling Tony the other day I would really like to get back to theological reflection again but don't want to stir up any more tensions. As some of you may know, I got into further bad paper with the official magisterium after my co-authorship of that study on sexual ethics for the Catholic Theological Society some years ago. Better to stay in law, perhaps. But after delivering a paper at Edinburgh, Scotland, a couple of years ago I made my way to Duns, the birth place of Scotus. This stirred memories of those stimulating classes with Allan Wolter and my continuing interest in the extent to which the extended world of our sense perception may be in fact the product of unextended points of force interacting. At some point the distinction between our traditional notions of matter and spirit becomes blurred. I was discussing this again with my son, a member of a high energy physics research team at Cornell. He is wrestling with a problem of locating an energy source outside the dimensions now know to physics.
But this is too long and I have imposed on any space you allot to greetings within the fraternity.
23 Mar 97 Joe Smith: Yet another fine newsletter! Glad you gave a precis of my 'fuller' concept of Catholicism - actually the original and pre-conciliar one. I see no other option today for the decent person and discerning believer than to help build this ecumenical Catholicism and not get stuck on the Vatican flypaper version. (The RCC can be part of it, if it comes off its isolational dogmatism, that even most RCers no longer accept. It's called metanoia.)
So Gael was put through a heresy trial. Good thing he didn't get burned at the stake - the original shishkabob punishment for disbelievers. In my thesis, I wrote of the Trinitarian core of medieval music theory, quite an achievement in classic meta-mathematics, yet all superstructural, rather than essential to the actual phenomenon at experienced by musicians.
It was also a theo-metaphysical tour de force in conciliar theologies, that tried to reconstruct the very concept of deity, and to solve the severe identity problems of early Christianity.
I doubt it succeeded except as an institutional and ritualized ideology that used post-biblical elements to advantage, as Christianity became Christendom, to paraphrase Kierkegaard a bit. It also met with bewildered confusion on the part of believers. Disbelievers considered it a numerological game played by hierarchs on the make in empire building. To me it's part history, esp. that of Christian ascendancy but seems mostly a historic construct that experiential belief makes quite moot.
The divine names were never in themselves meant to be so conjoined; and spirit is but another name for/of God. Inserting the Son meant laying claim to the Father in overt competition with Judaism, now regarded as displaced (and removable). The tragedy of this implicit anti-Judaism is witnessed in inquisitions, pogroms, and the whole (now rejected) displacement theology still there in the as yet unpurged advent and lenten liturgies.
Meantime, artists, architects, and musicians made the most of it creatively, and not as an avenue to absolute temporal and spiritual power. There is, of course, an absurd side to it. The "Old Man," the ("take-over") Son, and "Big Bird," seen in kitschy representations. At best, the whole phenomenon could be seen as a "trinary crystallization" of a theo-metaphysics; at worst it is an off-putting numbers game to gain power and confuse the faithful. (I'm being nice and giving you the polite version.) It's not a mystery as much as a classic and now moot mystification of the facets of deity. But I spare you more. - Shalom
[Am I the only one who thinks Joe has his tongue planted firmly in his
cheek, and that this verbal gamesmanship is similar to the essay a writer sent
to a prominent 'intellectual' journal last year as a joke and got it published!
-- Except for having to retype it, Joe, it was a very funny joke. Or I am just
obtuse.]
24 March 97 Keith Leykam sent note and check: I figure this
is over due. I don't have any record on when I sent the last dues. Keep up a
great job. Always find the Digest interesting and informative.
24 Mar 97 Richard Mayer RMayer902 of aol.com: OK, so here's my address. Finally got one at home. No fancy label. I loved Musky's JSEgg. But what the heck is a gaelzeke? Anyway, send me the E-mail version to see if I can read the attachment. I haven't had much luck with sending files between home and work, even.
I was sorry to hear about Ben's death, but moved to read the exchanges between Kay and the rest of you. I have been to too many funerals myself in the last couple years - 2 were happy homegoing celebrations, but the rest were for people younger than I, sometimes much younger. No fun, but as the one-legged poet in "BC" said last Holy Saturday, "Hey, there's always tomorrow."
This is not a letter. I have concluded that one of my failings in life has
been not keeping in touch with good friends after we or they moved away. I
promise - again - a real letter soon. Peace and love. [Since the promised
letter never came, this nonletter serves just fine, Dick.]
24 March 97 George Cuellar LMSW (1958-Diego) wrote and sent generous check: Pax, Diaspora! Before I read DD21, let me write you this long overdue letter (even though I managed to peek at an article here and there before sitting down with my PC). I already wrote to my sister in San Antonio who is caring for my 89 y/o Dad, Natividad B. Cellar who needs our prayers since he has been bedridden for the last three years after suffering a stroke. I also wrote to my 18 y/o son, Freddy who is at Eagle Rock School in Est Park, Colorado, trying to finish high school as a junior and will be home on the 12th of April for two weeks. Irma and I are on spring break and plan to see Dad this coming Friday and Saturday.
We are Eucharistic ministers at the 11:30 Mass on Easter Sunday. Happy Easter to you all. Our priest Kevin Thissen OP won't be with us to lead us because he will be recovering from heart surgery at his home and his sister who is a nun will be looking after him.
I continue to be a school social worker at Anderson Elementary School which has 1,470 students from pre-k through 5th grade. Working with teachers is fine because they refer their at-risk kids to me for individual and group counseling; so I do play therapy and True Colors with them. This is my first year there. I also do networking with the community leaders at Westbury Square 10 miles from home on the southwest Houston.
I'm also watching the Academy awards. I helped get 20 boys and 10 girls join the Little League teams for the first time. They will hear the call, "Let's play ball!" next month. After work I go to the Chicano Family Center daily except Monday and weekends to supervise up to four practicum students who are hoping to get certified as counselors. All in all I supervise 12 students and I draw from 20 years experience as a social worker. I have given final evaluations to eight students since I began supervising the summer of '95. I have learned a lot.
Work is play? Not all the time. I did a six-minute stand-up comedy act at the parish talent show for the fourth time on 1/25/97, feast of the Angelic Doctor. Was that St. Thomas Aq? I play a cowboy, "Lonesome George." Everyone thinks I'm impersonating George Gobel. My true identity is safe.
Well, there is a lot more to say because I'm trying to live an interesting
life and if paths have not crossed yet, it's not because I don't appreciate our
memories together. Perhaps this summer I will really make the effort to call
you and say something like, "Hey, I've been thinking...." Until then,
keep smiling and loving.
25 Mar 97 or thereabouts Bill Schmidt M.Div.,LMSW sent a
questionnaire with SASE asking about how the recipient liked being a priest. I
have misplaced it but found the SASE. Bill isn't on our mailing list. But the
name is familiar. He can be contacted at POB 751, Splendora, Texas 77372-0751.
26 Mar 97 Frank Flinn: Deeply saddened to hear about Ben
Skonieczny's passing. We were confidants back when and I treasured his
presence. I will write his wife & daughters. I will be getting married to
Alice Bloch, danseuse and prof. of dance at Lindenwood College in St. Louis,
June 14. We'll be in Italy for three weeks thereafter. A whiff in the wind
hints you may be in Assisi this summer. Perhaps we can connect. PS: have lots
of art work, drawings over the years and will share them with DD should you
desire. Amore, Frank. [Yes to the artwork. Again, I say, Yes. Susan and I'll
be in Italy in October. As soon as you return in July, give us suggestions.]
26 Mar 97 John & Bobbie Laker form letter: News about
the kids 20, 18, 15. Bobbie still at the counseling center, John at LINC that
provides advocacy and service to people with disabilities.
27 Mar 1997 Gael Stahl: Holy Thursday is a good day, a
sunny day, not feeling too Passion weekish yet. I took off the day from work to
finish The Correspondence of Shelby Foote & Walker Percy edited by Jay
Tolson (A Doubletake Book/Norton, 1997, $27.50). I have gobbled it. I ended it
in tears, felt electricity in every page, cursed Shelby for not saving Walker's
1948-1970 letters. The book is a treasure of mini and not so mini reviews of
books, music, and off-handed remarks about some of our writing friends. I want
to rush out buy copies for my soul mates. It devoured me. Recently I have
extended my hot tubs to read, getting up once at 12:30 a.m. and reading until
nearly 4 a.m. Their correspondence is a treasure of love and friendship by people
who talk our liberal arts education language. And pre-Easter week (Holy Week)
is the sacred time to read it. Now, in gratitude, I will open a Bible, perhaps
the Jerusalem edition for a change, and read the passion week selections,
especially John's last supper chapters that took place on this day.
28 March 97 Tony Lutz: Good Friday - Pax et Bonum! I liked
the enclosed ("The Pre-eminence of St. Peter - 50 New Testament
Proofs" from The Catholic Answer) from a convert. Not counting the
patristic evidence about the role of the pope in the Catholic Church structure,
the New Testament evidence is very impressive. Scripture and tradition give us
the full story. A straightforward and literal reading of the inspired word
powerfully buttresses the papacy. Our many recent converts attest to this.
Christ is Risen! Let us all rejoice! Fraternally,
28 March 96 Gael Stahl: responding to private note from
John Miller: Y'all were too hard on Mutter Kirche. Sie is immer sogewesen und
immer shall be forever and ever amen. She is the body of Christ with wounds and
warts and the sweetest lips you've ever seen. Actually, the church may be
better off than at any time in history. Think back to the Acts of the Apostles
and work your way up. These may be the golden years. Enjoy them.
28 Mar 97 Bob Pawell: Good Friday. It is hard to believe that we are in Holy Week. I am reminded of how I felt 20 years ago experiencing my first Christmas in New Orleans. How odd it was to go shopping for the Christmas tree in shirt sleeves. My northern programming kept flashing: This is not Christmas weather! This is not Christmas weather!
Back home in Chicago after 20 years in New Orleans I have a reverse experience. While talking with a gardener about landscape designs for our front and side yards I noticed some bits of white in the air. Snow flakes! My southern programming kept flashing: This is not Palm Sunday weather! This is not Palm Sunday weather! Yesterday was a sunny 70 degrees outside and all Chicago seemed to jump for joy. This morning began with overcast and rain falling from a grey sky befitting Good Friday. After the three o'clock service which I attended at Loyola's Madonna Della Strada Chapel the sun had come out quietly softening the starkness of the midday service. Sr. Kathleen Hughes, rscj, liturgy professor at Catholic Theological Union, gave the reflection after the reading of the Scriptures. She was excellent. Years ago when I lived with the Brothers of Taize on the north side of Chicago, I recall Brother Jacques watching snow fall as we prepared for the Easter Vigil. In a voice loaded with winter-weariness he shouted: "I want a physical Easter, not just a theological Easter! I want to see flowers and new life!"
This year I am consoled that a few crocus have pushed through the soil along the side of the house. Tulips, irises, and peonies are breaking the surface as well. Last night I did not dream of the white Angel Trumpet plant in our Tau House patio of years ago. I dreamt of the Lily of the Valley beginning to show their faces along the side of this house.
This week I met with a landscape gardener to plan the front of the house. Before doing any planting we will have to remove debris and clean and fill in low spots in the yard. Last summer we eliminated about eleven sumac trees growing next to the foundations of the house. This spring we will finish off the job by dealing with the "stumps" that could not easily be removed. Next, we shall attack a veritable "chain link fence" of ground cover that had gone wild and replacing it with sod. Before planting we must also emend our sandy, black soil with mushroom mulch and peat moss. We plan to replace some non-descript bushes with a mixture of shrubs, annuals and perennial. I look forward to seeing our front yard come into seasonal blooming color. It will be so nice to have cut flowers from the garden for the chapel and our rooms.
If and when you thin out your perennial, remember our garden. These are always welcome: Roses, Bearded Irises, Siberian Irises, Peonies, Oriental Poppies, Delphinium, Choreopsis, Foxglove, Day-lily, Asters, Mums, Coneflower, Hosta etc. You all know how much I loved my patio in the French Quarter. I don't want to replicate the Tau House garden, but I do look forward to seeing what a lovely Chicago garden might look like in bloom! Summer gardens in sub-tropical New Orleans had to contend with the bleaching effect of the sun, that isn't the case here. I look forward to learning a whole new way of horticulture. Our side yard and back yard will have to wait till we have our roof replaced and the roofers debris is over.
Here are some "gardening reflections" I thought you would like. The poet, May Sarton, wrote: "Making a garden is not a gentle hobby for the elderly, to be picked up and laid down like a game of solitaire. It is a grand passion. It seizes a person whole, and once it has done so he will have to accept that his life is going to be radically changed. There are seasons when he will hesitate to travel, and if he does travel, his mind will be distracted by the thousand and one children who are always in peril of one sort or another. However sober he may have been before, he will soon become an inveterate gambler who cuts his loses and begins again; he may think he intends to pare down on spending energy and money, but that is an illusion, and he so learns that a garden is an ever-expanding venture. Whatever he had considered to be his profession has become an avocation. His vocation is his garden."
Another lady in another time, the 13th century mystic, Juliana of Norwich, gave this advice to those who sought a spiritual life: "Be a gardener. Dig a ditch, toil and sweat, and turn the earth upside down and seek the deepness and water the plants in time. Continue this labor and make sweet floods run and noble and abundant fruits to spring. Take this food and drink and carry it to God as your true worship." Juliana and Emily Dickinson must be sharing the same place in heaven, they sound so alike. Robert Bly, another poet has this to say: "In the garden the soul and nature marry. When we love cultivation more than excitement we are ready to start a garden. In the garden we cultivate yearning and longing -- those strangely un-American feelings -- and notice tiny desires. Paying attention to tiny hardly noticeable feelings is a garden way. That's the way lovers behave. The enclosed garden is the right place for lovers. The enclosed garden encourages true desire for the Infinite more than the greed of objects; and we know that all true desire is dangerous.... Making a garden and living in it, means attention to boundaries, and sometimes we need the boundaries to prevent caretaking from coming in and occupying all our time."
My ministry has begun in earnest. Parish Missions and retreats and workshops are scheduled into August and beyond. I want to expand the scope of this ministry continuing to reach out to all who are searching a deeper connection to spiritual values: ordinary men and women like yourselves, priests and religious, Franciscan folk, those infected and affected by HIV/AIDS, and those at the margins. Should you know of any looking for a retreat, day of recollection, parish mission mention my name.
On my night stand I've kept Martin Buber's two volumes of Tales of the Hasidim, here are some treasures from those volumes: It is told that when Rabbi "Baruch came to those words in the Psalm which read: "I will not give sleep to mine eyes, nor slumber to mine eyelids until I find out a place for the Lord," he stopped and said to himself: "Until I find myself and make myself a place to be ready for the descending of the Divine Presence." And Rabbi Baruch once said: "What a good and bright world this is if we do not lose our hearts to it, but what a dark world, if we do!" It is said that when "The Rabbi of Berditchev saw a man hurrying along the street, looking neither right nor left. "Why are you rushing so?" he asked. "I am after my livelihood," the man replied. "And how do you know," continued the rabbi, "that your livelihood is running on before you, so that you have to rush after it? Perhaps it is behind you, and all you need do to encounter it is to stand still -- but you are running away form it!"
Slow down and enjoy these holy days of Easter and Springtime. You and all
you hold dear are in my thoughts and prayers. May The Lord who showed himself
alive to his friends throughout the forty days show His face to you and Give
you the Peace which the world cannot give! With Affection.
29 March 97 Fr. Frank Draude (1943-Bonaventure): Holy
Saturday - I enjoyed reading Digest No. 21, to keep up with the brothers. -
Wish to let you all know as of May 1, 1996, I retired from this growing
retirement parish. I help out area priests when asked. Am well and keep busy.
Wish to let the brothers know that there are many activities available here in
this extensive village - fishing, swimming, hiking and golf. The brethren are
most welcome to come for a visit if in the area of Hot Springs, Ark. All I ask
is a phone call at 501-922-1109. Many thanks for your constant and charitable
communications. FCD at 7 Sabadell Lane, Hot Sprs Vill., AR 71909.
29 Mar 97 Bill Bergman (addressing Jack Brennan): This
recent correspondence has been fun. Your memory of our past is way clearer than
mine. I do remember the fun we had playing hockey, not hooky, at Mayslake. I
have not skated in years, much less played hockey. Remind me, who is Shanks?
This is embarrassing, but may as well be honest. My work is very busy. My
family keeps me busy and guessing. I am still that adaptable and creative guy
you remember. When I was the President of Bellevue Community Services,
1974-1990, we started an EAP subsidiary company called, CoHear, Inc., which was
the second largest in the State of WA. When I left and went on my own, I left
the counseling and EAP business behind. I really do not know how they are doing
now. I took the business consulting and training and went off on my own and am
much more successful and happy, certainly more peaceful. Long story! I have not
continued my licensure in counseling in the State of WA, but still get requests
from former clients. They sign off, if I work with them. My work now is truly
in business consultation, training and facilitation of groups and retreats. I
just returned from San Diego for five days. In April I am taking another
company to Puerta Viallarta. In May I think I will find myself in Scotland for
one to two weeks. I have on going contracts with a number of diversified
companies and this part of my business is quite busy and most interesting. It
sure beats the counseling one hour at a time business. - My daughter, Michelle,
is home and she is about to graduate from Western after summer school and is
hunting for a car.
30 Mar 97: Dennis Griffin: Happy Easter. [Dennis
commiserated with me and our common problems with managed health care. JB]
My biggest problem for the last few years has been plain survival. I think I
mentioned to you before that the dentist to population ratio got very
unfavorable in the mid to late eighties. My share of the pie went below the survival
level after being very large during the opening years of my practice. The
dentist to population ratio in my community has now gotten to an adequate,
although not yet plush, level. So now I am grinding away, trying to pay off
debts to the IRS that I got into in 1991 and 1992. We are growing slowly. I
share an office and some expenses with Bill Becker and Colleen Wegner. We have
separate practices and staffs. By combining resources we are able to afford all
the latest gizmos and supplies. At present I have probably the best staff I
have ever had. Kathy is front desk and Missy is chairside. They are both great
at their jobs. We are looking for a hygienist.
31 Mar 97: Marj Stellar: Jack, thank you so much for the
DD21. I used to do a lot of the typing for Gael before the internet took over,
and then I didn't have a computer at hand to continue anyway. Right now I am in
Chattanooga (using my daughter's computer) helping a friend take care of her
cancer problem by keeping her three children when she goes for treatments and
now is getting ready to go to Texas for the final (we hope) treatment of an
implant of cobalt to finish off the tumor. When I get back to Nashville, I hope
to be able to get my hands on a computer from time to time to keep up with my
E-mail. Thanks again.
31 March 97 Mark J. Braun (Bro. George 1952): I decided it was about time to write. About Ben Skonieczny. He must have been in good condition to die since he didn't mind dying. To his wife I express my sorrow for her and her daughters. I will pray for all.
Did you know that spring was the most dangerous time of the year? The grass is shooting its blades, the flowers are shooting their buds, the seeds plant are shooting up, and baseballs are flying around.
I congratulate Marvin Waukau for his good work. I wish to say hello to
everyone that reads the diaspora. I remember them every day in my prayers.
Please remember me, my wife, and my special intentions. Thanks. I am grateful
for getting the diaspora. You are doing very charitable work. Yours in St.
Francis
4 April 97 Paul Langan: Susan, wanted to let you know that
since our talk last year and a half ago in Effingham Illinois, concerning art
and creativity that I have started and am well into constructing my own
airplane as we discussed. It has been great fun most of the time. There are
times when construction does not go as smoothly as I would like and that is
when my creativity is most taxed. Usually, Geri has been patient even though I
tend to spend hours of our potential 'quality time' in the "hanger"
(formally the garage) pursuing my creation. The "honey do" list seems
to grow so I frequently weigh my options.
4 April 97 Bob Pawell in answer to Jack Brennan's query about Bernardin and Dignity: Dignity publicly opposed the Ratzinger letter on sexual ethics. Hurray for them -- they did what they had to do. Bernardin did what he had to do --- he forbade them to meet on church property. Dignity then moved, meeting for Eucharist first in a Lutheran, then a Unitarian church building. Currently Dignity meets at Broadway Methodist Church. The Cardinal knew full well of Dignity's continued eucharistic gatherings and has never taken action against them nor the priests that celebrate there. He could have easily found out and squashed those celebrants. He took no further action against Dignity.
Furthermore, he founded his own program AGLO, The Archdiocesan Gay and Lesbian Outreach. On the record this group is faithful to the Ratzinger letter, off the record the members life styles differ little from those of the members of Dignity. I feel that the AGLO community is a younger community who -- by and large- could care less about "theological stuff." They are gay men and lesbians who want to go to church -- period. The Dignity community is older, has more former priests and religious in it, who will not be quiet. In the words of the spiritual "they won't sit down!" Aside from all the words there is little difference in the way these folks live from Sunday to Saturday. I feel Bernardin tried to walk the middle path. He did enough to keep Rome off his back; didn't excommunicate or suspend clergy involved with Dignity. He cut its umbilical cord from Holy Mother, I find no fault in that. His action called Dignity folks to stand up for what they believe. As the Portuguese say: "God writes straight with crooked lines!" All of us cried when our umbilical cord was cut, and continues to be cut, from those Mammas we continue to need to let go of. I'm sorry if Joe Smith sees this as "a negative."
This Sunday I will preside at Dignity's Eucharist and again two weeks later. This May I will give a day of reflection for the AGLO community on spirituality and personal mythology: your present self, past self, future self. Enough, Ternst, I've got to get back to my homily preparation John XX: 19 -31. Yummy!!
Later this evening I shall go to see the Celtic Dancer, Michael Flately and
his production of the "Lord of the Dance." Take care.
5 Apr 97 Bob Hickman: Chuck Gunti's mother passed away this
week while visiting him in Colorado. I believe the funeral is scheduled for
Tuesday in Memphis. Please remember her in your prayers.
6 April 97 John Miller (Humble Hans or HH): I reread Peckerwood Pilgrimage and was very amused. The motorbike you speak of sounds very familiar. While I was in novitiate, someone won a motorbike, and Bob Hankey took a number of us out for an afternoon ride in the country. I was fortunate to be one of the first, and I believe we went south of Teutopolis. I was amazed at how poor and desolate the area looked. We stopped at some general store for a drink, and there were people who came out of the woods that I never knew existed, and haven't seen since stopping in the rurals of southern Indiana and Kentucky. They gaped at us, just like we probably did at them, and it was like being in another country. It was a great afternoon, though, being away from the "prison of novitiate." Bob did those kind of things and drove Leonard nuts. Bob is a "Mensch," as is F.J.
My wife of almost 27 years, is also quite a strong character. Both of us are "only children," so you can imagine that neither of us "give any quarter." She is a great friend, has a sense of humor (she had to, to marry me) and quite a character in her own way. She has loved and ridden horses since she was little and is an excellent rider. Six years after our marriage, she got me interested in taking riding lessons and jumping over fences. My athletic abilities have never been great, but I did learn the basics, did some jumping of fences (a true high, just like speed), and finally bought our own place, getting into thoroughbred racing, kind of by accident.
Being a peasant, I am, of course, intrigued by "the sport of kings," my secret desire for obeisance really coming out. With partners, we owned a horse that won several times at Arlington Park. We then bought a thoroughbred mare, who happened to be in foal, and that started a colorful odyssey for the next 12 years. Our first foal was named, "Little Hours," another, "Secret Cherub," another, "Dies Irae," (the track announcer never did get that right), another, "Celibate,"(which the announcer pronounced, CELLBAIT), another, "Exultet,"another, "Friar William," (the character from THE NAME OF THE ROSE), another, "Meddlesome Friar," part of the title of a book about Savonarola, "The Meddlesome Friar and the Wayward Pope," and my favorite, "Altar Wine," the dam being "Kir Royale," bought in Lexington, and the sire, "Nostrum." (A Kir Royale is Champagne and Cassis.) Altar Wine had some success at the track, and one of our memories is a line in the Sun Times: "Feldman high on Altar Wine." Feldman is a person who picks the favorites of the day, for that newspaper, and also wrote: "Woulda', Shoulda', Coulda," an ode to handicappers. Some of the horses were sold and some raced.
We had a number of deaths of young horses, which really disheartened me, one healthy foal, sick for one day, at 16 days of age, dying in my arms of a clostridium infection, which was not tetanus, but some other species. (The foal was owned with a partner, was worth a great deal, and I had decided to drop our bloodstock insurance coverage, as I felt they were ripping us off.) The money itself was a loss, but did not bother me nearly as much as the fact that in spite of our care and carefulness, we lost a foal to the "fates." I was quite embittered for a time.
Our last racehorse, "Sanna Ho" broke his cannon bone at the track, we attempted to have it repaired, only to have it shatter even worse when he came out of the anesthetic. This was Sandy's favorite horse, a horse she had breezed at a training track, for months, and loved dearly. It took the heart out of us, because we don't view these animals as objects, but beautiful, graceful flyers, without wings, each having their own personalities. Training expenses also became beyond our scope, they were closing Balmoral as a thoroughbred track, and racing in Illinois, because of the owner of Arlington, became for the rich only. But it was fun while it lasted.
My "career" as a rider did not last long, as I broke too many bones, injured my back(fine now), and was not willing to continue the pain. However, it taught me that if I can control an over half ton animal, over fences, without killing myself, I could have some self-confidence. No one is going to out-muscle them, no matter how big they are. It's all finesse (something survival skills hadn't taught me) and thinking ahead, but sometimes the pain was intense. Sandy was very patient with me throughout, and I tended to wander into "head things," like breeding lines and families, genetics, etc. We met more different kinds of people through this experience, and some, like a long time partner, in various ventures, and my bloodstock agent in Lexington, will remain good friends.
I'm intrigued that you have a farm in Kansas, a family "heirloom," I presume. I would love to hear more about you, your parents, siblings and your "journey." I have always been interested in people's history, and am blessed that I do that for a living [social worker at a school]. Some of the histories I listen to are not at all pleasant and are really nightmares. It always amazes me that a few come through it without too much damage, and are coping in spite of the odds against them. I know a person is made up of more than a sum of their history and genetics, but unlike James Hillman (THE SOUL'S CODE, he goes a bit far in dismissing them), they are significant. The above people I wrote about are very "significant others" to me. I'm not sure what to make of his "acorn theory," except that this is his term for each person's unique potential. Intuition has always been a mystery to me, and I leave that to Sandy, who is excellent in this area.
I'm also always interested in what people are reading, favorite authors, good
books. A little gem I discovered during our thoroughbred racing days was
LAUGHING IN THE HILLS, by Bill Barich. The way he writes really attracted my
senses of being a "word-smith," besides the content, which is more
than just about horses. He hoped to find the secret of a manageable universe,
and paints Runyonesque characters. His "transformation pie" and
learning to be in touch with the connections of life, instead of denying them,
were very moving to me. The result is also a pilgrimage! (By the way, what's a
'peckerwood'? I heard the term in Missouri, but never really heard it defined.)
7 Apr 97 Frank Flinn responds with the translation of
"Carmine morte carent" which Gael read is a graffito at Graceland:
The cite is misquoted from Ovid Amores 1.15.32 where it reads ...carimna morte
carent... and means ...[my] songs/verse escape death.
9 Apr 97 Nick Baxter: The DD home page is great. Thanks.
9 Apr 97 Dick Mayer: I'm still rather novitial about the
Internet. I downloaded and read the attachment. And will visit the web site
next. I am convinced that real life is rigged to lead you on your Pilgrim's
Progress if undertaken in the Spirit (and to your downfall if you insist on
going it alone), much more than any artificial exercises we invent. Till the much-promised
letter.
10 Apr 97 Bob Pawell: I cannot ever forget your (Jack's) upbringing on the South Side of Chicago at St. Gabe's where that wild Irish nun -- was she one of Catherine McAuley's Sisters of Mercy?-- had all of the ethnically challenged, non-Irish stand up on St. Patrick's day and recite: "If I'm not Irish I'm ashamed of myself!" At least that's how I remember you telling the tale. [Bob has a great memory. St. Gabriel's was so thoroughly Irish that there were few, if any, to stand up to be shamed. - JB]
By now you know that we have a "Nort-sider" becoming our new
archbishop from the Northwest. I hope he is a blessing for us. I just returned
from Minnesota and Northern Wisconsin facilitating Long Regional Range Planning
meetings in preparation for our Spring Assembly dedicated to that issue.
Blessings.
11 Apr 97 Bob Hickman: Chuck Gunti's Mother was visiting him in Colorado during Easter to celebrate his promotion to Colonel. Chuck's younger brother, Ray and his wife were there as well. He had put her on the plane for her return to Memphis and she had a heart attack on the plane outbound from Denver. The airplane returned to Denver and she was rushed to the hospital. Everything looked good for her recovery on Wednesday evening, However, she had another a bad heart attack early Thursday morning. Chuck was with her. They put her on a respirator, but her heart was too damaged. He prayed with her, gave her the last rites and she passed on to her eternal reward. I believe here is an example of how the Lord works in our lives. The fact that she was with him at the very last.
I have known Ruth Gunti since I was 13 years old. She was a very special person and will be missed. Chuck Faso, Brother Roch, Cyril Wagner and I were in Memphis for the funeral services. They celebrated the Mass at St. Therese of The Little Flower Church. Anyway, just an update.
By the way, I had my six month checkup today for any traces on the big C.
Got a clean bill of health and don't have to go back for a year. Praise the Lord.
Stay in touch. May God always be with you.
15 April 97 Ivan Weis called from his Mississippi parish
and we had a nice chatty talk about the old days in Chicago when Mooney,
Sexton, Stachura, Stahl were pestering him and his long-suffering mother (she
liked me and made me a Nehru jacket). Ivan is doing well and threatens to write
you all one of these days. Don't hold your breath. But always good to hear from
him. The occasion for this call: his January 1995 issue of the Diaspora Digest
had arrived that day out of nowhere in his mail. It had a normal postmark on
it. He wishes you all well -- and hopes you'll think fondly of him (I made that
up).
16 Apr 97 Rafael Ruiz: Jack, I wrote you a note some time
ago but obviously sent it elsewhere. This is why the second note said what it
did. My first note had to do with your age. If I recall correctly, you made
your age part of your address. I just wrote you a note to make a
"wise" remark. Yes, I did get the DD in the common language...
thanks. [Ralph is the mission director for ELCA Division for Outreach/assistant
to the bishop, ELCA Southwestern Texas Synod.]
17 Apr 97 Jack Brennan: Zeke, Did you listen to the
Pigorian Chant I sent you? You will love the other side, Spirit of the Forest,
one of my favorites. And have you checked out the DD site yet? Jack Hardesty
has those Fordham links on there. I find that the translations of the Rule, the
Testament and the Canticle of the Sun are not that good. The Testament, which I
copied and pasted to WP, was a typographical nightmare. Surely, there must be a
Franciscan site with that stuff with a better translation. We can't allow those
Jesuit-Thomists to translate our stuff. Even though there is no ism like
thomism. I will have Ferdie (Jerry Etzkorn) take a look at it and see what he
thinks about it. It occurs to me, my God, that we could have a hitherto-unknown
situation here! Any thoughts, O Wizard of Peckerwood? [This may be a
problem for ... for ... oops, they're all dead: Alban, Placid, etc. How about
Sylvano? Where is he? What about a recent novice master? - Gael] I hope
that we can get Medard, Klein, Mooney, Braun et al on line soon. I've been
renewing relationships all over the place. Eg. Bergman, Miller, Baxter, Langan
and Roethli.
20 Apr 97 Keith Eckrich: I am getting over my three-day cold. It's Saturday; why be sick on non-work time? It's also time to quaff a good belt of some Schnapps or something medicinally akin before I no longer have an excuse.
My return from the dead allows me to enjoy the Chicago Symphony's current offering of Mahler's Fifth Symphony. It is new to me, but knowing something about Mahler, I am sure it will be new for about one hour and 35 minutes. The first movement is something like movement funebre. He knew what he was composing about.
What urged me to write, however, is not modern music, but modern humor, detective style. Run, please run, to your local library and sign out a copy of S.J. Perelman's "The Last Laugh." The third chapter, "The Frost Is On The Noggin" is the jewel you're looking for. Don't start reading the first chapter, "And Then the Whining Schoolboy, with His Satchel" or second chapter, "One of Our Stagecraft Is Missing" because they are so delightful they will simply slow you up in getting to the meat of it all.
I had no foresight in noting where I picked up this gem of a book, and all I remember is that it's been on my bookshelf for many years, and every five years or so S.J. and I reacquaint. Perelman is a scream; well, he makes me howl. I hope you find time to be equally amused.
The french horns are blasting away; Mahler must have owned a franchise: he
typically fusses with double their number. I'll never forget hearing Mahler's
Symphony No. 1, The Titan, with Tarsicius in Orchestra Hall, Chicago. Tots got
so excited in some brassy section, that he grabbed my left knee. I looked him
at him startled, and then decided it was true blue musical ecstasy.
20 April 97 John Townsend called on way home to Wisconsin from Florida. He'd called from Opryland Hotel last year and this year he had his family with him and wanted to show them the rather unusual hotel, the largest in the country outside of Las Vegas with a conservatory that is rather unique.
He said the saddest news for him in DD21 was the last item about Carol Hankey dying. Bob Ansgar Hankey was John's novice master in 1967-68, the year Bob took the novitiate from T-town to St. Paschal's.
I looked John up in the 1968 provincial catalog while we talked. I noticed
that few of his classmates are on the Diaspora Digest mailing list. I asked
John to try to find Bob Bovine, my classmate at St. Joe's and in novitiate.
Since Bob is a Menominee from a city of that name, and now that Mario Waukau is
in contact with the Diaspora, maybe the day is coming when Bob will be corresponding.
- Gael
23 April 97 Tarsicius Fischer ofm: We had a death in our (St. Pete's) community last week. I am sure that many of our former friars knew Brother Berchmans Cifra. He died April 14 but was not buried until April 21. We had the funeral mass with his relatives and many friars in attendance. The provincial celebrated the mass at St. Peter's. I enclose the obituary card. The body was taken to a funeral home in South Bend, Ind., and was waked there. I am sure that Br. Berchmans had many Hungarian friends in this city. HE himself told me that he used as much Hungarian as English with others. His parents were peasant Hungarian immigrants. When the family had reunions or gatherings, they spoke in Hungarian. When our class entered the novitiate in 1939, he was a tertiary. After his profession he served in various communities. He was superior in Cleveland. He retired at St. Peter's but worked at the switchboard for a few years. He had a bad case of diabetes and emphysema.
Fr. Boniface Baum returned from Florida this week. He held a retreat in
Miami for many of his ex-patients. Most of the retreatants were not Catholic.
23 Apr 97 Brother Jack Hardesty: I remember Blane Carey - he was the class ahead of me; and, now that you mention it, Jack, I remember you from those days; in fact, I'm looking for a large 8x10 picture (which I have somewhere) taken in the St. Joe's new gym when the General Stepinski was there to dedicate it - you guys were in the picture. I hope I still have it. When I was at St. Paschal's, I placed a bunch of old pictures out in the rec room for the old timer's to view and a few turned up missing. I'm sure that I've seen it since then. I think very many of the DD people are in that picture.
I remember the place in Wisconsin; I never went from T-town, altho as a cook, I remember providing supplies for the truck to take up there. The place was referred to as "Victory Heights." I don't know enough French to tell you the name of the lake, but phonetically it is something like lake "coot-ah-ray". I did get up there many years later in the '80's for a private retreat and went over to visit one of our parishes at one of the indian missions for a very nice Corpus Christi procession.
Well, keep my mom in your prayers. I was called home over the weekend for a
last chance to see her. All life support is removed except liquid to keep her
from dehydrating; so, I'm waiting for that phone call. She (and we) are ready
for it. Peace!
23 Apr 97 Jerry Etzkorn: [I asked Jerry to peruse the
DD page and look at the link to the Franciscan stuff on the Jesuit site. - JB]
If you're going to be in Quincy for the big hoopla on May 18, I'd like to talk
to you about the Fordham thing then. I'm a bit of an internet ignoramus and my
cruising powers are stunted. I've been doing a bit of translating of
Bonaventure for Br. Ed Coughlin who plans to put a book together from the
translations I've done. I have TWO major critical editing projects currently
and am a bit reluctant to go back to translating, but... maybe we can talk
about it if you'll be at QU in May? [Can't go. JB]
25 Apr 1997 John Miller wrote in reference to the horses he used to own and race: We had great fun, along with the heartaches, and it was also such a "teacher" for me. The pain, disappointment, and sorrow are part of the "tuition" we pay for taking part in the experience of life. Again, a sense of humor along the way has been most important. You have to see the absurd, laugh at life and yourself, and the twists and turns it takes. When you look for the humor, it's there, like when our horse, ALTAR WINE was favorite to win, and was knocked sideways coming out of the starting gate by a horse named, PINBALL MISS. When we were assured she was not injured, we were able to look at this and laugh.
You still haven't defined "peckerwood."
27 April 97, Arnie Wieser User276 of aol.com: Hey, Discipule Optime! I got carried away by your tantalizing phrase from The King's Graceland Estate. I thought of shortening my response, but then decided to torment you and act like a Latin teacher once again. Also, I'm sure the Ghost of Elvis would feel offended and haunt me! On second thought, since he's still ALIVE, he could vent his anger on me in person. First we need some review of noun cases and verb tenses. (C'mon, don't quit on me now!) "Carmine" ("e" ending) is Ablative Singular, means Song or Poem, etc. (Unfortunately we were both misinformed. That was a spelling mistake for Carmina.) "Morte" is Ablative Singular also. "Carent" is present plural, means They are lacking or without. (This verb takes its object in the ablative case, not the usual accusative --- yes I know YOU ALREADY THOUGHT OF THAT!!) "Carmina" can be Nominative or Accusative Plural, i.e. Songs or Poems... Now for the translations --- ARE WE HAVING FUN YET?! I see at least THREE POSSIBILITIES:
1. Carent carmine morte. They are without songs at death.
(FREE translation: No one leaves this earth yodeling)
2. Carmina carent morte. Songs are without death.
3. SONGS NEVER DIE! This the way I'd like to say it. A context would certainly help us out here. By the way, is your "other source" protected under the Seal of Confession or can you tell me his/her interpretation? (Erat Frank Flinn etiamsi vide aliter aliorum in hoc paginas. - Don't translate that peckerwood Latin until Jack Brennan tells me what it means. - By the way, your answer was delicious but reversed the order. How about: "Accordions and yodeling will never die.")
On a different note, can you tell me why I received a printout of my
"Gaia" article? It had the > sign before each line and each line
went only about half way across the page. Just wondering!! Pax!! (In case I
didn't write back, it's e-mail's way of showing you what you wrote that I'm
responding to. You can do it in AOL by highlighting the text you will reply to.
When you get to the reply, that text will be pasted in the message portion of
the screen with a > in front of each line.)
27 Apr 1997 Gael finally wrote John Miller what a peckerwood is and why he named his place Peckerwood in 1976. Jim and Catherine Sexton had visited in 1975 and suggested Gulistan, an Arabic word that means beautiful place. He toyed with the name of Woodpecker Hill until Charlie Fenton reminded him of Peckerwood Country Store near Jonesboro, Louisiana. He pointed to a postcard I'd pinned to the side of a kitchen shelf: "Would you consider changing it around to Peckerwood Heights?" Bingo. A four-year search for the right name pinged with resonance. The store was owned by former Louisiana Gov. Jimmy Davis who wrote "You are my sunshine."
Peckerwood is just another name for that universally uncaste type that changes depending on where you are, the unappreciated working hombre whose called out West a cowboy, down here a honky, redneck, or peckerwood. Later I watched "Auntie Mame" and noted her husband's plantation was called Peckerwoods. Oh, well. Wasn't the first. And Dick Gregory beat me with the obverse by calling his book: Nigger.
30 April 97 Gene Katoski sent April Senior Friars Talk: Louis
Antl wrote from St. John Lateran where he is a confessor and hopes his
retirement isn't accepted when he turns 75 next year. - Healing Laughter
quotes: serum fun levels like serum cholesterol levels are an important
indicator of your well-being. Chronic pain tends to persist with people who
don't have any fun. Fake it, if you have to. Cures diabetes and colds. So
prescribe it for yourself. - Gregory Kemner, Method Wilson, Damien Isabell,
Silas Musholt, and Ambrose German wrote
1 May 1997 Mark T. Braun (1975): Hi! I have an addition to
the Diaspora mailing list. Dave Scripsky, 11487 Knightsbridge Lane, Fishers, IN
46038. The Diaspora Digest takes me back to idyllic days at St. Joe's. My days
there were the greatest! My soul took root there. Half a lifetime later my
dreams still take me back there to rejuvenate. I really enjoyed the history of
Mayslake from a few issues back. I miss that place. It broke my heart to see
St. Joe's in ruin. It will always be terra sancta for me. Thanks to all for
your DD letters.
Comments about the Diaspora Digest left at Diaspora Home Page and E-Mail
Subtitle: Franciscan Diaspora Lost in Cyber Space
I'm having trouble with the download, can you help me? - Paul Langan
Thanks for the latest DD. I downloaded it, but maybe I don't know how to do it. It came out all chopped up. - Vince Zimmerman
Jack (Hardesty), marvelous job. When I signed the guest book, I wrote a message. It asked me if I wanted to submit an email message so I said yes. I don't know if you read the message on your homepage or whether you get the message or Jack Brennan does. But it's out there somewhere. You did a marvelous thing. I tried to get back to the Digest but it never returned after my visit to the Guest book. So I'm writing now to say thanks and will revisit and explore at my heart's content. A beautiful picture too! May your efforts bring as much joy as it will to all of us. - Gael Stahl
I downloaded the new DIASPORA, and it only took me a half hour to figure out how to access it. Last time, it took me a day and a half! - John Miller
Maybe they just can't do this sort of thing in Brazil. - Francis Roetheli
This is a beautiful idea- Thanks to all that make it possible. - Musky (Jim Schmitt)
Cyril Wagner just told me about this fantastic site on the Web. Thanks for all the information about guys. It was also great seeing my novitiate class picture in your scrapbook. I'm pastor here at St. Augustine Church in Memphis. Thanks for your newsy service. - Frank Coens
I've never really surfed the RendezVous Point. I just saw they offered a CGI script for free use and I needed it to set up a bulletin board... so, I took it. Their price... a link on the page where it is used. The bulletin board is actually stored on their server where the CGI processes it. The BB will hold up to 100 messages, then it drops off the oldest message when a new one comes in. What I've set up is not actually a bulletin board but a "guest book"; I'm using it as a bulletin board. They have a real bulletin board in the works; and, yes, a chat room is also in the works. I'm keeping an eye on them so I'll know when it's available - then I can set up a "chat-room". - Brother Jack Hardesty
Bro. Jack is our hero, the DD "Webmaster." He thought I knew what he was talking about; I didn't have a clue! - Jack Brennan.
Frank Wildt, do you know where Don Wildt is? He's an old Risk player from
theology days. - Gael
6 May 97 Ray Shuhert ofm: Wrote giving results of his
internet search for the 9-digit zip codes of our mailing list. He got as far as
Joe Grush. I told him it always was hard to get past Grush in football,
basketball, and at home plate.
17 May 97 Maury Smith ofm: Shalom aleichem. Rose Stupnesky
Smith, mother of Thomas Smith Jr and Maury Smith died about 11:30 Thursday
night (May 15) at home. She had suffered nine years with loss of husband,
broken hip, broken knee, arthritis, pace maker, heart condition and loss of two
sisters. She gradually grew weaker and weaker this year. She is now at peace with
El Shaddei and suffers no more. The funeral services were at Anshei Sphard at 3
pm Friday (May 16). No one ever left her home hungry or thirsty. Her
hospitality was a marvel to behold. She knew how to entertain a guest with
delightful stories from her life as a saleswoman. Your good works of kindness
and compassion will bring honor upon her name and memory and be a blessing to
you. Shalom.
19 May 97 Bro. John Pearson OFM Conv.: I was blessed a
hundred fold by L'Arche in Cleveland, Ohio, during the summer of '88. The
people who worked full time, 5 days a week & assistance in character &
respect & dignity for my profession, religious brother, 28 years 15th July,
'97, 1st vows '69. Their faith in action, words, support were real build up, not
the lie. The 5 years I was in Cherry Valley Retreat Center for Brothers &
priests, Southern California '88-'93 were super kind, giving, supportive, and
considerate for me - me to them at times. We had a mover of a superior in Fr.
Michael Foley, great in hospital work, 8 hours a day, 5 days a week, terrific
in keeping Brothers alive and moving in a positive, healthy way in the various
trades. I was born with a super gift and started to use it at 3 years old
horseback riding mountains 5000 to 10,000 feet up. I had the break of a life
time to ride and work the 3 best horses in Southern California in Missy, Red,
Monie. My last assignment was pretty good. Missouri for 3 years, out in the
country tough and no Church to talk of. My 2 biggest pluses when I was
stationed in Missouri, "93-97 were the dignity, respect, supportive and a
lot of my talents appreciated of the ministry as a missionary for Our People in
Zambia, Africa for 11 years. Brothers, Priests, and Sisters united for them at
our house of formation in St. Louis. The friars gave to the great support in
L'arche Cleveland and Cherry Valley Retreat Center for new clergy. My other
ministries I've been Stateside from Africa for 15 years, March, '82. The one
person that has kept my mind alive with joy and deep faith for the labor of my
Zambian People, is my stepmother 17 years this year in Rock Falls, Illinois,
still looking great for the joy of God at 87. - I'd be honored if you'd use
some of my letter in your next Digest.
23 May 97 Gene Katoski's May issue of Senior Friars Talk has an account from youngster Damien Isabel about how the troops of Mr. Kabila were progressing through Zaire/Congo. He says the Americans support him, are buying into the local mining companies, giving people hope they'll come in and create jobs. Unemployment, corruption, not finishing education, lack of social discipline are widespread in Kolwezi. Kabila is attacking these things, prisons are being emptied, delinquents being whipped in public or killed on the spot. No more bribes, false prices, or exploitation of the local mining company. Damien is "off to Zambia to organize language courses for our brothers during the summer months. They are sending three friars to Mozambic and four to Zambia to create friendship and learn languages."
30 May 97 Tarsicius Fischer ofm sent a letter & offering for s/h of DD: Another of our classmates died. Fr. Dacian Bienek on May 28. He was ill from prostate cancer which took him. I visited him at the Home for the Aged in Manitowoc, Wisc. He wasn't happy there. So some friends took him to Detroit. There he would have visitors. He is the 19th of our class to die. I say 19 because fr. Daniel John O'Connell, Fr. Kenneth Schlesser, and Fr. Joseph Barry left us. Fr. J. Barry left our novitiate. Then he became a military chaplain from Davenport. After he retired from the service he became a pastor in the Davenport Dioceses. I attended his funeral at St. Catherine of Siena in Oak Park. All his close relatives were deceased, but several cousins attended. It was a pitifully small congregation for his funeral. Two priests form Davenport attended his funeral. All three deceased classmates were close to me. As for Fr. Dacian, his uncle Fr. Engelbert was called the mayor of Madison. He was pastor there for many years. Madison is at the end of the Springfield diocese. I liked his mother Leokadia who was housekeeper for Fr. Engelbert. Her name clings to me.
I am reading past issues of Diaspora. We have only one ordinand this year, namely, Salvador Valdez. I believe he is from Mexico. I remember him when he could barely speak English. He is a fine addition to our province. He was helping out at Hales.
I will hear the last of the symphony season tonight. The orchestra will
perform Gustav Mahler's 5th. - Fondly and always warmly.
1 June 97 Luis Runde writes about his work and says he is fresh out of gift T shirts to give to special folks like catechumens. Send gifts to FMU, 3140 Meramec St., St. Louis MO 63118-4399. Mail to Apdo Postal 48, Rivas, Nicaragua, Centro America.