Inside
NCR A
serious problem in need of a better solution
While a majority of college kids go to the beach or other forms of
partying in their spare time, one busload from Notre Dame was on a more somber
journey recently -- to an execution.
Tara Dixs story, (A night spent waiting for death to come),
is no bleeding heart exposé. While the dead man is walking to the dread
gurney inside the Michigan City, Ind., prison, the students outside are
bothered by the cold. Everything is relative.
The dead man walking was, it seems, one mean dude. After reading
of the murder he committed, some might think he deserved anything he got. Then
the dead mans own story is told -- a life without much happiness. And now
here he is walking to the gurney.
The thing is, most of us probably didnt give him much
thought that night, probably never heard of him. Those who went to be there for
the execution have earned a better right to speak out. Even they are not in
accord. In that particular case, there was only one pro-execution activist
working the Bible, but there is often a bigger pro-death rooting section.
Its complicated. And relative. The subject cries out for
further consideration, for more light. This story is an effort to throw some
light. Surely, at the end of the day, we will realize, as most of the rest of
the world has, that this is no way to solve this admittedly serious
problem.
I have nothing more to say about the Unsworths than you will find
on page 16 [not posted on this site]. Anyone who has been reading Tims
column these many years -- ever since he sent us out of the blue a welcoming
letter, sort of, written to the newly appointed Cardinal Joseph Bernardin of
Chicago -- must feel they know Tim. The gleam in his eye is on each of his
pages.
Jean Unsworth is not as well known to NCR readers. We hope
thats remedied in this issue.
The only reason I mention them here is because it allows me to use
the photo, for which, by a quaint NCR custom, I will get $5, never mind
that the camera was the Unsworths.
Last week we brought you the disturbing tale of Aaron
Milavec(NCR April 24), the former longtime theology professor at the
Athenaeum of Ohio in Cincinnati who lost his job after a religiously
conservative student, who describes himself as a theological novice, raised
questions about the content of Milavecs course.
The disturbing news did not end there. On page 5 of this
weeks issue [not posted on this site], Pamela Schaeffer follows her
original story with an eerily similar tale. Sr. Barbara Fiand has taught at the
school for 17 years. Although she is highly regarded by her peers and,
according to past evaluations, by her students and superiors, she was dropped
from the seminary division of the Athenaeum after two conservative students
complained about her course.
One can only wonder who is calling the shots at the Athenaeum and
why.
National Catholic Reporter, May 1, 1998
|