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Inside
NCR Missing peacemakers, and a truly super miracle
One secret of a good piece of
writing is that it starts a discussion. In his Dec. 31-Jan.7 editorial,
Managing Editor Tom Roberts sang the praises of the centurys peacemakers.
He was obviously on the money because readers have been pointing out omissions
as well as praising the tribute to those who put something big on the line for
the elusive ideal of peace on earth.
One reader suggests Fr. John J. Hugo of Pittsburgh, long-time
colleague of Dorothy Day, who wrote a book called The Gospel of Peace, among
others. This cost him, made him persona non grata with his fellow priests
and bishops. He was banished to various rural parishes for many
years.
These and other suggestions raise the question of what, for the
purpose of such a column, is a peacemaker. If you ask them, nearly everybody,
including scoundrels, will say they are peacemakers. And nearly everybody would
make a different list of favorites.
Wrote Fr. Kenneth E. Irrgang of St. Cloud, Minn., I found it
amazing that, of all the peacemakers you listed in your editorial
you
overlooked Cesar Chavez.
This whole other category was overlooked, responds
Roberts, because it is a whole other category. If one spreads the
definition too thinly, the encomium becomes empty.
Another writer laments the omission of Kathy and Jim McGinnis,
who spent years modeling and teaching peacemaking within the family and
home.
This writer continues: Another whole category of peacemakers
whose absence hit me the most is represented by those who have given their
lives building peace between humans and the rest of the community of Earth
life. They have cried out against the war we humans are waging against the
forests, the air, rivers and oceans, meadows and wetlands, driving countless
species to extinction, denuding the land and poisoning our childrens
inheritance. My list is also not exhaustive but begins with names like Thomas
Berry, Sr. Miriam Therese MacGillis, Brian Swimme, Sisters of Earth, Sr. Mary
Southard, Annie Dillard, Wendell Berry, Lewis Thomas, Sr. Suzanne Golas, Fr.
Sean McDonagh, Rosemary Radford Ruether, John Haught, Matthew Fox, Jim Conlon,
Fr. Pierre Teilhard de Chardin, John Surette, Paula Gonzalez, Lou Niznk, Jay
McDaniel, Paul Hawken.
These and so many others.
In January 1999, as everyone knows,
Pope John Paul II visited St. Louis. During that short stay he offered Mass in
the local Trans World Dome. There were the usual great crowds, and the usual
national outpouring of piety.
Trans World Dome is the home of the St. Louis Rams of the National
Football League. They have not lost a home game there since the pope was there
-- this despite a pathetic season previous to the papal intervention.
St. Louis fans, who know their football, have taken to taking
pictures of His Holiness with them to big games. The biggest game so far (it
will be over by the time you read this) is this Sunday, Jan. 23, against Tampa
Bay, yes, at the home stadium.
If the Rams go on to win the Super Bowl, this will obviously be a
miracle, and John Paul will already be one big step closer to canonization --
some saints have waited centuries for miracles like that.
-- Michael Farrell
National Catholic Reporter, January 28,
2000
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