4 The Goodland Daily News / Thursday, March 15, 2001 Saints and sinners: Fifty-nine ways to better ourselves According to a magazine I read many years bergh, asking him how he happened to compile across the country — including The New York While public wickedness and vice (the kind ago, when Charles Lindbergh was a young man, the list, how long he had stuck to it, etc. I never george Times, The Boston Globe and The Philadelphia of sins we go to jail for) are pulling America he used to review himself each night on 59 char- really expected to get a reply. Lindbergh felt a Inquirer. It carried such headlines as “Lindy down, these things are not as responsible for our acter traits he wanted to develop. deep hostility toward the press after the kidnap- plagenz Debunks ‘Character-Building’ Myth” and country’s decline as the lack of ordinary good- The alphabetical list began with altruism — ping and murder of his baby son. He resented “Lindy Calls Character List ‘Bunk.’” ness in ordinary people - what we call “lack of doing good for others without hope or expecta- the media’s hounding of him and his wife, Anne. Scott Berg also published the story in the re- character.” But when we use the term, we usu- tion of being rewarded, repaid or benefited — It made him bitter and aloof. • saints & sinners cent best-selling biography of Lindbergh. ally mean a lack of character in other people, and ended with unselfishness. So I was surprised to find in my mail one Whether Lindy’s 59 is pure bunk or not, it not ourselves. Lindbergh was said to have put a red X next morning a letter from Lindbergh, sent from his “These stories get into the newspaper record would do us all good to grade ourselves every The best idea of all for getting America back to the traits he had satisfactorily mastered that home in Hawaii. files and are carried over and over again through night on qualities such as “cheerfulness, no on the straight-and-narrow might be for each of day. Those he failed would get a black X. If he He apologized graciously for his reply being the years until they are rather generally accepted fault-finding, no sarcasm, perseverance, polite- us to go on a character-building program. had not had an opportunity to demonstrate a late. Then he let the bombshell drop. He wrote: as factual. ness, self-control, no talking about others, clean Lent is a good time to start. Never mind that particular trait, there would be no mark at all. “The character-trait list is pure bunk, one of “The ‘character-trait’ list attributed to me has speech and pleasant voice.” we are already into Lent. A lady in my parish in For years, I gave talks based on “Lindy’s 59.” those numberless concoctions of the press that even been carried in a dictionary. Actually, I had Such a character-building program would Boston used to say, “If you can’t begin in the I also used the character traits as a Lenten check- have no basis in fact whatsoever - like the cat I no such list and had no interest in this type of cure many of the problems in the world today beginning, begin in the middle.” list for readers of my newspaper column. was supposed to have carried with me in the thing.” — problems that Alan Greenspan and a tax cut For a copy of “Lindy’s 59,” send a SASE to Lindy, Then the idea came to me to write to Lind- ‘Spirit of St. Louis’ to Paris. Lindbergh’s letter appeared in newspapers can’t touch. P.O. Box 06174, Columbus, OH 43206-0174. For American protestants, a turning point has been reached on gay issues By Richard N. Ostling tively homosexual clergy and lay offic- 54,215 local congregations among them, vices so long as they are not confused bly will keep the ban on office-holders. ing approved special visiting bishops to AP Religion Writer ers at the nationwide church assembly in have struggled with this quandary for a with marriage. And if it passes a repeal measure, con- serve parishioners who conscientiously NEW YORK — It’s possible that June. quarter-century. A survey by the denomination shows servatives will prevail when the oppose their regular bishop’s liberal someday U.S. mainline Protestants will For the moment, at least, uneasy com- Elsewhere in U.S. Protestantism, the 57 percent of members at large and 61 presbyteries vote. policies on gay issues. look back upon mid-March of 2001 as a promises have been reached: Both de- United Church of Christ has long fol- percent of lay elders support a law But Rightmyer sees the long-term sce- However, an aide to the head of the turning point in their seemingly in- nominations still officially uphold lowed an open policy on homosexual against clergy giving same-sex bless- nario as troublesome. “Our denomina- U.S. church said that’s not what the in- soluble dispute over homosexual behav- Christianity’s traditional teaching practice. Most other denominations are ings, but only 50 percent of pastors. tion is sorely divided, and apart from su- ternational leaders intended. ior. against same-sex relations. While the opposed. The Rev. Laird Stuart, a San Francisco pernatural intervention we are headed The president of Integrity, the Episco- At a strictly guarded secret conclave Episcopal church takes that formal While the Anglican leaders handled pastor and co-leader of the victorious for destruction or schism.” He considers pal gay caucus, the Rev. Michael last week near Hendersonville, N.C., 34 stand, it lets dioceses do what they wish. the dilemma at their North Carolina Covenant Network, says the voting on Presbyterian disagreements over the Hopkins of Glenn Dale, Md., observes top world leaders of Anglican Christian- Presbyterian conservatives won a 1997 gathering with closed talks, arched eye- same-sex rituals has significance for the Bible’s authority irreconcilable. of the international meeting, “Maybe if ity agreed to utter no complaint and take ban on actively homosexual clergy, but brows and ambiguous communiques, separate issue of actively gay office- Rightmyer is urging fellow conserva- they had said something more definitive no steps to block increasing tolerance in now liberals have gained the right to Presbyterian delegates have engaged in holders, currently banned. The vote, he tives to stick with the denomination de- it would have slowed the process down,” America’s Episcopal Church. That ap- bless same-sex couples. public debate. says, indicates that a change to let spite the loss on same-sex rituals. Har- but Episcopal change would have pro- peared to remove the last obstacle to U.S. Last May, the United Methodist Last year’s Presbyterian assembly presbyteries and congregations recon- ris expects a conservative schism if his ceeded anyway. dioceses that ordain actively gay clergy Church decisively reaffirmed bans on passed the ban on rituals and sent it to 173 sider that matter “would be very attrac- side wins on office-holders, but thinks Within the United States, Hopkins is and allow blessing rituals for same-sex both rituals and clergy, although dissent- regional legislatures, or presbyteries, for tive.” it will be small. confident the next Episcopal Church couples. ers plan to continue same-sex ceremo- ratification. By Wednesday, 87 had “The quiet middle is beginning to In the Episcopal Church, conserva- convention in 2003 will move beyond Then on Wednesday, liberals in the nies. voted no, killing the measure. speak up,” Harris says. “In a nutshell, tives still harbor hopes that the interna- the current laissez-faire situation and Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) won a par- Can this inherently unstable situation Conservatives needed the measure to people are getting tired of intolerance.” tional leaders will eventually step in, formally approve same-sex rituals. allel triumph, defeating a ban on same- persist? overturn a ruling from the Presbyterians’ On the opposite side, the Rev. Joe even though they didn’t last week. But As for clergy ordinations, Hopkins sex blessings. They will now work to re- These three closely related denomina- highest church court. That ruling allows Rightmyer of Presbyterians for Renewal they’re obviously on the defensive, say- says, “We don’t see the need for any leg- peal a four-year-old prohibition on ac- tions, with 14.3 million members and clergy to perform same-sex union ser- in Louisville, Ky., thinks the June assem- ing that at least the international meet- islation... It’s a done deal.”
Bible Baptist Church Church of Jesus Christ Pastor: Don Crutcher of Latter-Day Saints Fifth & Broadway 1200 15th Street • Burlington, CO • (970) 664-2470 899-7368 Sacrament