A Word for Sunday on the Right
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COURIER-JOURNAL Thursday, September 4, 1986 Father Albert Shannon Father Paul J. Cuddy A Word for Sunday On the Right Sunday's Readings: <R3) Luke 14:25-33; Golda, as she was known to Israelis, (Rl) Wisdom 9:13-18; (R2) Philemon was born in the Soviet Union. When she Father Curran and tiff Hilly Spirit 1:9-10,12-17. was eight years olid, her father brought Father Charles Curran is. the most Tom.Jtjick and Nellie who arejnystified Our blessed Lord was on His way to his family to Milwaukee, Wisconsin. publicized priest of the Church in the and s|;i Ken by ywur theories 7T * Jerusalem, on His way to the cross. The Her parents thought she should work in United States. I do not know whether he Wiethe smile that charms, he re crowds following Him thought He was the family grocery store, but Golda is his own public relations man or if he plied,!' ijl have t& follow the injspirations on His way to empire. That is why He wanted to be a schoolteacher. has an agent, but for weeks he has been of theVloly Spirit." / spoke as He did in Sunday's gospel — In 1921, after she and her husband on about every newscast and panel Witufsome piq^e, 1 retorted, "So you with Oriental hyperbole and vividness. moved to Israel, she took in washing to discussion, and in leading newspapers thinkilj^bpe Paul is devoid of the Holy When He said His disciples must turn, support her small family. Soon she and magazines. Always he is treated as Spiritf*; their backs on their nearest and dearest, became active in politics, out of a great the martyr, a victim of the oppressive Fat|?v,r Johri Philipps, one of our He didn't mean to be taken literally. He love for her fledgling country, and in Vatican. The Vatican is equated with the more ;t scholarly, priests, wrote in his meant that no love on earth can time became ambassador to Moscow, Spanish Inquisition, Cardinal Ratzinger Brocl||iis!>rt churt-h bulletin, which was compare with the love „we must bear the minister of labor, and finally foreign with Torquemada, and the pope is copiec{*t»y St. Ambrose, St. Helen's and Him; no person or thing should ever be minister. shown seemingly devoid of the Holy God Knows where else: "Few are trained permitted to stand in the way of serving In 1965, Golda Meir decided she was Spirit. in th<' srt of t'lhiology, or the skill of Him. * . ready to quit government service. She That Spirit seems to have a special makipl ithe extrVrhely subtle distinctions It is possible to be a follower of Jesus became the head of her political party, lodging in the mind and soul of our which | must u'£ter into theological without being a disciple, to be a and when the prime minister died dissident theologian, so think his dis though:, as we struggle to apply moral camp-follower without being a soldier, suddenly in 1969, she was asked to ciples. Almost the only words I have principles to thv very complex issues of to be a hanger-on in some great' en succeed him. Seventy-one years old at heard spoken with understanding and theda|».."' To which 1 add a triple amen. terprise without pulling one's weight. the time, she took office and served for logic about this destructive contestation In ||68, the (>TRS article came to the One of the handicaps in the Church is five years. came Aug. 2 in a two-and-a-half minute folloVMjjg contusion: "Mischief has that there are so many followers of Golda Meir abandoned her life to that National Public Radio editorial com been [<k>ne to the Church by the dis Jesus, but so few disciples. of her country. As prime minister, she ment, which 1 caught while returning' regard i>f the pk'jpse's request. We are in The follower uses cheap grace, as worked hours .longer* than any man in from Auburn. 1 have written to the for sofnE theological thalidomide babies Bonhoeffer called it — just talk. The her cabinet, rising early and often not editor, and if I get his copy, will share it as a fl'-iult!" "Ellis prophecy has come follower seeks to explain away sin retiring until three o'clock the next with you. into f|ii bloom -today — with a Church morning. When there were cabinet without converting the sinner, and A. June 14, 1968, OTRSide article divid^iH disse.rit demanding to be preaches forgiveness without penance. meetings at her home, she often served discusses the origins of the present canonf||d, the Holy See denigrated as a The disciple, on the contrary, counts chicken soup that she herself had made. explosion and the hostility toward sourceSsf oppression,and the faithful in the cost of grace. He realizes the She made tea for the bodyguards who Rome, toward Pope John Paul 11, a state!, if confusion. suffering and sacrifice that discipleship kept watch outside her small apartment. toward logic and toward the Catholic St..| Thomas teaches: "Two con entails — that it is the treasure hidden in Commitment and humility gave her faith. The article reads; Pope Paul VI tradictories cannot both be true at the a field for which one sells all he has in greatness, and since her death in 1978, requested, not that the study on con same fjime and under the same order to obtain it. she has been remembered for those two traception be stopped, but rather that circumstances.' 'Within the Church, we Golda Meir was one of the founders qualities especially. the theologians make their studies in the cannot|jiold twi> contradicting teachings of the state of Israel and the. fourth That's what Jesus was asking of His theological laboratories. Public dis in mij&al regi'i;d. In Christ's words, prime minister of that country. Al disciples: commitment, lifelong com cussions among people unskilled in "He yj||o is not' tjvith Me is against Me." though she wasn't of the Christian faith, mitment, in the face of blood, sweat and theological language and background This statement ctpplies to His teaching, her fife exemplifies what Jesus was tears. This is a bit frightening until we would only confuse them." as well* ! talking about when He asked His gain the joyful conviction that God will The Food and Drug Administration Fatliji.'jr Philipps wjites, "Curran does disciples to abandon all in following not abandon us. For it is God who sends requires rigid testing and conclusions in not a$\jocate abortion, or sodomy, or Him. His Holy Spirit from on high to prosper laboratories before allowing unproved fornicMilion, or. divorce." Where has the work of bur hands! foods or drugs on the market, lest they Fathei,;Philipps been? 1 believe that harm people's.health. Father Curran 20 Father'fcurran, clearly, albeit with limita- years ago was going around lecturing on tions,,!does so, advocate through his Sisters of Mercy reaffirm political ministry theories that belonged in the theological commtsijts on television, radio, in news- laboratories. In 1966, I went to his papers,,?'magaziij'es and lecture halls. As Baltimore (NC) — The Sisters of Mercy of The Core Constitutions document is to be lecture for married couples at St. one priest said rsadly, "Father Curran the Union, meeting in general chapter, submitted to Rome this fall by the Mercy Helen's Hall, Rochester, and left won wouldnake the dross out of Christianity reaffirmed the commitment to political congregations that approve it. If all the other dering if I had heard what I thought 1 — mike Catholicism a comfortable ministry which has led to the forced de congregations accept it and Rome approves had heard. I had. religion. He is Water-Down Charlie' in parture of three of their members in recent it, some 8,000 nuns will be united in the new ; In June, 1968, 1 met Father Curran at mybofjx." years. congregation under the name Sisters of ; Former Mercy nuns in public office are Mercy in the Americas. Stella Maris Camp, Rochester, where he Thai does semti to picturesquely de scribe |tie present state of confrontation. Arlene Violet, Rhode Island attorney gener The chapter also approved a resolution had come to counsel a priest about to And ijsithe cdiitestation, Rome and all al; Elizabeth Morancy, a four-tterm member expressing support for the international leave the priesthood. I accosted him. the \J.% bishop^iare wrongly depicted as of the Rhode Island legislature; and Agnes leadership of the Sisters of Notre Dame de "Father Charlie, how do you recon "the biftd guys," and Father Curran as a Mansour, director of the Michigan Depart Namur in their recent decision that "there cile the reasonable request.of Pope Paul uniquQ;vessel of uhe Holy Spirit. ment of Social Services. Each was required was not sufficient cause for dismissal" of VI with your broadcasting to every by the local bishop or the Vatican to leave the two U.S. members on the basis of a 1984 order as a prerequisite to holding or running statement they signed on abortion. Committee seeks suggestions on pastoral letter for public office. ' Notre Dame de Namur Sisters Barbara The Mercy chapter, the highest policy Ferraro and Patricia Hussey, both of The diocesan steering committee on the amen&jnents." body of the 4,000-member order, affirmed at Charleston, W. Va., were among 24 nuns U.S. bishops' economics pastoral is inviting The$:ommitu4 requests anyone interested its July 22-27 meeting that political ministry whom the Vatican Congregation for Re people from the diocese to suggest amend in suggesting specific changes in the pastoral was an appropriate expression of the mission ligious and Secular Institutes threatened with ments to'the third draft of the pastoral letter to coifj/act thefc'iconomics Pastoral Steeri/ig of the Sisters of Mercy.