The Messag Monthly -- for Catholics of Southwestern Indiana
Perspective
January
d
By PAUL R.
LEINGANG
-- ( IIr' Mes sage
Editor
Not long after our father and mother died, we
SOnS and daughters decided to get together on our
parents' wedding anniversary. The five of us com-
mitted our families to the reunion each year in
late July.
We are not as widely-scattered as some fami-
lies, but the five of us are spread out in three mid-
western states. Some of our grown-up children
have moved even farther from our original family
home.
It is good to have such a commitment to get
together, we all agreed. It strengthens the family
bonds.
At the reunions -- just as at Christmas and at
weddings, graduations and special occasions -- a
certain ritual seems to have developed: a meal is
always part of the celebration, with time to talk to
each other before, during and after it.
There is always time to catch up on family
news -- jobs, moves, achievements, plans and so
forth.
Often at such gatherings, something will hap-
pen to trigger a memory -- something about Mom
or Dad, what they said or did at some occasion.
We remember family events, and tell those stories
-- sometimes the same ones every year, over and
over with only minor variations -- to the younger
ones in the larger family.
Vatican Letter
Synod '93: A gathering
of our parish family
There are major stories about leaving the
farm and moving to the new house. There is a
minor story about a chicken riding into town on
the bumper of our old truck. There are stories
about sleeping downstairs when you got sick,
about various uncles and aunts and other rela-
tives, and about the car that caught on fire.
Sometimes the details of our memories are
in conflict -- the same story about the same
event is completely different, depending on who
is telling the story. Or who is most embarrassed.
All of this is starting to sound like church
where we gather for a celebration, with stories
and a meal, and where we remember the mem-
bers of our family who have lived and died be-
fore us.
Some of the details of our Scripture stories
are in conflict with other accounts of the same
event -- the birth of Jesus, the flight into Egypt,
the Magi, and so forth. The story varies, it seems,
according to the reason for telling it.
There is a'reason for writing this column,
too, and it has to do with the synod. Perhaps it
makes some sense to look at the synod as a kind
of gathering of parish families.
Each parish has its own life and its own mis-
sion, yet all of the parishes in the diocese have a
common bond.
:i!(
In my family, the sons and daughters
got together when we "came home" to
and Dad. After the deaths of our parents, w0 !
came together to make a decision -- that w0:
would continue to get together on
anniversary.
That was a kind of synodal decision. '
The decision to assemble on our
niversary was based on a principle -- that
though our family circumstances had
revocably, we still valued our unity
Our church family is changing, too,
get together regularly to celebrate, to
to tell stories and to. remember those who
lived and died. But only about half of our
members regularly come to celebrate with us.
Lay persons and vowed religious
cons are doing what priests used to do
parishes, ministering to the community, and:
making decisions about parish life. :
It is time to examine the changes
outside our church. It is time for all
families to get together from Vincennes
Jasper, Washington and Princeton,
and Evansville.
Depending on our values, we will
sions on how to celebrate our unity in the
<
e'
By 00AV]S
Catholic News Service
1992 at the Vatican: Cheers, groans, and a sigh of
logical equivalent of landing the Balkans. Despite inces- for the worst, a source said.
VATICAN CITY (CNS) --
At the Vatican, 1992 pro-
duced a few cheers, a few
groans and a big sigh of relief.
A cheer went up in Novem-
ber, when the long-awaited
universal catechism was pub-
lished. Six years in the mak-
ing and a pet project of Pope
John Paul II, it was the thee-
a man on the moon.
The pope thought so much
of the volume that he gave
one to every Vatican em-
ployee for Christmas -- in
place of the usual spumante
and cake. Some cheered,
some didn't.
The loudest groans were
heard in the Secretariat of
State, as officials there read
the latest war bulletins from
sant papal pleas for peace,
Bosnia-Herzegovina was pro-
gressively turned into a
wasteland, and the dream of a
united Europe seemed shat-
tered.
The sigh of relief came in
the middle of summer, when
the pope had urgent surgery
for a colon tumor. The pope
had been told he probably
had cancer and was prepared
But after the operation doc-
tors ruled out malignancy
and predicted John Paul
would make a full recovery.
In December, despite per-
sistent rumors to the con-
trary, the pope's health ap-
peared to be very good. One
Vatican official who dined
with the pontiff found his ap-
petite better than ever and
said he had put on weight.
In several other Vatican de-
partments, 1992 had its share
of successes, disappoint-
ments and snafus.
There was cheering on the
Chicago reader enjoys 1992 Message issues steps of st. Peter's Basilica in
June when the
To the editor:
The December 11, 1992,
issue of the Message was an
especially good one. I really
enjoyed the articles by Edith
Schulman about Hannukah
(Chanukah}, Bea Kerby about
. The MESSAGE
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Evansville, IN 47720-0169
Weekly newspaper of the
Diocese of Evansville
Published weekly except last week in
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Ig Cah Fm ot E'Wb
i
the Superman comic book,
Cleo Zirkelbach about the
Christian Life Center in the
old Monastery of Saint Clare,
and Father Loehrlein's para-
ble, The Gold Manager. The
article about CACD at Saint
Meinrad's was also good, as I
think many people still see
seminarians as cut off from
the problems of the so-called
"real world." Your series on
the catechists and other reli-
gious educators has been ex-
cellent and I think all of the
individuals you have featured
deserve recognition for their
contribution to the Catholic
"formation" of the youth of
the Evansville diocese. I al-
ways enjoy the Bulletin
Board, School Notebook, and
Around the Diocese. You
might not realize how many
other Catholic papers envy
the Message for having such
faithful "stringers" in the
schools and parishes sending
in those news items for publi-
cation. I doubt that there is
any Catholic paper that in-
cludes as much "local news
think'it is a good way of tying
the diocese together and
helping readers see that the
Church is everyone, not just
Bishop Gettelfinger.
I think this has been a very
good year for the Message.
The paper gets better and bet-
ter. Your editorials have been
informative, challenging and
personal. I am glad to see
Bishop Gettelfinger's column
as I think the Catholic paper
is a most appropriate place
for a bishop to exercise his
ministry as "Teacher." I have
already expressed my plea-
sure in reading Father Dil-
ger's Scripture column week
after week and am glad to see
Father Ziliak's column on a
regular basis. I'm sure you are
already planning special fea-
tures for 1993 with the Dioce-
san Synod being held and the
probability of naming of a
cathedral and several sta-
tional churches. As I said,
1992 has been a good year for
the Message and I look for
1993 to be even better!
pope an-
nounced he was going to
Denver to celebrate World
Youth Day in 1993. Young
people from Colorado and
other potential youth day
sites in the United States at-
tended Mass in the square
and later met with Vatican of-
ficials to launch plans for the
event.
The scientific community
had reason to rejoice a bit in
Bishop's
'92, too. In October,
accepted the finding
Vatican commission
clared the church
in cond
astronomer
Yes, the earth really
volve around the sun.
For the pope and
his curial departmentS,
a lean year for
But the doctrinal
tion weighed in with
on church commU
prior review of
by bishops, and on
uality.
The last one
headaches. Its gist
certain areas of
is not "unj
to take sexual
account. Gay rights
tions reacted an
many were
way the docu
leased. Intended as
ground paper for
ops, it was first
United States and tho
See
The following activities and events are listed
schedule of Bishop Gerald A. Gettelfinger
notes" and individual recog- Ra Gadke
nitions as does the Message. I .................... i ....... O/i6hgo ..................................
