4
• The Message -- for Catholics of Southwestern Indiana
Taking the time to make a difference--
Death and life, sorrow and joy for a family .. :
By PAUL
It. LEINGANG
EDITOR
Jan is able to talk about it now,
without starting to cry. The story
she tells is about life and death
within a family.
Jan's father died in September of
1993. Jan is the oldest of four chil-
dren, and the only one who lives
far away from the family home.
The parents and children were,
however, very close -- if not in
miles, then in spirit. And certainly
in their shared family values.
When Jan's father died, there
was great sorrow, even though his
death was not at all unexpected.
Disease had announced its pres-
ence, and the death of the body only confirmed
what was certain to happen. Death was inevitable,
unavoidable, and unrelenting. •
Jan's mother was very proud of her children dur-
ing this time of need. They came to visit and to be
with their father at the hospice. They cared for
him, moved him, bathed him, gave him their time
and their affection during the days of his dying
and at the hour of his death.
It was the first death for this family. Certainly,
they had experienced a loss before -- the death of
neighbors, of distant relatives, even of friends
but this was the first for the family of six. And the
family would never again be the same.
Mother and children survive, sharing their sor-
row but strong in their love for each
other.
The story goes forward six
months or so. Jan's sister and her
husband announce good news to the
larger family. A child has been con-
ceived.
Time passes, and as months go
by, Jan and her sister and the rest
of the family begin to plan for the
birth.
They think -- at first only to
themselves -- about what might
happen. They won't ask the ques-
tion out loud, this question that
each member of the family hears
from deep inside: When will this baby be born?
When, exactly when?
Days go by, and the first anniversary of death
draws nearer. The question is asked and the an-
swer is awaited.
It is possible, they know, and so it happens.
It is a boy, a baby boy who is born on the an-
niversary of his grandfather's death. A day of
death becomes a day of life.
God, who has welcomed home a husband and fa-
ther, gives life to a newborn son. The day of sorrow
becomes a day of joy.
* * *
St. Paul writes to the Corinthians, that Christ
"died for all so that those who live might live no
longer for themselves, but for him
sakes died and was raised up." (II Cor 5:15) :
St. Paul also says that "The old order
away; now all is new! All this has been
who has reconciled us to
(II Cor 5:18)
A death in the family brings about a new
relationships, a connection between this
the next. A birth in the family also
new order, a connection between the present I
!
tion and the one that is to come. °
* *
What was happening in the on the
were born? What was happening
How did your family observe
saries?
How does a death in the family
ing members of the family? How does a ....
family relationships. ,
* * :
If you have children, tell them (or tell
the story of their births.
Take the time to strengthen the
within your family -- to reconcile
necessary.
Take the time to commemorate
celebrate life.
Questions and comments are welcome
tian Family Movement, P.O. Box 272,
50010. : :
-.--.- Washington
Funding of public broadcasting: Latest flashpoint in values
By MARK PATTISON
Catholic News Service
WASHINGTON (CNS)w
With all the talk about an up-
coming information superhigh-
way, public broadcasting
seems like a narrow country
road by comparison.
But federal funding to sup-
port the Public Broadcasting
Service, National Public Radio
and their affiliate stations has
become the latest battleground
in the ongoing debate over val-
ues.
House Speaker Newt Gin-
grich, R-Ga., told current and
former Capitol Hill Republican
staffers Feb. 16 he would block
any legislation that included
money for the Corporation for
Public Broadcasting, adding
the latest percussion to a
months-long drumbeat against
public broadcasting. The corpo-
ration is the umbrella organi-
zation for public radio and tele-
vision.
"We've got a fundaniental de-
The MESSAGE
-4200 N. Kentucky Ave:
Evansville, IN 47720-0169
Weekly newspaper of the
Diocese of Evansville
Published weekly except last week in
December by the Catholic Press of
Evansville
Pulsher .............. shop Gerald A. Gettetfir,,ger
Edito ............................................ Paul Leingang
Production Manager ........................... Phil Boger
C)rcut)or ................ , .................. Amy Housman
.................................... Paul Newland
Stafff wnter ............................ Mary Ann Hughes
Address all communications to P.O.
Box 4169, Evansville, IN 47724-0169
(812) 424-5536
Fax: (812) 421-1334
Subscription rate:
$15.00 per year
Single Copy Price: $.50
Entered as 2nd class matter at the post
off.me in Evansville, IN 47701, Publica-
tion number 843800.
Postmaster:. Return POD forms 3579
to Office of Publication
1995 Press of E
III
bate about values" such as
"public support, lifelong learn-
ing," said PBS chief operating
officer Robert Ottenhoff.
Public broadcasting is "as
fundamental as a public li-
brary or a public school," he
said. "In my mind, how do you
have a public library in a com-
munity with no public support?
A public school? A public
park?"
To that end, PBS commis-
sioned a poll which showed
large majorities wanted PBS to
continue.
While Gingrich's views may
sway a majority in a Republi-
can Congress, those views
seem to be in the minority to
Catholic observers of the de-
bate.
Even William Donohue, head
of the Catholic League for Reli-
gious and Civil Rights, who
has called for the abolition of
National Endowment for the
Arts funding, will not go so far
as to demand that public
broadcasting's federal funds be
axed.
"We're still mad about what
they did a few years ago,"
Donohue said, referring to a
1991 documentary, "Stop the
Church," about AIDS activists
who disrupted a Mass at St.
Patrick's Cathedral in New
York.
"But because we haven't
seen the egregious kind of anti-
Catholicism (as elsewhere),"
Donohue continued, "we're not
calling for defunding of PBS."
Privatization of PBS "raises
questions about whether the
services that PBS provides will
in fact continue," said Miriam
Crawford, U.S. Catholic Con-
ference director of communica-
tions policy. The Bell Atlafitic
phone company has already in-
dicated interest in parts of
PBS should it be dismantled.
"We also have to ask
whether the PBS concept of
noncommercial programming
will not become more impor-
tant as we move to a commer-
cial multichannel environ-
ment," she added.
Henry Herx, director of the
USCC Office for Film and
Broadcasting, has to watch TV
for a living. He spoke of federal
money for public broadcasting
as if it were a thing of the past.
"There's no question it
could've bee.n better managed
over the years. They were
making efforts; they should
have been given the chance to
clean house," Herx said.
Less of the $285 million the
Corporation for Public Broad-
casting gets from Congress
should have gone to bureau-
cracy and more to program-
ming, which received 10 per-
cent, he said.
Gingrich's charge that public
broadcasting is "elitist" is "a
terrible misuse of the word,"'
Herx said.
"It's not elitist. Its mission is
basically minority," he said
What PBS carries, Herx added,
are "the things that commer-
cial television doesn't carry:
ethnic, minority, children's --
they're a minority -- women's
interests."
Sister Elizabeth Thoman, di-
rector of the Center for Media
Literacy in Los Angeles, de-
cried the move to "zero out"
public broadcasting, as it's
known in budget language.
"I don't see it. Ideas are
ideas. All kinds of ideas, liberal
and conservative, get their
voice" on PBS, said Sister
Thoman, a member of the Con-
gregation of the
Mary. The notion'
funding "just
ideas that don't
view is
"If we're going
waves that
pie -- and this i
left that belongs
-- it should all
ideas, including
don't pay their
Thoman said.
And what
homes without
all they have,"
said.
Bishop's sched
The following activities and events are
schedule of Bishop Gerald A. Gettelfinger.
The Message: A way to keep in touch
To the editor,
I enjoy reading the Message
so much. Evansville was my
home for 75 years. My hus-
band, Bernard, died last
March -- so it's my only way of
keeping up.
Thank you so much.
Dorothy Kneer
Delaware, Ohio
