8
The Message -- for Catholics of Southwestern Indiana
--- On The Record --
Planet Earth should remain sacred
HUMAN WHEELS
This land today/Shall draw its
last breath/And take into its
ancient depth/This frail re-
minder/Of its great dreaming
self/While I with human-hin-
dered eyes/Unequal to the
sweeping curve of life/Stand on this single
point of time
By CHARLIE MARTIN
CNS COLUMNIST
(REFRAIN)
Human wheels spin round and round/While
the clock keeps the pace/Human wheels spin
round and round/Help the light to my face
That time today no triumph gains/At this short
success of age/This pale reflection/Of its brave
and blundered deed/For I descend from this
vault/Now dreams beyond my earthly
fault/Knowledge, sure, from the seed
(REPEAT REFRAIN)
This land, today, my tears shall taste/And take
into its dark embrace/This love, who in my
beating heart endures/Assured, by every sun
that burns/The dust to which this flesh shall
return/It is the ancient, dreaming dust of God
(REPEAT REFRAIN TWICE)
Written by John Mellencamp, George Green
i
Sung by John Mellencamp
Copyright (c) 1993 by
Windswept
Pacific Entertainment
D/B/A Full Keel Music Co.
(ASCAP) WB Music CorpJ
Katsback Music Admin. By WB
Music Corp. (ASCAP)
John Mellencamp's "Human Wheels" is
somber stuff. The cassingle is off his new CD by
the same title. If you have followed this column
over the years, you know I am a big fan of Mellen-
camp, a fellow Hoosier. However, this single has
to rank right there with those by R.E.M. for mys-
terious lyrics.
I take it that this song is about human his-
tory -- where it's been and where it's going. Mel-
lencamp speaks of how the "human wheels" of life
keep spinning "round and round." The clock of his-
tory "keeps the pace."
Before this continual flow of history, our indi-
vidual existences "stand on this single point of
time." Given the circumstances of life today, we
live on land that is in the process of drawing "its
last breath."
Indeed, few of us would deny that we live in a
time of immense problems. We point out numer-
ous threats to the Earth. We read daily newspaper
accounts of wars and the human suffering they
cause. We wonder what will happen to the human
family as we run out of non- renewable resources.
Yet as Christians our perspective is based not
in despair but in hope. We turn to our God for
• ,/i
guidance and strength as we bring healing
other and to the planet.
We do this by first accepting personal
bility for what our individual lives can be.
ample, if we want to live in peace we start right
where we are. We build peace with our parentS,
ters and brothers in our homes. We
toward our friends in school. We extend peace
neighbors in our communities.
If we want to treasure Earth as a
and all future generations,
all we can. We reuse whenever possible. We
to participate in the throw-it-away
in society.
As Christians, we hold a vision of the Earth:
sacred, a sign through which th(
to us. Further, we see all its peoples as
dignity because they bear this Creator's
Thus we even treat people that we
with respect, recognizing that no one
ality exactly as we do.
Yes, the human wheels of history and
keep spinning.
Yet it is this day of life that is the gift.
have the chance to give our love
choose to promote the caring that can make s
ence for both today and tomorrow. Given this
tunity, we live not in some
a vibrant, thriving hope. ::
(Your comments are always
Please address: Charlie Martin, RR 3,
Rockport, IN 47635.
'Real American Catholic story' not told by med
By PATRICIA ZAPOR
Catholic News Service
WASHINGTON (CNS) --
Like the contrast Charles
Dickens painted in "A Tale of
Two Cities," the story of how
Denver was transformed by
the pope and World Youth Day
was striking, said the presi-
dent of the National Confer-
ence of Catholic Bishops in
opening the bishops' annual
fall meeting Nov. 15.
Baltimore Archbishop
William H. Keeler said that
while the news reporting of the
pope in Denver was "fair, even
glowing," the media's assess-
ment of the Catholic Church in
general during World Youth
Day showed there is "a pre-
programmed 'Catholic Story."'
The archbishop highlighted
the crime problems of Wash-
ington and Denver and com-
pared that to the weeklong
calm that took over Denver
when 186,000 youths from
around the world met there
this summer for World Youth
Day '93.
For a few days Denver was
transformed, Archbishop
Keeler said, after it was sin-
gled out earlier in the year for
experiencing "the same kind of
open running wounds from vio-
lence as Washington, Balti-
more and so many other
cities."
"The world watched and was
amazed at the powerful image
of those young people so hun-
gry for a clarity of faith and a
desire to understand the basic
values which give greater
meaning to their lives," he
said. Those youths, he added,
recognized that the answer to
their quest was symbolized
and personified in Pope John
Paul II.
While the news coverage al-
lowed millions of people to
share in some of the events,
the news media was less re-
fined when trying to describe
the American Catholic Church
in general, Archbishop Keeler
said.
They missed the bigger story
of the role religion plays in
people's lives, according to the
archbishop. Around their cov-
erage of the enthusiasm and
love of the youth for the Holy
Father were wraparounds of
"the predictable caveats that
many Catholics do not agree
with him," he said.
"The media's 'American
Catholic Story' is a caricature
wherein complex issues are
crudely stated -- crudely and
quickly stated," he said. For
example, the archbishop said
he was invited on NBC's Today
Show to explain the Catholic
Church's position on abortion,
birth control, celibacy and the
male priesthood -- in 30 sec-
onds.
"The glib answers they seek
to important questions leave
no room for detail and nuance,
no room for the whole universe
of concerns on which the Holy
Father challenges all human-
ity," Archbishop Keeler contin-
ued. He noted that 30 to 40
percent of the American public
attends religious service each
CTNA offerings: Church commitment and public funds
What happens to Catholic Msgr. Charles J. Fahey, senior
identity when health and wel-
fare ministries get public
funds? That's one question to
be discussed in the final edi-
tion of =Church '93" -- trans-
mitted by the Catholic
Telecommunications Network
of America.
The program is entitled,
=Church Commitment and
Public Funds: maintaining
Catholic Identity in Health
and Welfare Ministry." It will
be available for viewing "live"
at the Catholic Center, from 2
-- 3:30 p.m., Thursday, Dec. 2,
or on videotape at the Media
Center.
Program participants in-
clude Auxiliary Bishop Thomas
J. Costello of Syracuse, N.Y.;
associate of the Third Age Cen-
ter, Fordham University,
Bronx, N.Y.; Donna Hanson,
secretary for social ministries
in the Diocese of Spokane,
Wash.; and Charles E. Thoele,
former chief operating officer
of the Sisters of Mercy Health
System, St. Louis, Mo.
Father Philip J. Murnion, di-
rector of the National Pastoral
Life Center, will be the pro-
gram host and moderator.
The first part of the program
will be devoted to a studio con-
versation. The remainder of
the program will be interac-
tive, enabling viewers across
the country to participate in
the discussion by telephone.
week, meaning more people go
to church every weekend than
attended all major league base-
ball games in the last season.
"But while every newspaper
and television station has a
team of sports reporters and
editors, it is rare to find even
one full-time reporter in a
newsroom -- rarer still to find
a religion reporter who truly
understands the religion about
which reports are written," he
continued.
Archbishop Keeler said the
bishops dare not ignore the
challenge of how the media de-
pict the church. But he also
said there is a need for journal-
ists to respect their own profes-
sion -- realizing
and conflict are
news worth reporting'
The real
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