South Texas Catholic (Corpus Christi, Tex.), Vol. 19, No. 37, Ed. 1 Friday, March 16, 1984 Page: 4 of 16
This newspaper is part of the collection entitled: Texas Gulf Coast Register/South Texas Catholic and was provided to The Portal to Texas History by the UNT Libraries.
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Opinion
March 16, 1984 ■ 4
Viewpoint
The wearin’
o’ the green
By William G. Bilton
STC executive editor
There is something about celebrating St. Patrick’s Day in the
middle of Lent that is peculiarly Catholic. It is hard to imagine
the Muslims or Jews or our Pilgrim Fathers breaking off a time
of fasting and purification for one day of riotous celebration, as
we of the English-speaking world do for St. Patrick.
March l 7, Lent or no Lent, is a day for feasting and dancing
and laughter—Irish laughter, Irish songs, Irish tales and the
great Irish hospitality and friendship. It is Iso a day of parades
and hundreds of bogus claims to Irish nationality. It says
something about the ingratiating charm of those engaging Celts
that their patron saint enjoys such exceptional consideration
from vast numbers of people from other stock, who joyfully
become Irish for a day.
Now I have nothing against St. Patrick, but in deference io
ray English ancestory, what is wrong with St. George?
There are other saint’s days that fall in the six weeks of Lent,
but they pass as silently as wraiths.
There is Polycarp, for instance, a disciple of St. John the
Evangelist, who when chained to the stake for refusing to deny
the faith, was licked by flames which did not burn.
There is St. Joseph, the husband of Mary, who emerges from
obscurity each year on March 19, barely escaping the shadow of
St. Pat. His patient image, carrying a lily or hammer, stands
across from that of his wife in almost every church. But how
often do we remember the quiet, just man?
There are John of the Cross and John of God, spiritual giants
of *he 17th and 15th centuries and Frances of Rome, who left a
record of 97 visions with many references to the pains of Hell.
Peter Damian, a bishop who suffered from insomnia and
headaches (is that surprising?) joins Matthias (who replaced
Judas in the Twelve) and Perpetua and Felicitas of fond litany
memories and no less a person than Prince Casimir who refused
to marry, even after doctors assured him that would be the only
cure for his unspecified illness and died at age 23.
It seems a formidable list of sanctity reduced to obscurity.
No, it cannot be that St. Patrick enjoys his special status sole-
ly because of superior sanctity. After all, a saint is a saint and
haloes are great levelers. Besides, how many people know much
more about the great saint than that he was a bishop who drove
all the snakes out of Ireland?
For the crowds whose links with Ireland are tenuous at best,
the symbol. >f St. Patrick’s Day are more likely to be
shamrocks and green beer, Irish coffee and shillelagh, and the
wearin’ o’ the green, rather than the crorier and the cross.
It is the character of the Irish that makes St. Patrick’s feast
day to be so well remembered. It has become extraordinarily
popular among people who have never seen the Emerald Isle
and speaks of the need for more humor and fun in our anxiety-
ridden lives and the longing for the gentle, wild, romantic world
of Celtic legend and song.
Perhaps, after all, it is not out of place to take the time during
Lent to step back into our dreams and see how far we have
come from them—or how near—and let the barriers between us
fall away and reach for a new brotherhood.
Perhaps, it will remind us that—for Christians—life should
be a joyful thing fraught with love and laughter.
Happy St. Patrick’s Day to you all!
tT.: Catholic
Official newspaper of the Diocese of Corpus Christi
Published 45 times a year. Subscriptions $7 annually.
Bishop Thomas J. Drury
Publishtr Emeritus
Bishop Rene H. Gracida
Publisher
William G. Bilton
Executive Editor and General Manager
Kcrrie Clos Salo Otero
Staff writers
Mary Turner
Circulation/Advertising
Lana Laurel
Production
1200 Lantana St. Second class postage
Corpus Christi, TX 78407 fcmn paid at Corpus Christi, TX
512/289-6501 (USPS - 540-8601)
The Human Side
The meaning of
commun ication
By Father Eugene Hemrick
NC News Service
“How can the Church ever hope to serve the
increasing number of cultural groups in the
United States?”
The question was raised during a conversation
I had recently with the director of pastoral
research for a large archdiocese.
“On every block of this city,” she said, “it is
very common to hear several languages being
spoken.”
Consider the Spanish-speaking population
alone. There are people from Spain, Puerto
Rico, Cuba, Mexico, South America and the
Caribbean Islands. Each culture has its own
dialect and idioms.
What is the key to communication among peo-
ple whose differences include cultural
background and language? People in the Church
need to learn to understand and appreciate the
cultural backgrounds of those they serve. The
Church’s ministry is facilitated too when greater
numbers of Church ministers speak the original
language of those they serve.
But there is something else that can be done as
well-something ever) one can do: Learn good
principles of communication.
What is the true meaning of communication?
In pondering the significance of communica-
tion, I suddenly recalled some thoughts of Car-
dinal John Henry Newman. They came up, it so
happens, in the context of a discussion of what a
gentleman is.
“A gentleman,” said Cardinal Newman, “is
one who never inflicts pain. The true gentleman
in like manner carefully avoids whatever may
cause a jar or jolt in the minds of those with
whom he is cast; all clashing of opinion, or colli-
sion of feeling, all restraint, or suspicion, or
gloom, or resentment; his great concern being to
make every one at their ease and at home. He
has his eyes on all his company; he is tender
toward the bashful, gentle toward the distant and
merciful toward the absurb; he can recollect to
whom he is speaking; he guards against
unseasonable allusions, or topics which may ir-
ritate; he is seldom prominent in conversation,
and never wearisome.”
Cardinal Newman went on to describe how
unselfishness must underlie communication.
“A gentleman rnaJkes light of favors while he
does them,” Cardinal Newman said, “and
seems to be receiving when he is conferring. He
never speaks of himself except when compelled,
never defends himself by a mere retort, he has no
ears for slander or gossip, is scrupulous in im-
puting motives to those who interfere with him,
and interprets everything for the best. He is
never mean or little in his disputes, never takes
unfair advantage, never mistakes personalities or
sharp sayings for arguments, or insinuates evil
which he dare not say out.”
I hope that in Hficussing the relationships of
social groups we rarely discussing the rela-
tionships of enemies. But all of us can practice
the universal language of politeness reflected in
these words by Cardinal Newman.
If this moves us toward better communication
among society’s groups, it will be a step in the
right direction in what is, after all, a great social
and pastoral challenge.
(Copyright (c) 1984 by NC News Service)
Father Eugene Hemrick is director of
research for the National Conference of
Catholic Bishops.
Washington Letter
Another look at the
‘wall of separation’
By Liz Armstrong
NC News Service
WASHINGTON—Have some bricks been
removed from what is popularly seen as a con-
stitutional “wall of separation” between church
and state to allow a little room for religion?
The Supreme Court’s March 5 decision in the
Pawtucket, R.L, nativity scene case and other
recent court rulings indicate that it might be time
for another look.
If there is a wall (experts disagree on its ex-
istence, although the court itself said in the
Pawtucket case it has referred to one) it looks as if
that wall might be less formidable than it once
seemed.
The Catholic League for Religious and Civil
Rights said the new decision, like a 1983 ruling
on tax breaks for parents of parochial school
children, seems to demonstrate new openness to
religious freedom.
In the Pawtucket (Lynch vs. Donnelly) majori-
ty opinion written by Chief Justice Warren E.
Burger, the court said that enforcing a regime of
total separation of church and state had not been
considered possible or desirable.
“Nor does the Constitution require complete
separation of church and state,” Burger said,
speaking for the 5-4 majority. Instead, “it affir-
matively mandates accomodation, not merely
toletance, of all religions and forbids hostility
toward any.”
The Lynch decision was the fourth high court
ruling in the 1980s that at least made the prover-
bial wall seem less hostile. The other three cases
were:
—A June 1983 decision, in Mueller vs. Allen,
that a Minnesota law permitting annual tax
deductions to parents of parochial school
students is constitutional as long as parents of
public school children can also claim the tax
break under various circumstances.
—A July 1983 ruling, Marsh vs. Chambers,
that the Nebraska legislature did not violate the
Constitution by paying chaplains to lead daily
prayers. There was no conflict with the First
Amendment because of the practice and, in fact,
the Founding Fathers who were responsible for
the First Amendment also provided for congres-
sional chaplains, the court said.
—A 1981 decision, Widmar vs. Vincent, that
state universities cannot deny student religious
groups use of campus facilities for worship ser-
vices.
In several of these decisions, the court seems to
be signalling its interest in “accommodating”
religion—as long as freedom of religion is not
thereby violated.
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Bilton, William G. South Texas Catholic (Corpus Christi, Tex.), Vol. 19, No. 37, Ed. 1 Friday, March 16, 1984, newspaper, March 16, 1984; Corpus Christi, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth840815/m1/4/?q=food+rule+for+unt+students: accessed July 1, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; .