Brokenness is something I know a lot about. Maybe we all do. We speak about brokenness in many ways. Broken promises. Broken hearts. Broken marriages. Broken lives. Broken bodies. Broken spirits. Broken minds. Brokenness is all around us. The world at times seems so broken. Out of order. It is a witness of original brokenness called original sin.
Longtime Alaskan and servant to the church in the Fairbanks Diocese Ursuline Sister Maria Clarys died on Sept. 9 in Fairbanks. Born in Belgium in 1936, she later attended school for fashion and design. In 1962 her life took a different course when she joined the Ursuline Sisters of the Roman Union at Boxtel Brabant, the Netherlands, where she made first profession on April 26, 1965.
The Little Sisters of Jesus, with a unique charism and a long history of service to Western Alaska, have left their longtime home in the Nome area. The religious order has been a quiet presence in remote places like Diomede, Nome and King Island’s fish camp at Woolley Lagoon since the 1950s. Today, Alaska’s nine remaining Little Sisters live in an Anchorage convent, most in the St. Anthony Church area.
On the evening of Sept. 12, 2006, my wife and I were dining in Cracow with Polish friends when an agitated Italian Vaticanista called, demanding to know what I thought of “This crazy speech of the pope’s about the Muslims.” That was my first hint that the herd of independent minds in the world press was about to go ballistic on the subject of Benedict XVI’s Regensburg Lecture: a “gaffe”-bone on which the media continued to gnaw until the end of Benedict’s pontificate.
Catholic Social Services just completed the reaccreditations process by the Council on Accreditation (COA) this summer. A team visited us in August and had many positive things to say. Their report emphasized three elements: Our excellent continuous quality improvement program; our engaged and knowledgeable board of trustees; and the strong sense of teamwork they observed with people respecting each other and focused on delivering outstanding services.
Harper Lee was notorious for avoiding journalists, and now she, or her representatives, say she gave no authorization for the book. But clearly, Mills spent months fishing, feeding ducks and drinking coffee with the reclusive writer. As part of her arrangement, Mills agreed to avoid certain subjects, and consequently the book seems a little banal. She says Lee is the best conversationalist this side of the Mississippi, but she offers few good examples. The book’s best quote, an African proverb, came from a friend of Lee’s, and is actually the point of this column: “Every time an old man dies a library burns down.”
I suspect there may be at least some people in the world who, unlike Peter, do dream about the best that life can offer: the best food, finest home and the most expensive wine. But, as my friend Peter admitted, all that does get a bit stale after a while. There must be something deeper and more lasting in this life than the taste of wine.
In a robbery, a person who plans the robbery is considered just as guilty under the law as the robber himself. A Catholic who votes for, advocates, counsels or in any manner assists in or approves of the committing of abortions is likewise an accomplice to the action. The Catechism of the Catholic Church makes…
The ruling against Alaska’s marriage amendment comes at a time when the Catholic Church is grappling with how to support and defend long-standing ideals regarding marriage as the life-long union of one man and one woman and family life as the basic institution for the rearing of children.
“I got the idea as I was praying last week for Iraqi Christians,” explains Deacon Charles Rohrbacher. “I was pondering what I might have to offer that could be of help to the Christians in Iraq who are in such dire need and it occurred to me that donating this artwork might be a way to help out.”