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In these pages we frequently gripe
about greed and other abnormalities, but we also hanker to acknowledge
goodness, beauty and truth where and when we find them. Happily, it is fairly
typical of human nature that we rise to our best when things are worst. The
natural disasters in North Dakota and Minnesota offer an ideal opportunity for
transcending our usual self-interest and reaching for benevolence.
Christians in particular are at their best in such times of
crisis, which probably has to do with Christians' close association with the
cross. Groups and agencies taken for granted until we need them become true
salt of the earth when justice is for the moment beside the point and only
charity can help.
A press release reports that Catholic Charities USA gave Catholic
Charities in North Dakota $20,000 for starters. Not immense in the total scheme
of things but not bad if you're the one helped. Catholic Charities is a body of
which Catholics everywhere should be proud.
"We can only imagine the anguish of residents of cities such as
Grand Forks and Fargo," said Jane Gallagher, director of Disaster Response for
Catholic Charities. An understatement, but sometimes words fail, and often at
that very moment, money helps.
As they say on TV, it's your money. People wishing to be
charitable could send their donations to: Disaster Response, Catholic charities
USA--'97 Upper Midwest Floods, PO Box 25168, Alexandria, VA 22313.
One of recent history's best
examples of misfortune bringing out the best in people must surely be South
Africa. When I visited there in 1988, Carmel Rickard, author of this issue's
profile of Archbishop Denis Hurley (page 10), was my conduit to a succession of
courageous people who opposed apartheid and ran various degrees of risk just by
talking to me.
Hurley was out of town when I visited Durban, but we spoke
long-distance. Although already a legend, he sounded down-to-earth and devoid
of pontification. "At a purely human level, I don't see any much hope," he
said. But, he went on to say, "the desire for liberation is unquenchable
now."
Apartheid was one of the rottenest systems the modern world has
devised, yet it is encouraging to find that from such unpromising ground grew
three of the most highly acclaimed leaders of our time: Hurley, Archbishop
Desmond Tutu and President Nelson Mandela.
Reading about Hurley brought back the names and faces of others I
had met, people who lived lives of risk. The Catholic church, long before other
churches, had stated categorically that apartheid was evil. This was a bitter
pill for a regime that appealed to the will of God as justification for its
injustices. Just weeks before my visit, the headquarters of the South African
Bishops' Conference had been firebombed. In one charred room after another, it
didn't take much imagination to see the entire history of Africa still
smoldering.
Those who say religion shows the most grace under pressure and
persecution have plenty of impressive evidence to back them. It's harder to be
good in easy countries like ours.
A funny thing happened on the way to
the Pentagon. Officials there had agreed to meet April 24 with heads of
religious orders and peace organizations to discuss the notorious School of the
Americas, often referred to as the School of Assassins. The school, often
discussed in NCR, trains Latin American military officers at Fort
Benning, Ga. Pentagon brass canceled at the last minute. No reasons were given.
Since many members of the religious delegation had already arrived in
Washington, they went to the Pentagon anyway. Stay tuned.
-- Michael Farrell
National Catholic Reporter, May 2, 1997
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