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Inside
NCR Service and humanity defined Freburger
He went through life with a
quizzical grin on his face, as if amazed and amused that the world functioned
at all. Years ago, when he worked upstairs, he would appear at our NCR door
about once a day with news of the latest disaster or sensation, secular or
sacred, his face beaming behind those big spectacles. Wry prophet, he brought
not only the news but usually some askew angle on it.
Then, on July 28, Bill Freburger was the news that came to our
door. He had died in the afternoon of an apparent heart attack. He was 56.
A native of Baltimore, Freburger studied for the priesthood at
Rome's Gregorian University and was ordained in 1965. The Vatican Council,
bursting with promise, was just coming to a close. Its first, most obvious
fruits were a liturgical revival. In the Baltimore archdiocese and across the
nation, Freburger was at the forefront of that liturgical renewal, lecturing,
writing, creating programs, workshops and general excitement.
In 1976 he was dispensed from the priesthood. In 1978 he came to
Celebration, the National Catholic Reporter Publishing Company's "ecumenical
worship resource" founded in 1972. Bill and his wife, Mary, moved to Silver
Spring, Md., in the early 1980s. They adopted two children, William Daniel and
Sarah.
A modest, unassuming man, Freburger came gently to his new job. "I
see all of you as each other's best resources," he told readers. "Celebration
members form a network, and we supply a forum of exchange." His priority was to
be of service.
Never given to passing fads, Freburger navigated Celebration by
some older, more constant star. As the post-Vatican II tempests tossed around
him, he blithely dodged all extremes, mingling erudition with humanity and a
healthy dusting of humor to keep the devil away from the church door.
In one of his last editorials (June) he railed against "Potemkin
liturgies," false facades hiding emptiness. But still he was an old softy,
indulgent even of the Potemkin liturgy, relic perhaps of "a subconscious thirst
for ultimate meaning in a modern society that has ruled the transcendent
inapplicable, if not unobtainable." He never gave up on humanity any more than
on God.
October would have marked the beginning of Bill's 20th year as
Celebration editor. He was planning to celebrate with an exciting face-lift for
the magazine. In addition to design changes, he was in transition to what he
called a more "user-friendly" product, with "new departments, expanded coverage
of the American and foreign liturgical scenes and practical tools for
ministry."
The makeover will become part of his legacy. Publisher Tom Fox has
taken over as interim editor until a permanent successor is found. Fox plans to
carry the design changes to a worthy conclusion. This, among other things, will
be a tribute to Bill's ongoing quest, not to be flashy or indulge in personal
statement but to be of service to the worshiping churches, all of them.
Bill Freburger loved the outlandish and unlikely. This showed in
his love of cartoons, so many of which crept into Celebration. The cartoon I
see now has Bill squeezing his scrawny frame through a big gate up there
you-know-where, and that quizzical look on him, and the old grin, and then
looking back over his shoulder -- at us -- and you know he's saying, "They're
still working on Vatican II."
-- Michael Farrell
National Catholic Reporter, August 15,
1997
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