Inside
NCR
At was in the days just after the
attacks that I got into a discussion with my 16-year-old son James about how
people were responding to the horror of the terrorism. Was it right to feel
patriotic fervor? How far should one go? Did demonstrating love of country mean
giving up all critical faculties, or did it mean exercising our right to
question more than ever?
We ended up with a bigger pile of questions than answers as flags
and other national symbols proliferated throughout the neighborhood. If I
embrace the flag because it symbolizes our best angels -- justice, equality,
opportunity -- am I also signaling that I agree with the cries for vengeance,
for a military attack, for an indiscriminate war?
At times like these, when emotions run high, it is difficult to
make those distinctions. But make them we must, or we give up some of the best
elements that make this pluralist society distinctive. So we try, modestly, in
this issue to draw out what patriotism means and how much the waters from the
deep wells of faith that are being drawn on in these times of crisis should
commingle with love of country and the desire to avenge injustice.
These are complicated issues, but it
is reassuring that they are being discussed in numerous ways and some unlikely
places around the country.
I was alerted, for instance, to an editorial that ran in the
Northeast Mississippi Daily Journal of Tupelo, Miss. It was headlined,
Love our enemies? No command of Jesus seems quite so unrealistic right
now.
It appeared in the Sunday edition just 12 days after the attacks
in a region of the country not known particularly for left-leaning religion or
liberal politics. Still, the editorial charged on, acknowledging the horror of
the attacks, recalling that in his day Jesus followers had a
corporate enemy, namely, Rome. The Romans had conquered their land, taken away
their freedoms, abused them, at times massacred them, and ruled them harshly,
brutally.
Did he mean for them to love Romans? Probably.
No, not probably. Surely. He commanded them to love their
enemies, and the Romans fit the bill perfectly.
The editorial quotes Pauls definition of love and
speculates: Maybe in time, when the wounds are not quite so raw, we can
love our enemies as Jesus wants us to. But, right now?
There is no way around his commandment. He didnt give
us the leisure to wait a while to start loving. He simply gave a direct
command. He gave no exceptions, no limits.
His words, however unpleasant they sound to us, however
repugnant they are to us right now, cannot be ignored. His command to love our
enemies must, in some way, be factored into how we individually and as a people
react during these coming days.
That would be tough reading on any Sunday morning from any pulpit,
but its a real act of courage to make the point in the public pulpit in
these days.
Rose Marciano Lucey, whose name
became synonymous with Catholic activism, died Sept. 25. She was 83. Rose
served on the NCR board of directors from 1975 through 1996. For decades
she brought her keen perspectives, shaped by the gospels, family life, many
friends and the poor among whom she lived, to every encounter she had. From
Cana Conference gatherings in the 1940s to Catholic Family Movement activities
in the 1950s and 1960s to being the mother of nine, grandmother of 10 and
great-grandmother of five, Rose and her husband, Dan, always maintained a
Catholic family focus.
She was an author, a Catholic bookstore owner, a civic activist
and a friend and adviser to countless souls. Her warmth and concern for
everyone she met -- from homeless poor people and abused women to company
executives and church bishops -- was nothing short of inspiring. She lived in
the San Francisco Bay area for the last 25 years where her living room couch
served as a kind of Motel 6 annex for visitors from around the world. Weakening
with age, two years ago she moved to Medford, Ore., to be close to family and
for the support of a residence specializing in Alzheimers care.
-- Tom Roberts
My e-mail address is troberts@natcath.org
National Catholic Reporter, October 12,
2001
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