INSPIRING LIVES

      I received a beautiful and inspiring tri-fold brochure in the mail today from the Benedictine Sisters of Pittsburgh which celebrates five of their Community's Sisters who are recognizing significant milestone of their Monastic Profession.  As Sister Karen Brink, their newly re-elected Prioress, states: "Three hundred and twenty years of Benedictine living is what you will see in the faces of our Sister Jubilarians.  What a blessing their lives have been, not only for themselves but for all those whose lives they have touched through the three pillars of Benedictine Life: Prayer, Community and Ministry."

    My association with the Benedictine Sisters of Pittsburgh began when I arrived as pastor of Saint John the Baptist Parish in Scottdale, where they served in both the school community and the parish community.

     The Sisters celebrating significant anniversaries are: Sister Rosalyn Soller, a Sister for 70 years - working with the poor in Kentucky, teaching and serving as a principal, novices and other Community services.

     Sisters Mary David Lecker and Judith Nero are professed 65 years. [No bio was given for these Sisters]

     Sister Roberta Campbell celebrates 60 years, and I came to know her in her role as Prioress which covered 12 years beginning in 1990 and overlapped my time in Scottdale.

     And Sister Audrey Quinn, also 60 years professed.  Her ministry took her, along with Sister Sue Fazzini, to Greene County where they became foster parents to more than 160 children over a period of 18 years and served in a number of Greene County Community agencies.

     These five women's lives are inspiring in themselves.  Add the fact of their Faith and their  commitment to the Way of Saint Benedict - ORA ET LABORA [Pray and Work] and they are outstanding and deserving our our well wishes and prayers.

HISTORY- remembered , revised, found

     Within the past few weeks we as a nation have celebrated aspects of our history in ever changing times.  I am interested in history, and even though as a kid I did not appreciate the subject, as an adult I value the lessons that are to be learned.

     There are two events within our national history that I have recently discovered.  I believe that I was brought up with an open view of history, but I was surprised to learn, this year for the first time, of the June 6, 1921 Tulsa Race Riots or as it is also called the Black Wall Street Massacre.  How, after an accusation of a supposed assault on a white woman by a young black man, tempers exploded and a vicious race riot occurred in Tulsa that took 40 lives and destroyed 35 square blocks of a prosperous Black community.   How can I have not heard of this terrible act of hatred?

     And then there is Juneteenth, declared as a National Holiday this year but celebrated in many parts of the country since the mid 1860's.  This date - June 19, 1865 - was the day that the last of the slave states had their slaves emancipated, in a proclamation by Union General Gordon Granger in the State of Texas.   This came a few years following the 1862 Emancipation Proclamation of President Lincoln.  I learned about that, but the 1965 event was not taught.  Why?

     Then on July 1, 2 & 3 we remembered the 158th anniversary of the Battle of Gettysburg during the Civil War.  I have a great interest in this battle and its stories.  I had many books and some great art works - signed and numbered prints of the battle and it's participants - some of which I disposed of in my retirement downsizing.  However, some of my prints remain, and in fact grace my bedroom walls.  By happenstance, though, most of my remaining prints are of Lee and Longstreet and Confederate soldiers.  My concern is that I will be thought poorly of in this revisionist and politically correct atmosphere.  We move to tear down statues or demonize good but not perfect people who were caught up in a terrible struggle.   This narrow view of history does a great disservice to our national memory and especially to our youth.

    Then on Sunday we celebrated Independence Day where 245 years ago many of those who drafted and signed the Declaration of Independence are now being demeaned because of their flaws, owning slaves or womanizing or other failings, and the great ideas and courage and efforts to bring this nation into being are ignored.   There are no perfect people in this world, just those of us striving to do the best we can and find a better life.  To be quick to judge the actions of others without trying to understand their times and circumstances allows us to be vulnerable to the judgements of our actions.

     Let us not cover up our missteps and errors - let us learn from them.  But let us also not forget the goodness of people and actions and ideals that have brought us to where we are - let us remember them.