Posted on 01/28/2003 7:42:15 AM PST by heyheyhey
Good question indeed!
Especially when applied to the hierarchy ;-)
I am immediately reminded of the funeral for John Cardinal O'Connor. In the front pews sat then president Clinton, his wife, VP Gore and his wife, along with other notable political figures from New York who happen to be Catholic and Pro-Choice. Thought you might enjoy this article.
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Cardinal O’Connor’s funeral showed |
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by Mark Hare Did you see their faces? The Clintons, the Bushes (W. and H.W.), the Patakis, Giuliani? Democrat and Republican, “liberal” and “conservative.” Equally uncomfortable, visibly so, at Monday’s funeral for New York’s Cardinal John O’Connor. Unlike O’Connor, they are bound and defined by labels that keep them in permanent opposition. You wonder whether they are capable of even the simplest genuine communication with each other. People who accept what now constitutes the “conservative” constellation of issues use the term “liberal” as a synonym for evil. The :liberal” use the term “right-wing extremist” in the same way. “I’ll drop these annoying quotation marks now that you know I find both words - liberal and conservative - essentially empty of meaning, and therefore, useless.) What is conservative about opposing conservation? What is liberal about supporting physician-assisted suicide? And there at the cardinal’s funeral, the political lexicon was shown for the gibberish it has become, illogical and inconsistent. “Inevitably, there is an effort to categorize public figures as conservative or liberal,” said Cardinal Bernard Law in his homily. “Cardinal O’Connor, like the church herself, defies this type of categorization.” O’Connor, said Law, was obviously opposed to abortion, but also to the death penalty, to euthanasia and assisted suicide. He was a champion of the rights of workers, and of assistance to the poor. And of peace for Northern Ireland and the Middle East. “What a great legacy he has left us in his constant reminder that the church must always be unambiguously pro-life,” Law said. For a moment, St. Patrick’s cathedral was silent. But the great nave slowly filled with applause, rising like incense to the ceiling. The worshippers stood; the applause resounded for one minute and 50 seconds. The politicians squirmed. The Bushes, who oppose abortion but wildly support the death penalty, applauded. The Clintons and Gores never did. The Patakis applauded, as did Giuliani, but only politely. To the Cardinal, “pro-life” meant much more than it does to politicians. It includes the whole spectrum of issues that have been neatly divided between liberals and conservatives. To applaud or not to applaud. That is the question. Later, Giuliani and Pataki said they had applauded as a tribute to O’Connor, who was admired and respected by them both - despite their disagreements. The cardinal’s positions, the church’s positions, are consistent and firm” All life is sacred. But one’s deepest beliefs can never be an excuse for attacking those who do not accept them. Former Mayor Ed Koch, in a piece in New York magazine, says he and O’Connor clashed again and again - over condoms in schools, abortions, the rights of homosexuals. But they became friends. Once when a young police officer had been shot and lay dying in a hospital, Koch says he called O’Connor. “And he came down and comforted the family and embraced me until I composed myself. That night, we saw one another revealed. I don’t like people to see me crying. But with him I wasn’t ashamed. It felt right.” Compassion was his greatest gift, Koch said of O’Connor. “He wasn’t a man who hated.” Politicians are not priests. Politics is not religion. But the fidgeting politicians in the front row could learn from the cardinal’s example - they will be better and more interesting people when they transcend the labels that divide them from each other and from their constituents. |
They will know nothing about the nuances of clapping until they read the "Gulag Archipelago" by Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn.
From "DON'T BE THE FIRST ONE TO STOP CLAPPING"
One of Solzhenitsyn's most chilling stories concerned a birthday party for Comrade Stalin, held in a small, out-of-the-way town. Stalin was, of course, nowhere in sight, but still there were speeches and applause. Without thinking, the mayor of the town rose and exhorted his fellows to one last cheer for the evening to the honor of Stalin.;^D
The applause continued for minutes without stopping and everyone was growing weary, but who would dare to be the first to stop clapping? As the labored applause wore on an old man collapsed. Finally the mayor allowed his arms to drop and the noise died. The next evening the mayor was sentenced to the gulag, and no charges were ever spoken against him. As he stepped into the train, a party official whispered into his ear, "Never be the first one to stop clapping."
They were mighty slow off the mark, as I recall. And Mrs. 41 is publicly on record as not opposing abortion. Her husband learned to mouth the required formulas for the sake of a spot on the ticket with Reagan, but his Planned Parenthood baggage still weighs heavily on him.
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