#795 – Dick Bernard: "Trick or Treats, Money or Eats"

Pumpkins on parade a year ago in Red Wing MN

Pumpkins on parade a year ago in Red Wing MN


Today is Halloween.
Down at my coffee place, Caribou Coffee in Woodbury, the trivia question of the day was this:
The tradition of Jack-o-Lantern to ward off spirits is thousands of years old. Which vegetable were they originally made?
a) squash
b) pumpkin
c) turnip
d) melons
I guessed correctly and got my 10 cent discount. The correct answer at the end.
Two of the counter folks were dressed for the occasion:
(click to enlarge)
October 31, 2013 at Caribou Coffee in Woodbury.  At left, a Caribou!

October 31, 2013 at Caribou Coffee in Woodbury. At left, a Caribou!


Enroute home I stopped by one house decorated for this evenings parade of little “rapscallions”:
October 31, 2013

October 31, 2013


We live in a neighborhood with limited visitors on Halloween night: Few kids, better pickins’ in other nearby precincts. Nonetheless we’re armed with goodies, just in case.
For most of us, there are memories connected with Halloweens past.
My memories go back to the days of tipping over outhouses. NOT ME, I hasten to say. My parents were school teachers in the little towns in which we lived, and I wouldn’t have dared. But that happened, of course, and at our house from time to time.
The day was a time for more malicious kinds of stunts as well. It was as if the Devil were allowed out for an evening. Mostly, though, the fun was restricted to getting a bit of candy from this neighbor or that – in those days before obese kids, the portion of candy, even on halloween, was relatively small. And you’d hear about the psychopaths as well, which made things like apples a risky treat – a problem rare, but real.
The Day – All Souls Day in Christian terms – is recognized in different ways in different cultures. Many places today Dia de Muertos, the Day of the Dead, is recognized in the Mexican community.
Quite by chance, in November 5, 2001, we came across a variation of Halloween in London. Our abode overlooked a small park where people were celebrating what seemed to be Halloween but was, we found later, to be Guy Fawkes Day, recognition of a significant historical event related to religion.
Events like Halloween have their own histories and traditions, pieced together one generation and one culture at a time.
Now, the answer to the question which began this blog: I guessed “c” Turnip, and I was right.
The only reason for the guess: the turnip is a root, from below ground, and thus perhaps relates to spirits of people past.
Without looking before I wrote that last sentence, here’s what I discovered about the history of the Jack-o-Lantern. As you’ll note, my reasoning was off. But who cares? I got a dime off my coffee!
Happy Halloween, whatever your opinions are about the day.
Remember some of your own stories…. You can comment here if you wish.
front, counter-clockwise, Lucy, Addy and Kelly and friends trick or treat Grandma and Grandpa, October 31, 2013

front, counter-clockwise, Lucy, Addy and Kelly and friends trick or treat Grandma and Grandpa, October 31, 2013


"Ghosts" flutter across the street in our neighborhood October 31, 2013

“Ghosts” flutter across the street in our neighborhood October 31, 2013

#794 – Dick Bernard: Thoughts at the end of the 13th month of the Lock Out of the Minnesota Orchestra

The “filing cabinet” for Minnesota Orchestra matters is found at August 30, 2013, here.
This post also appears in the Blog Cabin Roundup of MinnPost for Nov. 1, 2013

A friend in Chicago area wrote today about the Minnesota Orchestra situation: “WHAT A TRAGIC TURN OF EVENTS for all concerned!!” Along with her note came an article about the Chicago Symphony, which is on a distinctly different trajectory than, apparently, our own Orchestra, now in the second year of lock out. She added: “Not to make you feel bad….but perhaps some clues here for symphonic success!?”
So goes the conversation, and yes, it continues, perhaps quietly, under the surface, but not far below the surface, and internationally.
We will probably never know exactly what drove powerful elements of the Orchestral Association Board to attempt to destroy the musicians union, and thus help destroy themselves. They will have a polished narrative, which they will hold to, slavishly, blaming everyone but themselves.
In my opinion, two continuing actions of the Orchestra Board led us to where we are now: 1) to the best of my knowledge, they refused to open to the Orchestra their financial records for independent review; 2) they hired a law firm known for expertise in union-busting lock outs (strikes in reverse, by management against labor).
Absent the two above actions, we may still have been going to the Orchestra while negotiations continued. From the beginning I had no sense whatever that the Orchestra expected to get everything it wanted. It expected more than what it got, however, particularly respect. Best as I can gather, management proposed the destruction of the union contract, and had no interest in bargaining.
There is a third in-action by the Board: excepting its courting of large donors, I’ve found almost zero evidence that the Board really did any marketing to even its audience to raise funds. The emphasis was on large donors. Yet this is a Board full of corporate types of people with access to all manner of marketing expertise.
I did achieve a small success in the past few days. Several documents I had requested from the Board in August, 2013, were finally received October 25, in response to my third request. One publication, the Orchestra’s “Vision for a Sound Future” strategic business plan published Nov. 2, 2011, emphasized data from its own point of view (Chicago Symphony is not mentioned, for instance.) Apparently we in the audience learned of this new Vision through the December, 2011, Annual Report, which was the Showcase publication we all receive when we come for a concert.
A copy of this report was included in the packet I received. After showing the programs for December, 2011, (none of which we had attended), there is a letter to us all on page 39 – near the end of the booklet – from Richard K. Davis and Michael Henson – and a message from the then-Treasurer Jon Campbell on page 49. What seem to be the relevant pages of this report are here: MN Orch Report Dec 2011001 (From long experience, I exercise great caution in accepting at face value any representations of data. Funny things can be done with numbers….)
It can be proven, I suppose, that the Orchestral Association did tell us through this program booklet, but we were told in such a way that almost no one would have reason to notice, especially given that it was distributed during the hubbub of December. I surely don’t remember it. Maybe it was also included in the January program booklet as well. I suppose there are people who read every page of those programs and got the news. Unless my attention is called to something, like the concert I’m attending, I’m certainly not one of those kinds of readers.
I think I’m typical. I remember nothing calling my attention to the letters from management to us.
While very important, the Orchestra was only one part of our busy lives.
Given the history of the past twelve months, it was enlightening to see the Key Targets for FY2014 (2013-14) as articulated in the Vision on p. 18
Achieve 80% paid capacity
Achieve $8.7M concert revenue
Achieve $0.9M in hall rentals & community performance fees
Achieve $0.4M in tour fees
Achieve $1.10 per person in concession spend.

Of course, now there is no orchestra, no music director, no audience, and (I would guess by now) a largely hostile arts community not very inclined to support the current management.
Back to the drawing board to update the Vision.
In this big-league town, we’re now not even little league with the Orchestra, and this is going to be a big loss for the Twin Cities and Minnesota in the short and long term. And this was to be a premier year for the Minnesota Orchestra in all ways.
Orchestra Hall was a busy place. In a front page article in the October 21, 2013, Minneapolis Star Tribune, former Governor Arne Carlson, a man who would likely know his facts and not throw them around carelessly, noted “The [Minnesota] Vikings bring 502,000 people downtown eight times in one season. The orchestra brings 305,000 people downtown over a whole year.” (At least it did.) The Minnesota Orchestra was by no means a small economic entity in Minneapolis.
But it seems to have violated a cardinal rule of Big Business: it didn’t make money, at least not directly. It was a community asset more than a business entity.
A couple of days ago came a most interesting commentary about the Minnesota Vikings, published in Pittsburgh Magazine. It was sent to me by a friend who has no apparent interest in the Orchestra dispute, but it speaks volumes about priorities as envisioned by big business, and, by implication, how something like the Minnesota Orchestra does not fit the downtown big business model as a source of funds.
Until there is an Orchestra League, where Orchestras can be bought and sold and moved at will, they will probably be hard for the big business community to grasp…in more ways than one.
The article is just an article, but worth your time and reflection.
Keep on, keeping on.
COMMENTS from Madeline S, October 31, 2013
1) Been thinking: The right-wing think tank that had a recent fund-raiser at Orchestra Hall got a State Rep. questioning if the Board was in compliance with their obligations under their lease–the Hall is owned by the City of Minneapolis–this was in a Startribune published article. Frankly, I think the Minnesota Orchestra issue may be settled by it becoming a “community asset” of some sort as suggested in a bill being introduced by Phyllis Kahn; and/or the Board’s replacement as indicated by the other legislator.
I have been thinking that perhaps at least at some point the Board may have decided that to get this, pardon the term, big elephant off their backs, they had to endure a lot of public anger and criticism in order to create the crisis that may make that change.
2) Dick, you sent me the link to this article.
Social justice requires work on issues like homelessness, poverty, racism, and lack of adequate funding for our public schools. Shouldn’t we find a way to oppose this kind of racketeering? The city of Minneapolis has a law which forbids the spending of more than a certain amount without voter approval. Apparently, the state gave a pass to the city to not abide by that ordinance/law. Perhaps this should be brought to the state’s Attorney General. Or perhaps there should be some kind of protest.
Minnesota is getting snowed. Millions for Wilf et al; not likely to help the local economy. The Bengals’ stadium has effectively bankrupted Hamilton County, which is now slashing public services and laying off police to make up for a $20 million budget deficit.
“The most comprehensive study done on the economic implications of sports stadiums found that they do little to bolster local economies. In some cases, local economies actually shrank. In a 30-year study of 37 metropolitan areas with pro sports franchises, sports economists found that the real per capita income of city residents decreased on average after the construction of a new stadium.”
Because of the stadium deal, Wilf could sell the franchise for a $375 million profit. This was recognized by Arne Carlson in a Strib article earlier.
Much more in this article:

#793 – Dick Bernard: Revisiting VCSTC (Valley City (ND) State Teachers College, aka Valley City State University)

About a year ago I decided to translate my college years (1958-61) to a blogpost for posterity. The results can be seen here. Initially, my intent was to send my musings around to a few people I remembered from those long ago days, and certainly there was no intent for the post to be as long as it has become. A newly received college alumni Directory yielded over 300 e-mail addresses for persons who attended the college in my general time frame, and I decided to add them to the list as well. Most of them I didn’t know.
To anyone who has an interest, there is now a great plenty of information about those “olden days” of ca 1956-66 at “STC” within the boundaries of that single post for January 2, 2013.
Last Thursday, October 24, I happened to be in Valley City, and took some early morning photographs around campus. Most of these are in a Facebook album here. College was in session, but Thursday was a
lab day, and labs didn’t begin till 9 a.m., and by 9:30 I had left. So, while I didn’t avoid students, I didn’t see many either.
(click on any photo to enlarge)
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“STC”, as we knew it, was still basically a “Normal School”, (“teacher’s college”), one of those underrated places of even less status than land grant “cow colleges”. I’ve always had pride in our small college, and the quality of people who went, and who taught, there, and I’m always looking for examples of success.
For instance, in the excellent history of the air war in Europe in WWII, “Fire and Fury” by Randall Hansen, one of the four most prominent American leaders cited was Ira C. Eaker, whose lack of pedigree was very clearly stated: “Eakers only education was at the undistinguished Southeastern Normal School in Durham, North Carolina” (p. 36)
Famed artist Georgia O’Keefe, began her rise to prominence as an art teacher in a west Texas Normal School in the 1920s. She was a farm girl from Sun Prairie WI. Recently, a guide at Frank Lloyd Wrights Taliesin, said that O’Keefe and Wright were friends, and he was the one who advised her to paint the red barns of Wisconsin, which she did, famously.
Her experience there is recounted in a fascinating book of letters about her relationship with photographer Alfred Stieglitz, “My Faraway One”.
In various ways, there are many people from STC who were (and will be) similar to Eaker and O’Keefe….
Even in a brief visit, such as mine was last Thursday morning, there are vignettes:
The lady in the coffee shop of the Student Center said she’d been there 26 years, and the place had been remodeled three times in her career. It was somewhat sobering to realize that when I left Valley City 52 years ago, that Student Center was still just an artist rendering, about to become reality. Time flies.
Where students used to gather in the previous “student center”, in the basement of old main, one now finds the technology offices for the college. VCSU has completely embraced technology.
Allen Library, which I remember for large study desks at which you looked at real books, is now mostly a lounge-looking kind of place, fully wired for the new generation of communications. The stacks are still there, but books, as books, for the time being at least, are almost novel.
The newest structure, just completed and occupied, is the very impressive L.D. Rhoades Science Building, very 21st century. Walking its halls, I came across a centerpiece display of Prof. Soren Kolstoe’s collection of bird eggs (see photos, caption and link below). Earlier this year one of Dr. Kolstoe’s kids wondered what had happened to his Dad’s egg collection. The answer was in front of me (see below).
There were few people around when I was on campus, but those I met were all welcoming. Yes, there was that student who met me, oblivious to my presence, with ear plugs and eyes focused on his smart phone…will this be a passing fad? One can hope, but not likely.
I was glad I stopped in.
Here are a few photographs from the most recent trip. There are a number more in the Facebook album for those who can access them.

Vangstad Auditorium Oct 24, 2013.  The stained glass windows are blocked by sound panels used at a choir concert.  The dome is shown in the following photo.

Vangstad Auditorium Oct 24, 2013. The stained glass windows are blocked by sound panels used at a choir concert. The dome is shown in the following photo.


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Vangstad Auditorium, known to many generations of students as a place for convocations, programs, etc, is being closed for major renovation in January 2013. The historic integrity of the facility will be retained.
The L.D. (Dusty) Rhoades Science Center

The L.D. (Dusty) Rhoades Science Center


A sneak peak at a Lab Session in progress.

A sneak peak at a Lab Session in progress.


"Dusty" Rhoades, for whom the Science Building is named.

“Dusty” Rhoades, for whom the Science Building is named.


The old Science Building, sans the second floor entrance bridge removed many years ago.

The old Science Building, sans the second floor entrance bridge removed many years ago.


Dusty Rhoades was a legendary science teacher at ‘STC, holding forth in the old Science Building. He would likely have a hard time imagining that a major and very well equipped Science Building would be constructed at his old school in 2013. He’d probably be surprised that an actual building was named for him.
A portion of Psychology Professor Soren O. Kolstoe's legendary bird egg collections has a prominent place in the Science Building

A portion of Psychology Professor Soren O. Kolstoe’s legendary bird egg collections has a prominent place in the Science Building


Some of the many eggs from Dr. Kolstoe's collection.  Most of the collection remains on display at the State Capitol in Bismarck.

Some of the many eggs from Dr. Kolstoe’s collection. Most of the collection remains on display at the State Capitol in Bismarck.


While Dr. Kolstoe was a Psychology professor, he had a great interest in the outdoors, and gained much regional prominence in his work with and for the North Dakota Outdoors. A previous post about Dr. Kolstoe, including his book of nature poetry, is here.
Plaque to Navy V-12 program conducted at VCSTC during WWII, on front lawn at the University.

Plaque to Navy V-12 program conducted at VCSTC during WWII, on front lawn at the University.


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A relatively recent addition to the campus is the above plaque to several hundred students trained in the Navy’s V-12 program during WWII. Following the war, including into the 1960s, many students attended with help from the GI Bill.

#792 – Dick Bernard: The Gospel of the Soprano

Friday evening my 88 year old Uncle and I went down the hall to visit his sister and my aunt in the Memory Care unit at the Nursing Home/Assisted Living facility in a small rural North Dakota community. It was a short trip, under a single roof. My Aunt, at 93, is most likely not suffering from severe dimentia, but nonetheless the placement is appropriate. She’s been in the unit for about a year.
My Uncle and I just went to visit. My Aunt was working on a puzzle. (photo at end.)
It was supper time, and two other ladies were at the same table, one familiar to me, the other not, perhaps a recent resident.
“Emma” was attempting to engage, but not succeeding. The second lady was easily understood but not allowing for much visiting.
We may have looked or sounded annoyed: at some point you don’t know what to do. Those knowing someone with any variation of dimentia understand.
The man assigned to evening duty came around. I’d talked with him during an earlier visit. He’s a retired teacher in the town, and as I recall, he willingly took his job more as a service than as a job. He had a relative – perhaps his Mom? – who was or had been a patient in this very facility. Maybe, it has since occurred to me, she was Emma….
For whatever reason, he entered the conversation: “Emma stood in front of me for 20 years in our Church choir”, he said. “She had a wonderful Soprano voice.” He mentioned one particular piece which required a phrase one octave higher than the usual, and it was Emma who would sing it, beautifully.
As I recall, Emma had nodded off.
Off he went to other duties, and our visit continued, helping my Aunt finish a puzzle (she’s good with puzzles) and then we left.
And all the next day, driving 300 miles back home, I kept thinking of that brief but powerful encounter in the Memory Care section of the Nursing Home.
This morning Cathy and I went to 9:30 Mass at Minneapolis’ Basilica of St. Mary as usual.
Fr. Greg Welch was celebrant and homilist, and today’s Gospel was Luke 18:9-14, the well known passage about the righteous Rich Man and the repentant Tax Collector (I knew is as the Pharissee and the Publican story).
Fr. Welch, in his own comments, chose to focus on the Pharisee, and drew us into the Pharisee’s circle, as it were, with a simple parable of his own.
He opened with a simple comment: when he was young, he grew up in a family that assumed the kids would go to college. There was no need to discuss this reality. For many other families, college is not even a dream, he said. It is not part of their reality for financial or other reasons.
Those of us in those pews are mostly pretty privileged, and Fr. Greg wondered aloud about the wisdom of a country criticizing “Obamacare” while 32 million people are without health care, and no alternative being offered; about cutting food stamps while considering military expenses to be essential; about people, including the homeless holding those cardboard signs on street corners, needing a job not being able to find one in which they can earn a living.
The open question, not directly addressed, was to each one of us: “where do YOU fit into this picture?”
It was an applause worthy homily; we in the pews were very, very quiet.
I’ll let the Memory Care attendant know about this blog post, and perhaps he will tell me what motivated him, on Friday night, to tell us about Emma, the lady whose grasp of what we take for granted is very limited.
At any rate, he sang a magnificent Soprano for us on Friday afternoon. It is a message that will stick with me.
(click to enlarge)

My Aunt and Uncle with the completed Puzzle, October 25, 2013

My Aunt and Uncle with the completed Puzzle, October 25, 2013


UPDATE Nov. 3, 2013:
Today’s Gospel was the story of “Zacchaeus, who was a chief tax collector and also a wealthy man” (Luke 19:1-10). Our Pastor, Father Bauer, gave an excellent homily interpreting the Bible story.
As with the previous Sundays text and interpretation, this Gospel fit into todays news, which included, this past week, the mandatory cut in “snap” funds at the federal level – I think they’re called food stamps.
There is a lot to talk about….
Also, this past week, came a review of what is likely a very forgettable book, by Bill O’Reilly, which essentially attaches the crucifixion of Jesus to taxes, and another “Christian” who labored mightily to prove that “government” is not “people”, when that is all that government ever is or has been….
It takes all manners of tortured interpretation. But the reality is, there are those of us who have, and we have an obligation those who have less.
Some day we may find ourselves in the same position of needing help.

#791 – Dick Bernard: Revisiting a Speech of President John F. Kennedy October 22, 1963

Last night I was returning from a meeting and happened across a portion of a speech President John F. Kennedy had given on this date, 50 years ago, one month before his death.
The 24 minute speech, to the National Academy of Science, is archived on YouTube, accessible here.
This is worth a reflective listen. Any pre-listening editorial comments by me are superfluous.
Your comments are solicited.

#790 – Dick Bernard: Default Week, 2013. America is going to hell…or it isn't.

The ten days between Friday, October 11, and Monday, October 21, were fascinating ones for this, yes, “old-timer”. (I put those words in quotations because it’s all relative: the day I pass on, at whatever age that happens to be, there’ll be somebody who will have just said “he was just a kid”; on the other hand I’ve been in Medicare ranks for eight years already….)
But the past ten days were fascinating.
We spent the bulk of the time at a resort cabin near Wisconsin Dells, Wisconsin, just having a quiet vacation. Were it not for television and the local paper of record, the Wisconsin Journal, we would have had no clue from the people around us that America was (maybe) facing default on its debts for the first time in its entire history. I didn’t think that even the current Congress would dare jump off that fiscal cliff, but we were too damned close.
Meanwhile, at the Dells in fall mode, you would be hard-pressed to find evidence, from the people, that we were at the brink of something very bad.
On the Dells boat cruise we watched the dog leap the same small chasm photographer H.H. Bennett had his son leap several times in the 1880s enroute to his famous photographic experiment with a new-fangled speed shutter. It’s less than a six-foot jump, but I bet the young man didn’t have the safety net like today’s leaping dogs do! (An article I read suggests the photo had a “bit of flim flam” to it, but, even then it was for that generation of rubes! I wouldn’t have done that jump as a kid!)
(click to enlarge)

At Wisconsin Dells, ca 1885

At Wisconsin Dells, ca 1885


“Book-ending” the beginning of the quiet week at Christmas Mountain resort, on Friday, October 11, we attended the festive preview of a film in production about the French in Minnesota.
French filmmaker Christine Loys observed that there is a great deal of evidence of the French presence in Minnesota, going back as far as the 1600s, and is near production stage on her film, En Avant* (“Forward” – the motto of the City of Minneapolis.) There were several hundred of us packed into a studio at the Ritz Theatre in northeast Minneapolis, and the event was festive and most interesting.
Here’s a picture:
At preview of En Avant, Minneapolis, October 11, 2013

At preview of En Avant, Minneapolis, October 11, 2013


And earlier this evening, the other book-end, I was in the audience for a well-attended talk by Matt Rothschild, the recently retired long-time editor of the well known magazine “The Progressive”.
Matt Rothschild, Minneapolis, October 21, 2013

Matt Rothschild, Minneapolis, October 21, 2013


Rotchschild emphasized the more dismal other end of our country: war, drones, spying on each other…. All necessary topics, but certainly not uplifting.
Analyzed separately, as individual frames, long analyses could be written about the meaning of each event we experienced the last ten days…and millions of other similar events happening everywhere, including a number of which I choose not to even mention here, from within the last ten days. Life is not a series of still pictures.
I prefer to look at the “bits and pieces” very briefly described above as part of a more hopeful “whole”.
In some sense or other, while the problems we face are daunting, I think there is still a sufficient decent core to humanity for all of us to survive, and not just in America.
We each can analyze as we wish, but we’re part of a whole, which is what bits and pieces ultimately make, regardless of how scattered and random they might seem.
En Avant! Together.
NOTE: I have a long-time habit of buying books and then not reading them for a long period of time. This trip, one of the books I took along, and decided to read two years after I purchased it, was filmmaker Michael Moore’s autobiographical “Here Comes Trouble”. Disclosure: I have always liked Michael Moore. I read the book at the Dells, and I found it very interesting. Check it out.
* – You can view the 3 minute trailer of En Avant here. The Password is Minneapolis.

#789 – Dick Bernard: One Catholics thoughts on the continuing sex abuse issue in the Catholic Church

UPDATE Oct. 23, 2013: There are a half dozen comments to this post. They are included at the end. As I noted to one reader, I could have gone on at much greater length about this aspect, or that, of this most complicated topic, but chose to keep my thoughts somewhat brief. As is also obvious, individuals have differing points of view. But that’s as I’ve always seen this Church: a rather unruly rabble of good people which is not the monolith it appears to be.
*
Saturday’s Minneapolis Star-Tribune lead front page article headlined “[University of] St. Thomas trustee who handled cases quits”. The trustee, Fr. Kevin McDonough, when I knew him best, was pastor of my Church in St. Paul and Vicar General of the Archdiocese. He was then in the bulls-eye investigating sex abuse cases involving clergy. I had, and have, huge respect for him. He was a national expert on the Church scandal.
Fr. Kevin’s boss, Archbishop Harry Flynn, from everything I knew, then, got it: church operations had to change, drastically, and these changes were implemented. This mornings paper, the front page lead headline is that Fr. Kevin’s fellow St. Thomas University Board member, Board co-Chair, retired Abp. Harry Flynn, has also resigned. I was surprised. Best I knew, Abp Flynn acted aggressively in every instance of abuse identified.
And two weeks ago, on October 7, a retired teacher I’ve known for years, publicly came out as a victim of sex abuse by a Priest in the 1950s and 1960s.
So, somebody might logically ask, knowing that I was at Mass at Basilica of St. Mary again this morning, ushering as usual, “how can you possibly continue in such a corrupt institution?”
Before answering that, here’s a long article I read about this issue ten years ago: Richard Sipe June 2003001. Richard Sipe talked, back then, on the “Culture of deceit undergirds clergy sex abuse.” I was taken by the article then, and I think it remains very relevant now, and I recommend it to anyone. (Re the editor of the publication in which the article appears, Bread Rising, see note at the end.)
So, why do I, and so many “Catholics” stay Catholic? I can speak only for myself.
We Catholics are part of a diverse, ragged and often imperfect “family”. Like all families, there are problems within. Because of our size, and the hierarchical and management structure – bluntly, some of the leaders just don’t get it – there are, and there will continue to be occasional problems. It would be good to be perfect, but we aren’t. In diverse ways, many of us work in various ways within our Church to change the system.
There are many differences of opinion within this family to which I belong (including amongst many members who have left). But today, as usual, my Church was well attended.
I benefit from the experience of having represented public school teachers.
Public School is also a very human institution, and during my work years the spotlight also focused on occasional inappropriate and unacceptable behavior by adults, teachers, in a position of authority.
Allegations about sex, we learned, back in the 1980s, were different than other allegations. The instant presumption seemed to be that an allegation against an accused perpetrator was true. Often this was the case, but not always. But there was a tendency to overreact; normal due process (“innocent until proven guilty”) was more difficult to achieve: once accused, guilty.
I remember vividly when we taught our teacher members NO TOUCH, PERIOD as a defensive strategy, and particularly one kindergarten teachers lament about not even being able to tie her kindergarteners shoelaces.
It took a long while, but after a time a certain amount of common sense equilibrium reached.
This issue has been more difficult in the Catholic Church than in schools, or so it seems. Perhaps this is because the Church is a massive private and mysterious institution, whose management was long accustomed to being out of the purview of the civil law. Some of those Diocesan heads – Bishops, Archbishops and Cardinals – were (and some still are) very slow learners. And these cases become newsworthy, front page news.
Would it be best to have no problem like this? Absolutely.
Will the Church, or people generally, ever be totally perfect? Of course not.
I choose to stay with “the family” as I know it. There are lots and lots of good people within the Catholic Church of my experience, and in general it remains a positive asset to the greater community in many ways.

NOTE ON BREAD RISING: I met Terry Dosh, editor of the newsletter in which Sipe’s article appeared, in 2001, when he and I were standing in line, chatting, waiting to meet Bishop Thomas Gumbleton at Basilica of St. Mary, where Gumbleton had just completed a powerful workshop we had attended. I add the bios of Sipe and Dosh to give some important context to their work. (The link is a long video of Terry Dosh describing his own life path as a Catholic. It is very interesting, for anyone with an interest.)
Here is a second Richard Sipe talk which appeared in the January, 2005, issue of Bread Rising: Richard Sipe Jan 2005002

Peace Pole at St. Albert the Great Catholic Church, south Minneapolis October 20, 2013

Peace Pole at St. Albert the Great Catholic Church, south Minneapolis October 20, 2013

COMMENTS in order of receipt:
from Andrea G: Great post. Today after 10 am mass during our coffee/donuts session, several parishioners were discussing the news of late. A few were openly discussing [Abp] Nienstedt’s actions and basically shaming him for not addressing the issues in public/in person during a mass. My jaw hit the floor as [our church pastor] was in ear shot of the discussion.
from John C (his most interesting website is here):
Dick
One can be a true follower of Jesus, even Catholic,
without being Roman.
Jesus never set up an Institution
and even if he did, t’would not be Roman.
Catholic (in the True Sense) evermore, Roman, ne’er again
*
My Church
ONE, HOLY, CATHOLIC, APOSTOLIC
ONE
Not in structure, organization, culture, or practice,
But as Jesus, in Love and Forgiveness.
HOLY
Not in common external signs of piety,
But in the pursuit of Spiritual Growth.
CATHOLIC
Not as members of one universal organization,
But reaching out to serve ALL peoples of the world,
especially the marginalized.
APOSTOLIC
Not in physical lineage to the Apostles,
But living in the Holy Spirit as bestowed on them
and us.
ONE, HOLY, CATHOLIC, APOSTOLIC
Not in a limiting or exclusive sense,
But in an Expanding and Inclusive sense.
*
The hierarchy labels Catholics,
who have moved beyond the boundaries
of institutional religion in search of Spiritual growth
Fallen-away Catholics,
as if not following the man-made rules and regulations
signifies a loss of faith.
Outrageous!
I asked people for a more appropriate name for us;
Here are some of the responses:
Homeless Catholics, Nomad Catholics,
Catholic Alumni, Exodus Catholics, Liberated Catholics,
Adult Catholics, Non-Attending Catholics,
Un-fearful Catholics, Alienated Catholics,
Non-bureaucratic Catholics, Inclusive Catholics,
Catholics in Love, Catholics in Exile,
Recovering Catholics, Kinda Catholics,
Liberal Catholics, Raised Catholics, USTA B Catholics,
Wandering Catholics, Roamin’ Catholics,
Disgruntled Catholics, Wayward Catholics,
Activist Catholics, Gypsy Catholics,
Agitator Catholics, Jesus Catholics,
Non-bureaucratic Catholics, Un-hierarchied Catholics,
Protesting Catholics, Re-Formed Catholics,
Metanoiaed Catholics, Pray, Play, DisObey Catholics,
Non-Babel Catholics, Catholics Living in the Real World
Post-medieval Catholics, Un-clericalized Catholics,
Freed Catholics, New World Catholics, Rebel Catholics,
Disenfranchised Catholics, Home-Liturgy Catholics,
True-Tradition Catholics, Non-Lay Catholics,
De-Catechized Catholics, Open-Table Catholics,
De-institutionalized Catholics,
De-programmed Catholics, De-culted Catholics,
Ecumenical Catholics, catholic Catholics,
Christian Catholics, Home-Church Catholics,
Fundamental Catholics,
(as opposed to Catholic fundamentalists)
Un-intimidated Catholics, Illuminated Catholics,
Former Catholics, Universe Catholics,
Refreshed Catholics, Progressive Catholics,
Small-Faith-Group Catholics, Happy liberal Catholics,
Discerning Catholics, Thinking Catholics,
Emmaus Catholics, John XXIII Catholics,
Global Catholics, Welcoming Catholics,
Beatitude Catholics,
Episcopalians,
Call-To-Action Catholics, Pot Luck Catholics,
People of God,
Catholics-with-a-brain-not-afraid-to-use-it,
Thinking Catholics, Catholics Conflicted
The Newly Marginalized Catholics,
First-Century Catholics, Run-Away Catholics,
Body of Christ
Fallen Away?
Rohr would say Fallen Forward!
from Connie P: Although I respect your somewhat defense of the Church in your piece, I think its because you are a loving long time member
of the Basilica, which for the most part as memory serves me is the most open and inviting of all the Catholic churches of the Diocese..It’s easy to believe, isn’t it? It keeps you in the belief mode of trust and loyalty thru all the scandal…But,.when you are using such words in your piece like: mysterious, private, slow learners, leaders don’t get it..Then maybe you and most definitely the Church has failed again and again…However, your loyalty remains… Good luck with that.. the abuse cover ups and mysteries/privacy will continue too..
It’s been very hard for me to get back to the church.. and it doesn’t help to hear more stories that continue since 2002, etc. 10 years have gone.
The church my not be perfect..no one or thing is..but there are and should be no excuses for this unaccepted shameful behavior of those in power in the church, from the church and from those who abuse,and those who don’t take action or account for it!!!
It’s a bit of a lost cause.. and will take many decades if ever, to change for the better..
Side note: Pope Francis..
the Pope may have a great personality..( he’s from Piemonte,after all, where we all have bigger than life personalities)..but that doesn’t mean the
Church will change in any really big way, in my opinion. Only time will tell..
from Jeff P: The problem is that the Church leadership really hasn’t learned, and now frankly they don’t have the luxury of getting away with it. Laws are in place with no statute of limitations.
I suspect there may be criminal charges possibly filed against some of the primary people in this matter, including Archbishops and former Archbishops or at least their main assistants.
That and stopping the flow of money from parishioners to the top is the only way to stop it.
from Florence S: Thanks, Dick. Excellent. I re-read Bread Rising.
from Dale L: Thanks, Dick. Good thoughts indeed. Let’s pray for the church and all of us in it as we make our messy ways along the merciful path of reconciliation again and again…to the arms of the Father of Mercies.

#788 – Dick Bernard: The Crisis in America. Stick-folk. Some thoughts about people

PRE-NOTES: Directly related to the below post is this one published two days ago, on “Conversation”. Overnight came a long and excellent rendering of what is happening in Washington now. The first three paragraphs of the post catch the essence.
*
“You cannot negotiate with people who say what’s mine is mine and what’s yours is negotiable.”
Tweet from James Morrison, Oct 10, 2013
Some weeks ago I was at a meeting, and a couple of folks were sharing thoughts learned at another meeting some weeks before… (You’ve been there, done that. “Hand-me-downs” are very useful, often.)
One of them presented us with a single sheet of paper with this single illustration:
(click to enlarge)
Stick-Folk Wellstone002
(Here’s the pdf for later use, if you wish: Stick-Folk Wellstone001
What is conveyed is a simple lesson about everyone of us as beings wandering around the planet. The words hardly need explanation.
Of course, nothing in this world of ours is simple: if you match up this stick-folk with a second stick-folk, there will be differences in values, interests, etc. We’re not all alike. Think married couples, BFFs (Best Forever Friends), and on and on….
How about a nation of well over 300,000,000 stick-folk, perhaps three-fourths of them considered as adults and potential decision makers. That’s the U.S. of course. How about 7 billion people? The World.
Yesterday I used Mr (or Ms) Stick-folk in a small meeting. But I endeavored to spread her (or his) horizons just a bit.
I added to the illustration a bunch of circles…
Circles001
…and asked the participants to put an “F” in the largest one.
Let’s call the “F” “family”, I said. Every one of us is part of many circles. In our little group, we could have come up with quite a list: colleagues at work, church, on and on and on.
But in these circles we know people, and here comes possibilities and complications.
I added a vertical line, with a plus sign at one end, a minus at the other, with a middle point. Let’s say the perfect person, the big plus, (from our point of view) is our self.
If the world believed exactly as I did, wouldn’t all be wonderful?
Of course, this isn’t true. We all know people who are diametrically opposed to us (“how can they be so stupid?”).
They say the same of us. The hard Right and the hard Left invest their time and energy shooting at each other across the massive middle, making points (“kills”?) but winning nothing. They dominate the communication we see on-line and in other mass media.
Can a determined stick-person permanently impose his/her world-view on everyone? Of course not. In comes negotiation.
At the meeting, I observed that if each person could positively impact on one or two others, a great deal could be accomplished. But this does not happen rapidly, and does not happen by duels at 30 paces. It is called building relationships, which fills many books by itself.
Up the side of the sheet I had several numbers:
6 – 61
8 – 78
10 – 56
12 – 76
9 – 6

What do these mean?
Very simple: in 2006, in Minnesota, only 61% of the eligible voters actually voted. 2008, 78%, etc. And Minnesota is ordinarily a very high voter turnout state, often leading the nation.
If those of us who are troubled by the Tea Party are honest, we will note that 8% or so fewer people voted in 2010 than in 2006. These are people who stayed home for all sorts of usual reasons, including Obama didn’t get single-payer health care, didn’t close Guantanamo etc. At the same time, the angry Tea Party folks came out en masse. (The source of the raw statistics for any wonk out there is here. You can find data for any state.)
In the wake of 2010 came Congressional District redistricting and the like, controlled in many places by those same angry folks that so vex us now in Washington and in many states. We’re finding that anger is not a good way of doing business, for a country, or a state….
What about that last “9 – 6”? That was the voter turnout (6%) in the 2009 School Board election in our prosperous children-laden suburban community. What a shame…. Why did people not vote, then? Your guess is probably accurate. You’ve been there, done that, yourself.
It is true, what the Tweet that leads this post suggests. And it is also true that this is how “negotiations” are happening, as we speak. “You” [the other] “can go to hell”.
When this mess is over, which it will be, some day, it would be good for all of us who happen to have lived that long, regardless of political ideology, to do some serious thinking about how we stick-folk can build our country of diverse opinions and spirits, rather than tear it to shreds.

#787 – Dick Bernard: "Conversation" and the Government Shutdown in Washington

Long-time journalist on politics, Eric Black, published a most interesting column in the October 7 MinnPost. Mr. Black has built a very strong positive reputation over many years as a reporter on politics in this region. He continues writing in retirement.
Succinctly, Black watched the 14 minute interview of John Boehner by George Stephanopoulos Sunday, October 6, in which Boehner used the word “conversation” 22 times in context with the Government shutdown in DC, as in “let’s sit down and have a conversation”.
Black’s column caused me to think back to July, 2012, in my own town of Woodbury, when the word “conversation” was used in conjunction with a community meeting about another word “taxes”. It was such a noble idea: one of the organizers of the conversation wrote a column in the local paper, and the papers editor wrote an editorial piece in support of the idea, and I wrote a column before the meeting which you can read here. Unfortunately, the links to the actual newspaper articles no longer work, but you’ll get the essence from my writing.
As I say, I wrote the column before the meeting.
I actually attended and participated in the event, which seemed to attract about 50 people. I again wrote about the meeting some months later, here entitled “Taxes, and other words”. (You’ll note the latter post was #51 about Election 2012. Politics as warfare did not begin this fall; nor in 2011. The intense warfare goes back to the mid-1990s. It is a war that is destroying us as a civil society.)
But, back to the word “conversation” and that community “conversation” in the summer of 2012.
“Conversation” is a positive word, and that’s why it is useful as a political word, which is why Boehner used it so often. But it is something different to put words into practice. “Conversation” implies a mutuality and it suggests civility and willingness to listen and compromise, and all the good things that go with a civil society.
But it has to be more than simply a word.
At the conversation in Summer 2012, we 50-or-so were pretty crowded into a room, and were divided into table groups of about six per table, for two ’rounds’ of structured talking about the word “taxes”. When the first group was completed (a timed exercise), we self-selected to another group of people at another table: new participants, same topic. The convenors were well prepared, and handled the sessions professionally. They knew the process.
My first group was the very embodiment of a positive conversation: good listening, good thoughts and ideas, accepting other points of view. It was a pleasure to be part of it.
The second group, not so….
I had noticed – they were impossible to miss – a band of adult roughnecks who seemed to hang together at the beginning of the session, and were loud and dominating.
I didn’t know any of them.
They apparently knew me, perhaps from that column of mine in the local newspaper or in some other way. And when we changed tables, four of them came to the table I had chosen, and one other person who’d been with me at the first table joined as well.
This group was the polar opposite of the first: two of the four were civil enough, but the other two were not there to listen and converse: they were there to dominate. It was, to say the least, an uncomfortable time. The sixth man in the group had participated at the first table; at this table, he said nothing – a wise strategy. I did my best to keep it all civil, but at least once had to take on the loudmouth who was not interested in other opinions than his own.
So, when I looked at Boehner’s use of the word “conversation” last Sunday, I had to look at it in context with the performance of his caucus in the House of Representatives, which is a bunch not interested in conversation except as a mechanism to control and dominate and “win” their agenda.
After the meeting I wrote to the lady who was convenor of the conversation, observing that I felt bullied in the second half of the meeting.
Judging from her response, she knew the characters, and understood.
The ladies who’d had the idea summarized the meeting to we participants, and talked hopefully about a followup session.
To my knowledge, that second session never happened.
I understand why.

#786 – Dick Bernard: Now the really hard work begins: To the Musicians of the Minnesota Orchestra, Maestro Osmo Vanska and the Audience.

NOTE: Permanent “file cabinet” on the Orchestra issue is here.
Twenty-four hours before I found my seat at the Ted Mann Concert Hall Saturday evening October 5, I was at the closing reception at the Will Steger Exhibit at the Minnesota College of Art and Design.
I was fascinated by the artifacts, and at 7:20 p.m. (so says my camera clock), I lingered at Will Stegers map of his Transarctic Expedition route in 1989-90.
(click to enlarge)

Will Stegers map of the Trans-Antarctic Expedition crossing 1989-90.

Will Stegers map of the Trans-Antarctic Expedition crossing 1989-90.


What an accomplishment that was.
I had never met Steger in person, and this evening, October 4, I briefly met him, and gave him two dozen snapshots I had taken at his welcome home at the Minnesota State Capitol March 25, 1990. He seemed genuinely interested in the photos, and lingered especially at my photos of two of the sled dogs from the expedition, which he remembered by name. To Steger, they were not dogs, they were team members with great value. Here they are:
Steger expedition sled dog, March 25, 1990

Steger expedition sled dog, March 25, 1990


Second Steger Sled Dog, March 25, 1990

Second Steger Sled Dog, March 25, 1990


One of the multi-national support team for the Trans-Antarctic Expedition, Christine Loys of Paris, was at the reception. She’s here making a movie about the French in Minnesota and has known Will Steger for many years.
After the reception I gave her a ride to her temporary home in south Minneapolis. She was reminiscing about events now 23 years in the past.
The 1989-90 expedition was a very big international accomplishment involving the cooperation of many countries and people…and dogs.
Christine remembered a particular event: the homecoming of the Expedition to Paris. Everyone including the dogs had flown from New Zealand to England, and their next stop enroute home was Paris. The human members were cleared, but the dogs were held in quarantine.
But those dogs were members of the team, and late at night it was Christine’s assignment to call French President Francois Mitterand at home and deal with the matter. Here she was an ordinary French citizen, rousting the President out of bed and, of course, the dogs were cleared instantly.
Without the dogs, there would not been a successful expedition. Nor would there have been a successful expedition without all of the team members, most of whom were not trudging across Antarctica. Nor would there have been an expedition at all, were it not for Will Steger and, likely, Jean-Louis Etienne, a French physician and adventurer who had, quite by coincidence, met up with Will Steger at the North Pole during Stegers Polar Expedition in 1986.
But what does this have to do with the Minnesota Orchestra, Maestro Vanska, and we the audience?
Everything, I maintain.

Saturday night, I would contend, the Minnesota Orchestra made it to the South Pole, sacrificing everything to get there. It was important to Maestro Vanska to be there in support, and he was there, and it was a glorious evening to be celebrated with we audience members, and tens of thousands more listening on Minnesota Public Radio.
But as with the Will Steger team, the Orchestra’s South Pole is only half way home.
When Steger and his teammates reached the South Pole, they still had a long way to go.
Everybody celebrated reaching the goal of reaching the South Pole.
But then the hard work continued, all doing their parts.
So it has to be for everyone of us who are confused, angry and concerned about what has happened to our Orchestra.
There are no greater or lesser team members.
We’re all in this together.
En Avant! (the motto of Minneapolis MN, “Forward”).
NOTES:
Friday 5:30-6:30 p.m. at the Ritz Theater in northeast Minneapolis, Christine Loys will have a program about En Evant!, her upcoming film about the French presence in Minnesota. The public is welcome. Will Steger will be one of the speakers. Here is the flier for the event: En Avant_Invite at the Ritz6. You can read/see more about Ms Loys project here, scroll to #4.
Will Steger’s website is here.