#466 – Dick Bernard: Comments on Heritage #5, All Saints Day, 2011

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Heritage #5,the originating post, is here. The comments as received via e-mail are below. One person commented in the ‘comments’ box at the end of Heritage #5 (see Dan, below). I express my own thoughts at the end of this post.
There were several comments at Twin Cities Daily Planet posting. They can be accessed here (scroll up if you wish to see the entire post as it appeared on the Daily Planet).
Jeff, whose comment was included in the original Heritage #5, added this note: I re-read the comment [#2 in the Daily Planet]. I certainly would be willing to fight the historical side of it. Its pretty hard to not define the Church as authoritarian since as you say it is what is called Apostolic. Rule passed down from Christ to his apostles and the head to be Peter who became the Bishop of Rome thence passed down as the papacy.
In modern history most of the time (not all) the church leadership is conservative and tends to side with authoritarian governments. I think of Italy, Spain, France mainly but one could argue that in Poland they were against the communist authoritarians, and in some Latin American countries they were as well in the 20th century.
But most of the history which tends to be in Latin America and Europe the church was generally aligned with the forces of authoritarianism and against reform. Its just a fact. After the Reformation the main Catholic states were the Hapsburg Empire and its fiefs (Spain and Austria , non Orthodox east Europe, and south Germany and the Rhineland) and France (certainly we would know of Richelieu and Mazarin who were Cardinals and major players in the French empire)
One could argue that an Americans view of history has always been filtered thru English glasses and certainly the English view of Catholic France and Catholic Spain (and Catholic Ireland) was always one of conflict and those nations are always viewed as “papist”, non democratic, etc. minions of Rome (not that the English subjects at least until the 18th century weren’t for the most part all minions of their royal or Cromwellian head)
From alignment with the Roman Empire to Charlemagne to the Hapsburgs most of early and early modern European history of the Church is pretty much one side. The prelates, bishops, cardinals, popes, and abbots were all landed property owners and protecting their own.
COMMENT TO JEFF’S FROM DICK: One of the real surprises to me was the Church’s opposition to liberation theology in Latin America, including from Pope John Paul II, and especially Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger who became the current Pope. I sense that said liberation theology was viewed as a threat to the Church’s idea of its authority. There was an element of fear, almost paranoia, of other ideologies taking root as well. Paradoxically, this resistance to a movement (Liberation Theology) devoted to simple issues of justice for the dispossessed seems to have backfired, and helped other movements, like the pentecostals, to make inroads in formerly Catholic dominant countries.
Joyce, from suburban St. Paul: One interesting thought, Dick, is that when the Latin mass was instituted, Latin was the vernacular, the common language, so the mass would have been widely understood. When Vatican II allowed masses in the vernacular, the church was, in effect, returning to an earlier tradition!
Dan, from the Twin Cities: Catholics are a lot less doctrinaire than many in the church hierarchy would presumably prefer.
Flo, in north central Minnesota: As you know I, too, was born and raised Catholic. After marriage outside of the church, for which I refused to sign the document required by the Catholic Church, Carter, an ELCA Lutheran, and I chose to become United Methodist. It was profoundly hurtful to be dis-invited to attend Catholic Mass with Mom and Dad when they visited and received Communion, because a member of the local Catholic Church objected. Where no-one knew me I still attended Mass and had Communion with them. Then came the Catholic wedding of a dear niece. In the bulletin, non-Catholics were told that they could come forward for a blessing, but could not receive Communion.
The United Methodist Church received us into membership, honoring our Baptisms, without doctrinal constraints. The United Methodist Church declares that it has OPEN HEARTS, OPEN MINDS AND OPEN DOORS, even now. Still there is a very active movement within the Church to CLOSE HEARTS, CLOSE MINDS, AND CLOSE DOORS, by adopting a doctrine.
For these reasons and many others, I often wonder if I can continue to support any CHRISTIAN church. Surely, even Jesus Christ, himself, wouldn’t be welcome because his activism and politics led him to minister to those who did not have favor with the religious and political powers of the time. Still, I was born and raised Catholic …
SAK, from London England: I read your post with interest.
I had just heard a documentary about the 30
years war (one of three parts of “The Invention of Germany”* – extremely
interesting & shows how wrong stereotypes or received ideas & views can be).
It was a horrendous war in which, as usual, politics & power struggles
mingled with religion. The main casualty was “Germany” (in quotes since the
country did not exist then.
I have always admired Martin Luther’s “Hier stehe ich; ich kann nicht
anders” (“Here I stand, I can do no other”).
But after the violent mess I see spreading (North Africa – Middle East –
Central Asia …) I can’t help but reconsider. Could he really not have done
otherwise? Had he known how the Reformation-Counter Reformation & the
ensuing wars would develop would he still have proceeded in the same manner?
As Maurice Ravel put it: if you need fresh air why throw a chair at the
window if you can simply open it? I know opening (somewhat jammed) windows
can take time & patience but it has its non-violent advantages. Furthermore
violence is rarely forgotten & its consequences roll down the ages. I can
see that one should be able to discuss the Gospels but perhaps
interpretations should be humbly advanced and not preached from atop high
horses. There is no need for vehemently attacking any who hold different
interpretations. This goes for the lay persons and to a lesser degree for
the church. Although the reformation could have been differently & less
violently advanced, I still believe that along with a reverence for
tradition religion is in constant need of reform. The Catholic church is
much more democratic now and has a growing ear to the ground. As more and
more priests express reforming ideas I believe things will change gradually.
I cannot see the church of today supporting obviously cruel unreasonable
dictators. Progress has been made and more modernisation & justice can be
achieved peacefully I hope.
* Links included: here, here and here.
Lyle, a retired minister: Thank you, Dick, for your thoughtful and penetrating view of the Roman Catholic Church. You cover a great deal of ground and offer those of us outside the R.C. Church empathetic insights in understanding of that large and varied ecclesiastical body. In the rural community in which I grew up, we had close friends in the R.C. Church and did a fair job in accommodating each other’s differences. E. g. in our 4-H club we met on Friday evening, but would wait until after midnight so that our 4-H friends could enjoy the meat contained in some of the hot dishes which had been brought for a shared meal! I also took two years of piano lessons from a nun who was very kind and able.
If you haven’t read it, you might enjoy Roland Baintan’s Here I Stand. Baintan was a professor at Yale Divinity School and his book is about Martin Luther’s life.
Thank you again for your insightful blog–and also the excellent sermon forwarded by a Jewish friend!
Connie, in big city Texas, roots in rural Michigan, who I got to know a few years ago as a very active Catholic in Minneapolis: I just read your blog article.. “Awesome”!! You guys [including respondent Jeff] got it right. I think it, but you all say it best. Thanks.
I responded to a Huffington Post article yesterday about the “Power of the Church” in Government and the Abortion issue among others..
And in my little note I did pick on the Bishops and the one [specific one] … He is going to be a factor in the future.. I’d keep an eye on him.
I heard/read about the changes in the Mass at my downtown/3blocks away church/where I hear the bells ringing every day..nice bellringing!! It’s “Our Lady of Gaudalupe”.
Very old historical Church.. Lovely.. Sits around a ton of skyscrapers in the Arts district like a mushroom in the tall pines!!
It is made up largely of Hispanics.. Very vibrant group who are very very active.. More Spanish speaking masses on the weekend than English…But it seems
well attended when I attended.. on occasion . Yes, I’ve become that Lapsed Catholic you speak of..
Rita from Twin Cities: Dick – Good to read your blog. Personally, I gave up on the Catholic
Church many years ago. I just talked with a relative from another
state who was asked from the pulpit to contribute to the legal defense
for priests accused of molesting children.She was absolutely
incredulous and said, “I’m done.” Thanks for your emails. Rita
Marcia, from Arizona: Thanks for this info. I am interested in the topic of religion in general. I like taking a birds eye view most of the time, but can enjoy an “ant’s view now and then. 🙂
Some people say the only things you can count on are death and taxes….but for me the only thing you can count on is CHANGE… and there are changes in both death and taxes! lol
This brought to mind what I posted on FaceBook yesterday. The quote from Baha’u’llah was in a letter to the Kings of the earth and how they treat their subjects. And then I added my own two cents worth. lol
“Know for a certainty, however, that whatever your hands or the hands of the infidels have wrought will never, as they never did of old, change the Cause of God or alter His ways.” (Summons of the Lord of Host, p 224,par 95)
Wondering when…if ever, we, the human race, will ever give it up and realize that it’s God who will always have the last word. lol
Molly from Twin Cities: Thanks for this follow-up post. I’d read the article when you sent the first note (thanks for that one, too). It was a terrific overview. I was raised RC, also, and left in my mid-20’s. I did not go away mad, I just went away empty, but with gratitude & recognition for the part it played in my upbringing. I wound up “dropping out” of churches till my mid ’40’s. I’m very happy where I am, at MacPlymouth, though, because of its message of love and social justice…
Anyway, I really appreciate your notes at the end of the comments. And agree, re its deadly alignment with political money & power being preached from the pulpit… (and, its dreadful role in trying to quell liberation theology in Central America, sigh…)
My late Dad, also a lifelong Catholic, said, during a conversation re directions of the Church (I believe that discussion was about how much the Church misses out on by not allowing ordination of women) “The Church persists in asking the wrong questions.” Wow. What a great observation.
My Dad was all about love and quietly helping others, and the Church keeps forgetting that part of the New Testament message as it gets embroiled in control… Again, sigh…
Lucy from Minneapolis: Thanks for sharing your thoughtful (as usual) writing, Dick. Thought you might be interested in this link I came across yesterday.
It’s written by a 16 year old Latin student who does a great job of taking the new liturgy to task. I think he did a great job of expressing the discontent I feel–plus he’s got a good grip on the Latin!
POST NOTE FROM DICK BERNARD:
There is some of what I might call irony in the situation which led me to write this post in the first place.
On the one hand, the hierarchical Church has chosen to very publicly roll out a new translation of the Mass, calling attention to something, words, that most people, including active Catholics, would find of little interest or relevance and which are of no consequence whatsoever, except to purists.
On the other hand, this same Church has from time immemorial caused no end of damage to itself by its penchant for secrecy in very serious matters with great consequences such as the long-standing and unfortunately still ongoing scandals of sexual abuse.
It seems that there should be some learning by the Church, here.
I doubt there will be, and the erosion of active and committed membership will continue, silent and impossible to control.
The Catholic Church – MY Church – has since Roman Emperor Constantine in about 300 aligned itself with temporal power. Jeff’s comments are a good summary of that. Since then it has been ruled exclusively by a small fraternity of men who select themselves, and in turn select men as local leaders, our Priests. The Church is the consummate example of a hierarchical model of rulership.
For most of my life, until recent years, the Church has known its role, as a religious entity, separate from the political entity. It should have stayed there. While large – at most one-fourth of Americans are said to be “Catholic” in some estimates – it is by no means a reliable bloc of people who think alike. I’m an active Catholic and my concerns are doubtless shared by a great number of my fellow Catholics, including many who do not darken the church doors.
Most recently, often in alliance with other authoritarian religious leaders from other denominations, the hierarchy has very boldly ventured into the political arena pushing its own specific political agenda. I don’t need to enumerate the many ways.
The hierarchy is well-funded, of course, and controls the Church treasury, and it can afford the expensive lawyers to keep it from venturing too far into the weeds of violating separation of Church and State; and it has the money and the public relations capacity to manipulate and attempt to form public opinion, including within the pews of its churches.
Whether it has the legal and public relations and financial power to move its political agenda is not a question with me. It is powerful.
The more important question is what the Church – and the State of which it is a part – will become if it is successful.
At the same time as it demonstrates its Power and Authority (pleasing to the authoritarians); it is slowly but surely losing its core base – people who have been the heart of the good work the Church has done over the centuries. If this is what it wants, so be it.
But there can be a very high cost to “winning”, short and long term.
I plan to stay with the Church, and do what I can from inside the walls.
For everyone, whether you agree with me or not, be wary. Sometimes power plays can backfire, and have serious and unintended consequences.
UPDATE Nov. 28, 2011
This past weekend was the official “roll out” of the new Missal. It is scarcely worth the report. The biggest adjustment will be for the Priests.
I sent the initial blog post on Nov. 1 to ten Catholic Priests, most of whom I know only from the perspective of a ‘parishioner’. Five of ten responded, none disagreeing with me (I was surprised that so many took the time to respond, and through e-mail). One, with perhaps 30 years service as a Catholic Priest, now in southwest U.S., gave me permission to post his response, which follows: “Thank you for your thoughts on the direction of the Catholic Church. I for one am like Peter, “Lord, to whom shall we go?” this is one reason why I am a Franciscan. I have a foot in the ‘peace and justice movement of the Catholic tradition’.. As such, on the inside, I effect change – and am changed as well. I choose to ‘open the window and the door’ and not do violence to myself or anyone else. Yes, there are things that drive me crazy about the crazy neo-cons in positions of authority in the Church, but for me the real Catholics that witness to me are those who are presently encamped with the Occupy movement – and feeding the poor. For those who have ‘given up’ on the Church. How much have they given up on the Gospel? Where is their community that holds them accountable? Do they honestly believe that there is any other moral authority in the world today big enough to counter the powerful forces of greed and militarism than the Catholic Church? I’m staying in and fighting with the moral authority of Christ. You can’t do it with relativism.”
Another Priest-respondent recommended a blog site which I am finding quite interesting. It is PrayTellBlog, which you can access here. This blog includes large numbers of reactions to this weekend (nearly 100 at last look). Suggestion: scroll to Nov. 27 entry.
Personal from Dick Bernard: We attended 5 p.m. Mass on Saturday – not our usual time – so could not get the sense of our 9:30 a.m. community. It is already old news so hardly worth comment. It will be with us until the next revision years from now. Some will consider it a victory. I don’t see it as adding anything to the Mass. Exalting form over substance comes to mind.
I was interested in the comment of a friend who converted to Catholicism about 1982, and remains part of the church. He noticed, “through my fault, through my fault, through my most grievous fault”, which is old hat to we pre-Vatican 2 types, but was very foreign to him.
UPDATE December 11, 2011:
After Sunday Mass today I wrote a blog entitled “Going to Hell” (Church today was very positive, as usual, but I keep thinking of a TV program I watched about 24 hours ago.)
We’re in the third week of the new Missal (small portion illustrated below), and about all I’ve noticed is that the paper program book we receive each Sunday has been revised by omission of the text of the Epistles and Gospel reading. This is likely to accommodate the new language which we are supposed to communally recite without increasing printing costs.
For me, a lot is lost without the readings as we once saw them. I have been to Mass at another Church since the change, and their routine was a bit different.

It has been and will be, in my opinion, much ado about little or nothing.
Or, perhaps, it is much more significant, and troubling. In the Preface of my Grandmother’s 1906 Douay-Rheims (Catholic) Bible (see below, click to enlarge) is the following statement by Right Rev. Henry A. Brann, D.D.: “[The Church] has even restricted by legislation the promiscuous reading of the Bible by the uncultured and the ignorant who sometimes have presumed to interpret even the most difficult passages….”

Portion of Preface to 1906 Douay-Rheims Bible, by Rt. Rev. Henry A. Brann D.D.

#465 – Dick Bernard: Heritage #5. All Saints Day 2011. The Words of the new Catholic Mass from an older Catholics point of view.

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UPDATE November 4, 2011: All comments are accessible in the November 3 post, accessible here Further comments will be added to this post if/as they are received. Check back from time to time.
PRE-NOTE: Heritage #1-4 begin October 5. What motivates this rather long column on religion and the politics connected with it is a sermon given by a prominent Congregational Pastor who is a good friend and colleague of the highly respected Catholic Priest who married my wife and I. The sermon was forwarded to me by another friend who is Jewish. The sermon is worth the time to read. It is not the topic of the following, but its contents directly relate.
Comments about this post are welcome, and will be added to the end if received by e-mail. There is one comment already. Check back once in awhile if interested in future comments (if any).
This is my turn to talk about an often confusing issue: my Catholic Church. The opinions expressed are my own. The Catholic Church is a very large organization dominated and run by a very small group of men with a political structure designed to perpetuate a certain point of view, and it is not comfortable for even an active layperson like myself to express a contrary opinion. But there is a time, and the time is now.
Nestled at page A14 of Sunday’s Minneapolis Star Tribune, the only article on the page, was this item from the Washington Post: “FOR CATHOLICS, A REVISED MASS“.
The news in the Star Tribune article was not a surprise. We Catholics have been hearing about its coming for a year. The new words arrive officially on Advent, the beginning of the new Church year.
For some Catholics these new words may be a joyous development, for others (me included) they are unnecessary, ill-advised, divisive and they are a sign of an irreversible mandate of current church leadership to go backward as much as possible to the old days before Vatican II (early 1960s).
For most people who are counted as Catholics the language change will be meaningless. Rather than a sign of unity, the new imposed language is a sign of further division within the Catholic Church, and in my opinion no encouragement for ecumenism, even within the Catholic community itself.
I am a lifelong Catholic and an active one. Three times this past month I’ve ushered at the Basilica of St. Mary, the pro-Cathedral of the St. Paul Archdiocese. I rarely miss Sunday Mass. In fact, I like going to Mass. It ends and begins my week, every week. The new text will not change my habit or tradition. We receive the Archdiocesan newspaper, and I particularly read the Archbishops opinions. I’m pretty well informed.

1914 Postcard of the envisioned (then under construction) Basilica of St. Mary Minneapolis


I’ll live out my life as a Catholic, but this is not to say there is only a single definition of what a “Catholic” is. Ask any Catholic who cares, and you can get an opinion, by no means all the same.
All is not quiet within the walls of Catholicism.
The Old Days
I grew up in what I have always called “Catholic Catholic” families from rural midwest communities. Catholicism was central to their lives, both on the German and French-Canadian sides, going way back. My parents, born in the first decade of the 20th century, carried the tradition forward and were devout Catholics. Had Dad been able to master Latin, I likely wouldn’t exist. He wanted to be a Priest like his fellow Altarboy, Ed McDonald, who later became a Priest, later a Monsignor, and in 1937 “Father Ed” married Mom and Dad, Henry and Esther. Priests and Nuns came from my root families. In many ways, I am my father’s son (Henry Bernard, R.I.P. Nov. 7, 1997)
Those were the good old days when the language of the Mass was Latin, and the only way to follow along was a bilingual Missal: English (or German, or…) on one side, Latin on the other.
The Priest was an authority figure – “Father” – separate from and superior to the faithful.

Page of Henry Bernard's well used St. Joseph Missal, a gift he received in 1956


The people were essential to the Church but subordinate.
Grandma Bernard’s 1906 edition of Douay-Reims (Catholic) Bible had the below clear warning in its Preface. I’ve often wondered if Grandma, with a 6th Grade Education, ever read that Preface, or cared what it said (click to enlarge).

1906 Douay-Rheims Bible, imprimatur His Eminence John Cardinal Farley, The E.M. Lohmann Co St. Paul MN


Back then, Church boundaries were sacrosanct: if you lived within a churches neighborhood, that was the church you attended. This was easy to enforce as people had less mobility than today. Each year parishioners financial giving was published. It was always interesting to read who gave, and how much.
Ecumenism (simply getting along with other denominations) was frowned upon. There was suspicion and distrust, one denomination to another. Pre-Vatican II, I would not have seen a Congregational ministers sermon sent to me by a Jew. For a time in the 1920s, a main target of the Ku Klux Klan was Catholics. Where dominant, Catholics were not kind to Protestants or Jews.
Most marriages, at least within religions, were within a specific culture: i.e. French-Canadian Catholic married French-Canadian Catholic. Interdenominational marriage did not happen inside a church, at least not in a Catholic Church.
Change to the new.
October 1962 to December 1965, now nearing 50 years in the past, was the Second Vatican Council, a time of change, . When Vatican II began I had already graduated from college, and was in the Army. Pope John XXIII (Pope 1958-63) had figuratively opened the church windows to change many Catholic practices in many ways. While I don’t know this for sure, I think the same dynamic was happening within other denominations.
Ecumenism flourished. We learned that Methodists were okay, and they got to know Catholics as real people, not as agents of a foreign power, the Vatican.
Most of us now living have spent more than half our lives in Post-Vatican II.
The present.
I’ve observed in my many years around the church that it is at minimum two separate “Catholic” churches.

There is the official business entity, the hierarchy, the Bishops and on up the line to the Vatican. Our local Archbishop defined the Catholic Church power structure very well in his column in the Diocesan newspaper June 9, 2011: “The Minnesota Catholic Conference [is] made up of the seven Catholic bishops from the state”. The Bishops, not the people, are the official voice of the Church. They keep their own counsel, consistent with Rome; they are not selected by the approximately one million people they are said to represent, nor are they under any obligation to seek input or listen to that input from the parishioners. This is the Church which owns the property. If there is a “Catholic” position, the Bishops are the ones who speak it. It is just how it is. They are the language of power. They are heavily involved in political issues – all legal, of course.
The other Catholic Church is the people I see in the pews every Sunday, and those in other pews in other Catholic Churches. These garden variety Catholics are a diverse lot, not easy to typecast. Some of these like an authoritarian Church.
But few of us are in the pews.
In a revealing document I saw and kept in June, 2009, an official Archdiocesan planning committee said that only “34% of registered Catholics” attend Mass on Saturday evening or Sunday, and that “this Archdiocese is aligned with the national estimate.”
Succinctly, apparently two-thirds of registered “Catholics” don’t go to Church, at least not on a regular basis.
Other non-participants may represent a third Catholic Church: ask them, and they will say they were raised Catholic, or baptized, but that is about it.
To be Catholic is to not fit into a particular niche.
I think non-Catholics find Catholicism puzzling, and I think a large part of this comes from the tension between the officialdom at the top, and the rest of us. Another reason is that the Church is not an open book: there is always an intended and strong element of mystery to it, and not in the sacramental sense. It’s “none of your business”.
There are endless tensions these days, and they are conveyed sometimes not too subtly in sermons and bulletin commentary. On Sunday we were informed that our Church was significantly short in its budget, and there was an urgent appeal to help cover the shortfall. Absent adequate money, programs begin to suffer. Giving is voluntary, of course, and at least one reason might be one or another areas of disagreement with something the Church (not necessarily the Parish or the Priest) has done.
Perhaps we’ll write an additional check, but part of me resists….
The Priests – what is left of them, and they are a dying breed – are caught in the middle of all of this, and do not all think alike. They are not free agents. They are representatives of the hierarchy – the Church. But they are not all cut from the same ideological cloth. As is true of their parishioners, they have their own points of view.
At our church, we often see visiting Priests, as retired Priests, Professors, Monks and the like. Succinctly, there are few Priests to go around, even for very large congregations such as ours. I do listen very carefully to sermons from the Priests as they interpret the text of the day.
Many of these clerics are brilliant people. My guess is that some of their messages rankle the authoritarians in the pews.
Nuns? These were the true sheroes (not misspelled) of justice and peace, the essence of the Catholicism I love: hospitals, schools, etc. I was proud to know a number of them quite well. Today, Nuns exist, but barely. Years ago they were a cheap and exploited “human resource” but vocations are few and far between these days.
Future
The Catholic Church will not disappear. It is far too large and it has been around too long. On the other hand, we are a pluralistic country, of many beliefs and traditions. No one of these can or should dominate.
I think that my Church is in for ever rougher times as the authoritarian fringe attempts to reestablish control and bring back the “good old days”.
The new Mass text will come – that is a given. Missal publishers will make a mint on the new business, though I doubt there will be a huge market for the Missals – that would happen only if they went back to Latin. The new text will not help bring unity, and I think the hierarchy knows this: thus the long roll-out process.
One could laugh, back in the 1950s, about the fear of the “Pope’s Army” preparing to take over. I used to envision church ladies with machine-guns in Church basements. For me, it isn’t such a laughing matter any more. There is an “Army” and it is being used. Only the weapons are different. I do see a growing abuse of power originating in Rome.
The Church, with all its many faults, has done immense good through history (think Catholic Charities, Catholic Hospitals and the like.) The true core of the Catholic tradition, the essence of the Christian scripture, is peace and justice.
But the current dominant and authoritarian leadership is not well serving the Catholic Church.
Can the Church recover the glory of the old days? I don’t see such a scenario. I’m told the all-Catholic Quebec of my ancestors is full of beautiful and almost empty churches today. Some years ago I heard that Rome itself is considered mission territory by the Vatican.
Will the new changes make a positive difference overall? I have my doubts.
END NOTE: I belong to a very large Church prominent among the Catholic Churches in this area. Big prominent places like my Church tend to get favored treatment.
It is further down the line – the smaller rural parishes – where the tensions and disproportion of power between laity and hierarchy become more visible and the issues more urgent.
Earlier this month I was at a vibrant rural, now suburban, parish in another state. The church was packed for the weekend Mass. At the back of the church was a handout prepared by the pastor. That handout is here, with identifying information redacted. Church Decision001 It is not necessary to read between the lines. Succinctly, what the Parish could accomplish and wanted was subordinate to the Bishop’s wishes.
UPDATE:
My good friend, Jeff, spent most of his life as a practicing Catholic until his particular last straw several years ago. Here’s his comment:
A good discourse my friend. Well undertaken and drawn.
I also think much good has been done over the centuries by Catholic entities, you mentioned a few.
However , as a historian, I would say the evidence in respect to the presence and influence of the Catholic church falls heavily on the authoritarian side. (I don’t need to cite the terrible history of the Inquisition, going hand in hand with imperialism and colonialism, the sad record of the leadership in WWII (not to denigrate the very many Catholic priests and nuns who were on the right side), right up to the record of the current leadership which is well fleshed out by your article)
Dorothy Day, Catholic support for the Labor movement, the liberation theologies and movements in 1960-1990 Latin America, the peace and justice movement are really relatively minor compared to the historical record of the institutional church and its authoritarian history commingled with Spanish/Portuguese imperialism, Catholic anti democratic alignments generally in Europe from before the Reformation to the 21st century. In general the Church aligned itself against the forces of reform, Enlightenment and democratic self determination nearly every step of the way. And generally the most Catholic countries became both democratic and economic backwaters with few exceptions, France being one, but I suspect you know the history of Modern France since the Revolution was one in which the prerogatives of the Catholic church and clergy were really stopped in a hard way by the French govt/people for the most part — I would not say the record is 100% one sided, but lets say it is certainly heavy to one side.
So your comment is very well drawn, but I would say that the period of Vatican II which essentially lasted into the late 80’s was a minor aberration.
I respect your fight. Keep it up, I still read the weekly archdiocesan paper with a lot of empathy for the faithful, and with incredulous disdain for the official propaganda espoused there.
Final note: Ethnic Catholicism in America is a good topic… historical Irish and German Catholicism being quite a bit different than Italian and French Catholicism. And of course there is Polish Catholicism and now Hispanic Catholicism… and even African Catholicism , or Asian (Vietnamese and Filipino and Indian) Catholicism….
A diverse and un-stereotypical bunch.. indeed.
Also I would say that many Catholic clergy and laypeople obviously over the centuries were on the anti authoritarian side. (the Spanish Civil war was a good example, however its typical that again the Catholic church was for the most part aligned with Franco, even though there were some courageous dissidents on the other side) Also the Church does have a tendency like American political parties, to go thru periods of internal disequilibrium followed by dissent, co-opting the dissent and finally reform within the institutions…. Certainly that was true in the case of the Pre Reformation church in light of the Cluniac reforms, Franciscan movement, and the ability of Thomas Aquinas to bring the rational thought of Aristotle into the Church and Western culture, and even some of the Counter Reformation (which had some merits, but was a bit more like the movement you are seeing now… lol)
UPDATE November 4, 2011: All comments are accessible here.

#462 – Melvin Berning: Heritage. On Plowing before the advent of Tractors.

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COMMENTS AT THE END OF THIS POST, as well as a photo of the Busch farm in the summer of 1907, soon after the sod-busting of 1905:
Previous Heritage postings: here, here and here.
“One had to be impressed with the silence.
All you could hear was the jingle and creaking of the harness and the plop, plop, plop of the horses hooves, along with the silent plop of the sod being upturned.”
Melvin Berning
October, 2011
My mother’s cousin, Melvin Berning, saw the photos of the old walking plows I found at the ND farm (you can view them here), and it inspired the drawing below, and a short story of his memories behind the plow in the 1930s and 1940s. (click on drawing and photo to enlarge).

Drawing, text by Melvin Berning, October, 2011


Remains of two old walking plows, Oct 6, 2011, rural Berlin ND


Here, with great thanks to Mel, is his story, received October 27, 2011:
“I actually learned to plow [with the walking plow] but I preferred the new 2-bottom plow that you could ride on, pulled by 5 horses, three in back and two lead horses.
I think you have two kinds of plows [in the photo].
Notice the mold board and plow shares. [The plowshare] was used for plowing after the sod was broken up. The [other] one seems to have a moldboard that is less curved and longer and I could not distinguish the plow share [see note below]. The different shape allowed the sod to lay over better. I did see some sod broken up and if the sod didn’t turn completely upside down, it had the tendency to go right back to its original position, thus the longer moldboard. I can’t really tell from the pictures.
The plow share was detachable sharpened every year at a blacksmith shop. Uncle Ferdie [my Grandpa] may have done that himself in his shop. I know we would shrink wagon wheel steel rims over there. The wagon wheel rims would be pounded [?] out during during their travels.
I actually plowed the fields with a five horse team – three in back and a lead team of two horses. It was my job to harness, hook up the teams to the plow and ride it. We worked from 8:00 till noon approximately 3 miles/hours in 12 round trips in the morning with an hour for meals for myself and oats and hay for the horses then back to work at 1:00 with another 12 rounds (12 miles) till 5:00-5:30. The silence was unreal and you could see the eyes of the seagulls following the new furrow (field mice). There would be 5 to 10 gulls following. I started full-time plowing in my sophomore year 1943 until school started in September. Dad did not buy a tractor until 1946. So I got lots of silent miles . Fortunately the horses would stay in the furrow and I could sleep the weekend dances off for about 5-10 minutes to a round. The horses would stop at the end of the field. I only fell off once when I hit a rock.
I believe that when they broke up the sod they used a three horse team as that was a hard pull. Life for the old-timers was hard!!!
PS. We had one of those plows on our farm to plow the garden and plant potatoes. That’s where I got my limited experience with the walking plow.”
NOTE FROM DICK: I did not know the terminology. On closer look at the photo, I think the second plow (the one at right) also had a moldboard.
There followed a brief ‘back and forth’ between Melvin and I:
Dick:
I am guessing that [Grandpa] Ferdie [Busch] did the sharpening. He was ALWAYS in that shop in the shed by the barn. Last time I looked the forge was still there. One of these trips I’ll find the building has collapsed. It was the original granary, and one of the first buildings constructed on the property.
Stories like this one from you are rapidly disappearing from the memories of the olden days. I’ve been saying to folks that people in my age range – I was born in 1940 – are the last generation who will have any memories whatsoever of old time ways in farming or anything else. Our kids generation has no reference points at all. There has been a huge change, and if/when we go back to the primitive days of back then, none of us will either know how to or be able to cope.
Melvin:
I can’t really tell which one of the plows was the SOD BUSTER without seeing them but the difference is noted and they each had a specific use, once the sod was plowed the SOD BUSTER was not needed again.
I don’t know if you remember seeing the old steam engine below the house [I don’t], but [Mel’s cousin, and my Uncle] Art and I would spend hours around that old thing wondering if it would ever run again. You are very right in remembering that old shop of your grandfathers, it was truly a trip into the past with all the old tools in use at the turn of the century. And I remember very well watching dad [August Berning] and uncle Ferdie casting a babbit bearing for one of our old pump engines and cranking the old forge blower to heat the charcoal.
Dick:
I don’t recall the old steam engine you mention. Doubtless in my meanderings as a kid I came across it when we visited, which was quite often, but it would have had no more meaning to me than those plows. Things like the horses and chickens and the menagerie (geese, pigs, etc.) got far more of my attention.
I asked Mel what I thought was a stupid question: since the plow was designed to dig into the soil, and didn’t have any mechanical lifts or such, what did they do to get the plow to the field in the first place? Very simple: they put the plow on its side and it was simply dragged along the ground till it was to be used. It was a “duhhh” moment for me, trying to render something very simple into something complex.
(Click on photo to enlarge it.)

The Busch farmstead from the south, summer, 1907. The first field to be plowed in 1905 was likely where the people are standing. From left: Frank Busch, Lena Berning, Fred Busch, Wilhelm Busch, Rosa Busch and her and Fred's first child, Lucina.


COMMENTS:
Ellen Brehmer: Very interesting. Yes, we need to record our experiences. I’ll try. My wonder is this – “What is a moldboard?” Is it to mold the furrow or did the ground have mold? [look at right, here] I really liked hearing about the silence. These days there is always something electrical running; fans, heaters, not to mention radio, TV, stereo and even flourescent lights have a noise. It may be essential to the massive physical labour these guys were capable of.

#461 – Dick Bernard: Two Trains Running

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Last night we attended August Wilson’s play, Two Trains Running, at St. Paul’s Penumbra Theatre. It is a play first performed in the late 1980s, and set in the 1969 African-American community of the Hill District in Pittsburgh.
The Penumbra engagement runs through Sunday, October 30. (click on photo to enlarge)

Two Trains Running is one of August Wilson’s ten now famed “Pittsburgh Cycle”, ten plays, one about each decade of the the Twentieth century, as experienced by African Americans. All but one of the plays is set in his home town of Pittsburgh.
I’ve seen eight of the ten, nearly all at Penumbra Theatre in St. Paul. Last nights performance was also at the Penumbra, the second time I’d seen the play there.
There is more than adequate internet information about the play accessible here. Other blog entries I’ve written about August Wilson are accessible here and here. Both include photos I took of his Pittsburgh in 1998.
August Wilson is now an American institution with two Pulitzer Prizes for his work.
Set simply in a down-at-the-heels restaurant in the Hill District, Two Trains Running has seven characters: the owner, the waitress, and five customers who, in two acts, eight scenes and three hours, comment very powerfully on the matter of personal stories, relationships and contemporary history.
It is a time of tension in the United States and particularly in the African-American community. Pittsburgh’s Hill District is being killed to be reborn through urban-renewal; Malcolm X, though dead some years, lives on in demonstrations occurring somewhere in the city. There remain “two trains running” from Pittsburgh to Jackson, Mississippi, home to the Restaurant owner till the violence of racism drove him north years earlier; bitter personal experiences he could not leave behind.
Into, and out of the Restaurant come the characters who make up its regulars. All are simple yet immensely powerful representatives of lives in the neighborhood. They include the local numbers runner; an ex-con not long out of the penitentiary; a sage elder; a demented street person; a wealthy mortician; the waitress and the owner. They speak their voices; their relationships ebb, flow, ebb again…. They speak “family”, though none are related in the legal sense of that term.
Off-stage, a local prophet, laid out in a casket at the morticians funeral home, draws unseen mourners; a woman, said to be 322 years old, dispenses advice to troubled souls, as might a muse.
We sat in the front row, feet against the stage. We were in that restaurant, and within those characters lives….
It was near 20 years ago when I first saw Two Trains Running at the Penumbra, so it was a new yet old experience last night.
Though there was no way for me, a white man from a country upbringing in North Dakota, to directly identify with the experiences of those in that Pittsburgh restaurant, it was simple enough to see how lives, even of strangers, interact, come together, drift apart.
We may pretend that we can isolate ourselves from others, but we are all family in one way or another. I can only speculate about what August Wilson was saying to us through his characters. His mortician, wealthy because of others deaths, important because of his wealth, would some day die himself, unable to take his wealth along for the ride. Polar opposite, the street person with the grocery cart, obsessed with the ham he’d been promised but never received, probably was every man – each of us.
Last night, Mr. Wilson worked his magic for me once again.
We’ve come a long way since August Wilson’s Pittsburgh, 1969.
Or have we, really?
Maybe when August Wilson was writing his play in one or other restaurant back in the 1980s, he had in mind the 99% vs the 1%. Who knows?
In Two Trains Running there were demonstrators in the streets; there was no work; there was great inequality between those who have, and those who have not.
The message was, in too many ways, spoke to today.

#459 -Dick Bernard: Heritage. Michif Language and Music; Haitian Family Story and Food. Thoughts of Booyah and Culture, generally.

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An October theme for this writer came to be the topic of Heritage. Previous posts on this topic are here and here and here.
October 18, found me in a classroom with multi-cultural students of French at Macalester College in St. Paul MN. We were listening to Professor of French and French in America scholar Professor Virgil Benoit of the University of North Dakota speak on the Michif culture of the Chippewa Reservation at Turtle Mountain ND. Dr. Benoit is a passionate defender of the French language, one of the major world languages, and one of the most studied languages in the world.

Dr.Virgil Benoit, University of N. Dakota, at Macalester College, St. Paul MN October 18, 2011


Dr. Benoit’s video guests (from a 2005 video interview) were Turtle Mountain Michifs Dorothy and Mike Page (Mike is pictured with the fiddle above). Mr. and Mrs. Page conversed about various aspects of their culture, including use of their native Michif language, a language infrequently used at this point in their history. “Michif” is a culture and a language, usually a combination of French-Canadian and Canadian Cree ethnicity and language and customs. (A number of links related to Michif, including a fascinating conversation spoken solely in Michif, can be found here.)
A few days later, October 21, we attended a most interesting talk presented at a Minneapolis Church by Jacqueline Regis about her experience growing up in the southern peninsula of Haiti (near Les Cayes). Haiti, the second free Republic in North America (independence in 1804) was born from a revolt of African slaves against their French masters. It was viewed as a threat by slave-holding and infant United States with consequences to the Haitians lasting to this day (click on Haiti history timeline link here NOTE. the reference to 1919 should be 1915). The loss of Haiti was a major defeat for the French, however, and a direct consequence of that defeat was the co-incident sale of the huge Louisiana Purchase to the United States in 1803.
Ms Regis, long in the United States, is fluent in English but grew up speaking Kreyol and learning French, now both official national languages of Haiti, though French is the language of government and commerce.
[UPDATE: see note at the end of this post] Here is a Haitian recipe for Haitian Pumpkin Soup, served at the gathering: Haitian Recipe001. Food, along with Fun and Family, are very important parts of all cultures.
As I was listening to the Page’s and Dr. Benoit on Tuesday I began to think of a regional stew often featured at large group gatherings in this area. It is called “Booyah“, sometimes “Booya”, and when I looked it up I found it is likely actually derived from a French word, and possibly was first used as a reference to the stew in Wisconsin.
Booyah, like Americans generally these days, consists of many common elements, but no Booyah is exactly the same.
So also is American culture: very diverse. And the diversity was reflected both in the classroom and the church sanctuary in the Twin Cities this week.
Dr. Benoit, the Page’s, Jacqueline Regis, and everyone who make up the American booyah have good reason to be proud of their heritages, as reflected in the rich tapestry that is the American culture.
UPDATE October 26: an incorrect link is shown in the pdf. A reader provided the correct link for the Pumpkin Soup recipe: see it here. Other recipes here and here

#454 – Dick Bernard: My Contribution to the Peace and Justice Community

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Message to the assorted groups that make up the Peace and Justice community (of which I am a part): this is a time of opportunity to convey your message; but it is long past time to change tactics and strategies. Public attitudes have changed pretty dramatically, but our approach has not. We need to act on this.

Today, I attended the demonstration marking the 10th anniversary of the bombing of Afghanistan in October, 2001. A small contingent of demonstrators on diverse issues got an enthusiastic response from motorists on the very busy Lake Street near the light rail station at Hiawatha. The speakers were the usual. I passed on joining the short walk to South High School for the rally [UPDATE Oct 18: Here’s a three minute segment from the rally at South High].
I was glad I went to the demo. (click on photos to enlarge)
(Attendance at this demonstration might have been smaller than expected due to another Occupy Wall Street demonstration in downtown Minneapolis perhaps four miles away.)

Lake Street, Minneapolis MN October 15, 2011



Today’s demo reminded me of the first demonstration I participated in after 9-11. Quite likely it was on October 15, 2001, one week after we commenced the bombing of Afghanistan, with overwhelming support of the American people Afghanistan Oct 7 2001001. As the article shows, 94% of us were quite okay with this violent response, though within that 94% were many varying attitudes about the how’s or why’s of that bombing.
I was in the 6%.
I simply could not see any long term benefit arising from the bombing. It was a lonely spot to be in at the time. But only one of 20 Americans agreed with me.
Ten years ago I wasn’t directly involved in the peace and justice movement in any way. That October day in 2001 I heard about an early evening vigil on the steps of the Minnesota Capitol and wandered over there. The crowd was roughly the same size as today’s. I don’t recall seeing or hearing anyone I knew. Nor do I remember any of the messages, except for the raucous gaggle across the street who were bomb-the-hell-out-of-’em-get-revenge-now-bunch, brandishing flags like weapons, trying to shout out the speakers on the steps. Their ranks included young children. I was to see a lot of those angry-as-hell folks the next few years.
I came home and got actively involved in the Peace and Justice movement.
These days I’m more involved than ever, but chances are many of those activists across the street from where I took today’s photos think I’m a deserter.
Hardly.
These are insane times. Our worship of war and the war economy, along with greed, is killing us. We desperately need to retool: exactly the opposite of going from a peace to war economy in WWII, but with the same positive results: jobs, jobs, jobs; but fewer of the negative: deaths, deaths, deaths. But we don’t seem to be paying attention. Change is very hard….

But I’m not sure that demonstrations like today’s are a good use of valuable resources in bringing about change: our resources are much better spent in engaging with the public.
Today there were no anti, anti-war folks along that Minneapolis street. There were lots of honking cars.
Any survey worthy of the title today will support the idea that Americans are very tired of war. The October, 2001, attitude is long gone. The worry is about survival in this mean economy.
Standing nearby me today was Barry Riesch, Vietnam vet 1969, and a man I greatly admire. He has made Memorial Day and Armistice (Veterans) Day very special for many years. At the demonstration, I matched his sign with my Veterans for Peace cap – I’m a member of Vets for Peace. The cap which goes with me everywhere in my car.

Barry Riesch, Minneapolis, October 15, 2011


Barry and I know each other, though not well, and he had recently been to demonstrations in Washington DC on the issue of war. He’s been a guest columnist on this blog.
I sensed that he generally agrees with me that the Peace and Justice movements need to get much more involved in true dialogue with those who are searching for ways to become engaged, but are either tired or or not ready to go stand on street corners.
This is a time to personally engage with these uncertain folks who don’t like the status quo but are not ready to get rid of the military or whatever else idealists would want to have happen.
Earlier this summer I attended another demonstration in the rotunda of the state capitol in St. Paul, and made some observations about that group which I feel directly apply to all of us. The blog post is here. The specific comment is this: “I am of the belief that the only effective way for ordinary people – people like myself – to have an impact is one person, one contact at a time. We are so overwhelmed with “information” that there is little left to learn. If we’re going to survive as a society, we need to talk with, even debate, each other, and really listen to other points of view. It isn’t easy – those people standing in a circle yesterday, to have effect, need to turn around and act outwards towards people outside the Capitol rotunda. The only way to do this is to practice honing the skill, be it letters to the editor, standing up in a small or large meeting, giving a presentation, etc….”
As the group marched west on Lake Street yesterday (below photo), I would hope that they are marching into more direct public engagement and true dialogue.
Without such public engagement, there is little hope.

Marching down Lake Street, October 15, 2011

#453 – Dick Bernard: Occupy Wall Street

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As I write, October 13, the Occupy Wall Street initiative seems to be gaining momentum.
Two weeks ago, September 30, I submitted an opinion piece on the issue to my local newspaper at a time when the metro newspapers were ignoring the happenings in New York. I was motivated by the video clip of the folks on Wall Street balconies sipping drinks while overlooking the protestors below. You can view the clip here.
My op ed, “Wall Street Protests Matter to Us”, appeared in yesterday’s Woodbury Bulletin, and speaks for itself.
Tomorrow there is a demonstration in Minneapolis which I will likely try to attend.
The protests are spreading.
But I am reminded of some cautionary thoughts, which seem different, but to me are very directly related.
1) Right or wrong, the Wall Street folks feel that they deserve their excess wealth. This time of year is bonus time “on the Street” and (I hear) $1,000,000 bonuses or more are not uncommon. Folks who get these bonuses are slaves to making money, and labor very hard to make that money for whomever, and have come to expect this wealth, whether deserved or not. If the bonuses are cut somewhat (a likelihood this year), you will hear the weeping and gnashing of teeth all the way out here in the hinterlands.
I recall conversations with a woman about my age at a workshop thirteen years ago. Her daughter was a young analyst on Wall Street, and the previous year had made $800,000. The number sticks in my mind because I was a hard-working guy, in what I felt was a pretty well paying job at the time, and this young woman’s annual take was ten times my own annual salary.
The Mom got some benefits from her daughters success, and who of us can argue when one of our kids makes good? And in our society, the almighty dollar is the usual evidence of making good.
As I say, “right or wrong, the Wall Street folks feel that they deserve their excess wealth.”
(There is nothing intrinsically wrong with money, in my opinion. The ‘devils in the details’ are abundant, however. First is greed, which affects not only aspiring billionaires, but can take root far down the economic ladder as well. As important, if not more, is the lack of long-term vision when it comes to money policy. Wall Street has come to look on this as short-term (annual bonuses for performance, for example); and has imposed even more harsh markers on Business. Talk with anyone in big business, and the “quarterly numbers” will come up. One doesn’t achieve long term goals by being stuck on short-term thinking….)
2) As for protests, they can be good, a means to an end, but they cannot be the end in themselves: (Here is a fascinating column about the New York City Occupy Wall Street group.)
As noted it is possible that I’ll be at the event in Minneapolis tomorrow, but it is unlikely that I will be there for more than that single event. It is a big commitment to drive a distance to such things, and there are competitions for one’s available time and resources.
The protests, which were largely invisible in the national news media when I wrote the op ed two weeks ago, have now become very visible, and they are spreading, and that is good.
But sooner than later they will ebb and once again become invisible on the national media screen. The opposition – the rich 1%ers – know this reality: you simply have to wait out the protests and go on with life as usual.
If the organizers and supporters of these protests are wise they are already planning the next steps beyond the protests.
Next steps include things like I did: submitting a letter or an opinion to the local paper; communicating with others we know, including lawmakers, etc., etc.
The reality is that the ‘system’ we love to hate will ultimately have to create a reasonable solution. Anarchy or the like isn’t a viable option, even though it’s fun for awhile.
3) Finally, there is an argument about “class warfare” out and about.
I don’t doubt at all that there is such a war, and it was a preemptive strike by the privileged 1% against the rest of the population.
But it is important to remember that those 1%ers are not a monolith, all thinking alike.
Always keep in mind the folks like mega-billionaire Warren Buffet who are out there, doing their part as well, and moderate views are an extremely important part of this struggle.
Protests are good, but they are only one tactic in what is a very long term struggle.

#452 – Dick Bernard: Heritage is alive and well! (Part 2 of 4)

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Related posts: here and here and here.
Earlier this summer I more or less formally resigned my volunteer position as family historian. Thirty years and several books was enough, I reasoned.
But one just doesn’t “resign” from such a “career”, I’ve learned, and the past week, which began with publication of this October 5 post on Heritage is evidence.
October 6 I was at the ND farm near Berlin where my mother grew up, helping “rescue” (a favorite term of my Dad) scrap iron for my uncle. In the junk behind a shed we recovered two pieces of farm history: the remnants of two single bottom hand plows (ploughs), the oldest of which (at right in photo below) probably turned the first furrows when Grandma and Grandpa began to plow the virgin sod prairie in 1905. This plow would have been pulled by a team of horses, and the accompanying wooden accessories have long since rotted away, but the business end remains, and is now safely stored in my uncle’s shed. A few days later, I saw a similar though larger plow in Ada MN, a monument to the pioneers who broke ground in that area. That is the second photo, below. (Click on photos to enlarge)
Both ploughs were surprisingly light and in surprisingly good condition, most likely having laid outside for as much as 100 years or more. When I picked them up I was symbolically reconnecting with my grandparents and their heritage.

Remnants of two one-bottom plows, October 6, 2011. Oldest at right.


Monument to pioneers, Ada MN October 10, 2011


A few days later, in Park Rapids MN, I had the privilege of helping lead a group of 59 people in a conversation about Heritage. The base of discussion was the list found here. There was a vibrant and rich conversation among the participants about what their heritage was, and what it might mean. Our 90 minutes flew by. Here’s a photo of the participants in the session:

Park Rapids MN Headwaters Center for Lifelong Learning October 11, 2011, meeting in Community Room of Northwoods Bank, Park Rapids MN


The very act of gathering and conversing about shared and diverse elements of heritage became a community building exercise in itself, one said.
Between October 6 and 11 came other examples of how the melting pot heritage of America is very rich.
October 7 and 8, I participated in the Midwest French Festival and Convention in Moorhead and Fargo. The below photos represent the tiniest view of a vibrant Festival. More photos on Facebook, here.
In order of appearance:
1) Timothy and Doree Kent discussed the Voyageur, Native and Metis life of the 17th Century before several hundred students and adults.

Tim and Doree Kent October 7, 2011


2) Several persons explained, in English, French and Norwegian, the statue of the Norwegian Rollo across from the Sons of Norway Lodge in Fargo. (Rollo had much to do with the history of the French province of Normandy.) (The inscription on the statue in Fargo: “Rollon. Born 860 A.D. at More, Norway. Founded the Dukedom of Normandy 911. His line through William the Conqueror became the Royal House of England 1066 and of Norway 1905.”)

Statue of Rollo, edge of downtown Fargo, ND, October 8, 2011


Reading the history of the Rollo statue in English, French and Norwegian, October 7, 2011


3) Parishioners at the rural Wild Rice ND parish of St. Benoit (Benedict) gave a most interesting tour of their Church, center of a community with a rich and long French-Canadian heritage.

A tour of St. Benoit Parish, Wild Rice ND, October 8, 2011


4) Dan Truckey, Director, Beaumier Heritage Center, Northern Michgian University, Marquette and Dave Bezotte, Archivist, Michigan Technological University, Houghton, gave a workshop, and performed French-Canadian music for the group. Both are involved in keeping French-Canadian heritage alive in the Upper Peninsula.

Dave Bezotte and Dan Truckey perform at the conference, October 7, 2011


5) In the evening, the great Quebec group Le Vent Du Nord gave a fabulous concert. Later this month they are among a select group of world musicians performing at a major gathering in Copenhagen, Denmark. Many samples of their music can be found on YouTube, and at their website is the Sep 17, 2011, performance of Garrison Keillor’s Prairie Home Companion, on which they were guest artists.

Le Vent du Nord, Fargo ND, October 8, 2011


Group Dance to the Musique of Le Vent du Nord October 8, 2011


There is, literally, no end to the potential for conversations about our heritage, and the conversations are interesting and indeed essential. We are, indeed, who we came from; and we live on in those who descend from us.
October 10, at Itasca Park, at the headwaters of the Mississippi River, we came across a family celebration. We don’t know the persons names: the elders had their first date at the headwaters in 1948. She was 17 from Osakis MN, he 21, from Floodwood MN. They married, lived and are now retired in California, and they were joined by some of their family. Their family, joined with others from many cultures, many countries and many places in the U.S., make up our collective country and world heritage.
Let us celebrate Heritage in the broadest and most positive sense.

At Lake Itasca MN, Headwaters of the Mississippi R, October 10 2011

#450 – Dick Bernard: Heritage (Part 1 of 4)

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UPDATE September 7, 2013: This post has evolved into time into a series of posts directly related to Heritage.
Directly related post are here. Also related is a post on Tin Type photographs accessible here. Also see Part 3 here, and Part 4.
Also at Nov 3, 2011; Dec 22, 2011; Apr 7, 2012; Sep 1, 2013.
This post was primarily intended for two groups of people I did not meet until October 8 and October 11. At both gatherings we explored Family Heritage, and what follows is the briefest of synopses of what what was done to encourage people to think of their own heritage in some organized fashion. (At the end of this segment is an update added after the October 11 segment.)
Here’s a standard definition of the word heritage:
her’it-age, n. [OFr. heritage, an inheritance, from heriter: LL. hereditare, to inherit, from L. hereditas, inheritance, from heres, an heir.]
1. property that is or can be inherited.
2 (a) something handed down from ones ancestors or the past, as a characteristic a culture, tradition, etc.; (b) the rights, burdens, or status resulting from being born in a certain time or place; birthright.
3. in the Bible, (a) the chosen people of God; Israelites; (b) the Christian church.
As being lords over God’s heritage. – 1 Pet. v. 3.
For over 30 years I’ve been delving into my family history. It began as an unintended excursion into the past, but once started I found it impossible to quit. So far I’ve put together five documents easily totaling 1500 pages which would qualify as ‘history’, though they are of interest only to a certain audience within my families of origin.
Succinctly, every one of us has our own idea of what our history is, and what is important within that history. Family History, like U.S. or any other history, is only part of the story. The parts hidden from us by our forebears, and hidden by ourselves from our descendants are the real history, perhaps never to be formalized, but nonetheless crucial to who we are.
At the upcoming workshops, I’ve decided to have the participants become the faculty and hopefully begin to get into a vigorous discussion of elements of their own heritage. At the workshop, they’ll get some handouts, and I’ll tell them of this blog post, and they can review things if they wish.
I plan to do a “flash card” kind of exercise, asking the participants to note the first thing that comes to mind, as it relates to any one of their parents or grandparents, when the following words are stated. (The words are strictly in random order, and will be further recited in random order. At the end of the exercise, everyone will get a copy of the words.)
The basic question: How would you respond (first impression) about your heritage when the following word is presented?
1. Graveyard (example: do you have any particular memory of a burial or a graveyard image – burial service, monument, lack of monument, etc?)
2. Artifact (is there some item, some thing, that comes to mind?)
3. Food/Recipe (similar to #2, and so on, for the other words)
4. Photo
5. Dance
6. Religion
7. Dress
8. Community
9. Language, if other than English
10. War/Peace
11. Nationality (self-designation)
12. Relationships with other nationalities
13. Country where born.
14. Immigrant/native born?
15. Music
16. Occupation/Work
17. Pets
18. Gardening/Food Preparation
19. Play/Recreation
20. Tradition
21. Dates/Places
22. Holidays
23. Sayings/Folk Wisdom
24. Significant Accomplishment
25. Inherited mannerisms/traits
26. Family Secrets
27. Letters
28. Books
29. Stories
30. Housing
31. Medical/Disease
32. Education
33. Games/Hobbies
34. Special Talents
35. Transportation
36. Tools/Utensils/Kitchen
37. Art
38. Homesteading
39. Names, naming systems (i.e. Lars son, etc)
40. Water matters
41. Mens Roles
42. Womens Roles
43. Skills, gifts, talents (i.e. sewing, mechanical knowledge)
We usually think of inheritance when we think of heritage: what was left to us in money or property sense.
Really, the far greater component of heritage is what came with us as our birthright. Definition #2 for heritage covers this waterfront well, I think.
I know there are far more than 43 elements to heritage, and I am guessing that a few more of these elements will be added at either or both of the upcoming workshops. If so, they’ll be added to the list.

Some access points to my own idea of family history:
German-American and French-Canadian
plus
assorted references at this blog. See tabs at right for Family History and Quebec/French-Canadian. A directly related link on Tin Type photographs is here.
UPDATE October 12, 2011:
The sessions on October 8 (very abbreviated in length) and October 11 were well attended and interesting.
The post session comments are in #452, posted October 12, 2011.
The handouts at the sessions were:
General thought starters on Heritage: HeritageThoughtStarters001
Quebec Marriage Contract from the year 1730: Quebec Marriage Cont001
As I developed my notion of what Heritage is, the following illustration evolved (which I didn’t have time to expand on at either workshop). (See illustration at right.)

The Box with the arrows represents the multiple “frames” people use when discussing Family History in any of its aspects. There are many boxes, as noted in the long (and incomplete) list above. But each of us have pieces in all of these frames.
The essence of the conversation on Heritage was this: we are, every one of us, the very definition of “Heritage” (note definition 2(a), especially the word “etc.”) We can perhaps modify the impact of our heritage by decisions* or choices we make through life, but the essentials of who we are came with our birth. If we are fortunate, we have something of a balance between B and A. “B” might be likened to a Balloon, which gives us the buoyancy to soar above our base; “A” might be likened to an Anchor, which can have positive or negative connotations. Either the anchor or the balloon can create problems for us.
For someone interested in Family History but daunted by the task, the key piece of advice, after 30 years, is to start where you are. Perhaps you only know tiny fragments. Write them down.
The letters in the description are:
K (Keep items that might be relevant to you or someone else in the future)
L (Label things like photos and newspaper articles, including date and newspaper, etc. It is amazing how often this is overlooked.)
R (Record things as soon as possible after they happen – it is amazing how quickly memories get foggy)
A (Ask, ask, ask…history comes available to people who inquire.)
There are infinite additions to this writing.
Add your own chapters.
* – There is an interesting and very simple distinction between the words Decide and Choose. The root word for “decide” is the same root word as for other words of obvious meaning: suicide, homicide, insecticide…. When one makes a decision, they tend to kill off other options. Choice implies more possibilities.
It’s your choice!

#449 – Dick Bernard: Heritage: The Tin Types

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Related posts here and here.

On my father’s death in 1997, I became custodian of our family photos.
While he came from an ordinary North Dakota family of French-Canadian descent, the family had an inclination to take pictures documenting important events, such as weddings, new births and such.
Within the box of photos was a May 7, 1954 Social Security envelope, and inside the envelope were seven most unusual photographs, very dark, on varied size pieces of tin.
They were of a genre called “tin types“, photography as practiced before photographic film.
The oldest – I can speak with some certainty as to its ID – is a photo of my great grandparents, Octave Collette and Clotilde Blondeau, who married in St. Anthony (later Minneapolis MN) in July 1869. While the photo was, like the others, unlabelled, there is no question, comparing with later photos, that it showed Octave and Clotilde, likely about the time of their marriage. The photo is below.
(click on all photos to enlarge).

The remaining six photos are also unlabelled, but most of them show a young Henry Bernard (born 1872), and were likely taken in the late 1880s and early 1890s, probably in Quebec, most likely as keepsakes for him to take along on his trip west to remember the folks back home. The album with the remaining photos is at the end of this post.
The photos vary in size: the smallest is of Octave and Clotilde (1 7/8″ x 3 1/8″); the largest of the two men (2 5/8″ x 3 1/2″). As can be noted on the above photo, the tin pieces were probably snipped out, rather than of a standard consistent size.
The tintypes obviously endured plenty of wear over the years. It is remarkable that they survived as long as they did, probably stuck in a trunk or dresser or such for as much as over 140 years. But they were meaningful enough to not be thrown out.
Four of the photos appear to have been taken by the same photographer at the same time. The evidence is a slight rosy tint to portions of the photos (note the cheeks), likely hand administered. Until I scanned the photos (at 800 dpi), I wasn’t aware of these rosy cheeks etc. on the four photos.
Precisely the who, where, when and why of the photos will likely remain mysteries except for the certainty that most include my grandfather Henry, and the other is of his future wife’s – my grandmothers – parents.
My best guess: the large group photo, with a young Henry Bernard in front, is probably of his family circle in Quebec, including the Parish Priest. Ditto for the photo of three men and three women. And the others are similarly related, in some ways to his family in Quebec (or so I believe).
The four photos with the rose tint were probably taken at Thetford Mines, Quebec, where young Henry was a miner, where a sister and family lived, and from which place he most likely embarked for then-booming Grafton ND in the early 1890s.
Family history mysteries: they fascinate, and they exasperate.
Consider labeling your present day photos, so that someone down histories road knows who is in the image.

Most likely Henry (Honore) Bernard in front center, his brother Joseph to his left. Perhaps taken in Quebec in late 1880s.


Most likely young Honore (Henry) Bernard