Your Mother, My Mother
I am writing in response to Peggy Stinnet’s article “What God Accomplished through Her ‘Yes'” (May/June 2001). When I came upon the article, I had just returned from an exhausting trip of being with my own mother for the last moments of her life. What struck me was that the author’s description of her mother so closely resembled my own mother. Her mother’s faith, how she lived her life serving others, how the family spent her last days gathered around her bed praying the rosary-even that she had nine children-describes my own mother as well.
Peggy, thank you for sharing your mother’s example and your own feelings. It helped me to focus on those same aspects of my mother rather than my sorrow of not having her on earth anymore.
David Wendel
Beaverton, Oregon
Beautiful Article Brings Great Sorrow
If the life of Peggy Stinnet’s mother were made into a movie (“What God Accomplished through Her ‘Yes,'” May/June 2001), think of the peaceful hearts that would leave the theater with thoughts that could be lingered over for weeks. Pray for us who didn’t give that kind of example to our children. I caught on pretty late in life, and my five children are suffering the effects of my lack of knowledge and good example.
Peggy’s beautiful article brings me great sorrow and tears because of my own shortcomings and my lack of knowing how to make right what distanced my children (whom I love so much) from God.
Love triumphs. Love rejoices. The love of the Sacred Heart gladdens.
Jean A. Olson
Colby, Wisconsin
What the Family Prayed For
“What God Accomplished through Her ‘Yes'” (May/June 2001) was a disconcerting piece that brought up a serious issue for all who are struggling to advance the culture of life.
The author, Peggy Stinnet, says that her family’s prayers were answered when her mother could no longer swallow to eat or drink. Since the next paragraph talks about her mother’s gravesite, she presumably died of dehydration or starvation, since there was no indication that anything else took her life. This is not Catholic teaching.
As recently as October 2, 1998, the Holy Father confirmed to some U.S. bishops on their ad limina visit that “the omission of nutrition and hydration intended to cause a patient’s death must be rejected. . . . The presumption should be in favor of providing medically assisted nutrition and hydration to all patients who need them. To blur this distinction is to introduce a source of countless injustices” (Origins 28:18 [10/15/98], 316).
Please make the Church’s teaching clear with a future piece. Catholics especially need to know how to defend the truth about life in medical settings. It’s a battle out there.
Malinda Rauschert
Macomb, Illinois
Editor’s reply: Read carefully the passage of Peggy Stinnet’s article to which you refer: “No one is ever ready to say goodbye to those he loves, but watching her suffering enabled each one of us to say the same prayer: ‘When her place is ready, Lord, take her home.’ One day she stopped eating, and soon she could no longer tolerate even the liquids we tried to coax down her throat. Her eyes showed her weariness and desire to no longer fight the body that had given up long ago. When dad brought her Communion that day and she could no longer swallow it, we knew then that the Lord was ready to unite himself with Mother in a more perfect way. This was our comfort in the difficult days ahead-that our prayers were being answered, and her place was ready.”
Clearly the family’s prayer that was being answered was, “When her place is ready, Lord, take her home.” They were not praying for her to no longer be able to swallow or drink. In the ad limina address you quote, the Pope is talking about the withholding food and drink in order to cause death. This is quite different from when a dying person himself is no longer able to eat and drink.
In fact, the stance of Peggy Stinnet’s family is in perfect concert with Church teaching. The Catechism of the Catholic Church calls this the “refusal of ‘over-zealous’ treatment”: “Here one does not will to cause death; one’s inability to impede it is merely accepted” (CCC 2278).
No Person of Faith Is Ever Alone
It was with great interest that I read Karl Keating’s article “The Long Way Home” in the May/June 2001 issue. His insight was keen and daring and for that he has earned my respect and my applause.
In the article, however, I fear he was a bit unfair to the faith of our separated brethren. In speaking of Jennifer Richardson, he remarked that if she walked into her Methodist church “when no one else is around, she will be alone. There will not be Another present in the tabernacle.” He further stated that the “Protestant in a Protestant church is as alone as when he walks a silent street at night.”
While he is correct about the absence of Another in the tabernacle, he is, I believe, not considering the presence of Christ in another person’s life. I would never doubt or question another man’s faith. Even though he might be Protestant, he may still have faith in the saving Christ. I believe that Jesus-perhaps not in the fullness of truth in the case of those outside the Catholic sphere but in truth nonetheless-walks with every person of true faith. No person of faith-Catholic, Protestant or otherwise-is ever alone, but always has Jesus with him.
Does a Protestant not have a guardian angel? Does Jesus turn away from the believing Protestant? I’m sorry, but the author’s comment smacked of triumphalism. While I certainly understood what he meant about Christ’s physical presence, I fear he forgot about his spiritual presence to all people of good faith and good will.
I truly wish that all Christians could come home to the fullness of truth and recognize his true presence in the tabernacle and the sacred elements of the Eucharist. Perhaps one day it will happen. In the meantime, let us be specific in our differences and loving in our commonality.
Deacon Dick Bigelow
Austin, Texas
Editor’s reply: Of course none of us is ever truly alone, since God is everywhere. By the same token, a Catholic walking a silent street at night is as alone as a Protestant in the same situation. The primary point in this discussion is the importance of Christ’s Real Presence in the Eucharist. Unfortunately, when speaking of the truth and comparing it to that which is not the whole truth, triumphalism is an easy charge to have leveled at you. That is why we must always speak in charity.
Of Men and Motor Oil
A couple of points to add as to why women cannot be priests (“Ordination Is Not a Right,” May/June 2001). The author, Mark Shea, stated that Jesus would not let the prevailing customs influence his decision to appoint only men as his disciples. Notice that Jesus prayed all night (Luke 6:12) before picking his disciples the next day, so his selection of all men does not seem to be arbitrary.
Second, the author is correct that a symbol must symbolize what it says and do what it symbolizes. Could motor oil be used for baptism? Does it symbolize purification? Is it life-giving? We can see why water is the correct “matter” for the sacrament of baptism, while-as the author explained-males are the correct “matter” for the sacrament of holy orders.
Lenny Andrie
Inver Grove Heights, Minnesota
Wrong Habits
The May/June 2001 “Damascus Road” conversion story (“I Found Life at the Door to Death Row”) was interesting and inspiring. However, R. “Doc” Scott incorrectly described the sisters’ clothing as “long, billowing, black habits” if indeed it was Mother Teresa and a taller sister companion. My sister entered the Missionaries of Charity order in January of 1977, and the habits have always been white with a bright blue edging. They may have been wearing black coats, but this too is unlikely, as the sisters usually only allow themselves a dark cardigan sweater unless it is an extremely cold climate.
Felice Bullard
Via the Internet
Editor’s reply: The author does describe in the next paragraph how the nuns’ “dark-gray cardigans were buttoned to the neck.” As for the “long, billowing, black habits,” his memory may perhaps be excused for embellishing what was a seminal point in his conversion.
Best Conversion Story Ever
Of all the conversion stories I have read in This Rock, the one by Pam Forrester in your April issue (“I Liked Catholics, I Just Didn’t Want to Be One,” April 2001) was the most inspiring. I wish that all Christians were as fervent in their quest for nothing less than the truth in their faith walk. So many are willing to accept things without question. I applaud Pam for her commitment to seeking that truth.
Lynn Capps
Copperas Cove, Texas
Go, Pam!
Pam Forrester’s conversion story in the April edition (“I Liked Catholics, I Just Didn’t Want to Be One,” April 2001) was one of the most beautiful that I have read. Congratulations on coming home, Pam!
Frank Myers
Downey, California
Mini Apologetics Course
The article by Pam Forrester in the April issue (“I Liked Catholics, I Just Didn’t Want to Be One,” April 2001) was on of the best I have ever read. It was a mini apologetics course.
Don Miller
Stow, Ohio
Pass It Along
I have been receiving the issues of This Rock regularly. After reading each issue, I ensure that I pass it along to others to read. There is no doubt your publication has greatly strengthened and deepened our faith. Each article is so revealing that it renews our knowledge and enables us to discover progressively our religious ignorance as Catholics.
Thanks ever so much, and may the Lord continue to bless your endeavors.
Henry Kosi Owusu
Hohoe, Ghana, West Africa