Tar and Feathered

                                                                  Father John Bapst, sj

Last night, hubby and I were watching Finding Your Roots with Professor Henry Gates.  The comedian Jim Gaffigan was the subject.  In the discussion, Jim expressed his desire to know why his family came to Maine, to settle, yet ended up in Indiana.  The answer was to escape persecution, as Catholics.  

Professor Gates, to give Jim an idea of the frightening environment, in Maine at that time, told the story of Father Bapst.  Father John Bapst was assigned to Maine.  He worked with the Indians and Catholics.  The Know Nothing political party was big, at that time.  the Know Nothings tried to scare Father Bapst away.  The Know Nothings were xenophobic, to the extreme.

The Know Nothings attacked Father Bapst, stole his money and watch, stripped him naked, tarred and feathered him and rode him out of town on a rail.  Through the grace of God, Father Bapst lived but the traumatic stress affected him mentally.  For the rest of his life, he had bouts of mental anguish where he thought the Know Nothings were coming to get him.

Even so, he managed to function.  He built St. John's Church in Bangor, Maine.  He served as superior in various Jesuit's houses and he was Boston College's first president.

I thank God for Father Bapst's witness.  May he finally find peace with Our Lord and Savior.  

Last and Stupid

Because of this parable, my friends were last and stupid. 

LK 14:1, 7-14

On a sabbath Jesus went to dine
at the home of one of the leading Pharisees,
and the people there were observing him carefully.

He told a parable to those who had been invited,
noticing how they were choosing the places of honor at the table.
"When you are invited by someone to a wedding banquet,
do not recline at table in the place of honor. 
A more distinguished guest than you may have been invited by him,
and the host who invited both of you may approach you and say,
'Give your place to this man,'
and then you would proceed with embarrassment
to take the lowest place. 
Rather, when you are invited,
go and take the lowest place
so that when the host comes to you he may say,
'My friend, move up to a higher position.'
Then you will enjoy the esteem of your companions at the table. 
For every one who exalts himself will be humbled,
but the one who humbles himself will be exalted." 
Then he said to the host who invited him,
"When you hold a lunch or a dinner,
do not invite your friends or your brothers        

or your relatives or your wealthy neighbors,
in case they may invite you back and you have repayment.
Rather, when you hold a banquet,
invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind;
blessed indeed will you be because of their inability to repay you.
For you will be repaid at the resurrection of the righteous."

What happened is that my friends and I went to Mary Magdalene Day at Boston College and somehow we among the last to enter the conference hall.  We needed four seats together, but it seemed that everyone was saving seats at their tables.  We couldn't find anything so we took the very last table in the corner.  

Just before the Talk was to begin, some officious person came to our table and suggested that we move upfront because no one else was sitting there.

Now I know Jesus' parable predicts this would happen but...

We didn't know this person.

What if that table was for the speaker and other dignitaries?

So we convinced ourselves that we were fine, just where we were.

Ibero-American Congress of Theology

Theologians gather at Boston College for Ibero-American Congress of Theology: CHESTNUT HILLs week long Ibero-American Conference of Theology: a public forum on the Theology of Liberation. 

I was introduced to Liberation Theology in a round about way.  In 2010, Haiti was devastated by an earthquake.  Somewhere in my readings about Haiti, I came across Dr. Paul Farmer in the book, Mountains Beyond Mountains by Tracy Kidder.


From then on, Dr. Farmer kept popping up.  First, because he's local (Boston) and then because of his humanitarian exploits.  Lastly, he lives in Rwanda.  Ever since Immaculee, I've been paying attention to Rwanda.  


One of the last books I read, In the Company of the Poor: conversations with Dr. Paul Farmer and Fr. Gustavo Gutierrez, plunged me into understanding Liberation Theology.  So when I saw that Boston College was hosting a public forum on Liberation Theology, I signed up.


Ibero-American Theology is a theology that puts a preferential option on the lives of the poor in Central and South America.  This is known as Liberation Theology because the faith of Ibero-Americans struggles in poverty but always hopes their faith will save them.


I was not disappointed in the forum, even though Father Gutierrez was ill and couldn't attend.  The other speakers,  Father Juan Carlos Scannone of Argentina, Olga Consuelo Velez Caro of Colombia, and Father Roberto Tomicha of Bolivia related stories of their beginnings, their involvement, and their struggles.


Their commitment to the people inspired me, also.  May their work continue to touch the lives of their people.

The Price of a Ticket

Tonight some friends and myself went to a lecture by Father James Martin, sj.  Father Martin is promoting his book, Jesus, A Pilgrimage, and that was the title of his talk.  He gave the human interest stories.  I, in particular, enjoyed them because his companion on the pilgrimage was Father George Williams, sj, whom I also know, and could just picture the two of them gallivanting through the Holy Land.

I bought the book, but I didn't want to wait in line for Father Martin to sign it.  There were two other strange occurrences tonight.  A man and his son sat next to us.  He did a double-take and asked, "Are you people from Franklin?"  He recognized us from church.  His son goes to Boston College, and that's where we all were.

The other occurrence was not a happy one.  We lost the ticket to the parking garage and had to pay an exorbitant price to get out.  But, if you consider that the talk was free, it was worth it.

I can't wait to start reading Jesus, A Pilgrimage.

Carlos Makes Us Proud

Carlos knocked our socks off, today.  He gave a Talk for the first time.  There were no "ahs" and no "umms."  He was articulate, cool, and projected his voice well.  You would have swore he was a professional speaker.

We were at Boston College's School of Theology and Ministry.  The major speaker was Father Greg Boyle, sj.  He spoke in the morning about Home Boys.  Fr. Greg works with gangs in Los Angeles.  He's written a couple of books.  Tattoos on the Heart is the famous one.

Father G is an entertaining speaker.  He's quite funny.

After lunch, Sister Maureen Clark, CSJ, from the women's prison in Framingham, MA, spoke.  She talked with riveting seriousness.  She spoke of the heart rendering separation of women from their families.  Sister Maureen has started many programs to help the women, one of which was a reading program.  Moms read a story to their children.  This was put on DVD and the DVD and the book were sent to the child.

Both Father G and Sister Maureen spoke of the value of support, after an offender leaves prison.  Without a job, there's no way the ex-con can avoid going back to prison.  Ex-prisoners need support, a job, and a home.

These concerns were emphasized by Carlos, who had served over 17 years.  When he was released, he had nobody.  Luckily he connected with Bethany House Ministries.  They were his life-line.  They helped him find a job and a place to live.  Carlos is one of the lucky ones.

Other speakers were Janet Connors, who lost her son to violence, and Leo Vercollone, who offers jobs to many prisoners.  All were powerful speakers.  However, Carlos was my favorite.

Prison Ministry

I had a great time today hanging out with people who care about things that I care about.  I went to a program at Boston College's Jesuit Prison Ministry Initiative.  The Church in the 21st Century sponsored the program "You Visited Me: The Urgent Challenge of Prison Ministry."

We were welcomed by two friends of my "cloistered brothers:"  Thomas Groome and John McDargh.  They're theology profs.  They both have visited my chapter.  The major Talk was by Sister Suzanne Jabro, CSJ.  She is the founder of Restorative Justice Works in California.  She started the Get on the Bus program.  And that's what she talked about.

The prisons in California are situated in remote areas.  They are difficult to get to because there's no public transportation  nearby.  Sister Suzanne arranged for children to take her bus to visit their incarcerated parents.  Some parents hadn't seen their children for 10 years.  I teared up watching the video of the kids seeing their mothers.

After the speaking part of the program, there were Breakout Sessions.  In my session, I met a Deacon who was also a retired sheriff.  He handed me his business card. I was shocked to see this picture on it.  I was shocked because my "cloistered brother," Marco drew this picture.  I asked the Deacon, how he got this picture, he said his friend Dan drew it.

!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Look above Jesus shoulder.  See in the bottom of the cinder block, the name Marco.  Well, wait till I tell Marco this story.