I don’t mean disrespect, but
I hope some future pope
will wise up and canonize
deceased people who,
though not Catholic, magnificently
embodied Christ’s
example and teachings. What
a giant step that would be in
acknowledging all of God’s
children!
Here’s my short list of towering
figures of my own lifetime,
ones whose practice of
virtue eclipses that of millions
of the avowedly pious. I think
I’ll send it to Pope Benedict
XVI, though probably it will
be tucked into some archive.
But maybe it’ll catch the
attention of some successor,
a few more popes down the
apostolic line:
MAHATMA GANDHI, that
gentle Hindu saint, once said
he’d gladly embrace Christianity
himself if he ever saw
people seriously practicing
it. By default, he took Jesus’
teachings, melded them into
his own faith tradition, and
spent a lifetime of simplicity
and selfless dedication.
He confronted the world’s
most powerful nation with
no weapons but compassion,
non-violence, and love;
and he broke their arrogant
spirit and sent them packing
from his country. Gandhi’s
reward was martyrdom at the
hands, perhaps inevitably, of
a religious zealot who could
not stand this peaceful sign of
contradiction.
MARTIN LUTHER KING, in
deep admiration of Gandhi,
drew the Hindu saint and
martyr’s example back into
his own devout Christianity.
With a prophet’s power and
surety, King preached equal
rights for all humans. For his
Christian witness to equality,
he suffered insults, indignities,
and physical violence
to match the ordeals of the
Mahatma. And, in the end, he
was murdered, like Gandhi, by
a true believer in the bigotry
he gently opposed.
And NELSON MANDELA,
deep admirer of Gandhi and
of King, spent almost thirty
years in prison for daring
to witness against apartheid
in South Africa. When
finally freed and elected the
country’s first Black president,
he firmly steered the huge
native population away from
any revenge on the tiny white
minority that had so abused
them and their human rights.
What a hero! What a saint!
Those three would be a
good start, thought Mandela’s
canonization would probably
have to wait until after his
death.
And so would recognition
of Bishop Desmond Tutu, who
also belongs on the list. If
you’d like to propose further
names, I’d welcome them and
will forward them along to
my brother Benedict in Rome.
While we’re at it, I also
want to note that you and I
constantly cross paths with
saints in our daily lives _ men
and women whose beautiful
virtue radiates from them in
loving service to others. Since
there’s little chance that the
Vatican will ever get around
to recognizing them, I’m going
to propose them to you
for canonization in the old
way, before the Pope got the
corner on the franchise. The
old way was by acclamation
by all the people. That’s we,
the people.
And so here's my short
list, first, of deceased locals
who were Saints in my book.
First, I offer for your acclamation
Saint George of Feed
Store Road. That’s Fly Creek’s
George Badgley, a Quaker’s
Quaker who blessed this area
with his ministry for the last
decades of his almost 100
years. George incarnated the
Friends’ ideals of simplicity,
peace-making, integrity, community,
and equality. He was
a tall, sober man, tempered
a bit by the Puritanism that
gave Quakerism its birth.
But he was generous and
great-hearted, too, and had a
sly humor that never failed to
delight.
The great work of George’s
later life was prison visitation.
He not only visited and
counseled at our local jail but
often followed prisoners that
he’d met there to visit them
at Auburn, Coxsackie, and
even to Woodbourne, the
forbidding maximum-security
prison in Sullivan County. (I
once visited the last-mentioned
with George; the chill
of those long corridors is still
in my bones.)
Now, ten years after failing
health ended those visits of
compassion, prisoners still
recall their ``old Mr. Badgley’’
and the strength he gave
them simply by caring.
Though George would scoff
at a papist title like ``Saint,’’
he’s one in my book and
always will be.
And let me also propose
Saint Helen the United Methodist.
Cooperstown’s Methodists
miss her greatly, and so
do I. Helen Tyrell, carried on
a ministry of Christian love
for scores of years. A friend
of mine, now in his seventies,
remembers her from his own
impoverished youth. Helen was
a school cafeteria manager back
then, and always laid out a massive
turkey dinner just before
Thanksgiving and Christmas.
``In those depression days,
she knew that the feast would
be the only one those kids
would enjoy.’’ The old boy
chuckled. ``Then she’d send
kids home with all the turkey
racks [carcasses], so a lot of
soup got made.’’
People around Cooperstown
could pile on more
stories of Saint Helen’s
continued goodness. I knew
her best through our own jail
ministry. She’d sweep into the
Detention Center, radiating
maternal light ``to those who
sit in darkness and death’s
shadow.’’ And she was a true
mother to many of the young
prisoners, offering firm teaching
and tough love that was
like water on wilted plants.
Oh, and there’s also Saint
Jean the Methodist. (Methodists
are really good at
turning them out!) That’s Jean
Wyckoff of Cooperstown. Her
loving service extended far
beyond her own congregation,
and she was a beloved
figure in a score of good
works. Jean’s sweet temper
and openness made her a
spontaneous confidante for
dozens of people; if United
Methodists have mother
confessors, Jean was surely
one. Call her Saint Jean, I say,
and thank God for all she was
to so many.
OK, I'm fast-forwarding
in my imagination, maybe
a hundred years. Behind his
Vatican desk sits His Holiness
Pope John XXVI, a tall
and dignified African whose
ebony skin contrasts magnificently
with his white cassock
and skullcap.
The Pope is deeply engrossed
at his laptop when
the eight-foot doors of his
study open and close behind
the Vatican archivist, Bishop
Margaret Lloyd. In her forties,
she came to Rome only ten
years after the first ordinations
of women. Today she
is very excited. ``Holy Father,
forgive my interrupting, but I
have found a document you
must see! It is an old letter to
a predecessor of yours. I think
the letter carries a message; I
would almost say, an inspiration.’’
John XXVI smiles as she
hands him the yellowed
letter; he reads it carefully.
Halfway through, his smile
broadens beautifully. He is
nodding slowly as he reaches
the end.
READ ABOUT Jim Atwell’s book, “From
Fly Creek--Celebrating Life in
Leatherstocking Country,” at JimAtwell.
com
Columns
Jim Atwell: My canonization list
- Columns
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In These Otsego Hills: Continuing on from 1986 ...
We continue this week by answering the question we asked if anyone remembers the old Cooperstown National Bank? On May 13, we wrote: “Martha Dickison, Delaware Street, called to tell us about the Cooperstown National Bank where she worked at her first ‘real job’ after her graduation from school.
Continued ... -
Up On Hawthorn Hill: Spring inventions
The second line of Lawrence Durrell’s novel “Justine” reads as follows: “In the midst of winter you can feel the inventions of Spring.” I first read all four novels of his magnificent Alexandria Quartet during the year I traveled from Saigon to Paris after working in Vietnam for a refugee organization for several years.
Continued ... -
From Fly Creek: Revving up for spring
Time to bring you up to date on Fly Creek’s happy clambering into Spring. First, the eatery scene. “Is Jerry’s open yet?” The answer is, “Oh, yes!” The porches are freshly stained; the lawns a uniform green, and the hop vines are already climbing the posts on the covered side deck. Blue and I went up there to lunch earlier this week, and I celebrated spring with my traditional bacon, onion and Swiss cheese hamburger. We two sat on the deck, enjoying the broad view and some spectacular clouds marching across, up toward Schuyler Lake.
Continued ... -
In These Otsego Hills: More from 1986 ...
This week we continue with the discussion of telephone service from the pre-dial days. On March 12 we noted that: “No one has yet produced a telephone directory from pre-dial days, but Doug Preston of New Hartford recalls that some business (which one?) in the village had the phone number 7.”
Continued ... -
Home Notes: Celebrations abound at the Thanksgiving Home
April was a month of celebrations and much to appreciate. We had a 90th birthday celebration for Wanda Noyes on April 4 including her family and friends. Personal care staff Dee Bouck worked with residents to hand paint Easter eggs for the tree in the activity room.
Continued ... -
In These Otsego Hills: 1986 continues ...
This week we continue our journey through the columns of 1986 with the answer to the question “for whom, according to tradition, was Hannah’s Hill named?”
Continued ... -
Book Notes: Baseball book features local contributors
Baseball is part of the nation’s fabric. Most kids have a memory of the game either from playing Little League, attending a major league contest or meeting a favorite player. In Cooperstown that feeling is magnified since we are the official home of baseball. We get to see firsthand what has made the sport the national pastime.
Continued ... -
From Fly Creek: Ya really wanna know?
SETTING: Fly Creek General Store. CAST: Assorted seated geezers, drinking coffee. [Door opens, enter heavy-set geezer; walking slowly with wide stance, maybe prostatitis.]
Continued ... -
In These Otsego Hills: Returning to 1986 ...
For the past several years now we have undertaken sharing some of the area’s oral history we have collected over the years that we have written this column. Therefore, this year, we would like to go back to 1986 to share that rather unusual year. Those who were here then no doubt remember that it was that year that the village celebrated the bicentennial of its founding.
Continued ... -
From Fly Creek: For reasons unknowable
[Jim’s reached back to 2002 to share one of his favorite columns.] My father was born as the last century began into a river village in tidewater Maryland. He told me once of a man there in his boyhood who, like so many, made a thin living tonging for oysters in the cold months and, in the hot and humid ones, crabbing and raising vegetables.
Continued ... -
In These Otsego Hills: CCS balancing act ... side two
Last week we shared a number of activities in which students at CCS can participate. We thought it was an impressive, if not overwhelming, list. And we are indeed pleased that the young people of our area have these opportunities. However, we think it is also important to keep in mind that these undertakings do have a cost associated with them. They are not free. In fact there are, no doubt, those who would say they do not come cheap.
Continued ... -
From Fly Creek: A graceful crowd
Make of this what you will, friends. I feel I’m really meant to share it with you. Despite good medication for my Parkinsonism, every four or five weeks I can sensethe symptoms building up on me, giving me more than ordinary trouble. Lately it’s been falls, and last week brought a typical one. I’d gone out to get the paper, moving along with penguin steps on the snowcoved ice patches, and usingmy spike-tipped cane the waya climber uses an ice axe. But circumstances overcame me. Parkinson’s wipes out the possibility of multi-tasking.
Continued ... -
In These Otsego Hills: This and that and the other side ...
We note that the CCS Class of 2012 is presenting its senior class play, “Snow White” by Tim Kelly, this week with performances 7:30 p.m Thursday and Friday, March 29 and 30, and at 11 a.m. and 7:30 p.m. Saturday, March 31. All performances will be at the Nicolas J. Sterling Auditorium at the Middle/High School.
Continued ... -
In These Otsego Hills: That green thing ...
Of late we have noticed that our email inbox has been much busier than usual. In fact, we find ourselves hard pressed to keep up with all the various messages we receive. As a result we suspect we have not answered some in as timely a fashion as might be thought appropriate.
Continued ... -
From Fly Creek: What you need to know
In their last Sunday’s bulletins, all 84 churches of Otsego County were to have carried announcements of an important meeting; most of them did. But because the announcement is so important, and not just to the churched, here it is again.
Continued ... -
Book Notes: Living the magic of ‘Hoosier’
A lot of people consider “Hoosiers” the best sports film of all time. The 1986 classic follows the exploits of a fictional small town Indiana high school basketball team in 1952 as it attempts to achieve the impossible dream of a state championship. The story is inspired by the true life achievement of the 1954 Milan team, who with an enrollment of only 161 students shocked big city power Muncie Central on a last second shot to win the state title. It’s the kind of sports story that represents something that is hard to grasp unless you live in a small town.
Continued ... -
In These Otsego Hills: The most perfect village... home to heavy industry?
We suspect we would get a whole lot more accomplished if we spent less time thinking, pondering and musing about things. In fact, there is a good possibility we might actually have completed our goal of cleaning the basement if we only focused on the task at hand, instead of trying to figure out the world around us. It almost makes us wonder if it is possible to think too much about things. We certainly hope not because should that be the case, we are in deep trouble.
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Up On Hawthorn Hill: The past in the present
Clichés abound about the value of photographs. Most are probably true at least to a certain extent. What I do know about an image is that it represents something of the past that is not the pastitself. But that is the power of any image. It represents something that once was. The beauty of an image, revisited, is that it functions as a catalystfor reliving in the present a past experience. My own view, one that I thank the Spanish writer Jorge Luis Borges for, is that all we ever can experience is the present.
Continued ... -
Home Notes: Workshops held for Thanksgiving Home residents
We welcomed Linda Keller, Ph.D. of the Bassett Research Institute and Ida Baker of NYCAMH who presented a six-week workshop for residents and staff.
Continued ... -
From Fly Creek: Late-winter hamlet news
Well, at least I’m “guessing” it’s late winter now — in the winter that wasn’t. But, if not snow, I can provide a flurry of Fly Creek news to share with you, scooping Associated Press, Reuter’s, and United Press International, not to mention all local news services except our General Store.
Continued ...
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In These Otsego Hills: Continuing on from 1986 ...
