This issue, I spent a good amount of time composing the response to Frank Schiros’ article, so this column will be briefer than usual. Frank is concerned about the lack of response to his writings in Communio. Sometimes it does seem like we work in a vacuum here.

You can check out what Frank has to say and my rejoinder, but I do note that I have not received any commentary on the reflection we ran last issue by Fr. John Garrity, pastor of St. Mary’s in Berea. Fr. Garrity questioned all the time and effort being given to the diocese’s Sesquicentennial celebration, given all the other needs and priorities we face. Could it be that everyone in the Community agrees with his viewpoint?

Right now, the most important news in the Community is the long-awaited arrival on Aug. 21 of the Issaks, the Somalian refugee family we are sponsoring. And the single greatest need is an affordable place for them to live near a good (frequently operating) bus line. At one point, we had an apartment lined up, but had to give it up because of the family’s delayed arrival. Thanks to the Pritts family for opening their home to the Issaks.

The Community rosters are available from Bill McLaughlin (234-6362). Bill can also provide this as a computer file to those who need it for Community or personal reasons.

Mark your calendars for the breakfast on Sept. 14 to raise funds for the Somali family.

When I first had a conversation about a St. Malachi newsletter several years ago with Dan Alaimo, I was impressed by his vision of what a newsletter could accomplish.

That was one of the simple premises for the existence of a newsletter.

I visualized myself as a minor league version of the PD’s Dick Feigler and receiving numerous replies to my articles and helping to generate many more articles from members.

However, that isn’t the way it turned out. Few ever commented on my articles ( not even to let me know how Irrelevant they were!), and few members ever offered articles of their own.

What really happened is that the newsletter turned out to be essentially a collection of reprints from non-members. Important as the articles may have been they are not communication of members to members. St. Malachi Community is composed of wise, intelligent, articulate, compassionate people and we should be able to share our thoughts about the Church, our feelings about our own spirituality, and our relationship with the Church.

Some day American Catholics will have to learn how to bridge the gap between the autocracy of Rome and the democracy of Washington, DC. The best way to do that is by effective dialogue and communication with each other.

Hello o o o out there. Is anybody communicating ?

I think the expectations of Frank Schiros -- and of others who have told me the same thing -- for what a newsletter like this can accomplish are way too high.

On the creative side of what Frank is looking for, it takes a lot for most people to put pen to paper, or fingers to keyboard, and write something. There are the usual and growing time constraints, the fear of expressing an opinion, the fear of criticizing and self-consciousness about writing. Also many in the Community tend to be like-minded on many issues. They aren’t inclined to debate because they don’t disagree with most of is written here.

There also is the continuing Church mindset of "Father (or Sister) knows best." This doesn’t go away in a lay-directed community like ours. It tends to morph into a "the leaders know best" mentality. Changing the way people think takes a long time.

What’s more, when it comes to controversy, the environment in the Church today is disapproving, repressive and discouraging. As one who edits this publication, I highly value the people who make it possible by contributing articles written for a rather limited audience. They are putting themselves on the line each time they do it.

As to re-prints, I also would like to see more articles written by Community members, but I have been happy enough with the amount we’ve been running lately. Actually I’d like to see more of both. I’d like to have a deeper stockpile of good re-prints to use as filler material in lean weeks. (I’m ecstatic when someone turns in an article already typed in, submitted on disc or by E-mail.)

On the more passive side, Frank looks for reactions, but the logistics and distribution pattern of this publication are not very conducive to that kind of feedback. Communio is passed out on Sundays, read some time that day or later that week. But the writers are not seen again in person until the next Sunday. That is probably too long to keep something of passing interest in the forefront of one’s consciousness, let alone remember details like the name of the writer, or what one’s reaction to an article was -- unless it made them really mad. That is one of the nice things about E-mail and many of the Internet forums. They allow for immediate response.

Then there is the unfortunate, but very real fact of modern life that people just don’t read much anymore. While the population of the Community of St. Malachi is probably several cuts above the larger society in this regard, it is probably still a very large factor in a lack of readership and response to articles in Communio. These people aren’t reading your articles, Frank, because they aren’t reading much of anything.

So then, why keep at it? First of all, this is the only communications forum we have, and comparatively speaking, it’s a pretty good one. I look at it as a "use it or lose it" kind of proposition. If people stop writing, this publication will eventually die out.

Secondly, many people are reading this. Maybe someday we’ll take a survey and find out how many and what they like, but right now, as volunteers, we have our hands full doing what we do every couple of weeks.

Meanwhile, the longer we stay at this and the more compelling we can make Communio, the more likely we can capture regular readers. And if we stay at it, and if one of our non-reading members someday picks it up and likes it, maybe we will have even made some small contribution to world literacy.

Is anyone out there? Yes. Are they reading us? Many are. Are they communicating? Maybe. Do they need us to keep it up even without their feedback? Definitely.

Today’s first reading from Deuteronomy focuses upon one of the aspects of God’s revelation most precious to the Hebrew people in their foundation as a nation: the Torah, or Law. It was not meant to be interpreted in any narrow legalistic way. Rather, by remaining faithful to its prescriptions, the people were able to express their devotion to God in any and all circumstances of their daily lives. The Law was meant to be an aid to their remembrance of the one who was the source of their lives and nation: the God who was very near to them, whose chosen people they were. Furthermore, this Law was not something purely external or totally foreign to their nature as God’s creatures. As the author of Deuteronomy puts on the lips of Moses in a later passage:

Surely, this commandment that I am commanding you today is not too hard for you, nor is it too far away. It is not in heaven, that you should say, "Who will go up to heaven for us, and get it for us so that we may hear it and observe it?" Neither is it beyond the sea, that you should say, "Who will cross to the other side of the sea for us, and get it for us so that we may hear it and observe it?" No, the word is very near to you; it is in your mouth and in your heart for you to observe (Deut 30:11-14).

In other words, the Law was not only an expression of God’s will for the people. It was also an expression of what they themselves most deeply desired in their own hearts: to be in a faith-filled love relationship with the God who was their creator and redeemer. In was in this spirit that the Torah or Law was often identified with Wisdom, that female representation of God in the Jewish scriptures who was always ready to teach her children the way to live.

This sense of God’s Law buried deep in our hearts is also alluded to in today’s reading from the Letter of James. The translation from Priests for Equality eliminates the word "Father" from the text, thus preserving better the birth imagery used in the passage:

Every worthwhile gift, every genuine benefit comes from above, descending from the Creator of the heavenly luminaries, who cannot change and is never in shadow. God willingly gave birth to us with a word spoken in truth, so that we may be, as it were, the first fruits of God’s creatures (James 1:17-18).

Because we are God’s image and likeness, the words of the Torah, the words of Wisdom, are not foreign to us. They speak to the truth of who we are, children of our mother God who has implanted her word in our hearts. Therefore we ought to act confidently on this word, and put it into practice -- especially, as James also reminds us, by coming to the aid of widows and orphans when they are in need.

It is in the spirit of these passages that we ought to read the gospel for today. Here the pharisees and scribes complain that Jesus’ disciples are not observing the ritual washings prescribed by the Law before eating. But Jesus criticizes the pharisees instead, using a quotation from Isaiah:

This people honors me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me; in vain do they worship me, teaching human precepts as doctrines (Is 29:13 [Septuagint]).

Jesus means that it is useless to obey the Law simply for the sake of obeying it, without having the corresponding heartfelt devotion to God that the Law was meant to express. But he also implies more that this: under certain circumstances it is permissible even to disregard certain provisions of the Law for a greater good. Thus he defends his disciples. Traveling on the road to preach the good news of God’s reign did not always bring with it the opportunity to be faithful to every ritual observance. Furthermore, in the final lines of today’s reading, Jesus seems to dismiss entirely some of the Mosaic food laws. We are not defiled by what we eat, he says, but by what comes out of ourselves. If we are evil within, we will do evil deeds; if we are sound, we will do good deeds. Jesus thus adds more complexity to the issue by acknowledging that, though we were created in God’s image, we can also become sinful within.

When we try to apply these passages to our own lives, we are faced with the need for discernment. When is obedience required? When is dissent or non-observance allowed? Our readings do not permit facile answers to these questions. On the one hand, they extol the Law (which for us can be interpreted analogously as the laws of the Church). Such laws are meant to help us express our devotion to God and our love for one another. On the other hand, Jesus seems to give the green light for occasionally disregarding such laws in the interests of a greater good. He also seems to imply that some laws may be outdated, no longer relevant. One thing is clear, though. External observance without a corresponding heartfelt devotion to God is useless.

I am reminded here of the work of the psychologist Lawrence Kohlberg who defined several stages of moral growth and development. When we are children we tend to be motivated simply by obedience to external authority. We act out of fear of punishment, or to secure a reward of some sort. On a higher level, we do things because we want others to think well of us, or simply to follow convention. The truly mature adult, however, finds his or her motivation from within. This does not mean a complete abrogation of law; in fact, it usually means that one has internalized the law’s spirit and adopted it as one’s own. However, at this stage, we are involved in making our own decisions freely, accepting personal responsibility for our actions and commitments. The external law is no longer absolute. One achieves a sense of serenity and confidence about one’s appropriation of the law, which becomes the guiding force in one’s life, rather than mere external observance. On occasion this allows for the kind of disregard for the letter of the law which Jesus defended his disciples for practicing.

On a spiritual level, we believe that our decision making is guided by the Holy Spirit of God, given to us at baptism to guide our living of the Christian life. This Spirit speaks to us in the circumstances of our daily lives. Our task, as devoted children of Wisdom, is to learn that contemplative attitude which enables us to discern the Spirit’s voice in the midst of the confusion and turmoil of our lives. We will gradually learn to listen to that law within our hearts which is at one with the voice of God. I am not trying to suggest that this will make our decision making easy. We will continue to be perplexed at times about the right thing to do. But we will also begin to experience the true and glorious freedom of the children of God. In our gospel today Jesus calls us to renounce childish attitudes toward law and move instead into a truly adult practice of spiritual decision making that respects both the voice of God and our own God-given integrity.

Where has the summer gone?

The first few months of the 1997-98 Community year (the new fiscal year began on July 1) have flown by: The new Council gathered for its first meeting in July and met two times in August, then presented a request to modify the budget at a Community meeting after Liturgy on Aug. 17. The additional $5000 will help provide a subsidy to the Somali family we are sponsoring as they begin their new life in the United States.

Speaking of the Issak Family: Shair (Dad), Medina (Mom), Fartun, Ladan, Mohamed, Ashraf (kids), and Aisha (baby), arrived in Cleveland the evening of Thursday, Aug. 21. Their trip from Nairobi to Paris to New York to Cleveland took over 20 hours. They were greeted by a small group of Community members, including Gary Pritts Sr. and Gary Pritts Jr., Paul and Mary Ann Kunkel, Kay Vine, and Da and Mary O’Hearn from Migration Services. They held high our welcome sign made by Bill and Janelle Schubmehl, which read: "Ku So Dawaada/Magaadala Kleefland: Welcome to the City of Cleveland."

The Issaks were exhausted, but deeply grateful to be here. After collecting some luggage, we journeyed to the Pritts’ home for some "settling in" time and a meal of tea, pasta and vegetables. We are now learning some Somali. They are learning many English words. Over 25 people will help with child care and driving to the many appointments they have in the next few weeks.

During the summer, there were many activities that reflected the volunteer ‘people’ support of the many ministries of the Community: the Malachi Center Golf Outing and Raffle, St. Malachi Center Board update on Strategic Planning efforts, Liturgy for the Millennium Workshop help at Regina High School, the Diocesan Sesquicentennial Liturgical Celebration on Aug. 17, and preparations for the annual FutureChurch dinner on Oct. 24, which will feature Bishop Kenneth Unter as speaker.

Celebratory congratulations to: Gen McCloskey, Chris Dusek and JoAnne Kramer on "special" birthday times this summer, wedding anniversaries of Barb and Kevin Aylward, AnnMarie and Ed Dvorak, and Ray Centa and Barb Lohn.

In September, we look forward to a Breakfast Fund-raiser on Sept. 14, which also will be a community-building time, beginning the Christian Formation year and Children’s Liturgy of the Word on Sept. 21, a Council meeting on Sept. 21, and continuing to build neighborhood support with our connection to St. Colman Credit Union, as well as exploring some programs with St. Pat’s on Bridge and St. Wendelins. If you have any business or items of congratulations, please let your Council members know. Community rosters are available from Bill McLaughlin (234-6362).