Fr. Dan Berrigan's "Psalm 81"--a Tribute in the Latest Catholic Worker

The Catholic Worker newspaper of June-July 2016 is a tribute to Fr. Dan Berrigan, who died this past April 30th. Surely this was the passing of a great saint! Fr. Berrigan published a book in 1998 called "Uncommon Prayer: A Book of Psalms." Below is a photo of Psalm 81, written by Fr. Berrigan and published in the latest Catholic Worker:

By the Way, Fr. Berrigan wrote the Foreword for the biography of Maurice McCrackin, written by Judith Bechtel Blackburn and me ("Building the Beloved Community: Maurice McCrackin's Life for Peace and Civil Rights."), available on Amazon.com.

Colin's Illustrated Narrative about Learning to Swim

My daughter Julia helped her five-year-old son Colin organize a story about going to the Mentor Civic Center pool with Linda and me (she used an approach to teaching narrative writing that the educator Lucy Calkins has written about). Colin had been taking swimming lessons this summer, but her really broke through on this visit to the pool with us.

"Colin Nana and Brr in the Pol!" [Pol = pool; Brr is his name for me, the bearded Grampa]

"Colin Sxims!" [Colin swims! He uses x for w's]

"I XUZ hape!" [I was happy! Again, X is used for W.]

[An author's bio of Lucy Calkins states that she is "Founding Director of the Teachers College Reading and Writing Project, a New York City–based organization that has influenced literacy instruction around the globe for more than thirty years."]

Tim Jenkins, Kerry Grant, and the Beautiful "Driftless Area" of Wisconsin

Tim Jenkins, playing fiddle on the right, at the Old Oak Inn, Soldiers Grove, Wisconsin

Two weeks ago I visited an old friend, Tim Jenkins, in a small farm community in the Driftless Area of Wisconsin, not too far from LaCrosse Wisconsin and Winona, Minnesota. The Driftless Area was unglaciated, and it is full of green, steep hills, beautiful valleys, and fine farm fields. When we arrived, Tim took us to a music gig he had at The Old Oak Inn in Soldiers Grove, Wisconsin. Tim and three of his friends essentially played for their suppers--played beautiful Irish and American music, featuring fiddles, guitars, banjos, and percussion. We had a wonderful family-style meal at the Inn, compliments of Tim, and we met some of his friends. I have read that this is, in some respects, the poorest county in Wisconsin, but it really is rich in culture, community, and cooperative spirit. Nearby Viroqua is the home of more co-ops than any other small community in the state. And the area is rich in music, alternative education (with their local Waldorf School), and various forms of communal life.

Unfortunately, Tim's wife Kerry was not there the day we visited (her 95 year old mother was in LaCrosse). So it will have to be another day when we see her again. She and Tim have created a wonderful life together, living simply and creatively on very little money. That's the way they have lived since I first met them in the early 1970s. In the mid 1970s they lived in an intentional community in Spencer, West Virginia. Many of my friends were in that commune, and I was able to visit it a couple of memorable times. Some friends associated with the Spencer Community include Kenny Przybylski (deceased), Wendy Rawlins Tuck, Sherry Lung (now deceased), Tom Harman (now a physician), Robin Wilson, Patsy Harman (now a successful author), and several others.

Here are a few pics of the farm where Tim and Kerry live:

Tim and Kerry's simple, beautiful home.

Ben, a physician, and Julee, a teacher, live in the old farm house. We slept in the attic of their house.

Barn dances, parties, and receptions are held in this barn.

Tim and Kerry's home, left, and the huge barn.

Tim ands Kerry have remained faithful to the spirit of the Peacemakers, Quakers, and Catholic Workers I first met in Cincinnati in the early 1970s.

My First Day of School, September 1953

Just after Labor Day in 1953, I went to school for the first time. I was enrolled in an overflow classroom of Upson School and it was located in the basement of the Lutheran Church at the corner of East 260th and Forestview Avenue in Euclid. The Baby Boom had started, and the United States was in for a dynamic growth spurt. One or two blocks south of the Lutheran Church was Upson School, a large brick edifice that had been there for ages. In one of the kindergarten classrooms in the big school was Beth Hodder, who I would meet 62 years later in West Glacier, Montana--the front door to Glacier National Park. Beth was my age and was also a Euclid native. At some point she found her way out West, married a forest ranger, Al Koss, and made her life in the mountains and forests of the American West. When I met Beth, she was hawking her children's book, set in the Bob Marshall Wilderness--exactly where my daughter Carolan worked. Beth's book is The Ghost of Shafer Meadows. And ironically, Carolan has also written a book set in this same Wilderness, authored with her cousin Megan Sanders Hartfelder, called "The Great Bear Surprise" (available on Amazon, Carolan and Megan's book).

My Mom walked me north on East 266 Street that morning to Oriole Avenue, then down Oriole to East 260th and the Lutheran Church, 8/10s of a mile. She gave me a little kiss and said goodbye and good luck--and then she left, never to walk me to or from school again--it just wasn't done much back then. Our family had one car, which my Dad drove to work, and Mom was at home with Denny, who was three years old, and baby Mary Ellen.

I was struck in that first hour of kindergarten by the fact that a couple of children were crying. I thought, "What babies!" Soon, school started--and I loved it. We might have had 12-15 kids in our class (which would contrast with my years at St. William's School, when we had 50-60 in a classroom in my early years). The teacher's name was Mrs. Ockunzi (I bet that spelling is off). I remember some of the kids in class--Billy O'Neal, a great and happy guy; Joanne (can't remember her last name, but she had carrot-red hair and lived in the F & S homes); Bob Ernst and Barbara S, who went to St. William's with me for 8 years. If I had the class photo in front of me, I could identify others.

I remember kindergarten as great fun: we had a band, and I got to play the triangle; we did finger painting; we sang and marched; and we even took a little nap. At the end of that first day, I walked the 8/10s of a mile back home by myself. I had just turned five. Now days, a National Guard battalion would accompany the kid home. That was not our world in Euclid in 1953!

A Poem about Growing Up--from a couple years ago

I just came upon a little poem I wrote for my grandson Colin when he was beginning preschool. His family is facing a couple of momentous landmarks as Colin prepares to begin kindergarten (in a few weeks) and as their family prepares for the birth of a new baby. I'm sure more poems will follow, and soon!

“Me Not Big Like Daddy Yet”

Every night for weeks before the first day of preschool,

Julia told Colin:

“When you are a big boy, like Daddy,

You’ll go to preschool.”

She told him what school would be like,

The new kids he would meet, the fun, the work,

Trying to prepare him for that traumatic day of separation—

When they would leave him at the school door

And Colin would be without his Mommy and Daddy nearby.

And then the big day came, and Julia and Eddy said,

“Colin, you go to preschool for the first time today!”

Colin’s eyes welled with tears. He looked himself up and down, and said,

“Me not big like Daddy yet. Colin not go to school yet.”

Julia laughed in spite of herself. Colin took her words literally,

As little people do,

Expecting to somehow, suddenly, grow big as Daddy,

From 3 feet tall to 6 feet tall over night.

After dressing him, combing his hair, fixing him up just right,

Julia said, “OK, Colin, kiss your baby brother Robby good-bye,

And get in the car with Daddy. Love you, Colin.”

Despite that silly thought about a sudden growth spurt,

Both Colin and Julia and Eddy sensed the truth—

The break, this huge step, first day of preschool,

Would be pretty hard.

But then it was done,

The step was taken,

Colin was on his way to becoming a Big Boy,

Julia and Eddy felt that sharp twinge of separation and fear—

A twinge, however necessary,

That happens over and over and over.

Grampa Bob Coughlin, “Brrr” / January 15, 2014

Petitions/Prayer of the Faithful for July 24, 2016

I've been out of town without a computer for much of the last month and thus unable to post Ellen McHugh's weekly petitions. Here's what she has written for tomorrow's mass. 

Prayer of the Faithful for July 24th, 2016

17th Sunday in Ordinary Time

Celebrant: As people of faith, we pray now for ourselves and for all those throughout the world who are in need of God’s generous mercy.

For the universal Church; for Francis our pope, our bishops, priests and deacons; for all those who live the Gospel message with courage, constancy and love—strengthen them with the gifts of your Spirit. We pray to the Lord.

For world leaders and for the whole human family. May our recognition of the dignity of all mankind lead us to mutual understanding and peace. We pray to the Lord.

For the most vulnerable among us, for those who feel abandoned or hopeless; for the sick of our parish and for their caregivers; for all those who respond with compassion to the needs of those suffering. We pray to the Lord.

For a renewed commitment to our prayer lives. As we pray, open our minds and our hearts; help us to trust in you, to be open to your Spirit. We pray to the Lord.

In this coming week dedicated to Natural Family Planning, we pray for married couples and for those who serve in this ministry. May all married couples bear witness to you and may they recognize, in the gift of children, your infinite grace and blessing. We pray to the Lord.

For the gift of family; for your blessing as we gather today as one family. Strengthen our commitment to serve you. Grant us all things necessary for our common life, and bring us all to be of one heart and mind within your holy Church. We pray to the Lord.

And for those for whom this Mass is offered [name them]. We pray to the Lord.

Let us pause now and silently offer to the Father our own particular intentions [allow for silence. . .]. We pray to the Lord.

Celebrant: Merciful God, through the power of your Spirit, shape us to be for others what Jesus is for us: pardon and peace, new life and blessing. We ask this in the name of your Son, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, forever and ever. Amen.

My own special petition: for mothers giving birth to babies during this hot summer. Let the babies be born healthy into loving families, and let the mothers be healthy and happy during the birthing. Let us pray to the Lord.

Our Lady of the Rockies--Redemption from Our Environmental Sins?

Our Lady of the Rockies (Butte, Montana)

Reaching out and blessing the city of Butte,

This icon, Our Lady of the Rockies,

90 feet tall, 3500 feet above the city,

Straddling the Continental divide,

She, the patron of women, of pioneers,

(of the past and of today),

Blesses the world at her feet

Offers redemption for the astonishing environmental disaster,

The deep copper pit in Butte’s heart,

Filled with a stew of toxins, heavy metals,

Even radioactivity, the legacy of

100 years of careless mining,

Ignorance, greed,

A disaster that can never be

Fully fixed—

Our Lady,

Asking us to do our best,

To keep our house in order,

To restore the world

            and never let this happen again!

Bob Coughlin / June 30, 2016

Our Lady of the Rockies, as seen from afar

A view of the open mine pit in the center of Butte. A mile long, half mile wide, 1800 feet deep, filled with poisoned water.

Our Lady of the Rockies--Redemption from Our Environmental Sins?

Our Lady of the Rockies (Butte, Montana)

Reaching out and blessing the city of Butte,

This icon, Our Lady of the Rockies,

90 feet tall, 3500 feet above the city,

Straddling the Continental divide,

She, the patron of women, of pioneers,

(of the past and of today),

Blesses the world at her feet

Offers redemption for the astonishing environmental disaster,

The deep copper pit in Butte’s heart,

Filled with a stew of toxins, heavy metals,

Even radioactivity, the legacy of

100 years of careless mining,

Ignorance, greed,

A disaster that can never be

Fully fixed—

Our Lady,

Asking us to do our best,

To keep our house in order,

To restore the world

            and never let this happen again!

Bob Coughlin / June 30, 2016

Our Lady of the Rockies, as seen from afar

A view of the open mine pit in the center of Butte

New Poem--about the Spring of 1970

Sorry I have been absent so long from this blog. Maybe I was in jail; or maybe in a mental institution; or maybe I was in Montana with my family. What in the world triggered this poem, 46 years later?

Last Month at Notre Dame—May 1970

The world being blown apart, spring of 1970,

Cambodian Invasion, endless bloody Vietnam War,

Kent State and Jackson State massacres,

Student strike at Notre Dame where we . . .

The privileged sat on a bank above St. Mary’s Lake

Or off-campus at a friend’s party, strumming our guitars,

Singing “The Children and the Flowers” or “For Baby for Bobby”

Or Dylan’s “You Ain’t Goin’ Nowhere.”

Steve didn’t know it, but he was going to Vietnam to die in a helicopter crash;

Me and Chris to a Cincinnati ghetto and a Peacemakers’ commune;

Others to Mexico, graduate school, one brilliant friend to a job as a garbage collector,

Many to the military, yet far from the horror of Southeast Asia.

I remember that May: Mike, Chris, Tim,

Carol, Julie, Vangie, Rene, Tom,

Warren, Dick, Steve, John , many more,

Beloved friends.

Our last month as school comrades,

In the beautiful safe womb of Notre Dame,

Eager yet afraid of what awaited us

Outside the gates.

Bob Coughlin / July 19, 2016