Memorial Day--Thank You for Your Service, of All Kinds

There were different kinds of service, sacrifice, and even martyrdom. We shouldn't forget the less obvious ones this Memorial Day.

Today, I especially remember my cousin Tommy Fitzpatrick [Tommy Fitzpatrick on the Virtual Vietnam Memorial Wall], who was killed in Vietnam on April 18, 1969, just over 48 years ago. Tommy grew up with us in Euclid, Ohio, went to St. William's with us, then on to St. Joseph High School and Euclid High School, where he graduated in 1967. Less than two years after high school graduation, Tommy was killed in Vietnam, a devastating loss to his family, friends, and community. Tommy was the second St. William's boy killed in Vietnam, along with Raymond "Buddy" Chasser. Buddy's mother was a Horkan, a shirttail cousin of my mother.

And today I also remember Steve Shields [Steve Shields, on the virtual Vietnam Memorial Wall], my Notre Dame and Innsbruck Program classmate. Steve was in ROTC at Notre Dame, graduating in 1970. Two years later, on June 20, 1972, the helicopter he was piloting was shot down in Vietnam, and Steve was killed. I went to the funeral in Philadelphia and the burial at West Point. Steve was mourned by hundreds of people, family, friends, and classmates. Steve was just 23 years old.

There were so many other huge sacrifices. I think about my father in World War II, 20 years old, a Signalman in the Navy, at war in the South Pacific, aboard a small wooden ship called a "Subchaser." My father-in-law, Art Sanders, also in the Navy in the South Pacific, an 18-year-old machinist. My many uncles who served in the war. At least three of them came back with serious PTSD, a condition that had no name back then. They were haunted the rest of their short lives, self-medicating their anxiety and depression with alcohol.

Not all the heroes were war heroes. Some were anti-war heroes; others played roles in the background, either supporting the war effort or the anti-war effort.

In 1970 I had to decide if I would fight in Vietnam. I read, thought, and prayed about this issue and finally decided that I would not. I felt at the time I had three or four options: I would go to Canada (or try to); I would go underground (again, I had no idea if that were even possible); I would go to jail; or I would try to take the legal path and apply for Conscientious Objector status. So in the summer of 1970, I applied for CO status. I also took my draft physical, along with hundreds of other young men, in a basement area of Erieview Tower in Cleveland. That summer I submitted my CO application and later had a kind of trial or hearing before the draft board. They eventually, to my astonishment, granted me CO status. I would next have to do two years of Alternate Service. During these 6 months of uncertainty, I was working with Gene Killeen and many other wonderful people at Terminal Parking, at West 6th and Superior. In late January of 1971, I said goodbye to Gene and my work friends, said goodbye to my family, and moved to Cincinnati to try to find an acceptable Alternate Service position. That summer, I finally located such a job, in the Health Education Department of the 12th Street Clinic. There I worked under Dr. Joseph Alter, who I heard had also been a CO many years earlier. I worked with Charles Couch, Becky Meyers RN, June Mealey, Dale White, and many other wonderful people at the clinic. My pay was $2.50 per hour. My job was located in the Cincinnati ghetto of Over-the-Rhine, but I didn't consider it dangerous. I did some service for the neighborhood and my country. My sacrifice was not like Tommy's or Buddy's or Steve's. But I played a role.

When I moved to Cincinnati I met a group of dedicated people called "Peacemakers." They were pacifists, and many of them had spent time in jail for not participating in war efforts and for refusing to pay war taxes. Their sacrifices were huge. I'm thinking of people like Maurice McCrackin, Ernest Bromley, Marion Bromley, Dan Bromley, Wally Nelson, Juanita Nelson, Chuck Matthei, Kenny Przybylski, Richard Gale, Chris Cotter, Peggy Scherer . . .  gee, so many other incredible,  dedicated people who said no to war and yes to peacemaking.

For all of the people mentioned, the warriors and the peacemakers, the Conscientious Objectors and conscious participators, I say, "thank you for your service."

And PS, thanks to Tim Musser for his service as a Conscientious Objector!

Community of St. Peter--Amazing Ecclesial Community in Cleveland

Yesterday, the Feast of Pentecost, I celebrated the coming of the Holy Spirit by attending mass with Kathleen O'Neill Webb and Rick Webb at the Community of St. Peter, which is now located in a historic old building at E. 71st Street and Euclid Ave. in Cleveland, Ohio. The community moved to this building when Bishop Richard Lennon closed the community's historic (and beautiful) old church a few years ago. Old St. Peter's was located at the corner of E.17th and Superior. My great grandfather, Cornelius Coughlin, an immigrant from Ireland, married my great grandmother, Lizzie Ierg, an immigrant from Germany, somewhere around 1885 in Old St. Peter's. So I took it personally when the bishop shuttered the historic old church.

A view of old St. Peter's Church

The community took the blow, which must have been a kind of death, and they have risen into a new facility. They have an absolutely thriving, dynamic community. Here is a photo of the outside of their new facility:

Well, from the outside it doesn't have the beauty of the old church. But they are beginning to make the inside their own. One of the first things you see as you enter the room is a beautiful holy water/baptismal font, carved from a solid piece of stone found by Lake Erie. The font is quietly powerful, solid, and beautiful. I heard the font as well as the altar were sculpted by the Koehn Sculptors from Green Road in South Euclid. Here is their website: Koehn Sculptors.

St. Pete's Holy Water Font

The simple, beautiful Altar

The mass was packed--possibly 250 people around the altar. There was a 15-person choir, with musicians playing grand piano, viola, and violin. The music was wonderful! And maybe most wonderful of all was an Alleluia called "Heleluyan: Traditional Muskogee Creek Indian Song." It was accompanied by powerful drumming and interesting and very different harmonies. I located a Youtube version of this Muskogee Creek Indian hymn:



Fr. Bob Marrone is a powerful figure. He is serious, focused, and charismatic. I think his fellow community members really love him. In his sermon he talked about failure of imagination as one of the central flaws of our time. I am sure he is right about this. He also discussed the beautiful image by Emil Nolde that was on the cover of the church bulletin. Nolde, one of the greatest of 20th Century artists, entitled this work "Pentecost." Here it is:

Emil Nolde's "Pfingsten" (Pentecost)

Fr. Bob pointed out how Peter is at the center of this painting. Peter was the fool, the failure, the apostle who denounced Jesus three times--and yet is the "rock" of the Church. That gives hope for fools and failures like us, like me!

After the mass there was coffee and some food. There I met some old friends, including Pat and Mike Coughlin (who are friends in spirit, but no close cousins, as far as I can tell), and Tim Musser. Tim is really an amazingly focused worker for peace and justice, and a friend of many of my friends, including Chris Cotter, my roommate for many years in Cincinnati.

Mike Coughlin and Tim Musser

As I left the building I met Cormac Somerville. He comes from Dublin, Ireland. I have met and played Irish music with his brother, Dermot Somerville, one of the finest Irish musicians in Greater Cleveland.

All in all, this was a wonderful, Spirit-filled experience at the Community of St. Peter. I plan to come back often.