Celebrating 100 over years in Irondequoit
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Time was when even villains held bishops rather in awe, and for that reason were less ready to mistreat them than other members of the human race. This is no longer true- witness the assassination of Archbishop Oscar Romero of El Salvador, and the attempted assassination of Pope John Paul II.
In recent years some American bishops have been set upon by some of our home-grown criminals. For instance, one Saturday night in 1983, 69-year-old Bishop Maurice Dingman of Des Moines came out of a convenience store where he had broken his last $20 bill to pay for gasoline. When he got into his car, one face appeared, and then a second. The two men forced themselves into the bishop's car and demanded money. He showed them all he had: "Chicken feed." "Co-operate or else!" they threatened. Whereupon the one in the driver's seat, reeking of marijuana, started on a wild drive to the next town. When they passed a bank with a borrowing slot, they stopped and ordered the bishop to use his plastic card and draw out some money. The bishop replied that he didn't own a card. This left the captives frustrated, but all the more dangerous. Bishop Dingman could have run off, but thought that would just invite violence. Finally, after the pair had partied in a house of friends, they drove the bishop back to Des Moines in the early morning. All that night, Bishop Dingman admitted later on, "I never prayed so hard in my life!"
A few years before this, robbers had broken into the house of Bishop John Morkowsky of Houston, Texas. When they took the small money that he had, they beat him up and blinded him in one eye. Likewise, in the early 1980's, criminals in Cleveland murdered a Catholic black man named Amos Lyke. His brother was James P. Lyke, auxiliary bishop of Cleveland. This was another form of cruelty.
Had these three bishops been vengeful, they could have tracked down their enemies and demanded a tooth for a tooth. True, they were willing to assist the police in the interests of public order. But beyond that they would not go. "I want to do something for people like this," said Bishop Dingman. "I never felt any desire to get revenge on my assailants," said Bishop Morkowsky. And Bishop Lyke at his brother's funeral begged God to forgive the murderers of Amos.
In today's second gospel, Jesus tells, "love your enemies, pray for your persecutors." This is the true Christian spirit. How consoling, then, to see our teachers of Christian love, the pope, the archbishop, and these three bishops, really practicing themselves, the forgiveness they preach to others.
-Father Robert F. McNamara
