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 IN THE WAKE OF DISASTER: Religious Responses to Terrorism & Catastrophe, by Harold G. Koenig, M.D.
Templeton Foundation Press. 162 pp.
$19.95.
Reviewed by ANN TASSONE, an intern
at St. Anthony Messenger last summer.
Ann is a senior at Xavier University in
Cincinnati with a double major in English
and communication arts.
IN LIGHT of the many recent disasters
that our nation has faced, Harold G.
Koenig, M.D., has developed
a plan to improve not
only the physical and mental
health of those affected,
but also their spiritual lives.
While governmental responses
to disasters are
initially helpful, such assistance
usually fades quickly.
Koenig argues that one
strength of religious responses
to disasters is that
these relief efforts persist
in critical times, including
long after the event has occurred.
Churches know that even relatively
short-lived disasters can have long-term
effects on anyone involved. In the Wake
of Disaster provides a detailed examination
of how faith-based organizations
can contribute in the aftermath of
disasters and terrorism.
Koenig’s extensive involvement in
research into the healing power of faith
and in the fields of mental health and
religion motivated him to write this
book.
This book is easy to read. It is a helpful
guide for faith-based groups who
are responding to catastrophes.
The book is divided along four
themes: how to prepare faith communities
for disasters, spiritual consequences
of disasters, the faith
community’s role in helping people
cope during and after disasters, and
the obstacles that face the integration
of faith-based groups and mental-health
organizations.
Koenig gives a detailed outline of
information that faith communities
need in order to meet the psychological,
social and spiritual needs of disaster
victims. Developing a disaster plan
is essential preparation. This allows
congregations to meet the physical
needs of those affected, and then the
spiritual needs which surface soon
afterward.
Koenig argues that people’s faith can
go one of two ways after
being affected by a disaster:
it can provide comfort
and strength, or it can be
lost due to a feeling of
abandonment.
Faith communities
can help with
anxiety and depression,
which are common following
disasters.
Faith communities and
religious presence during
and after disasters have
proven to be very effective
in helping people to cope, the book
contends. Clergy and pastoral counselors
are the only professionals competent
to address the spiritual needs
that arise. After the World Trade
Center attack on September 11, 2001,
governmental teams as well
as clergy were direct responders.
A national poll,
however, showed that Americans
were more likely to
seek help from a spiritual
caregiver than from a physician
or mental-health professional.
Koenig presents specific
examples of crises that our
nation has faced, and the
importance of religious
responses to these catastrophes.
He gives examples of many
national, state and local disaster response
programs (the American Red
Cross, Federal Emergency Management
Agency), as well as many faith-based
organizations involved in disaster
response (Catholic Charities, International
Aid, Salvation Army).
The book concludes with resources
on disasters specific for faith communities,
as well as research studies on
the role of faith in disasters. In the
Wake of Disaster serves as a tool for
keeping faith in the face of even the
worst disasters, and keeping in mind
the importance of religious responses
to terrorism. The book is a helpful
instrument in making the best out of
unfortunate events, all the while
remembering God’s presence in every
situation.
You can order IN THE WAKE OF DISASTER: Religious Responses to Terrorism & Catastrophe from St.
Francis Bookshop.
PARISH PRIEST: Father Michael McGivney and American Catholicism, by Douglas Brinkley and Julie
M. Fenster. William Morrow/HarperCollins. 240 pp. $24.95.
Reviewed by PAT McCLOSKEY, O.F.M.,
editor of this publication. He is also chaplain
for the Northside Knights of Columbus
Council 1683, established in 1911.
THOSE WHO RECOGNIZE the name “Father Michael McGivney” (1852-90) probably know that
he helped establish the
Knights of Columbus but
may know little else about
him.
This volume by Douglas
Brinkley, a professor of history
at Tulane University,
and Julie Fenster, an award-winning
author of historical
books, fills that gap.
In 1998 their interest in
McGivney was piqued by
an article in The New York
Times about the 1997 start of his cause
for canonization.
In this volume’s Preface, Brinkley
and Fenster write: “We decided to write
a book about Father McGivney—on
the one hand, the man who had
founded the largest Catholic men’s fraternal
organization in the world, and
on the other, just as important, the
most unassuming of Catholic clerics.”
By the time of Michael McGivney’s
birth in 1852, his hometown, Waterbury,
Connecticut, was a heavily
Catholic industrial center. A precocious
student, Michael had finished high
school by age 13 and then worked for
three years making spoons in a local
factory. When his father, an iron
molder, died in 1873, Michael transferred
from a Canadian seminary to St.
Mary’s Seminary in Baltimore.
Ordained in 1877, he was assigned to
St. Mary’s Parish in New Haven, Connecticut,
as assistant pastor. According
to a priest friend, McGivney was not
only pious and orderly but also had a
great sense of humor. He made friends
readily.
In addition to his parish duties, he
was very involved in the Total Abstinence
League and producing dramas.
He once went to probate court to
become the legal guardian for Alfred
Downes, the teenage son of a parishioner
who had died without insurance.
Secret societies proliferated after the
Civil War, partly because of the insurance
benefits they offered. In late 1881,
approximately 80 men attended a
meeting to establish what eventually
became the Knights of Columbus. Not
everyone was in favor of McGivney’s
very ambitious plan, including the diocese’s
oldest priest—who was 57!
The authors write, “Although it
would have been easy to do, he [Father
McGivney] did not create the Knights
as a monument to his own irreplaceability.”
In 1884 he became pastor of St.
Thomas Church in Thomaston, Connecticut.
By the time of his death there
on August 14, 1890, the Knights of
Columbus had 6,000 members. Today,
its 1.7 million members are found in 12
countries.
This well-told story includes eight
pages of black-and-white photos, plus
18 pages of endnotes, a bibliography
and an Index.
You can order PARISH PRIEST: Father Michael McGivney and American Catholicism from St.
Francis Bookshop.
WHEN GOD'S PEOPLE HAVE HIV/AIDS: An Approach to Ethics, by
Maria Cimperman. Orbis Books. 159
pp. $20.
Reviewed by CAROL ANN MORROW, an
assistant editor of St. Anthony
Messenger.
THE TITLE TEACHES. So
does this book. Ursuline Sister
Maria Cimperman has
taken her doctoral dissertation
and turned it into a
challenge for the whole
Church. She asserts, as Jesus
would, that the people suffering
from—or threatened
by—HIV/AIDS are God’s
people. Accepting that, they
are our brothers and sisters and we
must observe, judge and act accordingly.
She helps us consider why and
how.
I doubt that any dissertation has ever
become a bedtime story, but this book
requires that eyes and intellect be wide
open; hearts and souls, as well. I was
willing to engage with this book
because my experience of the divine
tells me that a loving God would neither
send such a scourge as HIV/AIDS
nor target anyone to suffer
it. If I grant that, I’m left
even more dazed and puzzled
by the grim reality of
AIDS. I wanted this book’s
assistance. My perseverance
was rewarded.
The book’s dedication is
threefold: The third is “To
all who struggle to eradicate
HIV/AIDS through the
elimination of poverty and
gender inequality.” That
reveals a theme that I found
quite convincing.
I know only one person who has
AIDS, a generous Christian who is neither
a homosexual nor a drug user.
While I had lamented her diagnosis, I
had never reflected on its root causes. This dedication describes them; this
book analyzes them.
Cimperman exposes the error of
believing that the disease is defined or
limited by gender, sexual orientation or
addiction. The book offers tools of
analysis, questions for reflection and
recommendations for action that take
the reader beyond stereotype and prejudice.
Almost one third of the book is helpful
footnotes. In 98 pages, then, the
author both explains and confounds. I
humbly admit that “theological anthropology”
and “embodied relational
agent” are difficult notions to which
the author exposes the reader. I became
willing to ponder, reread and ponder
some more.
Cimperman contends that we are
agents (active and powerful, not passive
or subject only to the whims of others),
with bodies (sexual and secretive, yet
vehicles of both intimacy and violence)
that are relational (not alone, without
impact on others, but profoundly
linked to them).
This concept, however multisyllabic,
holds profound implications for our
approach to life in general. The author
applies the concept powerfully to us
as we consider our brothers and sisters
who have HIV/AIDS.
I felt my wrestling with the book’s
first six chapters rewarded by the final
chapter: “Bearing Witness: Noerine
Kaleeba and Paul Farmer” (two embodied
relational agents). Kaleeba’s story
moved me more, but I underlined
Farmer’s words as well. He says, “We
know that risk of acquiring HIV does
not depend on knowledge of how the
virus is transmitted, but rather on the
freedom to make decisions. Poverty is
the great limiting factor of freedom.”
This book has applications to many
moral dilemmas and rewards the effort
to understand. It takes willingness and
discipline, but all God’s people do need
to ponder and practice the virtues
required to address the global crisis of
HIV/AIDS—and the arenas in which
we can engage this global pandemic.
This faith-filled contribution to the
field of mental health and spirituality
can only enhance the lives of millions
of those afflicted with issues worthy of
attention by pastors and associates.
You can order WHEN GOD'S PEOPLE HAVE HIV/AIDS: An Approach to Ethics from St. Francis Bookshop.
HOW TO HELP A GRIEVING FRIEND: A Candid Guide for Those Who Care, by Stephanie Grace Whitson. Navpress.
102 pp. $11.99.
Reviewed by MARY JO DANGEL, assistant
managing editor of this magazine. She
and her husband have one surviving child,
a daughter, Jenny, and two grandchildren,
Cory and Sarah.
SINCE THE DEATH of my older son,
Tim, five years ago, I’ve been collecting
books about grieving, but
I’ve read few of them. Even
with the death of my
younger son, Ritch, this
year, I still haven’t read
most of them. (Both my
sons died in their 30s from
cystic fibrosis.) Many of
these books look overwhelming—too many pages
with too many words—words that might evoke
depressing memories.
But I found it easy to get
through Stephanie Grace Whitson’s little
book, which has few words and lots
of white space, in which I added my
own notes. Writing after the death of
her husband, Whitson echoes my experience,
as well as what I’ve heard from
others who are grieving. It’s a book you
will want to keep and refer to when
you want to help a friend or relative
who is grieving.
Whitson includes short lists of things
to do and not to do to help someone
during the period immediately following
a death and then later. For example,
you can always give hugs and pray for
someone, but don’t use “comfort
clichés” or tell a grieving person how he
or she should feel.
The day after Tim died, a widowed
friend came to our house and dished
out warm hugs. But she explained that
she didn’t bring any food because she
knew from her experience that we
would be oversupplied, which we were.
I appreciated all of the provisions, but
the casseroles in disposable containers
that could be frozen were nice because
they could be saved and eaten later. I
thought Whitson’s suggestion of bringing
paper products (paper plates, toilet
paper, etc.) to save the grieving person
a trip to the grocery was a nice alternative
to food.
Many of our closest friends and relatives
stopped by for short visits in the
days immediately following Tim’s
death, offering their sympathy and
wanting to do something. Some just
started cleaning our house and doing
our laundry, without being asked. Others
helped me organize photo displays
for Tim’s funeral. One relative helped
type the funeral program, another relative
designed the cover
and a friend took the programs
to the printer to
have copies made. All of
these people and many
others were immensely
helpful then and when
Ritch died, at times when
we were in a state of shock.
Instead of saying, “Call
me anytime,” Whitson recommends
that people
make specific offers of assistance
on a continuing
basis. For example, tell a grieving person
who has young children that you
are available next Saturday afternoon to
take the kids on a fun outing. Ask a
widow if you can mow her lawn or
make household repairs. Whitson
reminds people not to expect thank-you
cards for favors because the grieving
person doesn’t “have the energy
to observe social graces.”
She explains that some things may
be painful for a person who is grieving. For example, a widow may have a difficult
time attending a wedding or
watching a romantic film. Not long
after Tim’s death, I watched the film
Return to Me, not realizing it was about
someone who had a heart transplant.
(Tim died while he was on a waiting list
for a lung transplant.)
Whitson emphasizes the importance
of saying the name of the deceased person
around loved ones and remembering
significant dates, such as
birthdays and the date of death: “You
can’t change the awfulness, but knowing
that you remember makes me feel
less alone.”
I would reiterate the importance of
letting grieving people know you are
thinking of them on important dates.
A few years ago, a relative left a message
on our answering machine, saying he
was thinking of us on Tim’s birthday. I
answered the phone when he called
back later to apologize because he realized
that he was a month late on Tim’s
birthday: I told him that we were still
very touched by his thoughtfulness,
even if he had the date wrong.
Whitson reminds readers that the
most important gift you can give someone
who is grieving is yourself: “My
freezer is full of casseroles. My mailbox
is full of cards. I need someone to
cry with.”
You can order HOW TO HELP A GRIEVING FRIEND: A Candid Guide for Those Who Care from St. Francis Bookshop.
ALBERT SCHWEITZER: Essential Writings, selected with an Introduction
by James Brabazon. Orbis Books.
176 pp. $16.
Reviewed by MADGE KARECKI, O.S.C., a
Poor Clare in Cincinnati, who holds a
D.Th. in missiology. She was an associate
professor of missiology and spirituality at
the University of South Africa and adjunct
professor of liturgy and mission at St. John
Vianney Seminary, Pretoria, South Africa,
before joining the monastery.
PREACHER, THEOLOGIAN, medical
doctor, musician, humanitarian, missionary,
Nobel Peace Prize winner:
Albert Schweitzer was all of these. Some
might say he was the quintessential
Renaissance man, but he was much
more, as was evidenced in his years of untiring dedication to the people of
French Equatorial Africa (today,
Gabon).
James Brabazon has given readers
more than a mere compilation of
Schweitzer’s writings. In the 11-page
Introduction, Brabazon has provided
a context in which to understand a
very complex person whose life was
marked by an extraordinary sense of
integrity and purpose.
Though it is true that many of
Schweitzer’s biblical viewpoints could
be challenged by contemporary biblical
scholarship, Brabazon rightly focuses in
the first section of the text on the lens
through which Schweitzer developed
his theological perspective: eschatology,
or the study of “the last things.”
Schweitzer’s contention was that this
emphasis gave rise to an ethical dimension
to one’s understanding of the
Kingdom of God. He wrote: “We must
go back to the point where we can feel
again the heroic in Jesus.”
It was this heroic dimension of
Christian life that Schweitzer pursued
throughout his life and that led him to
the conviction that “Nothing can be
achieved without inwardness.” This is
an idea that acts as a unifying thread
throughout the text.
The shortest section of the book is
on the role of music, especially
that of J.S. Bach, in
Schweitzer’s life. Brabazon
does a masterful job in
describing how music lifted
Schweitzer’s soul and helped
deepen his “inwardness.”
What attracted him was the
mystical character of Bach’s
chorales and choruses that
he felt were suffused by
Gospel inspirations.
The third and longest
section, on Schweitzer’s
years in Africa and his writings about
that time period, gives the clearest indication
of the caliber of the person we
are meeting. Here, the reader can palpably
feel this great humanitarian’s
dedication to the people of Lambaréné
mission.
In a sermon preached on January 6,
1905, Schweitzer explained that, after
reflecting on the meaning of the crucifixion,
he heard “a call to service in
Jesus’ name, and the significance of
missions came alive...and on that day
I understood Christianity better and
knew why we must work in
the mission field.”
The last section of the
book is a developmental
presentation of Schweitzer’s
most profound contribution
to the field of ethics:
his philosophy of reverence
for life.
It is here that people
today can find much food
for thought, especially
when conflicts arise between
personal ethics and
those of society. Schweitzer wrote: “Humanness consists in never sacrificing
a human being to a purpose.”
True to his purpose, the author
portrays the spirituality of Albert
Schweitzer in a way that reveals the
sources of the “inner” Schweitzer. By
presenting the biblical teachings and
the inspirational role of music as
essential elements of Schweitzer’s
spiritual development, Brabazon
opens up the vibrant and challenging
spirituality of everything Schweitzer
did.
This is a book for all those who
want more than an armchair version
of Christianity to help them reflect
on the issues confronting us today.
Perhaps Schweitzer should speak
for himself: “The great enemy of
morality has always been indifference....
Woe to us if our sensitivity
grows numb. It destroys our conscience
in the broadest sense of the
word: the consciousness of how we
should act dies.”
You can order ALBERT SCHWEITZER: Essential Writings from St. Francis Bookshop.
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