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FORUM ON FAITH
Graduates urged to have faith.
by Eileen FitzGerald
Published: Sunday, June 21, 2005
Danbury News Times
Gomez, Garcia, Mak, Rasheed, Som, Tierney, Vitolo, Toscano, Barrett, Yussuf, Cleary.
Surnames rang out clearly as exuberant families shouted from the bleachers and balloons bounced toward the sky.
Danbury High School graduated 580 seniors Monday. Some came from other countries, many guided by other cultures, but all were united with joy in their achievement.
"The waves, the smiles, the nods today are all acknowledgments that this place is our home away from home," class vice president Alyssa Vinci told her classmates. "To Danbury High School, the class of 2005 would like to thank you for giving us the opportunity to be so successful."
A brass band played "Pomp and Circumstance" as graduates marched onto the football field. The school's madrigal singers chimed in with the "Star-Spangled Banner."
Valedictorian Amanda Silverio told classmates to have faith in themselves or they would never reach their potential.
"Cities fail to rise, governments fail to form, masterpieces fail to emerge," she said. "Thus, the single greatest key to accomplishing anything worthy of notice is, and always had been, confidence. Consider that it's gotten us this far."
Graduates were told to bridge the digital divide.
"We're depending on you, the Class of 2005, not to have a technological and informational gap between this country and the rest of the world," Superintendent Eddie Davis said. "Go forward and make us proud."
Seniors Leila Noone , Anthony De Poto , and Allison Blasco also spoke to the class and more than 1,000 spectators.
"The best experiences are those that move us, that cause something emotional inside of us to stir," Noone said. "The best experiences make us question the way things are or confirm the way we think. Experiences are what help cultivate our characters and polish our principles."
Noone told her classmates that one voice can change the universe. "Don't be afraid to let the courage of your convictions make themselves manifest," she said. "This is our time to shine."
This class arrived at high school only days before the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001.
"True to the American spirit, you came to school on Sept. 12, Sept. 13, and Sept. 14," principal Catherine Richard told the graduates. "Our students did not turn back, become dispirited. You continued to forge ahead."
She told the graduates they had quite a legacy, including lobbying for a city ordinance that enables police to better crack down on underage drinking. "Yours was a class characterized by kindness, compassion and civility to each other," Richard said.
Guidance counselor and coach Jackie DiNardo watched students she had mentored move on. She also saw her son, Robert, graduate with honors before moving on to play college baseball at Fordham University . DiNardo's niece, Annemarie, also put the cap on her high school career.
"They're all my kids," DiNardo said simply. "This is my pat on the back. Seeing them graduate. I'm proud of all of them."
Haitian immigrant Germain Bazile hugged the fence as she watched for his son, Jeffrey. "I feel very happy. He is the first one to graduate. I'm very, very happy," Bazile said. Jeffrey Baziles will attend Western Connecticut State University to study computer engineering.
Walking off the field, another graduate, Dia Radachowsky, said she was thrilled with the moment. The 18-year-old overcame cancer when she was in seventh grade and will attend WestConn to become a writer.
"It seems like nothing at first," she said about graduating. "Then you are out there and you feel like you are standing at the edge of life and hopping into the future. It's amazing."
Contact Eileen FitzGerald at eileenf@newstimes.com or (203) 731-3333.
Rev. Leo McIlrath
FORUM ON FAITH
Holy Week embraces unity and diversity among all faiths.
by Rev. Leo McIlrath
Published: Sunday, March 19, 2005
Danbury News Times
The late Bishop Kenneth Untener of Saginaw, Mich., a very pastoral bishop of the Roman Catholic Church in the United States, once asked the congregations of his diocese to remain standing after they received the Eucharist (Communion) and to observe others who were receiving the sacrament - that is, "watch the church become the body of Christ."
Now hold that thought while reading the following familiar phrase. "Sticks and stones may break my bones, but names can never hurt me." Oh really? Terms, names and labels are of the utmost importance when working with diverse groups, be they religious/spiritual or of the secular realm. Do you recall your graduation ceremony from high school? The salutatorian, or the "greeter," sometimes asked the question: "What's in a name?" He or she then went on to tell us the importance of only using names and labels that designate a particular group or community in an accurate manner and to do so in a spirit of sensitivity, compassion and inclusiveness. Neither political nor religious communities always succeed at this task. Each faltered on that first Holy Week, as some often fall short today.
Example I: The term "Christian" is used by most people to include all who follow Christ. But there are some who exclude many followers of Jesus from this designation if they do not appear to follow him in the precise manner that those judging would prefer.
Example II: The term "child of God," by whatever name we give to God, includes everyone who loves God. And how do we measure that love except by the manner in which we treat one another? We are now beginning that week labeled "holy," but where is the holiness if wholeness is absent, for as the spiritual writer Josef Goldbrunner puts it, "Holiness is wholeness."
A whole or wholesome child of God is one who loves his/her neighbor. The Christian loves the Jew loves the Moslem loves the Hindu loves the Buddhist, etc. Each assists the other in carrying our everyday crosses. All benefit by the Good Friday journey of Jesus. Who would deny that each is a child of the one God?
Example III: Corpus Christi: The "body of Christ" has a twofold dimension. First, it refers to the bread of life, i.e., Holy Eucharist, the Lord's Supper, the Divine Mysteries and Holy Communion, as handed down to us. It also refers to the Christian "people of God." Both of these concepts are essential to the life of Christian believers everywhere, as referred to in the opening paragraph. Each manifests itself through the unity and diversity of faith communities.
It's not our words that identify us as Christians - even in this Holy Week. Rather, people will know we are Christians by our love - for one another and "all of the others."
Churches celebrate this sacred rite in different ways, each emphasizing a particular theological aspect of this belief. Some see it as a memorial rite, reflecting especially on Jesus' words on that first Holy Thursday: "Do this in memory of me."
Others use the terms impanation, companation, transubstantiation and transignification, etc., to explain what takes place in that most sacred liturgical moment previous to the sharing of communion.
Perhaps we need to humbly step back and realize that we are using the fallible language of scholastic philosophy to attempt to define, or limit, the workings of God.
The same occurs when we become too haughty in defining just who are our sisters and brothers - excluding others from God's human family.
Any person filled with the anticipated joy of the resurrected Lord cannot help but desire to share that joy with every one of God's children. The "body of Christ" needs, then, to also be understood as God's people.
St. Paul's Letter to the Church at Corinth likens believers to the human body, emphasizing the importance of each member's actions. "There are a variety of gifts but the same spirit; there are a variety of ministries but the same Lord" (1 Corinthians 12:4) . . . There are many members (the eye, ear, hands, feet, etc.) but one body" (12:20). So, too, are there many ministries in the church, such as apostles, prophets, teachers, etc.
Each has a role to play, as does each member in the physical body. As we share the palms, partake of the holy bread, wash one another's feet, embrace the cross and reflect by the tomb, let us get caught up in the peace, love and ecstatic joy of Jesus' new life for all!
The Rev. Leo McIlrath of Sandy Hook is an ordained Catholic priest and coordinator of the Corpus Christi faith community of Connecticut.
Polly Castor
FORUM ON FAITH
Faith in God is the basis of unconditional happiness.
by Polly Castor
Published: Sunday, March 12, 2005
Danbury News Times
Are you totally happy? Or do you feel like happiness is off in your future when you have more money, you're thinner or have more time, are better organized, when you feel better, or when you are on vacation?
Are you longing for something different or are you satisfied? What makes you happy? Is it your employment, your family or friends, the weather, your car or your house? If our joy is always dependent on outside circumstances or conditions, it is volatile and vulnerable.
Joy must be based on something reliable and unchanging, or we can never be completely happy. Gladness includes a sense of security. One cannot be truly joyful if its source is temporary, or if one is unsure of the reason or tentative about how long it will last. Have you ever felt unconditional happiness, regardless of what you would like changed in your life?
Amazing as it sounds, even in the face of discouragement, lack, sickness or grief, there is an underlying reason to be happy.
There is only one sure way to uninterrupted happiness. It is immediately ours and unassailable if God is the basis of it. Jesus told us to "rejoice and be exceeding glad!" Putting off being happy, or just being kinda sorta glad, doesn't obey this injunction. Jesus knew the importance of happiness. He said, "These things have I spoken unto you, that my joy might remain in you, and that your joy might be full."
He was not content that we should be only partly happy, or happy only some of the time. He knew it was essential that our joy be absolutely full.
Mary Baker Eddy, author of the Bible study book, "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures," states that "Happiness is spiritual, born of Truth and Love."
Truth and Love are capitalized in this quote because they refer to other names for God. Our happiness comes from God, and is safely maintained there. The Bible's way of saying this is, "Happy is the people whose God is the Lord."
The all-powerful loving God is always present and active in caring for you. This very fact can be enough to make you boundlessly happy! And it is constantly true every moment. What more could you want?
Mary Baker Eddy also writes, "If you wish to be happy, argue with yourself on the side of happiness; take the side you wish to carry, and be careful not to talk on both sides, or to argue stronger for sorrow than for joy. You are the attorney for the case, and you will win or lose according to your plea." Are you arguing for less than adequate joy, just eking by with a tolerable level of happiness, with a bare minimum scrap of gladness? Or are you hopeless and settling out of court for sorrow? Why not argue for the supreme joy that can never be diminished or taken from you? This can be had solely on the basis that God simply exists - in radiant goodness - for you. This kind of joy doesn't depend on others or a change in circumstances.
It is not limited or circumscribed by opportunities, finances or the season. This happiness has no restrictions or boundaries, and it never has to wait to be fulfilled. Work is done more effectively when we are happy. When serving with joy and gladness, we are effortlessly successful. We will find we have more and more to be happy about, but the whole cycle is supported and sustained by God being the initial and sufficient reason for our rejoicing.
Happiness also improves health. Sick people are not usually happy and happy people are not usually sick. The two do not naturally coincide. In the Bible, Solomon asserts, "A merry heart doeth good like a medicine." No matter what the physical claim may be, an important step in helping patients is getting them to realize a God-based reason for happiness, regardless of outward circumstances.
This literally makes them feel better. Joy and gladness are always possible because God is good, is here, and is loving you. Don't put off recognizing this. Besides being fulfilling and fun, happiness heals and brings infinite blessings. Find in God an inherent reason for your joy to be full now and permanently remain so, whatever comes to pass.
Polly Castor is a Christian Science practitioner and member of First Church of Christ, Scientist , in Ridgefield. Her e-mail address is PollyCastor@aol.com.
