| Sunny Side Up April 13, 2005 �2005, Kathleen Gibson Faith makes all the difference I differ from Catholics on many faith points, some of them irreconcilable. Naturally - I'm Protestant. But they've lost their leader, a dynamic man who many believe impacted the 20th century for good more than any other single person. In respect of that, I had planned today's column to focus on things mostly Catholic. I intended to touch on Pope John Paul II, his passing, and his legacy. I was going to (and do) extend my sympathy and hope to those to whom his death matters greatly. I may, I thought, talk a bit about my Catholic friends who have found - within what Protestants often consider a maze of liturgy and form - a genuine personal relationship to Jesus Christ; and who keep that unusual faith (and keep it well) within their tradition. I also intended to say how that kind of faith has gently impacted and deepened mine. I hoped to recall my trip to Rome and the Vatican as a high school graduate. I was going to tell you about my stay in a convent. And though I debated whether I should, I then decided to tell you something very few people know about me: While in Rome I decided to become a nun. For three days. (Until we moved on to Venice, and the notion of a romantic gondola ride with a tall dark stranger nixed the nun notion. And until I realized that becoming a nun is a calling, not a decision.) My apologies to the Catholics: I can't write that column. You've been pre-empted by a baby. Two, actually. One who, two days after the Pope's death took his first breath. And another who took his last, a day or so later. The first baby is my grandson Benjamin. Benjamin. Benjamin. Now that I know his name, I can't stop saying it, and when I do I just want to sit and smile. Preferably in a rocker, holding him. He's beautiful and I'm besotted. The second baby is Frederick John Skorobohach. As Benjamin labored his way into life and breath, two year old Freddy made the reverse journey. He'd gotten a new heart a few weeks ago. It stopped only hours before I sat to write this column. After Freddy's heart transplant, everyone thought he was on the home stretch. He was - just not to the home we expected. Despite faith that God could grant a different ending to his story, Freddy lives with Jesus now. I've learned something over the years. The primary contribution of strong faith is not that it makes sense of things. It is this: it fosters stability and brings hope within senseless things, like pain and unwelcome endings. The Pope. Benjamin. Freddy. Faith spurred the Pope's remarkable tenacity. Faith saw my daughter through her hours of labor pains. Faith enabled Freddy's family to stay strong for their son, and will sustain them in the dark days ahead. Faith does that. The Catholics and I are on the same page on that one. Respond Home |
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