July 14, 2006 - Issue #14
Local News | Opinion/Editorials | Letters to the Editor
Priest retires after 27 years serving Alaska
PALMER — After nearly 10,000 Masses and 27 years as a Catholic priest in Alaska, Father Leo Desso is taking a break.
On July 16, the 71-year-old priest will celebrate his last Mass as a full-time priest of the archdiocese, retiring from his final assignment as pastor of St. Michael Parish in Palmer.
For the next year, he wants to "just enjoy life and do what I want to do," he said. That includes spending time with his family, hiking and celebrating his mother’s 90-year birthday in August.
He also plans to travel without worrying when to set the alarm clock.
"I can get up when I want to get up," he said in an interview with the Anchor. "That’s what I’m looking forward to."
Father Desso also hopes to visit holy sites and biblical locations that filled many of his readings and homilies over the years.
He may visit Alaska to help when needed, he said. On July 17, however, he is set to drive south to his new home in Butte, Mont.
Born in 1935, Father Desso was the oldest of eight children in a devout Catholic family. He first considered religious life at age 16, while reading through missionary magazines.
"That’s when I started thinking about it," he said. "But my parents told me to go out into the business world first, so I did."
He got a job as a "technical typist," writing up official paperwork and reports for the Raytheon Company.
But after 11 years in the work force, that other calling remained.
"I still had that urging for the religious life," he said.
At age 30, Father Desso read an advertisement in the Boston Archdiocese newspaper. Placed by the Brothers of Charity of Immaculate Heart of Mary, the advertisement invited men to join a community in Banning, Calif., to work with what Father Desso thought were needy orphans.
Acting in faith, he crossed the country and discovered the orphans were actually juvenile delinquents with criminal backgrounds.
Despite the surprise, Father Desso joined the religious order, taking the Brothers’ vows of poverty, chastity and obedience.
For the next seven years, he worked with troubled juveniles at Boys Town of the Desert, a school and boarding house.
In 1972, he responded to a call from then-Anchorage Archbishop Joseph Ryan to help minister in Alaska.
He went to work at the Holy Spirit Retreat House (now Holy Spirit Center) in Anchorage, doing an array of operational tasks that included accounting work and cleaning guest rooms.
After three years here, Archbishop Ryan asked Father Desso to consider studying for the priesthood at Holy Trinity Seminary in Irving, Texas.
Father Desso accepted the invitation, and in 1979, at age 43, he was ordained a priest in Winooski, Vt., his hometown.
Over the past 27 years, Father Desso served parishes in Anchorage, Talkeetna, Kodiak, Eagle River and, finally, Palmer.
Father Desso said he especially enjoyed ministering to prisoners as well as to infirm and elderly parishioners, folks who were often hungry for spiritual nourishment.
"It was always delightful to be able to bring them the sacraments," he said. "I enjoy those ministries very much."
Youth work, though, is perhaps the greatest need, according to Father Desso. Working to inspire religious commitment in the next generation has been a continual goal.
"The youth are the future of the church," he said.
Father Desso is the first to admit, however, that youth work is difficult in the 21st century, especially with so many broken families and mounting distractions from a secular culture.
"It is difficult, but there is more need for it now," he said, adding that kids need mentors and particularly family members to support their religious formation.
"Without family support, kids aren’t going to be involved," he said.
Jackie McKnight was a parishioner of Father Desso’s in the 1990s at St. Andrew Parish in Eagle River. His work to foster religious education programs for youths helped her and her young daughter to maintain their faith during a difficult period.
"He inspired us," she said. "If it hadn’t been for him, I probably wouldn’t have been a practicing Catholic back then."
Mike Swiantek of Palmer was emotional as he recalled one of Father Desso’s projects with the youths of St. Michael.
A couple of years ago, Swiantek served with the U.S. Air Force in Iraq.
"Father Leo got the youth group together and blessed these rosaries for me," Swiantek said. "He seems like he was always making sure people had what they needed, spiritually and otherwise."
With his own ministry winding down, Father Desso said the Catholic Church in Alaska needs an influx of younger religious vocations.
The fact that Alaska is building new churches and looking to expand Catholic schools is a positive sign, he said, but adults must encourage youths to consider serving the church.
"Hopefully we can grow in vocations and get more young people involved," he said.
Father Desso praised Anchorage Archbishop Roger Schwietz’s vocation programs and his support for Catholic schools. Those might add religious vocations, he said.
If they don’t, he predicted a future where parishes increasingly make do with visiting priests as opposed to resident pastors.
"That’s what I see happening unless we get more vocations," he said. "Hopefully we can inspire them but it will take commitment and dedication from the community."
Hikers, parish, community come together after plane crash
In an instant, euphoria turned to dread for the hiking party in the Kenai Peninsula mountains.
The hikers — nine youths and six adult chaperones from St. Patrick Parish in Anchorage — were watching as fellow parishioners Michael Lawler and Matthew Medlock swooped over them in a single-engine airplane, Lawler piloting the aircraft and Medlock tossing boxes of hot fried chicken out the window.
"This is the SS Chicken Drop," Lawler had announced over the radio as the airplane approached.
It was a highly anticipated moment on the three-day hike along Resurrection Pass Trail, and the hikers were hungry after trekking about eight miles that day with 30- to 40-pound packs.
But suddenly, midway through the second pass over the group, the airplane pitched sharply from side to side and then dove nose-first into the ground only a few hundred yards from several of the hikers. The impact killed Lawler instantly.
"I was praying that that really hadn’t just happened, hoping that what my mind told me wasn’t really true," St. Patrick youth minister Julie Thomas recalled.
If there was initial disbelief and paralyzing shock, it quickly evaporated.
The hiking party’s teamwork and composure over the next four hours no doubt saved Medlock’s life, and the parish and wider community’s support for Medlock’s, Lawler’s and the hikers’ families is helping to ease the pain of the tragedy.
According to witnesses, Lawler flew low over the group while Medlock, seated directly behind him in the Piper PA-12, dropped several boxes of chicken onto the soft tundra below.
Lawler circled and was making a second pass over the group when the crash occurred, according to one of the hikers, Craig Gould.
Gould, pastoral associate for evangelization at St. Patrick, said the plane appeared to have dropped from a height of "three or four stories." The nose of the plane pushed into the marshy tundra, leaving its tail sticking straight up in the air.
Everyone’s reaction was to race toward the scene, Gould said. The first one to arrive was Father Scott Medlock, administrator of St. Patrick.
Father Medlock, a former Methodist minister with a wife and three children, converted to Catholicism and received Vatican approval to become a priest for the Archdiocese of Anchorage. It was his middle child, 21-year-old Matthew, in the back seat of the airplane.
As Father Medlock approached the downed plane, his nostrils filled with gas fumes. He quickly looked inside before turning and waving the others back, fearing an explosion.
Gould said Father Medlock ran away from the crash to console his 18-year-old daughter, Angela, who had also witnessed the crash. Father Medlock thought his son and the pilot were both dead, according to Gould.
But then two of the adults on hand thought they heard someone gasping for breath inside the airplane.
They rushed up to find Medlock still alive but unconscious and hanging from his seat belt, struggling for air.
The parishioners got him unbuckled and out of the plane and used a sleeping bag to carry him to dry ground.
By that time, Dr. John Tappel, a pediatrician who was bringing up the rear of the hiking party, arrived on the scene and took over the rescue operation alongside Father Medlock, an experienced alpine rescue volunteer.
Tappel’s initial assessment was that death was imminent. He told Father Medlock it was time to administer last rites, which Father Medlock did.
But the patient’s condition gradually improved. His breathing became less labored, his heart rate improved. While Tappel and Father Medlock compressed lacerations, applied bandages and adhesive sutures, and fashioned a neck brace out of a sleeping pad, Angela talked to her brother in soothing tones and Anna Tappel, the physician’s 15-year-old daughter, cradled his head and wiped blood from his nose and mouth.
Everyone in the party found something useful to do, Thomas said.
Some remained on hand to bring supplies to Father Medlock and Tappel; others climbed a nearby ridge in an unsuccessful search for cell phone reception, prepared warm water bottles to keep Medlock’s temperature up or helped build a large SOS sign out of lumber.
At Father Medlock’s request, John Pontarolo, a 54-year-old marathon runner, dropped his pack, filled his water bottle and took off down the Devil’s Pass Trail toward the Sterling Highway. He did a lot of praying and a lot of yelling to warn bears along the brushy, 10-mile route, he said.
The plane crash occurred about 5:45 p.m.; Pontarolo contacted the Alaska State Troopers by phone almost exactly two hours later after reaching the highway and hitching a ride to a roadside lodge a few miles away.
It would be another two hours before help would arrive at the accident scene.
When the frenetic pace at the site slowed slowed, Gould gathered with some of the youths to pray for Lawler’s soul and Medlock’s life.
"We just kept repeating that God is a God of life, and we pleaded with God to give Matthew his life," Gould said.
Spirits rose when an Air Force C-130 appeared overhead. Soon two military rescue helicopters landed at the scene and quickly departed, taking the three Medlocks and one other hiker the 50 or so air miles to Providence Alaska Medical Center in Anchorage.
As the helicopters disappeared from sight, John Tappel finally turned his attention to the rest of the party.
He encouraged everyone to get into dry clothes, drink water and round up the remaining sleeping bags.
Some of the adults had started preparing a simple camp dinner when suddenly another helicopter arrived on the scene and out hopped St. Patrick parishioner Tom Bailey.
"We’re here to get you guys off the mountain," Tappel recalled him saying.
Bailey, who directs Life Flight operations at Providence, had secured the use of a private helicopter to ferry the other hikers out of the mountains. Providence’s own rescue helicopter was in the shop at the time.
Bailey had gotten word of the accident through a network of parishioners, beginning with a group that learned of the plane crash via police scanner while they were setting up their campers in Seward.
When the campers learned that Bailey was going to retrieve the hikers, several of them drove from Seward up the highway to Quartz Creek Airport near Cooper Landing to meet the traumatized hiking party and drive them home to Anchorage.
Bailey and the helicopter pilot then returned to the crash site to retrieve Lawler’s body from the airplane.
Anna Tappel said it meant so much to see some familiar faces that night.
"They had food for us and were just listening, not asking us to talk," she said.
Meanwhile, a small group of parishioners back in Anchorage had informed Lawler’s wife, Julie, and Medlock’s mother, Maria Elena, of the crash.
Military personnel from Elmendorf Air Force Base, where Michael Lawler worked as an airplane repair technician, also dispatched to support Julie Lawler and the couple’s 16-month-old son, Thomas.
By the next morning the parish was preparing a prayer service for Medlock and Lawler.
Food arrived by the carload and parishioners volunteered their time and expertise. A real estate agent helped Lawler prepare to sell her home when the widow decided to return to her hometown in Florida; parishioners helped clean the Medlocks’ house and yard; a professional psychologist held several counseling sessions for members of the hiking party; and cards, flowers and phone calls showered both victims’ families.
Through it all Father Medlock maintained his roles as father, alpine rescuer and priest, according to John Tappel.
"He kept going through those roles with amazing external calm — we all know internally he wasn’t calm at all," Tappel said.
Father Medlock left his son’s hospital bedside to preside at Lawler’s memorial at St. Patrick on June 30, praising the young man’s selflessness and noting that he died while doing something positive for others.
Father Medlock also preached at weekend Masses, recounting the accident and how the hikers and the parish came together to make the best of the situation.
He made the point that individuals are never alone — even those stuck on a mountain with no way to call for help, and even those who lose a loved one.
Matthew Medlock remains in stable condition at Providence. He has had surgery to repair his badly broken lower leg and to reconstruct broken bones in his face.
His progress has been "slow but steady," Father Medlock told the Anchor July 14. He has periods of lucidity, disoriented wakefulness and sleep.
He has been able to stand and hug his parents, tell his sister he loves her, and, one afternoon, even solve algebra problems posed by older brother Aaron.
The Medlocks have set up a Web site where they post reports on Matthew’s status and where visitors can leave messages.
To access the site, go to www.thestatus.com and click "Visit a Patient Page." Patient ID is Medlock and the password is pray4matthew.
Father Medlock said he and his family have been amazed and humbled by the support they are receiving from close friends and complete strangers.
"You just see and experience the love of God in such a profound way through so many people," he said.
Friends, family see a source of inspiration
The death of Michael Lawler has left a big hole in St. Patrick Parish in Anchorage. But through their tears his parish family members are seeing shards of inspiration in the joyful, generous life he lived and even encouragement in the manner of his death.
Lawler, an energetic 30-year-old with a wife and 16-month-old son, died June 27 when the single-engine airplane he was flying crashed in a mountain pass on the Kenai Peninsula. Lawler was attempting to drop a dinner of fried chicken from the airplane to the St. Patrick youth group that was hiking the Resurrection Pass Trail below.
Even with the shock of the accident fresh in their minds, some of Lawler’s friends were trying to focus on silver linings.
"Church, youth and an airplane — you couldn’t ask for a better way for God to take him!" said Jennifer Hughes, who with her husband, Randy, met Michael and Julie Lawler a few years ago at church and became close friends.
Randy Hughes, who also worked with Lawler at Elmendorf Air Force Base, said he felt inspired when someone pointed out that Lawler had flown over Devil’s Pass (which abuts Resurrection Pass) to die in Resurrection Pass.
Matthew Medlock, 21, was in the back seat of the Piper PA-12 when it crashed. Medlock survived the crash and is in stable condition at Providence Alaska Medical Center in Anchorage.
The food drop was as an unusual but by no means novel way to raise the spirits and fill the bellies of the hikers on the trail. Local parish youth groups have been traversing the Resurrection Pass Trail for decades, and the food drop is an old tradition.
Matthew Beck, a youth minister from Palmer who has arranged nine food drops for his groups over the years, said he isn’t aware of any problems with the procedure in the past.
Now, though, people are feeling guilty, according to Deacon Felix Maguire of St. Patrick.
"We lost a life over fried chicken?" he asked.
Lawler, an airplane mechanic at the base and an avid recreational pilot, had never made the drop himself but volunteered eagerly for the assignment, according to fellow parishioners. He and his wife loved youth ministry and he was nuts about flying, the Hugheses said.
Witnesses said Lawler was flying low and slow over the hiking party when the airplane suddenly spun and fell to the ground.
A physician who was one of the group’s chaperones said Lawler appeared to have died instantly.
Lawler, a Florida native, enlisted in the Air Force in 1995 and was assigned to Elmendorf in 2001. He joined the military after high school but continued his education while working as an aircraft maintenance technician, earning a bachelor’s degree in aeronautics. He was pursuing a master’s in the same field.
Michael and Julie Lawler had been married eight years. In Anchorage, they originally attended St. Anthony Parish but moved to St. Patrick, which is closer to Elemendorf, at least a year ago.
There they quickly got involved in youth and music ministries, according to parish youth minister Julie Thomas.
They could be counted on to take part in retreats and other events, Thomas said.
"I knew that if I needed something I could just give them a call and they’d figure out a way to make it happen," she said.
It was especially nice having the Lawlers involved, Thomas said, because they typically brought along their boisterous blonde toddler, Thomas, who was a hit with the young people.
"Pretty much they were a beautiful expression of love and a beautiful marriage," the youth minister said.
Don Lederhos, a leader in the parish Knights of Columbus council, also noticed the Lawlers and invited Michael to join the Knights, which he did in April.
"You look for guys who want to be involved and want to make things better," Lederhos said.
The Lawlers also became part of a close-knit group of thirtysomethings in the parish who camped, fished, hunted and dined together.
Michael became known in the group for his energy and generosity.
"He was foremost a father and a husband, but if he had the time he would help you with anything you needed," said Ed Grantier, a senior member of the thirtysomethings. "He was right there, all the time."
Grantier recalled that when the parish group went on a trip together in January, Lawler took the time to bake him a fancy birthday cake, complete with a solid chocolate grand piano on top in honor of Grantier’s music leadership at St. Patrick.
Friends struggling with his death said they are focusing on what a good life he led.
Jennifer Hughes spent the night with Julie Lawler the night after the accident, crying for hours in the widow’s arms but also telling stories and laughing, she said.
She said Lawler was buoyed by the "amazing" outpouring of support from friends and even people she didn’t know who "just showed up at her house" offering to help in whatever way they could.
When Lawler died, it affected not only his parish but his Air Force family as well. At a memorial service for him at St. Patrick on June 30, the church was awash in camouflage and navy blue, the colors of Air Force uniforms.
The Mass began with a posting of the colors and ended with the formal presentation of a medal for meritorious service, which an officer pinned onto little Thomas’ suit while the boy wriggled in his stoic mother’s arms.
Taps played faintly as an honor guard folded an American flag in front of the widow.
Deacon Maguire gave the homily, and pastor Father Scott Medlock and retired Archbishop Francis Hurley also spoke.
On the Air Force side, three of Lawler’s superiors, including the wing commander at Elmendorf, told about his technical skills and his blossoming leadership.
His good friend Randy Hughes, a master sergeant, also spoke.
"He was just like a second dad to my kids," Hughes said, fighting to maintain his composure. "He will be sorely missed."
Julie and Thomas Lawler have already returned to Julie’s hometown of Tallahassee, Fla., where a wake and funeral Mass took place in her home parish, Good Shepherd, last week.
Randy Hughes received what he called the "bittersweet honor" of being assigned to accompany the Lawlers to Tallahassee.
From Florida, Julie Lawler conveyed through Hughes that she was extremely grateful for all the support she and Thomas received from members of the parish and archdiocese, and that she will miss her Alaska friends.
She plans to remain in Tallahassee, where most of her and her husband’s families live, Hughes said.
Cloistered nun in Anchorage dies at 74
Sister Maria de Jesus Hostia, a cloistered Sister of Perpetual Adoration, died June 28 at age 74.
She passed away inside the walls of Anchorage’s Monastery of the Blessed Sacrament, where she had lived without venturing out for the past 21 years.
Sister Hostia died of cancer, according to Mother Maria de las Victorias Amezcua, superior of the Anchorage monastery.
She was one of the original eight Perpetual Adoration Sisters who arrived here in 1985 from Guadalajara, Mexico, to establish the monastery.
Cloistered nuns commit themselves to a monastery for life, remaining behind the enclosure of the cloister, and move only with special Vatican permission.
Archbishop Francis Hurley, who has since retired, invited the Sisters to Anchorage.
Archbishop Hurley celebrated a Mass of Christian burial July 1 at the monastery and Sister Hostia was buried in the new Catholic section of Anchorage’s Memorial Cemetery.
She was born Teresa Mendez Davalos, April 27, 1932, in the town of Zamora in Michoacan, Mexico. She was the second of seven children in a Catholic family, and her father was an accountant.
"She was very special," said Mother Amezcua.
The mother superior said Sister Hostia had spoken fondly about her early life in Michoacan.
"I was helping my mother with the babies," Sister Hostia told her.
When she received first Communion, Sister Hostia’s father advised her to "ask the Lord that you will live for Him in your life," Mother Amezcua said.
Even as a child, she said, Sister Hostia had inclinations toward religious life.
"And she didn’t change," Mother Amezcua said. "She continued thinking this."
Sister Hostia entered the Monastery of the Blessed Sacrament of Guadalajara in December 1946 at age 14.
As a postulant, Sister Hostia was permitted a monthly visit from her family.
The visits were difficult, according to Mother Amezcua, because while Sister Hostia’s father was very supportive of her vocation, her mother spent the visits "crying and crying; it was too hard."
Despite her mother’s struggle with the decision, Sister Hostia donned the black habit and red pinafore of the Perpetual Adoration order in 1948.
In 1953, on the day she turned 21, she made her final profession as a cloistered nun. Thirty-two years later, she joined seven of her Sisters bound for Anchorage to establish a new monastery.
Archbishop Hurley has said that he requested the presence of the order to serve as a prayerful presence in Alaska and to help emphasize the centrality of the Eucharist for Catholics.
Two members of the original group of Sisters eventually returned to Mexico. Sister Maria Martha Luciana Barba died 11 months ago in Anchorage. A new member, Sister Maria Consuelo Moreno, joined the monastery nine months ago, bringing the number there today to five.
Mother Amezcua wrote in a press release last week that Sister Hostia was a "fervent and good religious, enthusiastic and cheerful. She loved everything in nature: flowers, trees, the seasons of winter and summer … and was a lot of fun to be around."
Hospice of Anchorage assisted Sister Hostia during her final days of life.
Memorial contributions may be sent to Sisters of Perpetual Adoration, 2645 E. 72nd Ave., Anchorage 99507.
News & Notes
Knights raise funds for pope memorial
Plans to expand a memorial honoring Pope John Paul II’s 1981 visit to Anchorage took a leap forward June 17. The Knights of Columbus raised more than $40,000 in a formal dinner dance and auction benefiting the memorial fund.
"We had a great crowd, and great help from the community," said Tony Stanley, Grand Knight of Council 4859. "This year is the 25th anniversary of the pope’s visit, but people haven’t forgotten what a profound impact his visit made on Anchorage."
The fund-raising event was spearheaded by Council 4859, which represents Holy Family Cathedral. Members sold tickets and rounded up auction items and donations.
Other Knights sent their support as well, including councils and assemblies from as far away as Fairbanks and Ketchikan. Parents and students from Anchorage’s Lumen Christi High School worked as auction volunteers.
More than 270 people attended the event at the Anchorage Hilton Hotel, more than organizers expected on a summer evening. An evening of dancing followed dinner and live and silent auctions.
Proceeds from the event will go to upgrade the modest memorial to Pope John Paul II at the Delaney Park Strip. The crowd that joined the pontiff 25 years ago on the Park Strip is considered the largest gathering of people in the modern history of Alaska.
A simple concrete, stone and brass column now marks the spot where the pontiff celebrated Mass; the Knights want to build a more substantial memorial.
The Municipality of Anchorage, which owns the land, is currently reviewing how the Delaney Park Strip is used and how it could be improved.
The Knights’ memorial upgrade ideas include a reflection pond that could become a skating rink in winter, meditation benches, a small playground and a memorial wall.
"We have a long way to go, but we’re off to a great start," Stanley said.
— Reported by Anchor reader Carol Sturgulewski
Editorial
Pain of accident remains, but priest and parish find solace in love for one another
It is true, as Father Scott Medlock said in his homily last weekend, that none of us is ever alone. We have one another if we’re fortunate, and no matter what, God is with us.
It’s also true that there are times when people feel abandoned even by God. When terrible things happen, those feelings well up and may overwhelm.
Father Medlock has been forced to grapple with an awful tragedy in his own family and in the parish family he shepherds, St. Patrick. He is doing so with amazing strength and grace — which he attributes to God and the multitude of loving people who are helping his family and each other through the ordeal.
Father Medlock stood helplessly by as the airplane carrying his son and a parishioner crashed before his eyes. The parishioner, a young husband and father who was flying the plane, died in the crash. Matthew Medlock clung to life in the mountain pass for four hours before help arrived.
Matthew remains in stable condition and continues to improve but at a slow pace. His long-term prognosis is still unclear.
Though for days Father Medlock had been swinging wildly from sorrow to hope to anguish and back, he presided at the memorial service for Michael Lawler, the pilot, and made a profound point that no doubt was a consolation to the hundreds of people in attendance.
Looking directly at Michael’s widow, Julie Lawler, Father Medlock said that as he reflected on the accident he kept returning to Jesus’ statement that there is no greater love than to lay down one’s life for a friend.
To him, that teaching had always conjured the ultimate sacrifice, accepting death so that someone else could live.
But Michael and Julie brought new meaning to the idea, Father Medlock said.
"You and Michael make me think that laying down one’s life for one’s friends is also about those little daily sacrifices, those small acts of kindness that you and Michael did so much of," the priest said.
The Lawlers were well known at St. Patrick for being generous with their time and talents. They helped out at parish functions, spent time with friends in need and lavished attention on youngsters.
As Father Medlock observed, those small daily sacrifices are another way to interpret "There is no greater love … ."
Sadly, Michael Lawler’s small sacrifice — volunteering to fly a hot meal to weary hikers — turned into the ultimate sacrifice.
As Catholics, we know death is not the end. We believe that Mr. Lawler is with God, enjoying eternal life.
Still, suffering and death remain painful here on earth. Mr. Lawler left a wife and a little boy who will only know his father from the stories people tell.
How can little Thomas ever understand why this happened? How can his mother keep despair at bay?
The only answer we see is to return, as Father Medlock did, to the words of Jesus.
People like the Lawlers, the Medlocks and the web of friends holding them close are living out the "greatest love," the only thing stronger than death.
They are there for one another — parishioners and their priest consoling a widow and one another — giving of themselves, laying down their lives a little bit at a time to help someone in need.
Letters to the Editor
Blame headline, not column
In his letter criticizing my column about the three editions of the official Catholic encyclopedia (Readers Respond, May 19), Stan Grove may have focused on a headline that I neither wrote nor approved. In fact I consider that headline unfortunate. The point of the column was to notify readers that the 15 volume 2nd edition (2002) of The New Catholic Encyclopedia is in two libraries in Anchorage and one in Homer. I also sought to alert or remind readers who use the Web that 1907-14 edition of the Catholic Encyclopedia that is online has limitations that are not always self-evident. Mr. Grove asserts that, "without justification," I claim that the entries on biblical topics issued in 1907-14 "would be considered flawed by contemporary Catholic teachings." I stated that the articles in that edition "reflect the absolute best scholarly standards of their era." This is a statement of respect and praise. My article also identifies some of the official documents that revolutionized Catholic biblical understandings in the second half of the 20th century. My intent was to show that I care enough about information literacy and the readers of the Catholic Anchor to alert them to the limitations of the Catholic Encyclopedia available on the Web and to inform them of the good news that the most current edition is actually available in three libraries in Alaska.
Anchorage
Story omitted important man
I would like to address this note to the writer of the Copper Valley School story (News, June 16). I was delighted to read the story in the Anchor but truly saddened when I finished. I cannot believe that everyone could forget a man who did so much for that school from the very beginning until his death in 1969. He worked on that school in all his free time even though he was the supporter of 9 children. All that marble that was on the church floor and elsewhere he found and blasted and helped Father Spills polish. He took boys hunting for large game so there was food on the tables, and he brought road kill to the school so the students could eat. He made many trips to Anchorage and delivered stuff back to the school. Father Buchanan, Father Spils, Father Dibb and Father Gallagher were only a few of the people to grace his family’s dinner table on many a night, or to just stop by to play cribbage or pinochle. He is buried in the place by the river along with his third daughter, who died very young. It saddens me to not see his name mentioned one time. I couldn’t even find his name on the wall. I know all of this as I grew up at that school; I was there as a young child, as a student and as the oldest daughter of the man I have been talking about: my father, Douglas Merritt Fleming.
Anchorage
A note from writer Bob Johnson: Regrettably, the names of hundreds of people who helped build and staff this miracle school of the North — and those of a large number of benefactors who never made it there except in spirit — had to be left unmentioned in my short history. Omission of their names should not be taken to mean that their contributions were small. The motto on the letterhead of Father Buchanan’s Order of Truck Rollers newsletters used to read "Everyone Builds." Fifty years later, those words remain just as true.