LETTERS
To The Editor:

Every year about this time, a famous quotation which originated 30 years ago next month, makes the rounds, and in case you haven't seen or heard it, here it is:

"A young man whose father is a carpenter grows up working in his father's shop. He has no formal education. He owns no property of any kind. One day he puts down his tools and walks out of his father's shop. He starts preaching on street corners and in the nearby countryside. Walking from place to place, preaching all the while, even though he is in no way an ordained minister. He never gets farther than an area perhaps 100 miles wide at the most. He does this for three years. Then he is arrested, tried and convicted. There is no court of appeal so he is executed at age 33 along with two common thieves. Those in charge of his execution roll dice to see who gets his clothing -- the only possessions he has. His family cannot afford a burial place so he is interred in a borrowed tomb. End of story? No, this uneducated, propertyless young man who preached on street corners for only three years who left no written word has for 2000 years had a greater effect on the entire world than all the rulers, kings and emperors, all the conquerors, the generals and admirals, all the scholars, scientists and philosophers who ever lived -- all put together. How do we explain that? ...Unless he really was what he said he was." Ronald Reagan, January, 1978.
Cordially,
Chuck Esposito
To the Editor:

Catholics who drifted away? I hadn't given it much thought, but I guess it happens in all Christian religions. I learned only recently that Blairsville's St. Francis of Assisi Catholic Church is planning a sort of 'homecoming' for cradle Catholics whose life circumstances led them away. And I hear they named the welcome home effort 'Catholics Returning Home.'

It makes sense. Like many other young people, I fell away from my faith when I was in the military. Eventually, being away felt like I was in a deep hole, and couldn't get out. Thank God, I finally did escape a world of nothing when I rediscovered my faith. I recommend it. Whether Baptist, Methodist, Episcopalian - or whatever - people who left their faith can find happiness and fulfillment by returning to it.

A distant relative of mine grew up Catholic and drifted away in the madness of the 'hippy' era. She eventually left that strange lifestyle and became first a Unitarian and later a minister of that faith. Awhile back she pulled up stakes and returned to the state both of her birth and her Catholic faith. She liked to say, "Once Catholic, always Catholic." It sounded once a bit cryptic, in light of her chosen vocation, but I know now what she had in mind. And with that, I wish that St. Francis of Assisi Catholic Church's 'Catholics Returning Home' program might enjoy ultimate success. Their once weekly program, I understand, is to set to begin on January 10. Great! Now let us see if other area churches may decide to emulate the prodigal homecoming celebration.
Tom McKevitt
To the Editor:

It was Christmas Eve about seven o-clock and we had just finished our Christmas Eve dinner. My son and his wife, their two girls (my angels), my son's sister-in-law and one of her sons were all there. The plan was to go after dinner to my sister's house, where she and my nephew are caring for our 94 year old mother. My sister was having company for Christmas dinner the next day, so we agreed that Christmas Eve was the time for everyone to get together and exchange gifts.

Now I live on the northern end of the county and my sister lives on the southern end; so when we started our caravan, we were traveling south. There were too many people for one vehicle, so I took my pickup and my youngest angel (Emily) rode with me.

As we pulled out on Hwy. 129, you could see the moon coming up in the east as it was just breaking about the tree line. The air was crystal clear and the moon looked huge. A little late for a fall moon, but that's what it looked like, without the orange color. By the time we were approaching town it was up in full. I said to my granddaughter, "Isn't that beautiful, and wouldn't that make a beautiful picture?" There was just a small thin cloud above the moon and it was clear below, between the moon and the mountain. It was truly a beautiful sight and I was thinking, "how lucky we are to see it."

We could catch the full view of it in several more places before we got to town, and I said to my granddaughter, "Isn't it a shame those two airplane had to leave those con-trails in the sky and spoil such a beautiful sight?" Emily replied immediately, "Oh, No, Pa Pa! They look just like a cross!"

I pulled over and sure enough, it was a cross filling in that space between the moon and the mountain. Now this wasn't something you had to look at and use your imagination to see. It was aligned perfectly and it was almost as bright as the moon.

Was it just an accident that things worked out that way? That two planes, one traveling south and one traveling west should line up exactly under the moon and I just happened to have Emily along to point it out to me?

I don't think so!

It was Christmas Eve, it was in the east; the next day just happened to be our Savior's birthday. He did die on the Cross for you and I.

With my mother going through a bad health spell and with my sister just out of the hospital, and other emotional tests that I have been through over the last months, I took it as a sign to me. I take my allegiance to Jesus very seriously. Over my life I feel He has communicated with me in subtle ways. I have always noticed that sermons especially have zeroed in on my life and guided me. To me this moon and Cross was just that, a reminder that He was still there and watching out for me.

All you had to do was look up and you could have seen it. I am sure it meant something to others, but I know I got my message.
Sonny Boyer