I've been reading books about Afghanistan lately, including a new one called "War" by Sebastian Junger about U.S. troops from the 173rd Airborne Division in the now abandoned Korengal Valley. I had no idea of the intensity of the combat there, where my son-in-law served as a forward observer in his first, 15-month tour in 2007-08. Now a medic with the 101st Airborne, he was redeployed to Kandahar, Afghanistan, on Memorial Day. My daughter, who served a shorter tour in Afghanistan in 2009, goes with the 101st to Kandahar on June 11. They're supposed to be there a year.
I was in Manhattan over Memorial Day weekend, and attended Mass at Holy Cross Church on West 42nd Street, where the Rev. Francis Duffy served as pastor after World War I. Duffy was a leading Catholic educator who also served as a military chaplain in the war with the 69th New York Infantry Regiment. His commanding officer was fellow Irish Catholic and part-time soldier Bill Donovan, who won the Congressional Medal of Honor, ran as Republican candidate for governor in 1932, and in World War II was a key adviser to FDR, founding and running the OSS and becoming a major general. (The week before, I was hanging out with friends from the antiwar Catholic Worker, some of whom I hadn't seen for over three decades, at Rita Corbin's 80th birthday party.)
Actually, the well attended English and Spanish Masses were in a large basement room at Holy Cross, because the church is being renovated. The pastor says in the bulletin, "I think everyone will be surprised by our bright and well lit church. ... Please remember that all efforts have been made to maintain the old look of the church; this is not a remodeling but a restoration with some new elements."
I think that's also the philosophy behind the project at the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception in Albany, and I've seen good results before in old churches where they let the light in. God knows, there have been enough bad news and blundering in the Albany Diocese, but the cathedral was too gloomy. I haven't been there recently to inspect it, but I am not one of those who condemn beautification efforts as a waste of money. John Newman's famous hymn is ever applicable:
"Lead, kindly Light, amid th'encircling gloom,
Lead Thou me on.
The night is dark, and I am far from home,
Lead Thou me on."
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