Visit to Poland:
Reveals real truth of church history

		The Catholic  Difference  George Weigel

SANDOMIERZ, POLAND -- Sandomierz lies in what Poles call "Poland B," the poor section of the country that didn't make very much progress between the world wars; the Russians didn't do much to improve things when they controlled the area from 1795 to 1918.

What the Sandomierz region can take pride in is the Sandomierz old town itself: a walled gem whose handsome market square is, after Cracow's, the largest, most well-preserved such space in the country.

Dominican family

I came here to speak to a national gathering of Poland's "Dominican family": lay third order Dominicans, young families involved in the vibrant student chaplaincies the Polish Dominicans run at Polish universities.

The priory church in Sandomierz is the oldest brick building in Poland, dating to the 13th century. Two years ago, 70 people came to Mass on Sunday.

An energetic new prior, Father Andrzej, was assigned to Sandomierz; today, 1,100 people attend Mass every weekend at the priory church - a magnificently simple, clean Romanesque structure. It's further evidence that the Polish Dominicans are at the forefront of evangelical renewal in the world Church.

The priory church is located across a small valley from the Sandomierz old town, which is really the new old town. The real old town of Sandomierz (which had surrounded the priory church) was destroyed by the Tartars in a murderous raid in 1259.

Catholic slaughter

I walked across the little valley to have a look at the new old town with a friend and former student, Fr. Zbigniew Krysiewicz, a Dominican art historian.

After pointing out the rare Byzantine frescoes in the cathedral's chancel, Father Zbig was taking me down one aisle of the nave, the walls featuring large oil paintings on the same theme. We were pondering the first in this series when we heard voices, unmistakably American, belonging to two gentlemen tourists.

"What's going on in that painting?"

"I don't know."

"I think it's the Conquistadors. They're killing the natives. They used to do that, you know, converting them."

Father Zbig's red eyebrows went up. But he just looked at the floor, slightly bemused.

I couldn't resist. Turning to my countrymen, I said, "Perhaps I could explain. Those are Tartars, slaughtering Catholics, not 200 yards from where we're standing."

"That's interesting," one of the men replied, unabashed; "when was that?"

"In 1259," I told him.

"Must have been at the beginning of Polish Christianity," he observed.

"Well, give or take about 300 years," I said.

Anti-Catholicism

Reviewing Philip Jenkins' must-read new book, The New Anti-Catholicism (Oxford University Press), several critics have rapped the author's knuckles for allegedly exaggerating the degree to which anti-Catholicism is the default position in upscale American culture.

Let the critics come to Sandomierz cathedral. Here I was, more than 4,000 miles from home, near a holy place sanctified by the blood of 49 Dominican martyrs, and what do I hear? The Black Legend, transformed into the last acceptable prejudice, casually repeated by a well-to-do American tourist who would be horrified at the thought of trafficking in bigotry.

Professor Jenkins does not exaggerate.

George Weigel is a senior fellow of the Ethics and Public Policy Center in Washington, D.C.

Medical technology: Who benefits?

		Eye on the  Capitol  Kathy Markeland

In a recent health journal, researchers from Columbia University reported their findings that uninsured individuals were less likely than insured individuals to have access to the latest medical technology.

Perhaps unwittingly, their research offers a reminder as to why access to health care is an issue with moral implications for our society.

The researchers focused on adults aged 55-64 and reviewed the receipt of health care services related to three health conditions: heart attack, cataracts, and depression.

The research revealed that the uninsured patients were seven percent less likely to receive an invasive cardiac procedure. While up to 20 percent of insured patients received cataract surgery, only two to five percent of the uninsured received the same level of care. And while uninsured individuals are more likely to suffer depression, uninsured patients were half as likely as insured patients to receive anti-depression medications.

This data opens up two interesting avenues of discussion as we reflect on the state of health care in the country today.

Moral obligation

On the one hand, there may be some who are surprised that those without the means to pay have access to these services at all. In the instances noted above, where an uninsured patient undergoes an invasive heart surgery, who pays? The short answer is that we all do. And the study reveals that while there are inequities in accessing the services, people still receive care, as justice requires.

The reality is that we already have a health care system that extends services to the vast majority of citizens.

Some of us pay for it and some of us don't, but the system has already recognized that there is a moral obligation to care for those without insurance. Society expects it because we cannot fathom living in a culture that leaves those who can't afford life-saving treatment out on the street to die.

Advances in technology

So why is universal health care coverage such a leap? If we are already paying for it by subsidizing charity care and if public funds currently account for over 40 percent of the overall health care expenditures in this country, why is the discussion of universal coverage such a stretch for so many?

One of the possible answers leads us to the second avenue of discussion raised by this research - who benefits from advances in medical technology?

The battle over health care may well be less about the cost of paying for services for everyone than the struggle over how to equitably dispense the medical treatments that we already have.

In looking at other countries with universal access systems, policy makers bemoan the inevitable "rationing" of health care services. These concerns about the potential for a universal system to erode the overall quality of our health care system should not be dismissed. And yet, as this study shows, we must recognize that rationing is what the uninsured live with under current conditions.

Injustices

We continue to justify exorbitant investments in new medical technologies and even morally problematic means of research on the basis that these advances in medical technology are necessary to save human lives. Embryonic stem cell research has been sold to the public on this very premise.

Yet, this research starkly reveals that we have a track record of failing to equitably distribute those treatments already available.

As we continue to grapple with the monumental challenge of reforming the health care delivery system, studies such as this will be invaluable to help focus the discussion on the real fears that paralyze us and the real injustices that demand we take action.

Kathy Markeland is associate director of the Wisconsin Catholic Conference.

'Why me, Lord?':
What we can learn from Moses

		Grand Mom  Audrey  Mettel Fixmer

Where did we ever get the idea that everyone is supposed to retire at age 65? Why is that the magic number?

All around me are people in their 70s and even 80s still capable and willing to work.

My husband and I are both looking forward to another school year of teaching college courses that bring us in contact with young and middle-aged people who want to learn. And after listening to the reading from Deuteronomy in this morning's Mass, it strikes me that we can learn some important lessons from Moses.

A few lessons

First we can clearly see that walking a few miles every day keeps us young. In Chapter 31 Moses tells his followers, "I am now 120 years old and am no longer able to move about freely." (Well, I bet he's not!) "Besides, the Lord has told me that I shall not cross this Jordan."

Now, that's the part that I find hard to swallow. It doesn't seem fair that God would give him this tough assignment when he is 80 years old, to lead his people out of slavery, through a hot, dry desert with all its perils.

This was a 40-year ordeal, with the entire tribe grumbling about the accommodations all the way! Only to let him die just as they were about to reach the Promised Land?

Still, you don't find Moses complaining about the injustice of it all. Maybe he was trying to teach us that the Father knows best. (Or he was too tired anyway. At 120, who wouldn't be?)

God's plan

Instead of indulging in self-pity, Moses gives his people one more spirited sermon about how they should carry out all his commandments and "then the Lord God will increase in all goodly measures the returns from all your labors, the fruit of your womb, the offspring of your livestock, and the produce of your soil; for the Lord your God will take delight in your prosperity."

Now there's a comforting thought for all. How many of us can say when we reach our old age that we followed the very career path that we chose in the carefree days of our youth? If we "followed the Lord's way" we soon discovered He had a very different plan for us.

I thought I was going to write at least 10 great books that would live forever and change the world; instead I had 10 great kids with eternal souls who can change the world. My husband thought he would be a priest or a lawyer who would preach the law of his God or his country; he is an educator who teaches the rules of grammar and inspires with the words of scripture.

For most of us there were no burning bushes or any such dramatic call. Yet somewhere along the way, we probably echoed Moses' cry, "Why me, Lord? I am not fit to do what you are asking."

Taking delight

Moses reminded God he had a speech impediment. The Lord said, "That's okay; I'll send your brother Aaron along. He can talk the hump off a camel!" (Well, something to that effect.)

I reminded God that I had only two hands and 24 hours in the day, and He said, "That's okay, your kids will have two hands apiece; that makes 20 more. I'll give you a long life so you can write at least a couple of books and a monthly column for the Catholic press. Now be still and know that I am God."

The line I love most, though, is the one where Moses says that the Lord will take delight in our prosperity. If we have labored hard all our lives, following God's way, we will find comfort in our homes and gardens, and joy in our children and grandchildren, without feeling the least bit guilty.

When we harvest those beautiful tomatoes and peppers from our gardens this month, when we drive in our comfortable big cars to visit our kids, when we laugh all the way to the bank with both our pension checks and paychecks, what a good feeling it is to visualize God "delighting in our prosperity."

Reminders

Of course, there are always those sobering reminders to share our good fortune with others. There are churches to be built, children to educate, poor to be fed. The temporal treasures we have stored are not ours to squander. In the words of Dolly Levy, "Money is like manure; it doesn't do any good unless it's spread around."

As for the gifts with which we were born and spent a lifetime developing, God is surely expecting us to keep on using them whether we have reached age 65 or not. And don't be surprised if he gives us an assignment to lead a tour group through a dessert at age 80, as he did Moses. Or if he does, let's hope we have the good sense to ask for directions!

"Grandmom" likes hearing from other senior citizens who enjoy aging at P.O. Box 216, Fort Atkinson, WI 53538.