 |
 |
when i was born, some 54 years ago, my parents named me Joan Blessington. that's it-no middle name, just Joan. my dad insisted that one patron saint was enough and when that patron was Joan of Arc, she would be all that i needed to protect me and give me the courage and strength that i would need growing up. joan of arc has always been my hero and my role-model. when i got bullied during grade school, i would flee into the safety of Joan's protection and it was all i needed to outlive the bullying and become popular on my own, without ever having to resort to being a bully myself. as i grew older, i constantly read about Joan and her ability to say "yes" to God when even her own Church would wound her so mortally. i am a Catholic and it greatly disturbed me that the Princes of the Church could lable her a sinner & a witch and say that the voices she heard were from satan. and i wondered how in the world a little girl could stand up to the one-sided & absolutely single minded politics of the time. and she went to her death with more courage and strength than i could ever hope to emulate. i was outraged when i thought of how they later said: "oops, sorry, our mistake, she was indeed a saint." my house is filled with Joan of Arc pictures, mementos and collectables (not that i am obsessive about Joan, i also have lots of things about the Beatles, frogs & collections of cobalt blue glass & also of birthday angels). i have been called joan of rome (i live in Rome, Illinois) in a front page article in my diocesian newspaper. the article dealt with the struggle that had raged within me for the past 16 years, trying to balance my Catholic faith and my belief in the need for embryonic stem cell research, using Joan of Arc to help me to come to some viable solution that i could live with. then one day, while visiting the stem cell research lab of my frind, Dr. Craig Cady at Bradley University, he asked me if i would like to see some actual stem cells. as i looked into the microscope and saw these funny looking, squishy little moving around thangs-i thought to myself "so this is what all the fuss is about." And then i felt the presence of God, more strongly than i have felt His presence, even during Communion. This wasn't the anrgy, judgemental God who makes people suffer becasue they are interfering with His plan for human reproduction, but rather a gentle & understanding God who enveloped me in His embace and whispered to me: "look what knowledge i have given you...but it must be used wisely for the good of mankind." it was at that moment that i realizeed that the Catholic Church only mirrors the attitudes & the ideas of the people (those in charge & to a much lesser extent the laity of the Church) and that those attitudes and policies can only be changed from changing people's minds one by one. some i iknow, are beyond changing, but like Joan of Arc, she would never quit until her mission was accomplished. now whether it is getting my butt back up after one of the twenty or so times a day that i fall or in my work to help make stem cell research a reality, or even if it is just raising awareness, my first call for help is to Joan of Arc. Even though it seemed as if her Church had deserted her, she never lost sight of the goal-to serve God no matter what happened to her. -- Joan Blessington Snyder 54/14 [log in to unmask] http://www.pwnkle.com/jes/jes_web/index.htm “Hang tough……..no way through it but to do it.” Chris in the Morning Northern Exposure ---------------------------------------------------------------------- To sign-off Parkinsn send a message to: mailto:[log in to unmask] In the body of the message put: signoff parkinsn