Bridging the Gap: And that's the way it is...

By Bishop David Zubik

	Bishop David Zubik

Just last week, the long awaited debut of the new "news anchor" for the CBS Evening News occurred. What made this debut so significant is that it is the first time a woman newscaster claimed the sole chief news anchor position on a national news broadcast. As Katie Couric began her exciting responsibilities, the end of the broadcast focused on how some of her predecessors in the position concluded their evening broadcast, among them: Edward R. Murrow, Dan Rather, and perhaps the most famous, Walter Cronkite.

Many of you will fondly remember, as did CBS News on Katie's first day on the job, the manner in which Walter Cronkite would always end his broadcast: "And that's the way it is for ... " at which point he would highlight the day and the date of the broadcast.

"And that's the way it is, Thursday, Sept. 14, 2006!" The news that day, especially for residents of the Green Bay area as well as across the country, startled us and with good reason. A plot to mastermind an attack on the students, staff, faculty and administration at Green Bay's East High School made most of us stop in our tracks.

The plot, uncovered that Thursday morning, revealed plans by several suspects to set off explosives, apply napalm to doors to prevent people from fleeing and specified certain people as targets for shooting. The plan, allegedly under way for several years, was modeled after the tragic 1999 student massacre at Columbine High School in Littleton, Col.

As I personally reflect on the thwarted plan, together with so many of you, I said a prayer of thanks to God that the event was in fact thwarted - that people's lives weren't lost, that no one was hurt. Nevertheless, the conceived plan is a tragedy in and of itself.

I admired with gratitude whoever it was that tipped off school officials about the plot. It took a great deal of courage in protecting the common good.

I also thought about how this violent plot received so much attention. Rightly so!

Given the nearly tragic event at East High, I felt once again the deep need for the kind of peace which only God can give and which no one can ever take away. I began to think about how you and I as followers of Jesus can move forward, be agents of, be visible signs of the kind of peace which God comes to give even and especially in our own little part of the world.

In reflecting on last week's events, I thought of four lessons that I learned. Maybe they can be of help to you too!

• Several decades ago, I trust that you will remember the story of more than 30 tenants in a New York City apartment building who looked down on the sidewalk below and became spectators of a victim being assaulted and ultimately murdered. No one came to the defense of the victim. No one picked up the phone to call the police.

In contrast, the courageous action of the individual who informed school officials about the disastrous plot at East High School, is a striking reminder of how each of us must be concerned about the other and how much we must work for the common good. The Catechism of the Catholic Church speaks to this important issue: "Those who renounce violence and bloodshed in order to safeguard human rights bear witness to the love of God. They bear legitimate witness to the gravity of the physical and moral risks of recourse to violence, with all of its destruction and death" (CCC #2306).

It is imperative for us, as followers of Jesus, to be interested and involved partners in taking an active role in working for the common good. Our continued outreach to the victims of Hurricane Katrina stands as a perfect example of how we do that collectively as the Church of Green Bay. Day in and day out, so many of you work for the common good in unsung and unnoticed ways.

• A second lesson that I believe you and I can learn from the tragic story of the East High School plot is how careful we must be about our attitudes about each other. It was important to learn the alleged motive of those who planned the thwarted massacre was one of retaliation by individuals who claim to have experienced rejection, ridicule and displacement.

To be placed outside any community whether it be a school, a family or a place of business, can be not only a hurtful reality but destructive as well. One of the responsibilities we bear as members of the Body of Christ is to treat one another as if "they are Christ" and to speak to and act toward one another as if "we are Christ."

• The third important lesson we can learn from the East High School discovery is the need to check our appetite in entertainment. Increased indulgence in violence as entertainment statistically leads to a dulling of our senses to the horrors of violence. Not only is it important for us to put ourselves on a "diet of nonviolent entertainment"; it is especially imperative for us to engage the young people in our families and in our Church to likewise to see violence as a force that is: disengaging, disrupting, destructive.

• And finally, taking a cue from Jesus Himself, so powerfully preached from His pulpit of the cross, it is essential for us to remember Jesus' own words: "Father, forgive them; they do not know what they are doing" (Lk 23.34). Especially so, it is important for us to pray for those involved in the plot at East High School and particularly for their families.

While it is nearly impossible for us to understand the "why" and the "how" of such violence contained in another person's mind, it is all the more necessary for us to pray for conversion in their hearts.

Given the instruction of Jesus Himself in the Sermon on the Mount "Happy the peacemakers: they shall be called children of God" (Mt 5.9), shouldn't we strive to be visible signs of the kind of peace which God comes to give even and especially in our own little part of the world. "And that's the way it can be ..."