The thing about CNN’s TV program, Washington Journal, is that it offers the viewer a fairly broad spectrum of opinions from the standpoint of geographic location, religion, culture, and economic strata.

However, Brian Lamb, who usually orchestrates the Friday program, was hard-pressed this morning, July 13, to elicit direct responses to his question: “With regard to the Iraq War, have you suffered from war fatigue? If so, can you tell us how?”

Perhaps, it was too early in the day for soul or psyche searching, for the responses hit primarily upon the conduct of the war, the frequent redeployment of the troops, the financial support, etc.

Yet, some came through, all right. One woman said she is so tired of the war, so hurt, so discouraged, she has begun to turn to her Bible for at least two hours a day. When Lamb asked her if she had read the Bible religiously before the war, she answered, “No.” Now, she feels she has nowhere else to find direction for her life, and it affords her a certain amount of peace.

A soldier was interviewed who said he was taking the government to court for demanding of him a fourth tour of duty in Iraq. He was certainly suffering from war fatigue, wanted out of the war, and time to get on with his studies to finish up a degree.

Another gentleman said war fatigue was no problem for him. The worse things looked, the stronger he became, determined to do whatever he could to back the President. If memory serves correctly, he was not in the service.

We have problems, friends, fighting a war into which we were thrust under false pretense, funding it with borrowed money from China, a war where our dead arrive at Dover Air Force Base under cover of darkness, lest any citizen connect war with the messiness of death, widows, and orphans.

Then, there are our wounded, beyond counting, any number of whom are finding deductions on their checks for this or that purpose, while they scrounge for bus fare to get to rehabilitation appointments.

How connected must they feel with the White House, where servants abound, and no one worries about bills or wheel chairs, or learning to get around without any sight? It’s a White House, where revving up recruits is high on the agenda, no matter whom, or for how long. It’s a long, long way from Pennsylvania Avenue to Main Street, USA, and it gets longer every day.

While catching up on chores around the house, I couldn’t help but reflect on World War II stories. Certainly, people must have felt war fatigue, but in a different sense. They were together, united in a common goal, one they felt worthy of every ounce of patriotism they could muster. War profiteering was a scandal, placing one beyond the pale of decent folk. The people were connected in their neighborhoods, their precincts, their state and national government.

They were connected with their churches. When silver stars turned to gold in windows up and down the streets, prayer was the automatic response for the fallen hero and the families. At morning Masses, every half-hour from 5:30 o’clock to 9:00 o’clock, at least two priests were often needed to give Communion.

The priest might be praying in Latin, but he was there, and he would be there to comfort and to offer the Requiem High Mass, with music that touched Heaven and enveloped the congregation in prayer and hope for eternal life. The people were united in faith, in sorrow for the dead, the wounded, in fear of the unknown during a war when the news was often perilous. They had their faith, the pearl of great price, not to be traded for any passing fancy.

The fathers went on patrol at night to see that no lights were escaping through the black-out blinds. Mothers kept track of food stamps, shoe stamps, and made do. If someone needed shoes, the stamps might be borrowed, to be paid back as soon as possible. When a service man or woman came home on furlough, the whole neighborhood joined together to plan a feast for the family, and pool coupons to make it possible. People were connected, and in that connection, they knew love and sacrifice, and a certain sense of safety in deep friendships.

If we seem a long way from the White House, the Vatican appears no less distant to countless numbers of Catholics. A few nights ago, I happened to click into Mother Angelica’s program, and saw two young priests glowing with the expectation of Latin Masses with no altar girls and no women. How naive I was to think little girls would be welcome at the altar of God during a Latin Mass.

Too great a threat to the purity of priests dedicated to being stalwart protectors of the faith, though a number of male pedophiles have brought heartache and scandal enough to span a century. I would think that a thimble full of sensitivity would have cautioned those in charge to put a cap upon their arrogance, at least until the year 3000.

At first, I considered how we women could get together across the nation and plan a sort of strike – no financial contributions, no services of any kind. Then, charity raised its gentle heart, and I knew women would never desert the good, sacrificing clergy, who have been on women’s side for decades.

Truth to tell, those who are so small-minded as to ban little girls from the altar, are unworthy of anyone’s attention. They are to be pitied and prayed for. A little healthy neglect might go a long way toward bringing them back to a bit of humility and charity, and a lot less ego. .

Just when we thought we could take a bit of rest from Vatican confrontation, there was an article in the July 11th issue of the Chicago Tribune, AP by Nicole Winfield., relating that Pope Benedict XVI has reasserted the primacy of the Roman Catholic Church, approving a document that says other Christian communities are either defective or not true churches and Catholicism provides the only true path to salvation.

The World Alliance of Reformed Churches, a fellowship of 75 million Protestants in more than 100 countries, replied:

It makes us question the seriousness with which the Roman Catholic Church takes its dialogues with the reformed family and other families of the church.

It makes millions of us Catholics uncomfortable and embarrassed for our Protestant brothers and sisters, especially since we are aware of the countless innocent children who had been abused by priests, and whose needs were left unaddressed. by the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith.

We, who have participated in Protestant services, and they with us, are all the richer for the friendships formed and exchange of ideas, understanding that we Catholics do not have a corner on holiness, and it is holiness we seek, day by day..

Lord, in your infinite mercy and love, open our hearts to the goodness of your people, of whatever religion or race or culture. Please give us the humility to honor your goodness in them, and to learn from them the teachings we need to light our journey home. Amen.

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