Post: Readers Respond

Read your interesting article [“Learning to Love Catholics”). That is exactly the way we were brought up, too. So glad things have changed for the better in this respect. I listen often to the Catholic TV station EWTN. They have some very good priests I like to listen to and also Mother Angelica. I don’t like some of their rituals, but I am sure their God is also our God! Trya Andersen, Weymouth, Massachusetts.

Greetings from New Hampshire. Enjoyed your story about you and your mother and Catholics and also going back to your schooling at Andover Newton Seminary. Life is a series of memories isn’t it — some good and some not so good — but that’s life.

Two robins out back feeding off our feeder and a male and female cardinal — so beautiful. Melba Teed, Gilford, New Hampshire.

I have enjoyed reading borrowed copies of Pietisten for quite some time. Please begin my very own subscription. Enclosed is a check for $10. Ken Lund, Madison, Wisconsin.

Enclosed is a check for Pietisten. Can’t remember what it costs but this will be a start. Send a new invoice. For the mature, how about a GIANT PRINT edition? Arvid Adell, Decatur, Illinois.

Thanks once again for the stimulating Spring, 1992 issue of Pietisten that you and your colleagues have brought to birth. The publication continues to fill a role that not only is keenly important but that no other journal does.

I am writing to request 25 sample copies which can be distributed to Steve Graham’s and my spring seminar on “Living Issues in Covenant Life and Thought.” I discovered last evening that none of the students is a subscriber. Almost all of them are Orientation persons at NPTS and I am concerned that, as they proceed in a few weeks to assume pastorates and other responsibilities, they will be equipped with Pietisten as a component part of their reading program.

Every Covenant congregation should be regular subscribers!

F. Burton Nelson, Chicago, Illinois.

Pietisten continues to be an excellent publication, and you are to be congratulated — and thanked — for making it all possible. Carl Philip Anderson, Minneapolis, Minnesota.

The Russian poet Yevtushenko said, “Forgive no error you recognize/ it will repeat, increase/ and afterwards our pupils will not forgive in us what we forgave.” I think the Russian would be pleased with Pietisten. Enclosed is a check for two more years! Thanks! Arthur Mampel, Seattle, Washington.

I liked your article about hating Catholics for a lot of reasons. It was very candid and honest and most people who come from the Covenant background could relate to it. It was well thought out and written. It got the point across, but was simple enough for us common people. Greg Barton, West Winfield, New York.

Enjoyed reading the last two issues of Pietisten. Enclosed is my check for a year’s subscription. The previous issues were passed on to me by Jane Jacobson and Wilbur Westerdahl, neighbors in Covenant Village of Turlock. Phil Danielson, Turlock, California.

Really enjoy Pietisten. Remember Aaron Markuson’s poem on friendship. My aunts used to tell me Catholics were evil, too. I was terrified of St. Casmir’s Church on the East Side. Only recently on a trip home did I satisfy my curiosity and venture in. Bill Wahman, Richmond, California.

I love getting Pietisten. I love the Covenant Chris-Crafts. Ralph Anderson, Minneapolis, Minnesota.

Robert Thompson — World View

New York, 8 May 1992

I had intended to mail this letter in Pakistan, but this proved nearly impossible given the Afghanistan confusion and the UN’s contribution thereto. Again, Bangkok was a goal, but the post office seemed opened only at odd hours. Or perhaps it was the odd hours I kept ....

Phnom Penh, the capital of Cambodia, is a sad place that is slowly coming to life after some fifteen years of off-again and on-again horror, a spiral set in motion by the infamous bombings of the country ordered by Kissinger/Nixon, which was brilliantly dissected by Shawcross in his celebrated work, Sides how. I was curious to know the reaction of the Cambodians to a continued Khmer Rouge presence in the present, interim government. Without exception, they denounced it and, without exception, they indicated that if open, democratic elections were held, the Khmer Rouge would probably win! It seems that the KR are genuinely loathed, detested, and feared by the urban population, and rightly so; they have the fairly general support of the peasantry because their fundamental philosophy is a rural-based one. The cities are evil as seen through their prism, and the harbinger of things Western and corrupt (and the Cambodian elite is, by all accounts, corrupt). The cities and all things associated with them must therefore be eliminated. Under Pol Pot, therefore, the cities were emptied and the inhabitants marched to the countryside to live. “The Killing Fields” was about this. But, the peasantry was left alone, which, in a fundamentally feudal society, was itself a blessing.

Curious to know if there was any anti-American sentiment in the population as a result of the mass bombings that led to the American supported coup d'etat against Prince Sihanouk who in turn was overthrown by Pol Pot, I asked a French colleague.

He replied with an anecdote. Also curious about this, he had asked several Cambodian acquaintances. Their reply: “Oh no, this was the period when the US dollar was everywhere and we could import US goods a go-go!!!” The massive bombings and the installation of a corrupt regime meant nothing, or little, before the ideals of the consumer society. Pol Pot may have had a point, even if a sinister one.

Islamabad, 24 April 1992

Was unable to send off the enclosed [below] (no envelopes in the Thompson manse) before leaving Geneva.

Am cooling my heels here, waiting for the UN plane to leave. The Secretary-General is here on official visit to Pakistan and all of the UN is dancing in attendance. Me, I have nothing to do with this, fortunately.

Pakistan is now disengaging itself from the more extremist elements of the Afghan moujahadin factions, in preparation for the “postwar” Afghan government’s certain-to-be more neutral stance. Unfortunately, it was this extremist, fundamentalist faction that the US, through the intermediary of Pakistan, early on chose to be the recipient of its massive gifts of military hardware — (Stugers, for example), to the virtual exclusion of the other Afghan groups. Military hardware, goods and foodstuffs were channeled through Pakistan which siphoned off a good chunk for its business requirements. Corruption is not only open here, it has been raised to one of the fine arts.

Having backed the wrong horse, the US and Pakistan both are making overtures to Mussoud, the new power. He seems to be cooly indifferent to the praise of both Washington and Islamabad and is going his own way. Worse yet, in addition to his military prowess, he has to date demonstrated quite superior diplomatic and political acumen. Remember, he is from the minority tribe of Tajiks and has been able to unite a sizable number of disparate, ethnically diverse tribes at the expense of the historically dominant Pashtoune tribe. Settling scores seems to be an Afghan pastime and we will no doubt see much of this. But, if men of Massoud’s calibre are about, then these major differences will certainly be resolved.

So, what of the [US] political scene? At a time when vision and leadership are desperately needed in the US, we appear stuck between a choice of Bush or Clinton. “‘A people tend to get the government they deserve,” or so says the adage. With the old order rapidly disintegrating and an economic structure in serious difficulty worldwide, there is no one on the horizon of any substance, not to mention of any viable fibre, moral or otherwise in the US. On the eve of what may be a Pax Americana, there is a vacuum at the top. Moliére could have a field day with such a situation.

Geneva, 19 April 1992

This letter will, I hope, find you all in good health, happy and easing on down the yellow brick road in style. Liked the piece in Pietisten on Catholics. It was a good reminder of how things were and the road we've travelled since. Even ole Ireland (no particular yardstick for anything) is putting the abortion matter to a vote. There is hope. Who knows? Maybe even ole John Paul II will come around. Canossa Road [in 1077, at Canossa, Italy, Henry IV stood outside in the snow for three days waiting for absolution from Pope Gregory VII] after all, was fairly short both in distance and time.

I thought of you recently. An old friend (primary and secondary school days) who owns a trucking firm suggested to his employees that any who wished could take off three hours on Good Friday. Several of the younger guys came afterwards and thanked him but asked him what this was all about. They had apparently never heard of Good Friday! This was last year. The Journal de Genéve had a lead article: “Ten Commandments? Never heard of them!” an assessment-survey of Swiss youth and religion. The results were not encouraging. The traditional religious context is rapidly disintegrating and mammon has quickly stepped into the breach. Historically, Christianity was no match for the Enlightenment, although I do give the French Catholic hierarchy credit for having pinpointed the opposition. It knew almost instinctively where the danger really was and attempted to fight it. Unfortunately, much of the hierarchy belonged to the opposing camp.

The modern world has really triumphed over religion. The words of Christ have simply been co-opted and religion gutted. Western, contemporary society reminds me of those Romans on the eve of the sack of Rome. The old order has gone and the new one is discernable only to the lucky few.

After several days of snow and rain, Easter Sunday is beautiful! Avenel and the kids left a few seconds ago for the mountains. I am off to Kabul tomorrow. With Najabulla holed up in our [the UN] compound and all air transportation grounded by the moujahadin pending resolution of the matter, I am not able to get in. We are holding our breath, hoping against hope that inter-factional fighting does not break out in the capital or that an attack of the UN compound is not attempted. Passions are high in this passionate people and, from a telephone. communication from Kabul a few minutes ago, the drama is changing hourly.

Enough, All blessings for Easter.