John Bugler, a Long Island resident who ran for the State
Assembly last year, filled me in on his trip to Rome for the
papal funeral. In spite of numerous obstacles to his pilgrimage,
it appears that divine providence landed him a spot at St.Peter's
Square for the momentous occasion. Long train trips, a missed
wakeup call, and closed-off streets might have dissuaded a less
committed traveler, but not Mr. Bugler. He made a mad dash toward
the square at the same time a tardy cardinal was rushing to it.
The cardinal thought Mr. Bugler was his bodyguard. Guards allowed
both the cardinal and Mr.Bugler through the barricades, and Mr.
Bugler was able to witness what is believed to be the largest
funeral ceremony in modern history.
It was only fitting that this man from Oakdale was part of the
historic event, for back in the 1980s Mr. Bugler was involved in
assisting the Solidarity movement in Poland.
Although Carl Bernstein wrote about it in a 1992 Time article
called "Holy Alliance," not many people are aware of
the role New York unions played in getting help to the fledgling
union behind the Iron Curtain. With the assistance of Lane
Kirkland and Harry Van Arsdale of the AFL-CIO and other union
leaders, Mr. Bugler and his group were able to change the cargo
manifests of equipment sent to Poland. Shipments of cell phones,
radio transmitters, copiers, and fax machines were mislabeled as
musical instruments or other innocent items and routed to
Solidarity, which had gone underground after martial law was
invoked in 1981.
The Polish people regarded John Paul II as the vanguard of their
freedom from totalitarianism. "The other important factor in
the eventual triumph over communism," Mr. Bugler said,
"was the moral fiber and character of Ronald Reagan."
Mr. Bugler said that had Reagan died of his wounds on March 30,
1981, communism would still be a force to be reckoned with.
Mr. Bugler is certainly a genuine admirer of Pope John Paul II,
and St. Peter's Square was filled with hundreds of thousands of
equally devoted followers of the pontiff.The network coverage of
the funeral was unprecedented, and even non-Catholics rose early
on Friday morning to watch the solemn Mass.
I, however, was preoccupied with the death of my niece, Tara
Baez, who had lost her battle with ovarian cancer earlier in the
week. I had visited her viewing at Grace Chapel in Brooklyn, and
while it was heartrending to see the young mother of two looking
serenely beautiful, as she lay in her casket it was also
gratifying to note that the room was filled with loving relatives
and friends.
I caught a repeat of the pope's funeral on C-Span in its
entirety,and while many commentators on the other networks
remarked on the ritual beauty of the services,I found it not
unlike the other funeral masses I've attended for Catholics less
noteworthy than the pope.
Catholic feminist critics of the services wasted no time in
posting their grievances on the Internet. Anne Eggebroten writes
in Women's eNews:
"But one question haunts many of us: Where are the women in
this drama? Not among the cardinals who marched in red and will
meet next Monday to elect the next pope. Not among the 320
priests who fanned out to give the Eucharist to the faithful
assembled in St. Peter's Square for the pope's memorial
mass."
In her essay Ms. Eggebroten notes that women were part of the
service, reading from the Acts of the Apostles and the prayers of
the faithful. She writes, "Women didn't get to play even
these bit parts 60 years ago.The old boys' club was even more
exclusive then."
Tell me, Ms. Eggebroten, why do I remember all the nuns in my
life and so few of the priests?
Ms. Eggebroten imagines that in another 60 years, Catholic women
will be ordained as priests, as they are now in many other
faiths. Sorry, but "it ain't gonna happen." The man
entombed April 8 spoke as definitively as possible on this issue
and even decreed that Catholics should not discuss the matter.The
case therefore is closed.
But that won't stop the CINOs (Catholics in name only) from
insisting that they know better than St. Peter's successor how
the church should function and rule on faith and morals.When they
espouse modern societal choices as compatible with the teachings
of Christ, they lack the fundamental virtue that signals a true
believer.
It's a quality that the pilgrims who slept on the ground at St.
Peter's Square,and a man who raced alongside a cardinal for a
glimpse at the service, have plenty of: humility.