Denver Catholic

4 I OPINION FEBRUARY 12, 2014 I DENVER CATHOLIC REGISTER ARCHBISHOP AQUILA'S SCHEDULE FEB. 12: Mass, Bishop Machebeuf High School (10:30 a.m.); 10th anniversary dinner, Centro San Juan Diego (6 p.m.) CORRECTION An Around the Archdiocese list of school news in the Feb. 5 issue incorrectly identi- fied a photo of a student. James Fross of Holy Family High School is the one pictured who earned a perfect SAT score. The Register regrets the error. THE CATHOLIC DIFFERENCE GEORGE WEIGEL Pete Seeger died on Jan. 27, rich in years (94) and in honors (a lifetime-achievement Grammy, the National Medal for the Arts). His death rated a segment on the PBS News Hour, during which the inconvenient fact that Seeger had been a member of the U.S. Communist Party for years was finessed by the expedient of noting that he had eventually left the Party. What Pete Seeger never left, of course, was the Left: not the pragmatic liberal world of Harry Truman, John F. Kennedy, Hubert Humphrey, and Scoop Jackson, but the hard Left that created Stalin's Popular Front in the '30s and later spelled the country's name "Amerika" in the '60s. With songs like "Where Have All the Flowers Gone?" "If I Had a Hammer" and "Turn, Turn, Turn" (best performed, if I may say, by the Byrds), Seeger did as much as anyone to pop- ularize the folk music renaissance of the late '50s and early '60s. But the adulation that came Seeger's way in recent de- cades had less to do with his mastery of the five-string banjo and his song-writing than with his status in certain circles as a living martyr: the man who stiffed the House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC), found himself blacklisted, and was reduced to performing on college campuses for a while. Blacklisting is obviously bad business. What's worth noting today, though, is that the ugly habit of blacklisting has migrat- ed on the political spectrum. Ask a lot of people the first thing they think of when they hear "blacklist," and the response will likely be "Joe McCarthy" or "HUAC." The proper response would be "Andrew Cuomo." In mid-January, the New York governor indulged himself in a remarkable rant on a local radio station. His principle vex- ation was the "gridlock" in Washington that, on his account, was caused by "extreme Republicans," which he distinguished from "moderate Republicans" (i.e., Republicans who tend to do what Andrew Cuomo wants them to do). Then, turning to his own Empire State, he announced that such extremists, among whom he listed "right-to-life" people, "have no place in the state of New York." My professional obligations take me to New York with some frequency; and despite Cuomo's rant, I somehow doubt that there will be customs agents at Penn Station checking to see if I am one of those deplorable right-to-lifers before I de- train and begin contributing to New York's exchequer by pay- ing its exorbitant sales tax on various goods and services. Still, it's instructive to know that, by the lights of its 56 th governor, I am in New York on sufferance: much like I was, I suppose, when I crossed into East Berlin in 1987 and was given a hard stare by the goon who examined my U.S. passport and looked at me as if I were a lower life form. Andrew Cuomo is a blacklister—in the moral, if not literal, sense of the term. He deems unfit to live in his state those who disagree with his fervent, indeed fanatical, embrace of the most extreme form of the abortion license. Press him hard enough and he might even say such people are un-American. Thus has the HUAC ethos been reconstituted in our time by the governor of New York. So it was not without a certain sense of ironies in the fire that I read Governor Cuomo's statement on the death of Pete Seeger, who waited until three years after the collapse of the Soviet Union to apologize "for once believing Stalin was just a hard driver," not the mass murderer that more honest and discern- ing men and women on the democratic Left knew him to be a half-century earlier: the Pete Seeger who, according to the motu proprio from the gubernatorial cathedra in Albany, inspires An- drew Cuomo and, Cuomo hopes, others in their quest to "make New York State the progressive capital of the nation." Where have all the liberals gone, long time passing? Not quite all have gone hard Left. But Andrew Cuomo has, be- coming a blacklister in the process. George Weigel is Distinguished Senior Fellow of the Ethics and Public Policy Center in Washington, D.C. Weigel's column is distributed by the Denver Catholic Register, the official newspaper of the Archdiocese of Denver. Phone: 303-715-3215. Andrew Cuomo and the liberal blacklist German traditions A quiz on Catholic things under the patronage of the "Doctor of Prayer," St. Teresa of Avila. For each question there is one right answer, but the answer for one question is "None of the Above." 1. On what day do German chil- dren mark doorposts with three initials and collect food and money for the poor? A. On the Assumption they mark the doors with BVM. B. On Maundy Thursday they mark the doors with IHS. C. On the Epiphany they mark the doors with KMB. 2. St. Martin of Tours' feast day, Nov. 13, will find children walking around towns at dusk with homemade lanterns. In olden days the lanterns were similar to jack-o-lanterns, but instead of pumpkins, these were carved: A. cantaloupes B. beets C. gourds 3. New Year's Eve is known by the name of the pope whose feast day is Dec. 31. Who is this pope? A. Pope Adrian B. Pope Damasus C. Pope Silvester 4. On 11/11 at 11:11 a.m. occurs the awakening of Hoppeditz from the grave. When does Hop- peditz return to the grave? A. at midnight as Ash Wednesday begins B. the Saturday before the first Sunday of Advent C. St. Andrew's feast day, Nov. 30 5. What do friends of the bride and groom break in the street that the couple must sweep up as a sign of their pledge to work through adversity together? A. clay figurines of a bride and groom B. wine glasses C. ceramic dishes 6. At the famous German Christmas Markets stollen, a fruitcake, is readily available. What is the shape of this fruit- cake said to represent? A. a Christmas wreathe B. the Baby Jesus in swad- dling clothes C. the star the Wise Men followed 7. An Advent Wreathe rhyme that also rhymes in English says, "Ad- vent, Advent / A single light burns / First one, then two, then three, then four / And then stands the Christ- kind at the door." Who is the Christkind? A. the Little Lord Jesus B. a legendary shepherd child who brought a baby lamb to the manger and now visits German homes on Christmas C. an angel sent by Jesus to bring presents to children on Christmas BY PETER WESTHOFF 1. B, 2. A, 3. C, 4. None of the Above - St. Boniface, as we learned in a previous quiz, is known as the Apostle of Germa- ny. 5. A, 6. A, 7. B LETTERS TO THE EDITOR Frank Morriss tribute well deserved Thank you for the tribute on Frank Morriss in the Feb. 5 Denver Catholic Register ("Catholic press loses one of its own"). For sure he deserved all the acknowledgement you gave him. His knowledge on Church and Catholic teaching was im- mense. I turned to him with some difficult moral questions and he readily helped me. He also educated my three kids in the Catholic faith. All my heart and admiration goes to him. Americus Kalmar Westminster Celebrate your baptism annually The Holy Father is strongly recommending that Catholics have an annual celebration on the date of their baptism. It would be a great blessing for families if parishes were to have volunteers create special memo- rial beeswax candles to be bless- ed and given to the child, the par- ents and the godparents, includ- ing on each candle in some form the child's name and the date of the baptism. Then each year, no matter where each of the par- ticipants may be at that time, all would light the candles for a few minutes and say a special prayer (to be determined by the pastor), taking care to preserve the can- dles for many such celebrations. Joan Dunleavy Denver LETTERS TO THE EDITOR Letters should be no more than 250 words and should include the writer's name, address and telephone num- ber. We rely on our readers to recognize that the opinions expressed in letters to the editor are those of the author and are not necessarily those of the Archdiocese of Denver. Letters containing plainly mis- stated facts, misinformation or libelous statements will not be printed. Unsigned letters will not be printed. Letters may be edited. Send letters to: Editor, Denver Catholic Register, 1300 S. Steele St., Denver, CO 80210 or fax to 303-715-2045. E-mail us at: editor@archden.org. JAMES FROSS "Lit- tle Child Je- sus, come to me. My little heart is so small that no one else may dwell therein, except you, my dear little Jesus." From a German Advent prayer taught to children.

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