Editor's Corner: Bridges and Doors
We take for granted bridges and doors – simple things. Yet, as this issue of Compassion may indicate, they describe human qualities and situations so well.
Our first story is about a Passionist priest, Father
Theodore Foley, a “bridge person.” As its General
Consultor and Superior General, he helped the
Passionist community worldwide and many
others through the turbulent 1960s and 70s. Quiet
and unassuming, he was not someone who made
his authority felt, yet his balance and unfailing
kindness kept the members of his community
going in difficult times.
Since his death in 1974, many think of him as a saint.
Father John Nyaaga, a Passionist from Kenya, usually begins the story of his involvement with HIV/AIDS at a door, where someone comes to ask his help. “How must I respond?” he asks. “They call me Father.”
During his lifetime, especially in his last years, Father Victor Donovan urged visitors to put up a “Door Cross” at their door, adapting the Jewish tradition of the mezuzah, a scroll which Jews put on their doors to remind them to live God’s law going out and coming in.
The doors of our lives open to wider worlds than
ever today, as we face continued violence in the
Middle East and multiple problems in the family
of nations. Facing life through the Cross of Jesus
can guide our response.
Victor Hoagland, C.P.
front page