Originally Posted by Richard Stringfellow
My wife's grandfather was the first in her bloodline to emigrate from Sicily, at a time when life revolved around the church. From 1919 to 1924, he worked in America and saved money to bring his wife here. During that time he taught himself English by reading books. In the process, he became educated.

When he went back to collect his wife, he had a lot of questions to ask his priest. These questions incensed the priest, who excommunicated the man - a very big deal as you might imagine. The grandfather made his way to Rome where he sought and was granted audience with the Pope who, upon hearing his story, instructed to priest to reinstate the man.

As I have drawn my own conclusions from this account, I'm wondering what conclusions others might draw from it. Any takers? Johnnie?


Richard,

We live in an age, in Western society, where we've rebelled against authority in general. Most of our recent laws have dealt with the rights of the individual. Often, we blame society for the problems of the individual, rather than vice versa, to the point where we make criminals into victims of society. This has filtered down into the social fabric of the family. The individual has become more important than the family. The father sees leaving as an option to being uncomfortable. The mother sees the child as a burden. The child has no respect for the family, any adults, or authority in general.

Your story came from a time when the community was important to the individual's survival. Even across the ocean, I would guess, your wife's grandfather knew how difficult life could be without the support of the Italian/Sicilian community and church, which was central to such a community. He took his case all the way to the Pope so he could prevent the priest from cutting him off from his community. I'm sure this story, the triumph of your grandfather, the imprimatur of the Pope, and the victory over the priest, became an important source of power to your grandfather-in-law in his community. Indeed, you're just his granddaughter's husband, yet you know the story, and seem to be proud of the man's accomplishment.

Try as we like, we still can't evade the importance of community. We make more laws than ever before to protect the individual, and the individual becomes lawless and creates a community of criminality, one that glorifies gangs and violence. We reject the organized church and small churches spring up with charismatic leaders who often dictate stricter interpretations and admonitions. We reject the family and end up with children who have no respect, no history, and no morals.

Had your wife's grandfather been a typical man living today, he might have laughed at the priest, rejected the Pope, run off to live with the girl without marrying her, made a baby or two, left his babies' mama for a younger girl, and gotten on a forum like this to make fun of folks with old-fashioned ideas about God.

You've got to know your limitations. I don't know what your limitations are. I found out what mine were when I was twelve. I found out that there weren't too many limitations, if I did it my way. -Johnny Cash

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