A small c catholic

I am finding this ninth anniversary of 9/11 even more troubling than the eight before it.

For my family each 9/11 lacerates our hearts anew because my 31-year-old nephew, the son of one of my three sisters, was a passenger on American Flight 11 -- the first plane that hijackers smashed into the World Trade Center. Karleton Fyfe was simply a fabulous young husband, father (his wife was early in her pregnancy with their second son when Karleton died), son, brother, cousin, nephew, friend, and businessman.

For decades now I’ve watched Catholics debate whether to ordain women as priests, an issue that flared again recently when the Vatican named “attempted women’s ordination” among “grave crimes.”

Several years ago I audited a two-semester course on Christian history at an American Baptist seminary in the Kansas City area.

I wasn't required to take the pop quizzes, though I did. Nor was I required to write the required six papers, though I did that, too.

And rarely a week goes by now that I don't feel good about my decision to be an overachiever.

In speeches and columns over many years I have made the point that interfaith understanding is vital if there's to be any hope for world peace.

And America — a stunning amalgam of ethnic and religious traditions — can be a model for the world in this regard.

In fact, if the call of the 20th century for Americans was to work toward racial harmony, the call of the 21st century is to seek religious harmony in our increasingly pluralistic culture.

Here's what know-nothing Protestants are tempted to say these days: "What's the deal with Catholics holding most of the seats on the U.S. Supreme Court? John Paul Stevens is the only Protestant left -- and if Elena Kagan joins the bench, the new court would have six Catholics and three Jews."