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On today’s broadcast, host Rick Howick visits with a local Catholic businessman who has worn many hats in his colorful career. As he’s grown in his faith over time, he has now transferred that life experience into helping others on their journey. Listen in on this fascinating conversation on finding one’s true purpose in life; and, how we can truly ‘finish well.’
Originally broadcast on 4/30/22
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It’s no secret that the holiday season can be a difficult time for many, for a variety of reasons. On today’s Empowered by the Spirit broadcast, Deacon Steve welcomes two friends to the studio who have a lot of experience to share in this area. Their names are Joe Fitzgerald and Becky Lomaka, and they come to us from O’Connor Mortuary in Laguna Hills, CA.
You are sure to gain some nuggets of wisdom from this timely conversation!
Originally broadcast on 12/19/21
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Just last week, Stephen Colbert gave an interview in which the depth of his Catholic faith was on pretty clear display. Discussing the trauma that he experienced as a young man—the deaths of his father and two of his brothers in a plane crash—he told the interviewer how, through the ministrations of his mother, he had learned not only to accept what had happened but actually to rejoice in it: “Boy, did I have a bomb when I was 10; that was quite an explosion…It’s that I love the thing that I wish most had not happened.” Flummoxed, his interlocutor asked him to elaborate on the paradox. Without missing a beat, Colbert cited J.R.R. Tolkien: “What punishments of God are not gifts?” What a wonderful sermon on the salvific quality of suffering! And it was delivered, not by a priest or bishop or evangelist, but by a comedian about to take over one of the most popular television programs on late night.
But what particularly intrigued me was the reference to Tolkien, which was culled, not from “The Lord of the Rings” or “The Hobbit,” but from a letter that the great man wrote to an inquirer, who had wondered whether Tolkien took death with sufficient spiritual seriousness in his literary work. Like Colbert, Tolkien had suffered enormous trauma as a young man. His father died in 1896, when Tolkien was only 3, and his mother Mabel took him and his younger brother back to England (the family had moved to South Africa for economic reasons). Upon their return to her hometown of Birmingham, Mabel decided to become a Roman Catholic, a move that was met with enormous opposition on the part of her family, who essentially disowned her and left her in destitution. During this terrible period, Tolkien’s mother turned to the priests of the Birmingham Oratory, who cared for her needs both spiritual and financial and who took a keen interest in her fatherless children.
In 1904, Tolkien and his brother became orphans when their mother died of diabetes. Years later, the famous author mused that his mother was a kind of martyr, since she had been in effect hounded to death for her decision to become a Catholic and to raise her sons in the faith. Frightened, alone and adrift, the boys were taken in by Father Francis Xavier Morgan, a priest of the Oratory. The kindly man, whom Tolkien always referred to affectionately as “Father Francis,” became a father figure, instructing the young men in matters both sacred and secular and teaching, as Tolkien would later put it, the meaning of “charity and forgiveness.” Tolkien named his eldest son for the priest, and many have suggested that there is a fair amount of Father Morgan in Gandalf and other wisdom figures in the master’s oeuvre. It was assuredly Father Francis who taught the young Tolkien, who had endured more trials than any child ought to endure, that “all of God’s punishments are gifts.”
But where had the priest learned that lesson? The Birmingham Oratory had been established in the mid-19th century by the legendary John Henry Newman, who at the time had just become a Roman Catholic, thereby excluding himself from the institutions of British society. When he set up the Oratory in the industrial city of Birmingham, Newman was passing through a real “Lenten” period, for he was excoriated as a traitor by the Anglican establishment and looked upon with suspicion by Catholics. In time, Newman would reemerge as a cultural leader within British society, and his Oratory would become a center for Catholic evangelism in England. But this would happen only through Newman’s dark night experiences. What his Oratorian disciples, including Father Francis, would have taken in is the lesson that “punishments” often turn out to be precious gifts.
What this chain of influences teaches us—and here I come to the point of this essay—is that God’s providence is a mysterious and wonderful thing. Were it not for John Henry Newman’s establishment, through much suffering, of the Birmingham Oratory, there would never have been a Father Francis Xavier Morgan, and if there had never been a Father Morgan, the young Tolkien boys might easily have drifted into unbelief or spiritual indifference, and if J.R.R. Tolkien had not taken in the lessons he learned from his mentor, he would never have shared the insight about God’s gift that brought such comfort to a young Stephen Colbert in his moment of doubt and pain.
One of the most potent insights of the spiritual masters is that our lives are not about us, that they are, in fact, ingredient in God’s providential purposes, part of a story that stretches infinitely beyond what we can immediately grasp. Why are we suffering now? Well, it might be so that, in Saint Paul’s language, we might comfort someone else with the same consolation we have received in our suffering. And that someone might be a person who has not even been born. Saint John Paul II commented that, for people of faith, there are no coincidences, only aspects of God’s providence that we have not yet fully understood. The line that runs from Newman to Morgan to Tolkien to Colbert was not dumb chance, a mere coincidence; rather, it was an instance of the slow but sure unfolding of the divine plan.
Bishop-elect Robert Barron, recently appointed as an auxiliary bishop of the Archdiocese of Los Angeles, is the founder of Word on Fire Catholic ministries.
With the arrival of Lent, a practice that many would not normally consider can become more compelling: daily attendance at Mass.
“Lent offers us a chance to focus on our faithfulness, repent and reflect more deeply,” says Monsignor. Michael Heher, the pastor of St. Anne Church in Seal Beach. And, he says, one of the best opportunities to do this is by attending daily Mass.
Although many Catholics attend Mass on Sunday throughout the year, far fewer attend each day. But attending daily Mass during Lent offers worshipers a chance to take in special readings of the season while devoting time specifically for quiet prayer and reflection — one of the focal points of Lent.
It also can have the effect of forming a beneficial habit: attending daily Mass throughout the remainder of the year. Once a routine is established over the 40 days of Lent, it can be easier to continue after Easter.
Attendance at St. Anne Church in Seal Beach for the 9 a.m. daily Mass typically swells during Lent, attracting the faithful who prefer a Mass at a later hour than some other parishes, Monsignor Heher says.
Stepping away from daily concerns and carving time out of a busy schedule each day allows Catholics to grow spiritually and deepen their relationship with God, he adds.
“In our secular lives, we have so many distractions,” says Monsignor Heher. “Going to daily Mass offers a chance to start the day off spiritually. It grounds your day.
“The Easter season is the Church’s springtime. The readings of Lent nourish our spirit so we can continue growing.”
Christians make a personal commitment during Lent to improve themselves or take on penance, which comes in many forms – like avoiding eating meat on Fridays and giving up sweets and soda or other bad health habits. Some resolve to be more patient at home and in the workplace while others choose to donate their time to a charitable cause.
While the season is, in part, about giving something up, it is also about replacing it with something positive.
In his annual Lenten message, Pope Francis urged the faithful to overcome indifference this season by engaging in a “formation of the heart.”
“A merciful heart does not mean a weak heart,” Francis wrote. “Anyone who wishes to be merciful must have a strong and steadfast heart, closed to the tempter but open to God.”
Because reflection is central to Lenten practices, daily Mass is a chance to reinforce spiritual commitments.
“It’s important to go to Mass during Lent to receive the word of God and receive the strength and grace that comes from receiving the Eucharist,” Monsignor Heher says.
For Monsignor Heher, taking time each day to pray promotes a deeper understanding of his priorities and a greater commitment to prayer and reflection.
“Daily reflection during Lent keeps me focused on the things most important,” he says. “It reminds me of what I’m really about. Lent is a time to go back to basics. It reminds us that we don’t have to have bad habits our whole lives. We can change bad habits.”
Still, he acknowledges that attending daily Mass can be difficult for some. “The world,” he says, “is not designed for daily Mass.”
But there are alternatives for daily reflection and prayer. Opportunities could come in the form of a weekday commute, a wait at the doctor’s office or during a lunch break while at work. Daily services and readings are more accessible than ever and can be viewed on mobile devices through websites such as YouTube.
To establish a routine it’s important to find the same time each day to pray and reflect despite all the distractions that surround us, Monsignor Heher says.
“God doesn’t need a whole lot of time,” he says, “but he needs a lot of attention.”
Love is complicated. In Catholic teaching, it is complicated in multiple nuanced ways. Simply put, the Catholic faithful believe that God is love and everything more or less follows from there. The complicated part is in the details, and yes, God is in the details too.
“A misunderstanding about love is the confusion between ‘God is love’ and ‘love is God’” says Peter Kreeft, Ph.D., Professor of Philosophy at Boston College in his 2011 essay “What is Love?”
“The worship of love instead of the worship of God involves two deadly mistakes. First, it uses the word God only as another word for love… Second, it divinizes the love we already know instead of showing us a love we don’t know. Consider that ‘A is B; does not mean the same as ‘A equals B’. ‘That house is wood’ does not mean ‘wood is that house.’”
The “Catechism of the Catholic Church” (section 1822) reads, “Charity is the theological virtue by which we love God above all things for his own sake, and our neighbor as ourselves for the love of God.” When you peel back the Catechism and look at love in all its incarnations, however, it gets more complex.
“Our Sunday Visitor’s Catholic Encyclopedia” defines love as “Any strong affection, closeness or devotion to things or persons.” It then goes on to describe the Greek concepts of the four types of love: Storge, Philia, Eros and Agape.
Storge is familial love, or a fondness due to familiarity. Familiarity makes the heart grow fonder, or breeds contempt, depending on the relationship. In Ephesians 6:2-7 Paul instructs: “Children, honor your father and mother.” Then he quickly follows up by admonishing parents “Fathers, do not provoke your children to anger.” Essentially, you need to love your family because God says so.
Philos is friendship, the people we freely choose to be in our lives. Philos can also be love of neighbor, the kind of love Jesus spoke about when he commanded us to “love our neighbor as our self”. In order to love yourself, you need to take care of yourself and then extend that self-care or self-love to everyone you encounter. In Matthew 25:35-36: “For I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, a stranger and you welcomed me, naked and you clothed me, ill and you cared for me, in prison and you visited me.” Those who exhibit this kind of brotherly love get to go off with the sheep on Judgment Day, and those who don’t, presumably because they didn’t notice, like or approve of the stranger in their midst, go off with the goats.
Eros, or passion, is the most popular form of love and what we often associate with the word love. Eros obviously refers to the special and erotic love between a man and a woman but it can also refer to other life passions we might pursue in works or art or some other endeavor. However, Eros, without the other forms of love, becomes disordered and can leave one singing “Love hurts” over a flat beer.
Finally, Agape is the highest form of love, the kind of love that God is and gives to us. It is also the unselfish open-arms love we, when we’re being very good, give back to God. Kreeft points out that we should not confuse Agape love with kindness. Kindness is an emotion we feel from sympathy or empathy – we can be kind to just about anyone we choose whether we love them or not. However, Agape goes beyond kindness to actually willing or effecting what is best for another person. “It is painfully obvious that God is not mere kindness, for he does not remove all suffering, though he has the power to do so. Indeed, this very fact – that the God who is omnipotent and can at any instant miraculously erase all suffering from this world deliberately chooses not to do so — is the commonest argument unbelievers use against him.”
Agape can be tough love, but it is guided by the desire to move the beloved to what is best for him in order to achieve salvation. “We are kind to strangers but demanding of those we love,” says Kreeft. “Grandfathers are kind; fathers are loving. Grandfathers say, ‘Run along and have a good time;’ fathers say, ‘But don’t do this or that.’ Grandfathers are compassionate; fathers are passionate. God is never once called our grandfather.”
Love does make the world go ‘round. It is in the explosion that created the universe in the blink of an eye; it is in the tiniest quirks of quarks; it is what makes the soul of man different and exceptional from all of God’s other creatures. It is, quite simply, complicated.
The constantly quoted “guns don’t kill people, people kill people” is being shouted across the United States in one way or another. People line up on both sides of gun issues, some packing firepower and marching to state capitols to voice their opinions about their Second Amendment rights.
And while good people who love their guns are marching, others who use them to harm their families, their neighbors and others continue to raise the death toll in this country day by day.
The gun-control and the gun-rights proponents have been battling it out for years, and those who want to restrict the sale and use of firearms, by and large, have made no headway on any front in that argument. Even after the wholesale murder of children in Connecticut, when people thought they had a good chance of passing legislation to limit sales and access to guns, no federal legislation was passed.
What is the matter with a people that can’t or won’t see the relationship between gun violence and the accessibility of weapons, specifically guns. We don’t need WMD — weapons of mass destruction — because we’re quite capable of annihilating each other — one person, family, neighborhood or community at a time — and usually with more than one gun.
And yes, it isn’t the gun but the person wielding it that is wreaking havoc, and often those people have emotional or mental issues. Consider those who suffer from mental instability and find ways to procure guns and destroy families and communities.
If citizens who are truly concerned about life issues as well as their rights to carry arms would think about the need to find ways to recognize and assist people who are unstable or have a history of mental illness, something can be done.
Unfortunately, I doubt this will happen. We are more reactive than proactive in these cases. Families often know when relatives need help, but that help seems elusive or unattainable until tragedy strikes.
Maybe Catholics of goodwill and open minds could take up discussions at their parish centers over coffee and doughnuts after being reminded that we are all Gospel people, that we need to keep that in mind before we strap on our guns or hoist them over our shoulders to march to state capitols to demand our rights, to stop gun control advocates from establishing parameters for ownership or at least strengthening the rules for background checks before handing over a lethal weapon to anyone.
Families of nine students and adults killed at the elementary school in Connecticut, along with one survivor, filed a lawsuit to hold the Bushmaster AR-15 gun manufacturer liable because that was one of the guns used for the massacre at the school.
While their success or failure rests with the court, it seems that someone ought to be held responsible for the tremendous losses these families have suffered. Many thought gun legislation would be passed because of the heinous nature of the crime, but it failed. It begs the question: What do we have to do to stop the killings if our lawmakers refuse to act?
We need to begin conversations, establish relationships with people of many different views. If we only speak with people who agree with us, we won’t have a chance. To change attitudes and points of view, we have to open ourselves up to others. If we’re unwilling to listen to another side of an issue, we can’t expect anyone to listen to us.
After the marching has stopped and the slogans have faded, we must take the next step, reach out to others in faith and try to get to the heart of the matter: saving lives and protecting the innocents while respecting the freedoms of every person.
Liz Quirin is editor of The Messenger, newspaper of the Diocese of Belleville, Ill.
In Glock we trust? The question of guns and God
It’s Sunday. Time for church. Do I pack a prayer book or a pistol?
For some American churchgoers, the question is a real one. And, sadly, the answer can be “both.”
In St. Catherine of Sienna Catholic Church in suburban Atlanta, for instance, local Massgoers are required by Kennesaw town law to own a firearm. But last May, Atlanta Archbishop Wilton D. Gregory banned guns from church-owned property, citing the unnecessary danger of bringing firearms into “places frequented by children and the vulnerable.”
Kennesaw has had the mandatory firearm ownership law on its books since 1982. Though rarely enforced and reportedly often ignored, supporters applaud the law and maintain it has reduced the community’s crime rate. Nor is Kennesaw alone. Numerous cities and towns across the U.S. have similar laws or are considering them.
Guns and religion have never before faced such a dichotomy. Probably because the question of the place of guns in society has never been as prevalent as it has become in 21st-century America.
True, America has never lacked for firearms. We are a nation of sportspeople. And in generations past guns were often a staple in homes, especially in rural areas where hunting was a necessity and the protections of civilization distant. The tradition of household armories lessened as populations grew and local governments provided organized law enforcement.
But over the past 30 years or so, rising crime, occasional civil disturbances and an often fear-mongering rhetoric over the constitutional right to bear arms have helped send gun sales in the U.S. to record heights. There are more than 300 million guns in the U.S.
Gun-rights advocates press for universal acceptance of weapons, whether needed or not for protection or sports. Open-carry supporters parade through restaurants brandishing military-style rifles and other firearms.
It’s often in Glock we trust, not God. Indeed, some people of faith back such actions, claiming it is the will of God to carry weapons to protect against oppression.
But hardly all.
Archbishop Gregory’s statement followed passage of a Georgia law that allowed weapons to be carried almost anywhere, even in church — unless places of worship disallowed it. In his archdiocesan publication, Archbishop Gregory decried the new legislation, warning of a “Wild West” mentality that could bring shootouts in bars.
The archbishop was joined in banning guns in church by Bishop Gregory J. Hartmayer of Savannah.
The decree echoes concerns by Catholic bishops over America’s growing gun culture. In 2013, following the tragic shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut, the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops offered testimony to a U.S. Senate committee on ways to reduce gun violence and promote the dignity of life.
The testimony stated, “Simply put, guns are too easily accessible.” It reasserted the bishops’ support of proposals that would require universal background checks for all gun purchases; limit civilian access to high-capacity weapons and ammunition magazines; make gun trafficking a federal crime; and improve access to mental health care for those who may be prone to violence.
The bishops — individually and as a body — have spoken often about how our growing weapons availability is counterproductive to efforts to create a society that respects justice and protects life. So, too, have various Catholic organizations, groups and individual parishes.
Archbishop Gregory’s statement offered a courageous response to a culture that glorifies — and in some cases even deifies — weapons:
“Rather than making guns more available as a solution, we need leaders in government and society who will speak against violence in all aspects of life and who teach ways of reconciliation and peace and who make justice, not vengeance, our goal.”
Leave the gun home; pray for peace, not more ammo.
Tom Sheridan is a former editor of the Catholic New World, newspaper of the Archdiocese of Chicago, and a deacon ordained for the Diocese of Joliet, Ill. He writes from Ocala, Fla.
GARDEN GROVE — As Catholic Schools Week drew to a close recently, Bishop Vann gathered with Catholic educators from across the diocese for the second annual Celebration of Catholic Schools Dinner at Christ Cathedral Academy.
More than 400 teachers, principals, staff and pastors gathered to hear the St. Anne School (Santa Ana) choir and the keynote speaker, Father Robert Walsh, S.J. Father Robert, the executive director of the Center of Catholic Education at Loyola Marymount University, opened the event with words of encouragement and challenge: “Your Catholic identity is a gift for all who are members of the school community and, indeed, for civic society. The education you deliver is extraordinary in many ways.”
Although the event celebrated all Catholic school educators, special tribute was paid to those reaching milestone years of 25, 30, 35, and even 40 years of service to Catholic schools. The focus honoree of the evening was Sister Mary Vianney Ennis, principal of St. John the Baptist School in Costa Mesa. Sister Vianney, who is celebrating 50 years in Catholic school education in the diocese and 40 years as principal of St. John the Baptist School, has announced her retirement at the end of this school year. She was presented with the Bishop Kevin Vann Award for Service to School and Diocese.
“There are not one hundred people in the United States who hate the Catholic Church, but there are millions who hate what they wrongly perceive the Catholic Church to be.”
—Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen
Misconceptions and misperceptions die hard. They may start innocently enough, but with enough repetition—especially by well-meaning and otherwise trustworthy people—and they take on the heft and force of actual facts.
In the case of the Catholic Church, some of these mistaken notions have had centuries to brew and rattle around in the echo chamber of history from generation to generation, reappearing again and again to challenge the witness of faithful Catholics in the modern age. Here are a few of them, with suggestions as to how they might be answered:isconceptions and misperceptions die hard. They may start innocently enough, but with enough repetition—especially by well-meaning and otherwise trustworthy people—and they take on the heft and force of actual facts.
I have had the privilege of spending the last two nights with my father as he is preparing for his journey into eternal life. This has been a chance for me to return thanks and give back to my parents, as I have been thinking of the many nights he and Mom stayed up with all of us when we were sick.
I have seen firsthand the love and care of all of the sisters, nurses and staff here at St. John’s Hospital hospice here in Springfield who care for him and administer his medications so he is not in pain nor alone in his journey. Their choice of living this life of compassionate care is a blessing to us all.
My father and so many others are fortunate that medicine today offers better alternatives for end-of-life care—alternatives that do not involve excessively burdensome interventions that have little chance of benefit. In fact, there is now a specific medical specialty devoted to the care and comfort of patients when cure has become impossible: it’s called palliative care. Good palliative care can offer tremendous solace and consolation to patients and families in the face of an inevitable death.
Good palliative care addresses the needs of the whole person—not just the biological aspects of disease or disability, but the psychological, social and spiritual needs of people in their final days. The work of palliative care in medicine is complemented by the hospice movement in nursing, which has made great advances in recent years in allowing patients to die in the comfort of their homes surrounded by loved ones, rather than in a hospital bed. With these approaches, the goals shift from curing the disease (which at some point becomes impossible) to caring for the person (which always remains possible). Good pain management, treatment of depression and anxiety, emotional and social support and spiritual care are among the building blocks of good palliative care. We understandably fear the effects of terminal diseases—pain, loss of functioning, isolation or becoming a burden to others. But with good palliative care, we need not fear that we will spend our last moments in intolerable pain, or alone, or subject to humiliating indignities.
While he was on this earth, our Lord Jesus Christ’s ministry was a ministry of healing. In imitation of Christ we are called to provide healing, comfort and care to the sick, especially those whose illnesses prove to be terminal. In addressing the end of life, medicine has made not only technological advances, but also advances in compassionate care, which we should embrace as Catholics. Our Catholic faith and morals do not require that we continue to pursue useless or excessively burdensome treatments that have little chance of benefit. However, Pope Francis has emphasized that the care we can provide for the dying can be of great benefit to the living: “Those who practice mercy,” said the pope, “do not fear death.”
Pope Saint John Paul II witnessed to this in his final days: he heroically bore the burdens of chronic Parkinson’s disease for years, but in his last days he decided to forgo further intensive medical treatments in a hospital, and instead lived out his final days in his apartment surrounded by caregivers and friends.
Medicine is built upon a long and venerable ethical tradition, stretching back to the Hippocratic Oath, which can be summarized: when possible to cure, always to care, never to kill. Palliative care is a merciful and compassionate modern means of achieving these worthy goals.
As Pope Francis has said, “There is no human life more sacred than another, just as there is no human life qualitatively more significant than another. The credibility of a health care system is not measured solely by efficiency, but above all by the attention and love given to the person, whose life is always sacred and inviolable.”
The Most Reverend Kevin W. Vann, Bishop of Orange
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rior to Vatican II, Roman Catholics were prohibited from participating in the services of other denominations. But today, Catholics are permitted and even encouraged to broaden their experiences and understanding of other faiths as part of deepening their own spiritual beliefs.
So how can Catholic families encourage their children to appreciate, understand and respect other faith traditions while maintaining their own strong Catholic religious foundations?
“It’s helpful for parents to take an approach with their children that life is full of adventures, learning and seeing how others experience the world,” says Katie Dawson, the Diocese of Orange’s Director of Faith Formation. “Depending upon how much energy parents want to put into it, they can go onto the Internet and look up how other churches worship. It’s a great opportunity for parents to explain why we go to Mass and worship the way we do.”
If children have the opportunity through friends to visit the churches of other denominations and participate in services, parents should assist them toward age-appropriate understanding of the differences between Catholic and other faith traditions so that they can absorb and appreciate the experience, Dawson says.
At the same time, she notes, it’s important for Catholic parents to instill in their children the reasons why Catholics are enjoined not to miss Mass on Sunday, and not merely because it is a Church rule. “We want our children to have a full understanding of their heritage and participation in the mystical communion of the Body of Christ coming together to worship on Sunday, as we all hear the same readings and say the same prayers and share the Eucharist.”
While other faith traditions offer interesting comparisons to our own faith, Dawson says, there are many different styles within the Catholic faith itself, with so many different ways of celebrating Mass with music, Scripture and performance. “If a child is interested in different ways of worship, it would be good to explore, say, the Byzantine Catholic tradition, full of chanting and incense,” she said.
Sally Todd, the diocese’s Associate Superintendent of Catholic Schools, notes that Catholics can broaden their understanding of the world’s religions by exposing their families to different faith traditions. “It helps if the family is firmly rooted in their own Catholic faith so they have a foundation to use as a springboard for outreach to other faiths,” Todd says.
In fact, she says, participating as an observer in other churches can lead children to ask important questions about their own faith, questions that can be answered by knowledgeable teachers, pastors, parochial vicars and parents. In Catholic schools, as children progress through the upper grades, students study the Catholic faith closely and study other faiths in comparison within the context of history and beliefs.
“The experience of attending a different service in another faith tradition can be great,” Todd says. “For our children to be able to experience everything in life, different cultures and religions, especially today in our Church, allows us to embrace our roots as we move toward becoming better Catholics.”
Perhaps the most obvious symbol of growing ecumenical outreach in the Diocese of Orange is Christ Cathedral, currently under renovation, Todd says. “Our cathedral was an evangelical church and we are embracing those roots as we move toward becoming a Catholic cathedral. Our Catholic children are growing up in a good time, anchoring their own faith and experiencing other ways of life.”
