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Show mm?1DDQ vy The Daily Herald As an adult, Easter most appreciated of holidays If we follow our tradition, tomorrow morning will find us in Salt Lake at the Tabernacle grounds, for both Easter and LDS general conference. Such excursions have been part of our springtime ritual for nearly 40 years now. We'll probably have only one grandson. Matthew, with us this year. We'll enjoy the warmth and colors and aromas of the flowers: Ucrdca J. Clerk j Matter Unorganized A constant reminder that this is a spring, the time of rebirth reminder repeatedly enforced by music and w ords. For most of my adult life. Easter has seemed the most meaningful of all the holidays as it should be. simply because it celebrates the most important event in religious or any other kind of history: The resurrection of Jesus Christ, hence the fulfillment of all those pamises of eternal life. Part of our feeling for Easter in recent years comes also from the memory of the Easter w e spent in Qingdao, China, the one I detailed a year ago, in w hich Bess and I. with Smith and Katie Broadbent and a few Chinese friends, climbed to a lovely park and spread out a picnic under a pagoda. You may remember that old Chinese gentleman I introduced ou to, almost a cartoon version of lightly bearded ancient Chinese Wisdom, sitting against a post as we began our picnic. He got up and left, but came back with a thermos jug of hot w ater and a tray of glasses. He soon left again and returned w ith another thermos, filled this time with cold water. The image of that old fellow sitting there, apparently deciding that we needed water, is etched deep in our memories. That it was w ater he baught on that Easter Sabbath seems murvelously right. Some of it became special "living water." in our private outdinr sacrament sen ice an hour later. It was a special experience for us. one that I've often recounted and more often remembered. It puts a familiar and immediate face on Easter for us. The sublimity of Easter, though, depends on the sublimity of the events it celebrates. Tw o moments catch for me that sublimity. One. the moment when He first speaks from the cross: "Father, forgive them: for they know not what they do." This from the Sav ior of mankind, as he hangs there in absolute physical 'pain but in even deeper emotional and spiritual pain: Knowing these, his chosen people, have rejected and crucified him and then mocked and reviled him. even while he is dying. The other moment:vWhen Mary comes to the tomb, finds it empty, and weeping, sees Jesus standing near and doesn't know him. "Woman, why we.pest thou?" he asks. Mary asks the supposed gardener where he has taken the body. And Jesus responds w ith that simple single defining word, "Mary." Here he is, the physical agony of the cross behind him (though' perhaps not the emotional and spiritual agony). But now completely at peace, knowing how his word will affect her and all history. His single word defining both himself and her, defining an absolute moment that divides time from the timeless, defining the ultimate rebirth, and defining a wholly new and wholly ineffable relationship between him and her and all mankind. These two moments capture Easter for me, though they catch only part of what we, and all the Christian world, associate with the day. We'll feel only part of all this, even with all those flowers surrounding us. But with such meanings in mind, and trying to make two words resonate as deeply as possible, I can only add again this year, "Happy Easter." Harden Clark is a retired pro- fessor of English at Brigham Young University. A6 Saturday, April 6, 18SS Ore tailings slowly creeping up on tiny church By MARTHA MENDOZA Associated Press Writer The little FIERRO, N.M. adobe church, tucked in a valley-jusa few miles away from the Continental Divide, is slowly losing its vast backdrop of sky. Instead, huge piles of copper ore tailings, produced by the operations of Cobre Mining Co.. tower ominously above Fierro's t Roman Catholic Church of St. Anthony's. In 10 years, say company officials. piles of black, cruddy waste will be stacked within 100 feet of the adobe walls. "The heap leach would come up fairly close to the church, but we're not going to touch the structure." said Enc Olin. project manager for Cobre's Continental Expansion paject in Fierro. Don't try telli.ig that to Antonio Macias. one of about 40 elderly worshipers who take turns v isiting the church thaughout the week to wipe ore dust from their statues and shrines. "The church is so good for us. We must protect it." Macias said. Although the mine's leach 500-foot-hi- - s, heaps are still about a quarter-mil- e away, parishioners say strong winds bring several pounds of dust into the church each day. When the piles eventually surround St. Anthony's, parishioners say there will be no way to dig their way out. "They fear they will be buried." said the Rev. Paul Uskao of nearby Bayard. Father Paul passes Cobre Mining's huge open pit copper mine each Saturday as he travels 10 miles from Bayard for Mass his Sunday schedule is too busy for services at Fierro's small church, which can hold about 150 people. Inside the beige-coate- d adobe walls, a statue of the church's patron. St. Anthony, cradling baby Jesus in the crook of his arm. stands watch. Candles tucked in spray painted coffee cans line one wall. The church is v ibrant w ith an. In the 1940s. Rev Roger Aull collected and fashioned yucca stalks into altars and lecterns. About 10 years later. Rev FT Smerke painted vivid murals on the apse. Outside the church, a huge white cross almost glows against APPho The Cobre Mining Company's mine looms over the Church ot St. Anthony's in Rerro, N.M. Tailings from the mine are beginning to crowd the tiny Roman Catholic church. Residents of Fierro who worship at the church say they must clean the painted interior walls of the church, seen at right, of ore dust on a regular basis. ld d the hills. The is dotted with turquoise-colore- d ground rocks, glinting below thin layers of brown soil. It's those rocks, loaded with copper, that spawned the town and the church. sage-coere- It's those same rocks that parishioners fear will lead to its demise. Fierro. named after the Spanish word for iron, is one of the oldest mining districts in the Southwest. Historical records in the nearby Silver City museum show that Fierro mines were as early as 1858. According to kval legend. Confederate soldiers raided the camp in the ISoOs and made off with tons of copper ingots to be used in munitions plants in the South. The Church of St. Anthony's came later, built by miners in 1916 in the heart of a small but pa-duci- thriving community. Bit by bit. that town has disappeared. The business district was wiped out by fire in 1922. The elementary school closed in I960. The last store shut down in 1975. Today, the only business in Fierro is the mine. Cobre Mining's chairman. Jeff Ward of Albuquerque, said the company pnxluces about 2.200 tons of copper ore per day. but that should nse to 3.000 to 4.000 tons by the end of the y ear. thanks to eood copper prices. The company produced about 58 million pounds of copper ore last year at its underground and open pit properties. Ward also said exploration continues on the company's .(XX) acres here. "We've just explored about 10 percent of our property." he said. 1 1 ' J'' ,.1 - fj :"J:x 1 i W VI IllL . L'skao said his parishioners are adamant about preserving their church. "For me. personally. I feel no attachment to this church, but the people who live in the area have strong feelings for it." he said. Out of respect for those families, the Diocese in Las Cruces has turned dow n Cobre Mining's repeated requests to sell St. Anthony's. Now. Cobre officials say they no longer need to own the church to successfully mine the mountains around it. "There are a lot of people in the Fierro community that no matter what we tell them, they don't understand that we don't have designs on their church." said Olin. Jehovah's Witnesses faithful, despite 'adjustment' By TIM FUNK Knight-Ridde- r Newspapers God knows that for sure, the gamp's leaders e said in a article published in November in The Watchtower magazine. This "adjustment" in the words of Walter Klinck. superv isor of the 23 congregations in the Charlotte. N.C, area may have revised the official thinking of the Jehovah's Witnesses. But it hasn't dampened the hope and sense of urgency among Waller and other members at least judging from the scene in Salisbury on a recent Sunday. It was lunchtime at the Jehovah's Witsix-pag- SALISBURY. N.C. At 83. Stoughton Waller still thinks there's a chance he and many others his age w ill never die. But the leaders of the religious group he's belonged to since 1951 aren't as sure of that anymore. Waller is a Jehovah's Witness. And for most of its history, the group has believed that some people alive in 1914 the year World War I began would still be around when Jesus Christ established his thousand-yea- r kingdom on earth. Late last year, that apocalyptic timetable was scrapped. The Witnesses still believe the world as we know it will end soon with the battle of Armageddon and Jesus' triumphant return events, they say. that are foretold in the Bible's Book of Revelation. But how soon w ill all this happen? Only nesses' new 8 7,900- - square-foassembly hall, where congregants from the Carolinas. Virginia. West Virginia and Georgia come twice a year for training sessions on interpreting the Bible and preaching ot door-to-doo- r. The massive parking lot was filled with cars bearing Virginia license plates. Inside the hall, members gripping coolers in one hand and Bibles in the other exited the 2.300-seauditorium and headed to several rows of tables for lunch. Some stopped along the way to inspect two oversize maps that plotted with black dots the increasing number of assembly hall locations and branch offices throughout the United States and the world. Waller, who made the trip from Radford. Va.. settled down to talk about the end of the world. "It's getting closer every day." said the retired mad construction worker. "I'm looking forward to it." So he'll still be aauind on the last day? "I hope so." he said. "I want to stay here. I love this earth." Jehovah's Witnesses believe the Earth will be transformed into a new Garden of Eden, populated by those still living as well as billions resurrected from the dead. Ruling from heaven will be Jesus and 144.000 saints including. Waller said, his first wife. Emma. "She's already in heaven; she was one of at the 144.000 anointed ones, he said. "But my second one (Helen), oh yes, I'd love to see her. She was faithful to death." Waller w as a Methodist early in life, but became a Jehovah's Witness in 1951 after a deeper study of the Bible, he said. Across the assembly hall. Waller's granddaughter. Stephanie, 19. also mentioned the group's close reading of the Bible as her reason for becoming a Jehovah's Witness. "I looked into quite a few different religions: Catholics, Mormons. Methodists. Buddhists," she says. "The Jehovah's Witnesses were the only ones w ho could pan e fam the Bible what they believed." Despite separating itself from society, the gawp has continued to gaw and to build. The Salisbury assembly hall, which was built by volunteer, across the country, serves 35.000 members. Worldwide, there are an estimated 5.1 million Jehovah's Standards of justice have changed since trials of Nazis What xoihi is it for a man to gain the whole world, xet forfeit his soul (Mark 8:361?' Fifty years ago. the world w an end of the long struggle which had engulfed it for more than a decade. With cessation of hostilities and the Nurenburg trials. World War II was over. Although the trials were criticized by some as merely acts of retribution, others hailed them as establishing internationally recognized principles of civilized behav ior. I don't believe that we are yet capable of making any long-terjudgment with regard to the value which these trials have contributed to society. Rather, it would appear that the lessons taught at Nurenburg in 1945-4- 6 have been largely ignored. Religious and ethnic groups have sensationalized the death camp ataxities which caused millions of Jews and other politically incorrect "deviants" to be put to death. Yet, embedded in our right eous indignation at Nurenburg were convictions that Nazi butchers, wanton abortion, euthanasia, infanticide, ethnic superiority and a general disregard for the sacred- - Jchn Ccalcn V I m Soul Food ness of the family were all wnng. In 1945-4- 6 we. of the Western world. Mill held onto ancient n morals and principles of right and wrong which we concluded to be absolute values. An absolute value is something that is right for all people in Judeo-Christia- all places at all times. Because of these principles of right and w rong w e were able, w ith a pure conscience, to put Nazi criminals on trial and execute sentences of death. Our actions implied significance far beyond the four walls of that Nurenburg court axm. We were placing on trial the perpetrators of what we termed Nazi inhumanity. We were try ing the justice of a war we had just finished fighting. We were putting on trial our tightness to kill and be killed in the name of freedom and dennx-racy- . The question which surfaces now is. "What has happened over the past 50 years T We are now contemplating war crime trials against those of Bosnia and Serbia. Western republics are executing what we claim to be our "God-give- n right of truth and justice to sit in judgment against those who have been at war with each other in the Balkans for centuries. Somehow we justify judging theii atrocities yet we ignore our ow n. Jesus said that we should pull the plank out of your ow n eyes first before we try and remove the speck from that of our neighbor. Can we interpret justice with a clear conscience? Is our standard of measurement stable and consistent? Can we return to the original measurement with which we executed judgment against the Nazi criminals? This is not to say that they were right, or that such trials are wrong. What it is saying is this: We kill our babies before they are bom. yet preach the sanctity of life. We are in the process of passing laws to legalize euthanasia, yet we condemn others. Can a judge execute judgment in righteousness when his standard of truth has been tarnished by and deceit? Maybe before we put those Bosnian leaders, or any other, on com-promi- se trial we should carefully put ourselves on trial. Abortion, euthanasia, infanticide, drug abuse, family disintegration, moral degeneration, pornography, child abuse, homosexual and heterosexual decadence. Truth is measured by the standard of an absolute. Our standard is so perverted that we dont even know what standard measures truth, and the standards we use change fnm day to day. The standard of right and wrong which was used to measure justice at Nurenburg cannot be recalled today. The absolute standard which was originally embedded in the character and person of God Almighty still exists. The problem is that judges have discarded it for a more liberal code based upon the opinions of men. Such opinions change for selfish motives and cannot serve justice. Rev. John Ctmhm is pastor of the New beginnings FelUmxhip Church of The Nazarene in Prow. |