Churchscan

* Ron Martinson had no idea that as bishop of the Alaska Synod he would use skills that helped him work his way through college and seminary. In July, September, November and February, Martinson metaphorically traded in his bishop's miter for a miter saw while helping rebuild the burned and badly damaged Brevig Memorial Lutheran Church, Brevig Mission, Alaska.

Of course, memory and history are very different things, memory being personal, history being social. But my purpose in drawing from memory is to convey some larger points about the council.Everyone had his or her heroes and demons, and no one knew for sure where the council was headed. At this distance, that excitement appears a symptom of both a strength and a weakness. Vatican II claimed a scope wider than any council in church history. It wanted to go beyond the traditional function of councils, that is, addressing matters of faith and discipline. It seemed to want to speak about everything, even in areas where it lacked expertise. The momentum and the enthusiasm it created aroused expectations, sometimes energizing, that proved impossible to fulfill.Two things gave me an extra close-up. First, Vatican Radio needed voices for its news broadcasts to the English-speaking world. Thanks to my Jesuit high-school training in public speaking, I served as a news announcer. I became part of weekly spin control as I read those notoriously uninformative official reports from the council.The air in Rome that year was electrifying. The council's third session witnessed intense debates on the collegiality of bishops, religious liberty, the declaration concerning the Jews, the nature of revelation, the role of the laity, the work of priests, the Eastern Rite churches, missions, seminaries, marriage, and more. We could hardly keep up with the sheer flood of news and commentaries. Lecturers were turning up all over Rome, and the flow of bishops at our college to share the latest gossip over dinner never stopped.Second, by taking a risk that worked (whereby I got to know the chief engineer for Vatican Radio's transmitter), I figured out a more-or-less legitimate way to get into the private Vatican gardens and walk there whenever I wanted. I even invited my roommates along to see the place. It was both innocent and nervy. Imagine this: one afternoon I was ushering my friends around the pope's labyrinth of hedges when a black limousine pulled up. Out popped a uniformed chauffeur, who opened the car door for the aged Cardinal Fernando Cento. Now, Cento was just the man I might need in this situation: his title as Grand Penitentiary of the Church meant he could forgive special sins. He was delighted to meet the three of us, not least because I could hold my own in a Latin conversation. Not once did he ask how we got in.* The Nordic Choir of Luther College, Decorah, Iowa, gives $3 from the sale of each of its world music CD, Eight Chestnut Horses, to Lutheran World Relief. The choir says it's a way to give back to the various cultures whose music it performs.

* Through their participation in the Angel Tree ministry of Prison Fellowship, Shepherd King Lutheran Church, San Antonio, supports 56 children from 26 incarcerated parents. The ministry makes sure children have Christmas presents but also tends to family needs year round.