In the seminary at St. Charles College in Catonsville, I learned a German proverb: “Alle dinge haben an enden aber die wurst hat zwei.” “All things have an ending, except the sausage – it has two ends.” My teacher, Sulpician Father George E. Ott, would no doubt be pleased that I remember some German after all these years.
This column is an ending. After more than 50 years, this column will be my last.
As you may have guessed, there is a real heaviness in my heart. I have enjoyed having the opportunity to share my thoughts with our readers. I would have hoped to have written until the day I died. So, the column will end before I do. But other features will be coming in the Catholic Review, and I hope you will read and enjoy them.
I want to thank all the editors who have included my column for these many decades. But I mostly want to thank all of you.
My aim has always been to present religion in the most positive light that I could. I tried to make complicated issues understandable. Too often theologians write in language that only they understand; I have tried to make even the most complicated issues understandable.
I also have always tried to find a middle road. Most of us older Catholics have lived through times of so much division. We have lived through major changes in liturgy, notably the going from Latin to all English in the 1960s. Some people left the church during those troubled times. I’ve always tried to welcome them back.
Many other people felt estranged from the church over the issues of marriage and divorce. I have always taught that the church must maintain the ideal of one marriage for life. However, the death of a spouse means that a person can remarry. It should also be noted that in cases of separation and divorce, the church does have the annulment process so that Catholics can remarry. Many Catholics prefer not to go through the process, but I have assured them that God reads our hearts, not just annulment papers. No one is left out of God’s love.
And I will let that be my last word: If people can accept that no one is left out of God’s love, then I will be pleased.
Thank you for being a faithful reader. I will miss writing to you.
Catholic Review Media will host a celebration of Father Breighner July 12 at St. Joseph in Fullerton. For more information, click here.
Also see:
‘God’s Scribe’: Father Breighner retires popular column after more than 50 years
Father Breighner retires, but isn’t slowing down much (2013)
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