Voices of the Uninsured Forum is tomorrow

Who are the uninsured persons in Greater Cleveland? We'll hear firsthand tomorrow at the "Voices of the Uninsured Forum" beginning at 8:30 a.m. at The Intercontinental Hotel on the Cleveland Clinic campus as 250 people gather for a frank discussion.

This important event brings together uninsured persons and medical respresentatives from all four health systems (yes, there are four)--Cleveland Clinic, MetroHealth, Sisters of Charity Health System and University Hospitals. Participants also include staff from Neighborhood Family Practice and The Free Clinic. Planning included particpation of UHCAN Ohio, Community Advocate, NEON, Cleveland Jobs with Justice, Ohio Association for Community Health Center and the May Dugan Center.

Free and open to the public, this forum explores the challenges and opportunities in access to health care in Greater Cleveland, health care reform efforts, facts and myths about Medicaid and the biennial state budget implications on Medicaid and the importance of finding a "medical home."

Keynote speaker is Cincinnati City Councilman John Cranley who lead the efforts on CincyCare, a pilot program to provide low-cost health care to residents who live and work in the city, don't qualify for government health care programs and who lack employer-sponsored health care.

This event is sponsored by We Are the Uninsured, which is funded by the Sisters of Charity Foundation of Cleveland, and Neighborhood Family Practice.

In Friday's UB: Vatican Splendors and St. John's Bible

I'm a bit behind in my postings, but here are links and copies of two of my stories from Friday's Catholic Universe Bulletin.

Vatican Splendors

Exhibit a celebration of art, culture, Christianity and history

By Wendy A. Hoke

In the first century of the Common Era, during the time of Christ, there’s a legend that says King Abgar of Edessa in modern day Turkey had an incurable sickness. Hearing of the miracles of Jesus, he wrote to him asking for his help.

Jesus wrote back saying he could not come to Edessa, located in the Euphrates River basin in the cradle of civilization known as Mesopotamia. But he promised that when he ascended to heaven, he would send a disciple to heal Abgar. Before he died Jesus pressed his face into a rectangular piece of cloth and after he died, did indeed send one of his disciples to Abgar with the cloth.

“The Mandylion of Edessa” as the cloth is known today, is believed to be the earliest image of Christ and is one of the historic and spiritual treasures that await visitors to “Vatican Splendors,” an exhibition opening May 31 at the Western Reserve Historical Society and presented locally by the Patrons of the Arts in the Vatican Museums of Ohio, Inc.

The tour commemorates the 500th anniversary of St. Peter’s Basilica in Rome, the founding of the Vatican Museums, Michelangelo’s painting of the Sistine Chapel, and the establishment of the Papal Swiss Guard.

“Visitors will have access to objects that have never before been seen in public and many that have never been outside of Rome,” says Mark Greenberg, president of Evergreen Exhibitions, which is producing the exhibition. Even if you go to Rome, you probably won’t get to see these items because many are not on public display.

Cleveland is the middle of only three stops on the tour that also includes St. Petersburg, Fla., and St. Paul, Minn. “Cleveland has such a strong Catholic community,” explains Greenberg. “We needed a venue with the experience to handle the size, security, handling and environmental controls of such an exhibition.”

Evergreen, the Vatican Office of Liturgical Celebrations and the curator of the Vatican Museums were convinced of the Western Reserve Historical Society’s capabilities following the success of the Princess Diana exhibition.

“Vatican Splendors” is designed to move visitors through galleries that illustrate the early church through to the election of Pope Benedict XVI.

Along with the Edessa image, the reliquary containing the venerated bones of St. Peter and architectural drawings of the original St. Peter Basilica built by the Roman Emperor Constantine represent the early church. The exhibition moves through time all the way to the ballot boxes and white-smoke canisters from the most recent papal election, giving visitors—both Catholic and non-Catholic—a glimpse of the church’s 2,000-year-old history.

While we don’t worship objects, many are sacramental, explains Father David Novak, pastor of St. Stanislaus and Holy Trinity parishes in Lorain and chairman of the board of the Museum of the Diocese of Cleveland. “We don’t worship water and yet we revere it as holy because it’s used as a way to communicate God’s grace and His love of the world,” he says.

The same can be said of the objects and art on exhibition here—objects that celebrate the great mysteries of life, death and resurrection.

“These objects say something about who we are and reflect our story as member of the Catholic church,” says Novak.

The art here reflects more craft than science and nowhere is that more evident than in the simple instrument of Michelangelo’s genius—a compass. The crude-looking instrument, says Greenberg, allowed for the construction of amazing buildings that reflect symmetry sometimes referred to as the sacred geometry.

With the televised death of Pope John Paul II and the election of Pope Benedict XVI, the exhibition will feature actual items from that process, including Swiss Guard uniforms and weaponry, and the ballot boxes and white-smoke canisters from the actual election.

The stories of the popes’ travels in the world are reflected through ancient maps of North America, China and Africa, and the gifts of a Thanka by the Dalai Lama and a wooden Tree of Life sculpture from Africa.

Church history is filled with stories of and the events that changed history and rearranged countries, such as the tiara given by Napoleon Bonaparte to Pope Pius VII, which was made from jewels stolen from the Vatican and featuring one of the world’s largest emeralds. Although it is spectacular in its detail, it also was made too small to wear, which was considered a veiled insult to the pope.

Aside from representing the church’s longstanding history in the world, “Vatican Splendors” also reminds us of the influence of the Vatican’s patronage on art and culture.

And it gives Catholics a way to remember and celebrate the alternating magistry and simplicity of a faith shaped by world history.

“Vatican Splendors” will be open through September 7, 2008 and on Monday-Wednesday, 10 a.m. - 9 p.m. Last admission is at 7 p.m.; Thursday-Sunday 10 a.m. - 6 p.m. Last admission is at 5 p.m. The Western Reserve Historical Society is located at 10825 East Boulevard, (in University Circle). The Western Reserve Historical Society parking lot is located off of Magnolia Drive. Visit www.wrhs.org, or call 216-721-5722. For advance group discount information and reservations, contact sales@ TicketsForGroups.com or call 800-840-1157.

St. John's Bible illuminates the word of God for our time

By Wendy A. Hoke

UNIVERSITY HEIGHTS—St. John’s University in Collegeville, Minn., is essentially a train stop, a modern campus that marks time by the rhythm of the monks who call the abbey home.

Just an hour from the Twin Cities, it also is home to a spectacular work of art. For the first time in 500 years, the Benedictines of St. John’s Abbey have collaborated on a handwritten and illuminated bible known as the St. John’s Bible.

If your summer travel plans don’t include a trip to the Twin Cities, you can head over to John Carroll University, where just inside the Grasselli Library is a copy of the Wisdom Books of the St. John’s Bible, a gift from Target Corp., in honor of retired Target Executive Vice President John Pellegrene, a North Canton native and John Carroll alumnus.

The oversized Bible is rich with imagery from a craft that dates to the ancient world, when manuscripts were on scrolls of papyrus, according to Joseph Kelly, professor of religious studies at John Carroll University. By the Eighth and Ninth centuries, Benedictine monasteries of the west, under the patronage of the Emperor Charlemagne, began writing and illuminating not just sacred works, but also secular works such as love songs.

Near the end of the Middle Ages, however, capitalism and the need for a literate public led to more widespread printing of books. Illuminated manuscripts were left to history.

But in the early 1970s, Donald Jackson—senior illuminator to the Queen of England’s Crown Office—appeared on NBC’s “The Today Show” where host Barbara Walters asked him about his life’s dream. His response? “I would like to write the Bible.”

Later he would describe his dream as, “The calligraphic artist’s supreme challenge (our Sistine Chapel), a daunting task.”

Sharing his life’s dream on national television brought him to the attention of St. John’s Abbey, a Benedictine monastery with the largest collection of manuscripts in the world—10 million images and 2 million manuscripts, according to Craig Bruner, director of operations, The St. John’s Bible.

Jackson was the main attraction at the first calligraphy conference held at St. John’s in 1984. During an interview with Minnesota Public Radio, he reiterated his desire to write the Bible, something Abbey community kept in mind as the relationship between them continued.

In the mid-1990s, in preparation for a millennium project, Father Eric Hollas of St. John’s asked Jackson over lunch if he would make the word of God live on the page.

“Do you want it?” he asked.

The answer was unequivocally yes. Jackson and St. John’s Abbey would illuminate the St. John’s Bible—a celebration of books, the book arts and religion.

Video accounts on St. John’s Web site show Jackson using the ancient practice of preparing his Quill, stripping its feathers and mixing his inks with egg yolks for lasting color.

In March 2000, the first words were penned.

In the beginning was the Word,

And the Word was with God,

And the Word was God.

Brother Dietrich Reinhart, OSB, describes the frontispiece as, “The word of God striding out of cosmic time into the world we live in.”

When complete in late 2009 or early 2010, the entire St. John’s Bible will comprise seven volumes—Pentateuch, Wisdom Books, Psalms, Prophets, Gospels and Acts of the Apostles, Historical Writings and Letters and Revelation, according to Bruner.

In all, the St. John’s Bible will contain 1,160 pages and 160 illuminations. While the originals will be housed at St. John’s on permanent exhibition, reproductions like the one at John Carroll will travel the world.

While the text is rooted in history, using ancient methods, it is also very much a product of its time, according to Kelly.

“When medieval scribes were writing and illuminating the Bible, they wrote and illuminated what they knew—flora, fauna and people around them,” says Bruner. “It was modern to them just as the illuminations in the St. John’s Bible reflect the flora, fauna and life of people today.”

In the opening to Matthew with the genealogy of Christ, the illuminations feature the double helix of DNA embedded in the manuscript. “That locates this work in the 21st century, because that’s when human genome project was completed,” says Bruner.

The books are more a work of art than scholarly text, but Bruner says the original will be used liturgically for Christmas, Easter, graduation and other major celebrations.

And there’s a hope the reproductions, which will make their way around the world, will ignite spiritual imaginations.

“We’re trying to make a statement about faith and the importance of art and imagination,” says Brother Reinhart in a video about the project. “The fact that there’s common ground for us to stand on in a world torn apart by violence and hatred and it’s to be found in the sacred texts that enliven and enrich all cultures on this planet.”

Visit www.saintjohnsbible.org for information, photos and video of the project.

Hoke is a freelance writer.

Materials used in the original St. John’s Bible

The original Bible is made on calfskin vellum, specifically prepared for writing. The reproductions are made on 100 percent cotton archival paper.

Inks used include lapis lazuli, 24-karat gold leaf and 100-year-old Chinese black inks made from candle soot.

The gold leaf is decades old and made by hammering pieces of gold flat until it is foil thickness. Calligraphers use a substance called gesso—white lead, fish glue and plaster—that they paint on and let it dry. Using a small tube in their mouth they blow on the gesso to warm it up and create a surface glue that they put the foil on. Using a burnisher, (a stone mounted on a wood handle) the calligrapher rubs the foil, making it permanent.

Tuesday Tidbits: Why Joe Biden rocks, WAPO Wonder bread, power and sex in the church and another broken bone

Why Joe Biden rocks
I've been a fan of Sen. Joe Biden's for one simple reason: he is a no-nonsense guy unafraid to speak his mind. It's a shame his presidential run didn't get very far ironically in part because of his forthrightness. If you missed his op-ed in last Friday's Wall Street Journal, I suggest you give it a look. There's also a video bit on MSNBC's "Morning Joe" program below. Biden for veep? Secretary of State?

He does a nice job of talking about the current administration's squandered opportunities. There's this:

At the heart of this failure is an obsession with the "war on terrorism" that ignores larger forces shaping the world: the emergence of China, India, Russia and Europe; the spread of lethal weapons and dangerous diseases; uncertain supplies of energy, food and water; the persistence of poverty; ethnic animosities and state failures; a rapidly warming planet; the challenge to nation states from above and below.

Instead, Mr. Bush has turned a small number of radical groups that hate America into a 10-foot tall existential monster that dictates every move we make.

And this:

Terrorism is a means, not an end, and very different groups and countries are using it toward very different goals. Messrs. Bush and McCain lump together, as a single threat, extremist groups and states more at odds with each other than with us: Sunnis and Shiites, Persians and Arabs, Iraq and Iran, al Qaeda and Shiite militias. If they can't identify the enemy or describe the war we're fighting, it's difficult to see how we will win. (Bold is mine.)

Wonder Bread at WAPO op-ed
Last week was one of those weeks when I was working in triage mode getting through various deadlines so I missed getting some things posted that caught my eye. One was WAPO ombud Deborah Howell's look at the complexion of the paper's op-ed pages.

I love the Post, but I have to agree that its op-ed pages are so vanilla that I tend not to read them very often. The old tucks have been holding court so long (and vociferously) that I'm sure there's a "why bother" mentality of some would-be contributors.

But the answer to why bother is that this nation desperately needs to hear new voices. It's the only way to ensure our democracy, which frankly feels "less than" these days. And that's partly because we've been living under an administration that labels citizens as unpatriotic for having a difference of opinion. I saw a bumper sticker on a car in the Bay Village Library today that said, and I'm paraphrasing: Dissent is the truest form of patriotism. If you know anything of Bay Village, you know that it just warms my heart to know that there are few others like me in this town.

A variation of the same could be said of the Catholic church.

Power and sex in the Catholic church
On Thursday, June 5, Cleveland-based FutureChurch welcomes Australian Bishop Geoffrey Robinson who will speak on his book, "Confronting Power and Sex in the Catholic Church: Reclaiming the Spirit of Jesus." Father Donald Cozzens, who used to be a frequent celebrant at my church and is now teaching at John Carroll University, wrote the forward. The public lecture will be held at 7 p.m. at 3430 Rocky River Drive.

This is one of only 10 stops on his U.S. tour. He's been banned from speaking on church property in some places and word is Cleveland Bishop Richard Lennon is not pleased with his appearance here in Cleveland, but (at least for now) is allowing it to take place.

Cardinal Roger Mahony of the Los Angeles Archdiocese banned him because he believes his work is counter to doctrinal teaching. I wonder if Mahony has even read the book. Here's what he wrote to Robinson.

I have come to learn that you new book is being investigated by the Australian Bishops' Conference because of concerns about doctrinal errors and other statements in the book contrary to Church teaching.

I have also learned that His Eminence, Cardinal Giovanni Battista Re, the Prefect for the Congregation of Bishops, has urged you to cancel your visit to the United States.

Consequently, I am hereby requesting that your cancel you visit to the Archdiocese of Los Angeles now set for June 12, 2008. Canon 763 makes it clear that the Diocesan Bishop must safeguard the preaching of God's Word and the teachings of the Church in his own Diocese. Under the provisions of Canon 763, I hereby deny you permission to speak in the Archdiocese of Los Angeles.

What are they so afraid of that they would seek to deny someone's opportunity to have a voice? More to the point: WWJD?

Another broken bone
My little Mikey broke his wrist on Friday while riding his bike home from a friend's house. A very kind mom drove him and his bike home and I wish I knew who she was so I could properly thank her. (I was at my neighbor's and she had left by the time my older boys found me.) Today he is sporting a royal blue cast that goes above his elbow and is already filled with signatures from his friends and teachers. He wouldn't let me sign it first because he didn't want me to spoil the clean look. So I signed after school in very large lettering on the under side of his arm, "LOVE, MOM (smiley face)."

Fortunately, we are only looking at a total of four weeks for this injury and at most, some lost baseball games, a week or two of three-on-three summer hoops and some pool time.

My baby must have been on my brain because I had one of those bizarre dreams in the early dawn today where I was getting everyone off to school—high school and middle school—when a 2-year-old version of Mikey came around the corner and said, "Hi, Mama." And a surprised me said, "Hi, Baby Boy." It was so real that I could see and smell his little toddler face, with his precious little cheeks, his chubby bare feet and his long, fluttery eyelashes.

It was the very best kind of sweetness. Unfortunately, at a beefy 9 years old, there's no way I could balance him on my hip these days.




Word of the day
Manichean: a believer in religious or philosophical dualism
Example: "You're either with us or against us." — President George W. Bush

Clay Shirky on cognitive surplus

Check this out from Web 2.0 Expo. The video is about 16 minutes, but well worth the time.



The entire presentation in couched in the context of a conversation he had with a TV producer pre-screening him for an appearance. His point: media targeted at you but not including you may not be worth sitting still for. Just ask your nearest preschooler.

Word of the day
audacity: the quality or state of having intrepid boldness

Save the date: PWLGC is on the move

I hope you'll join me and other Northeast Ohio writers for the inaugural holiday bash of The Poets' & Writers' League. "A Work in Progress" is a gala event to be held from 7 to 10 p.m. on Saturday, December 8, 2007, in PWLGC's new home in the Artcraft Building, located at 2570 Superior Avenue (Suite 203). Here's the skinny on the move from Judith Mansour-Thomas, the new executive director.

The League Is Moving!

On December 1, 2007, the Poets' & Writers' League of Greater Cleveland will move from the Fairhill Road townhouse, also known as the Lit Center, to the ArtCraft Building at 2570 Superior Avenue, (Suite 203) near downtown. After seven wonderful years at the Lit, we have made the decision, along with many other small to mid-size arts organizations, to commit to the revitalization of the Midtown Arts District of Cleveland.

In our lovely, new 1,600-square-foot, renovated-warehouse-but-gallery-like space (you can tell I like descriptive writing, no?), we will offer a cadre of fabulous new classes and workshops and host readings by the area's finest writers and poets. We will also host special events—some will be exclusive for PWLGC members and/or Ohio Writer subscribers, some will be open to the general public (well ... word lovers, anyway), some will cater to readers, and all will, I hope, invigorate Northeast Ohio's thriving and diverse literary arts community.

With a new home, centrally located for east-siders, west-siders, and those who do not live in our river-divided city, we hope that you will visit, and visit often. Your continued support of the PWLGC is now more important than ever, if we are to place local literary talent on the national landscape.

Join me, along with the PWLGC Board of Directors, in celebrating this exciting new phase of our growth. On the evening of December 8, we will host "A Work in Progress," the grand opening of our new home, so please save the date. Plan to join us for drinks, food, and merry making. See you soon!

Sincerely,

Judith Mansour-Thomas
Executive Director