The Valley Catholic April 23, 2013 | Page 11

The Valley Catholic World / nation

April 23 , 2013 11

Wrestling with belief : Roger Ebert ’ s closing credits

By Kurt Jensen NEW YORK ( CNS ) -- In the end , Roger Ebert ’ s doubts about his Catholic faith may not have been what really mattered . Chicago ’ s Holy Name Cathedral was , after all , the chosen venue for his April 8 funeral Mass .

Arguably the nation ’ s best-known film critic , Ebert , 70 -- who had written for the Chicago Sun-Times since 1967 and had hosted TV programs for decades -- died April 4 of the salivary gland and thyroid cancer that cost him his lower jaw and his ability to speak in 2006 .

He continued to write until April 2 , when he announced that he would take a “ leave of presence ” and write fewer movie reviews because the disease had recurred .

When he knew he was dying , Ebert wrote about his religious upbringing in the same unsparingly frank style that had endeared him to the many fans of his reviews . He made it clear that , all along , his readers had been encountering a specifically Catholic outlook . Yet he was just as straightforward in expressing his uncertainties .

“ I consider myself Catholic , lock , stock and barrel , with this technical loophole : I cannot believe in God ,” he wrote in a blog post entitled “ How

I Am Catholic .” He added , “ I refuse to call myself an atheist , however , because that indicates too great a certainty about the unknowable .”

“ All my life ,” wrote Ebert , who won the Pulitzer Prize for his criticism in 1975 , “ I have deplored those who interpret something only on its most simplistic level .”

He received what he called his “ core moral and political principles ” from the Dominican nuns who taught at the now-closed St . Mary ’ s Grade School in Westville , Ill . “ Many of them involved a social contract between God and man , which represented classical liberalism based on empathy and economic fairness . We heard much of ( Pope ) Leo XIII ’ s encyclical ‘ Rerum Novarum ’ (‘ On Capital and Labor ’).”

He wrote of his early education during the era before the Second Vatican Council : “ The morning hour in religion was my favorite class . As we advanced through the grades , it began simply , in memorizing chapters from the Baltimore Catechism , and concluded in eighth grade with the New Testament .”

In 2010 , Ebert wrote about being an altar boy at St . Patrick Church in Urbana , Ill . “ I believe I could serve Mass to this day . There was something satisfying about the sound of Latin .”

Mourners attend candlelight vigil for boy who died in marathon blast

Martin Richard , who was killed in the Boston Marathon attacks , is shown in this undated family handout photo released April 16 . The 8-year-old boy , who attended St . Ann Parish Neponset in the Dorchester section of Boston with his family , was one of three people killed when two bombs exploded in the crowded streets near the finish line of the marathon the previous day . More than 140 people were injured , including the boy ’ s mother and sister , who were seriously injured . ( CNS photo / courtesy of Bill Richard via Reuters )

ROGER EBERT DIES -- Film critic Roger Ebert is seen during the 2006 premiere of “ The Night Listener ” at the Sundance Film Festival in Park City , Utah . The Pulitzer Prize-winning critic , who was raised Catholic , died April 4 at age 70 in Chicago . ( CNS photo / Mario Anzuoni , Reuters )

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DORCHESTER , Mass . ( CNS ) -- Hundreds of people converged on Garvey Park in the Boston neighborhood of Dorchester for an evening candlelight vigil April 16 to remember Martin Richard , an 8-yearold killed in bombings at the Boston Marathon April 15 , and to pray for the Richard family . Martin ’ s mother , Denise , suffered a brain injury and his 6-year-old sister , Jane , lost a leg in the blast . Two bombs exploded near the finish line of the marathon , killing three people and wounding more than 170 . The two others killed included Krystle Campbell , 29 , from Medford and Lu Lingzi , 23 , a graduate student at Boston University , from China . Richard received first Communion at St . Ann Parish in Dorchester last

May . His father , Bill Richard , released a statement before the vigil thanking family , friends and people they don ’ t even know “ for their thoughts and prayers . I ask that you continue to pray for my family as we remember Martin . We also ask for your patience and for privacy as we work to simultaneously grieve and recover ,” the statement said . Father John J . Connolly , pastor of neighboring St . Brendan Parish who lives at St . Ann , led the prayer vigil , while Father Sean M . Connor , pastor of St . Ann , stayed with the Richard family . Father Connolly told those gathered that Bill Richard was thankful for their prayers , support and kindness and he requested that his “ family be granted the necessary space and time both to mourn and to recover .” swimming • cAnoeing • hiking • Archery • cAmpfires cooking • gArdening • Arts & crAfts • skits • dAncing

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