The Sacraments columns
In 1984, I wote a series of columns on the Sacraments for the National Catholic Register. The Register was running a series of longer essays by Fr. Peter Stravinskas, and these were intended to supplement them. They were later published by the Register (along with Fr. Stravinskas's columns) as Sacrament: A Study Guide, and then by Servant Books as Understanding the Sacraments. At each stage in the process, especially with Servant's version, they were edited. These are the original versions as I wrote them:
"You Must
Be Born Again" (Baptism)
"Using
God's Gift" (Confirmation)
"It's
Jesus" (Eucharist)
"Celebrating
Repentance" (Penance)
"As in the
Beginning" (Marriage)
"The
Gift That Makes the Church a Body" (Holy Orders)
"A
Sacrament of Healing?" (Anointing of the Sick)
At the conclusion of the series, I added an essay called "The Sacraments in the Reformation Period."
The book has been republished by Ignatius Press, but they took out my contributions, and left only the part written by Fr. Stravinsakas.
The Register was sufficiently pleased with my columns on the Sacraments to commission more columns. This time I was to produce seven columns on the virtues, to accompany columns on the vices. I don't remember who was doing the vices, and the columns were never republished. In fact, one of them was never published at all. Here they are, as I wrote them:
[Lust] "Chastity: An Unmentionable Virtue?" The editor of the Register added a sentence to
this to give more of a definition of chastity than I had done,
and using language that was not my style at all. Some
friends of mine got very excited when they found me quoted by
name by a priest writing in the diocesan newspaper for the
diocese of Jackson, Mississippi: but it was this very added
sentence.
[Sloth] "Diligence"
[Pride] "One of Those People" (Humility)
[Avarice] "Money: Letting It Go" (Liberality)
[Envy] "Brotherly Love or Sibling Rivalry"
[Anger] "The Quality of a Servant" (Meekness)
[Gluttony] "Temperance"
This column was never published. I was prepared for this
eventuality, since the editor has warned me that the then
publisher of the paper had a set of passionate and rather quirky
set of convictions on the subject of alcoholism (he was a
recovering alcoholic). The only area in which the publisher
interfered with the content of the paper in any way was this
one. While I tried to write around his sensitivities, I
evidently failed. My column was replaced by something
written by the editor, who knew better how to please his
boss. But I got paid anyway.
For the conclusion I did a piece, part
reporting, part meditation, on the Ten
Commandments.