Pluck of the Amish

Amid the ugliness of bloodshed and fear, as always, the bright lines of faithful witness seem to stand out all the more brilliantly. At Columbine in 1999, there were reports of shared prayer under fire and a high school girl's refusal to renounce her faith at gunpoint.

More recently, after a gunman killed several girls and himself in a one-room Amish schoolhouse in Bart Township, Pa., it was the simple yet resilient faith of the Amish community in the face of unspeakable tragedy.

A message of hope and forgiveness emanated throughout the community. The grandfather of one victim was quoted as telling young relatives that "we must not think evil of this man." An Amish woodworker said the incident was God's plan, and that the deceased children are "better off than their survivors" because "we believe in the hereafter." An area resident noted how the Amish would reach out to the suffering, even the killer's own family. That outreach was evident when some 75 Amish attended the man's funeral at a nearby Methodist church.

This is the kind of radical love and forgiveness to which Christ calls us in the gospels. It also reflects the supernatural perspective that tells us we were made not for this world, but for the next life. That said, even the most devout of Christians may struggle to respond in a Gospel way when violence strikes so close to home.

The Amish response to this tragedy challenges us to re-examine our own willingness to forgive others, especially those whom we find the hardest to forgive.

The name of the father

The resignation of Rep. Mark Foley (R-Fla.) after it was revealed he had sent sexually charged e-mails to a 16-year-old page left a cloud of suspicion over the House and its Republican leaders. It's the old Watergate question: What did they know, and when did they know it?

But another revelation - that Foley, who was raised Catholic, was molested in his youth by a clergyman - leaves a similar cloud of suspicion hanging over every priest who may have known Foley during his early teen years in Lake Worth, Fla.

While rumors and denials continue to fly around Capitol Hill, Foley himself is out of the public eye, ostensibly undergoing an alcohol-rehabilitation program. His attorney, David Roth, told the press of Foley's alleged teenage molestation and affirmed that the congressman was a homosexual. He also stated that Foley won't reveal the name of his abuser until after he emerges from rehab.

That's an injustice to all clergy, and as a former chairman of the House Caucus on Missing and Exploited Children, Foley should know better. Such secrecy, besides the suspicion it creates, leaves many fearing that the alleged perpetrator may be still alive - and still abusing.

A cynic might see Foley's disclosure of alcoholism and sexual abuse as an attempt to deflect attention away from his actions and mitigate the gravity of his sexual harassment of a minor.

Assuming that what Roth stated is true, however, it is imperative that Foley immediately name his alleged abuser - for the sake of all concerned.

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