King Josiah, Consequences, and Love 0 (0)

Posted on September 13, 2025 by Brian H. Gill
John Martin's 'Pandomonium', detail. (1841) Louvre, via Wikimedia Commons, used w/o permission.
John Martin’s “Pandemonium”. (1841)
'Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God,' Jonathan Edwards. (1741)
“Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God” helped set the tone for American Christianity.

By some standards, this isn’t a particularly “Christian” blog. I don’t rant about the fires of Hell, or gush over cheerful thoughts like this:

“…The God that holds you over the pit of hell, much as one holds a spider or some loathsome insect over the fire, abhors you….”
(“Sinners in the Hand of an Angry God” , Jonathan Edwards (1741))

That’s because it’s not 1741 any more, and I’m a Catholic.1

Besides, I got thoroughly fed up with frothing radio preachers in my youth, and figure I’m not the only one who got tired of appeals to fear.

But actions do have consequences.

So this week I’ve dusted off and polished something I wrote in 2014, back when A Catholic Citizen… was on Blogger (blogspot.com).

Authority and Consequences

Leonardo da Vinci's 'The Last Supper' mural in the Santa Maria delle Grazie Church, Milan. (ca. 1495-1498)
Leonardo da Vinci’s “The Last Supper”. (ca. 1495-1498)

As a Christian, I agree with Simon Peter:

“Simon Peter answered him, ‘Master, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life.
“We have come to believe and are convinced that you are the Holy One of God.'”
(John 6:68–69)

Basically Good, Needing Help

Jastrow's photo of Jean-Baptiste Théodon and Pierre-Étienne Monnot's statue of Peter in the Basilica of St. John Lateran, Rome. (photo 2006, statue ca. 1710) via Wikipedia, used w/o permission.
Jean-Baptiste Théodon and Pierre-Étienne Monnot’s statue of St. Peter, Basilica of St. John Lateran, Rome.

I became a Catholic after learning who holds the authority our Lord gave Peter. (Matthew 16:16–19)

As a Catholic, I have to believe that God wants each of us to seek, know, and love Him with all our strength. (Catechism of the Catholic Church, 1-3)

That’s why God sent our Lord to live as one of us, be tortured, executed, and then stop being dead. (Catechism, 484-486, 638)

I also must believe that God creates a good and ordered universe: and didn’t make a horrible mistake by creating us.

Humanity, and each of us, is basically good. But since our beginning, we have lived with the consequences of our first parent’s willful disobedience. This is “original sin”. We lost our original holiness and justice; but we’re not utterly corrupted, just weak and wounded. (Catechism, 289-299, 388-409)

Baptism isn’t so much a matter of washing a dirty soul, as it is a reset: giving us a rebirth, and there’s a lot more to it. (Catechism, 1213-1274)

Since two of our six children died before getting baptized, I’m particularly interested in the “baptism of desire.” That, and the “baptism of blood”, are — more topics. (Catechism, 1257-1261)

(Joy and Elizabeth weren’t baptized because they died before birth. My wife and I were preoccupied each time, and I’ve been over that recently. (August 30, 2025))

“And He Found it Very Good”

“God looked at everything he had made, and he found it very good. Evening came, and morning followed – the sixth day.”
(Genesis 1:31)

NASA's image: 'Taken Under the 'Wing' of the Small Magellanic Cloud'. Colors taken from images across the spectrum: X-rays from the Chandra X-ray Observatory (purple), visible-light from the Hubble Space Telescope (red, green, blue), infrared from the Spitzer Space Telescope (also red). (April 3, 2013) see https://www.nasa.gov/image-article/taken-under-wing-of-small-magellanic-cloud-2/
Part of the Small Magellanic Cloud, and Genesis 1:31.

That “found it very good” is after Genesis outlines God’s creation of everything, “the heavens and the earth”, and humanity. (Genesis 1:1–31)

Genesis?!

I’m a Christian — and a Catholic — so I take the Bible very seriously. It’s ‘in the rules’. (Catechism, 101-133)

But I don’t consult Sacred Scripture when my computer is on the fritz, and I understand that scientific discoveries are an invitation to “even greater admiration”. (Catechism, 283)

Truth cannot threaten an informed faith. (see Science AND Religion)

Like everyone else living today, I’m called to seek God: but wounded by sin. I need help. That’s where our Lord comes in. (Catechism, 763-766, 771, 1949)

I can decide to seek God, and act as if following God’s will matters: or not. About that second bit: “faith without works is dead”. But I can’t work or pray my way into heaven. (James 2:26; Catechism, 1704, 1730, 1815, 1987-2016)

Sin is Real, Forgiveness is an Option

Sin — deciding to act against reason, truth, and a right conscience — is real. It is an offense against God, and a very bad idea. It’s not that I could hurt the Almighty. The problem with sin, deliberately turning away from God, is that it can result in my being permanently separated from our Lord: in Hell. (Catechism, 1033-1037)

As long as I’m alive, I can decide that my offense was wrong: and ask God to forgive me. (Catechism, 1849, 1851, 1861)

God forgives sins. It’s a fairly straightforward process, but there’s more than just saying ‘I’m sorry.’

Next, I have work to do: fixing, as far as I can, the damage done to myself, to others, and to my relationship with God. (Catechism, 1422-1470)

Acting against reason, truth, and a right conscience, has consequences. It’s not that God ‘gets even’ with folks who sin. God has woven ethical principles into this creation. When we act against those principles, we get hurt. (Catechism, 1472, 1950-1960)

God doesn’t send anyone into Hell, but each of us can refuse God’s forgiveness. Nobody’s dragged, kicking and screaming, into Heaven.

“…Our Written Obligations”

Adam Elsheimer (1578–1610) wikidata:Q310285 Adam Elsheimer (painter)'s and John Kay (engraver)'s 'Witch of Endor'. (1805)
Elsheimer and Kay’s “Witch of Endor”. (1805)
Saul should have known better.

King Josiah lived about 2,650 years back.

“He did what was right in the LORD’s sight, walking in the way of David his father, not turning right or left.”
(2 Kings 22:2)

Judah’s two preceding kings, Manasseh and Amon, had other priorities.

Manasseh

“…immolated his child by fire. He practiced soothsaying and divination, and reintroduced the consulting of ghosts and spirits….”
(2 Kings 21:6)

Amon’s reign was more of the same. By the time Josiah became king, Judah was a mess. Among other things, the temple in Jerusalem was in bad shape.

Josiah ordered a massive repair and restoration project, which uncovered a long-ignored document:

“When the king had heard the contents of the book of the law, he tore his garments and issued this command to Hilkiah the priest, Ahikam, son of Shaphan, Achbor, son of Micaiah, the scribe Shaphan, and the king’s servant Asaiah:

“‘Go, consult the LORD for me, for the people, for all Judah, about the stipulations of this book that has been found, for the anger of the LORD has been set furiously ablaze against us, because our fathers did not obey the stipulations of this book, nor fulfill our written obligations.'”
(2 Kings 22:11–13)

I tend to remember Josiah’s words in my own dialect – something along the lines of “we had a written contract!” or “we had a deal!” — with God — and violated the terms.

No wonder that King Josiah was upset. He understood the consequences: which is why he paid attention to what the prophetess Huldah said. (2 Kings 22:14ff)

Love and Forgiveness

Jraytram at en.wikipedia's photo: 'Crepuscular rays in Saint Peter's Basilica, Vatican City'. (October 2008) via Wikipedia, used w/o permission.
St. Peter’s Basilica, Vatican City: Jraytram’s photo.

Briefly, there was no avoiding penalties for offenses committed by the two preceding kings. That’s just the way things work. But since Josiah reacted as he had, God delayed the consequences.

“‘But to the king of Judah who sent you to consult the LORD, give this response: “Thus says the LORD, the God of Israel: As for the threats you have heard,

“because you were heartsick and have humbled yourself before the LORD when you heard my threats that this place and its inhabitants would become a desolation and a curse; because you tore your garments and wept before me; I in turn have listened, says the LORD.

“I will therefore gather you to your ancestors; you shall go to your grave in peace, and your eyes shall not see all the evil I will bring upon this place.”’ This they reported to the king.”
(2 Kings 22:18–20)

King Josiah’s efforts at restoring terms of the covenant seem harsh by today’s standards. We’ve learned quite a bit in the last 26 centuries: and still have much left to learn.

Josiah was buried “in his own grave” in Jerusalem, after falling in battle at Megiddo. (2 Kings 23:29–30)

That isn’t going “in peace” by today’s standards: but I’m quite willing to see Josiah’s life and death as a fulfillment of God’s promise.

As I said earlier, forgiveness is real: but so are consequences.

Judah’s next king returned to the low standards set by Manasseh and Amon.

Several centuries later our Lord came into this world: not to condemn the world, but to save it. (John 3:17)

God’s Love

God loves sinners: and wants us to stop sinning. The ‘punishments’ we experience as the result of our actions are a consequence of our ignoring ethical realities — and opportunities for us to learn. (Romans 5:8; Catechism, 226, 1424, 1472-1473, 2544)

Bottom line:

  • Sin, deliberately acting against reason, truth, and a right conscience, is real
  • God loves us, but consequences happen
  • Seeking forgiveness is an option, as long as I’m alive

I’ve talked about that, and how it applies to living in today’s America, before:

1 America’s “Awakenings”, a pretty good overview:

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Another Dead American: This Time in Utah 0 (0)

Posted on September 10, 2025 by Brian H. Gill

Here we go again. Another politically active American dead: killed, this time, while answering questions on a college campus.

My wife tells me he’s left behind a wife and five children. [update Sept. 10, 2025 9:15 p.m. Central: seems it’s wife and two children, don’t know where the other number originated. Either way —] Those folks are hurting today.

No pressure, and I realize that there’s more to life than prayer: but putting in a word or two on those folks’ behalf couldn’t hurt. I’ll be doing that myself in a few minutes.

This is “current events”, but I’m putting the “history” tag on this post, since I consider what’s happening as history that’s in progress.

I’m not looking forward to the usual sound and fury in my news feed.

There may be more to say about the latest high-profile murder in my country, but most of what matters in how I see it — well, I talked about it a couple months back:

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Death and Evil: But Also Light and Hope 0 (0)

Posted on September 6, 2025 by Brian H. Gill
Google Street View: Church of the Annunciation, Minneapolis, Minnesota. (January 2022)
Church of the Annunciation in Minneapolis, Minnesota.

Kids started going back to school here in Sauk Centre on Wednesday. No shots rang out, and nobody got killed. That, happily, is routine. But sometimes bad things happen.

Classes started last week at the Church of the Annunciation’s school in Minneapolis.

Since it’s a Catholic school, they started the day with Mass at the church next door.
Then somebody killed two of the students and injured many other folks before killing himself. The priest who was celebrating Mass made some good points in the following Sunday’s homily.

I’ll be talking about that, and somewhat-related topics:

Church of the Annunciation: After the Killings

Photo via Bring Me The News: Church of the Annunciation parish, Minneapolis, Minnesota.

I’m pretty sure that isn’t the Church of the Annunciation’s interior. For one thing, the altar is on what looks like an auditorium stage; and for another, photos associated with the parish’s website show a more contemporary-styled interior for the church.

My guess is that we’re looking at the Minneapolis parish’s school’s auditorium, and that they were still cleaning up the mess in their church last Sunday.

My hat’s off to Father Dennis Zehren, pastor at the Church of the Annunciation. A few days after the parish’s Wednesday morning Mass got interrupted by shrapnel, bullets, and death, he celebrated the Sunday Mass.

Remembering Who’s In Charge

A regional news service quoted some of what he said. I think it’s worth repeating:

“…[Father Dennis] Zehren fought back tears as he recounted the terror of the attack.

“‘That was the very first message we heard on Wednesday morning when that first bullet came through the window, and the voices cried out, “Down! Down! Get low. Stay down. Stay down, don’t get up,”‘ Zehren said.

“‘It’s hard for us to hear sometimes. We don’t like it there in the lowest place. But we just had to sit there and we just had to sit there in the lowest place with Jesus for a while. And we just sat there and we waited and we had to wait a while. When we were down there in that low place, Jesus showed us something. He showed us, “I am the Lord, even here. I am the one who descended down into hell. I am the one who has taken on all of the darkness and evil in this world — all the forces of death and darkness.” But together in that low place, we looked with Jesus into the eyes of the forces of darkness and death and evil. Jesus pointed and he said, “See, can’t you see how weak it is? Can’t you see how desperate it is? Can’t you see that this will never last? Can’t you see that this is not why God created us?”‘ ….”

…

“‘It reminds us, when death and darkness has done its worst, that’s when God says now see what I will do. That’s kind of the strange mystery, that in the intense darkness, the light somehow seems to shine even more brightly. We see that here,’ Zehren said.

“‘I’ve never, in all my years, experienced such an outpouring of light and love and hope.'”
(“‘Outpouring of light and love and hope’: Annunciation holds first Mass since shooting” Joe Nelson. Bring Me The News, (August 31, 2025)[emphasis mine])

My hat’s also off to folks in that parish, and their neighbors. I gather that survivors handled the attack rather well, and that their neighbors have been — acting like neighbors.

Repairing the Damage

Patching, and eventually replacing, the windows; removing broken glass and blood: that’ll be an important part of getting the parish’s Masses back in their church.

It’s also something pretty much anyone can do. Patching the windows, at any rate: replacing them involves skilled labor. So does removing bloodstains, maybe, and I’m drifting off-topic.

From what I’ve read, it sounds like the structure itself is in good shape, so repairs and restoration may be a straightforward job.

I haven’t read anything about what’s expected, but my guess is that folks at the Church of the Annunciation will have their church weatherproofed by winter.

Getting the church ready for worship again: that’s another matter.

Places of worship are special, sacred.

Someone committing murder and suicide anywhere is a ‘gravely injurious action’.

Done in a church, it’s arguably something “so grave and contrary to the holiness of the place” that worship isn’t an option “until the damage is repaired”.1 (Code of Canon Law, Title I: Sacred Spaces, Can. 1211)

A quick check didn’t show me exactly what reconsecrating a church involves. What I did find suggests that details have changed a bit over the last century or so.

That doesn’t bother me, since I appreciate differences between unchanging eternal principles and day-to-day rules that help us get our jobs done.

Something else that impressed me was that an American news outlet talked about the cleanup’s spiritual angle: and got it right.

Cleanup Procedures

Screenshot from WCCO YouTube video: 'Historic Church, Damaged By Arson, Opens Doors To Public' (June 14, 2016)
St. Mary’s in Melrose, Minnesota, a few miles down the road: torched in 2016. (WCCO (June 2016))
1566 propaganda print, celebrating faith-based vandalism.
1566 propaganda print, celebrating Beeldenstorm, ‘attacking statues’: faith-based vandalism.

We’ve been around for two millennia. Sometimes our places of worship get hit. We have procedures for dealing with this sort of thing.

Church of the Annunciation will need to undergo reconsecration ceremony because shooting brought in ‘presence of evil’” , Katherine Donlevy, New York Post (August 30, 2025)

“The Minneapolis church where two children were killed and 17 others hurt in a mass shooting will need to be ceremoniously purified before parishioners can once again attend Mass in the building.

“Even after investigators strip crime scene tape from the Church of the Annunciation, a man of God will need to perform the ‘Rite of Reparation of a Church Profaned’ before it is suitable for prayer again.

“‘The archbishop or his delegate, another bishop, will come and we consecrate the church, because there’s the presence of evil has encroached on the reality of what is a sacred space,‘ Rev. Patrick Flanagan, a professor of theology at St. John’s University, explained to The Post….”
[emphasis mine]

Again, committing murder and suicide is — by our standards — an evil act.2 Doing it in a church ups the ante.

Photo via EWTN News: vandalism at the Mother Cabrini Shrine in Golden, Colorado. '...a three-foot tall statue of St. Bernadette was knocked off its pedestal and broken in half, a three-foot statue of Our Lady of Grace was found toppled over with its head broken off, and a five-foot statue of Mother Cabrini had its 'face smashed in'....' (November 2010)
Vandalism at Mother Cabrini Shrine in Golden, Colorado. (November 2010)

Sometimes attackers focus their attention on our buildings and artwork. Unpleasant as that is, repairs are occasionally possible.

This time the folks who were there, worshiping, were the targets.

There’s no replacing the two kids who were killed. At least some of the survivors’ scars — physical and otherwise — those may never heal.

Reconsecrating the church won’t bring back the dead. But I think it’ll help survivors cope, adjust: and keep living. Besides, last week’s murders and suicide were “contrary to the holiness of the place”. I see it as part of the cleanup.

Heroes, Hope, and Prayer

What happened August 27 in that church was very bad.

But, as Archbishop Bernard Hebda said, hope is an option: for several reasons.

BBC News: 'Peter Wang, Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School student.'
Peter Wang; November 9, 2002 – February 14, 2018. Killed while helping fellow-students evacuate Stoneman Douglas High School, Parkland, Florida.

Something I noticed, tucked into human interest stories and shared on social media, was how kids who had been celebrating Mass behaved.

“… ‘It was like, shots fired and then we kind of like got under pews. They shot through the stained glass windows, I think, and it was really scary,’ [Weston] Halsne [age 10] said.

“The fifth grader was sitting two seats away from the windows, he told WCCO. He said he felt what he thought was gunpowder on his neck.

“‘My friend Victor like, saved me though. Because he laid on top of me. But he got hit,’ Halsne said. ‘I was super scared for him. But I think now he’s OK.’

“‘I hope you’re OK and I’m praying for you,’ he said in a message to his friend….”
(“Minneapolis Catholic school shooting survivor describes how friend saved his life: ‘I’m praying for you’” , Aki Nace, Caroline Cummings; WCCO News (August 28, 2025))

Someone I’m connected with on social media shared a very short video, showing older kids at the Church of the Assumption shepherding younger kids through a hallway. Or what looked like a hallway, at any rate.

Someone else roundly criticized those sharing it. Seems that showing the video was heartlessly seeking attention by using the suffering of others.

Maybe so.

But what I’ll remember is that at least a fair fraction of the older kids actively helped their younger schoolmates in a very dangerous situation. And at least one student took a bullet while sheltering another.

Calling acts like that ‘heroic’ may be an overstatement.

But I think we need reminders that, given a chance, many folks — children and adults — will do what is right.

Learning what is, in fact, right; that’s a long process.

Basically, it’s what Jesus said: I should love God, love my neighbor, and see everybody as my neighbor. That’s “the whole law and the prophets”, summarized. (Matthew 5:43–44, 22:36–40; Mark 12:28–31; Luke 6:31, 10:25–27, 29–37; Catechism of the Catholic Church, 2196)

Simple, yes. Difficult, extremely. But it’s still a good idea.

About what Archbishop Hebda said: prayer is also a good idea. A very good idea. (Catechism, 2558-2855)

“‘Prayer is the raising of one’s mind and heart to God or the requesting of good things from God'” (St. John Damascene, De fide orth. 3, 24:PG 94, 1089C).”
(Catechism, 2590)

Prayers come in many forms:

“…Various forms of prayer are presented in the Catechism of the Catholic Church (CCC 2623-2649). These various forms include prayer of blessing or adoration, prayer of petition, prayer of intercession, prayer of thanksgiving, and prayer of praise….”
(Prayers and Devotions, USCCB (United States Conference of Catholic Bishops))

There’s a very great deal more to say about prayer, people, and acting like both matter: but that’ll wait for another time.

America: Death, Changing Attitudes, and Good News

From Harris & Ewing Collection at the Library of Congress: 'Ku Klux Klan at U.S. Capitol, Washington, D.C.', Harris & Ewing, photographer (August 1925) and see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ku_Klux_Klan#Rapid_growth https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_rallies_and_protest_marches_in_Washington,_D.C.#1900%E2%80%931949 https://www.granger.com/1032655-ku-klux-klan-parade-1925-a-parade-of-ku-klux-klan-members-i-image.html
Ku Klux Klan at U.S. Capitol, Washington, D.C., August 1925. A ‘good old days’ I do not miss.

Bad as what happened last week was, it could have been much worse.

Somehow, the killer only managed to end two lives besides his own; and the number of wounded that’s been reported is still below two dozen. That’s appalling: but there could have been many more dead bodies in church that day.

Branford Clarke's cartoon, from page 21 of Alma White's 'Klansmen: Guardians of Liberty;' Zarephath, New Jersey. (1926)
“Guardians of Liberty” defending America. (1926)
I’m glad those ‘good old days’ are behind us.

Local, state, and federal authorities are treating the attack as a serious crime.

Obvious as that may seem, seeing Catholics as American citizens, and not threats to this country and its principles, hasn’t always been a given.

Sometimes Catholic lives have been regarded as unimportant.

From Boston’s banning of “Satanical practices” like celebrating Christmas, to the murder of Father James Coyle, presumably patriotic and devout Americans have on occasion defended their country from people like me: and enjoyed at least tacit approval of the folks in charge.3

So, yeah: I’m glad to see the killing of two Catholic kids treated as a serious crime.

Political responses I’ve seen haven’t been nearly as hysterical as they might have been, and I’ll leave it at that.

Finally, and I see this as very good news, many folks in Minneapolis have been treating their Catholic neighbors as neighbors: not a threat to their community.

Some of what’s changed since my youth has not been for the better. But I think that remembering what we’re doing right is a good idea.

I’ve talked about last week’s killings, and being Catholic in a less-than-ideal world, before:

1 Rules and a discussion:

2 Murder, suicide, and standards:

  • Human life — all human life — is sacred, a gift from God
    (Catechism of the Catholic Church, 2258)
  • Murder, intentionally killing an innocent person, is wrong
    (Catechism, 2268)
  • Suicide, intentionally killing oneself, is wrong
    (Catechism, 2280-2283)
  • It’s complicated
    (Catechism, 2258-2317)
Boston Public notice banning celebration of Christmas (1659) via New Boston Post, Wikipedia
Banned in Boston: “Satanical Practices” like celebrating Christmas. (1659)

3 American viewpoints have been changing; for the better, I think:

“The Obferation of Christmas having been deemed a Sacrilege, the exchanging of Gifts and Greetings, dreffing in Fine Clothing, Feafting and similar Satanical Practices are hereby FORBIDDEN”
(Boston’s response to celebrating Christmas “and similar Satanical Practices”. (1659)
[It made sense, sort of. They believed celebrating Christmas was a Catholic invention. (Puritans>Behavioral regulations; Wikipedia])

“…Can a free government possibly exist with the Roman Catholic religion?…”
John Adams to Thomas Jefferson (May 19, 1821) via National Humanities Center)

“The attack on Annunciation Catholic School in Minneapolis is heartbreaking in every way imaginable. Leslie, Carter, and I are keeping the victims, their families, and everyone impacted by this horrible act of violence in our prayers.
“Nowhere in our country should anyone—especially children in church and during their first week of school—have to fear for their lives. I am closely monitoring the situation as we learn more. We stand with you, Minnesota.”
(Congresswoman Nikema Williams [Georgia’s 5th Congressional District] Statement on Annunciation Catholic School Shooting (August 27, 2025))

“As a mark of respect for the victims of the senseless acts of violence perpetrated on August 27, 2025, in Minneapolis, Minnesota, by the authority vested in me as President of the United States by the Constitution and the laws of the United States of America, I hereby order that the flag of the United States shall be flown at half-staff at the White House and upon all public buildings and grounds….”
(Honoring the Victims of the Tragedy in Minneapolis, Minnesota, Donald J. Trump, Proclamation (August 27, 2025))

A little background:

I’ve talked about this before:

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Murder at Mass: and a Cartoon Character’s Insight 0 (0)

Posted on September 3, 2025 by Brian H. Gill
Brian H. Gill's render: United States flag at half-staff.
Remembering August 27, 2025.

One week ago today, in my state’s largest urban area, someone went to the Church of the Annunciation.

Then he killed two children who were celebrating Mass, wounded several other folks, and finally killed himself.

He’s still dead, and so are those two kids. But, happily, it looks like the folks who were wounded will live: with varying degrees of lasting consequences.

News coverage has, predictably, shifted to giving politicos and hotheads opportunities for expressing outrage: and explaining why everybody should agree with them.

There’s a refreshing lack of focus on the killer: which lets me hope that a smidgen of common sense may be filtering into America’s news media.

What little I’ve seen reminded me of something from an old movie:

“…You know, sometimes I don’t think she’s really very happy.”
(Fauna, in “Sleeping Beauty” , Walt Disney Productions (1959), from a discussion of Maleficent (Fandom))

Meanwhile, crime scene tape has been taken down around the Church of the Annunciation, and parishioners are celebrating Mass again. I’ll probably be mentioning that on Saturday. I don’t like thinking about how those folks are feeling just now.

More-or-less-related stuff:

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Our First Childbirth: Memories and a Few Thoughts 0 (0)

Posted on August 30, 2025 by Brian H. Gill
Photo of Martin A. Couney's Baby Incubator exhibit, Alaska-Yukon-Pacific-Exposition, Seattle, Washington. (1909) University of Washington Libraries. Digital Collections see http://content.lib.washington.edu/ via Wikipedia
Helping babies stay alive, bucking the medical status quo in 1909.

When I asked our oldest daughter what she’d like me to write about this week, she suggested “stories about when each of us was born”.

Bilboq's cartoon: 'Busy Desk'. (2006) via Wikipedia
“Busy Desk”, Bilboq. (2006)

The birth of each child was an important event, at least for me and my wife, so I figured it’d be a matter of deciding which memories to pick.

Then I started poking around the labyrinthine interior of my mind.

Turns out I’ve got a few vivid snapshots, but not nearly as many details as I thought there’d be.

I’ve got a pretty good memory; apart from things like appointment times, anniversaries — fact is, I’ll be asking my wife for help with this post. It’s been decades since the mental machinery filed away those experiences.

Meanwhile, I’ll start talking about our oldest child’s birth, and see what happens.

Birth: The First Time

This was when we were living in Fargo, North Dakota. I was doing time in academia again, getting a teaching degree in English. That was in daylight hours.

At night, when the due date came, I was a temp worker — a “Kelly Girl” — thankfully, I didn’t mind the disconnect, and that’s another topic. More specifically, I was a computer operator on the graveyard shift at an implement company.

Happily, the offices were in a building near the hospital we’d picked. Getting coffee, I could look out the window and see the building. Then, when my shift was over, I’d go over and see how my wife and newborn were doing.

But I’m getting ahead of the story.

Besides practical matters, the folks who were giving our — birth preparation class? birthing class? — anyway, the ‘what to expect, what to do, and how to do it’ class.

Where was I? Birthing class, the folks who were giving it. Right. Anyway, these folks gave advice for how to get a quick response at the hospital’s emergency entrance after hours.

We could, one of them said, get close to the outside microphone and make gasping-breath sounds — demonstrating the technique. I’m guessing that it was a joke, but it did strike me as a good way to encourage liveliness.

My wife and I didn’t need to do that. Getting to the hospital and the maternity ward is one of the blurred spots in my memory, but I remember that the process went fairly smoothly.

Changes: Delivery Rooms and Fainting Fathers

Childbirth, even when everything goes right, isn’t “routine”. Not in the sense of being unremarkable. It’s called labor for reasons, and I’ll let it go at that.

Something that’s changed since my youth is who’s around when a child is born.

Back then, at least near cities, most women gave birth in hospitals. The father would be on hand, but at a distance: in a waiting room, out of the way and fretting.

That was changing, slowly, in the 1960s.1 By the time my wife and I had our first child, letting me into the delivery room was acceptable. Along with not having my wife doped to the gills so she’d keep quiet, and that’s another topic.

Grudgingly acceptable, that is. Convincing the doctor took effort.

Somewhere along the line, I learned why some doctors preferred keeping fathers out of the delivery room. Seems that too often, a father would faint: adding the task of sliding a body out of the way to an already-intense process.

I wasn’t one of the fainting fathers.

In a way, it might have been easier on my wife if I had been.

Focused

I’d known in general terms what to expect during my wife’s labor.

There was a breathing routine I was expected to remind her about during contractions. I’m not sure how much good that did. Not the breathing: my alleged help. She knew the routine perfectly well.

My wife also stayed focused throughout. Make that almost throughout. During transition, that’s when the cervix is dilated from eight to ten centimeters,2 she did cry. Briefly.

She was and is not prone to emotional outbursts. At all. Getting her to cry would be like getting Sherlock Holmes to giggle.

The medicos had been poking needles into her, and her veins were not cooperating. My wife says that during transition is not the time to play find-the-vein. I think she’s right.

Ideally, she could have voiced that opinion clearly and eloquently at the time. But, well, there was quite a great deal happening that demanded her full attention.

New Experiences and Evaporative Cooling

She didn’t, for example, tell me that I should stop leaning on her. Not until later, when our oldest daughter was out and we all had a little time on our hands.

I wasn’t one of those fainting fathers, this was our firstborn child. I was excited: and that’s putting it mildly.

Things had progressed to the point where the top of our child’s head was visible. I’d known that our heads change shape as we go through the birth canal. What I hadn’t known was what it would look like.

The first part of our firstborn I saw was the top of her head. Aside from the size and color, it looked like a walnut.

That’s what I told my wife, right then, excitedly: while leaning on her. Later, she let me know that this was not a good idea. Leaning on her, I mean. She’d have told me right then and there, but — mothers may multitask, but not during delivery.

Getting back to that first look at our newborn, her head promptly popped into a more conventional baby-shape as the rest of her came out.

At the time, something that was part of the hospital’s childbirth process was having me (carefully) hold our daughter, lowering her into a body-temperature basin of water.

I think she liked it. As soon as she was mostly-immersed, she turned her head — I think it was to the left.

Pursing her lips, she methodically extended that arm and drew it back, keeping her hand even with her shoulder. Turning her head the other way, she did the same with the other arm. My guess is that she was taking in the experience of being able to extend her arms.

Then I lifted her out of the water. She experienced evaporative cooling.3 And screamed. She still does not like that experience.

A Couple Details

I think my wife’s first close look at our first daughter was when they ‘plopped her on her belly’ and dried her off. We were both very happy about our little one, and I’ll leave it at that.

Except for another detail.

We have had, in several senses of the term, colorful babies.

When she first came out, our oldest daughter was orange. That’s not usual. The reason her head looked like a tangerine has a scary name — infantile jaundice — but it’s treatable, temporary, and not a huge problem.4

Years later, when our son was born, he was purple; until his lungs made up a temporary oxygen deficit. Again, not a huge problem.

And like I said, colorful.

Baptism of Desire, Uncertainty, and Hope

Brian H. Gill's photo: Our Lady of Angels' Marian garden. (July 2013)
Our Lady of Angels’ Marian Garden: a good place to sit and think. (2013)

All told, my wife and I have had six children. We’ve gotten to know four of them: the ones who survived.

Those four were baptized, the other two weren’t. The reason was, basically, that you can’t baptize a corpse.

About that —

Baptism matters, a lot. It makes entering the kingdom of God an option. (Catechism of the Catholic Church, 1214-1274)

One of our children died in what this culture calls a miscarriage, the other experienced a stillbirth: and we nearly lost my wife in the process.

I am profoundly glad that my wife lived, I still grieve for Joy and Elizabeth, and — although I realize it’s impossible — I wish they could have been baptized.

The experiences did, however, result in my learning about what the church has been saying for the last 15 or so centuries about baptism and infants.

So far, we know that baptism is vitally important; that some infants, through no fault of their own, aren’t or can’t be baptized: and we don’t know how that affects their salvation.

Maybe it’d be easier to do an opinion poll and see what most folks want to be true, but the Church doesn’t work that way.

Instead, I can remember that something like a “Baptism of desire” has been discussed: and hope that I’m right about God being good, just, and merciful. I’m pretty sure about that, I’m counting on “merciful”, and that’s yet another topic. Topics.

Here’s a sample of what I found:

“…the Church does not know of any other means which would certainly give little children access to eternal life. However, the Church has also traditionally recognized some substitutions for Baptism of water (which is the sacramental incorporation into the mystery of Christ dead and risen), namely, Baptism of blood (incorporation into Christ by witness of martyrdom for Christ) and Baptism of desire (incorporation into Christ by the desire or longing for sacramental Baptism). During the 20th century, some theologians, developing certain more ancient theological theses, proposed to recognize for little children either some kind of Baptism of blood (by taking into consideration the suffering and death of these infants), or some kind of Baptism of desire (by invoking an ‘unconscious desire’ for Baptism in these infants oriented toward justification, or the desire of the Church). The proposals invoking some kind of Baptism of desire or Baptism of blood, however, involved certain difficulties….”
(“The hope of salvation for infants who die without being baptised” , International Theological Commission (2007)[emphasis mine])

I’ve talked about some of this, and how I see changing attitudes about infants, before:

1 Some changes have been for the better:

2 Took a little effort, but I found a brief description of transition in labor:

3 Details:

4 Baptism of desire (hope is an option):

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