{"id":9432,"date":"2025-08-23T00:01:00","date_gmt":"2025-08-23T00:01:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/brendans-island.com\/catholic-citizen\/?p=9432"},"modified":"2025-08-22T18:37:53","modified_gmt":"2025-08-22T18:37:53","slug":"a-stained-glass-window-a-baron-initiative-and-rules","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/brendans-island.com\/catholic-citizen\/a-stained-glass-window-a-baron-initiative-and-rules\/","title":{"rendered":"A Stained Glass Window, a Baron, Initiative and Rules"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"Google<\/a>
Liechtenstein (upper right), Sion (inset, lower left); north side of the Alps.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

It’s been about a half-century since I worked for the Red River Valley Historical Society. Articles I wrote for their Red River Valley Heritage Press are in the MSMM Archives, and that’s another topic.1<\/a><\/sup><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Something I liked about that historical society is that it focused on what I think of as my ‘home turf’: the Red River Valley of the North. It’s some of the flattest land, and best farmland, on the planet.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When it’s mentioned at all, it’s in the context of 19th century treaty violations. Or the latest spring floods.2<\/a><\/sup> And I’m drifting off-topic again<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The point is that while I was working for that outfit, we had a meeting with folks in Winnipeg, Canada \u2014 and got a tour of one of Winnipeg’s old houses.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

After a half-century, all I remember about it \u2014 in any detail \u2014 is our tour guide’s account of how a stained glass window narrowly escaped destruction.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I don’t remember his name. But I do remember that somewhere along the line he said that he was, thanks to his ancestors, the 12th baron of Shaan. Or maybe Sch\u00f6n \u2014 there are a few places in Liechtenstein and Switzerland with names like that.3<\/a><\/sup><\/p>\n\n\n\n

He described the ‘barony’ as a few blocks in some town: his title gave him no economic benefit, but allowed him a few minor ceremonial perks. Which may explain why he was living in Winnipeg.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Anyway, here’s what he told us about his interest in a particular stained glass window.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/a>Initiative, Theft; Tomayto, Tomahto<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

A few years earlier, this historic building had been in bad shape. Worse, from the viewpoint of folks who were trying to restore it, it was scheduled for demolition. I don’t remember details, but I think there was a hold-up in transferring ownership.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Was tearing the house down a good idea? Depends on how you look at it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It might have been more cost-effective to tear the old wreck down and replace it with something blandly contemporary.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But Winnipeg would have lost one of its historic landmarks, and a beautiful stained glass window would have been destroyed.<\/p>\n\n\n

\n
\"Octavio<\/a>
Gran Vitral Tiffany del Hotel Ciudad de Mexico
(Great Tiffany Stained Glass Window at the Hotel Ciudad de Mexico). Octavio Alonso Maya’s photo.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

Considering the value folks put on stained glass art, that last bit \u2014 destroying a work of art \u2014 struck me as odd.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

My guess is that someone figured there wouldn’t be enough profit in having the window removed and sold.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I think spending time and materials to preserve the window would have been a good idea. But I’m emphatically not involved in urban development.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Although I think life’s financial side matters, I also think there’s more to life than a high profit margin. Much more.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/a>Seizing an Opportunity: and a Window<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

As our guide told it, with one day left before demolition, he unobtrusively slipped into the condemned building, removed the window, and took it to a nice, quiet place.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Within 24 hours, the building’s ownership SNAFU got resolved and its new owners noticed that they were one stained glass window short.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Being reasonable people, they said ‘we want our window back, no questions asked’. Communication followed, and the stained glass window was returned as quietly as it had been extracted.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Was removing that window illegal? Almost certainly.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I don’t know much about Winnipeg’s, Manitoba’s, or Canada’s law. But entering a building you don’t own and leaving with one of its windows without getting permission sounds like theft to me.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Was it wrong?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That’s a good question.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/a>Theft: Getting Technical<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

There are a few actions that actually are wrong. Theft is one of them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n

“You shall not steal.”
(Exodus 20:15<\/a>)<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

Okay. That’s straightforward enough.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Theft is wrong. (Catechism of the Catholic Church, 2408)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But \u2014 we’re talking about humans here, so it’s not quite that simple.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For starters, there’s “the reasonable will of the owner”. And sometimes theft looks like good, or clever, business. Shortchanging employees, not delivering goods or services that were paid for \u2014 basically, “theft” comes in many shapes and sizes, and it’s complicated. (Catechism, 2407-2414, for starters)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Now: was our tour guide’s removal of that stained glass window wrong?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/a>“Legal” May Not be Right<\/h3>\n\n\n
\n
\"Dick<\/a>
“Fighting crime and\/or evil”:
Dick Orkin’s Chickenman. (1966-1969)
<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

I don’t know if it’s growing up in the Sixties, or my Irish heritage: but I’m not horrified at our tour guide’s flagrant disregard for law and order.4<\/a><\/sup><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Particularly since his intent was preserving the window: and that he returned it to its now-legal owners as soon as there was a reasonable chance that it wouldn’t be destroyed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On the other hand, the odds are that if the old house had been demolished, he’d have found a buyer for the window.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Like I said, it’s complicated.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Thinking that something can be legal and still be wrong, and that doing something illegal may be right, started making a lot more sense in the Sixties.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Now that I’m a Catholic, I have<\/strong> to believe that what’s right and what’s legal aren’t necessarily the same thing. (Catechism, 1954-1960, 2273)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But<\/strong>, since I’m a Catholic, I should show obedience to, and respect for, authority. Reasoned<\/strong> obedience: not blindly doing whatever I’m told. (Catechism, 1900-1903, 2242-2243)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Again: complicated.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Believing that what a government says is right may be, in fact, wrong was counter-cultural in my youth. It still is.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

All that’s changed are the details, and that’s yet another topic.<\/p>\n\n\n

\n
\"Detail,<\/a>
Detail, Gentile da Fabriano’s “Valle Romita Polyptych.” (ca. 1411)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

I’ve talked about natural law, principles that are part of reality; and positive law, rules that we make up,5<\/a><\/sup> before:<\/p>\n\n\n\n