One of the most poignant and complex stories in America the last few days has been the prolonged outpouring of grief at Penn State University for the legendary and, in some people’s minds fallen, football coach Joseph Paterno. The final memorial service drew 12,000 people and, naturally, it included remarks that touched on the Catholic faith of the deceased.
What I can’t figure out is how much religious material made it into this event, which was part funeral and part campus rally.
There is no question, however, which quote from the service was given the most ink in the national press, appearing in headlines and in pull-quote graphics on many websites that ran the Associated Press version of the main story from The Morning Call newspaper in the Lehigh Valley.
The quote is found right up top, where it belongs:
STATE COLLEGE, Pa. — Jay Paterno quoted Sophocles and Tennessee Williams, recounted his father’s last moments and led more than 12,000 people in prayer. He also lingered strongly on one point, which Nike Chairman Phil Knight had thundered about an hour earlier.
“Joe Paterno left this world with a clear conscience,” he said.
I am sure that some people in other parts of the nation read that quotation and thought: How could Joe Paterno have died with a clear conscience, since it was clear that he and many other leaders on that campus could have and should have done more to shut down the alleged sexual encounters between former defensive coach Jerry Sandusky and the young boys he often brought onto the campus?
Well, when dealing with a Catholic believer, it is one thing to say that he died with no regrets. No one said that. What they said is that the elderly Paterno died with a “clear conscience.”
In other words, one can assume that he said a final confession and received last rites. The contents of that confession, any regrets or mistakes that were discussed, are between the dying man, his priest and God. It’s hard to put that in a news story. I know that. However, could journalists have done a bit more to set the context of that statement? Frankly, I do not know.
The Washington Post story about the memorial service at least included a reference to the priest who took part in this rite of passage for the family and the community. I almost didn’t notice it my first time through the report:
On Thursday at Penn State’s basketball arena, Sue Paterno drew a standing ovation just with the simple act of walking to her front-row seat in front of the stage. Five Paterno children and 17 grandchildren soon followed.
“Lord,” prayed Father Matthew Laffey of the school’s Catholic Campus Ministry, “thank you for this man, and the blessing to have lived when this giant walked the earth.”
This made me wonder: Was this Paterno’s priest?
This leads to more questions. How often did the coach attend Mass on campus? Previous stories have stressed that he lived a walking-distance from the campus and kept a very consistent and disciplined schedule. I have always wondered if Paterno was a daily Mass Catholic. I do wish that someone had asked about that. It’s a fact that would have intrigued the coach’s critics, just as much as his supporters.
Let me make one final point, in the form of a question for GetReligion readers.
Most stories about the service included some version of this anecdote:
At the hospital Sunday morning, just before Joe Paterno died at age 85 after a short bout with lung cancer, Jay Paterno told his father that he had fulfilled his mandate to make an impact larger than his own footsteps.
“In my last words to my father,” Jay Paterno said, “I kissed him and whispered into his ear so only he could hear: ‘Dad, you won. You did all you could do. You’ve done enough. We all love you. You’ve won. You can go home now.’”
That’s an incredible quote. However, the Associated Press report ended with another anecdote that, in its own way, I found just as powerful — especially for anyone who appreciated the coach’s love of literature and fine language. In the full report, the story ends this way:
The family celebrated Paterno’s 85th birthday in December, when he received a book of letters from former players, and “stressed how blessed he had been in his life.”
Jay Paterno also noted that his father ended every game by leading the team in The Lord’s Prayer in the locker room. After leading the audience in prayer, Jay Paterno remembered once asking his father why he did that.
“He said, ‘It’s the words, Jay. The words.”’
Here’s my simple, journalistic question to our readers. If you read this AP story in your local newspaper, did it include this final passage? My observation is that many copy desks seem to have cut it off.
Space in newspapers is scarce, these days. But that’s a wonderful end to a story about this particular man.
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January 27, 2012, at 7:51 pm
The Fort Worth Star-Telegram had this article with similar content, but no religion. The AP article is also online, without religion beyond “going home”. No Lord’s Prayer.
This was in all the stories and I haven’t a clue what it means:
And they say football is a religion in Texas!
By happenstance, I noticed this sports column titled “Paterno doesn’t deserve a legacy of shame”, which makes an interesting contrast with “The Catholic Church and Rick Perry forgive Newt”, a political editorial that fairly drips with contempt for Perry and Gingrich with respect to “redemption”. The editorial was actually on the “news” page of their Android app, but I’m sure that was an honest mistake.
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January 28, 2012, at 9:47 am
Perhaps “Passing By” might clarify the contrast s/he wants us to see. S/he may think that Norman’s column “drips with contempt” for Perry and Gingrich, but I think the column shows an understanding of the Catholic view of redemption and suggests an inconsistency between that understanding and Perry’s behavior. I guess pointing out the inconsistencies of politicians shows contempt - well, at least for persons of a certain political persuasion.
The stories on Paterno’s funeral carried on a local sports station in Pittsburgh actually dealt with the religious context of the event including the remarks omitted in the newspapers.
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January 28, 2012, at 10:58 am
Dan Crawford,
You made Internet Error #1, which was to assume you know anything about my political opinions or thoughts on any given politician. My comment was about the two opinion columns and how they handle redemption in a contrasting manner.
The contrast (since you need to have it spelled out) is that the Startlegram jumps on Perry’s inconsistency wrt Catholic doctrine (although Perry is not a Catholic) while justifying Paterno’s enabling of a pedophile. Is that clear enough? How about this: imagine Joe Paterno as a Catholic bishop and imagine the articles that would lionize him. Or Perry as pro-choice and a Startlegram columnist citing Catholic doctrine to criticize him.
Actually, Norman’s column does not present Catholic doctrine on the death penalty accurately. While many Catholics (including two popes and myself) oppose the death penalty, that opposition is a prudential judgement and not a de fide doctrine of the Church. My opinion is that it will be in the future, but I’m no more a prophet than Dan Crawford is a mind-reader.
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January 28, 2012, at 8:03 pm
This was a non-religious memorial service - evidently at an auditorium at the school.
Evidently the funeral Mass was held either before or after this gathering.
For the past 10 years or so there has been a push to do the eulogizing during the funeral Mass, as is done at Protestant funerals (Ted Kennedy’s funeral Mass). Some pastors have not held the line and are allowing these after the reading of the Gospel. I’m glad to see that Paterno’s family didn’t do that, or at least it wasn’t reported in the papers.
Since it has always been the rule that eulogies don’t belong at Mass, there is more effort these days to put the memorializations of the deceased back to where it used to be: the wake at the funeral home or at a reception or banquet after the burial.
I sing in a funeral choir and you wouldn’t believe the stories that get told about the deceased in church that are much more suited to a raucous wake in the Irish style where they belong.
Just found this AP report from the LA Times. It looks like there were eulogies at the funeral Mass, but at least it was private.
http://www.latimes.com/sports/la-sp-joe-paterno-funeral-20120126,0,3879347.story
Here’s TV coverage which includes the Catholic funeral. No mention of what the priest said in his homily.
The clip of an interview of his son Jay mentions that there was a Mass said in his hospital room and Paterno mouthed the words although he was on a ventilator.
http://espn.go.com/los-angeles/story/_/id/7503106/joe-paterno-penn-state-nittany-lions-thousands-line-funeral-procession-route
USA Today:
No mention of anything connected to Joe’s practice of his religion or on what the priest might have said in his homily.
http://www.usatoday.com/sports/college/football/story/2012-01-25/joe-paterno-funeral-procession-penn-state/52791476/1
Chicago Tribune:
Apparently the funeral Mass was not held in a Catholic church. Or the status of the spiritual center is not very clear. Perhaps it has a Catholic chapel?
http://studentaffairs.psu.edu/spiritual/
this is a caption under a photo of Paterno’s casket lying in what is called the Worship Room at the center.
http://abcnews.go.com/Sports/wireStory/2nd-day-mourning-paterno-end-burial-15436268#.TySZwVzOwrU
It’s not clear where the funeral Mass took place since there was a “viewing” at the center and there is then mention of the grandchildren being pallbearers who carried the coffin in for the Catholic service. Was it just taken to a different part of the Center?
Very confusing.
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January 30, 2012, at 8:52 am
Joe and Sue Paterno were vary active Catholics and attended mass on campus, His funeral mass was held at the Spiritual center on campus which is multi-faith and and was in part paid for and money was raised by the Paterno family. I get the impression that the diocese of Altoona has given the on campus Catholic community quasi-parish status as it has such a significan permanent and stable membership. Over 2000 students/faculty and staff attend mass there every weekend and 30 catholic “worship” events take place each week. Any Catholic at Penn State can tell you the Paternos are active and attend regularly. A lovely Catholic specific center is under planning/construction nearby and will be named after Sue Paterno as the chief benefactor/fundraiser.
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January 31, 2012, at 7:29 am
Michael Novak, no stranger to the Catholic faith or Joe Paterno, has an interesting essay on the manner in which this story played out at National Review Online. http://www.nationalreview.com/articles/289587/injustice-done-joe-paterno-michael-novak
I believe what Mr. Novak writes; and it certainly complies with the general impression one gets of college trustees in this nation. By the way, it mentions that “on Wednesday, January 25, Joe Paterno was honored with a private funeral Mass in the presence of his family and a few close friends, in the chapel he and his wife had built on the Penn State campus.”
I didn’t read the material in this post carefully but I didn’t know that the Paterno’s had been responsible for a chapel on campus. It may well have been that this was where JoePa and team members could go for daily prayer. Good for them!
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