Mother Mary Austin -- the Gertrude Stein of Catholicism???

Mother Mary Austin (mid-late 1960s)

Hi Helmster -- and thanks so much for the photo!!!

This morning, I woke to 75 degrees and the incredible view from my Puerto Vallarta hillside windows about 20 stories above ocean level, roosters outside crowing as they tend to do nearly around the clock -- but I'm used to it. I turned on the TV (it was on CNN), and the FIRST thing I saw was that Chester County, PA was so socked in ice that no one in the county had electricidad, as we call it here. Then I went online and got your email -- and have been possessed of thoughts of Mother and Sts. Philip & James (Exton, Pennsylvania http://www.sspj.net/ ), since then.

And late this afternoon, I called my mother in Raleigh, to ask if SHE knew what happened to Mother, which she did not. Searching the internet again, I DID find this, which I think must be her -- halfway down: http://www.centraliapa.com/sistersihm.htm . Apparently, she was alive in 2006. I might write the person listed at top to see what has become of her -- who knows??? She might still be healthy. My own parents are 91 and almost 96, Mom quite in command of her mind, Dad slipping more now.

The funny thing is that while I always liked her, I gave her only occasional thought over the years. But she DID instill my love of mathematics and logic, and back in those days I wanted to be a Jesuit priest, an ambition I gave up by 9th grade. One time, a friend and I actually were in the parking lot when no one else was there, and spied all the nuns in full habit rollerskating with squeals and abandon -- the lunch furniture all folded up and stored to the side.

And Mother Mary Austin has such a FINE WIT!!! She NEVER lost her cool and whenever some misbehavior ended (which it did PRONTO when it was noticed that SHE had noticed it), she always said something devastating to the culprits and often tossed out bon mots. I have to say that looking back, and inspired by your email, I realize she was had a "Buddha-like" consciousness -- the very one I have tried to have as I've been through the last four years of extraordinary adventure. I do believe it was Mother Mary Austin who first set an example that I have tried to emulate all these years to varying degrees.

When I worked for Tennessee Williams, he had a huge oil portrait of Gertrude Stein over his bed, and I think Ms. Stein and Mother were cut of similar cloth. Just now, I checked the website and Rev. Joseph Dieckhaus is pastor -- I bet the same Father "Dick-house" (as everyone then pronounced it -- the German being DEEK-haws), but that reminds me that when I was a member at First Presbyterian, Wilmington, NC in 2011 (I find Presbyterianism to be Metaphysics with a thin veneer of Christianity), that the silly congregants called the 6-foot rooster atop Kenan Steeple "The Six-Foot Kenan Cock", when it is actually a symbol of the wake-up call of the Reformation.

The "Kenan Cock" (a six-footer)

BTW, I was 6' 5 or 6" when I graduated 8th grade there -- only growing another few inches to my current 6' 11", and I know my Mom has pics of me leading the annual May Day Parade in cassock and surplice, cross held high, the cassock about 16 inches too short -- LOL!!! Also, there is ANOTHER Rev. Dieckhaus associated with that parish now too.

In any case, in the course of my "travails" of the last four years, ALL prosecutions of me were based on "libelous speech", NONE of it did anyone even ATTEMPT to prove, and which high US Courts have confirmed several times in key rulings the last several months MUST BE PROVEN IN COURT or that charge cannot be made. I am trying to enlist legal help of the largest org in the USA that supports journalists and bloggers to keep them from being unconstitutionally muzzled, There are others if this one cannot or will not. And if I get some big awards, the FIRST THING I want to do is to reward the schools that educated me so well.

Should this happen, I wonder if you and your friend would be interested in joining me in trying to find some others who all remember Mother Mary Austin well and pooling some donations (if I win big I would add even the most of it without credit), and giving the school something they need in Mother's name. THEN she'd be better remembered.

Let me give you a link to the letter I sent that org yesterday -- it nutshells some of what I have experienced: http://theweathercontinues.blogspot.mx/2014/02/my-appeal-to-reporters-committee-for.html , and I think since this email is another tribute to that amazing woman, I might include it in my next posting -- masking your name, of course.

Scott

On Wed, Feb 5, 2014 at 10:54 PM,The Helmsman wrote:

Hi Scott,

A guy I went to S.S. Philip and James grade school with contacted me a few weeks ago. He mentioned Mother Mary Austin and described her as "the most motivating and influential one (teacher) I ever had." That was also my feeling about her. About to write back to him I did a quick search to find the year she passed away and came across your blog tribute in which you mention you were unable to find a picture of her. Attached is a picture taken by someone in my family.

Believe it or not I also have a two second film clip of her taken by my father with his 8mm camera. In it she simply smiles and good naturedly waves at the camera. The clip was transferred to video tape but not to disc so I can't send it to you. One day I'll have it digitized and send you a copy.

Thank you for posting your tribute (http://scottkenan.blogspot.mx/2013/11/honoring-mother-mary-austin-of-sts.html ).

Such a woman should not pass into obscurity.

Mike the Helmsman

The "Kenan Coat" -- translation from Latin: "Live Life to the Fullest!!!"

Scott

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