Although I am a United Methodist, I became as excited as if I were a Catholic last Thursday when the world knew a new pope had been named after white smoke was seen.
I was even more inspired than I was this Monday night also seeing the moon in its surprisingly full state come out from behind the clouds briefly after a seemingly multi-day disappearance due to all the rain.
My happiness about the pope was partly the excitement that always comes with a new pontiff. But maybe it was also because he is an American-born clergyman named Robert Prevost, and, like predecessor Pope Francis, he wants to focus on pastoring to the hurts of the world as much as on administration.
In a world and even country that some think is topsy turvy or at least divisive, he can be more of a moral uniter and guide in a way that extends beyond even Christendom. That alone brings hope to many people.
And the fact that this man now known as Pope Leo XIV was born and grew up in South Chicago is like icing on the cake. And he is even a White Sox baseball fan as well, prompting jokes about his interest in the suffering people of the world being appropriate with the team’s struggles of recent seasons.
It is also interesting to me that his South Chicago neighborhood was once a solid Catholic enclave but is now an area that has struggled economically and in worshiping numbers of that faith. His old childhood parish church, for example, was merged with another church, and the old building is now apparently abandoned.
The Catholic church does seem to have grown in parts of the world in recent years, including in Africa and elsewhere outside North America and Europe. It also hopes to put the clergy abuse scandals of recent decades behind it.
So, best wishes to the pope as he finds the proverbial fields of the world needing to be sown.
All the Catholic schools and neighborhoods of old in places like Chicago have always interested me as one who studies American history simply for fun. I even read a somber and surprising-to-me fact in recent years that Catholics in America were often discriminated against a century ago, as some were feared as different because they were immigrants from places like Eastern and Western Europe.
Like many others, I have always had a number of Catholic friends dating back to when I grew up in the Valleybrook subdivision in Hixson, and several families of the faith lived there. Many went on to Notre Dame High, and I remember I had a crush on one or two of the girls who went there. I also try to have Jewish friends and friends of other faiths.
I was fortunate to get to teach an introductory journalism class twice a week this spring up at UT-Knoxville, and I realized as the semester went along that I had students who were Jewish and Muslim among the mostly Christian and other students. One Christian student was training to be a YoungLife leader, so the makeup made for a nice mixture, although I was perhaps the only one fully aware of the diversity in the class.
Speaking of private schools like Notre Dame, occasionally someone will email to say I write some (or maybe a lot) about my alma mater of Baylor, or they are aware that I went to school there. Well, a few days ago, I made plans to interview a UT Torchbearer recipient that the university press release said was an Ooltewah resident. I was expecting her to tell me she went to Ooltewah High or maybe East Hamilton High or one of the Christian schools in that part of town.
Guess where she went to school? That’s right, to my surprise, she went to Baylor. And I thoroughly enjoyed talking with honoree Jada Walker about her journey and accomplishments.
I also recently interviewed for an upcoming story a simply delightful girl who is graduating from Girls Preparatory School, and I have also set up an interview with a couple of people from McCallie. I also have a public school-related story in mind for the near future and enjoy writing about all the schools amid the other kinds of articles I try and write.
While students come and go from these schools while trying to uphold or improve upon the standards set decades ago, I realized recently that at least two familiar buildings north of town and along my travel routes have new tenants coming. But hopefully for them, they are not soon going, too.
The Shooter’s Supply and Indoor Range in a recently remodeled 1960s-era building at 4824 Hixson Pike has also opened a Shooter’s Supply Tactical Center in the building at 4844 on the north side. As many older Chattanoogans or at least Baby Boomers know, that was the site of the ill-fated Judy’s hamburger restaurant that had a short life as a chain after accusations were made that it had copied Wendy’s too much.
The building was empty for a long while, so I am glad to see it has some new life. Shooter’s Supply does seem to be advertising more with billboards and has seemingly become more visible.
I have actually not shot a gun since I went to Baylor Camp in about the late 1960s when it was a military school (oops, sorry for the additional Baylor mention). And I don’t care to shoot one again, although being an Olympic biathlete might have been fun. But hats off to those who want to enjoy their Second Amendment rights amid this sport or activity or even form of self-defense that has both supporters and critics.
And in the remodeled old Cooley’s Fine Clothing building at 2220 Dayton Blvd. in Red Bank, Haley Reynolds Home furnishing store has recently opened shop for those interested in the contrasting softer and finer side of life. Started by Susan Reynolds and Hallie Haley in 2019 as a local place to access certain fine products, the store specializes in home décor, bridal gifts and art.
One place that I have noticed everyone frequenting recently is Southern Star restaurant downtown. I try to eat there about once a week or so when I am in downtown Chattanooga. That is in part because it has tasty vegetables, entrees and desserts but also because dining there gives me a break from eating lunch at Panera more than two or three times a week.
I am not saying the Southern Star is quite to the level of the old S&W, Morrison’s or Piccadilly cafeterias in their heydays, but it is adequate and beats a simple ham and cheese sandwich at home or leftovers not as great as the original meal. And I can tell by the crowds in line at lunchtime that there is still a calling for this kind of food amid the new sit-down restaurants opened by chef-trained entrepreneurs.
You get in a buffet line for hot and cold items, although the cold ones are served to you, and the place also has a wide selection of other to-go meals, salads, sides and desserts for purchase. I like the food overall, but what impresses me the most about it is that I see all types of people in line, from accomplished Chattanooga businesspeople I recognize to hourly laborers taking a lunch break. I have even seen a few familiar Baylor graduates in there! And I am sure McCallie alums eat there as well.
That is what is beautiful about these kinds of eating places. Good food is still the great uniter in a world currently inharmonious in a lot of ways.
The same can be said for a good pope as well!
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Jcshearer2@comcast.net