Memories Made Memorable
I will never forget when President Kennedy came to Boothbay Harbor the summer 1963. Whatever there is of this little seacost town filled up and shut down. Even the waters were jammed with the US Coast Guard going through the motions of checking boats for routine safety. I will always recall the pictures of the President and Mrs. Kennedy walking up the steps of Our Lady Queen of Peace, the Roman Catholic Church that looks out over the harbor. That's my image, forever transfixed, and I cannot pass this church without seeing his ghost of sorts there.
Now a lot of people have gone up those steps. But it is this one life that is in my mind. And why? I believe that tragic day in Dallas burned that image of him into me. Not before -- the summer event was just that for me--an event. But after, in the rear view mirror.
From: The Boothbay Harbor Register
President John F. Kennedy and his sister, Patricia Kennedy
Lawford, thronged by well-wishers as he leaves the 10 a.m. Sunday mass at Our
Lady Queen of Peace in Boothbay Harbor on Aug. 12, 1962. Kennedy was the first
president to visit Boothbay Harbor. Courtesy of Tom Carbone Archives
Our theologians agree on one point. They argue for the resurrection because the crucifixion would have ended his life strung up like a common criminal. In fact, the events of Jesus' life are generally read back from the resurrection for people of faith. "He was either who he said he was or a lunatic on the level of somebody who said s/he's a poached egg." (CSLewis) They point to the event of the resurrection as the reality, the only event, which could have burned the footsteps into those who came after him....and as Somebody who still leaves them in this world and in our lives.
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