In Memoriam...

I wanted to share this moving tribute with you, penned by "Canticle" contributer Judy McCloskey, as a reminder of what women "embued with the Spirit of the Gospel" can do to "aid humanity in not falling." (MD 1) Please say a prayer for Jane and her family ... and while you're on your knees, please also remember my grandmother, Naomi Hess, whom we buried this week. Thank you!

In Thanksgiving for Jane Denton
by Judy McCloskey

On Thanksgiving Day (22Nov2007), after suffering a heart attack, surgery, and postop complications, Mrs. Jane Denton, wife of Senator Jeremiah Denton, passed away.

Jane married Jeremiah the day he graduated from the US Naval Academy on June 6, 1946. Together they had seven children. Nineteen years and one month into their marriage, her husband’s plane was shot down over enemy lines during the Vietnam War. Then Captain Jeremiah Denton spent the next eight years in a communist POW camp, four of those years spent in solitary confinement. A year after his capture, during a recorded propaganda campaign forcing POWs to confess to humane treatment under threat of brutal torture – Capt Denton blinked, using Morse code to communicate: TORTURE.

His taped interrogation having reached America, intelligence recognized and understood: US prisoners in Vietnam were in fact being tortured. A 1½ minute excerpt can be viewed at the National Archives website.

While Jerry was captive and tortured, Jane remained strong in her Catholic faith, prayerfully and steadfastly devoted to the souls on her spiritual radar. Jane worked tirelessly raising their children and became an activist for POW and MIA families. She helped found the National League of Families of Prisoners of War and Missing in Action, credited with contributing to the ultimate release of her husband and numerous other POWs. Jerry was finally released, authored “When Hell Was in Session”, retired as Admiral, elected Senator of Alabama, and founded the ADM Jeremiah Denton Foundation, dedicated to keeping America “one nation under God.”

In 1985, then Secretary of the Navy invited Mrs. Jane Denton to sponsor the USS Mobile Bay. The ship was commissioned in Mobile, AL, hometown to both Jerry and Jane Denton. The Naval Historical Society explains “When a woman accepts the invitation to sponsor a new ship, she has agreed to stand as the central figure in an event with a heritage reaching backward into the dim recesses of recorded history…. The tradition, meaning, and spiritual overtones remain constant. The vast size, power, and unpredictability of the sea must certainly have awed the first sailors to venture far from shore. Instinctively, they would seek divine protection for themselves and their craft….”

Understanding well her sponsorship role, in September 2002, one year after 9/11 when “her ship” prepared to deploy to Afghanistan, Jane Maury Denton, urged Mobile residents and others "to remember the ship and the crew in their prayers." "My pleasure at receiving the honor is multiplied by my love for the Navy, my concern for our national defense, and my pride in having a fine ship named for Mobile Bay," Jane once said.

Jane’s children are living testimony to her vocation as an iconic military wife, mother and patriot. “She was the most faithful, selfless and dedicated wife and mother," says Michael Denton. "She never stopped giving," says William.

Jane will be sorely missed, but long remembered as an exemplary Catholic Navy wife. Perhaps God called her on Thanksgiving Day as a reminder of the gift Jane is. For military wives looking for an example to emulate, there is Mrs. Jane Denton. Ask her now to intercede for you. Nothing will stop this woman of grace from giving completely of herself, in this life or the next.

Judy McCloskey writes from her home in the Arlington Diocese. She is the founder of Catholics in the Military.

Heidi on "Relevant Radio" Monday...

Today I got a call from the "Drew Mariani Show" ... I'm going to be a guest at 4:45 on Relevant Radio this coming Monday, November 19. The call-in number is 1-877-766-3777.

Join us if you can ... and spread the word!

Blessings... Heidi

Canticle update

Yesterday was a busy day ... morning flight to Tampa, afternoon meeting with Johnnette and her staff, and back to the airport to catch a plane back to Detroit. Whew!! Here are a couple of developments I wanted to alert my faithful writers to ...

1. Starting in 2008, we are going to add a special eight-page spread to both our March/April (Easter) and November/December (Christmas) issues. These special bonus pages will be dedicated to the liturgical season, how to enter into the spiritual aspects of these seasons more intentionally. The Easter issue will feature articles from Easter-Pentecost, and the Christmas issue will feature Christmas - Epiphany. These sections will target readers who are either new to the faith, or who just want a fresh reminder of why these seasons are so important. (The goal is to include these sections as a pull-out centerfold that you can give to someone in your life as an evangelization tool.)

NOTE: In the next two weeks, I will be putting together the March/April issue ... my partner in design, Tom Sullivan, has asked for a little extra time because of the holidays. So if you want to submit an article for this issue, please get it to me soon!

2. Did you catch the EWTN program with Heidi on Mary ... and Canticle? For those of you who missed it and would like to see it, you can order a copy of the program here. The primary focus of the program was Mary, so it might make a nice Christmas gift for a mother or favorite auntie ... or yourself!

3. I'm going to be offline during Thanksgiving week, attending my paternal grandmother's funeral and spending time with family. Please remember in your attentions the souls of John and Naomi Hess. They were not Catholic, so I particularly covet your prayers for them.

Have a happy Thanksgiving!

Blessings--

Heidi

'Tis the season ... already!

In the "better late than never" category ... Guess who's going to be on EWTN over the next few weeks? Yep ... yours truly!

Living His Life Abundantly/EWTN has scheduled the airings of my two shows with Johnnette! The show will air four times each week on the following time schedule: Mondays at 10 p.m., Tuesdays at 4 a.m. (great for those early-morning feedings!), Wednesdays at 2 p.m., and Fridays at 4 p.m.

* Mary, the Feminine Ideal. Do you -- or does someone you know -- ever have difficulty coming to terms with Mary as our mother in heaven? In this show, Johnnette, Patti Mansfield, and I talk about Mary -- and do a none-too-subtle plug for Canticle magazine. The show will air the week of November 4.

* Raising Up Mommy. In this show Johnnette and I talk about my new book with Simon Peter Press, Raising Up Mommy: Virtues for Difficult Mothering Moments. Originally titled Taming the Mommy Monster (I still like this one better, but Johnnette worried that it might scare off some readers), this book takes a look at each of the seven deadly sins as expressed in motherhood. It contains quizzes to help you spot your trouble spots, and offers exercises to help you improve in strength and endurance. (This is the first in the "Women of Grace LifeGuide Series." Later this fall, we will also be publishing a facilitator kit, which will allow the book to be used in group studies.) The show will air the week of November 25. Closer to this time, I'll post a reminder on "Mommy Monsters," which you can feel free to link to as the Spirit leads.