Sometimes You Have to Wonder

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The other night I was doing what I do best: getting lost in a rabbit hole online. This particular thing was brought about by the visit to the Mother Jones memorial in Mount Olive, Illinois. She was a tireless champion for workers’ rights, especially when it came to coal miners. The worst coal mining disaster in American history was the Monongah (West Virginia) Mining Disaster, which happened at the Fairmont Coal Company #6 and #8 mines on December 6, 1907. The “official” death toll is 362; however, there were many more because of lax regulations at the time, which included the use of children in the mines. The town wasn’t very big. Even today, it has a population of less than 1,100. You can see what the deaths of nearly 400 men would do to a town. Now, you’d think that a disaster like that would unite a community, not unlike the way the country united in the aftermath of 9/11. Oh, no. And, sometimes, you have to wonder. The miners were a diverse group of individuals, many of the immigrants from Italy and Poland. Both countries had (and still have) a strong Catholic tradition. Because of language barriers, I would suppose, the small town had a Polish Catholic parish, St. Stanislaus Kostka (which closed in 1974), and an Italian parish, Our Lady of Pompeii (also closed in 1974). Same religion. You may know that the word “catholic” means “universal,” so these people had the same faith. Just a different language. (And, back then, masses were still in Latin, so technically they did NOT have “different languages.”) With that background, here’s what I found on page 14 of an online 1908 report on the Monongah disaster: At the time of the explosion both the Italian and Polish Catholic Churches had cemeteries immediately adjoining, separated by a wire fence. At the very start, the men at work in these cemeteries were admonished by the representatives of these two churches to be very careful not to allow any member of the Italian church to be buried in the Polish side, or vice versa. Yeah, in death, two Catholics who had lived together, worked together, and died together couldn’t be buried together because someone thought it was wrong. I can understand different religions wanting separate cemeteries. With some faiths that are vehemently opposed to iconography you could understand loved ones not wanting to visit the grave near where statues stand. And, by the same token, many faiths consider burial sites “sacred ground” and consecrated by their faith. The notion that the church didn’t want non-Catholics buried in the cemetery (Mount Calvary Cemetery) is understandable. HOWEVER…having issues with someone who practiced the same religion???? Yeah, sometimes you just have to wonder. The photo is a bumper sticker that was in the Cozy Dog Diner in Springfield, Illinois on Route 66.