...AND THAT'S THE WAY IT WAS.........

On this 40th anniversary Ruby Jubilee day of the Lunar Landing by Apollo XI and that, "one small step for man, and one great leap for mankind", by astronauts Armstong, Aldrin, and Collins, we are misssing today the man who brought the joyful news of the our first ever landing on the Moon to our country and the world. That man was WALTER CRONKITE. Walter Cronkite the anchorman of the CBS Evening News from 1962-1981, was voted in 1972, to be the most Trusted man in America, eclipsing then President Richard Nixon by sixteen points. I was in Kindergarten when "Uncle Walter" as he came to be known by many began bringing the evening news into our homes at the dinner hour. From then until now he has always been the newsman I most respected, admired and enjoyed. In college I learned I had another a unique interpersonal bond with Walter Cronkite, our shared birthday. As I like to tell it, I was born on Walter Cronkite's 40th Birthday, November 4, 1956. Before knowing it was Mr. Cronkite's birthday November 4th stands out for being the liturgical feast day of St. Charles Borromeo, the 16th Century Cardinal-Archbishop of Milan Italy, who put the reforms of the counter reformation Council of Trent, into effect. Among his reform innovations were creating seminaries to form and educate future priests for ordination and the Confraternity of Christian Doctrine, CCD, to teach children the Catholic Faith.. November 4, 1956, the day I was born and Walter Cronkite was 40 years old, was also the day the Russians forcefully put down and squashed the Hungarian Revolution. On Friday night as I was about to come off the dialysis machine the news broke that Walter Cronkite had died in New York with his family attending him, at age 92. It made for a weekend of mixed emotions, as I have been both mourning and monitoring the news and retrospectives of Cronkite's iconic and legendary career. The integrity and trust with which delivered the news has not and will not hardly be seen again. Whether it was broadcasting theDemocratic and Republican political conventions, as he did from 1952-1980, except for one in 1964, work for which he became known as first newsman to be declare an Anchorman, the Gemini and Apollo launchings and orbitings culminating in his enthusiastic and exuberant celebration of Man on the Moon, to tthe Kennedy and King Assainations, or reporting the Civil Rights struggles of the 1950's and 1960, the news was always first withWalter Cronkite.. So Thank You Walter Cronkite for helping us make sense of world affairs for that almost hallowed half hour in front of the television as you clearly, crisply, and convincingly, brought the facts and events of the day to a waiting nation. Who of us will ever forget your nighly closing proclamation, "And that's the way it is",...this July 20, 2009. I am guessing you will now be proclaiming those words from your eternal anchor desk in God's Kingdom......BECAUSE THAT'S THE WAY IT IS. Love You "Uncle Walter".........Fr. Troy