Years ago Buzzy and I were visiting Greece. A tour guide there blasted the British for taking so much of the Parthenon back to Britain as the Elgin Marbles came to be known. I joked to a Brit lady on the trip with us that I’d have to go to London to see the rest of it. She said something to the effect that had the British not preserved the Marbles then they would have been destroyed. She then chastised me and our U.S. founders by saying “It is nothing like the way that you destroyed and then preserved none of the Native Americans’ heritage and culture. At least we appreciated what we found in a new land and tried to preserve it.” On the way back to our room, Buzzy laughed and said “She sure told you didn’t she?” I replied something about the Brits having no sense of humor. (Later reflecting back on what I should have said to her, I should have pointed out to her that our Founding Fathers and early settlers were British.)
I thought of all that just now as I read an article about this old cross that was used at Blackiston Island to celebrate the First Mass here in the new world. The cross was moved to Kent Island and then later to Georgetown University. The Washington Post story tells how this priest found the cross in a storage basement in Georgetown. Now the cross will be on display at Pope Francis’ first Mass in America. After the Mass, the cross will then go back to Georgetown University.
My question is – shouldn’t this cross be back here in the County at the St. Clement’s Island Museum? Where is Beth McCoy when we need her? This would be a cause that she would have undertaken and succeeded at.
