Getting to know Jean McConnell...

I've never participated in a Catholic funeral prior to Jean McConnell's, but from my experience yesterday, the Catholic tradition has much to offer in the way of hope. The priest referred to this time as one of 'acceptance' which is a welcome paradigm shift from grief, suffering and loss...for we have no choice in this. The challenge of acceptance offers hope. From my dictionary, the word catholic means, "...universal, general...all-inclusive...of general scope or value, liberal...of the Christian church as a whole; specif., of the ancient, undivided Christian church." The priest at Jean's service made the strong connection between Jesus' 'Sermon on the Mount' and public service saying, in effect, we are all engaged in God's work, and he made special note of recognizing the service of the police, firefighters and other public employees in attendance. And so he said, Jean had served and now his work was done. One of life's ironies is that we realize a much deeper understanding of others when we attend their funerals. This is even true of people we think we know fairly well. I left the service feeling grateful for the chance to honor Jean and get to know him better. As I've learned, Jean was quite engaged in evaluating the budget for 2006 and, being from the 'school of hard knocks', a little anger at the TnT hearings would've done him no harm. He cared about struggling constituents, the 'little guys', and had been known to advocate on their behalf with RPU when winter utility bills overwhelmed their family budgets. I respected Jean McConnell's mind and common sense despite what may have been 'in fashion'. He and I had our most recent spirited correpondence over the lease back scheme of our public utilities that would've allowed the purchase and depreciation rights to our public utilities for a mere $5 or $6 million immediate gain. He and I agreed that this was a perversion of our tax system and would rob the public treasury of needed revenue for the common good. As it turned out, the city didn't engage in a lease back plan, but not necessarily because of an ethical concern. Our city was laying the necessary groundwork when Congress made such arrangements illegal. Well, it didn't happen and I think we have Jean McConnell's common sense and solid principles of fairness to thank that we heard any voice of opposition. Just this past summer he said, "It was a terrible idea...I was disappointed most of the establishment went for it big. I don't know what they were thinking of. It was an obvious scam right from the start." His family was so very important to him and his public service took him many hours when he might have been with them. As I said to Mrs. McConnell, "Thank you for sharing your husband with us...we loved him too."