Jim Jones (1931-1978) and the People’s Temple cult

Jim Jones grew up in a dysfunctional family near Richmond, Indiana, where he was obsessed with the Bible and death. As a child, Jones developed an affinity for Pentecostalism and a desire to preach. He was ordained as a Christian minister in the Independent Assemblies of God, attracting his first group of followers while participating in the Pentecostal Latter Rain movement and the Healing Revival during the 1950s. He attended Indiana University and Butler University, without graduating. He became a Methodist minister before starting his own group that favored communitarian communism ideas, especially for African-Americans. Although its roots and teachings shared more with the Christian revival movements than with Marxism, it purported to practice what it called “apostolic socialism.” After Jones received considerable criticism in Indiana for his integrationist views, the Temple moved to Redwood Valley, California, in 1965. In the early 1970s, the Temple opened other branches in Los Angeles and San Francisco, and would eventually move its headquarters to San Francisco. With the move to San Francisco the People’s Temple became increasing political. They were instrumental in the mayoral election victory of George Moscone in 1975, so that Moscone appointed Jones the Chairman of the San Francisco Housing Authority Commission. Increasing public support in California gave Jones access to several high-ranking political figures, including Vice President Walter Mondale and First Lady Rosalynn Carter. Jones was an American cult leader, who founded and led the Peoples Temple between 1955 and 1978. When some articles of abuse within the Temple cult appeared in California, Jones quickly chose Guyana, an English-speaking, socialist country with a government including prominent black leaders, who would afford black Temple members a peaceful place to live. Have you ever been part of a cult?

The discotheque decision of “No”

Would we allow a discotheque in Matteson with liquor, music, and dancing or not? We, the Zoning Board of Appeals, had to respond to this zoning appeal. After much discussion, and comments from the people who showed up, we, the ZBA, turned down their request for a discotheque. That was practically the end of my relationship with Rick Dutton. Joy continued to play with their kids and Margaret still spoke to Elaine, their mother, but Rick was never around. Rick worked for McCormick spices as a salesman, and had given some samples to Margaret. He also sold some samples at a Saturday flea market in nearby Tinley Park. He often mowed his lawn wearing white pants. However, this Dutton group did find a place to open their discotheque in the next town over in Park Forest. The Poison Apple, with disco records, not a live band, but dancing, opened in 1979. In fact, I was invited to their opening night. Margaret and I went there a couple of times. Have you ever had to make a hard public decision?

Dettmering and dancing

Dettmering’ Tavern at 3616 W. 216th Street was formerly known as the “Farmer’s Hotel,” erected in 1880. The original building consisted of the saloon, kitchen, summer kitchen, dining room, parlor, and bedrooms. Upstairs were 13 lodging rooms with no heat and minimum necessities. A large scale was in front of the tavern where farmers checked the weight of their loads before proceeding to the grain elevator. When Matteson’s volunteer fire department was organized in 1894, the fire station’s siren was located behind a picture on the tavern wall. The tavern was owned and managed by four generations of Dettmerings since 1890. On Saturday nights, there was country music with dancing. Today, this building houses Ciao Ristorante, featuring Italian cuisine. There is also a street in Matteson, named Dettmering Street. Is there a difference between county dancing and discotheque dancing?

The Discotheque problem

I do not remember all the details. However, some time in 1977 or 1978, my neighbor Rick Dutton, with a couple of other guys from the Woodgate area, wanted to open a discotheque dancing bar, since disco was all the rage back then. They wanted to put this bar discotheque in the Korvette Shopping Plaza, an outdoor strip shopping mall in Matteson, since they all lived in Matteson. I was part of the Zoning Board of Appeals of Matteson that had to grant a special use permit. Most of the problems at our ZBA meetings were about signs by companies in Matteson, or the problem of houses and boundaries around fences. The only people who showed up for them, were the people concerned, usually with a lawyer. For this discotheque problem, our meeting room was overflowing. Right next to their proposed discotheque was the Matteson Public Library at 4240 Lincoln Highway in Matteson. The current stand-alone public library building was not completed until 1993 at 207^th and School Streets near Oakwood Park. The big legal question was music and dancing. We had no music dancing venues in Matteson at that time. Besides, a lot of people complained about putting a discotheque next to a library. However, Dutton and his lawyer pointed out that there was live country music on Saturday nights at Dettmering’s bar. What were we to do?

The wedding marriage of Mike Klein and Grace Mergen

Later in 1978, we went to the wedding of Michael Klein, Margaret’s youngest brother who was born in 1952, to Grace Klein, who was four years younger than him, on September 30, 1978. Mike was 26 and Grace was 22. Mike was born when I was in seventh grade and Grace was born when I was a junior in HS. They were a lot younger than me. We went to the wedding in Dell Rapids and stayed out on the Klein farm. A wedding in Dell Rapids is like a big family event. The Mergen family was from Dell Rapids, but Grace lived in town with her many brothers. Both Mike and Grace had gone to St. Mary’s in Dell Rapids. There was another big thing happening. Margaret’s parents were going to move off the farm since Pete Klein, Margaret’s father, had turned 65 in June. Mike was going to run the farm and Grace was excited about living on a farm, since she had been raised in the town of Dell Rapids, not a farm. Thus, it was going to be a new live style for Margaret’s parents. Her father would help Mike, just as Mike had been helping his father since he graduated from high school, eight years earlier. Mary and Pete Klein were going to live in the town of Dell Rapids, since they bought a house there. Mike was going to pay a mortgage or rent to his parents. I am not sure how that worked, but Mike was excited about being a farmer. I think all the Klein family was happy that the farm was going to stay in the family. I have a bunch of photos with Joy and Margaret out on the farm, with all the tractors and cows. Margaret always liked going back to the farm, where she grew up. The wedding on September 30 went fine since it was at St. Mary’s in Dell Rapids with a lot of people there, since both Mike and Grace came from big families. The reception was in the large back yard of the Mergens. I think that they were going to have a street dance that night. I can not remember exactly. However, there was one custom that I had not heard of until this wedding. Grace’s brothers and some other guys from town stole Grace from the reception. I know that Joy was worried about her. However, Margaret reassured Joy and me that this was a local custom, “to steal the bride” from the reception. They were going to bring her to a couple of bars in town. Eventually after a couple of hours they did come back with Grace riding in the back of a pickup truck in her wedding dress. We had a good time there as Margaret got to meet her brothers and sisters and their families, while Joy got to know a little bit about her cousins. A good time was had by all. Do you go to many weddings?

The results of the Camp David Accords

What were the results of this agreement? The UN General Assembly rejected this Framework for Peace in the Middle East, because the agreement was concluded without participation of the UN and the PLO. It did not comply with the Palestinian rights of return, their self-determination, and national independence, and sovereignty. However, the Camp David accords changed Middle Eastern politics, especially the perception of Egypt within the Arab world. Egypt had the most powerful Arab military and a history of leadership in the Arab world under President Nasser (1918-1970). Thus, Egypt had more leverage than any of the other Arab states to advance Arab interests. However, because of this Accord, Egypt was subsequently suspended from the Arab League from 1979 until 1989. Jordan’s King Hussein saw this Accord as a slap in the face when Sadat volunteered Jordan’s participation in deciding how functional autonomy for the Palestinians would work. Sadat effectively said that Jordan would have a role in how the West Bank would be administered. With the Arab world opposition building against Sadat, Jordan could not risk accepting the Accords without the support of its powerful Arab neighbors, like Iraq, Saudi Arabia, and Syria. King Hussein consequently felt diplomatically snubbed. One of President Carter’s regrets was allowing Sadat to claim that he could speak for Hussein, but by then the damage was done to the Jordanians. The Camp David Accords also prompted the disintegration of a united Arab front in opposition to Israel. The normalization of relations between Israel and Egypt went into effect in January 1980. Ambassadors were exchanged in February. The boycott laws were repealed by Egypt’s National Assembly the same month, and some trade began to develop, but less than Israel had hoped for. In March 1980 regular airline flights were inaugurated. Egypt also began supplying Israel with crude oil. The Accords were another interim agreement or step, but negotiations that flowed from the Accords slowed. The inability to bring the Jordanians into the discussions, the controversy over settlements, the inconclusive nature of the subsequent autonomy talks, and domestic opposition in Egypt and Israel all played a role in slowing the process down. This led to a cold peace between Egypt and Israel. Although most Israelis supported the Accords, the Israeli settler movement opposed them because of Sadat’s refusal to agree to any Israel presence in the Sinai Peninsula. Nevertheless, 85% of the Israelites supported the Camp David Peace Accords. President Sadat’s signing of the Camp David Accords on September 17, 1978 and his shared 1978 Nobel Peace Prize with Israeli Prime Minister Begin led to his assassination on October 6, 1981, by members of the Egyptian Islamic Jihad during the annual victory parade held in Cairo to celebrate Egypt’s Suez Canal. The surviving assassins were tried and found guilty of assassinating the president and killing ten others in the process. They were sentenced to capital punishment, and were executed on April 15, 1982. Thus, this Camp David Accord was the peace that never was. It was an agreement between two men, not two countries. Have you ever heard of a peace agreement that blew up?

The Camp David Accords of 1978

In September, 1978, there was a lot of optimism about a peace accord in the Middle East. The Camp David Accords were a pair of political agreements signed by Egyptian President Anwar Sadat (1918-1981) and Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin (1913-1992), following twelve days of secret negotiations at Camp David, the country retreat of the President of the United States in Maryland. These two framework agreements were signed at the White House witnessed by President Jimmy Carter. The second of these treaties led directly to the 1979 Egypt–Israel peace treaty. This framework that dealt with Egyptian–Israeli relations was easier since both participants were present. The first framework dealt with the Palestinian territories, but without the participation of the Palestinians. President Carter’s Secretary of State Cyrus Vance’s had three goals: 1) Arabs had to recognize Israel’s right to exist in peace; 2) Israel had to withdraw from the occupied territories gained in the Six-Day War; and 3) Israel’s security would not be threatened. In 1977, President Anwar Sadat startled the world by announcing his intention to go to Jerusalem and speak before the Jewish Knesset. Prime Minister Begin’s response to Sadat’s initiative demonstrated a willingness to engage the Egyptian leader, because Egypt could help protect Israel from other Arab countries. Accompanied by their capable negotiating teams, both leaders converged on Camp David for thirteen days of tense and dramatic negotiations in September, 1978. Carter’s advisers insisted on the establishment of an Egyptian–Israeli agreement which would lead to an eventual solution to the Palestine issue. However, Begin and Sadat had such mutual antipathy toward one another that they only seldom had direct contact. Thus, Carter had to conduct his own microcosmic form of shuttle diplomacy. The first part of the framework was to establish an autonomous self-governing authority in the West Bank and the Gaza strip. The Accords recognized the “legitimate rights of the Palestinian people,” with a process to be implemented guaranteeing the full autonomy of the people within a period of five years. This full autonomy was to be discussed with the participation of Israel, Egypt, Jordan, and the Palestinians. The withdrawal of Israeli troops from the West Bank and Gaza was to occur after an election of a self-governing authority to replace Israel’s military government. The Accords did not mention the Golan Heights, Syria, or Lebanon, so that this was not the comprehensive peace that Carter had in mind, and was later interpreted differently by Israel, Egypt, and the United States. Egypt, Israel, Jordan, and the representatives of the Palestinian people would participate in negotiations on the resolution of the Palestinian problem in all its aspects. They agreed on transitional arrangements for the West Bank and Gaza for a period not exceeding five years for the autonomy of these inhabitants of the West Bank and Gaza. This Israeli-Egyptian framework outlined a basis for the peace treaty six months later, in particular the future of the Sinai Peninsula. Israel agreed to withdraw its armed forces from the Sinai, and evacuate its 4,500 civilian inhabitants, and restore it to Egypt in return for normal diplomatic relations with Egypt. This was easier to do, since it only involved two countries. Have you ever heard of a good peace treaty?

Pope John Paul II (1920-2005)

The new pope in 1978 was Polish. At only 58 years of age, he was the youngest pope since Pope Pius IX in 1846, who was 54. I had known about Karol Wojtyla since my 1960s Louvain days, since many of the Louvain teachers at Vatican II, were so surprised about this Iron Curtain Polish Krakow bishop who knew so much current western European theology in the early 1960s. Now the world knows about him. Karol Jozef Wojtyła was Pope John Paul II from 1978 until 2005, 27 years as the head of the Roman Catholic church. Karol Wojtyla was the youngest of three children, born in Wadowice, Poland. In 1938, Wojtyła enrolled at the Jagiellonian University, where he learned as many as 15 languages. After his father’s death, he started thinking seriously about the priesthood. In October 1942, he began courses in the clandestine underground seminary run by the Archbishop of Krakow. In 1946, Karol was ordained by Cardinal Adam Stefan Sapieha, who sent Wojtyła to Rome’s Pontifical International Angelicum to study while he lived in the Belgian Pontifical College during that time. Wojtyła earned a STL in 1947, and a doctorate in 1948, with his thesis “The Doctrine of Faith in St. John of the Cross.” Wojtyła returned to Poland in the summer of 1948 for his first pastoral assignment in the village of Niegowic, 15 miles from Krakow, at the Church of the Assumption. In 1949, Wojtyła was transferred to the parish of Saint Florian in Krakow. He taught ethics at Jagiellonian University and subsequently at the Catholic University of Lublin. In 1954, he earned a STD writing a dissertation titled “Reevaluation of the possibility of founding a Catholic ethic on the ethical system of Max Scheler,” who emphasized the study of conscious experience. Wojtyła developed a theological approach, called phenomenological Thomism, that combined traditional Catholic Thomism with the ideas of personalism, a philosophical approach deriving from phenomenology. In 1958, Wojtyła was named auxiliary bishop of Krakow, the youngest bishop in Poland at age 38. From October 1962-1965, Wojtyła took part in the Second Vatican Council, where he made contributions to two of its most historic and influential products, the Decree on Religious Freedom, and the Pastoral Constitution on the Church in the Modern World. In 1964, Pope Paul VI appointed him the Archbishop of Krakow. In 1967, Paul VI announced Wojtyła’s promotion to the College of Cardinals. John Paul II attempted to improve the Catholic Church’s relations with Judaism, Islam, and the Eastern Orthodox Church in the spirit of ecumenism. He maintained the Church’s previous positions on such matters as abortion, artificial contraception, the ordination of women, and a celibate clergy. Although he supported the reforms of the Second Vatican Council, he was seen as generally conservative in their interpretation. He put emphasis on the family and identity, while questioning consumerism, hedonism, and the pursuit of wealth. He was one of the most travelled world leaders in history, visiting 129 countries during his pontificate. As part of his special emphasis on the universal call to holiness, John Paul II beatified 1,344 people, and canonized 483 saints, more than the combined tally of his predecessors during the preceding five centuries. By the time of his death, he had named most of the College of Cardinals. He has been credited with fighting against dictatorships for democracy and with helping to end communist rule in his native Poland and the rest of eastern Europe. Under John Paul II, the Catholic Church greatly expanded its influence in Africa and Latin America and retained its influence in Europe and the rest of the world. Since Vatican II, the two most important constitutions of the contemporary Catholic Church were drafted and put in force by John Paul II, the 1983 Code of Canon Law, and the 1992 Catechism of the Catholic Church. Do you remember St. John Paul II?

The election of Pope John Paul II

The papal conclave held from October 14-16, 1978, was triggered by the death of Pope John Paul I at age 66 on September 28, 1978, just 33 days after he was elected pope. The conclave to elect John Paul I’s successor ended after eight ballots. The cardinal electors selected Cardinal Karol Jozef Wojtyła, the Archbishop of Krakow, as the new pope. The third pope in 1978, Wojtyła accepted his election and took the name John Paul II. Ten days after the funeral of Pope John Paul I, the doors of the Sistine Chapel were sealed and the conclave commenced. It was divided between two particularly strong candidates for the papacy, Cardinal Giuseppe Siri, the conservative archbishop of Genoa, and Cardinal Giovanni Benelli, the liberal archbishop of Florence, and a close associate of John Paul I. This conclave had the same number of cardinals as the first conclave of 1978, 111. Only Albino Luciani himself (who became Pope John Paul I) was absent from this conclave after having attended the first conclave of 1978, but the presence of Cardinal Wright at this conclave made the numbers the same. Supporters of Benelli were confident that he would be elected. In early ballots, Benelli came within nine votes. But the scale of opposition to him meant that neither Siri or Benelli would receive the two-thirds majority for election. Among the Italian contingent, Cardinal Giovanni Colombo, the Archbishop of Milan, was the only viable compromise candidate, but when he started to receive votes, he announced that if elected he would decline the papacy. Cardinal Franz König, the influential and widely respected archbishop of Vienna, suggested to his fellow electors a compromise candidate, the Polish Cardinal Karol Józef Wojtyła, whom König knew and by whom he was highly impressed. Thus, some cardinals who were supporters of Siri rallied behind Wojtyła. Wojtyła ultimately defeated Benelli, who was supposedly the candidate Wojtyła himself had voted for. On the eighth ballot on the third day, Wojtyla got 99 votes. He accepted his election. The new pope, in tribute to his immediate predecessor, then took the name of John Paul II. He became the first non-Italian pope since the Dutch Adrian VI, who reigned from 1522 to 1523. Everyone in Chicago, the most Polish town in the USA, and Poland was happy with the new Polish pope. Do you remember the election of a Polish pope?

Pope John Paul I (1912-1978)

Most people forget that there was a John Paul I before there was John Paul II. Pope John Paul I was born Albino Luciani. He was pope for 33 days in 1978, the shortest reign in papal history. Thus, there was three popes in 1978, the first time since 1605. John Paul I remains the most recent Italian-born pope, the last in a succession of such popes that started with Pope Clement VII in 1523. Before the August 1978 papal conclave that elected him, he expressed his desire not to be elected, telling those close to him that he would decline the papacy if elected. Upon the cardinals’ electing him, he felt an obligation to say yes. He was the first pontiff to have a double name, choosing “John Paul” in honor of his two immediate predecessors, John XXIII and Paul VI. He explained that he was indebted to John XXIII and to Paul VI for naming him a bishop and a cardinal, respectively. Furthermore, he was the first pope to add the regnal number “I,” designating himself “the First.” In Italy, he is remembered as “the smiling pope.” Albino Luciani was born in 1912 in Forno di Canale in Belluno, a province of the Veneto region in Northern Italy. He was ordained a priest in 1935. He became a professor and the vice-rector of the Belluno seminary in 1937. In 1947, Luciani got his Doctorate of Sacred Theology from the Pontifical Gregorian University. In 1954, he was named the vicar general for the Belluno diocese. In 1958, Luciani was appointed Bishop of Vittorio Veneto by Pope John XXIII, so that he participated in all the sessions of the Second Vatican Council (1962–1965). In 1969, Luciani was appointed the new patriarch of Venice by Pope Paul VI and he became a cardinal in 1973. Luciani was elected on the fourth ballot of the August 1978 papal conclave. Conservatives were supporting Giuseppe Siri, who favored a more conservative interpretation of Vatican II. Those who favored a more liberal interpretation of Vatican II’s reforms supported Giovanni Benelli, who had created some opposition due to his alleged “autocratic” tendencies. During the days following the conclave, the cardinals were generally elated at the reaction to Pope John Paul I, some of them happily saying that they had elected “God’s candidate.” After he became pope, John Paul I had set six plans which would dictate his pontificate: 1) renew the church through the policies implemented by Vatican II; 2) revise canon law; 3) remind the church of its duty to preach the Gospel; 4) promote church unity without watering down doctrine; 5) promote dialogue; and 6) encourage world peace and social justice. He was the first pope to speak in the singular “I” instead of “we.” Instead of a coronation, he inaugurated his papacy with a “papal inauguration.” He seemed to be on both sides of many of the sexual moral issues. John Paul I was a friend to the Muslim people. Luciani stressed the need to answer the universal call to holiness as based on the invitation in the Second Vatican Council. John Paul I impressed people with his personal warmth. He was the first pope in decades not to have previously held either a diplomatic role or Curial role. On September 29, 1978, on what would have been the 35th day of his pontificate, John Paul I was found dead in his bed at age 66 with reading material and a bedside lamp still lit. He had probably suffered a heart attack the night before. John Paul I’s funeral was held in Saint Peter’s Square on October 4, 1978, celebrated by Carlo Confalonieri. In his eulogy of the late pope, he described him as a flashing comet who briefly lit up the church. He then was laid to rest in the Vatican Grottoes. Since then, there have been all kinds of conspiracy theories about his death. Do you remember Pope John Paul I?