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Sister Peg Albert of Siena Heights remembers Tim Russert
NBC News Washington bureau chief and "Meet the Press" moderator Tim Russert, died June 13 at the age of 58. He was remembered for his warm lifelong ties to the Catholic Church and his support for Catholic education, as well as for his career covering politics. Russert collapsed at work, suffering a heart attack. An active Catholic whose promise to God to never miss Sunday Mass if his son (Luke) was born healthy took him to churches around the world, Russert spoke often and fondly of his Catholic school education and of the role of the church in his life.
Sister Peg Albert, president of Siena Heights University in Adrian, Mich., remembers  her meetings with Tim Russert:
"The first time I met Tim Russert was when he was being presented with the Brinkley Award for Excellence in Broadcast Communication at Barry University. His speech that day really touched me. So many people  make jokes about being rapped on the knuckles by religious sisters. But Tim Russsert told a story about Sister Lucille,  a teacher who saw his misdirected energy and put him in charge of the school newspaper.  She
had such a major impact on his life.
"I thought it was so nice to hear someone talk about the people who were positive life influences, rather than about their sore knuckles.
"Everything you saw on television about Tim Russert was accurate: He was a man of faith, he was a man of integrity, he was a kind and gracious man. Tim Russert was an ordinary man who was extraordinary in many ways."

My ring
When I pass by jewelry stores, I have noticed that engagement rings are getting bigger and bigger. I just saw a wedding magazine with the font page and leading stories entirely devoted to diamonds and rings. What kind of message does this send about what is really important in a marriage? Is the ring really that important?
I had a personal opportunity recently to explore this very issue. I have been married for 12 years and one of the prongs on my engagement ring was broken and needed repairing. I took the ring into a local jeweler to have the work done and was somewhat dismayed to have to leave it there. I wear my ring every day, toilet scrubbing and all. That probably contributed to it needing repair. Because I always wear it, I was vaguely aware of missing it on my finger and being anxious to pick it back up.
When I returned at the end of the week to pick it up, the jeweler nervously informed me that he had LOST MY RING! He remembered working on it, had looked everywhere and it was just not to be found. I almost felt sorry for him because he looked as if he was going to vomit as he was telling me this. Of course, my sorrow for him was somewhat diminished by my tremendous sorrow for myself. He stumbled through his speech, profusely apologized and promised to replace the ring for me to my satisfaction.
I told him I would have to go home and think about it. Sure, I was upset and mad, but I kept telling myself that it’s only a ring. At least I still have the man and that is, after all, the important part. I knew that I shouldn’t get worked up about a ring. It’s only a thing and things can be replaced, can’t they?
However, the more time that went on as I decided what to do about the ring, the more upset I got. No, I didn’t want an identical ring made because I would know that it wasn’t the same ring. Then I thought about that ring.
I almost broke up with my husband when we were dating because he wasn’t Catholic. I had dated enough to determine that Catholicism was a potential deal breaker for me. John and I talked a lot about faith while we were dating. If I was going to make a lifelong commitment with someone, I wanted it to be with someone who could support my Catholicism and could support raising our kids Catholic.
When John proposed, he did it on the steps of a Catholic church in Chicago, where we were visiting family. We were alone and as he was kneeling before me, asking me to marry him, he was also promising to support my faith and to journey with me. He promised to go to church with me and to participate in raising any kids we should have in the Catholic Church. He would see where that led him in his own personal faith choice, but in marrying me, he could support my faith.
Then, he handed me a ring, the very ring that the jeweler had now lost. It was during this part of my recollection that I cried. The morning after getting engaged, we went to mass at that church where he proposed and stayed after to ask the priest to bless that ring and our engagement.
That ring wasn’t just a ring. Twelve years into it, I have seen the fruits of the promise it symbolized. We have three beautiful children that John has helped to grow in faith. He learned all the prayers at church so he would be able to say them with the kids. He knew that the kids needed to see him participating at mass. I think it was a shock to the people we knew at church to find out John wasn’t actually Catholic. He seemed so devout.
Finally, last year at the Easter Vigil, the kids and I witnessed John becoming a full member of the church, having thought and prayed about it enough to determine it was his path in life. Now, we are juggling soccer schedules around church as John serves as a Eucharistic Minister.
That ring was the most important item I owned and I was now heartbroken. In the flashback, I was struck by the enormity of my husband’s faithfulness. People promise all kinds of things in life, but my husband made me a promise and gave me a ring as a sign of that promise and he has kept that promise. Through all the better and all the worse that we have endured together, my husband has been a rock. This union and that ring are blessed. It was irreplaceable.
I now wondered about all the people that trade in their rings for bigger ones as time goes on. I could have never traded that ring in. This was constantly on my mind as I looked for a new ring to replace what couldn’t be replaced.
I just didn’t care what it looked like. I like jewelry as much as the next girl, but this was just dragging me down. John and I spent about 15 minutes at the jeweler’s, overwhelmed by the options and finally found one that seemed fine. Things were delayed as the jeweler was trying to obtain a stone similar to mine and I grew more and more annoyed with the wait. I just wanted the whole business behind me and finally asked John if he could take care of the rest of it for me. I didn’t even want to visit the jeweler any more. Of course, now that we were knee-deep in life, John didn’t have a lot of spare time for visiting the jeweler that kept banking hours.
We finally planned that I would drop John off at the jeweler one Saturday, between soccer games, to select the stone and have the ring set. On the way there, John asked if we could stop by church so he could make sure someone had signed up to deliver the food to the various food banks. He coordinates that activity for our church and if someone doesn’t sign up, we take it ourselves. When we got to the church, he asked me to come in with him. It seemed like a reasonable request.
I got out of the car and took his hand to walk in. Then, he got down on one knee, in front of the church and asked me to marry him all over again, new ring in hand. How someone I know so well still has the ability to surprise me remains a mystery to me. Through my tears, I looked up to see Father Dave, our pastor at St. Mary Magdalen, walking toward us. John had called him and arranged to have Father bless the new ring for us.
Father Dave led us inside the church, our three kids trailing along behind, soccer cleats clunking on the floor. He took us over to the baptismal font and simply, but beautifully, blessed this new ring, along with John’s old one as a sign of our marital promise. It seemed so fitting to be doing this in the very place where John and I and our family have been growing together in faith.
My husband had renewed his promise to me and blessed it with a ring. With the first ring, I was thrilled to be engaged and crazy about the guy. It was all very exciting! This far into it, still crazy about the guy, I can now recognize how valuable this covenant is. Better than exciting, it is vital! I now have a new ring with the same man, assuring me of the same promises and I am thrilled!
So, is the ring really that important? Only if the marriage is, and then it doesn’t matter what the ring looks like. The right marriage can make any ring priceless.