When could discrimination be fine?

For the same reason Religious Orgs. are exempt under Title VII of the 1964 Civil Rights Act.


Imagine if the only local homeless shelter and soup kitchen are run by the town synagogue. Imagine if the town synagogue services a community of 1,000 congregants and there are 1000 Jewish residents in the town. Imagine now that this is the only soup kitchen and homeless shelter and there are 10,000 residents total in the town; a ratio of 10 to one, non-Jewish to Jewish. Imagine anti-discrimination legislation that requires that for non-discrimination purposes, any humanitarian or charitable org. that receives Federal funding from the Presidents' federal Faith Based Initiative must hire according to a demographically reflective population ratio. If the Jewish run soup kitchen/shelter gets federal faith based funding, it must hire ten non-Jews to every Jewish person it hires. So they don't discriminate. Or is that discrimination against the 999 other Jewish people in the synagogue's congregation who don't get a job in their own soup kitchen?

Now imagine that there is an order of Jesuit Priests who collectively have a mission and ministry of visiting men's prisons as part of the Matthew 25 mandate. It's a men's prison, it's a men's order of religious men. As part of their ministry they collectively pray together for the souls of the inmates. Now imagine that they want to become eligible for federal funding under the President's faith based funding office to receive funds to, for example, deliver materials to inmates, or provide release anti-recidivist services, counseling, and the like. To qualify, they can't discriminate in any hiring for this program- because that's just, well, discriminatory. So
a woman, not even of the same religion applies- because she likes to visit men in prison. The government tells them that they don't qualify for the federal funding unless the woman is hired to follow them all in the prison. Discrimination? Against whom? The woman if she doesn't get to go, against the Priests because they are being discriminated against in their religion by violation of the tenets of exclusivity which mandate that their order is all men?

These were some of the tougher issues (not those exact hypos but the issues) that flooded the air today at the Brookings' Institution talk graciously hosted by E.J. Dionne on the recent developments in the guidelines for the Presidential Faith Based Funding office. Rabbi Sapperstein and an ACLU attorney predictably argued that any discrimination in hiring when anyone gets federal money is just bright line wrong. Sapperstein (who teaches at Georgetown Law, my alma mater) said "you can discriminate all you want in your private life but if you get federal money you can't. " Well, actually I think it's the other way around ethically. Ethically I wouldn't dare and don't discriminate in my private life a hoot or holler to the extent I can identify it, but I am not a "religion." The law has historically always allowed religions to discriminate in favor of their tenets.

This was almost titled "Rosencrantz and Gilderstern are Dead but is the Free Exercise Clause?" Sapperstein pronounced the second prong of the Establishment Clause -the non-infringement on the Free Exercise of Religion dead on arrival and cited a Supreme Court opinion to make his point. For the good of all religions everywhere including his I sure hope not.
The case recently granted cert. by the Supreme Court of Christian Legal Society v. Martinez might very well (I hope) resurrect it. Oral Arguments will be heard around Easter so I am sending up a prayer.
No agency or arm of a government (the State of California by the 10th Amendment extension of the 14th Amendment, etc.) should be able to legislate or engage in policies that infringe in the Free Exercise of Religion- which the law school in that case sought to do by kicking out a chapter of the Christian Legal Society for merely declaring that it's Articles of Incorporation prohibited anyone who didn't practice it's tenets from being on the Board. It's tenets are intrinsically exclusionary; one might even say discriminatory. For example, you cannot be on the Board if you engage in premarital or adulterous sex of any kind-
hetero or homosexual. Discrimination! So the State of California is Discriminating against religious orgs that Discriminate.

The question is obviously thus not, who is discriminating, but which kinds of discrimination are permitted and which are not. Merely calling one action discriminatory doesn't answer the ethical question. That cat in the Tasty Treats commercial has a "discriminating eye" and no one wants to kill the cat. What kinds of discrimination are permissible-
Clearly the Freedom of Assembly of the First Amendment has something to say about it. Clearly, the most basic of individual human rights has to be your right to your religious beliefs and form of worship.
Is the Federal Government going to start mandating that if Presidential Faith Based funds go to Catholic Charities that a self described Wiccan whose resume reads "Grand Master Poobah, Satanic leader of the East Bay Pentagon DPC-[Demon Possession Club]"- on top of their Harvard MBA has to get the job of comptroller for being better qualified than the Candidate whose resume includes "Catholic University...activities...liturgical chant singing."

Some things are so obvious and strike me as just too absurd to debate. If really they made it into Sapperstein's guidelines, I want to guest teach his class.

Ashes to Ashes Dust to Dust

Remember the Time You Threw Your Heart Under The Bus

Ashes to Ashes Dust to Dust. Remember the Time You Threw Your Heart Under The Bus.

It's Ash Wednesday. That's why you keep running into people with black marks on their forehead. They are thinking about their own death. You are supposed to remember that everything you say and do is lodged on a heavenly accounting under your name in the Book of Life, if you are blessed enough to be in it.
You are supposed to recall that your flesh will one day return to the dust while your spirit/soul will live on one place or another, depending...

What did you really do this year? Who did you cater to, cower to, cringe to, crawl to or cry to?
Who did you help, serve, or love? Do they know? Who did you screw over, betray, lie to, lie over, or throw under the Bus for your own ambitions or tower of babel?

The thing about throwing someone under the bus that you love is that you might as well stab yourself in the back. How long can you keep betraying your own soul and not feel sick to your core? What are you really living for?

-----spaketh Zarathustera.

Bring Back Cokie Roberts to the CIC

And Her Husband Too

Does the CIC understand how wonderful it is that the Jewish husband of a Catholic wife even wants to have a talk at a Catholic bookstore? Look at this incident:
http://www.parentdish.com/2010/02/16/father-could-face-jail-time-for-bringing-daughter-to-church/?icid=mainmaindl3link6http%3A%2F%2Fwww.parentdish.com%2F2010%2F02%2F16%2Ffather-could-face-jail-time-for-bringing-daughter-to-church%2F

Of all the reasons to diss an inter-religious couple, Cokie's allegedly objectionable politics should not be one of them. They wrote a book about a successful interfaith marriage that has lasted through Republican and Democratic administrations. She recently bought, I am told the house her Congressional father built and she grew up in, and her neighbors love her.
This is a wonderful person.
Of all the people to throw under the bus of political correctness- holy help us! Everyone is talking about this and it isn't good PR for anyone- except maybe Cokie's book.

Did I mention both her mother and brother were Ambassadors to the Vatican? In an age when the Pope makes gaffe after gaffe jeopardizing the peace and inflicting strife in the tranquility of the Catholic-Jewish relations issue, Cokie is a model domestic peaceforce.

Couldn't you just have had her come talk about being married and not endorsed anything too controversial?
If the CIC won't invite her back I am going to find her another venue.
She has a newer book on "Ladies of Liberty" on women who have impacted the country. Get ALL her books.

Sadists need not apply.

Cheney: The one man more responsible for ripping the American Catholic World in Two than anyone: between those blindly following him and those with half a brain and a quarter heart.

Cheney Admits to War Crimes, Media Yawns, Obama Turns the Other Cheek
Jason Leopold, Truthout: "Dick Cheney is a sadist. On Sunday, in an exclusive interview with Jonathan Karl of ABC News' "This Week," Cheney proclaimed his love of torture, derided the Obama administration for outlawing the practice, and admitted that the Bush administration ordered Justice Department attorneys to fix the law around his policies."
http://www.truthout.org/cheney-admits-war-crimes-media-yawns-obama-turns-other-cheek56924

http://www.veteransforcommonsense.org/index.php/whats-new/1595-jason-leopold


http://www.politicsdaily.com/2010/02/17/cia-torture-case-entangles-british-government-prompts-charges-o/?icid=mainmaindl1link2http%3A%2F%2Fwww.politicsdaily.com%2F2010%2F02%2F17%2Fcia-torture-case-entangles-british-government-prompts-charges-o%2F

40 Days in the Desert for Ash Wednesday

Or Go on A Pilgrimmage

I recently found a great selection of wonderful guides to shrines and sites in Europe at the Catholic Information Center- complete with monestary listings for rooms in monestary guest houses for about 20 Euros a night. See also, http://www.monasterystays.com/


There are two well run nationally recognized Travel Agencies that I would recommend for anyone going on a pilgrimmage out of the Washington, DC area. There are hundreds, I know, some think they are hot beans, but after reading reviews and talking to lots of folks I can only recommend two that are based in the DC area (not necessarily in this order.)

The real deals:

Ezio at The Renaissance Travel:
http://www.manta.com/coms2/dnbcompany_8zgsvz?btv=tstA

Ezio had a career with Alitalia before starting his Travel Agency which has been in business for over 15 years. He is a wonderful guy who has run pilgrimmages to major cannonizations at the Vatican and for special events. He is an Italian native (who owns a hotel in Italy) and does special things for people on pilgrimmages, getting the best places for the best deals.


Ezio de Filippis
Renaissance Travel, Ltd.
PO BOX 40
Great Falls, VA 22066
ezio@rengp.com
1 (800) 304-8259

GUIDO at Bethesda Travel:
http://www.bethesdatravel.com/

Guido's family has been in the travel business pretty much all Guido's life. His father is from Sicilly and he was born in Palermo. He owns the building on East West Highway in Bethesda, Maryland where his family travel business has been for a generation which allowed him to weather well all the ups and downs of travel business travails with the cheap internet deals.
He puts together amazing packages for people for anything from group religious pilgrimmages to sacred shrines everywhere to honeymoon deals in fun places in Italy. Guido. His name actually means "Guide" and he is one of the Best in the Biz anywhere.

Each of these guys speak 3-4 languages and have multi-language talented staff.

I have personally been on trips organized by these agencies and found them both superb. The accommodations were the best in outstanding parts of cities/countrysides. In Ezio's case, in spite of an Air France strike where flights were cancelled left and right everyone made their connections back home as scheduled- both gentlemen know how to wine and dine in style. Just another reason to love Italians.

(Note to FTC: no one paid me to review them, I just love them!)

Messy NBC

The Place for Politics For Everyone with Altzheimers

I love you guys at MSNBC and NBC, don't get me wrong. I love Chris Matthews, Mr. Psycho-talk Ed, Keith Olberman, my longest lasting newsman crush from my alma mater, Rachel, Keith Olberman, my longest lasting newsman crush from my alma mater, Rachel, Keith Olbmerman.
That is not a typo- I repeated it because you all keep repeating yourselves in rerun programming nonstop all night long. It's political news groundhog day. Many a lonely night I have fallen asleep to the sound of Rachel or Keith repeating the programming I just saw two hours earlier. What- you guys have a huge budget shortfall on staffing and film crew and lost your passports? What about more International politics? When Olberman says "Which news will you be talking about tomorrow?" I don't want him to mean "Which news can't you get out of your head because you saw it three time last night because they think you have early Altzheimers." Did all your audience forget what we just saw 2 hours ago? Or is it only lame people like me who have the tv on for that long any given night who have noticed. Clearly I need a real man as Keith is a figment of my high definition resolution cable and we have to stop meeting like this. I am starting to think I am going crazy.

How --Ewed Are We?

The American Constitution Society for Law and Policy invites you to attend:
Citizens United v. FEC: The Decision, Its Implications, and the Road Ahead

In a 5-4 decision issued on January 21, 2010, the Supreme Court held in Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission that limitations on corporate funding of independent political broadcasts in candidate elections violate the First Amendment. The Court struck down a section of the Bipartisan Campaign Finance Reform Act that banned corporations and unions from broadcasting "electioneering communications" within 30 days of a primary or 60 days of a general election. In so doing, the Court overruled its 1990 decision in Austin v. Michigan Chamber of Commerce and generated substantial controversy - President Obama mentioned the decision in his State of the Union address and both the House and Senate have held hearings on the topic. Many questions linger in the wake of the decision. Does the decision represent a victory for the First Amendment or an opening for corruption of elections? What are the merits of mechanisms being considered by Congress as ways of dealing with the decision? In practical terms, what does the decision mean for corporations and unions? What does the overruling of Austin suggest about the Roberts Court and its relationship to precedent? These questions and others will be discussed by a panel of experts in campaign finance law.
The panel discussion will feature:
Moderator, Dahlia Lithwick, Senior Editor and Legal Correspondent, Slate.com
Jan W. Baran, Partner, Wiley Rein LLP
Laurence E. Gold, Of Counsel, Lichtman, Trister & Ross, PLLC; Associate General Counsel, AFL-CIO
James S. Portnoy, Chief Counsel, Corporate & Government Affairs at Kraft Foods
Joseph E. Sandler, Member, Sandler, Reiff & Young P.C.
Monica Youn, Counsel, Brennan Center for Justice, NYU School of Law.
Click here for more information and to register
Lunch will be provided at noon with the panel beginning promptly at 12:30 pm. Wednesday, February 24, 201012:00 - 3:00 pmThe National Press Club, Conference Rooms529 14th Street, NW, 13th FloorWashington, DC 20045

The American Constitution Society for Law and Policy (ACS) is one of the nation's leading progressive legal organizations. Founded in 2001, ACS is a rapidly growing network of lawyers, law students, scholars, judges, policymakers and other concerned individuals. Our mission is to promote the vitality of the U.S. Constitution and the fundamental values it expresses: individual rights and liberties, genuine equality, access to justice, democracy and the rule of law. For more information about the organization, which has established student chapters at more than 170 law schools around the country and lawyer chapters in over 30 cities, please visit www.acslaw.org.
American Constitution Societyemail: info@acslaw.orgphone: 202.393.6181web: http://www.acslaw.orgFollow ACS on Twitter: @ACSLaw.

Benedict XVI: Abuse is a crime and a sin

Benedict XVI: Abuse is a crime and a sin

...but are heads rolling yet?
The true test of the pudding will be in actual resignations or firings. Defrockings. Demotions. Denunciations coupled with some Real Accountability.

It would be better for them if a millstone [ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Millstone ] were tied around their neck and they were thrown into the sea- (paraphrased) is how Jesus put it. Because stealing the innocence of a child by sexually assaulting or abusing a child is just beyond belief for a cleric. The policy should be Zero Tolerance. Zero.
Anyone guilty gets to wash toilets in the rectory for the rest of his life.

Politics is All Local

Except When Paid for By Billion Dollar Multi-National Corporations.

In the event you have not heard a recent Supreme Court case has tilted the field a bit.
That could be the understatement that undermined democracy as we think we know it.

That was followed by Chris Dodd and now Evan Bayh announcing that they are not running
for re-election. Chris Dodd was plagued with accusations of some cozy deal with Countrywide on a mortgage inflamed into something you would think ranked with Watergate in it's portrayal of corruption from the talking head smear job on him. Evan Bayh talks of his disillusionment with the dysfunctional gridlock wherein a lot of good people are trapped in a systemic maze of strategic maneuvering that has little to do with advancing the common good and more to do with advancing partisan jockeying points. These are all scary signs that no one should feel good about. The undercurrent of all this disgust and disgruntlement has a lot to do with campaign finance frustrations. It takes too darn much money to run for office and the office holders are so tightly scrutinized it's hard to compete now with Boeing, Lockheed Martin, and every major defense contractor's PACs (Political Action Committees) and campaign financing. Corporations can buy public offices, it is now feared quicker than they can buy a Plant in Taiwan.

This is all not a good thing. Aside from thowing up your hands completely, crying "uncle" and switching to the money party, I like Norm Ornstein's idea, expressed in today's Budget fireside chat by C-Span (link below) that Congressional housing budgets at least be increased. A cost of living raise wouldn't be objectionable either. Convert the old Congressional Hotel back into condos (where was that exactly?) and make it affordable for Congresspersons to maintain two residences-one in their home district and one in DC. I have long thought that Congress wasn't getting the best "help" because salaries were not competitive with top private sector jobs- at pretty much any level. Even the GS -whatever attorney staff people are paid less than associates in mid-ranked firms. If we pay our leaders less than we pay our private professionals can we really complain?

A fork in the Road

And for my Free Lunch

Thank you very much Peterson-Pew folks.
The concluding remarks at the Peterson-Pew Commission on the Budget was the luncheon keynote speaker stating "There is no such thing as a free lunch" which of course compelled me to give at least some journalist time on this blog to pay for my chicken entree because they didn't sell tickets -it was free. The whole room was watching for free as far as I could tell, and now you can too here, on C-Span. Please do- it will tell you a few things you need to know now.
http://www.c-span.org/Watch/Media/2010/02/16/HP/R/29614/PetersonPew+Commission+on+Budget+Reform.aspx

I am tempted to sit at the computer and watch all four hours of it again to see if they got my good side but that would be far too narcisistic! If you know me, please don't write and tell me I need a better hair dye job because I already know.

I will later synopsize some of it here- but it is worth watching all the C-Span coverage.
Basically the take away is - we are in trouble people, and we are at a significant cross-road. The public debt to GDP ratio is in trouble, we need solid fiscal goals, a sound fiscal policy and a grip. What we have instead is a messy way democracy tries to reconcile bills that don't emminate necessarily from a coherent fiscal policy and congress is too beholden to special interests demanding entitlements without a full appreciation of the whole budgetary picture. You can't keep spending what you don't have. Our deficit is Carazy People. Just listen to these guys.

Bush spent money like a dry drunken sailor- blowing the surplus Clinton had hard fought with hard choices (thank you John Podesta) outdoing even Lyndon Johnson's spending.

We are in two 'undeclared' wars we can't afford and there is little let up in sight.

We need economic attainable sustainability and all those fun buzz words.
Monetary policy is intricately linked to fiscal policy and a crisis is not all behind us potentially.
What it really means is that, in old fashioned terms, we can't spend more than we make, take in less revenue than we budget out - and lets not forget how much in hock we are to foreign investors who either have us by our collective cahoonas or are terrified of what our tanking currency might do to their investments and balance of trade, depending on who you talk to. We are not out of the woods yet-stimuli notwithstanding.

Health care (how we fund, finance and pay for health) is a major issue, with John Podesta thinking it may very well bankrupt the country if we can't get a handle on it and more Republican sounding speakers thinking that it is only a piece of the hysteria and all the Senate/House bills on the subject so far only make it worse.

It went on for 4 hours so I can't do it justice here- really, just watch it yourself. Grab a pot of tea and watch the whole thing (or grab a Guiness -it's Mardi Gras-but then give up alcohol for lent because we all need to get a grip now.)

Bottom line- it's either political suicide or not to advocate for increased taxes for everyone, because how else are we going to pay for digging ourselves out of debt (Value Added Tax on certain goods -the V.A.T-was proposed as was a carbon tax). 'Read my lipstick' seems to sell better than send more money into uncle Sam for entitlements for everyone else. Sharing is caring and the country is veering toward a more european appetite for social programs while not sharing the european appetite for taxation. That doesn't sound like a winning recipe for a campaign pledge.

Bottom Bottom line: No one will bail us out. Crysler, AIG, Citibank and Greece may get a bailout. No one is bailing the US out. We all need to get ourselves a serious grip now.

The panelists framed the issue, clarified the problem, projected potential doom and gloom if the tide is not reversed and offered a few solutions, while clearly leaving room for rethinking more of it. How do you invest in R&D and Infastructure, for example, when arguing in cutting back entitlements and federal spending at the same time?

Where Intelligent Minds Go: http://budgetreform.org/

Booksigning at the CIC, DC Thursday

I am sorry to report that someone called the priest who is the head of the Catholic Information Center and objected to some unspecified political views of Mrs. Roberts, deeming them too outside the party line, so this event has been cancelled. I leave the notice here anyway and ask people to pray for the Roberts who no doubt are insulted.

I also ask everyone now to go buy her book.


THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 18 at 6:30 PM

STEVE & COKIE ROBERTS are coming to the Catholic Information Center (CIC) in Washington, DC to discuss and sign their book "From This Day Forward"
After thirty years together, Cokie and Steve Roberts know something about marriage and after thirty distinguished years in journalism, they know how to write about it.
In From This Day Forward, Cokie and Steve weave their personal stories of matrimony into a wider reflection on the state of marriage in American today.Here they write with the same conversational style that catapulted Cokie's We Are Our Mother's Daughters to the top of the New York Times bestseller list. They ruminate on their early worries about their different faiths -- she's Catholic, he's Jewish. They discuss the struggle to balance careers and parenthood, and how they compromise when they disagree. They also tell the stories of other American marriages: that of John and Abigail Adams, and those pioneers, slaves and immigrants. They offer stories of broken marriages as well, of contemporary families living through the "divorce revolution". Taken together, these tales reveal the special nature of the wedding bond in America. Wise and funny, this book is more than an endearing chronicle of a loving marriage -- it is a story of all husbands and wives, and how they support and strengthen each other.
THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 18 at 6:30 PM
If you are unable to attend and would like to reserve have a signed copy sent to you, please contact the CIC Bookstore at 1-888-574-3339. How cute are they!

Citizens United

Guess who the dissents are.

From the Nation's Top Diplomat

"Even today, in 2010, women are still targets of violence, [...] And all too often, religion might be used to justify it. But there is never a justification for violence against women. It is not cultural. It is criminal. And it is up to religious leaders to take a stand for women, to call for an end to honor killings, child marriages, domestic and gender-based violence."

Hillary Clinton, US Secretary of State.

HAPPY PRESIDENTS DAY

Oh Say Can you See By the Dawn's Early Light.

Here's to you President Obama. It's your day. Do what you want today. Run through the snow in your speedo if you feel like it. Drink hot chocolate spiked with Baileys Irish Cream. Challenge Sarah Palin to a game of one on one and trounce her for good. Eat an ice cream cake the shape of the country all by your slim self. It's your party, you can laugh if you want to.

Murphy's Law

The Cover-Up is Worse than The Crime (Maybe).

http://www.aolnews.com/2010/02/13/pope-will-meet-with-irish-bishops-about-abuse-scandal/19357323/

There is a homeless woman in Washington, DC who was once a supermodel who appeared in European magazines like European Vogue and French Elle. You can tell that she was quite the looker in her day, while now her hair hasn't seen a hollywood stylist for at least a decade and is streaked grey. She wears sandals or fancy flip flops even in snowy weather showing her painted toes, and a black ankle length skirt. Everyone knows her by her first name, like "Madonna"- she doesn't need a second one. This woman sleeps on the front top step of the Cathedral in downtown Washington, DC, rain, snow or shine. I am not kidding. We were in a blizzard and she slept outside every night of it with an umbrella on her head in a thermal sleeping bag. One priest I asked regarding whether she found indoor shelter during the blizzard said "She does what she wants, it's her purification....she slept outside."
I wondered- who ever convinced her she was so dirty she needed 'purification' for a decade of sleeping on a stone step outside? Another priest said "She has been spoken to..."
There is a fine line between psychological abuse and freedom of conscience- or maybe it's a line the size of a four lane highway. Who told this woman she needed to do this kind of penance? Who told her she was so dirty and unforgiven she had to be so punished?
"Her purification." I had to think about that - and wonder- why do they all hate brilliant, attractive, smart women so much. Why do they hate so much?

Why Really 'Stalking" Has To be Taken Seriously by Courts-When it's Real.

Because they are deadly serious


Generally the psychosis of a stalker is "If I can't have you no one will." They try to destroy their victims any way they can- they try to financially destroy them, make them unappealing to anyone (by for example in Afghanistan just throwing acid on their faces), they try to emotionally destroy them, and if that doesn't work they just knock them off. It is classic stalker behavior.
Courts need to take it deadly seriously. Seriously. The "If I cant' have you no one can" mentality is lethal.

"She loved to dance, she loved to sing, she loved art."

http://www.aolnews.com/crime/article/alissa-blanton-killed-by-stalker-after-judge-denied-protection-order/19356645?icid=mainmaindl1link3http%3A%2F%2Fwww.aolnews.com%2Fcrime%2Farticle%2Falissa-blanton-killed-by-stalker-after-judge-denied-protection-order%2F19356645

From Your Valentine: A Priest in Rome

Happy Valentine's Day from the Saint who married people in secret when it was against the law.
http://www.mb.com.ph/articles/243409/st-valentine-patron-love-lover-and-friendship


Because Margarine isn't Butter. A prosthetic isn't a real leg (sorry). A wig isn't your real hair,
Dentures are not your real teeth, and someone calling himself your "spiritual father" isn't really your biological one, while he may pray well and have learned to read scripture.

This 'spiritual children' thing only goes so far, but thanks for trying. Really, thanks for the effort. A for effort. The head of a congregation or pastor of a church calling himself "father" , isn't really nearly the same thing as the paternal actual head of an actual nuclear biological family who agonizes over providing for his family, paying for college and keeping a roof over everyone's head. Forgive me if I have just blown a hole wider than the Lincoln Tunnel through the orthodoxy- but I follow Timothy 4. -Don't listen to anyone who prevents marriage- of anyone. Saint Valentine would tell you the same thing. Priests in Rome and everywhere else were not forbidden to marry until 1130-something, some 1,000 years after Valentine walked the planet and was locked in a Roman prison for marrying Roman soldiers in secret. Yes, Priests should have the option of being married because otherwise the term "father" is, sorry, half a crock. Who'se foollin who now. It may be 'easier' to get free room and board and save you from treading through snow drifts to get to work, but get real, you don't have your own actual children. Sorry- I know it can be painful, but masquing your inability to understand real fidelity to a woman-one woman for life- with a roman collar doesn't get you points in heaven. All the spiritual children in the world don't add up to one wife with a child you actually fathered who calls you 'daddy' that you actually have to feed and house.
This might be brutally tough and honest but it's about time someone got real.
I'm sorry, I just have a hard time calling someone (anyone) the age of my generation x godkids "Father" when they aren't my father. I had a great one who died 14 years ago and actually did provide for all my material needs.


I have just been advised I am to become a great aunt. I am immensely proud of my niece who at age 22 in the middle of her extended college and part time working life got pregnant and is keeping the little girl who will be a wonderful welcome addition to our extended family sometime in June. OK ideally, she never would have been intimate with her loved one, but it happened. No, she turned down the marriage proposal of the ever-present biological father and asked him to check back with her in a few months to see how she was feeling- because she does have a trust fund, bless her heart. I attribute some of her wise decision to "keep the baby" to my indoctrination of her since she was old enough to read of the value of life and her value as the potential mother of life, because she has, unlike the male of the species and everyone matriculating in a catholic seminary, millions of eggs within her and the capacity to house a few fetal cells into mature infanthood to become a human. Men just deliver sperm- women have the nine months room and board and ability to deliver full blown humans into the earth. Ha- try that trick in the Seminary.

So my precious little niece will be a mother. I am a great-aunt.
If I have kids (by miracle of that Italian fertility specialist guy who can resurrect Sara's womb into fertility into age 50 plus) my kids will be the same age as their great nieces and nephews- or something like that. Cousins a few times removed??

Life happens. And thanks to Saint Valentine- some people are committed to making it happen.
Bite me American Papist boy.

Your Assignment

Should You Choose to Accept It-If not, please Shut the ....Up.

Mr. Peters goes to Washington, and East Jibbip Wants Him Back.

This is for you Mr. Peters, Jr. The one who likes to call people "Catholyk" like they are not the real deal.
Here is your test to see whether you are really Christian (because not all Catholics are, some are the mindless take the wafer run mindless idiots who don't know the first thing about Jesus-like people who idealize a Virgin Mary made out of idolatrous stone and marble in statue form but treat the real women in their life like garbage)

Answer the following multiple choice and True/False questions:
1. Women should be forced to bear children by taking an accidental pregnancy to term even if they don't want to: (a) by the government (b) by their parish priest (c) by their parents (d) not at all.
If you answered (a) answer the following:
The government should compel women who have an accidental pregnancy who do not want to bear a child to term or have a child to be forced to have one by (a) locking them up in jail and taking away all instruments that could do harm (b) just intimidating them by harassing police action to threaten to lock them up in jail (c) handcuffing them to a four poster bed for six to nine months (d) drugging them unconscious and hoping it doesn't hurt the fetus until it can be cut out of their uteruses without them knowing post viability (e) excommunicating them, blacklisting them from employment so they have no prospect of sustaining themselves or their offspring economically.

Now here is part II. Go actually read Roe v. Wade, the opinion. Then go actually read all subsequent Supreme Court opinions on the subject (Casey, etc.). Then thirdly, go write the opinion you think should have been written instead of Roe v. Wade.

Until you have taken this quiz, in all its parts, please shut up. You and your ilk are just completely annoying and totally counter-productive to any true movement trying to bring fuller Life, more Life and more real babies into the world. It is about STRATEGIES. How dare you demonize everyone with half a brain who has given three seconds of intelligent energy to the discussion. How dare you and your ilk argue to "BAN" anyone from speaking at a Catholic school who has a better idea regarding strategies for implementation of a vision than the neanderthal counter-productive abuse you all construct.
GET THEE TO CONFESSION MR. PETERS.

Fides et Ratio out the Window with the Crack-pot Jack-A bloggers starting to call people False "Catholyks"

Someone send the Punk back to Seminary.

That wet behind his seminary $7.00 hair cut kid Peters has a lot of nerve- and a few tricks up his sleeve as well. He posts on his blog some ridiculous entry castigating any organization that is not an RNC tool as Fake "Catholyk" as if he were the arbiter of Jesus' teachings. Then he posts on his 'comments' blog some absurd dialogue labeling ALL such organizations by the first feminine name "Cindy" to make the name synonymous with apostacy. Well, another, Cindy took umbridge, as should all Cindy's. I am "Cindy" to friends and family, Cinzia (because that is how you say Cynthia in Italian) on the occasional blog comments, and Cynthia formally -which happens to mean "Family of God" because "Cyn" means Kin in old Welsch/English as in Bala Cynwood (valley of the Family Woods) and Thia is the feminine of Theo'-meaning God, as in Theology- the Study of God.
So this kid gets into a planted debate with a "cindy" on his blog comments- (she may or may not exist, he may or may not be dialoging with himself ) and insists that ALL Fake non Catholic orgs should be called "Cindy." Is this guy just a nut? This is the "American Papist?" (www.AmericanPapist.com) How much money does that George character actually pay someone like that to create this sort of unholy crap?

For the information of Mr. George and Mr. Peters, who is what- 14? I here provide some of the highly esteemed Board members of one of the orgs that he deems fake catholic (I left out the one who served the US Bishop's Conference as Treasurer or something equally important for years.)-the Catholics in Alliance for the Common Good.

Jesuit Priest-William J. Byron, SJ President, St. Joseph's Preparatory School
Rev. William J. Byron, S.J., a priest of the Society of Jesus, was the 12th president of The Catholic University of America as well as the president of the University of Scranton. From 2003-2004, Byron was also interim president of Loyola University New Orleans. Fr. Byron has recently accepted the position of president at Saint Joseph's Preparatory School in Philadelphia, from which he himself graduated in 1945. He is also a research professor in the Sellinger School of Business at Loyola College in Maryland. Entering the Society of Jesus in 1950, he was ordained in 1961. In 1969, he received a doctorate in economics from the University of Maryland.

Dr. Joseph J. Fahey,
Professor of Religious Studies at Manhattan College
Dr. Joseph J. Fahey is Professor of Religious Studies at Manhattan College. He received his Ph.D. from New York University and his research and scholarly interests include Christian Social Ethics and Peace Studies. His publications include Reinhold Niebuhr on Human Nature and World Peace; Peace, War, and the Christian Conscience; and Irenology: The Study of Peace, War and the Christian Conscience: Where Do You Stand?. Fahey served as co-editor of A Peace Reader: Essential Readings on War, Justice, Non-Violence and World Order. He is a member of the Workers Rights Board NYC Jobs with Justice, and also the State Committee of the Working Families Party. Fahey has served on the Boards of The Peace Studies Association; the Consortium on Peace Research, Education and Development; Pax Christi; the Fellowship of Reconciliation, and was a founding member and General Secretary of Pax Christi, USA.

Broderick Johnson
Broderick Johnson is the head of the Public Policy and Governmental Affairs Group for International Law Firm, Bryan Cave's related Bryan Cave Strategies, LLC. Mr. Johnson began his legal career in 1983 when he was appointed assistant counsel in the House of Representatives’ Office of Legislative Counsel. There he drafted such landmark legislation as the Family and Medical Leave Act and the Immigration Reform and Control Act of 1986. Mr. Johnson serves on the boards of directors of several philanthropic and academic entities and has co-founded or served as president of several child advocacy organizations.

Prof. Jennifer Mason McAward
University of Notre Dame School of Law
Professor Mason McAward is an Associate Professor at University of Notre Dame School of Law, where she teaches civil rights and constitutional law. As an attorney in Washington, DC, her practice focused on civil rights, children’s rights, and the First Amendment. Ms. Mason McAward graduated summa cum laude in government and theology from the University of Notre Dame and received a J.D. summa cum laude from New York University. After law school, she served as a law clerk to Judge Alex Kozinski on the Ninth Circuit and Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O'Connor. Professor Mason McAward is a member of St. Joseph Parish in South Bend, Indiana.


Stephen F. Schneck
Director, Life Cycle Institute, The Catholic University of America
Stephen Schneck, Ph.D. is the Director of the Life Cycle Institute at The Catholic University of America. The institute is a forty member academic think tank focused on the analysis of public policy from the perspective of Catholic social thought. Special concerns of the institute include: economic justice, family & children’s welfare, values education, health care, immigration, bioethics, racial equality, and religion & society. Tenured at the university’s Department of Politics, which he chaired from 1995-2007, Schneck is trained in political science and philosophy and received his doctorate from the University of Notre Dame in 1984. A well-known speaker in the Washington area, he is the author or editor of four academic books in the field of political thought.

Mark Tuohey
Vinson & Elkins LLP
At Vinson & Elkins LLP, an International Law Firm, Mark Tuohey concentrates his practice in complex civil and criminal litigation, internal corporate investigations and compliance programs. In addition, Mr. Tuohey is involved in alternative dispute resolution matters including arbitration and mediation, in the United States and abroad. He represents clients in a variety of national and international investigations and litigation matters. In 1998 and 1999, he acted as Special Counsel to the District of Columbia Council and conducted special investigations of the Metropolitan Police Department; he has also served as a Special Counsel to the D.C. Council on Anti-Terrorism Preparedness. January 2004, the Mayor of the District of Columbia named him as the Chair of the District of Columbia Sports and Entertainment Commission. Mr. Tuohey served as an advisor to the Independent Commission on Policing For Northern Ireland, and he has served as a legal advisor to the office of the Attorney General of Ireland on various matters.

So, Mr. Punk Peters, are you telling me that an esteemed Senior Jesuit Priest educator, a Director of a Catholic U. Pro-Life Institute, a Professor at Notre Dame law school are all fake "Catholyks?"
If all these people want to call themselves Cindy- be my guest.
You on the other hand should call yourself a priest for confession more or less immediately. It is Ash Wednesday coming up after all. Hey kid- you LOST. Like a Year Ago. Get over it already.

I am an Emotional

Basketcase.

No, actually the title is "I am an Emotional Creature: the Secret Life of Girls" by Eve Ensler, author of the V monologues who has raised over $70 Million for prevention of violence against women programs. I recommend this reading for anyone who doesn't have a clue about the emotional dynamics of the feminine- and you know who you are. Because what you don't know can hurt you. It's expected to start the "girl revolution" which won't be televised but you will be able to download it on i-tunes.

Run for your Ratings Colbert

It's the Palin-Nation.

The only other ostensible "news" story surfacing from the snow drifts was the Palin pain-in-the-you know what showing up at the Tea-Bagger "convention" of 600 people more aptly named a 'conference' at some hotel. She had crib notes on her hand declaring her talking points -things like "energy" and "hope" etc.
I can remember once writing on my hand something I couldn't remember- I had to do the reading at a Mass and introduce the priest. "Good evening, our celebrant today is Father ....."
It was a new priest (to me) and he had a complicated non-common name. I wrote it on my hand so I wouldn't forget it. I think I did it one other time. I was running to the grocery store and my mom shouted out another thing she wanted me to get; so as not to forget it I grabbed a pen in my pocket and jotted it down on my hand because I couldn't find a piece of paper and had the rest of the list memorized. Each time I confess to being an adult and not so old as to be plagued with the CRS syndrome (Can't Remember Sunshine). Come on, you have done it once in your life too, don't lie.
Palin's Palm talking points however totally cracked me up- because they were so obviously the core of what her talk was about. I won't even call it a speech because that gives her too much dignity, like she is actually someone anyone should pay speaker fees to. She couldn't remember "Energy" or "Hope"? Maybe she was afraid she wouldn't say them in the right order. Hope, Energy, Energy, Hope. Let me write them down. And what was the scribble out? "Prosperity"-no that's too controversial.
The more this girl develops a "following" the more I want to have Colbert nominate her Vice President of the Colbert Nation until she gets her own show she can call the Palin Nation. She is that caliber an entertainer, only less funny because she takes herself seriously.
This also reminds me of my mother's favorite pseudo-ballerina pose that she strikes when she comically proclaims "I am the Rose Princess." Not having graduated fifth grade ballerina class, this was her last role and she relished it into her old grandmother-age. Yes, Mom, you are the Rose Princess. Yes, Sara, you almost were the Vice President by Senatorial act of senility.

Snow Over It-

How Bout You

I am so bored out of my gourd I have french manicured my fingers and toes twice. I have tried every variety combination of Hot Tottie for the heck of it. Fenty is being castigated for letting snow pile up in between Snowmageddon I and II and Eleanor Holmes Norton has declared a National State of Emergency to get more funding to move the trucks and clear the road. So far the only people clearing sidewalks appears to be Spanish-speaking hotel staff clearing front walks with manual shovels. People are so stir crazy they don't know what day it is. Bulletins and papers are reporting wrong dates and confusing Valentines Day (the 14th) with Sunday and Monday. It's Sunday, so the FTD guys better start delivering today!
There has been non-stop TV coverage on all major news channels regarding the massive closures, all Northern Virginia schools more or less, DC Courts, Federal offices, and your favorite coffee joints -all closed. Retail is still closed because there is no one to sell to. Even the guy who sells warm fuzzy gloves and scarves at the American Gift Center at 16th and K street is shut because he can't get his SUV out of his Potomac driveway.
This had me thinking- if there is this much news coverage over a friggin snow storm, imagine what kind of coverage will happen if it is actually the Second Coming, not the fake Snowmageddon Snowpacolypse.
Will there be coverage on the Yankee Stadium jumbotron with Camden Yards shooting fireworks and laser shows in the sky? Imagine if Jesus actually appears as if on the 'Clouds of Glory' so no one misses the event- what will that actually look like? We have an emergency broadcast interruption- Something or someone who calls himself the Savior of Humanity has just arrived on the Clouds of Glory overlooking Narraganset Bay, stay tuned for full coverage at 6:00 and a CNN special with Wolf Blitzer.
I for one, want the Post office to make good on its' motto-neither rain, nor sleet, nor snow, nor
boogeymen on Channel whatever scaring the living sunshine out of everyone.
I grew up partly in Chicago, Pennsylvania and went to college in upstate New York (Cornell) where if you didn't have to tred to school in three feet of snow several weeks of the year you were "on campus" in a freshman dorm. That's why most older houses have "snow rooms"- to dump your wet boots in them so you don't track snow inside. In Pennsylvania what the roads don't plow we do by just running a few SUVs over fresh powder even if we lose a few into the creek. Just go out back, grab a few fat logs for the fire, put on the hot chocolate and start quilting or embroidering a pillowcase and a few wedding gifts while you are at it.
My motto for the week is:
I would rather be in Val D'Isere. Slushing around in partially cleared slushpuddles in DC is about as much fun as getting whacked in the face with a snowball and having a cop pull a gun on you. Thankfully, they all got the memo this time and didn't bring their firearms to snowball fights in Dupont Circle this time. DC.
And one last point: No, Snowmageddon does not belie 'global warming' or 'climate change'-
It actually proves the point- because the massive heated water systems means more water is evaporated and retained (January being the hottest month of January on record) and therefore more snow accumulates and falls. Uncle Al still Rocks.

And From the Who Do You Think You Are Kidding

Say It Aint So Files

This just in from Germany:
http://www.spiegel.de/international/germany/0,1518,676497,00.html

The Cautionary Tale of

CORBAN

I have to do the reading tonight so I looked up the verse earlier, and already heard it once at Mass at the CIC. It's deep. Worth a second read. You can look it up on the Bishop's reading site to the right and it is also here with a bit of commentary:
http://www.christiancourier.com/articles/1086-what-is-the-meaning-of-corban

The pharisees are accusing the disciples of eating without the obligatory hand washing. This must be, I thought, where the legal defense of "unclean hands" comes from-someone must have sued for food poisoning and the contributory negligence defense must have been you forgot to wash your hands. Hence the "unclean hands" affirmative defense which means you don't get to claim someone negligently hit you if you were standing in the middle of a tomato fight and lobbing a few at your perpetrator yourself. I digress.
The retort to this accusation of unclean hands was essentially- You guys are one to talk!
You maintain traditions of men over God's law. You know, for example that Moses said to honor your father and mother and yet, you have this man made tradition that you declare in practice trumps that obligation/commandment to give "Corban" to the Temple. In other words, you make people pay you and into the Temple treasury even while you know that these people are using money they are compelled to dedicate to the Temple that should be used to assist their aged parents in violation of Moses' law.
Here is what hit me: There is nothing wrong with Corban on its face and in fact quite laudable- a tithe or a tenth of the first fruits of everything go to the Temple. It was arguably a highly good virtue to dedicate for sacred use to the Temple Corban. Surely everyone agrees.
But Jesus is telling us something different here- he is saying- don't make up man-made traditions that you let supercede or trump what GOD wills and ordains. Don't elevate your own judgment over what God has said as if he didn't really mean it or it expired over time- even if you can think up really good pious reasons why it makes sense to you. I am sure that at the time Jesus was aware of this Corban dedication practice people felt they were doing the right and holier thing by giving the money to the Temple rather than their parents-even if their parents were struggling and needed it. One could be talked into the notion that it is for a higher more laudable noble purpose. But God says, bunk. No, take care of your parents first. Honor your Father and Mother so that it will be well with you and you will have a long life.

So this is about priorities and self-delusions. It is about letting yourself trump God's will, plan and commandment (which are designed for YOUR maximal benefit because he is in no need of your help) and substituting something man-made that sounds pretty good and pious. Jesus calls the pharisees on the carpet about it. Lipservice- you guys are paying Lipservice to God while your heart is far from Him- because if you really loved God you would do what he says, which is Honor your Father and Mother.

Substituting your own judgment any time or that butressed by popular custom, tradition or opinion for the commandments and will of God never serves you in the long run. You may get some traction on it in the short term but it catches up with you because you live then outside God's will and best path for you.

Nothing wrong with Corban- but when your widowed mother is losing her home to foreclosure, cut back on your huge showey church pledge and pay off your mother's house first.

JACK MURTHA

Bless Your Soul

A voice from Central Pennsylvania who boldly stood against the Insanity of the Iraq War has passed to the other side. Jack Murtha is dead at age 77. Rest in Peace.
And Thank You.

http://www.seattlepi.com/national/1110ap_us_obit_murtha.html

http://thecaucus.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/02/08/congressman-murtha-dies/?nl=us&emc=politicsemailema1

Benedict XVI: Create a better society

Benedict XVI: Create a better society
Why not, always room for improvement.

There is no male nor female

But all are One in Christ

ABELARD AND HELOISE PRAY FOR US
The principle of non-discrimination in the body of Christ is evident in scripture. http://bible.cc/galatians/3-28.htm. In Christ there just isn't any male or female in terms
of status, rank, importance, piety or virtue. All are one in Christ. We are the same. We hold these truths to be self evident. All men are created equal, and created equal with women. That is why it does not defile a man to take a wife- as God intended and said this was the plan for everyone. This is why an all unmarried priesthood is a blasphemy.
Male priests forcedly ALL married to an institution, or married to each other effectively or married to the Pope or his doctrine is a missing of the mark. Profoundly.
This is one of the biggest stumbling blocks to true ecumenicism. The entire Orthodox world has rejected the doctrine since at least the Fifth Century and the rest of all the Protestant/Anglican world since at least the Sixteenth Century.

The perversion is that priests take girlfriends anyway-they just deprive them of the full honor of open marriage-and those that do have honor are forced out of the church like Father Cutie. The emotional marriages that priests enter into can be twisted and harmful to many more people than the actual de facto wife. It encourages deception and abuse on many levels. It is just Bull-Shine. There isn't a parish, I venture to surmise that hasn't had its share of it.
It fosters manipulations and more deceptions. No, it isn't what Jesus thinks his church should be about. It's sheer hubris not to revisit the married priesthood option. That doesn't mean those more comfortable in orders wouldn't stay there- it means that the closet heterosexual players have to come out of the closet and make honest women of their conquests and crushes rather than use it to bilk them of their offerings.

http://www.abelardandheloise.com/

Heaven's DNA

What is the "Eucharist" really.

The Catholic church proclaims something about the Eucharist that is not embraced by some (not all) Protestant denominations. Here, the mystery is hard to explain but isn't just an article of faith because it's power has over and over again been manifest and it's affirmance of what it is has also been evident in the physical world. The church proclaims it actually the real "presence"- the real "trans-substantiated" physical divine person of Jesus himself. The wine, they claim is actually the blood, transposed, transubstantiated, in real form. Not your happy hour cabernet- the REAL blood of Jesus.

Now, we know something from Jesus' resurrection in bodily form when he walked the earth and had a body, holes and all, that was capable of ascending to heaven. We know it had holes in it because Thomas put his finger in his hand hole created by driving the spike through it to nail him to the cross. We will be changed in the "twinkling of an eye" when we go to heaven scripture says. There will be a resurrection of the body in the life everlasting.

The Eucharist is like Heaven's DNA- it is the stuff we now have available to us which is creating in us a new creation destined for heaven- because we are partaking of Jesus himself, his DNA is ingesting in us, so we are at earthly death capable of the mystical recreated resurrection of the body in the new creation. The old will pass away. The resurrected body will be built on the microcosmic foundation of Jesus' very DNA. Jesus with us. God with us.

This is why the Eucharist is so much more profound than -lets all gather around the table and share a meal because sharing is caring and everyone is invited that a lot of protestant denominations do. Here is the bread, pass the butter.

Jesus. The Savior. His very name means "God Saves" Je or Ja is from Ya-Weh and Sus is derived from the hebrew word for Saves. God Saves. Through Jesus. First for the Jew, then for the Gentile. God Saves.

"I am the Way.
I am the Truth.
I am the Life"
"No man comes to the Father but through me." Says "God Saves", Ya-Sus, Jesus

President At Prayer

Breakfast
Pleading for Unity, Civility and a little kindness wouldn't hurt either.



















President Barack Obama speaks at the National Prayer Breakfast in Washington, Feb. 4, 2010. (Official White House Photo by Pete Souza) February 4, 2010. (Official White House Photo by Pete Souza)

God Ordained A Married Man

When the Lord Anointed Peter the First Pope.

Jesus who went to Peter's house to cure his mother in law surely knew Peter was married. It was on that Rock he built his church. Peter's name means in fact rock. In french it is "Pierre"- stone, pebble, rock.

Peter was anointed by Jesus as the highest Priest of his new church. The Highest Priest was married. It was not only not a disqualifier, I would argue that it was a mandatory pre-qualification.

The scripture clearly says that Bishops are to be the husband of one wife. Not ten like the polygamous alien nations surrounding them, not none like an ascetic in the wilderness. One.

So how does this square with the Pope's mandate that the only holy response sufficient to serve the church is through the virginal total self denial translated as self giving to God? It doesn't.
What the church requires isn't what Jesus instituted. It is how what is something viewed as a practical necessity (for worldy reasons) has been justified through a tortured theology to veer from what Jesus intended.

The deviation from God's path in this regard is not just a missing the mark -but it creates something essentially outside God's will in many regards and promotes abuse. It has cast on women an aspersion that is unholy. It has elevated, a la, platonic realm of the forms, non-materialism as the highest virtue over Love itself which is God. It is wrong.
The Pope is here just wrong.

Thirteen (13) Popes prior to the 12th Century were Married men. It took about 400 years for the church to split in half with the entire Protestant world of all denominations rejecting the notion that all priests must be lifetime celibates- regardless of whether they were or were not called by the Spirit into a state of celibacy. In this country hundreds of priests have left the church over the rule.

And the garbage thrown at people like Father Cutie because he wouldn't disgrace, dump, demean and destroy his girlfriend is appalling. Shameful. Sickening.

There should absolutely be a marriage option in the priesthood. Jesus never said that the way to heaven was that everyone had to be castrati self-flagellating celibate scholars. Ridiculous. Jesus said the way to heaven was through LOVE. Its as simple as the nose on your face.

What is Justice?

Back to the Basics, Says the Pope

In his early Lenten address. Seems like we just put away the Christmas ornaments, and now it is time to think penitential.
So What is Justice really, the Pope asks us to think more seriously about.

http://www.catholicsinalliance.org/node/21407

It has to do with the basics- water, food, medicine, shelter, etc.
It has to do with the Good Samaritan who got it and took care of the guy mugged and stranded by the side of the road while the presumptously pious didn't want to muddy their hands or potentially defile themselves with someone else's mess. It has to do with the Matthew 25 mandate that will separate the sheep from the goats. It has to do with the Heart of Christ, not the self laudation of puffing oneself up with accomplishments, accolates, privilege and status.
It has to do with actually doing God's word not just hearing it- and it has to do with giving sacrificially rather than storing up treasures for yourselves and buying bigger barns.

Lent- what are you giving up? What are you really giving up. Your ego might be a good place to start.

Taking a page From Cardinal McCarrick

OBAMA HAILS CIVILITY AS A NEEDED PUBLIC VIRTUE

at the National Prayer Breakfast.


"Too often that spirit is missing without the spectacular tragedy,” Mr. Obama said. “We become numb to the day-to-day crises. We become absorbed with our abstract arguments, our ideological disputes, our contests for power. And in this tower of babble, we lose the sound of God’s voice.”

http://thecaucus.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/02/04/obama-calls-for-civility-at-prayer-breakfast/?nl=us&emc=politicsemailema4


OBAMA- Trying to Hear The Lord's Voice.

The Sweetest Movie

I think I ever saw.

This movie came out in 1996- it is worth seeing again now.

Particularly for any of the children in Haiti or anywhere who have lost a parent or anyone at any age who has lost a loved one.

It is about a little girl who lost her mother at the precious young age of 4. Her mother visits her in her dreams.

The actress who plays this child is the youngest actress ever to win Best Actress at the Venice Film Festival. She is stunning.

It is in French. Haitian children might like it.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0117359/

Still Praying for Haiti

And the Fine Folks Helping From Everywhere.

Here is an inspirational story of what the Jesuit Refugee Service is doing.
http://www.jrsusa.org/praying/praying.php

...and the struggles of one Salesian Nun from the Dominican Republic:

http://www.cathstan.org/main.asp?SectionID=2&SubSectionID=26&ArticleID=3526

And this group supports an American Priest running a pediatric hospital in Haiti:

http://artistsforpeaceandjustice.com/

Wait

For the Lord
And For Your Husband

I recall a lovely luncheon I once had with a friend at the Inn in Little Washington (Virginia) one of the only five star restaurants of the day in or around DC. After the meal we needed to walk it off a bit so strolled down this southern street and happened upon a bucolic quaint B&B. We went inside, grabbed some brochures and sat on the front porch swing kicking out our legs with the wild abandon of a toddler on a swingset. The old lady of the house walked outside and said "are you ladies waiting for your husbands?" YES! we both replied cracking ourselves up at the double entendre (even though neither of us were close to being engaged to anyone at the time.) That's because we knew we were "waiting" for our husbands- in other words we weren't giving it up [again] until we were married. Call us 'born again virgins' if you like, we had our share of heart-ache and wanted to do it the way our mothers' taught us this time. This was way before it was cool or popular to declare oneself 'chaste'-like its anyone's business.

Why bother writing this now? Because the debate rages- should there be abstinence only educational funding or something more comprehensive that includes things like teaching people various ways to get off without getting pregnant? Talk shows are all over it again. I saw a show where an African American young woman, married, was defending the fact that she didn't 'give it up' until married and said it was easy. It's doable. She announced to everyone she dated that if they weren't with the program they "need not apply."

There exist healthy wonderful marriages where this rule was not followed. And there exist divorces where they were- Joy Behar for one announced she was a Virgin when married and is divorced. So it's no cure all and bright line rules always have exceptions. There is something deeper.

What should it matter from a public policy perspective? What should kids actually be taught? Something that shocked even me was the woman who insisted that girls be taught how to manage "desire" by "pleasuring themselves." Hide your eyes, put your kids to bed now- this woman is going to describe on national TV that girls should learn something guys have been told make them go blind apparently. Wrong. Sorry. Wrong.

A fruit of the Spirit is self-control. Whether condoms are appropriate to curb disease is another matter. Bedtime prayers out loud help also. We used to rotate when I was little saying
prayers by the bedside of each kid in the house with the whole family. It was something that stayed with me, and probably did a good deal of protecting me. "Desire" should be directed toward the right things- and can be.

This is where it can become obvious that a religious education makes a huge difference in future lifestyle. A good solid elementary education from a religious school, like a Catholic school, can really make a difference to an entire life, not just where one goes to college.

For that reason I am with Harold Ford, who favors things like Vouchers, and scholarship programs for inner-city kids to go to Catholic schools. DC should bring it back- they are only hurting the kids by depriving them of the option. As for abstinence only education- at least there should be acknowledgment that this is the "best practices" fool safe way to preserve yourself from an unwanted premature pregnancy before you can handle one. It is also the best fool safe way to preserve you from a life of child support payments you cannot afford to give you a better future and a hope. Abstinence funding should be increased. Whether or not "alone" with other explanations.

Star of David

Front and Center atop the Basilica of Santa Croce in Florence, Italy.

Look closely, yes, you saw that right. A Star of David on top of a Catholic Basilica in Italy.

Why is there a Star of David in the middle front and center of this Catholic Basilica?

Because all true Christians and Catholics are Jews "grafted in the vine" and children of God by adoption.

One of most stunning genealogies is that found in Luke that traces Jesus' step- lineage as the adopted son of Joseph (born to Mary and God) up to David on Joseph's side to David's son Nathan (David, son of Jesse, etc...) and up even further to the son of Noah up further to Adam with the last line reading "son of God." Jesus, the adopted son of God through Joseph's side was the actual son of God by the Holy Spirit's effecting conception through Mary. Through Jesus gentiles are sons and daughters of God - by adoption. Heirs of the Promise of Abraham, through adoption.

This is why any shred of anti-semitism in the Catholic church is a betrayal of it's own soul.

Any shred of anti-semitism in Catholicism is not only oxymoronic it is pure heresy. We are effectively new Jews built on the foundations of faith of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob through Jesus.

Perhaps we can change the name - like Cathojudical or something that denotes the fusion more accurately so no one is confused any more.

The Living Waters

of Lourdes.

Feb. 11 is the Feast of Our Lady of Lourdes day. Lourdes is a place of profound healing and even miraculous healing on all levels and dimensions (bodily, emotionally, spiritually, etc.) See the official Lourdes link to the right.
This is a place that the Blessed Mother (who was once, recall a Jewish likely teen-age mother) is said to have appeared to a poor young girl tending sheep by a grotto and a river. The blessed mother appeared with a message over a period of days/weeks with instructions and prayers for peace. The authenticity of the vision was verified when she identified herself by terminology that would have been unknown to the poor girl, calling herself the Immaculate Conception, which was a doctrine coined in Rome only years before that the girl would not have heard of- as she didn't read Latin. She couldn't read at all in fact.
One of the signature features of Lourdes, one of the most visited Catholic shrines in the world, is their system of baths-healing baths, into which the pilgrims are immersed.
This reminds some of their "baptism"- and the baptism of the Lord which "John the Baptist" effected. What lots of Catholics don't realize is that the ritual cleansing bathing for purification and spiritual healing is something that is profoundly Jewish. Yesterday we had the Presentation at the Temple. It is almost certain that this was preceded by Mary's ritual bath cleansing after childbirth.
The water purification ritual of Baptism, was directly in keeping with the Jewish practice of water purification rituals called the "Mikveh." http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mikveh
This is something routinely done by Orthodox Jewish women after ever monthly period (menstruation) as well as after every baby born.
It is also done by men, particularly priests, during certain times-and prior to any ordination.
The act of this baptism in water was something that historically anyone converting to Judaism had to undergo, therefore it was natural and in keeping with tradition for John the Baptist to lead people to another Mikveh to purify them into the Way- as an act signalling the repentance of the heart that accompanied a baptism.

Jesus, of course, called himself the Living Waters. This is a direct reference to the Mikveh in that he is the cleansing agent- He is the force purifying the sons of Levi, He is the source of all Life Eternal just as water is the source that sustains all life on earth.
Salvation comes from the Jews. Jesus, of course was a Jew, and he came to his own but his own "received him not" it is written.
What Catholics would do well to remember is that their faith is rooted in Judaism, in all its ritual and practices.

http://judaism.about.com/od/sexinjudaism/a/familypuritylaw.htm

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mikveh

Irony of Ironies.

I sometimes travel with work or fun and find myself in hotel rooms. In some hotel networked computers there is something called the "SiteCoach" that is installed that has a filter screener that picks up what it considers offensive terminology on websites and bans them from viewing. That is to stop your local perv from checking into the hotel and gluing himself to the lobby computer to watch porn sites.

Here is the irony. The Archdiocese of Washington, DC blog apparently is now blocked officially as an 'offensive site'. Something too offensive to show in hotel rooms there, no doubt by that other guy named Pope. Here's what's more ironic. This website you are reading here isn't blocked.

Chuckling to myself that the "Pope" post on "modesty" might have triggered the spam catcher site filter for its loose terminology, I note that Mary Magdalene's passion isn't offensive to Mr. Site Filter.

In fact, Mary Magdalene's passion should be cause for enormous celebration with a few bagpipes and A Capella singing of Ave Maria. What Pope- you don't think a nice Jewish mother wanted her son to find a nice Jewish girl?

I note with only the slightest touch of sarcasm that the tone of sensuality during Jesus' day might have been a wee bit different than that in Victoria's Britain. Corsets had yet to be invented. I believe metal chastity belts were from the middle ages but that might just be because I saw them for the first time in the Museum of Torture in San Gimignano, Italy.
Forgive me also if I don't feel compelled to go to confession because I can dance better than
a long post-menopausal Punch and Judy reliving Saturday Night Fever to the tune of the Electric Slide. I should get dispensations and indulgences for having to watch it.

Don't push it Pope: I am tempted to caption my next post "Are you confusing Virtue with Just Plain Retarded" but I don't want to offend any mentally challenged people.

Shrine of Our Lady of La Salette

Shrine of Our Lady of La Salette

Are You Building

The Kingdom

or Your Constituency?

Are you following your heart?

Or the rules of their road?


Are you worshipping in SPIRIT and TRUTH

or subordinating your Truth to the political will.

Whose Will Are You In Really? Whose Will will Be Done on Earth as it is In Heaven-in this Gospel according to you.

Jesus Loves Me, This I Know

For the Bible Tells Me So

The Gospel of John's account states clearly that someone ran up to Jesus in a panic to alert him that "Master, the ONE YOU LOVE IS DEAD" He was talking about Lazarus. The "one you love." You are kidding? Lazarus? The dead guy? Why does he love him? He isn't an Apostle? He isn't one of the 70 sent to pave the way, why Lazarus? It's really the first we hear of this guy who is so beloved of Jesus.
So who is he? The brother of Mary [Magdalene] and Martha. Lazarus- everyone says, maybe he's just sleeping- No. He's dead. But Jesus doesn't let that lie. He is going to raise him from the dead, just like he is going to raise himself from the dead. Just to show everyone he means business and he can.
Why would Jesus love Lazarus so much that he gets this special attention- he didn't say "Why are you looking for the living among the dead" or "let sleeping dogs lie" or "what's it to me!" He
sends Martha for Mary- Lazarus's sister. Mary [Magdalene], who is sitting Shiva with a number of people in her home learns from Martha that Jesus is sending for her (he is outside the town likely closer to the tomb of Lazarus when he calls for her.) Mary runs out to meet him and is crying. He's dead-if only you were here earlier you could have saved him-now he's been dead for four days and likely reeks. Then we get the famous verse that everyone quotes and can't figure out why but.....
"JESUS WEPT." Like there were not thousands of dead guys.

Jesus is moved by Mary's tears to tears himself. Lazarus is the one he loved. Lazarus is the brother of Mary [Magdalene].
Lazarus is Jesus' brother in law. This is likely not something he would want spread around- for the protection of Mary and her family.
It is written that because of what Mary told the people sitting Shiva back at the house regarding the raising of Lazarus that many then came to believe in Jesus--and many also started then conspiring to get rid of him because of the threat they believed he posed. Because of what Mary told them, her witness, many believed.


After Jesus died, we see Mary again at the Tomb (thanks to John's account.) Mary sees the angel who rolled the stone and says "Where have you taken MY lord." She doesn't say "THE Lord" or "that Rabbi" or "OUR Lord"-she appropriates him personally. Then she says "tell me where you have taken him so that I can retrieve his body." Who does this girl think she is? Who does she think she is that SHE has a right to take his body when she knew exactly where to find Peter and John? Why on earth would she tell the angel that She would take his body. What random woman floating around would think Jesus would want her to take his body?

For the same reason she came with the anointing oils to the Tomb. She was his wife. The Wife goes first and has first say over what happens to her husband's body. The others knew to keep a respectful distance. She has to go get Peter.

Again- why does this matter?
Because Jesus didn't relegate women to mere housekeeper, or bankroller. Mary and Jesus were emotionally bound. The Apostles knew of their close relationship whether they liked it or not. Mary was given by Jesus special place in his heart, and in his ministry.

The unholy Sophie's choice that exists now where the most "religious" women are those who must definitionally shun close emotional relationships with men and forsake all child-bearing is antithetical to and a false dichotomy never established by Jesus. It is in fact emotionally harmful to some religious women. It misunderstands something at the core of who Jesus is. And that is never good.

http://www.secretsofmarymagdalene.com/SOMM_from_elainepagels.htm

Jesus: Fully Human, Fully Divine.

The Principle of Forgiveness

"Sheep Are Dumb"

...Said someone in my bible study saturday morning class. It hit me. That's what Jesus said- essentially, so dumb-
- they don't know what they are doing.
Forgive them father, they know not what they do.
So dumb they can't even figure out who loves them the most and what power I have to help save them.

How can you be mad at a bunch of idiots? How can you be mad at a bunch of idiots who don't even get that you are there to help? You can't be mad- dumb people didn't ask to be dumb-they can't help it.

Forgive them father, they know not what they do.

Even when they do massive incredible death and destruction are you supposed to say that and just forgive them? Yup. Because the act of forgiveness is a giving of Grace and Mercy that has so much more power than any petty retribution or harboring anger would ever gain you and has so much more power than the destruction they tried to do. You forgive for them, but also for you. "Why let idiots rent space in your head?" (my mother used to say.)

SHEEP ARE DUMB. Why pick a fight with bleeting sheep? Sheep bleet. That's what they do.

The Puzzle Pieced Together

And Who Really Was Mary Magdalene and Why Does It Matter So Much?

There are several accounts of the episode where Jesus tells off Judas and possibly others-Simon the leper, for criticizing the actions of Mary. Luke's account fills in a few more blanks than Johns- both say he told off the people criticizing her. Luke says he told off those who said "hey, if you know what kind of woman this was you wouldn't let her touch you like that." And Jesus tells him off. He defends her- he says different things in the account in Luke than that in John- it's the same Mary. And of course, he lets her touch him- all over. You guys haven't even given me a kiss of peace and this woman hasn't stopped kissing my feet since I got here!

Jesus speaks in parables and explains more directly to apostles. So Simon the Leper gets a parable- about the person whose huge debt is forgiven. Who is more grateful? The person whose bigger debt is forgiven or the one who doesn't really think he owes anything? Obviously the one whose larger debt was forgiven. To Judas he just says- LEAVE HER ALONE!

Why should it matter (to anything more than Dan Brown book sales?) Because if in fact Jesus respected Mary Magdalene to defend her and give her an intimate special place in his ministry and heart, then there is no excuse to maintain a number of things regarding the status of women that historically have existed. For one, the priestly 'marriage option' is a no-brainer.
It reminds me of the Bishops who want to deny communion to oestensibly labeled "pro-choice" politicians when JPII did not and never said to- are you more Catholic than the Pope? Are you more holy than Jesus?