Saturday, January 22, 2011
Life
CELEBRATE IT MONDAY
The annual march for life is getting more sophistocated- not so many signs last year stating "repeal Roe" because people realize it isn't that simple- and all Roe did was decriminalize state statutes (Texas in particular) and establish a framework by which various trimesters were treated differently. Subsequent case progeny made clearer what spaces and blanks Roe left out and there is now a well established body of precedent that is based on a few premises that are easily challengeable.
But whatever you think of the now decades of judicial reasoning one thing is clear:
50 Million abortions in a country of 300 Mil in a generation is outrageous and stunningly obscene. Something is really really wrong on a societal level-not just
a personal one that society needs to address.
Responsible people recognize it- and without knowing exactly how to fix it, they want it paid attention to and addressed responsibly by Congress-so people are now marching on a Monday to go visit their Congressional reps.
They are coming from all over the country- because there isn't a town or village that is not impacted by this social and moral crisis.
If you would like to participate in a Mass first then Rally (8:30-10:00am) at St. Matthews Cathedral, they would like you to register first at
http://AdultRallyForLife.EventBrite.com
Bishop Gonzales will be the presider and Fr.Evelio will lead the March. Both these special clerics are deeply inspirational- they are both bilingual which is critically important in DC where large immigrant populations from various latin american countries live (Fr. Evelio is originally from El Salvador and Bishop Gonzales from Spain.)
At the Rally a very special guest Tony Melendez , a Nicaraguan who was born without arms and plays beautiful guitar with his feet will be there . He played for the Pope once upon a time.
I have to be in trial Monday am. but may try to get there prior.
If I miss seeing you my prayers are with you.
The annual march for life is getting more sophistocated- not so many signs last year stating "repeal Roe" because people realize it isn't that simple- and all Roe did was decriminalize state statutes (Texas in particular) and establish a framework by which various trimesters were treated differently. Subsequent case progeny made clearer what spaces and blanks Roe left out and there is now a well established body of precedent that is based on a few premises that are easily challengeable.
But whatever you think of the now decades of judicial reasoning one thing is clear:
50 Million abortions in a country of 300 Mil in a generation is outrageous and stunningly obscene. Something is really really wrong on a societal level-not just
a personal one that society needs to address.
Responsible people recognize it- and without knowing exactly how to fix it, they want it paid attention to and addressed responsibly by Congress-so people are now marching on a Monday to go visit their Congressional reps.
They are coming from all over the country- because there isn't a town or village that is not impacted by this social and moral crisis.
If you would like to participate in a Mass first then Rally (8:30-10:00am) at St. Matthews Cathedral, they would like you to register first at
http://AdultRallyForLife.EventBrite.com
Bishop Gonzales will be the presider and Fr.Evelio will lead the March. Both these special clerics are deeply inspirational- they are both bilingual which is critically important in DC where large immigrant populations from various latin american countries live (Fr. Evelio is originally from El Salvador and Bishop Gonzales from Spain.)
At the Rally a very special guest Tony Melendez , a Nicaraguan who was born without arms and plays beautiful guitar with his feet will be there . He played for the Pope once upon a time.
I have to be in trial Monday am. but may try to get there prior.
If I miss seeing you my prayers are with you.
Thursday, January 20, 2011
Wednesday, January 19, 2011
Speaking of
OUTRAGEOUS and DISGUSTING!
Rare unique highly valuable sculptures by the artist Ratner who has displayed pieces at Ellis Island, the JPII Center and other prominent places which were in the yard of his Bethesda Museum which houses many of these incredibly beautiful sculptures of biblical themes were stolen for scrap metal. http://bethesda.patch.com/articles/ratner-sculptures-recovered
The Museum also doubles as a part time Hebrew school.
The thief chopped them up for scrap metal sale. Everyone should now go to the Museum and support it in solidarity- These are really irreplaceable pieces. I wrote about this Museum before (put Ratner in the scroll search above) because the DeChantal group at Holy Trinity has a holiday party there every year.
Rare unique highly valuable sculptures by the artist Ratner who has displayed pieces at Ellis Island, the JPII Center and other prominent places which were in the yard of his Bethesda Museum which houses many of these incredibly beautiful sculptures of biblical themes were stolen for scrap metal. http://bethesda.patch.com/articles/ratner-sculptures-recovered
The Museum also doubles as a part time Hebrew school.
The thief chopped them up for scrap metal sale. Everyone should now go to the Museum and support it in solidarity- These are really irreplaceable pieces. I wrote about this Museum before (put Ratner in the scroll search above) because the DeChantal group at Holy Trinity has a holiday party there every year.
With All Due Respect
Not a Smoking Gun Mr. Anderson
A recent piece of correspondence is being whipped up as something so significant one of those plaintiff lawyers suing the church now opened a London office thinking this is his pot of gold at the end of that rainbow. http://www.aolnews.com/2011/01/19/vatican-says-leaked-sex-abuse-policy-letter-is-no-smoking-gun/
The Vatican denies it is that telling.
The obvious intent of writing a letter that says - you don't need to report every allegation of sexual abuse to the police or civil authorities is to preserve fairness and guard against unjustified assaults and attacks on some people's (priests) character- some of these allegations could be recreated memories by suggestion, some could be totally trumped up extortion, some could be wildly imaginary or motivated by vendetta or monetary gain- so why report something until you have credible evidence. That is how the letter possibly should be read. As the Pastor of about a billion folks there is nothing unusual in a Pope saying- have a little wisdom please- you don't need to fly off the handle and call the police everytime someone makes an allegation.
The church is full of crazy people- God loves crazy people too.
In the US legal system there is a process called a 'summary judgment' which means that there has to be sufficient evidence to even maintain a case for it to even get to trial.
What's wrong with asking for a little evidence first?
There could be a 'rush to judgment' in this climate of anti-catholicism.
Would we want a Pope that was not fair and thoughtful who would hang out to dry the people the community invested in training to become priests who serve them with love and kindness daily without something more than an accusation??
No, of course the letter makes sense.
So I hope Mr. Anderson didn't take out a long lease on his London digs.
A recent piece of correspondence is being whipped up as something so significant one of those plaintiff lawyers suing the church now opened a London office thinking this is his pot of gold at the end of that rainbow. http://www.aolnews.com/2011/01/19/vatican-says-leaked-sex-abuse-policy-letter-is-no-smoking-gun/
The Vatican denies it is that telling.
The obvious intent of writing a letter that says - you don't need to report every allegation of sexual abuse to the police or civil authorities is to preserve fairness and guard against unjustified assaults and attacks on some people's (priests) character- some of these allegations could be recreated memories by suggestion, some could be totally trumped up extortion, some could be wildly imaginary or motivated by vendetta or monetary gain- so why report something until you have credible evidence. That is how the letter possibly should be read. As the Pastor of about a billion folks there is nothing unusual in a Pope saying- have a little wisdom please- you don't need to fly off the handle and call the police everytime someone makes an allegation.
The church is full of crazy people- God loves crazy people too.
In the US legal system there is a process called a 'summary judgment' which means that there has to be sufficient evidence to even maintain a case for it to even get to trial.
What's wrong with asking for a little evidence first?
There could be a 'rush to judgment' in this climate of anti-catholicism.
Would we want a Pope that was not fair and thoughtful who would hang out to dry the people the community invested in training to become priests who serve them with love and kindness daily without something more than an accusation??
No, of course the letter makes sense.
So I hope Mr. Anderson didn't take out a long lease on his London digs.
Breaking
Pennsylvania Abortion Doctor charged with Murder
Inducing late term abortions to deliver them live then killing them with scissors is Murder. Can't call it anything else. Anything post viability that is induced then killed is murder. Plain and Simple.
http://www.aolnews.com/2011/01/19/abortion-doctor-kermit-gosnell-charged-with-8-counts-of-murder/?icid=maing%7Cmain5%7Cdl1%7Csec3_lnk2%7C37254
HORRENDOUS!!!!
http://www.aolnews.com/2011/01/19/investigators-lack-of-oversight-allowed-pennsylvania-abortion/
Inducing late term abortions to deliver them live then killing them with scissors is Murder. Can't call it anything else. Anything post viability that is induced then killed is murder. Plain and Simple.
http://www.aolnews.com/2011/01/19/abortion-doctor-kermit-gosnell-charged-with-8-counts-of-murder/?icid=maing%7Cmain5%7Cdl1%7Csec3_lnk2%7C37254
HORRENDOUS!!!!
http://www.aolnews.com/2011/01/19/investigators-lack-of-oversight-allowed-pennsylvania-abortion/
Spiritual Blindness
And Pulling a Fast One on God
Yesterday an elderly white man got on a bus. He was wearing dirty jeans, a smelly old brown sweater frayed at the bottom of his sleeves and carrying a slightly torn plastic bag of what looked like groceries. He wreaked of stale alcohol, had puffy hands and was slightly bloated. He was easily identified as "alcoholic." He tottled onto the bus, grappled the high bar above his head and missed the first time.
As I looked at him I wanted to say "alcohol is poison to you- if you give it up you can make it and your life can totally change." He wasn't a bad looking elderly man-I imagined how different his life could be if he cleaned his act up.
This had everyone on the bus looking at him, some with pity some with scorning disgust. After he left the bus one young African American man wiped tears from his eyes it was such a sad sight to see a man so destroyed by alcohol. Some were so angry at the sight of someone so destroyed - a living death of sorts- you could see their "don't you dare stand next to me" venemous eyes.
He seems completely oblivious to the reaction of people moving away from him and the staring eyes of people trying hard not to look.
And then I thought that this is probably how God views a lot of us more or less- with some profound defect easily identifiable to the holiest of holies. To the holiest of holies we all look somehow scarred and marred by the filth of the corroding effects of sin on the earth. God might look at that one and easily identify "GREED" or another is "SELFISH" or another is "PRIDE" or "VANITY" or "ENVY" or "HATE" and it all looks like horrendously smelly diseased defects to God-
But at the same time that God sees all of that, he is the one looking at it with profound pity, which the french language reminds us is Mercy- because in French the word for mercy is PITIER. Empitier Nous- Have Mercy on Us oh Lord. Have Pity on Us- we are all pathetic. And it isn't really until you understand how much you look like a sinful alcoholic of another sin that you really understand how much you need God's Mercy. Because otherwise you would just get your fat smelly arse kicked off the heavenly bus.
Washington is full of prideful spiritually arrogant people posturing for power in the biggest superpower that is. Power. Ambition, Greed, these are not theological virtues.
This is why spiritual pride is the worst kind of sin of presumption and why hypocrites don't make it to heaven. There are few things more lethal than spiritual pride that separates you from the Love of God -Love which is God.
Yesterday an elderly white man got on a bus. He was wearing dirty jeans, a smelly old brown sweater frayed at the bottom of his sleeves and carrying a slightly torn plastic bag of what looked like groceries. He wreaked of stale alcohol, had puffy hands and was slightly bloated. He was easily identified as "alcoholic." He tottled onto the bus, grappled the high bar above his head and missed the first time.
As I looked at him I wanted to say "alcohol is poison to you- if you give it up you can make it and your life can totally change." He wasn't a bad looking elderly man-I imagined how different his life could be if he cleaned his act up.
This had everyone on the bus looking at him, some with pity some with scorning disgust. After he left the bus one young African American man wiped tears from his eyes it was such a sad sight to see a man so destroyed by alcohol. Some were so angry at the sight of someone so destroyed - a living death of sorts- you could see their "don't you dare stand next to me" venemous eyes.
He seems completely oblivious to the reaction of people moving away from him and the staring eyes of people trying hard not to look.
And then I thought that this is probably how God views a lot of us more or less- with some profound defect easily identifiable to the holiest of holies. To the holiest of holies we all look somehow scarred and marred by the filth of the corroding effects of sin on the earth. God might look at that one and easily identify "GREED" or another is "SELFISH" or another is "PRIDE" or "VANITY" or "ENVY" or "HATE" and it all looks like horrendously smelly diseased defects to God-
But at the same time that God sees all of that, he is the one looking at it with profound pity, which the french language reminds us is Mercy- because in French the word for mercy is PITIER. Empitier Nous- Have Mercy on Us oh Lord. Have Pity on Us- we are all pathetic. And it isn't really until you understand how much you look like a sinful alcoholic of another sin that you really understand how much you need God's Mercy. Because otherwise you would just get your fat smelly arse kicked off the heavenly bus.
Washington is full of prideful spiritually arrogant people posturing for power in the biggest superpower that is. Power. Ambition, Greed, these are not theological virtues.
This is why spiritual pride is the worst kind of sin of presumption and why hypocrites don't make it to heaven. There are few things more lethal than spiritual pride that separates you from the Love of God -Love which is God.
Tuesday, January 18, 2011
Well Done
Good and Faithful Servant.
Sargent Shriver, died today, age 95. Thoughts and Prayers to all his extended family everywhere.
Sargent Shriver, died today, age 95. Thoughts and Prayers to all his extended family everywhere.
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