Fallen Heroes… Finale #4…Mercy, Grace, and the Resurrection of Unity… not so much.

My Great plan was to write this post right after Easter Sunday with another, new topic, post ready for Pentecost.

Several drafts fell short. That is nothing new. Writers often struggle with finding the right word, turn of phrase for what they are trying to communicate. It is part of the process.

My friend read a draft and said I sounded angry. I rewrote and this time asked someone new. Same feedback: Anger. A friend called and asked why I sounded angry.

I didn’t feel particularly angry. Not “You zipped into that parking place you could see me waiting for” or “You said something hateful against someone without cause” angry. Rather, I felt a heavy sadness.

Writer’s Block isn’t always about words

How could I write about Mercy, Grace and the Resurrection of Unity when I wasn’t feeling it and there were almost no examples of it in my current Catholic experience with my siblings in Christ?

I spent the weeks between Easter and Pentecost prayerfully looking inward at my ‘diagnosed’ anger.

Pentecost came and went and still I couldn’t put my finger on it until a few days ago when my closest friend of the past decade,

Jean Allen Thomas,

died.

For Jean, it was a long time coming, a lifetime of heart trouble, but for the last six months she was hospitalized, then rehab that didn’t work, then assisted living until being re-hospitalized. I hadn’t seen her for those six months because of my own mobility issues with a broken foot, the pandemic and the restrictions on visitors where she was staying. Our phone calls and emails were few because of her lack of energy.

I am grieving. I recognize it. I am familiar with the grief of being the left behind by the beloved dead. With Jean, there was no Denial stage in my grieving process–we knew it was coming.

There was no Anger stage, because she was suffering so much.

Neither was there a Bargaining stage, because at our age, with so many medical conditions, we know each day is a non-renewable gift.

With Jean, there was just my sadness at no longer being able to see her, talk with her, eat and laugh with her leaves a gaping void in my life.

Because of how she lived, and our many conversations, I’m also happy for Jean because I am certain she now rests, pain free, and healed in the arms of our Lord Jesus, in Whom she put all her faith and trust. The Acceptance stage, arrived quickly.

So did the epiphany: my friends were right…sort of…I’ve been angry but it’s Grief-Angry for Five Years.

It’s been like a 5-year death march.

Grieving is my “New Normal”

2016.. Murder/Suicide: The Murder of Objective Truth and the Suicide of Journalistic Integrity

As I mentioned in another post, the phrase “new normal” was actually coined by a drug company advertisement for their drug that helps women with Stage 4 metastatic breast cancer. [metastatic means it’s spread throughout the body and death is coming] but this drug will hopefully give them more time with loved ones and a more ‘normal’ life in whatever time left by slowing down the inevitable progression of the disease.

In 2016, as news outlets became divided camps during the outrageously vulgar, Presidential Campaign, whole networks chose a candidate and with the wholesale slaughter of Truth and journalists–to keep the paychecks flowing–Slit the wrists of their integrity. Neither survived and the vulture Fake News, devoured the carcasses that once had been a foundation premise of American society [“The truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth”] and all major religions [“Thou shalt no bear false witness.” ]

2017 – The Death of Decency and the Long Goodbye, the Dementia Death of Democracy

Decency: behavior that conforms to accepted standards of morality or respectability.

“The Long Goodbye “ is a book written by Ronald Reagan’s daughter about how his Alzheimer’s is a protracted death-by-inches as the Patient loses the ability to remember who they are and what they are supposed to be doing from one moment to the next..

This long goodbye is particularly true as the beginning of the ‘end” of the Republican Party as most of us know it… still honorable in the days of Eisenhower as a bi-partisan party capable of many good things.

When Democracy forgets what it’s foundational ideals are, when it panders to, say Neo-Nazis forgetting what our parents fought against and died for [and against] in WWII, when fair elections devolve into voter suppression forgetting that every American’s vote matters, we have the incremental death of democracy.

When it separates women from their children and puts them in cages.

I was clearly grieving the death of democracy.

2018 – The Entire Planet on Death Row

The Trump administration in full swing, signs DOZENS of Executive Orders aimed at undermining the planet [unless for the profit of a select few friends-of-Trump], America withdraws from Accords, Climate Change groups and Trump unilaterally UNDOES decades of Environmental protections, hamstrings the EPA with cuts and the FAKE NEWS machine keeps talking over the dead bodies of truth and journalistic integrity.

Many Christians –well aware since childhood, that in THE VERY FIRST BOOK OF THE BIBLE, in the very first days of Creation itself– God gives us stewardship [as in moral, responsible, protective] over the earth and every living thing on it. There’s no way to translate that into: feel free, as the dominant species to rape & pillage the earth’s natural resources, pollute the air and water, all for your enjoyment and momentary riches and don’t bother worrying about future generations.

This is just one year. https://www.theguardian.com/environment/ng-interactive/2018/dec/21/deadly-weather-the-human-cost-of-2018s-climate-disasters-visual-guide

2019 – GLOBAL GRIEF Pandemic Kills Millions

Mass Graves Covid America

The Truth in Media long dead is resurrected as a Zombie Apocalypse– Luring the ignorant and unsuspecting to their deaths by getting them to choose sensational huckster Fake news over Science.

And with surge #4 escalating–even with the vaccine around for 6 months…those choosing politics over Science are bringing more people to death’s door…and now they are younger people. Even the vaccinated are not safe because of the unvaccinated moving about freely pretending to be vaccinated. And the surge? 95% are the unvaccinated. Success leaves clues. The unvaccinated remain “clueless.”

The President of our country– certainly aware that the elderly and minorities living in poverty would be the hardest hit, with the most certain casualties–took the opportunity to rid the country of the expensive elderly and less than GNP lucrative members of society by DOWNPLAYING THE ACTUAL SCIENCE, by dragging national feet hampering and outright failing to do what the SCIENTISTS, CDC and WHO told Trump what the Administration SHOULD DO and what would happen if they didn’t. They didn’t. They knew and they didn’t.

So Trump held packed, mask-less rallies telling everyone it was only like the flu and would soon blow over…that act was nothing short of deliberate malfeasance in this monsoon of misinformation. The death tolls mounted but the now propagandized, ignorant ANTI-SCIENCERs fought the people/agencies/practices who could save their lives.

But to give the devil his due, Trump was right–as is a broken clock twice a day: Corona Virus 19 was indeed “like the flu”… The Spanish Flu of 1918 :

It is estimated that about 500 million people or one-third of the world’s population became infected with this virus. The number of deaths was estimated to be at least 50 million worldwide with about 675,000 occurring in the United States from the Spanish FLu of 1918

https://www.cdc.gov/flu/pandemic-resources/1918-pandemic-h1n1.html

COVID 19 has killed–(and is still killing)

33.5 MILLION world wide…

Americans ……606,525 dead and still dying.

[at this writing]

How many of those lives might have been saved if Science was more important than politics, if Republican Governors had done what Michigan’s Gretchen Witmer did [and for her efforts to save us she got armed militias running around inside the capitol, as well as kidnapping attempts and death threats along with entire media outlets disparaging her].

2020- A year in lockdown, The Good, the Dead and the Ugly. Another Presidential Campaign with all the usual suspects, lies and dirty tricks to suppress minority voters.

Mailboxes removed to make voting by mail more difficult for minorities

The murder of George Floyd (bad) but Good from bad: the Puss-Filled Boil of Systemic Racism is FINALLY Lanced and brought into the light FOR HEALING. The murderer convicted in court of law.

An Election win for someone in his right mind and many more diverse representatives of what demographics our nation REALLY contains and restoration of hope for the future.

Massive lies about election fraud, the dismantling/removing of mailboxes to make voting by mail more difficult in minority neighborhoods.

The endless lies that the election was stolen. Continuing into 2021.

A Vaccine to end the Pandemic— but thwarted by the LIES of the Right Wing News and now, add to that the theologically-challenged who say God will protect them from the Pandemic so they don’t need the shot… yeah, good luck with that.

FYI, If God doesn’t protect innocent children from slaughter at the hands of school shooters or abusive parents or the innocent in any victimization, let’s get real about God protecting ANYONE from COVID.. Frankly, God doesn’t protect any of us from anything–least of all, our own obstinate self-destructive, selfish actions and the consequences.

What He does do… is walk with us, sit with us at the funeral of a COVID DEAD friend while we pay the consequences for disobeying common sense pandemic behaviors and our lack of self -discipline to not party/gather with the unvaccinated.

Worse still is to spread ignorant lies that pit Science again Religion and Politics against Science…both prevent people from getting vaccinated and saving lives. All from the people claiming to be “Pro-Life.”

I do hope they ask God how pleased He was with those decisions that resulted in someone’s or their own death.

I continue to grieve the death of common sense, the ongoing deaths in journalism, and the death of MY freedom because I can do longer trust my neighbor to NOT endanger me by lying that they’ve been vaccinated–when they haven’t.

2021- a new President, Insurrection, Two Great Houses Divided– the Government and the Catholic Church.

I’ll only comment on the first House Divided–the Government.

My 5-years of Grief-Anger within the Catholic Church will require a subsequent, (or perhaps more than one) post.

The election win was marred by the lies of a “stolen election”, the treasonous insurrection on January 6th of the Capitol incited by non-other than the outgoing President/administration and was far more than the sour grapes of a loser.

It is a caveat–a warning that if the[using my terminology] ‘New American Fascist -Obstructionist Party’ – that has taken over the Republican Party of Lincoln and Eisenhower, is not punished for it’s treason, it’s current dereliction of duty via obstructionism, and it’s anti-democratic suppression of voting rights…then the grief will continue… because the dying won’t stop anytime soon.

First they came for the Communists
And I did not speak out
Because I was not a Communist

Then they came for the Socialists
And I did not speak out
Because I was not a Socialist

Then they came for the trade unionists
And I did not speak out
Because I was not a trade unionist

Then they came for the Jews
And I did not speak out
Because I was not a Jew

Then they came for me
And there was no one left
To speak out for me

German Lutheran pastor Martin Niemöller (1892–1984) Original…

This is the longer version outside the Holocaust Memorial

My friends were half right…

I had lots of Anger… but it was a different kind of Grief Anger.

It was the New Normal of endless grief, of exhaustion from the heavy cross and heartbreak of grieving… the still living,

It was the New Normal of grieving the DEATH of relationships that are now so toxic, so dangerous that to continue them would be catalyst for the demise of my body and perhaps even my soul.

My heart is still, 5 years later heavy with grief…Grief for those who continue to die from COVID in the middle of this 2021 because they won’t get vaccinated, because they believed the lies, because they spread the lies and will die because of it.

My heart is broken because my “family,” my Church family is broken and I’m grieving my lost siblings in Christ who’ve chosen politics over science, and division over unity.

We’ve all been through a great ordeal these past 5 years… make your own list, look inward and find what has broken your heart, broken your trust… what and who you’re grieving and then, lay it all, as I have, at the foot of the Cross…

Until Next Time…

I’m praying for you…

Please pray for me too.

Thora

Fallen Heroes, Part Three: America Makes a “Good” Confession

America Confessed

As Catholics, we know that a “Good” confession doesn’t just happen.

We’ve all been guilty of dashing into the confessional and blurting out the most recent fight with _________ in which we said unkind things, or we lied, or gossiped- spit out the words of an act of contrition–and maybe we really were contrite and will try to do better.

But we knew, as we left, that maybe that confession was a sin of omission so we vowed to do better next time, said our penance, did our penance by apologizing to the wronged party and went on our way until “next time.”

A truly “good” confession is about reconnecting with God’s mercy, that’s why we call it the

“Sacrament of Reconciliation.”

CCC 1422,1442-1445,1468

To make a “good” [as in honest and complete] confession requires solitary time for reflection and prayer so the Holy Spirit can help us bring to mind all the ways in which we have fallen short of God’s hope for us, and sinned by commission and omission.

For non-Catholics that means we have to consider not only what we’ve done wrong but what we have failed to do that we should have.

If you were raised in a Pre-Vatican II Catholic household and you were caught red-handed,* stealing candy, or caught in the act of beating up your brother “for no reason” but it was actually because you coveted the praise he got for his spelling paper and that extra piece of cake. If your guilt was apparent for all to see, in addition to a trip to that aforementioned woodshed you were also sent “to the box”…to the confessional.

*Red-handed is not an ethnic slur but rather a straight forward Scottish expression for having been caught with blood on your hands from being a poacher…from coveting/stealing another person’s livestock.

A Pandemic Lockdown is an efficient way to get the TIME necessary for deep reflection, especially since its frequent deadly outcome made most of us, regardless of religion or lack thereof, take a measure of our life and our “readiness” for eternity.

Sadly, the recent American Reflection on its sins were ALL of the red-handed, caught in the act variety, and even then in the face of blatant proof some persons or corporations had the audacity to either gaslight the victims or simply deny the video that proved their guilt. And shamefully, many have been set free because of money, status or both.

America has long since favored the cover-up and silence-for-money route of dealing with their sins against the common good. Until recently, when encouraged by a governing body who threw out the rulebook for decency toward one’s fellow man, and went on a spree of sin–simply because it could–America’s evil nakedness was exposed.

The Exposure of American Sin began in earnest in 2017 after a year of vitriolic campaigning during which nearly half of American Catholics abandoned the Ten Commandments for a candidate who was anathema to righteousness.

Traditional Catholic Bible

Concomitant, was a resurgence of the 2006 “me too” movement with regard to the continual and unabated sexual harassments of girls and women at schools, in the workplace and even publicly endorsed by a new President who campaigned saying he could and had used his power and status to violate women’s bodies–and he found huge support for his tendencies in like-minded men and gaslighted women —

Case in point, one unconscious white college co-ed who was raped next to a dumpster and then blamed for tempting the WHITE BOY beyond his control. He was portrayed as a young man with a bright future rather than a rapist. We must readily admit the outcome would have been different had the boy been Black. Nevertheless, he only got 4 months. She will have a lifetime of trauma.

America’s sins weren’t just local…but GLOBAL.

If you were paying global attention during this time, many of Pope Francis’ criticisms were of American relentless consumerism, the oligarchy attempting to replace democracy in a Republican White House with executive order after order that endangered the most vulnerable people, animals and allowed for pillaging the planet for profit. America was were guilty of all he accused–and more.

Pope Francis also called America out for policies and executive orders that gave behemoths of money to the already uber rich, while ignoring the poorest of the poor and the marginalized.

When The Encyclical Laudato Si, on “caring for our common home” came out [Climate Change and Ecology] there was a huge negative uproar in many American pulpits. Out came out the Traditionalist Catholics who rejected Vatican II as ruining the faith and liturgy, lead by Cardinal Sarah who was then and is for just a bit more, prefect of the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments. [he’s just turned 75 and Pope Francis has accepted the resignation [Feb 20,2021] all are required to “offer” at that age].

Read it here: http://www.vatican.va/content/francesco/en/encyclicals/documents/papa-francesco_20150524_enciclica-laudato-si.html

To be fair, Cardinal Sarah wasn’t the start of the American Anti-Francis campaign but the “deeply insulted” American Catholics were using Cardinal Sarah’s criticisms of Vatican II and his reversing some of the liturgical practices–most notably a few years ago by reversing Vatican II and forcing priests to face the altar rather than the congregation–to infer combat the Traditionalists and Republican Catholics exacerbated the tension by joining, albeit misaligned, forces.

Soon the rabid and radical American Catholic Media began challenging Francis’ papacy saying it wasn’t legitimate and would be the ruination of Catholicism. I won’t list those screeds because their words are distortions and lies and I will not give them an opportunity to poison any more minds. It does remind one of the idiocy of challenging President Obama’s birthright and American citizenship ad infinitum.

These attacks on Francis were unwarranted because Francis’ condemnation of America was right on the money! WE WERE/STILL ARE GUILTY of American policies that did/do everything he;s accused us of.

We ARE a nation in need of metanoia and repentance and reparations.

To be Fair, Cardinal Sarah spoke to the Catholic News Agency and said he never opposed Pope Francis and you can read it here.

FYI: Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith [CDF] is, in layman’s terms, sort of the Pope’s #2 guy, in charge of interpreting Catholic doctrine for the rest of us, particularly Bishops and priests. But more than that, he has tremendous power or as it says from the Vatican website:

The Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith has as its duty the promotion and safeguarding of Catholic faith and morals, and is currently competent to address the delict of sexual abuse of minors.  The Congregation advises a diocesan bishop or religious ordinary as to the appropriate process for particular cases, and may authorize corrective measures to be taken.

Vatican,va

The CDF’s power is not to be taken lightly, in the past [during the horrific INQUISITION] HE was known as the GRAND INQUISITOR. When Cardinal Sarah, always blunt and honest, a trait Francis values, commented on anything, it became fuel for the fire for the American anti-Francis throng. Admittedly, Cardinal Sarah much prefers PRE Vatican II.

Francis revealed many things Americans are doing that bothered him in relationship to the Gospel, his mission, and the souls of the American Catholics living in such a culture.

These included the American’s relativism with the truth and American Media penchant for FAKE NEWS. NOT Bearing False witness was not listed as one of the 10 Suggestions…it was anathema to everything holy. Francis decried it–as he should have.

Did you know that many American companies have and continue to go into South American Countries/the Amazon and literally pillage the land of any and all profitable resources by:

Destroying the earth

Bearing false witness that it will be great for the local economy. WE AMERICANS pay the locals starvation wages making them slaves in their own land; WE AMERICANS steal the profits they promised to share and return nothing but ecological devastation, deforestation, polluted air, toxic water having effectively murdered the land, water and air leaving in its wake death, destruction, and unemployment when WE AMERICAN CORPORATIONS come back to America claiming to be the conquering heroes for their shareholders whose profits soar and greed is never ending.

WE AMERICANS must own what AMERICANS do around the world in our name. Pure and simple. Even more so for the people we elect and put in charge.

America’s SHAME was caught in the act exposing those who were bribed and given kickbacks for their silence. The average American has been none-the-wiser, all the while we’re walking around proudly shouting we are the greatest nation on earth. Not so much.

The Greatest Nation does not leave so many of its citizens homeless, starving, without adequate healthcare, letting some of it’s citizens automatically have more opportunities than others based on skin color or ethnicity. Nor does the richest nation condone murder, sexual abuse, slaughter of children in mass shootings, human trafficking and destruction of our home, and the entire planet for the profit of a few.

The Richest Nation in the world??? Not so much… China and a few others are closing in…but we are coming close to the title of most duplicitous, thieving, and hoarding nation where the richest 1% have taken all that is good from the 99%.

The Beacon of Democracy? Again, not so much. We’ve been forced, almost nightly, to REALLY reflect on White Privilege and systematic racism. While I’m a white American, I’m also a woman who was raised in lower middle class status and when I became a single mother [Thank you Viet Nam and Divorce] I became the white working poor. But still, I could NEVER imagine “the talk” that Black mothers have to have , with their Black children about how to “not be gunned down in a police encounter–especially when your only crime was to be Black in America.” The same goes for persecuted children of immigrants, Muslims and now Asians (again).

Even though I have plenty of personal experience being marginalized by poverty, sexism, and misogyny… I have long owned that I had white privilege “sort-of” but then this year with the real undressing of the police departments exposing a violent bigotry rampant around the country after the death of George Floyd–A violent murder caught in the act on video it became clear that the GOOD COPS–and there are thousands–would be outnumbered by the bad apples if we didn’t step up and help purge them from the ranks. A host of other examples of systemic racism followed. I’ve had to own it all as an American.

9 minutes with a cop kneeling on his neck.

I was most horrified, when I saw that video…FIRST of all, that Americans can now see murders as they happen and so frequently, so ordinarily, that it’s part of our daily lives… SECONDLY, that his fellow cops just stood there, knowing the officer on George’s neck was wrong and it was dangerous for George. They watched as this officer committed murder.

WHY, WHY, did they not pull him off George? THAT dear people, is SIN of omission.

I won’t mention the officer’s name because he deserves to die in anonymous ignominy because he’s just a symptom– the SIN, is that we who claim to be American Christians have put up with RACISM for so long in this country because it might challenge/reduce our WHITE PRIVILEGE.

God will use anything and everything–including a PANDEMIC LOCKDOWN to turn evil into good and bring us back into a state of grace.

Romans 8:28

By publicly revealing America’s vast storehouse of sins, we as a nation–just as we as individuals who make a “good confession” —have the opportunity to reconcile with God, with each other and heal as a people…because just as WE THE PEOPLE are the Church, WE THE PEOPLE are the nation of America… and WE ARE GUILTY.

In church we say, mea culpa, mea maxima culpa it means, my fault, my most grievous fault [My bad!-This is on me!] and we, as a nation, surely in commission and maybe in many ways of omission, are indeed guilty.

WE Americans who claim to be [Catholic] Christians, who profess that each and every one of us is Imago Dei –created in the image of God have allowed this abuse by police, by cities and states with FOR-PROFIT prisons who rely on headcounts for profits with crooked judges and racist cops who predominantly arrest minorities on trumped-up charges so they can fill the FOR PROFIT prisons and make money off the misery of others. Also by the death penalty and abortions and death by neglect of the homeless and elderly–out sins are grave. Our sins are MORTAL Sins, make no mistake.

What we have done individually, in wounding our relationship with God , in breaking His commandments and in failing to love our neighbor as ourselves as well as, putting people in power who continue to sin on our behalf, are OUR SINS OF COMMISSION

What we have NOT DONE as a nation to protect persecuted brothers and sisters is AMERICA’S SIN OF OMISSION.

As we enter Holy week this Sunday, with Palm Sunday… and walk with Jesus through His Passion, Death and Resurrection,

Let us take the time to reflect on how we have failed God’s Hope for us as individuals, and for us as Citizen of a nation with truly GREAT POTENTIAL.

Let us take the time this week to take those reflections and make a “good confession,” to ask for God’s mercy and forgiveness and to experience the close encounter that is the Holy Spirit comforting a truly contrite heart.

Let us experience the joy of being close to Jesus and walking in a state of grace.

COMING UP…in Time for Easter,

Fallen Heroes Finale #4…Mercy, Grace, and the Resurrection of Unity

Your sister in Christ,

Thora

Fallen Heroes-Part Two: The Woodshed Rebellion

In case you’re just joining us, my last post was about two of my heroes who’ve been wobbling on their pedestals for some time and finally, this Lent, came tumbling down.

Coincidentally, while both my Heroes: The Catholic Church and the United States of America fell from their respective pedestals – it was knowledge I happened upon while researching one that implicated the other and in the end, to be honest, they didn’t fall but rather, I’ve kicked them off that pedestal with my size ten boot of disappointment and heartbreak following a dose of reality I sorely needed.

My Lenten quest has been twofold:

1.To figure out the origins of the anti-Francis movement in a now-divided Roman Catholic [especially North American] Church–what I will attempt in this post

2. How What I’ve learned about North America that I didn’t know but should have and Why I [we, the average Catholic citizen] doesn’t/didn’t know. That’s for the next post.

Back to today’s quest…what’s going on with the split in the American Church and what started the Anti-Francis movement?

Not the least of the reasons for this local split [United States] is the alignment of so many of my brothers and sisters in Christ, with a political movement whose policies eschew both morality and comprehension, turning friends into outright bullies.

A movement that then joined the political with harsh and rigid ultra-conservative Catholics who have gone from wanting to turn the Church back to the 1950’s . To that end promoting global, mercilessly-rabid attacks on any deviation from their now ultra-narrow liturgical view and rejection of Vatican II as if it never happened, and was irrelevant. They have gone so far as to imply Vat II is anathema to authentic Christianity. This commingled group has responded with a vitriol that it is both unconscionable and reprehensible.

Soon, they conjoined themselves to the European “We hate Francis” movement.

FYI: There can be no Catholic Church without mercy.

There can be no Catholic Church without love.

There can be no Catholic [universal] Church without unity.

But Before we take on the American Church, we need to go back to BEFORE, before Pope Francis was even Pope and what he did for his beloved South America when Archbishop of Argentina. As chronicled in “Wounded Shepherd, Pope Frances and His Struggle to Convert the Catholic Church” by Austen Ivereigh [the Cliff’s notes version].

The then Bergoglio found pastoral corruption and major spiritual issues all around him. He formulated and began his mission that would prepare him to, years later, apply it to reform the Whole Church, not just the South American dioceses. Which is his current goal

Francis has always been comfortable with opposing “pulls” and diversity. He drew on the wisdom of Henri de Lubac.

“Henri de Lubac saw the Church as a complexio oppositorum, a system that synthesized elements that ordinarily pull in opposite direction, creating–through the power of the Holy Spirit-a unity out of diversity that respected difference.

Wounded Shepherd, Ivereigh p 18

In his own development as a priest, Bergoglio told his confessor Fr. Ibarra that he experienced “the tenderness of God in guided spiritual discernment.” As pope he has adopted a mission that the Church offer that experience to every young person.

Before he could reform the South American parishes, he had to first address the Bishops and priests regarding their lack of interaction with the issues that the parishioners faced in their everyday lives. What he found in the local struggles was that foreign investments had come in, virtually enslaved the people on meager wages while the foreign companies removed the natural resources and left a toxic wasteland, uninhabitable earth, polluted waters and abject poverty that now added unemployment to the mix. But through this the Bishops had become enriched from corporate kickbacks and payoffs. Removed from the parishioners daily lives–especially neglecting the struggles of priests in the middle of the chaos and turmoil these were not Shepherds who smelled of sheep.

To the Woodshed

Most of us are old enough to remember, or had our parents tell us, of the rural habit of making a disobedient child go get a switch from the willow and walk that long walk of doom to the woodshed where the corporal punishment, a whipping, would be administered for the aforementioned transgressions–the dread often worse than the red marks administered. Americans have largely rejected disciplining their children in such a psychologically torturing way but the metaphor still stands.

The modern equivalent is being sent to the Principal’s office or having one’s boss give you a verbal whipping–and the greater one’s ego, the greater the sting.

Even as Bergoglio, Pope Francis has always said “the Shepherd must smell of sheep.” And that as priests their primary duty is to be present in the concrete lives of the parishioners–so too should Bishops be present for their priests. This focus has not changed in the over 60 years of Francis’ tenure in religious life.

It was in South America, a few years before becoming Pope that Francis conceptualized and put into practice his mission. When he was speaking to the young people at the Sanctuary of Our Lady of the Watch he explained that people must go out be among others, that outreach is not a “program” it is a way of life, it is the only way to evangelize, the only way to show that the joy in your heart is only increased when you share it with others. That is love. That we must look at others with:

“The eyes of the heart.” Compassion. “Love is being able to take a hand that is dirty and the ability to look in the eyse of those who are in distress and say, ‘for me, you are Jesus.’ This is the beginning of very mission, this love with which I must go out and speak.”

Wounded Shepherd, Ivereigh p 24

Francis’ Latin American detractors took his comments about the amoral treatment of workers to slander him with Labels of Communist or Marxist. Many of those who tried to stir up trouble had been removed from powerful positions or were friends of those who had. [some were angry about the end of kickbacks and payoffs].

Francis has always rejected Communist and Marxist philosophies in favor of Pope Leo XIII’s Rearum Novarum when it comes to workers and the economy–an encyclical that was used as one of my textbooks for my Masters of Management-Ethics.

You can read the short document it for yourself: https://www.usccb.org/beliefs-and-teachings/what-we-believe/catholic-social-teaching/upload/encyclicals-descriptions.pdf

We [and Pope Francis] will get into the foreign pillagers, sadly mostly United States but some Finnish and Belgian, but back then, Bergoglio wanted to address the problem of the businessman priest in lieu of a pastoral one.

He contrasted the good-shepherd with the businessman-priest. Calling for them to look at how Jesus spent his time:

1.Plenty of solitary prayer,

2.Then, on the road to meet people where they live, close to the people and their problems. He never Hid.

3.He never turned them away because he had to attend meetings or saying: “I have to do this, or that.”

4.He was always open to the needy.

He told the priests to not be afraid of getting close to the people–but instead be afraid of stasis and excessive organization, of wanting everything to be perfect and organized.

Life is messy.

Francis told them in 2017 [as he had years earlier] “I would say that kind of life, so structured, is not a Christian life” smiling he added “Maybe that parish priest is a good businessman, but I wonder, is he even a Christian?”

“Maybe that parish priest is a good businessman, but I wonder, is he even a Christian?”

Pope Francis , visit to Genoa 2017

Already angered by Pope Francis’ austerity measures the anti-Francis who was upsetting the status quo, grew. Francis took the European Bishops and Cardinals to the woodshed during the financial scandals at the Vatican where he forced some the Bishops and Cardinals to turn over ill-gotten gains in the form of lavish gifts from money laundering for the Mafia. [Italian Bishops who were already angered there was not an Italian pope].

The angered South American Bishops joined voices with the angered European Bishops and the anti-Francis was born–kids who got slapped for having hands in cookie jar.

Francis made it clear to all, “We do not need or want any illegal money.” Refusing Italian Mafia money also ended all the kickbacks and payoffs to local Bishops and Cardinals.

Woodshed Rebellion

There grew a rebellion from the Bishops and Cardinals, not unlike a petulant teen who’s had their cell phone confiscated–but what Francis confiscated were lavish apartments, massive artwork collections and massive wine collections. He turned them into cash for the poor. He turned one of his palaces in to a soup kitchen for the homeless–leaving the beautiful works of art on the walls saying that the poorest of the poor deserved the very best that could be offered.

After dealing with the financial “issues” from the 800 page investigation Benedict XVI turned over to Francis to finish, Pope Francis went on to address his own personal pet peeve that is too much distance between clergy and laity… The problem that kept the Shepherd from smelling of sheep: Clericalism.

Clericalism: A Superiority Complex

Simply put, Clericalism is a disease of the ordained/religious that is like a superiority complex where they think because of their status they are above/superior too the average every day person we call the laity…or laymen. You and me.

Clericalism invented: [implied Shut-up] Pray, Pay and Obey expectations for everyone who isn’t ordained. It is, in Francis’ estimation diametrically opposed to humility–the virtue of all virtues and a catalyst of spiritual growth [along with gratitude].

You can tell Clericalism is at play when a parishioner is always quoting: “Fr. BigBritches says” as if he is the final authority, rather than Scripture or Catechism. This declaration is often followed by a deep sigh of adoration as if they have been privy to a secret only the most holy/high can access.

That’s not my God, my God is accessible to all- because Jesus died for ordinary me.

That parishioner does not see the priest as just another servant of a loving, inclusive God–but some highly elevated personage due preferential treatment. When the truth is, Catholicism has always been meant to be the “option for the poor” as highest priority.

But it’s not just a sickness of the ordained. We’ve all seen in our churches…the woman/man who’s been on the committee for 20 years as giving them the power to dominate; the family that always sits in “their pew” and others make sure you know that that pew is for the Snodgrass family, or any of the other “holier than thou” behaviors we saw caricatured on Saturday night life. Humor hits home when based in fact.

SNL’s “Church Lady”

Perhaps the fact of secular America’s irreverence and boldness in publicly lampooning officiousness and “uppity” behaviors is the reason we haven’t seen the extent of Clericalism in the U.S. that is more prevalent in European countries–but we certainly have our fair share of priests who are more businessman than shepherd–but some of that, to be fair, could be pressure from a Businessman Bishop. Francis put the issue of clericalism at the feet of both Bishops at Cardinals–and at the foot of the cross.

What is important to remember is that even though some of the priests, bishops and cardinals took offense,[some were laicized-defrocked and some even jailed], even dispensing vitriolic retribution in response to the trip to the woodshed, our polyglot, articulate, beloved Pope Francis called them out in no uncertain terms, enumerated the offenses with proof and clearly outline the ramifications–but…

Francis always spoke with gentle mercy, seeking the reform the in processes so it couldn’t happen again, and a metanoia/conversion of the offender. He didn’t storm in there and shout and accuse and demand “his way or the highway.” When possible, as in the Vatican finance scandal, he brought in outsiders and laity who were above reproach to cleanse the wound with the exposure of truth so the healing could begin. Always.

After a few years, the South American Catholic Church found that the reforms were working in increased evangelization, increased community involvement, and all the ways the program similar to our stateside version called: “Forming Intentional Disciples” put it into practice in Francis’ New Evangelization…which is somewhat different than the N.E. mission of the same name I studied at Sacred Heart Major Seminary.

The formerly lagging, stagnating Latin churches were alive with mission and people. It takes time, it take enormous effort but the Church is nothing more than WE THE PEOPLE, we are the church and we are so blessed to have been given a Shepherd who indeed, smells like us.

Francis, the Shepherd we need for this time and place

Coming up next… Part Three: America Makes a Good Confession

Your Sister in Christ

Thora

P.S. While the liturgical concerns and they synod concerns were also contributory in the anti-Francis movement they will be addressed at a later date, after further research.

When Heroes Fall -The Intro

Organizations Fall too

I’ve had two Heroes in my life… The Catholic Church and the United States of America.

But what I’ve discovered this Lent changes everything. [We’ll get to that in a minute]

We’re not talking blind adoration, here. I’ve always been aware that both have major problems but the fact that they [I thought] acknowledged them and were working on them gave me hope.

My citizenship in the United States of America is a source of pride second only to my Christianity as a Catholic.

These past few years, both of my Heroes fell off their pedestals, and left me deeply saddened and heartbroken.

My Mom was an uber-patriot, former WWI, Naval Petty Officer who loved the United States of America with all her heart.

1960’s

She was, however, a bit naïve as she’d pick up the National Enquirer and fret over Aliens and haunted houses in the grocery checkout line. I’d challenge the veracity of the articles and she would square her shoulders, stand a bit taller than her 5’4″, missing only the salute she would declare:

“America would never, ever print anything that was not true. WE are not a country of propaganda!”

Thora Helen Moses Layman

She believed, with every fiber of her being, that American Media would print the Truth, the Whole Truth and Nothing but the Truth.”

I’m sorry to say, I’m glad she didn’t live to see the last dozen years in America, where truth devolved into such relativism that whole networks had no problem turning the “news” into a bad recreation of a “Fiction 101” class and the last five devolved even further into “Fantasy”.

Forget just breaking her heart. It would have broken her completely. She was, after all, a photo-journalist in her later years and journalistic integrity was one of her heroes.

I’m more rational, maybe even a bit cynical and yet, I confess, the last five years have nearly broken me.

It was almost too much to struggle with two tarnished heroes tippling atop their pedestals.

I can handle a hero stumbling–I came into the Catholic Church in 1993 and the Sex Abuse Scandal was not far behind. But the sex abuse scandal, for me, while horrific, was in the end, a blessing for the light shown on the dark places that desperately needed to be cleansed and healed.

Catholics are 1/6 of the planet’s population, ergo, although we try, with a billion people we will always certainly have our share of abusers, thugs, murderers as well as saints and ordinary folks. It’s simply percentages.

People will be people.

When the Catholic Sex Abuse Scandal broke in 2002, we Catholics came together and demanded changes, demanded accountability, demanded safety for our children, and justice for the victims. We made many changes to ensure sure that couldn’t/wouldn’t happen again.

The key word: Together

But starting with the 2015 Presidential Campaign– MY CHURCH and my beloved country got wobbly,

BOTH HEROES FINALLY FELL Off –This Lent

It was best explained by what Pope Francis called “America’s Schizophrenia” when he commented on the paradox of American Catholics aligning themselves politically with the white, Protestant evangelicals in making anti-abortion THE ONLY ISSUE while seeming to have no problem with the moral depravity of a candidate, putting immigrant children in cages, cheating the poor by legislation that favors ONLY the rich, neglecting the homeless, the infirm and the elderly, and not the least being fine with the death penalty.

All of the latter positions in direct opposition to both the Gospel and Catholic Social Justice.

Not to start a brawl, but to the Catholic Church ALL LIVES do matter. And as we know, the ones at most risk matter FIRST.

My Church split in two.

It became Us and Them.

It became Republican Catholics…who put their PARTY before their Faith and their bold certitude could not be broached, discussed or challenged.

The other half of Catholic Americans were having a tough time finding a candidate who was pro life…but pro ALL life.

[I’ll save how I could vote for Biden when Democrats support “choice” for another post.]

But this wasn’t just political…the Party that spent all of it’s time telling us what to FEAR and who to HATE was also telling us HOW TO WORSHIP … the Republican Catholics aligned themselves with the Traditionalist Catholics and the anti-Pope Francis movement.

It was a retro trip BACK to 1950, Pre Vatican II as if it never happened…if you weren’t a “traditionalist or ultra conservative” your Catholic-ness was in question and in their eyes, found wanting.

Forget the Gospel, or Jesus’ mandates for the “least of these” …it was their rigid way or the highway. Merciless.

Forgetting that Jesus showed us the way, over and over again.

Every Single Time.

It became a schism in what used to be the “universal” church…where the great variety of our global ethnicities were our strength. Now, variety was no longer welcome.

Aggressive parishioners backed by rigid parish priests forced people to choose sides. They either left or became so uncomfortable they shut up and tried to be invisible. [I don’t do enforced quiet very well. I changed parishes.]

Along with all the people you were supposed to reject/fear/hate [besides immigrants, anyone not white, poor people and gays–the list went on to, as it always does, to include anyone not them].

These same Republican / Traditionalist Catholics who were commingling Liturgy and politics were telling us to HATE THE POPE– as if for the first time in the 2000 year history of the Church the Holy Spirit had NOTHING to do with his selection. Really? Hmmmm.

My heartbreaking LENTEN discovery about America was not about the GOP/Trump Years… been there, done that,

Nor was My Catholic heartbreak about Party versus Faith

MY Heroes, have completely fallen, are lying on the ground gravely wounded, in desperate need of healing.

THE GOOD NEWS is well…THE Good News, [as always] and that there is hope for a future of joy if we will look deep, admit our sins of commission and omission and do the tough work of repentance and recovery-both in the Church and in America.

My discoveries came from my Lenten Challenge to myself. I wanted to discover HOW and WHY so many American and Italian [primarily] Bishops and Cardinals could promote REJECTING AND HATING THE POPE.

How the Church I love, who welcomed me with open arms was now abandoning all that I have cherished and becoming unrecognizable to my wounded spirit? Where is the love? Where is the Mercy? Where the generosity?

What was behind this horrific division and change in the Body of Christ, Catholic?

I couldn’t trust anyone to TELL ME THE WHOLE TRUTH…much like the current state of network News in America. [I’ll save my comments on Media for post Easter]- I’d have to figure it out myself.

I’d find out for myself.

So I went to the documents the aforementioned discontented Church leaders used as bullets to try to kill the Pope, his mission, his credibility and the legitimacy of his papacy:

Laudato Si, Fratelli Tutti, Evangelii Gaudium and for insight, I added a Biography of Francis by a trustworthy source: The Wounded Shepherd. and I forced myself to read the rabid screeds from the “hate the pope press”

I enjoy the meaty-ness of Encyclicals and Exhortations so I read them all myself…again…and paid special attention –highlighting, underlining and even taking notes.

COMING SOON… Parts One and Two

1. What I’ve learned about American Foreign Policies, the Planet and some of America’s gravest sins that most Americans know nothing about.
2. Why Aparecida is a word all Catholics need to know.

Until then… keep praying, fasting and giving alms….

Easter is only days away.

Your sister in Christ

Thora

Palm Sunday’s coming up next.

Trump’s Trial and Pope Francis… two tales; same story: Accountability and/or Forgiveness

Before January 21st, the GOP said Trump could not be tried for crimes WHILE a sitting president.

Now, the GOP says Trump cannot be tried for crimes because he is NO LONGER president.

That really says it all: The GOP wants immunity for Trump and by extension, for themselves.

The GOP says that to make Trump accountable and punish him for his criminal behavior/words regarding the broken laws during his presidency would destroy the “unity” President Biden wants to generate.

There can be no unity in this nation until laws apply equally to all

And that means both the prosecution of Trump et al co-defendants and the dissembling of institutional and systemic racism in America. To not punish is to treat the last few years’ atrocities as practice.

As a defense for Trump, it is a non sequitur … because, we Catholics know that FORGIVING someone does not mean they do not have to pay for their sins/crimes. Trump’s and the GOP’s behavior these past 5 years [I include the campaign] have broken many laws under “Caesar” not to mention shattering the moral laws of decency.

Those crimes represent a huge debt to the American people. Payment is due.

We, as Christians, also know that forgiveness, on our part, does not require the guilty to be penitent.

But God is God, and we know what a good confession requires for forgiveness.

As citizens with a moral obligation to promote the common good, we must also be acutely aware that if we let criminals run free to commit more crimes, we become complicit in those crimes. This includes the GOP elected who did nothing to stop Trump, who went along for the ride and now are claiming innocence while pointing to the violent mob as the ONLY GUILTY. There’s plenty of guilt to go around…and the guilty owe this country a debt. Yes, sins of omission are still sins.

While watching Impeachment -The Sequel…I’ve noticed the GOP keeps saying over and over–we MUST FORGIVE…

We must differentiate between Sin and Corruption.

This was a determination Pope Francis faced the day he became Pope and Pope Benedict Emeritus literally handed him the mountain of paperwork from the investigation into the debacle that was the Vatican finances.. full of bribery, kickbacks and embezzlement–corruption on a huge scale.

In the years that followed, His Holiness was confronted with the very very guilty whose greed and lust for power was unbridled. He was confronted with the very guilty who helped and participated in kickbacks and mismanagement for self gain. Francis faced the guilty who helped maintain the culture of elitism, as well as the complicit who through their silence, perpetuated and enabled this to continue. And finally, His Holiness had to face the innocent who had been betrayed.

So, just as the GOP vigorously rejects the idea of punishing TRUMP and his cohorts for their illegal activities and to maintain the Republican status quo of wealth and white privilege, so did the Holy Father’s detractors demand he stop. When he didn’t, they launched vicious attacks.

His Holiness faced vile attacks under the guise of traditionalists trying to retain the sanctity of the liturgy when really it was about maintaining the existing power structure of financial malfeasance. There were distorted “leaks” to the radical Catholic news media, all to portray him as an evil person trying to destroy the Church. The truth of the matter is that he was destroying The Status Quo of corruption, uncovering deep and festering wounds and purging the puss of fetid crimes. He and his team of outsiders were the antiseptic the Vatican so desperately needed if it was to survive.

The Democrats are suffering the same attacks from the GOP’s usual suspects and usual tactics of stalling vital help that would help the poorest of the poor, in the midst of a pandemic…why? Not for concern of the deficit as they profess because please remember, it was just months ago when Trump and allies were happy to add trillions to the deficit as long as the lion’s share went ONLY the most wealthy and powerful….Therefore, the punishment of those who have created this situation from the lies and anti-science at the beginning of the pandemic, to a nation in the midst of winter with a raging pandemic…and if the patient is to survive, we, too, must lance the festering wounds of lies, misdirection and obstructionists that penalizes ONLYr the least of us, the most vulnerable or more of us will die.

Democracy cannot survive without transparency, truth and justice–and that means punishing crime.

In the end, Francis brought in transparency, he brought in accountability, he stripped the power abusers of their power and those who committed the most heinous of crimes were turned over to the “laws of the land” for punishment and many were incarcerated and fined. He brought truth and dignity back to the Vatican.

And in our end, as we face the innocent poor, hungry, and homeless and unemployed who were betrayed by the wealth machine that is the GOP, we need to be able to say… “Yes, they are paying their due. They did not, this time, get away with it. There will be justice.” Too little and too late, but justice nonetheless.

Were Francis’ band of criminals forgiven? Most likely. But were they held accountable? Yes, again.

Pope Francis unknowingly prepared for what he would eventually confront on Day One as Pope. While he was still Bergoglio,(1991), he wrote an essay discerning the difference between sin and corruption… [taken From the book Wounded Shepherd by Austen Ivereigh- p61

“As long as a person was a sinner, there was hope, because the sinner accepted the truth of who she really was and how far she had fallen sort , once she was ready to turn to God in shame and repentance, she could be forgiven and change. The Church’s task with the sinner, as Jesus showed, was to be compassionate and merciful, always offering a space for her conversion.“

“With the corrupt, on the other hand, mercy could not yet reach them, because they had no shame. The corrupt denied the truth about themselves and refused to admit they were falling short; they turned not to God in shame , but away from God and out to others, whom they made complicit in their webs of deceit and self-justification.”

continuing, Pope Francis said: [of the corrupt in the Vatican finance scandal–but it applies perfectly to Trump and his crew]

“The corrupt could be turned around only by a major external shock, some great tribulation such as prison, bankruptcy, grave illness or a humiliating scandal.”

Think about it… what will Trump and his cohorts learn if not given a “major external shock”???? What will give them and others pause about doing the same thing again? Justice must be swift and sure and befitting the crime. For their sake and the sake of their soul there needs to be the shock of punishment.

Even if you despise what these people have done, as a Christian, we still need to worry about their souls… and the best case scenario is that at least some of the GOP members, so deeply complicit, will have a metanoia and come to see and acknowledge the error of their ways–Trump most of all.

We must pray for Trump and all those whose God is money and power and lust for they are truly lost.

We must change the culture so that betraying one’s oath of office comes with penalty–severe penalty.

If you read my last post [Christian Civics 101] you can stop here, because I’m injecting a portion that was leading to and is exactly the extrapolation regarding our civic duty with regard to each other and especially with regard to the punishment of the guilty… and what that means for OUR SOULS.

Only God is God, and “the State” is subordinate and accountable to God for its treatment of human persons, all of whom were created by God.

I’ll repeat the most important part:

The State is Subordinate and ACCOUNTABLE TO GOD for its treatment of human persons, all of whom were created by God.

AND THEREFORE, WE ARE ACCOUNTABLE FOR PUTTING THEM IN OFFICE and for what we let them do to the rest of us.

Our job as believers is to figure out what things belong to Caesar, and what things belong to God — and then put those things in right order in our own lives, and in our relations with others.”

I haven’t really seen much in the last 4 years….“Love your neighbor as yourself.” Matthew 19:19

                       The Judgement of Nations      Matthew 25:31-46

³¹ “When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, then he will sit on the throne of his glory. ³² All the nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats, ³³ and he will put the sheep at his right hand and the goats at the left. ³⁴ Then the king will say to those at his right hand, ‘Come, you that are blessed by my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world; ³⁵ for I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, ³⁶ I was naked and you gave me clothing, I was sick and you took care of me, I was in prison and you visited me.’     

Or did we let people be put in cages, left thousands going hungry/homeless in our wealthy nation, or dying from a pandemic, or stealing from the infirm and elderly to give to the rich– We cannot say, well, I didn’t do that personally…

IF YOU VOTED FOR THE PEOPLE WHO DO THOSE THINGS…YOU ARE COMPLICIT. PERIOD.

³⁷ Then the righteous will answer him, ‘Lord, when was it that we saw you hungry and gave you food, or thirsty and gave you something to drink? ³⁸ And when was it that we saw you a stranger and welcomed you, or naked and gave you clothing? ³⁹ And when was it that we saw you sick or in prison and visited you?’

 ⁴⁰ And the king will answer them, ‘Truly I tell you, just as you did it to one of the least of these who are members of my family,^[a] you did it to me.’ 

⁴¹ Then he will say to those at his left hand, ‘You that are accursed, depart from me into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels; ⁴² for I was hungry and you gave me no food, I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink, ⁴³ I was a stranger and you did not welcome me, naked and you did not give me clothing, sick and in prison and you did not visit me.’ ⁴⁴ Then they also will answer, ‘Lord, when was it that we saw you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or sick or in prison, and did not take care of you?’ ⁴⁵ Then he will answer them, ‘Truly I tell you, just as you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to me.’ ⁴⁶ And these will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life.”

By doing what is right and godly by your neighbor, you gain eternal life.

By providing a rescue package for the millions of unemployed, those with unstable housing or hungry children during a pandemic… By making sure all people have access to the best vaccine.

Like dismantling systemic racism, especially in prison reform

Like ending the death penalty

By NOT doing right by your neighbor, you have everything to lose.

Like BLOCKING a rescue package that millions of people need in this country.

By undermining the Climate/Environmental protections for the sake of pure profit we lose the very earth that sustains us. The earth God said we are to care for as faithful stewards

By keeping kids in cages we disgrace our own humanity and lose our moral standing in the world.

By media telling outright lies that cost lives, we become an untrustworthy ally.

By letting those who promote violence and intimidation against co-workers keep their jobs we victimize the victim for a second time.

Financially, it’s been proven again and again in this country….

You simply cannot OUT-GIVE God’s generosity.

Every time America has had generous programs for everyone, for infrastructure, the country has prospered because God always takes what we give and multiplies our blessings.

You Simply Cannot Out-Give God

So while we await the verdict on Trump’s second impeachment at the same time we begin thinking about this coming Lent [Ash Wed on 2/17 btw] as a time of prayer, fasting and almsgiving… let us look inward to our sins and see if there is some unyielding “corruption” that we are in denial about, some festering wound that needs lancing and needs the light of Christ to heal us.

A Christian Civics Lesson…or…The Political Perspicacity of Public Goods

I’ve been reading a great deal lately.

Mostly because I like to, but also as an alternative to the idiocy-inducing options from the deviant minds of television producers who seem to think that a line-up such as currently “trending” is what a pandemic-ridden, panicked public in the middle of political upheaval on the edge of a dystopian nightmare needs right now.

It is not.  [That’s another post topic].

My first book related to this topic was by Ben Howe “The Immoral Majority” about how supposed Christians could justify voting for Trump. It broke my heart as a Christian, especially knowing it was these well-meaning [being charitable] people who put him in office and we have all reaped the “rotten fruits” of his labors.

Then, I realized THAT I’d Been Researching the Wrong Topic.

My additional reading list took me back to Spring 2017, just after Trump was inaugurated, the new president was whining about having to live in the shabby White House—and his wife and son were still in New York. The introduction in the thin tome, begins by pointing out the double-duty and double-dollars for Secret Service needed to provide for multiple presidential residences as a way of entering into a conversation about public goods and the importance of same.

The Boston Review Forum #3, 2017: a collection of erudite essays, issued a few times a year on currently relevant topics.

Today’s Topic: Civics and Citizenship

First, we’re going to back-track a bit, just-in-case some of these concepts are new to you or you haven’t given them much thought recently—like since 7^th grad civics class. Alas, a subject, obviously, no longer taught in schools–abandoned along with the Pledge of Allegiance..

In contrast to the current “Me, Me, Me, My rights, My Desires, My Right to Individual, Instant Gratification no Matter who gets hurt” American trend in self-indulgence, there used to be two concepts as fervently taught and practiced as any religion:

#1  American Civics

While civics includes the Rights [capital “R”] of the citizen of a given city, state, or country, it also includes the long-forgotten term: Responsibilities of citizenship. Also capital “R.”  

Membership in a community comes with both rights and responsibilities—the first of which is that my/your/our Rights can never negate [trample] the Rights of another. That’s what the term inalienable rights means [from the Constitution].

In 1922 an editorial cartoonist coined the term/image of John Q. Public

John Q. Public 

John Q. Public is the Everyman, the man on the street, the average citizen [aka voter/taxpayer]: at that time, in 1922, before either world war, John Q. was the hard-working family man toiling for the good of his family and the common good of his city, state and nation.

John Q. Public was the epitome of citizenship. And one of the things that happened when you got all the John Q. Public’s together and pooled their intellectual, inventive, and financial resources is that you created a sound local community, a state of prosperity and a secure nation.

And it worked increasing well for decades as America prospered and grew and grew and as our resources grew and we eventually became the envy of the world—and a model for greatness. There was an expanding middle class and every citizen had cause to hope and work for their version of the American Dream.

There was something CIVIC-minded in the citizenry, the daily spoken pledge of Allegiance bore out that concept and we used to teach it to our young… while the “pledge” is not to an idol aka THE flag itself, it is allegiance to an idea, a goal for which the flag symbolically stands. It is allegiance as a countryman to the country, to the Constitution. It’s these common ideals of working toward the common good to which we, as citizens owe allegiance—loyalty.  That’s not asking too much. That’s the Responsibility portion.

Perhaps you’ve seen this. https://youtu.be/hJNL_rhGDq4

Please, enjoy it again.

Think: not-to-be-violated, Rights. As in, it should have been just as inalienable for me to have my children learn the pledge of allegiance [and loyalty to community] at school rather than none of us could because ONE PERSON wanted it stopped. Not just being able to opt out for themselves–to sit down quietly while those who want to make the pledge could [THAT is  what NOT squashing another’s rights looks like] but we have become the nation of one dissenter makes the rules for all. That is not equality.

THAT is NOT protecting everyone’s rights–that’s domination of the most litigious. And then it followed in the same vein with Atheists and school prayer. Not that the prayers would thereafter be made silently, [still keeping religious freedom] and the atheist could think whatever he wanted during that time–but that any form of prayer/faith was to be banned. Again, not protecting everyone’s rights.

There was also regularly spoken [and taught in schools] obligation to promote the “common good”  [even including some measure of self-sacrifice, if necessary] and the products of such promotions were called:  Public Goods

Before we move on to Public Goods, let’s discuss specific CHRISTIAN CIVICS

1a: Christian Civics 101…

Christianity has always been about putting the welfare of the “other” before self.

In the very beginning, the issue of covetousness comes up in Gen 4:9 when the jealous Cain has just slain his brother Abel for whom God comes looking.

“Am I my brother’s keeper?” Cain asks sarcastically, and then he lies to God about where Abel’s body is.

For coveting the love God gave Abel—for wanting more than his fair share, for failing to care for his brother, for murdering in the name of greed, and for bearing false witness—Cain is cast out for eternity.

Over and Over again, Scripture and tradition tell us how we are to live out our duties as citizens no matter the ruler.

“Give to Caesar what is Caesar’s”   [pay your taxes!]

Abp Charles Chaput on Rendering to Caesar: [his book by the same title]

“When Jesus tells the Pharisees and Herodians in the Gospel of Matthew (22:21) to “render unto the Caesar the things that are Caesar’s and to God the things that are God’s,” he sets the framework for how we should think about religion and the state even today. Caesar does have rights. We owe civil authority our respect and appropriate obedience. But that obedience is limited by what belongs to God. Caesar is not God.

Only God is God, and the state is subordinate and accountable to God for its treatment of human persons, all of whom were created by God.

I’ll repeat the most important part:

The State is Subordinate and ACCOUNTABLE TO GOD for its treatment of human persons, all of whom were created by God.

AND THEREFORE, WE ARE ACCOUNTABLE FOR PUTTING THEM IN OFFICE

Our job as believers is to figure out what things belong to Caesar, and what things belong to God — and then put those things in right order in our own lives, and in our relations with others.”

Not really seeing so much…“Love your neighbor as yourself.” Matthew 19:19

 

                       The Judgement of Nations      Matthew 25:31-46

³¹ “When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, then he will sit on the throne of his glory. ³² All the nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats, ³³ and he will put the sheep at his right hand and the goats at the left. ³⁴ Then the king will say to those at his right hand, ‘Come, you that are blessed by my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world; ³⁵ for I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, ³⁶ I was naked and you gave me clothing, I was sick and you took care of me, I was in prison and you visited me.’     

Or did we let people be put in cages, left thousands going hungry/homeless in our wealthy nation, or dying from a pandemic, or stealing from the infirm and elderly to give to the rich– We cannot say, well, I didn’t do that personally… IF YOU VOTED FOR THE PEOPLE WHO DO THOSE THINGS…YOU ARE COMPLICIT. PERIOD.

³⁷ Then the righteous will answer him, ‘Lord, when was it that we saw you hungry and gave you food, or thirsty and gave you something to drink? ³⁸ And when was it that we saw you a stranger and welcomed you, or naked and gave you clothing? ³⁹ And when was it that we saw you sick or in prison and visited you?’

 ⁴⁰ And the king will answer them, ‘Truly I tell you, just as you did it to one of the least of these who are members of my family,^[a] you did it to me.’ 

⁴¹ Then he will say to those at his left hand, ‘You that are accursed, depart from me into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels; ⁴² for I was hungry and you gave me no food, I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink, ⁴³ I was a stranger and you did not welcome me, naked and you did not give me clothing, sick and in prison and you did not visit me.’ ⁴⁴ Then they also will answer, ‘Lord, when was it that we saw you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or sick or in prison, and did not take care of you?’ ⁴⁵ Then he will answer them, ‘Truly I tell you, just as you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to me.’ ⁴⁶ And these will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life.”

By doing what is right and godly by your neighbor, you gain eternal life.

By NOT doing right by your neighbor, you have everything to lose.

You simply cannot OUT-GIVE God’s generosity.

For God always takes what your give and multiplies your blessings.

You Simply Cannot Out-Give God

Let us look at our Citizenship, then, with the heart of God’s generosity.

And now, back to our story of Public Goods and what that looks like through Christian [Christ’s] eyes.

#2 Public Goods

The Boston Review starts out by taking a look at what Trump’s presidency, in particular, was already doing to America by way of rearranging and in some cases scuttling Public Goods in the few months since his inauguration.

Inasmuch as the White House is a public good…a home provided for our leader with the tax dollars of the nation’s citizens…Trump’s refusal to stay where all other presidents have stayed at the cost of MILLIONS of extra tax payer dollars for secret service security in New York for his family AND at the White House AND at MARLAGO which is not designed for safety to begin with, after rejecting the equally “shabby” Camp David was a blatant squandering of public goods.

The warning signs of the upcoming reduction in PUBLIC GOODS were evident from the get-go, and have been borne out over the past three years.

Going back to our civics lesson–the idea of public goods—it is our civic responsibility to contribute to the common good. That means everyone pays taxes into the common pot.

EACH OF US… FOR THE “OTHER.”

 Philippians gives you another Christian Civics lesson and clearly expresses the attitude we are to have toward others:

Philippians 2:3-4 “Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility regard others as better than yourselves. Let each of you look not to your own interests, but to the interests of others.”

We are, by God’s mandate, for the sake of our own soul, to care for the vulnerable, to think of the needs of the other rather than only ourselves and in that vein of common good we, as a community, provide and share Public Goods.

What are Public Goods?

Easily identifiable as a PUBLIC GOOD are public ROADS so people can get goods to market, that became major highways so that interstate commerce can cross the nation bringing prosperity, opportunity and MAIL [USPS] to even the most remote region.

The USPS was considered SO important it is a self-sufficient agency and mandated so just what Trump’s trying to do cannot happen—well, not legally.

As we became industrialized, Public Goods grew to include ELECTRICITY everywhere, and WATER pumped TO our homes and SEWAGE pumped away from our homes.

It came to include NATURAL GAS for heating/cooking and TELEPHONE lines to improve communications and improve commerce.

It became the PUBLIC SCHOOL system because we knew that an educated citizenry benefits every community.  The PUBLIC LIBRARY.

Those PUBLIC GOODS used to be all publicly held. BY THE PUBLIC, in other words: by the elected government who are “we the people.” Goods provided by our taxes for our use.

We, the American collective of John Q. Publics, controlled public goods so that these goods could be made universally and unilaterally available to each and every citizen.                         [Underling added. We’ll discuss lack of access a bit later]

For those PUBLIC GOODS…We pay Taxes.

Originally, EVERY John Q. Public paid his SHARE proportional to his wealth.

Even the Bible had a sliding % scale. 10% of first fruits.

All the way up to President Eisenhower, the rich always paid more.

President Dwight David Eisenhower, IMHO perhaps the last real Republican, had a 90 percent tax rate for the superrich during his administration. [1953-1961 my admittedly, white privileged childhood—from birth to eight.]

What such taxation did for the PUBLIC GOODS was create and sustain a real middle class.

“Success leaves Clues.”

I remember many of my friends had stay-at-home Moms…the Dads had ONE job with maybe a bit of overtime, and they owned a house, a TV, a car and a SUMMER COTTAGE on the lake and we had change for the ice cream truck. The houses weren’t fancy but they were equipped with lights and heat and telephones and public water and sewer. The neighborhoods were nice. There were public parks. We went to public schools that were clean and well cared for and we had enough textbooks.

The Boston Review defined “public goods” as those”

“Essential to enabling human success and well-being. The Review called it a democratic conception of public goods.  It is a democratic conception the substantive and aspirational sense of democracy: These are goods that we owe to one another in a shared democratic society.”  [Underlining added]”

Let me repeat that.

PUBLIC GOODS ARE WHAT WE OWE TO ONE ANOTHER IN A SHARED DEMOCRATIC SOCIETY.      [underlining added]

We even provided for our elderly John and Jane Q’s after they paid into the Government Social Security program… Social Security is a not entirely a PUBLIC GOOD—but supposed to be a cooperative between the public [workers] and the government who holds the money and then gives it back later. We even expanded it to include a Social Security net for those who are too ill/disabled to work.

PAID INTO during their entire working lives. Workers provided for the citizens who retired before them, as the young pay for today’s worker when he/she’s too old to work. This social safety net…is for the common good.

EACH CITIZEN PAYS IN—in essence LOANING the government their money to invest the fund so that when they are too old/ill to work, the GOVERNMENT will REPAY THEM in MONTHLY INSTALLMENTS in their declining years.

Social Security is BOUGHT AND PAID FOR by the SWEAT AND LABOR OF THE WORKING PEOPLE OF THIS COUNTRY…it is not some “handout” some “PERK.”

Just this week [Aug 2020] Trump threatened to do an end-run around gutting social security by directly withdrawing funds—which he can’t… by saying [If he is reelected] he will stop taking FICA from workers which means the FICA Withholdings will stop and there will be no money going into Social Security.

NO PRESDIENT CAN DO THAT, he/she cannot stop Tax Withholding. Which is why, for now, Trump “deferred it”…to look good now, pay back later while his posse tries to figure out how to abolish this law if he should be re-elected.

In fact, the 1935 law expressly forbid this idea, in Section 803 of Title VIII.

Just so you know.

The Boston Review goes on to say:

 “In turn, this suggests that ensuring equal access to these goods is a matter of public concern and public obligation.”  [Underlining added].

The Problem of “Access”

I made a point of italicizing my memories of childhood as white privilege. Because 1950’s Blacks did not enjoy the same era of prosperity or ease into the middle class as whites. There were no blacks in my middle class neighborhood, blacks did not have access to equal housing, jobs, or many other “public goods” and even though there had been desegregation in schools, many municipalities paid out PUBLIC MONEY based on the income/property value of the neighborhood. So a “public school” in an affluent white neighborhood was a far cry from the “public school” in a black neighborhood.

Speaking of Housing and neighborhoods… PUBLIC HOUSING designed to be “fair/affordable housing for the poorer communities” was just another excuse to seclude, warehouse and segregate blacks/minorities from white communities. The ghetto, the slum, the “projects” were just that, projects in misdirection while perpetuating segregation and unequal access to PUBLIC GOODS.

Let us revisit the democratic conception of public goods…

 “Essential to enabling human success and well-being. The Review called it a democratic conception of public goods..

It is a democratic conception the substantive and aspirational sense of democracy.

Public Goods are goods that we owe to one another in a shared democratic society.”

What we Owe to one Another.

Given the advances in technology and innovation, and longer lives and in the face of countries as large, or larger than ours, who provide better, more comprehensive public goods for their citizens—with far less GDP—America must do better.

We need, as a nation, to recommit ourselves to finding a way to ADD:

UNIVERSAL HEALTHCARE, CHILD CARE, and INTERNET ACCESS to the list of PUBLIC GOODS…

And while we’re at it,

The Danger of Privatization of Public Goods

Remember when Ma-Bell was the only phone company? Everyone had a phone and whoever didn’t could use the pay phone on the corner. But along came the breakup of the “monopoly”—and supposedly prices would decrease as efficiency increased.  Look at your phone bill and everything you have to pay for now–phones cost hundreds of dollars. There is no competition for lower rates, it’s corporate collusion driving up rates.

Flint, MI water which WAS a PUBLIC GOOD went private and the poor communities of FLINT, mostly of color, were POISONED via neglect because there was no PUBLIC GOOD and no PUBLIC OVERSIGHT and the “private owner” took the money, left the state and never looked back.

We’ve seen it again and again and now many POLITICIANS want to scuttle PUBLIC GOODS for privatization of the MAIL, of SOCIAL SECURITY…the way they did for HEALTHCARE…

It costs thousands of dollars in America to have a baby…but only a couple hundred to have an abortion. In Scandinavian countries it costs $70 to have a baby-abortions are almost free but the have the lowest abortion rates in the world per capita.

Success leaves clues. 

RX medications like insulin skyrocketed because of PRIVATE PHARMA, the Medical Insurance industry is rolling in cash while people die, every day from rationing.

And the people at the top of Amazon, and other mega corporations, Insurances and Pharma companies PAY ALMOST or NO TAXES and raise prices to DENY ACCESS to all but the most wealthy.

I’m alternately saddened/enraged over this “trend” and I’m tired of daily watching the next theft/dismantling of PUBLIC GOODS by a government that is holding us hostage rather than serving us.

This is not a Republican/Democrat thing…

It’s a Save Your Soul Thing!

When you think about any election of and “Caesars,” local, state or federal… ask:

Is this person someone who will take care of the vulnerable “least” others or are they just in it for the power/fame/money?  It’s easy to tell. Not by their words…

By their deeds you shall know them”       Mat 7:6

Does the platform  of these candidates support…by introducing bills for AND fighting against cutbacks of Public Goods?

Do they take action to feed the hungry- or do they want to poorest of people to have less food [stamps?]? Do they want to take away from the poor [Cut Medicaid/Medicare] to give to the rich?

Clothing the naked, housing the homeless, medical care for the sick? Universal healthcare of all of God’s children is a right–not a privilege.

Protecting the planet [over which God gave us stewardship in Gen 1:28]—do they want to reduce pollution of air, water, soil or deregulate corporations to do what they want?

Do they promote equal access to ALL public goods or do they want to withhold it from foreigners, refugees, minorities, and the list of everyone BUT white folks goes on and on.

DO NOT COMPARE CANDIDATES TO EACH OTHER COMPARE THEM AGAINST WHAT GOD REQUIRES OF YOU! Who will help your goal of heaven?

THE CHOICE MAY NOT BE EASY,

CERTAINLY, NEVER PERFECT, BUT EASIER.

IT HAS TO ALWAYS BE THE OPTION FOR THE POOR,

As a Catholic, as a Christian…

Pray for the courage to vote for people who will care for the “others” in our society. Forget party, forget pride. Yes, it will cost YOU more. Sacrifice purifies the soul.

VOTE, NOT for MAN, but  FOR THE SAKE OF YOUR ETERNAL SOUL

 

Have a safe and blessed week ahead.

Your sister in Christ,

T

 

 

 

 

 

This St. Iggy’s Girl and his Feast Day: July 31st.

Tomorrow’s my St. Iggy’s feast day.

St. Ignatius of Loyola 1491-1556. I am a St. Iggy’s girl, self-proclaimed as the Jesuits [Society of Jesus] that St. Ignatius founded does not have a 3rd order for lay persons. Doesn’t matter, I’ve taken him and Ignatian Spirituality to heart. Let me tell you why.

St. Iggy’s main claim to fame was showing us just how to put into our daily lives what Socrates said 1900 years earlier [399B.C.]:

“The unexamined life is not worth living.”

St. Ignatius developed the Daily Self Examen[ation] in which we look over our past day and see where we have fallen short of God’s will for us, where we have encountered Him, and where we need God’s mercy and grace. This daily examination does a few things.

1. Seeing yourself in blunt TRUTH, warts and all, promotes humility.

2. Recalling all the times, today, you encountered Him, through nature, prayer or other people develops the tendency to look for Him, to look for the good, to look for blessings and as humans we “see what we look for.” So look for the good, the beautiful, the holy; not bad. The bad will proclaim itself. Doing this produces not only an “attitude of gratitude” for today, but in your whole life–your whole view of the world will change.

3. It calls to mind the times you fell short, reminds you of your place in the universe [NOT the center, btw] and how fragile and frail we are and we must love mercy, ask for grace and forgiveness.

THE REALLY BIG ONE FOR ME, so important these days…

4. JOY in the midst of SUFFERING. Yes I said it… JOY while still in the midst of suffering. That Joy comes from knowing that this life is finite and right now we’re struggling for every day we can get; this government is betraying us–but God never will. We know that even if the worst happens– Jesus, resurrected after he conquered death for us…

Karl Barth said:

 Joy is the simplest form of gratitude.

And as Joy in gratitude allows us to see the world’s beauty, it also allows us to see the ugliness [COVID and government upheaval, racism, world wide tragedies] with hope. To see every challenge with both hope and the determination to fix what’s broken.

Because,

Love isn’t love if it doesn’t move one to action.

So I can be HOPEFUL in the challenges America faces.

I can be JOYFUL in the midst of a pandemic–because I see so many heroes bringing God’s love and grace to people.

I see ordinary people doing extraordinary things for Christ. I love this country and this planet and the plants and animals and waters and sky…and so in this gratitude I’ll show that love by voting to protect natural resources, I’ll wear a mask, and wash my hands and stay home 99% of the time because the only thing I can do to actually save lives is NOT GET COVID so I’m not taking a bed someone else needs, and remain alive and healthy to take care of the people [my family and the gal I cook for] and country I love.

I’m grateful I’m alive to spend much of my day praying without ceasing–every time I think of someone or some situation I pray about it.

Prayer changes things

PRAYER CHANGES ME.

So tomorrow on St. Iggy’s Day, check out his story, check out his Spiritual Exercises, check out his 6 Characteristics of a Healthy Spirit.

Those of you who know me, know that the singular reason I wrote “From Trauma to Joy…the Ignatian Way” was to share with others St. Iggy’s strategies for those experiencing/living through civilian P.T.S.D. to find the JOY even in the midst of suffering.

AMDG

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3Kay Kiefner, Lori Weismantel and 1 other

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Reform the Police! Just Call a Catholic!

 

“I’m having Déjà vu, all over again!” Yogi Berra

Not too many years ago, the American Catholic Church was very nearly in the same position American Law Enforcement finds itself today.

The Catholic Church then and the Police now, were forced to face some UGLY, humbling and humiliating truths about systemic corruption and criminal behavior by its members.

Just like the Catholic Church, the Police now face some excruciatingly difficult conversations and must take some sweeping, drastic measures to repent/reform and rebuild—both individually and institutionally.

First we Catholics had to own our sins:

 

Sins of Commission:

A small percentage of our “organization” did criminal and morally repugnant things against other children of God [victims].

Certain Officers are more danger than protector to people of color, using violent, unnecessary tactics up-to-and-including murder. [victims]

Sins of Omission:

When leadership knew of the crimes and did nothing,

Followed by

More Sins of commission:

Leadership became complicit,

* Covering up the crimes,

* Silencing victims/witnesses,

* Transferring the criminal to commit the same crime again.

* Whistle blowers were subjected to retaliation/career suicide

 

Yup, We’ve Been There, Done That!

And not just Recently…

 

You may remember we had, as a Church, some ‘splaining to do’

Over a violent murderous thing called The Inquisition

Even when we stopped killing people,

The Church stirred up hatred for the Jews claiming the Jews [alone] killed Jesus. [spoiler alert: our SIN killed Jesus and that was why He was sent as recompense]

And we are currently struggling with many parts of our faith that are discriminatory and hurtful to the LGBTQ community.  We have a long way to go.

Truthfully, Reform never ends.

The Takeaway? No institution that is peopled by PEOPLE will ever be perfect or holy—but that doesn’t mean it can’t be the GOAL.

Because you see, even with our collective wisdom and determination, sincerely devoted to the proper handling of the pedophile priests, it was too-long coming, too slow and didn’t go high enough in the beginning. The continued “accountability” search for all complicit and involved only happened because the majority of the community demanded that the purge go as high as necessary.

Otherwise, the bottom rung will get cleaned but the “old boys” tradition of institutional corruption will get away free.

WHY?

Because systems themselves can be flawed.

Both systems: Church and Cops.

Both Institutions were/are flawed in procedures and policies and need reform. Constant reform. There is no “once and for all” because people, communities and society changes.

 

Q: What Should Cops Do First?

A: Quit, Quitting.

Cops should first look at the following quote.

If they agree, they stay, if they don’t—the find another job and

“Don’t let the door hit ya….where the good Lord split ya!”

That’s all there is to it.

Either you’re part of the problem, or part of the solution.

“You have to hate it enough to make it change; and love it enough to think it worth changing.”                                                                               GK Chesterton

 

Like a good cop confronted with a “dirty” partner, or a leadership that promotes a culture of racism, violence and creates within the department—the heartbreak is real, the sense of betrayal by the organization runs painfully deep. The good cop is a victim too.

Many end up with a fatalistic view that they, as one officer, or one pew sitter, can’t do anything. Especially because to stand up, to blow that whistle means retaliation, being ostracized by colleagues, possibly career suicide—or even death when fellow officers deliberately fail to “back you up.”

It happens. It happens more than you think.

Like those of us sitting in our pews, pondering the sheer numbers of little boys [and fewer girls] molested over the decades, the rot of cover-ups—our hearts torn asunder by the betrayal.

We felt small, impotent, helpless and hopeless…just like the cops do...for about a minute and a half.

Then we gathered our Angels and Saints, our Good and Godly priests and got behind them. WE LOVED our God, our Faith with its ancient, and often sinful history and said again, what we’ve said before:

Time to confess our sins and hold ALL accountable to task

Time to heal the victims—by asking for forgiveness and helping them heal.

Time to prevent future victims with a deep organizational self-examination

Time to prevent future victims by bringing in the best and brightest minds

Time to bring in the BIGGEST HEARTS to support and encourage all the

Innocent, maligned good members who have been tarnished and endangered by the actions of a small percentage.*

• pedophile priests were estimated to be something like 1% while in the general population, per capita they represent 2% of population—but like police officers, priests are in positions of exalted authority so their betrayal is far worse, far more criminal, far more damaging to victims.

 

Catholic Opportunity #1

Support our Local Police Departments

 

LOVE COMES FIRST

Because we Catholics know exactly what police departments are facing across the country we can help them by getting behind them, encouraging them in love and support—just as we did all our good and godly priests.

We can show police departments the ways of systemic change, and we are experts at bringing multiple cultures together…despite out squabbles we are STILL the Universal Church with 1 BILLION members worldwide. We get that it’s a tough job but we can support them locally while they do it.

We can mentor, encourage, and counsel broken departments toward healing.

 

Catholic Opportunity #2

Support Black Lives and Businesses

 

LOVE COMES FIRST

WE can start, as I see we have, by joining in the protests, by supporting the protests, by reaching out in peace and love.

Cleaning our Catholic Corner

Before we pass the Broom

And to prove that, I’ll point to a place in my beloved Church that currently suffers from endemic racism and segregation. The Knights of Columbus—for white Catholic men and the Knights of Peter Claver for Catholic African American men and women.

Just to be clear I know nothing of these two organizations but it doesn’t take someone “woke” to know that SEPARATE is NEVER EQUAL.  The picture says it all. 

Yes, in 2020!

 

                                   

And we can start by merging/changing the Knights of Columbus and the Knights of Peter Claver… NOT by dismantling both of them.

To dismantle them sounds like an old tantrum from the deep South that says, “if we can’t have segregation—then I’m taking my toys and going home.”  We Catholics know how wrong that is.

My question is: Why did no one do something about his earlier?

My guess is that there are too few African American Catholics to raise the issue with any bit of power behind them.  Doubles our shame.

Catholic Opportunity #3

Evangelization

Because of Irish and Italian Cops—historically, predominantly Catholic, there’s a connection there that needs to be explored. Catholic cops need to be supported and encouraged to be change makers. To see that their policing mandate is perfectly compatible with their religious and moral beliefs. That equal justice under the law and Catholic Social Justice are one and the same; and that ALL LIFE IS SACRED.

Catholics are a natural to Evangelize the African American community because we Catholics know what it’s like to be on the KKK’s extermination list. We know what it’s like, even with our “white privilege” to still be denied equality in jobs, housing, career advancement, even in running for political office. John Kennedy as a Catholic president was near scandal and the hate mail and death threats were the same as for Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

Catholics need to reach out to our wounded and neglected Black brother and sisters and ask for forgiveness that we are so late in taking up their cause, so late in seeing that their cause is every American’s cause and that we fully intend to stand WITH THEM while they seek justice for all those victimized…

 

Catholics are called to be the Mediator in this time of crisis, to help the police departments do what we did when we found criminals in our midst, and to help heal the wounds of our victimized brothers and sisters–Both Black and Blue–for the sake of our nation, and our very soul 

It can’t be either/or, it Must be Both

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Could Trump be an Answer to Prayer????

Before my readers who are Trump supporters shout “She’s seen the light” and those who know me better, are calling for the jacket with wrap-around sleeves and some heavy medication…take a deep breath and hear me out.

First ask: What was the prayer?

One of my daily prayers is for our country:

Father of all nations and ages,

we recall the day when our country

claimed its place among the family of nations;

for what has been achieved we give you thanks,

for the work that still remains we ask your help,

and as you have called us from many peoples

to be one nation,                                  [underlined added by me– the part that got answered. ]

grant that, under your providence,

our country may share your blessings

with all the peoples of the earth.

Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son,

who lives and reigns with you

in the unity of the Holy Spirit,

one God, for ever and ever.

Amen.                                                                     [from: the new Roman Missal]

I usually follow that with a prayer for the mental health of Donald Trump for he’s not only a man out of his depth professionally, he’s out of his mind-mentally. Clinical narcissism and total lack of human empathy is a mental disorder. He is to be pitied [and removed from power for the sake of our nation and democracy] but most of all, pitied and prayed for.

When God clearly answers one of my prayers, I rejoice and give thanks immediately.

But, most of the time, it’s not like that… is it?

Typical answered prayers are like Jesus’ stories and parables.

You have to do some digging to ferret out the meaning and its relationship to what you prayed for.

A second part of my daily prayer routine is lectio divina…randomly reading from the Bible and then meditating on the verse.

One verse has haunted me for weeks, long before George Floyd’s murder: Genesis 50:20 and it would pop up every time I prayed for Mr. Trump and also, repented the less-than charitable posts/thoughts/wishes I had in reaction to his latest stunt/tweet.

The verse tells when Joseph [coat of many colors] forgives his brothers for selling him into slavery—but in the end, even though what they did was certainly evil, Joseph rose to power in spite of it and was able to SAVE THEM.  This isn’t about slavery, although it could be. More importantly, it speaks to God’s ability to change things.

God can change evil into something good.

“The evil you planned to do me has, by God’s design, been turned to good, to bring about the present result: the survival of a numerous people.” Gen 50:20               [underlining by me]

THIS is where Donald Trump and his presidency come in

Through 3.5 years of  Trump as president and the things he’s done, at first, seem to indicate God abandoned us to our apathetic, [not bothering to vote], hateful ways.

In the end, many lives, Black lives will be saved.  [Take another breath, I’m getting there]

I have to be grateful. Trump’s presidency has taught us what REALLY matters:

It matters if our president understands the Constitution he’s vowed to protect.

It matters if our president knows that truth is objective.

It matters if our president has diplomatic skills in dealing with other nations.

It matters if our president is loyal to allies as such partnerships require.

It matters if our president is more concerned with feathering his own nest and those of his wealthy friends rather than caring for the most vulnerable in our society.

It matters if our president has respect for preserving the earth for future generations.

It matters if our president has a fully formed conscience.

And

It matters if our president is a xenophobic racist.

Because

It matters if our police and government are implicitly racist.

It matters if our president approves of suppressing votes of black citizens and citizens of “blue” states.

It matters If our president wants to be a dictator and use our military against our own citizens

“When the looting starts, the shooting starts” Donald Trump

It matters that Black LIVES ARE IN DANGER. Every. Single. Day.

First comes the Pandemic.

            Our whole nations gets a “time out” to realize what really matters:

The lives of our loved ones, surviving the pandemic, a job, safety, food, voting.

Then comes white militia storming my own capitol city. [over haircuts, masks]

Then comes the murder of George Floyd.

Then come the protests.

Then come the riots.

America’s Dirty Underbelly FULLY Exposed

For the past 3.5 years… America’s dirty underbelly has been showing in increasing proportion to the encouragement given from the White House, the complicity of prosecutors who won’t prosecute, of cops who act with impunity and immunity that our country has far less to be proud of than we boasted. We are forced to face the truth.

Our own government has shouted fire in a crowded theatre.

It’s ugly and it’s TRUE… we are a racist nation.

WE HAVE TO OWN IT, repent it. Fix it.

Finally, Finally, in the wake of the tragic murder of George Floyd the RIGHT QUESTIONS are being asked:

What CAN we do as individuals, locally, state wide, and nationally?

What MUST we do to stop the inherent racism in our country?

What MUST we do to stop WHITE PRIVILEGE, WEALTH PRIVILEGE?

What must we do to clean up our Government? Our Policing?

That’s easy, elect better people but for that everyone must VOTE.

Black Votes Matter too.

But the REAL QUESTION this meme brought to my mind is: [not did they] but COULD THEY?

 

Another Prayer Answered:

[This time my prayer for my fellow Catholics who’ve been coming unhinged on social media and dividing the CHURCH the way the nation is divided  and over nothing so urgent as murdered citizens.]

“Let my Catholic brothers and sisters stop infighting about whether Eucharist must be on the tongue or can be on the hand and other ridiculous, divisive, first-world, non-issues.

Turn their focus to actually doing something meaningful about the suffering in this world. [NOT whether a Bishop has the right to ask you to wear a mask.]

Make the invisible, visible to us Lord.   [another prayer answered and it ain’t pretty]

Make parishes more concerned with evangelizing and welcoming people without judgment as we remember our place in the scheme of things. That we’re here to love. We are here to love.”

I Praise God as I see so many of my brothers and sisters in Christ MARCHING, So many priests and Bishops and Archbishops MARCHING. [wishing I was well enough to join in]

Thank You Lord for another prayer answered as I also pray for the grieving family of George Floyd—martyred to change our entire nation.  

Bless George with eternal rest in Your arms, Lord.

Just one happy example among many:

https://cathstan.org/news/local/participants-say-priests-protest-against-racism-was-about-prayer-not-politics

The Other Side of the Coin

An excerpt from the link above also touched on the side of the coin I’m now going to flip.  Policing…namely Good Police Officers.

“St. Luke’s pastor noted that “at the march today we prayed for good police officers and good policing,” and he said police officers provided security for the event, with four to five police cruisers driving ahead of the marchers as they marched from near Lafayette Square to the National Museum of African American History and Culture.

“While we were praying, there were police officers praying alongside us. They saw the essence of what we were doing,” he said.

This past year, the parish priest received an award for community leadership from the Metropolitan Police Department.

“I personally work with tremendous police officers who would lay down their lives for me,” he said.

But he said reform is needed, to prevent bad police officers from discrediting the uniform they wear.

“The only way we can get peace is to get reform, so the community can continue to trust the police, and the police can have the backs of the community people and defend them,” the priest said.”

As the daughter of a cop who was shot – 5 times–answering a domestic violence call [when I was just 6 years old] I know most cops are good.

I also think that too many that should have never gotten a badge and gun in the first place. I’ll explore this and other cop issues in another post.

Since I hold a degree in Police Science, (one of the first women admitted to my particular academy–way back when). I will also admit, I studied alongside some I prayed would never make the grade, for a variety of reasons.

Many have been trained to have the knee-jerk response Mr. Trump has…overly aggressive domination as first and only response.

Often, good cops are tormented because they  are powerless to get rid of bad cops even when they try, because of cop unions and complicit higher ups…then there’s the legendary SILENT BLUE WALL that spells their doom if they “rat” because the other bad cops will retaliate—and if the higher ups are racist/complicit…it’s a living hell for a cop with a conscience.

They need our help.

They want our help to clean out their department.

So, just as some of the police marched with us supporting the protest, let’s support them in fixing things on their end.

While we work hard to reform our police departments…remember that if 1 in 10 are racist…there are 9 who dreamed of protecting and serving their entire childhoods and work hard at it their entire adult lives…and serve us, protect us and even die for us.

We must hate RACISM enough to demand it change, but LOVE the good officers enough to help them clean up their departments.

IT can’t be either or…it has to be BOTH...

Please read this with an open heart…there are thousands of good cops out there.

 

 

From an Ohio Cop:

“I didn’t enjoy writing tickets – But you didn’t know

I cried when I found your daughter lying in a ditch, high on meth – But you didn’t know

I was devastated when I found the 32 year old veteran dead from a self-inflicted gunshot wound – But you didn’t know

I missed my kid’s birthdays, school plays and family trips because I had to work – But you didn’t know

I had nightmares about the 2 year old I found crushed under a truck tire while mom was inside buying dope – But you didn’t know

I really struggled with EVERY death notification I made to a family about their loved one – But you didn’t know

I was never comfortable at social gatherings because with the things I’ve seen, I can’t trust anyone – But you didn’t know

I’ve seen things you could never even imagine – But you didn’t know

I really didn’t like putting people in jail – But you didn’t know

My job was hard on my family – But you didn’t know

I had problems, just like everyone else – But you didn’t know

The next time you see an officer, or any first responder, remember that they are people first and there is no training in the world that prepares them for the things they see and do on a daily basis.”

 

And let’s Pray this next prayer every day

UNTIL THIS PRAYER, TOO, IS ANSWERED …

From the Congressional record,

Specifically for the 4^th of July…

INDEPENDENCE DAY

Let us free ourselves from racism, hatred, revenge and apathy.

“Blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord (Psalms 33:12).

Eternal God, stir thou our minds and stimulate our hearts with a high sense of patriotism as we approach the Fourth of July. May all that this day symbolizes renew our faith in freedom, our devotion to democracy, and redouble our efforts to keep a government of the people, by the people, and for the people truly alive in our world. [my underlining]

Grant that we may highly resolve on this great day to dedicate ourselves anew to the task of ushering in an era when good will shall live in the hearts of a free people, justice shall be the light to guide their feet, and peace shall be the goal of humankind: to the glory of thy holy name and the good of our nation and of all mankind. Amen.”

I’ll end with a quote from my beloved G.K. Chesterton:

“We must hate the world enough to change it; but LOVE it enough to think it worth changing. ”

GK Chesterton

I do.

I do.

We can…with God’s Help

 

Your Sister in Christ,

Thora

Tale of two American Baby Boys.

Baby #1

I recently heard, with great joy, the news that my son and his wife are expecting a baby boy to be born this fall. This news heralded several things: my son, the last of the line of men named Wease,  so the Wease name would not be carried on for another generation. The father of a precious daughter who would probably, someday take the name of her husband, there endeth the line of Wease. Happily, the Wease line will continue.

My new grandson will be added to the rolls of both American Citizen and Children of Abraham…WOO HOO! Another Jew to rejuvenate a dwindling population, as holocaust survivors count down to a precious few. The survivors, made us remember the truth and the horror of selecting a people, any people, for  persecution and extinction for no other reason than some mentally ill leader’s idea of the Ultimate White Privilege.

In the last four years [counting the volatile election campaign], I have worried more than a few times about my children’s safety as Jews in America. [Synagogue shootings and fires, all by perpetrated by WHITE RACIST NUTJOBS btw]. Compound that by having a national spokesperson in chief who calls overtly racist “nationalists” and self-proclaimed Nazis  “good people” and I had no little cause for concern. Combine that with his outspoken joy at being a provocateur of violent behavior against minorities of all stripes, hatefulness of refugees/ immigrants and demeaning disdain for all womanhood, proclaimed in dozens of reprehensible daily tweets cause me to worry for my children/grandchildren’s safety and the future of Democracy.

BABY #2

THIS WEEK…I found out about Baby #2 when I was getting my medical exam on the phone, tele-pandemic style. As I was discussing upcoming labs and the safe way to get them—diabetics need them regularly,  my wonderful doctor, an African American woman, announced the upcoming birth of her first child.

I love my doctor. I waited a year for her to have an opening.

What do I like best?

She listens.

I feel heard.

Being heard is all any of us really want.

She and I chatted possible names … her child: so far Langston Samuel is winning and my grandchild’s possible moniker is Avi [no middle name yet]..

I wished her well.

I asked her to let me know when her son is born and told her I would add her and the safe delivery of her child to my daily prayer list. She would expect that, I’m a practicing Catholic with a prayer ministry.

We pray for each other.

But I will actually be praying for them for as long as I live–especially since her son will be born Black in America.

Her son will be my grandchild’s contemporary.

I want them both to live long happy lives and be friends.

That’s the America I want.

That’s the America I need to try to make happen with my time left on earth.

That’s the America we Americans all deserve.

Then…

George Floyd was Murdered

Live.

He was murdered LIVE on film.

He was murdered by a cop.

He was murdered while 3 other cops watched and did nothing.

I wept. For my doctor and for all the black mothers in this country.

I saw this on Facebook after I finished my daily prayers for my friends, family, my doctor and her unborn child…

I prayed over this horrible crime and injustice as if the pandemic wasn’t enough to pray over.

I wept again.

I was pleased with the protesters who protested peacefully like Martin Luther King Jr. would have insisted, would have approved.

I believe the violence is most often STARTED by outsiders and anti-government, anti-law enforcement groups who take advantage of tragedies and co-opt a community’s pain for their agenda of creating chaos in society.

I was overjoyed with the many policemen across the country taking a knee with their city’s protesters [New Jersey,  & a couple departments in California] and in FLINT, MI, in our embattled state, the police chief and officers joining the protesters.

Here’s the clip”

Flint, Michigan’s Protest today.

We weren’t sure what to expect. With everything we have been seeing on the news, it wasn’t clear what would happen but as we were walking, it was beautiful to see people of every race, age, demographic come together and unite. When we reached the police station, the officers were lined up and everyone immediately took a knee. The Sheriff asked one question… “We are mad too! What can we do?”

and the crowd responded, “Join us.”

AND THEY DID.

I know, it might feel a little too little, a little too late. Especially for George Floyd’s family.

IF ONLY, IF ONLY something was done after Kapernick took a knee. Why wasn’t white America kneeling with him then?

But we’re here now and we have to deal with it, with the shame of our silence, with the guilt of our inaction.  Is it hopeless? I don’t think so.

But then you hear about the Police Chief in Houston  who said, “I will walk with you and make sure your right to protest is protected and you and everyone else is safe.”

“I will walk with You” 

THIS WAS GREAT RESPONSE. THIS WAS HEALING.

Meanwhile In Michigan…

the State’s Capitol of Lansing—Not So Much

After 8 hours of peaceful protests, the news is cutting in with video of a car set on fire near the capitol. The protest started peacefully at the Lansing capitol at 11am and they walked to E. Lansing 4 miles away [where I live,] and right up to the E. Lansing police the Chief of Police recently retired amid abuse allegations against an officer’s treatment of an African American suspect. Like in George Floyd’s case, this officer seems to have several similar complaints. The “outcome” for this officer is still pending while the community and complainant  hold our collective breath.

IT was perfectly fine and maybe even logical for them to protest BUT The E. Lansing Police department DID WHAT IT SHOULD HAVE…it fired the offender and also held leadership accountable.

THIS WAS GOOD policing of the police, by the police.

We need more of that.

The protest at that department put them on notice that a permanent change in culture must take place.

Fine.

But then someone smashed an E. Lansing Police patrol car.

BAD MOVE… the E. Lansing department was taking the appropriate actions SO THERE WAS NO NEED for violence to make sure the protesters were heard.

The people had been HEARD.

Appropriate action was taken.

The City of E. Lansing is even trying to form a civilian board of oversight. So although it was the site of a recent offense…the real activism should be for those who refuse to listen, refuse to act.

The protest lost its dignity, its power and most of all it lost credibility when they smashed a patrol car of a department that was taking the VERY ACTIONS they claimed was the GOAL of said protest.

That was counter-productive and made no strategic sense.

[Please let’s find that person, is he local? What’s HIS agenda, because it was not in the best interest of the cause]

Shortly after that incitement, back at the capitol ,where the protesters had returned to point of origin…a car parked on the street was set on fire and is, as the news just showed…still burning.

And they were doing so well.

The NEWS SHOWS SOMETHING ELSE TOO…There’s a man, seen by all the protesters and news crews, on the roof a nearby building with a sniper rifle fitted with a sniper stand. There is no way to tell if it’s one of the armed, white, nutjobs that barged into the capitol last week over not wearing masks or getting haircuts in the middle of a pandemic…or if the armed sniper was part of the police department—but what was unmistakable was that he is WHITE. If it is the police…it needed to be a Black policeman [or one of each]–for the sake of fairness, for comfort to the black protesters and community. Because of his whiteness–much will be made/questioned about his real purpose.

There’s nothing more to say.

I will pray for both boys.

I will pray they meet in a classroom and become fast friends, the kind who go on to show the world how  justice and friendship and citizenship is done right.

Racism isn’t born, it’s learned.

Your sister in Christ,

Thora