tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-84021840819013114592024-03-14T07:33:47.819-07:00Kingfishers, Dragonflies, and StonesAs kingfishers catch fire, dragonflies dráw fláme; / As tumbled over rim in roundy wells / Stones ring; like each tucked string tells, each hung bell's / Bow swung finds tongue to fling out broad its name; / Each mortal thing does one thing and the same: / Deals out that being indoors each one dwells; / Selves -- goes itself; myself it speaks and spells, / Crying Whát I do is me: for that I came.// Í say móre: the just man justices/ [Gerard Manley Hopkins]Paul Kellyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16460026961532388858noreply@blogger.comBlogger126125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8402184081901311459.post-23010040689333075272012-09-19T09:16:00.001-07:002012-09-19T09:16:05.818-07:00Mitt Romney Creates Impressions<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; text-indent: .5in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Cambria","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">An
old friend of mine had skills of creating impressions. A visit to his home
opened as a page from a living room ad straight<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>out of the pages of <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Home
Beautiful. </i><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He and his wife showed up
at the gates of BC’s football Stadium on my invitation. I gurgled on watching
their approach. He wore a raccoon fur coat to his ankles. Carried a BC pennant
in is left hand, and waved a maroon and gold baseball hat in our direction. She
had a BC blanket the Eagle showing, draped over her shoulder.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Cambria","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">Every
time I see Mitt Romney on TV, I think of those two friends who had to have
consulted magazines and websites in order to look the correctly decked out part
of the scene in which they were to function for a while. Herewith, a fictional
impression of Romney, equally skilled.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Cambria","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">As
Chairman of the Board and CEO of Bain Capital, Mitt Romney sits at his desk in a
golden office. No need to describe the furniture or the floor to ceiling windows
on three sides of the room. Just to note the desk is clean, stark empty of
files, but swelling with jewels of deskpad, clock, Mont Blanc penstand, and a monogramed
note pad, bereft of any markings. He himself is equally formidable, clad in an
enormously expensive black business suit, patiently waiting for the phone to
buzz. When it does his receptionist announces, “Sir, the Consultors Committee
on the Friendly’s Bankruptcy is here.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Cambria","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">“Please
have the escort lead them to the Boardroom. I am on my way now,” came in an
unperturbed voice.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Cambria","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">Moments
later, the same voice begins “Gentlemen we meet to hear of your discussions and
decision on whether we are to order Friendly’s, last year’s most prominent
acquisition, to petition for bankruptcy. Consultors Chairman, please begin.” <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Cambria","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">That
man, obviously the second most powerful man in the room, describes the
committee’s formation, allocation of tasks for research, and history to date.
He speaks, “Chairman Romney of Bain Capital, I will call upon subcommittee
chairs, alternating between their decisions to file or not to file for
bankruptcy of Friendly’s.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Cambria","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">Chairman
Romney nods approval.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Cambria","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">One
by one each man around the table expounds on why Friendly’s should be placed in
bankruptcy or not. In sparse detail, when compared with the weeks in which they
were in session. The Consultors Chairman then announces, “Our vote is 4 in
favor of bankruptcy; three opposed.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Cambria","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">Romney,
a bit weary of having paid intense attention during each report, declares, “I
will recess now for my own deliberation. We will meet in 15 minutes.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Cambria","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">When
reconvened, Romney is the only person who speaks. “After listening to your
reports and sitting alone in quiet deliberation of my own, I have decided tp
accept the judgment pf the four in favor of bankruptcy. Consultors Chairman,
please issue the order to the Chairman of the Bankruptcies Committee forthwith.
Gentlemen Consultors, as Chairman of the Board of Bain Capital, I thank you.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Cambria","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">Turning
to his principal assistant, Romney states, “Please have the Chairman of the
Acquisitions Committee come to my office at 11:30, AM, prepared to begin
discussions on whether we should acquire the Real Estate Development Company of
Nevada, as our next order of business. It is in trouble and looks weak.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Cambria","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">Thus,
Bain Capital adds another increase to its swollen list of successfull capital ventures.
Note that Romney had no ideas or suggestions or favorites, no desires at all.
His mind, as usual, was a blank slate, devoid of opinions or fears, waiting for
other skilled business financiers to inform him of what they think. With his
power, all he needs do is decide. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Cambria","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">Like
a Judge in a trial courtroom, he presides, without showing any favor to either
side, refraining from exposing his own predilections, if any, waiting patiently
for the moment when he is called upon to decide by a lawyer’s, “May<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>it please the Court, we object on the grounds
of relevance.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Cambria","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">To
which, with little hesitation after listening to the other lawyer’s reasoning,
the Judge decides: “Objection sustained,” or “Objection denied.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The Judge has one duty and only one: to
decide.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Cambria","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">And
that is what Mitt Romney does. He does not create; he sifts the creations of
others. He does not plan; he assigns planning to consultors and their
subchairs. He does not take risks; he commands others to take risks and report
back to him for decision. He does create jobs, though, in deciding for
acquisitions, only to destroy them when the acquired company has been looted of
its assets and thrown out for rubbish. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Cambria","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">And
whenever he wants an idea for his mind to tinkle with, he calls a meeting of
the real top-guns of Bain Capital to come in and chat with him. </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Cambria, serif; font-size: 16px;">He
looks good in a business suit, although his dog on the roof of the car thinks
it a charade. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; text-indent: .5in;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Cambria, serif; font-size: 16px;">Come to think of it, that’s what Mitt Romney is. A Charade of Impressions.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; text-indent: .5in;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Cambria, serif; font-size: 16px;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; text-indent: .5in;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Cambria, serif; font-size: 16px;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; text-indent: .5in;">
<br /></div>
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<br /></div>
Paul Kellyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16460026961532388858noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8402184081901311459.post-62828827800737361002012-09-12T13:43:00.000-07:002012-09-12T13:46:52.779-07:00Presidential Campaign 2012<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Cambria, serif; font-size: 180%;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 27px;"><b><br /></b></span></span></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt;">Remember when presidential campaigns of yore<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt;">Differed from this one on substance and issues.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt;">But then, who can forget the year of Bush v. Gore,<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt;">Without reaching for a box of Kleenex tissues?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt;"><br /></span></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt;">Candidates no longer speak as real men fighting on,<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt;">Day after day, wherever, out on the stump,<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt;">Pumping arms, beaming smiles in rain or sun,<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt;">Never daring to admit they might be in a slump.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt;"><br /></span></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt;">You cannot count on them to come nobly through,<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt;">When their campaign starts slinging slander and lies<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt;">On political stuff they never did or even knew.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt;">Campaigners past rarely dared tarnish the prize,<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt;"><br /></span></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt;">The one they sought in the vote you’d cast.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt;">Flip-flops on issues and lies on what’s essential<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt;">Would smote them dumb, as if aghast,<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt;">For who’d vote for a liar so unpresidential?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt;"><br /></span></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt;">A political party changes the tune this forlorn year,<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt;">Marked out of every four as a presidential campaign,<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt;">Blackened by attacks, lies flipped from downdeep fear<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt;">Oozing from the Republican Twain of Legerdemain.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
Paul Kellyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16460026961532388858noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8402184081901311459.post-45467886903133898062012-08-27T14:25:00.001-07:002012-08-27T14:28:32.714-07:00Priests With Hands<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:9.0pt;line-height:18.0pt;background: #EEEECC"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'Times New Roman', serif;font-size:180%;color:#223344;"><b><br /></b></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:9.0pt;line-height:18.0pt;background: #EEEECC"> <!--[endif]--><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'Times New Roman', serif;font-size:100%;color:#223344;"><o:p></o:p></span></p> <span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'Times New Roman', serif;color:#223344;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 18px;"><p class="MsoNormal" align="center" style="margin-bottom:9.0pt;text-align:center; line-height:18.0pt;background:#EEEECC"><span style="font-size:12.0pt; font-family:"Times New Roman","serif";mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman"; color:#223344">You can tell a priest<br />by watching his hands, the way his fingers curl a bit,<br />yet leave the hand open for us to grasp and hold onto,<br />tightly. The same hands bless and consecrate bread<br />and wine waiting for them on altar's table.<br /><br />Sundays I like<br />to go back to church to watch those hands arrange<br />godparents around the font, hover over infants, pour<br />water, wipe oil, brush like a kiss a last caress on tiny<br />head. Care-filled hands smile that great, priestly smile<br />when he hands baby back as a Catholic forever and<br />ever. Amen. Grown-ups around the font beam back<br />their smiles as radiant as the monstrance when held<br />high in those same hands at Benediction.<br /><br />The hands of a priest<br />are quiet, though, in the dim light of the confessional,<br />folded in his lap, patient, waiting for my sins to end,<br />so as to be raised in absolution's forgiveness with that<br />blessing of all blessings, "I absolve you. Go, in peace."<br />And all is well again by the Sacrament of the shriven.<br />My soul is clean, for a while.<br /><br />Priest creates God<br />as Eucharist, his hands holding bread as Jesus did<br />the night before he died, "This is my body," then<br />lifting chalice, "This is my blood." We all remember<br />"Do this in memory of me." Imitators offer the presence<br />of a real absence. Priest's hands bring down a promise,<br />a real presence, "I shall be with you for all time." We<br />walk in reverence to that awe-filled moment when his<br />hands place the wafer in our hands, and he says,<br />"The Body of Christ."<br /><br />Our wedding<br />when we married each other before him would not<br />have been so, without his hands, warm, open, loving,<br />wavering over rings to be blessed, waiting in silent<br />prayer for vows to be spoken, blessing a bond bonding<br />lovers, then reaching for the ceiling high over the altar<br />with great joy. "And now, you may kiss the bride."<br /><br />Words those hands<br />will rarely hear spoken to him, for his hands are not<br />his alone. They are ours, to be held in trust until<br />we need them one last time to help us take that one<br />last step to God. Hands of priests are fewer now, as<br />parishes get quashed in clusters by desperate bishops.<br />The supply of hands dwindles down, celibate males<br />grow older and older and younger ones no longer<br />appear magically in numbers needed to be there for<br />us, a sacramental people.<br /><br />We are frightened<br />that the hands we knew were always there will not<br />always be there to bless and caress and baptize<br />and absolve and marry and wave us on as we cross<br />over. They won't be there to consecrate our eucharist,<br />the still point of our souls. Not even to wave with love<br />as we drive on by.<br /><br />We pray for vocations,<br />for Episcopalian ministers to convert, for Rome to<br />relent and invite back into ministry thousands and<br />thousands and thousands of priests who married,<br />incurring by that very sacrament unrelenting rancour<br />of a papal martinet. Popes had elevated celibacy of<br />priests far loftier than sacraments, more important<br />than salvation of souls, made priests inconsequential<br />for the Lord's exhortation given his disciples, "Go<br />forth and teach all nations."<br /><br />Stubborn Rome,<br />lost in the panoply of wealth and art and medieval<br />stuff, riveted in lust for power, cliqued as curial<br />cardinals, now refuses to provide priestly services for<br />the people of God, pontificates empty reason after<br />empty reason, emptying church of sacrament and people,<br />that celibates might clutch power unto themselves until<br />power itself is transfigured into power of nothing over<br />nobody. And church is gone.<br /><br />It was not always so,<br />not in the very beginning when there were no priests<br />or bishops, just elders with hands, who later became<br />presbyters. Married priests with families lived their<br />day-in day-out love of woman with man, their children<br />calling "Daddy" shared their hands with God's people<br />calling them "Father." Their hands rose in blessings at<br />their own tables and in the postures of rites dispensing<br />sacraments freely, lovingly, for one thousand years.<br /><br />Until a pope<br />decreed that priests could no longer marry and had to<br />become eunuchs. Might as well have cut off their hands<br />which bless and caress, for such popes destroyed the<br />priesthood on which the church depends for its mission<br />in life. It took a while. The second one thousand years<br />reeled under the harsh and swelling absolute power of<br />papal primacy, inquisition on inquisition, decree on<br />decree, unending official teachings to smother the heart<br />of being Catholic right out of all of us.<br /><br />We need priests with hands.<br />If Rome will not bring them to us, we shall find our own<br />and bring them to ourselves and ourselves to them, to be<br />church once again, held together, welcomed with love,<br />lifted up, gently steered, patted on the back, beckoned<br />onward, caressed, consoled, counseled, comforted,<br />consecrated, guided, blessed, baptized, absolved, married,<br />befriended, assisted in dying on our final way to God,<br />by the hands of a priest.</span><span style="font-size:11.5pt;font-family:"Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman";color:#223344"><o:p></o:p></span></p></span></span>Paul Kellyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16460026961532388858noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8402184081901311459.post-73914005395443569222012-08-27T14:10:00.001-07:002012-08-27T14:20:52.300-07:00The Issue is Religion Itself<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent:.5in"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:Cambria, serif;font-size:180%;color:#1f497d;"><b><br /></b></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent:.5in"><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin;mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-bidi;color:#1F497D;mso-themecolor:dark2">It is good for us to share. When the voices we hear are more often than not the same old, same old, the ring of familiarity to their tones muffles the clarity of their thoughts. I speak for myself, alone, whose name pops up with a certain regularity in such a way that it isn’t necessary to read the words to hear what is being said.<span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span>So, too, for other “regulars”, the talking folk.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent:.5in"><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin;mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-bidi;color:#1F497D;mso-themecolor:dark2">Back in the beginning, which I guess is 2002, after the Boston Globe exposed the sordid scandal of sexual abuse of minors by clergy, the issues demanding room for outbursting were sexuality by celibates; authority out of Rome which invaded the bathroom as well as the bedrooms of all Catholics, celibate, lay, undecided, available; some dogmas<span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span>that seemed as far out now as when first promulgated; doctrines spun out of half-cloth; decrees which sounded as if the decreer was fascinated by the sound of his voice; and other nonsensities. We who had not been tarnished by the scandal, whether as parents of minors so debauched, or as stern adults without desires to screw kids, thought we<span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span>could walk the high road and demand that others pick themselves up out of the gutter, all by their onesies, to act with a<span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span>dignity expected of a clergy fellow or sister. <o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent:.5in"><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin;mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-bidi;color:#1F497D;mso-themecolor:dark2">We held our breaths, hoping that civilian authorities would continue to look the other way, after a bit of flustering to salve their consciences, and leave the investigations, uncoverings, and disposal of those who failed to act as if they were human beings with normal appetites and recreational pursuits. We weren’t so easy on bishops who covered up out of fear the church would lose some glitter from its reputation hard earned over two thousand years. Privately, a lot of us felt like throwing<span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span>the bums out and starting all over with a new crew of men at the top for spectacular liturgies, commencement addresses, and regular appearances with pectoral cross chains in gold discreetly displayed between black lapels in a tasteful way to let others brushing by become aware that here stood a man of God, a <i style="mso-bidi-font-style:normal">Vir Ecclesiasticus. <o:p></o:p></i></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent:.5in"><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin;mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-bidi;color:#1F497D;mso-themecolor:dark2">To me, none of that. I fretted, of course, at the conspiracy to keep things quiet as the word was passed on from chancery to chancery throughout the world, with a Curia nodding assent, if not with a “Hurry up, get the word out. Look concerned. Cover up. Pretend you’re in control and are repairing the damage. Watch those bank balances carefully.” We saw through that, even as we had accepted similar conduct from the hierarchy at almost every scandalous outburst during two thousand years of slow growth from a mission church of<span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span>Saints James, Thomas, Peter and Paul, spreading slowly around the Mediterranean. <o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent:.5in"><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin;mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-bidi;color:#1F497D;mso-themecolor:dark2">We even felt a little glow of pride for the unbelievable powerful boys of Rome who sat above and talked with emperors and kings and their underlings, telling them precisely what they could and could not do, as Popes toppled the highest and the mightiest of the most powerful rulers of civilization, in the name of Jesus Christ the King. God help us, we even honored the name by which our church came to be known, not simply Catholic, but Roman Catholic Church, the one, true Church of God Himself. <o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent:.5in"><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin;mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-bidi;color:#1F497D;mso-themecolor:dark2">No, none of that, but the tinges of those tassels out of history brushed by from time to time. Some of us, myself included, saw a startling, frightening, awesome issue that would obliterate humanity itself. We saw Religion as the issue. Religion itself. In whatever format, custom, language, church by any name. Lurking deadly beneath the whimpers of a boy being raped was not the degradation of the act of love into release of tension through orgasm with any living flesh of another. It was the emptiness of Religion itself, its colors and music and sacred literature and holy men and women notwithstanding. Would, no, could Religion survive, once the people saw that it and it alone was being challenged as the binding glue of civilization?<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent:.5in"><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin;mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-bidi;color:#1F497D;mso-themecolor:dark2">People who had gone beyond bishops in the extent and superiority of higher education beyond grammar school were beginning to think with their minds rather than their Baltimore Catechisms, 10 cents a copy in paperback, fits in the rear hip pocket. Trusting that such education could not possibly lead lay people to question themselves, bishops even allowed Catholics to buy and read and study and discuss the New Testament in the 1930s, for the very first time, even without a clergyman being present to define the funny words being used like incarnation, annunciation, assumption, virgin birth, crucifixion, resurrection, ascension, infallibility, papacy. <o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent:.5in"><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin;mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-bidi;color:#1F497D;mso-themecolor:dark2">Now that enough clergymen were being laid bare as profligate sex machines, not merely with attractive, seductive women or equally attractive, seductive men, but with little boys and girls, terms like resurrection and ascension came to be expected of illiterate apostles and disciples who took upon themselves the inhuman and impossible task of carrying the message of the Lord, whom they hardly knew or understood. We ourselves, gifted as we are, expected as much of early Christians, who, in our glorification of our church’s early years and later history were nothing less than miraculous. We had heard of slaughters in the election of popes in the first few hundred years. <o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent:.5in"><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin;mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-bidi;color:#1F497D;mso-themecolor:dark2">We even read about the crusades as if we were reading books on the NFL and its string of Super Bowls, and cheered our troops on for their bravery in going to war for Jesus, disregarding the obvious sad ending that they lost the wars. We thought, I guess, that Super Bowls and World Series were memorable only for the winners and their fans. So much so that we couldn’t even remember with much accuracy which teams were the losers, coming in second best overall.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-bidi-font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin;mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin;mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-bidi;color:#1F497D;mso-themecolor: dark2"><span style="mso-tab-count:1"> </span>And so, now, today, ten whole long years after the Boston Globe’s first story about priests and kids, we’re beginning to focus on the issue of our times, bar none. <o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoListParagraph" style="margin-left:1.0in;text-indent:-.25in; mso-list:l2 level1 lfo1"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;font-family:Symbol;mso-fareast-font-family:Symbol;mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol;color:#1F497D;mso-themecolor:dark2"><span style="mso-list:Ignore">·<span style="font:7.0pt "Times New Roman""> </span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="mso-bidi-font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin;mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin;mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-bidi;color:#1F497D;mso-themecolor:dark2">Does Religion have a place in our world? <o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoListParagraph" style="margin-left:1.0in;text-indent:-.25in; mso-list:l2 level1 lfo1"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;font-family:Symbol;mso-fareast-font-family:Symbol;mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol;color:#1F497D;mso-themecolor:dark2"><span style="mso-list:Ignore">·<span style="font:7.0pt "Times New Roman""> </span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="mso-bidi-font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin;mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin;mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-bidi;color:#1F497D;mso-themecolor:dark2">Do we need an organized church at all? <o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoListParagraph" style="margin-left:1.0in;text-indent:-.25in; mso-list:l2 level1 lfo1"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;font-family:Symbol;mso-fareast-font-family:Symbol;mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol;color:#1F497D;mso-themecolor:dark2"><span style="mso-list:Ignore">·<span style="font:7.0pt "Times New Roman""> </span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="mso-bidi-font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin;mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin;mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-bidi;color:#1F497D;mso-themecolor:dark2">Must we submit to hierarchs as leaders whom we must obey?<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoListParagraph" style="margin-left:1.0in;text-indent:-.25in; mso-list:l2 level1 lfo1"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;font-family:Symbol;mso-fareast-font-family:Symbol;mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol;color:#1F497D;mso-themecolor:dark2"><span style="mso-list:Ignore">·<span style="font:7.0pt "Times New Roman""> </span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="mso-bidi-font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin;mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin;mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-bidi;color:#1F497D;mso-themecolor:dark2">Did Jesus himself found any church?<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoListParagraph" style="margin-left:1.0in;text-indent:-.25in; mso-list:l2 level1 lfo1"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;font-family:Symbol;mso-fareast-font-family:Symbol;mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol;color:#1F497D;mso-themecolor:dark2"><span style="mso-list:Ignore">·<span style="font:7.0pt "Times New Roman""> </span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="mso-bidi-font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin;mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin;mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-bidi;color:#1F497D;mso-themecolor:dark2">Did Jesus himself found a religion?<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoListParagraph" style="margin-left:1.0in;text-indent:-.25in; mso-list:l2 level1 lfo1"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;font-family:Symbol;mso-fareast-font-family:Symbol;mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol;color:#1F497D;mso-themecolor:dark2"><span style="mso-list:Ignore">·<span style="font:7.0pt "Times New Roman""> </span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="mso-bidi-font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin;mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin;mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-bidi;color:#1F497D;mso-themecolor:dark2">Were the founders of Catholicism just a couple of apostles?<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoListParagraph" style="margin-left:1.0in;text-indent:-.25in; mso-list:l2 level1 lfo1"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;font-family:Symbol;mso-fareast-font-family:Symbol;mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol;color:#1F497D;mso-themecolor:dark2"><span style="mso-list:Ignore">·<span style="font:7.0pt "Times New Roman""> </span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="mso-bidi-font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin;mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin;mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-bidi;color:#1F497D;mso-themecolor:dark2">Could a Paul of Tarsus, who never saw, heard or met Jesus be his principal spokesperson?<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoListParagraph" style="margin-left:1.0in;text-indent:-.25in; mso-list:l2 level1 lfo1"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;font-family:Symbol;mso-fareast-font-family:Symbol;mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol;color:#1F497D;mso-themecolor:dark2"><span style="mso-list:Ignore">·<span style="font:7.0pt "Times New Roman""> </span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="mso-bidi-font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin;mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin;mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-bidi;color:#1F497D;mso-themecolor:dark2">Has Religion, in any formal form, passed its time?<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoListParagraph" style="margin-left:1.0in;text-indent:-.25in; mso-list:l2 level1 lfo1"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;font-family:Symbol;mso-fareast-font-family:Symbol;mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol;color:#1F497D;mso-themecolor:dark2"><span style="mso-list:Ignore">·<span style="font:7.0pt "Times New Roman""> </span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="mso-bidi-font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin;mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin;mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-bidi;color:#1F497D;mso-themecolor:dark2">Are we not spiritual beings, as well as human?<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoListParagraph" style="margin-left:1.0in;text-indent:-.25in; mso-list:l2 level1 lfo1"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;font-family:Symbol;mso-fareast-font-family:Symbol;mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol;color:#1F497D;mso-themecolor:dark2"><span style="mso-list:Ignore">·<span style="font:7.0pt "Times New Roman""> </span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="mso-bidi-font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin;mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin;mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-bidi;color:#1F497D;mso-themecolor:dark2">Is spirituality, whatever it may be, the successor to organized religions?<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoListParagraph" style="margin-left:1.0in;text-indent:-.25in; mso-list:l2 level1 lfo1"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;font-family:Symbol;mso-fareast-font-family:Symbol;mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol;color:#1F497D;mso-themecolor:dark2"><span style="mso-list:Ignore">·<span style="font:7.0pt "Times New Roman""> </span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="mso-bidi-font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin;mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin;mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-bidi;color:#1F497D;mso-themecolor:dark2">Is religion a discarded term of the early years with A.D. after the number?<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoListParagraph" style="margin-left:1.0in;text-indent:-.25in; mso-list:l2 level1 lfo1"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;font-family:Symbol;mso-fareast-font-family:Symbol;mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol;color:#1F497D;mso-themecolor:dark2"><span style="mso-list:Ignore">·<span style="font:7.0pt "Times New Roman""> </span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="mso-bidi-font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin;mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin;mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-bidi;color:#1F497D;mso-themecolor:dark2">Are we growing up now as people, ready and able to become one world?<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoListParagraph" style="margin-left:1.0in;text-indent:-.25in; mso-list:l2 level1 lfo1"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;font-family:Symbol;mso-fareast-font-family:Symbol;mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol;color:#1F497D;mso-themecolor:dark2"><span style="mso-list:Ignore">·<span style="font:7.0pt "Times New Roman""> </span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="mso-bidi-font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin;mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin;mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-bidi;color:#1F497D;mso-themecolor:dark2">Is the Paraclete close by, urging us on? <o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left:.5in"><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin;mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-bidi;color:#1F497D;mso-themecolor:dark2"><span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent:.25in"><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin;mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-bidi;color:#1F497D;mso-themecolor:dark2">It’s hard to stop adding up the questions, isn’t it? Religion has been, perhaps, the most powerful and dominating force in the history of the human race, has it not?<span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span>For those who love and live in the past with memories, can we shuck off a church and all its panoply and culture and kind and loving servants of the servants of God? So, let the questions roll:<br /> <!--[if !supportLineBreakNewLine]--><br /> <!--[endif]--><o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoListParagraph" style="margin-left:1.0in;text-indent:-.25in; mso-list:l1 level1 lfo2"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;font-family:Symbol;mso-fareast-font-family:Symbol;mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol;color:#1F497D;mso-themecolor:dark2"><span style="mso-list:Ignore">·<span style="font:7.0pt "Times New Roman""> </span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="mso-bidi-font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin;mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin;mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-bidi;color:#1F497D;mso-themecolor:dark2">Can we go it alone?<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoListParagraph" style="margin-left:1.0in;text-indent:-.25in; mso-list:l1 level1 lfo2"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;font-family:Symbol;mso-fareast-font-family:Symbol;mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol;color:#1F497D;mso-themecolor:dark2"><span style="mso-list:Ignore">·<span style="font:7.0pt "Times New Roman""> </span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="mso-bidi-font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin;mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin;mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-bidi;color:#1F497D;mso-themecolor:dark2">Must we have a great big bunch of communities to hold us together?<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoListParagraph" style="margin-left:1.0in;text-indent:-.25in; mso-list:l1 level1 lfo2"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;font-family:Symbol;mso-fareast-font-family:Symbol;mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol;color:#1F497D;mso-themecolor:dark2"><span style="mso-list:Ignore">·<span style="font:7.0pt "Times New Roman""> </span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="mso-bidi-font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin;mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin;mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-bidi;color:#1F497D;mso-themecolor:dark2">What would we call them, if the term ‘church’ is no longer meaningful?<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoListParagraph" style="margin-left:1.0in;text-indent:-.25in; mso-list:l1 level1 lfo2"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;font-family:Symbol;mso-fareast-font-family:Symbol;mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol;color:#1F497D;mso-themecolor:dark2"><span style="mso-list:Ignore">·<span style="font:7.0pt "Times New Roman""> </span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="mso-bidi-font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin;mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin;mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-bidi;color:#1F497D;mso-themecolor:dark2">Do we hunt for what might soon be called a synonym for Religion?<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoListParagraph" style="margin-left:1.0in;text-indent:-.25in; mso-list:l1 level1 lfo2"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;font-family:Symbol;mso-fareast-font-family:Symbol;mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol;color:#1F497D;mso-themecolor:dark2"><span style="mso-list:Ignore">·<span style="font:7.0pt "Times New Roman""> </span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="mso-bidi-font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin;mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin;mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-bidi;color:#1F497D;mso-themecolor:dark2">Should we get bogged down in what we decide to call ourselves?<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoListParagraph" style="margin-left:1.0in;text-indent:-.25in; mso-list:l1 level1 lfo2"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;font-family:Symbol;mso-fareast-font-family:Symbol;mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol;color:#1F497D;mso-themecolor:dark2"><span style="mso-list:Ignore">·<span style="font:7.0pt "Times New Roman""> </span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="mso-bidi-font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin;mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin;mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-bidi;color:#1F497D;mso-themecolor:dark2">Has anyone of us asked the Paraclete for help?<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoListParagraph" style="margin-left:1.0in;text-indent:-.25in; mso-list:l1 level1 lfo2"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;font-family:Symbol;mso-fareast-font-family:Symbol;mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol;color:#1F497D;mso-themecolor:dark2"><span style="mso-list:Ignore">·<span style="font:7.0pt "Times New Roman""> </span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="mso-bidi-font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin;mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin;mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-bidi;color:#1F497D;mso-themecolor:dark2">Do we remember Dan’s question: “God, where in the world are you?”<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left:.5in"><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin;mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-bidi;color:#1F497D;mso-themecolor:dark2"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent:.5in"><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin;mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-bidi;color:#1F497D;mso-themecolor:dark2">Paul, <o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoListParagraph" style="margin-left:1.0in;text-indent:-.25in; mso-list:l0 level1 lfo3"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;font-family:Symbol;mso-fareast-font-family:Symbol;mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol;color:#1F497D;mso-themecolor:dark2"><span style="mso-list:Ignore">·<span style="font:7.0pt "Times New Roman""> </span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="mso-bidi-font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin;mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin;mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-bidi;color:#1F497D;mso-themecolor:dark2">Wondering<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoListParagraph" style="margin-left:1.0in;text-indent:-.25in; mso-list:l0 level1 lfo3"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;font-family:Symbol;mso-fareast-font-family:Symbol;mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol;color:#1F497D;mso-themecolor:dark2"><span style="mso-list:Ignore">·<span style="font:7.0pt "Times New Roman""> </span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="mso-bidi-font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin;mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin;mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-bidi;color:#1F497D;mso-themecolor:dark2">Asking<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoListParagraph" style="margin-left:1.0in;text-indent:-.25in; mso-list:l0 level1 lfo3"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;font-family:Symbol;mso-fareast-font-family:Symbol;mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol;color:#1F497D;mso-themecolor:dark2"><span style="mso-list:Ignore">·<span style="font:7.0pt "Times New Roman""> </span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="mso-bidi-font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin;mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin;mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-bidi;color:#1F497D;mso-themecolor:dark2">I have no answers<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><a name="_MailEndCompose"><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin;mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-bidi;color:#1F497D;mso-themecolor:dark2"><o:p> </o:p></span></a></p> <span style="mso-bookmark:_MailEndCompose"></span> <p class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:Tahoma, sans-serif;font-size:85%;"><b><br /></b></span></p>Paul Kellyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16460026961532388858noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8402184081901311459.post-43426501689249928922012-08-20T06:50:00.000-07:002012-08-20T06:51:45.671-07:00Vir Ecclesiasticus<p class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-indent: 0.5in; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 24px; "><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-indent: 0.5in; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 24px; ">When asked for my comments on Rome’s continental law mentality and the CDF, they have to be knee-jerk.<span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span>I know little about the CDF, less about continental law and almost nothing about mentality.</span></p> <p class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-indent:.5in;line-height:150%">Aware of the CDF’s ruthless wipeout of the professional lives of so many outstanding scholars in various fields of theology, despite the international reputations crowning their work, I am leery of my own emotional reactions to the way then Cardinal Ratzinger, now Pope Benedict XVI, operated that Dicastery. In my opinion, he stands with Pope John Paul II as a cruel man. My emotional reactions tinge both men in the way they breathe and move and have their being. <o:p></o:p></p> <p class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-indent:.5in;line-height:150%">There is that ugly picture of JPII in 1983 Mexico, wagging fingers of both hands at a kneeling Fr. Ernesto Cardinal, berating him for Liberation Theology. I still feel the anger that flushed then. <o:p></o:p></p> <p class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-indent:.5in;line-height:150%">I still feel my impotent rage at his deadly cruelty to Fr. General Pedro Arrupe, SJ, at whose feet I once sat in our Scholastic’s rec room at Sophia University in Tokyo. I just don’t like Karol Jozef Wojtyla<span style="color:black"> </span>or Jozef Aloisius Ratzinger. <span style="color:black"><o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-indent:.5in;line-height:150%">Therefore, I am too overwhelmingly biased to offer any worthwhile comment. They made those judgments. Only a few stood to object. Most of the rest didn’t rock the boat. Today, a few of us bemoan and know that all we can do is pray for change and toss off our own emotion-ridden obsessions with them as people I’m grateful not to have known on a personal basis. Same goes for a whole host of other politicians in national and international stages. These two are but peas in a pod among lots of pods.<span style="color:black"><o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-indent:.5in;line-height:150%">A Jesuit friend of mine, objecting to my expressions of dismay with Church government, said of himself, “I am a <b><i>professional churchman</i></b>. That was echoed by Robert Imbelli in the Foreword to a book on Cardinal Avery Dulles: “One of the most heartfelt accolades the early Fathers could bestow on a theologian was to praise him as <b><i>vir ecclesiasticus</i></b><i>:</i> an <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight:normal"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style:normal">ecclesial man</i></b>.”<span style="mso-ascii-font-family:Calibri;mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri;mso-bidi-font-family:Calibri"></span><span style="color:black"><o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-indent:.5in;line-height:150%">I agree and maintain either expression as high regard, proper assessment, worthy title for that person’s devotion to Church. One mighty action we can do together to honor these people and the Church is to praise a good and worthy <i>Professional Churchman </i> by acknowledging him publicly as <i>Vir Ecclesiasticus. </i>While we are at it, we might just as well start choosing each <i>Professional Churchwoman </i>as worthy of <i>Femina Ecclesiastica. </i>When the two go together, side by side, we will have an authentic Church about which we may continue authentic dialogue.<span style="color:black"><o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-indent:.5in;line-height:150%"><i> </i> </p>Paul Kellyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16460026961532388858noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8402184081901311459.post-74533122144065023882012-08-17T10:23:00.002-07:002012-08-17T11:21:22.979-07:00A Priest Writes to his Bishop for Dialogue<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 180%;"><b><em><span style="font-family: Cambria, serif; line-height: 24px;">Letter to Archbishop J. Peter Sartain, Diocese of </span></em><em><span style="font-family: Cambria, serif; font-style: normal; line-height: 24px;">Seattle </span></em><em><span style="font-family: Cambria, serif; line-height: 24px;">from Fr. John D. Whitney, SJ, Pastor, about requests of parishioners for dialogue on Church </span></em><em><span style="font-family: Cambria, serif; line-height: 115%;">issues</span></em></b></span><em><span style="font-family: "Cambria","serif"; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">..</span></em><br />
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Members of St. Joseph Parish:<o:p></o:p></span></span></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">When I came before the community
several weeks ago, seeking your help to meet the Annual Catholic Appeal, I
noted that many of you seemed ambivalent about pledging to the ACA: wondering
if your pledge did not suggest more support of the direction of the Archdiocese
than you intended. At that time, I invited those who wished to give directly to
the Parish, and said that I would use equivalent Parish funds to pay the ACA. I
also said I would send a letter to the Archbishop, explaining the circuitous
path of our donations. Below is the letter I have sent. I hope I have captured
the spirit of those of you who chose to direct your donation through the
Parish, without suggesting that all feel the same way. I pray this letter may
begin a constructive dialogue.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">Yours in Christ,<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">3 August 2012<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">The Most Reverend Archbishop J. Peter
Sartain, D.D., S.T.L. Archbishop of Seattle 710 9th Avenue Seattle, WA
98104-2017<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">Dear Archbishop Sartain, Peace of
Christ!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">With this letter you will find a check
from St. Joseph Parish in the amount of $27,675.00, given as a partial payment
of this year’s Annual Catholic Appeal. In sending you this check, along with
this letter, I am representing the desires of many members of St. Joseph Parish
who love the Church and seek to serve it with their lives, but who could not,
in conscience, donate directly to the ACA at this time. This was not because
these parishioners do not support much of what the Annual Catholic Appeal does;
rather, they have withheld their ACA pledge, or have minimized it, or have
redirected it because they find such an action the only means by which they can
exercise the prophetic role to which they are called by their baptism. Unable
to exercise an active voice in the discernment of decisions made by those
charged with leadership in the Church, these parishioners have sought a venue
in which they could be heard: i.e., through the financial care of the Church
and her mission.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">Two areas of particular concern for
many of the active members of St. Joseph regard (1) the position of the
Washington Catholic Conference on Referendum 74, and (2) the intervention by
the Congregation of the Doctrine of the Faith in the internal governance of the
Leadership Conference of Women Religious. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">Regarding the first of these issues, I
would note that many—though not all—in the Parish consider the Church’s
engagement in this piece of civil legislation inappropriate. For these
parishioners, the Referendum does not address marriage in the sacramental
sense, but involves an issue of civil rights. Though they have received the
material distributed through the WSCC, many believe that the national
statements of Church leaders, as well as the local involvement on this issue,
foster injustice in civil society, contrary to their conscience. Likewise, the
immediate move to advocacy by the WSCC, rather than a process of dialogue and
prayerful discernment, made many feel alienated and, as they have told me,
damaged the Church’s role as educator of conscience. For many, this damage was
exacerbated when the Archdiocese called for the solicitation of signatures in
parishes, following Sunday Eucharist, in support of bringing the Referendum to
the ballot. Indeed, even many of those who oppose the Referendum and support
the WSCC’s position found this unprecedented action inappropriately partisan
and contrary to the spirit which they seek in weekly Eucharist; thus, they
encouraged me to make the pastoral decision I did.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">Yet, if many at St. Joseph were
unhappy about the level of advocacy regarding Referendum 74, their
understanding of the Church’s stance on homosexuality meant that they were not
wholly surprised by the position of the WSCC. However, with the CDF’s
intervention against the LCWR, a more spontaneous and, it seems to me, profound
sense of dismay and disedification was unleashed. The group, <strong><span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">Standing With
the Sisters</span></strong>, arose spontaneously in the Parish, from the
conversations of several women who felt that the action of the CDF was directed
against them, as well as against the Religious Women of the LCWR—part of
systemic disempowerment of women within the Church. The importance of so many
women’s religious communities—Holy Names, Providence, Sacred Heart, St. Joseph <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">of Peace, Mercy, Dominican,
Franciscan, etc.—in the shaping of St. Joseph and its members made the action
of the CDF extremely personal and disheartening to many of the ordinary women
and men of this community, and continues to animate them—as it does so many
across the country. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">It is also true, Archbishop, that your
acceptance of the role of implementor of the verdict of the CDF has been both a
cause of sorrow and hope among members of the Parish. You are seen as a man of
prayer and one welcoming to the views of others. Even on the issue of
Referendum 74, you have been seen as pastorally sensitive and personally kind.
The people of St. Joseph care for you and, I believe, pray for you regularly
(even outside the Eucharistic Prayer). Yet, at the same time many feel
uncertain by your decision to accept this appointment, and have sought to
understand your participation in this action against some of those who are best
and holiest within our Church. As with Referendum 74, the result of the
intervention has been to alienate many in the community from the larger Church,
and, indeed, sometimes even from the Parish—all of which has had a significant
effect on the Annual Catholic Appeal.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">When I heard from many traditional
donors and long-time members of the Parish that they would not be giving to ACA
this year, because of the direction of the Archdiocese, I grew concerned and
spoke repeatedly from the pulpit about the good work done by the ACA,
referring, at times, to your commitment not to spend any ACA funds on the
Referendum 74 campaign. Still, several weeks ago, we found ourselves with
$55,000 still outstanding in our ACA assessment. Thus, I decided to try another
tack: I came before the Parish, telling them of the shortage and the need to
meet the assessment, since our budget could not afford a shortfall. I then
asked them to pledge to the ACA or, if they could not in conscience do so, to
give to the Parish in a special envelope, provided in the back of the Church,
with which we would pay the assessment. I committed to them that I would pass
on their concerns with the money we raised, though I also encouraged all who
wished to write to you directly. This letter is the result of that commitment,
since we raised, in a few weeks, almost $28,000, from 67 families, who chose to
give to the Parish in lieu of pledging to the Archdiocese. Representing more
than 20% of the total raised or pledged at St. Joseph for the ACA, I think this
figure a significant enough amount to ask what it means to the Archdiocese and
to the Church.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">Archbishop Sartain, the members of St.
Joseph who have held back or redirected their gifts are not uninvolved or <em><span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">"casual"
</span></em>Catholics—they love the Church and are, for the most part, faithful
and hopeful people. They have listened to the gospel and learned the lessons of
faith since Vatican II; many have deepened their faith lives through spiritual
reading and prayer, and long for the gift of the Eucharist and the life of the
sacraments. They grumbled at times but have embraced the revised liturgy. They
worry about their children’s perseverance in the faith, and support Catholic
education and the works of outreach and service. For the most part, they love
and revere the Holy Father and their Archbishop; yet they are also concerned
that the Spirit who moves not only in the hierarchy, but in the whole
Church—the whole People of God—is not being heard or attended to. They want to
understand and to engage in a communal dialogue that they see as foundational
of our faith—not rebellious to hierarchy, but in communion with those who have
received the mission of leadership in the Church. Though we have done a great
deal of such dialogue at a local level—with gatherings on formation of
conscience and the reading of Scripture, discernment and its application—there
is a deep desire to do it with the primary Pastor of the Church in this region.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">And so, Archbishop, I would like to
invite you to come to St. Joseph, at a time convenient to you, to speak with
the members of the Parish and to listen to them—to engage together with the
people of St. Joseph in listening to the Spirit moving in the Church. I promise
to do all I can to facilitate such a gathering, and to ensure that it is
prayerfully centered and built on the hope and faith which are the signs of the
Spirit. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">At General Congregation 35, the Holy
Father called the members of the Society of Jesus to recall our founders, and
to build bridges between the heart of the Church and its frontiers. It is
ironic, perhaps, that such bridge-building would occur even within the life of
such a firmly Catholic parish as St. Joseph; yet, this is what I see these days
to be: a time of bridges, when the heart reaches out to the frontier and the
frontier renews the heart. May Christ Jesus, the head of the Church, in whom <em><span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">"the
whole structure is held together and grows into a temple sacred in the
Lord" </span></em>(Ephesians 2:21), sustain us in this good work and lead
us to become his temple.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">Your servant in the Lord,<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">John D. Whitney, S.J. Pastor <span class="baec5a81-e4d6-4674-97f3-e9220f0136c1">206.300.6010</span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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Paul Kellyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16460026961532388858noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8402184081901311459.post-4297516441967722302012-08-16T07:02:00.001-07:002012-08-17T10:42:40.058-07:00Why Won’t Bishops Talk With Us? <div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
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<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> <span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"> </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">Apart from gold medals at Olympics or heart-warming stories of a kind person’s deeds, daily news is about opposition. If somebody says something and nobody objects; no news. If there is an objection, both are interviewed by glib pundits whose stated desire is to resolve differences; if not, then to fan the flames. Be it war, rebellion, taxes, offshore banks, a national debt terrifying in its solitude, rules and regulations for and against doing business, even the word of God and whatever theology God’s word enhances, if not supports.</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">Examples? Syria. American Presidential Campaign. College Football. The Speeding Bullet crashing as it tried to cross the country in an hour. Condoms kill procreation. Dad hoping for pancakes and bacon for breakfast, rather than one slice of wheat toast, no butter. Homosexuals are not human. Life itself, in all its aspects is, a contest of opposites, rather than a dull, boring still picture, without using a flash. Trial lawyers do not exist as a profession unless there are at least two sides In a case. If she stood so silent with expectancy hovering on her lips, then why did she slap my face when mine got closer, lips puckered? If guns kill people, and if people kill people, isn’t it simple to go on to people with guns kill people? In movie theatres, shopping centers, churches of minor denominations from foreign countries, as Christianity out of Europe once was.</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"> </span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span">Think on Theology, as an academic discipline if you will. For centuries, I guess, it has been taught in threes: thesis, antithesis, synthesis. What comes out the other end is Theology, a/k/a doctrine, dogma, decree. God’s word for man. One problem. To get to synthesis, a theology student must listen to the professor profess on and on about thesis and antithesis, and whoopsie-doo, pull synthesis out of his magician’s top hat. Note: it is a singularity.</span> </span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span">Theology is the only academic discipline held together in the same infallibility by which it was begun: God said so. No other college course can make that claim, not even philosophy, once the immature child growing up to be theology. Mathematics might look like it comes close, but consider the answers doctoral candidates offer to the question: What will your thesis be on?</span> </span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">Along the way, minds have to wander in wonder, perhaps, to be silly about it all, in the lurking question: “Where on earth did this stuff come from?” The professor smiles, knowing full well that synthesis is irrefutable, as well as infallible, because he said so, and so did his teacher. Note, he got his degree, PhD or STD in Graduate School, and it was taught by eminent holders of the same degrees. They gave him the mystery of thesis, antithesis, synthesis. Those who govern his church discard thesis and antithesis and rule that synthesis is infallible. And he said “Aha!” to their “Voila!”<o:p></o:p></span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><o:p><span class="Apple-style-span"></span></o:p> That is why Rome does not allow discussion. The Magisterium is frozen still, like a lake in the high Alps or the tundra of Siberia, or the ice island continent of Antarctica. As frozen as a Roman Dicastery or the Chapel of the Little Flower downtown. Ever drop into a bishop’s chancery, unable to take your topcoat off because of the silent chill throughout the building?</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><o:p><span class="Apple-style-span"> <span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span></span></o:p>A few weeks ago, daring, dauntless scientists discovered the boson nicknamed The God Particle. Yesterday, the discovery of a Galaxy Universe, creating 700 stars a day, billions and billions of light years from us, was made by another group of eager scientists, long, long gone beyond thesis, antithesis, synthesis as an educative tool. Man wants to know. Man needs to know.</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><o:p><span class="Apple-style-span"> </span></o:p>How, in God’s Name, can the church’s leaders say any of the following? “This is the Magisterium. That’s it. It is infallible, because we are infallible when we do theology. There is nothing further to know. Kneel and we will give you our blessing. Oh! And by the way, shut up or get out. ” Bishops protest that they do not act this way.</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">But, they do, don’t they? Just ask the LCWR, or an old man like myself. I could guess that I’m way off-base on Theology, but why won’t the Church let us talk together about what could very well be the most important topic of our lives? </span><o:p></o:p><br />
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Paul Kellyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16460026961532388858noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8402184081901311459.post-19236223948152622072012-08-14T05:14:00.002-07:002012-08-14T05:36:20.371-07:00The Butler Did It<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
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<span style="color: #004276;"><a href="http://religion.blogs.cnn.com/2012/08/13/vatican-to-reveal-if-popes-butler-will-faces-charges-over-leak/" title="Permanent Link:Pope's butler leaked papers to shock 'corrupt' Church, prosecutor says"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 180%;"><b>Pope's butler leaked papers to shock 'corrupt' Church, prosecutor says</b></span></a></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 85%;"><o></o></span><o:p></o:p></div>
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<span style="color: black;"><a href="http://religion.blogs.cnn.com/2012/08/13/vatican-to-reveal-if-popes-butler-will-faces-charges-over-leak/"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 85%;">http://religion.blogs.cnn.com/2012/08/13/vatican-to-reveal-if-popes-butler-will-faces-charges-over-leak/</span></a></span><o:p></o:p></div>
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<span style="color: black;"><o> </o></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 12px;">By<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><strong>Richard Allen Greene and Hada Messia,</strong><span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>CNN</span></div>
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Pope Benedict XVI's butler will be tried on an aggravated theft charge over the leaking of hundreds of secret papers from the pope's personal apartment to an Italian journalist, a Vatican spokesman said Monday.<o></o><o:p></o:p></div>
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The butler, Paolo Gabriele, acted out of a desire to combat "evil and corruption everywhere in the Church," according to a prosecutor in the case.<o></o><o:p></o:p></div>
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"I was certain that a shock ... would have been healthy to bring the church back onto the right track," the prosecutor, Nicola Piccardi, wrote in a report released Monday by the Vatican.<o></o><o:p></o:p></div>
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A second man, Vatican IT expert Claudio Sciarpelletti, will be charged with aiding Gabriele, according to the Rev. Federico Lombardi, a Vatican spokesman.<o></o><o:p></o:p></div>
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Sciarpelletti is not suspected of conspiring with Gabriele, merely assisting him, and is not under arrest, Lombardi said.<o></o><o:p></o:p></div>
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The investigation is continuing, said Lombardi, raising the possibility of more arrests.<o></o><o:p></o:p></div>
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The trials are not expected to start before September 20, Lombardi said.<o></o><o:p></o:p></div>
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Gabriele, one of the pope's closest personal assistants, was arrested in May on suspicion of passing the papers to an Italian journalist. He faces the possibility of one to six years behind bars, Lombardi said.<o></o><o:p></o:p></div>
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The scandal has rocked the Catholic Church hierarchy and could even affect who becomes the next pope.<o></o><o:p></o:p></div>
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<span style="font-size: 13.5pt;"><b><span style="color: #004276; font-size: 12.0pt;"><a href="http://religion.blogs.cnn.com/" title="http://religion.blogs.cnn.com/">CNN’s Belief Blog: The faith angles behind the biggest stories</a></span></b></span><o></o><o:p></o:p></div>
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It could be an effort to unseat Benedict's secretary of state, Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone, who will run the conclave to choose the next pope if he is in office when Benedict dies, according to the Rev. Thomas Reese, author of "Inside the Vatican."<o></o><o:p></o:p></div>
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Gabriele was held in a special Vatican cell for about a month and a half before being released to house arrest in July.<o></o><o:p></o:p></div>
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The Vatican said Gabriele cooperated with investigators and admits leaking the papers, which consisted of faxes, letters and memos, including some from a high-ranking church official expressing concerns about corruption within the Vatican.<o></o><o:p></o:p></div>
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The arrest followed a top-level Vatican investigation into how the private documents appeared in the best-selling book "Sua Santita" ("His Holiness") by Italian journalist Gianluigi Nuzzi.<o></o><o:p></o:p></div>
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The Vatican called the publication of his book "criminal" when it was released in Italian.<o></o><o:p></o:p></div>
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Copies of some documents used in the book were found in the butler's apartment, according to the judge's report released Monday.<o></o><o:p></o:p></div>
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<span style="font-size: 13.5pt;"><b><span style="color: #004276; font-size: 12.0pt;"><a href="http://twitter.com/cnnbelief" title="http://twitter.com/cnnbelief">Follow the CNN Belief Blog on Twitter</a></span></b></span><o></o><o:p></o:p></div>
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Gabriele was not paid for handing over the papers, according to the judge, Piero Antonio Bonnet.<o></o><o:p></o:p></div>
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Cardinal Julian Herranz got a "pontifical mandate" in April to uncover the source of hundreds of personal letters and confidential documents that made their way to Nuzzi.<o></o><o:p></o:p></div>
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Nuzzi would not confirm the identity of his sources, but he told CNN that his primary source - whom he referred to as "Maria" in his book - "risked life and limb" if ever found out.<o></o><o:p></o:p></div>
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The source worked inside the Vatican, according to Nuzzi, who refused to give other details such as the source's gender, age and if he or she was clergy.<o></o><o:p></o:p></div>
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Nuzzi's book highlights an internal power struggle within the Vatican through numerous documents, including faxes, personal letters and inter-Vatican memos. He told CNN that he received the documents during a year of private meetings in secret locations.<o></o><o:p></o:p></div>
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The Vatican has not denied the authenticity of the documents but instead says the breach of privacy is a criminal act.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<o> </o><o:p></o:p></div>
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Lordie, Lordie, Friends, can we believe this is happening? <o></o><o:p></o:p></div>
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The butler did it? Really? <o></o><o:p></o:p></div>
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Hidden incriminating papal documents? Aw, C’mon! <o></o><o:p></o:p></div>
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What a fascinating and intriguing church we may have after all!<o></o><o:p></o:p></div>
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And now I’m doing what lawyers unctuously remind friends never to do: gossiping about a news item of derring-do Inside the sacrosanct halls of papal apartments, thus rushing to judgment with a banner emblazoned “I Told You So!!!”, in finding guilty those we long suspected of devious conduct, ecclesially. </div>
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And not necessarily the perp who sneaked out the documents in the first place. Our rushing .to judgment is to keep the heat on and foment the desire of law enforcement to dig deep and deeper, to drag out in the open all the machinators of dogma-disciplie-decree poured out for centuries as gowned men kept control with tight, soft hands, in sacred silence. <o></o><o:p></o:p></div>
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Little details whittle our bloodhound’s nose as we surf the web looking for more and more and more among the little details: like the butler giving copies to his maître d'hôtel – great proof of their existence? – only to watch them vanish as the trembling fellow burned them all – tampering with evidence? </div>
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Glee rolls on with a hushed expectation that much more will be coming, because the Vatican boasts of an early trial in September, when all the evidence will be produced in open court. </div>
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Hasn’t any attorney told the curial gang to hush, hush, while sniffing reporters go wild. Exposing Vatican secrecy may be too dangerous for such exposure, and we may yet hear that the trial will either be abandoned or conducted behind closed doors. </div>
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The Vatican, though a State, can’t claim irremediable danger to national security, can it? <o></o><o:p></o:p></div>
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Matthew 27:51 tells us, <i>“At that moment the curtain of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom. The earth shook and the rocks split.” </i></div>
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waited for so many years for the curial curtain to be so <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">“torn in two from top to bottom” </i>that <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">“The earth shook and the rocks
split.</i>” Such anticipation may soon be fulfilled when brilliant lighting
strikes again in a place thought holy. Remnants and foundations of churchly
buildings may become Roman ruins for tourists to haunt for centuries to come. </span><o></o></td> </tr>
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“Look, up there, third floor ruins on the far corner. Those are the papal apartments, where the butler used to work….” <o></o><o:p></o:p></div>
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“OMG,this was the most powerful church In the entire history of civilization. For thousands of years."<o:p></o:p></div>
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“Say what you will, Buster. They ran a tight ship.”<o></o><o:p></o:p></div>
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“Yup. And an insignificant butler, low down on the rank of house servants, pulled the plug and sank it.” <o></o><o:p></o:p></div>
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<o> </o>Some might compare misdemeanors of a papal butler as trivial as pouring blood on nuclear weapons. Makes one wonder whether such loyalists would have sided with the High Priests of Jerusalem’s Temple or the lightning bolt?</div>
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Makes one wonder about papal power and those who created and guarded it so.</div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;">_,___</span></div>
Paul Kellyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16460026961532388858noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8402184081901311459.post-1949233566197176532012-08-12T12:06:00.003-07:002012-08-12T15:35:59.426-07:00<br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 130%;"><b>Vatican’s Compendium of the Social Doctrine of the Church</b><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"><a href="http://www.vatican.va/roman_curia/pontifical_councils/justpeace/documents/rc_pc_justpeace_doc_20060526_compendio-dott-soc_en.html"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;"><b>http://www.vatican.va/roman_curia/pontifical_councils/justpeace/documents/rc_pc_justpeace_doc_20060526_compendio-dott-soc_en.html</b></span></a><span class="MsoHyperlink" style="font-size: large; font-weight: bold;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: large; line-height: 55px;"><b>A copy of this document was enclosed in the Georgetown Faculty's letter to Congressman Paul Ryan</b></span></div>
</div>Paul Kellyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16460026961532388858noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8402184081901311459.post-75602482764073001942012-08-12T12:00:00.000-07:002012-08-12T12:24:42.322-07:00<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: center;">
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Cambria, serif; font-size: x-large;"><b>Paul Ryan and Catholic Social Doctrine</b></span></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Cambria","serif"; font-size: 16.0pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">The Georgetown University Faculty Letter to <o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Cambria","serif"; font-size: 16.0pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">April, 2012<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.5pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p> </o:p></span></b></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: black; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Dear Rep. Paul Ryan,<br /><br />Welcome to Georgetown University. We appreciate your willingness to talk about how Catholic social teaching can help inform effective policy in dealing with the urgent challenges facing our country. As members of an academic community at a Catholic university, we see your visit on April 26 for the Whittington Lecture as an opportunity to discuss Catholic social teaching and its role in public policy.<br /><br />However, we would be remiss in our duty to you and our students if we did not challenge your continuing misuse of Catholic teaching to defend a budget plan that decimates food programs for struggling families, radically weakens protections for the elderly and sick, and gives more tax breaks to the wealthiest few. As the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops has wisely noted in several letters to Congress – “a just framework for future budgets cannot rely on disproportionate cuts in essential services to poor persons.” Catholic bishops recently wrote that “the House-passed budget resolution fails to meet these moral criteria.”<br /><br />In short, your budget appears to reflect the values of your favorite philosopher, Ayn Rand, rather than the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Her call to selfishness and her antagonism toward religion are antithetical to the Gospel values of compassion and love.<br /><br />Cuts to anti-hunger programs have devastating consequences. Last year, one in six Americans lived below the official poverty level and over 46 million Americans – almost half of them children – used food stamps for basic nutrition. We also know how cuts in Pell Grants will make it difficult for low-income students to pursue their educations at colleges across the nation, including Georgetown. At a time when charities are strained to the breaking point and local governments have a hard time paying for essential services, the federal government must not walk away from the most vulnerable.<br /><br />While you often appeal to Catholic teaching on “subsidiarity” as a rationale for gutting government programs, you are profoundly misreading Church teaching. Subsidiarity is not a free pass to dismantle government programs and abandon the poor to their own devices. This often misused Catholic principle cuts both ways. It calls for solutions to be enacted as close to the level of local communities as possible. But it also demands that higher levels of government provide help -- “subsidium”-- when communities and local governments face problems beyond their means to address such as economic crises, high unemployment, endemic poverty and hunger. According to Pope Benedict XVI: "Subsidiarity must remain closely linked to the principle of solidarity and vice versa.”<br /><br />Along with this letter, we have included a copy of the Vatican's Compendium of the Social Doctrine of the Church, commissioned by John Paul II, to help deepen your understanding of Catholic social teaching.<br /><br />Respectfully,<br /><br />Thomas J. Reese, S.J.<br />Senior Fellow<br />Woodstock Theological Center<br /><br />Maurice Jackson<br />Associate Professor of History and African American Studies<br />Department of History<br /><br />Angelyn Mitchell, PhD<br />Associate Professor of English and African American Studies<br />Department of English<br /><br />Dolores R. Leckey<br />Senior Research Fellow<br />Woodstock Theological Center<br /><br />Raymond B. Kemp<br />Senior Fellow<br />Woodstock Theological Center<br /><br />Thomas Michel, S.J., Ph.D.<br />Senior Fellow<br />Woodstock Theological Center<br /><br />Rita M. Rodriguez, MBA, PhD<br />Senior Fellow<br />Woodstock Theological Center<br /><br />Hope LeGro<br />Director, Georgetown Languages<br />Georgetown University Press<br /><br />Jackie Beilhart<br />Publicist<br />Georgetown University Press<br /><br />John Langan, S.J.<br />Professor of Philosophy and Catholic Social Thought<br />Georgetown University<br /><br />John F Haught, PhD<br />Senior Fellow<br />Woodstock Theological Center<br /><br />Karen Stohr, Ph.D.<br />Associate Professor of Philosophy, Senior Research Scholar, Kennedy Institute of Ethics<br />Department of Philosophy<br /><br />Ilia Delio, OSF<br />Senior Fellow<br />Woodstock Theological Center<br /><br />Joseph Schad, Mdiv<br />Chaplain, Mission and Pastoral Care<br />Georgetown University Hospital<br /><br />J. Leon Hooper, S.J.<br />Director, Woodstock Library<br />Woodstock Theological Center Library<br /><br />Joseph A. McCartin<br />Associate Professor of History; Director, Kalmanovitz Initiative for Labor and the Working Poor<br />Department of History<br /><br />E. Hazel Denton, PhD<br />Adjunct Professor<br />School of Nursing and Health Studies<br /><br />James Walsh, SJ, Phd<br />Associate Professor<br />Department of Theology<br /><br />Scott Taylor<br />Associate Professor<br />School of Foreign Service<br /><br />Sarah C Stiles, PhD, JD<br />Professor<br />Department of Sociology<br /><br />Katherine Marshall, MPA<br />Visiting Assistant Professor<br />Berkley Center for Religion, Peace, and World Affairs<br /><br />William C. McFadden, S.J.<br />Associate Professor of Theology<br />Georgetown University<br /><br />Alan C. Mitchell, Ph.D.<br />Associate Professor of New Testament and Christian Origins<br />Georgetown University<br /><br />Rev. Dr. Joseph Palacios<br />Adjunct Professor of Latin American Studies<br />Center for Latin American Studies<br /><br />Julia A Lamm<br />Associate Professor of Theology<br />Theology Department<br /><br />Peter C. Phan, Ph.D., D.D.<br />Professor of Catholic Social Thought<br />Georgetown University<br /><br />William Rehg, SJ, PhD, MDiv, PhL, MA<br />Professor of Philosophy<br />Saint Louis University (visiting, Georgetown University)<br /><br />Diana L. Hayes, JD, PhD, STD<br />Professor Emerita of Systematic Theology<br />Georgetown University<br /><br />Edward Vacek, S.J.<br />Visiting Scholar<br />Woodstock Theological Center<br /><br />Anthony Tambasco, PhD<br />Professor of Biblical Studies and Christian Ethics<br />Theology Department<br /><br />Mark Lance, PhD<br />Professor of Philosophy, Professor of Justice and Peace<br />Georgetown University<br /><br />Robert J. Bies, PhD, MBA<br />Professor of Management<br />McDonough School of Management<br /><br />Benjamin Bogin, PhD<br />Assistant Professor<br />Theology Department<br /><br />John W. O'Malley, S.J., PhD<br />University Professor<br />Theology Department<br /><br />Lauve H. Steenhuisen, PhD<br />Visiting Assistant Professor<br />Theology Department<br /><br />Linda Ferneyhough<br />Theology Dept. Administrator<br />Theology Department<br /><br />Marilyn McMorrow<br />Visiting Assistant Professor International Relations and Political Theory<br />School of Foreign Service<br /><br />Matthew Carnes, S.J., PhD<br />Assistant Professor of Government<br />Georgetown University<br /><br />Diana Owen, PhD<br />Associate Professor<br />CCT/American Studies<br /><br />Friederike Eigler (Ph.D.)<br />Professor of German<br />Georgetown University College<br /><br />Ricardo L. Ortiz, PhD<br />Associate Professor of English<br />Department of English<br /><br />David J. Collins, S.J., S.T.L., Ph.D.<br />Associate Professor of History<br />Georgetown University<br /><br />Peter C. Pfeiffer, PhD<br />Professor<br />German Department<br /><br />Julie Finnegan Stoner<br />Publishing Assistant<br />Georgetown University Press<br /><br />Mary Helen Dupree<br />Assistant Professor of German<br />Georgetown University<br /><br />Lan Ngo, S.J., M.A., MDiv.<br />Graduate Student<br />Department of History<br /><br />Francis J. Ambrosio PhD<br />Associate Professor of Philosohy<br />Philosophy Department<br /><br />Joseph H. Neale, Ph.D.<br />Paduano Distinguished Professor of Biology<br />Georgetown University College<br /><br />Elizabeth Velez<br />Academic Director, Community Scholars<br />Professorial Lecturer, English Women's and Gender Studies<br />Georgetown University College<br /><br />Astrid Weigert<br />Assistant Professor of German<br />Department of German<br /><br />John Rakestraw, PhD<br />Instructor of Theology<br />Center for New Designs in Learning & Scholarship<br /><br />Susan F. Martin, PhD<br />Donald G. Herzberg Associate Professor of International Migration<br />School of Foreign Service<br /><br />Eli S. McCarthy PhD<br />Adjunct Professor of Justice and Peace Studies<br />Center for Social Justice<br /><br />Veronica Salles Reese<br />Associate Professor<br />Spanish Department<br /><br />Francisca Cho, PhD<br />Professor of Buddhist Studies<br />Theology Department<br /><br />Marcia Chatelain<br />Assistant Professor of History<br />Georgetown University<br /><br />Heidi Byrnes, PhD<br />George M. Roth Distinguished Professor of German<br />German Department<br /><br />Steven R. Sabat, Ph.D.<br />Professor of Psychology<br />College of Arts and Sciences<br /><br />Marianne Lyons<br />Assistant Dean<br />School of Nursing & Health Studies<br /><br />Ladan Eshkevari, PhD, CRNA<br />Assistant Professor<br />Georgetown University<br /><br />John Kraemer, JD, MPH<br />Assistant Professor of Health Systems Administration<br />School of Nursing & Health Studies<br /><br />Jose R Teruel, MD, MPH<br />Professor of International Health<br />School of Nursing and Health Studies<br /><br />Elizabeth H. Andretta, Ph.D.<br />Visiting Associate Professsor<br />Georgetown University in Qatar<br /><br />Jo Anne P Davis, PhD<br />Assistant Professor, Nursing<br />School of Nursing & Health Studies<br /><br />Irene Anne Jillson, PhD<br />Assistant Professor<br />School of Nursing and Health Studies<br /><br />Jeanne A. Matthews, PhD, RN<br />Chair and Assistant Professor, Department of Nursing<br />School of Nursing and Health Studies<br /><br />Justin M. Owen, BSc(Eng)<br />Director of Medical Technologies<br />School of Nursing & Health Studies<br /><br />Laura Anderko PhD RN<br />Scanlon Endowed Chair in Values Based Health Care<br />School of Nursing & Health Studies<br /><br />Michael A. Stoto, PhD<br />Professor of Health Systems Administration and Population Health<br />School of Nursing & Health Studies and Pubic Policy Institute<br /><br />Ronald Leow, Ph.D.<br />Professor of Applied Linguistics<br />Georgetown University<br /><br />Rosemary Sokas, MD, MOH<br />Professor of Human Science<br />School of Nursing and Health Studies<br /><br />Carol Taylor, PhD, RN<br />Professor of Nursing<br />School of Nursing and Health Studies<br /><br />Robert J. Barnet MD, MA<br />Adjunct Professor of Medicine<br />School of Medicine<br /><br />Leona M Fisher, Ph.D.<br />Associate Professor of English<br />Department of English<br /><br />Jane Fitz-Simons MS,RN<br />Adjunct Faculty Nursing<br />Georgetown University<br /><br />Mary Jane Mastorovich, MS<br />Asst. Professor, Health Systems Administration<br />Georgetown University<br /><br />Edilma Yearwood, PhD, RN<br />Associate Professor of Nursing<br />School of Nursing & Health Studies<br /><br />Wilfried Ver Eecke<br />Professor in Philosophy<br />Department of Philosophy<br /><br />Sylvia E. Mullins, M.A.R in Theology<br />Graduate Student<br />Department of History<br /><br />Terry Pinkard, PhD<br />University Professor<br />Department of Philosophy<br /><br />Bryce Huebner, PhD<br />Assistant Professor of Philosophy<br />Georgetown University<br /><br />Judith Baigis, PhD, RN, FAAN<br />Professor Emerita<br />School of Nursing & Health Studies<br /><br />Patricia Mullahy Fugere<br />Adjunct Professor, JD Program<br />AB '81; JD '84; E.D., Washington Legal Clinic for the Homeless<br /><br />Henry Schwarz, PhD<br />Professor of English<br />Georgetown University<br /><br />Judith Lichtenberg, PhD<br />Professor of Philosophy<br />Georgetown University<br /><br />Joseph A. Chalmers, PhD<br />Retired Dean<br />Georgetown University<br /><br />E. J. Dionne, Jr., D.Phil.<br />University Professor<br />Georgetown Public Policy Institute<br /><br />Marlene Canlas, MA, MPH<br />Assistant Dean</span></b></div>
<h2>
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: black; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Georgetown University</span></b></h2>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><o:p> </o:p></span></b></div>Paul Kellyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16460026961532388858noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8402184081901311459.post-31923032505347868822012-08-12T08:13:00.002-07:002012-08-12T15:46:15.699-07:00“A DIALOGUE OF THE DEAF”<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
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<b><span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">Dreamer that I may be, the uplift in my soul kept saying that the LCWR and College of Cardinals could come to a reasonable, faith-filled discussion about the Church. Brickbat hurlers, who hone the edges of combat knives for religion-tinged disputations, are prone to repeat with gusto, “No!” </span></b><br />
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<b><span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">Men in ecclesial power tremble at the slightest sound of women’s feet on their glass ceiling. They have seen their brothers in the worlds of national government, international diplomacy, world-wide and local business, yield a little, groan a lot, as one woman after another demonstrates that women are the equals of men; quite often their superiors in leadership.</span></b><br />
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<b><span style="font-size: 14.0pt;"><o> </o></span></b><b><span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">More devastating to those men of power, long gone rigid over two millennia of unbridled authority, is the growing realization among ordinary people that in many regards, particularly leadership, women are superior to men. </span></b><br />
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<b><span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">Women are by nature kinder, more respectful of those with whom they may disagree, and always ready, willing and able to listen before speaking. We never hear them curse. Only on the rarest of provocations do they return demeaning insults with choice ones of their own.</span></b><br />
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<b><span style="font-size: 14.0pt;"><o> </o></span></b><b><span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">An example from current news on reaction to the LCWR’s decision to continue dialogue helps make the point. </span></b><b><span style="font-size: 14pt;">Cardinal</span></b><b><span style="font-size: 14.0pt;"> William Levada, former Dean of the CDF Dicastery, is known well for his heavy-voiced growlings in rhetorical put-downs of those unprivileged persons outside his College of Cardinals, -- a miniscule bunch of 181 men who appear to act as if they founded, then owned and thus rule the world.</span></b><br />
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<b><span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">Cardinal Levada denounced the current disputation-via-headlines between the CDF and the LCWR, as <i>“a dialogue of the deaf.”</i> </span></b><br />
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<b><span style="font-size: 14.0pt;"><o></o>Sad. Not outrageous, but sad.</span></b><br />
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<b><span style="font-size: 14.0pt;"><o> </o></span></b><b><span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">An hierarchical contrast makes the point. On August 5, the front page of The Seattle Times ran an article: “Low-Key archbishop in the spotlight” concerning Archbishop J. Peter Sartrain, one of Levada’s choices for the Triumvirate set up to reign in the LCWR. </span></b><br />
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<b><span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">Fr. John Whitney, S.J. former provincial of the Oregon Province, spoke candidly there of <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Archbishop Sartrain “as accesible, & a good listener. He went on to say that the archbishop did not demean those who disagreed with him but that he was steadfast in his orthodoxy. Whitney conceded however, that Sartain was a lot nicer than others of his position."</span></b><br />
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<b><span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">Levada demeans.<o></o></span></b><o:p></o:p><br />
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<b><span style="font-size: 14.0pt;"><o>Rather than continue his tone of talk, may I suggest we pray for Cardinal Levada and his cohorts to be gentlemen, as well as hierarchs. There is, so far, no sign of any need to ask the LCWR to be anything other than what they already are: servants of the people of God, equal with, if not superior to, the male hierarchy, another group within the Church also described as “servants of the people of God.”<o></o></o></span></b><o:p></o:p></div>
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<o:p> </o:p></div>Paul Kellyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16460026961532388858noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8402184081901311459.post-53690626832035243562012-08-11T10:28:00.002-07:002012-08-15T23:22:35.377-07:00LCWR and ROME<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 7.5pt;">
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<span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: large; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><b>LCWR is meeting now to determine its response to Rome's stringent assessment of their place in the church. NCR has a couple of good articles, in case anyone hasn’t kept up with the details.<o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: large; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><b>The temptation to respond to the episcopal triumvirate was so strong, I doubted whether I had any professional attitudes to those bishops at all. Sheer revulsion at their conduct, too easily branded as thuggery, forced me to shut up, be still, and support the Nuns and their leaders with prayer, filled with an equal amount of emotion on the good side. I had no contact with Nuns while growing up. <o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: large; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><b>We went to Sunday School for Catechism lessons, until Dad, the Sexton of our parish church, heard my squeals at a couple of women wearing black who looked like and acted like thugines. Over the years I could never understand why a girl would want to be a Nun. So, for most of my life, I was just like a lot of men who protested they were good fellows, but still looked askance at women. For eight years I was a Jesuit, until I returned to ordinary life and practiced law, while helping the love of my life raise a family of four sons. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: large; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><b>Thank goodness that youthful attitude has vanished, mostly because of 53 years of daily living with a lovable, loving woman and getting to know her friends on a much better level than distant politeness. I saw quickly how lawyers could never succeed at anything without the help of women, not just as secretaries or paralegals, but as equally competent, skilled, and prepared lawyers. Women took their places as judges in trial courts and justices in appellate courts, with as much skill, patience, learning, and ability to judge as are their fellow men judges. Glance, if you will, at halls of Government, Universities, Professional Graduate Schools, Corporations, Partnerships, yes, even the Military, where women are as equal, if not superior, to men. Watch TV these days to see Olympic athletes from countries all over the world. <o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: large; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><b>What, in God’s Name, is wrong with the Catholic Church in its attitude towards its own women, particularly our Nuns? <o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: large; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><b>Perhaps, should the bishops have more daily contact with Nuns, in the service of the people of God, they’d change their attitudes, too. I guess that means prayers for them to wake up, look and see what the Church has in the Sisterhood. And get along, together, as do we, men and women in our daily lives. When I think of Mother, Wife, Aunt, Cousin in my own family, or of Sister, Daughter in other families, I cannot<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>understand the lack of understanding male celibate clerics have about women in the Church. <o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: large; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><b>It is senseless. Worse than that, it is cruel. There are so many other adjectives to describe the indescribable contempt professional churchmen have towards women. Each one of those male hierarchs had a mother. Many had sisters within the family. Others might even have been in love, prior to entering the seminary. Even afterwards, as well. <o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">And yet ….. and yet . . . </span></b><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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Paul Kellyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16460026961532388858noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8402184081901311459.post-13892429467019413822012-08-11T10:13:00.003-07:002012-08-15T23:22:55.464-07:00Gotta Keep 'Em Outa Equality<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 7.5pt;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"><b>The voices of many Catholic men are tinged with a sense of fairness. It is hard to see such fairness, though, when they are so standoffishly aloof about celibate males, pricky or prickless as they may be, about looking up to women, through or around them.</b></span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: large; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><b>What if they were to hold hands with a bunch of Nuns, try a folk dance in an old barn out in Rome’s suburbs, go one on one with one at a time for lunch, stroll a walk through the Vatican State, fiddle a game of checkers? What if, even when it cannot be imagined?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: large; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><b>While working a lifetime in an office, I noted that bachelors had a tough time getting along with women on a casual basis. They either wanted to avoid them or bed them, once, perhaps twice, just to get the feel of what closeness was actually like. Gosh, just look at our poor fellows’ education, how we grew up. I never saw a girl or a woman in the classrooms of high school. Not until college in 1945, and then, they weren’t the cute and perky type at all, but Mother Superior wannabes out to give guys a rough one on one to see who would dance on the glass ceiling. Come to think of it, none of them played football, baseball, ice hockey, or God forbid wrestling in high school or college.In our befuddled youth, sports were similar to the halls of leadership.in the Church. For Men Only. We were it, but we liked girls. <o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: large; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><b>What would ever happen were a bishop to ask an LWCR stalwart, “Come, dance with me.” Touch would be involved, and touch has a way of opening doors, cleaning window panes, shopping for groceries, laughing together at reruns of “I Love Lucy” rather than “Father Knows Best.” While in conference with other women bishops, how many bishops would drop habitual superiority in<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“Get me a coffee, please?”<o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: large; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><b>When men admit that women are, in fact, superior human beings to their complacency of who’s got it and who hasn’t, then men and women can no longer claim equality. Women are superior. Such an outlandish inner knowledge is perhaps so alien to male mentalities that women are doomed to being accepted only for procreation and service to men. Proof? How often are we surprised, even astonished, when a woman succeeds in surpassing us in skills, maturity, good looks, and common sense?<o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: large; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><b>Nuns are more than housemaids, washerwomen, dainty icons prettifying a male world. They is us, better than us, as good as us, and both of us know it darn well. The deepest masculine fear strikes when a woman gets her foot up on a glass ceiling, alone or holding hands with her sisters, and starts to walk around, realizing fjull well that she belongs. That ceiling has to crack, shatter, break open and the whole structure men have built will all fall down. <o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><b>Litle wonder that men have a secret motto mumbling: Gotta keep them outa equality, not just outa power.</b></span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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Paul Kellyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16460026961532388858noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8402184081901311459.post-84604513478507151102012-08-03T14:14:00.002-07:002012-08-12T12:30:39.900-07:00<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><strong>Preachers Preach</strong></span></div>
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<b>Story? Famous preacher. Big city parish. Old Monsignor seated on throne of honor at the altar.Preacher enters by side door, erect, tall, clad in flowing black, biretta straight on, cape just so. He strides, not walks, to the foot of the altar, bows, not genuflects, turns towards the pulpit on high. And if imagination could dare say it was true, prances towards its flight of steps. He mounts them, as if in an ascension of his own. At the top, in the hushed silence generated in awe at such an ntrance, hspreads his arms out wide and straight, fingertips of each hand holding that magic cape out like ntwings, and silently counts his breaths all the way from one to twenty. </b></div>
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<b>He begins, a modulated voice, strong, far reaching, pulsing with authority, quite softly, very slowly, inviting all to enter closer with his arms beckoning them to rise and sidle forward. Preacher speaks, “For my topic this evening, I have chosen the Gospel story of the man who fell through the roof. There are three magnificent moments in this story.” And he goes through the first two, noticing easily that his audience is enraptured, almost as much as he. </b></div>
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<b>He resumes, “And now, dearly beloved in Christ, let us approach the third, the most daring, the most courageous, obviously, very obviously, the greatest story of all three….” He pauses, looks up at his right hand raised on high ready to descend like a lightning bolt, turns his face and eyes in a semicircular embrace of everyone in the church, and opens that mouth which always enchanteth all.</b></div>
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<b>And silence oozes forth. Silence. Not a word. Not a single word. The arm flutters down. The face blanches grey. The cape droops in wrinkles. The entire body shudders. Tall preacher shrinks to normal size, humbles down the flight of stairs, shuffles to the altar’s foot, bows, then falls to his knees, hands clenched in puny prayer, as he tumbles forward, prone, the first time since his ordination to the priesthood some 25 years earlier.A few moments later, he struggles to his feet and turns to walk off to that side door, with a little kid’s glance at the Monsignor still seated in the chair of honor. </b></div>
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<b>The Monsignor rises, holds out his arms for the welcome of humility, and says, while blessing the preachless one, “Father dear, had ye gone oop the way ye coom down, ye wooda coom down the way the way ye wint oop.” </b></div>
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</div>Paul Kellyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16460026961532388858noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8402184081901311459.post-38216536656547395642012-08-01T20:03:00.000-07:002012-08-12T12:35:14.908-07:00<div align="center">
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<b>The news,
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<b>sparkles
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<b><st1:country -region="-region" w:st="on">Iraq</st1:country>, <st1:country -region="-region" w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Iran</st1:place></st1:country>, Islam, Insurgents, Ideologues,
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<b>line
of priest-abusers and bishop-enablers, pursued by <o:p></o:p></b><br />
<b><br /></b></div>
<div align="center">
</div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; tab-stops: 42.0pt; text-align: center;">
<b>survivors,
their mothers. People-Groups clamor their roiling <o:p></o:p></b><br />
<b><br /></b></div>
<div align="center">
</div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; tab-stops: 42.0pt; text-align: center;">
<b>rancour
again, again, in this the third millennium, for change.<o:p></o:p></b><br />
<b><br /></b></div>
<div align="center">
</div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; tab-stops: 42.0pt; text-align: center;">
<b><br /></b></div>
<div align="center">
</div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; tab-stops: 42.0pt; text-align: center;">
<b>Screen
signals <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">News Alert</i>, cuts to a bishop,
terrified <o:p></o:p></b><br />
<b><br /></b></div>
<div align="center">
</div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; tab-stops: 42.0pt; text-align: center;">
<b>by swelling
tsunami cresting down remorselessly on <o:p></o:p></b><br />
<b><br /></b></div>
<div align="center">
</div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; tab-stops: 42.0pt; text-align: center;">
<b><st2:givenname w:st="on">Peter</st2:givenname>’s barque, averts digital eye contact, begs <o:p></o:p></b><br />
<b><br /></b></div>
<div align="center">
</div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; tab-stops: 42.0pt; text-align: center;">
<b>believers
forgive scandal’s horror, ignore lethargy of<o:p></o:p></b><br />
<b><br /></b></div>
<div align="center">
</div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; tab-stops: 42.0pt; text-align: center;">
<b><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>response, heed a magisterium of two thousand <o:p></o:p></b><br />
<b><br /></b></div>
<div align="center">
</div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; tab-stops: 42.0pt; text-align: center;">
<b>years.
A bent man squints, hollers, “Accountability!” <o:p></o:p></b><br />
<b><br /></b></div>
<div align="center">
</div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; tab-stops: 42.0pt; text-align: center;">
<b>Eye
contact is made. The bishop’s shift away.<o:p></o:p></b><br />
<b><br /></b></div>
<div align="center">
</div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; tab-stops: 42.0pt; text-align: center;">
<b><br /></b></div>
<div align="center">
</div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; tab-stops: 42.0pt; text-align: center;">
<b>Squinter
clicks for scenes of pomposity past and present, <o:p></o:p></b><br />
<b><br /></b></div>
<div align="center">
</div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; tab-stops: 42.0pt; text-align: center;">
<b>those
ancient men, gowned in scarlet, purple, red, with<o:p></o:p></b><br />
<b><br /></b></div>
<div align="center">
</div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; tab-stops: 42.0pt; text-align: center;">
<b>one
in white, girdled by great wide belts of<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>day-glow <o:p></o:p></b><br />
<b><br /></b></div>
<div align="center">
</div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; tab-stops: 42.0pt; text-align: center;">
<b>hues,
hatted under tapered cones with golden tassels. <o:p></o:p></b><br />
<b><br /></b></div>
<div align="center">
</div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; tab-stops: 42.0pt; text-align: center;">
<b>Like
ghosts from the Middle Ages, slipper-shuffling, <o:p></o:p></b><br />
<b><br /></b></div>
<div align="center">
</div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; tab-stops: 42.0pt; text-align: center;">
<b>crooked
staffs for canes, they drool out <o:p></o:p></b><br />
<b><br /></b></div>
<div align="center">
</div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; tab-stops: 42.0pt; text-align: center;">
<b>official
teachings in a Latin as dead as their hearts. <o:p></o:p></b><br />
<b><br /></b></div>
<div align="center">
</div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; tab-stops: 42.0pt; text-align: center;">
<b><br /></b></div>
<div align="center">
</div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; tab-stops: 42.0pt; text-align: center;">
<b>The
bent one palms the mouse, then clicks on Gospels.<o:p></o:p></b><br />
<b><br /></b></div>
<div align="center">
</div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; tab-stops: 42.0pt; text-align: center;">
<b>Sashes,
robes, hats, pomp disappear, fade into a<o:p></o:p></b><br />
<b><br /></b></div>
<div align="center">
</div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; tab-stops: 42.0pt; text-align: center;">
<b>simple
scene on a lakefront shore in <st1:place w:st="on">Galilee</st1:place> where<o:p></o:p></b><br />
<b><br /></b></div>
<div align="center">
</div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; tab-stops: 42.0pt; text-align: center;">
<b>Twelve
tanned men, gnarled as fishermen always are, sit, <o:p></o:p></b><br />
<b><br /></b></div>
<div align="center">
</div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; tab-stops: 42.0pt; text-align: center;">
<b>eyes
fixed on a radiant one in<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>seamless robe,
his arms round <o:p></o:p></b><br />
<b><br /></b></div>
<div align="center">
</div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; tab-stops: 42.0pt; text-align: center;">
<b>children.
He is teaching his prayer, Our Father. A bent </b><b>fisherman</b><br />
<b><br /></b></div>
<div align="center">
</div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; tab-stops: 42.0pt; text-align: center;">
<b>fiddles
with a great millstone, scored, lying on the sand. <o:p></o:p></b></div>
<div align="center">
</div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; tab-stops: 42.0pt; text-align: center;">
<b><br /></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: center;">
<b>[August 1, 2012]</b><br />
<br /></div>
<div align="center">
</div>Paul Kellyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16460026961532388858noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8402184081901311459.post-14115751950583895532012-08-01T19:23:00.000-07:002012-08-01T20:06:36.900-07:00<div align="center">
<br />
<strong>ECHOES OF VOICES</strong><br />
<br />
Echo’s boom<br />
breaking sound’s barrier,<br />
Lifts eyes up to<br />
latch on jet’s tail,<br />
Twin plumes<br />
lingering after it<br />
Zoomed over the<br />
horizon of sight.<br />
<br />
Echoes yodel across<br />
canyons, our own<br />
Voice tossed back<br />
by another self<br />
Fond of playing<br />
games with the mind<br />
As rainbows tease<br />
eyes with pots of gold.<br />
<br />
Echoes rise, fall,<br />
reverberate then<br />
Fade away with<br />
repeated sighs into<br />
Stillness where<br />
silent soul fondles<br />
Tranquility midst<br />
ripples of sound.<br />
<br />
Echoes whisper from<br />
canyons of the mind,<br />
Luring senses<br />
inwards to see who spoke,<br />
Hear tone and<br />
timbre, so vibrant then,<br />
Calling me out to<br />
be with them as before.<br />
<br />
I listen to echoes<br />
of voices and know<br />
I was never alone,<br />
am not now nor<br />
Then beyond sound<br />
in a soundless<br />
Chamber where<br />
echoes cannot come or go.<br />
<br />
My own voice I<br />
cannot hear. When I talk<br />
To myself, no<br />
echoes remain to resound.<br />
Echoes of voices<br />
are within me, though,<br />
Again and again.<br />
Shsh! Shsh! Hear them.<br />
<br />
<br />
[August 15, 2007]<br />
<br />
</div>Paul Kellyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16460026961532388858noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8402184081901311459.post-67140723167959251062012-07-25T15:00:00.000-07:002012-08-03T14:44:05.645-07:00Why Do I Dislike a Presidential Candidate?<div style="text-align: justify;">
<strong><span style="font-size: large;">Something In The Way He Walks</span></strong> </div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
OK, What spurs on my opinion of candidate Mitt Romney? It’s in the way he walks.<br />
<br />
It doesn't originate rom what has always haunted me in George Harrison’s song “Something,”: its first line -- “ Something in the way she moves…” When I see Derek Jeter walking to the plate in the last of the 9th, Yankees down one run, I see greatness. So much so that he can strike out or hit the winning hit, without a dent in that greatness. So too with Bruce Springsteen, Coach Bill Belichik, Nelson Mandela: there is something in the way he walks. </div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br />
Why write like this? Today, for the very first time, I saw Mitt Romney on TV. He made a long walk from the left side of the stage to the rostrum, ready to deliver the most major speech of this campaign. When he took that first step, I saw it and I yelled, “That’s it! That’s it! Something in the way he walks.”<br />
</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
And I knew the source of my feelings about him. He doesn’t walk. He minces. Short, tiny steps, careful steps, not in a shuffle, but in that deliberate way of getting through the naked emptiness around him until he reaches the shelter of the rostrum, chest high, his wall of protection from stares. It’s as if he fears getting caught out in the open, away from his close campaign people, clutching so tightly on his speech with both hands, offering what he hopes is a smile, frozen on his face, his eyes concentrating on the politician who had just introduced him. When he reached the rostrum, I imagined I could hear the whoosh of pent-up breaths releasing him to regain campaign posture and stature. </div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
It all hit me hard, very hard, very clean, very definite. For the first time, I saw. This candidate is not blessed as are Jeter and Belichik and Mandela with true greatness, he is a very private man, at home in boardrooms, a governor’s office, the top deck of one who ran the Olympics years ago. He sits and thinks. An idea comes. He calls an assistant. Tells her. She rushes out to tell the committee, which then puts it into action. No public speaker, not even accustomed to being out in public at all, he has to rely on others to guide him when outside the safe enclosure of the office, change his tie, write his stuff, pat his shoulders as he reaches the top step of the platform, ”You’re on your own now, Mitt. We need you. Good luck. Don’t break a leg.” </div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
What I must do now is watch him finishing up a TV presentation, particularly to see whether his walk away from the platform is as characteristic as his walk toward it. If so, I shall nod. If not, I shall not listen to him.<br />
<br /></div>Paul Kellyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16460026961532388858noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8402184081901311459.post-10518889391764043342012-07-24T10:30:00.000-07:002012-08-03T14:46:50.484-07:00Political Opinions<strong><span style="font-size: large;">Professional Opinions of Pundits Invite Amateurs to Stand and Speak</span></strong><br />
<br />
Pundits on MSNBC or CNN – the others I do not watch -- tell me that this presidential campaign is the worst in history. They do not use words like “nasty”, “petty”, “attacks”, “demeaning”, “belittling”. They reach for but circumlocute “treasonous” with slanting condescension and phrases that linger: “compromises our national security.”<br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: justify;">
That’s a tremendous personal insult to a sitting President of the United States. Looking back from George Washington to George W. Bush, I cannot recall such words ever having been said about a president, whether seeking a second term or not. Hackles twitch and begin to rise on my democratic neck, until I realize that the pundits are urging both candidates to raise the tone from wardheeling’s cacophony to the dignity reserved, deserved for the highest political office in this country, one of the finest in the world. </div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
I am also being told that my personal observations of the Republican candidate are offensive to some readers here, in such a way that no defense based on the freedom to utter my personal opinion can be allowed. And I see, easily, clearly, that we – those who complain about my being myself, as well as myself -- have splashed ourselves in the overspray of the worst presidential campaign, not so much in the sense of “follow the leader”, but in a silent pride of being American, privileged to vote, and worthy of having an opinion at all. <br />
</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
Instead of brushing the complaint off, or even in acknowledging it was well merited, I stopped to ask myself: “Why do I dislike a candidate in the first place?” Particularly one who has been super-successful in almost every task to which he has loaned his enormous talents; most particularly, because of his immense success, rarely achieved by others, in the most difficult world of them all, high business finance. </div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
No ready answers came, probably because I have deliberately been an outsider to politics, and it made little difference as to which party held the office. During my adult life, little joy came from watching two presidents: Jimmy Carter and George W. Bush, while the rest didn’t give rise to opinions about them or their party. The realization came quickly: any opinion I had on any person, president or peasant, usually spurted from my reaction to an idiosyncrasy, so insignificant it had little to do with who and what he was. <br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="color: #1f497d; font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 11pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-themecolor: dark2;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> <span style="color: black;"> </span></span></span><span style="color: #1f497d; font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-themecolor: dark2;"><span style="color: black;">This insight
came very suddenly for me, with the dare to say it out loud held back by an
embarrassed sigh of relief. It didn’t seem professional that my opinion could
possibly be as inane and stupid as an insignificant idiosyncrasy. Somehow,
though, the urge to make such an admission is a dare to ask a reader: “Is your
instinctive opinion of either candidate as silly as mine? “ Followed by, “Is
that how we make up our minds to vote?”</span> </span><br />
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
</div>
</div>Paul Kellyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16460026961532388858noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8402184081901311459.post-11932268510569365532012-07-22T16:26:00.000-07:002012-08-01T20:19:27.974-07:00Marriage and Same Sex Unions<strong><span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;">SAME SEX UNIONS</span></strong><br />
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;"> </span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;"><br />
</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="color: #1f497d;"><span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;">Little if anything has been offered here on marriage as oneman+onewoman, for one of my silly reasons: we are playing with words. I now understand what our Jesuit professors, the college ones, kept repeating: Define your terms. They knew well that the conclusion is already lurking prior to the defining. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="color: #1f497d;"><span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;">That led me to a silly way of joining disputation by not raising raise the level of discussion and staying low, real low, below the ground so to speak, in denotation, tossing out all connotations as the struggle for victory in disputation persisteth.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="color: #1f497d;"><span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;">OK, why not, then, legalize these unions and name them what they are, i.e. <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Define your terms.</i> <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="color: #1f497d;"><span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;">A <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Partnership</i></b>. So, the twain are partners in a partnership and can enjoy all the special liberties, privileges, legalities granted to one man and one woman married to each other. Without discrimination of any kind based solely upon gender preferences in that defined union, their names can be in wills and estates, on tax returns, letterheads, even visit each other in the hospital when dying, or, insult of insults: “Whom shall we call?” <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="color: #1f497d;"><span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;">Nope. Too much of a business smell to it. Not high-uppity as corporation, where the big boys and big girls fling along with briefcases and coffee cups<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="color: #1f497d;"><span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;">Go ahead, get fancy and call it <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Limited Partnership</i></b>, when you know darn well it is so limited it isn’t even allowed. Restrict that term, then, to two women? Seems to be OK, doesn’t it? Not much fuss when they live together, walk friendly down the street to go work in separate cars. But, wow, get a load of rage – anger plus fear equals rage – leaping from masculine eyes boring in on two guys strolling gaily down the street, hands in other’s rear pockets, heading blithely home. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="color: #1f497d;"><span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;">OK, try <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Union</i></b>. As in labor unions? C’mon, the first thing we think of is the wardheeling boss; bet you it’s no woman, except in a seamstress factory. Besides, women bosses in Unions don’t do too well, do they? Union means coming together, yet not really one; just a group, whether little or big. No separate unique part alone in a Union, and no women twogether [sic] ever function as a singularity. This one shows how the disputation is skewed by asking it be named “Same Sex Union.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The cast die stays where it tumbled, rigid, unmoving, owns the whole table.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="color: #1f497d;"><span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;">Maybe just <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Friendship</i></b>? The kind of gettogether where you wave instead of holding hands, two or more lonely hearts pretending, perhaps large enough to be called a team? Friendships could last, even should one move cross country to the other coast where the ocean is on the wrong side when you’re walking north, or even south. Easily replaceable when one lops off. Board a bus and smile. But, gangs find it hard to rent apartments, build houses big enough. Friends, it should be noted, do not necessarily live together with just one other friend, not even with two more. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="color: #1f497d;"><span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;">Nope, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Friendship,</i> is simply too neutral to describe what is going on. Naming is not easy. It’s like branding. It burns through skin, makes the branded how, stays deep, lasts for a long, long time, even forever. That’s what the church had in mind, I think, with the word “marriage.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And that’s OK, even praiseworthy, but a churchly definition cannot be imposed on others who do not belong to the church. Even the church notes the distinction between the “marriage” by church and by state. Church deems marriage a sacrament, conferred on each by the parties, witnessed by an ordained priest. State calls its version “marriage”, witnessed by a civil servant, a Justice of the Peace. The church distinguishes its by calling the state’s “a civil marriage.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Passing by the temptation to call the other “uncivil” please note that the other word -- “marriage” -- <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>is confusing, very confusing, when used by both organizations, church and state. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="color: #1f497d;"><span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;">For an excellent treatment of the word “marriage”, please go to Wikipedia at: </span><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marriage"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marriage</span></a><span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;">. Reading that entry should convince you that the problem is not same sex couples but the encrustations on the word “marriage” over its relatively short life as a word since the 13<span style="font-size: small;"><sup>th</sup> century. <o:p></o:p></span></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="color: #1f497d;"><span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;">The state, however, ruined the word “marriage” by granting legally fabulous privileges not granted to single persons: inheritance, trusts, income tax filings, visitations restricted to blood relatives and those related by marriage. There are other perquisites, none of which are enjoyed by the singles.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #1f497d;"><span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;">Take the word <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">sex</i> or its first cousins out of the nomenclature for two people living together and avoid the word <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">marriage</i>? There, right there, the discussion ends. We promise much when two persons decide to live together, but those of the same gender are blocked by the law. Why? Because, whether said so or not, sex is the secret of the mix. Leaven it in and minds roam. Leave it out and religion provides the definitions. Should religion be of no concern to you, drop in on a philosophy, then, one not notable for its promiscuity. Such as ancient Greece, until the word got out about little boys, or south sea island nations where matriarchs plod and roar, without forgetting Mexico where little girls are laid outside to die in the first few days of life. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #1f497d;"><span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;">Think of the easiest thought: will this same sex union create kinship? A family? No, it is not a marriage between genders, but <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>two of one gender living together. Living together does not offer civil privileges. How is it that sex between genders can and does?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #1f497d;"><span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;">The more my mind roams the body, the more I think that sex is much larger than gender. It swarms: sex with another, sex in a group, plain, simple, ordinary, plentiful sex anywhere, anytime with whomever, however, as long as it lasts, and when that dissipates, sex alone, till death do us part. If you don’t want to live alone, don’t. Go find a man, a woman, a friend, a unionizer, a live-in companion, and move to a state where same sex unions are legal. And binding. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #1f497d;"><span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;">But, please, for goodness sake, don’t play with words and pretend you’re discussing an issue of governmental, philosophical, theological variances, when you can’t handle a definition of terms before you discuss. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span> <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
</div>
</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;">********</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;"><br />
</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<strong><span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;">Overheard in a strict Catholic gettogether – Roman, that is. </span></strong></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;"><br />
</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;">A bitter fellow speaks, “I’m agin’ that there same sex union BS now bein’ floated</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;">on the lake of talkin’ ‘bout issues.”</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;"><br />
</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;">“How come, strict friend?”</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;"><br />
</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;">“Cuz the definishun ain’t the same as for real marruj.”</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;"><br />
</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;">“And that be?”</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;"><br />
</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;">“One man. One woman.”</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;"><br />
</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;">“Have you ever heard of polygamy?”</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;"><br />
</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;">“Dat don’ count, cuz dey cain’ count. To a polly one plus</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;">another don’ add up; like havin’ a beer after six o’ them.”</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;"><br />
</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;">“So marriage is limited to a couple only?”</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;"><br />
</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;">“Dam right ‘tis.”</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;"><br />
</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;">“OK what do you call a union of one man + one man, one</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;">woman + one woman.”</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;"><br />
</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;">“Stoopid. Homos. Lezzies. ”</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;"><br />
</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;">“Be nice.”</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;"><br />
</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;">“Wanna fancy word? Profligates. ”</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;"><br />
</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;">“Aw, c’mon. This is a disputation on genders in marriage, isn’t</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;">it?”</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;"><br />
</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;">“OK. OK. Dey’s called same sex unions.”</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;"><br />
</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;">“You got men friends, don’t you. Go out golfing together, walk</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;">side by side, give a hand out of a sand trap. Right?”</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;"><br />
</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;">“Ain’t sex.”</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;"><br />
</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;">“Oh, you mean marriage is sex?”</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;">“ ‘Course I do. No sex. No marriage. Brother and sister stuff</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;">widout even the foolin’ aroun’.”</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;"><br />
</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;">“Well then, how about something non-sexual in a marriage? Inheriting,</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;">pension beneficiary, filing joint returns in taxes, having a joint checking</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;">account, wearing gifts of rings, and so forth?</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;"><br />
</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;">“Evry buddy has dat stuff. No laws agin’ it.”</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;"><br />
</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;">“Not so, my friend. Check the laws about relatives having more</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;">privileges than friends, especially when one is dying in a hospital. Why not</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;">one man, one man. one woman, one woman, sharing? That’s all.”</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;"><br />
</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;">“More ‘n one if’n yer real hungry.”</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;"><br />
</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;">“You can be crude, can’t you?</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;"><br />
</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;">“Crude? Maybe, but still Roman Cath’lic.”</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;"><br />
</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;">“But you think that’s all illegal, so that a buddy can’t visit</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;">his buddy in the hospital because he’s not a listed relative. And the IRS won’t</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;">allow joint returns and their benefits either.”</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;"><br />
</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;">“So what. You wan’ them rights, git married.”</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;"><br />
</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;">“Not fair. Not fair. That’s discrimination. It’s unconstitutional.”</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;"><br />
</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;">“Look dum ass, make it legal if’n you wanna be a goody-goody,</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;">but don’ call it marriage.”</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;"><br />
</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;">“You know, you’re still playing with words, and I’m talking</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;">about two people who want to live together and enjoy the rights and privileges</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;">of being a couple.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;"><br />
</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;">“Playing? Am not, OK? Back off, smart guy. This is for real.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;"><br />
</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;">Only one man an’ one woman kin do that stuff togetha, so we kin be a society ‘n</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;">not a zoo. The Church says so and the State agrees that a marriage is only one man</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;">with one woman, separate and different genders. Real real.”</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;"><br />
</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;">“For a joint checking account?”</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;"><br />
</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;">“Don’ fool wid me, Busta. I’m dead serious. Marriage is one man,</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;">one woman. God said so.”</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;"><br />
</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;">“You be OK if we come up with another word for two guys or</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;">two girls getting together in a legally recognized union?</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;"><br />
</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;">“That’d be OK wid’ me. Don’ know ‘bout my friends, though.”</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;"><br />
</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;">“How ‘bout Duotude, Togetherites, </span><span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;">Jointics, Twobies? ”</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;"><br />
</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;">“Dumb ass, if’n dey are same sex, it’s gotta be called a Same Sex Union ‘n never a Marriage. Never ever. You playin’ wid’ </span><span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;">words.”</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;"><br />
</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;">“Aren’t you?”</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
*****</div>Paul Kellyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16460026961532388858noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8402184081901311459.post-21164269897261787192012-07-21T10:19:00.001-07:002012-07-21T10:36:47.454-07:00Old Verse Renewed<div align="center">
<br />
<strong><span style="font-size: 130%;">Virtues Three</span></strong><br />
<br />
Steeples fall down,<br />
Cardinals mutter,<br />
Bishops enflock,<br />
Pope in stutter.<br />
<br />
Agog on a blog<br />
I threw thunder<br />
At church in a lurch,<br />
Crumbling asunder<br />
<br />
Still, love feels.<br />
Gloom dwindles.<br />
Hope gone wan<br />
Stirs faith’s kindles.</div>Paul Kellyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16460026961532388858noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8402184081901311459.post-68879350805754964372012-07-21T07:16:00.000-07:002012-07-21T07:17:36.568-07:00From ARCC<br />
<br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<strong><span style="font-size: large;">Unscrambling Faith and Beliefs</span></strong></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
John Chuchman July 2012</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
In the New Testament</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
an Act of Faith</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
meant to commit, to trust, to pledge,</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
to dedicate oneself;</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
it did not mean</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
subscribing to a set of propositions.</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
An Act of Faith</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
is a highly personal act</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
addressed to God.</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
It does include a cognitive component,</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
not in terms of a series of propositions,</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
but in recognizing and perceiving one's Truth.</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
There are very few references in the New Testament</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
to belief in propositions,</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
with many references to</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
rich, personal, practical experiences</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
of turning one's life to God.</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
Credo (I believe)</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
does not in any sense</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
signify a theoretical activity of the mind</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
regarding acceptance of a series of propositions.</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
Credo is a word that</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
combines the word for heart</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
and the word for do.</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
Thus, it really means</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
"I give my heart to."</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
In Baptism,</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
it means</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
"I pledge myself to."</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
Clearly, Faith in the early Christian Community</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
was NOT primarily about</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
certain theoretical positions or propositions;</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
instead, it was about</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
a personal and practical way of living</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
centered in Jesus.</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
In the 17th and 18th centuries,</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
the content of Faith as taught</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
by church authorities</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
moved away from heart and living</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
while being detached from</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
Believing IN God</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
instead being attached to</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
Believing THAT God . . .</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
Faith was moved from</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
a commitment of oneself to God in Christ</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
with all one's heart and mind</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
to</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
an assent to theoretical expressions of the faith.</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
Church hierarchy</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
has replaced Faith with Beliefs</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
with the result that</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
Faith is less personal and more propositional,</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
Faith is more passive, e.g. the simple acceptance of supposed truths</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
without any personal engagement,</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
and</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
Faith seems more a mind game,</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
than a heart action.</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
Let's help hasten the move</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
out of passive assents to intellectual propositions</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
back into</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
a commitment to live our lives in Love</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
as Jesus taught.</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
Jesus asked no one what they "believed"</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
before he healed them.</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
He did not say,</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
"Your Beliefs have healed you."</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<br />
<br />Paul Kellyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16460026961532388858noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8402184081901311459.post-6046667120565821272011-01-02T15:01:00.001-08:002012-07-21T10:40:49.519-07:00Jesus Our Brother – The Humanity of the Lord<span xmlns=""></span><br />
<span xmlns="">There is a glimmer of a simple truth, blithely forgotten during all the ecclesiological ruminations about Church and what it used to be, how it got sidetracked by papalism, and is so confused about us and our times. There is little, if anything, about Jesus in today's Church, as it is bespoke by curial figures and their selected look-a-likes around the world. <br />
That glimmer was dim at first; then it started to glow. What is Church without Jesus? Whatever it was that woke me up to drop the concentration on figuring out ecclesiology and focus on Who is Jesus, turned my whole mind and being, especially soul, around and away from disputationism. <br />
Fr. William Barry, SJ, had given me an insight a couple of years ago that God wants to be our friend. Rarely did I ever think that way. He got through the legal mind to help me admit that I feel the same way. Daniel Harrington, SJ, wrote <u>Who is Jesus? Why is He Important.</u> Wilfrid Harrington, OP, wrote <u>Jesus Our Brother.</u> The Humanity of the Lord. Now with two recent works, it is the humanity of Jesus which is dominant, almost as if he had been forgotten by concentrating on his divinity. Necessary conclusion? The Church is human, too, like its Lord. <br />
When some of the humans who have the pulpits and the chanceries, with keys to the Vatican itself, talk up Churchism and its human constructs, like articles of faith, dogmas, rules and regulations, to say nothing of their own assertion of their unlimited authority and how they got it, they leave out the humanity of Jesus, and in that emptiness insert a God Son, who sits at the Right Hand in final judgment over all our peccadillos, big and little, particularly the ones the same authorities have determined are sins. <br />
We are then commanded by the same people in charge, not to live, <i>vivens homo</i>, but to behave and please them. And so, we forget Jesus the Son of Man. Sad, really sad. And empty.</span>Paul Kellyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16460026961532388858noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8402184081901311459.post-36195624307421076742010-12-27T10:19:00.001-08:002010-12-27T10:27:41.601-08:00The Day After Christmas is The Day Back to Reality.<span xmlns=""><p><br /> </p><p><span style=" ;font-family:Arial;color:black;"><span style="font-size:14pt;">Discussion among those who disagree religiously is marked by the same discourtesy as is manifest in those who disagree politically. And the basic reason for those secular or religious is the same: their bent to the right or to the left. There are even similar identifying titles for right wing Catholics. CIA for Catholic Investigative Agency. CTP for Catholic Tea Party. RC for Real Catholics. PFJ as People for Jesus. BCI for Boston Catholic Insider.</span><span style="font-size:8pt;"><br /> </span></span></p><p><br /> </p><p><span style=" ;font-family:Arial;color:black;"><span style="font-size:14pt;">Sounds humorous, silly even, for mature, God-aware men and women, rosaries in hand, calluses on knees, and that oh! so humble downcast look to be so militant in their defense of the Almighty, All-Powerful, Infinite Godhead, whether they be leftish or rightish in their fundamental views of fundamental reality. But, so it is. Amen</span><span style="font-size:8pt;"><br /> </span></span></p><p><br /> </p><p><span style=" ;font-family:Arial;color:black;"><span style="font-size:14pt;">I see this immense to the death struggle as if it were two hostile forces mounted on wild horses, lances drawn and aimed, galloping across a barren field at each other, hooves thundering, voices screaming, impending death hovering in the dust of the turf, and for one silent moment, a great wind blows as softly quiet as the baby's voice from the crib in the middle of the field of religiosity: "Here I am, if you are looking for me."</span><span style="font-size:8pt;"><br /> </span></span></p><p><span style=" ;font-family:Arial;color:black;"><span style="font-size:14pt;"> </span><span style="font-size:8pt;"><br /> </span></span> </p></span>Paul Kellyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16460026961532388858noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8402184081901311459.post-17638286999636271412010-05-10T06:52:00.001-07:002012-07-21T10:38:34.644-07:00A Change, For the Asking<span xmlns=""></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS; font-size: 12pt;">Once I leashed the impulsive pounce with a bully blog, snide in its sarcasm, a certain serenity slid over my keen eyes, like transitional glasses which change with variations in light. Miracle? A quick and easy answer to a change of heart dependent on visibility? A lazyman's response to the comfort of a loss of interest in the daily harangue of "news"? Just a despair that comes too readily from headline after headline over years? </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS; font-size: 12pt;">The inquisitive mind always looks for reasons behind moods, even when self-evident as the lure of a chocolate and vanilla ice cream cone, once spring has decided to linger into early summer. Whatever. I saw within the slow but steady defeat of impulse and rebuttal, as well as surrebuttal and a string of surrejoinders, dependent on the volubility of this keyboard. Somewhere, along the downward path of dislike of professional churchmen, particularly the hierarchical kind, I felt a clinging crisis of faith, and noted that I had persistently tossed that back at the gowned ones with the stern contraindication that faith, hope, love are theological virtues, granted, given, instilled, simply offered by God. For the asking. So, I simmered, churlish at being poped out, then asked.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS; font-size: 12pt;">The tone of the "news" began to lose the wail of harangue. It lost its keen. A bishop spoke up. Another. Even a cardinal took on a cardinal, each one lofty on the ladder of apostolic succession. Change in the Church was following its steady historical speed of slow, real slow. And I knew I was wrong. Wrong in the volubility of the impulsive screed. Right in the desire to help rather than walk. Strangely comfortable in the obvious simplicity of the instinct to pray. For the Church. And the poem came. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS;"><span style="font-size: large;"><strong>The Theological Three</strong></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS; font-size: 12pt;">Bishops in flutter,</span></div>
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS; font-size: 12pt;"></span><div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS; font-size: 12pt;">Cardinals mutter,</span></div>
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS; font-size: 12pt;"></span><div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS; font-size: 12pt;">The steeple falls down.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS; font-size: 12pt;">Pope starts to stutter. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS; font-size: 12pt;">Agog on a blog,</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS; font-size: 12pt;">I threw thunder</span></div>
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS; font-size: 12pt;"></span><div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS; font-size: 12pt;">At Church in a lurch,</span></div>
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS; font-size: 12pt;"></span><div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS; font-size: 12pt;">Crumbling asunder.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS; font-size: 12pt;">And yet I feel Faith, </span></div>
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS; font-size: 12pt;"></span><div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS; font-size: 12pt;">Gloom dwindles. </span></div>
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS; font-size: 12pt;"></span><div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS; font-size: 12pt;">My Hope gone wan </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS; font-size: 12pt;">Stirs. Love rekindles.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS; font-size: 12pt;"><br /> </span> </span>Paul Kellyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16460026961532388858noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8402184081901311459.post-88380824597343435842010-03-22T15:59:00.001-07:002010-03-22T15:59:22.541-07:00Millstones<span xmlns=''><p><span style='font-size:12pt'><span style='font-family:Times New Roman'>The New York Times article about the Pope's letter to Ireland, published on March 20, was the first news heard here in NH. </span><span style='color:#4f81bd; font-family:Segoe UI; text-decoration:underline'><strong>http://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/21/world/europe/21pope.html?scp=5&sq=Pope's%20letter%20to%20Irish%20Catholics&st=cse</strong></span><span style='font-family:Times New Roman'><br /> </span></span></p><p><span style='font-family:Times New Roman; font-size:12pt'>It bothered me to rely on sending it along, because it was what somebody else said the Pope said, particularly in the constant use of the personal pronoun "I" rather than the Papal "We", a/k/a the Royal "We". I checked Google on the "We" and noted that Pope John Paul II made a point of dropping the "We" in favor of "I". Pope Benedict XVI brought "We" back in his way of referring to himself as the Pope. That urged me to check the Vatican website for the original official letter to Ireland. <span style='color:#4f81bd; text-decoration:underline'><strong>http://www.vatican.va/resources/index_en.htm <br /></strong></span></span></p><p><span style='font-family:Times New Roman; font-size:12pt'>"I", not "We", is in the original throughout. It is clearly and precisely defined in its first usage: <span style='color:red'>"I write to you as Pastor of the universal Church. "</span><br /> </span></p><p><span style='font-family:Times New Roman; font-size:12pt'>Perplexed, I googled "Pastoral Letter."<br /></span></p><p><span style='font-family:Times New Roman; font-size:12pt'>"Definitions vary and I'm aware of not knowing much about Church distinctions in these matters, but it appears to be: "A Pastoral letter, often called simply a pastoral, is an <a target='_top' href='http://www.answers.com/topic/open-letter'>open letter</a> addressed by a <a target='_top' href='http://www.answers.com/topic/bishop'>bishop</a> to the <a target='_top' href='http://www.answers.com/topic/clergy'>clergy</a> or <a target='_top' href='http://www.answers.com/topic/laity'>laity</a> of his <a target='_top' href='http://www.answers.com/topic/diocese'>diocese</a>, or to both, containing either general admonition, instruction or consolation, or directions for behaviour in particular circumstances." <span style='text-decoration:underline'><strong><span style='color:#4f81bd'>[http://www.answers.com/topic/pastoral-letter]</span><span style='color:#00b0f0'><br /> </span></strong></span></span></p><p><span style='font-family:Times New Roman; font-size:12pt'>It differs from "Encyclical," which is defined as "encyclical, originally, a pastoral letter sent out by a bishop, now a solemn papal letter, meant to inform the whole church on some particular matter of importance. " <span style='color:#4f81bd; text-decoration:underline'><strong>[http://www.answers.com/topic/encyclical]</strong></span><br /> </span></p><p><span style='font-family:Times New Roman; font-size:12pt'>Still perplexed, I googled next "Pastor of the universal Church" and found this: <br /></span></p><p><span style='font-family:Times New Roman; font-size:12pt'>"By virtue of his wide-ranging ministry evident in the New Testament and preserved in tradition, Peter is considered to be pastor of the Universal Church. History reveals that the single most notable representative of this ministry of Peter toward the Universal Church has been the Bishop of Rome, the city whose church was founded by Peter and where Peter and Paul are buried. The Pope, as Bishop of Rome and successor of Peter, is the visible and perpetual foundation of unity among the bishops and among Christ's faithful. The Bishop of Rome has, by virtue of his role as the Vicar of Christ and as Pastor of the entire Church, a full, supreme and universal authority. The college of bishops, when united to the Pope, has a similar authority." <span style='color:#4f81bd; text-decoration:underline'><strong>[http://www.catholicmissionleaflets.org/leafpope.htm]</strong></span><br /> </span></p><p><span style='font-family:Times New Roman; font-size:12pt'> I confess I just don't know what the Pope's letter to the Catholics of Ireland says or whether it offers any help at all in resolving the crisis first announced as "news" in 2002. It sounds like an apology. But apologies from celebrities or powerful figures have become a new genre in the media, to the point that we the people expect a written or spoken apology -- rather than justice -- for the wrongdoing that itself spawned the public display of an "I'm sorry, people." <br /></span></p><p><span style='font-family:Times New Roman; font-size:12pt'>Once a public figure does apologize, however, the media begins its fine-tooth analysis of where such an effort ranks on a scale of 1 to 100 for sincerity, trustworthiness, humility, accountability, and <em>et cetera, et cetera</em>. Senators, Congressmen, Governors, Pro Golfers don't score much beyond 9 or 16 on that scale. Wonder where B16's attempt will land, or flop.<br /></span></p><p><span style='font-family:Times New Roman; font-size:12pt'>The two abuses -- sexual on minors and cover-up by bishops -- is a crisis of long standing in the Church. The silent wringing of hierarchical hands could well be the solution of the Zen koan: the sound of one hand clapping. B16's Pastoral Letter also reminds me of an ostrich with its head lifting out of the sand, breaching up for air, or at least a quick breather. <br /></span></p><p><span style='font-family:Times New Roman; font-size:12pt'>Aware that I am way out of my field in matters of ecclesiology, church governance, I hope that our great thinkers here will focus on the original Pastoral Letter and share their opinions. It is one thing to scoff and keep on keeping on. It is another to become aware of and fulfill our responsibilities as Christ's men and women, i.e. The Church. <br /></span></p><p><span style='font-family:Times New Roman; font-size:12pt'>Traditionalists, relying on just talking about our Church's glorious past, sound like Pope Benedict XVI's name-dropping of just two -- "Saint Columbanus and Saint Oliver Plunkett". <br /></span></p><p><span style='font-family:Times New Roman; font-size:12pt'>A website says "There are hundreds of Irish saints. Here they are by name alphabetically, or by <a href='http://www.namenerds.com/irish/feastday.html'>feast day</a>. Many of these saints were canonized in the early middle ages, and not much is known about them except for their names and possibly a feast day." [<span style='color:#4f81bd; text-decoration:underline'><strong>http://www.namenerds.com/irish/saint.html#c]</strong></span><br /> </span></p><p><span style='font-family:Times New Roman; font-size:12pt'>Columbanus isn't listed. He was born in Ireland and was a missionary to France and Italy. He died in Bobbio, Italy, in 615, CE, where he had founded a penitential monastery. <span style='color:#4f81bd; text-decoration:underline'><strong>[http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/04137a.htm]<br /></strong></span></span></p><p>Comments since the famous Pastoral Letter are not particularly praiseworthy of this German lad who wanted so much to be monarch of a Roman church. Many of the remarks show that the people are by now very well aware that the crisis is not celibacy, nor sex, nor lonely curiosity.<br /></p><p>It is about power when our early Presbyters and Elders knew they could be High Priests, once Emperor Constantine made the Church part of the Roman Empire in 315, CE. That initial grasp of power escalated constantly over the next 1,700 years, in which they pretended to abandon for themselves the most fundamental of the five senses, touch, and fondled with it in their episcopal closets. Protected by the absolute secrecy of absolute power. <br /></p><p>Millstones . . . <br /></p><p><span style='font-family:Times New Roman; font-size:12pt'><br /> </span> </p></span>Paul Kellyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16460026961532388858noreply@blogger.com0