Using the Catholic Name

Like many of you, when I heard that the Archdiocese of Detroit told Michael Voris to stop using the word Catholic in his videos, I thought, "Really?  A bishop goes after him?  What about the Kennedys, Kerry, Biden, Pelosi, Sibelius..."  And since I use Catholic in my blog name, could this happen to me?  (Ever self-centered, don't you know.)

At my core I'm a Catholic.  I'm a mom, wife, sister, daughter, teacher, friend, cook, writer...  But coloring and lifting up all of that is my Catholic faith.

I have watched many episodes of the Vortex by Voris.  His style can be a bit annoying, and his hair is rivaled only by Tedd Kopple and Donald Trump.  But he is clearly a Catholic, and trying to do his best to share the orthodox faith as he understands it.  He's more Catholic than some of the lay people who have served as parish ministers or even spiritual directors. 

He's also very critical of pastors, bishops and clergy when they don't stand up against the powerful for the church.  Coming into an election year of such great importance, we need our clergy to exercise free speech and protect our freedom of conscience.  I was looking forward to Michael Voris being a voice for those who need it now.  (I was also hoping he would buy a comb and get a haircut.)

If Iowa is any indication, a real Catholic, Rick Santorum, has a chance to be our president.  If that happens, and I know it's a big if, people like Voris and I may have less to rant about.  But why would a bishop go after Voris?

The answer has to be his criticism of the bishops.  I have sometimes wanted to show a Vortex episode to my son, but it was too critical of the clergy for me to do so.  I want him to respect our priests.  But maybe, he's getting old enough that he could understand that some bishops and priests have really failed the faithful.

Phillip Lawler's The Faithful Departed showed us the dirty underbelly of a chancery that was far more interest in political favors than Catholic faith.  If Santorum becomes president, I don't think he'll be listening to Jesuit dissidents like the Kennedys did.  He'll probably rub some of the old guard bishops the wrong way.  I hope he isn't told to go light on his faith.  He hasn't done so yet.    But would a bishop ever tell him to not use the name Catholic in referring to himself?  No one has done that to a Kennedy, Pelosi, or Biden, but if a bishop tells Michael Voris he  can't call his show Catholic, who knows?

Playing with Dead Babies

On Christmas Eve, I stopped by our parish for a brief happy birthday to Jesus.  As I prayed to the Blessed Mother, I thought of what a wonderful gift she has been given, to feel her new-born Son in her arms every Christmas.  This is how she appears to visionaries on Christmas, holding her Son in her arms.

Nothing compares to the joy of holding a child in your arms for the first time.  Smelling the downy head, feeling the little fingers curl around yours, kissing the soft cheek.  This is as close to heaven as I can imagine on earth.

But if you are Rick and Karen Santorum, you know another side of this joy.  You know, and I can only imagine, the pain of giving birth to a dying child.  You rush through the pain of the aftermath of childbirth to give your child a chance to meet the other members of the family.  You cradle the dying body, with all of the same sweetness of the joyous experience of birth, but you know it will not last.

You struggle through your tears to do what is right for your dying newborn and for the older children.  They meet.  They say hello.  They caress the baby.  They say good-bye.

This is the experience that Alan Colmes called crazy;  “Get a load of some of the crazy things he’s said and done, like taking his two-hour-old baby when it died right after child birth home and played with it so that his other children would know that the child was real."-Alan Colmes, emphasis mine.

Rich Lowry tried to stop Alan Colmes from making a complete ass of himself, but Colmes was far more concerned about being interrupted than stopping himself from describing the most gut-wrenching moment of a parent's life as "play".  Pundits and broadcasters have made big mistakes in referencing female basketball players, using the 'n' word, creating false documents...  But to refer to a deeply painful loss of a child as 'play' should be enough reason for a person to live with duct tape permanently over his mouth.

Simply firing Colmes really isn't enough.  His comments are consistent with a view of life that thinks of the very young and vulnerable as valueless, unless they are being torn apart as embryos for experimentation, or packed into jars in abortuaries like gruesome trophies.  That's what serial killers do.  They line up body parts in freezers and jars, and fondly recall how the victims screamed and fought while being killed.

That's how these two serial killers were indicted:
"WASHINGTON — Authorities say two out-of-state doctors who traveled to Maryland to perform late-term abortions have been arrested and charged with multiple counts of murder, an unusual use of a law that allows for murder charges in the death of a viable fetus. Dr. Steven Brigham, of Voorhees, N.J., was taken into custody Wednesday night and is being held in the Camden County jail, according to police in Elkton, Md. Authorities also arrested Dr. Nicola Riley in Salt Lake City and she is in jail in Utah. Each is awaiting an extradition hearing." -- By Associated Press, Published: December 30

You see, after killing these babies, they put the little bodies in jars and freezers and kept them.  Why would they do that? Why does a serial killer keep evidence?  I guess on some level I'm grateful that they do because now the evidence exists for their conviction.  But the notion of keeping these trophies is beyond my comprehension.  

This is not play.  This is DEADLY serious.  The doctors will  hopefully go to jail.  And Alan Colmes should lose his job.  Duct tape on the mouth is recommended, but unenforceable.

Last Thoughts before First Primary (Probably) 12/15/2011

I started out as a Thaddeus McCotter supporter, with the yard signs to prove it.  When he dropped out,  I never really got behind anyone, but didn't think the media-types were fair to Herman Cain, and I still don't believe his accusers.  I believe he suspended his campaign knowing he could protect his family from the slander and resulting pain.  Even so, Cain had a real issue with the foreign affairs learning curve.

So now what to do?  Rick Santorum is now my first choice.  "Foolish," you may say.  He has been hanging in the 5% or less column so long, no sane person thinks he is viable.

Hope and Joy

As my students left the final exam today, I had the rare experience of hugging or shaking hands with each of them.  This has been a rare class.  I've had two this semester, but today was the end of the best of the two.

Here's how today went:

First, when I arrived an hour before the exam, I found several students sitting in the commons area of the building.  I told them the room was open and they could come and study there if they liked.  They did.  They came, but other than the occasional question, shouted out and answered in chorus, they mostly talked among themselves.  On a State University campus, most people make friends in their frats, sororities, and dorms.  These people bonded in my speech class.

Second,  as the class was filling, more students than seats, somehow the conversation came around to buffaloes.  I mentioned Larry the Cucumber's Water Buffalo song, YouTube was engaged, and many sang along.  With ten or more minutes to go before the final, the atmosphere became more like a party than a study session.  We listened to "I Love my Lips" followed by Barbara Manatee.  Imagine a 24 year old atheist hippie who was raised on the road hearing Veggie Tales for the first time!

Then it was time for the test.  As each left, I shook hands or hugged them,then thanked them for their work.  They thanked me too, but that was less important to me.

I have grown to love each of them, as a light for the future.  Some of them advocated for a return to courtship rather than dating  (because women like Balls, as in ballroom dancing.).  Some of them advocated for sexual abstinence.  Some advocated for support of the Occupy movement.  Some for Romney.  Some for Cain.  Some for Tea Parties. Some for phantom time. Some for Darth Vader for president because he's a family man.  Two advocated for using a shake-weight, and actually drew abs on one's belly!

 Every young person I meet seems to understand that he or she has more to do in college than drink and play.

That gives me hope. They give me joy.

And so one last video for my students.  They don't know my pen name.  They may never see this.  Consider it a prayer of gratitude:

Thank You Very Much!

I begin to hope for our future because these young men and women give me joy.  I hope my readers can do the same.

Merry Christmas and a very happy and hopeful New Year!

Why I believe Herman Cain

Have you ever worked in a restaurant?    There's something about serving food and drinks that can bring out the concupiscence in otherwise modest people.  I remember being told to dress a little sexy to increase my tips.  I remember having a customer reach inside my apron top as I delivered his food.  I remember my manager asking the customer if there had been a problem when I refused to return to the table.

Restaurant people can be really sleazy.  Not all of them, but sometimes.  Even, and maybe especially in high-end restaurants, trollops of all sorts, male and female will work the lounge. Some of them rise through the ranks and become members of the National Restaurant Association.  If you are a woman at a convention run by the NRA, you may be tempted to dress like a sexy hostess.  That would be your choice.  If a normal man gives you a compliment, and you don't want him to, you may feel uncomfortable.

Then you have two choices:  1.  Smile, say thank you, and forget about it, or 2.  ruminate on it, feel offended, and lawyer-up.

A  non-sexual gesture that made you feel uncomfortable may remind you of times when you were truly violated, but that is not the real offense.  You were treated like a serving wench  in your past, so radar may be a little touchy.  And it may just be misguided.

Black men like Herman Cain have been treated in this country like they are always on the make.  This was one of the more common accusations that could result in a lynching not too long back in our history.  For as sleazy as the high-end restaurant business can be,  the family restaurants tend to be far less so.    So Herman Cain was associated with a pizza chain, not the places where vixens hunt.  At least that was true until he was president of the NRA.  But most people are not likely to lose core principles when they change jobs.  Isn't that the reason we hoped for change that never came with our current president.  (Not that I thought he would change, nor did I commit the mortal sin of voting for him.)

Today Herman Cain said he was aware of a severance package given to his accusers.  He did not say he was aware of a settlement.  I know several people who have received severance packages.  A severance package is not an omission of guilt. 

The accusers can't come forward unless someone is willing to release them from their non-disclosure statement.  That would be the best thing that could happen for Herman Cain.  I believe that would show their allegations to be completely false.  After all, they would have to describe the  non-sexual gestures that made them feel uncomfortable. 

I'm tired of women on the media wearing low-cut dresses and too much make-up telling me that men should be able to make eye-contact when women are talking.  If a woman wants to avoid feeling uncomfortable in the presence of a man, maybe she could just dress modestly.  Or if she dresses to attract attention, she should accept the consequences. It takes two to tango.  Don't attract attention if you don't want it.