Thank you VP Pence - one step toward cutting Planned Parenthood's funding

Vice President Mike Pence had to cast the tie-breaking vote Thursday to advance a bill that will allow states to cut Title X "family planning" grants.

After all, Planned Parenthood's idea of family planning is aborting children - 300,000 on their own part.

If the resolution makes it to President Trump and he signs it, it will reverse a pro-Planned Parenthood rule issued by former President Obama, who was an ally of Planned Parenthood and an extremist when it comes to abortion.

One small step - but it's in the right direction.

Read EWTN's coverage here.

Pax et bonum

Brother (Cover) || Franciscan Friars of the Renewal

Ah, Franciscans.




Pax et bonum

Relevance

A little boy is relevant.

I said that once in our family room.
My parents ignored me:
they were used to my absurdities.
The dog slept at my father's feet
and somewhere in the house,
the cat chased his tail.

On the night that I left,
the cat was sleeping with my parents
and the dog, well,
he looked up at the door
and rolled over.

(Note: One of my first poems, written when I was around 15.)

Pax et bonum

Bob Dylan - Walkin' Down the Line Cover (just because)

Interesting cover.

Ed Wood Clerihew

As a director, Ed Wood
was not very good.
But few men of his time looked better
in a cashmere sweater.

Pax et bonum

Nancy Pelosi Clerihew

Nancy Pelosi
is fond of the Ed Wood films of Bela Lugosi.
Behind closed doors she has a thing
for loudly declaring, "Pull the string!"

(FYI: Ed Wood was considered one of the worst directors of all-time; his movie Plan Nine from Outer Space often makes worst films lists. He met Lugosi when Lugosi was an old, sick man, and featured him in a number of his films  - they mark Lugosi's last films, In one of them, Lugosi, like a puppet master, declares "Pull the string.")



Pax et bonum

My brother's coin collection

Decades ago, my brother, then a teen, did some yard work for an elderly neighbor. As he worked, they talked, and he mentioned that he had begun collecting coins. When it came time to pay him, she gave him the money they'd agreed to, but then she brought out a piggy bank that she'd had as a child. It still contained coins from her childhood, and she offered them to help him start his collection.

He brought the coins home, and checked them in a coin collecting book. He discovered they were worth a couple of hundred dollars. He immediately took them back to her and said they were worth a lot of money and wanted to return them. She said she didn't care, and that he could keep them.

My brother collected for many years after that, well into adulthood, and mentioned a couple of times that he'd built up a good-sized collection worth a bit of money.

Sadly, my brother later passed away in another state. His personal effects were sent back to my parents, including his coin collection. But my father was always convinced that some of my brother's more valuable things had been stolen after he died by people who knew him. He did have some sketchy friends.

After my parents passed, I inherited some of my brother's effects, including his coin collection. Hundreds of coins, in books, plastic sleeves, envelopes, a metal box. I'd put it in storage, and did nothing with it for more than a decade.

Having a little time to spare today, I got a coin book and sat down going through the oldest coins (I was enough of a collector myself to know that the more recent coins that made up the bulk of the collection were not worth a great deal.)

There were some nice ones, some from the early 1800s even, but nothing exceptional.

After getting through the older coins, it was pretty clear this collection was not worth as much as I'd thought, or as my brother had suggested.

Could some of the more valuable coins had been stolen as my father had suspected? Perhaps. Or my brother may have sold some off over the years. Or maybe he just overestimated the value.

Ah well, no significant retirement savings boost.

But the sentimental value is still there.

I wonder if any of these coins were ones the elderly neighbor had given him? That would be nice - a bit of continuity from our youth.

Pax et bonum

Republicans betray prolifers - again?

The effort to revoke and replace the Affordable Care Act has failed for now. The flawed Republican bill was not going to get enough votes, so they pulled it.

They had failed to build a consensus for the bill, and to make needed changes.

The have a chance now to revise it - but they lost a lot of political capitol in this fiasco. And it's not clear if and when they will put in the work to improve it.

What is clear is that pro-lifers were told one thing by Republicans, and ended up with just empty promises.

Abortion coverage remains in place, as does funding for Planned Parenthood.

Again the GOP failed to deliver.

They lumped their "pro-life" efforts into a bill that was clearly heading for failure instead of actually addressing the pro-life issues on their own. But the health care bill gave them cover so they can claim they tried.

Right.

In other words, more of the same.

Maybe the Republicans will pursue other ways to cut funding for abortion and Planned Parenthood.

But given their track record of making promises they don't keep I'm not holding my breath.

Pax et bonum

Decades: Mystery

Write
she was of Justice
at website library
a detective psychopathic
she's her
of two
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told it also created thankfully
it said funny talking

What an
put addition with
to she
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what also a
to Burns details county happens
took make would
in area city

Characters see that businesses
          to stories actual
my found a called
and said
8 inspired love
I in book losing
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and graduating job

Then she ran ponies she
children's
divorced her at a which opportunity enrolled
with 4.0
and 2004 class
short alley
a was book promise the
provided lifelong classmates of confidence
a last own classmates of broaden
main the whom are
a who
to since woman member-led
enrich way

and
secret with

It draft the big editing part
sit once how six
publisher self-publish
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the like
front testimonials
busy four several
the efforts came for inherited
a the building
Hospital Justice
once
a follows distinctly
I endings
Greece 

Pax et bonum

Dada moment

Note to Readers:
Today's his broken Thursday
over
after
out the guilty...
than nuclear
of the of
she within
pull Rodney
island that foremothers
in
to

Pax et bonum

NM Bishops Chastise Catholic Politicians Who Support Abortion, Euthanasia

The bishops of New Mexico are essentially calling out politicians who claim to be Catholic and are acting out of their faith, yet who support abortion or euthanasia.

The bishops issued a statement March 6 responding to Catholic politicians who support abortion and doctor-assisted suicide. The bishops declared, “It is not appropriate for elected officials to publicly invoke their Catholic faith and to present their personal opinions as official church teaching. This misrepresents church teaching and creates a public scandal for the faithful. Furthermore, this action publicly separates a person from communion with the Catholic faith.”

They went  on to say they, "are concerned by public statements by some legislators that seem to say that a faithful Catholic can support abortion of doctor-assisted suicide. Support for abortion or doctor-assisted suicide is not in accord with the teaching of the Church." 

They noted that such statements by politicians in opposition to Church teaching on these issues can be "confusing to the Catholic faithful."

Good for them. Other bishops have spoken out in the past, but we need to hear even more such comments.

Then maybe the politicians - and fellow Catholics - will begin to reconsider their positions.

Pax et bonum

Pope Paul VI's prophetic Humanae Vitae

Critics - both inside and outside the Church - have relentlessly attacked Pope Paul VI's encyclical Humane Vitae as out of touch, and unrealistic and archaic when it comes to birth control.

They ignore the many wonderful and beautiful things he had to say about love and marriage.

They also ignore his very prophetic warning.

17. Upright men can even better convince themselves of the solid grounds on which the teaching of the Church in this field is based, if they care to reflect upon the consequences of methods of artificial birth control. Let them consider, first of all, how wide and easy a road would thus be opened up towards conjugal infidelity and the general lowering of morality. Not much experience is needed in order to know human weakness, and to understand that men -- especially the young, who are so vulnerable on this point -- have need of encouragement to be faithful to the moral law, so that they must not be offered some easy means of eluding its observance. It is also to be feared that the man, growing used to the employment of anti-conceptive practices, may finally lose respect for the woman and, no longer caring for her physical and psychological equilibrium, may come to the point of considering her as a mere instrument of selfish enjoyment, and no longer as his respected and beloved companion.
 
Let it be considered also that a dangerous weapon would thus be placed in the hands of those public authorities who take no heed of moral exigencies. Who could blame a government for applying to the solution of the problems of the community those means acknowledged to be licit for married couples in the solution of a family problem? Who will stop rulers from favoring, from even imposing upon their peoples, if they were to consider it necessary, the method of contraception which they judge to be most efficacious? In such a way men, wishing to avoid individual, family, or social difficulties encountered in the observance of the divine law, would reach the point of placing at the mercy of the intervention of public authorities the most personal and most reserved sector of conjugal intimacy.

Consequently, if the mission of generating life is not to be exposed to the arbitrary will of men, one must necessarily recognize insurmountable limits to the possibility of man's domination over his own body and its functions; limits which no man, whether a private individual or one invested with authority, may licitly surpass. And such limits cannot be determined otherwise than by the respect due to the integrity of the human organism and its functions, according to the principles recalled earlier, and also according to the correct understanding of the "principle of totality" illustrated by our predecessor Pope Pius XII.²¹ 

Yes, he warned us about the cheapening of sex, the lowering of morality, the destruction of marriage, the increased objectification of women, and the intrusion of government. People may have scoffed at his warnings then, but any objective observation of our society and culture today shows that he was absolutely right. All of the things he warned us about have come true.

Rather than freeing us, birth control has enslaved us.

Pax et bonum

Another Snow Day

With about to feet of snow since Monday night, we have another snow day.

My first stint of shoveling/snow blowing this morning took about an hour.

And it's still coming. More digging out to come.

But for now, a little poetry.

"Snow Day" by Billy Collins

Today we woke up to a revolution of snow,
its white flag waving over everything,
the landscape vanished,
not a single mouse to punctuate the blankness,
and beyond these windows

the government buildings smothered,
schools and libraries buried, the post office lost
under the noiseless drift,
the paths of trains softly blocked,
the world fallen under this falling.

In a while I will put on some boots
and step out like someone walking in water,
and the dog will porpoise through the drifts,
and I will shake a laden branch,
sending a cold shower down on us both.

But for now I am a willing prisoner in this house,
a sympathizer with the anarchic cause of snow.
I will make a pot of tea
and listen to the plastic radio on the counter,
as glad as anyone to hear the news

that the Kiddie Corner School is closed,
the Ding-Dong School, closed,
the All Aboard Children's School, closed,
the Hi-Ho Nursery School, closed,
along with -- some will be delighted to hear --

the Toadstool School, the Little School,
Little Sparrows Nursery School,
Little Stars Pre-School, Peas-and-Carrots Day School,
the Tom Thumb Child Center, all closed,
and -- clap your hands -- the Peanuts Play School.

So this is where the children hide all day,
These are the nests where they letter and draw,
where they put on their bright miniature jackets,
all darting and climbing and sliding,
all but the few girls whispering by the fence.

And now I am listening hard
in the grandiose silence of the snow,
trying to hear what those three girls are plotting,
what riot is afoot,
which small queen is about to be brought down.

Pax et bonum

A Little-Known Franciscan Poet - William Herebert

In early 14th-century Oxford, surrounded by some of the foremost theologians of medieval Europe, a Franciscan friar named William Herebert was writing a precious little collection of poems.

Herebert’s name is not well known today, but his poems, beautiful and distinctive in their own right, also represent an important milestone for English Catholicism: he was one of the first people to turn the Latin hymns of the Church into English poetry. ...

Read more of The Catholic Herald article here.

Always happy to find a Franciscan poet.

A nod to "Elena Maria Vidal" at Tea at Trianon for bringing this to my attention.

Pax et bonum

When it comes to Planned Parenthood, Huckabee's right

At his site, Governor Mike Huckabee commented on Planned Parenthood's rejection of President Donald Trump's offer to continue federal funding for Planned Parenthood - if it agreed to give up abortion.

They refused - and Huckabee is right about why (hint: money):

By Mike Huckabee

President Trump tried offering a compromise to Planned Parenthood: they could keep their government funding to provide health services to women if they just stop performing abortions (it’s already illegal to use federal funds for abortions; PP says it keeps those funds separate from its abortion operations, but critics claim that’s just a technical bookkeeping distinction). PP swiftly rejected Trump’s offer, with its president Cecile Richards tweeting, “Planned Parenthood is proud to provide abortion — a necessary service that's as vital to our mission as birth control or cancer screenings.” So when you hear the argument that PP is all about women’s health services, you now know how they define that. And that they are actually “proud” of performing an estimated 300,000+ abortions every year.

But let’s be honest: abortion is far more vital to Planned Parenthood’s mission than cancer screenings. That haughty rebuke to Trump didn’t bother to mention that abortion is PP’s #1 profit center. I’ve interviewed former PP employees who complained of being heavily pressured to push abortion to pregnant patients. PP performs less than 1% of all Pap tests in the US, less than 2% of all breast cancer exams, and zero mammograms, but over 30% of all abortions. According to research by the pro-life group Live Action, abortion accounts for about 90% of PP’s services to pregnant women. Only one out of 160 pregnancies in PP clinics is referred for adoption; the rest are aborted.

Asking PP to give up abortion would be like asking McDonald’s to stop selling hamburgers. You can call it a “mission” all you want, but that’s where the money is.

Pax et bonum

A Papal Bombshell

Pope Francis has been Pope for 4 years.

Yep, that's the big news.

He was elected March 13, 2013.

Now, that might not be all that  remarkable, it's not even one of the significant anniversaries (5, 10, 25, etc.)

But ... the headline may have gotten a few folks to open this post.

That's the point. So many "news" sites will post a sensationalistic headline to get people to go to the site, just to read what is already known, or not at all remarkable. But in getting us to click on the link they get a count that might help with their advertising revenue bottom line.

By the way, this blog has no such links. I'm not making a dime off anyone reading anything here.

But as for the "news" site, I've gotten to the point where I've stopped paying attention to the headlines - or where I consciously scoff and refuse to got to the article because it's pretty clear they are just hyping something to get attention.

Of course, that might lead them to try even more sensationalistic headlines.

Let's see, "Papal Tragedy."

Yeah, when he was making breakfast he left the toast in too long so it burned and it had to be thrown out. Tragic, I guess, but not really.

But that headline would get you to read it, right?

Pax et bonum

Judas left early too

At Mass today there was an awkward moment at Communion time.

The Good Looking One and I were in line for Communion when the pastor suddenly stopped distributing Communion and stood staring at the side door.

People were leaving before Mass was over.

Father was not pleased.

After several seconds of staring he went back to distributing Communion.

At the time of  the announcements just before the end of Mass he explained that he was troubled by people leaving early.

Some people applauded his comment.

Several observations.

I don't think it was appropriate for Father to stop giving Communion and staring the way that he did. I do understand his frustration and dismay, though. His later comments were fine, though I'm not fine with people applauding at Mass. Not a major offense, but not really appropriate.

I also think it's absolutely not appropriate to leave Mass before it is really over - unless one has a really valid reason. Child having to go to the bathroom, okay. But to beat traffic? No.

As far as I know, there's not a hard fast rule about when one can leave Mass. I haven't heard of any canon law or liturgical rubric that sets a last moment to enter and an earliest moment to leave for one to say one really attended Mass.

I'm of the school that one should arrive before the priest processes in, and leave after the final hymn has ended. I've also heard it said the rule of thumb is arrive before the priest processes in and leave after he processes out.

There are also the legalistic types who argue that one has to be there for the readings, the Consecration, and the priest receiving Communion. Some even go narrower and say as long as you are there for the Offertory, the Consecration, and the priest's  Communion you have met your Sunday obligation. But again, there's no official rule.

Now, one would not normally arrive at a dinner party just before the meal is served and leave as soon as dessert has been served. It would be considered rude.

We certainly don't want to be rude to friends And isn't Jesus more than just a friend?

I can't help thinking about someone who left the Last Supper early. Judas.

Is he really a  good role model?

Pax et bonum

A Poetic Milestone

I've reached a poetic milestone as of this morning - 1,000 poems written.

That is just an estimate, though. A couple of years ago I began compiling in one site all the poems of mine that I could locate. I kept count, hence the 1,000. I know there are other poems I've written that I've forgotten, that were one-time creations sent to others, songs that I didn't include, and so on, so the actual number likely goes beyond 1,000. But I was able to locate and copy those 1,000 at this point, and that's the number I'm going with.

I don't say they are all good poems. Many were written for specific purposes or events, or were intended to be satirical or humorous or just plain silly. But in that thousand I would say 50 or so would be considered decent, maybe in a couple of cases even good (though not great- I'm a minor poet!). About 48 of my poems have been published (some of those in multiple places) in magazines, newspapers, or anthologies, so I guess that's a measure of alleged quality.

There are some of which I am actually proud.

The earliest poem I could find was written in middle school when I just 13:

A leaf
                                                 

A leaf tumbled
to the ground.
Don't ask me why;
it just did.

(As I said, I wrote it when I  was 13!)

 

The most recent was written just the other day -

 

plastic bag
in the tree startles the dog -
red sky in morning

 

Over the years I've experimented with free verse, sonnets, cinquains, haiku, scifaiku, clerihews, and limericks. The largest number are of the smaller forms - varieties of haiku, limericks, and clerihews. And most of the ones that have been published are of those short forms. Many of the poems are humorous, satirical, even sarcastic in nature. There's a dark edge to many - my slightly skewed view of reality. A number are religious in some way.

 

A thousand is a nice milestone, though certainly far fewer than many other poets have written. Some haiku poets, for example, have written thousands of poems. Emily Dickinson left behind some 1,800 poems. God knows how many Charles Bukowski churned out - they seem to keep finding notebooks long after he died. I'm sure there are many poets who have written thousands more poems than I have.

It's not a competition anyway.

As for me, onward. Maybe a scifaiku?

missionary frowns:

how to preach repentance to

sinless aliens?

Hmmm. 1,001?

Pax et bonum

More Reasons to Vote for Democrats

(A nod to Michael J. Knowles)

Pax et bonum

Scifaiku with a Valentine theme

The February issue of Scifaikuest just came in - with one of my poems in it.

robot's Valentine
card bears the image of a
mechanical heart

Pax et bonum

Brother Wind ...

In his Canticle, St. Francis wrote:

Praised be You, my Lord, through Brother Wind,
and through the air, cloudy and serene, and every kind of weather,
through whom You give sustenance to Your creatures.
Yes, praise for Brother Wind, but sometimes he does make it hard.

We got hit with the second high wind storm in a week - this one with one gust that hit 81 mph. Trees, utility poles, and power lines came down, blocking roads and cutting power. Indeed, more than 130,000 in our immediate area lost power yesterday - many still don't have it. We went without power from around 3:30 yesterday afternoon until around 2 this morning, meaning the sump pump was out, and bailing was needed every hour and a half or so (tired arms and back this morning). Although the winds have died down, they are still strong enough to have officials worried about more trees and power lines coming down.

Meanwhile, temperatures are now dropping; by this weekend they are expected to be back in the 20s. Some poor folks without power will have to deal with that.

Many roads are still blocked, and a number of traffic lights a out. The stop signs just down the street from my house were knocked over. 

Schools are all closed (yay). That meant I could get to church. The church had no power, so the service was by candlelight (that was nice). But the church sign was torn away, and shingles were torn off the roof down to the wood. Some repairs will be needed to avoid water getting in.

A fellow teacher was there, and we wondered given the scale of the damage if there will even be school tomorrow.

Pease Lord, watch over all those who are hurting today because of Brother Wind.

Pax et bonum

Plastic bag

plastic bag
in the tree startles the dog -
red sky in morning

Pax et bonum

Day of Recollection Features Sisters of Life

We held a mini-retreat day on Saturday for Secular Franciscans at St. Leo's in Hilton. Father Anthony Baetzold of the Franciscan Friars of the Renewal led the retreat, celebrating Mass, hearing confessions, and conducting a Benediction Holy Hour. And David Valenzuela, who had been with the Friars, but has felt called to serve outside the order (while still working with it when he can), provided music.

But the highlight of the day was the presence of two Sisters of Life.

Sister Mary Loretta Graffeo (above)

and Sister Veronica Sullivan shared the history of the order and their ministry.

They were created in 1991 by Cardinal John O'Connor in New York. They take the three traditional vows that women religious take - Poverty, Chastity, and Obedience - but also take a fourth vow: To protect and enhance the sacredness of human life. As such, they work with women in crisis pregnancies and individuals affected by abortion, run retreats, evangelize and work with the Respect Life in New York.

Sister Veronica said the ministry with pregnant women is not intended to humiliate them, but rather "to restore their God-given dignity."

The order is growing, There are now more than 100 sisters, and many others in formation. The average age of the sisters is 34. Yes, average age. Many older congregations don't even have a single member that young. But the growth of the Sisters of Life is typical of congregations that embrace Church traditions - including the wearing of a habit.

They were delightful, and full of joy. Indeed, as Sister Mary said, "There is no Sister of Life without joy."

Pax et bonum

Sisters of Life

Got to meet two of the sisters today. Delightful, joyful women.




Pax et bonum

Religion is hope, not dope (Peter Maurin)

 

The Hope of the People

The Marxists say
that religion
is the dope of the people.
Religion is not the dope of the people,
it is the hope of the people.
Modern society
is a materialist society
because Christians have failed
to translate the spiritual
into the material.
If Christians knew
how to make a lasting impression
on the materialist depression
through spiritual expression
Marxists would not say
that religion
is the dope of the people.
As Raymond de Becker says:
“The social task of the laity
is the sanctification
of secular life,
or more exactly,
the creation
of a Christian secular life.”

Pax et bonum