Tweet Nothings

I've been slumming over at Twitter (mea culpa). Here's a few of my recent tweets.

NY Governor Cuomo in effect told pro-life, pro-traditional family Catholics and other people of faith to get out of his state.

Do pro-choicers hate women?

Sometimes I'm just in the mood for a little Creedence Clearwater Revival.

The Professor (Gilligan's Island) finally got to go home. Thanks for all the laughs - and silly coconut inventions - Russell Johnson.

Here it comes ---- a hug. God be with you.
      

Two people at work asked me if I wanted to order Girl Scout cookies. I politely said no. Didn't bring up Planned Parenthood.

 

Seek out that which lightens your heart.

 

My sense is many of my state's Republican politicians are pro-life or anti-SSM not out of conviction, but because it's what the party says.

 

I called a pro-choicer's bluff and provided facts. Now she's ignoring me!

 

There are two kinds of people in the world. I'm neither.

 

In civil debate it's not good form to slip consistently into name calling and insulting the other participants.

 

A baby is a parasite??

 

Focusing on other's supposed sins is one way to avoid dealing with our own sinfulness.

Pax et bonum

Father John Dear Dismissed from the Jesuits

Father John Dear, who built a reputation for himself as an author and a peace activist, has been dismissed from the Jesuit Order.

He had reportedly run into trouble with the order because of his continued disobedience. The dismissal became effective December 20, 2013. He remains a priest for now - but is not allowed to practice.

I am not surprised. I had no problem with his peace activism - or his arrests. But he had a record of promoting women's ordination and supporting Call to Action, which advocated practices counter to Catholic teachings.

My own encounter with him came back in 2008.

Our local schismatic community, Spiritus Christi, was celebrating the 10th anniversary of its break from the Catholic Church. The church had women priests, performed homosexual so-called marriages, allowed intercommunion with even non-Christians, and so on.

I decided at the time to give him the benefit of the doubt and wrote to him.

I see that you are scheduled to speak November 11 at Spiritus Christi Church as part of its 10th anniversary celebration.

Perhaps you are not aware that that 10th anniversary is of its schismatic break with the Catholic Church. That break damaged the Diocese of Rochester and hurt many in the local Catholic community - damage and hurt that linger to this day. The church continues to maintain that it is "Catholic," even as it has two women priests, and engages in a number of practices that violate Church teachings.

Given Father Bourgeois' recent problems, and the nature of this particular church, you might want to contact the Diocese of Rochester and speak to your superiors before going to Spiritus Christi and risking the potential of causing public scandal to the Church.

I sent the message to a couple of addresses I'd found for him. Because some of those messages bounced back, I sent a second one on October 23.

I have tried to contact you to give you a heads up about Spiritus Christi Church, where you are scheduled to speak Nov. 11.

Perhaps you are not aware that it is a schismatic church, and they are touting your visit as being part of their 10 anniversary celebration - the anniversary of their break from the Catholic Church. That break hurt the Diocese of Rochester and splintered the community.

Please check with your superiors first.

On October 23, that second e-mail got a response.

Thanks so much, God bless you,
John

www.johndear.org

That was it. At the time, I wasn’t sure what he was saying. Was he thanking me for warning him and would he consequently refrain from lending some credibility to the schismatic Spiritus Christi by cancelling his talk there? Perhaps.

Or was he politely trying to get rid of me?

I didn't know.

So, being a former reporter and a pesky sort, I e-mailed him back on October 28.

Thank you for getting back to me. Does this mean you will reconsider speaking at that Spiritus Christi now that you are aware it is schismatic? Or do you still plan to speak?

No response. I sent a second one on November 2.

I sent you this response a couple of days ago, but had not heard back. Perhaps you are on the road. People here are awaiting news:

Thank you for getting back to me. Does this mean you will reconsider speaking at that Spiritus Christi now that you are aware it is schismatic? Or do you still plan to speak?

Still no response, so I sent another on November 6.

I see you are still on the Spiritus Christi Calendar for next Tuesday. Did they not yet take you off, or are you still planning to go there?

He did not respond. But in the Spiritus Christi bulletin, I saw the following:

“Here’s something else that is exciting: We have a chance to hear one of our country’s greatest modern-day prophets on Tuesday, November 11. John Dear will speak at our church. John is a good friend of Spiritus Christi, dedicated pastor, and outstanding Jesuit priest. He has been arrested more than seventy-five times and spent more than a year of his life in jail because of his efforts to bring peace, stop war, and dismantle all nuclear weapons. Archbishop Desmond Tutu has nominated him for the 2008 Nobel Peace Prize. He will be signing his new book, and autobiography, called A Persistent Peace, available to purchase for $20. I just finished reading it and found it extremely inspiring. John is the final speaker in the 2008 series to celebrate Spiritus Christi’s Tenth Anniversary. Please join us in the sanctuary on Tuesday night, November 11, at 7:00 PM. (He will have a private meeting over pizza with our youth group at 5:30.)

I later found out that he did indeed speak.

I wondered at the time if his order would take some action. Five years later, it did.

I will pray for him. Just as I pray regularly that the people of Spiritus Christi will return to the Catholic Church.

Pax et bonum

O, What a Luxury - to read light verse

One of my Christmas gifts this year was O, What a Luxury: Verses Lyrical, Vulgar, Pathetic & Profound by Garrison Keillor.

My first reaction when I removed the gift paper was a polite smile. I am not a big fan of Keillor, and I had read one of his previous poetry books, a collection of sonnets I simply did not like.

But hey, it was a gift, I do like light verse, and Keillor can be droll.

The poems address many of the subjects and themes Keillor is famous for on his show (A Prairie Home Companion) and in previous humor books and essays: Minnesota, Lutherans, nostalgia, music, liberal politics, aging, love and sex. Oh, and butts.

Some of the poems are amusing. Others often contain amusing stanzas or lines. But some of them seem incomplete, unpolished, or start off fine but end as if he was rushed or on a deadline. Indeed, the jacket notes that many of the poems were written for the show, and one has to wonder if he "finished" some just before going on air.

So what we have is a mixed bag. Some good poems. Some that need work.

To be honest, if this book was not written by a "famous guy," I don't know if it would have been published. Some of the individual poems might have found a market, but not the entire collection. I think he's a better writer of prose, or as an on air/on stage raconteur.

Bottom line: A mixed reaction. If you are Keillor fan, or a fan of his show, check the book out of the library. If you are not a Keillor fan, but enjoy some good light verse, then seek out a collection of Nash or Parker or Silverstein, or perhaps an anthology that includes a couple of Keillor's better poems mixed in with good poems from other writers.

Pax et bonum

Shoveling snow

shoveling snow while
saying the Jesus Prayer -

finding my rhythm

Pax et bonum

Read in 2103 - now onward to new books

The year ended with a few book under my belt - or should that be cap?

Some of them are school related - have to keep up/ahead of my students. But some were for spiritual growth, some for mental growth, some just for fun.

I've already started on a couple of books - some school related, some not. So it's time to start the 2014 list.

A Midsummer Night's Dream by William Shakespeare  

Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep by Philip K. Dick   

The Fault in Our Stars by John Green  

The Crucible by Arthur Miller  

The Haiku Apprentice by Abigail Friedman 

Happy, Happy, Happy by Phil Robertson  

The Arrow Finds its Mark: A Book of Found Poems edited by Georgia Heard  

The Road to Assisi: The Essential Biography of St. Francis by Paul Sabatier

Grooks 2 by Piet Hein

A Lesson Before Dying by Ernest Gaines 

Grendel by John Gardner 

Francis: Pope of a New World by Andrea Tornielli

A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini  

Grooks by Piet Hein  

I've Lost My Hippopotamus by Jack Prelutsky  

Year of Wonders: A Novel of the Plague by Geraldine Brooks  

The Complete Thinker: The Marvelous Mind of G. K. Chesterton by Dale Ahlquist 

The Glass Menagerie by Tennesee Williams  

The Wisdom of Father Brown by G. K. Chesterton  

Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen  

The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald  

The Right To Be Wrong by Kevin Seamus Hasson  

Who Am I? by Pete Townshend  

Pax et bonum

Happy New Year!

New Year's Eve -
scattering resolutions
like confetti

Pax et bonum

Christmas movies sometimes forget what Christmas is really about

I was searching online for a new copy of A Child's Christmas in Wales, a wonderful television movie of Dylan Thomas' poem that was broadcast back in the 1980s. My wife videotaped it back then - we are still watching that tape, but I worry about it breaking.

No luck. It does not seem to be easily available except in used copies.

But as I searched I began to think about Christmas movies.

There are many good ones that I enjoy, but some of them have no sense of the true meaning of Christmas: The birth of our savior.  I love the original Miracle on 34th Street, for example, but God is missing.

God is there in a number of movies, at least indirectly in some cases, with prayer and angels - The Bishop's Wife or It's a Wonderful Life, to cite two examples. A pivotal scene in Home Alone takes place in church. A Christmas Carol mentions going to church (Bob and Tiny Tim do go at least), and, of course, there's Tim's famous line, "God bless us, everyone."

But where is God or Jesus in The Santa Clause? A Christmas Story? Or even the aforementioned A Child's Christmas in Wales?

Some movies really just focus on Santa, and not always in a positive way, (Mr. St. Nick) (which is a poor movie anyway) or romance (almost any tinsel-tinged Hallmark Channel movie), or the secular celebration of family rather than the holy day celebrating the birth of the Messiah.

Some movies are just downright bad as movies - The film version of How the Grinch Stole Christmas, or The Santa Clause 3, or Scrooged. Santa Claus Conquers the Martians (yes, there is such a movie) falls into the bad movie category, but it is so bad it has it's own strange charm! 

And some movies promote a changing world view that is in contrast to the true Christmas story. The Santa Clause, a movie that I actually enjoy (forget the sequels), has some real issues when it comes to normalizing divorce, absentee fathers, and blended families. And that business of Santa dying, ech.

A Christmas movie does not necessarily have to be overtly religious, but there should be some acknowledgement of faith. After, all, that's what Christmas is really about - and without it, we wouldn't mark the day.

As for me, there are some Christmas movies I like despite the lack of religion. Some are really out there.

Ones I like and happily watch again and again:

Miracle on 34th Street (the original, not the remake)
A Child's Christmas in Wales
It's a Wonderful Life
The Bishop's Wife
A Christmas Carol - the Alistair Sims, George C Scott, and Muppet versions!
The Nativity Story
3 Godfathers - John Wayne as a cowboy, bank-robbing wise man??
The Homecoming (essentially the pilot for The Waltons)
Home Alone
White Christmas
The Santa Clause (despite the reservations)
Elf
Die Hard - (yes, even with the violence and language, it's a well-made movie set at Christmas time)
Joyeaux Noel - what if all soldiers just declared their own truce as they did in WWI? (I just wish they had not included that unnecessary sex scene.)

A couple of television shows make the list as well - the original How the Grinch Stole Christmas (Karloff is wonderful), Mr. Magoo's Christmas Carol, A Charlie Brown Christmas, and It's a Wonderful Red Green Christmas.

Hey, I never claimed to be normal!

Pax et bonum