Random thoughts after a week of travel

This old painting of St. Francis with the Stigmata is very different from the feminized, cartoon-like versions we see today.

• This really has been a dizzying, stunning year, Brexit, the Cubs win, Trump wins and Fidel Castro died.

• An autistic woman had to flee from church last week. The noise from the out of control children in a family that came late was just too much for her. I hope she can find her way to a Tridentine Mass.

• Bishop McElroy of San Diego promises a "mass mobilization" if any "immigrants" (people who strolled in the US and continue to live here illegally) are deported.  I have a feeling that the Bishop is going to be very surprised because there are probably a lot of people in San Diego don't dare speak out but are privately fed up with all the social ills that have come with massive illegal immigration.  Perhaps the bishop should take a page from Bishop "Dagger" John Hughes of New York. Bishop Hughes heroically defended his Irish flock but he also ordered his school nuns to teach that thrift and order was good, drunkenness was bad and that good citizens work hard and contribute. He did not condone using the US as a flop house and spent his life trying to  integrate his people into the fabric of America. He had his priests back him up in their preaching and in encouraging parish groups dedicated to self help and civic minded behavior. Within one generation Irish violent crime  dropped from 60% to less than 10%.  Instead we have Bishop McElroy  turning a blind eye an endless wave of crime and social insecurity. 

• The Somali "teen" who tried to kill people at Ohio State was originally supported by Catholic Charities. Catholic Charities picked his family up from the airport, housed them, fed them and probably provided medical care for 23 days in Texas.  When that little tidbit made the various news outlets the comments from readers were pretty harsh. Even the people who identified themselves as Catholic were horrified.

• My mother and I went on a short visit to South Carolina  to visit relatives and the family graves. It was beautiful but I missed Rocky, who couldn't come with us this time.  I'm exhausted from the train travel but I'm so glad we made this trip.

• Oh.....no Father....just no. 

• The Captain: Why do you weep?  

  The Creature: He was my father.
  
  
  
  
  Whenever I look at a picture of the pope or read the latest thing he's said I am reminded of the last two lines from Kenneth Brannagh's "Frankenstein," movie.  It was a silly, bloated movie  and there was no explanation as to why the monster, played by Robert DiNiro sounded like he was from Queens but it did have a few near perfect moments and that last scene was one of them. The monster weeps because of all that has happened between him and Frankenstein and  for what might have been. When you realize that your father doesn't love you it is an occasion for grief whether you are a seven foot tall monster from fiction or Catholic sighing in the pew. Most of my family is Baptist and it's been very hard defending the Faith to them this year more so than ever.