Random thoughts on a Sunday night

•  It's interesting to see how fast Indians have gone from being praised as being model immigrants to being openly loathed by both Canadians and Americans. Back in the 90s when they took over the motel industry and what seemed like every other gas station most people who noticed either made jokes or grumbled quietly about how nasty formerly cute mom and pop motels had become and how rude the gas station attendants were, but nobody got loud about it. Nobody cared when blue collar people were affected. Later people in computer and technology fields started making  mild jokes to close friends and family that the H1-B hires in the IT department were socially inept and could  be very offensive around women. Nothing was done. This thing was allowed and encouraged to grow.  The industry leaders, and the media adored the H1-B employees. They were cheap and slightly more than indentured servants and the wise men on TV said they were essential because we didn't have enough smart young workers.  People, mostly young men raised objections but were ignored. Now that Indians are here in such numbers that they're no longer the meek and mild kid in tech support  but coming for the managerial ranks  and executive positions in the corporate world and they're making waves in politics, it's suddenly a problem that has a lot of folk really riled up.  This reminds me so much of what happened to factory workers in the US back when NAFTA became law. One by one factories all over the country closed. Thousands upon thousands of people lost their jobs and couldn't find new ones that provided comparable incomes. Families were destroyed. Drugs hit small town America hard. I don't recall middle and upper class folks taking too much notice until about a decade later when white collar people started losing their jobs. What was it Benjamin Franklin said? "We must, indeed, all hang together or, most assuredly, we shall all hang separately." Americans have been left to hang so long and we never seem to learn.      
• Pope Leo announced that he's having surgery to remove a nodule on one of his lungs and I'm surprised at how muted the response is. 
  
  
  
  
  
  
• There's something about the disgusting Jane Doe and the Cornell 7 story that nobody seems to have mentioned. For at least 60 years young people have been encouraged to engage in degenerate behavior at college. If your kid is at a big secular university sexual immorality is pretty much  a rite of passage now. College students are told go ahead, have sex but don't get pregnant. If you do get pregnant have an abortion. Party hard. Drink all you want as long as you don't become an alcoholic. Parents sigh and grudgingly expect occasional marijuana use. The professors and administrators and security turn a blind eye to the drug usage as long as it's nothing "serious" like Meth, Fentanyl, or Crack and pretty much as long as a student doesn't become noticeably addicted. The outrage at the immorality of Cornell incident seems a tad hypocritical, particularly fron the feminists. Books, movies, TV, and  older adults all bid the kids to go out and behave like deer during the rut as soon as they get the first invitation to party on campus and then we all pretend to be shocked when they do what they've been told to do all their lives. 
  
  St. Maria Goretti, St. Basil, St Agatha, St. Gregory the great, St. Augustine and St. Francis of Assisi, St. Dominic Savio, St. Agnes, St. Charles Lwanga, and  Blessed Anna Kolesárová  pray for our youth.

Our Lady is not a feminist

 Our Lady is not a feminist. You know that. I think Michael Matt knows that. He may have been trying to be cool or use a clever turn of phrase while speaking at the  Restore Tradition Women's Conference but whenever a person over the age of 30, tries to be hip it is embarrassing.  He's been acting weird for about two years now. At one point I thought he must be ill. These days I usually find myself shaking my head when he posts something online. His remarks and the way Rachel Mastrogiocomo, (whom I am not sure about yet), was treated while she was speaking at the same conference remind me why I am skeptical of most  Catholic conferences.  

random thoughts on a Saturday morning

•  I have a problem with John Henry Westen because he's not as careful as he ought to be at times but this interview with Fr. Isaac Relyea is good stuff. If your pastor preaches with all the strength of a spritz of water because he doesn't dare cross his bishop listening to Fr. Isaac is a relief. 

• I grew up reading Archbishop Sheen's books and I loved watching reruns of his show on EWTN but I don't want him canonized. There's no doubt about his personal goodness, heck the FBI investigated him and their report was so glowing that I wouldn't be surprised if the agent who wrote it  become Catholic later. Everyone in Heaven is a saint. Everyone is Purgatory is going to Heaven. Not every dead person is made a saint that we can all look to as an example of how to get to Heaven. Archbishop Sheen was a company man. Before Vatican II he did great work for the Faith but when things changed, he rolled with the times. Years ago when I read about his latter years I was shocked.  He promoted sex education in his diocesan schools. He was wishy washy on birth control. He praised Fr. Pierre Teilhard de Chardin who apparently didn't care about converting any of the Chinese people he was supposed to be serving, may have been, by his own account, possessed and was a racist. Archbishop Sheen's time in the Rochester diocese was a whirlwind that didn't leave a happy, peaceful diocese. Sheen was wildly enthusiastic about interfaith activity. What is Interfaith? In practical terms, it means hiding your crucifix or scapular and smiling like a loon while you fawn over a probably bemused Jewish person, or Protestant. It also means dumbing down or giving up your devotional life and accepting tomfoolery or blasphemy at Mass while praising the strictness of Ramadan or blathering about the 25 hour Yom Kippur fast. It's silly at best. Spiritually deadly at the worst. Unlike Paul VI or John XXIII, Sheen does have a genuine cultus and it doesn't seem shady like what happened with Jose Maria Escrivá. I bet the people who are happy about the Sheen beatification and are waiting for his canonization love pre-Vatican Sheen but don't know much about his twilight years. Personally I think 1950s Sheen would have been taken aback by1970s Sheen. Chris Jackson asks a darn good question. Which Sheen was beatified. Which Sheen is going to be sainted?
  
  
  
  
• For those who live in the area or can make the drive, the FSSP chaplaincy has posted their details about the Our Lady of Victory chapel. 

• I've been experiencing attacks of sciatica pain since Monday and I'm exhausted. I'm stretching and doing the hot and cold packs but if this keeps up I'm going to have to go to the doctor. In your charity could you please pray for my mother? I can tell she's worried about me. 
  
  
  
  
  
• Representatives of the Bethlehem Carving Group had their gorgeous olive and Mother of Pearl artwork at the Cathedral after Mass. Sadly the customer turn out was terrible. Rocky bought me a pair of earrings and a crucifix to replace the one that was broken when the delivery men brought in our new dishwasher. I hope they have better luck at the other parishes they visit this year. 

Random thoughts on a Wednesday afternoon

• It appears that Milo Yiannopoulos has apostatized and become Muslim.  A lot of Catholic men on social media seemed to like him. They believed him when he said he was no longer pursuing his favorite sin and they screamed "based" whenever he was catty towards someone they didn't like. When he chose to expose Sarah Stock the reaction was an explosion of joy at her disgrace. Now he's deported back to England and is hanging out at a mosque. So, how do you like Milo now?

•  This Crisis Magazine article talks about the devastation to our country and to  helpless unaccompanied minors caused by the actions of Catholic Charities and the USCCB. I've said it before but I think the only answer is RICO. If you think about what was done to many of the teens and children who were smuggled over the border and then handed to apparently whoever showed up to claim them, it's enough to make you sick. The USCCB needs to be disbanded. Catholic Charities needs to be gutted, purged and forced to return to the original mission of doing good works for God's people for the love of God and His Church. 
  
  
  
  
  
  
• The black man who was the lone juror to stand for the victims in the Lindsay Clancy case is being harassed and reportedly can't leave his house because of the nutcases. It's unknown if he and his family have any police protection. This is very disturbing. I suppose the harpies and hyenas who are going after this Catholic man think they're being cute but it's a dangerous road they're on. You can't have fair trials when the jurors are fearful for the sakes of their families and their own peace and lives. You just can't. 
  
  
  
  
  
  
• Pope Leo is obviously more sophisticated and more in control of his emotions that Francis was but only the completely unaware, innocent or foolish think that all is well. His statements and appointments are dismaying. 
  
  
  
  

God bless you, Mr. Ed.

 On the morning of 9/11 I did my usual routine of taking the bus to the Pentagon and then a train to the station that was a few blocks from my office. I got used to seeing people who had the same schedule as I did. My regulars included a middle aged blonde woman who favored grey suits and who looked like she was either a 1950s prison matron or a 1970 pantsuit nun.  She turned out to be quite pleasant and later to my happy surprise, she moved into my building and we see each other on the elevator every now and again. Another regular was an eccentric government employee whose social skills were so horribly lacking that I hoped he'd never take notice of me and a sarcastic bus driver who could've made it as a comedian if she'd had a mind to do it. And then there was Mr. Ed. That wasn't his name of course. It's just the nickname I gave him. He was a few months or weeks away from retirement. He and his wife were going to leave Northern Virginia and return to his native Mississippi where he'd already bought land and built a house. Mr. Ed was cheerful, energetic, and his face just lit up when he talked about going home. We didn't do any deep talk, it was a bus ride after all but we chatted about the weather and other things one talks about while commuting and he never failed to wish me a good day as he headed into the Pentagon and I continued on to my train. 

After 9/11 I never saw him again. I hope it's because everyone's schedules were  changed after the attack. The Washington Post published photos and names of people who perished at the Pentagon but I didn't have the heart to look for him. I hope he was not one of the 2,974 victims and made it back to Mississippi and lived happily ever after. He was a nice man going about his business.  God bless you Mr. Ed and Mrs Ed too, wherever you are. 

Rest in Peace, dear heroine.

Before my surgery I thought very much of the late Geska Lima.  The way she conducted herself through her battle with ovarian cancer impressed me deeply. She wrote the following not long before her death. I never forgot it.  Her dignity, courage and her devotion to Our Lord all shone as an example of how to behave in the face of pain and fear.  May she rest in peace. 

I'm going back to work on Monday, thank God, but I wont' forget Mrs. Lima. 

The cancer pavilion is a cruel democracy: the same bald heads, the same devastated complexions, the same steroid-swollen faces. The old seem infantile, the young look senile. There's no race or color, everyone is equal in suffering and "All Lives Matter". pic.twitter.com/8EFsjR8Kjz

— Geska Lima (@Geskalima) June 7, 2020

The Catholic Biblical Association situation isn't getting any better.

 Well, we  have answer. To my knowledge, Cardinal McElroy hasn't said anything about Amy Jill Levine being elected as head of the Catholica Biblical Association but the USCCB has spoken. Watch and listen, and study very carefully what you hear at  Mass, OCIA, and your child's religious education materials. Unless your bishop says otherwise, he's going along with the group and  approves of efforts to fiddle with the New Testament. I pray that the USCCBB is dismantled before we ever get a highly edited version of the Passion of Our Lord read out on Good Friday.  God help us!