Sunday Edition

Michael The Lesser Presents

Sunday

Edition

Some Thoughts and reflections

The February Synod in Rome

We live in a world that worships chaos. I am beginning to think that the Catholic Church is ready to make chaos one of our patron saints. Why would you say something like this?

Well, I am thinking about the synod that is going to take place in Rome in a couple of weeks. I really think that it is sad that the focus of this meeting is going to be “The Protection of Minors.” Don't get me wrong, I think minors need to be protected from sexual exploitation not only from rogue priests but from rouge parents, siblings, teachers, coaches and strangers. For some reason, the Church seems to be turning a blind eye to the real problem here. Most of the sexual misbehavior was not done to altar boy and girls of tender age, oh, there was some of that going on but not as much as one would think. Most of the issues were with teens, young adults, and seminarians. These master of manipulation knew just how to groom their victims in order to satisfy their “needs.” Every one of them needs to be rooted out and removed from the ministry. What the Cardinals need to talk about when they gather next month is first, why didn't we learn the lessons of 2002. Second, Why did a diocese have the authority to refuse to provide the paperwork that the lay reviewers requested? Third, Why did these predators, these rogue priests receive an Odessa File type transfer to other parishes without any supervision so that they could ply their trade again? Fourth, why did the hierarchy coddle these priests and fail to report them to the authorities? Fifth, When is Pope Francis going to take the reigns of power and do something other than to say the obvious, that the practice was wrong? We know that. Sixth, why did Francis rehabilitate a known predator and offender who had been disciplined by Benedict who told the prelate that he should live the rest of prayer and penance? Instead, he was living life large, in the public eye, with the approval of the Holy See. The Holy Father needs to take action to bind up the wounds of the Church. We know the Church will continue, we have the promise of Christ and the protection of the Holy Spirit. We need these rogues to be gone, let them be anathema as the old church would say.

We pew dwellers need to do our part as well. We need to make sure that we follow all of the rules on contacts with young people. We must allow any background checks that the diocese might require. We must pray for our Church, for the victims of abuse that they are comforted as they see the Church reaching out to try to help them heal, for the abusers that they may repent of their evil and do the right thing and leave the ministry which they obviously are not fit for.

We as God's people will come out of this okay but we have to realize two things. First, we have to realize that this situation took years and decades to fester and bubble to the top and it will take years and maybe decades for us to recover. Second, we need to care for our deacons, priests, bishops, and cardinals for the vast majority of them are good people. Even the ones that played whack-a-mole by transferring rogue priests did not do so with evil in their hearts just some misplaced sympathy for those who probably were classmates and/or friends. They see today that the long black line is to be no more. Defending those that took advantage of the defenseless will get them nothing but trouble and a possible return to the lay state.

RIGHT TO LIFE

Please say a Rosary today if you can for the unborn. It is right to life month.  If anything good has come out of the presidency of Donald Trump, and please forgive me, I am not one of his fans, it is that the erosion of our religious liberties have slowed down from the rapid pace that they were disappearing under the Obama regime.  Be that as it may, there is still more work to be done. Abortion is still legal and is protected under the guise of "woman's health."  I am in favor of any woman's health initiative. Mammograms, Pap tests, anything that helps our sisters live a longer, more productive life, I am for.  I do not see the vacuuming out of  a baby out of the host mother's womb as being part of what I would call "woman's health."  But, I hear you ask, what about rape and incest?  Every case of rape and incest is a tragedy, but why make the child pay for our misdeeds?  

Here are some famous people who were the product violent, non-consensual, forced, intercourse, i.e. rape:

Jesse Jackson — Presidential candidate, activist, and preacher http://www.wnd.com/2006/11/38638/,

Eartha Kitt (actress (Catwoman), singer (Santa Baby), author, activist) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5r0dWxy17C8&feature=player_embedded and http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qYQWqLV35J8&feature=related

Frederick Douglass (abolitionist and author – Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass:  An American Slave)http://www.cliffsnotes.com/study_guide/literature/life-of-frederick-douglass.html,

Ethel Waters (gospel singer, Academy Award winning actress and author — His Eye is on the Sparrow,http://prolifeaction.org/hotline/2011/ethel-waters/)

John Cox, Presidential candidate http://www.ontheissues.org/2008/John_Cox_Abortion.htm,

James Robison, tele-evangelist http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Robison_(televangelist),

Layne Beachley, world champion surfer and author  (Beneath the Waves)http://www.smh.com.au/news/sport/the-sins-of-my-unknown-fatherlayne-beachleys-quest-for-the-truth/2008/09/26/1222217523690.html,

Sherrie Eldridge, adoption author (20 Things Adopted Children Wish Their Adoptive Parents Knew ), speaker and adoption therapist  http://www.sherrieeldridge.com/category/conceived-in-rape ,

Pam Stenzel, international abstinence speaker and author (Nobody Told Me) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ctz-svJuyxQ ,

Ryan Scott Bomberger, Emmy Award Winner, speaker, singer, songwriter,activist, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5kh4eWj_lTE,

Julie Makimaa — speaker, activist and co-author of Victims and Victors: http://afterabortion.org/2005/victims-and-victors-speaking-out-about-their-pregnancies-abortions-and-children-resulting-from-sexual-assault  ,

Kelly Wright — co-anchor of Fox’s Fox and Friends Weekendhttp://www.lifesitenews.com/news/archive//ldn/2010/jan/10011906 ,

Jenni Maas, activist and speaker from Human Life Internationalhttp://www.humanlife.org/abortion_jenni_story.php,

Laura Tedder, author and speaker (Trip Into A Miracle?) http://www.blurb.com/bookstore/detail/1451544 

 Bill Connor, owner of Prairie Coach Trailways in Dell Rapids. He started “Angel Bus,” a nonprofit organization that provides luxury bus rides to terminally ill children who travel to the Mayo Clinic for treatment.http://www.dakotavoice.com/200611/20061102_1.html.

But what about victims of incest.  Certainly, there should be an exception for those women.  To abort a child conceived out of incest is a sad thing indeed. Does creating a second victim do us any good?  A baby is a living person at conception.  We should not interfere in spite of the fact that the authors of the life were closely related.  This sounds harsh, I know but I believe every life is important and life in the womb is the most defenseless of all and must be protected.  I do not have a list of famous people who were conceived by incest, but can you deny a person life just because of the circumstances that led to it?  

Before you consider me a monster, please understand that I do not judge anyone for what they do in their own life.  I  have a lot of compassion for those who have to make these terrible, life-changing decisions and I believe that God knows what is in their hearts when they make them  I always pray for the parties involved to choose life over convenience and life over death but I weep with them should they choose another route. If you are here and reading this, be sure to thank your mother for choosing life. 

The Wedding Feast at Cana

Here is where I just might lose some of the readers that are of the Protestant tradition. I hope that the mere mention of Mary, the mother of Jesus, does not frighten anyone off because she does have a lot to teach us. She speaks infrequently in the New Testament but the words that come out of her mouth are more powerful than one thousand sermons;

“Do whatever he tells you.” These are her words to the waiters working at the wedding feast at Cana and they echo down through the ages to us as well. As a matter of fact, in all of the stories that circulate about Mary it is significant that she never points to herself, she always directs us to her Son, Jesus. She was single-hearted in his service. We should heed her advice and do whatever he tells us. We also know that Jesus loved his mother dearly. From the cross, knowing that she would be all alone in the world, Jesus provided for her by entrusting her into the care of the “disciple he loved.” Early Christians had a reverence for Mary and we Catholics continue this devotion to Mary as the Mother of God. (There go some more protestants…) There are many reasons for this. Even before Jesus was born, she showed her love and trust of God. She agreed to become the Mother of God. This put her in a most dangerous position. In that day a pregnant unmarried woman would be taken out and stoned as an adulteress. She was betrothed to Joseph and while that legally conveyed all rights of marriage on to the couple, the custom of the time was to wait until the marriage to exercise those rights and if Joseph had testified that he had no knowledge of her, she would have been executed. Yet, she trusted in God and uttered the “yes” that echoes through the corridors of time and which nullifies the “no” uttered by Eve in the Garden of Eden. Mary carried Jesus in her womb and of course, was there when Jesus was born. She chastised him when he seemingly went astray in the temple. She propelled him into starting his ministry at the wedding feast at Cana when he probably wasn’t ready to start yet. Finally, she held his lifeless body in her arms and she cried her mother’s tears as she helped bury her son in a borrowed tomb. Through the whole saga, Jesus remained the center of her life. My argument is not necessarily that we should pray to Mary, although I regularly do so and I encourage it. What I say is that we must become more like her. We must be willing to say “Yes Lord” when we are called to do something for God. Mary’s faith in God was absolute. Mary’s faith in God gave her the ability to trust in God to bring things to a good conclusion in his own time. So let us be more like Mary, even if the doctrine we follow seems to preclude us praying to her. Let us imitate Mary and be loyal to Jesus, doing whatever he tells us to do. Let us be more trusting in the promises of God even when the evidence of our own senses seems to say that it is time to surrender to despair.

=======================================

Sunday Edition is published "once in a while, when I feel like it" and is filled with my opinions.  I welcome discussion but must ask you to please be as respectful to me as I will be to you.  We can always agree to disagree and still remain friends! 

© 2019 Galloping Goose Studios and Michael J. Spoula. All rights are reserved.