No, this is the final entry- a poem

 The problem I've seen with this entire process of Synodalism, is that it is controlled by the old who are fighting the better spirits of the young.  In this, it's become very much SynOLDalism.  And thus, I offer this poem.

With Apologies to St. John Vianny:

Synoldalism:

If the pope is a saint, the cardinals will be fervent;
If the cardinal is fervent, the bishops will be pious;
If the bishop is pious, the priests will at least be decent;
If the priest is only decent, the people will be godless.

The spiritual generation is always one-degree less intense in its life than the one who begets it in Christ.  Is it any wonder that in the United States, where we have seen a corruption of the clergy up to the very top of the chain, we have a problem with a belief in Transubstantiation?

The original of this poem is the answer.  Please, God, Send us Saintly Priests!  Reignite the fervor of your people and the thirst for the Body and Blood, Soul and Divinity of Jesus Christ Your Son!

My final entry for His Holiness's Synod on Synodality: Meta version

 I started all this out with agreeing with my Archbishop Sample that we live in a post-Christian society, in a post-Christian world- and that as far as the American Empire is concerned, our government is almost as bad as that which the Apostles faced during the fall of the Roman Republic.

Almost as bad- I fear strongly it is about to get a LOT worse.  At work, I see much anti-Catholic and anti-Christian bigotry creeping in to corporate America.  It's pretty easy to see that the result of the battles over abortion, euthanasia, and gay marriage have left conservative Christians who are serious about social justice without a political home- and at times, without an economic home either as anti-Catholic marriage bigotry enforced by the courts has been used to close small businesses and throw people into poverty.

Even within the church, the Vatican has chosen to marginalize conservative American Catholics to the point that some of us wonder if heterosexual lifelong monogamy in the sacrament of marriage is still a valid teaching of the church, or if in the rush to implement Vatican II and clean the churches of any symbolism that would offend a Protestant, if it is still ok to pray with the Saints or do such popular devotions as the Rosary.

Our weak response we saw in our parish to even dare speak out when the opportunity was offered by the synod is understandable in such a anti-Catholic atmosphere, where any mention of tradition or the wisdom of the ages is often met with fierce economic retaliation.  It would not surprise me at all for the current racial and gender based philosophies currently proposed by academics, used to directly influence our public and private schools through required curriculums.  And eventually, as a full reading of history teaches us, the faith itself will become so intolerable by the very people who now preach tolerance, that Chinese-style re-education camps such as that which the much more conservative Uyghur Moslems are currently experiencing- and those who refuse to become state atheists, die.   Or in Nigeria, where there have been multiple church bombings and kidnappings of priests.   It CAN happen here- it has happened here in Oregon before, with African Americans originally being barred from the state and the KKK attacking our Catholic Schools in 1937.  The other side may have control now, but who can deny that in the last two years we've had a preview of just how ruthless, just how much hatred the Democratic Party in Oregon can amass, even among our own people?  

Perhaps those who are silent, are wiser than I; however I have always said, if my Lord Jesus Christ sends me to Hell, in this Life or the Next, I shall gladly go and preach righteousness even there.

Make Righteous Lives Matter.  MRLM.  That's what I'm for these days.

Coruscant Earth farm

Once again, I should have called this series Trantor Earth.

Here is an advert that promises to keep a family in vegetables in a mere 500 sq feet (50x10) on 5 gallons of water a day and a 240 volt split phase power supply.

Synod Question #3: How to be Catholic in a Post Christian, Apostolic Oregon

 I'm starting out by reformulating the question in a way that indicates I've been listening to my Archbishop:

Synod Question #3:  How to be Catholic in a Post Christian, Apostolic Oregon

We need to recognize that we live in a post-Catholic- even post-Christian- world.  We can't assume even our children are absorbing Catholic Morality, let alone anybody else; in fact the indications in the world around us, from the lack of forgiveness central to "woke" theologies like CRT, to our involvement in wars around the world, to our abuse of wealth to bully smaller cultures, to the grand hidden genocide of abortion and euthanasia; the economy of Oregon is built upon a culture of death that is completely opposed to the Gospel and all it stands for.

That's our starting point.  Our starting point is we live in an entirely hedonistic culture that is aware of Christ but no longer cares- or worse yet, sees our traditions as a threat to be eliminated.  We're almost back to Know Nothings in both the Democrat and Republican Parties, as they fight out how best to exploit the poor and vulnerable.

So what do we do in such a situation?  Well, as a Knight of Columbus, my focus is on Charity, Unity, and Fraternity.  Charity to the outside- we are the religion of the 490th chance, and we need to act like it.  Yes, we need to in many cases teach morality before we can teach repentance, and we need people to repent if forgiveness is to be effective- BUT we are asked by Our Lord Jesus Christ to forgive 70 times 7 times, and as long as anybody is willing to admit that their sins are sins, regardless of whether they have been able to break free of the habit of sin or not, we need to meet them with mercy and understanding.

Likewise, it does no good to forgive sin, without providing for the material health and welfare of those who we are given to serve.  To that end, St. Clare's has done well with our SVDP food bank.  

The corporal works of mercy and the spiritual works of mercy- these should be our watchword.  The more we are generous and serve others, the more others in this age of selfishness and hedonism will ask "Who are these people who care for the poor?  Who are these people who want to let the unwanted live instead of killing them?  Who are these people who judge actions instead of skin color?"

Finally, I hope soon to return to our breakfasts, dinners, and picnics at church.  I hope soon to return to a life where we don't discriminate against people because of vaccination, skin color, or masks worn.  Where one's worth depends on what one DOES instead of whose child one IS- even for those of us truly privileged to be children of God.

Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament, Pro-Life Rosary, Mass and Exemplification

 You are invited Saturday, March 5th, to the following events at St. Clare's:

2:00pm Adoration, Pro-Life Rosary

4:00pm Confession will be available

5:00pm Mass

Immediately Following Mass, we will hold an Exemplification of Charity, Unity, and Fraternity for Richard Diregorio, as well as any other incoming members from other councils.

Let's have a good showing to welcome brother Richard into the council.

Reflections on Synod Question #2

Edit to include question: Question 2 - As a community of believers, what experiences of the Catholic Church have brought joys or revealed wounds? And how can these experiences help us grow together in faith and offer the hope and healing of Christ to the greater community in which we live?

 We do indeed have a Great Priest in Christ, but I wonder if our hearts are truly clean.  I know mine isn't, that's why my hope starts with the great gift of purgatory- of which we got some scientific proof of this week with the reveal of fMRI data from a poor old man who died while in the MRI machine.  ( https://www.livescience.com/first-ever-scan-of-dying-brain ) If your brain truly is going to do an examination of conscience at the moment of death, reliving every moment of shame and joy from throughout your life, don't you want those memories of joy to overwhelm the memories of shame?

We should want that, but we don't.  We often have habits of sin we are not willing to give up until they do us so much damage that we are forced to give them up.  When I think about us as a community of believers, I keep coming back not so much to this passage, but rather to my response to my own sin and to my fellow sinners.  What if as in Genesis Chapter 4, God asks us "Where is your brother?" Is Cain's answer adequate "Am I my Brother's Keeper?".  Fr. McGivney, when designing the exemplification of the first degree of the Knights of Columbus, said yes, we are indeed our brother's keeper- we will be judged not just for our own sins, but for our lack of charity to our fellow sinners.

I worry not only that I'm ignoring the effects of sin in my own life, but that my lack of ability to communicate the truth, is leading to sin in others.

My deepest wounds come from the fact that I want the church of "The Bells of St. Mary's" but I'm living in a world that is more like "A Brave New World".  I think that is the same for many of my generation and younger- we want a more moral, more Catholic world, but we don't know how to get there.  And worse yet, we were never taught the basic skills of civilization that we need to learn if we're ever going to get there.  We've lost sight of ideals in the chaos of immorality around us.  Nobody under the age of 50 seems to have the skills needed to rebuild civilization- and thus the Church, as Civilization's Builder and Protector- is not living up to what could rightly be called its secondary mission.

I'm not sure if the recent retreat away from morality in an effort to be more relevant is a part of that, but it sure doesn't help.  Instead of a church of saints, we've become Leonard Cohen's broken Hallelujah.  And I don't know how to get back to a place where pure hearts can exist without being attacked merely for being pure.

The Most Dangerous Idea In the World

 The most dangerous idea in the world is when one people decide that another group of people, are not human.

The second most dangerous, is that which leads to the first, when one people decide that some irrelevant and irrational surface trait, means that other people are not human.

That is where I fear this world is going.  That is where I fear we are already.