IF YOU BLINK YOU MIGHT MISS SOMETHING

Are we living in the information age or have we missed our flight stuck in security queue? Thanks to Deacon's Bench for pointing to this one.

Good Happens When Good is Chosen

The Joy of Four Seasons - Winter Meditation

At this time of year we are always asked why we chose to move to Minnesota after retirement. The answer is really simple. We love having four seasons.
Of course its the cold or the snow that people fear but with the right cold weather gear it is great. The top picture on the left shows me with in my down storm parka with the extremely attractive hat I received from a relative who fears for my survival. Note the confident look on my face. With this gear I could handle any winter.
I have labeled this photo "Theoretical".

Theoretical

During the past ten days the temperature has warmed every day during daylight hour to about -5 degrees (below zero).

On the day the bottom photo was taken we got up to a 13 degrees above zero. Of course what happens when it gets this balmy is snow! Now we need equipment as well as gear. Snow shovels and snow blowers are critical.

I have labeled this photo "Actual".


Actual

Minnesota - A Pro Life Example

I spent about ten years in elected and appointed political office in New Jersey. I was a Councilman in a small country municipality. The majority of the citizens there considered themselves Republican yet elected several Democrats to office. My Federal congressional district was served by a pro abortion Republican who is still in office 20 years later. In the last few elections before moving to Minnesota neither party offered pro-life candidate in my district. However, in the last Congress (110th) the New Jersey delegation was almost totally polarized by party on on the abortion issue.

In the early 90s I dropped out of the Democratic Party in face of the deliberate exclusion of the traditional liberals from participation in the National Democratic Convention. These "shunned" liberals (as I labeled us in yesterday's post) have been deliberately alienated, a fact extensively documented in academic and investigative publications over the last two years. This exclusion came to a head and was symbolized by the removal of Pennsylvania's Governor Casey from the list of speakers for the convention. He had just too many liberal positions to be tolerate by the conservatives in control of the party, then lead by Bill Clinton. Among his(Casey's)liberal positions were pro-labor and pro-human rights, including pro-life and was openly religious.

On moving back to Minnesota, where I had first gotten involved in politics, I was pleased to find strong human rights supporters in both the Republican and Democratic (DFL) party. In the 110th congress Minnesota's delegation was 50% pro-life with 40% of Democrats and 66% of Republicans voting strongly pro-life. In the senate it was 50/50 along party lines. 50% of my new state's federal legislators were pro-life! The frosting on the cake is that my congressional district is served by a pro-life Democrat.

I have been making the case that the current major parties no longer reflect the traditional liberal-conservative model. The situation in Minnesota seems to confirm the resulting fragmentation of human rights supporters . The liberals were progressively alienated by the Democratic leadership in the seventies and eighties. Some of them moved, attracted by the former labor union president and pro-life Ronald Reagan, to the Republican roster were they are, at best, tolerated. Perhaps another half of the shunned liberals moved to the left of the Democratic establishment where we largely continue in "shunned" status.

What Party Should Human Rights Supporters Join?

Another point of my sister's letter was a question (see yesterday's posting). "Why don't conservative Dem's go into the Republican party and make changes there cause the dem's will never give up the abortion of innocents?"

My quick answer is that that is unlikely since they (conservative dems) now and have for almost twenty years controlled the National Democratic Party and its platform. They probably think they are sitting pretty with pro human rights supporter to their left (the liberal dems) and pro human rights supporter to their right (the liberal reps). As I have explained earlier in this blog, the pro human rights (and anti abortion) position is inherently liberal. The support of inherent human rights is the essence of the liberal idea in politics. The championing of the rights of the weak (usually a minority) against the power of the strong has always tagged one as a liberal.

Of course my sister's reaction is not unusual. On Thursday during my lunch break I watched and listened to the speakers at the Right To Life March in Washington. I was struck by the optimism expressed about our new president. There was an almost universal request for prayers for his success. As I indicated yesterday he apparently convinced many of his sincerity about reducing abortions. I pray that his pitch was genuine.

When my republican coworker picked me up after lunch I was therefore overflowing with the excitement of seeing so many human rights supporters present in Washington and for the first time in a long time at least a couple of democratic based groups participated. My coworker appeared baffled when I told him that Human Rights support was an inherently liberal position. He felt that you could not be a democrat and be pro-life. One needed to be a republican to be pro-life. I ,of course, said that to be pro-life was to be liberal, a truth he was not prepared to hear.

On Friday I had lunch with a democratic friend who shares many of my values except she is willing to tolerate the human rights violation inherent in abortion. Her view is that the pro human right position on this issue is anti choice (note small letters) , choice being a liberal position in her perspective. She, like my republican associate, was certain that this issue divides us democrats and republicans. Here is a major part of the continuing human rights standoff on this issue.

The political parties have been complicit in labelling the two sides to suit their own agenda which is not human rights but getting and retaining power. PRO CHOICE and PRO-LIFE (note capital Letters) sides are emphatically neither. I acknowledge that there may be some on the Pro-Choice side that are truly anti-life and there may be some on the Pro-Life side that are truly anti-choice but the vast majority on either side are neither yet have been convinced that the other group is. How sad we have let ourselves be so exploited.

The pro-choice persons I know appear genuine in their desire that abortions be reduced and avoided yet have been convinced that pro-life persons are anti-choice. Being on the human rights side of the issue I am more familiar with the pro-lifers none of whom are anti-choice (please note the lower case!) yet have been convinced that pro-choice persons are anti-life.

The world view of the main pro-life movement cannot be anti-choice since choice is the very characteristic that sets such a high value on being human! In technical terms "choice" means a uniquely human freedom made up of two parts, "free will" and "conscience".

A second fear I hear often from pro-choice persons is that the pro-life position is one of judgement and condemnation and not love. This likewise is illogical since while the pro-life movement is not exclusively Christian its large Christian contingent is explicitly taught by its founder to not judge others, to be loving, merciful and forgiving. This fact should allay any such fear among the pro-choicers. For proof watch or listen to the many voices last week who spoke at the march for life, men and women who had abortions or paid for abortions. Note the almost universal praying for our new president who has yet to demonstrate adequate human rights support and for their pro-choice bothers and sisters.

In some sense politics is a continuum yet it can also be gerrymandered. On the issue of human rights the politicians have fragmented and made us impotent.

The abortion issue will not go away in part because the idealists have been artificially fragmented and pitted agianst each other distracting us from the shinanigans of the politically powerful. This year we have taken the bull by the horns and made a break with this pattern. Let us truly and honestly talk together and heal this breech so that the cure truly happens.

Theoretical: (& simplistic)	Left -----------------------------------------------------Right
	Liberal -----------------------------------------Conservative
	Democrat ------------------------------------------Republican
ACTUAL:	Liberal (Shunned)	/ ~ ~ /	Democrats (In Power)	/ ~ ~ /	Liberal (Tolerated)	/ ~ ~ /	Republicans (in Power)
	Labor		Middle Class		Small Business		Big Business
	Human Rights				Human Rights
	Idealistic		Utilitarian		Idealistic		Utilitarian

Obama Fails Human Rights Test But Keeps Campaign Promise

An Email from my sister begins, " in just three days of taking office he (President Obama) has struck down the ban and prolife people's taxes will again go to promote abortion around the world."

The recinding of the Mexico City Policy was not a surprise as he had promised that action to one of the largest and richest lobbyists, the abortion establishment. He took this anti human rights action quietly on a Friday evening with out fanfare, at least in comparison to the pro human rights orders concerning torture, justice and international relations that he made with great fanfare earier in the week.

He exceeded expectations concerning ethical issues, at least in comparison to Senator McCain, at the Pastor Warren interview, and seemed embarassed by the brutality of the rational he had used in the Illionois legislature in oppossing the protection of chidren born alive during abortions Act. He made a strong case that he supports efforts to reduce abortions. This interview gave much hope that at last we might be getting a President that will move this issue in the human rights direction after years of political stand-off. It is the direction supported by a majority of Americans (see Planned Parenhood Statistics) and combined with the biparisan ideals he voiced seems to indicate some pro human rights progress might actually be possible.

At odds with and some say negating this hope is another promise he made to the abortion lobby - that he would get the Freedom of Choice Act (FOCA) passed and signed. Like so much of our legislation its very name is a deliberate confusion. For several decades the US Supreme Court has upheld the freedom of mothers to choose to terminate the lives of their unborn children. The FOCA does not therefore establish such a right. In fact it appears to most serious readers of the various versions that the title is actually a contradiction in that they propose to invalidate all national and state laws established to support informed consent, licensing of abortionists, waiting periods and partial birth abortions.

These things have all passed muster at the Supreme Court. The contradiction arises by going further and removing or invalidating the choice of hospitals, doctors, nurses and other health workers to not participate in these human rights violations. In some forms it also restricts my ability as a citizen to work with others is petitioning (lobbying) my elected officials on this issue and supporting or opposing politically and financially candidates stands on human rights issues.

If you you think the issue has been contentious heretofore the removal of conscience choice protections for professionals, health care institutions and citizens will trigger a major upheavel. Perhaps it would be more honest to title the measure ROCA (Removal of Choice Act).

CAN SINNERS BECOME SAINTS?

My previous post pointed out the spiritual joy apparent in the lives of two acquaintances who entered eternal life in recent days. At both funerals I heard objections to my observation of this joy. I am sure such objections will also be heard at my own funeral. It seemed to be based on the known imperfections of each individual or perhaps their unique life stories. It may also be due to a perception that sinners cannot be saints. (The saints are those who enjoy eternal life in the company of God.)

Certainly Christianity would have no appeal or offer any hope if this were true yet I think it is a widely held common opinion that only perfect people could be saints. I don't know about you but I don't know any such people. Even Christian doctrine only claims sinless lives for Jesus and his mother. The words of Jesus himself (eg; Luke 7:36-50) indicate that it is precisly sinners who he came to invite into eternal life. At several places in the Book of Acts even living Christians were refered to as saints.

If none of us is perfect then how is it that any of us could bear to be in God's presence and a guest at the wedding feast of the Lamb? John in his vision of heaven asks the elder:

Then one of the elders spoke up and said to me, "Who are these wearing white robes, and where did they come from?" I said to him, "My lord, you are the one who knows." He said to me, "These are the ones who have survived the time of great distress; they have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb." For this reason they stand before God's throne and worship him day and night in his temple. The one who sits on the throne will shelter them. They will not hunger or thirst anymore, nor will the sun or any heat strike them. For the Lamb who is in the center of the throne will shepherd them and lead them to springs of life-giving water, and God will wipe away every tear from their eyes." (Acts

7:13-17 , NAB)

The journey to the throne and the wedding feast of the Lamb is one of purification. Elsewhere in scripture it is described as burning away our inperfections as we approach the Light of the divine presence. We have been invited from the byways and offered a wedding garment.

On The Road to The Wedding Feast

The Permanent Deacon's ministry often involves the grieving process. Sometimes it is my Parish that is grieving, sometimes it is the community where I live and some times it is a special group that grieves.

Tommorrow my parish celebrates the funeral of a long time parishoner whose life appeared unremarkable to most but which in fact sparkled in our small parish in a small rural community in the midwest. Guerneth was a widow for many years and maintained her own home until she was over 8o years old. Her sparkle I think had its genesis in her love of the Eucharist. For over thirty years (Some say 40) she was the Sacristan for our parish. In this office she prepared the altar for the divine worship of the Mass, setting out the vessels, the liturgical clothes, the wine the bread and the water to be used in the Lord's Supper. Clearly her physical service was a sacramental sign of her love for Jesus who responded with his presence in his word and daily bread and wine of the Mass.

As is often true of those in love she seemed to have a baseline joy about her. At the mere mention of a party or celebration she was ready to help pull it off and of course be in on the fun. I suspect that a saint with her skill and enthusiasm will be in high demand for the Wedding feast of the Lamb.

One of the joys I have as a retired businessman, a seasonal business owner and a part time clergyman is to serve as a backup schoolbus driver during the school year. The community of schoolbus drivers, mechanics and schedulers dedicated to the safe transportation of our children are indeed a special group. They have a cultural aspect in as much as their their twice a day pre-route gatherings also serve as an informal community bulletin board. As is often the case in small groups, the senior member is especially revered. Sometimes it is his or her wisdom, humor or knowledge. In the case of Elwin it was all of these and more.

His love of Christ also was evident in his service to his Lutheran parish serving in many parish offices. His dedication to mentoring young men and women preparing for confirmation was a quiet but impressive ministry. One way his joy was manefest was in his adult pep band that played at local sports events. Elwin played the trombone and he safely transported students between home and school for fifty one years. I am not sure which will be more important, playing in the heavenly pep band or driving saints to the Wedding Feast.

May your joy in the Lord speed both of you on your way to the throne.

Love thy enemy - A medical Calling

I was privileged to attend my son's promotion ceremony last week. He serves in the U S Army Medical Corp and was promoted to full Colonel effective January 1, 2009. The ceremony marking the accomplishment took place last week. I was asked to give the invocation.

"Let us pray. Lord, we are gathered here today with many called to service in the military. Service is indeed their calling, service to their country and service to their fellow citizens. Those in the Medical Corp are called to a special service to the health and well being of others, even enemies.

Lord, we ask your blessing on them, their families, friend and associates. We ask your special grace for our honoree that he may serve well in his new rank and leadership responsibilities.

He thanks you for being with him on his journey. We ask you to be with us today. Amen"

The mention of service to enemy is quite apropos since the hospital he served with in Iraq was dedicated to the care of Iraqi detainees. I was very proud to hear testimony from superiors and peers of his dedication and commitment to the care of these patients. Another superior described him as a "Godly man."

His Mother, wife and Children were honored to place the eagle insignia denoting his new rank on his shoulders. Well, done son.

Richard John Neuhaus

This morning, January 8, 2009, about the time I was pulling onto the Interstate in Maryland to start the journey back to the lake in the midwest that this blog is purported to originate from, one of the most interesting members of my generation died in New York. Rev. Richard John Neuhaus was just two years my senior and his career was far different than my own his activities often cought my attention.

He was born in Canada, the son of a Lutheran Pastor, he became a Lutheran Minister hinself. He immigrated to the US and was the Pastor of an African American parish in Brooklyn, NY in the 1960s. At the time I was completing my studies in Philosophy. My academic research and my Christian faith made it clear that two civil issues of the day, racism and the war in Viet Nam, were immoral and should be opposed.

While my civil rights activism was relativily local , Pastor Neuhaus could be found marching with Dr King. In 1967 I was comvinced that politics might be the route to stopping the immoral war. I was a McCarthy delegate to County, District and state conventions in 1968. I came within a few votes of going to the Chicago convention loosing to a Humphryite. Neuhaus in the same time frame along with Fr Dan Berrigan and Rabbi Abraham Herschel founded "Clergy Concerned with Viet Nam." He did go to Chicago as a delegate for McCarthy that year.

Over the next two decades his intelectual drive caused him to emerge as one of the most visable Lutheran Theologians of the day. I remember trying to digest his The Catholic Moment in the late 80s. About that time I began studies in preperation for ordination as a Catholic Deacon. He became a Catholic himself in 1990 and was ordained a Catholic Priest in 1991. I was ordained in 1992.

He was always excellent at Ecumenical interaction notably with Rabbi Herschel and Charles Colson. I remember shortly after his Catholic Ordination going to hear him speak about his book mention above at St Mary's Abby in New Jersey. In the Lobby I ran into a Lutheran friend who had come to hear the talk. I expressed surprise that she would come to hear a former Lutheran Theologian. She explained that many Lutherans still admired him and his thinking on the importance of reform.

Like Fr. Neuhaus I have alway been prolife. Prolife means insisting upon the dignity of racial minorities, recognition of the violations of human dignity inherant in war as well as the dignity of human life in the womb, in the nursing home or refugee camp.

I am sure the guests at the wedding feast of the lamb will find him as interesting as he was here among us. May his journey to the throne be swift