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    Okay, let's review . . . The president has promised to give each of us $5,000 if we vote Republican.  He gave the Chinese president royal treatment, even though we know China is helping Iran, against us, in the war. He has placed heavy tariffs on countries around the world, even though they are hurting American businessmen and consumers. He is allowing innocent people to be swooped up, detained, and (sometimes killed) by ICE (the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.) He has threatened to annihilate an entire people (Iran).   He is insulting, and isolating us from our global allies. He is focused on destroying property (The East Wing) you and I own, and is threatening to tear down an important building (The Kennedy Center) if his name is not put on it. He has elevated people without any relevant experience to positions of influence in our government, and fired experienced people who could offer differing opinions. He has banned our free press from their ...

      You've probably heard by now that recently Archbishop Fulton Sheen was beatified. This is a big deal. He is the first American-born Bishop to carry such an honor. I first heard about the miracle (he needed one  for his beatification), online. It's an interesting story about a family that prayed to him for help with their infant son. The rigorous progress to verify the miracle was completed and the infant son has grown to be a teenager. See the ** link below. Sheen had a profound affect on people, inspiring and converting them with his teachings. I like some of his quips, for which he was known, and which retain their wisdom still today: Resigning a bishopric, he said,  "I am not retiring, only retreading." "You must remember to love people and use things, rather than to love things and use people." "The refusal to take sides on great moral issues is itself a decision. It is a silent acquiescence to evil. The Tragedy of our time is that those who s...

I remember "Boggle Beak". But listening to my mother or father read "Boggle Beak" to me, or reading it myself, isn't among my childhood memories. I'm not sure why. No, wait. That's not entirely true. I remember reading the book, but the memory reminds me of my father showing me "Boggle Beak" and telling me why the book is important to him. I'll let him explain it. "Boggle Beak" was: "A greatly favored book of mine when an infant or child. It was read to me on innumerable occasions by my sister Mary Alice, and, less often, by other members of my family before I could read; and, after I could read it for myself, it continued to be a favorite for perhaps a year or two. I do not recall reading it after we moved to Rockford, so by the time I was nine I must have outgrown it." (Bernard Gill's handwritten note, on the front endpaper of "Boggle Beak", dated June 1963) I'd have been 11 years old when he wr...

The Parable of the Wicked Tenants Abel Grimmer [ Web Gallery of Level ] Readings (Jerusalem Bible: Australia, Ireland, New Zealand) Readings (English Standard Version, Catholic Edition: England & Wales, Scotland, India) . Readings (New American Bible: Philippines, USA) Gospel Matthew 21:33-43 (English Standard Version, Catholic Edition: England & Wales, Scotland, India) Jesus said to the chief priests and elders of the people: “Hear another parable. There was a master of a house who planted a vineyard and put a fence round it and dug a wine press in it and built a tower and leased it to tenants, and went into another country. When the season for fruit drew near, he sent his servants to the tenants to get his fruit. And the tenants took his servants and beat one, killed another, and stoned another. Again he sent other servants, more than at first. And they did the same to them. Finally he sent his son to them, saying, ‘They will respect my son.’ But when the tenants saw t...

I've been distracted this week. Wednesday morning I got and started reading documents involved in setting up family property/estate/whatever arrangements for at least the next generation. I was part-way through the last document when a video conference with the lawyer started. Good news, we caught a misspelling of my name and clarified a few points. Surprising news, one of the documents was a health care directive.... More at A Catholic Citizen in America . (Being a Catholic affects how I prepare my health care directive, particularly how and why I define palliative care.)

Fr Anthony Collier 20 June 1913 - 27 June 1950 Readings (Jerusalem Bible: Australia, Ireland, New Zealand) Readings (English Standard Version, Catholic Edition: England & Wales, Scotland, India) Readings (New American Bible: Philippines, USA) Gospel Matthew 21:28-32 (English Standard Version, Catholic Edition: England & Wales, Scotland, India) Jesus said to the chief priests and elders of the people: “What do you think? A man had two sons. And he went to the first and said, ‘Son, go and work in the vineyard today.’ And he answered, ‘I will not’, but afterwards he changed his mind and went. And he went to the other son and said the same. And he answered, ‘I go, sir’, but did not go. Which of the two did the will of his father?” They said, “The first.” Jesus said to them, “Truly, I say to you, the tax collectors and the prostitutes go into the kingdom of God before you. For John came to you in the way of righteousness, and you did not believe him, but the tax collectors an...