Association Of Catholic Bloggers

"A False Alarm on the Fourth" Udo Keppler, Puck. (1902) "Uncle Sam — It's all right! There's no fighting! The noise you hear is just my family celebrating!" I like that double-page cartoon by Udo Keppler. And I like his image of America: a family of sorts, where everybody doesn't look just like me, but we can celebrate together anyway. Another Udo Keppler cartoon, made eight years earlier, shows a different attitude. I'll get back to that. I'll also be quoting John Adams, with a little more of the context than you probably see. Declaration of Independence: 248 Years Ago Today Flights of Oratory, Compromise, and a Missed Opportunity "...Our Pleasing Hopes..." and a Persistent Perception Being a Good Citizen AND a Catholic A "Patriot Dream That Sees Beyond the Years" More at A Catholic Citizen in America . (Two quotes by John Adams, two cartoons by Udo Keppler. Hopes, perceptions, and an America that is not perfe...

It seems that, no matter how bad things are: they could be worse. Take Alabama's recent execution of a Mr. Smith, for example. There's been discussion of whether or not using nitrogen gas was okay, along with the ongoing capital punishment debate. But at least the State of Alabama didn't defray expenses by livecasting the execution: despite pay-per-view being a well-established part of our society. I'll be talking about capital punishment this week: along with Hammurabi's laws, the breaking wheel, and a trend that might be good news. Death Sentences: An Ancient Practice The Breaking Wheel But We've Always Done It This Way Statistics, a Little History, and Science Nitrogen Asphyxiation: Bad News, Good News Excessive Bail, Excessive Fines, Cruel and Unusual Punishment Graphs and Charts, Numbers and — Maybe — a Trend Growth Curves: Executions Go Down as Population Goes Up Acting As If Human Life Matters Responsibility and Dignity: For Everyon...

I'll be talking about today's Pakistan: particularly what it's like being a Pakistani Christian, Hindu or Sikh. Or, for that matter, the 'wrong' sort of Pakistani Muslim. The list of at-risk Pakistanis depends partly on who's talking. A few weeks ago, someone asked me to write about what Pakistani Christians are enduring. Finding more-or-less current news or information on that general topic wasn't nearly as easy as I'd hoped. What I did find told me that what's happening now has very deep roots. More at A Catholic Citizen in America . The story so far, from before the Indus Valley civilization and Vedic period to the East India Company, independence and blasphemy laws.

(From BBC News, used w/o permission.) I hadn't planned on doing another "Ukraine" post for quite a while. But this news item caught my attention.... (Not good news, but not entirely bad news, either.) More at A Catholic Citizen in America .

On Tuesday, April 20, 2021, a jury said that Derek Chauvin murdered George Floyd. Folks have been reacting to that. But protestors haven't torched Minneapolis shops and services in the three days since then. Not as far as I know. Which is a relief, but not a surprise. For one thing, it's late April: still a bit too chilly for comfort during pyromaniac performance art's prime time. I'll be taking a quick look at headlines. Then I'll talk about life, law, justice and why I think murder is a bad idea. More at A Catholic Citizen in America .

On the whole, I prefer being alive. Particularly when I consider the alternative. I don't consistently enjoy the moment I'm in: whatever is "now." Relishing some of the "nows" I've experienced would have been reason for concern, and that's another topic. But life, being alive? That's good. Even when it's been bad. Remembering that life can feel good helped me talk myself out of my first suicidal impulse, decades back.... ...But that's not what I'm talking about today.... More at A Catholic Citizen in America .

Today's official name is the Feast of the Holy Family of Jesus, Mary and Joseph. That's a mouthful, so folks around here generally call it Holy Family Sunday. We don't see much of the Holy Family in the Gospels, or anywhere else in the Bible. Luke 2:22 - 40 — The Presentation in the Temple 1 — is one of the exceptions. It's today's Gospel reading. The others are Sirach 2:2 - 6 ; and Colossians 3:12 - 21 . There's a lot to say about all three, but I'll leave nearly all of that for another day. Just the first two verses from Luke are more than enough for a post.... More at A Catholic Citizen in America .

Back in my 'good old days,' a half-century back, some claimed that science, technology, and a changing culture, made the 'outmoded morality' we'd been working with obsolete. Others apparently believed that moral decay was caused by newfangled gadgets like the telephone and television: and, of course, 'Satanic' rock music.... ...Folks who claimed that a changing world made 'conventional morality' obsolete were right: sort of. That may seem odd, coming from a Catholic who agrees with Fulton Sheen.... More at A Catholic Citizen in America .

Death at a Bible study back in 2015, and at Fort Lauderdale airport last week, has been in the news. It's probably not as exciting as what glitterati were wearing and saying at the Golden Globe Awards ; but I figured now would be a good time to talk about those deaths, and decisions More at A Catholic Citizen in America .

Here we go again. The headlines are accurate, as far as they go. " Pope Francis Extends Priests' Ability to Forgive Abortion " Elisabetta Povoledo, The New York Times (November 21, 2016) " Pope Francis extends Catholic priests' right to forgive abortion " Tim Hume, Cristiana Moisescu, Lindsay Isaac; CNN (November 21, 2016) I'm pretty sure we'll see a replay of last year's sound and fury over the Pope's 'changing stand on abortion,' expressed in a letter dated September 1, 2015. 1 The reality was nowhere near as horrific or hopeful as many folks apparently thought.... More at A Catholic Citizen in America .

(From Diliff, via Wikimedia Commons, used w/o permission.) Authority, superstition, and misapplied technophilia (it's a real word ) rate at least one post each: but that'll wait until another day. Days. This time I'll take a quick look at all three, and then say why I don't believe in Progress with a capital P — and don't yearn for the 'good old days.' More at A Catholic Citizen in America .

As a Christian, and a Catholic, I should be 'in the world but not of the world.' That idea shows up in John 15:18 - 19 and 17:14 - 16 , and Romans 12:2 . Joining a cloistered outfit like the Order of Cistercians of the Strict Observance ( Trappists ) is one option: they're part of the Benedictine family, contemplative monks and nuns. More at A Catholic Citizen in America .

Dozens of times in the Gospels, Jesus "amazes" his listeners. Here are a few of my favorites: They were amazed, saying "What sort of man is this, whom even the winds and the sea obey?" -Matthew 8:27 They were on the way, going up to Jerusalem, and Jesus went ahead of them. They were amazed, and those who followed were afraid. Taking the Twelve aside again, he began to tell them what was going to happen to him. -Mark 10:32 And all who were with him were amazed at the catch.  -Luke 5:9 Does Jesus amaze us? Is he so shockingly unique that we, his followers, are sometimes a little afraid of him? Read on at Praying with Grace ! Gold Aurei of the Twelve Caesars. Gift of C. Ruxton Love Jr., 1967.  www.metmuseum.or

Golda Meir, 1 Henry Kissinger, 2 or someone else, said "even a paranoid can have enemies." I do not think humanity is doomed to extinction, or that life on Earth will end because we built factories. I do, however, think we need to use our brains: and take care of the planet we live on.... ...I also think remembering who we are — and what we've been learning about Earth — is important.... More at A Catholic Citizen in America .

Scientists have found a complex organic molecule near this galaxy's core; and water vapor in a planet's atmosphere, some 122 light-years away. Closer to home, America's Congress is deliberating on a bill that could allow asteroid mining: if other nations don't get conniptions.... ...As usual, I'll explain why I think being human is okay. If you've been here before, feel free to skip to "Organic Molecules in Sagittarius B2," click to something else online, take a coffee break, or whatever.... More at A Catholic Citizen in America .

'Kids these days! Nobody takes responsibility! Back in my day, nobody tried blaming the other guy!' I've been hearing variations on that complaint for more than a half-century now. I started wondering if it was true in my teens. By now, I'm pretty sure that it's not: partly because now I remember the 'good old days:' and like I've said before, they weren't. One of 'Those Crazy Kids:' Five Decades Later I was one of "those kids" in the late '60s and early '70s. Some of us were lazy bums, and others were only too eager to blame our parents, the government, or anyone else, for our problems. But others were "irresponsible" only in the sense that we wouldn't accept the status quo. That attitude didn't appeal to folks who believed in buying stuff they didn't need, with money they didn't have, to impress people they didn't like. We thought we could reform the world: and certain that we ...

After nearly five hundred years, the Roman Republic had grown from a small city-state to a major world power: and it was a mess. I'm not talking about the chronic SNAFUs perpetrated by America's Congress. If America's government was like the Roman Republic's, we might see the House ways and means committee lead an armed assault on the Senate: while their assassins took care of a filibuster the hard way. Yes: things could be worse. Run-ins like the Catilinarian Conspiracy and Second Catilinarian conspiracy made the worst Washington mudslinging seem like a sedate poetry reading. The Roman Senate finally named one of their members " dictator perpetuo " ("dictator in perpetuity") — hoping that Julius Caesar would solve their problems. A few Senators got nervous: cutting the term, and Caesar's life, short. More at A Catholic Citizen in America .

" The avenger of blood may execute the murderer, putting him to death on sight. " ( Numbers 35:19 ) I ran into that bit from the Pentateuch in "Judas on a Pole," an episode in the second season of Bones . The writers used an 'Olde Englishe' translation that many Americans perceive as 'Biblical,' and that's another topic. If someone murdered a member of my family, I would be very angry. There'd be something wrong with me if I wasn't. Anger, Sin, and Getting a Grip Anger is a "capital sin," a sin that's particularly serious because it leads to other sins. (Catechism of the Catholic Church, 1866 ) That doesn't mean that I've committed a sin every time I experience anger. I'm human, so I experience emotions. Emotions aren't good or bad by themselves. What matters is what we do with them. (Catechism, 1767 ) If I hang on to anger, let it build into a desire to harm or kill someone else: that's ...