McCarthy's Weekly - Pax Vobiscum

FOLLOW THE GREEN TRASH TRUCK

2012-01-30T14:42:00.002-05:00

A question has always perturbed me for the past twenty plus years: how much of that recyclable stuff we’ve saved & selected to get picked up by the green Waste Management trucks actually gets recycled, how much just ends up in the same landfills as the rest of the trash? Our local paper just had an article, “Filling the void,” which discussed diminished drop-off bins & curbside pickup for recyclables, and cited the 1100 tons of recyclable material collected at Smith Creek Landfill in one recent year, but no mention of how much found a way to get re-used, how much was [after its local-government-paid ride in a recycle truck] dumped back in a landfill. Nor was there a total for all recyclables, including curbside, collected in the county, and what tonnage was really recycled. These figures are not easily obtainable. [See references below]

1-21-12 Times Herald article--"Filling the void"--photo by Mark Rummel

Deciding to do some research, I started with whether we could throw green glass, as per wine bottles, in our curbside bin for effective recycle. The photo in the Times Herald article showed a stationary collection bin with the port---GLASS, clear, windowpane—as the only labeled glass option. Yet a county recycle webpage states---GLASS, clear, color, windowpane. The Port Huron city public works office referred questions to Waste Management here in the county. Their receptionist was friendly, and said she believed any clear and colored glass could be sent {not much is truly opaque}, and that she puts her wine bottles in the curbside tub, but that the fate of glass and the rest of it was unknown. All their recycle trucks [and with them the stationary large collection bins it can be assumed] don’t stop in St. Clair Co. but go straight through to Great Lakes Recycling in Roseville, MI {sold to national entity ReCommunity Recycling last fall}. She referred me on to GLR.

The secretary at GLR informed me that glass prices have gone down, and so even though they have a single stream system that sorts metal plastics glass & paper etc., they too now punt the glass, all kinds, down the road to some place in Dearborn, and its recycled usability remains a clouded mystery to GLR also. No phone number for the next step was readily available, so I gave up the search for now. In perusing websites I did come across complicated patented processes for chemical extraction of the color from recycled glass, so this expense may be prohibitive now for wine bottles & other glass.

his quest was for a small bit of information, while the larger question of percent actually recycled from total tons collected by the recycle trucks, remains more deeply buried. I assembled an overview. The major components that are variably valuable --metal plastics glass & paper-- are trucked to Roseville which has a MRF, materials recovery facility [a huge sorting machine], separating each type of material out—a single stream [in] process. That’s why all our different materials go into a single tub at curbside now. A certain unknown percent of that selected out of the single stream is for resale & reused, and a certain percent is plain refuse--sent to a landfill. Some may be dispatched on to a solid waste incinerator, as this is a common practice, and Detroit’s is the biggest in the country. [Over half of what it burns is from outside Detroit.] Almost every year there’s an attempt by Sierra Club and others to permanently shut it down, but this foul-fumed phoenix arises again each time, a controversial method to solve solid waste problems.

City of Warren's own trucks dump at GLR in Roseville, and get paid for the recycled material [costs vs income to Warren, ytd]---From 10 article, "Warren's curbside program exceeds expectations" - macombdaily

There is much more to delve into, in this recycled waste business. I ask reporters, city officials, Waste Management and ReCommunity Recycling engineers for some help in getting to the bottom of this Port Huron barrel. Where o’ where do our green bin recyclables go? Please be specific. The system is obviously complex and the market for materials, shifting. But are we getting what we pay for? True recycling?

In the end, recycling is costly. Containers & packaging are the major forms of MSW [municipal solid waste]. Better to find reusable ways to carry things home from the marketplace. And MSW is dwarfed by larger categories not part of MSW---industrial, construction, and hazardous wastes. Best for society to not produce, what can’t be economically reused.

Chinese recycler

See this most recent annual report, State of Garbage in America, from BioCycle magazine, for good overview that includes actual landfill data. Pay special attention to “final note” on p. 4 which explains how their figures differ from EPA’s. http://www.jgpress.com/archives/2010_10.html

www.epa.gov/wastes/nonhaz/municipal/.../msw_2010_factsheet.pdf
For the EPA’s annual report.

http://recyclecomputerelectronics.com/tag/recycle/ = GEEP, Global Electric Electronic Processing, --- for your computers & cellphones etc. Michigan has it at GLR. How is it practically functioning?

For a positive local note on another aspect of recycling see:

12-6-11 “DTE Biomass Energy landfill gas project begins operation in US”—features our Smith Creek Landfill’s operation of one of the first commercial-scale septage injection landfill gas systems in the US, whereby material extracted from septic tanks is applied to the landfill to speed the decomposition of organic waste—and the gas used to generate enough electricity for 3000 homes, if project successful.

http://www.renewableenergymagazine.com/renewableenergy/magazine/index/pag/biomass/colleft/colright/biomass/tip/articulo/pagid/18197/botid/74/len/en

Illuminations by Kathey Brahney

SURGE IN AFGHANISTAN WAR = SURGE IN MISERY ALL AROUND

2012-01-23T13:36:00.001-05:00

Not many customers at Marjah {hoped for model city to be created by surge} popcorn stand--NYT photo, AFghanistan, Helmand province

The AP story headlines today the true effect of “surge” in warfare-- “Afghans Fleeing In Droves.” Ten years after we invaded this country, one of the results tabulated—three times more applications for asylum. And many more flee, “illegal emigrants,” to whatever country they can find by any means necessary. A $1 billion criminal enterprise is the unfortunate job our war has created, for those desperately re-locating, because Afghanistan can no longer be lived in by ever increasing number of its own people. Three million suffer dislocation. [ For details see, http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/A/AS_AFGHANISTAN_MORE_FLEEING?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT ]

The Taliban and the U.S. are both responsible for increasing violence. The Taliban became stronger when we, after a quick rout of our Afghan enemies, re-pointed our war machine in the direction of Iraq—a more oil-lucrative objective. Afghan, the stepping stone, regained importance after stalemate in Iraq. It appeared a Bush administration surge of troop numbers in Iraq in 2007 helped stave off total loss there [yet with 4 million dislocated]. So the Obama team imported the strategy to Afghanistan in 2009. The result: highest number of U.S. troop deaths since invading, in that next year 2010; increasing Afghan civilian deaths; increasing “insurgent” deaths [President Reagan had called these same groups “freedom fighter” in his term]; and a huge surge of refugees in and out of Afghanistan.

Nov 12, 2011--Pakistani soldiers at Shamsi air base {former site of our CIA run drone operation targeting Afghan & Pakistani insurgents}, in a photograph provided by the Pakistani military’s public relations arm to NYT. Pakistan ordered us out a month later.

Fighting fire with fire, and killer drone robots, only fans war conflagration deeper and more
widespread. Witness the renewed strain on Pakistan’s government by its terrorist factions. With this surge there’s now danger of collateral damage to neighbor Pakistan which has been our reluctant partner ever since the Soviets were entrenched next door.

A way of life in Afghanistan that was severely wounded by 9 years of Russian occupation, is now battered by 10 more years of war under U.S. auspices. The surge in night raid doors kicked in, and drone-directed whole-household-destructed assassinations has achieved nothing but more fervent enemies.

Millions left in misery didn’t stop wars badly needed by the war industry. This is not the way to teach the Taliban not to be terrorists.

The Kites of Kabul -- Benjamin Lowy-Reportage- for The New York Times

In Sunday’s Old Testament reading Jonah preached forgiveness from destruction to Nineveh, if they’d change their evil ways. Then Jonah was outraged when the Ninevites did change, and God withheld destruction. How could God spare these terrible foreigners! We in the U.S. have yet to learn from the sign of Jonah--God’s true merciful nature. The book of Jonah is a short and valuable lesson. Please read.

Jonah is angry at God & Nineveh

For a recent background history of Nineveh {Mosul, Iraq--Saddam's hometown} see http://www.guideoftravels.com/nineveh-black-market-history.html

RESPECT LIFE IN ALL ITS DIFFICULT BEAUTIFUL COMPLEXITY

2012-01-16T08:09:00.000-05:00

From 2001 Space Odyssey

Twins

From conception through to death and eternity, God expects us to fully respect all life, no exclusions or exceptions, whether that life is guilty or innocent, or even a threat to our own life. Violence and killing are never justified, not in war, not in self-defense, not in abortion, not in euthanasia, never for the “greater good.” When does Jesus, by word or deed, ever justify violence? He does not. He says and lives the opposite—complete unconditional love of friend and enemy. This is the truth at the center of our Christian faith, often hidden by society and church, down centuries of misconception.

From Mennonite site--mennolink.org

f we are to become true evangelists, proclaiming and living the Gospel of Jesus Christ, we must re-discover and celebrate the central truth—nonviolent love. If “nothing can separate us from the love of God,” why would we ever need armies, handguns or abortion machines? Offering only a false promise--preserving the way of life of our worldly kingdom--they are all severe impediments to the coming of God’s Kingdom. O God, we are of little faith—help our unbelief.

Psalm 139:13-16

For You formed my inward parts; You covered me in my mother’s womb. I will praise You, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made; marvelous are Your works, and that my soul knows very well. My frame was not hidden from You, when I was made in secret, and skillfully wrought in the lowest parts of the earth. Your eyes saw my substance, being yet unformed and in Your book they all were written, The days fashioned for me, When as yet there were none of them.

We are each and every one of us fearfully wonderfully made. This cold month of January, please attend a Right to Life march, and attend a march for justice & against war as did Martin Luther King. Respecting all life, praying without ceasing, we can end all justified killing, these uncounted desecrations of body and soul.

For more on the difficult beauty of God's unconditional all-merciful nonviolent love, see the many articles on Fr. Emmanuel Charles McCarthy's website, especially his "Abortion & War."
http://centerforchristiannonviolence.org/other-resources/

Illumination by Kathy Brahney

EPIPHANIES OF JUSTICE --MARTIN LUTHER KING & EL CRISTO NEGRO

2012-01-09T12:28:00.002-05:00

Martin Luther King at Riverside Church NYC-- "Beyond Vietnam" speech

The young Ghanaian docent at the W.E.B. Dubois Memorial Center, half a block away from where my brother was working in Accra at the 2010 U.S. Embassy [our newest, biggest, most fortified in Africa], answered with no hesitation. “I’d recommend Dubois’ The Souls of Black Folks for a first reading of his work.” The young man had volunteered to take me through the exhibits, though I’d arrived just minutes before afternoon closing time. He was proud to have shown me something of the life of this African American who’d come back to Africa, after speaking & writing so eloquently & courageously for just recognition of his people in the USA. Both sides of the Atlantic, Dubois inspired many. [For a history see http://www.duboislc.org/html/DuBoisBio.html ]

Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. wrote, "… history cannot ignore W.E.B. DuBois because history has to reflect truth and Dr. DuBois was a tireless explorer and a gifted discoverer of social truths. His singular greatness lay in his quest for truth about his own people. There were very few scholars who concerned themselves with honest study of the black man and he sought to fill this immense void. The degree to which he succeeded disclosed the great dimensions of the man."

Dr. King went on to help lead a civil rights movement that put into practice the scholarly quest for justice well expressed by Dr. Dubois. Rev. Martin Luther King then went even beyond faithful determined advocacy for his race, appealing for an end to our unjust war in Vietnam.

“I am convinced that if we are to get on the right side of the world revolution, we as a nation must undergo a radical revolution of values. We must rapidly begin the shift from a ‘thing-oriented’ society to a ‘person-oriented’ society. When machines and computers, profit motives and property rights are considered more important than people, the giant triplets of racism, materialism, and militarism are incapable of being conquered.” Dr King knew that the God’s nonviolent love was the only way to defeat this evil.

“When I speak of love I am not speaking of some sentimental and weak response. I am speaking of that force which all of the great religions have seen as the supreme unifying principle of life. Love is somehow the key that unlocks the door which leads to ultimate reality. This Hindu-Moslem-Christian-Jewish-Buddhist belief about ultimate reality is beautifully summed up in the first epistle of Saint John: ‘Let us love one another; for love is God and everyone that loveth is born of God and knoweth God. He that loveth not knoweth not God; for God is love. If we love one another God dwelleth in us, and his love is perfected in us.’ ”

A year to the day after this “Beyond Vietnam” speech against war & violence, Martin Luther King was shot dead by an assassin in Memphis, TN while helping to organize city garbage workers. A great loss to all who believe in the way the truth and the life, in doing for others as you would have them do for you, in a God who loves across all cultures extending to all peoples—no privileges, no discriminations. [For full speech, audio & print, see http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article2564.htm ]

The death of Dr. King , April 4, 1968

While serving in medical clinics and learning from another culture--Tila, small town of Chiapas, Mexico--I’ve encountered a sacred image of Jesus that coincides with recognition of Martin Luther King, whose national holiday is now celebrated in the U.S. on Jan. 15^th. This day also, for centuries, has been the feast day of Nuestro Senor de Tila, the miraculous Black Crucified Christ in Chiapas, where the indigenous decedents of the Mayas have long struggled for their civil and land rights. Their devotion to Nuestro Senor gives great strength to their effort.

Cristo Negro de Portobelo Nuestro Senor de Tila

El Cristo Negro, the Black Christ, is a recurring image of imprecise origin in the Caribbean, and the greater area of Spanish colonization. [More investigation of this another day.] There’s a Cristo Negro de Portobelo, Panama, and one also as far north as Chimayo, New Mexico. The suffering, and healings, and resurrection of El Cristo Negro have resonated, through 500 years of devotions, with black African and brown indigenous peoples who’d been enslaved, and continue to work to throw of those chains.

From Africa to Memphis to Mexico we follow the star that promises justice, leading to the Savior born in a stable.

African Art--The Magi Visit Jesus

BACK TO A PROMISE DEFERRED BY HOLY DAYS---AS WE NOW FACE AN INTERMINABLE SEASON OF ELECTORAL DOG & PONY SHOWS

2012-01-02T12:35:00.004-05:00

{ From my 11-28-2011 posting---I have voted for many different party candidates since my first franchise exercise in 1968. Also I’ve created my own presidential write-in candidates when all those offered were inadequate, and felt best about voting for competent intelligent Bill Moyers-- journalist, egalitarian, ecumenical Texas Baptist preacher. The people should be able to raise up candidates for these national offices from amongst themselves, and then get a real look at what they stand for, instead of how they spin. More on this method next week.}

system does exist that could better bring about true democracy. It was designed by a political science professor at the University of Michigan in the 1960’s, and given some political expression by a group of Michigan State University honors college students I attached myself to, before the presidential campaign of gentle anti-Vietnam war Senator Gene McCarthy came to a crashing end in Chicago, 1968. Its basic tenets as I remember them were:

· All candidates for national office would be determined by volunteer petition campaigns—a small regulated amount of money could be dedicated to these, and an elections commission would certify. They would depend on volunteer public involvement. They would produce more than a two party system.

· Each one reaching the determined number [varied by type of office] for valid candidacy would then receive an equal share of state supported campaign funds, and media time [which would be a public service donation by the media, due as a condition of their regular use of the public airways].

· “Prime time” television, radio, [and internet] availability would be allotted each candidate to produce as they see fit, but with same production budget. The campaign season would last three months only. Everyone’s “war chest” of dollars would be the same, so that political programs & ideas could trump political maneuverings.

· No private nor outside money could be spent on political campaigns. This would be enforced by major fines & jail time, being considered a crime against democracy.

If we don’t institute and refine such measures, let’s just accept that giant corporations are people, and that money equals the right to vote. One person one vote, has been replaced by one dollar [or hundreds in practice] one vote. Elections could be turned into a season of much more straight-forward candidate fundraisers—the one that amasses the most money by any means necessary, is the winner.

This system we have now on the national level is no longer actual democracy, but programmed political playbooks paid for by outrageous sums of private money. It is true that almost any election system can be rigged by the most clever, given the level of technology we are dealing with, but either we give up, or we try to forge a new system {as above} that persistently encourages an informed and effective public will.

hen I witnessed Martin Luther King and Robert F. Kennedy, who were against the Vietnam war, assassinated in those days leading up to the 1968 presidential elections, I could feel U.S. democracy under siege. Then Eugene McCarthy, also opposing the war, was railroaded out of the national Democratic convention, and finally the incorrigible Richard Nixon elected president that year. It has gone, since that time of war promoting politicians and their war industrialist supporters, from bad to worse.
You get what you pay for. We are paying for war hand over fist. Pay for war—we’ll get more war. The War on Terror is destructive. We are destroying not only other countries—Iraq, Afghanistan, Libya. We destroy also our own best instincts, to creativity, generosity, productivity, and democratic public involvement in our communities. We damage ourselves, as well as severely damage the countries of our enemies, in our constant struggle with a perpetual supply of chosen adversaries.

To break this cycle of oil-resource-war and financial industry based politics, we need a completely new democratic system, that works hard to restrict the influence of money, and favors the mindful participation of every U.S. citizen.

Sign apparently used by the opposition to the regime in time of contested 2009 elections in Iran

Leading towards a Light-filled New Year's Resolution ---

Reading 1 Is 2:1-5

This is what Isaiah, son of Amoz,
saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem.

In days to come,
The mountain of the LORD's house
shall be established as the highest mountain
and raised above the hills.
All nations shall stream toward it;
many peoples shall come and say:
"Come, let us climb the LORD's mountain,
to the house of the God of Jacob,
That he may instruct us in his ways,
and we may walk in his paths."
For from Zion shall go forth instruction,
and the word of the LORD from Jerusalem.
He shall judge between the nations,
and impose terms on many peoples.
They shall beat their swords into plowshares
and their spears into pruning hooks;
One nation shall not raise the sword against another,
nor shall they train for war again.

O house of Jacob, come,
let us walk in the light of the LORD!

Illuminations by Kathy Brahney

GLORIA IN EXCELCIS DEO--SHEPHERDS FIRST INVITED, MAGI CAN COME TOO

2011-12-25T10:36:00.002-05:00

Into this world, this demented inn, in which there is absolutely no room for him at all, Christ has come uninvited. But because he cannot be at home in it – because he is out of place in it, and yet must be in it – his place is with those others who do not belong, who are rejected because they are regarded as weak; and with those who are discredited, who are denied the status of persons, and are tortured, exterminated. With those for whom there is no room, Christ is present in this world. He is mysteriously present in those for whom there seems to be nothing but the world at its worst.

By Thomas Merton

Rembrandt -- Adoration of the Shepherds

Goria in excelsis Deo {Glory to God in the highest}—Shepherds first invited, Magi can come too—Et in terra pax hominibus bonae voluntatis {And on earth peace to men & women of good will}.

They can come work for us to give us our daily bread, but there is no room at Inn USA

Illumination by Kathy Brahney

IRAQ--MUTED MUDDLED AFTERMATH OF UNJUST WAR—MEA CULPA

2011-12-19T14:41:00.002-05:00

Patrols by American soldiers in Iraq will soon end with the scheduled troop withdrawal---Maya Alleruzzo--Associated Press

May 1, 2003--Mission Accomplished in Iraq-- President Bush on flight deck

December 15, 2011 marked the most recent official end to the Iraq War [remember May 2003 with Pres. George W. Bush looking buff, but certainly at-sea, on an aircraft carrier declaring victory]. Nine years of war that never had to happen, a pre-emptive non-defensive morally unjust war. No national clergy called it just, the U.S. Catholic bishops had “grave doubt.” Then Pope John Paul II and our current Pope Benedict XVI both stated that this war did not meet just war criteria. Yet the leadership and people of the USA have pressed on--with casualties of 4,487 American lives, with another 32,226 Americans wounded in action *, and Iraqi civilians dead in the hundreds of thousands [our government never counted]. Nor were Iraqi enemy combatants killed ever tabulated, their being hard to distinguish from the rest of the population. Few of us have been able to speak the simple truth. This was at best a bad mistake. Moreover, this was wrong. We can all prayerfully respond, “mea culpa” as in the Latin from the penitential rite of the mass-- “through my fault.”

The Holy Innocents by Giotto di Bondone

So much death and destruction leads to no real celebration at war’s declared end. Only a slight sigh of relief on both sides, as we emerge with an economy crippled by two major wars, and they deal with the escalated violence between religious factions, and a decimated infrastructure—the bad fruits of this war of choice. “The tenor of the 45-minute farewell ceremony [Dec. 15^th], officially called "Casing the Colors,” was likely to sound an uncertain trumpet for a war that was started to rid Iraq of weapons of mass destruction it did not have.” * This final, low key, passing of the torch to the Iraqis was in a Baghdad area fortified courtyard, in what has been our major airbase in their country. “The tenuous security atmosphere in Iraq was underscored by helicopters that hovered over the ceremony, scanning the ground for rocket attacks.” * I’m reminded of my father-in-law’s dry parting shot for the not-so-welcome guest, “Don’t let the door hit your behind on your way out.”

A boy sits in debris from Speicher Base near Sokur, Iraq, which housed American troops until they left the site on Oct 20--Photo from NYT, 11-16-2011

What we’ve left behind is a country without a dictator [as we “decapitated” Saddam] but also without a democracy--with 4 million internal and external refugees [a good number from Iraq’s ancient Christian community], and many of their talented workers and professionals fled or dead. The leadership has been transferred from Sunni to Shiite, more bad blood shed between them in this war than ever before. The Iraqi Shiites are closer allies to Iran, the most powerful Shia country in the region, than they are to the U.S. And Iran [a designated axis of evil] is our probable next target in the interminable Wars on Terror.

ow do we, the most militarily mighty of the worlds’nations, stop this marching to war after war? The first step is to confess the sin, to admit we were wrong, from the leadership down to each and every one of us. Those who were for this Iraq War either operated from false ulterior motive, or allowed themselves to be mislead. Those who were against did not do enough, or slaked their consciences with, “there’s nothing I can do.”

I place myself in the class of those who did not do enough. Seeing the grave importance of avoiding this unjust invasion a group of us circulated the Iraq Peace Pledge at our local churches. In one weekend early October 2002 here in Port Huron, nearly 400 signed against the war, with 41 of us pledging,“If the U.S. sends combat troops, invades by proxy, or otherwise significantly escalates its intervention in Iraq, I pledge to join with others to engage in acts of nonviolent civil disobedience at U. S. Federal facilities, Congressional offices, military installations, or other appropriate places.”

The war came with “shock & awe” on March 20, 2003, and none of us to my knowledge responded to our pledge. No civil disobedience arrests here. As a nominal leader of the pledge, I had a few ideas, received no call from other leaders, found no inspiration catch hold, was busy with other things, and did nothing except go to a Pax Christi conference to present a talk against the war. A number of us resisted federal income tax for this war, redirecting some tax in an “Iraq Peace Bonds” campaign for a while, but this was minimally effective, and lost momentum.

Iraq Peace Bond [in place of income taxes for war] presented to St. Clair Co. Library on May 2, 2007

We did pray for an end to this unjust war, and continue to. For four years now our Holy Trinity Church has held a Novena of prayer nine days before the August 9^thanniversary of Blessed Franz Jagerstatter’s death by execution. He was an Austrian Catholic who wouldn’t fight in Hitler’s unjust wars, and we ask his intercession with the Almighty to help end this Iraq war, and Afghanistan, all wars. The almost complete pullout of our troops from Iraq this month is certainly an answer to many prayers, and courageous actions, at home and abroad.

God bless us with the faith to be inspired in new swords-into-plowshares ways, to follow your infant Son as we await His birth in a stable, all-powerfully vulnerable. Help us to make present Jesus the Prince of Peace, in our hearts and in our nation.

Illumination by Kathy Brahney

* These citations, quotations, from “U.S. Ends Mission in Iraq” NYT, 12-15-2011. This article, plus all those on Iraq in the NYT that day, are worth reading. http://www.nytimes.com/2011/12/16/world/middleeast/panetta-in-baghdad-for-iraq-military-handover-ceremony.html?_r=1&ref=world

2011-12-12T11:41:00.001-05:00

BE PREPARED -- WAKE UP -- LAS Mañanitas -- DO WHATEVER HE TELLS YOU

Today we sang las Mañanitas at la Guadalupe Center in Port Huron, in celebration of the Mother of God recognizing the beauty and holiness of the indigenous cultures in Mexico and the Americas—the only certain apparition she has made to this western half of the world. She gave the gift of a picture of herself on the woven cloak of Juan Diego, Cuauhtlatoatzin his native name, to him. Also as a sign to the Hispanic bishop that the indigenous people were close to her, special to her the Virgin Mary Madre de Dios. Most of us, descendants of conquistadores, should keep this in mind this day, as we approach the birth of the Savior born in a stable, and as we make ongoing decisions as to how we bear the gifts and treasures of our lives.

This is our last studio photo of our kids. As may have happened to some of you, life got very busy as they grew, and Bridget youngest now 24 [left of Maura, Sam & Kath] makes it in as a cut and paste--all great blessings to us.
CLICK TO ENLARGE

Here, in Spanish and English, is a prayer from a holy card to La Virgen de Guadalupe we have said often with our children as they were growing up. “Do whatever He tells you,” as we are urged by Mary’s words at Cana. It was written by Fr. E. C. McCarthy, our priest friend who has made it his life work to preach the heart of the Gospel--the nonviolent unconditional all-merciful love of Jesus.

“¡MIRA¡ TU MADRE”

Santa María de Guadalupe, señal del Poder y La Misericordia, no hecha por manos humanos, tu, que estas levantada por La Sabiduría de Dios, al centro de las Américas, en la tilma milagrosa para que todos los de la América puedan verte, le pedimos a tu Hijito, curar la mordedura de la serpiente ardiente que quiere destruir nuestro cuerpo y nuestra alma.

Mientras, mirándote a ti, Madre de lo Imposible, te pedimos quitar nuestras aflicciones, como tu quitaste las enfermedades del tío de Juan Diego, para que la victoria sobre ellas, puedan testificar el Amor de Dios, el Poder de Dios, y el camino de Vida de Jesús, El Cristo.

Querida, cariñosa Señora de Guadalupe, nos arrepentimos de todo los pensamientos, palabras y obras que no habían sido según la Vía que Jesús nos enseña, dar la Vida—el Sermón del Monte. Prometemos, tratar sinceramente seguir tus ultimas palabras en el Evangelio: “Hagan lo que Él les diga.”

Ahora, Clemente, Madre de Humanidad, quien está mas profundamente unida en Cristo Dios, que intercedes con tu Hijo, para que escuches los gritos de nuestro pequeño corazón

(Aquí se hace la petición)

Virgen Inmaculada de Guadalupe, mientras miramos tu rostro de bronce, por favor danos La Paz, con una mirada de Amor, una sonrisa del Paraíso, un beso curativa de Dios.

Gracias – Amen

Salve María......

Toda Santa Trinidad,

Ten piedad de nosotros.

Escrito por Padre Emanuel Charles McCarthy

Trad. por Padre José G. Herrera Alcala.
For more of Fr. McCarthy's writings see his webpage-- http://www.centerforchristiannonviolence.org/

REPENT, THE KINGDOM OF GOD IS AT HAND--ITS NOT ANY OF THE WORLD'S KINGDOMS

2011-12-04T22:23:00.001-05:00

We should never sacrifice life for our country, just one among many nations, all are merciless, demanding more than God-- but we should constantly prepare to live and die for the one true God, who embraces all.

We in the abundantly blessed USA must make a good examination of conscience this Advent. “Prepare the way of the Lord, make straight his paths,” we are told in this Sunday’s Gospel. John the Baptist has called everyone out of their comfort zones, out of homes and courtyards into the desert, to occupy sites near the river Jordan. Be baptized by water, and then the spirit. We have been fighting two unjust wars, one for more than a decade. Neither was of last resort—a major one of the 9 conditions, each of which has to be met for those who seek to call a war just.

John the Baptist--a voice crying in the desert

Now Jesus comes to forgive sins—repent, change your mind and heart. None of us has done enough to reverse Iraq & Afghanistan, all of us too complicit in wars fought by misguided leaders for oil, money, & power.

A boy sits in debris from Speicher Base near Sokur, Iraq, which housed American troops until they left the site on Oct 20-- NYT Photo Nov. 16, 2011

final point for contemplation for Christians who are to celebrate the birth of the Prince of Peace, in this Holy season, within a world wracked by wars. Where in the Gospels, or in your deepest heart, does Jesus tell you—“Kill your enemies before they kill you” ? Where does the One who lived and died in expiation of all the world’s sins, plant the seed for a justified war?

Illumination by Kathy Brahney

RICH & SMART-ALEC IS DRAGGING DOWN DEMOCRACY

2011-11-28T10:35:00.002-05:00

One Democrat who made some good difference during a difficult time

Democracy has always been under duress from powerful interests tying to dominate U.S. politics, but the system is now at the breaking point. The Citizens United decision of the U.S. Supreme Court has opened up the campaign season to a flood of corporate money—corporations now have the rights of individual citizens, to use their money as their free speech. And the concerted actions of a corporate-funded national think tank, the American Legislative Exchange Council, ALEC, has sent laws restricting the right to vote, through the legislatures of crucial states, that will further turn the tide towards their brand of conservative candidates in the coming national elections. A powerful private foundation writes and provides laws to our state lawmakers.

Also included in ALEC’s packaged portfolio are laws that push emergency financial managers on local governments, mandate changing their contractual obligations to teachers and public service employees, and shift tax burdens from corporations to regular citizens. [See the links for some of this story below].

t’s not about the will of the people, but about bending the people’s will to do the plutonomy’s* bidding. Plutocrats can now enlist their corporations as mega-persons. Giant vote-mastering media machines, that now keep our politics, the exclusive game of the super rich. Our politicians are now, more than ever, chosen on country club golf greens and in corporate board rooms. Persons truly representing the poor and middle class need not apply.

There’s too much money involved for we-the-people’s voice to be heard. But call on each other we must -- to be faithful to the value of real freedom, inclusive not exclusive. Occupy Wall Street, and communities of faith, have begun to sound the trumpet as we enter the cold but holy season. May we cast off the selfish machinations of Scrooge, from the towers of financial wizards to the bedrock neighborhoods of common folk. True democracy, and our faith, demands a place for everyone at the table.

I have voted for many different party candidates since my first franchise exercise in 1968. Also I’ve created my own write-in candidates when those offered were inadequate {most all of them}, and felt best about voting for competent intelligent Bill Moyers-- journalist, egalitarian, ecumenical Texas Baptist preacher. The people should be able to raise up candidates for these national offices from amongst themselves, and then get a real look at what they stand for, instead of how they spin. More on this method next week.

Please take the time to read some of these.

http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/news/the-gop-war-on-voting-20110830?print=true

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/22/us/politics/22scotus.html

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/04/27/opinion/27wed1.html?_r=1

ALEC’s website: http://www.alec.org/about-alec/history/

* "plutonomy" – origin in paper by Citigroup Bank in 2006, explanation found in this review, http://rwer.wordpress.com/2011/06/23/the-plutonomy-symposium-citigroup/ but I haven’t accessed the paper itself—though this is an apparent transcription of part 1 http://www.salem-news.com/articles/november132011/plutonomy1_dj.php

Jesus answered, “If you want to be perfect, go, sell your possessions and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me.” When the young man heard this, he went away sad, because he had great wealth. Mt 19:21-22

Illumination by Kathy Brahney

CORPORATE GREED VS. HUMAN NEED & THE LEAST OF THE BRETHREN

2011-11-21T13:00:00.002-05:00

Free marketeers by Pat Bagley

I started writing this at the beginning of last summer. The problem of mounting corporate greed and its politics continues to assail us. How long, O Lord, how long…? Psalm 13

Obama’s presidency is under siege. He’s far from perfect, but come on, give the guy a chance. Instead we have Congressional stonewaller gridlockers of both parties. No adequate spending to stimulate local economies allowed; no return to the pre-Bush administration slightly more progressive tax rates which had been keeping us solvent, with the rich paying a fairer share. This by order of the corporate superintendents of congresses’ “super committee.” All chance for economic success denied, except for the bankrupt “trickle down” {from the rich to the rest of us--you think?} method. The concept of a “loyal opposition” is dead and buried. The practice of hardball politics is in full swing.

The loyal opposition -- by Oliphant

All tactics are fair, no matter how despicable. Our black president is portrayed as a Hilter. Every day media racism rears its ugly talking heads. Voting rights are under attack in multiple legislative schemes, devised by preserve-the-wealth think tanks. Fiscal crisis is upon us – and will be maintained-- until the new corporate personhood effects its regime change. The three headed monster, racism-militarism-poverty, Martin Luther King warned about is freely roaming our world seeking the ruination of souls.

Cerberus, guardian of Hades

{incidental name choice?--Cerberus Capital Management, L.P one of the world's leading private investment firms}

Corporate countries are enslaving, worldwide, the displaced legions they’ve caught in the global web of their war profit schemes. Kingdom-makers who’ve lost touch with the real people they depend on for their survival. They try to rule from lonely tall walls of lofty prosperity—their self-directed proclamations wrecking havoc on the people who form the base of their strong-holds.

The financials industry and their politicians create fear as part of political policy. Real well-informed democracy is dangerous to their interests, they believe, so everyone is to be kept off balance, clutching to their pocketbooks. Expeditious asphyxiations of consumer confidence are the rhythm of the marketplace. A wobbly Wall Street helps keep popular aspirations in check. The Occupy Wall Street movement sees this clearly, and tries to sound the alarm for everyone, the 100%, to hear.

The Battle of Jericho

It will all come tumbling down, if we can find the way to blow horns of Jericho together, marching round in the right spiritual harmonic. The system of fortress America cannot stand. Isolated individualists at the top towers inside, have laid siege to themselves. The dark dust of collapse will cause labored breathing for all within, and without, our castle walls. Survival depends on the walls being breached with strong open arms, allowing our interconnectedness with fresh air from all directions—winds borne from the earth’s four corners. This is how our nation was formed we must remember.

he freedom to plunder each other with a free hand and without remorse, must be put to flight as the Great Deceiver it is. We are a global community that in learning to serve each other equally, will come to receive the sustaining breath of the Creator, the atmosphere and solidarity, of truly blessed sons and daughters of God.

Yesterday we celebrated the feast of Christ the King, and the Gospel of his Last Judgement, Mt 25: 31-46. Congress should take heed this holy judgment—those who will be favored, chosen for salvation, are those who generously serve the least of the brethren, not those who protect the war-coffers budget of the rich.

The Last Judgement by Michaelangelo

By the next day, 11-15-11, after eviction--The Occupy Wall Street folks are back in full swing at Zuccotti Park [NYC]— even bringing back the food line- Photo, Aaron Showalter - New York Daily News

Illumination by Kathy Brahney

WAR GAMES ARE BAD FOR THE SOUL----CONVERT VETERANS DAY BACK TO ARMISTICE DAY

2011-11-14T11:44:00.002-05:00

Headline---“'Call of Duty' Sales Hit $400 Million”--- Activision Blizzard Inc. said its "Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3" had the biggest launch of any game ever.* Thus salutes the Wall Street Journal 11-12-11, a couple days after this video game’s release, just in time for Veteran’s Day 11-11-11. While veterans know better than anyone, war is not a game.

A customer takes a number to reserve a copy of Activision's 'Call of Duty-Modern Warfare 3' videogame at a GameStop in New York on Monday 11-11-07 - photo Bloomberg News

Contrast this commercial success, with the final words Jesus said to his gathered church, in the Garden of Gethsemane. The apostles did not understand these words then, and we still stumble through repetitive, uncomprehending wars, and their glorification, 2000 years later.

Then Jesus said to him, "Put your sword back into its place; for all those who take up the sword shall perish by the sword. Do you think I cannot call on my Father, and he will at once put at my disposal more than twelve legions of angels? Mt 26:52-53 {The weapons we wield now go disastrously way beyond the sword.} Shortly after this, in his life and death dialogue with Pilate, Jesus continues, "My Kingdom is not an earthly kingdom. If it were, my followers would fight to keep me from being handed over to the Jewish leaders. But my Kingdom is not of this world." Jn 18:36

Jesus and Judas, Peter and Malchus {servant of the High Priest} in the Garden of Gethsemane

Our central cultural story of honor has become the glorification and weaponization of our trained-to-kill commandos who can inflict terrible death, and die, for this world’s current number one kingdom. Our kingdoms are of this world, and they are more important to us, in blood and treasure, than God, and His Word. That puts our country, and many others, squarely in violation of the First Commandment. Add to this our nation’s adoration of Wall Street wealth, and we have social sin enough to sink the ship of state, before even considering the anti-life cannonballs we shoot ourselves with--abortion and state sanctioned executions.

ring Veterans Day back to its origins in Armistice Day, Nov. 11, 1918, a celebration of the end of WWI, that was to “end all wars,” and bring a conversion to truly do what Jesus commanded by word and deed—terminate all justified violence, by loving one another as he loves us.

Nov. 11^th is also, by the mystery of God’s grace, the day the Catholic church celebrates the feast of St. Martin of Tours, one of the early churches’ conscientious objectors to war. When he converted to Christianity in his youth he said, "Put me in the front of the army, without weapons or armor; but I will not draw sword again. I am become the soldier of Christ."

St. Martin of Tours divides cloak with the Beggar--by El Greco

* http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970204224604577031882854637196.html#ixzz1dVogFawv

For a previous WSJ article with more detail on the video war game marketplace see—
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970204554204577024512478892168.html

See my July 4, 2011 entry, SUPREME COURT LEAVES CHILDREN'S WINDOW TO THE SOUL, OPEN TO PURVEYORS OF VIOLENCE, in archives, for futher comment on our war video games.

For more on the life of St. Martin of Tours see this article—esp. the first 3 paragraphs.
** http://www.catholic.org/saints/saint.php?saint_id=81

And to see a little of what the other side of war can be, please view this video sent by Fr. E.C. McCarthy.
http://www.youtube.com/embed/W86jlvrG54o?rel

Illumination by Kathy Brahney

More on what I term “the sword discourses”, in subsequent web writings. Jesus wrangles with his disciples over taking up the sword to preserve worldly power, at the end of his earthly ministry. These neglected words [read Mt 26:52-54; Lk 22:35-38,49-53; Jn 18:10-11,36] are His statement on war & violence, as he then consistently offers perfect personal example of death and new life-- permanent replacement for the institutionalized violence of all worldly kingdoms.

DEATH GREETS US WITH INCREASED FREQUENCY AS WE REACH 60--DUBOIS SAYS THERE WE MAY MEET THE UNIVERSE

2011-11-07T09:41:00.004-05:00

We survive the family and friends who don’t, our parents often the first to go. I was told as my Mom just passed away, that the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree. Now in friend Sharon and her Dad, Hamilton who died last week, I see once again clearly how that is true. Praise God for the mysterious plan of vibrant life recycled. They are the African American family I know best, Sharon a pillar of our Blue Water Pax Christi group, her Dad always supportive of our efforts.

“I tell you the truth, when you were younger you dressed yourself and went where you wanted; but when you are old you will stretch out your hands, and someone else will dress you and lead you where you do not want to go." Jn 21:18 Jesus said to young man Peter.

When I met Hamilton more that 10 years ago, he was physically weakening, on his way to wheel chair stage of life. But he’d come to peace vigils when he could, with big full smile and cogent words of encouragement against war and for justice. It’s not surprising to learn now at the time of his death, that he’d been a Navy medic during WWII, long term community activist, professor at Wayne State University, co-founder of the Cass Corridor Community Food Co-op, and more. I find myself an apple close to his tree as well.

Latin, "Blessed is the Man"

His daughter Sharon is my age, continues her Dad’s style of activism on many fronts, and is a great prod to our Pax Christi group, assuring we’ll never become complacent. She works diligently for world peace, and, in her persistent personal way, because she’s right-on certain of who she is, works hardest for racial justice—justice for everyone in need. This starts at home. Due to family difficulties she stepped in and raised up her sister’s two daughters, from when they were little kids into young adulthood.

St. Josephine Bakhita

She stands tall while still striving to be servant to all, in family and church community—takes seriously to the point of compulsion Martin Luther Kings’ prime directive: “Nonviolence is a way of life for courageous people,” and Jesus’ new commandment, “Love one another as I have loved you.” Sharon's seen at nearly every parish potluck, and peace picket line. Not always first to appear, but often last to leave. Few hold a candle to her brightness.

Her father was a star in her universe. Hard to care for sometimes, he often lived with her, and towards the end, she visited him almost every day in the local nursing home. At his funeral she chose words of W.E.B. Dubois, to make resplendent for us his shining light.

He sat one morning gazing toward the sea. He smiled and said, “The gate is rusty on the hinges.” That night at star-rise a wind came moaning out of the west to blow the gate ajar, and then the soul I loved fled like a flame across the Seas, and in its seat sat Death.

I wonder where he is today? I wonder if in that dim world beyond, as he came gliding in, there rose on some wan throne a King—a dark and pierced Jew—who knows the writhings of the earthly damned, saying, as he laid those heart-wrung talents down, “Well done!” while round about the morning stars sat singing.

--- Excerpt from “The Souls of Black Folk” p. 161

And a voice from heaven said, "This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased." Mt 3:17

Illumination by Kathy Brahney

HOLY ECSTASY DOES MAKE VISITS, EVEN TO THE PART-TIME CONTEMPLATIVE

2011-10-24T09:37:00.007-04:00

Le Cantique des Cantiques I, 1960 Huile sur papier marouflé sur toile musée national Message Biblique Marc Chagall

On Wednesday morning Oct, 19, 2011

Today I felt again, reflecting after communion {on my friend’s accident, Mom’s death, my wife and family, an end to war}, the warm loving hand of God on my shoulder—a pleasant gentle flutter about head and shoulders momentary brush of wings of Holy Spirit, a physical lifting with Jesus all around, a union like the deep sexual love that comes also at times with my forever beautiful Ande married one—an eternal moment of complete trust lasting only minutes promising everything. These times, scattered through life, arrive as profound surprises whether in bedroom, church, mountaintop, at lake sunset, or from the handshake of an at first repulsive beggar giving back to you what you did not earn.

Praying Hands by Albrecht Durer

They rise from mundane acts of kindness, or just in perseverance without rancor to necessary tasks. They are prayers initiated by God, when you are open, that capture you. You must know the feeling of which I speak. They shake you body and soul more like levitation than down to the toes as in lovemaking. Centered on face and shoulders, more gentle, like a kiss from God. Knowing that you are in the right place the present moment, and that you are loved and cared for even when you’re not experiencing it. Union with God, my wife, family, friends, enemies, the earth, and all the community of the faithful at once. Mindful right now of Eucharist. Thank you God.

It’s like a shudder sudden takes your breath away for a minute while all creation breathes for you. Complete assurance that All is well and will be well and the gates of hell cannot prevail against.

If you commune often enough, God does come, in all glory body and soul, while transfigured only for a brief moment in your time. Those times God chooses to knock your socks off—sometimes tragic and humbling, often the incomprehensible pleasure of divine assurance.

From scripture scholar John Pilch's webpage dedicated to Jean Peters Pilch---Song of Solomon 6-3, "I am my beloved's and my beloved is mine"-- Illustration by Raban-1930

IN POLITICS--POT ALWAYS CALLS KETTLE BLACK

2011-10-17T11:43:00.000-04:00

Headline of most recent Candice Miller E-Newsletter--

"Rep. Miller: October 16th - Marks 900 Days Since U.S. Senate has Passed a Budget." She follows with a biting critique of how the other body of Congress blocks all attempts at "fiscal sanity." * Her outrage is almost always directed at the other guys, while her group went on a spending rampage of {rightly named in the Wall St. Journal} "big government conservatism" the past decade. Now they put on the costume of debt crusaders, and hold the rest of the country hostage, vetoing every piece of legislation designed to correct the problem--by requiring Wall Street to be more at the service of Main Street. Here is my letter of response sent yesterday.

[And yes, far too many of us have been pigs in hoarding debt-wealth for ourselves. Today's daily mass Gospel is instructive for all of us rich, poor & in-between. Lk 12: 13-21 -- Verse 15 has, "Then Jesus said to the crowd, 'Avoid greed in all its forms. A man may be wealthy, but his possessions do not guarantee him life.'" There follows the parable of the rich man's double barn mistake.]

Dear Representative Candice Miller,

You and so many of your colleagues, Republicans & Democrats, are responsible for this debt debacle--ten years & more of irresponsible war-debt-based economy. Please consider moving towards the non-partisan good of the country, and introduce and support the American Jobs Act in the House. If we don't invest in American jobs, we relegate ourselves to second class citizenship, instead of world leadership. Maintaining the power of the 1% richest in this country is no way to create jobs. Most of them have proven they just keep the cash for themselves.

You could do so much to turn our nation back to creative, productive equality of opportunity and education. The people you represent in Michigan desperately need this kind of leadership. The American Jobs Act. So what if its Obama's legislation? Break the party politics mold! It’s good for Michigan and the country.

The national debt we will always have with us, for many generations, no matter what Congress does. Ronald Reagan voted up the national debt ceiling 17 times during his presidency. Continuing to give first fruits to the military/security industry is certain to only put us deeper in debt, and concentrate money in the hands of the few. Lead us instead to a more creative equitable distribution of wealth--put everyone to work, using responsible self-sacrifice for the common good. This is the true conservative trickle down morality we need from the top. Thanks for your consideration.

Yours truly,

Michael McCarthy PA-C
Faith Perspective on War & Peace

Find Candice Miller E-Newletter at--
http://candicemiller.house.gov/media-center.shtml

Temptation of Christ by Duccio

Again, the devil took Him to a very high mountain and showed Him all the kingdoms of the world and their glory; and he said to Him, "All these things I will give You, if You fall down and worship me." Then Jesus said to him, “Be gone, Satan! For it is written, “‘You shall worship the Lord your God and him only shall you serve.’” Mt 4: 8-10

OCCUPY WALL STREET--WITH SEVEN STEPS TOWARDS A SOCIETY BASED ON THE COMMON GOOD

2011-10-09T18:39:00.000-04:00

Dante poised between city of Florence and Purgatory [a seven story mountain in his Divine Comedy]--painting by Domenico di Michelino

When Bankers Rule

Modern society has made the bank account
the standard of values.
When the bank account
becomes the standard of values
the banker has the power.
When the banker has the power
the technician has to supervise
the making of profits.
When the banker has the power the politician
has to assure law and order
in the profit-making system.

When the banker has the power
the educator trains students
in the technique of profit making.
When the banker has the power
the clergyman is expected
to bless the profit-making system
or to join the unemployed.
When the banker has the power
the Sermon on the Mount
is declared unpractical.
When the banker has the power
we have an acquisitive, not a functional society. – Peter Maurin, The Catholic Worker, ~1932

“Instead of hating the people you think are war-makers, hate the appetites and disorder in your own soul, which are the causes of war. If you love peace, then hate injustice, hate tyranny, hate greed - but hate these things in yourself, not in another.”
― Thomas Merton

We will take these steps to Wall Street and to the Occupy Wall Street movement in NYC, in hopes of practical personal conversions leading to deep societal change.

What does America want and need for a peace that reaches even unto Wall Street, and a prosperity that dwells in every hometown?

·         We need a surplus of creative jobs. Congress should immediately pass the American Jobs Act, and Wall Street needs to embrace Socially Responsible Investment.    Having a moral code for investment keeps many more jobs at home, and less exploitation of the poor abroad.

·         Recent excessive profits {by the few at the expense of the many} require a system of taxation and philanthropy that redirects money for the common good. This is complicated. But capitalism has a proven capacity for unlimited greed wherein money does become the root of all evil.   Corporations are not people—they have no soul. We need a balance which protects the over-avaricious from themselves, promoting investment in real long-term community needs, and drastically reduces speculation for momentary maximized profits.   Start with a return to pre Bush administration tax rates for those making more than $250,000 per year, and remove the Social Security cap that limits the contributions to the system by the wealthy.   The “Buffett rule” moves in this direction, and the responsible rich see benefit to the whole society from such measures. “Clawbacks”, or better “paybacks,” should be implemented for those making excessive market gains over this past decade, while so many lost retirement fund investments. Perhaps a special 15% flat tax IRS assessment on speculative investments for all who made more than one million per yr.   The devil is in these details, but we must struggle for more fairness--noblese oblige.

·         Specifically for young people we need to re-establish hope, service, and opportunity. The Peace Corps should be brought quickly up to the 100,000 members envisioned in the early 1960’s [languishing since at 7000 or less]   This program has to have full staff and logistic support to equal the military’s. AmeriCorps has to be similarly expanded. National service in these, military, or competent community or faith-based organizations needs to be a requirement of citizenship, for at least 2 years, for everyone at some point between 18 to 30 years old, and encouraged for older ages as well.   Then those so serving should receive full support for college education, as in the post WWII GI bill. Forgiveness of student loans for those serving after college also applies.

·         Teachers should become among the most competent, inspired, well-paid, honored members of our work force. Standards should be high. They should have been leaders in the above national service, and then receive the utmost encouragement from local, state, and national government. There should be interchange between their teaching career, and creative business, research & development endeavors.

·         Re-establish the fairness doctrine for all large media corporations. Both sides of each issue should be guaranteed a fair hearing. In addition, the connection between politics and democracy has to be protected. The first step among many, all national elections should be completely publicly financed.

·         End our wars of choice in Afghanistan, Iraq, and Libya, all troops and military hardware to be returned within one calendar year. Stand down the standing army overseen by the military industrial complex. Return our army to its duty of defending U.S. territory, and not the business of protecting international oil & other corporations.   A savings of 25% of our record military industry spending should be realized within 3 years [more later], and this re-invested in a creative local economy which provides for energy, education, health, food, clothing, housing, service, and national service needs with a new ecological focus.   Our improved self-sufficiency, yet recognized interdependence with the rest of the world, will lead to the best national security possible.

·         A pro-choice for war society will be a pro-choice for abortion and capital punishment society. Violence becomes intrinsic and pervasive. We are a much better people than this. It’s difficult to work out in policy, but we must all begin to choose life, consistently, no matter what our backgrounds or political convictions. God bless us, and grant us the grace to fully face our social issues, with the inspiration of God’s justice and mercy.

“Peace demands the most heroic labor and the most difficult sacrifice. It demands greater heroism than war. It demands greater fidelity to the truth and a much more perfect purity of conscience.”
― Thomas Merton

“By reading the scriptures I am so renewed that all nature seems renewed around me and with me. The sky seems to be a pure, a cooler blue, the trees a deeper green. The whole world is charged with the glory of God and I feel fire and music under my feet. ”
― Thomas Merton

THE DUNGEON OF DRONE MORALITY--TWO WRONGS DO NOT MAKE A RIGHT

2011-10-03T08:20:00.005-04:00

Photo--Christopher Griffin, via Reuters---from “As the West Celebrates a Cleric’s Death, the Mideast Shrugs” NYT 10-1-11

Alleged terrorist Anwar al-Awlaki, touted as the prime English-speaking Al Qaeda recruiter, is killed by a U.S. drone strike in Yemen, and the media proclaims another War on Terrorism victory. The spiritual reality is that the U.S. moral fiber has taken another body blow.

wlaki was a U.S. born radical Muslim cleric who did advocate violent jihad. There is no proof any of his alleged plots against us ever resulted in murder of U.S. citizens. He was never charged with any crime. He was an avowed enemy. But killing by drone is an extrajudicial killing, an assassination, against our own & international law, without benefit of even a hanging judge, done from hiding by a killing machine. Even Ronald Reagan, in his Western movies persona, would have been disgusted by such shots-in-the-back. The vast majority of the Middle East’s peoples, and most law abiding counties of the world are dismayed by these tactical murders. These acts recruit more terrorists, by announcing that our righteous USA has adopted the methods of its most evil opponents.

Though some certain few of those who oppose us have done terrible deeds, my Republican father has always taught me, two wrongs do not make a right. We are always left with the deeper abyss, of two wrongs. As a Christian with a personal relationship with Jesus, I find only mercy and love of enemy in his person and message, conquering evil with good. His kingdom is not of this world’s, which do so routinely kill to preserve survival, power, and privilege.

Jesus and Judas--The Taking of Christ, by Caravaggio

We are called to encounter the enemy, feet on the ground {not hovering above watching from remote death machines}, pursuing a practical path that comes to recognize their language and culture. May we pray for the grace to follow the narrow way of Jesus---and not Caesar, Pilate, and Awlaki’s wide violent highway to perdition.

A footnote on the efficacy of our latest tactical” success” from “As the West Celebrates a Cleric’s Death, the Mideast Shrugs” NYT 10-1-11

“I don’t think your average Middle Easterner knows who Anwar al-Awlaki is,” said Emad Shahin, a scholar of political Islam at Notre Dame University. … [Arabs] don’t care about Awlaki. … many saw Mr. Awlaki’s death as an essentially American story: here was a man that American attention helped create, and its Hellfire missiles killed, in a campaign born out of American fears of homegrown militancy.

Illumination by Kathy Brahney

IN MEMORIUM---MARY PATRICIA O’LEARY MCCARTHY---MY MOM

2011-09-26T15:59:00.001-04:00

Mary “Pat” O’leary McCarthy

(August 2, 1922 - September 19, 2011)

For those who missed them, these good words were written by my sister Jane.

Mary Patricia O’Leary McCarthy died peacefully at home on Monday, September 19 with her husband Joseph F. ("Joe") by her side. Pat was born in Manson, Iowa. She graduated summa cum laude from Iowa State University, where she and Joe met at Newman Center prayer service on the day Pearl Harbor was bombed. They married on September 21, 1946. Wednesday would have been their 65th wedding anniversary. Pat is survived by Joe and their six children: Michael (Andrea) of Port Huron, Daniel of Washington, DC, David (Lydia) of Grand Rapids, Mary (James - deceased) Taylor of Charlotte, James of Jonesville, and Jane of Madison, Wisconsin, 12 grandchildren, and five great-grandchildren. She was preceded in death by her parents, Matthew and Frances O'Leary, and her brother David.

Pat was an active parishioner at Queen of the Miraculous Medal Catholic Church for over fifty years. She put in many hours over many years volunteering at church, and also benefitted her community by delivering Meals on Wheels, volunteering at Foote Hospital, tutoring children in reading, and volunteering at Lumen Christi high school library. An avid reader {Jane Austin her favorite author}, Pat was also devoted to music and the arts. She was a Tigers and Cub fan with an encyclopedic knowledge of baseball. In her sixties, she learned French in order to be able to understand Canadian radio hockey broadcasts, and she loved watching the Red Wings.

Pat was extremely bright, devout, and compassionate. She used her time and energy in this world to make it a better place. A fine friend and neighbor, loving wife, caring mother and grandmother, Pat is greatly missed.

"Besides restful waters he leads me; he refreshes my soul." Psalm 23

Mom & Dad on date at Iowa State University Union ~ 1941

ARMAMENTS INDUSTRY POLITICS--WE ARE NAILED TO A CROSS OF IRON

2011-09-19T12:19:00.003-04:00

Sen. John Kyl, one of the members of the special congressional committee set up to create a $1.5 trillion budget-reduction plan, said Thursday those cuts should come out of programs like Medicare and Social Security - not defense. Washington (CNN report) Sept. 9, 2011

Listen to this not so long ago Republican president who’d learned from his close contact with the war industry---

“Every gun that is made, every warship launched, every rocket fired signifies, in the final sense, a theft from those who hunger and are not fed, those who are cold and are not clothed. This world in arms in not spending money alone. It is spending the sweat of its laborers, the genius of its scientists, the hopes of its children….This is not a way of life at all, in any true sense. Under the cloud of threatening war, it is humanity hanging from a cross of iron.” [for whole speech, http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article9743.htm]
--Dwight D. Eisenhower, 1953

What does our faith teach us---

“The arms race is one of the greatest curses on the human race, an act of aggression against the poor and a folly which does not provide the security it promises.” (The Pastoral Constitution on the Church in the Modern World, No. 81, 1965)
“The armaments race is to be condemned unreservedly. It is a n act of aggression which amounts to a crime, for even when they are not used, by their cost alone, armaments kill the poor by causing them to starve” --Vatican statement to the U.N., 1976

By pursuing the arms race we continue to kill the poor, and all hopes and dreams for a better world still hang on a cross of iron. We are no longer arms racing with our enemies, but only chase our own tails, while stuffing our leaderships’ profits pouches. Our country spends nearly as much on its military, as do all the rest of the world’s countries combined. Yet our social safety net is shredded, jobs slashed, and cuts to our children’s education are embraced as a national priority.

ongress is embattled in special budget reduction committees. People’s needs are being sacrificed on the altar of Wall Street and national security industry. Those who should represent us are in danger of becoming the Greedy Old Party and the Dust Encrusted Moribunds. The “class warfare” the Republicans warn of, is already upon us [not the rich], and has been declared by all the predominant politicians with their well-heeled handlers. This class warfare is against the regular citizen and the common good. The gated wall between Dives and Lazarus is being built up to a dizzying height [see gospel of Luke 16: 19-31], as it becomes the ever-wide terrible-depth gap between heaven and hell. Heaven cannot be attained unless super-rich and poor meet hand in hand on the plane of justice. America, it’s time to tear down this wall.

Dives and Lazarus, by Serrata Pozzo

“Let the little children come to me. Do not shut them off. The reign of God belongs to such as these. Trust me when I tell you that whoever does not accept the kingdom of God as a child will not enter into it.” Lk 18: 16-17

Jesus Blesses the Children

Dives and Lazarus

John Pilch, biblical scholar, has this to say. "The gate by which Lazarus posts himself performs two functions. It keeps Lazarus outside and the rich man inside; but it can also be the rich man's entry into the world where he can give alms or become a patron to needy clients. This creates a gap between the two, which only grows larger as the story progresses." The gap between damnation and salvation.

Illumination by Kathy Brahney

THREE PRAYERS ON 911 THAT MERGE IN A PERSISTENT CALL FOR MERCY

2011-09-11T21:12:00.002-04:00

We are moving away from a time of reactive war response to the 9/11 hurt to our nation. Praise the Lord, but don’t pass any more ammunition. In war we’ve found only further hurt to ourselves, and inestimable damage to friend & foe alike in the theaters of war.

Our local Gannett paper today invites some soul searching on whether the world, or our community, is any better for our massive “war on terror.” I sense the winds of real change, a break in the the cloud cover of war that's enveloped us. But so much work lies ahead to end barriers that divide and hobble our nation.

ur pastor read this first prayer below and played taps on his trumpet, at the parish peace pole today, after a very moving liturgy in which the theme of scripture and music was--God demands forgiveness and mercy of His people. No matter how humanly difficult--for our own good. How much forgiveness? From the scripture, seven times seventy. There followed the parable of the wicked servant, forgiven an immense amount, who then goes and extracts full debt punishment from the next one he meets. [today’s gospel, Mt 18:21-35]

Parable Of The Wicked Servant By Fetti Domenico

What forgiveness has to do directly with any given war is difficult to discern, but war does derive from our multiple failures to replicate God’s forgiveness and mercy.

he victims of 9/11 families now call us to a positive response of national community service [see link-http://www.familiesofseptember11.org/news.aspx?s=5#3375 ]. The local United Way led a Tribute Walk at our community’s peace poles this morning to encourage this movement. I saw many respectful groups walking, hopefully taking these steps towards converting from a war on terror, into a campaign forgiving each others’ debts and serving each others’ needs.

The prayers that follow merge to form a plea that we will all learn mercy, turn back the tides of terrible war that have added countless more victims, to the victims of the 9/11 tragedy.

PRAYER OF POPE JOHN-PAUL II
FOR THE VICTIMS OF 9/11.

Almighty Father,

we commend the victims of this shocking tragedy

to Your eternal love.

We implore Your comfort upon the injured,

the families and friends involved,

and all who are doing their utmost to rescue survivors

and help those affected.

We ask You, Father,

to grant the American people

the strength and courage they need at this time of sorrow and trial.

We beg you, Jesus,

to send Your legions of heavenly Angels,

led by Saint Michael the Archangel,

to protect the United States

from additional attempts of destruction.

If supernatural means are required to foil these plots,

we humbly implore you to suspend natural laws

to save innocent lives and souls.

Holy Spirit, we are a sinful nation,

and we beg you to send us Your authentic spirit of repentance.

We are also a nation capable of great charity and justice,

so look not on our sins,

Heavenly Spirit of Mercy,

but upon our sorrow and resolve to turn from evil,

to fight evil, and procure victory over evil.

Illuminate the minds and souls of our citizens

and especially our leaders

so we can see the error of our ways,

and give us the sweet grace required to turn to God with pure hearts.

Immaculate Mary, Humble Virgin,

Mother of our Church,

and protectress of our nation,

we ask you to go before the Throne of the Holy Trinity

and intercede for the United States

at this critical juncture in our history.

Gently place your mantle upon our land,

upon our people,

upon our allies,

upon our fighting men and women,

as you once wrapped our Savior in swaddling clothes in a manger.

We have no words that rightly express what we on earth

cannot understand or ever truly fathom,

the Love of God,

so we turn with childlike faith

to the words that Jesus Himself taught us to pray:

"Our Father, Who art in heaven,

hallowed by Thy Name.

Thy kingdom come,

Thy will be done,

on earth as it is in heaven.

Give us this day our daily bread,

and forgive us our trespasses

as we forgive those who trespass against us,

and lead us not into temptation,

but deliver us from evil.

Amen!"

Prayer in a Time of Contrived Fear

God of peace, we live in a culture

that seeks to manipulate us through fear:

Headlines scream: “Be afraid!” Advertisements

prod our deepest insecurities and anxieties.

Our political and corporate leaders

know that if we fear, then they can do

whatever they want and we will follow.

But over and over again in scripture,

You call to us: “Be not afraid!”

Your words penetrate, us past the noise,

over the tumult: “Do not fear…”

From Your Word we regain

our freedom. No longer afraid, we speak

the truth, we live the truth,

and we become that peace which we seek.

In Your peace, we pray: Amen.

By Tom Cordaro

Pax Christi USA

Thomas Merton's Prayer

of Abandonment

My Lord God, I have no idea where I am going.

I do not see the road ahead of me. I cannot know for certain where it will end.

Nor do I really know myself, and the fact that I think I am following your will does not mean that I am actually doing so.

But I believe that the desire to please you does in fact please you and I hope that I have that desire in all that I am doing.

And I know that if I do this, you will lead me by the right road though I may know nothing about it.

Therefore will I trust you always, though I may seem to be lost and in the shadow of death, I will not fear, for you are ever

with me, and you will never leave me to face my perils alone.

Amen.

Flower image and illuminations by Kathy Brahney

BLOW MONEY OUT OF THE BARREL OF A GUN FOR A DECADE--THEN PREACH BUDGET RESPONSIBILITY

2011-09-05T08:21:00.002-04:00

We should not be surprised at our current ongoing financial crisis in the USA. We have been conducting extravagant excruciating wars without asking anyone, but the soldiers & citizens in direct contact with destruction, to pay for them. The Iraq War was promoted as a war that would pay for itself out of oil revenues, no U.S. national sacrifice necessary. As the Afghanistan War was launched we were told by leaders the patriotic duty was to go out and spend. To find that spending money, you might have to run up your credit card, take it from a home equity loan, or flip a condo. It was a magnificent misrepresentation--nothing conservative about it. The blind following blind leadership, and now we have the devil to pay.

An armed guard poses beside pallets of $100 bills in Baghdad. In the first months of the 2003 invasion almost $12billion in in cash was spent by the US-led authority---picture by UK Guardian

What does spending in our wars look like? The excerpts below from articles, still worth reading through on their links {little read at the time} tell a small part of this scandalous story.

'Iraq was awash in cash. We played football with bricks of $100 bills'

At the beginning of the Iraq war, the UN entrusted $23 billion of Iraqi money to the US-led coalition to redevelop the country. With the infrastructure of the country still in ruins, where has all that money gone? Callum Macrae and Ali Fadhil on one of the greatest financial scandals of all time. Mar. 20, 2006 -- UK Guardian
"Iraq was awash in cash - in dollar bills. Piles and piles of money," says Frank Willis, a former senior official with the governing Coalition Provisional Authority. "We played football with some of the bricks of $100 bills before delivery. It was a wild-west crazy atmosphere, the likes of which none of us had ever experienced."
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2006/mar/20/usa.iraq

How the US sent $12bn in cash to Iraq. And watched it vanish Special flights brought in tonnes of banknotes which disappeared into the war zone UK Guardian, Feb 7, 2007

The US flew nearly $12 billion in shrink-wrapped $100 bills into Iraq, then distributed the cash with no proper control over who was receiving it and how it was being spent. The staggering scale of the biggest transfer of cash in the history of the Federal Reserve has been graphically laid bare by a US congressional committee.
In the year after the invasion of Iraq in 2003 nearly 281 million notes, weighing 363 tonnes, were sent from New York to Baghdad for disbursement to Iraqi ministries and US contractors. Using C-130 planes, the deliveries took place once or twice a month with the biggest of $2,401,600,000 on June 22 2004, six days before the handover.
‘One official was given $6.75m in cash, and was ordered to spend it in one week before the interim Iraqi government took control of Iraqi funds."
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2007/feb/08/usa.iraq1

A truck carrying rebel fighters driving toward the oil refinery in Zawiyah, Libya , Aug. 23, 2011---Bob Strong-Reuters

And History again repeats itself. Recent lead for National Public Radio Story-----

The Libyan assets frozen during the civil war included crates full of money. Before the uprising began, Moammar Gadhafi ordered the printing of a billion and a half dollars worth of bank notes from a British company. Delivery of that Libyan cash was blocked as the uprising began. Yesterday, the money started to flow. The British Air Force flew in crates of cash worth more than $227 million. The cash will be used to pay public workers and replenish ATMs.

Even as they try to distribute money, Libya's new leaders are hoping to collect weapons. Before the uprising began last February, few Libyans were allowed to carry a weapon. Even those in the military had restricted access. Now officials say almost every Libyan has a gun. --- NPR Morning Edition story 9-1-11
http://www.npr.org/2011/09/01/140103690/rebels-tasked-with-ensuring-libyans-security

We and our British allies are at it again, throwing away mountains of cash in once oil-rich, now decimated dictatorships, to curry favor with survivors. We leave them with the oversight of our deadly drones, and the slim hope of one gun one vote democracy—at least one automatic weapon in every home, well-armed if nothing else.

And here at home USA? The big beefy military industry gets the lion’s share of all our tax money that is not invested in social insurance programs [and borrows that too]. It’s always spoiling for a fight. Fighting is their business, and is especially willing to be provoked, as the war industrialists themselves are never sent to the front lines. The distribution of free-flowing guns bombs and cash worldwide has become the bulwark of U.S. foreign policy—the disaster of destroyed societies the only constant byproduct. Our own society itself is drawn into the downward spiral. You get what you pay for.

Our leadership can’t seem to listen to the Gospel admonition, "What father among you, if his son asks for bread, would give him a stone, or if he asks for a fish, would give him a snake instead?" Lk 11:11

Pray God for the grace to become leaders and citizens that believe in the multiplication of loaves and fishes---converted from the billions now devoted to our deadly military industries.

The Angelus, by Millet

Related sources---

Feb. 6, 2007---House Panel Criticizes Shipments of Cash to Iraq

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=7226722

Mar. 6, 2006---Iraq's Missing Billions

http://www.guardian.co.uk/film/2006/mar/16/1?INTCMP=ILCNETTXT3487

Nov. 8, 2007---Will 'armloads' of US cash buy tribal loyalty?

http://www.csmonitor.com/2007/1108/p01s04-wome.html

ON CHOOSING PARTICIPATORY DEMOCRACY FOR PORT HURON

2011-08-28T09:02:00.002-04:00

Political power often occurs as a reverse pyramid scheme--{this one apparently six-sided}--most benefits concentrated at the top

The Times Herald 8-18-11 editorial laments a lack of candidates participating in our city council and mayoral elections. Only 12 have filed to vie for the 6 new council positions, and 3 for the mayor’s spot. Whatever the new city charter has done with its mix of 3 at large and 3 voting district positions, it has not increased participation in the process.

full size availabel at http://bit.ly/p50SJC

This should be no surprise. There have been 10 wards / precincts in the past, which have never, in the past generation, been each represented by its own council member. North of the Black River personages most often have been in the majority of council positions, with roughly 5 precints equal north and south. Detroit, with all its recent corruption, has finally converted to electing its council from each and every ward. Our wards may need to be recomputed from recent census data, but why can’t we have 10 or more seats at our city council table? And each ward, as an equal self-contained playing field, will invite more political involvement.

Good old boys club--don't know what they're missing, in possible solidarity with the common citizen

If we truly want more participation in our democracy, we must choose systems which promote participatory democracy. Elections should be about ideas and service, not about celebrity and name recognition. Immediate neighbors who know their territory, not just the city’s “in-the-know,” should be campaigning for city council.

Politics, locally and nationally, has become dysfunctional because those in power are all about consolidation of power. And when that power breaks under its own weight of protected interests, then emergency managers are imposed to further the choke-hold on democracy. We need to move in the opposite direction, making use of the creative energies that derive from all citizens, rich and poor and middle class.

In our fair city, which is undeniably facing diminished resources, much of this due to conditions imposed from the federal level, much the fault of our own miscalculations, it is the old system, not any more buildings, that needs demolition. Open up to full ward based elections. Give democracy a chance.

Blessed are the men and women - the deep spread roots of democracy

There follows a dialogue on this local issue, between Mike Connell, respected columnist of the Port Huron Times Herald, and myself. He helped me be more precise on my final draft of article for the paper, on the north & south precinct divisions.

Mike M.,

The Black River essentially divides the city in half in both area and population.

Of the 10 precincts, 5 are south of the river, 4 are north and one is divided by the river but is mostly in the north: http://bit.ly/p50SJC
In terms of votes cast, the north end dominates. Not sure why anyone thinks north-enders should be penalized because they actually bother to vote.
In essence, that is the argument you appear to be making. Southenders have the votes, but they do not choose to exercise them. That does not suggest anything sinister to me. I simply do not believe that someone who accepts his or her civic duty can be held responsible for the apathy of someone who is too lazy or disinterested or self-absorbed or whatever to vote.
To use another example, congressional representatives from Detroit inevitably are elected by far fewer voters than those elected from elsewhere in the state. In essence, an individual Detroiter's vote carries considerably more weight or value than yours or mine. Now that may be a problem, but if it is, I don't think it is caused because too many out-staters choose to vote.

Participatory democracy includes the right not to participate. That does not make it less democratic. Trying to compensate for apathy by fiddling with the "one-dude, one-vote" philosophy is sailing democracy onto dangerous shoals, or so it seems to me.

Mike C.

Mike,C

Thanks for the clarification on precinct divisions north & south [see correction below]. I'm not trying to increase those divisions, and don't disparage the north's history of participation, but do think that moving towards ward based voting districts will improve the south's vote counts. Apathy is reinforced by systems that protect privilege [in this case "at-largeness"]. My experience has been that giving people a better chance results in their investing in the opportunity. Lets watch the Detroit vote numbers over the next couple years [compensating for its de-population], and see what the ward system does for them.

A ward system here would only be a small step in the midst of our problems, but I'm not afraid of one dude one vote democracy. It takes time to fight apathy with opportunity, but I welcome the struggle. Thanks for your having taken the time to respond in detail.

Mike M

On Fri, Aug 26, 2011 at 11:20 AM, Michael McCarthy <mccpax@comcast.net> wrote:

Mike C

Again thanks for helping always, and your critical response. I'm putting my oped on my webpage, and would like to include our dialogue below, as it well illustrates our divergent opinions on the issue. What say you? Of course you may submit a rejoinder to my 8-24 note if you like. And thanks for all you do to make our community a better place.

Mike M
Yes, Mike, it would be fine. Hope it gives people something to think about. Every issue worth debating has at least as many sides as a casket.

OPEN LETTER TO AMERICA'S CEO'S--RESTITUTION IS THE BUDGET SOLUTION

2011-08-22T10:22:00.005-04:00

The Sermon on the Mount

Dear President Barack Obama, our Commander in Chief Executive Officer,

Please put an end to pseudo-conservatives fiscal crisis machinations right now. Take charge with an executive order to raise the debt ceiling to the required limits for the next two years, and end the off-budget wars in Iraq and Afghanistan {and Libya} immediately. President Reagan, though remembered as conservative, raised the debt ceiling 17 times while fighting Iran-Contra wars in Central America, and Star Wars with the Russians.

Promise our citizens that the real contract with America on Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid, will not be broken while you are president, under assurance of your veto power. Charge Congress to balance the disposable budget without raiding social insurance programs {they’ve already been doing this for years--{see link http://www.ctj.org/pdf/def0706.pdf }.

ut the Department of Defense, all wasteful military & homeland security programs, and equitable taxation of the wealthy, at the center of the budget balence table. Thank you for taking on the difficult duty of President. "Nonviolence is a way of life for courageous people." -- Martin Luther King

This is a matter of national security. Certain powerful elements in our country are trying to feed us all a steady diet of national insecurity. We need to be led out of this self-absorbed abyss. The diffident defeatists / war profiteers are deadening any chance for democratic discussion. Time for the richest most creative country in the world to demand full egalitarian positive participation and investment in society—starting with the most privileged, and including the most disadvantaged.

The captains of industry & Wall Street have to stop pretending they are the captains of America. Our political institutions are not meant to sail under their command. Whatever privilege they have includes the duty to serve the common good of the country, and all its citizens. Their success has been built on the backs of every other American. The crashes of our stock markets, devaluation of dollar & home values are not true losses, but redistributions into the deep pockets of the cleverest, often most ruthless, corporate financial wizards. The restitution of excess profits gained in unnecessary wars protecting the international oil companies, is the only way to rebalance America and its budget, and benefit all of us, even the wealthiest---if the Gospel is to be believed.

"Blessed are the poor in spirit, there's is the kingdom of heaven." -- Mt 5:3

"That extra coat you keep in your closet belongs to the poor." -- St. Vincent de Paul

From today's Gospel at daily mass--

"Woe to you scribes and Pharisees, you frauds! ...

You declare, 'If a man swears by the temple it means nothing, but if he swears by the gold of the temple he is obligated.'
Blind fools!" Mt 23: 15-17

CHIAPAS 2011--THE MEDICINE OF FRIENDSHIP, SERVICE, AND LEALTAD {LOYALTY}

2011-08-08T10:42:00.003-04:00

"Never more a Mexico without us."

This most recent trip into the indigenous mountain highlands of Chiapas probed themes of friendship, service and loyalty. Making the journey for the first time with me was George Moger, retired special ed teacher and basketball coach of long successful service in Port Huron. His main purpose was to immerse in Spanish language, while helping out with basketball or construction skills. I was to work in medical clinics as in 6 previous visits.

View of Tila Sanctuario from bell tower--Clinic is white with white railing in front.

George showed courage ascending bell tower---does not like heights.

When we got there we found most all regular basketball had stopped when school got out for the summer, and no real construction projects. Don Ramon, now retired middle school principal, was available for some Spanish classes, a couple of hours, on half the days, but that left a lot of time. And one of the problems of immersion [I still have it after 7 visits] is that trying to keep up with the regular conversations of our hosts at the parish often makes one’s head spin, leading to episodes of language fatigue.

Don Ramon reads names of the confirmed as Padre Heriberto congratulates.

George & I had agreed to speak Spanish, instead of any English, most all the time we were there [except for short time outs for necessary full comprehension], and we both held to this fairly well. But whatever help I might be was limited, as I had two trips, one overnight, for extemporaneous medical clinics in remote villages. All parish staff were busy with preparations for the Bishop’s coming and confirmation of over 200 teenagers [average age 15—diocese believes they should be a little older, well trained 5 years, and more mature].

Dishes on the kitchen porch

George found an admirable solution. The woman who came in daily to work in the parish kitchen, only hired for half the day, could use help. Reina is 4ft.6’’, about 45 years old, very capable, and of kind disposition. Chol is her first language [as for most all in Tila] but her Spanish is very good. George is, with basketball prowess, at least 6ft.6’’ and the most polite gentlemanly person I know. Every day he’d spend 2 to 3 hours helping with dishes, mopping floors, and she’d patiently explain language, her work, and life in Tila. How much he’d really taught her about friendship and service we didn’t find out till the last day there.

Matias [seminarian], George, Reina

Reina gave us each a gift she’d made, handicrafts of her side business-- George a bright yellow-bodied red-combed woven chicken tea cozy, and me a white embroidered with local fruit patterns mantilla, to wrap tortillas in. We took pictures, said goodbye, and then she told me to be sure it was well understood, and to tell George, “I’m very glad I met him, because I thought all from the U.S. were bad, and now I know that is not true.”

With incense & statue of Our Lady of Mt. Carmel in the lead, Padre Heriberto & comunidad in procession at Carmen [Carmel] Chinal.

This was the second time I’d heard something similar expressed on this visit, not said during any of the 6 visits over 12 years previously. When we were finishing the Offertory rite, midway through the 3 ½ mass, in the village of Carmen Chinal, in the midst of copious wood chip indigenous incense burnt in a foot-tall goblet of baked clay, Padre Heriberto introduced me to the people crowded into the simple cement floored tin roofed chapel. Before he handed me the microphone, and a huge downpour, rain on tin, made me cut short my words, he gave preamble. “Mike has visited us 7 times and brings simple medicines and will offer brief medical ‘consultas’ for those interested after mass. He is a friend that shows us that not all people in the U.S. are bad.”

Padre preaches at 3 hour mass at Carmen Chinal, before 4 hour clinic ending 10:30 pm.

This need to exonerate and testify for the moral fiber of a U.S. citizen is something new. Even when some of the Chiapas villages were being regularly overflown 10 years ago by helicopter gunships {donated by the U.S.to the Mexican army cause of occupying rural Chiapas} I hadn’t heard such general criticism. Mexico since the 1920’s has been our [somewhat reluctant] friend. The ambient feeling in Mexico now is that our recent wars of choice Afghanistan/Iraq/Libya, financial crisis, NAFTA, and drug war weapons support to both sides [traffickers & swat team soldiers] is killing them with collateral damage to life limb and economy. They can’t understand our self-imposed fears, addictions, & debt woes. Mexicans, from the wealthy middle-aged woman playing video games on her tablet and young dapper business man in the other seat next to me on the return plane trip to Detroit, to the faithful villagers and parish-house cook in remote Chiapas, are baffled by our behavior.

Community of Joljatiomtyak, family of Rogelio, shucking frijoles--kitchen/living room on left, bedroom/my clinic on last 2 visits to Chiapas.

Because of this, travel---meeting, working, serving, and praying together, one to one and community to community---is becoming ever more important. We need many U.S. citizen ambassadors in many nations to dispel the many mutual misconceptions that have steadily arisen due to the activity of powerful interests at the top of U.S. society.

With part of Rogeio's Joljatiomtyak family--Chol speakers who tolerate my Spanish.

Friendship and service we did experience in Chiapas. But this brought to mind an important value lamented by Padre Heriberto as on the wane in all parts of society—lealtad, loyalty. He’d had friends leaving the priesthood; we all see promises under siege, in marriage, friendship, churches, business, politics, banking, pensions, labor contracts, social security. One’s word counts for little anymore-- only the day to day scrimmage for personal gain.

Debt-ceiling-fight by Phil Ebersole Wordpress--[President Reagan raised the debt ceiling 17 times]

We resolved to continue and expand our connections, “Si Dios Quiere,” Lord willing. There is hope Detroit diocese seminarians and other faithful will come to know the people of Chiapas, and their pilgrimage to Nuestro Señor de Tila. Our church is Catholic—in diversity there is strength and loyalty.

"Is not one of our problems today that we have separated ourselves from the poor and the wounded and the suffering? We have too much time to discuss and theorize and have lost the yearning for God which comes when we are faced with the sufferings of people." -- Jean Vanier {founder of communities inclusive of the disabled}

On the current financial crisis--
We are being rolled by powerful Wall Street bankers and politicians. Those hating Obama, as well as all appearing alien, are willing to drag the whole country down just to defeat him and the outsiders. Our self-inflicted fiscal suffering is directly connected to our sin of racism. Blessed Franz Jagerstatter, intercede for us. May God grant us the grace to purge greed, war, and racism from our hearts and nation. {Two more days of the Jagerstatter novena--but please keep praying for these miracles.}

From today's old testament reading at daily mass, Dt10:12-22---

For the LORD, your God, is the God of gods,
the LORD of lords, the great God, mighty and awesome,
who has no favorites, accepts no bribes;
who executes justice for the orphan and the widow,
and befriends the alien, feeding and clothing him.
So you too must befriend the alien,
for you were once aliens yourselves in the land of Egypt.
Illumination by Kathy Brahney

Click on images to enlarge.

BLESSED FRANZ JAGGERSTATTER--FAMILY MAN WHO WOULDN'T FIGHT IN HITLER'S WARS

2011-07-29T12:41:00.002-04:00

"Dear father come home," Easter message from his daughters when he was in jail before trial

Franz Jagerstatter, an Austrian Catholic who was executed on August 9, 1943 by the German Reich because he would not fight in Hitler’s unjust wars, has been recently recognized as on the path to sainthood. Franz was beatified on October 26, 2007 in Linz, Austria. He was a loving husband and father of four small children, a peasant farmer, and a sacristan at the local church. He knew the wars of Hitler were unjust, and that faith in the Fatherland was taking the place of faith in God. He couldn’t understand why more German Christians didn’t see this danger.

ranz was born in the small farming village of St. Radegund near Linz, Austria on May 20, 1907. Due to the poverty of his parents {servants too poor for marriage}, he was raised during early childhood, in the home of his grandmother who had 13 children of her own. He was as hungry for learning as for food, both which were limited in those days. His natural father died in World War I. When his mother did marry in 1917, he found more opportunity for learning, with a good library in the farmhouse. From early on a lover of books, Franz later advised his godson, "People who don't read will never be able to stand on their own feet and will all too easily become a football for the opinions of others."

As a young man he is remembered as fun-loving and popular, went to dances and the pubs, owned the first motorcycle in town, sometimes a “Raufer” [brawler], and also took part in the yearly Passion Play. In his Catholic region this play was thought equal to Oberammergau’s. He’d had a child out of wedlock, the mother’s family wouldn’t allow marriage, but he remained a supportive loving father, very unusual for those times. Franz went then to mass regularly and attended social events at church, where he met his wife Franziska. She was a great joy and inspiration for him. They had three small daughters to whom he was dearly devoted, and they together operated the family farm.

The Jagerstatters continued attending daily mass and were well respected in the village. Yet some thought they were carrying things too far in their criticism of the Third Reich. The family rejected the state’s social aid payments, and then Franz refused to report for army duty, when called up, after basic training, a second time. For this he was jailed in March 1943 and sentenced to death that summer. He could see clearly that Hitler’s wars were unjust, and knew that he was one of those given the grace to resist this evil.

By Erna Putz

Franz had been in prayer constantly the six months he’d been in jail, praying the scriptures and the rosary. On the day of his execution, a priest at the prison, Fr. Jochmann, offered spiritual readings. With an unforgettable joy in his eyes, Franz replied, “I am completely bound in inner union with the Lord, and any reading would only interrupt my communication with my God.” The priest later stated, “I say with certainty that this simple man is the only saint that I have ever met in my lifetime.”

On August 9, 1943 he was beheaded in Berlin. His consolation was his trust in God, and the promise that his family would be reunited in heaven. Now in our time of terrible war without end, Franz is a shining example of faith in the Gospel life, conquering death by refusing to kill.

His widow, Franziska, attended his beatification in 2007, and met with Pope Benedict XVI in a general audience the following year. Cardinal Christoph Schonborn of Vienna commended Jagerstatter to the Holy Father, noting that he came to question how one could be “a soldier for Christ” and a soldier in Hitler's army at the same time.

Icon available from Catholic Peace Fellowship website

In slightly edited form, my article above appears in the online national Knights of Columbus webpage, “Fathers for the Good.”

Spanish translation of prayer published last week. {article above also available in Spanish--email me for copy}

ORACIÓN por INTERCESIÓN del BEATO FRANZ JAGERSTATTER--Para el fin de nuestras guerras en Irak y Afganistán.

Señor Jesucristo,

Rellenó a tu siervo Franz Jägerstätter
con un profundo amor por usted, su familia y
todas las personas.
Durante un tiempo de desprecio por Dios y
humanidad que le concedió
discernimiento inequívoco e integridad.
De fe, siguió a su conciencia, y
dijo que una NO decisivo para el régimen Nazi
y guerra injusta.
Por lo tanto sacrificó su vida.
Oramos para que usted pueda glorificar su
siervo Franz, así que muchas personas pueden
alentar a por él y crecer en el amor
para usted y todas las personas.
Su ejemplo puede brillar fuera en nuestro tiempo,
y usted podrá otorgar todas las personas la
fuerza para defender la justicia, paz
y la dignidad humana.
Por la tuya es la gloria y honor con
el padre y el Espíritu Santo ahora y
para siempre. Amen.

(Oración de la Diócesis de Linz, Austria)

Anual Novena de oración, 1-9 de agosto, comenzado en la parroquia de la Santísima Trinidad, Port Huron, MI, USA en 2008. Oración anterior es oró en cada parroquia recopilación y liturgia durante nueve días.

Illumination by Kathy Brahney

PRAYER FOR INTERCESSION OF BLESSED FRANZ JAGERSTATTER--FOR THE END OF OUR WARS IN IRAQ & AFGHANISTAN

2011-07-21T16:17:00.005-04:00

I submit this early, and have been 2 weeks away, in Chiapas. Bishop Arizmendi there wanted a copy to pray with us in his diocese of San Cristobal, so it's translated and being sent. The hope is that many churches in our country and world round will join in prayer.

Lord Jesus Christ,

You filled your servant Franz Jägerstätter

with a deep love for you, his family and

all people.

During a time of contempt for God and

humankind you bestowed on him

unerring discernment and integrity.

In faith, he followed his conscience, and

said a decisive NO to the Nazi regime

and unjust war.

Thus he sacrificed his life.

We pray that you may glorify your

servant Franz, so that many people may

be encouraged by him and grow in love

for you and all people.

May his example shine out in our time,

and may you grant all people the

strength to stand up for justice, peace

and human dignity.

For yours is the glory and honor with

the Father and the Holy Spirit now and

forever. Amen.

(Prayer from the Diocese of Linz, Austria)

Yearly Novena of Prayer, August 1-9, begun at Holy Trinity parish, Port Huron, MI, USA in 2008. Prayer above is prayed at every parish gathering and liturgy for the nine days.

SUPREME COURT LEAVES CHILDREN'S WINDOW TO THE SOUL, OPEN TO PURVEYORS OF VIOLENCE

2011-07-04T11:25:00.001-04:00

Eye on top of the pyramid--from our dollar

On this Independence Day we should examine closely the real state of American independence. One small indicator in last week news warns we are caught in our own contradictions. The Supreme Court has ruled that our children are free to be exposed to the most violent video games. Califorina’s law to protect youngsters from these games was rejected. The companies that make them are free to sell what are often first shooter, bloody war games, to children of all ages. It’s their first amendment free speech right. But are we to become so dependent on violence promotion industries, that we won’t shield our children from these visually traumatic activities?

The message sent by the high court--virtual war and virtual interpersonal combat are not to be restrained in the land of the free. Yes, the parents are responsible for controlling their kids’ access to violence simulation, but if in our stress-ridden society parents are increasingly missing in action, then exposing children to culturally approved mayhem that glorifies killing, is a right not to be infringed upon.

Two wars of choice in a decade of an undeclared, but all encompassing, War on Terror, have militarized the psyche of the nation, but not called for any real sacrifice on the part of the majority of citizens, and has enriched the financial and political leadership. They bank on oil futures, and privatize our army, to doubly protect their interests. The soldiers are the ones who suffer the most, along with the economy that serves the general public.

From Universal Soldier film

These soldiers are being acclimated from childhood, made accustomed to violence, and then recruited, by war video games. All age restrictions to this subliminal training are shot down now by the Top Court. One sophisticated game 1 America ‘s Army [AA 3.1] , given free to interested kids, has a sidebar inviting contact with an army commander/recruiter versed in the virtual battles you may be game fighting on the streets of Baghdad. Another was the cover photo for the Wall Street Journal article quoted below.

The 2005 California law [now overturned by Supreme Court] prohibits selling or renting violent games to minors based on legislative findings that they reduce "activity in the frontal lobes of the brain" and promote "violent antisocial or aggressive behavior." 2

Obscenity laws that prohibit the sale of pornographic materials to minors are constitutional, but we can’t ban the sale of lurid violent materials to minors. We are subjecting our kids to a giant canary test, down in the deep mines of a violence permissive society. Every parent knows the painful fears evoked in a child that can’t sleep at night because of the cruel things they saw in a horror movie. The technology of violence media is advancing beyond horror films. If our kids are becoming more desensitized to it, fewer nightmares because the violence is video game normal, we need to heed these warning signs.

The eye is the window to the soul. Letting the violence promotion zombies loose in our kindergartens is not the way to salvation.

From the film The Red Balloon

1 http://www.americasarmy.com/

2 http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702304447804576411571732346148.html?mod=ITP_pageone_2

INTO THE CLOUDFOREST--TILA--SANCTUARY OF TROUBLES & BLESSINGS-part 2

2011-06-27T11:18:00.001-04:00

Church as it was at time of first visit, 1998--parish postcard picture

Each time I’ve gone to Chiapas, parishioners at our Port Huron Catholic churches, and the Physician Health Care Network clinic staff where I’d worked, have contributed generously in prayers, medicines and money to our travels. After ten years of our keeping connected, and the efforts of many working for peace, especially the catechists and believers of San Mateo parish, the violent threats have diminished considerably in this part of Chiapas. The internal checkpoints that tried to restrict outside support, have been removed, and only one much smaller military post of the three in Tila remains. Though only a few church workers were killed in the bad times, a bus caravan with Bishop Ruiz, Bishop Raul Vera, Padre Heriberto, and many catechists was ambushed—the bus pumped full of 150 bullets.

Counties in Chiapas that had Catholic chapels & churches attacked, or closed by local authorities in the period before April, 1998.
Miraculously no one was mortally wounded. Many parishioners were imprisoned. Now the violence has subsided. Persistent work for justice, persistent prayer by many, persistent preaching and hearing confessions by Padre Heriberto and the committed clergy of the area—these have made the difference. They believe in the power of confession. The military employed locals to fight as paramilitaries, creating divisions Protestant and Catholic, even dividing Catholics within parishes and families against each other—lured by monthly payments in a land of poverty. To reconcile these wounds the priests ask the perpetrators to come to confess their sin, make some reparation, and come back into community as brothers and sisters. And the people are doing this. Step by step, one by one.

La salud no debe ser un lujo. Health ought not to be a luxury. Poster by Medicos del Mundo

When our mission group pulled into the village of Jolja, Rogelio’s whole extended family turned out to welcome us. Plans were quickly made to have an impromptu clinic after lunch, and we were served tortillas and beans made fresh from crops grown in the community, cooked over the open fire without chimney in their kitchen hut, with chickens roaming freely under table to scavenge what they could from the packed clay floor. Hospitality was abundant and tangible. Andrea and our young people were taken up the mountain to their fields, harvesting a couple of items by machete. Bridget, Cassie, and D.J. are single, starting careers and finishing school. Jolja young folk, also in teens and twenties, were well into supporting families, babies at their breast, and machetes at their side. They were obviously proud of their land, their families, and their language--Chol. They were greatly amused at our trying to pronounce basic Chol vocabulary, and kept provoking us with new words to attempt.

"Chol" means "people of corn" -- deep roots of Mayan culture. Image is framed picture in parish office area.

A Zapatista sympathetic community, they had known hardship, but were committed to preserving the beauty of their way of life. Improvements were coming slowly, and with bad mistakes, as the government cut a new road through their area. The trip to Tila now took only over an hour, where it had been many hours. But the resultant drainage problems made horrible ruts and sludge pools in their hillsides.

Challenged as to how fast everyone could make it up some of the steep slopes, most of our group had trouble keeping up with the Jolja children, yet D.J. [perhaps from years scrambling on hockey rinks up north] distinguished himself by keeping up with the young men. For this he was re-christened, Comandante Ti Che [D.J., Chol pronunciation]. The clinic which we thought would only be for part of the afternoon, stretched well into the evening. The people kept coming, so we opened up the door of our improvised care center, which was Rogelio’s parents simple sleeping space/living room, to more patients for half the following day. The family had moved out to stay with others, so we could sleep there, that night in between. With Rogelio his Dad translating, and Andrea who’s a nurse helping at times, we saw some 60 patients. Many had routine complaints that could be addressed by advice, and some basic medicines we distributed. Three children had chronic debilitating illness. We emphasized with the patients’ families the important task of pursuing public health assistance. Their names were referred back to our church clinic in Tila doctor, so hopefully they can make connection with ongoing health care. It is too easy for people to fall between the cracks in these mountainous remote areas.

Waiting outside improvised cinderblock home clinic in Jolja

When we returned to Tila, quickly and gladly we were re-directed to another rural community in the opposite direction down the mountains towards Tabasco, to pray with those who’ve re-opened their church, after years of it having been boarded up by the local government.

The village of Nuevo Limar had been a bad place to be a Catholic. The 16 year old health promoter that I’d worked with ten years ago at the Tila clinic, was a refugee from this community who, at ten, had been beaten mercilessly by his Nuevo Limar public school teacher--for being a Catholic of the San Cristobal diocese. Returning this year with our small group of young people, we visited Jose now 26, and the father of two children, who now operates a medical clinic openly out of his own home. We attended a prayer service presided over by his father, at the Catholic chapel which has re-opened in his village. At the same time Padre BaldemarChol community, said mass in a neighboring town. This is happening in the same Zona Baja region of the diocese, so hostile that paramilitaries there {they go by the misnomer, Paz y Justicia} had ambushed the bishops’ & catechists’ caravan when they attempted to bring the celebration of mass nine years ago.

Jose Inez on left had been my translator 10 yrs ago- now has his own clinic in Nuevo Limar

The transformation has been remarkable. Free to practice their religion publicly in this area, there was participation from all assembled [not as many as usual because some had gone over to the next town for Padre Baldemar’s mass]. Many young people did attend, and the scripture readings, homily discussion, and music were their responsibility, and done well. Bridget worked hard to tune an infrequently played violin, Andrea played guitar, and with an enthusiastic youth choir, they all together made a joyful sound.

eturning again to Tila, we arranged the next day for Cassie, who is a teacher in Chicago’s school system, to visit fifth grade classes in a Tila neighborhood school. Don Ramon was our contact person. I’d known him as one of the few active Catholics who’d been able to persist as a teacher in Tila’s public schools, very prejudiced against San Mateo parish. He was now the principal of this public school – a tribute to his dedication in the cause of faith and education. The children and staff welcomed Cassie, who could take in just a little of their lesson content with her beginning Spanish. But she was impressed with their behavior, and they with her tall basketball & soccer skills. Earlier that morning we’d all helped served these kids at a San Mateo daily breakfast program up a long cliff-side staircase from the grade school.

I learned later from my daughter Bridget, that she’d been offended by the commercialization of the feast day of Corpus Christi in Tila. There were wall-to-wall booths filling all city streets, selling CD’s, candles, an assortment of religious objects to fit all pocketbooks, as well as everything you’d find at a county fair market day, engulfing the whole town and overwhelming the parish at its center. There was even an electric light trimmed Ferris wheel jammed into the municipal plaza across the street from the church.

The pastor Padre Heriberto was more directly affronted, I told her. At a major afternoon mass he preached against those in the town who, most of the year, called the Sanctuary Nuestro Senor de Tila, and the faith of its people, a sham, a fairy tale. Now those same local critics had become merchants-- selling religious articles, food and lodging to the pilgrims—and praising the miraculous blessings to be received. The words of his homily challenged the hypocrisy--boomed out from the church loudspeakers, through the stalls in the streets into market, restaurant, and rooming house for all ears to hear. It was a moment that profiled pastoral prophetic courage, especially with the history of town government hostility towards the parish community. I wished that our young adult companions had been able to appreciate the Spanish clarity of the message. In translation, I informed them that concern for a simple true faith, not to be cashed in on, was the unmistakable message from the pulpit.

Then, after a week in Tila, we were sailing down the mountain roads again, four hours starting in the dark mists of pre-dawn, under the guidance of the fast stop & go parish chauffeur towards Villahermosa, Tabasco and our airplane home. This time I rode in the back bed of the large pickup, open to the “cloudforest” elements. [Parts of this tropical/temperate high altitude area are an international nature reserve.] On the way up late at night, D.J. had been the open-air rider of these speedy switchback roads. One had to keep well down on the foam mats provided, to stay stable and to ward off chill from the high altitude breeze, a little cold even in this state at the southernmost border of Mexico, in June.

Two flights later, having regained U.S. soil at the airport hub in Atlanta, where we were subjected to an astonishing run-with-your-bags helter skelter customs process, we rested in a not-so-fast food restaurant, and briefly reviewed our time in Tila. Bridget, Cassie and D.J. concluded they’d been overwhelmed by crowds & language, sometimes bored, at times over-regulated by yours truly, and wished they’d been capable of acting on their own more independently. Yet they were glad to have taken this first step, gone to meet these people in this far away land, especially those befriended in the community of Jolja, and learned something of their way of life. Andrea and I were gratified we’d been able to help this happen, and hope that more connections like this, between first and third world young adults, can be arranged in the future--to nurture a faith that transcends borders, and trust in God who calls us all to be peacemakers. At the recommendation of Padre Heriberto, and by our own good intuition, this won’t again be during the busy days of Corpus Christi celebrations.

Prayer to Our Lord of Tila

Christ crucified, Lord of Tila,

In this blessed image, made new 300 years ago, you have shown to all those who come confidently to You, the merciful love of God the Father.

We give You thanks, and through You we give glory to the Heavenly Father, for all wondrous deeds realized and benefits received.

You who said, “Come to me all you who are tired and overburdened, and I will give you rest,” look upon us with kindness. As you already know our sufferings, and have invited us to ask confidently in your name for what we need, I ask you to hear me and grant my supplication…..{here add your petition}.

As you allow me only what is for my good, enlighten me to discover and know the benefits that your love has conferred on me, to understand sharing the anguish and sufferings of my brothers, and sisters, and all who work for your kingdom, struggling for truth, justice, and peace.

By Padre Heriberto Cruz Vera

Illumination by Kathy Brahney

INTO THE CLOUDFOREST--TILA--SANCTUARY OF TROUBLES & BLESSINGS

2011-06-20T10:03:00.001-04:00

Background on our history with Chiapas, from 2009 visit (first of two parts).

Tila in the mountain cloud cover--photo from bus on first visit 1998. We could not enter the town due to military checkpoints.

The crush of the crowds--pilgrims coming to make their yearly promises to Nuestro Senor de Tila--was exhausting parish staff. Pastor Padre Heriberto Cruz Vera and assistants were stretched to the limit meeting the needs of throngs of visitors, as this Chiapas Mexico mountaintop city of 7000 swelled to more than 30,000. Our mission group of five coming from Port Huron Michigan jumped in to lend a hand filling small bottles of olive oil that the faithful would use throughout the next year as a chrism of blessings back in their remote villages, and in the cities of the neighboring state of Tabasco.

Small part of the processions, from an earlier visit.

After a couple of days of this, all holy oil had been distributed and our little team was trying to decide what to do next. We certainly hadn’t made much of a dent in the whirlwind of responsibilities surrounding us. Everybody else in the parish was so busy, and while I, who’ve worked 30 years as a Physician Assistant, was slated to help in the clinic, the rest of us didn’t have enough Spanish to hold many independent conversations. We went to the celebration of mass, but it was physically very difficult to find any place to wedge into the packed church, and that with three to five masses per day. So my wife Andrea, daughter Bridget, and two young adult friends Cassie and D.J. {sister & brother} decided to fill some down hours by playing a good old Michigan card game--euchre.

When they asked for playing cards they were met with blank stares, and “no hay,” “there are none.” So, not to be deterred, they found a deck at the local merchants—different Mexican numbers / markings, but they managed. Though it was satisfying to them to have something social to do in the midst of this huge congregation of people speaking two foreign languages, Spanish and indigenous Chol, it made me nervous to see them around the table. I knew it would be a provocation to the frenetic activity and goal directed temperament of our host Padre Heriberto.

At rural village, child in arms treated for severe chronic epilepsy, with medicine from Port Huron Hospital--Padre Heriberto at center.

And as soon as the high feast day of Corpus Christi had passed, he cornered me alone at the kitchen table, and demanded, “It’s a question of purpose, what will be the purpose?” I’d told him in the midst of the hectic first days of our trip, that I thought it most important that we spend time out in the more rural communities. He was testing that idea, and my response was-- a clinic that I’d hold for a couple of days bringing some medicines, and for my companions, sharing for a short time the life close to the land, very distant from our own but respected. He, having known me for ten years, accepted my closing argument—we are not tourists. His closer was, “I can’t stand to see people playing cards. Go. Go.” So the next day we crammed into a compact taxi with Rogelio, a lay parish assistant, who’d helped manage our holy oil efforts, to travel up the mountain roads to Jolja, guests of his family and community. More on this journey later.

This was the first time in six visits, during ten years of trips to Chiapas that I’d been in Tila for the celebration of Corpus Christi, June 11 this year, always on a Thursday. Many masses a day, a novena of days, the church bursting with thousands of worshipers and lines encircling the inside walls of the parish enclosure many times, and people standing moving slowly along night and day. This movement was accompanied by an almost constant powerful broadcast of mariachi music, hymns, preaching, and praying, from the church loud speakers out across the town.

I’d been in big crowds for the parish feast day of Nuestro Senor de Tila on January 15^th before, but this Corpus Christi was flooding the town with people. An inundation starting nine days before, reaching high water at the Thursday procession and vigil mass and slowly ebbing an octave of days later. Six priests, including the visiting Archbishop Arizmendi at the zenith, were busy many hours straight hearing the people’s confessions. A never ending stream of pilgrims passed up long stairs behind and above the altar inside the church, to touch the legs of the miraculous crucifix—an ebony black Jesus with dreadlock hair.

These lines circling the hilltop sanctuary leading to Jesus—with their promised prayer requests honored to last a year—have been treading their determined holy pace for 300 years. The sanctuary’s fame began with a sadly neglected church crucifix at Tila made miraculously new, overnight, in 1693. Healings increased the faith attributed to Nuestro Senor de Tila. Faith and courage sustained the indigenous Chol communities in this area through centuries of exploitation by large landowners. The title of their land was taken by outsiders who then made the Chol people work as servants and peasants on what had been their own.

But their belief in their own dignity and way of life continued, nourished by a faith in Jesus united with ancient Mayan tradition. The church was under siege in the state of Tabasco, as in other regions of Mexico. To be a Catholic then was to face prison and death.

Novel based on events of that time

The church had not always been the friend of the poor indigenous in early colonial days, but it again offered support—the preferential option for the poor—when there was much aggression against them in all of Central America from the 1960’s on. The Latin American bishops met in Medellin proclaiming words of hope. Chiapas and the diocese of San Cristobal became [with Bishop Samuel Ruiz’ presence] a major center of relief and welcome for refugees from the violence, much of it spilling over the border from civil war in Guatemala. Many courageous priests and nuns went out into remote areas to accompany and minister to the needs of the people. One of these was, and still remains, Padre Heriberto Cruz Vera.

Bishop Samuel Ruiz: November 3, 1924 -- January 24, 2011

Together with the local communities they started coffee cooperatives [before the term fair-trade coffee was coined] to try to win a more just share of earnings for the peasant workers. When the Zapatistas rose up in rebellion January 1, 2004 on the day of enactment against unfair aspects of the North American Free Trade Agreement, which would take the little communal land they had left, the diocese of San Cristobal called for justice, indigenous rights, and a negotiated settlement. Again the repression was cruel. One half of the Mexican army was sent to be garrisoned in this one of 29 Mexican states. Troops were stationed in small villages across Chiapas. The town of Tila, population 7000, merited three military encampments—two out on the main road at either entrance to the city, and one taking up the courthouse plaza, stationed directly across from the church’s front doors.

Family at clinic--with cards giving pertinent Chol-Spanish translations taped to wall.

When I first went to work in the small church clinic, El Dispensario Chol, for three weeks in January 1999, San Mateo’s staff didn’t want me going outside the church area’s gates for fear I’d walk into the arms of the soldiers, and be arrested. Their town was in a restricted area in Chiapas since the Zapatista rebellion, those three weeks in January 1994, when 40 towns had been taken over by the peasant revolutionaries, who then receded back into the countryside, with the onslaught of a massive military presence. In an unfortunate and unpublicized way, the U.S. made the Mexican military response over the ensuing years more brutal, providing 70 helicopter gunships and special-forces tactical training.

In another part of Chiapas near San Cristobal, diocesan center, troops and village women struggle for the land they live on. 1998 photo by Pedro Valtierra

I first came to know of Tila in the mountains of the Zona Norte, when our Michigan Peace Team had traveled with the buses from the Chol region in a caravan of 29 buses from Chiapas, on pilgrimage to the shrine of La Virgen de Guadalupe in Mexico City 500 miles away, and back. The year was 1998. In another part of the diocese, Totzil indigenous Catholic men, women and children had been massacred by government supported paramilitaries. There was some threat of further violence so our MPT group of four accompanied them on their journey of prayer and supplication. We stopped in all the large cities on the way to the Basilica of La Virgen.

here were chants of “No estan solos,” [You are not alone] greeting the indigenous pilgrims, masses celebrated open air and late into the night, with cries of lamentation, and songs in many tongues at once. It was uplifting and tragic. Padre Heriberto was in charge of our bus. We weathered some misunderstandings together. Our group met the people of Tila on a long and bumpy bus ride. The army and its restrictions on foreigners made it impossible for us to cross down into Tila when we pulled up outside of town accompanying them back deep into Chiapas, so we said our goodbyes on the perimeter road near the garrison’s barbed wire.

With time and the invitation of the parish of San Mateo [the only parish for the whole municipio=county, of Tila], we penetrated the garrisoned barriers. Fr. Peter Dougherty and Fr. Fred Thelan have returned to say mass in mountain communities where a priest only comes once a year if that. Fr. Fred established an ongoing sister parish relationship between his Lansing, Michigan Cristo Rey parish and San Mateo. I have worked in their clinics five different times since.

Part two to follow next week.

Illumination by Kathy Brahney

VAMOS A CHIAPAS--OTRA VEZ

2011-06-12T22:06:00.000-04:00

Pentecost, June 12, 2011
Today an announcement.

Once again this July 12 to 20^th our faith community in Port Huron makes the connection with Tila, Chiapas, Mexico. Since 1998 this will be the seventh trip up to this mountain Cloudforest area of indigenous Chol people and their parish church San Mateo which stretches from its center in the town of 7000,Tila, out into numerous remote villages, many reachable only by footpath.

An effort is being made this time to establish a week-long Spanish course to give focus to our outside visitors as they learn of these people’s way of life. They are bi-lingual speaking from Chol to Spanish, and we can interface with better Spanish from English. A teacher and coach from the Port Huron area, George Moger will help start this project. We hope that others will follow, including seminary students from the Detroit diocese who would become involved in the pastoral ministry of the San Mateo team, learning from their faith, distant culturally and financially from ours, yet deeply interconnected. I will spend time in the parish clinic, Dispensario Chol, and we hope to hold medical clinics in villages also, as before.

San Mateo parish team & vistors from Port Huron, June 2010, Padre Heriberto Cruz Vera at center.

Padre Heriberto Cruz Vera, pastor of San Mateo parish, has been celebrant for these faith communities for 20 years now. They have encountered many problems of poverty, land grabs, injustice and violence. But they have established medical clinics, coffee cooperatives, and built neighborhood chapels. Paths of reconciliation and justice continue to emerge from their struggles. The traditions and beliefs that sustain them, come from their Catholic faith, cultural roots deep from their Mayan ancestry, the miraculous crucifix of Nuestro Senor de Tila in its sanctuary of yearly pilgrimages, and their village life, moving with the seasons of the year, guided by well-prepared catechists.

Rogelio of Jolja with his village and small chapel/community center in valley below [he's also seen in above photo on far left]

May the Lord bless us from Port Huron to Tila with a good trip, and an increase in understanding of God’s plan for both rich and poor. Please keep us all in your prayers, and consider any contribution you might make, and perhaps making such a journey in the future. Si Dios quiere—Lord willing.

Pentecost by El Greco

POST JAPAN'S NUCLEAR PLANT DISASTER--POWER STILL BLOWIN' IN THE WIND

2011-06-06T10:01:00.000-04:00

3-17-2011---Kamisu Wind Farm 300 km from earthquake epicenter-- photo by Wind Power Ibaraki

In the aftermath of the Fukushima nuclear power plant disaster, with multiple meltdowns and radiation releases, there is little mention of the resilience of Japanese wind power. A major installation at Kamisu is on the same coast as the reactors, but withstood earthquake and tsunami with no apparent damage. According to an official of the Japan Wind Power Association, “...there has been no wind facility damage reported by any association members, from either the earthquake or the tsunami. Even the Kamisu semi-offshore wind farm, located about 300km from the epicenter of the quake, survived. Its anti-earthquake "battle proof design" came through with flying colors.” 1

The failsafes designed for General Electric’s Fukushima reactors failed. This was anticipated by some; at least four GE engineers had quit over their reactor vessel safety concerns [see references below]. GE did some retrofitting—but still lost tragically in its bid to “bring good things to light.” There are 23 nuclear power plants with these defects now operating in the United States. 2

Wind power has its problems, but miniscule compared with nuclear, and in Japan total wind power provides 1/2 of of the 4600 megawatts that Fukushima had been able to produce. Still that's only 5% of Japan's total megawatts from nuclear, so much more alternative power will be needed if they decide to eliminate nuclear plants altogether. Post disaster the Japanese government asked wind power companies to quickly come back on, as transmission lines were reestablished, to help mitigate the nuclear facilities disaster. 3-17-2011—Kagoshima Wind Farm in Japan—photo by Rjzii

Truly renewable environmentally friendly energy is the world’s ongoing quest. Part of the answer, is blowin’ in the wind. The U.S. has much to contribute to the green effort, if it can renounce its oil resource dependency wars. Our great lake and rivers St. Clair County can help in this conversion--one that technologically and spiritually befriends the earth. We are all called to be caretakers in God’s creation.

photo from St. Luke's Church, Diocese of York England webpage

1 http://www.huffingtonpost.com/kelly-rigg/battleproof-wind-farms-su_b_837172.html

2 http://openchannel.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2011/03/13/6256121-general-electric-designed-reactors-in-fukushima-have-23-sisters-in-us

Good resources on Fukusima nuclear disaster.

Best technical description---U of T, Anatomy of a (partial) meltdown- Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=web&cd=7&ved=0CFEQFjAG&url=http%3A%2F%2Fptolemy.ph.utexas.edu%2FTalks%2FOrbachR.pdf&ei=3uXrTYC8C8e5tgfImaytAQ&usg=AFQjCNEgkyGj7RiUlG6REjF-0zoruapRlQ&sig2=0Wvcd3a4tadrfM-dQHgWPg

U.S. Was Warned on Vents Before Failure at Japan’s Plant
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/05/19/science/earth/19nuke.html?ref=world

Fukushima Mark 1 Nuclear Reactor Design Caused GE Scientist To Quit In Protest - ABC News
http://abcnews.go.com/Blotter/fukushima-mark-nuclear-reactor-design-caused-ge-scientist/story?id=13141287

REMEMBER--THE DARKNESS OF WAR IN THE LIGHT OF OUR FAITH

2011-05-30T08:26:00.000-04:00

As we look back this Memorial Day, and commemorate the grave results of all our past wars, the sacrifices made by our soldiers, we should remember also sacrifices imposed on the enemies, and suffered by families of all involved, on either sides of conflicts. A website dealing with the history of Memorial Day, or Decoration Day, and the different traditions North and South post Civil War says it well. “…Memorial Day is not about division. It is about reconciliation; it is about coming together to honor those who gave their all.” 1 A national Memorial Day was given official proclamation in 1868. Now it’s time to examine deeply the darkness of war in the light of our faith.

A Lantern Floating ceremony at Ala Moana Beach Park, Hawaii every Memorial Day

When I first began to think about what war might mean in my life, just graduating from high school in 1965, it seemed pretty remote, even though Vietnam was beginning to make some media rumblings. Off to Sacred Heart Seminary for first year college, the world and my church were experiencing exciting challenging times. The latter part of high school I’d been regularly following Newsweek, Africa turning from colonies into nation states. That summer I’d read Martin Buber’s “I and Thou.” Now the documents of Vatican II were introduced to us in seminary classes.

War was still a distant horizon, but for some reason I chose the Peter Paul & Mary version of “Where Have All the Flowers Gone” as my tryout song for the Skola, seminary choir. Knowing it by heart, and being simple to perform made it come to mind, but its words from then to now, many wars later, are to me a compelling tragic reminder of war’s relentless human cost. Sentimental in tone--at its heart a powerful almost ecological insight.
Lyrics summary: Where have all the flowers gone. Young girls have picked them. Young girls gone to husbands. Husbands gone to soldiers. Soldiers gone to graveyards. Graveyards gone to flowers. Young girls have picked them {again}. Refrain—When will they ever learn [2X].

The problem gradually began to take hold of me in young adulthood--our whole society, and societies around the world, are not learning to reject the destructive hell that is war. We all believe that at some or many levels we need and must accept its protection. It’s not just soldiers and young girls, but all of us, entire economies that are bent towards the directives of war. We trust in war, before God, as a necessary evil. This violates the First Commandment.

Then I learned the realities of war from returning Vietnam vets, scouring news reports, reading I. F. Stone’ Weekly [product of a Jewish journalist adept at criticizing the powers that be], and from the preaching and prayer of Catholic priest friends.

Leaving the seminary I lived and worked in farm labor camps during summers, finished college at MSU, and became a conscientious objector to all wars. Experience living with the poor, and reading the Bible carefully, cover to cover, helped form my opinion. Yet it was the devout faith passed down from parents and church that convinced me. “Love your enemy, pray for those that persecute you,” gives no license to kill them, even when you think you’ve good reason to.

Blessed is the man who trusts in the Lord, whose hope is the Lord. He is like a tree planted beside the waters, that stretches out its roots to the stream. Jer 17: 7-8

Jesus was very agonistic, argumentative, powerful in word and spirit, as he confronted evil, but He never justified violence against persons, never called for followers to take up arms for worldly or heavenly kingdom. His kingdom and our salvation were won by dying on a cross, not by killing. [More on this in weeks to come.]

It is very difficult for any of us to live this way commanded by Jesus--complete trust in God. And many of my Christian friends disagree fundamentally with a belief that is not ready to fight lethally to defend home and country. My wife and I in contrast have this belief, but at this point, are paying taxes that sustain our massive infrastructure of death dealing weaponry. We all depend on the grace of an all-merciful, all-loving God. We can all call out with the apostle, “Lord I believe, help my unbelief.” The deaths of the many courageous before us, in war and against war, can best be honored by choosing life, undeniable right to life for all, friend or foe, born or unborn.
Memorial Day Prayer

In the quiet sanctuaries of our own hearts,
let us call on the name of the One whose power over us
is great and gentle, firm and forgiving, holy and healing…

You who created us,
who sustain us,
who call us to live in peace,
hear our prayer this day.

Hear our prayer for all who have died,
whose hearts and hopes are known to you alone…

Hear our prayer for those who put the welfare of others
ahead of their own:
give us hearts as generous as theirs…

Hear our prayer for those who gave their lives
in the service of others,
and accept the gift of their sacrifice…

Help us to shape and make a world
where we will put down the arms of war
and live in the harvest of justice and peace…

Comfort those who grieve the loss of their loved ones:
in our hearts let your healing be our hope.

Hear our prayer this day
and in your mercy answer us
in the name of all that is holy.

Amen.

By Fr. Austin Fleming, Concord, MA -- http://concordpastor.blogspot.com/

Illumination "Beatus Vir" by Kathy Brahney

1 http://www.usmemorialday.org/backgrnd.html

OUT OF NAKBA {CATASTROPHE} COMES MYSTIFYING NONVIOLENT CLAIM FOR JUSTCE

2011-05-23T10:27:00.000-04:00

Palestinians breached the Israeli-Syrian border on Sunday near Majdal Shams--Troops fired on the crowd, killing four people—Photo by Jalaa Marey/JINI, via Getty Images

The media shudders as the Middle East moves towards nonviolence, searching for justice of its own creation. May 15th articles reacting to simultaneous protests at Israel’s multiple borders tried to assess the situation. This was a new type of Palestinian annual commemoration of Nakba, --the loss by over a million, of their homes in the war that formed Israel 63 years ago. Slate’s title typifies the implied fear. “15 Killed in Clashes at Israeli Borders Could the violence be a sign that the wave of protests sweeping the Arab world are ready to turn on Israel?” 1

But the protestors, as has been true with almost all these “Arab Spring” uprisings [with exception of Lybia’s] have been by-and-large nonviolent. The authorities do the killing. The media is uncomfortable with this nonviolent movement of the people. They favor insurgencies bristling with suicide bombers and fanatical fighters. Witness all the attention on these certain elements in Lybia, Iraq, Afghanistan.

May 15 2011--An undercover Israeli policeman opens a car door after detaining a protester in the West Bank on Sunday--Reuters

In the May 15th accounts, when the Palestinians from the various border countries tried to cross over, flags only in hand, back to the lands over a million of them had been forced out of and fled in 1948, they were met with force; the bullets, whether from Lebanese, Israeli Defense Force, or other police forces’ is uncertain, but no claim is made that Palestinians fired on Israelis, or even had guns. Climbing over and breaching border walls, is unruly, [and was praised by President Reagan in the case of East & West Berlin], but is not violence. All the dead at these protests on Israel’s contorted boundaries were protesters.
Photo by Larry Towell----GAZA STRIP-Rafah Refugee Camp- October 2003- A young man killed in Rafah during the Israeli army's October incursion is buried in the local cemetery.Demonstrators carry a fallen comrade during a march on the Lebanese border with Israel--15 May 2011 Photo by Hassan Bahsoun / Newscom

This nonviolence has been a growing movement, in the West Bank, Gaza strip, Golan Heights, joining with all Israel’s border states, more distant neighbors such as Tunisia and Bahrain, and within Israel itself. Palestinians want recognition of their right to a state, for many to return into, and they are renouncing violence, and recognizing Israel, as a way to really achieve this. Many Israelis agree that this is the way it should be. There is still much hatred and mistrust on both sides. But there have been many working to overcome the divide. A short list that can be googled, explored, and in ways of prayer & action supported, follows:
Abdullah Abu Rahmeh, Juliano Mer Khamis , Rabbis for Human Rights, Palestinian-Israeli Peace NGO Forum, Seeds of Peace, Jewish Voice for Peace, Interfaith Peace Builders, Peace Now, International Solidarity Movement, and Michigan Peace Teams.
The stumbling block has been named. Catholic Bishops meeting at the Vatican from across the Middle East on Oct 22, 2010 urged Israel to end its occupation of Palestinian territories, which could not be justified by Scripture, so that a two-state solution could be found swiftly.

Israel’s leader Netanyahu criticized the May 15th protests thus, “The leaders of these violent demonstrations, their struggle is not over the 1967 borders but over the very existence of Israel, which they describe as a catastrophe that must be resolved.” 2 He misconstrues what happened that day, and the message sent. He reacts very negatively to President Obama’s 5-19-11 call to reinstall those 1967 borders, to give real definition to a Palestinian state. But this, or some other difficult practical compromise, formed by the two parties, is vital to Israeli-Palestinian peace. To reinforce this negativity, the Israeli government announced the planned build of 1600 new Jewish housing units in disputed East Jerusalem, the same day as Obama’s speech.
Israel exists. Palestine exists. Both must put away attack helicopters & Uzis, slingshots & suicide bombs to live a just, right relationship. The U.S. and all other nations must renounce the weapons they contribute to, and the profits they extract from, the Arab-Israeli conflict. The people of the Holy Land can build the peace envisioned by their prophets, if the profiteers of violence can be banished, or made to see the light.
Photo by Larry Towell---WEST BANK Jerusalem 2004. A Palestinian man runs through an opening in the wall where the last eight meter high concrete slab seal is to be set in place.

1 http://slatest.slate.com/posts/2011/05/15/israeli_border_clashes_violence_troops_open_fire_on_palestinian_.html

2 http://www.nytimes.com/2011/05/16/world/middleeast/16mideast.html?_r=1&ref=world

Unattributed B&W photo by Larry Towell, Feb. 2003

SANDY QUINTANO OF PORT HURON WAS RECENTLY INJURED IN THE WEST BANK, TWO BROKEN WRISTS, IN NONVIOLENT PROTEST SUPPORTING PALESTINIANS WHO'S HOMES WERE THREATENED WITH DEMOLISHMENT. SHE IS BACK IN PORT HURON HEALING NOW. PLEASE PRAY FOR YOU, AND IF YOU'RE IN OUR NEIGHBORHOOD, CONSIDER VISITING HER, HEARING HER STORY.

TROUBLED BRIDGES OVER BEAUTIFUL WATERS—LOOK TO THE FUTURE

2011-05-15T21:20:00.000-04:00

We now see the beginnings of a long heralded bridge & plaza constructions project in Port Huron. A nine lane bridge on the Black River will replace the current dilapidated four lanes. Unfortunately the traffic projected up when the planning started in the late 90’s, has instead plummeted, due to an economy driven down by bank, mortgage, and war fraud, so it’s uncertain we’ll need so many new lanes. But at least something is being done.

Yet judgment is still suspended. Does this bridge construction benefit local jobs in any way? A local talkline caller [R-Mac, 5-10-11] to the Times Herald complains he’s a qualified worker, applied to all companies involved, and been denied. So who’s getting the jobs? What percentages of the contracts and wages are going to any county companies or workers? Investigative reporting is needed.
The huge overwrought Bridge Plaza plan has evaporated. Again, lack of funds, but also common sense is taking hold. There may be some additional space taken for truck inspections {blue area}, but the whole new array of “outbound inspection booths” disappeared {was going to go into the green area}, and the heavy hand of national Homeland Security bureaucrats is loosening its grip. Maybe there will be more consideration for our real local needs.

s of now we’re left with a whole neighborhood, 125 homes & 16 businesses, 30 acres demolished, with no real need now for all that space {the green area}. The tax base lost to Port Huron at this juncture is at least $137,546 per year [estimate in 1-3-11 email from Matt Webb MDOT project director]. What further property is still on the tax base chopping block remains to be seen [a $500,000 tax base loss was originally forecast]. Rep. Candice Miller {of both Homeland Security, and Transportation committees} who was instrumental in bringing this albatross upon us, tried to mitigate this past January, requesting from MDOT that it would only be fair, to sell the abandoned land back to port Huron for $1. Maybe we could turn it into a nice park? Right next to a nine lane bridge. An obsession with manufacturing a mammoth-sized national security has left us locals less secure.

To truly represent us at this point, Rep. Miller should expedite acceptance and installation of the seven extra inspections booths that in April were reportedly offered our Blue Water Bridge Plaza, for free, from our neighbors in Canadian Customs. This should be happening now--as summer traffic backups approach. Then our representative should insure that all 20 booths are fully staffed to meet their needs. This would be proper use of her Homeland Security clout. Less transient plum construction contracts, more permanent secure local jobs.

And what should we the people of Port Huron be hoping for next, envisioning a turnaround economy? Proposals for casinos, aquariums, a "portplex" center of marine & trucking customs & commerce, and renewed tourism efforts have been on the table for years. Perhaps they will mature, but they can only be sidelines, as they focus on people passing through. What better hope for the future than developing SC4 into a four year university [as Jeff Hedberg proposed in a column almost 2 years ago] Lake Huron University? Make it a world class institution focused on producing the new ecology of earth responsible energy.

Acheson Technology Center-------------------------- Toronto Hydro Windmills

Nature provides us unexcelled water and wind resources, solar to a less extent. Lake Huron University could draw talent from all over the nation, and be developing our own, as we further create the windmill and hydro- in- river systems, battery and energy distribution systems which have already begun in Thumb, great lake and river. These professors and students would live here, and transpose learning, into gainful activity for the whole community.

Wind turbines--Ubly, MI

This university would go beyond the science, to the best management and practical production methods, moving from prototypes, to developing the manufacturing of these energy devices right here. To make this happen there are many political problems to solve. Let’s get busy. Candice Miller and friends, here’s something worth helping deliver to your constituents.

We have the manufacturing history and ingenuity that made independent auto transportation possible, and tuned on light bulbs around the planet. Why not fully develop our local capacity for creating energy independence? It’s time to stop watching windmill parts pass us by on internationally flagged freighters. We should be shipping these, and many more new energy machines, from our port to the rest of the world.

Illumination by Kathy Brahney

Click on any image to enlarge.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Words that give hope for a world that builds the infrastructure of peace, instead of the monstrosities of war.

"Above all we want to make the voice of Jesus heard. He was always a man of peace. It could be expected that, when God came to earth, he would be a man of great power, destroying the opposing forces. That he would be a man of powerful violence as an instrument of peace. Not at all. He came in weakness. He came with only the strength of love, totally without violence, even to the point of going to the Cross. This is what shows us the true face of God, that violence never comes from God, never helps bring anything good, but is a destructive means and not the path to escape difficulties. He is thus a strong voice against every type of violence. He strongly invites all sides to renounce violence, even if they feel they are right. The only path is to renounce violence, to begin anew with dialogue, with the attempt to find peace together, with a new concern for one another, a new willingness to be open to one another. This is Jesus’ true message: seek peace with the means of peace and leave violence aside."
—Pope Benedict XVI, Good Friday, 2011

A SPECK IS REMOVED IN PAKISTAN—WHAT OF THE PLANK REMAINING IN THE USA?

2011-05-02T15:03:00.000-04:00

Today’s Port Huron Times Herald features an extremely rare front page world news headline [most now are local, or reverberate national war declarations]. “Bin Laden Dead.” Celebrants from all parties surround the White House into the early morning. The mastermind of 911 is dead. Our man in Afghanistan, who helped us defeat the Soviets in that theater of the Cold War, is dead-- three decades later successfully killed by U.S. CIA. special forces across the border in Pakistan. 1

ut the War on Terror is not dead, we are quickly reminded by pundits, the President, and members of Congress. Al Qaeda lives, and will probably retaliate. Bin Laden has achieved in the eyes of many of our enemies, the martyr's death. It will fertilize their fanaticism and confirm their conviction that justice is done by inflicting extra-juridical death sentences. He was killed by a “headshot.” This is the method the U.S. has adopted over the past ten years, and Al Qaeda believes in the same. “Take-no-prisoners” war lives on undiminished, by mutual agreement. We could not have tolerated the trial of a captured Bin Laden, in which the history of consensual war crimes dating back to the 1980’s [when he was our freedom fighter in Afghanistan] would be publicized.

The collateral killing of the innocent is also accepted by mutual agreement. President Obama in his statement late yesterday named Bin Laden a “mass murderer of Muslims” [in addition to U.S. citizens on 911], apparently referring to his routine suicide bombings which target U.S. forces, and Muslim collaborators along with innocent Muslim bystanders. More innocents, especially as we took the sidetrack invasion of Iraq, have died, in the hundreds of thousands, as a result of our firepower and caught in the crossfire with insurgents. 2 Our rules of engagement have ordered that 30 collateral lives are expendable in the effort to target one on our wanted list. 3

Will this help us end these wars? This joint eye for an eye justice enterprise. We cut off the monster's head in Iraq [Saddam hanged 12-30-06]. That war then surged and rages to this day, only to be eclipsed by the current Afghan / Pakistan escalation. As our troops stormed towards Bin Laden’s execution, a probable U.S. missile had just hit a Qaddafi compound in Lybia, reportedly killing his son, and three grandchildren, ages four, two and one. 4

A mother, Alisha Qaddafi, of one of them four days before.
Qaddafi Daughter Provides a Glimpse Inside the Bunker – For story see
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/04/27/world/africa/27aisha.html?_r=2&ref=global-home

These successful attacks all occur a day after a royal wedding, which was not upstaged by Bin Laden’s death, nor vice versa. This is the way official England explained the Lybia event. Prime Minister David Cameron of Britain told the BBC that the airstrike fell within the [UN] Security Council mandate to stop a “loss of civilian life by targeting Qaddafi’s war-making machine.” 5 Perhaps grandkids are construed part of the war-making machine in today’s world, where violating the fifth commandment has become routine business.

Our nation which has most institutionalized war, more or as much as any from Roman empire or German state before, must stop leading in this path of vengeance and hyper-militarized international confrontation. This is not what democracy looks like, whatever the transient positive results. My prayer is, as it was at mass today, “Lord may we truly end these wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, and especially, may we end the war in our hearts.”

In sum: Jesus’ way to take out the enemy. “`Vengeance is mine; I will repay,’ says the Lord.” But ”if your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty , give him something to drink; by doing this you will heap burning coals upon his head.” Do not be conquered by evil but conquer evil with good. Rom 12:19-21 These can be the burning coals, of repentance and conversion, that bring blessing to all warring parties.

1 http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704569404576298063240517794.html?mod=ITP_pageone_0

2 http://mit.edu/humancostiraq/

3 http://www.thisamericanlife.org/radio-archives/episode/300/whats-in-a-number
Act 2 -- is interview with Pentagon targeting expert giving innocents ratio. Whole episode well worth listening to.

4 http://www.nytimes.com/2011/05/02/world/africa/02libya.html?ref=world
Unfortunately the last third of this article was redacted by NYT online from the original by this afternoon. I include the final paragraph of original saved in the am below—contact me if you’d like full article.
Two friends of the Qaddafi family said that the victims included the 4-year-old daughter of Colonel Qaddafi’s daughter, Aisha el-Qaddafi, 36; a 1-year old son of Mohammed el-Qaddafi, the colonel’s eldest son; and a 2-year-old whose father is Hannibal el-Qaddafi, though it was unclear if it was his son or his daughter. The funerals for the victims would be held on Monday, the friends said.

5 http://www.nytimes.com/2011/05/02/world/africa/02libya.html?ref=world

Illuminations by Kathy Brahney