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

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

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

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

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

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

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}

"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.