Washington Nobodies

Just a brief note, a comment or two on the denizens of Washington, D.C., specifically members of Congress and the media. 

The vast majority of these people have never had to run a business or be responsible for the successful operation of an organization staffed by other human beings. In other words, they’ve never had to manage anything of any consequence, to lead people in pursuit of a common goal, to have to deal with the results of their actions, and to accept responsibility for achieving success (e.g., making a profit). Of course, some have done these things, and done them well, but too many don’t realize that Calvin Coolidge spoke the truth a century ago: “The chief business of the American people is business.”  

As for our members of Congress, We elect lawyers and bean-counters and small-time politicians and turn them into big-time politicians. And because they are paid very well indeed, are smothered with perks galore, and can apparently add substantially to their net worth through “timely” investments, they focus most of their energy on ensuring their reelection. The rule, “Follow the money!”, sadly applies far too often. 

As for the media, too many citizens believe the mainstream media are motivated solely by political or ideological beliefs. You hear it all the time: “The leftist media distort the news and despise the people.” There’s likely a grain of truth in this, because liberals tend to hire in their own image, preferring to keep the organization “pure.” But that’s not their prime motivator. You might not want to believe this, but I don’t care. Over the years, I’ve dealt with media folks at all levels. Most are wonderful, especially the local media. But the others, particularly the big-time media, are among the most self-absorbed people I have ever met. They seek only the approval of their peers, and are so locked into their “stories” they cannot admit that they were either mistaken or, more likely, simply lied. Why do they lie? Because they are all worker bees in the same hive and cannot jeopardize their bond with their peers. Moreover to confess the truth would force them to admit they are living a lie, that their work essentially means nothing. 

Most politicians and media types, then, lack a basic understanding of how things work in a society that survives only by the success of its free markets. Too many today are convinced that government is the source of all societal good, a belief that is essentially Marxist. Of course, most don’t realize they espouse Marxist ideology because they are too ignorant and too thoroughly brainwashed to understand the roots of their convictions.

So, I suggest that you listen cautiously to whatever politicians say and pay far more attention to what they do, how they vote. As for the media, I tend to ignore the mainstream and go right to the source. That’s the nice thing about communication today: the internet gives us access to original sources, so we can see exactly what they say and do. Don’t pay much attention to the “somebodies” because most are just nobodies,

More important, though, pray for our Church and for our country, asking God to shed His blessings on both in abundance. We certainly need it.

Overcoming Hatred and Evil

"There will be peace in the Middle East only when the Arabs love their children more than they hate Israel.” ~ Golda Meir

Have you been listening to the ongoing controversy about the attack on the Gaza hospital? If you haven't, you must be stranded on a desert island awaiting rescue. Apparently, according to Hamas (a collection of rapists, torturers, and murderers of women and children), as well as every Islamic nation, and most Western media, Israeli aircraft bombed a Gaza hospital and killed hundreds of patients and medical personnel. Did the mainstream media question this assertion by Hamas, an organization whose leaders cannot open their mouths without lying? Did they tell us they were investigating these claims to see if they were true? No, they simply accepted them as true. But then Israel stated it has extremely convincing evidence that the catastrophe at the hospital resulted from an errant missile fired by Islamist terrorists supporting Hamas. Our own intelligence agencies have confirmed the same. And, believe me, anyone who knows anything about the effects of bombing know full well the damage was not the result of a bomb dropped by an aircraft. This has been generally ignored by all the usual suspects who, as expected, accept the word of baby killers and rapists over the that of the Israeli government and our intelligence agencies. One underlying belief that motivates all those accusing Israel, or just blindly accepting the Hamas lies, is what we like to call anti-Semitism, which I will translate into the far more descriptive, “hatred of Jews,” especially those who live in Israel.

Of course, our president, while declaring his full support for Israel, just can’t bring himself to mention the nasty elephant in the room: the terrorist Islamic Republic of Iran. Addressing the states that support Hamas and hate Israel, which presumably includes Iran, he tells them all not to do anything rash by saying, “Don’t. Don’t. Don’t.” What exactly does that mean? If our enemies don’t know, they will logically assume we don’t either. The president’s words are certainly no real threat to those who plan to do Israel and us real harm. How much more effective it would be if President Biden simply told them bluntly that by joining in this conflict, they might well precipitate World War III. To prevent this we would be forced to attack them in their homelands, destroying their military and industrial infrastructures. It would seem, however, the administration will continue to deal with our enemies as if they were rational beings. But that is not the case. Hamas, Hezbollah, Iran, and too many others are zealots who have no problem sacrificing their own people for their quasi-religious cause. Life and death mean little to those driven solely by their hateful ideology. These are not easy people to deal with, but one thing we know: they respect power only when believe it will be used against them.

The next few months should be very interesting. Sadly, Hamas is run and staffed by vicious people so there’s little chance they will change without God’s help. This is true also of Hezbollah, Iran, and far too many others blinded by sheer hatred. Continued peace for Israel will likely require a lengthy and challenging effort to destroy the war-making capability of Hamas and remove it from power in Gaza. There is much our nation can do to lessen the threat to Israel, and the greater threat to Western civilization. I’m just not very confident our current political leadership has the courage and the will to do what must be done. We pray for peace, but for continuing peace. Pray, too, for the conversion of all who despise the Lord and His people. After all, with God, all things are possible.

 

Firearms: What the Mainstream Won’t Tell You

If I’ve discovered one thing in the past few years it’s that the media has become totally politicized — left, right, and in-between. How does this affect reporting? Quite simply, far too many in the media tell lies, lots of lies. I’m not talking about different points of view arising from political beliefs. No, the motives are far deeper. These folks are supposedly professional journalists who can and should suppress their personal beliefs to report the truth, or at least a reasonably close version of the truth. They have direct access to the truth because they have access to original sources. But they either distort the truth or completely ignore it because their ideology demands it. 

The left, of course, are more likely to distort because they are true ideologues. I suppose they can’t help themselves. But there are others, even some on the political right who distort because…well, it’s so easy to do so. These include the so-called fiscal conservatives along with many libertarians, who are driven solely by a kind of conservatism that lacks any moral foundation. Their only real concern is economic growth. Now, economic growth is a good thing because it ensures growth in jobs, wages, business expansion — all good things. But when growth is sought as a desired end and virtually any means are considered acceptable to achieve it, we find major corporations happy to do business with oppressive, corrupt nations like Communist China, Cuba, Saudi Arabia, to name just a few. The U.S. Chamber of Commerce, an organization that does the bidding of major corporations, is happy to encourage increases in low-wage immigration at the expense of American workers and ignores the real engines of growth, the small and mid-sized companies of America. 

If you avoid the mainstream media and search instead for original sources, you’ll uncover information that will likely alter your view of what’s actually true. Here are a few examples, all related to the current political effort to disarm American citizens and overturn the 2nd Amendment:

• Guess which number is larger: the number of children shot in Chicago during 2021 or the number of children who died of COVID in the entire country during 2021? The truth which, by the way, comes directly from the Center for Disease Control, a federal agency: 261 children were shot in Chicago so far this year, while 214 children died of COVID-19 in the entire United States during the same period. COVID, then, is far less dangerous to children (age 17 and under) than living in Chicago. If we counted the number of children shot throughout the entire country the difference would be far more dramatic. Oh, yes, these children and virtually everyone shot in Chicago was shot not by someone with a legally owned firearm, but by gang-bangers and other criminals who own guns obtained illegally. 

• We've also heard a lot lately about the dreaded AR-15, a style of rifle that has  become the most popular sporting rifle among gunowners in the US. I've actually heard some in the media state that the AR stands for "Assault Rifle" or "Automatic Rifle." Both are highly inaccurate. Those two letters actually stand for  ArmaLite Rifle. ArmaLite was the company back in the 1950s that first developed the rifle that evolved into the AR-15. The civilian versions, the kind you and I can buy if we like, are not assault weapons, primarily because they are not automatic weapons. They are instead semi-automatic, which means when you pull the trigger one round is fired. This is really no different from the double-action .38 caliber revolver or .45 semi-automatic pistol I used to carry when I flew in the Navy. There's an awful lot of misinformation in the news about AR-15s.

• OK, speaking of rifles, here's another question...Are more people killed by rifles or by knives? According to the FBI's Uniform Crime Report, far more people (3 1/2 times as many) were killed by knives than were killed by rifles. In 2020 a total of 454 people were killed by rifles, while 1,732 died as a result of stabbings or hackings by knives or other cutting instruments. If you add shotguns to the "rifle" numbers, the total rises to 657, still less than one-half the number killed by knives. And, even more interesting, over 600 people were killed by "fists, hands, and feet" during 2020. 

• Another guessing game — guess what percentage of new gun owners are women? Here’s the answer. Between January 2019 and April 2021, 7.5 million Americans became new gun owners, and 3.5 million of them were women. I’ll bet you won’t find that statistic in the mainstream media. But that’s not all you’ll never see. For example, while 55% of new gun owners were white, 21% were Black and 19% were Hispanic. To demonstrate the dramatic change, one that shows the impact of out-of-control crime, of the almost 20 million existing gun owners who bought firearms in 2019, 71% were male and 74% were white. In other words, women, Blacks, and Hispanics no longer trust our defunded and depleted police forces to defend them, but have decided to defend themselves from an out-of-control criminal element. 

• Okay, one more…Guess who killed more criminals during the commission of crimes, the police or private citizens who possessed legally owned firearms? According to the FBI’s Uniform Crime Report for 2020, armed private citizens killed more criminals during the commission of felonies than were killed by police. For a variety of reasons, this is to be expected. First, the police often don’t arrive until after the criminal has left the scene. Second, more Americans are now armed and will defend their lives and property from those who threaten them with violence. Of course, no sane person wants to use deadly force, but neither does he or she want to be wounded or murdered during a criminal attack. We all have the right to defend ourselves and those who depend on us to protect them, which is why political efforts to disarm law-abiding citizens are so wrong. Ironically, and hypocritically, legislators and others among the elites who scream so loudly for so-called “gun control” are most often surrounded by paid and well-armed bodyguards. Yes, indeed, what’s good for them must be denied to the rest of us.

As you can see, there's a lot of "fake news" and other disinformation in the media, especially when it comes to firearms. 

Yes, I’m a member of the clergy who follows Church teaching and believes individuals have the right to defend themselves and their families from the mayhem and increased criminality plaguing our nation. Here’s what the Catechism of the Catholic Church has to say:

Legitimate defense can be not only a right but a grave duty for one who is responsible for the lives of others. The defense of the common good requires that an unjust aggressor be rendered unable to cause harm. For this reason, those who legitimately hold authority also have the right to use arms to repel aggressors against the civil community entrusted to their responsibility [CCC 2265].

Although this applies to the defense of the community, it apples as well to the defense of the family. A husband and father, for example, has the right to protect his wife and children from harm, even if doing so demands the application of lethal force. The Catechism also includes the following:

Love toward oneself remains a fundamental principle of morality. Therefore it is legitimate to insist on respect for one’s own right to life. Someone who defends his life is not guilty of murder even if he is forced to deal his aggressor a lethal blow: If a man in self-defense uses more than necessary violence, it will be unlawful: whereas if he repels force with moderation, his defense will be lawful…Nor is it necessary for salvation that a man omit the act of moderate self-defense to avoid killing the other man, since one is bound to take more care of one’s own life than of another’s [CCC 2264].

Bye, Bye Intercollegiate Sports

For years I’ve been a voice crying in the wilderness, unheard by anyone who really cares. What have I been crying about? Intercollegiate athletics. I’ve long believed its time has passed. And it’s all because of one thing: MONEY…and lots of it. Because billions of dollars drive college sports — money that fills the coffers of our colleges and universities, the NCAA, and big media — the entire system of American higher education has been corrupted. Too many so-called student athletes, particularly those involved in the major, cash-generating sports, never graduate, and probably should never have been admitted by their respective schools. But the money’s good, and if the athlete is really talented, but academically challenged, they’ll find a way to ensure he remains a “student” until his eligibility ends. (NCAA vs. Federal graduation rate statistics are quite different. See this article for more info: NCAA Graduation Rates Low.)

Another pile of money comes from alumni who want their football or basketball or whatever teams to win, and are willing to pay for those wins through season tickets, booster clubs, and under the table gifts. But for schools with the most competitive teams, perhaps the real windfall comes from the media who spend the real big bucks to air all those games on TV and the Internet. Yes, indeed, lots of people are throwing lots of money around to keep intercollegiate sports going strong. Of course, the NFL and NBA just love the idea of colleges functioning as free minor leagues. Such a deal! And none of this even considers the billions involved in another principled, incorruptible industry: sports betting.

Now, the Supreme Court, in a unanimous decision, has opened the door for athletes to receive limited compensation. The next case, which relates to compensation from endorsements, will probably result in a similar decision. Eventually, and probably quite soon, I expect further decisions that will enable athletes to be paid salaries, just as professionals are paid. This seems to be a court that, despite its internal philosophical differences, really dislikes monopolies and antitrust violations. 

Yes, the door has been opened, but for the NCAA it just might be the exit door. If athletes can receive endorsements and even be paid, they’ll also have agents, sparking growth in another sleazy industry. Once schools have to pay football and basketball players, do you really think the cross-country runners or the members of the swim team won’t demand equal treatment? I can hear it how: “Equity, equity, equity…” That should prove to be an interesting court case. And what constitutes a fair salary? If a particularly good senior quarterback can expect annual compensation and signing bonuses in the tens of millions from an NFL team even before he leaves school, what do you think he’ll want from his college or university? I don’t think a $15/hour minimum wage will satisfy him.

It will be interesting to see how many small, and perhaps some not so small, colleges will abandon intercollegiate athletics because of increased costs. Maybe it’s time for institutions of higher education to devote all their energy to actually educating people. Oh, wait…they stopped doing that years ago.

Beware of “Experts”

Have you noticed the confusion among the experts who lecture us daily on every aspect of the COVID-19 pandemic? For example, when it comes to masks, over the past few months we’ve heard almost every permutation and combination: don’t wear masks; wear masks; don’t wear masks with vents; don't wear homemade cloth masks; any mask is good; wear masks everywhere; don’t wear masks outside...on and on it goes. We’ve encountered similar disagreement over the efficacy of such preventative medications as hydroxychloroquine and tafenoquine, among others. And listen to the experts on the availability of a vaccine. No vaccine can possibly be available until late 2021...okay, maybe early 2021...or maybe even the fall of 2020. 

“Expert” consensus on these and many other seemingly key issues remains elusive. This, of course, is to be expected, because the range of expertise of most experts is actually quite narrow. And when an issue arises that’s even slightly outside their narrow area of expertise...well, they guess. Or they rely on the latest "study" even though they can verify neither the accuracy nor the reliability of the study. We encounter more conflict among experts when they're faced with unknowns where standard approaches may or may not be effective. And so, subjectivity soon replaces objectivity, and expertise becomes tainted by ideology and politics. It all leads to even more confusion and division not only among the experts but also among folks like you and me. 

The media, since they rely almost completely on their expert sources for relevant information, are also plagued by confusion. Adding to their confusion is the inability of many experts to express technical concepts without using jargon that means little to the rest of the world. During my years as a naval officer and aviator, I had to deal with the media on numerous occasions. I made every effort to use proper naval and aviation terminology but to provide easily understandable explanations of  those terms, thinking this would lead to accurate reporting. Boy, was I wrong! The media didn't just get it wrong sometimes; they always got it wrong. As you might imagine, I believe very little of what I read, hear, or see in the media, and try to go straight to the original sources. 

The media, too, especially today's media, are horribly infected by ideological biases that tend to color their reporting. One cannot help but notice this in the media's coverage of the COVID-19 policies of two governors: Andrew Cuomo of New York and Ron De Santis of Florida. Florida which has a larger population than New York, has a per capita death rate 1/4 that of New York's. In fact, Florida seems to have handled the pandemic far better than New York in every measurable way. And yet the media praises Cuomo and savages De Santis. One suspects politics has infected the coverage.

Because I'm well into my "senior" years, as are many of those to whom I minister, I thought it might be meaningful to check out a fairly reliable source and see what the Center for Disease Control (CDC) has to say about the mortality rate among older COVID-19 patients. Here's some of the most relevant current data: 

• Americans 85 or older, who represent about 3% of the country's population, account for one-third of COVID-19 deaths.

• American 75 or older, who represent only 7% of our population, account for 59% of COVID-19 deaths.

• Americans under the age of 55 make up 70% of our population but account for only 6% of the COVID-19 deaths.

• COVID-19 deaths among Americans under the age of 15 is statistically irrelevant, far less than deaths from many other causes, including influenza.

Another interesting discovery was the CDC's description of COVID-19 deaths as "Deaths involving COVID-19" and not deaths caused by COVID-19. One suspects that this criterion might lead to a statistically higher death rate. Other issues, including many unreported mild cases among younger people, also drive the death rate higher. A larger numerator and a smaller denominator can have a significant effect on the reported data.

Nearly half of all COVID-19 deaths are linked to nursing homes -- another relevant issue for us older folks. Nursing home deaths were at an especially high rate in those states (NY, NJ, PA, and others) that forced elderly COVID-19 patients to return to nursing homes after having been diagnosed in hospitals -- a policy that led to thousands of unnecessary deaths. Yes, the "experts" can, on occasion, be very stupid.

For those of us who'd like to extend our long lives by a few more years, I suppose the best approach is simply to take good care of ourselves. I pay little attention to both experts and media, and try to rely more on the application of basic common sense. So far it seems to be working.

The Weather According to Matthew

The ubiquitous media has truly altered the way we observe and experience weather events. A week or so ago we began to hear about Hurricane Matthew as it formed, strengthened, and moved slowly through the central Caribbean, eventually becoming a dreaded Category 5 storm. Once its movement indicated a potential threat to Florida and the U.S. East Coast, the "weather establishment" shifted into high gear.

As it traveled north the storm caused catastrophic damage to poor Haiti, but this seemed a secondary concern. Yes, we're told that several hundred Haitians lost their lives and thousands more lost their homes and their few possessions, but isn't this to be expected? After all, it's Haiti! They're real poor down there, and backward, and live in shacks; they have poor construction codes, and probably don't even have a national weather service. Anyway, Channel Whatever Eyewitness News doesn't have a news crew down there; and if it's not on TV it mustn't be all that important. After Haiti Matthew scraped the eastern edge of Cuba and then rolled through the Bahamas, but we heard little about its effects in these places. All eyes were focused on Florida.

Hurricane Matthew Approaches Florida

Reporter in the Storm

The media frenzy really peaked yesterday, and hasn't ebbed a bit. At some point every local TV station in Orlando (the ones we are blessed to receive on our cable system) preempted their usual programming and offered round-the-clock hurricane coverage. One station even replaced Thursday Night Football with several meteorologists sharing their thoughts about millibars, storm surge, eye walls, forecast models, digital radar, and other wondrous things. Every station pre-positioned reporters and camera crews wherever they expect disaster to strike. This, of course, led to an interesting contradiction. As some poor, 100-pound, young woman reporter is battered on camera by hurricane force winds and driving horizontal rain, the studio anchors tell their audience not to be foolish by leaving their homes during the storm. Go figure!

As is often the case, the TV meteorologists focus on their worst-case scenarios and discuss other possibilities only in passing. This creates a sense of impending doom, that this storm will be like no other. I suppose such warnings are useful since they probably convince some reluctant people to evacuate threatened areas, but they also cause others to believe the danger was grossly overstated. 

The 24-hour coverage generates another problem: constant repetition. There's only so much to say about a storm. And now -- thanks to the internet, hurricane apps on our smartphones, Facebook, Twitter, instant messaging, and push notifications -- information pours into our homes unceasingly. No doubt this flow of information has saved many lives, lives that would have been lost in the days when hurricanes appeared with far less warning. But an inundation of data and opinion can also confuse and lead folks to turn it all off.

Matthew's Coming!!

The media also provide a venue for our politicians to communicate their advice, concerns, and demands. Indeed, every few hours the governor, surrounded by his emergency management team, a collection of very serious-looking people, appears on screen and gives us an update. The governor and his team have apparently spent our tax dollars well and done an excellent job preparing for Matthew's arrival. Governor Scott, I am told, is a very nice man, but his reports seem so very gloomy. I suppose that's to be expected since he likely feels responsible for the safety of the people of Florida and hopes they will take the storm seriously. Even though the storm has obviously weakened -- it's now a Category 3 storm -- and has drifted slightly seaward, the warnings remain severe. At the same time, however, the meteorologists are almost apologetic because Matthew hasn't fully lived up to their expectations. They truly enjoy storms. It's all very interesting.

Governor Scott Updates the State

Here in The Villages we are on Matthew's western fringe and have experienced only periodic rain and wind -- nothing very substantial. But in anticipation of the storm, most local government offices and many businesses have closed. We even closed the Wildwood Soup Kitchen today. Yesterday Diane and I and our wonderful team of volunteers prepared a tasty meal for our guests, and then prepared an additional double brown-bag meal so no one would go without food today. We all went home tired but satisfied that the hungry would be fed.

As Matthew heads north we pray that it drifts farther out to sea and spares the coasts of Georgia and South Carolina. We also look forward to a little less weather and far less weather news.

Pope Francis Calls

I've been enjoying the Holy Father's visit more than I could ever describe, but after the first day decided to ignore the coverage by the secular media. Listening to coverage by MSNBC, Fox News, CNN, and some of the other networks has been painful. The anchors and commentators, whether liberals or conservatives, have all demonstrated an abominable level of ignorance when it comes to the purpose of the Pope's visit, his pilgrimage, to our country and to Cuba. They all view it through their own grossly distorted political and economic lenses and don't have a clue as to the Pope's real reasons for being here and saying what he says. The liberals hope he's a progressive socialist, which of course he isn't, and the conservatives want him to castigate the left and extol unbridled capitalism, which of course he won't. 

Pope Francis is a pilgrim pontiff striving to save souls, to teach us how to live the Sermon on the Mount, to lead us to the forgiving, merciful love of Jesus Christ. He hopes for a transformation of hearts, for a transformation of the entire world. He is probably the least politically motivated man in our country today. Our politicians and the policy wonks who hide in their shadows clearly don't understand that his aim is spiritual not political. I'm reminded of something Pope Francis said back in 2002 when he was an archbishop and cardinal in Buenos Aires:

“To those who are now promising to fix all your problems, I say, ‘Go and fix yourself.’ . . . Have a change of heart. Get to confession, before you need it even more! The current crisis will not be improved by magicians from outside the country and nor will [improvement] come from the golden mouth of our politicians, so accustomed to making incredible promises.”

Now don't these words apply perfectly to our own nation today? The solution will not come from our politicians. It will come only from ourselves, from God's people, doing God's Work in humility and with love. Yes, we must first "fix" ourselves and open our hearts to the movement of the Holy Spirit within us and within our nation as a whole. We must then accept the Cross of Christ, the sign of humiliating powerlessness that points upward to God's glory and left and right to the world we are called to change. 

I have decided to watch EWTN for the remainder of the Holy Father's visit.

Change and More Change

Change, surprisingly rapid change, seems to define our world today. No aspect of human activity is immune, including religion. Events and movements within religion, however, often fly well below the mainstream media's radar because they are mistakenly believed to be unimportant. I suppose one cannot expect irreligious people to take religion very seriously, although such an attitude displays real ignorance of both human history and human nature. But when religion is discounted by the media and given little intelligent coverage, the general public is shortchanged. Even when the secular media covers religious news, they tend to cover it as they would political news; consequently they usually get the story wrong.  More often, however, religious news is simply ignored.

Here are a few items that reflect some significant changes that may have escaped the notice of most media outlets. 

The Changing Face of Anglicanism. In his blog Fr. Dwight Longenecker gives a brief overview of some of the remarkable changes that have occurred within the diverse Anglican community in recent years. Fr. Longenecker, an American Catholic priest, knows of what he speaks. Brought up in an Evangelical home, he followed an atypical path on his personal religious pilgrimage. A graduate of fundamentalist Bob Jones University, he went on to study theology at Oxford and was subsequently ordained an Anglican priest. After serving many years as an Anglican cleric in England, he and his family converted to Catholicism in 1995. He now lives in South Carolina. You can read Fr. Longenecker's conversion story here.

Growth of Catholicism in Asia and Africa. Few Western Catholics are aware of the rapid growth of the Church in both Asia and Africa. As the faithful in Western Europe shrink to record small levels, their numbers worldwide have grown remarkably. That this growth is unremarked in the U.S. and Europe just highlights the parochialism of many Western Catholics. This growth, though, has been increasingly hard to ignore as more and more priests from Asia and Africa are recruited by our bishops to work as pastors and parochial vicars in American parishes. Not too long ago the Church in America was a major source of missionary priests to the less developed world; now that world sends missionaries to us. Indeed, my pastor is originally from the Philippines and the priest who serves as chaplain in the nearby federal prison, and who lives in our parish, is from Nigeria. Yes, the Catholic Church us truly catholic. (To get a good sense of the growth of the Church in Asia and Africa, read this synopsis of the statistics published in the 2013 Pontifical Yearbook.)

Cardinal Yeom

The Church in South Korea. South Korea is a largely secular Asian nation in which Catholics make up only 11% of the population. But the Church there is growing in both numbers and stature. Pope Francis' recent elevation of Seoul's Archbishop Andrew Yeom Soo-jung as the nation's first cardinal was warmly welcomed by all Koreans as was the Vatican's announcement approving the martyrdom of 124 Koreans who were executed for their faith during the 18th and 19th centuries. We can expect to hear more about these brave men and women as the beatification process continues. I also believe we will be hearing much more about the growing Church in South Korea in the years to come. Just this month 38 new priests were ordained in the Seoul Archdiocese, so don't be surprised if one day a South Korean priest shows up at your parish.

The Disappearing Christians of Iraq. Most of us in the West believe Iraq is a marginally better place since the overthrow and death of Saddam Hussein. But for the Christians of Iraq, those few who remain, nothing could be further from the truth. Few people outside Iraq realize that the nation once boasted an active and vibrant Christian community that represented over 10% of the population and worshiped in hundreds of churches throughout the country. Christians now make up only about 1% of the Iraqi population -- a number that's dwindling rapidly -- and worship in only a few dozen churches. In the spirit of ecumenism, I suggest you read this article published on the website of First Things magazine: The Vicar of Baghdad. It tells the remarkable story of Canon Andrew White, a courageous Anglican priest who ministers to the Christians of Iraq. It's a story you won't read in the New York Times.

Egyptian Catholic Reaction to Our President. Here's another story you won't read in our secular media. Last year during the chaos surrounding the removal from office of President Mohammed Morsi, the Muslim Brotherhood reacted by attacking Christian churches, businesses and homes throughout the nation. Egyptian Christians hadn't suffered such persecution in centuries. In the midst of these open and violent attacks on the nation's Christian community, President Obama called for the to return to power of Morsi and his Muslim Brotherhood allies. In response, Fr. Rafic Antoine Greiche, the head of the Press Office of the Catholic Church in Egypt, released a scathing criticism of President Obama. You can view a video of Fr. Greiche below: 



Don't rely on the mainstream media for news on religious matters, and especially for news on the Catholic Church.

More Murdered Christians? Ho-hum...

Every so often I write here about the ongoing and growing persecution of Christians throughout the world, especially in the Islamic world. I don't expect my comments to have much impact because I have only a handful of regular readers who, like me, are far from being global movers and shakers. But knowing the power of prayer, I ask only that you remember our persecuted brothers and sisters and lift them up to God, asking that they be strengthened and protected.

To be a Christian in many countries today guarantees persecution, and to practice one's Christian faith openly too often leads to martyrdom. Isn't it strange that the nominally Christian West has largely ignored what is happening to Christians throughout the world? When Russia spoke out against homosexuals, the media and government elites were apoplectic; yet we hear next to nothing from them about the widespread murder of Christians and the destruction of their communities.

This intentional lapse is the subject of an excellent article by Michael Brendan Dougherty published in The Week. Read it, please. Here's a link to the online article: Christian Persecution: No One Cares.

Misrepresenting Pope Francis

Aren't you glad you're not the pope? Every pope from Peter to Francis has been asked to bear a cross of one kind or another. For some, like Peter himself, the cross was very real, a companion in both life and death. Peter and many of his successors were men who understood their own weaknesses and accepted God's gift of strength. But others, fortunately far fewer in number, rejected the gift, found the weight of the cross too much to bear, and let it fall, too often onto the shoulders of others.

In modern times we have been blessed with remarkable popes who have been asked to bear some very heavy crosses. Each was publicly ridiculed, wantonly misunderstood, and constantly attacked, always by the smallest of men; and yet each was a man of great humility, so we will never know how much they suffered as they led the Church from Peter's chair.

Our current Holy Father, Pope Francis, is no exception. The world, particularly the secular media, seems determined to misunderstand the man and present him as someone he isn't. He is offered to us as a rebel who will overturn Church teaching on any number of issues that just drive the world to distraction. We are told the pope will "clarify" teachings on such things as contraception, abortion, and homosexual marriage. He will be the anti-Ratzinger and tone down the "excesses" of his predecessors. We can expect an easing of the liturgical strictures imposed by John Paul II and Benedict XVI. Of course, none of ths is true. It is all based on a few isolated comments taken out of context, along with a willful disregard of a lifetime of orthodoxy.

A lot of falsehoods have been written about Pope Francis, so many in fact that the Vatican felt compelled to issue a statement on it's news Facebook page. I've included the entire statement below.
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FALSE STATEMENTS ATTRIBUTED TO POPE FRANCIS

Dear friends, we have been notified by many readers that there are stories currently circulating all over the Internet spreading statements by Pope Francis with regard to a number of issues, concerning the Bible’s content, the relations between religions, the renewal of the Church’s doctrine, and even the calling of an alleged “Third Vatican Council”, which are FALSE. These statements were spread by unknown sources. Therefore, we would like to alert all readers to be careful and not to trust too soon news about the Pope that are not from the Vatican.

There are also many social networks pages that try to put false information in circulation, taking advantage of the fact that it is easy to “throw the stone and hide the hand”.

Many people are also now aware that ALL FACEBOOK PROFILES OF POPE FRANCIS /JORGE MARIA BERGOGLIO ARE NOT OFFICIAL PAGES AND THEY HAVE NOT BEEN AUTHORIZED TO OFFICIALLY REPRESENT THE POPE, THEREFORE THEY SHOULD CLEARLY STATE THEY ARE JUST ‘FAN PAGES’.

We encourage all readers to check the official Vatican media sources for further confirmation of Pope Francis’ statements, or even to check what exactly he said with reference to specific issues.

IF THE STATEMENTS ATTRIBUTED TO THE POPE BY ANY MEDIA AGENCY DO NOT APPEAR IN THE OFFICIAL MEDIA SOURCES OF THE VATICAN, IT MEANS THAT THE INFORMATION THEY REPORT IS NOT TRUE.

Below is a list of the official Vatican media which you should use as valid reference to be sure that any reported statement referred to the Pope is true:

- News.va: a news aggregator portal, it reports the news and information from all the Vatican media in one website, available in five languages: www.news.va
News.va also has a facebook page: www.facebook.com/news.va

- L’Osservatore Romano: www.osservatoreromano.va

- Radio Vaticana: www.radiovaticana.va

- VIS (Vatican Information Service): www.vis.va

- Holy See Press Office:www.vaticanstate.va/content/vaticanstate/en/altre-istituzioni/sala-stampa-santa-sede.html

- Centro Televisivo Vaticano: www.ctv.va
or www.vatican.va/news_services/television/

- Vatican.va: the official website of the Holy See, where you can find the full text of all speeches, homilies and Apostolic documents by the Pope: www.vatican.va

- PopeApp: the official app for smartphones dedicated to the Pope (Copyright News.va)

- @Pontifex: the official Twitter profile of the Pope.

The only official facebook profiles representing the Holy Father and the Vatican are those from News.va and the Vatican media (see the above list of Vatican media).

We would like to thank you all for your kind attention as well as for your notifications and suggestions. Please do share this information as much as possible with your contacts! Thank you very much!

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Pope Francis Surprises

While I certainly didn't expect Cardinal Bergoglio to be elected Pope, I did, however, expect to be surprised. And for me, at least, his election was definitely a surprise, although a most pleasant one.

Pope Francis Smiling

There are some, however, who are not at all pleased with his election, and many media outlets were only too happy to parade the disaffected through their studios almost as soon as the Holy Father's name was announced. With the DVR recording EWTN, I channel surfed the other networks to see what the self-appointed experts had to say. One network, obviously displeased that the new Pope was not a Unitarian, introduced an ex-priest and a (former?) nun who also happened to be a practicing lesbian. As you might expect they were very unhappy that the College of Cardinals had elected a man who strongly supported the Church's consistent teaching on moral issues. On another network, one interviewee, while admitting that Pope Francis appeared to support the poor, went on to question the depth of that support because he had long ago rejected liberation theology. I was amazed the network had been able to find someone who still equated Marxism with helping the poor. And then there was our new Pope's fellow Jesuit who added with some suspicion: "I've never seen him smile."

I encountered much more of the same that first evening of Pope Francis' papacy. I suppose all this was to be expected since most of the secular media are hostile to the Catholic Church and its teachings. Their usual tactic is to shine the spotlight on Catholics who share this hostility. This, they believe, will allow them to brush aside any charges of anti-Catholic bias. Their selection of commentators, however, only confirms the bias they try to disguise.

What interests me most about the secular media is their belief that the Catholic Church will somehow toss aside 2,000 years of magisterial teaching simply to appease them and those who share their ideology. They believe this because they've been able to find some nominal Catholics who agree with them. I say "nominal" because a Catholic who openly rejects the magisterial teaching of the Church is really rejecting the Church as well. Indeed, once a person rejects one set of teachings, what's to keep him from rejecting all the rest whenever it becomes convenient to do so? Moreover, one who believes the Church can change its teaching on such issues as abortion or homosexual marriage simply does not understand the Church. It's not that the Church stubbornly refuses to change its teachings in the face of the prevailing zeitgeist; rather, the Church cannot change because these teachings are founded on divine law, not human law.

I expect this truth will eventually and grudgingly be accepted, and result in either schism or a massive apostasy. In this I tend to agree with Pope Benedict XVI who foresees a future Church that will be smaller, holier and persecuted.

Over the past few days, as I've thought about Pope Francis and what he will mean for the Church, I've come to believe that he will probably surprise us all again and again throughout his papacy. He is fully Catholic, fully the Apostle, the one sent by God to serve His people. He is a man of orthodox belief, who, like his predecessors, will be unwavering in his teaching. And by choosing the name "Francis" he has shown us that he is a man of the poor, a man who understands better than most what Catholic social teaching really means.

Peter and John at the Temple Gate

When I first saw Pope Francis standing on that balcony, I thought immediately of St. Peter on the day of the first Pentecost when he and St. John encountered the crippled man begging at the "Beautiful Gate" of the Temple:

When he saw Peter and John about to go into the temple, he asked for alms. But Peter looked intently at him, as did John, and said, “Look at us.” He paid attention to them, expecting to receive something from them. Peter said, “I have neither silver nor gold, but what I do have I give you: in the name of Jesus Christ the Nazorean, rise and walk.” Then Peter took him by the right hand and raised him up, and immediately his feet and ankles grew strong. He leaped up, stood, and walked around, and went into the temple with them, walking and jumping and praising God. [Acts 3:3-8]

This was the image that came to mind when I first saw Pope Francis. He, too, was standing at a "Beautiful Gate," but today's temple gate looks out over St. Peter's Square and from there to the entire world; and the world was certainly watching. "Look at us," Peter said. And Pope Francis asked us to look at him and pray for him. This humble man bowed low to the people, to the Church he will serve, asking, begging for our prayers. Then he spoke to all of us, and blessed us all, knowing that like the crippled beggar outside the gate we, too, are broken and in need of healing, knowing that we are poor in both body and spirit. In his humility he reached out to us with the hand of the shepherd asking us to take hold so that, together, we can raise each other up, we can, through God's grace and in the name of Jesus Christ Crucified, make each other strong. Yes, together, we can enter the temple "walking and jumping and praising God."

This was what the Spirit showed me when I first saw Pope Francis. And on the next day the Pope reinforced this image in the first homily of his papacy as he spoke to the Cardinals who elected him, asking them "to walk, to build, to profess Jesus Christ Crucified."

Keep Pope Francis in your prayers, for he will need both strength and humility as he leads the Church. He will surprise the world, and the world will respond. Some will cheer him on and join in his work of walking and building and professing; too many will attack him; others will wonder what he's about; and perhaps the largest number will be forced to examine their own faith and how they live it.

Pax et bonum...

Pope Benedict XVI To Resign

Sad news for those of us who love Pope Benedict XVI. Today the Holy Father announced that he will resign the Petrine ministry as of February 28. While not unprecedented, papal resignations are certainly rare, with the last occurring in 1415 when Pope Gregory XII resigned in order to bring an end to the Great Schism. Below is a video of New York's Cardinal Timothy Dolan as he responds to the Pope's announcement.

I expect we'll encounter many interesting but erroneous reports in the secular media as it covers the resignation, its causes, and its consequences.We should not, of course, be surprised by the often wild inaccuracies found in stories about the Catholic Church. The secular media might get the main thrust of a story correct, but when it comes to the details -- the motivations, causes and consequences  -- they haven't a clue. I suppose that's to be expected since those who write the stories usually view the Church from the same worldview from which they view all human organizations. They parse the Vatican's statements on world events solely from a geopolitical perspective, seemingly unaware that the Church teaches from its unique perspective of faith, morality, and eschatology. They assume the Church can alter its magisterial teachings or add to and subtract from the deposit of faith much the way a worldly government can change its laws. They identify popes, cardinals, bishops and theologians using the same comfortable terms they use to label politicians. One who accepts established Church teaching is conservative rather than orthodox, while one who rejects magisterial teachings is viewed as progressive rather than heretical.

For example, one often hears Blessed Pope John XXIII referred to as a liberal and Pope John Paul II as a conservative. And yet, from the Church's perspective, both were Catholic, both were orthodox. Both held fast to the deposit of faith with which they were entrusted and both were completely dedicated to fulfilling the Lord's command to "...make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you," accepting, too, Jesus' promise that "I am with you always, until the end of the age” [Mt 28-19-20]. Each pope is called to his ministry at a specific time in the life of the Church, and each responds differently, guided by the Holy Spirit and his own understanding of what is needed to fulfill the Church's overriding mission of evangelization. Today, Pope Benedict believes he is no longer physically able to carry out the heavy responsibilities of his office and that the Holy Spirit desires someone else to carry on as his successor during this challenging time in the Church's life.

As you might expect, already some in the secular media have responded in typical fashion. I heard one "expert" on TV this morning stating that Pope Benedict's likely reason for resigning was to avoid responsibility for the scandal resulting from the abuse of children by priests. Another (the UK's Guardian) implied that he was, in effect, forced from office because of his "conservative"and "divisive" papacy: "A deeply conservative pontiff, whose tenure has been overshadowed by sexual abuse scandals, Pope Benedict, 85, leaves with a chequered reputation after a papacy that was at times both conservative and divisive." Between now and next month's conclave we will no doubt be subjected to far worse than this. Most of the errors repeated by the media will stem from ignorance, but sadly some will be driven by hatred.

I'm certain we can take Pope Benedict at his word as he makes what for this holy, humble and brilliant man must have been an extremely difficult decision. So you will know exactly what the Holy Father said, here is the full text of his announcement:

Dear Brothers,

I have convoked you to this Consistory, not only for the three canonizations, but also to communicate to you a decision of great importance for the life of the Church. After having repeatedly examined my conscience before God, I have come to the certainty that my strengths, due to an advanced age, are no longer suited to an adequate exercise of the Petrine ministry.  I am well aware that this ministry, due to its essential spiritual nature, must be carried out not only with words and deeds, but no less with prayer and suffering. However, in today’s world, subject to so many rapid changes and shaken by questions of deep relevance for the life of faith, in order to govern the barque of Saint Peter and proclaim the Gospel, both strength of mind and body are necessary, strength which in the last few months, has deteriorated in me to the extent that I have had to recognize my incapacity to adequately fulfill the ministry entrusted to me. For this reason, and well aware of the seriousness of this act, with full freedom I declare that I renounce the ministry of Bishop of Rome, Successor of Saint Peter, entrusted to me by the Cardinals on 19 April 2005, in such a way, that as from 28 February 2013, at 20:00 hours, the See of Rome, the See of Saint Peter, will be vacant and a Conclave to elect the new Supreme Pontiff will have to be convoked by those whose competence it is.

Dear Brothers, I thank you most sincerely for all the love and work with which you have supported me in my ministry and I ask pardon for all my defects.  And now, let us entrust the Holy Church to the care of Our Supreme Pastor, Our Lord Jesus Christ, and implore his holy Mother Mary, so that she may assist the Cardinal Fathers with her maternal solicitude, in electing a new Supreme Pontiff. With regard to myself, I wish to also devotedly serve the Holy Church of God in the future through a life dedicated to prayer.

From the Vatican, 10 February 2013

BENEDICTUS PP XVI

Now is the time for all Catholics, indeed, for all people of good will, to pray for the Church, for Pope Benedict XVI, and for the conclave that will elect his successor.

I've included below a video clip on what will happen after Pope Benedict's resignation takes effect on February 28.

One last photo...I couldn't resist. This is a photo of me and Pope Benedict XVI on the streets of Rome in February 2000. Okay, officially he wasn't pope yet, but that's just a technicality. His election took place about five years later. But it's still pretty cool. I simply ran into him on a street near the Vatican and accosted the poor man. But he was very gracious and let me talk and question him for five or ten minutes; then he posed for this photo in which I am, of course, giving instructions to the photographer, our Polish friend, Fr. Adam Domanski.

All the news that fits our agenda

Watching, listening to, or reading the "news" these days can be a frustrating experience. I suppose I'm most bothered by the underlying political correctness in the reporting, occasionally very obvious but more often fairly subtle. Probably the most apparent symptom of this PC reporting is manifest in the news that simply never gets reported or, at best, is under-reported, buried in the back pages of newspapers or given short shrift by news anchors. And in some stories, usually those too big to be ignored completely, certain relevant details are intentionally omitted because they conflict with the media's PC-based agendas.

Let me address a few recent events that received mixed coverage in the news. Had you heard about these events? Did you get the whole story?

Nigeria is the most populous African nation with an area somewhat larger than the state of Texas. A little more than half the population is Muslim and a little less than half is Christian. Most of the Muslims live in the northern part of the country while most Christians live in the south.

A few days ago a radical Islamist group called "Boko Haram" -- a phrase which in the local language means "Western education is a sacrilege" -- armed with guns and bombs went on a killing spree in several Nigerian cities. According to the Red Cross, over 100 people were murdered. What most news stories didn't mention is that among this terrorist group's main targets were Christian churches, several of which they destroyed during their rampage. Although Boko Haram speaks of government corruption (very real in Nigeria and most of Africa) as the reason for these attacks, when you read what the group posts on the web, it's apparent their true motives are centered on the imposition of Sharia Law in Nigeria. Here's a link to a rather confusing blog by a member of Boko Haram: ISLAMIC

Just months ago the people of Egypt, seemingly with the support of the country's military, managed to overthrow the authoritarian regime of Hosni Mubarak. Immediately the country was held up as the poster boy for an "Arab Spring" that would certainly bring democracy and tolerance and moderation to the Middle East.

Unfortunately it looks as if Egypt is moving quickly from spring all the way to winter as the military government reverts back to the Mubarak's repressive tactics. Even worse, though, the military seems to be catering to the Islamists as evidenced by the military's recent attacks on Christians outside the state TV studios. The Christians were protesting the lack of justice because the government seemed uninterested in investigating or prosecuting a recent church burning by Islamists. Since Mubarak's overthrow attacks on Christians and their churches have increased dramatically.

In this latest incident, just a month ago, 28 protesting Coptic Christians were killed and several hundred wounded when government troops ran over many of them with armored vehicles and shot others. As you might expect, the government has completely absolved the military of any responsibility in these deaths, blaming them instead on unnamed third parties. This despite many videos of military vehicles crushing Christian demonstrators. And now the military government responsible for these deaths is bringing charges against -- you guessed it -- the Christian demonstrators. 34 of them are being held in prison before their trails. Many of these defendants are underage or wounded, and all lack proper medical care and food. How much of this did you hear on the evening news?

Don't watch the below video if you have a weak stomach. It is just a one-minute clip, but it's typical of many other videos taken that same evening showing Egyptian Army vehicles running over many other Christian demonstrators.

Egypt, of course, isn't the only North African nation with a questionable future. Libya is no longer suffering under the repressive regime of Colonel Muammar el Qaddafi, but will the next government be an improvement or will it be even more repressive? Mustafa Abdul Jalil, the leader of the National Transitional Council has declared that the new Libya will have as its foundation Sharia Law. In doing so he made specific reference to eliminating interest charges by banks and any restrictions on the number of wives a Libyan man may have. The latter, of course, is no boon to the rights and dignity of women. And, confusingly, the proposed constitution promises non-Muslims freedom of religion, while at the same time fully embracing Sharia Law as the law of the land. Anyone familiar with Sharia Law recognizes the incompatibility here.

Even more problematic is the continued presence of Al Qaeda among the rebels who took part in the overthrow of Qaddafi. One thing we know for certain: any Al Qaeda-connected rebels will never relinquish their weapons. And if Al Qaeda manages to establish a presence in the new government, I would expect them to attempt to seize full power rather quickly. And then imagine this worst case: an Al Qaeda controlled Libya with billions of oil money pouring into its coffers every month.-

Of course Qaddafi would not have been overthrown without the overwhelming support of NATO weapons and air power. NATO planes carried out 26,000 sorties, including nearly 10,000 strike missions. More than 1000 tanks, vehicles and guns were destroyed, along with Qaddafi's command and control network in Tripoli, Bani Walid and Sirte. Without this enormous assistance, Qaddafi would quite likely have wiped out the rebels in a few weeks. But did you know that we also sent in Jihadists to assist the rebels? That's right, according to AsiaNews:

"Making a democratic future that more unlikely is the presence of Jihadist groups sent in by some NATO countries, most notably the Libyan Islamic Fighting Group (LIFG), an extremist group led by Abdelhakim Belhaj, a Libyan Berber with a past among the mujahedeen who fought the Soviets in the 1980s in Afghanistan. After his capture in 2003, he became a collaborator of the Libyan regime and now is serving the Americans."

What an intricate web we weave. Let's hope that we don't get caught up in it ourselves.By the way, the Vatican's Apostolic Vicar to Libya predicted worse things to come for the Christians of Libya if Qaddafi were overthrown. I expect we'll soon see how prescient he was.

Don't get me wrong. I'm not saying Colonel Qaddafi was a good guy. Far from it. From all indications he was a murderous megalomaniac who certainly deserved to be removed from power...and I'm happy he's gone.  But when we support such an effort -- and it would not have succeeded without US military and command and control assets -- we should also be certain that those we're supporting won't later present us with an even more dangerous foe.

And then there's the manner of Qaddafi's rather grisly death. The evidence is overwhelming that he was summarily shot by his captors not long after he surrendered. It would seem that the rebels and their fellow travelers have little respect for the rule of law. Given their disparate makeup one might expect this; but I did not expect to hear our Secretary of State declare with delight after hearing the news of Qaddafi's death, "We came. We saw. He died." I expected more of her as the lead representative of the United States in the international community. I suspect she and her boss were relieved that the late dictator would not be given the forum of an international courtroom in the months to come.

I realize a lot of Americans, perhaps even a majority, disagree with me on this, believing that Qaddafi got what he deserved. Well, I suppose that's true from one perspective, but as a military officer I was taught that we had a moral and ethical responsibility to take as prisoners those enemy combatants who surrendered to us. This was something not only required by the Hague and Geneva Conventions, but something we did as law-abiding and moral Americans. Fortunately, in this instance Americans seem not to have been directly involved, but that doesn't mean we should celebrate what would under most conditions be labeled a war crime. Such an act, in which an unarmed prisoner is shot and killed, also violates the most basic principles of Christian morality and can be equated with nothing less than murder.

While discussing this with a friend the other day, he said, "Well, didn't the SEALs do the same thing to Osama bin Laden?" He's right; at least one would think so if you believe what has been stated in the media. The word that was apparently leaked out from certain Washington sources is that the SEALs were given an assassination assignment and simply went in with guns blazing. But the SEALs -- and in the spirit of full disclosure, I will state that I have many SEAL friends and worked with them on a few occasions back in my Navy days -- do not want to be painted as an assassination team, or as "spray and pray" commandos who just blast away at everyone in sight. They state that they intended if at all possible to take bin Laden prisoner but when they entered his room he pulled out a pistol leaving them no choice but to shoot him. The entire remarkable story is in Chuck Pfarrer's new book, SEAL Target Geronimo: The Inside Story of the Mission to Kill Osama bin Laden. Pfarrer is a former commander of SEAL Team Six and knows all those involved in the mission. It's nice to know that the vast majority of our military still make every effort to work morally as they carry out their difficult and dangerous jobs. 

Enough! I suppose the news is always skewed in one direction or another, depending on its source. But these days the media's peddling of disinformation seems to be more blatant than ever, especially when the story involves Christianity and the Catholic Church. And so, if you want some advice about understanding the news, try this broad generalization on for size: believe nothing written about the Catholic Church in the secular media. I have never read an accurate story about the Church in the secular media. The reason? The media sees everything in political terms, while the Church views all in terms of faith. There's a huge difference.