Memory and Education

Here in our large Florida retirement community, we have a growing number of facilities designed to support and house those among us who can no longer live alone and require some level of assistance. Rehab facilities and physical therapy practices abound, helping those who are recovering from surgery, illness, or injury. We’ve also witnessed the construction of many facilities supplying various levels of assisted living. But increasingly common among these new facilities are those devoted to “memory care.” Given today’s remarkable advances in medicine, for many of us seniors, our bodies are outliving our minds. We see so many physically healthy seniors suffering from various forms of dementia. This, combined with the ravages of such diseases as Alzheimer’s, and the inability of aging spouses to care effectively for their loved ones, has created the growing need for this level of institutional care. 

As a deacon, I often visit patients in memory care facilities. Over time their dementia seems to have as great an effect on care-giving spouses and other family members as it has on the patients. I see this far too often as spouses witness and personally experience the gradual loss of the human presence of those they have known and loved for most of their lives. To experience, gradually over time, the complete loss of one’s memory is inevitably to lose awareness of one’s surroundings, of others, and even of self. I recently visited a parishioner who’s in an advanced stage of dementia. I hadn’t seen him in a while and was saddened to encounter only a shell of the man I had known. But there were signs of recognition, signs of faith. When I prayed the Our Father aloud, his lips moved silently along with the words. I've come to believe that in some way we cannot perceive, he will always know the God who brought him into being. 

Societies, too, seem to experience collective memory loss. Some results from the normal passage of time and our tendency to focus on the present or the more immediate future. I recall once being told by a professor of managerial psychology, "You can do nothing about the past, so why focus on it." Of course, he was absolutely nuts. And I immediately thought of Henry Ford's famous and blunt evaluation: "History is bunk." In truth he really didn't say that, but what he actually said in that interview wasn't very different:

"History is more or less bunk. It's tradition. We don't want tradition. We want to live in the present and the only history that is worth a tinker's damn is the history we make today."

Neither Henry Ford, nor my grad school professor, apparently agreed with George Santayana's more famous comment:

“Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.”

As for myself, I'm more comfortable with Santayana's approach to history than Henry Ford's. Ford was a great manufacturer who could drive his products down that assembly line right into the showroom. But what he knew about tradition you could etch on the head of a pin with a jackhammer. And since he's not around to defend himself, I can attack his attack and fear no rebuttal. 

You see, I look at tradition in its theological sense. I see it as God's communication of Himself to us. As the Church understands tradition (and in the words of the late Cardinal Avery Dulles): 

"Its content is the whole Christian reality disclosed in Jesus Christ...transmitted not only by written and spoken words, but equally by prayer, sacramental worship, and participation in the Church's life."  

Sadly, too many, like old Henry Ford, ignore not only spiritual tradition but even secular tradition. They seem to suffer from a form of temporal bias or bigotry which encourages them to believe that progress toward the good, or at least the better, is inevitable. These are the folks who believe the ancients -- and that includes any generation before their own -- must have been far less intelligent because they didn't have iPhones and iPads or YouTube and TikTok and Google. And using these devices and apps they generate little or nothing of real lasting value. 

Today, too many of our institutions of "higher education" -- all those colleges and universities -- have devolved into high-priced trade schools, turning out well trained but poorly educated graduates. They are trained as coders, or marketers, or number crunchers, or influencers. Some are taught to be teachers, but they learn only how to teach, not what to teach. They might be ready to enter a narrowly defined field or profession, but do they possess an understanding of the human condition? Are they aware of the philosophical and theological struggles that have brought humanity to its present state? Do they know why they exist and what God intends for them? Do they know God and themselves? They, too, are the victims of memory deprivation inflicted on them by lesser souls.

The truly valuable, the great works of men and women of the past are being neglected in too many of our schools. They and the traditions they represent have been intentionally forgotten, eliminated from curricula, discarded from libraries, and certainly not read by or taught to students. Fortunately, there are some schools where the "great books" still have pride of place, and where a truly liberal education remains the sought-after end. I believe St. John's College in Annapolis was among the first of these, but today there are many others, including Thomas Aquinas College, where my daughter, Erin, studied. 

I'm glad I'm as old as I am, so I don't have to help my children make these decisions in today's crumbling world. If I were raising children today, I'd teach them about the real, living tradition that God has revealed to us, about the wondrous relationship between God and His people. And then I'd encourage them to become useful members of society as plumbers, librarians, electricians, beauticians, house painters, farmers, mechanics, even teachers. Doing that, it's less likely your job will consume you or monopolize your life, but it might provide the leisure you need to live the life God wants for you. How you and I live, however, is always our choice.

Homily: Tuesday, 7th Week in Ordinary Time

Readings: Sir 2:1-11 • Ps 37 • Mk 9:30-37

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Okay, here’s a question for you…It’s really a rhetorical question; you don't have to answer, but at least think about it. And try to be honest. 

Do you prefer serving or being served?

If you give it some thought, it’s not an easy question to answer honestly.

Back in my consulting days, I was a frequent flyer on almost every airline. And some of my clients would book me first-class. I certainly didn’t demand it, didn’t even ask for it, but it was nice, especially on long flights. You know, first-class, the first to board and the first to leave, big comfortable seats, a flute of champagne even before take-off, food that was actually edible. Yes, indeed, the service was sure a lot better than I usually received back in coach.

But, you know, I always felt a bit guilty enjoying all that great service. I kept hearing those words of Jesus:

"If anyone wishes to be first, he shall be the last of all and the servant of all" [Mk 9:35].

Here I was, first and certainly not last, not serving but being served. Yes, I heard those words, but I really didn't dwell on them. And I had an excuse. After all, it was strictly a business transaction: my client paid for good service and the airline and its employees provided it. I was simply an accidental beneficiary.

The trouble is, you and I can get used to it, and begin to think of ourselves as deserving only to be served. Kind of like the apostles, as Mark describes them. Jesus, of course, knew exactly what they were talking about as they walked along the road, along the Way; they were arguing about who was the greatest – who was the GOAT? For you non-sports fans, GOAT is the acronym for Greatest Of All Time…you know, the Tom Bradys and Michael Jordans of the world. Yes, indeed, the apostles were still unformed disciples, all caught up in their distorted understanding of where Jesus was leading them along that Way. 

Of course, the irony of the situation, and the hubris of the apostles could hardly be greater. There they were, in the presence of Jesus – How did Peter describe Him later? “You are the Messiah, the Son of the Living God” – and they were just strolling along, arguing about who among them was the greatest.

And to make matters worse for them, Jesus had just told them:

"The Son of Man is to be handed over to men and they will kill him, and three days after his death the Son of Man will rise" [Mk 9:31].

Mark tells us they didn’t understand, that they were afraid to question him. But they knew exactly who the Son of Man was. Afraid to question? Yes, because they didn’t want to hear His answer, because they were pretty sure it too would frighten them.

So, what did they do? What we all do when we don’t like where the conversation’s going. We change the subject, usually to ourselves. Of course, the wonderful thing about all this is we’re confronted here by the unconcealed humanity of the apostles; the realization they’re just like us. You see, Jesus didn’t pick holy men and women to be His disciples. No, He picked folks just like you and me, and then He and His Holy Spirit worked through them and made them holy. And believe me, it was a job only God could do. 

A bit later, once inside the house (a symbol of the Church) Jesus sat down to teach. And He taught them, just as He teaches us through His Church and His Word. We must serve, He commands us. And whom must we serve? All. Everyone. No exceptions. All those you and I encounter as we, too, walk along the Way. And it’s not going to be easy. How did Sirach put it?

“My child, when you come to serve the LORD, stand in justice and fear, prepare yourself for trials.” [Sir 2:1]

Tomorrow, we begin Lent, a time to restart, to reboot our spiritual lives, a time of almsgiving, fasting, and prayer…and a time for service. To serve others is to serve the Lord:

“For I was hungry and you gave me food, thirsty and you gave me drink, a stranger and you welcomed me…” [Mt 25:35]

Jesus emphasized this by choosing a child, a symbol of whom the Jews called the anawim, the lowly, the weak, the vulnerable. By serving them we recognize God’s presence within them.

And yes, there will be trials, and fearful, unjust times. We will be despised and attacked for protecting and serving the most vulnerable among us.

But God will always be with us, for He is Emmanuel!

Courage and Cancellation

Before I forget them, here are just a few things that popped into my aging brain this morning on the drive home after Mass. I had some errands to run — fill the car with gas, buy milk and cream — so my mind was wonderfully empty and open to deeper thoughts. I’d considered praying the Rosary as I drove but knew I wouldn’t have time to complete five decades and I never like stopping in the middle…so my attention wandered.

I found myself thinking about a young woman, born in North Korea, who ultimately escaped via China, Mongolia, South Korea, and finally to the United States. I had seen her interviewed on TV the other day, and her courage and wisdom overwhelmed me. In China she and her mother were forced into sex slavery, but she managed to escape, crossed the Gobi Desert into Mongolia, and from there made her way to South Korea. She came to the USA and eventually graduated from Columbia, a university where she encountered a woke American version of the forced leftist orthodoxy she thought she had left behind in North Korea. Her name is Yeonmi Park, and she’s written two books: one about her escape, In Order to Live; and another, While Time Remains. The latter relates her experiences dealing with leftist political indoctrination here in the United States, especially in Academia. She is a remarkable and courageous young woman, and I have ordered both books. I might write about them in a future post. 

Listening to her, though, led me to consider the lack of moral courage, indeed the outright cowardice of so many Americans, especially young college-age Americans. They seem so afraid of being out of sync with the current zeitgeist, so afraid to speak up in defense of truth and what is right, that they succumb to social and psychological pressures, and to the fear of “cancellation”, believing or at best not daring to contradict whatever lies they are told. Because they have been so thoroughly indoctrinated at every educational level, they find if far easier to let others think for them rather than taking the time to study, to learn the truth, and perhaps even to think for themselves. When I consider our young service men and women, who exhibit remarkable physical and moral courage almost daily, I am appalled by the moral cowardice of far too many of the “more educated” among our youth. 

Of course, the indoctrination of our children and young adults plays right into the hands of those who seek to rule us. The young folks are so accustomed to believing everything they are told by their controllers, that the chosen rulers can claim infallibility, even in the face of failure. An abject failure that turns into a deadly fiasco — for example, Afghanistan — is hailed as a huge success and the woke media and party-lime politicians just rave about it. And the more such things occur, the more often truth is hidden behind lies, the more the workers and drones in the hive actually come to believe what they’re saying. 

The only solution is to speak the truth always, regardless of the consequences. That’s really the best definition of moral courage.

Persecution Update

Living as we do in this nation where true religious freedom was once celebrated by the vast majority of Americans, we can easily overlook the attacks believers must endure throughout the world. Religious persecution here in the United States certainly exists but, at least until recently, it has been somewhat subtle, typified by verbal attacks and social exclusion, or what we now call "cancellation." Times are changing, though, and even here the enemy tries to exercise judicial and governmental power to eliminate any reference to religious values in the public square, and to belittle those who espouse them. Yes, the persecution of Christians is far worse in many parts of the world, where the martyrdom of the faithful has become an almost everyday occurrence. Sadly, though, the purveyors of hatred have become more adept at selling their product to the uninformed and spiritually indifferent here in the USA and in once-Christian Western Europe. I've included below just a few subtle and not-so-subtle examples pulled from recent news stories.

• St. Brigid Cancelled. Ireland, no longer the Catholic land of my ancestors, has seemingly regressed into a new form of paganism. St. Brigid, Ireland's traditional #2 saint, has apparently been cancelled. At first, it seemed the beloved fifth-century saint, whose feast day is February 1, would be commemorated by the creation of an annual "bank holiday" on the first Monday of February. But the Dublin City Council altered the celebration a bit. Forgetting the saint, they made the holiday a celebration honoring Irish women and the arrival of spring, all "inspired by the Celtic goddess, Brigit." They have, therefore, cancelled St. Brigid, replacing her with a virtually unknown Celtic goddess. The Dominican priest, Fr. Conor McDonough, who has researched both the saint and the goddess recently stated: 

"It's really quite incredible how this paper-thin theory became so widely accepted. We know almost nothing about the pagan divinity identified as Brigit in the 10th-century text, Sanas Cormaic. Brigit there is described as a goddess worshipped by poets, while her sister, also Brigit, is a goddess of medics, and another sister, Brigit again, is a goddess of blacksmiths. That's it; that's all we know. We don't know whether there was really a cult of Brigit(s) in pre-Christian Ireland. All we have is this very late report, written at a time Irish intellectuals were actively fabricating elements of the pagan Irish past."

I include this story just to demonstrate how Christian, and especially Catholic, traditions and beliefs have been undermined even in the least likely places. Thankfully, there remains in Ireland a "holy remnant" that will keep the faith alive and resist religious indifference or the return to paganism. Pray for them, that they will mirror the earlier evangelizing efforts and success of St. Patrick and St. Brigid. (Oh, yes, in the above image of St. Brigid, you'll notice her holding the St. Brigid Cross. One of those hangs just inside our front door.)

A brief postscript: It seems celebrating St. Patrick in Ireland will also be subject to wokeness. According to Ireland’s Arts Minister, Catherine Martin, this year’s St. Patrick’s Day Festival will celebrate diversity and inclusivity by highlighting LGBT entertainment, including parades of drag queens. The intent, of course, is to eradicate anything religious from the feast day of Ireland’s patron saint. We can only hope at least some Irish will have the courage to object.

• Iran and Lebanese Christianity. Thanks to the Islamic Republic of Iran, hundreds of thousands of Christians in Lebanon and elsewhere in the Middle East, are being killed and displaced. Iran uses its Shiite puppet, Hezbollah, a Lebanese terrorist group, to sabotage the nation’s physical, economic, and cultural infrastructure while also working to eliminate Lebanon’s Christians. 

Habib Malik, of the Philos Project, states that Lebanon faces a “new and unprecedented threat unlike previous scourges — it is the difference between what I would term the ‘dumb evil’ of the Islamic State (ISIS or Daesh) and the ‘cunning evil’ of Hezbollah and its Iranian Mullah overlords.” Hezbollah, he says, is determined to destroy Lebanon as a nation and replace it with a terror state. Malik added that Hezbollah’s goal is “to alter Lebanon’s identity as a country and a society: from a free and open society with both solid Arab and Western connections to one with stronger if not exclusive ties with Iran, Assad’s Syria, China, and other anti-Western states.”

Malik stresses that Iran is waging war on Christians throughout the Middle East and not just in Lebanon. Iran’s war, he states, “has been deliberate as part of a larger objective of creating the Shiite Crescent stretching from Iran to Lebanon through both Iraq and Syria.” Malik adds that the Iranian terrorist regime hates freedom and “sees the native Christians, especially those of Lebanon who have resisted dhimmitude over the centuries at enormous cost to them in terms of lives and resources, as the great obstacle in the face of their domination of the region.” 

The Iranian strategy appears to be working since huge number of Lebanese Christians, particularly young Christians, are leaving the country to live in the relative freedom available elsewhere in the West. How sad that Christians, who have lived throughout the Middle East since the time of the apostles, are being forced to leave their homelands.

• Worldwide Persecution of Christians Increasing. Christians are the most persecuted religious group in the world, largely because of Islamic extremism and repressive governments. The ever-increasing persecution has led Pope Francis to call it a "form of genocide" and "religio-ethnic cleansing." Keeping up with the news on the persecution of Christians is no easy task since the mainstream media tends to ignore it. You really have to dig deep to find stories on the subject. One good source, however, is Aid to the Church in Need International, a Catholic organization that is serious about keeping track of persecution throughout the world. (By the way, there are few organizations more worthy of donations than AID. I highly recommend throwing a few dollars in their direction every so often.)  Just a brief scan of the news section of AID’s website provides a quick review of the persecution of Christians in many countries, including:

Democratic Republic of the Congo where armed militias attack villages in the eastern provinces and often slaughter the inhabitants. Fr. Marcelo Oliveira, a missionary who serves the people in this dangerous region, stated that “Terror is widespread…It’s one village here today, another there tomorrow, and all this in silence. And this is what gets to us, as missionaries, seeing the silence of the international community, the deafening silence, while human lives are massacred.” Fr. Oliveira spoke right after terrorists used explosives to attack a Protestant church, an attack the killed at least 15 worshippers and wounded dozens of others. This is just one example of ongoing terror attacks aimed largely at Christian communities and churches.

Christians Massacred in Nigeria

Nigeria has undergone perhaps more persecution of Christians than any other African state. Between January 2021 and June 2022, more than 7,600 Christians have been killed in terror attacks. The terrorists have focused much of their attention on killing and kidnapping Catholic priests. In just the past year, four priests have been murdered and 28 kidnapped. Then in mid-January, two Catholic priests were attacked in their presbytery by terrorists. One, Fr. Isaac Achi, was burned alive when the building was set afire, and the other, Fr. Collins Omeh, was shot but survived the attack. On the same day another priest was kidnapped. Unfortunately, the Nigerian government has been less than enthusiastic protecting Christians or pursuing the terrorists. Speaking to the UK Houses of Parliament, Nigeria’s Bishop Jude Arogundade stated: “I strongly appeal to this important body and all people of goodwill to compel the Nigerian government to stop the genocide.” I suspect that the UK, the nations of Western Europe, and the USA will probably just wipe their hands of it all, saying, “Really, what can we do?” And when Christians are massacred by Muslim extremists, the Western media keeps silent. Of course, the unspoken sentiment that drives so much of the liberal, woke West’s attitudes and actions relates to Christianity’s unwillingness to stop “making disciples of all nations…baptizing…and teaching all that I have commanded you” [See Mt 28:19-20]. As one liberal, agnostic acquaintance said to me a few years ago, "All your proselytizing does is anger the Muslims. In a sense you Christians are the root cause of terrorism." How can you argue with logic like that? Another unstated motivation? The systemic racism of the atheistic left. Hey, it’s in Africa, not really worth our trouble.

I simply don’t have the time today to address all the other nations of the world where Christian persecution is widespread, but if you visit the AID website and click on their “News” section, you can read these stories yourself. The Christians in Africa are among the most courageous and their courage is the reason Christianity is growing so rapidly on that continent. Read about persecution and anti-Christian terrorism in Mozambique, Mali, Cameroon, Burkina Faso, and other nations. But Africa’s not unique. The same kind of persecution, much of it conducted by governments, takes place today in Asian nations such as Pakistan, Syria, Iraq, North Korea, and too many others. 

Keep the Christians of the world in your prayers. Think of them as you drive to church this weekend, knowing that you can do so without fearing for your life or wondering if your children and grandchildren might be targets of a terrorist attack or government reprisals simply because they are Christians.

Praised be Jesus Christ...now and forever!

U.N. Head Needs His Examined

I just read that the United Nations Secretary General, Antonio Guterres, a Portuguese socialist, is all aflutter about what he sees as an imminent climate apocalypse. In a doomsday address to the Security Council, he warned that rising sea levels will completely destroy many coastal nations. In his words, “Low-level communities and entire countries could disappear forever...We would witness a mass exodus of entire populations on a biblical scale." According to Guterres, such an inundation could wipe out a tenth of the world’s population. He continued, getting more specific with his fearful predictions: “Under any scenario, countries like Bangladesh, China, India and the Netherlands are all at risk…. Mega-cities on every continent will face serious impacts including Lagos, Maputo, Bangkok, Dhaka, Jakarta, Mumbai, Shanghai, Copenhagen, London, Los Angeles, New York, Buenos Aires and Santiago.” I’ve been to many of these cities and am trying to decide which ones I would miss. 

How to avoid the coming catastrophe? Guterres has the answer: get rid of fossil fuels, or as he describes it, “break the global addiction” to these nasty forms of energy. For Guterres they’re the real cause of everything wrong in the world. Last month he whined about his frustration with world leaders who simply did not give “the climate emergency the action and investment it requires.” He then lectured them on their lack of enthusiasm: “Words are not enough. Without climate action, climate catastrophe is coming for all of us.” And what a catastrophe it will be for folks like Barack Obama, Al Gore, and Joe Biden who own multi-million dollar waterfront homes. If they really believed this garbage, one would think they’d have already sold these homes and moved to Colorado.

I think, however, we can dismiss the Secretary General’s apocalyptic scenario simply because he’s a socialist. To buy into the socialist lie is to be irredeemably stupid. After all, socialism has failed wherever it’s been tried. But, you might argue, “How can he be stupid? He’s the Secretary General of the United Nations.” Allow me to don my conspiracy theorist hat and answer by suggesting that Guterres is just the sort of person those who strive to wield earthly power would want in the position of U.N. Secretary General. After all, it’s one of those all-talk, no action jobs, and he’ll willingly spew the party line. Were Teddy Roosevelt with us today, he'd probably say, “The Secretary General has a bully pulpit, but lacks the big stick.” Guterres can say a lot, probably far too much, but what can he really do? Indeed, most of what he has to say is just preachin’ to the choir of globalists. He won’t convince those of us who disagree with him because we must live with the consequences of globalist, socialist policies. Believe me, folks, Guterres won’t convert those who actually know what’s happening in the world. And he certainly won’t turn them into climate warriors.

Interestingly, in a speech at the World Government Summit last week, World Economic Forum Chairman Klaus Schwab predicted that those who control emerging technologies like Artificial Intelligence (AI) and "synthetic biology" will ultimately rule the planet. In his words, “Our life 10 years from now will be completely different, very much affected, and who masters these technologies, in some way, will be the masters of the world.” He also predicted the flourishing of transhumanism, "a fusion of technologies that is blurring the lines between the physical, digital, and biological spheres." Sounds like a not-so-brave new world, doesn't it?  Schwab, of course, is hoping he and his world government cronies will become masters of this new world. Of course, they need help and Schwab is just the kind of person to manipulate the strings controlling “useful idiots” like the Secretary General. (I just saw today’s “Dilbert” comic strip and thought it particularly relevant…and good for a needed laugh. Here’s the link: Dilbert)

Klaus Schwab - Master of the World

The Secretary General — Don’t you just love that title, so typical of UN-speak? Is he a secretary or a general? Is there even a difference today? — anyway, he and so many others openly claim climate as the driving force causing several million people from over 100 countries to cross our southern border illegally. This is so wrong it’s ludicrous. People come to this country for several reasons, none of them climate related. For many it’s an economic decision. They come because they can’t feed or house a family in poverty, or educate their children, or even hope to advance in a corrupt, socialist society. And that, friends, is the overriding reason: corruption. Corruption is what drives so many people to leave their homes, travel hundreds, even thousands, of miles, and cross our borders. The elite — the nomenklatura, as they were called in the Soviet Union — run every aspect of socialist societies. They have the power and the money (and the guns) to keep the peasants in line and in poverty. And so, the poor, the forgotten in their own countries, do whatever is necessary to get here, even signing up with the some of the most vicious, murderous people on earth, the Mexican drug cartels. These poor people are used to dealing with nasty folks and are willing to risk the consequences. Some become forced victims of human or drug trafficking. And sadly, it could all have been avoided had our government only secured our southern border, something sovereign nations do.

The ultimate question, though, the question no socialist wants to hear is the question no one seems to ask either the globalists or our socialist-leaning political leadership: If our free-market economy and our constitutional representative republic is so evil and destructive of the poor and minorities, how come so many poor and minorities are pouring across our borders?

Pray for our nation and the world.

Continued Atrocities

"You are of your father the devil, and your will is to do your father’s desires. He was a murderer from the beginning, and has nothing to do with the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks according to his own nature, for he is a liar and the father of lies. " [Jn 8:44]

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Looking at the world today it's apparent that the "father of lies" has been pretty busy. He makes use of all those caught up in themselves. He turns them into imitations of himself; turns them into liars, and haters, and lovers of chaos. For it is in chaos that he thrives. It is in chaos that his useful fools, who know not what they do, seek worldly power, the power they believe they can exert over others. 

Indeed, the devil is "diablo", from the Greek dia-bolos, meaning "one who divides or scatters." The evil one, then, is the scatterer, the one who strives to divide us, to create the chaos that comes from disunity. Note that Jesus' prayer to the Father seeks exactly the opposite; He seeks not division, but unity.

“I pray not only for them, but also for those who will believe in me through their word, so that they may all be one, as you, Father, are in me and I in you, that they also may be in us, that the world may believe that you sent me. And I have given them the glory you gave me, so that they may be one, as we are one, I in them and you in me, that they may be brought to perfection as one, that the world may know that you sent me, and that you loved them even as you loved me" [Jn 17:20-23].

Jesus' prayer to the Father echoes His call to us:

So be perfect, just as your heavenly Father is perfect [Mt 5:48].

His is a call to the perfection that can come only when we are united in God's love. We cannot achieve it on our own but must "be brought to perfection as one." The purpose? To show the world that the Father loves every one of us whom He created in individual acts of love; that the Son gave His life for our redemption, that the Holy Spirit is present doing God's work in the world, in the Church, and in our lives. 

Yes, the evil one is certainly active, but we should not become disheartened. Next to God's omnipotence, the devil's works are as nothing. God has an eternal plan, a plan that encompasses the entire span of history. He sees all -- past, present, and future -- and carries all of creation to the end He desires, to the fulfillment of His will. Caught up in time as we are, we often forget that God is eternal, beyond the time and space He created. Just keep in mind St. Paul's comforting and oft-quoted words:

"We know that all things work for good for those who love God, who are called according to his purpose" [Rom 8:28].

Confident, then, that for us all things work for good, let's take a look at some of the things the evil one is doing these days, and the help he receives from those who have been taught to hate, to grasp power, and to deny the God Who loves them. I will restrict these examples to just one diabolical issue, that of abortion, aware that the devil also strives to scatter and divide even nations, driving them from the peace God wills for us.

• The following story gives us a taste of what we the citizens and taxpayers can expect when we openly express our beliefs. A group of 12 high school students from Our Lady of the Rosary School in Greenville, SC took part in last month's March for Life in Washington, D.C. Afterwards they decided to visit the Smithsonian's Air and Space Museum. But during their stay they were approached by museum employees and told they must leave because they were wearing hats with a pro-life message.

In other words, these young citizens were evicted from the museum because they were pro-life and showed it. It's nice to know that the taxpayers (via the federal government) contribute 51% of the Smithsonian's revenues. (info from the Smithsonian's 2021 Annual Report.)

Jordan Sekulow of the American Center for Law and Justice stated that the students “were accosted several times and told they would be forced to leave unless they removed their pro-life hats...The museum staff mocked the students, called them expletives, and made comments that the museum was a ‘neutral zone’ where they could not express such statements.”

After being confronted and accused of blatant discrimination by the ACLJ, Alison Wood, the museum's deputy director of communication, stated, “Asking visitors to remove hats and clothing is not in keeping with our policy or protocols...We provided immediate training to prevent a reoccurrence of this kind of incident, and have determined steps to ensure this does not happen again.”

One would think training on dealing with the public would have been a major part of their existing training program, but...I suppose it's progress. What these young folks experienced says a lot, though, about the attitudes of too many of those who work in our nation's capital.   

Here's a link to the full story: Smithsonian Harassment

• Now a story related directly to my theme. The Satanic Temple, an organization devoted to worship of the evil one, has, of course, long promoted abortion. TST (as they like to call themselves) has decided to turn abortion into a "religious" ritual which they compare to sacramental rites such as baptism and holy communion. They will perform these murderous rituals in New Mexico through their so-called TST Health services. 

Since their "clinic" is a place devoted to the hatred of God and humanity, they gave it a name that demonstrates their hatred for Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito: "The Samuel Alito's Mom's Satanic Abortion Clinic." According to Malcolm Jarry, the co-founder of The Satanic Temple, they chose that name because "In 1950 Samuel Alito's mother did not have options, and look what happened."

The Temple went on to claim that "TST is proud to expand reproductive options for our members. This is just the beginning...We remain steadfast as we continue the fight to uphold reproductive justice in the United States."

Yes, indeed, The Satanic Temple joins our President and almost the entire Democrat Party, as they disguise the willful murder of unborn children by simply calling it "reproductive justice." Hidden beneath this euphemism, slaughter becomes something they can talk about in polite company as they lift a drink celebrating the work of the evil one and his followers.

Elisa Martinez, of the New Mexico Alliance for Life, reminded us that "Their willingness to flaunt the practice of ending innocent human life as a ritualistic sacrifice shows how New Mexico public officials have cooperated with this evil by turning the state into the thriving taxpayer-funded abortion capital of the Southwest and even America."

Here's a link to the full story: Satanic Temple Ritual Abortion

• If you think evil has been empowered in New Mexico, check out Minnesota. The state legislature and its governor have just passed what they call the Protect Reproductive Options (PRO) Act, a law that guarantees "reproductive freedom" by allowing abortion for any reason right up to the moment of birth. But that's not all. Should a child happen to survive an abortion, the law prohibits any attempt to save the child's life. And there's more. Parental notification is not permitted, so a young girl can get an abortion without the parents being notified.  

Bishop Robert Barron described it well: "I don't know why this is really debated anymore in our country, but this strikes me as just the worst kind of barbarism. And in the name of, I don't know, subjectivity, and freedom, and choice and all this, we're accepting this kind of brutality."

When was the last time you told a pro-choice acquaintance that their support for abortion is nothing more than the support of premeditated murder, a barbaric evil that aims to destroy our nation and our civilization? Then just tell them you will pray for their conversion.

And if you live in Minnesota, how strongly did you speak out against this vicious law? Will you work to vote its supporters out of office? Will you pray for them, for their conversion?

Here's a link to the full story: Bishop Barron and Minnesota's Abortion Law

• The evil one is at work throughout the world, even in jolly old England. The esteemed, but only moderately relevant, House of Lords has voted to support the establishment of "buffer zones" around abortion clinics. The law would criminalize any attempt to "influence" someone seeking an abortion. It becomes a criminal offence to cause "harassment, alarm or distress to any person in connection with a decision to access, provide, or facilitate the provision of abortion services." Such influence, we are told, might well turn even private and silent prayer outside an abortion clinic into a "thought crime."

 If, however, we look at this objectively there may be a silver lining. Since some among the most honorable Lords apparently believe that silent prayer can influence the decision of a woman contemplating abortion, it would seem they recognize the power of prayer. After all, if prayer accomplished nothing, why ban it? But if such prayer actually causes a woman to change her mind and not abort her baby, something the Lords fear might happen, then prayer does have power. But it has power only if God, to whom the prayer is addressed, responds to it. And since God is all Good, He responds only to that which is good. This would mean, then, the House of Lords accepts that God is pro-life. If so, can we expect a mass conversion among these lordly ones? Just a thought.

Here's a link to the full story: House of Lords and Thought Crime

I think that's enough; anyway, I'm tired and still have a homily to write for a cemetery committal tomorrow. Don't fear the evil one; just stay close to Our Lord and pray for all those who have been led so far astray. Try fasting one or two days each week, all for the conversion of sinners. And remember, all those aborted babies are today's Holy Innocents and remain always close to the Father where they intercede for those responsible for their deaths. God's peace...

Insanity in Davos

The only time I visited Davos, a lovely place tucked away high in the Swiss Alps, was over 50 years ago. I suspect the town has changed a lot since then, although the scenery, kindly provided by God Himself, has, I'm sure, remained pretty much the same. Other than the beauty of the alps, all I really remember from my brief stay (one day) was that Davos, at 11,000 feet, was billed as Europe's highest town. And judging by what we've been hearing from Davos lately, I would guess many of those visiting are quite high indeed.

Today, of course, Davos has become the renowned haunt of an international cult also known as the World Economic Forum. This year's meeting is actually the 50th held in Davos, and attended by, as John Kerry reminded us, a "select" group of people, numbering about 3,000. Who exactly are they? They include CEOs of woke corporations, government leaders, academics, heads of a variety of international organizations, and climate activists like the young, dumb Greta Thunberg -- the usual suspects.  Yes, indeed, they really do think of themselves as the select, the elite who are obviously much smarter than the rest of humanity. We must all listen to them and obey. I know...it's hard to contemplate obeying Al Gore, but believe me, he expects you to.

For years now the Gore and Kerry show has been warning us of our impending climatological demise, and each year their warnings become more shrill and scarier. Just yesterday Al informed the Davos crowd, along with the rest of the world, that because of our thoughtless attempts to live our lives, we have generated way too much accumulated heat. How much? As much as 600,000 nuclear bombs exploding every day. Wowie kazowie! That's a lot of heat. It might be cooler if we all moved to the sun. Makes you wonder where this genius, this man of science, gets his data. 

For those of us who have paid only moderate attention to Al's warnings over the years, his predictions were never taken seriously. If you have two minutes, check out this video of Al Gore and Rush Limbaugh addressing the "climate crisis" on Nightline back in 1992. Here's the link:

Rush Limbaugh / Al Gore 1992 Nightline debate part 1 - YouTube

Some years later, in 2006, during one of Gore's promotional live shots for his documentary, An Inconvenient Truth (for which Al inexplicably won an Oscar), he declared that the world would reach a point of no return in just 10 years (i.e., 2016) unless we took drastic measures to reduce greenhouse gasses. And yet here we are, 18 years later, still breathing, still enjoying the same coastline. And that's just one of many of his wacko predictions.

Al reminds me of those preachers who like to predict the end of the world, as if they have a private inside track straight to God. They're always wrong, but does that stop them? Nope. They simply advance the date a few years and keep on collecting donations. This always confuses me. Why would they need any money if the world was really going to end? 

And we might ask the same question of Al Gore who owns a $9 million home in Montecito, California, the town where so many uber-wealthy beautiful people live their lives. Interestingly, his mansion is right on the shore, a shore that Al constantly predicts will disappear. Makes you wonder, doesn't? If he really believes all that he says, why live there? 

Al Gore's Montecito Home

This brings up another interesting series of facts. When Al left his taxing job as Vice President, his net worth was slightly less than $2 million. Today his net worth is well over $300 million -- all thanks to his gig as a climate guru whom the wokesters are willing to pay. 

Al is always telling us how the melting of the polar ice caps will inundate coastal communities. Why? Because we drive those nasty cars fueled by gasoline or diesel fuel. Because we cook our food on gas stoves to save money. Because we actually heat our homes. Because we eat meat from cattle and sheep and chickens and would prefer not to eat insects. And yet Gore and Kerry and over 1,000 other Davos participants flew into the conference on private jets. Oh, yes, the meals there were quite sumptuous, with only the best meat and fish flown in for the select ones. As one wag put it: "Steak, lobster, and hookers...what could be better?" That's right, lots of attractions for those who need not obey their own commands.

In the event you actually listen to these people, check out this 2015 article on The Federalist website in which environmentalist predictions are shown for what they are: garbage. Here's the link: 

Seven Big Failed Environmentalist Predictions (thefederalist.com)

I'd say something about John Kerry, our so-called "Climate Czar," but he's not worth my time or effort. A complete phony who married his way to super wealth and disgraced his country through his lies about his service in Vietnam. A man who shopped for medals to cover his lackluster and questionable performance. If you're a Kerry fan, just read John O'Neill's book about Kerry, Unfit for Command. John O'Neill is one of my Naval Academy classmates, a true hero and man of honor.

Maybe tomorrow I'll relate some of the other oddities that have come out of Davos this year. Oh, yes, one other thing. I just love fossil fuels and wouldn’t dream of buying an all-electric car until they make one that can go a minimum of 1,000 miles, at any ambient temperature, between charges. And it also has to be affordable.

Thompson's Clam Bar

OK, I'm posting a little nostalgia today, a glance a few decades back to the 60s and later, remembering a place on Cape Cod I knew well. And it all came about because of a chore I finally took on this morning.

Today I spent a few hours cleaning and straightening my den/office, a task I had put off for far too long. For some unexplained reason it had become so cluttered that trying to enter or walk around in this rather small room was actually dangerous. And at my age no trip and fall would be welcome. So, I cleaned it all up...well, mostly. 

Part of the task involved removing several storage boxes filled with papers, photos, letters, and piles of other stuff and carting them off to the living room where I hope to go through them while listening to music or watching meaningless shows on TV.  I doubt if Diane is real happy with five boxes stacked up in the living room, but she agreed to my plan so long as I carry it out, as we used to say in the Navy, expeditiously.

Among the first items I came across was a 1981 menu from a restaurant called Thompson's Clam Bar. For 25 years Diane and I lived just a block away from Thompson's, a famous eatery located in Harwich Port, Massachusetts on Cape Cod. Actually, Thompson's closed in 1996, so I suppose we lived nearby for only about 18 years. Diane and I sold our home in the fall of 2003 and eventually moved to sunny Florida in February 2004. 

The Clam Bar was open for only 10 to 12 weeks each summer but seemed always to be filled with locals and tourists. Because it was on the water, just inside the harbor entrance, boats could tie up to the restaurant, permitting the sailors to order meals and be served right on their boats. I actually did this a couple of times back in the 60s thanks to several friends who owned boats and let me crew for them. (Just an aside...it's much better to have boat-owning friends than to actually own a boat into which you must pour large amounts of cash every year. The friends are always looking for others to crew for them -- all the benefits, none of the costs.)

The below photo, definitely vintage and probably from the 60s, shows a few boats tied up at the Clam Bar.

As you can see, it was not a small restaurant. Here's a photo showing a typical crowd enjoying Thompson's excellent seafood:

Most of the servers were college kids, spending their summer on Cape Cod and making a few bucks to help with tuition and room and board. As I recall, Thompson's had facilities to house these young folks so they could actually afford to spend a summer on the Cape. When I turned 19 my folks moved from Larchmont, New York to Chatham, a town only about four or five miles from Thompson's. During my Naval Academy summers -- we usually had only about a month's leave -- I actually dated a few of the young ladies who worked at the Clam Bar. I also had access to a car, which was a definite plus. They were a fun group, always ready to party hearty.

I've included all four pages of the Clam Bar's menu. The cover page is an aerial photograph of Wychmere Harbor, showing the Clam Bar (marked with a white circle). I also circled our home (blue circle) where we brought up our four children. 

As you can see by the menu, in 1981 Thompson's opened for the season on June 17. It closed for the season that year on my birthday, September 13. Living so close to Thomason's was a joy. Diane and I would often walk down to the Clam Bar just to sample a few littleneck clams and maybe sip a glass of white wine. Occasionally, we'd even splurge and enjoy a complete meal. 

As you can also see in the photograph, Wychmere Harbor was almost a perfect circle. In fact, back in the late 19th and early 20th century it was not a harbor but a racetrack where the locals would compete racing their horses. Years later, the outer harbor was dredged giving us the beautiful body of water we have today. A brief history of the harbor and the Thompson Brothers' involvement is provided on the back of the menu, below. Click on the photo to view a readable page.

I think the menu itself -- two pages from 43 years ago (1981) -- might interest those who yearn for less costly meals. Just keep in mind, it might have cost less for a good meal in 1981, but for most folks, their income was also much lower. And I think I can truthfully say that I nver had a bad meal at Thompson's Clam Bar. Here's the menu:

2

Thompson’s Clam Bar was one of those places that I'll always remember and always miss. Here's a photo of Wychmere Harbor I took a few years ago, after the Clam Bar closed. The Clam Bar is the long building in the background, now part of a private club.

As a final touch, here's a link to their advertising jingle. Everyone who lived on Cape Cod knew it, and our two girls would sing it often enough.

Thompson's Clam Bar jingle - YouTube

Don't you just love it!

George Cardinal Pell, R.I.P.

Cardinal Pell, the Australian prelate whom liberals love to hate, and, along with Joseph Cardinal Zen, is among the most persecuted of modern cardinals, died last Tuesday at the age of 81. His funeral Mass will be celebrated today in Rome. May he rest in peace. 

I won’t offer a eulogy here since those who knew him best will do that far better than I. But if you want to come to a better understanding of this remarkable man, just read his three-volume Prison Journals. I also suggest reading another of his books: Test Everything: Hold Fast to What Is Good.

How influential was Cardinal Pell? The Wall Street Journal, certainly no particular friend of the Church, described him as “the most influential Catholic churchman in the English-speaking world.” I certainly agree.

Since March of 2022 a rather lengthy memo has circulated among the cardinals who presumably will take part in the next conclave. The anonymous author called himself “Demos” (Greek for “people”) and most knowledgeable folks in the Vatican believed it was written by a cardinal. After Cardinal Pell’s death, Sandro Magister, a veteran Catholic journalist revealed that Pell was actually the memo’s author.

The 2,000-word memo consists of two sections — “The Vatican Today” and “The Next Conclave” — in which Pell provides a detailed and rather intense description of the papacy of Pope Francis. It is not complimentary. Cardinal Pell, who had been a close collaborator of Pope Francis, had been brought in to clean up the Vatican’s messy financial operations. Pell, however, came to believe Francis’ papacy was trying to take the Church in the wrong direction. In another article, apparently written shortly before the cardinal’s death, he expressed his growing concern about what he sees as serious moral lapses and wokeness on the part of the Vatican:

“...deepening confusion, the attack on traditional morals and the insertion into the dialogue of neo-Marxist jargon about exclusion, alienation, identity, marginalization, the voiceless, LGBTQ, as well as the displacement of Christian notions of forgiveness, sin, sacrifice, healing, redemption.”

In the memo Cardinal Pell pulls no punches and states that “Commentators of every school, if for different reasons … agree that this pontificate is a disaster in many or most respects; a catastrophe.” He also declares that “The Holy Father has little support among seminarians and young priests and wide-spread disaffection exists in the Vatican Curia.”

The memo’s first section describes a litany of problems affecting the Church today, largely, Pell believes, resulting from decisions made by Pope Francis. The second section, addressing the next conclave, focuses on what the kind of pope the Church will need in the near future. Cardinal Pell’s description is clear and concise:

“The Pope does not need to be the world’s best evangelist, nor a political force. The successor of Peter, as head of the College of Bishops, also successors of the Apostles, has a foundational role for unity and doctrine. The new pope must understand that the secret of Christian and Catholic vitality comes from fidelity to the teachings of Christ and Catholic practices. It does not come from adapting to the world or from money.”

I could include the entire memo here, but it is readily available elsewhere. You may or may not agree with Cardinal Pell's assessment of Francis' papacy and the current state of the Church, but it is still worth reading. It certainly shouldn't be swept under the rug. Read it and, as you always do, pray for Pope Francis and for the one, holy, catholic, and apostolic Church.

Here’s the link to the original memo: A Memorandum. (Note that the memo was posted on the site before the author's identity was revealed.) 

How Smart Were the Ancients?

Every so often, someone, while discussing ancient history, will tell me how fortunate we are to be alive today as opposed to say, 2,000 years ago. I actually hear this fairly frequently. The reasons behind this preference for the now, as opposed to the past, vary. I can certainly understand why the average American might feel this way. After all, at no time in recorded history has a people enjoyed greater freedom and prosperity than those who have lived in the United States during the past century. Of course, as the bumper-sticker says, "Freedom is not free." To stay free a people must resist the forces that strive to grasp power and enslave them. The history of humanity is largely a history of darkness enlightened only occasionally by brief moments of true, responsible freedom. 

Others take a more progressive view, assuming human existence always moves forward to something better. One friend, a scientist, actually claimed we are far more intelligent today than those who went before us. "Like everything else," he explained, "IQs have no doubt increased as we continue our upward evolution." He wasn't happy when I challenged him by reciting a few basic historical facts. For example, the number of people slaughtered in wars since 1914 exceeds the total killed in warfare through all previous recorded history. Does he believe, then, killing people by the millions is a valid indicator of a higher IQ and continual upward evolution? I had other questions. He disliked them all.

Another acquaintance, like me educated as an engineer, took a humbler approach and admitted that knowledge is a continual building process in which we add our own advances and insights to those passed on to us. In this he mirrors the comment of Bernard of Chartres, who in the early 12th century claimed:

"...we [the Moderns] are like dwarves perched on the shoulders of giants [the Ancients], and thus we are able to see more and farther than the latter. And this is not at all because of the acuteness of our sight or the stature of our body, but because we are carried aloft and elevated by the magnitude of the giants."

I suppose, for an engineer, such an attitude makes sense. Progress in engineering, which is really the application of science and technology to current needs and problems, builds on that which has been learned and tested over the centuries. This can, however, result in a kind of temporal bias, in which that which came before is generally considered inferior. 

Indeed, we can argue that in many fields -- the arts, for example -- exactly the opposite is true. I would gladly argue that any fugue and prelude by Bach, a Bethoven symphony, or a concerto by Mozart or Vivaldi, by any reasonable measure far surpasses most of the music to which we are subjected today. Some of today’s music is quite good, but very little of it is great. I believe this applies, too, to many of the visual arts. And interestingly, it seems also to apply, at least in some instances, to engineering. The Pantheon in Rome is a perfect example. Here’s an aerial view of the Pantheon, thanks to Google Earth:

On our first trip to Rome, Diane and I visited the Pantheon, designed as a Roman temple dedicated to all the gods. It was built, in its final form, sometime in the early 2nd century by the Roman emperor Hadrian. By any standard it is a remarkable structure. The Pantheon is a circular building fronted by an impressive rectangular portico supported by huge columns. I took the below photo back in November 2005. Approaching the building from the Piazza della Rotonda we are almost overwhelmed by the large portico and its massive columns.

The interior, the rotunda, sits under a unique concrete dome with a central opening or oculus that lets in sunlight. The dome is still the world's largest unreinforced concrete dome, the only dome of its kind that does not need reinforcement. In the photo below we see the oculus along with part of the surrounding dome:

How big is the Pantheon? The dome's height and diameter are identical (142 ft). At its base the dome is 21 feet thick, while at the top, at the oculus, it is only about 4 feet thick. The content of the materials used to make the dome also vary with height. Concrete was a material which the Romans understood well, and as they built the Pantheon, they applied different aggregates to the concrete mix, from travertine limestone at its thick base to terracotta tiles and ultimately at the top very porous light stones like pumice. The oculus also lightens the loads on the structure where it would be weakest. And the inclusion in the dome of multiple bands of sunken panels (or coffers) further reduces the weight. These bands are visible above and also in the following photo of the Oculus.

I’m not a civil engineer but I did make my way through a course on strength of materials in which our professor waxed eloquently about the Romans’ use of concrete in building the Pantheon, the Colosseum, and many other structures. I recall his telling us that modern concrete has a limited life and usually begins to deteriorate after some decades. I think of all the bridges and interstate overpasses that have had problems in recent years and the billions we have spent to repair them and other elements of our national infrastructure. Our professor, again referring to the Pantheon, went on to say that he and his peers could not understand how ancient Roman concrete seemed to last forever. Discussing this he added that perhaps someday we would figure out the secret and catch up with Roman technology.

Well, apparently this has finally been accomplished. It seems that scientists, archaeologists, and historians have been working independently and occasionally together for many years trying to uncover the secrets of Roman concrete technology. This technology and the techniques that derived from it have resulted in some of the most enduring structures ever made. In a study published in Science Advances researchers from MIT and Harvard, assisted by others from research laboratories in Germany and Switzerland, explained what they believe made Roman concrete so durable and of such high quality. (Note: the article is quite technical, but readily understandable by all serious techno-dweebs.)

As a result of extensive examination of Roman concrete, the researchers discovered that the Roman manufacturing techniques included “key self-healing functionalities.” In other words, the concrete would continually heal itself so it wouldn’t deteriorate over time. It seems small, bright white chunks of lime — what are called “lime clasts” — are abundant in Roman concrete. These chunks of hardened lime were always thought to be mere contaminants, the result of sloppy mixing by the Romans. Everyone was certain they were certainly not essential elements of the mix. Well, not everyone. Adam Masic, MIT professor of civil and environmental engineering, had long been skeptical and decided to find out the truth. In his words:

“Ever since I first began working with ancient Roman concrete, I’ve always been fascinated by these features...The idea that the presence of these lime clasts was simply attributed to low quality control always bothered me. If the Romans put so much effort into making an outstanding construction material, following all of the detailed recipes that had been optimized over the course of many centuries, why would they put so little effort into ensuring the production of a well-mixed final product? There had to be more to this story.”

He was right. Using high-resolution imaging and chemical mapping technology they examined the lime clasts at a molecular level and discovered the clasts had been subjected to high heat, producing what’s known as quicklime. Quicklime, then, was an intentional ingredient and not a contaminant. As Professor Masic explained it:

“The benefits of hot mixing are twofold. First, when the overall concrete is heated to high temperatures, it allows chemistries that are not possible if you only used slaked [cold mixed] lime, producing high-temperature-associated compounds that would not otherwise form. Second, this increased temperature significantly reduces curing and setting times since all the reactions are accelerated, allowing for much faster construction.” 

The lime clasts resulting from this hot mixing process are brittle, so brittle that when the concrete starts to crack over time, the force is shifted to the lime clasts, which also begin to crack. Here’s where it gets truly amazing. These crumbling, cracking lime clasts then react with water penetrating the concrete through the cracks. This results in a calcium-saturated solution that hardens and fills all the cracks in the concrete. It then reacts with the pozzolanic materials and adds extra strength to the concrete blocks. The lime clasts, then, long thought to be contaminants, automatically heal Roman concrete whenever the forces of nature threaten to break it apart. 

And so, the Pantheon, constructed almost entirely of concrete still stands strong after 2,000 years. And it only took that long for us moderns to learn the secrets of Roman construction technology. Pretty smart people, them ancients. Oh, yes, and the ancients are also the folks who, guided by the Spirit, wrote the Bible.

An afterthought: I’ve added a couple of other Pantheon photos below, just to give you a sense of the interior of this wonderful building which is now a Catholic Church. The first shows the interior empty of tourists because a special Mass was about to begin, a Mass we attended.

And here’s a photo of the Pantheon’s entrance. The doors are original, and I believe they’re the world’s largest bronze doors.

Finally, a photo I took in 2008 showing a typical crowd of tourists roaming about the Pantheon rotunda.

If you ever get to Rome, spend at least a few hours in the Pantheon, then enjoy a meal at one of the restaurants around the Piazza della Rotonda. It’s a wonderful way to spend a morning or afternoon.