Safe Haven

 I really just browse the profiles. I have only chatted with one person. You see lots of interesting women there, and sometimes shockingly beautiful women, but I have one concern, and it’s a weird one. When I see a baptism photo, I wonder if she’s going to a church that gets “creative” with the baptismal formula: “I baptize you in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.” I think I could convince a sweet Protestant girl that I know Jesus personally. I’m just a nerd, and that’s why I became Catholic! That’s funny, right? But can you imagine if I had to say, “They got creative with your baptism, darling, and it’s invalid”? Sweet mercy, we’d be toast as a couple, inside a week. I might as well tell her Jesus is a Vogon bureaucrat, and she brought the wrong Salvation Form. Theologians are the worst.

 I had one administrator that I really enjoyed working with. He made me nervous at first, but he’s a great educator, for one thing. Could absolutely jump into a lesson on most subjects and not embarrass himself. You figure out quickly who’s been in a classroom and who hasn’t. I’ll codename him “J.F. Sebastian” in homage to the Blade Runner character. He left the high school to be a principal with primary school kids. I just go, “Awww” at the thought of it. I myself wouldn’t want to become cynical, and that can happen in a high school setting. I’m theologically trained, and serious enough to know that the innocence of children can’t save your soul. On the other hand, I haven’t heard of a better personnel shift anywhere in some time. Anyway, I did absolutely feel that at least one person wanted me to flourish. HR and the Board could disappear from the Earth with no appreciable loss, from my vantage point. But it wasn’t all bad.

 But it's not real hate. There are a few players that I dislike strongly, for reasons that may border on irrational, and I would recant that, if confronted in public. Like if I ever disrespected an actual person because he played for a rival. You might recall that the Cubs won the World Series in 2016, breaking a curse of not winning a championship for 108 years. Generations lived and died as Cubs fans without seeing that glory. I was born in 1980. Not only have my Cardinals won three times in my lifetime, but I remember 2 of them. Not only that, but the Cardinals have been the World Series runner-up 3 other times in my memory. It's easy to be a Cardinals fan. It's so easy, I feel guilty about it. In the 2010s, national articles were written about how obnoxiously good we were, and I can't even bother to disagree. It's absolutely hilarious to read about "Cardinals Devil Magic" and so forth. The Cardinals are likely to lose more games than they win this year...

 Apparently, Hank Williams, Jr. said in a song, "If the South woulda won, we'd have it made." I'm sure that ignorant hillbilly believes it, too. Just a recap: The Confederate States of America fought for actual white supremacy. They fought for the continued slavery of Black people. I'm thankful every single day they lost the war. The sheer number of men who fought bravely and died causes us to have more compassion than may be warranted. After all, brother literally fought against brother. All that said, I'm happy to be cited for a noise violation for playing "The Battle Hymn Of The Republic" at full volume. I won't even try to say that President Lincoln was a perfect man. Not even close. But he's ranked by every poll of presidents at the top, and if you're not gonna argue for President Washington, you don't really have a case. Sidebar: Presidents' Day used to be for Washington and Lincoln's birthdays. It's not meant to hon...

 A word on “political”: When people use it pejoratively, they mean “partisan.” And when we say “partisan,” we mean something like, “imbued with a party spirit such that truth, honesty, and even common human decency are set aside.” By the way, you can read it in the comments of every New York Times article. A sneering, left-wing, “our opponents are stupid, and probably poor” sentiment. They can hear and see. You know that, right? After I saw “Rethuglicans” for the 50th time, that pretty much decided that I couldn’t be a Democrat, no matter how sad, mad, and horrified I got at Donald Trump and the Republicans. Then again, I just teach. I don’t have time for team sports. And how to live and flourish together—a good definition for the meat of politics—deserves better than to be treated like an SEC football rivalry. Inevitably, I write about politics and culture here. The life of self-governance is possibly the second-most important universe of questions, after, “Who is God? Who am I? W...

 He’s not by any means a “clean” comedian, but then again, his language isn’t so foul that he couldn’t perform in such a setting. Besides that, what you notice is that he believes in the permanence of marriage. He’s got a bit about the difference between dating and marriage that’s tremendously funny. He says: “If you’re dating, it’s a stressful night. You actually care how this goes. If you get in a fight tonight—maybe over something I’m about to say—the whole thing could be over tonight. The relationship could end tonight… My wife and I could get into the same fight—it could be the worst fight in the world—and we’re not going anywhere, because we don’t have that option.” It’s quaint and beautiful, in its own way.

 I don’t interact with Pastor Tim Butler on the Twitter that much directly, but what happens is that I usually find him arguing with a crazy person who’s enmeshed in political dark arts (racists, Nazis, misogynists) and I will say something brief, hopefully to turn that person around. So I just said, “Europe is nearly godless. Why would you want to replicate that?” You see, liberals and progressives these days usually spend most of their time lecturing people, and trying to demonstrate how much better they are than the great unwashed. Ironically, this drives people deeper into the scary places, because scary people will say to them, “No, you’re right. Mainstream people don’t hear you out, but I will.” I don’t know if that dude was reachable. I think “the Great Replacement” is a stupid thing to worry about. I don’t care what skin color someone has. The United States was founded on ideas, not race or ethnicity. I don’t necessarily agree that Charlie Kirk was a “normie Republican” as ...

 Our automated overlords informed me that the original airdate was March 4, 1973, almost a full 7 years before I was born. But great art really does stand the test of time. It seems to me that the popularity of murder mysteries--and Columbo, that's never a mystery at all--has led us in a certain way to be desensitized to the brutality of murder in the real world. On the other hand, Columbo is better than most in this regard. Laurence Harvey, who played "Emmett Clayton" (the murderer) portrayed a wretched character, who has very little to redeem him. The victim, "Tomlin Dudek," played by Jack Kruschen as a likable, friendly Eastern Bloc chess champion who comes out of retirement to play a match against Clayton. Clayton has only ascended to his height of popularity by the voluntary retirement of Dudek, whom he has never beaten. They hilariously shut down a French restaurant nearby their hotel by playing a chess match with the restaurant condiments on a checkered t...

 This is St. Paul instructing us on the Eucharist/Lord's Supper, one of the central mysteries of the Christian faith. If you didn't know, this parish was messed up. Back in chapter 5, St. Paul says he knows there's a guy sleeping with his father's wife. The context seems to indicate that sexual ethics was going to be challenging for these people. Sex cults devoted to various gods and goddesses in the Greek pantheon were not uncommon, even in these latter days long past the heyday of Alexander the Great. Let's remind ourselves that this was literally in human terms just a letter at first. What we know now as the Bible is--in the New Testament--four accounts of the life of Jesus, believed to be the Messiah hoped for in the Hebrew Scriptures, and a bunch of letters to churches that sprang up for the purpose of adoring Jesus as this Messiah. St. John the Evangelist, the fourth Gospel guy, clearly believes this Jesus is God in human flesh, and fair to say that the conver...

 Some “rabbi” is “gutted” that a euthanasia law didn’t pass somewhere. He says the opponents have denied people hope. You don’t get hope from death. Hope comes from the defeat of death, and the changing of death into life. The idea of the resurrection of the dead is actually in Daniel, in the Hebrew Scriptures. Pain isn’t fun, and I won’t sugarcoat that. But medical science is amazing regarding pain management now. And getting better all the time. You know what probably doesn’t advance that cause? Voluntary death. Meanwhile, euthanasia gets coercive toward the most vulnerable, because we already feel we are a burden. Apparently, people feel we aren’t genociding ourselves fast enough. Liberal religion is also stupid. Join UNICEF or Doctors Without Borders instead. If God always agrees with you, that ain’t God.

 You want less of them. That’s the reason. You may find that it’s too hard to stop people from doing the thing, literally blood, sweat, and tears trying to prosecute people, but that’s a different thing. We can decide that a pothead doesn’t deserve to rot in prison until he’s dead. Full legalization is a different matter. Most people are stupid. Better said, most people are simple: if the government says something is OK, they do it if they want to. If it’s illegal, that’s all the coercion most people need to never do whatever it is. As much fun as it would be to play poker with Larry Elder, Neal Boortz, and the ghost of Ayn Rand, the charming belief that most people decide for themselves what is right and wrong regardless of what the government says is the most utopian nonsense ever. Despite his liberalism, Ken Burns and his friends do the best historical documentaries I’ve ever seen. The one on Prohibition is amazing. William Wheeler, who spearheaded the effort to make alcoholic b...

 Unfortunately, I can’t say I haven’t ever thought about it. September 14, 2019 was possibly the worst night of my life. I literally thought, “I need to make sure that I don’t have too many pharmaceuticals in here, because I don’t trust myself right now.” What was odd and hard about that was that I’m possibly the most optimistic person I’ve ever met. I’ve been through really hard things. REALLY hard things. But that stuff about stressors is not BS; I had given everything, and it blew up in my face. For those few hours, I didn’t know what the point of my life was. On the other hand, I knew what it was, and I gave myself permission to be really sad, and I believed that if I could see the sun the next day, I would be fine. I was meeting Bryan Cross the next day, and we were going to Kentucky that day to hear Wendell Berry. I have lived the luckiest life. I truly have. I had to give myself instructions out loud to do things, though I lived alone. “Brush your teeth.” “Flip that switch.”...

 I remember I slept late. 10 o’clock in the morning. I’m brushing my teeth in my residence hall bathroom. A dude ran in and said, “Someone attacked the World Trade Center; they think 50,000 people are dead.” I said, “C’mon, man. That’s not funny. Don’t joke about that.” It was real. It’d been a couple years I think since a guy drove a truck into the parking garage of the World Trade Center that contained a bomb. I remember when the USS Cole got attacked the previous year. We knew it was Islamic-flavored terrorists. I went toward the front desk. We always had news summaries on a standing whiteboard. Above the news, there was a note: “In spite of everything that has happened, we are committed to treating everyone with respect, no matter their religion.” I was proud to see that. I’m still very proud it was there. In those days, it wasn’t normal to try to offend political opponents on purpose. It wasn’t that the day was so hard; it was too shocking to feel anything. The days and weeks ...

 He was killed one year ago today. I can remember when Turning Point USA started; I didn’t think much of him, I’ll be honest. Especially in the early days, I didn’t think it was useful or helpful to troll the Left. Whatever the “conservative movement” is or was, I still think ideas are important, and because ideas have to do in this sphere with how people govern themselves, persuading people should be the goal of politics and policy.  If there is any meaning to the terms “far Left” and “far Right,” I think it would have to apply to people who are unwilling to tolerate those who differ from them, up to and including using violence to achieve their goals. In that way, Charlie Kirk absolutely was quaint in his belief in persuasion. He became a Christian somewhere in there. And I don’t say that so I can praise him to the skies; I’m not a middle-aged liberal Catholic deacon who reviews movies on the side. And I don’t think I’m the rightist opposite, either. Kirk definitely made me ...

 With a 2-2 draw in Portland last night, St. Louis City SC finished their 14th consecutive league match without a loss. (9 wins, 5 draws) They haven't lost since May 3. Certainly, they would prefer wins over draws, but they have marched up the league table from near the bottom. If I am not mistaken, 10 league matches remain.

 The distinct approaches to sacramental efficacy by Protestants and Catholics are rooted in what each group wants and expects in its theological system. Protestants--first Lutherans, then others in turn--had to make a case that there was no aspect of divine appointment about the apostolic succession and the priesthood. Sadly, 16th century Catholicism provided ample provocations.  This is why a Protestant understanding of “apostolic” is that the apostolic kerygma—the apostolic preaching—is entirely contained within the Scriptures. The excision of 7 books of Scripture as it had been received, not all at once, and not all for the same reasons, is harder to justify in a principled way. In any case, theologically what Luther, Calvin, et al. eventually argued was that the sacraments functioned independently of the Catholic hierarchy; that is, the workings of grace depended primarily on the disposition of the receiver, not on the precise performance of the ritual with the right form,...

 I read all of Aaron “The Rat” Nelson’s posts on Facebook, and I venture to say that if he becomes one with The Borg—let the reader understand—that a bunch of our priests are going to tell him to chill out. I suppose indeed it is the mark of a saint to blame yourself first and primarily, but it’s also the hallmark of saints to tell the truth. The good that God has wrought cannot be muted in the blather of false humility and self-deprecation. I remain thankful that he has a burning antipathy for Calvinism, ironically enough. He’d denigrate himself even more if he spent the last 25 years in those waters. Bryan Cross and I both were Reformed at one point. Since Bryan is about 3 times smarter than I am, I assume he understood it better than I did to that degree. I’m just a Bible guy; I don’t think logically enough to be naturally good at systematic or dogmatic theology. The supernatural gifts of the Holy Spirit I think make me able to put mental citation “tags” on things. I said when I...

 I don't usually watch news; it's not well done these days. Whether because of the profit motive, or because of a subculture of rank laziness, you're not going to find a level of depth and accuracy with respect to what you need to know, or even what you would want to know, from one report. You might even find bias, in all the mediums of news delivery. Even in earlier days, when the physical newspaper was the undisputed king, the pressure to be first and the pressure to sell could distort a perspective. There are people who have made it their life's work to evaluate the news, and to attempt to re-present it--mostly by gathering as many good faith sources as possible--as fairly as possible. That is not me. I rely on much more analytical minds for that. But I did do a web search on Lindsay Clancy. You don't need my opinion on this case, and you won't get it. What you will get are a few thoughts about how our legal system is generally designed, and why it's adve...

 Fair warning: This is my favorite passage in my favorite Gospel, and St. John is my patron saint. That is, my confirmation name is John. Frankly, you could start with this text and go all the way to v. 71, and it would obviously benefit you. But I’m zooming in here because the Eucharist/Lord’s Supper is so important and is a point of disagreement between Catholics and the children of the Reformation. As always, there is a ton of overlap here, as well there should be. The glory of Jesus Christ and His love for us will come through if your heart is open. I may say some things concerning preference re: how the sacrament functions within the Catholic system, but again, questions of authority and submission are important, and are distinct from saying, “The system would be better if it had/lacked x.” I think the Magisterium or teaching office is wonderful and helpful, but only if Jesus actually put it there. If he didn’t, then quite literally, to Hell with it. Conversely, I find Protest...

 Before this gets too Greek and dorky—I’m not bloody Bryan Cross anyway—let me preface this by saying that I don’t ever want to simply give a Catholic interpretation of a passage, and ask you to consider it, and then if you’re persuaded about a Catholic dogma or even all of them, that you should then become Catholic. We don’t believe in Sola Scriptura. (Please see CCC, 100 and 105) To simply become Catholic because those dogmas accord with one’s own interpretation of Scripture would be to be a Catholic on Protestant/Reformation terms. The Catholic worldview depends upon the Church, the visible, united community joined to the successor of Peter, head of the Apostles. I don’t ask you to assume that; but I think it is reasonable in faith to reach that conclusion, looking at Christian history. God and us have won that argument in hundreds of billions of hearts over two millennia. One other preface: There’s a lot of overlap between us as Christians. There should be! If there is but one ...

 As many know, this was actually a film for TV, based on a stage play by Levinson and Link. If memory serves, the character of Lt. Columbo originated in 1962, and he was not played by Peter Falk. Columbo was played by Bert Freed. What we know as the TV series began airing in 1971, and the final episode of “classic” Columbo aired in 1978. You may have heard that ABC aired many “new” Columbo films starting in 1989, and the last aired in 2003. I have seen just a few of these, and I think they are fine, but the general consensus is that the classic ones provided the audience for the new ones. This makes sense; Columbo is on a short list of the most beloved characters in American TV and feature films. Anyway, this very first story centers around a psychiatrist “Ray Flemming” (Gene Barry) who viciously strangles his wife “Carol” (Nina Foch) because he’s been adulterous, she demanded that he stop or face divorce, and he refused. He’s also having one of his affairs with a very ill patient ...

 It’s a modern hymn written by Stuart Townsend. As a Catholic and a theologian, I feel compelled to change one line in the first stanza/verse: “The Father turns His face away.” That’s heresy. Otherwise, it’s a great hymn, much better than a lot of things that are sung at Holy Mass/Divine Liturgy. Oh, I change the line to, “I cannot turn my face away.” As difficult to see “The wages of sin is death” at the Cross, we shouldn’t want to look away. And if we’re not looking away, how much more should the Father not look away! This is the true Son with whom He is well pleased, the Son to whom he commands us to listen. We cannot eliminate the penal and substitutionary aspects completely, nor should we want to, but so-called penal substitutionary atonement seriously misunderstands sacrifice in service to the Calvinism at its root. Let’s talk about 2 Corinthians 5:21. This verse is offered by Reformed as an argument for “double imputation,” the idea that Christ takes the penalty for sin, bot...

 What if second-wave feminism and after just reduces down to abortion, and a bunch of unhappy people? What if you were an activist for most of 92 years, and nearly everything for which you advocated was bad? What would you do, if your life was a waste? Lord, have mercy! Ezekiel 33:11.

 A woman advocating for abortion is like actually installing a screen door on a submarine. Abortion is literally anti-woman. This makes a certain sense if you think about it. A lot of people doing it are pretending they don’t know what a woman even is. Olivia Rodrigo is a pop star, if you don’t know. She’s a walking, flouncing performative contradiction, if you ask me, because her appeal is largely based in creating the desire in men to copulate with her. Let me know when “Let’s have sex and then kill the baby!” starts making sense. Meanwhile, Rodrigo spearheaded an abortion-celebrating music festival. Nothing says “girl power” like murdering all the girls.

 If a person tries to enter the US more than once, that illegal entry becomes a felony. Even taking into account “felony creep,” we don’t have to allow felons to stay here. I think Stephen Miller is a web troll with political power. I think Donald Trump’s entire political career is at best, a waste. Even adding in the Republican conflation of crime with immigration, the Democrats pretend that Donald Trump is essentially the only criminal. And I do mean only. Some may forget “Defund The Police” but I don’t.

 It always had a deep resonance for me, because the Huxtables were an intact family with generations of that fidelity and love. And yes, it’s TV, and human beings are sinners, but it wouldn’t resonate if it were completely unrealistic. Bill Cosby’s own sins have damaged the images he left us, these symbols that the whole cast created together. But there must be a thirst for virtue. Pretended goodness will appeal, but we all thirst for it, because we keep gravitating toward it, even in our stories.

 Fair warning: Tom Segura is a crude comedian, and he uses words I don’t even use in a flare of some passion. Nevertheless, I find him really funny. I think most people know who Joe Rogan is, but if not, he hosts the most popular podcast in the world. He’s also a commentator for the Ultimate Fighting Championship, UFC for short, which is the top level of mixed martial arts (MMA for short). It’s probably risen to prominence because of corruption in boxing. I digress. Tom Segura has a funny bit about the difference between watching his own sons, versus the two girls his cousin has. At the time, both sets of kids were the same age, 6 and 3. He says in part: “(OMG), what did I do wrong, to not get girls?…They’re like, ‘Hello, Uncle Tommy.’ And I say, ‘Hello to you.’…I could go in that room an hour later and they’re like [impersonation of little girls coloring and smiling]…My boys aren’t like that…real “he/hims”, if you know what I’m saying. Don’t worry, we asked them. [Segura kind of s...

 I feared this loss for some time now, because the stroke which limited his capacities was 14 years ago. I'm going to keep this brief. One thing we owe as a debt to every British subject and resident of the Commonwealth realms is the preservation of our English language, and how this heritage is the root of some of the greatest human stories ever told. Between the King James Bible and William Shakespeare, every entertainer who keeps our language and our greatest playwright's work alive is worth honoring. On the stage, Curry was a three-time Tony Award nominee, and a Laurence Olivier Award nominee for his turn as The Pirate King in the West End production of The Pirates of Penzance (1982). He was also a mainstay of American film and television. He stars in the film adaptation of Tom Clancy's The Hunt For Red October (1990) and acted in numerous films for children, starring in Home Alone 2, and FernGully, to take two examples. From what I could see, he was prolific as a perfo...

 If you’re not fortunate enough to leave the Earth way too soon—as I said, Billy Joel’s famous song isn’t totally wrong—you’re probably going to be around awhile. Besides your family, friends, and helping anyone else who needs help along the way, there will be some times of boredom, or slowness, or something. We watch sports, and TV shows and plays, etc. because as the comedian Tom Papa noted about marriage and its lulls and frustrations, “You’re here because you think, ‘Let’s have someone else talk for an hour.’” Celebrities of all kinds, if you think about it, are people that are uniquely gifted in one or a few things, in such a way that a bunch of people want to experience them do the thing they are good at, and are willing to pay for it. I hereby redact any forthcoming rant about the fundamental disorder of modern market economics. In any case, I promise not to canonize every celebrity who dies, if you can just let people enjoy things, and let any good words about people, provi...

 Some time ago, 60 Minutes had a reel from a story they did that you could see on Facebook. A young couple got married when the woman was 21. He was young, too. I think they had children. The husband was in a motorcycle accident; traumatic brain injury, the whole thing. He’s not even mentally the same person, and I guess they couldn’t have sexual intercourse. She found another man, got “married,” and in their alleged compassion, have become caregivers to this husband, as he’s now also in a wheelchair. Assuming he wasn’t impotent, lady, you’re still married, and you’re committing adultery on the regular. He didn’t die; he’s sick, as per the traditional vows. And maybe I say this with more passion as a wheelchair user myself, but this is wrong. 

 I am not currently employed in education, and maybe I didn’t log enough time (2.5 years) to have a valid opinion.  That said, I understood that a principal who oversaw a great deal of staff turnover would no longer be a principal.  Now, I know that there are bad executives all over the world. There is injustice all over the world. But should there be? Then again, I doubt anyone with any sense would say that Chesterfield County School District in South Carolina is competently run.

 I didn’t like the argument published at The Gospel Coalition (think Presbyterians and Calvinistic Baptists) some years back that we should judge the morality of homosexuality by a gag reflex. If that person had same-sex attraction, he wouldn’t gag. Personally, other than possibly being covered in my own waste, I am not grossed out by the very idea. It’s not a principled argument. I gag at mushrooms and peaches; other than saying that I won’t and can’t eat them, I would be a fool trying to argue that they are immoral because I can’t eat them. I just have to say that I know something about disordered inclinations and I have plenty of failures with respect to my own principles. Therefore, homosexuality and other errors don’t induce in me a sort of patronizing pity, something unimaginable and tragic. I’m not a priest, thank God. But I do love the people, like a priest should, like Jesus the great High Priest does. A person doesn’t have to believe me, but my horse isn’t very high. I do...

 I love Richard Marx, man. He’s written some great songs. Love songs. Story songs. Tons of songs. But I was listening to “Endless Summer Nights” just now, and I realized that he’s three wives past the woman he wrote this song about. Lionel Richie is another favorite songwriter of mine. Maybe the greatest love songs I know about. I don’t even want to elaborate on his personal life. Eric Benet. Kenny Lattimore. Babyface. Train wrecks. Suffice to say, I don’t think these people know anything about true love. I’ll be the judgy one, I guess. Maybe the most enduring love is beyond words.

 The best thing I can say is that her music was in my ears when I was small. I can’t remember a time in my life when I didn’t have some idea who she was. I was a little bit worried about this outcome when I saw a reel from her a few weeks ago, letting her fans know that she’d been in the hospital. Not to worry, she said. But then again, she definitely seemed like the sort of person who would look Death straight in the face and say, “I ain’t scared of you!” A couple years ago, I think there was a fuss about possibly removing an Andrew Jackson statue in Tennessee. I definitely thought, “Give Dolly a statue.” I think maybe they did. 400 years from now, nobody would dare protest. Dare to think how beloved someone would have to be, to be immortalized with a statue today, and not a peep of protest would be heard. Others will mention all her charitable works, and that is right and good. But I think a lot of people can say that her efforts in this regard fit with who she seemed to be, and ...

“Gay” as a word was coined by early activists and advocates for homosexuality. As you might know, the word already meant “happy,” “pleasant,” associated with warm feelings. It was a good choice for the goal. Let’s stop for a moment, and talk about the word “homosexual.” You can use it as an adjective, as a description of an orientation perhaps, but even now, it sounds a little dehumanizing as a noun. I’ve seen old documentaries and propaganda films, and using it as a noun sort of “others” people; it defines them by what they do. I’m naturally obsessed with words and their definitions. “Gay person” is clunky, and drenched in false sentimentality, but the phrase is intentional in that way. Smart people know that the very basis for human rights is the definition of personhood. Someone is hoping that the resonance of the second word in the phrase overrides any possible objections to the first. That’s why it works. It’s almost impossible to separate the dignity of a person from the quality ...