DEACON: “I’M THE CLERGY” NOT!

It is always dismaying when the statements of fact become weaker than the declaration of social status.  It happened the other day when the facts lost out to the status and the status declaration was triggered by a reaction to the “ [fill in the blank] Police.”

The world is full of buffoons.  None, or almost none of whom are more massive than those of the clergy, or the almost clergy, or the wanna be clergy.  Deacons are especially good examples of clerical buffoonery.  They have a very decided proclivity to look down on the laity.  Sometimes, dare I say, often more so than the priests themselves.  It seems as though they feel obliged to assert their newly established selves in the role of an “insider” in the life of the Church.  There is some type of pride that kicks in and makes them proclaim to the world that they are no longer “laity” but “clergy.”

This is especially noticeable in the Catholic church of the 21^st century where the mix of highly capable lay people and clergy is fast approaching numbers that favor the laity.  Even the influx of ordained permanent  deacons is not great enough to staunch the trend.  There are many lay people with long term church ministry experience coupled with middle level and even terminal educational degrees who are employed in the parishes to collaborate with the clergy in the mission of the Church.  Few clergy (in the United States anyway) have significant college degrees.  They have spent a lot of time in school but much of the schooling did not lead to a graduation in the secular meaning of the term.  Even fewer of them have degrees that indicate a major in a Church oriented discipline.  So, it is not rare to see a flare of anger from a cleric who is being gainsaid by a lay person.  A paid lay person.  On the same staff.  Yes, a paid professional with as much or even more ministerial experience and education than the cleric. 

Sadly the flare sometimes comes at a moment when a seemingly insignificant item is at issue.  And come, it does and it matters not who may or may not be witnessing the episode. 

Take the case of the deacon and the lay person who got entangled over an issue of ritual correctness.  The deacon was making a clear mistake in the directives that he was giving to a group of people who were to participate in a liturgy scheduled for the Easter Vigil ceremonies.  The deacon was expounding a ritual sequence wildly off the mark.  Now, All communications about this matter have been clear, concise, timely and very, very official.  The lay person in charge of the overall management of the liturgy was present at the time and made an intervention concerning the erroneous nature of the directives given by the deacon.  He took great offense at being called out by the “Liturgy Police” and immediately lost his cool and in a trice, after a quick exchange of cross words he ended the exchange by declaring himself “the clergy.”  It doesn’t end there. 

The lay person sent the clergyman the history of the communications as well as copies of the actual documents now in full force.  No response to that, but a good dose of vitriolic invective as a response.  Through it all, he remains “the clergy” and she remains “the laity.”  He rermains "right" and she, "wrong" and the flash-fast explosion of anger was lit by her.

A quick repartee about the “Liturgy Police.”  First, the only individuals who fear or dislike the police are those who know that they are not doing the right thing and are unhappy that they got caught at it.  Not a very brightly glowing endorsement for the clergyman in this case.  In fact it is as clear a self indictment as one could hope to find. 

This truth makes the tidal wave of self exculpating arguments laughable at best and disgusting at worst.  In this case the overwhelming stream of pseudo theology containing no logic, many reinforcing emotional repetitions and some pseudo psychological assertions are a combination of both, buffoonery and malice.  Just like the person who runs the red light spills out all over the citing officer.  Same attitude, same result.  

A right remains right and erroneous remains erroneous.

The other thought that I have is about the deacon clergy [I know that’s a coined term].   I’m against it.  If married men can be ordained to the diaconate, they can be ordained to the priesthood.  I also believe that the Tradition of how deacons came to be is on my side; at least in the way that I have come to look at the tradition of the diaconate.  I’m not against the diaconate.  I am against the clergy-creep that has come about.  Read the story of how deacons came into existence.  (Acts 6: 1 – 7)  Read it.  In a nutshell, deacons came about so that the Apostles could concentrate on spreading the word to the Jews.  They were neglecting the marginalized Greeks (think Gentiles), so they needed some help to run the soup kitchen.  It says clearly, “it isn’t right for us to set aside the proclamation of God’s word in order to serve tables.”  Why do we as Church allow them to operate as mini-priests?  For the greater part, they do not do it well.  For the greater part they are proud to be clergy, they act like clergy, and, in this one case they hammer people with their status and they forget (as does the Church in the US, at least) what their position is in the Apostolic Succession – table servers for the marginalized.

It is my humble opinion that they should stick to serving tables and stay out of the sanctuary.

MORENO VALLEY, CALIFORNIA - CHAKRA 1

I have decided to be polite and refrain from using foul language on these pages.  For the time being.
I have been living in Moreno Valley, California since January of 2005.  In that time I have discovered that it is the worst place in which I have ever made my domicile.  It is strategically placed on the map of the USA with regards the bodily function for which it is best suited.  Believe me, I feel it every single day.

I have come to the conclusion that there are not 3 businesses in this city that can be trusted to deliver a quality product and/or service on time.  Over the eight years that I have lived here I have learned to take my business to other cities for my made-to-order needs.  Moreno Valley has absolutely no concept of quality and punctuality.  It doesn't matter whether it is printing, household appliance installation services or service quotes, prescription drug delivery, barbers, you name it and I can find you a buffoon within a city block.  Not a soul who delivers these things has any concept of how to deal with customer expectations.  I take that back.  There is ONE soul with whom I have been satisfied over time.  ONE.  How's that for a definition of a great place to live?

Several years ago I was living in Rome, Italy.  It was in the sixties, some fifteen years after the War.  Fortunately, I was a student then and I did not have to put too many demands on the business community outside of the sheer basics of life.  I found out that it was a good thing that such was the case.  Rome was not, it turned out, the most customer oriented city on the face of the earth.  The Romans take care of tourists like hardly any other city I have ever been to.  But to long term residents and to each other, they are not that great.  That being said, Rome is like heaven compared to Moreno Valley.

Today, I put the last nail into another coffin in Moreno Valley.  We went to get a picture framed at an enterprise that had been quite satisfactory for the few times that we have patronized them in the last two or three years. Then they showed the dark side of their environment.  First, they did not submit an order [to their factory] that we communicated clearly was a required artifact for an important presentation we were preparing.  
We then negotiated a delivery date and sealed the deal.  When I went to claim the finished product on the appointed date, it was nowhere to be found.  I left with their assurances that they would have it on Tuesday [in three days].  It turned out that they clean forgot that it had not been outsourced yet.  I found that out when I received a telephone call [a miracle in Moreno Valley] saying that they had forgotten to outsource the job.  They did not say that they had not yet found the work order with the receipt.  I told them at the time that we no longer needed the finished product but that we could find other uses for it down the line.  When I asked for the pickup date I was told that it would be ready for pick-up on Saturday.  Today is Saturday.  I went, and of course, it was not there.  The reason, "We only found the work order yesterday.  It should be here sometime tomorrow."  
"Good," I replied.  "When you get it, sell it for two hundred dollars and send me a check for fifty-five dollars and we'll be even."  
"Just give me your address and I'll bring it to you as soon as it gets here," says she.  "I'll refund you half of what you paid."
"Forget it, keep it.  I don't need it any more anyway."
I left her in her bamboozled state, a blank-eyed and bewildered buffoon.

No, this is not an isolated incident.

I don't need the fifty-five.  It's just another tuition payment to the school of hard knocks.  It's the only school of any kind that is a sure bet to teach you about life in Moreno Valley.  In eight years I have found one good service provider:  my computer guy.  I must confess that I am wondering how long it will take before he implodes.  That's why I have a back-up machine.

SUICIDE BOMBERS or SUICIDE MASS KILLERS? WHICH IS BETTER?

No, I am not going to put up a picture.  If I did the great majority would fall into the scientific category of Caucasian, since we're talking about "white" people here, right?  Look it up.  You'll see.
In my lifetime we have gone from the Kamikaze to the Suicide Bomber  to the suicide by cop and to the mass murderer who takes as many as he/she can with the intent of not getting out alive.
Yes, I am writing this because of the Connecticut event.  The reason I am doing this is because it reflects upon our stability as a nation as compared to the stability of other first world nations in the world.  We are very violent as a population.  We are so fixated on fairness, that we find comfort in killing the killer; in jailing the recidivist for life; in overtaxing the retiree; in creating adversity between the employee and the employer.  On the other hand we have a complete disdain for fairness as we find comfort in underpaying immigrants, our own young people, women and the downtrodden.  We have no problem accepting bribes from big pharma, big oil, big finance, big comm, big construction and big Ag to the detriment of the general population.  We are the only first world country in the world where it is against the law to negotiate prescription drug prices as a country.
The United States is indeed a violent country.  It is a country where no one can be comfortable taking a stroll on city streets in the cool of the evening.  To make a point, I and my spouse have strolled the streets of Israel after 8 PM; in Rome after 9.  When I was younger I was unafraid of being out and about in Manila in the wee hours.  I was in a country where martial law had imposed a curfew, but never once was I shot at when out after curfew.  In this country (USA), if someone thinks you're up to no good, you're apt to be found face down in the gutter.
In this country it is dangerous to go to the theatre or even to school, at any level.
I have to admit that it is a challenge to live here in the USA with the level of cultural hatred that is the norm.  It seems that everyone hates more people that he/she loves.  I was in a situation just two days ago when I was in need of a long series of services from a lone clerk in a print shop.  I noticed a customer who was empty-handed and didn't seem like he needed much.  In front of him, I told the lone clerk to serve him since I knew that I was going to require more of her time.  She did.  He was quickly done with his transaction and left, passing in front of me without even grudgingly growling a "thank you."   I am a Caucasian.  But then again, is he?  I know one thing, he is an ass.  He is an image of our hatred - imbued, violent culture.
So,to all of you who are tempted to forward acrimonious, hatred-filled emails to me complaining about violent people from other parts of the globe stop and think of a couple of historical facts:  It is Christian Anglo-Saxons who forced the Cherokee to walk from Georgia to Oklahoma in the winter time; it is the Christian Caucasians who decimated the indigenous people from the midwest and the far west of what is now the United States; it is the Caucasians who separated the Japanese and took away all that they had only a few short 80 years ago.  I haven't even mentioned the horrendous effects of slavery; I haven't mentioned the cruelty visited upon women by denying them the right to vote for well over one century from the time of the ratification of the independence of this country.   The legacy of this thirst for imposing the will of the United States on the "other" populations is still with us.  We lead the world in mass murders.  We trail the world in the production of smart people.  We lead the world in the cost of education; we lead the world in the cost of health care but we are not competitive in life expectancy nor in educational achievement.
Before you call this the greatest country in the world in front of me, think twice.  I've seen a lot of happy people in many other countries.  One of the reasons why they are happy is because they don't have to worry about getting shot down on any given day.

THIS WORLD IS SCREWED UP

The other day I was listening to PBS and there was an interview in progress.  It was a woman who was being interviewed and she was being addressed as "actor."
A week or so before that I heard a woman being called a "hero."
Now look, I am here to tell you that the world is now officially dismantled beyond repair.  I want to know since when women have become "actors" and "heroes."  I also want to know why it is that we can talk about; show about; bandy about; write about; flaunt SEX all day long except when it comes to asking me what my "sex" is. It just so happens that neither I nor any other human being has "gender."  I want to know why we just can't have another "big bang" so that we can start all over again.  I do not have any "gender."  I have sex, and I can prove it.  I do not exist in a grammar book.  I am right here in your face.  For all of you on the face of the earth, let me tell you gently, but irretrievably non-negotiably, I am of the MALE SEX.  Learn it once and for all and join the human race.

On a different note, but not less agitating.  If one more Catholic priest jumps down my throat because I voted for Obama with the retort, "Don't you know that Obama is pro-abortion all the way?  You had to vote for Romney", he had better be sure that I am un-armed.  There have been at least ten of them, to date who have told me that.  They are all off the chart stupid buffoons.  Romney and Ryan are on public record as being pro-abortion too.  Abortion is ABORTION, dammit!  One of the clowns had the temerity to ask me if I knew about the 15,000,000 Evangelicals. If I did know about  them it wouldn't faze me, I retorted, I'm Catholic.  I also know that Romney and Ryan have said that they support legal abortion...right there on TV for crying out loud.

I swear, if you want to know the IQ of the level of the people who vote in this country just talk to one of them for two minutes.  By the time the 120 seconds run out you'll be more than convinced that the quotient will not surpass room temperature.

Do I vote?  Of course I vote.  Does it matter for whom I vote?  Of course not.  So why do I vote?  Here I will repeat myself from an earlier article... I vote so that I retain my right to complain.  Don't forget it.

So, vote for the guys who will outlaw Roe v Wade.  They will do us all a favor by sending the abortion industry back to the old ladies with the knitting needles.  That will cure the problem.  

ROMNEY - RYAN = PRO LIFE? OBAMA - BIDEN? NOT!!! SO???

Paul Ryan, October 11, 2012 on stage during the debate:  I am not in favor of abortion except in the case of incest, rape and to save the life of the mother.
Yaaaayyyyy!  He's pro-life.  We all know that Obama - Biden are pro choice.  They say they are.  Romney - Ryan say that they are pro life.  They say they are.  Wow! Let's vote for them.  The bishops say that Ryan is a good Catholic.  OK!  Let's vote for Romney - Ryan.
To all of that, I say, plainly, simply and forcefully, Stercus Taurorum.
Of the four people involved to a meaningful degree in this presidential contest, there is not a single pro lifer in the group.  There is not one of the four who is against carrying out the direct, deliberate intention of killing or aborting a real human being or a potential human being.  They are, each and every one, in favor of directly aborting a pregnancy in progress.  They each and every one are in favor of war.  They are each and every one in favor of killing terrorists.  Pro-life? Pro-abortion? Pro-choice --- in the absolute, non-politically correct sense of the term --- pro-choice -- yes.
Let's face it, fellow citizens and fellow Catholics, whether you are a Democrat or a Republican, choose a reason other than "Pro-Life" or "Pro-Choice" to vote for the candidate of your liking.
If there are those out there who think that Romney-Ryan are pro-life, disabuse yourselves of that notion.  They are not pro-life.  They are pro-winning the election.  That is their sole purpose in life at this moment.  Just as it is the sole purpose of Obama-Biden.  None of the four, including the two so-called Catholics are totally in favor of the Catholic church's doctrine of forbidding the direct, intentional and deliberate killing of another human being, or potential human being.   Stop deluding yourselves.  Wake up and expand the horizons of your moral universe.  Vote your conscience according to your broader vision of what life is all about.
Life, by the way, is broader than getting the approval of the Catholic Bishops of the United States.

PRO-LIFE IN THE WHITE HOUSE

COUNTRY AND WESTERN POTOMAC SONG

I HAVE A LOT -- IN THE CAYMAN ISLANDS -- ELECT ME AND I'LL HAVE MORE

From everyone who has been given much, much will be demanded; and from the one who has been entrusted with much, much more will be asked.  (Luke 12;48) Quoted by Marco Rubio in his introduction of Mitt Romney, Republican nominee for the office of President of the United States of America

The crass brazenness of quoting this from the Christian Bible to apply it to a member of the church of Latter Day Saints who has much and protects it in tax havens around the world makes me shake my head in absolute disgust.  The Republican party wants us, the tax payers, to pay the salary of a person who runs away from paying taxes in the very country that he wants to lead.  If it were not that I know that the IRS will still do its job, I would not pay a dime of income tax in the country if he gets elected.

What I want to know is why the American people would even consider giving their hard earned money to the guy.   

Not only will he off-shore his earnings, he has already begun rattling the country's sabers in preparation of being able to create jobs for Republican cronies Halliburton, Kellog, Xe et al by putting more of the people we love in harm's way and wasting the very money that he himself runs away from paying to the coffers.  His idea of diplomacy is to kick ass first and ask questions later...much later.  But, he also does not intend to raise the money to pay for his G.I. Joe fun and games.

That's not all.  The platform that he is running on does not provide for any significant income to the coffers.  Of course, we don't need income in his vision because he will reduce spending in the public sector.  So, he will continue to increase his wealth, taking money from Big Oil, Big Pharma, Big Telecomm, Big Finance, Big Agri, Big Fuel, big everything and conveniently padding his offshore bank accounts.  All to the tune of taking his salary out of our pocket.

He will strive to poke holes in every square in of the continent, on shore and off-shore in order to find more oil.  The environment means nothing to this guy.  Fossil fuels are his dream.  The money that he will realize from Big Oil will keep him happy for all four years of the term that he might get.

You've noticed that they talk a lot about religious freedom?  That means that you can do what your religion tells you to do as long as you don't expect us to distribute the wealth derived from your taxes.  It means that we will protect life in your womb, but the hell with the rest.  Once you're born and up and about, you're on your own.  School  teachers will lose their jobs, police too maybe, fire fighters maybe, regulatory systems to protect the air and so many other things.  So, people, be free, but don't expect any help.  Have a good life.  Hope you enjoy Iran and Syria.  We know that you and your employers are going to fund Medicare and Social Security, but we'll take care of you the way we see fit when the time comes.  (This attitude, by the way, is not a monopoly of the Republican party.)

Bottom line.  Romney and Ryan come from religious backgrounds where the sharing of wealth in favor of the less fortunate is a key virtue.  Ryan was publicly denounced by a leading Catholic University for his views on social justice.  Romney says that he tithes but he protects himself from funding the US government, so just because he wasn't denounced by Brigham Young Uni, that's OK.  Consider him denounced from here.  So, we're being promised religious freedom by two buffoons who can't even spell the word!

So, y'all, have fun.  Tune in again next week.  It'll be Obama and Biden time.