My first-time visit to Fort Lauderdale over Labor Day weekend was an unexpected delight. The weather was perfect, the accommodations charming, but most of all I met and enjoyed the company of some wonderful guys who were similarly “getting away” for the holiday weekend. Most of these pictures are not of people, but of some of the sights along the Intercoastal waterway and especially the beautiful sunrises along the Fort Lauderdale coast. (The water-taxi tour guide pointed out the non-US registries of the many superyachts owned by Americans — I guess patriotism only goes so far when taxes are involved!).
Author Archives: Tim MacGeorge
The Right, the Left, and Bible as “alternative history”
I don’t think I ever knew the origins for “right” and “left” in terms of politics, but it’s interesting how the original meanings of some terms give insight into current usage!
Also, what fundamentalist preacher would describe the Bible as “alternative history from the side of the enslaved, the dominated, the oppressed, and the poor…”???
A New Saint for Those Who Long for Reforming the Catholic Church
It’s voices like Cardinal Martini’s that we need to hear more loudly in the Church today. Let me add my prayer to Frank’s .. not only that Cardinal Martini will intercede on our behalf, but that his insight, wisdom and faith will inspire priests, deacons, religious, lay leaders and especially bishops to approach the issues that divide us with such a hopeful spirit. RIP.
For those who work and hope for a Catholic Church that is more welcoming and inclusive of LGBT people, and more in line with the spirit of Vatican II, there’s a new saint in heaven to intercede.
Cardinal Carlo Maria Montini, former archbishop of Milan and once talked of as a possible successor to John Paul II, has died at the age of 85. In his final interview, published a day after his death on August 31st, he declared that the church is 200 years behind the times.
CNN’s Religion Blog reports the cardinal’s quote:
” ‘The Church has remained 200 years behind the times. Why has it not been shaken up?” Cardinal Carlo Maria Martini said in an interview published in Saturday’s Corriere dell Sera newspaper. ‘Are we scared? Fear instead of courage? However, faith is the fundamental to the church.’ “
The New York Times reported Martini’s…
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“To love someone …”
“To love someone is to reveal to them their value and and help them discover that they are precious.”
– Jean Vanier
Whom have I loved today? Friend or family, known or unknown — to whom have I reflected back the unconditional love that God has for each of us — unique, precious, holy and always beautiful in the eyes of the Divine?
Why I Will Vote for Obama: Appointments to the Federal Bench are Every President’s Lasting Legacy
All the news these days centers on the Republican Convention in Tampa and the storm battering the Gulf coast. In the midst of that, let’s not forget stories like this: Texas redistricting discriminates against minorities, federal court says. The unanimous decision — handed down by three judges appointed by George W. Bush and one appointed by President Obama — is clear and direct: the congressional redistricting plan developed by the GOP leaders of Texas is discriminatory and cannot stand.
We all have good reasons (hopefully!) for making the choices we do at the ballot box. The President of the US has many powers and influences our country in countless ways. But long after any president forwards his mail from 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, one of those presidential powers stands alone in significance: it’s his (her?) prerogative of nominating judges to the Federal Courts. Certainly the bench of the US Supreme Court is paramount there. But, as the story above reminds us, federal judges at all levels play a critically important role in implementing the laws of our country and ensuring that America — as the inscription over the Supreme Court building says — is a place where there is Equal Justice Under Law.
There’s no doubt that the next president will appoint at least one new justice to the Supreme Court, with Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg turning 80 next March (2013). Not far behind are Justices Antonin Scalia and Anthony Kennedy, both of whom are over 76 yrs. The next Court will have an enormous impact on the lives of LGBT people for years, perhaps decades, to come as it rules eventually on the cases that have challenged the federal “Defense of Marriage Act” (DOMA). This decision will proclaim to the world whether LGBT Americans truly do enjoy the full blessings of liberty enshrined in our Constitution, or whether we will continue to live in a country where “some are more equal than others.”
This fact alone — the president’s right of nominating justices to the US Supreme Court — is sufficient for for me to support President Obama in his bid for re-election. What’s your reason for your choice this election year?
Not the Republican Party of Yesteryear
Most of us who are “of a certain age” know that the Republican Party of 2012 is very different than the one we saw in our formative years during the 60’s, 70’s and early 80’s. Although I’ve always had a sense of this — having grown up in Massachusetts where African American Ed Brooks, a Republican, was one of our Senators — but I probably couldn’t name the specifics behind this change. This article in today’s Washington Post, GOP platform through the years shows party’s shift from moderate to conservative, helps fill in those blanks.
The full story is worth reading, but the graphic puts in in visual perspective.
New Zealand Member of Parliament to Catholic Bishops: “Love is love”
Great post, NWM! … It’s always refreshing to see calm, rational thoughtfulness used to pull the rug out from under arguments rooted in animosity and fear.
In New Zealand, a gay Member of Parliament has publicly chastised the members of his nation’s Catholic hierarchy because of their opposition to a proposed law to enact marriage equality.
Criticism of the bishops came from Kevin Hague, a Green Party MP, who was responding to a recent letter that the prelates wrote to members of Generation Y (people in their 20s), urging them to oppose marriage equality.
GayNZ.com reported the story which is based on a blog post that Hague wrote on Frogblog, the New Zealand Green Party’s blog. The following are excerpts from that post:
“It’s not a surprise that the NZ Catholic Bishops have chosen to oppose Louisa Wall’s Bill for marriage equality. After all, they opposed Homosexual Law Reform, they opposed human rights protection on the grounds of sexual orientation and they opposed Civil Unions. I’m beginning to sense a theme.
“The Catholic Bishops…
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Silence, Not Pushing, and the Stillness of God
Silence is the necessary space around things that allows them to develop and flourish without my pushing. God takes it from there, and there is not much point in comparing who is better, right, higher or lower, or supposedly saved.
(from Silence, by Richard Rohr)
One of my many Achilles’ heels is the tendency to push, to poke, to analyze, to discuss, to pull-apart a situation until there’s nothing left. Today I pray for the gift of allowing this dimension of Silence to surround all my work, my relationships, and my encounters with others.
As Fr. Rohr says, let us listen to Stillness, the language of God.
Red Rock Canyon, Nevada
My Agrarian Roots
“Georgic,” today’s Merriam-Webster Word of the Day, is the root of my surname. Those who know me well would probably see humor in this, especially since I have never lived on a farm, have never been known for a particularly green thumb, and consider successfully growing jalapeño peppers and basil on the roof deck to be a major agricultural achievement.
Nonetheless, there must be something deep inside me that longs for connection with those earthy roots. I remember fondly stories of my grandmother growing up on a farm in Ireland. Along with her, some of the people closest to me in life have been great gardeners. This includes, oddly enough, every guy I’d put in the category of partner / boyfriend / significant love interest.
Through the latter I’ve had the chance to get my hands dirtier than I would naturally tend to do. There is something very primal and satisfying about digging in the dirt, about watching a seed planted in the darkness and silence of the earth emerge, in time, into the the light of day.
The earth’s cycles are the cycles of our souls: Life, Death, Rebirth to New Life.
“All the freedom our poverty can buy” — Paul Ryan and the Real Meaning of Subsidiarity
There’s a lot being written about Paul Ryan’s devotion to Catholicism, especially his claim that Catholic principles have been formative in developing his economic and social views. In particular, his interview with David Brody this past April has Ryan himself attempting to articulate his understanding of what both subsidiarity and solidarity mean. Unfortunately, he seems to have read only half the story of Catholic social teaching. Saving Subsidiarity (by Vincent J Miller in the Jesuit weekly America) fills in the huge gaps in Ryan’s intellectually and theologically incomplete understanding. In part, Miller writes:
Critics of the Ryan budget have argued that solidarity—the virtue that impels us to active concern for the needs of others—must be used to balance subsidiarity. While this argument is true, it gives too much away, for subsidiarity is an application of solidarity, not its opposite. Subsidiarity is not a principle of small government. It is a two-edged sword. Subsidiarity warns against the overbearing action of any large social actors and also demands that they render assistance, subsidium, when problems are too large to be handled by smaller, local actors.
Subsidiarity envisions not a small government, but a strong, limited one that encourages intermediate bodies and organizations (families, community groups, unions, businesses) to contribute to the common good. It envisions a strong government that protects individuals and small intermediate bodies from the actions of large organizations—not just the state but corporations as well.
What does it all mean and how might a world-according-to-Ryan affect us? Here’s how Miller, professor of Catholic Theology and Culture at the University of Dayton, describes it:
If the Ryan budget passes, when age and illness push our premiums beyond what our vouchers can cover, no “death panel” will ordain our exit. We will be left to exercise all the freedom our poverty can buy.
Image and Likeness 