Be Not Idle

Be ever engaged, so that whenever the devil calls he may find you occupied.”— St. Jerome

Lately, the Devil has had to take a number. I am so swamped with work, and it just keeps getting deeper…

“What I find fascinating about the United States is that they began with a positive concept of secularism. This new people was composed of communities and people who had separated from state churches, and they wanted to have a secular state which would open possibilities for all the confessions and all the forms of religious expression. It was an expressly secular state, and it was directly opposed to a state-church. It was secular precisely out of love of religion, for the authenticity of religion, which could be lived only in freedom. Thus we find a state that’s expressly secular, but favorable to religion in order to give it authenticity.” – Pope Benedict, emphasis mine

I often read or hear people talking about the Separation of Church and State as if it were a way of clamping down on religious expression. I suppose some are ignorant of our history. But sometimes it’s obvious that they willfully ignore evidence that the Framers had no such intent. The Founding Fathers had experienced the European model of governments repressing all but state-approved expressions of religion.  

The Pope mentioned the new problems in American secularism. No doubt he’s aware of a tendency for secularists to cite Jefferson’s “wall between Church and State” as evidence that Americans shouldn’t allow their religious beliefs to enter the public square.

To the contrary, Jefferson was reassuring the Danbury Baptists (a religious minority) that their religious liberties were an immutable right.  According to their letter, the state of Connecticut granted ”religious privileges” to the Danbury Baptists and ”we enjoy (them) as favors granted, and not as inalienable rights.”

Jefferson wrote that ”…I contemplate with sovereign reverence that act of the whole American people which declared that their legislature should make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof, thus building a wall of separation between church and state.” 

He said nothing about Americans being prohibited from acting on their beliefs or following their consciences in the public square.

For all men were by nature foolish who were in the ignorance of God, and who from the good things seen did not succeed in knowing Him Who Is, and from studying the works did not discern the Artisan.

- Wisdom 13:1

One of my teachers, Sister Agnes Edwina, loved the hymn “How Great Thou Art”. We kids used to sing it on her saint day and the anniversary of her vocation. I liked best the verse about “when I hear the rolling thunder” (or “mighty thunder”, depending on the version).

I enjoy weird weather, even the somewhat dangerous sort like thunder blizzards and seiches. Today was a weird-weather day. The temperature rose to 74 degrees Fahrenheit, with sunny skies and blustery winds. The weather service called a tornado watch from early afternoon until 8 pm.

I had business in Port Huron, so I watched the yellow light in the North with some misgivings until it faded to gray. I don’t know how Lake Huron affects the signs of a tornado. However, in my hometown, I learned very early that when the air grew thick and the light changed from yellow to sickly green, it was time to take cover.

As I arrived home after dinner, the rain began falling as sprinkles, sometimes heavier. A little after 8 o’clock, thunder pealed in the distance. By a quarter to nine, the rain was coming down heavily and the wind picked up. Then hail came. It beat against the roof and set my chimney rattling and banging like nails pouring into pie tin.

Now, at half-past nine, it’s over. Ice pellets no bigger than rabbit droppings litter my deck. The wind has died, the thunder has passed, and the loudest sound is the chirrup of frogs.

Julie D. over at Happy Catholic had a post about the cartoon Savage Chicken. I get it in my daily e-mail. My favourite comic strips are “Crankshaft”, “Peanuts” and ”Rose Is Rose”.

I’ve never particularly cared for Garfield, but my cousin Anne sent me a link to “Garfield minus Garfield”. I love it. It’s funny because it’s sad…

Who would have guessed that when you remove Garfield from the Garfield comic strips, the result is an even better comic about schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, and the empty desperation of modern life? Friends, meet Jon Arbuckle. Let’s laugh and learn with him on a journey deep into the tortured mind of an isolated young everyman as he fights a losing battle against loneliness in a quiet American suburb.

http://garfieldminusgarfield.tumblr.com/

I’ve met a lot of people who are concerned about climate change (aka Global Warming) and/or pollution. It reminds me somewhat of when I was a kid, minus the fear of nuclear winter and radiation poisoning.

I take pollution seriously. I grew up hearing the warnings about mercury in fish, “dead” lakes due to contaminants, etc. I now live not far from electric plants and downstream from Chemical Valley in Sarnia, Ontario.

I think it’s bizarre that everything from food to clothes comes with so much packaging compared to even 15 years ago.  I look for #1 and #2 plastics, since those are in demand by our local recycler.  I also get meat wrapped in butcher paper when I can.

I haved joked that I contribute to cleaner air by NOT cutting the 11 trees that are crammed onto my 1/2 acre of land.  I keep my thermostat at 59 degrees Fahrenheit in the winter, except for a couple hours in the morning and evening (63-64 degrees).

I haven’t bought the new lightbulbs, since mine still work. I’m a little leery of having a hazardous waste in the house, since mercury has been a problem in the Great Lakes area for many years. I know the bulbs will end up in the landfills, just like car batteries, old freon coolers, etc. People are lazy about garbage.

So, how big is my carbon footprint? 

I emit 4.3t carbon dioxide per year. The average American emission is 9.96tCO2/yr. I used the General Electric calculator, which used much more data than others, such as the DTE version..

http://www.ge.com/ivillage/calculator/# 

I wish it allowed fractions. I fill roughly 1/2 of a garbage bag weekly, but I had to put in a whole number. For that reason, it appears I generate mondo garbage (0.88tCO2 versus 0.09 for the average American).

My household CO2 generation seemed very high at first (over 4tCO2/year). That was because I put in a dollar amount of annual spending on electricity and natural gas. Honestly, entering the dollar amount is illogical.  For example, signing onto DTE’s “GreenCurrents” program for renewable electric generation will INCREASE an individual’s bill.  I’m not sure if wind, sun and biomass energy costs more or if the additional fee is a subsidy for development.

When I entered the precise kilowatt hours and therm factor, the new variables lowered my contribution to 1.4 versus the 3.62 average. 

So what’s your carbon footprint like?

“In his interaction with people, I think that he won the hearts and the confidence and the trust of the people because they sensed that he understood that each one of them was special in the eyes of God. He just didn’t see individuals. He saw God reflected in every human being, no matter who they were – how brilliant, how simple, how elderly, how young. There was something that just came through. And what came through was his very, very deep spiritual connection with the Lord and then he reflected that in his dialogue, in his life, and in his relationships with others.” – Adam Cardinal Maida

My older brother Bruce and I were lucky enough to be able to see Pope John Paul II when he visited the Pontiac Silverdome. My parents had been drawn from our parish’s tickets, and they wanted us to be able to see him.  Coming from a rural town in which Catholicism was the minority, it was amazing to be a part of such a large congregation celebrating Mass – and a congregation so reverent. One thought struck me, “The Pope isn’t the big deal. We’re all here with Our Lord Jesus.” I paid rapt attention, never daydreamed, never thought of anything else.

I’m looking forward to seeing Pope Benedict, even if it’s just via TV and radio. I want to see the Mass he celebrates. I’m praying that others will feel that reverence and know that we’re all servants. (And I’m happy that the Clamster, aka The Clam Rampant, is going!)

For more of Cardinal Maida’s memories of John Paul the Great – including singing Polish songs together - and his funeral, the conclave, and his opinion of Pope Benedict, go to Anything Is Possible (see Media Sources under my bloglist).  It’s in the archived shows, dated 08/14/2005.

According to a survey I took at Just Another Day of Catholic Pondering, I can take 30 five-year-olds in a fight. Thanks, Heather, for the valuable insight. I now know I should seek counselling for my inner Hulk.  

On a more peaceful note, the youngest of my nieces, Miss Christine, is having her First Holy Communion the weekend before Mother’s Day. One of her older sisters, Miss Kelly, is getting married the weekend after Mother’s Day.  Neither of them can take me in a fight, unless their wicked dog Bandit gets involved.   

* sobrinos = nephews and nieces; sobrinos nietos = great-nephews and great-nieces

This is a fun story about a Kettering University student who built a mini-tank with the help of his frat brothers. Its ammo includes paintballs, golf balls, and empty Red Bull cans!

The story (both written and video) are at the Flint Journal, here:

http://blog.mlive.com/flintjournal/newsnow/2008/04/post_moto _kid_death_story_here.html

It reminds me of the frat house at the University of Michigan that had the highest GPA in the Greek System, Phi Kappa Tau. Many of them were engineering students, and there was also David, the budding entrepreneur who started a perfume factory in the basement.  “Nerds” have fun hobbies.

Past midnight on Friday – therefore in the wee hours of Saturday – someone tried to open my front door. I got up to check it out. When I turned on the light, there was no one. I turned off the light and looked as far down the street as I could.

 Suddenly a boy stepped onto the neighbour’s yard and threw something FLAMING onto my car. It made a metallic sound as it struck the roof and part of it bounced off and onto the lawn, where it extinguished. I opened the door and yelled some unkind things about the idiot’s mother, then dialed 911. Two patrol cars arrived and determined that the flaming object was a merengue pie, set alight.  (The burned merengue was the consistency of styrofoam, so I didn’t recognize it right away.)

They didn’t catch the culprit but told me that a group of hooligans had broken the lights on another woman’s lawn about a half-mile away.

I followed up on a lead – a visiting kid who was trying to talk the neighbourhood kids into breaking windows on some houses for sale – but nothing. (Although I must say that people around here are very nice about being asked “Is a hooligan visiting you this weekend?” by a strange woman on a Saturday morning.) If I see the kid again, I’ll know him. But I’d really rather not see him again. 

 To a certain extent, this type of behavior is a result of the safety of my community. I NEVER experienced anything like this in the Detroit Metro area. Parents didn’t let their middleschoolers run all over the place at midnight, unless they were bad parents.

And that’s a strong possibility here, too, that this is the product of bad parents. I know, I know, I’m supposed to be sympathetic to parents with out-of-control kids. It’s not easy raising a decent kid in this day and age. Etcetera.

However, I keep remembering this guy talking to my parents when I was a kid. I don’t remember the gist of the conversation, but I recall him saying, “I’ve raised my kids. Now they have to make their choices.”

After he left, my dad looked at my mom and asked, “He’s raised his kids?”

My mom said, “The older one is 12 or 13.”

“He hasn’t raised his kids,” Dad said. “He’s just gotten lazy.”

 And so I pray to be left in peace, and for that boy and his parents. It’s hard to pray when I’m angry, and so I know I must let the anger go and concentrate on how sin hurts, so that boy is suffering though he enjoys it at the same time.