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A torrential downpour on Sunday afternoon, right before the Kids Helping Kids Fun Walk started, meant they had to move most of the festivities indoors for the second year in a row. I tried to get as many people as possible to attend by treating my honorary chairmanship as if I were running for office. I “campaigned” at three churches and a school. I wish I had time to go to more churches and more schools. The walk is a fundraiser for Columbus Home.
The large crowd packed into Knoxville Catholic High School to enjoy treats from Domino’s, Krispy Kreme, Rita’s Ice and Chili’s. They also had fresh fruit, cookies and cotton candy contributed by volunteers. Live music was provided by Jaimie Cameron of Slow Blind Hill.
A break in the weather allowed us to take the walk as planned. Very few could walk as fast as Fr. Ragan Schriver, who led the procession along with Fr. Chris Michelson. Sportscaster Rick Russo did the walk to help rehabilitate his knee. He injured it in a media softball game last year. I was excited to meet Catholic blogger Frank Weathers. I promised to read certain posts about his personal journey to the Church. Either of them would make a great honorary chairperson in the future. It was a great experience for me. I would do it again in a heartbeat.
Oh Happy Day
While skimming through the Metro Pulse Best of Knoxville 2010 results, I was stunned that my blog made it into the top four along with winner The Sunsphere Is Not A Wigshop and runners-up Blue Streak and Frugalissa Finds. I was also pleasantly surprised that the Marc & Kim and Frank show was recognized in the Best Radio Personality category. Huge thanks to all who voted.
Of all my interests, I always thought that Einstein Simplified had the best chance of being honored in the Metro Pulse. No such luck in any of their Arts & Entertainment categories. We were fortunate to score a win in this year’s WTNZ Hot List, however.
A new show on Knox ivi celebrated the Best of Knoxville list on Thursday night. Taz Cable, host of “Bowl of Oh!” invited me to appear on his show and help him interview several of the award winners.
In addition to representatives from several local businesses, we got to speak with two of my favorite women from the local music scene. Paige Travis of AC Entertainment came on to talk about Best Local Idea winner, Sundown in the City. I remember when she was an up-and-coming writer for Metro Pulse and also working at McKay Used Books to make ends meet. I have interviewed Chyna Brackeen about her previous jobs at Knoxville Opera and AC Entertainment. I learned tonight that she is now managing The Black Lillies with her own company, Attack Monkey Productions.
Joe Btsfplk
It’s been a week since the crew from a local pool company re-opened my pool for the season. By Monday afternoon, the water was sparkling and inviting but the water temperature was only 67°. I wondered if I could stand it, even with my springsuit on. If only I could remember at what temperature I had to stop my daily swimming last year.
I write my blog entries so I can clear out some of the thoughts that clutter my mind. I often use the Google search bar to look for things I have written in the past. A search for “water temperature” told me that 68° was definitely too cold and that 70° was borderline.
After a couple of sunny days near 90°, the pool water had warmed to 72° by this afternoon. That was all I needed to see. Once I finished cleaning off some leaves and bugs with my beat-up old skimmer net, I donned my springsuit and got in. As I swam, something weird happened. Large, heavy raindrops fell on me from a solitary gray cloud in the sky. I hope it’s not an omen for the 2010 swim season.
Man in the Middle-brook
For the sake of social decorum, I took a slight break from my quest to drink only free coffee. WATE’s Tearsa Smith organized a “JavaTweetUp” at Javerde Coffee on Monday. I really like Tearsa and wanted to attend, even if it meant buying a coffee drink. Since it was lunch time, I also bought a salad.
Instead of my normal black coffee with artificial sweetener, I chose a Javacano with Shell Shock flavored coffee and liquid vanilla ice cream. They offer several different flavors of coffee. I want to try their Banana Creme at some point in the future. I did take advantage of the free samples of Javamel Royale to refill my cup before leaving.
Of course the point of a TweetUp is not the food, it’s the conversation. I had a great time talking with Fr. Christian Mathis, pastor of St. Thomas the Apostle Catholic Church in Lenoir City. He follows the Pope’s advice to use new media to the fullest. He’s on Twitter and Facebook, he writes a blog and records a podcast with WATE’s Jim Wogan. I promised to program it into my WiFi clock radio and give it a listen soon.
I also had a nice visit with Doug and Cathy McCaughan. I used to see them in the pre-Twitter days at “blogfests” organized by my blogfather, Rich Hailey. Doug and Cathy said they thought that blogfests fell by the wayside because of polarizing politics during the last presidential campaign. They said that attendance at TweetUps can be determined by political views too. I have no idea if I was hanging out with the correct group or not. I don’t fit neatly into any political party and my friends are on both extremes of the ideological spectrum. Maybe I should have taken a hint when I got left off the “tweets” mentioning the attendees.
Deliver Us from Evil
A blog post I wrote last weekend needs a follow-up post this weekend. An article about the rate of sexual abuse among all groups of men, not just Catholic priests, inspired me to speak up. Although the percentage of abusers is about the same in every denomination, it seems to me that Catholics get a disproportionate share of the blame and the publicity. A Facebook friend sent me the link to a two-year-old blog post that also pointed out the disparity. It quotes a Jewish businessman who said the media had an anti-Catholic bias then.
Let me make it clear that no abuse should be tolerated or abetted and that all abusers must be removed from their ministry or position of authority. That includes priests, rabbis, preachers, scout leaders, teachers, etc. I am saddened that the crimes of the few overshadow the good deeds of the many. In many cases the abuser tries to get close to the family of his intended victim. He spends time building a false sense of trust with the victim. I spoke with some staff members at Catholic Charities who told me that they provide assistance almost daily to children who have been abused by their uncles, step-fathers, biological fathers or other non-celibate male relatives.
On Wednesday, a man announced to the press that he had been sexually abused by a priest in Kingsport during the 1970s. At that time, East Tennessee was still part of the Diocese of Nashville. Knoxville Bishop Richard Stika met with the now-retired priest, who admitted his crime. The bishop permanently removed the man from the ministry. A letter from the bishop asking any other victims to come forward will be read at all Masses in the Diocese on Sunday. My wife and I feel that Bishop Stika’s response has been textbook. Frank Weathers wrote a blog post on the site Why I Am Catholic that agrees. Back here on my site, a blog reader named Michelle left the following comment on my post from last Saturday:
I was raised Catholic and have continued in the Catholic faith my entire life. This morning my mother called to tell me about the front page story with Father Casey and how he admitted to sexually abusing someone. I was baptized at St. John Neumann in 1978 and Father Casey was the priest there from the time I was 9 till I was 19. I was very active in the church and with the youth and very close to Father Casey. This is personally devastating to me, that I man I looked up to and admired has admitted to committing such horrible acts. It’s even worse that every time I turn around there is some negative comment or joke being made about my religion. I guess the funny thing is, I listen to your show most mornings and came straight to your blog when I heard the news, hoping that someone who cares about the Catholic faith as I do would have something to say about this. In reading this post, it made me feel a little better that people are trying to stick up for our faith while denouncing those who have done bad things in the name of it. So, thank you, thank you for trying to educate those who have only heard or only believe the bad things they hear.
Through this blog and through my job on the radio, I am openly Catholic. Some of my friends jokingly call me an “out-of-the-closet Catholic” in the Bible Belt where so many people are Baptist. I received the following email on Thursday from a listener named Alicia:
I just wanted to thank you for your response to the news story about the priest who is being investigated for abuse in our Diocese. It was refreshing to hear a well thought out and factual discussion about pedophilia and the Church.
I have had many discussions with friends about this issue and have been frustrated to no end at the accusations that our doctrine and traditions are “causing” priests to act out. I have been working hard to explain to all my friends about the changes the Church has been making to protect children, and to prevent or at least properly handle future crimes. People asking me “How can you stay?” and needless to say, it’s been a difficult few years defending my faith.
Thanks for not being afraid to talk about your faith and our Church on-air.
The mood at Tom & Barry’s on Thursday night was slightly subdued. A mostly Catholic crowd had shown up on Tax Day because the restaurant donated proceeds and tips to Catholic Charities that night. I spoke with fellow parishioners and with some listeners who needed to talk about the day’s events. My friend Fr. Ragan Schriver was extremely unhappy about the ex-priest’s vile deeds against his victim. I didn’t know what would happen should an abuser admit to his crimes within the seal of the confessional. I learned later that the priest hearing the confession will compel the abuser to contact civil authorities. Fr. Ragan told me that abusers often think they are above it all and do not even confess their crimes. Friday’s email contained something happier. I don’t know why listener Kellie chose that day to write but it certainly brightened my mood:
We have never met, but I owe you a great big thank you. My husband, daughter and I moved to Knoxville last June and we are members of All Saints. My step-children are members of [a nearby] Baptist congregation. At home they are taught that Baptists are the only correct religion and that Catholics are wrong. This is something that we struggle with on the weekends that we have them because their mother insists that we drop them at their church on Sunday, and pick them up after. They are discouraged from attending church with us.
My husband and I were at Christmas Eve mass when you were narrating. I told this to my 8-year-old step daughter when I saw her on Christmas and she was fascinated. Ever since then, it has been her mission to see you at church. She now comes with us to church on Sunday. Well, last weekend we were sitting in the front row of church and there you were. You would have thought that she saw Santa! It was a riot. After church, while getting donuts, both of the girls stood there so they could hear your voice just to be sure. Her new mission is to find out who your wife is!
I will do whatever I can to open their mind to the Catholic religion, and for the last 4 months, it has been the excitement of seeing you!
With a Belt
One of the things I will miss about Blogger.com is the reading list on my dashboard. My type of blog is being kicked to the curb by the Blogger software developers. Originally their deadline was last Friday. They have extended it until May 1 but I have decided to flip the switch to my new WordPress blog on April 1.
Today I am trying to figure out how to best use the sidebars and widgets on my new site. Some of the items, like the appeal for camera donations, will go away. The Twitter feed may look different, depending on what widget I use. I have been experimenting with WordPress since March 1. When you finally see the updated blog, it will have a month’s worth of archived posts.
The Blogger reading list is where I saw a link to Dave & Thomas today. The Knoxville blog duo has gotten on the Wesley Willis bandwagon, which I’ve been on since the mid 1990s. The collection of Wesley Willis music videos on YouTube got me thinking. Who do I know that would want to, just for fun, make a music video for the song that the late, great Wesley wrote about me?
Without a Net
Skydiving and bungee jumping will never appeal to me. I wonder if the rush that you get from surviving is similar to the feeling I had last night when I stepped off the stage at the benefit dinner for Catholic Charities of East Tennessee. Event chair Tami Hartmann asked me to auction off an expensive bottle of Beaux Frères wine and then auction off dinner for ten with Bishop Stika right there in front of Bishop Stika.
Cynthia Moxley and Alan Carmichael were seated front and center. I joked that I might finally rate a mention in Cynthia’s Blue Streak blog, which was recognized by the News Sentinel’s readers last fall. She wrote about the dinner and included a photo of me in full auction action.
At the time, I thought my anxiety came from doing shtick in front of the Bishop and so many priests and people I knew from church. In hindsight, I realize that my jokes were no worse than the things I said at the roast for Fr. Ragan Schriver. For example, I said that whoever bought the pricey Pinot Noir should share it with Bishop Stika because it was heart-healthy. I also said that I hoped someone from my parish would buy the dinner and once everyone was relaxed and in a good mood, they would lobby the Bishop for an additional priest to be sent to All Saints, which now has only two left. However, I can’t remember most of the things I said. Fr. Christian Mathis, who recognized me from my blog, posted one of my jokes on Twitter. If you were there last night and can help me fill in the blanks, please leave a comment here.
The Bishop graciously accepted my wisecracks and afterward asked if I had previous auctioning experience. I told him it was actually my first time and that I had tried to copy Bear Stephenson, the great auctioneer at the March of Dimes Signature Chefs Auction. I still have a lot to learn. I think my case of nerves happened when the bidding for the dinner at any Connor Concepts restaurant slowed and eventually stopped at $3,500. I guess I was hoping for more.
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