,

It practically gallops!

Contra-tution

Bacon cheeseburgers are delicious. All restaurants should serve them. In fact, the government should force Indian restaurants and Kosher delicatessens to serve them too. Better still, the government should force Hindu and Jewish business owners to give free bacon cheeseburgers to their employees. Wouldn’t that be great?

Of course that would never happen because the First Amendment protects the religious liberty of Hindus and Jews. They would never be forced to violate their religious beliefs. However the government has ordered all employers to offer types of health insurance that violate Catholic beliefs. Catholic bishops want an exemption for Catholic-owned institutions.

It doesn’t matter whether you believe pork is edible or unclean. You still respect the beliefs of those who disagree. There’s no valid reason for the government to force a Catholic school or hospital provide free contraception to its employees. It could be that the government believes contraception is a good thing that must be forced on those who disagree. Or it could be sinister plot to force Catholics out of the hospital and charity business. Either way, the government is forcing Catholic institutions to disobey the law.

My friend Frank Weathers has created a petition on the White House’s website for those who object to this clear violation of the First Amendment. It’s not about whether or not you believe in contraception. It’s about whether or not you believe in the Constitution.

February 3, 2012 | Filed Under Catholic | 1 Comment 

Musical Truth

The music chosen as the Mass setting in the Diocese of Knoxville is okay but it’s not my favorite. As I wrote at the start of Advent, I was looking forward to hearing different settings when I traveled.

I was in St. Louis a week ago, at a church that uses the Mass of St. Ann by composer Ed Bolduc. It has a much more joyful sound and is ideal for youth choirs. In the old days, we might have heard that sound at a “folk mass.” You can hear a demo version of it by clicking on the play button to the left.

In conversations with Fr. Gary Braun in St. Louis and Fr. Michael Woods in Knoxville, both priests mentioned the misguided video entitled “Why I Hate Religion but Love Jesus.” In it, Jefferson Bethke begins with the erroneous claim that Jesus came to eliminate organized religion. Jesus actually said, “Do not think that I have come to abolish the law or the prophets. I have come not to abolish but to fulfill.” He said to Peter, “upon this rock I will build my church.” He instructed the disciples to carry on without him, forgiving sins (the sacrament of penance) and commemorating the Last Supper (the sacrament of the Eucharist).

This morning, Fr. Michael Woods suggested I read a column by fellow parishioner Bob Hunt in yesterday’s Knoxville News Sentinel. A week earlier, I had told Fr. Gary that Catholic blogger Frank Weathers (another All Saints parishioner) said organized religion is like the military. It may not be perfect, but you need it to fight evil.

A blog called “Bad Catholic” posted a great repudiation of Bethke’s video. Perhaps even better, they shared a link to the following response video by a priest in Evansville, Indiana, named Fr. Claude (Dusty) Burns aka Fr. Pontifex.

January 22, 2012 | Filed Under Catholic | Leave a Comment 

But Moses Invests

unusual minivan in St. Louis parking lot One of my favorite church sign sayings is “If you were arrested for being a Christian, would there be enough evidence to convict you?” I assume that the owner of a decorated minivan in St. Louis wants the answer to be yes.

unusual minivan in St. Louis parking lot From a distance, it wasn’t clear why one car in the Walmart parking lot stood out from the others. Upon closer inspection, my family and I could see that it had been painted with religious messages, the largest of which was “Jesus Saves!” The license plate referenced Yahshua, another name for Jesus.

As I photographed the van, a police car pulled up behind us. For a second, we thought that the officer was going to tell us to stop. However, she just wanted to get a closer look at the van too.

January 20, 2012 | Filed Under Uncategorized | 1 Comment 

Greek to Me

In past years, talk-show hosts like Bill O’Reilly have drawn attention to the war on Christmas. John Gibson wrote a book with that title. The term refers to people replacing “merry Christmas” with the politically-correct greeting “happy holidays.”

Chi Rho created by Frank Jr. using Microsoft Paint Instead of the war on Christmas, “Overnight America” host Jon Grayson is fighting against the “war on Xmas.” Many people mistakenly believe that the X in Xmas is an atheist trick to remove Christ from Christmas. On Thursday morning’s show, Jon said his grade school teacher explained that the X was a “crisscross” that represented the crucifixion. I had been taught that X was actually the Greek letter Chi, the first letter of Christ. Chi Rho, the first two letters of Christ, are the components of a well-known Christian symbol. “Kyrie eleison, Christe eleison” (Lord have mercy, Christ have mercy) is one of very few Greek prayers in the Latin Mass.

James Newport, the Gatlinburg Improv Fest organizer, posted on Facebook that his 7-year-old daughter spelled Christmas “x minus m-a-s.” His wife Krisha commented, “I’m sure she’ll be messing with ‘E-str’ soon too!”

December 16, 2011 | Filed Under Catholic | Leave a Comment 

Valley of Bones

The forensic memorial service that I attended Monday was on the news last night. Dr. Bill Bass said it was only the third time the ceremony had been recorded on video and the first time by an American television station. The footage was on WTNZ at 10:00 p.m. and on WBIR at 11:00 p.m.

During the memorial, UT Medical Center Chaplain George Doebler read a Bible passage from the Book of Ezekiel, chapter 37. The scripture is about a vision of dry bones covering the landscape. The song “Dem Bones” is based on the same chapter.

The 11:00 broadcast also included a live interview with Dr. Bass. My favorite part was the video from 1981 that they showed while he spoke.

November 23, 2011 | Filed Under Body Farm | Comments Off 

Hearts and Souls

Two words on the Twitter feed for the Catholic website New Advent stood out: cadavers and Catholic. The link took me to an article that shared a topic with the book I’m currently reading.

The article in Tuesday’s Chicago Tribune was titled “Gross Anatomy at Catholic School Teaches Sacred, Profane.” The reporter witnessed a blessing of 18 cadavers by a priest at the Stritch School of Medicine at Loyola University Chicago. The article tells the story of the late Salvation Army Maj. Randall Sjogren, whose body was probably under one of the sheets. It’s unusual that his widow addressed the students. The article even has another Paul Harvey-like twist at the end.

“Stiff: The Curious Lives of Human Cadavers” had been on my Amazon Wish List for years. I bought the e-book version last month after receiving a Kindle for my birthday. I read a few pages each day as I start my nap and again when I go to bed for the night. The first chapter of the book describes dissections at the UCSF School of Medicine and goes on to teach the history of anatomical research.

Here in Knoxville, they have a prayer service every year for the humans whose remains are in the William M. Bass Donated Skeletal Collection at the University of Tennessee. The bones are collected at the Body Farm and stored in office space inside Neyland Stadium, as referenced in the movie “The Blind Side.” The skeletons will soon move to a new building. The Dr. William M. Bass Forensic Anthropology Center is scheduled to open at the end of this month.

September 3, 2011 | Filed Under Body Farm, Catholic | Comments Off 

Ch’i and Crackers

The Dalai Lama visited Washington DC for ten days last month. He conducted prayer rituals at the Verizon Center, where my sister’s husband works.

On one of the days, the Dalai Lama announced that the crowd was free to leave, unless they wanted to come closer to the stage as he blessed some food in a tsog ceremony. Instead of traditional Tibetan bread, they used cases of snack foods from Costco, which were stacked on a table in front of the stage. They said it was a “concession to modern times.” My sister’s husband, who needed to know when his staff could go home, asked in all sincerity, “how long does it take to bless the Cheez-Its?”

Toastchee that was blessed by the Dalai Lama during Tsog ceremony in Washington, DC The pile also included Oreos and peanut-butter crackers called Toastchee. My sister’s husband got some of the leftovers and gave me two packs. He gave the rest of the crackers to his kids’ swim team. They did especially well that day.

August 16, 2011 | Filed Under Uncategorized | Comments Off 

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