Saint Patrick's Day and Catholicism

Happy Saint Patrick's Day to everyone, and especially to all those in the U.S. who claim Irish ancestry, myself included. Across the country people will celebrate with parades, parties, wearing green, and eating a traditional dinner of corned beef and cabbage. Some will use the day to get drunk, although as Bill O'Reilly noted, Saint Patrick would not have approved. Noted as a man who brought Christianity to Ireland, he was known for his humble service and his concern for the poor. We should all emulate that spirit of humility and Christian love.
Last week, after a short, two-day conclave, the Roman Catholic College of Cardinals elected a new pope, Cardinal Bergoglio of Argentina, who takes the office as Pope Francis I. In what appears to be an effort toward new beginnings, Pope Francis is the first non-European, and the first Jesuit, to be elected pope. In his first day in office he called on the Church to minister to the poor, declaring that the Church should be "poor, and for the poor."
The Catholic Church has been embattled, particularly in the United States, as reports of pedophile priests abusing children sexually have exploded across the media. The fact that the Church itself was complicit in covering up these crimes and, in some cases, enabling these priests, however unintentionally, has caused some Catholics to question their faith and to drop out. Of course, such stories have not been exclusive to the Catholic Church; some well-known Protestant preachers have been found to be guilty of similar crimes. But as the largest denomination in the world, and the largest in the U.S. with more than 68 million members, the Catholic Church is the most visible. It also seems to be the target of more attacks by a news media ever ready to report the lascivious details of any rumored infraction by Christian leaders.
I am not Catholic; I am a Lutheran. But what I have seen of the Catholic Church in my lifetime has been a church body dedicated to helping the poor and to bringing the gospel to all, not just those in prosperous suburban neighborhoods. Yes, as a Lutheran I have some major differences with Catholicism over doctrine, but I still have to believe what the evidence of my eyes tells me: that the Catholic Church is there in the trenches with the poor and the disenfranchised. And that is what Jesus wants.
Unfortunately, all branches of Christianity are made up of flawed human beings, and I don't doubt that the new pope would agree whole-heartedly with that statement, perhaps even including himself. But the love of Jesus Christ is evident in what the Catholic Church has done throughout her 2,000 year history. My prayers are with Pope Francis, and with the whole Church of Christ, that we may attend to the true work of the church, which is spreading the good news of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

A Time For Change

For everything there is a season, and a time for every matter under heaven:

² a time to be born, and a time to die;
a time to plant, and a time to pluck up what is planted;
³ a time to kill, and a time to heal;
a time to break down, and a time to build up;
⁴ a time to weep, and a time to laugh;
a time to mourn, and a time to dance;
⁵ a time to cast away stones, and a time to gather stones together;
a time to embrace, and a time to refrain from embracing;
⁶ a time to seek, and a time to lose;
a time to keep, and a time to cast away;
⁷ a time to tear, and a time to sew;
a time to keep silence, and a time to speak;
⁸ a time to love, and a time to hate;
a time for war, and a time for peace.

Ecclesiastes 3:1-8  English Standard Version

I received a letter from the Republican National Committee. The subject of the letter was the fact that I have not renewed my membership this year. To be honest, I'm not sure I want to. Don't get me wrong; I'm not considering the Democrat party. But the current state of the GOP is such that I - and a lot of other people like me - think that it's time for a change.

In 2012, I served as a delegate to the Indiana state Republican Convention. It was my first foray into politics. I don't know what I was expecting, but what I saw wasn't it. The state GOP leadership had changed the rules for proposing changes to the state platform, making such changes extremely difficult. In spite of this, one delegate managed to get a proposal forward for a vote calling for a comprehensive audit of the Federal Reserve. The convention chair was clearly reluctant to bring it up for a vote, but he had to. The delegate proposing it had managed to clear all the hurdles put up by those not wanting change. The change passed with a resounding "aye."

The main convention wasn't the only trouble spot. The party leadership had pretty much made up its mind that the GOP nominee for president was going to be Mitt Romney, even though a large number of us weren't sanguine about his candidacy. The district caucuses were intended to be nothing more than a rubber stamp on the predetermined outcome. Those of us who tried to submit a rule change at the beginning of the caucus for my district (3) were shut down by a parliamentary sleight of hand that would have made any congressman or senator on Capitol Hill proud. Romney was to be the nominee. Period. I would like to think that this was an isolated incident, but we heard of similar (and worse) shenanigans in other caucuses and other state conventions. Not that the Republicans alone are guilty. The Democrats have their own skeleton-filled closets.

In November, Barack Obama won re-election by a decisive 52%-48% margin after Mitt Romney failed to overcome the Democrats' portrayal of him as a rich ogre, without aggressively pressing the administration on its many mistakes since January 2009. Since then, President Obama has succeeded in getting a Republican House to agree to a tax increase in January. He has used the impending sequestration to attempt to turn public opinion against the Republican party, blaming them for the consequences to the so-called "economic recovery" if the plan goes into effect, all the while demanding more taxes. Of course, he neglects to mention the fact that the White House was solidly behind the sequester, proposing many of its provisions. And while the administration continues to drag its feet regarding answers to the many questions flowing from the Benghazi debacle, Senators McCain and Graham sharply criticized Senator Rand Paul for filibustering a cabinet confirmation in order to highlight the Justice department's refusal to give an unequivocal answer to the question of drone attacks against U.S. citizens.

It seems that the Republican Old Guard are more worried about losing their power base than they are about losing civil liberties. They don't seem to be at all concerned about the fiscal and constitutional crisis toward which this nation is headed. Which is exactly the point. For those of us who make up the rank and file of American citizens, the Constitution and fiscal responsibility still matter. The federal government, both Democrat and Republican, has not paid much heed to the Constitution for nearly 100 years. For the sake of the Republic, to which the founding Fathers pledged "our Lives, our Fortunes, and our Sacred Honor," and for which so much blood has been shed, the time for change has come.

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