Response to the devastating EF-5 tornado in Moore, Okla., which left 24 dead and more than 200 injured, has generally been compassionate. Thousands of ordinary Americans — including fellow survivors of natural disasters — are doing what they can to help.

In the fetid swamps of internet discourse, however, there are always those who use such disasters to advance their pet political or ideological agenda (e.g., climate change, government assistance, atheism vs. religion), or to question why the victims did, or failed to do, certain things that placed them in harm’s way.

Common questions asked after this tornado and others in recent years include why so many homes in the affected areas didn’t have basements, or why reinforced tornado shelters aren’t required for particularly vulnerable locations such as schools and mobile home parks.

These are legitimate questions, but the purpose of this post is not to discuss the merits of various tornado safety measures. Rather, it is to explore the implications of a broader question that is frequently asked after these events — “Why would anyone live in Tornado Alley?” Continue reading →

Theological debate tends to divide, as each side in the intellectual debate attempts to prevail with its cherished argument being stamped as “Orthodox.”

In this regard, the Lutheran theologian Jaroslav Pelikan wrote something to this effect: “The orthodox in one generation had better be careful, as in the next generation they may be the heterodox.  And, the heterodox in one generation also had better be careful, as in the next generation they may be the orthodox.”

Thomas Aquinas comes to mind.

Seemingly unaffected by this important debate, the saints continue living the Gospel, even today.

Marielle Wakim, an editor at Los Angeles Magazine, forwarded to me a feature article appearing in its May 2013 edition concerning one of these saints among us.  Reading the article, I thought of Pelikan’s admonition.

From the profile aired years ago on 60 Minutes, readers of The American Catholic may be familiar with “G Dog,” “Father G,” “G,” or to those who’ve met him more recently, “Pops.”   He’s Fr. Gregory Boyle, SJ, founder of Homeboy Industries, which he launched 25 years ago in Los Angeles and has built into the world’s most successful gang rehabilitation and re-entry program.

Fr. Gregory Boyle, SJ
Founder, Homeboy Industries

“G” exemplifies a man on a mission—a saint—who has accomplished with real human beings what no government agency could ever accomplish.

A man of prayer, “G” rises each morning at 4:30 in his room at a Jesuit-owned Craftsman bungalow in East L.A. for one hour of prayer and meditation.  Yes, during the day “G” may drop the “F-bomb” in contentious situations and, yes, “G” enjoys single malt (Laphroaig).  On weekends, “G” celebrates Mass and counsels detainees at youth probation camps, performs baptisms, weddings, and quinceañeras, and answers ex-gang members’ distress calls. Thursday is supposed to be “G’s” day off, but spending at least 100 days each year away from Homeboys on speaking tours, forget that.

One of those whose life has been changed by meeting “G” is Mario Cisneros, who said:

I was running around, back and forth to jail, and I got shot in the stomach and still I’m not stopping—not asking myself “What’s wrong with this picture?” Finally my little brother, 15 years old, gets shot—they killed him. “Is this the time?” I said no, and I kept going and the gangs were at war, back and forth, back and forth. Little by little we’re just decreasing the population of our neighborhoods. And then finally I got tired of it. God’s giving me these passes, and I better take advantage of them….So I walk through the doors of Homeboy Industries and it’s such a beautiful place. It’s the best place I’ve ever been. You can feel the love whenever you walk in. When Father G walks up to me and says, “You ready?” I’m ready.

Once a high-level drug dealer with a gang, Hector Verguo—a Protestant who now takes the seat behind the Executive Director’s desk when “G” travels, told his fiancée that Homeboy would always come first for him:

Since I’ve been at Homeboy, I got to see God at work.  You see miracles happen here, like a miracle factory.  And when you see it happen in front of you, you know that this is supernatural—this is God.

While “G” has been eminently successful in building Homeboy into an enterprise that rehabilitates gang members, addicts, and the like by giving hope who believe themselves to be hopeless, this “saint” isn’t the best of mendicants.  Perhaps that’s why Marielle Wakim forwarded the article to me…to generate some donations for Homeboys Industries.

Whatever.  It’s the Lord’s ongoing work of salvation and the May 2013 Los Angeles Magazine feature about “G” and his mission is inspiring, even if “G’s” theology might be “radical” or “heterodox,” depending upon which side of the debate one supports.

To read the Los Angeles Magazine’s article featuring “G,” click on the following link:
http://www.lamag.com/features/2013/05/21/saint-of-the-hood/page/1

Following the election of Pope Francis, many were asking “What do you think of the new Pope?”

Judging from the responses, there was general satisfaction with the election of the Argentinian pontiff.  His “humility” and “genuineness” seemed to top the list of reasons explaining this satisfaction.

Then came Holy Thursday and the foot washing.  The new Pope washed the feet of women, including Muslim women.

This action raised a few eyebrows, especially on the part of conservative Catholics.  “There were no female apostles,” was the standard response.

Questions were raised, too, especially on the part of the American catholique left.

“Was the Pope signaling ‘openness’ to new forms of ordained ministry, perhaps women deacons and priests?” those asking the question were wondering…and, truth be told, hoping.

Just as some conservatives correctly opined early into this new pontificate, that “signal” is now being taken as “fact” by some on the American catholique left.

According to a press release, Dr. Debra Meyers is to be “ordained” as Cincinnati’s first woman, Roman Catholic priest on May 25, 2013, at St. John’s Unitarian Universalist Church.  Dr. Meyers’ ordination follows upon the April 27, 2013, “ordination” of Dr. Rosemarie Smead in Louisville, KY.

The press release states:

Women priests are leading the Catholic Church into a new era of justice and equality for women in the church. We are the “Rosa Parks” of the Roman Catholic Church….Since two-thirds of the world’s poor are women, justice and equality must be top priorities for our church. Our world and church can no longer function without the voices of women’s lived experience. Women priests are visible reminders that all women are images of God.

Okay.  That’s what the Association of Roman Catholic Women Priests (ARCWP) thinks.  That’s nothing new.

But, the press statement offers two “signals” indicating that Pope Francis has encouraged their extra-ecclesial conduct:

The first signal: “We are encouraged by the tender gesture of Pope Francis who washed the feet of women in prison on Holy Thursday, thus breaking the sexist tradition of washing only men’s feet.”

The second signal: “During the Easter homily Francis affirmed women as the first witnesses to the Resurrection. ‘This tells us that God does not choose according to human criteria….The women are driven by love and know how to accept this proclamation with faith: they believe, and immediately transmit it, they do not keep it for themselves.’”

The important point is not that ARCWP types are “cutting” and “pasting” snippets of the Holy Father’s actions and statements into statements to indicate his support of their erroneous beliefs.  That’s bad enough.  The important point is that those actions and statements lend themselves to this type of propaganda.

In response, some have opined that Pope Francis is “learning how to be Pope.”  People should calm down and expect some bumps as the neophyte pontiff navigates that learning curve.

Perhaps there’s some merit to that opinion.

That said, it doesn’t take a member of Mensa to know that greater savvy is required on the international stage.  Might it not be better, especially at the beginning and early months (or first year) of a pontificate, for the Pope just to “do the red” and “say the black” until he’s clearer about his responsibilities as well as the scope and impact of the exercise of those responsibilities as the Chief Shepherd?

Yes, the American catholique left would get angry with him.  But, they’d argue, he’s been a Vaticanista apparatchik all along.  He wasn’t created a cardinal advocating for women’s ordination or anything else on their agenda.

When the Pope’s opponents on the American catholique left see the Holy Father betraying his “social justice” roots, they won’t just be angry.  No, that won’t express sufficiently the depth of their outrage, and perhaps that of the 70% of American Catholics who allegedly support the ordination of women.

That potentially could fuel even greater resistance than there is at present among a much broader swath of the Catholic populace in the United States than if the Holy Father had simply let the American catholique left portray him as a Vaticanista apparatchik.  Amidst their griping, complaining, and moaning, he would be steering the ship of Holy Mother Church directly toward the Way, the Truth, and the Life.

To read the Association of Roman Catholic Women Priests press release, click on the following link:
http://bridgetmarys.blogspot.it/2013/05/is-cincinnati-enquirer-afraid-of.html?utm_source=feedly&m=1

This is truly horrifying. Please pray for all those in Moore, Oklahoma.

A mile-wide tornado with 200mph winds churned through Oklahoma City’s suburbs Monday afternoon, causing significant property damage for the second day in a row, as part of a severe weather outbreak that was expected to spread in other parts of the Plains and Midwest.

Television footage on Monday afternoon showed homes and buildings that had been reduced to rubble in Moore, Okla., south of Oklahoma City. Footage also showed vehicles littering roadways south and southwest of Oklahoma City.

Gary Knight with the Oklahoma City Police Department said an elementary school in Moore suffered “extensive damage.” A Norman, Okla. regional health system spokesperson told Fox News that Moore Medical Center, the only hospital in the city, also suffered “extensive structural damage,” demolishing the second floor of the hospital and tearing off part of the roof.

Words do not do the devastation justice.

Update: This will give you some idea of the damage.

As of this writing there are six confirmed dead.