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Ignorance is Bliss

 

Representative Paul Ryan (R-Wis) has presented a budget that non partisan
US government auditing offices describe as destroying all entitlement
programs of any kind. Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, unemployment
compensation, disability payments, child welfare, public schools and child
care. Savings go to tax cuts to the wealthy and corporations.
Paul Ryan hates all, yes all of Jesus' teachings. He hates Jesus.
We have many other God haters but the facebooking
tweeting citizens would rather see their own kids and parents
die than put away their toys, grow up and rally around God.

 

 
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Church Fathers 
The First Epistle of Clement to the Corinthians 

It is the Part of the Wicked to Vex the Righteous.

You are fond of contention, brethren, and full of zeal about things which do not pertain to salvation. Look carefully into the Scriptures, which are the true utterances of the Holy Spirit. Observe that nothing of an unjust or counterfeit character is written in them. There you will not find that the righteous were cast off by men who themselves were holy. The righteous were indeed persecuted, but only by the wicked. They were cast into prison, but only by the unholy; they were stoned, but only by transgressors; they were slain, but only by the accursed, and such as had conceived an unrighteous envy against them. Exposed to such sufferings, they endured them gloriously. For what shall we say, brethren? Was Daniel cast into the den of lions by such as feared God? Were Ananias, and Azarias, and Michael shut up in a furnace of fire by those who observed the great and glorious worship of the Most High? Far from us be such a thought! Who, then, were they that did such things? The hateful, and those full of all wickedness, were roused to such a pitch of fury, that they inflicted torture on those who served God with a holy and blameless purpose [of heart], not knowing that the Most High is the Defender and Protector of all such as with a pure conscience venerate His all-excellent name; to whom be glory for ever and ever. Amen. But they who with confidence endured [these things] are now heirs of glory and honor, and have been exalted and made illustrious by God in their memorial for ever and ever. Amen.
 
 

sociopath - a person, as a psychopathic personality,

whose behavior is antisocial and who lacks a sense

of moral responsibility or social conscience.

Start your reflection with Rep. Paul Ryan 

a man who re-crucifies Jesus every day.

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Guarding the Gates of Hell

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Imagine being a slave and digging for diamonds from the
age of let's say six until you die at twenty-five of old age. It's happening NOW!
Capitalism the religion of choice. There are more slaves today than there were one hundred years ago

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 Somalia of American Empire

 

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America of the 99%

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The World because of 1%

 
 
How Much Wealth Do The Economic Elite Have?
 
While 68.3 million Americans struggle to get enough food to eat and
wages are declining for 90 percent of the population, US millionaire
household wealth has reached an unprecedented level. According to
an extensive study by auditing and financial advisory firm Deloitte,
US millionaire households now have $38.6 trillion in wealth.
 
On top of the $38.6 trillion this study reveals, they have an estimated
 $6.3 trillion hidden in offshore accounts. In total, US millionaire
households have at least $45.9 trillion in wealth, the majority of this
wealth is held within the upper one-tenth of one percent of the population.
 
                                                                                                                              David DeGraw, Alternet
 
 

 
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Narcissism
Spirituality, American Style!
 

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No Pope, no bishop, no priest, no politician,

no judge, certainly no lawyer, no businessman,

no banker, no one will stand up for justice.

Bernie Sanders of Vermont does. God be with Him.

 

 

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Churches have  misunderstood....
 
They continue to be pathetic when
they are called to be prophetic!
 
 

                                                                                    

 

 

 

 
 Corporate  Agenda to curse and blaspheme God
 
1. Destroy Social Security.
2. Destroy Medicare.
3. Destroy Medicaide.
4. Destroy Disability Insurance.
5. Destroy Unemployment Benefits.
6. Destroy Minimum Wage.
7. Destroy workers rights to organize.
8. Destroy Food Stamps desperately needed by the hungry.
9. Destroy Public Schools and Education for our children.
10. Destroy healthcare in every way, shape or form for anyone.
11. Destroy private home ownership.
12. Destroy the Lords Day Buy! Buy! Buy! Demand and end to Faith Hope and Love
13. Destroy your children through starvation, neglect and enforced ignorance.
14. Destroy the Family
15. Destroy the climate, the oceans, the planet.
16. Destroy public transportation or any affordable means to get here to there.
17. Destroy any effort to have billionaires pay any income tax.
18. Destroy any effort to have billion dollar corporations pay any income tax.
19. Wage eternal war on anyone we like!
20. Eliminate Libraries
21. Incarcerate or execute all immigrants and people of color.
 
Because of item 21, far too many poor and middle class white
Americans are passionately in step with REPUBLICAN EVIL.
Beware, the Democrats aren't too far behind!
 
If any politician rebutts this agenda I will happily publicize that rebuttal.
(No one has taken me up on this offer. Hmm !)
 
 
 
 
 
 

 

When politics and sin converge and when

politics and religion collide.

God demands that we talk about it!

 

Vague references to peace and justice are
self-delusional and useless!
Christianity is dead without witness
 

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"A just framework for future budgets cannot rely on disproportionate cuts in essential
services to poor persons. It requires shared sacrifice by all, including raising adequate
revenues, eliminating unnecessary military and other spending, and addressing the
long-term costs of health insurance and retirement programs fairly. The moral measure
of this budget debate is not which party wins or which powerful interests prevail, but
rather how those who are jobless, hungry, homeless, or poor are treated."

Bishop Stephen E. Blaire
Bishop of Stockton and Chairman, Committee on Domestic Justice and Human Development,
United States Conference of Catholic Bishops

"Why should Christians care about what the national budget does to the poor?
Jesus understood his ministry as one which called on the community,
again and again, to respond to the poverty around them. In Luke 4
Jesus says, "The Sprit of the Lord is upon me for He has anointed me to preach good
news to the poor."  These are words from Isaiah 61, and after reading them,
Jesus announces that, in their hearing, that day these words were coming into being. 
These words of Isaiah were words spoken to the king - the governmental
structure of his day. Jesus says my ministry is about announcing good news to
the poor by calling on the nations of the world to do the justice that is good
news to the poor. The Church has not always recognized the extensive presence in the
bible of the call to economic justice in our national life.
Sometimes we have gotten so concerned about our personal lives
we have neglected this very point."
Rev. Peg Chemberlin
President, National Council of Churches

 
 
Of the people, by the people,
for the people now considered traitorous
words in Washington.
 
Obama, the Republicans and Democrats, Cowardly
 murderers of God's helpless
 
 
Obama, Corporate Quisling
 
 
The United States is a Corporate Dictatorship
of Republidems
 
 
 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
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Politicians who vote to cut Medicare
and Medicaid are aligned with
Satanic powers and despise God.
 
 
 
In the Name of a loving and compassionate
God, Flush Washington.
 
 
 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
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What is the Endpoint?
 
The most wonderful thing is that we will
succeed in bringing about God's Kingdom
as the Lord's Prayer directs. That is God's promise and our hope.
The Barons of wall street or Big Business or "Free" Markets
will experience God's justice. The timing of that event is up to you and
what you do for God and God's children.

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These animals  (along with thousands
of bankers and hedgefund thieves) make up
Obamas circle. Satan worship in our Capital.

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Obama and Biden
 
Savagely punishing the poor
hour after hour day after day.
A Golden Idol worshipper and a
'Catholic' War Monger............Shame!

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
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The world is a dangerous place, not because of those who do evil,
but because of those who look on and do nothing.
                                                                                Albert Einstein

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
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I represent bankers, wall street, corporate
interests and Republicans. I am part of
the new one party system in America.
If it is for public good I am against it.
If it isn't dishonest or nuclear powered,
If it isn't about war or destruction of the planet
then I'm not interested.
I am today's Herbert Hoover.

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
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Paul LePage (R-ME) sponsors and
passes a bill permitting children to work
as many hours as demanded by companies
(up to 50 Hours!) for any
pittance they want to pay them. Another
GOP satanist legalizing slavery for our children
Of course no one, including the children, cares.
That is why they bold kill Jesus.
 

 

 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
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John Boehner
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Big John is the House Leader
 representing Corporate America
and the wealthy. He hates families,
old people, our children, the unemployed
the sick and the helpless. He loves WAR, FAMINE,
DISEASE, PESTULANCE, and PLANET RAPE.
He OPPOSES  ANY TAXES ON THE
WEALTHY OR CORPORATIONS.
He is a monster like his buddies Mitch
McConnell and Paul Ryan and like
them laments that he wasn't around
 two thousand years ago to crucify Jesus. 
He can cry at the drop of a hat.... I wonder
if God will be impressed?

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
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Moral Bankruptcy
 
 

The GOP and increasingly the Democratic Plan:
Murder, enslave, incarcerate and
kill the bottom 80% of Americans (then the bottom
80% of the world) and get the stupid, ignorant,
Texting, Facebooking American citizens to do
it to themselves to boot!
 
 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
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Republicans wage war against the

Sermon on the Mount, Compassion, Love

and Justice ... in other words

a war against God and Goodness!

 



See GOP worship of Evil. Click Here

 
 
 
 
 
"I give people Ayn Rand with trappings" - Anton LaVey,
founder of the Church of Satan (to Kim Klein of the Washington Post, 1970)

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
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GE earned $14.2 billion in profits in 2010,
but it paid not a penny in taxes. In fact,
GE got a $3.2 billion tax benefit.
 
Is this God's sense of justice?
 
 

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Are you better off today than you were a decade ago?
                                                        Ronald Reagan 1980
 

Since 1980 have murdered 50+ million unborn babies
and we have murdered 2,000,000+ innocent muslims
and we have given all (30+ trillion dollars) to the military industrial complex
and to the richest 5% of us at the expence of our own children and
their children and their children's children. We are a dark people indeed. 
Salvation is never beyond hope. It is Jesus we need now more than ever.
Repent means to turn, can we do that in time to save the world?

So, the wealth gap gets worse and so does the pay gap: The wage gap between
the top 100 CEOs and workers
jumped from $45 to $1 in 1970 to-hold your breath-$1,723 to $1 in 2006.

"Let's microchip illegal immigrants so we can track
them like lost dogs." Pat Bertroche ,
GOP physician running for Congress in Iowa.

"How about we put down land mines to get them at
the border?" Tom Mullins, GOP candidate New Mexico
 
"Looks like to me, if shooting these immigrating feral hogs works,
maybe we have found a (solution) to our illegal immigration
problem. Better yet, let's shoot them
down from helicopters like hogs."
GOP Kansas State Rep Virgil Hogs


 

 

This will succeed because most Americans spend their
time texting, tweeting, facebooking, vigorously supporting war and murder
playing violent video games looking for the next relationship and hating any race
or culture that isn't their's. They support gun ownership and Global Warming.They are mostly 
  ignorant, selfish, cowardly and ignorant and are happy to be that way.

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When will churches support the people and
call this whole Corporate War on the poor the evil that it is.
Perhaps that is why churches are empty and priest
 are known for their prowess in pedophilia and once saved
always saved clergy present a twisted sinful Christianity.
Shame!
 
 

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A Prayer for the End of Insanity
 
Dear Lord, Your people suffer and die at the hands of those who hate you
or do not know you. Trillions and trillions of dollars go to thieves in the
banking industry, defense behemoths that kill for pleasure and companies
that are in league with the darkness of mass murder for profit. We approach an irreversable
climate catastrophe and no one tells us.We destroy our own species with indifference. Instead of
 generosity we hear that the poor must pull themselves up by their bootstraps. Send us your 
saving light that we may understand this path as the Godless darkness that it is and help us become
once again your children and your community. 

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One Million Iraqi Civilians (including 500,000 babies) killed by U.S. Sanctions after Gulf War I.

Over one million Iraqi civilians killed since post 9-11 U.S. invasion.

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Anthropogenic Extinction
  The irreversible end of our species. Imagine that?
And nobody cares. Politicians are proudly gutting the EPA and nowbody cares.
Nothing is being done about climate change because nobody cares.
Destroying God's creation is anti-God.

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Imagine....One percent of the population owns 34% of the wealth and the next 9% owns another 38%.
They own the news you are permitted to hear and see.
They own the climate that will kill 2 BILLION people in the next 50 years.
They own YOU but more importantly they own and intend to destroy your children, your planet.
Doesn't that bother you? Are you that spiritually dead? Do Ruppert Murdoch, the Walton family or
the Koch brothers or others of their ilk fashion your destiny? Do you even know who they are?
Do you let them control your own salvation? Think about it.

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American (Global) Corporations Dream of America
Corporations are not people though they rape, kill, pillage and burn like evil folks do
then destroy humanity for profit. Stunning!

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Detroit

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The Miracle of our Tabernacle


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Our Wonderful New Home in Trainer!

Deo Gratias!

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The Christmas Altar

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A Christmas Welcome

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Windows to the World

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And you shall find him ...laying in a manger

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Rev. Bernie Callahan, Pastor
Church of the Beatitudes (Pennsylvania)

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Breakfast at Lansdowne's famous
"Doyles" restaurant!









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The Arms and Legs of Christ

Our Fifth Year

The Feast of the Assumption
Aug 15, 2007

Happy Anniversary!

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Church Dedication February 3, 2008
A Church Dedicated ..... to YOU!


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The Bishop Comes Knocking

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All Are Welcome

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Bishop Chuck and Bishop
Ken Denski


The Blessing Begins

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The Altar

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The Baptistry

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The Crucifix

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The Community!!








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Homily






An Important Message From Our Bishop


Yesterday I listened to the pain and desperation of a young mother whose husband's paycheck had been garnished by a subsidiary of CitiBank. In light of the current corporate bailout, I could not help but recall Jesus' description of a very similar situation in Matthew 18, as well as the reaction of the kingdom to such behavior. In the Parable of the Unmerciful Servant, after having his own very large debt cancelled, the debtor then had another servant thrown into prison for the inability to repay a small debt.

The bailout has thus far proved itself to be nothing less than another opportunity for the banking interest to practice unmitigated greed. Instead of using the money given them to reopen retail credit markets, they have generally used the windfall to acquire other banks and financial institutions. Many of bailout beneficiaries, including CitiBank, continue to operate highly profitable predatory subsidiaries such as check cashing companies, payday loan companies and title loan companies that exploit the poor.

Each day more families, even those with young children, are being put on the street. Modest homes are being foreclosed at an alarming rate. The wages of the poor are being garnished like never before to pay judgments obtained by bailout beneficiaries. Instead of protecting the poor, the courts are continuing to facilitate these atrocities.

In the area around our Tampa Church, many families live in tents while several dozen boarded up foreclosed homes stand empty.

The Church cannot remain silent in the face of such suffering in our midst! To do so would make the Church irrelevant. To do so would be to forget the priorities and example of Jesus. To do so would be to deny the presence of God with the suffering poor. In its greatest periods, the Church, instead of simply accepting the worldly order, has always challenged the secular order at point after point. Look again at the 17th chapter of Acts. It says that the early Christians were looked upon as subversives who were turning the world from Caesar to another king, Christ. Consequently, it was said of them, "These are the people who have turned the world upside down". If they had listened to the words of Jesus' mother in the Magnificat they would have known this all along.

This bishop, with the approval of church leaders of various denominations, asked that a moratorium be placed on the foreclosure of owner occupied homes under $70,000 in value until the benefits of the bailout could trickle down to the working poor. No positive response has been received.

I believe God's poor should wait no longer for OUR response. The Church must stand in solidarity with them. I will be attending several foreclosure hearings each week and telling the judges and lawyers that what they are doing is wrong. I also plan to stand between the families and the police as a non violent witness when families are evicted from modest foreclosed homes. I urge you to follow this example and to join with me. It is possible that if it takes twenty or thirty sheriff's deputies to carry out one eviction, perhaps the authorities and the banks may be moved by publicity to slow down the process and make an effort to renegotiate predatory mortgages.



Bishop Chuck Leigh
11/30/08

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Vacation Bible School!

 

Who Built the Ark?

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Coloring the Ark.... a big job!

 

 

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Anticipation

 

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At the end of the day it's about friendship

 

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"Faced with oppression, pillage, and abandonment, our response is life....It is a new and splendid utopia of life, where no one can decide for others how they will die, where love will be certain and happiness possible, and where those condemned to a hundred years of solitary confinement find, finally and forever, a second chance on this earth."

G. Garcia Marquez

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Romero Center, Camden New Jersy



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Spring Meeting, Apostolic Catholic Church

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Thank You Larry, Mike, Megan, Teresa, Sherine,
Holly, Margaret, Rosa and Eddie....Good food, Good Spirit,
Good Friendship....God's Grace!



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Bishop unanimously re-elected to another six year term

Bishop Chuck Leigh


Click Here To See Pictures of the Meeting





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All the world's a song with Brother Andy Kukec at the piano!








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Easter 2009

The New Fire



The New Waters


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Madison finds the Golden Egg!




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Homeless man

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Homeless and mentally ill woman










Can you stretch your heart sufficiently to see Jesus here?


We, as a nation, collectively made a decision to move all "non-dangerous" mentally ill from safe hospitals to our mean and cold streets. We also created a situation where "old" means used up (instead of wise) and now this man and woman have zero chance of meaningful survival in our country.



Jesus cries out throughout the gospel for social justice.

Yes!! All are welcome!


A Family Affair


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Fun for all!


Michelle directs activities


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Happiness is a warm iced tea





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Brothers and Sister of the Apostolic Catholic Church,


 


As your bishop I spoke with the Israeli Consul General and his senior staff about the Israeli bombing in Gaza.  I expressed the sadness of Apostolic Catholics over the loss of Israeli lives from rocket attacks.  I pointed out the vast disproportion in the Israeli action in Gaza.  I made known the sadness of Apostolic Catholics over the appalling loss of life and the suffering of those in Gaza.   I communicated the utter outrage of the President of the Florida Council of Churches over bombing and shelling of densely populated civilian areas.  The staff promised to send my written remarks on to the Foreign Minister.


 


I am not so naïve as to think one short visit with mid-level officials will have any effect on Israeli policy.  But perhaps many visits by many people might have some effect. More importantly for us we, as the people of God, cannot remain silent while others suffer.  We must witness to the reality that we live by different standards which do not permit mass killing and deprivation.  Simply because the suffering people are far away and may  believe differently from us does not give us leave to stop loving them.  When we truly love another we are saddened and perhaps outraged by their suffering.  When we love them as ourselves we share in their suffering.


 


 


Bishop Chuck Leigh  12/31/08




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Rev. Mr. Craig Holderbaum


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Went to the Lord April 29, 2009
RIP


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Faces in the Crowd

The old man with bushy concerned eyebrows says "things are not good at the moment."
The dirty blonde looking so very tired through bloodshot eyes smiles a protective, fearful and sardonic smile.
The wide happy eyes of a simpleton react to this momentary gifted place in time.
The rotted grin of one who has been meth-odized and eternally condemned by our types.
The old embarrassed couple, she guarding him and him her confused and fearful of the circumstance. "We lost our house you see."
The skinny, pale black man turned gray by approaching calamity, guards his plate.
The craggy face of a worn old Lady who is street bound for being a societal failure.
The young man is tough, rebellious and dysfunctional with no one to listen or care.

Jesus is there wherever I turn. He gazes curiously at me, expectant of me, anticipating God knows what and I fail to acknowledge. Oh dear God .....not again.
Dear God how will I ever come to know you!


Thoughts from our outreach program this night of August 5, 2007 here in America. How blessed am I to have parishioners who can see.

"Ignorance and Want" the endgame of the "NeverEnding Story"
Christmas 2004

I came across the "NeverEnding Story" as I sifted through my VHS archives several weeks ago. On impulse I popped it into the player and sat back to watch it for the first time in many years. It turned out to be an unnerving an experience as I realized that it had moved from a prophetic to a post historic film.

If you are not familiar with the movie then get it and become familiar. Briefly it tells the story of a fairy tale place called "Fantasia" where imagination and creativity flourish and nourish ever expanding vistas in the human mind. Fantasia is under an assault by a dark and sinister force called the "Nothing" that steals the very breath from this world leaving the emptiness of ignorance in its wake. Fantasia must depend on the faith and heart of a child for its survival.

In the span of a few decades, our own country, if not the world, is threatened by a similar evil, cloaked in darkness and anger, claiming that imagination, creativity, freedom of thought and inclusion of all life's stories is hideous and vile. Already it has sucked the life breath of history and culture and literature and music and spirit. In my lifetime the histories and stories of Vietnam, Cambodia, South Africa, Russia, South America, Black Americans, Babylon, the Arabian Nights and Arab peoples to name a few have disappeared. Anywhere where aspirations and hopes and cultures have advanced civilization, their stories are not to be heard anymore. The history and geography of peoples have been muted into the political "scientology" of banal multimedia .

Good scholarship has surrendered to masonic folklore, De Vinci Codes and the partial truthing and false generalizing of anything imaginable. Good screenplay is now "The Apprentice", "Queer Eye for the Straight Guy", "Survivors" or "A" through "Z" CSI formats. Spirituality is the realm of hack psychologists or self- helpers with all the depth of a puddle. News is now the self-serving hype and gratuitous, angry, nasty propaganda of the power brokers. Of course all schools are Universities now, towers of learning, expanding the minds of youth for the next spring break. Business schools bob and weave in this post business world created by their outsourcing of a nations very soul. Centers of learning are European or Asian now, look at test scores. How many truly excellent books, plays, movies or songs have you experienced this lifetime? Let's be honest.
Does an enlightened populous vote against social safety nets for the poor, healthcare, public education and public transportation? Does an enlightened nation ignore 150 million that will die of AIDS, 45 million children who will starve or even worse live this year? Does a civilization willfully destroy it's flora and fauna? it's environment? It's planet? It's own children? Is God about secret coding, lost manuscripts and logistic maneuvering of nation states on the fields of Armageddon? Have we no bastion of good to be our Bastian? (read the book) Perhaps some will be jolted and challenged this Christmas season if they watch the appalled Ebenezer Scrooge asks Christmas Present to whom these two children, ignorance and want, belong.
'They are Man's,' said the Spirit, looking down upon them. 'And they cling to me, appealing from their fathers. This boy is Ignorance. This girl is Want. Beware them both, and all of their degree, but most of all beware this boy, for on his brow I see that written which is Doom, unless the writings be erased. Deny it.' Cried the Spirit, stretching out its hand towards the city. Slander those who tell ye.'

Perhaps a little fear would help.



07/15/04 16th Sunday in Ordinary Time

Let's not keep God waiting

The church calendar may say so but "ordinary time" it is not. What time do we think it really is?

Some would say that it is time for the return of Jesus Christ and that the chaos swirling around us portends that very event. They would even be willing even active contributors to that chaos, they would facilitate the climate changes, start the wars and allow the famines and suffering that can then be interpreted as "signs" of the imminent return of Christ. Manipulating God has been an obsession with humanity since the fall.

I look at photos of suffering souls in South America and Iraq, on the horn of Africa and on the Indian sub-continent and Asia. The faces that stare back at me are not ever nameless. Brother and sister , mother and father, son and daughter they cause me great pain but not such pain as theirs. I see the face of the Suffering Servant, the Redeemer, the Messiah, Jesus the Christ. These poor, these needy, these hurt and dying Christs, need not worry of accepting Jesus as personal Savior as some bankrupt heretics would have it. Jesus is one with them in their agony and closer to them than to the sinful such as me. Jesus waits as He has since He created all of this. Patiently waiting for us to recognize Him is, indeed, the eloquence of this benevolent God. 

He waits for that recocognition that never seems to come from us. We who feel so comfortably close to Him. This Jesus who lives in our fears and in our angers and in our hates and in our  often desperate weariness continues to wait ........ for He is the Christ!

Perhaps one day we will pool our pathetic accumulations of grace and be able for the first time to see how bright is the light of this God and how truly in opposition that light is to the darkness of our greed and pettiness. Then we shall be able, through that admission, to enter into the light and be changed by It forever! 

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The Pieta


Jesus is so far above our primitive thoughts and schemes and yet to simply love Him brings His eternal embrace. Why is that so difficult for us?