Could Boys Town work today? And other thoughts on Charity and Social Justice.

Cover of Boys Town

‎“What’s “just” has been debated for centuries, but let me offer you my definition of social justice: I keep what I earn and you keep what you earn. Do you disagree? Well then, tell me how much of what I earn “belongs” to you — and why?”
– Walter Williams

Williams was born into an AfricanAmerican family. His family during childhood consisted of himself, his mother, and his sister. His father played no role in raising either child.^[3] He grew up in Philadelphia. The family initially lived in West Philadelphia, moving to North Philadelphia and the Richard Allen housing projects when Williams was ten. His neighbors included a young Bill Cosby. Williams knew many of the individuals that Cosby speaks of from his childhood, including Weird Harold and Fat Albert.^[4]

Williams was a talented high school student who displayed a very inconsistent performance in his studies. Following high school he came out to stay with his father in California, and attended one semester at Los Angeles City College, in regard to which he would later state that he was not ready yet to be a serious student.^[5] In 1959 he was drafted into the military, and served as a Private in the United States Army.^[4][6] While serving in the Army, he “waged a one man battle against Jim Crow from inside the army (where he was nearly court-martialed for challenging the racial order).”^[4] Williams:

wrote a letter to President John F. Kennedy denouncing the pervasive racism of the American government and military. “Should Negroes be relieved of their service obligation or continue defending and dying for empty promises of freedom and equality,” Williams demanded of the president. “Or should we demand human rights as our Founding Fathers did at the risk of being called extremists….I contend that we relieve ourselves of oppression in a manner that is in keeping with the great heritage of our nation.”^{[4]  (Link)}

^{The above article, or at least part of the article from Wikipedia and the beginning quote should be an inspiration to all Americans, it talks of Faith, faith in the American system, faith in self and faith in humanity. It talks of self-reliance and justice, not handouts and welfare.  It talks about picking yourself up and taking care of business, your business, and not relaying on the government to do it for you. I like that!}

^{So what is “just”?}

^{As a Catholic, social justice is a huge part of my faith, we have Bishops and everyday pew sitters working on this issue daily, we have documents coming from the Vatican and our local Church. I could spend hours reading and re-reading the documents, many of them online and available for free. I can read the words of many a great men, saints and some not so saintly. But in the end, I think that simple quote above states it very distinctly:}

^…I keep what I earn and you keep what you earn. Do you disagree? Well then, tell me how much of what I earn “belongs” to you — and why?”

 

^{That about states it all… Now I can hear everyone asking, what about the poor, who is going to help them… We need to take and give to them.. True, I agree, you are correct. But… And this is a big but… It’s not the government’s job to decide who or what charities I want to support, it is not the governments job to decide how much is too much. That my friends, it totally up to me… That is “just”.}

^{Humanity will, if allowed, care for herself. In the United Stated we have proven this, prior to big government stepping in, it was left to the local communities to care for one another, and they always did. During the many recessions and depressions this country has gone through, the local community always cared for their own. As it should be. The “Great Society” and the “New Deal” and all other forms of Social Engineering has done nothing to change the simple fact that we will always have the poor. But what it has done is created a whole generation that is now dependent upon the government to fix and provide for all there needs. No longer is it a community coming together, but now it laws and regulations and dependency.}

^{The local out reach programs, Faith based community services and alike are now governed by the Federal Government, bogged down with regulations and paperwork that much of there “good deeds” go undone due to lack of resources to meet the ever-expanding hands of Big Brother. Prior to the government handing out the tax payers money, the local community gathered its resources from the community itself, depended on the community and thrived with in the community it served.}

^{The Catholic church was the prominent provider in many communities, depending upon the Church and the community at large to provide free services to whomever needed them, regardless of their faith. Look at Boys Town as a perfect example. Fr. Flanagan did not ask the Federal Government for moneys to build his Town, nope, he depended upon the common person to send in donations, and the work of building the town, well that was left up the him and the boys. In todays “regulated” world this could never happen, the government would not allow the young men who made up the community of Boys Town to do the labor, they would consider it “degrading” and “child labor”, were as Fr. Flanagan and his boys considered it “Character building” and “Edifying” . How times have changed.}

^{The government would have required trained social workers were as Fr. Flanagan required love and respect. There is not law or regulations for love and respect, so the government would not consider them to be important. How times have changed…}

^{“Charity” and “Social Justice” and not be regulated or forced, they have to be organic in nature. they have to come from the souls of the ones offering. When government sticks its hands into our pockets and forces us to “give” the act of Charity and Justice has just become an act of redistribution and extortion.}

^{In the books “Who Really Cares” and “Gross National Happiness”} Arthur C. Brooks, the author, makes the case that charity is a human act, not a governmental act. That it is the benevolence of man and not the redistributionist of government that keeps charities rolling. Both books are well worth the reading.

The Catholic Church, like many organization, has its fair share of redistributionist, who feel that humanity in-of-its-self is not able or capable of caring for each other. To me this is a travesty and a slap in the collective face of man kind! But, truth be told, we allowed this mind-set to happen, we, as a nation have become “dependent” upon the government to not only govern our national affairs, but also our personal affairs.

A return to a simpler time, a time when communities cared for each other, relied upon each other and depended upon their neighbors was when true social justice existed in this nation. We now live in a nation of not social justice, but a nation of social engineering, other wise know as socialism, tyranny or any other work to describe personal liberties and personal responsibilities being replaced by group think. We are teaching our children not to depend upon themselves and the community at large, but rather to look to and depend upon the government. We have generations of Americans that have no concept of charity and giving, of time, talent and treasure. But we do have generations of Americans who understand the concepts of give me, I deserve and “fairness”. Using the term “fairness” not as it was meant, “Equal opportunity” but rather as “Equal treasures” regardless of effort put forth.

The America of pre-New Deal and The Great Society is not yet lost, but is quickly becoming so. We have the opportunity and obligation to change the course of this great nation. To right the wrongs and return American and her citizens back to personal responsibility and community minded obligations. We have a unique opportunity in America, the opportunity to wage a revolution with our guns and blood, a revolution that uses the most powerful weapon ever know to man, the vote. This November we must vote to return America back to Americans, to restore Charity and Social Justice back to the people. It is time to take up the mantel of liberty and forge a new path to prosperity by returning to the founding principles of this great nation. Principles spelled out in our founding documents, the Constitution and Declaration of Independence. Documents that outline the path to prosperity and freedom, documents that never, not once, call upon the Government to care for the personal lives of its Citizenry. But rather call upon its Citizenry to care for the Government.

God Bless

Paul

Guided Insight Life Coach 

 

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Politically Sterile

The Christmas session is over, and the decorations are down, now starts the political session… Over the weekend I watched the ABC GOP Debates, if you can call them that. I was so mad that I found it hard to watch. The moderators were, well to put it simply, STUPID. They asked stupid questions, has stupid follow-ups and acted just plain stupid. George Stephanopoulos was the biggest idiot of them all (Drudge Report). But none of them should be proud of themselves.

The best moment for me, Newt’s monolog on the Catholic Church:

“I just want to raise, since we just spent this much time on these issues, I just want to raise a point about the news media bias. You don’t hear the opposite question asked. Should the Catholic Church be forced to close its adoption services in Massachusetts because it won’t accept gay couples? Which is exactly what the state has done.”

He continued:

Should the Catholic Church be driven out of providing charitable services in the District of Columbia because it won’t give in to secular bigotry? Should the Catholic Church find itself discriminated against by the Obama administration in a key delivery of services because of the bias and the bigotry of the administration? The bigotry question goes both ways, and there’s a lot more anti-Christian bigotry today than there is concerning the other side, and none of it gets covered by the liberal media.

God Bless him, got to love it…. We need more Catholics in public office and in the public eye to be more like Newt, and stand up for our faith. I wanted to get in my car and drive out there to shake his hand, but living in Michigan that would have been hard to do. But boy did I want to….

It seems to me that people are afraid to stand up for the faith because they are afraid of being labeled politically incorrect. But really is it? Does being politically correct mean that you have to stop standing up for your faith, your beliefs? I don’t think so, to me that is being politically sterile, having no value system no moral ground to stand on. How can I take your view points about anything seriously if you are afraid to stand up for them? The liberals stand up for what they want, a society of drowns with no original though, but we conservatives do not, for the fear of being labeled!

We have allowed the politically correct crowed do exactly what they are supposed to be against, we have allowed them to marginalize us and label us. We have allowed them to force their belief upon us, all in the name of political correctness… Does that really make sense?

We, conservatives and Christians are the new fair game when it comes to bigotry and discrimination, and the worst part, its been institutionalized bout our governments and our Churches! I know that in the Catholic Church the political correctness thing has done damage to the faith. We have Bishops who support gay marriage, want social health care and believe abortion is ok… All in the name of not wanting to offend!

I have to say this, but Jesus offended people, He spoke the truth and sometimes that truth was offensive to people. He spoke load and bold on issues, regardless of the political correctness that others sought… I would think that Jesus offended quite a few when he over turned the money changing tables in the Temple:

Cleansing the Temple
12And Jesus entered the temple and drove out all those who were buying and selling in the temple, and overturned the tables of the money changers and the seats of those who were selling doves. 13And He said to them, “It is written, ‘MY HOUSE SHALL BE CALLED A HOUSE OF PRAYER’; but you are making it a ROBBERS’ DEN.”

14And the blind and the lame came to Him in the temple, and He healed them. 15But when the chief priests and the scribes saw the wonderful things that He had done, and the children who were shouting in the temple, “Hosanna to the Son of David,” they became indignant 16and said to Him, “Do You hear what these children are saying?” And Jesus said to them, “Yes; have you never read, ‘OUT OF THE MOUTH OF INFANTS AND NURSING BABIES YOU HAVE PREPARED PRAISE FOR YOURSELF’?” 17And He left them and went out of the city to Bethany, and spent the night there. (Matthew 21: 12-17)

In today’s world He would be arrested and the story would have been blasted all over the 24 hour news channels as an intolerant religious fool. Now, to be fair, Jesus was killed, but not for that, He was killed out of fear. The same fear that causes the liberals to do what they are doing now, the fear of Truth. The fear of being called to task, the fear of having to face the fact that you can not do as you please and that there is someone watching over you, someone greater than you, God.

Nope Newt did the right thing, he stood up, knowing it was on national TV, knowing people on the left will try to spin it, knowing it could hurt his run for the presidency, he stood up and proclaimed the truth… God Bless him! We need more like him, we need to do as he has done, and stand up and stop being politically streile.

God Bless

 

Paul

Guided Insight Life Coach

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Priority 7: Faith in Vocation

I have posted several “work-in-Progress” documents for my up-and-coming talk, The 7 Priorities. The talk is next week, I have completed the presentation, but I thought I would post one more priority, its all the notes and back ground data I used to create the document. I hope you enjoy…And I hope to have a audio file of the talk to upload to my web site….

 

Priority 7: Faith in Vocation

The seventh priority, vacation, is the priority of one’s life work. This priority is about fulfilling your destiny, to becoming the person you are created to be. Each person has a purpose, a mission and each mission service humanity.

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Avocation, from the Latin vocare (verb, to call), is a term for an occupation to which a person is specially drawn or for which they are suited, trained or qualified.

vo·ca·tion

/voʊˈkeɪ ʃən/ Show Spelled[voh-key-shuh n] Show IPA

–noun

1.

a particular occupation, business, or profession; calling.

2.

a strong impulse or inclination to follow a particular activity or career.

3.

a divine call to God‘s service or to the Christian life.

Each man has his own vocation. The talent is the call. There is one direction in which all space is open to him. He has faculties silently inviting him thither to endless exertion. He is like a ship in the river; he runs against obstructions on every side but one; on that side all obstruction is taken away, and he sweeps serenely over a deepening channel into an infinite sea.

Ralph Waldo Emerson

1. From your fears come misconceptions.

The uncertainty of exploring your passion can lead to irrational fears and unlikely conclusions. Many are afraid that pursuing their passion will put them in the poorhouse. Others fear that the path to their true calling may lead them in some irreversible direction or limit their future options. Bronson observes, "Often we burn 70 percent of our emotional energy on what we fear might happen (90 percent of which won’t happen)." These psychological stumbling blocks are most often overblown, worst case scenarios that keep people from finding themselves. He adds, "What I found is that, if you take care of these obstacles, you create an environment where the truth is invited into your life."Get rid of the fear factor and pursue your dreams.

2. Don’t wait for clarity.

Many people wait and hope that their calling will come to them in the form of an epiphany. Don’t wait for a "big moment" or a sign. Sometimes the obstacle isn’t that you don’t know what makes you happy, rather it’s hard to imagine that what you love could be a profession. It’s possible to bridge these two worlds together with a little hustle, training and determination. Having an epiphany is great, but so often they tell you something you already know in your heart.

3. If you aren’t happy, don’t stay.

Bronson’s book is filled with stories of real-life examples of people who left jobs that compromised their values, consumed far too much of their lives, were no longer interesting, or created feelings of constant fatigue or insomnia. They were doctors, lawyers and investment bankers who left the jobs that were dragging them down and have found happiness as a massage therapist, bakery owner, or catfish farmer. It’s not selfish to deny what will make you happy. Life will evolve naturally if you listen to your inner self and pursue what you truly enjoy.

4

. Experience speaks for itself.

Real wisdom is found in experience, yet people too often ignore the strong message of their experience. They fail to embrace their experience because they believed their calling was to be figured out intellectually. If you have no idea where to start, there’s some insight waiting for you in the experiences you’ve already had.

For some that may mean changing sides like the oil company geologist who was morally troubled by his environmental cleanup work. He took a county government job to fight the very same company he used to work for. For others it means finding a career in doing what they love more than anything. Bronson shares a story of a college grad who had held 16 jobs in 8 years. His true passion was golf and he really wanted to use his love of the sport to help others play better. He had even designed a golf swing trainer and putter grip. With a little nudge and using his sales experience, he took a job selling golf equipment and has already pitched his ideas to the United States Golf Association (USGA) and demonstrated his grip prototype at a couple of golf expos.

5. Never give up.

It’s OK and even normal to take many years before pursuing or discovering your calling. It’s possible to have more than one purpose in life, and you can do them together or sequentially. It really doesn’t matter as long as you are focused and pursuing them versus chasing other unimportant things like a job title that will impress people you don’t really care about, a top-paying job that is uninspiring or a dream that is someone else’s (your parents’, your spouse’s) and not your own.

Po Bronson is the author of The New York Times best seller ‘What Should I Do with My Life? — a book that chronicles inspirational true stories of people who have found the most meaningful answers to that great question. He is the author of two other books and has written articles for The New York Times magazine and The Wall Street Journal.

http://jobs.aol.com/articles/2009/04/07/five-steps-to-finding-your-true-calling/

 

God Bless

Paul

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Sometimes we just don’t need to know

Image via Wikipedia

Just a question…. Is it really a good idea for any one, the president, a senator or just some low level person to announce our military plans? Last night President Obama told the nation, and the world, that his is going to withdraw troupes from Afghanistan. Is this really a smart thing to do?

I’m not questioning the withdraw, I will leave that to another blog, but I am questioning the announcement.  Should the American people be told everything? Do we really want to tell the world our plans?

I think not.

Once again, this is not an Obama blast, but a blast in principal…. We, the American people, seen to think that we have a right to know everything… Before it happens….

I’m not to sure it’s the smartest thing to do, “Hey everyone, we are withdrawing on this day and time” … Why not just sent the enemy the plan or post it on Facebook so they can download it!

I never understood this, never. Something’s should not be for general consumption. And military plans are one of them. But I seem to be a minority in this view, The American public seems to feel they should know before hand. Why? withdraw if that’s what we need to do, then tell us. That way it’s a surprise to us as well as our enemy…

Sometimes the whole 24/7 news is not a good thing, this coming from a new junkie, but sometimes we just don’t need to know…

All the sex scandals for example, ok, tell us once and move on, we really don’t need to hear about every detail of every photo taken and sent, nor do we need to know the play by play of this ones or that ones love child. By the way, I have an issue with that term, Love Child, shouldn’t it be more like “I cheated on my wife child”? But that’s also another blog…

We are infatuated with sex scandals in this nation, we drag them on, sometimes for longer than the “relationship” itself. We, as a nation, really do need to get a life…

On that note…

God Bless

Paul

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Holding my Breath

Just some update to a few post in the past…

I did a few post titled “Drama Part….”, they were post dealing with a young man whom I took into my home. His Mother (using the term lightly) and him did not get along, he was in juvenile detention for 6 weeks or so for a domestic “dispute” with his mother, and when he got out he asked me if he could move in. I said yes and the dram started.

I had to go to court to get guardianship over him, originally his mother agreed to this, but as things moved on (read older post for more detail) this changed. She basically abandoned him, causing more hardship and court. But as it happened I gained stated ordered guardianship over him. In January of this year his probation was lifted, and things went down hill….

To tell the truth, even before his probation was lifted, it was an up hill battle, but one I thought he was willing to fight and win. He has anger and authority issues. He is of the mind set that sex is the path to manhood and “doing as you please” is a sign of adulthood. This mix was not, as you probably know, conducive to a positive life style, nor one that I allow in my house. As it turns out, he also did not like my rules, but seemed to deal with them as long as he had to, meaning until he was off probation.

The real issues started when I discovered his current “girl friend” was 14 at the time he started to “date” her. He is 17, and will be 18 soon. She turned 15, but that does not change the facts that she is under age and that he has a tendency to sleep with whom ever he dates.  When I finally told him, after weeks of trying to convince him, that he can not date her, see her or talk to her, he decided it was time to run… And run he did.

Shortly after he ran away, I received my cell phone bill… Shock is not a strong enough word for what I felt when I saw the total due…. He managed, in less than 30 days of usage, to ring up a $150.00 bill, all over usage rates! I was not pleased. A few weeks after he ran away he called me to ask what the $150.00 on the front of his folder containing all his papers (SS card, Insurance and such) was about. When I told him it was his phone bill… His adult response “Your my guardian, you pay it”… Pay it I did, and as for him, he is, last I heard, living with his mother, missing tons of school and delving back into the life he stated he wanted to leave behind, until he found out it took lots of work…. Sad, he has good in him, but I can not force him to choose good, I can only offer the support and structure, I did, and he rejected it. God willing he will learn it all on his own, but I will not hold my breath for that to happen anytime soon.

 

The second update also deals with one of my boys. I have also written about in in other post. His Father, once again using the term lightly, has also basically abounded him because he did not make the top 20 of his graduation class. Or at leas that was the latest reason given. I previous postings I talked about how he needed his dad to sign stating he was not going to help his son pay for schooling. His dad, being the great dad that he is, refused to even sigh stating he would not sign… We got through that, and he went to school. Now the new issue, same results. He got a scholarship for a full ride at a community college in the Chicago area. He was very excites, and I was a proud parent… But the one parent who could help him see this opportunity come too was his dad. He had money for schooling but not rent, gas, food, etc.… Yes he can and would work, but with soccer practice and games, he would not be able to work a lot of hours. So he wrote to his dad, asking if he would please sigh for his loans.. The response.. No!

So now I have a broken hearted young man, who only wants the respect and acceptance of his father but only gets No’s. I can only do so much, and I do what I can, but I am not his father, he does not seek my love and acceptance, he knows he has it from me.

Not sure how I get all the youth with parent issues, but I do. God must have a plan for me and the youth that end up living at my house. I just pray that in the end I did all I could to help them become productive, happy and healthy adults. God willing… But I don’t hold my breath. I know I am flawed and make mistakes dealing with them.

Take the fist case listed above. Did I do the right thing? Was I to hard on him or to easy on him. Did I not understand him or even try to understand him. Was I to quick to assume? All questions that swim around in my head. And with the second case, can I be doing more? Should I do more? Should I contact his father and give him a good “What For”? Or just let it alone and he has requested I do…. I do the best I can, but never am sure it is the best…. 

So I hold my breath….

God Bless

Paul

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Fairness is not Fair

Image via Wikipedia

The excitement for November 2nd is building, the new possibilities for our Nation, for our States, Towns and Cities. November of 2010 can be known as the day we, the citizens of America, chose to take back our Government. The day we decided that personal responsibility is more important than Government hand-outs. The day that we decided that a hand-up is what we needed all-along.

The Democratic party claimed to be the party of the people, the party with a heart, the party that truly cares for the poor and underdogs of the American fabric. Yet all there polices and actions are contrary to there rhetoric. The parry of compassion has done more damage to our Great Nation than any other national organization I know. They are quietly de-constructing the nation, one law, one court appointment, one election at a time. It’s a slow death, one that we hardly notice. It all seems so harmless, what’s wrong with a little hand-out, what’s so bad about a judge legislating from the bench, what harm is there in protecting one under advantage group over another.

Lots is wrong with it, it is a divisive tactic designed to create a class war, to create a sub-set of America, creating division with in the National fabric. And its the perfect plan for the socialistic Democratic Party that is currently in power. Divide and conquer, that’s the battle cry of the Obama administration and the democratic party. They cry for fairness, but only if it means taking form one to give to the other, the chosen ones.

America is fair, each and every person has the same opportunity to archive what they dream and work hard for, that is fair. Unfair is giving more to one who has not earned it, unfair is lowering the standards for one and not the other. Fairness is not equality of outcome, but rather equality of opportunity, and all have the same opportunity.

Sure, not all can attend Harvard, and not all should. Yes some make more money than the other, but that’s ok also. What in life is played on a level playing field, in school some got all A’s others struggle to get C’s and others have no interest in school at all and receive E’s. Is that fair? Yes, you get the grade you deserved.

But some will say, what about the poor student who studies and works hard and only gets a C. That’s tough, but that’s life. Not everyone is A material, some are just C’s. I read a story, said to be true, of a collage professor who was teaching an economics class, the students were arguing that a socialistic “fair” society was what America needed, that we had to many poor and under achieving citizens. That the rich were just to rich and the poor just to poor. The rich should give up there riches and the poor should be given the money with no effort on there part. So this bright professor decided to put into action the socialist ideals in his class. He said that everyone would receive the same over all grade, based on the class average. The students were pleased, and figured they have won the argument, and this sill, capitalistic teacher would learn his lesson. The fist test, the class average was a B. The A students were not happy, but the C,D and E students were pleased. The A students felt they deserved an A for all the hard work and effort they put in to the test. But as a socialistic class, the average was a B, so all got the same regardless of effort. The next test the average was a C. The C and D students from the last test decided that they did not have to work as hard as before, because the A and B students will carry them, so the average dropped. This infuriated not only the A students as before but also the B students, who now say there hard work going punished. As you may have expected the class average continued to drop as more and more students become lethargic and discontent. By the end of the term the whole class had proceeded to fail. Not one student passed the class, the professor stated he felt for the students, but he kept the grade as they were, and felt a valuable lesson was learned.

Hard work must be rewarded and laziness must not go on unpunished. Now please understand that I know that not all C and D students are lazy, for some it just comes harder than for others. And I know that not all A and B students have to study all night, I understand that for some it just seems to come easy. But once again that is life. Should we, as a society, demand that out athletes play “fair”, fair as in the way the democratic liberal socialistic party defines it, that all are equal or should we just accept that some teams are better than others? What fun would a ball game be if we knew that the end result would always be a tie, and all teams are in the world series, and all teams win, resulting in all players receiving a world series ring? Not much fun at all, I would rather go to the ball park anticipating a win, a good game or even an upset. At least I know that the players had to give there all, and if not, well the cards will fall were they may.

The American people have been sold an idea that fairness means equality of out-come, and that has never been, nor will it ever be fair. It is, at best, rigged, and at its worst, theft. We have robbed our society of ethics and pride and replaced it with entitlement and sloth. We have created a nation that is dependent upon the government to provide for there basic needs. But now we are even demanding that they provide for our wants along with our needs.

Obama and his comrades will bend over backwards to provide this for the American people, not because he cares for the people, but rather because the more you depend upon him, the more power he is able to take. Entailments are not free, the cost the American people freedom and freewill, they make us dependent upon the federal government for our basic needs and wants. And no were in history has this ever worked, and nor will it ever work. Look at the classroom example from above, the hardworking students were punished for there hard work and the under achievers were rewarded. The end result, all became under achievers. The last two weeks of class, the A and B students didn’t even bother to show up, they saw no point in it. The great experiment worked perfectly, when you provide for everyone “fairly” no one wins.

Fairness is not equality of outcome, but equality of opportunity. Fairness means that sometimes tome will lose and others will win. Our efforts must be rewarded and our failures must not be, the idea that all players receive a trophy at they end of the little league session is nothing but an indoctrination into the group think mentality that the socialist need to achieve there over all goal of total control over the population. America is on her way, just stop and look around, individual thought is being replaced by political correctness. We are not free to think and speak as we please, for fear of hurting someones feelings. We must be inclusive in all we do or we are considered to be phobic of some sort. Silliness has hit the American psyche and we have allowed it. We are becoming less and less American and more and more European. And that would be fine, if we were European, but we are not, we are Americans!

This November 2nd your voice must be heard, we must retake what is ours, and it all starts on November 2, 2010 and will continue until November 2012, when we vote out the socialist and vote in an American, who believes hard work must be rewarded not punished.

 

God Bless

Paul

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A Community of Friends

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As part of my job, my 9 to 5 job, the one that pays my bills, I get to travel the world. I love that aspect of my job, I love going to new places. Not only do I get to go to new places, I get to make new friends. I now have friends in five countries around the world and have traveled to seven different countries. So on this next trip I get to visit my friends I have not seen in over a year. It will be nice.

Sure, there is work involved, but still I get to visit with good friends. Sometimes its moments like these that make me thankful for all that I have. Not many people can claim to have traveled the world, not once but several times and even fewer can claim to have made very good friends. God has blessed me, of this I am sure.

But what does this have to do with anything about my faith, besides recognizing that God has blessed me? Well, the fact is, if I stopped there, just with the fact that God has blessed me, that would be enough. But I’m not going to stop there….

Sure Gods blessings is sufficient and I could blog about the blessings all day long. But there is something else at play here. I am reminded of St. Paul, and his travels. The book of Act’s is full of stories about Paul and his travels, and his friendships made. The letters of Paul to the other communities are because of his travels and the friendships he has made.

St. Paul was blessed by God, in many ways, but one way was through his friendships he was able to make on his travels. The friendships that lead to conversation. Sure Paul could have just arrived in each town, talked and left, and sure a few would have been converted, but not many. The words would have been the same, but the value behind them would have been lost on many. Friendship, true authentic friendship, is a powerful tool in conversation.

Words spoke without friendship, be they true or not, often fall to the ground. The hearers may be entranced for a time being, but they will fall. Jesus spent three years speaking the truth as only He could, and many were converted, but many more were not. Jesus also spent the three years cultivating His friendships with a few, getting to know each for who and what they were. If Jesus had not done this, upon His death the faith would have disappeared shortly after. It was the friendship of Jesus to the few that kept the faith burning. Mary Magdalene was the first to see her friend after His resurrection.  It was the friendship that made Mary go to see the grave, and it was friendship that made her cry over the missing body. And the same friendship that allowed her to believe what her mind told her not too….

Friendship played an important roll in Jesus ministry, is not John referred to as the one whom Jesus loved? It was friendship that made the rag-tag followers of Jesus in to a community. Jesus understood the purely human need for friendship. He understood the need to make connections and the need for fellowship. The Christian community was founded on this very principle.

As a life long Catholic, I can say that one of the areas we fail in is creating a community, of fostering friendships with in the church and parish life. All to often attending a parish function is an obligation rather than a joy. All to often we have our “church” friends and our regular friends, as if the people we know at church are not regular people who dine out or play cards or other social activities. We, as Catholics, have segregated our lives into two compartments, the parish and the world. Yet are we not called to live in the world? Did not Jesus tell us to go to the ends of the earth and to all the nations? We failed Him…

The Catholic community can be and should be a vibrant one, one full of life. We have many talents hidden with in our community. Yet we fail to use them, we have many gifts, yet we fail to see them. It is a shame and in some sense it is a scandal that we, as Catholics, do not celebrate the community that Jesus gave us. Rather we squander it away, we hide it as if we are ashamed of it. Our faith, our Church, yes even in today’s world with all the scandals, needs to be celebrated. In-fact maybe just because of the current situation on the Church we should all be praising the good she does to the world. We should be joining together in friendship and our commonalities as Catholics and proudly stating our faith for all to hear. I believe that Jesus would be happy if we all would have the courage to do just that.

Yet we Catholics seem to be a scared bunch, we seem to be ashamed of our faith, even before the current scandal. We have always, in my life time, seemed to shy away from proclaiming our faith. We down play it, or totally ignore it when we are in the secular world.

Why? Because we have no community, we have no friendship, with each other but mostly with Christ. Anyone of of you would gladly defend a friend who was in need. And if asked why, you would reply “They are my friend”, and rightly so! Yet we fail to do this on a daily basis for the Catholic Church, the Church the Jesus himself established here on earth.  We seem to forget that Jesus did stand up for His friends and defend them, He defended them, and us, upon the cross of friendship. Yet we are not even willing to defend the attacks upon the Holy Father or the Church.

The media is at war with the Catholic faith and the Holy father, yet we sit back. Sure, some of it is necessary, yet much of it is just plain mean spirited. Designed to harm the Church not help heal her. They attack based on false reports or fail to reveal the whole truth, they design the attacks to inflect the most damage, and we sit back and do nothing. Sure we may say “What a shame” or “That’s unfair” but we do nothing. friends defend friends when that friend is being attacked. Yet we fail to do so.

Judas did the something, he failed his friend. He sat back and allowed the attacks to go on until it was to late. Are we going to allow that to happen to our faith, to our Church, the  one and true Church established by Jesus himself?

“But what can I do?” is the question you most likely have, “I’m just little old me”. Yes you are, but there are millions of “Little old me’s” out there, and if all of us stand up in friendship for the Church the media will take notice. Write letters to the editor, hold Catholic and proud marches boycott the media, money talks, and in this economy it
talks loudly. Form a prayer group to pray for the healing of the Church or blog about it. There are hundreds of actions that can be taken, and each and everyone one of them should be taken. It is time that the world understands that the Catholic faith is not a monster, it is not a predator and her people are a community of friends.

God Bless

Paul

American Catholics: A History of the Roman Catholic Community in the United States (Galaxy Books) Help support STATIC and purchase your books from our Amazon shop, just select the link

Job 19:25“I know that my Redeemer lives, and that in the end he will stand upon the earth.” Brought to you by BibleGateway.com. Copyright (C) . All Rights Reserved.

 

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12 Things Every Catholic Should Know About the U.S. Scandals

by The Editors, Register correspondent Tuesday, Apr 20, 2010 8:00 AM Comments

1. The crisis seems to be nearing its conclusion. The vast majority of allegations are from the 1960-1985 period, and only six cases of clerical sex abuse in 2009 have been reported.

2. There was no global cover-up. “Nobody, nowhere, no time, no way, no how knew the extent, depth, or horror of this scourge, nor how to adequately address it,” wrote New York Archbishop Timothy Dolan. No one had the knowledge necessary to orchestrate anything on a global scale. The crisis arises from individual cases, distant from each other in time and place, which have hit the press simultaneously.

3. Going public seemed like the wrong thing to do. As Father Dwight Longenecker has written, “What we now call ‘cover-up’ was often done in a different cultural context, when the problem was not fully understood and when all establishment organizations hushed scandals. They did so for what seemed good reasons at the time: protection of the victims and their families, opportunity for rehabilitation of the offender, the avoidance of scandal to others. It is unfair to judge events 30 years ago by today’s standards.”

4. Pope Benedict XVI is part of the solution, not the problem. He orchestrated profound changes in Vatican policy in 2001 and supported the U.S. bishops in their revamping of allegations handling in 2002.

5. “Nobody is doing more to address the tragedy of sexual abuse of minors than the Catholic Church.” So says Paul McHugh of Johns Hopkins University. The U.S. bishops’ conference reports that more than 5 million children have received safe-environment training and more than 2 million volunteers, employees and clerics have undergone background checks.

6. Seminarians now undergo increasingly rigorous scrutiny. That includes both intensive background screening and psychological testing, according to the U.S. bishops’ conference.

7. Child sexual abuse is “profoundly prevalent” throughout society, John Jay College of Criminal Justice researcher Margaret Leland Smith told Newsweek on April 8. “The sexual abuse of boys is common, underreported, underrecognized, and undertreated,” an American Medical Association report has concluded.

8. Children are far safer with priests than with the average person. According to Dr. Garth Rattray in The Gleaner (2002), “About 85% of abusers are family members, babysitters, neighbors or friends.”

9. Adult-adolescent sexual encounters (ephebophilia) account for 90% of all priest-minor interaction; encounters with children under 13 years old (phedophilia) account for only 10%. Of these, worldwide, approximately 60% are homosexual encounters and 30% are heterosexual. In the United States, 81% of victims are male, and 19% are female.

10. “Defrocking” isn’t always the solution. The press’ insistence that offender priests should have been laicized earlier overlooks two important facts: The normal first step, called “suspension,” which bishops are instructed to take in these cases, removes a priest temporarily or permanently from ministry so that he no longer will be a danger to children. And once a priest is laicized, the Church can no longer monitor his activities and restrict his access to children, so he is at large in society.

11. The Church is taking care of victims. In 2009, the U.S. bishops’ conference reported that $6.5 million was spent on therapy for the victims of clergy sexual abuse.

12. The Church is “the holy people of God,” and yet her holiness is imperfect. As the Catechism states, “The Church, clasping sinners to her bosom, at once holy and always in need of purification, follows constantly the path of penance and renewal. All members of the Church, including her ministers, must acknowledge that they are sinners. In everyone, the weeds of sin will still be mixed with the good wheat of the Gospel until the end of time. Hence the Church gathers sinners already caught up in Christ’s salvation but still on the way to holiness” (No. 827).

Article from the National Catholic Register (Click here to read at site) ©

A Ray of Hope

 

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Forgiveness

 

Always forgive your enemies – nothing annoys them so much. Oscar Wilde

Source: http://quotes4all.net/quote_578.html

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Forgiveness is a powerful act. The quote above takes a humorous look at it, but truth be told, forgiveness is powerful. And that is way it is most likely a very hard thing to do, to forgive does not come easy for most.  I know it does not for me.

But I have experienced it, and the power is overwhelming.If this is true, and it is, than why do we find it so hard to forgive?

the answer lies in our makeup, how we are created. We are created to survive. We will fight to save our lives and we will do what is necessary to advance our own personal worlds. Forgiveness flies in to the face of that. To forgive is to open yourself up to become vulnerable, if even for a split second. And all that we are fights against that sometimes till death.

It is easy to say the words “I forgive you” but difficult, at best, to truly mean them and to live them out. Often times we place conditions on forgiveness. We ask for something in return. This is not always wrong to do, but can lead to difficulties. The bible uses conditions when it comes to forgiveness:

Mat 6:12 (TEB) "Forgive us the wrongs that we have done, as we forgive the wrongs others have done us."

Luke 6:37 (NIV) "…Forgive, and you will be forgiven."

Mat 6:14-15 (NIV) "For if you forgive men when they sin against you, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But, if you do not forgive men their sins, your Father will not forgive your sins."

I need to give forgiveness to receive forgiveness… It is a circle, I want to be forgiven before i forgive but I must forgive to be forgiven… around and around she goes….

Paul

Ilibagiza’s Discovering God Amidst the Rwandan Holocaust (Left to Tell: Discovering God Amidst the Rwandan Holocaust by Immaculee Ilibagiza (Paperback – June 1, 2007))

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Positive Words

This was sent to me from a friend in India, not sure who the original author is, he never stated it… But I thought I would share it…

I remember my dad teaching me the power of language  at a very young age. Not only did my dad understand that specific words affect our mental pictures, but he understood words are a powerful programming factor in lifelong success. 

One particularly interesting event occurred when I was eight. As a kid, I was always climbing trees, poles, and literally hanging around upside down from the rafters of our lake house. So, it came to no surprise for my dad to find me at the top of a 30-foot tree swinging back and forth. My little eight-year-old brain didn’t realize the tree could break or I could get hurt. I just thought it was fun to be up so high.

My older cousin, Tammy, was also in the same tree. She was hanging on the first big limb, about ten feet below me. Tammy’s mother also noticed us at the exact time my dad did. About that time a huge gust of wind came over the tree. I could hear the leaves start to rattle and the tree begin to sway. I remember my dad’s voice over the wind yell, "Bart, Hold on tightly." So I did. The next thing I know, I heard Tammy screaming at the top of her lungs, laying flat on the ground. She had fallen out of the tree.

I scampered down the tree to safety. My dad later told me why she fell and I did not. Apparently, when Tammy’s mother felt the gust of wind, she yelled out, "Tammy, don’t fall!" And Tammy did. fall.     

My dad then explained to me that the mind has a very difficult time processing a negative image. In fact, people who rely on internal pictures cannot see a negative at all. In order for Tammy to process the command of not falling, her nine-year-old brain had to first imagine falling, then try to tell the brain not to do what it just imagined.

Whereas, my eight-year-old brain instantly had an internal image of me hanging on tightly. This concept is especially useful when you are attempting to break a habit or set a goal. You can’t visualize not doing something. The only way to properly visualize not doing something is to actually find a word for what you want to do and visualize that.

For example, when I was thirteen years old, I played for my junior high school football team. I tried so hard to be good, but I just couldn’t get it together at that age. I remember hearing the words run through my head as I was running out for a pass, "Don’t drop it!" Naturally, I dropped the ball.     

My coaches were not skilled enough to teach us proper "self-talk." They just thought some kids could catch and others couldn’t. I’ll never make it pro, but I’m now a pretty good Sunday afternoon football player, because all my internal dialogue is positive and encourages me to win. I wish my dad had coached me playing football instead of just climbing trees. I might have had a longer football career.           

Here is a very easy demonstration to teach your kids and your friends the power of a toxic vocabulary. Ask them to hold a pen or pencil. Hand it to them. Now, follow my instructions carefully. Say to them, "Okay, try to drop the pencil." Observe what they do.

Most people release their hands and watch the pencil hit the floor. You respond, "You weren’t paying attention. I said TRY to drop the pencil. Now please do it again." Most people then pick up the pencil and pretend to be in excruciating pain while their hand tries but fails to drop the pencil.   

The point is made.         

If you tell your brain you will "give it a try," you are actually telling your brain to fail. I have a "no try" rule in my house and with everyone I interact with. Either people will do it or they won’t. Either they will be at the party or they won’t. I’m brutal when people attempt to lie to me by using the word try.

Do they think I don’t know they are really telegraphing to the world they have no intention of doing it but they want me to give them brownie points for pretended effort? You will never hear the words "I’ll try" come out of my mouth unless I’m teaching this concept in a seminar. 

If you "try" and do something, your unconscious mind has permission not to succeed. If I truly can’t make a decision I will tell the truth. "Sorry John. I’m not sure if I will be at your party or not. I’ve got an outstanding commitment. If that falls through, I will be here. Otherwise, I will not. Thanks for the invite."             

People respect honesty. So remove the word "try" from your vocabulary. My dad also told me that psychologists claim it takes seventeen positive statements to offset one negative statement. I have no idea if it is true, but the logic holds true. It might take up to seventeen compliments to offset the emotional damage of one harsh criticism.           

These are concepts that are especially useful when raising children.

Ask yourself how many compliments you give yourself daily versus how many criticisms. Heck, I know you are talking to yourself all day long. We all have internal voices that give us direction.         

So, are you giving yourself the 17:1 ratio or are you shortchanging yourself with toxic self-talk like, " I’m fat. Nobody will like me. I’ll try this diet. I’m not good enough. I’m so stupid. I’m broke, etc. etc."   

If our parents can set a lifetime of programming with one wrong statement, imagine the kind of programming you are doing on a daily basis with your own internal dialogue. Here is a list of Toxic Vocabulary words.   

Notice when you or other people use them. 

But: Negates any words that are stated before it.               

Try: Presupposes failure.     

If: Presupposes that you may not.   

Might: It does nothing definite. It leaves options for your listener.

Would Have: Past tense that draws attention to things that didn’t actually happen.

Should Have: Past tense that draws attention to things that didn’t actually happen (and implies guilt.)         

Could Have: Past tense that draws attention to things that didn’t actually happen but the person tries to take credit as if it did happen.             

Can’t/Don’t: These words force the listener to focus on exactly the opposite of what you want. This is a classic mistake that parents and coaches make without knowing the damage of this linguistic error.       

Examples:           

Toxic phrase: "Don’t drop the ball!"   

Likely result: Drops the ball     

Better language: "Catch the ball!"   

Toxic phrase: "You shouldn’t watch so much television."             

Likely result: Watches more television.   

Better language: "I read too much telev
ision makes people stupid. You might find yourself turning that TV off and picking up one of those books more often!"   

Exercise: Take a moment to write down all the phrases you use on a daily basis or any Toxic self-talk that you have noticed yourself

using. Write these phrases down so you will begin to catch yourself as they occur and change them.