With the anti-abortion legislation in Georgia and Alabama and other states moving forward, it makes me wonder what Anti-Abortion folks think of me.
I think abortion is hideous and horrible.
But I also think that I have no right to tell a woman what to do with her body--no right at all.
I am against abortion but in favor of a woman's choice to make her own decisions and live with them.
I wonder if pro-life folks think I was fetuses to be removed from women's bodies.
I don't--but I strongly believe women have the right to decide for themselves what they want to do with their bodies.
The Georgia legislation, which is now signed by the governor and will become law in January of 2020--though lots of court cases remain to be heard--assigns 'person-hood' to fetuses. Which raises lots of questions, like can a pregnant woman be put in jail since her fetus has done no wrong and can a woman who uses alcohol or tobacco or drugs be stopped because her fetus didn't make that decision (but that would mean putting her in jail, which goes back to the first question).
I wish men had babies, just to see whether people would be as anxious to take away the right of the bodies of men as they are to take away the rights of the bodies of women.
I would bet not.
All this anti-abortion stuff is just another symptom of the anti-freedom tone of the presidency of He Who Will Not Be Named.
We're in real trouble in this land of the brave and home of the free. Real trouble. I hope Congress can hold the dam against the rising anti-democracy waves.
Thursday, May 9, 2019
clergy
I had lunch today with 6 clergy from the Higganum area.
I like several of them very much--but I have trouble with them gathered around a table in a not-too-good restaurant.
Will Rogers said of Methodist clergy (I think it was) that they "were like manure. Spread out they did a lot of good, but all in one place, they tend to stink."
I just don't like being around a lot of ordained people. The one exception is my Tuesday morning group--but I know all those folks well and there are usually lay folks there as well. That makes it palatable.
Next Tuesday I have to go to an all-day "Safe Church Training" with other Episcopal priests. The training is required every 3 years. It is about making the Diocese 'safe' from law suits rather than making congregations 'safe'.
Having given your clergy 'training', if they do something wrong of a sexual nature, the diocese can say, "Hey, we told them not to!" and the victim can't sue the larger church.
If you don't go you can be 'defrocked'--your priestly standing taken away.
When means if you do go you are still "frocked"--which is a good way to describe being ordained.
I'm already dreading it.
For one thing most of the people there will wear clerical collars--even though everyone knows if you're there you must be clergy.
I haven't worn a collar for like 12 or more years. I know I'm a priest, why do I have to wear a collar and blare it out to the world?
For another thing, we'll spend the day trying to impress each other. Tiresome.
Manure is a good metaphor for clergy.
I like several of them very much--but I have trouble with them gathered around a table in a not-too-good restaurant.
Will Rogers said of Methodist clergy (I think it was) that they "were like manure. Spread out they did a lot of good, but all in one place, they tend to stink."
I just don't like being around a lot of ordained people. The one exception is my Tuesday morning group--but I know all those folks well and there are usually lay folks there as well. That makes it palatable.
Next Tuesday I have to go to an all-day "Safe Church Training" with other Episcopal priests. The training is required every 3 years. It is about making the Diocese 'safe' from law suits rather than making congregations 'safe'.
Having given your clergy 'training', if they do something wrong of a sexual nature, the diocese can say, "Hey, we told them not to!" and the victim can't sue the larger church.
If you don't go you can be 'defrocked'--your priestly standing taken away.
When means if you do go you are still "frocked"--which is a good way to describe being ordained.
I'm already dreading it.
For one thing most of the people there will wear clerical collars--even though everyone knows if you're there you must be clergy.
I haven't worn a collar for like 12 or more years. I know I'm a priest, why do I have to wear a collar and blare it out to the world?
For another thing, we'll spend the day trying to impress each other. Tiresome.
Manure is a good metaphor for clergy.
Monday, May 6, 2019
"Poliqticcal correctness" unveiled
I'm a left-wing, progressive nut,. right?
So, I'm really 'into' political correctness.
No racist, anti-gay, anti-trans, anti-immigrant, anti-feminist remarks--right?
But political correctness has been embraced by the right now--it's all about Israel.
Say something about Israel (the country) and you are an anti-Semite (the Jewish people).
The Muslim woman in the House got caught in it.
Criticizing a country who keeps millions of Palestinians in what could be considered servitude and second-class citizen status, a country that won't agree to a two state solution, a country whose head of state is even deeper in controversy than our own--criticize that country and people call you a hater of Jews.
I criticize any number of countries--Russia, North Korea, Saudi Arabia, Venezuela==and I'm not a hater or Russians or Asians or Muslims or Hispanics--I just don't agree with what the leaders of those countries are up to.
But there are those who have co-opted 'political correctness' for their ends that make any criticism of Israel (the country) as being anti-Semitic.
No wonder some white folks don't like 'political correctness'--it stings when it gets applied to you for opposing the policies of a country and not a criticism of a religion.
Odd how that works on the 'other side'.
So, I'm really 'into' political correctness.
No racist, anti-gay, anti-trans, anti-immigrant, anti-feminist remarks--right?
But political correctness has been embraced by the right now--it's all about Israel.
Say something about Israel (the country) and you are an anti-Semite (the Jewish people).
The Muslim woman in the House got caught in it.
Criticizing a country who keeps millions of Palestinians in what could be considered servitude and second-class citizen status, a country that won't agree to a two state solution, a country whose head of state is even deeper in controversy than our own--criticize that country and people call you a hater of Jews.
I criticize any number of countries--Russia, North Korea, Saudi Arabia, Venezuela==and I'm not a hater or Russians or Asians or Muslims or Hispanics--I just don't agree with what the leaders of those countries are up to.
But there are those who have co-opted 'political correctness' for their ends that make any criticism of Israel (the country) as being anti-Semitic.
No wonder some white folks don't like 'political correctness'--it stings when it gets applied to you for opposing the policies of a country and not a criticism of a religion.
Odd how that works on the 'other side'.
Sunday, May 5, 2019
There may have been
There may have been a rainier spring in Connecticut, but after living here for 33 years, I don't remember one.
It has rained almost every day of April and now May here. It has rained all day today--all day!
Really.
It's raining hard now at almost 11 p.m.
Very wet.
Very wet.
Has been all Spring.
April showers and all that....
Rain.
Better than the option of drought.
It has rained almost every day of April and now May here. It has rained all day today--all day!
Really.
It's raining hard now at almost 11 p.m.
Very wet.
Very wet.
Has been all Spring.
April showers and all that....
Rain.
Better than the option of drought.
Saturday, May 4, 2019
you, too, Dorothy, RIP
Two funerals in two days--unusual since I left St. John's (I once remember counting and finding I had done over 600 funerals there!).
Ann I knew well. Dorothy, I had never met.
Ann was 65 and Dorothy 89.
And after I heard one of Dorothy's daughters and three grown grand-children speak, I wished I had known her.
She and some relatives had been country and gospel singers back in the day and had a radio show on a local station. And she was a farmer--and a good one. And a lovely, gentle, humorous woman from all I heard of her today. And someone who, with help, had stayed in her home until the end.
Her granddaughter played the guitar for the hymns, which had been reproduced in Dorothy's handwritten words!
Lovely and loving people.
Sometimes, one of the things we can take from a funeral is that life is still and over for one we love. No more pain.
That's obviously not enough to make up for their loss in your life--but it is something.
Ann I knew well. Dorothy, I had never met.
Ann was 65 and Dorothy 89.
And after I heard one of Dorothy's daughters and three grown grand-children speak, I wished I had known her.
She and some relatives had been country and gospel singers back in the day and had a radio show on a local station. And she was a farmer--and a good one. And a lovely, gentle, humorous woman from all I heard of her today. And someone who, with help, had stayed in her home until the end.
Her granddaughter played the guitar for the hymns, which had been reproduced in Dorothy's handwritten words!
Lovely and loving people.
Sometimes, one of the things we can take from a funeral is that life is still and over for one we love. No more pain.
That's obviously not enough to make up for their loss in your life--but it is something.
Friday, May 3, 2019
Oh, Ann, Rest in Peace
Today I presided at Ann's funeral.
Her brother and her son both gave eloquent and heart-felt eulogies. I told her son afterwards that I've heard lots of tributes and his was in the top three. He began with this great line: "How can I put 65 years of my mother's life in this short, 90 minute speech."
Humor is a great tribute in a funeral eulogy. Humor gives honor to the dead and to the living.
Communion was a big problem since we were in the parish hall--the church is too small--and people were standing 4 wide and 20 deep in the center aisle.
So we gave them communion right after the family and sent them to the upper hall until the others could receive.
I said of Ann that she was a 'dear soul' and a 'fighter'. Her soul was deep and wide and her son captured that in his remarks. And she fought cancer three times before losing the fight.
I saw her the day of the night she died and though she was pretty full of morphine, when I said, "Ann, it's Jim Bradley", she opened her eyes for a moment and smiled.
There were all these pictures on boards--as most funerals these days have--and she was smiling in every single picture.
A dear soul and a fighter--can't get much better than that.
I always quote St. Francis of Assisi in a funeral homily: "Death is not a door that closes, it is a door that opens and we walk in, all new, to the presence of the one who loves us best of all."
Death, to us, certainly is a closed door. I'll never see Ann's smile again. But I pray for Ann it was that door that opened....
Oh, dear soul Ann, rest in peace, and be 'all new'.
Her brother and her son both gave eloquent and heart-felt eulogies. I told her son afterwards that I've heard lots of tributes and his was in the top three. He began with this great line: "How can I put 65 years of my mother's life in this short, 90 minute speech."
Humor is a great tribute in a funeral eulogy. Humor gives honor to the dead and to the living.
Communion was a big problem since we were in the parish hall--the church is too small--and people were standing 4 wide and 20 deep in the center aisle.
So we gave them communion right after the family and sent them to the upper hall until the others could receive.
I said of Ann that she was a 'dear soul' and a 'fighter'. Her soul was deep and wide and her son captured that in his remarks. And she fought cancer three times before losing the fight.
I saw her the day of the night she died and though she was pretty full of morphine, when I said, "Ann, it's Jim Bradley", she opened her eyes for a moment and smiled.
There were all these pictures on boards--as most funerals these days have--and she was smiling in every single picture.
A dear soul and a fighter--can't get much better than that.
I always quote St. Francis of Assisi in a funeral homily: "Death is not a door that closes, it is a door that opens and we walk in, all new, to the presence of the one who loves us best of all."
Death, to us, certainly is a closed door. I'll never see Ann's smile again. But I pray for Ann it was that door that opened....
Oh, dear soul Ann, rest in peace, and be 'all new'.
Wednesday, May 1, 2019
Barr's testimony
Did you watch any of it?
It was cringe-worthy and painful and revealing.
Amy Klobuchar, Sen. Whitehouse and Kamala Harris, in that order, made Barr fumble and fib. Harris tied him in knots and he couldn't really answer her questions.
But the highlight came when Mazie Hirono, Senator from Hawaii, lectured him.
She called him everything but 'middle-aged white man'. Equated him with Rudi Guiliani and Kelly Ann Conway and accused him (correctly!!!) of lying to Congress.
Days after he received a letter from Robert Mueller himself, criticizing Barr's four page memo that essentially 'exonerated' the President, Barr told a Congressional committee he had 'no idea' what Mueller thought of his memo!
Sen. Hirono then told Barr to resign and Linsey Graham chided her for 'slandering' Barr.
Like telling the truth is 'slandering'.
No one knew until yesterday about Mueller's complaining letter which said Barr had 'misrepresented' the report in his memo, giving the President over two weeks to brag that there was nothing damning in the Mueller report.
Probably not, unless you consider the 10 instances of obstructing justice that Mueller enumerated and did not indict because, as it said in the report, there is a standing opinion that a sitting President cannot be indicted. But his report said clearly and in no uncertain terms that Mueller DID NOT 'exonerate' the President from obstruction of justice.
Another weird day in a weird and painful two years of this presidency.
It was cringe-worthy and painful and revealing.
Amy Klobuchar, Sen. Whitehouse and Kamala Harris, in that order, made Barr fumble and fib. Harris tied him in knots and he couldn't really answer her questions.
But the highlight came when Mazie Hirono, Senator from Hawaii, lectured him.
She called him everything but 'middle-aged white man'. Equated him with Rudi Guiliani and Kelly Ann Conway and accused him (correctly!!!) of lying to Congress.
Days after he received a letter from Robert Mueller himself, criticizing Barr's four page memo that essentially 'exonerated' the President, Barr told a Congressional committee he had 'no idea' what Mueller thought of his memo!
Sen. Hirono then told Barr to resign and Linsey Graham chided her for 'slandering' Barr.
Like telling the truth is 'slandering'.
No one knew until yesterday about Mueller's complaining letter which said Barr had 'misrepresented' the report in his memo, giving the President over two weeks to brag that there was nothing damning in the Mueller report.
Probably not, unless you consider the 10 instances of obstructing justice that Mueller enumerated and did not indict because, as it said in the report, there is a standing opinion that a sitting President cannot be indicted. But his report said clearly and in no uncertain terms that Mueller DID NOT 'exonerate' the President from obstruction of justice.
Another weird day in a weird and painful two years of this presidency.
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