sir thomas more's epitath

Within this tomb Jane, wife of More, reclines;
This More for Alice and himself designs.
The first, dear object of my youthful vow,
Gave me three daughters and a son to know;
The next—ah! virtue in a stepdame rare!—
Nursed my sweet infants with a mother's care.
With both my years so happily have past,
Which most my love, I know not—first or last.
Oh! had religion destiny allowed,
How smoothly mixed had our three fortunes flowed!
But, be we in the tomb, in heaven allied,
So kinder death shall grant what life denied.
















....

found poem # 5,886

WASHINGTON


 — In the estimation
of American officials,
Oleg V. Deripaska,
 a Russian oligarch
 with close ties
 to the Kremlin,
 has faced credible
accusations of extortion,
 bribery and even
 murder.




the U.S. tried
 to tie
some Russian oligarchs
into sources.


It didn't work
but the fallout
helped fuel
President Trump's
anger.










                     ballad of an old friendship




















.....

don't take the bait

ANGRY

        CATHOLICS 

                          ARE

                               BEING

                                      PLAYED

                       

Catholic League president Bill Donohue comments on how some Catholics are reacting to news stories about clergy sexual abuse:

The twin scandals of the summer of 2018 have taken a toll on Catholics. First we learned of the alleged acts of sexual abuse by (former cardinal) Theodore McCarrick, and then we learned of old cases of alleged clergy abuse found in the Pennsylvania grand jury report (most of which were never substantiated). Catholics are understandably livid, but the white-heat reaction that is evident in some quarters has only added to the problem.

Conservative Catholics have been especially strident in their comments. Unfortunately, they are being played. To be specific, their call for grand jury investigations in every state, and the wholesale release of priest personnel files, is playing into the hands of the enemies of the Catholic Church. So are their appeals to parishioners asking them to withhold contributions. Even worse are their demands for a mass purge of bishops.

 

All Catholics, beginning with the bishops, should resist calls for full disclosure that are not being demanded of every other institution, religious and secular. To do otherwise is to subvert the Church in the name of justice. Unless we insist on a level playing field—after all, we do not own this problem and have made great progress—there will be no justice for anyone, especially Catholics














.....

he got that right

Nothing is more dreaded
than the national government meddling with religion.




John Adams












.....

where to place some hope

The future of the Church can and will issue from those whose roots are deep and who live from the pure fullness of their faith. It will not issue from those who accommodate themselves merely to the passing moment or from those who merely criticize others and assume that they themselves are infallible measuring rods; nor will it issue from those who take the easier road, who sidestep the passion of faith. . . . The future of the Church, once again as always, will be shaped by saints, by men, that is, whose minds probe deeper than the slogans of the day, who see more than others see, because their lives embrace a wider reality.




                                        His Holiness Benedict XVI












.....

today a twofer

Science itself, however precise and objective, is a human activity.  It’s a way of wondering as well as a way of knowing.   It’s a process, not a body of facts or laws.  Like music, like poetry, like baseball, like grandmaster chess, it’s something gloriously imperfect that people do.  The smudgy fingerprints of our humanness are all over it.






                                       David Quammen










.

from the phenomenological peanut gallery

Atheism may be defined as the mental attitude which unreservedly accepts the supremacy of reason and aims at establishing a lifestyle and ethical outlook verifiable by experience and the scientific method, independent of all arbitrary assumptions of authority and creeds.




                                         Madalyn Murray O'Hair


















.....