Catholic Thoughts

You may recognise that line from the Apostles Creed, but what does it mean? Sure, it's about the spiritual connectedness of believers, but what practical difference does it really make?

Here is a story Garrison Keillor told that I believe reflects how the seen and unseen, how the spiritual and the commonplace, intertwine. The story is about Jim, a married man who decided to "have an affair" with a woman with whom he worked. But as he sat in his front yard waiting for the woman to drive him to a convention in Chicago where they would share a room, Jim looked down the street and began to think:

"I saw that we all depend on each other. I saw that although I thought my sins could be secret that they would be no more secret than an earthquake. All these houses and all these families, my infidelity will somehow shake them. It will pollute the drinking water. It will make noxious gases come out of the ventilators in the elementary school... If I go to Chicago with this woman who is not my wife, somehow a school patrol will forget to guard an intersection and someone's child may be injured. A sixth grade teacher will think, 'What the hell,' and eliminate South America from geography. Our minister will decide, 'What the hell, I'm not going to give that sermon on the poor.' Somehow my adultry will cause the man in the grocery store to say, 'To hell with the health department, this sausage was good yesterday, it certainly can't be any worse today.' ...We depend on each other more than we ever know."

Remember that this works both ways. Our small acts, done with love, make ripples in the pond as well. Pray for someone. It helps.

Election Watch Update
Tuesday, August 31, 2004, 7:14 PM

The polling numbers have swung the President's way in a number of swing states to put him in the electoral vote lead. However, the second graph shows that neither candidate has yet to claim any new ground that they can be confident of for November.

If The Election Were Held Today...

Date Bush Kerry

July 22 256 282

Aug 5 236 302

Aug 13 216 322

Aug 20 218 320

Aug 24 296 342

2004 Electoral Vote Totals

Date Solidly Bush Leaning Bush Tossup Leaning Kerry Solidly Kerry

7/22 110 101 120 115 92

8/5 142 39 124 90 143

8/13 142 39 124 79 154

8/20 142 45 152 42 157

8/24 142 38 159 42 157

Check back next Tuesday when my new Newsweek arrives. More of the President's recent momentum should be reflected in those newer polls. My prediction for next week: Bush at 307, Kerry to 231.

First Day of Class
Monday, August 30, 2004, 10:05 PM

It is good to be back at seminary--it feels easier to pray. I'm all ready to get started. It's the beginning of the year and anything seems possible. I plan to have all my textbooks read and my papers written by next Tuesday... Wednesday at the latest. (Well, we'll see.)

My schedule for this semester is as follows:

Liturgy / Sacraments / Prayer

MWF 3:00-3:50

Early Modern Philosophy

TTh 8:30-9:45

Ecclesiastical Latin II

TF 1:00-2:15

Newman: Life & Writings

T 2:30-3:45

Human Life, Used and Discarded
Monday, August 30, 2004, 8:32 PM

Following the successful creation of a human clone by Korean scientist, Cardinal William Keeler said this on February 12, 2004:

"This is a sign of moral regress. Human cloning turns procreation into a manufacturing process, treating human life as a commodity made to preset specifications... Science and technology are great human goods when placed at the service of the human person. Here the opposite occured. Human beings were treated as products of technology, then used and discarded."

In truth, the very words can be said for embryonic stem cell research.

Election Watch
Sunday, August 29, 2004, 2:31 PM

National polls for the presidential election are interesting, but it's the electoral votes that matter. The most interesting thing I have ever seen out of Newsweek has been their "Swing State Watch" in their August 9th through August 30th issues. Based upon state polling numbers, here is how the electoral votes would break down:

Projected Totals

Date Bush Tossup Kerry

July 22 211 124 207

Aug 5 181 124 233

Aug 13 181 124 233

Aug 20 187 152 199

To refine this data a little more, I gave each "Tossup" states' electoral votes to whichever candidate was leading there in the polls. In the instances of tied polling numbers I divided the votes. Remember that 270 electoral votes are needed to win.

If The Election Were Held Today...

Date Bush Kerry

July 22 256 282

Aug 5 236 302

Aug 13 216 322

Aug 20 218 320

Based on this chart it would appear that Bush is ruined. However, statistics can be deceptive. A number of things should give Bush supporters hope. For instance, the first chart shows that more states have moved into the "Tossup" category recently. I also suspect that Bush's new momentum is not fully reflected in the August 20 figures (Which are based upon polls taken between July 30 and August 20). Plus, this week's convention should give Bush at least a modest bump. With so many states so very close, the November 2nd election is far from decided. Nine weeks to go.

For those of you who love the raw political data:

2004 Electoral Vote Totals

Date Solidly Bush Leaning Bush Tossup Leaning Kerry Solidly Kerry

7/22 110 101 120 115 92

8/5 142 39 124 90 143

8/13 142 39 124 79 154

8/20 142 45 152 42 157

Rockin' Road Trip Recap
Sunday, August 29, 2004, 12:59 AM

We got back from our road trip last Sunday. I must say must that my company and our shared experiences made this adventure the highlight of my summer. As for our goals, we earned every possible point (the only exception being the cow udder bonus point). This was our complete list of objectives. Based on the results table, our trip rated as "The greatest achievement in human history." Yeah, it was a pretty awesome trip.

I suppose I should tell you a little about it. (I mean, the greatest achievement in human history deserves at least some documentation.) Chris, Sarah, and I got along smashingly. Sarah spat in a river, the Mississippi, as we were crossing on a ferry. Chris was our fine chef, like here in eastern Ohio. He got to touch the ocean for the first time in Union Beach, New Jersey.

[A brief rant on NJ:]

Now in New Jersey the sun never shines. It's called the Garden State but there are no gardens. There's an old joke that goes, "Oh, you're from New Jersey? Which exit?" One day we pitched our ten person tent here in Cheesequake State Park. It had been rated the best park in the state, but based on what we had seen in other states, it was below average. Now what must that mean for all the other NJ parks? There is one good thing about New Jersey though. Every gas station is full service. It must be required by law.

[// Rant Complete]

As soon as we crossed the New Jersey border back into Pennsylvania the sun reappeared. Pennsylvania is a beautiful, beautiful place. There we toured facinating Gettysburg, touched a cow at Hershey's, saw colorful Crayola's created, and fed ducks in beautiful Bellefonte.

In Illinois we were (faultlessly) involved in a hit and run. However, not even that could lameify our awesome adventure. Hopefully, we will be road triping again next year. Next time, westward ho!

Road Trip
Saturday, August 14, 2004, 1:07 AM

Now I'm off again with two friends from camp on an eastern road trip. I am a firm believer that spontaneous fun doesn't just happen, you have to plan for it. To that end we have perpared 55 goals to achieve on our trip. I'll share some of them here for your enjoyment:

Sing "99 bottles of beer on the wall"

Spot 50 States' License Plates

Execute a Chinese Fire Drill at a stoplight

Ask for Grey Poupon

Play Frisbee, Boche Ball, and Texas Hold'em

Touch the waters of a Great Lake

Touch the Ocean

Play in the Rain

Perform as Street Performers

Pick an Ear of Corn

Touch a Cow (Bonus Point: Drink from the udder)

Spit in a river

Take pictures at 7 "Welcome to" state signs

Meet 7 new people

Get 8 Hours of sleep at least one night

Visit my seminarian friend, Mark. (In this picture, he's the one on the left.)

Back From Camp
Saturday, August 14, 2004, 12:18 AM

One week ago I returned from my 10 week tour of duty as a Boy Scout Camp chaplain. I do not feel up to relaying the whole summer's highs and lows, like the joy of camp counselor comradery or the drain of teaching three merit badge classes. Instead I will focus on one important aspect for me. This summer provided gave me my first experiences in ministry. I pleased with how it went. These are some of the things I learned:

I gained more practice at trusting God. Almost every day I had to lead a chapel service. Often I would not be sure what I would be saying until the last minute. Now do not conclude from this that I take my responsibilities lightly. It is just that you know you have to be pliable so that God can say through you what will really help the people there that day. I would think, "I would seem to be running out of time. But I know that you don't want me to be anxious, so I won't be."

Which leads to my next lesson learned, which was something I have learned before. The minister often has no ability to gauge the effectiveness of his work. For instance, one time I spoke on the problems of evil and pain. I had botched my talking points and thought I had perhaps missed their hearts by speaking over their heads. Right after, when I was thinking to myself "I tried my best," a little scout told me, "That was cool." You have to trust that your faithful work does good that you often do not see.

My third lesson relearned was the importance of prayer. Without prayer I am sunk, whatever I'm up to. I have heard it said that everyone needs a half hour of prayer each day. That is unless you are too busy, in which case you need to set aside an hour. Apart from Him, you can do nothing.

The Importance of Prayer
Saturday, August 14, 2004, 12:33 AM

I need to get to bed, but now that I'm writing posts again I have to get this train of thought out of me. Prayer is essential. Consider the full Moon. Did you know that the Moon by itself has no glowing properties. It shines because of the Sun's reflected light. When there is a new Moon, the Sun's light is completely blocked by the Earth and the best the Moon can do is block out the stars in the night sky. You are the Moon. God is the Sun. And how does a person move out from behind this world to reflect the Sun's light? It takes prayer, which is talking and listening to God. Without the Sun, who is God, the best you can do is block out stars. But with the Sun's light you can become the brightest thing in the heavens, second only to the Sun itself.

Learning Spiritual Truths
Saturday, August 14, 2004, 12:50 AM

Once upon a time, The Great Flambeau was tightrope walking across Niagara Falls before a crowd of on-lookers. They cheered when he reached the far end and they cheered still louder when he walked back across blindfolded. Flambeau took off his blindfold and asked the crowd, "Who here believes I can carry a person across these falls in a wheelbarrel?" The excited crowd cheered still louder. Then the Great Flambeau called out, "Who will be that person?" And the crowd went totally silent.

As I mentioned two posts above, at camp I did not learn new things about a relationship with God that I did not know already. I relearned old lessons deeper. I believe we learn on two levels. The first is merely in the head. To you a common example: you know that airplanes are the safest form of travel, but you still get nervous at every takeoff and landing. The second kind of knowledge becomes a part of you. Do flight attendents get as anxious as you every time they fly? I doubt it. Why is it different for them?

Why do some people have more faith in God as an active person in their lives than others? I suggest that they have more experience, more practice trying out, testing out, and living out the knowledge we all have in our heads. Moving that knowledge to your heart, to your core, comes through practice and trust.

Read Last June's Posts

Catholic Thoughts

Hosted by www.Geocities.ws