a word about the title...

When my grandson was still a toddler, I used to greet him with "How ya doin', Rascal?"

Well, you guessed it! The name stuck--not for him, but for me. Now, my grandson, my daughter, my son-in-law, and sometimes my other daughters call me "Rascal". I get cards and packages addressed to Rascal.

So, all you grandparents out there, be careful what you call your grandchildren--it just may stick--to YOU!
.

the Catholic Church

It hasn't been going well for the Catholic Church for the past 20 years, and it doesn't look like it's going to get any better soon. Monsignor William Lynn, the highest ranking priest charged in the child molestation scandal, said in court that he typed and kept a list of 35 deviant priests in the Archdiocese of Philadelphia. According to Lynn, he couldn't do anything because he answered to the Archbishop.

Sounds like the Nazis after WWII to me--"I did nothing. I said nothing. I knew nothing." In Lynn's case, we know that the first two are true--he did nothing and he said nothing. But, we also know that the third is definitely NOT true--he knew PLENTY.

What about farther "up the chain"? Joseph Ratzinger, the current pope, was the former pope's chief of staff. He had to know plenty too. Is it reasonable to believe that the former pope, Karol Wojtyła, knew nothing? I don't think so.

The laity has lost respect for the church's hierarchy, not only for their failures in addressing child molestation by priests in the recent past, but also for their continued "stone-walling". ... "Wordsmith" the Roman missal, but don't "come clean" on child molesting priests and the hierarchy's role in covering it up.

Talk about your "stand-up" guys! It's disgusting!

Lent

.
If you want to hear people talk out loud about what new restaurants that they’ve gone to lately, what new stores have opened, and what they and their friends are doing socially, then go to sanctuary of your local Catholic church before, after, and during mass. If you want to engage in semantic silliness, like “chalice” instead of “cup”, “incarnate” instead of “born”, “consubstantial” instead of “same”, “be with your spirit” instead of “be with you”, etc., then go to mass at your local Catholic church. If you want to be constantly bombarded about giving money for building projects, debt reduction, self-serving initiatives, etc., then go to mass at your local Catholic church.

Jesus drove moneychangers from the temple. Why don’t the “rabbis” of today speak out against the disrespect for the Lord, and towards those who are trying to pray, that is occurring with people talking out loud in the church sanctuary before, after, and during mass? Jesus blasted the Pharisees of His day for their “do as I say, not as I do” pompousness and arrogance, quick to point out the “splinter” in someone else’s eye while ignoring the “plank” in their own. Jesus said that God provides for the least of his creatures, birds and flowers. Jesus told us not to worry about money; He said that God loves us too and that He will provide for us also. Why is today’s Catholic Church obsessed with money? Why doesn’t the Catholic Church practice what Jesus preached?

Before entering public life, Jesus went out into the desert to seek solitude, and to pray. He fasted for 40 days, not only from food, but also from idle conversation. During this Lent let’s get back to basics, back to Jesus. Pray that church sanctuaries return to holy places of prayer, not places of idle gab and disrespect. Pray that the church of Jesus Christ turns away from silliness, obsession with money, and corruption, and towards Jesus Christ, Who abhorred money, and Who preached the “good news” of help for the poor and the disenfranchised (including us).
.
.