News Backgrounds for Homily Preparation #1

A look at the news in the background for homily preparation

There is an old saying that a good homilist will preach with a newspaper in one hand and a bible in the other.

One of the aspects of my preaching is I try to connect it to real-world events so that people can connect the message, not with an event that happened two to four thousand years ago but is going on right now.

I spoke this past week about how forgiveness is central to the faith and when people turn away from Catholicism, they turn toward paganism where there is no forgiveness. I then connected that teaching to cancel culture which has no element of forgiveness.

So let’s look at what is happening recently.

Chris Hedges and Matt Taibbi on the news

If you want to have a good understanding of the current and the past media practices and why our nation is so divided, I cannot recommend more the video interview with Chris Hedges and Matt Taibbi two major voices who are more and more great sources in the alternative media; both of them now maintain Substack presences.

The interviews first aired on the now-defunct RT/America which was a great news channel financed by the Russians. It ended up being censored out of existence due to the terrible reality of the current war. Therefore, the ads you see in the video are for programs that no longer exist because the channel no longer exists.

Chris Hedges: On Contact with Matt Taibbi “The Deep Rot of American Journalism Part 1” I could not find Part 2.

Notice a major point is that news organizations begin to focus on one demographic which leads to the division common in today’s national landscape

She said what? Should we pay attention?

You may have heard of a Carnegie Mellon Professor, Uju Anya, who gave an angry commentary on Twitter on the death of the Queen.

Obviously, many people responded with horror and disgust including Jeff Bezos. However, what many people miss is that the colonization that still affects people today leads people to see many of our allies as enemies.

In an article in the Chronicle for Higher Education linked above, Uju Anya explains her position.

Others from Africa tell me that the colonizing powers still have authority in these countries ensuring they are not as independent as they appear. One student at the Harvard Business School which is about a 1/2 mile from where I write at St Anthony Parish in Allston, MA explained that his home country of Burkina Faso still has to answer to France monetarily because the colonial power is still in charge even though it is supposed to be an independent country. Many in the western world do not understand this reality.

Cardinal Robert Sarah of Guinea, in fact, remains critical of the West including the United States because he believes the financial aid we send to Africa has strings attached to our Western values and believes it is a new form of colonialism.

Was Daniel Panneton Right?

I wrote an article that I submitted to the Atlantic but to no avail which details that Daniel Panneton’s concern about militant symbols and the rosary being used together may not be as anti-Catholic as many claim. I also spoke about it on the radio here on substack several weeks ago. However, although Mr. Panneton received much pushback and I believe he could have researched the article better, I think there is much to be concerned about with this mixture of signals. To the best of my knowledge, the bishops have not addressed this perception. I link to Mark Shea’s article citing his long-time concerns about this Catholic attitude of mixing the gun culture and Catholicism and other elements he despises in what he calls the MAGA cult.

Jesse Ventura’s Warning on an America Version of Ferdinand Marcos

Jesse Ventura taught Donald Trump his current system of campaigning through rallies. Later and long ago, he became a critic of Mr. Trump. He also has a long-standing history of criticizing both the Republicans and the Democrats.

Ventura who is the former governor of Minnesota and the former mayor of Brooklyn Park, Minnesota is an experienced politician, successful third-party candidate, media figure, former professional wrestler and former Navy Seal. He is also a well-known controversial figure, who like Hedges, also had a program on the now defunct RT/America. Like Hedges, he suffered for his anti-war stance at the hands of American media (MSNBC) and today also has a Substack presence.

He speaks about his concerns and warns that Donald Trump could end up being the next Ferdinand Marcos Sr. except as president of this country. He relates that he was in the Philippines as a Navy SEAL during the reign of Ferdinand Marcos. I too, a Navy veteran, and not a SEAL, was there for a time during Marcos’ reign. I never met Jesse Ventura and I don’t know if he was even there when I was.

I often tell the story of being in the Philippines when Marcos held a birthday party for martial law. It was the 7th Birthday by the way. I believe that is one of the craziest things I ever saw. There was a birthday cake and him celebrating this all on TV broadcast throughout the country. During the Reagan administration, Marcos was deposed and sent into exile to Hawaii after the assassination of an anti-Marcos senator in Manilla—Benigno Aquino. The senator’s wife, Cory, began a revolution and eventually became president of that country. Today Marcos’ son nicknamed BongBong is now president of that former US colony.

This comes on the heels of Trump announcing he wanted to expand the death penalty to drug dealers. The pope this month calls for prayers to end the death penalty. I don’t know if those two facts are coincidental or if Trump was chiding the pope.

Campaigning in Church

I woke up to check my Twitter feed recently, only to discover that Kari Lake who is campaigning for governor of Arizona speaking in a church.

I am confused when this happens because churches must be apolitical and legally they must be as well. The legal standard is the result of Lyndon Johnson’s work to silence church politicking when a Texas pastor spoke against Johnson in the 1950’s. Now due to Johnson’s legislation churches can lose their tax-free status.

Some responses to the event say that this is what Republicans do. Well, Democrats do it as well. John Kerry did it in 2004 when running for president and obviously, these are not the only two.

That really is not the issue. As one who is an administrator of a Catholic church, I am totally taken aback by political campaigning in a church. Critics rightly start demanding to remove the tax-free status (a mistake by the way) the fact is, mixing politics and the Gospel is never a good idea.

When I was in Somerville, Massachusetts at my deacon assignment, a priest came to the rectory during a layover in Boston. I believe he was returning to his native Italy from Brazil. He explained to me that no longer were their people in his region giving communion with the words Corpo de Cristo [Body of Christ] but instead “Vota para (candidato)” [Vote for (candidate)]. So, mixing politics from the pulpit is never a good thing. However, I do not understand how candidates can campaign from the pulpit legally.

I believe that is enough for now.

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