After missing out on Easter liturgies last year due to the pandemic, what a joy to celebrate the vigil this year by receiving two new Catholics into the Church at our small parish, along with two others who were baptized Catholic but never completed their Sacraments of initiation. Our Easter Vigil liturgy lasted two hours and forty minutes, which is a long time to breathe through a mask, but we made it. We are so blessed to be back. Things are returning to normal as more and more people are being vaccinated against the Covid virus. Even the baseball season is starting on time.
I sometimes wonder if some of the craziness going on in our world today has been exacerbated by the pandemic. People seem to be angrier than ever. Unable to enjoy all of our normal activities, many have resorted to insulting one another in social media. The so-called cancel culture has grown to ridiculous proportions. Major League Baseball has pulled the All-Star game out of Atlanta because the state passed a new voting law. “Major League Baseball fundamentally supports voting rights for all Americans and opposes restrictions to the ballot box,” according to MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred.
That is a silly statement. So, every American should be allowed to vote without any restrictions? Four-year-old Americans should be allowed to vote? You should be able to cast your vote anytime you want anywhere you want, as many times as you want? No. Obviously, all eligible Americans should be allowed to vote with certain necessary restrictions. Read the Georgia voting law and explain to me how it restricts any eligible voter from voting. It does not.
Whether the Georgia law is fair or restrictive is a matter for political debate. It is not a question of right or wrong. To cancel a major event based on political ideology is stupid and dangerous. MLB is setting themselves up for scrutiny in all of their business practices now. Anyone can conjure up a connection to some objectionable practice that may be offensive to somebody. Where does one draw the line? At least in the Church, we have an understanding of the difference between formal and material cooperation with evil. In this case, no evil is involved and playing a baseball game in the State of Georgia would not be cooperating even if political evil were involved. None of this makes any sense.
I would love to hear Rob Manfred explain in detail what part of the Georgia voting law he finds so objectionable that it deserves a boycott. He may have fallen for the absurd claim that the law is racist. Does he believe particular citizens of Georgia are not capable of obtaining a proper ID? How many innocent Georgia residents are going to be financially impacted by his action?
MLB plans to move the All-Star game to Denver. Colorado is one of only seven states that permits abortion at any point in pregnancy, and women in their second or third trimester consistently go there for the procedure when they can’t find a provider in their home state. So, MLB is taking their game away from a state that wants to codify laws to ensure a fair election and move it to a state where it is easier to kill its future fans. Georgia, by the way, has tried to enact restrictive abortion laws only to have them thrown out by a federal judge. Georgia is safe and MLB is charged with an error.
