Summer Potpourri

We are now in those lazy, hazy days of summer.  Time to sit back, relax by the pool and see what thoughts may cross the mind.  Our festival days were a bit rainy over Father’s Day weekend, making our evangelization efforts somewhat limited outside on the church lawn.  We made a couple of contacts and had a few conversations.  The parish did have a float in the parade this year, so we were at least visible. 

Saw a story in USA today about a woman who was jailed in Florida for disturbing a turtle’s nest.  She didn’t damage any eggs, but tampering with certain nests is still a crime.  I always think of legalized abortion when I see such stories.  I totally understand why endangered species need to be protected, but the contrast in logic baffles me.  The pro-abortion people will say the fertilized embryo or fetus is not a human person, and therefore has no right to life.  Yet, a turtle egg must be protected because it could develop into a turtle.  The inconsistency makes no sense.

Another recent story about a local dairy farm whose employees were supposedly maltreating animals caused several large retailers to quit carrying their products.  This particular farm was always open to the public for tours and took pride in the care they provided for their livestock.  I saw the undercover video footage of the abuse.  While it involved only a few workers, it should not be tolerated, and was addressed by management even before the release of the video.  The whistleblower also rebuked the farm for separating young calves from their mothers.  Why is there more outrage when a baby animal is involved than when a human baby is not only separated from its mother but killed in the process?

While some Republican states are passing laws to limit or even eliminate abortion, our neighboring state of Illinois just signed into law the Reproductive Health Act.  The Illinois law essentially says pregnant women have the fundamental right to have an abortion, and a baby in the womb has no independent rights.  In response, Bishop Thomas Paprocki of Springfield, Illinois, publicly declared that all Illinois Catholic lawmakers who voted for the state’s new Reproductive Health Act, or for an earlier 2017 bill that legalized taxpayer funding of abortions, should not present themselves to receive Holy Communion in the Diocese of Springfield “without first being reconciled to Christ and the Church.”  I applaud Bishop Paprocki for taking a firm stand.  Maybe this will make these lawmakers understand the gravity of their actions.

In Mark 10:18, Jesus says, “No one is good but God alone.”  I remember Mother Angelica referring to that passage saying that the further we separate ourselves from God, the further we separate ourselves from goodness.  Illinois legislators are among those who have eliminated God from their leadership, and that leads to no good.  

Our Bishop, Donald Hying, is leaving us this week to become the Bishop of Madison, Wisconsin.  We were blessed to have him lead the Gary Diocese for the past few years.  I remember thinking early on that he would eventually move up the ladder.  Madison will likely not be his last stop either. I would not be surprised for His Excellency to be Cardinal Hying some day.