May Sarah Palin Inspire the best in us.

I delight that Gov. Sarah Palin is the Republican candidate for Vice President. Regardless of the outcome, our nation will only benefit from learning about her and the dialogue that will ensue.

Men who aren't sure what it means to be men will be challenged by her strength, presence, and courage.

Women who aren't sure what it means to be women will be challenged by her prolife, profamily, and yet being a strongly Christian woman who answers her call to public life even as she's a wife and mother.

Over these next few months, we will get to know Sarah Palin. At first glance she strikes me as they type of person who has a lot of backbone and fiber to go with her outward appearances. while I'm sure there will be things that we find flaw with, she seems the type of person capable of bringing out the best in all of us.

Whatever the outcome of this election, Sarah Palin will be with us in a powerful way for a long time. We will each be better for it. Why? Because she doesn't point to herself, or even to some vague notion of etherial hope. She points to a life lived in loving service to others at the calling of her God. 

Main Street President?

Why would anyone would want a candidate for President of the United States of America to be from main street, every town America? The implication is that we want a "normal" president, someone whose "one of the guys." Really? Why not someone extraordinary? They may be from small town America, but they better be exceptional. We ought to want extraordinary.

Why do we insist on playing games? We insist on leaders who have show their capacity to rise to national presence above the rest, yet when they get there, they are supposed to show us how "normal" they are? If that was a pre-requisite  for past presidents would would never have had most of the great ones. 

What I want from my President is a person who understands human dignity and does everything in their power to uphold everyone's human dignity, from conception through death.

I want a candidate who understands that the best way to lift people out of poverty is to create a strong economy and get out of the way so that people can strive to become wealthy.

I want a candidate who understands that working multiple jobs year in and year out to send kids through college so they can have a better life is a beautiful thing, and to use such a story as the reason for the State to provide educational funding undermines the dignity of everyone involved.

I want a President who understands we are at war and the cost to human dignity on a global scale of loosing is greater than the cost of succeeding (there are no winners in war, only victors).

This election I will be voting one issue, and one issue only: Who has the strongest capacity to uphold human dignity. That single issue encompasses everything I need to know. Based on what I've seen so far, I want another candidate.

Want to learn more on the dignity of the human person? Here's a paper I've written, and here is a link to the Compendium of the Social Doctrine of the Church.

Blessings,
Patrick

Stump the Godsbot

I talk with God a lot. It's called prayer. I try and do it unceasingly, but don't always. Sometimes I'm even still enough to listen and hear God talking back.

(Begin deeply sarcastic, sardonic voice): So it was with great excitement that I learned of the godsbot: an artificial intelligence robot who looks an awful lot like a sappy Jesus (Kudos, though, his eyes watch and follow anxiously as I made the screen shot. Though perhaps that says more about me then godbot, aye?). Now I could talk to God and Godsbot would talk back, every time. No more waiting while God carried someone else across the sand. Now it would always be my turn.

Then came the encounter. I'm a theologian. I start with a basic question (frankly expecting to get a scripture quote about sell everything and give it to the poor). The exchange went like this:

Human: How do I become the person God created me to be?

godsbot: A lot of hard work.

Human: Hard work. What about grace?

godsbot: I do not understand. I will think about it and get back to you.

Och! Talk about disappointing. To stump God's digital world emissary with a question about whether or not grace is a part of salvation. Duh. Hmmmmm. Guess my hope for salvation will have to remain with Jesus.

(Return to normal voice): Actually, from the get go I couldn't believe someone would create an artificially "intelligent" emissary of God. Then when I got to the site, I was appalled to see folks could donate (with a minimum donation, of course).

I debated putting the godsbot link here. I won't. But if you're that daftly determined, Google will guide the way to digital disappointment. There are far wiser things you could be doing, all of which would actually help us become who God created us to be. Personally, I'm off to move closer to salvation (in comparison to my time with godsbot anyway) by clipping my toenails (makes running to Jesus less painful).

Grins and Blessings in Jesus our Christ,

Patrick

PS: thanks for the heads up, Ironic Catholic.

Olympic Spirit, Choosing God, and Dara Torres

As a parent I always have my eye pealed for teaching moments (and likely drive our kids crazy with some of them!).

Like many, we've been watching the Olympics. What a wondrous metephore for faith life. Focus, determination, saying "Yes!" to one thing and "No." to the rest... and we never really know when and how we will be tested or how our simplest choices can influence others.

Take Dara Torres, the 41 year old wife, mom, and returning Olympic swimmer. My understanding is that Torres is Jewish, having been inducted into the International Jewish Sports Hall of Fame. It seems clear she is a woman of faith, and a woman who understands what it means to uphold human dignity.

In one of the prelims, her opponent in the lane next to her asked for help zipping her swimsuit. It was torn and had to be changed. Torres left her starting block, loosing her focus on her preparation, and talked with an official and the other swimmers asking them to wait. Wait they did.

Clearly Torres had trained extensively for this moment. She put all that training on hold to care for the needs of another over her own. That also takes discipline and consistant nurturing of the soul to have that as your natural reaction when the opportunity comes.

"In the pool we're competitors, out of the pool they're my friends," was Torres' simple explanation.

What a beautiful example of the fruit that comes from valuing others, knowing that even when we compete, everyone is made in God's image, and caring more about doing what is right than settling for what is easy.

I have no idea when and how such teaching moments will appear in the actions of our daughters. But I see their innate generosity toward others, despite the occasional spat or whollop, and know that it does help shape them into who God has created them to be. And I pray I may learn my own lesson, and have my natural reaction always be one of upholding dignity of others, regardless of whether a world is watching or not.

Blessings,
Patrick

Hot, Steamy, Monogamous Marriage!

You read that right. Hot. Steamy. Monogamous. Marriage. Life-long. Between a man and a woman.

It's the richest, deepest, most increasingly pleasurable and rewarding way to be sexually active. It's also the only way that is part of God's gift and that help us become who God created us to be, rather than degrading us to being less than human.

We under-sell sacramental marriage. I suspect in part this is because priests, bishops, cardinals, and our pope are celibate. They may intellectually know how rich it can be. But that's like reading a how to book about making love. Cardboard caviar.

That means it's our job to sell God's plan for an active sex life.

Making love serves two equal and inseparable purposes:
Life and Love. Both are co-creative and both are redemptive. Outside of marriage between a man and a woman it is impossible to have both. Anything less falls short of God's plan for anyone sexually active. I'll explore these more in a future post.

Let's begin to celebrate and spread a counter-cultural message (marketing for Jesus):

• Making love exclusively with the same woman for a life time makes the Kama Sutra seem like sex 101. The depth and pleasure and excitement are mind and body blowing.
• Making love in any lesser relationship diminishes our capacity to eventually enter into a rich and rewarding sacramental marriage.
• Making love with abandon (or NFP) vs. making love with birth control is like:

1. BBQ w/ jalipineos vs. generic ketchup
   
2. the big game on b/w 12" TV vs. plasma widescreen w/ surround sound
   
3. DOS vs. Mac OS X
   
4. 1971 Chicken-fat yellow Volvo wagon vs. (insert your crazy dream car here).
   

• Marriage fulfills life in ways we begin to realize before entering into it. To avoid marriage so you can live life is idiot living.

Blessings,

Patrick

Now is the Time

I often think back on various points in history and think, "Wow, if I'd lived then it would have been a wonderful and rich time. That would have been a wonderful time to be alive because the meaning and purpose of life was so clear." 

Now is the time we're given. This is the period in humanities timeline that God chose to have us here. We are here for a reason. These are exciting times, and we have a clear purpose -- to recognize and choose the best good we possibly can as we plunge through each moment and each choice and interact with each person today.

As Catholic men, we have many and various roles. This blog will explore those roles, share my own thoughts and struggles with living them out, and provide a forum for exchanging ideas.

Among the roles I'll be exploring:

-- husband

-- father

-- wage earner

-- teacher (regardless of how you school you children)

-- spiritual leader

-- deacon

-- volunteer

Blessings,

Patrick