Bizarre Item of the Day

Last week when I posted pictures of Papa Benny with adorable kids, I did a Google image search for "Pope Benedict baby." This is what I found.



This is El Colacho, Spanish a baby-jumping festival that has been happening in Castillo de Murcia since 1620.The guy leaping over the infants represents the devil. Supposedly this Knieval-esque stunt helps cleanse the babies of original sin and guarantee them safety in life.

Pope Benedict has advised Spanish priests to stay away from this dubious and obviously dangerous festival. Good call.

Abortion, Slavery and Obama

Continuing my week-long reflection on pro-life issues, I'd like to make some historical analogies. Considering abortion in American often sends my brain running for context from the past.

Abortion is the slavery of our times. Consider the similarities: a moral evil opposed by much of the population, but still supported as a right by many and protected by law. The lives and fate of one section of humanity (African-Americans, fetuses) fall under the authority of others.
Debates over this issue sharply divide the political sphere. Some people live close to the issue and feel passionately about it. For those who don't encounter it everyday, it's not as big a deal.

For instance, a Southern planter might have defended slavery as part of his right to property and prosperity, but a Northern factory worker would have been more concerned with his own family than whatever happens in other states. Similarly, I think abortion is not a part of daily life for most Americans. Women don't normally go around telling all their friends that they terminated a pregnancy last weekend. Sometimes the staggeringly large abortion statistics seem as far away as genocide in Darfur. Sometimes the really intense pro-lifers with bloody fetus posters seem too extreme, but that's when I remember that the abolitionist movement housed some pretty intense members as well. (See: John Brown and his military raids.)

All this talk about Obama at ND and the importance of dialogue, not demonizing, also turns me to slavery. When I took a course on "Museums and Slavery," I again learned the importance of words. Call them "enslavers", not "masters," or "owners." Don't use the passive voice about plantation chores - "the cotton was picked" by whom?? Enslaved people, who deserve as much attention as their wealthy enslavers. Our racially mixed-class had some fantastic discussions. Even though we had different backgrounds, we kept a respectful tone and learned a lot about each other. I still don't mind Confederate flag bumper stickers on pickup trucks, but I'm more sensitive now to how people can find them offensive.

Of course, our discussions were helped by the fact that we all agreed slavery was wrong. What about dialogue with enslavers? A constant dilemma for American historians is the fact that most of our country's founders indeed held other persons as property. Dealing with this again requires some respect. Instead of writing them all off as irrelevant bigoted white men, we honor their achievements while critiquing their personal practices. We also find comfort in the "good" ones who didn't treat enslaved workers cruelly. (See: George Washington freeing his slaves in his will)

This paradox is most evident in my pal Thomas Jefferson. Here we have a very intelligent, accomplished man who crafted beautiful words about our country, but also enslaved many of his fellow Americans. Monticello has embraced this paradox since Sally Hemings became a household name. Visitors to Jefferson's estate today are urged to ponder how one could write about liberty yet deny it to others.

In some ways Obama reminds me of Jefferson - they are both intelligent, well spoken champions of religious pluralism. How can our current President speak eloquently about protecting the weak and defenseless and yet condone the murder of our most vulnerable Americans? Maybe because, like Jefferson, he grew up in a culture where a moral evil was widely accepted.

Bizarre item of the day

Every so often Nicest Boss in the World asks me to sort through notification emails of recently announced federal grants. Today's didn't have anything related to what NFNF does, but it did offer some interesting science opportunities.

$90,000 for "a cooperative agreement with the University of Wyoming to conduct Wyoming pocket gopher surveys and to refine the current potential distribution map for the species."

up to $380,000 for "collection of data to describe long-term trends in densities of the Mojave population of the desert tortoise where it occurs in Nevada and California."

These sound ridiculous to me, but then I remember one of my bio major friends in college. Her senior thesis was the result of 2 years in a lab studying the fertility of fruit flies. Now she's in graduate school, where her future career depends on crayfish. So somewhere out there, gopher and tortoise experts are high-fiving each other and dreaming of new equipment to take out in the field.

Vigil for Justice

Last night was a sad one for Missouri - Governor Jay Nixon approved the first state execution since 2005, ending the life of Dennis Skillicorn. Skillicorn earned the death sentence for being an accessory in a murder he did not know his friend was about to commit. What is truly tragic about this decision is that Dennis was worth more to Missouri alive than dead. Since his conviction, he turned from his "first life" of drugs and crime to a "second life" of faith and community activism. In the Potosi prison, Skillicorn organized a hospice care system for terminally-ill prisioners, created educational and visiting programs for children of inmates, and authored a book admonishing juveniles to make good choices in life. Skillicorn was a shining example of how the prison system can make rehabilitation possible, but that same system has killed off its model product.

All of us VSC girls have become concerned about the unfairness of the death penalty thanks to Pittsburgh Volunteer's work in the SVDP Criminal Justice Ministry. So, we headed to the prayer vigil happening on the steps of SLU's College Church last night.


My high school self would have thought this a hippie activity, but hey, when else can you be a hippie except when you are young and living in an convent commune. Those attending included the Jesuit Volunteers, some Daughters of Charity, and some people who indeed looked like aging hippies. But there were also people whose own lives have been impacted by the criminal justice system going awry. For instance, this man being interviewed by a reporter was recently exonerated of a false murder charge.

Current criticism of the death penalty is another example of how defending human life requires you to address social problems. Are innocent people sentenced to death? It does happen. People on death row are not necessarily the worst criminals, they just couldn't afford a lawyer good enough to finagle an easier sentence. Why isn't life in a high-security prison enough to protect the public? Do executions solve the problem of murder?

I don't think so. Skillicorn's death doesn't remove the pain of those people his friend killed, or bring back the innocent victims. I'll never forget seeing chilling news coverage of Timothy McVeigh's execution for the Oklahoma City bombing. The victim's families were still sad and still hurting. A few other people were out for vengeance, but just once death wasn't satisfying enough. "Next we need to get Terry Nichols!" one guy told the cameras. He seemed thrilled by the idea of deciding who dies.

Notre Dame and the power of words

Well, it's finally over. President Obama gave the commencement address at Notre Dame, where the administration welcomed, coddled, and lauded him despite his pro-abortion voting record. Personally, I'm rather sick of the story. My immediate impulse is sympathy with the student body whose special day has been tainted by controversy. I know what it is like when your college president invites a media firestorm by messing with religious identity.

Of course I am also dismayed that a Catholic University's president make a decision protested by 70+ of the country's bishops. Mary Ann Glendon gets major points in my book for turning down the Latare Medal, thereby refusing to be a pawn in ND President Fr. Jenkins' Catholic identity fiasco. Being the token pro-lifer on the dais, responsible for balancing out whatever the President said, would have been a burden, not an honor.

By and large, President Obama did what he does best - he said lots of pretty, comforting, even inspiring things in the hopes that people would like him. He plugged his usual agenda of "Let's all lend a hand and be one big happy family." Literally: "In short, we must find a way to live together as one human family. " I find it patronizing that he calls embryonic stem-cell research opponents "admirable," not daring to clarify that he also thinks we are "wrong."

His arguements reinforced my impression that pandering is what Obama does best. Even if he disagrees with you, he'll reword his campaign website to make it seem better. He'll promise NARAL he'll sign FOCA the minute he's in office, and then put that bill on the back burner. (If a politician did that to the Pro-Life movement he'd never hear the end of it.) I was reminded of what good old Professor Tiefel's catch-phrase: "No one gives up a good word!" Obama know this, too. That's why he called for "Open hearts. Open minds. Fair minded words." Who could disagree with such pretty, comforting statements? You don't know exactly what they mean, but they sure sound better than "hard-hearted" and "unfair."

People on both sides of the ND controversy chose their words carefully, too. The NYT's icky commencement article decided that "heckler" was the best word for those who disagreed with our pretty, comforting leader. Those bloody images of mutilated infants outside campus? They were only "fetus pictures." Sounds nearly sterile.
A few of these "hecklers" opted for forceful words, telling Obama exactly what they thought of him. "Stop killing our children!" Did calling a spade a spade rattle the President's conscience? Maybe. I liked American Papist's Twitter observation that he has never seen Obama look less happy than when giving that speech.

At times I wonder if such forceful moral condemnation is effective. Moral outrage at abortion is so often repeated, it has become commonplace. To most Americans, abortion is something they rarely encounter directly, so cries of "baby killer" do seem like hysterical caricatures. I don't know how someone could see one of those bloody baby pictures and not be disgusted by abortion, but apparently they can. Does the Pro-Life movement need to expand its vocabulary?

The way I see it, revulsion at President Obama's fluffy doublespeak about the Golden Rule and fairness is blinding Pro-Lifers to potential progress. Obama's proposals are not all junk; what's wrong with "making adoption more available, and providing care and support for women who do carry their child to term"? If Roe v. Wade were overturned tomorrow, the cultural, moral, and economic issues that lead women to abortion would still exist. If we want women to choose life, we need to make adopting a child or obtaining maternal medical care less difficult. Let's encourage America to embrace loving solutions to the challenges of pregnancy. We are Pro-Life, not just anti-death.

Faces in time

Photographing a great candid action shot is so hard. I like architectural photography because your subjects will hold still! Theodora the camera often can't keep up with fast motion in dim lighting.
Still, I love seeing what other, more skilled photographers can do. News coverage of public figures has great potential for fun images, producing an historical record that is more detailed and more accessible with each passing year.

The White House now has a Flickr photostream, with a new set of the President's First 100 Days in office. Photographer Pete Souza has done marvelous work capturing moments in history that are full of personality. Such as:

A sweet but also awkward "private moment in a freight elevator."

A lovely shot of the White House in the snow

And this candid shot of a budget session that just cracks me up. Was there a memo to coordinate the orange ties? Did someone forget to bring an important document? Do they realize FDR is grinning over their shoulders?


Ok, that's enough Obama, even if he is terribly photogenic. I've also been enjoying Whispers in the Loggia's full coverage of Pope Benedict XVI's trip to the Middle East. I may not have read all the Holy Father's speeches yet (they pile up like New Yorker back issues or online TV episodes), but I have relished all the pictures.

Here's my favorite - Papa Benny with medically fragile babies! His statements at Caritas Baby Hospital in Bethlehem could have been about NFNF as well.

"this institution has remained a quiet oasis for the most vulnerable, and has shone as a beacon of hope that love can prevail over hatred and peace over violence...Mary, Health of the Sick, Refuge of Sinners, Mother of the Redeemer: we join the many generations who have called you “Blessed”. Listen to your children as we call upon your name...We ask your Son Jesus to bless these children and all children who suffer throughout the world. May they receive health of body, strength of mind, and peace of soul. But most of all, may they know that they are loved with a love which knows no bounds or limits: the love of Christ which surpasses all understanding (cf. Eph 3:19). Amen."

There are also some darling pictures of the lucky children in Amman who received their first Holy Communion from the Pope. I love how tiny this fellow looks compared with the kneeler.

And this girl is a portrait of happy peace.

In which God is patient with my grumpiness

I have a confession to make - sometimes I don't love serving the poor. Sometimes it's frustrating and boring.
For instance, the least favorite parts of my job are furniture requests. Sometimes we have a client fleeing a bad home situation or moving on from a shelter who desperately needs a bed to sleep on. Hoping to give me more direct interaction with clients, Nicest Boss in the World gives these jobs to me. Unfortunately, finding a free couch or bed is not fun times. Most charities are limited to food pantries and utility assistance. Just last week, one of my reliable referrals was decidedly not nice, telling a client that they were sick of us referring to them.
So today, when I got an email from a nurse about a 17-year old mother of a toddler who is trying to flee a home plagued with drugs and possible sexual abuse, I cringed. I knew Nicest Boss in the World would tell me to help, but I didn't know where to turn. I was out of ideas.

Naturally, I turned to the cubicle next door to whine to Intern #2. "I can help you," she said. It turns out that since she got married, she has a bunch of extra kitchen stuff. Her parents have extra furniture they are about to send to Goodwill.
Then a light bulb went off in my head - Craiglist! That's another place where people get rid of old couches. Sure enough, there are couple people around STL looking to get rid of furniture. Why didn't I think of this sooner?

Again, Divine Providence has patiently heard my griping and turned it into inspiration. I've often quipped that if started a non-profit, it would collect furniture donations. Seriously, why couldn't I? Renting a garage or storage unit would be the hardest start-up cost. I'd probably have to befriend someone with a truck, too. Then I could put ads in church bulletins, respond to Craigslist postings and network with homeless shelters. This time of year would be prime season, since college grads are about to start throwing out futons with wild abandon.

What do you think, 2.5 readers? Would this work?