Pontificating again

As a worker in the Catholic Church I am really at a loss in determining what an appropriate response should be to the Pope’s recent decisions. I would guess most of you have heard about them. There were actually three decisions. The first was letting some priests back in the Church who were excommunicated for not accepting the stuff in Vatican II. The second was naming one of these people to be a bishop. Well it turns out the guy has publically stated that the Holocaust never happened. The final decision was appointing a bishop who blamed Hurricane Katrina on sins of New Orleans.

So what does a guy do whose collecting his check and keeping his family fed by working for this guy (albeit indirectly)? If your boss decided to hire a professed racist to a high ranking position in your company, what would you do? What do you think the customers would/should do?

Okay and then a couple of weeks later, your boss hires someone to run accounting department who thinks using paper ledgers instead of computers is the way to go. Right this bishop’s theology is clearly from the Old Testament. He hasn’t accepted all that junk in the New Testament apparently.

My guess would be if your boss made these decisions you would be a) scratching your head b) very concerned about the future of the company c) be looking for employment elsewhere.

Am I making too big of deal about this? It did happen. It wasn’t a mistake or an accident; they had to be deliberate decisions, right. I suppose the Pope might be losing it or has surrounded himself with nut-jobs. Either way, the result is the same so I suppose it doesn’t really matter how it happened.

Maybe the most practical response is just to forget about it… That nutty Pope, look what he’s doing now. He must know best – not my problem in Plymouth, Minnesota. Keep your head down and nose to the grindstone and let the big boys figure it out.

Any suggestions?

Whatever you do…

I am sure I have posted on this topic before, but it’s an issue that seems to trouble me frequently. I am not a Biblical scholar by any stretch of the imagination, so I don’t have any intellectual context to interpret the quote from Jesus that goes something like, “whatever you do to the least of my brothers, you do unto me.”

It seems to me if you take the life of Christ seriously, you’d have to pay close attention to this statement. There is also some references to giving up what you have and following Jesus – remember – the guy that had too much and couldn’t give it up? So if you take these two statements as the gospel within the Gospels, what implications are there for how you live?

As a husband and father, my instincts tell me to look after my family first in many aspects of my existence. Sure, I can help the least of my brothers but it will be right after I try to make sure my family is comfortable, safe, entertained, educated, healthy, etc. Surely Christ wouldn’t want me to help the least of my brothers and have my kids not getting their comfort/entertainment/education/health? Or would he not understand? Maybe being a parent is trying to teach your kids to serve the least of their brothers and worry a lot less about the other things parents provide their children.

I’ve heard the quote interpreted in several different ways as to who is the least of your brothers. I tend to think of it in terms of resources and choices. There are financially poor here in the Twin Cities and there are poor people nearly everywhere else. Some are clearly poorer than others and some of made choices to put themselves in their situation and others have had no real choices. Who are the LEAST of my brothers?

Another twist on the least of my brothers interpretation is that it’s about poverty or a deficiency and there are many people who are deficient in some capacity even in the tawny metropolitan suburbs. Maybe helping the least of my brothers is helping a rich godless person have faith. Maybe helping people who don’t get along develop and improve relationships counts as helping the least of my brothers.

Here’s what I am worried about:

“Dan, we are sorry, you can not enter the gates of heaven. As you are well aware having read the Gospel, you were to help the least of your brothers and give up what you have and follow Christ to get in. Wasn’t’ that clear enough for you? We thought we spelled it out so there shouldn’t be any doubt on what to do. Tough luck, you took a stab at it, but serving your family and your rich neighbors instead of the poor, is going to cost you. Hope you don’t mind extreme heat for all of eternity.”

About Face…about Facebook

I always thought these social networking sites were a bunch of crap.  It would be just one more thing in my life where I get it started, quickly lose interest and eventually leave behind a pile of idle bytes serving no purpose.  Recently, a company was giving out a free sample on the condition you signed up to be there friend on Facebook.  I took the bait and signed up for Facebook account.

 I am still a rookie and have not resolved whether this tool has any true value or if it too will become a pile of discarded bytes collecting vitural dust on some computer server somewhere.  However, I have noticed it suits my personality well.  There are people who I’ve exchanged messages with that I haven’t talked in 25 years.  I am ‘friends’ with people I really don’t know.

 There are others who I may have seen one or twice in the last three years but have never spoken with and now we are officially friends.  I am left wondering if this virtual friendship will spill over into the real world.  Now that our friendship is officially recorded on the Facebook database will we converse the next time we are face to face or do virtual friendships remain just that.

 

I even went out on the limb yesterday and created a Holy Name of Jesus group on Facebook.  I am not altogether certain how to leverage the group yet, but there are already three members (YIPEE).  In theory, I suppose it could be used as yet another way to keep everyone informed and to build social relationships between members (which is largely what we need to do anyway from my perspective). 

 So I am throwing it out to my posse out there – join up.  Throw your hat in the social networking ring and be a happening dude or dudette.  If you do, make sure you add me as a friend as they are altogether too scarce virtually and otherwise in my quarters.

How to sell a truck

I have never really been too interested in buying a truck.  I don’t haul stuff other than my family and I am secure with my sexual identity.  I have however, started watching truck commercials more closely because I have noticed nearly all of them set up some sort of elaborate stunt to highlight the trucks attributes. 

 

I saw one where they were driving a truck with a trailer up a spiraling trail wrapped around a gigantic cone.  It must have taken forever to construct the apparatus all to sell people on the hauling capabilities of a truck. 

 

Watch the commercials, they all have some goofy scenario that truck drivers would never encounter by exemplify a particular attribute whether it’s the torque, pulling power or braking.  They’ll set up something to show it off.

 

I suppose car commercials are similar in that they like to show them cruising around corners and dodging obstacles but they are different in that they are far less contrived.  Based on this observation, I am left wondering what is it about truck buyers that require the peculiar demonstrations to win their allegiance?

 

I was thinking about buying a Dodge but I saw this commercial where the Chevy was pulling an airplane down the runway and decided that’s got to be a better truck.  I’ve always been a Ford guy, but when I saw that Toyota stop before hitting the dropping crane arm despite pulling a thirty foot boat – hey, how could you not buy the Toyota.