The Practical Parson

You hear the call to arms from the liberal progressives every day: free food, free housing, free healthcare, etc.  Free?  Is anything in life ever truly Free?  The answer, much to the chagrin of our liberal neighbors, is sadly not.  Nothing in this world is ever free; not even the gift of salvation is truly free, since the price of salvation was borne by our Savior.  Yes we receive it at no cost to ourselves; but the price has been paid and most dearly, by someone else, somewhere else.   This is the answer to the great myth of the "free" anything.  There is nothing in life that does not come without cost, however you try to frame it.  The only thing one can do is to try to mitigate the appearance of the costs, and usually by transferring it to another person, and also usually another person as far removed from ourselves as possible.   In the secular state, 'free' programs are funded by taxpayer investment; which rise and fall accord...

 As some of you may know, back in December, just a few days before Christmas; I had to go to the hospital for an emergency appendectomy.  While appendectomies are a fairly routine surgery in this day and age; the expenses associated with hospital stays are certainly a factor of their own.  Due to a number of health issues, I have not been able to work a secular job since 2012; and as a result of many circumstances, do not presently have health insurance.   I do not address this to elicit sympathy from any of you, but to describe my experience with the aftermath of all of this.  With what little resources I have available to me, I am working to pay off the medical bills which are ever present; however I thought that I would ask for just a small amount of help from friends and family in the form of a "Gofundme" page.  The amount a small portion of the bills in total; but a chance for those who wish to, to help if they want.  I expect nothing of any ...

 We hear it all too often in the ongoing Hamas-Israel conflict: "Hospitals must be protected!"  "An assault on a hospital is a war crime!!"  One would ordinarily agree with that assessment; though such demands are only made against Israel for military strikes near hospitals in Gaza.  I would like to draw your attention to the destruction wrought at a hospital during this conflict-  Examine these pictures well.  Take a moment to reflect on the destruction and devastation that has been inflicted on this hospital; and then ask yourself:  Who on earth would dare do such a thing to a hospital?  That's a war crime! No, these photos are NOT from Gaza.  They are, in point of fact; pictures from the Barzilai Medical Center (hospital) in Ashkelon, Israel.  This hospital was struck by multiple rockets from Hamas in Gaza from October 7th to the 11th; far removed from the situation in Gaza.  Yet has the World community come together to condemn H...

  In light of the current President's administration and their ongoing insistence that sanctuary lamps in chapels of Catholic Hospitals are a "Fire danger" and need to be extinguished and removed; I have designed and hereby Christen the new Resistance Flag for Sacramental Churches: