The Practical Parson

 Recently, I was in town.   The town nearest my home is in many ways the epitome of small town America; a town in the shadow of a former manufacturing plant for Tobacco, with a community that isn't the smallest, but where everyone still seems to manage to know most everyone and everything going on in town at a given time.   Indeed, it was even a stop for country music star Justin Moore almost a decade ago when he was on his "Small Town USA" tour.   I have lived here for my entire life, and know intimately the community and many of the people; all good sincere people who have always had a place in my heart.   Judge my shock and dismay as I have borne witness over the last 3 years, as my hometown community has been forced into a situation that I am reliably well-informed, is not unique; given the current political and economic climate of our nation.  There have always been poor people in our community, our Lord himself said "the Poor you h...

 This morning I woke and read of a sudden, violent assault in the land of Israel; coming out of the eternally problematic Gaza strip.  Of course the media is currently obsessing over what Israel did to supposedly prompt Hamas to attack; an outlandish and bizarre philosophy that leftist politicians and reporters have enforced for many years.  Essentially they would like us to believe that Hamas (a globally recognized terrorist organization) would NEVER attack anyone unprovoked; and then spend an inordinate amount of time attempting to come up with explanations when Hamas orders unprovoked attacks on Israel.  This latest unprovoked onslaught comes at the conclusion of the Jewish holiday of Sukkot; proving that the terrorists had planned to attack people of the Jewish faith, making this not only a terrorist attack against Israeli citizens- but an assault on people of the Jewish faith.   Thousands of rockets, missiles, and dozens of heavily armed terrorist mili...

  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:  

  Recently, the Saint Francis healthcare system in Oklahoma was the subject of visitation from a representative of the Center for Medicare and Medicaid services (CMS), in order to make sure they are in compliance with current Presidential administration policies.  The Catholic Hospital system which comprises 2 hospitals, also has 2 chapels; where the Blessed Sacrament is reserved, which means there are also two sanctuary lamps that herald the presence of Christ in the tabernacle. Following the inspection, the CMS representative sent letters to the hospital demanding they extinguish the sanctuary lamps, which he claimed were a "naked flame" which was a threat to fire safety at the hospitals.  A Sanctuary lamp.  Lest the imagery be lost on you, know that the aforementioned lamps consist of a candle inside a glass shell, which is placed inside a red glass candle shade, which is attached to a solid metal base, the shade is then enclosed with a metal lid; to prevent the f...