The Practical Parson

 Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ- Today the world witnessed a horrific act of targeted political violence, in the form of the assassination of a conservative commentator, Charlie Kirk, in Utah.  As people of Christian faith and charity, I ask you all to remember his family and friends in your prayers; and commend to your prayers the intention of the repose of his soul.  Before too long, media outlets will shift the narrative of this day away from the story of what happened, and will begin blaming inanimate objects and victims themselves for acts of horrific violence; in a spectacle that is a revolving circle of self-righteous grandstanding rather than meaningful discourse or transmission of fact.  As both a Bishop but first and foremost a Christian; I have been heartbroken and utterly sickened to see so many people who profess Christian faith and love, actively celebrating the death of a man whom they deemed “the enemy.”  While he may have held views that we...

 This week, the governments of Spain, Ireland, and Norway announced their joint decision to recognize a "Palestinian State", with the present Palestinian Authority as its legitimate government.  While on the surface there is the thinnest of a veneer of civility, this action demonstrates just how much hatred and animosity many still hold for Jews and the State of Israel as a whole.  The facts of the matter are simple, yet everyone who wants to be a 'social justice warrior' seem to have forgotten, so let us review: The modern state of Israel was established in 1948, following a failed attempt by the Arab nations of the Middle East to destroy the Jewish population of the British "mandate of Palestine", following the collapse of the Ottoman Empire.  This attempt to wipe out the Jews in the Middle East failed, and as they retreated; the Arab authorities encouraged, coerced, convinced, and forced non-Jewish citizens to leave their homes in the area that is Israel,...

 This Past week, a member of the Kansas City Chiefs' (American football) team was invited to give a commencement speech at Benedictine College in Kansas.  Speaking to fellow Roman Catholics in the graduating class and gathered, he addressed what he saw as problems with society today; which reflect his beliefs and the values which the Roman church has always held.   While at any point in history prior to 2008 this may have gone unheralded and of no great importance; suddenly to the leftist agitators in the United States, Harrison Butker has become the icon of everything wrong with the Christian faith and conservative values, almost overnight.  The most disheartening part of the entire ongoing saga is not so much the reaction to anything the man actually SAID in his speech; but that the entire "progressive" world is loosing its collective mind over what media outlets have proclaimed he MEANT by what he said.   In short, those screaming "racist, misogynis...

On Monday of this week, a woman went into a private Christian School in Nashville, Tennessee and murdered 6 adults and children.  As usual in this country however, almost as if on cue, progressives began demanding increased gun control, again.   They insist that banning "assault-type" weapons and making it harder to purchase guns legally would stop these tragedies from occurring; ignoring the very first fact about all crime: that a criminal is, by definition, one who violates the law. The sad reality is that you cannot prevent crime by passing more laws; since those who commit crimes do not follow them. The reasons why increased gun control would do little if nothing to slow or prevent mass-shootings, is because in the history of civilization; such weapons have been in existence for too long, people have had too much access, and there are too many of them in existence.  Desiring to remove such weapons from society is a laudable goal; however it is one that is not onl...

Recently, there has been a lot of debate, and downright violence regarding transgender people and drag queens; especially regarding a new Law in Tennessee which prohibits the performance of 'drag shows' in public places with minors.   The alphabet mafia, which I refer to them as now because they keep adding letters to their collective acronym and scream bigotry if you forget one by accident; declare this law is bigoted and a violation of their rights.  But no one asks themselves- why was it felt necessary to even consider such a law?  The reality is that there has been an increase in the number of schools and public educators (as well as some perhaps well-intentioned albeit delusional parents) who have been exposing children under their care to drag shows and the drag community without informing the parents or others about what they're doing.  Beyond the nature of these shows themselves, which are often loaded with graphic language that describes sexua...