Speaking a few years ago to a group of priests, entirely outside of the current political debate, I was trying to express in overly dramatic fashion what the complete secularization of our society could bring. I was responding to a question and I never wrote down what I said, but the words were captured on somebody’s smart phone and have now gone viral on Wikipedia and elsewhere in the electronic communications world. I am (correctly) quoted as saying that I expected to die in bed, my successor will die in prison and his successor will die a martyr in the public square. What is omitted from the reports is a final phrase I added about the bishop who follows a possibly martyred bishop: “His successor will pick up the shards of a ruined society and slowly help rebuild civilization, as the church has done so often in human history.” What I said is not “prophetic” but a way to force people to think outside of the usual categories that limit and sometimes poison both private and public discourse.
(Francis Cardinal George, The Wrong Side of History – emphasis added) What was initially uttered “entirely outside of the current political debate” nevertheless gains currency inside the current political debate. If I must tell you why, you really should consider staying home November 6 (and not voting early, either).
Yeah, I think we’re in for some rough times before we pick up shards and rebuild.
2
On a considerably lighter note, here’s a story I cannot endorse, praising the wines of the Traverse City area – even the reds.
For the record, nobody goes to Traverse City any more because it’s too crowded. I have not noticed all of the wines of the region getting markedly better in the few years I’ve been going up there. Nosirree! Many of them are blended to taste luscious, which is a really nasty trick; a true wine snob would drink only wines produced from a single grape variety. I am definitely not considering Coil-Rite Air Helper Springs to haul more wine home without bottoming out.
And the restaurants are beneath contempt, too.
3
There’s a very good chance that I’ll vote for a couple of Libertarians this election cycle, but it appears that those will need to remain protest votes since my convictions aren’t really libertarian and neither is my basic outlook on life.
But I appreciate that they won’t support or run a totalist government, nor will they subsidize our corporate overlords. That ain’t chopped liver.
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Tipsy Teetotaler ن 