Devil Winds

The Santa Anas are blowing in Southern California still.

For you who do not know, these winds come roaring from the Mojave Desert and squeeze themselves through the mountain canyons that separate the coastal area of Southern California. That passage causes them to accelerate - gusts can be up to 70 mph, if not more - and heat up. The winds now are "cold" - local temperature is about 55 degrees - but that is only because the desert now is colder still. When they blow while the desert is still hot, the temperatures soar. Most annoying, however, is the effect on the humidity - there is simply none. The air becomes charged with negative ions and static electricity, fraying nerves.

Those hot dry winds that come down through the mountain passes and curl your hair and make your nerves jump and your skin itch. On nights like that every booze party ends in a fight. Meek little wives feel the edge of the carving knife and study their husbands' necks. Anything can happen.

The Red Wind, by Raymond Chandler

Bitter Divorce in Memphis

I am familar with the facts of this case, as it extends into California as well. I would urge anyone considering divorce to watch this and ask yourself if it is worth it.

http://www.myeyewitnessnews.com/mediacenter/local.aspx?videoID=241267

In another matter, one of my clients called and said the opposing party is willing to go to marriage counseling to try to salvage their relationship, and both are committed to doing so with the help of Jesus. So, while I can not reveal names out of the duty of confidentiality, please pray for my client and their spouse that Christ will guide them.

Reflection on End of Life Issues

Last night I went over to the ICU at St. Joseph's Hospital to visit my neighbor. While the family and I were in Tennessee for the Thanksgiving holiday, he had had a heart attack, died, was brought back by the paramedics, and is now on an artificial respirator and is under heavy sedation. I don't know if he could hear me, but I wanted to at least talk to him and squeeze his hand.

My neighbor, Gene Wasson, is 85 years old. This is a man who retired from the Marine Corps after seeing not just one, but three conflicts, flying in USMC aviation in World War II, Korea, and a tour in Vietnam just before he retired. He and his wife have owned the house next to ours since 1951 and raised their daughters there. Gene is a devout member of the local Presbyterian church in Santa Ana, and his woodworking skills can be seen there, as well as in our home and many of our neighbors' homes. Whenever someone new moved into the immediate neighborhood, they were immediately met by Gene, who invited them over to his house for a pancake breakfast. Our two desert tortoises, Andrew and Maria, are gifts from Gene.

It pained me to see him lying in the hospital bed. There was no DNR (Do Not Resuscitate) authorization and I am not sure this is what Gene would want for his life now. I am told that when he was still conscious, he said he wanted to get out of the hospital and go home. I told him last night that I would pray for him that his own prayers to God are answered, even if those are to take him home, albeit not his earthly one.

My own mother, who is 78 years old, always jokes and says if she has a heart attack, wait 30 minutes before calling the EMTs. When she learned of Gene, she told me quite pointedly that if the same happened to her, and she was "brought back", as it were, she would be - and I quote - "pissed as all hell" at me for letting them do that. Needless to say, I will arrange with her to have her own DNR so there is no doubt. I would miss her terribly - I will miss her terribly - but Mom is adamant that if God is calling, she is going.

Then in court this morning, I learned that a local attorney had died that very morning of a heart attack. He was barely 60, and kept himself in shape with regular exercise. Rick had an acerbic wit and his presence at our legal gatherings will be missed. I thought how unexpected his death was, and I prayed that he was ready or accepting when he realized that it was time.

All of us can take a moment to ask ourselves that same question - are we ready? As Scripture says, we will not know the day nor the hour, but even so, what would it take for us to do a little prep work. On an earthly, mundane level, it's estate planning - maybe writing a will, maybe executing an DNR. On a spiritual level, it's both strengthening our own beliefs that regardless of the end, our trust is in God and moreover, making each day on earth a thanksgiving for the life He has given us, as well as the people in it.

If you have a moment, say a prayer for Gene and Rick, will you?

I'm Shocked and Disappointed . . .

Pamela Anderson and Kid Rock mutually filing Petitions for Dissolution of Marriage (Divorce) here in California? I thought it was a marriage that would outlast eternity. I mean, they really, really seemed committed to each other and making the love endure.

The breakup of Britney and K-Fed shakened my belief in the institution of marriage. This news just shatters it completely.

Okay, maybe I'm being sarcastic.

Monsignor John Sammon, RIP

Now let us praise famous men. - James Agee

I was saddened to return from my holiday vacation in Tennessee to learn of the death of Monsignor John Sammon, of the Diocese of Orange County, in California. Monsignor Sammon often "filled in", as it were, in the past at my parish and delighted us all with his homilies.

One fact I learned yesterday. Monsignor Sammon had recently taken residence at St. Norbert's, in Orange, CA. The rooms there needed to be renovated to accommodate his wheelchair. A full renovation was done - all by Orange County firefighters and at their sole expense. Nothing was too good for their chaplain.

From the Orange County Register:

Priest was a hero's hero
Msgr. John Sammon, chaplain to fire and police departments for the past 30 years, dies at 90.
By ROBIN HINCH
The Orange County Register

Msgr. John F. Sammon, who worked in the Diocese of Orange as vicar to the bishops and chaplain to fire and police departments for the past 30 years, died Friday. He was 90 years old.
"John Sammon has been a catalyst for growth and change," said Bishop Tod D. Brown, bishop of Orange. "He has been a tireless advocate for interreligious outreach and has earned the admiration of area police officers and firefighters while serving as their chaplain."

Sammon, known for his wit, his support of police officers and firefighters, as well as his love of ice cream, was seen as a "hands-on motivator and encouraging spirit of people," according to Ryan Lilyengren of the diocese's media relations department.

The monsignor also had, said his grandnephew Mike Tooley, no plans to retire.

Born in Massachusetts, Sammon attended Boston College, College of the Holy Cross in Worcester, Mass., and St. Mary's Seminary in Baltimore before his ordination in 1942. His first California assignment was at Our Lady of Victory Catholic Church in Compton.

Before coming to Orange County in 1960 as pastor of St. Cecilia's Catholic Church in Tustin, he was chaplain to the Los Angeles and Santa Monica police and fire departments.

When the Diocese of Orange was established in 1976, Sammon was appointed the first vicar for pastoral and community affairs, which included serving as chaplain to local fire and police departments.

He'd always had a special spot in his heart for those public servants. "They are always there to support others," he said once, "but no one is there to support them."

Sammon was.

He kept a police and fire scanner in his car and would show up at a 2 a.m. fire, without even having been asked.

"Firefighters would tell me how... they'd go out to a fire and, out of the blue, there was Msgr. Sammon," said Tooley, a member of the Orange County Fire Authority. "They felt at ease when they saw him at the fire scene."

As Sammon became the firefighters' hero, (they even gave him his own turnouts – firefighter pants, jacket and boots), they, along with police officers, earned his undying affection and respect.

"Everyone, whether they are Catholic or not, loves the man," Costa Mesa Fire Chief Jim Ellis said in a Register article last year. "He gently puts us back in line when we start slipping."

One day, Sammon saw a woman at the Santa Ana Civic Center showing her grandson a memorial statue for police officers. When the boy asked about one for firefighters, she said there wasn't one.

Thirteen years later, after Sammon's efforts, a monument for firefighters was erected at the Civic Center.

But the peripatetic monsignor didn't work only with law enforcement. He was also chaplain to the Knights of Columbus, the Rams football team and other organizations. He also chaired or sat on the boards of numerous charity organizations.

Sammon worked from an office in Orange that was a jumble of papers, more than 1,000 books, hundreds of stuffed animals, including many of Snoopy, along with dusty statuettes of the Virgin Mary. He often started his sermons with a Peanuts comic strip – and a witticism.

His humor was almost as much a trademark as his gentle spirituality. (And his great love of ice cream. He rued the day when firefighters became health-conscious and started eating far less of it.)

Although Sammon worked pretty much seven days a week, Sunday nights were spent at dinner with one of his nieces or nephews in Seal Beach. At the end of the meal, he'd sneak upstairs with grandnephew Tooley to watch "Bonanza" on TV.

On Christmas Day, he would arrive, usually late, in his beat-up old Buick filled with presents and his three large dogs, Boats, Gunner and Bridget.

Although he missed helping at fire scenes when he could no longer drive, Sammon was, last year, still saying the prayer at fire graduations, memorials and meetings.

"I do what I can," he told the Register last year. "And I do feel satisfied."

He is survived by many nieces and nephews.

Funeral arrangements are pending.

Son O' God Can't Be a Toy for Tot

UPDATE - 11/16/06: Looks like the Marines had a conversion of spirit and is now accepting the Jesus dolls for Toys for Tots. As their spokesman said: "We realized it's a lot less time-consuming to find homes for the dolls than it is to answer media and complaints."


Last Saturday, while the Digispouse was with Digidaughter at an Indian Princess campout, the Digison - who is a 6-year-old kindergartner - wanted to do something special with me, "the Mom." Fortunately, Metrolink, Southern California's commuter line and far less costly alternative to Amtrak, nows runs on the weekends, so we boarded a train and headed to Los Angeles.

Arriving at Union Station, we switched to the subway (yes, there is one in L.A.) and went to the Taj Mahoney. One of the few nice features about the cathedral is the sculpture garden outside, that has statues of the animals of the Bible. And the statues are made to be climbed, which on this day there was a myriad of kids doing. For Patrick, it was heaven.

One the way out, however, he insisted we stop at "The Jesus Store" (gift shop). While browsing in the children's section, Patrick came up to me with a box, made his eyes about 10 times wider than normal, and asked, "Please, Mom, please can I have this?"

It was a talking Jesus action figure. Not an action figure like Spiderman, but a benign looking doll who, at the push of a button, recites certain Scriptural passages. This is what my kid wanted, the same kid who pronounced a closet full of chausibles in our sacristy as "beautiful." And can have very detailed conversations over the relatives strengths of the different colored Power Rangers.

So I bought it. And everyone on the train ride home got a little bit of evangelization. One woman did make the small mistake of telling my son his "Jesus doll" was great, but he quickly corrected her, telling her it was a "Jesus action figure."

Now I find out that the same toy is banned by Toys for Tots. The company making these dolls wants to donate 4,000 of them to tyhe Marine Corps Reserves' popular Christmas program . . . oh, I guess it just became a holiday program because the Marines are afraid that the toy could - *gasp!* - wind up in the hands of a non-Christian child!

"We can't take a chance on sending a talking Jesus doll to a Jewish
family or a Muslim family," Grein said Tuesday. "Kids want a gift for the
holiday season that is fun."

Fun? Ya shoulda seen Patrick making Jesus "fly" and do "ninja jumps" over the backs of pews on Sunday. I guess after fighting against the image of the Corps visting hell and mayhem against peoples to achieve some sort of political correctness, the Marines must be careful not to include religion into the mix.

A Trial to Watch

As one writer suggests, the silence of the mainstream media on this is deafening and must be, since this is the first time I have heard of this story. However, in light of Elton John's comments about religion, it is ironic that this trial is now starting.

In 2002, 51-year-old Mary Stachowiscz, a Catholic and a woman who worked as a Polish-English tarnslator at a funeral home, asked a gay co-worker why he "slept with boys instead of girls." While one might expect him to complain to the management about a hostile work environment or seek a lawsuit, 19-year-old Nicholas Gutierrez instead retaliated by stabbing, strangling, raping, and beating Mary, then stuffing her body in a crawlspace under the apartment at the funeral home, where Nicholas lived with his homosexual partner.

And now the defense attorney, Crystal Marchigiani, is trying to portray Mary as the aggressor, whose "attack" on Gutierrez justifies his reaction.

Have you seen this in the news?

Worse yet are the reactions:

According to a report from the Culture and Family Institute, weblog
postings after the murder were full of anti-Christian hate statements.

"I really don't feel sorry for her. She paid a very steep price for
being an arrogant religious fascist. Too bad for her," said "Iris" in a posting
on the ACLU Online Forum.

"Maybe this will give pause to other people who similarly try to
'help' homosexuals," said "Silence Dogood" on the same forum.

Christmas in Southern California

I love playing with Photoshop CS2. As part of one of my latest projects, the parish manager asked me to design the invitation for my church's annual Christmas dinner dance. I constructed a layout, but it needed a picture for the photo frame in the layout.

I thought it was a pity that Santa Ana, located as it is in Southern California about 5 miles inland from the ocean, never sees a snowfall, because a shot of our lovely, old church in the falling snow would be delightful. But then I said, "Reality be d**ned, I'll make it snow!"

This is the resulting picture for our invitation - the fellow looking quite puzzled as to how it came to snow on his church is our pastor, who good naturedly posed for the shot.

Let it snow, let it snow, let it snoooooooowwwwwww . . .

Random Shufflin'

In honor of my day off today, I think I will go ahead and play along with Fr. Jim's Random Playlist for the Week over at Dappled Things. Maybe it portends things for the week ahead.

1. Highway Blues - Marc Seales
2. Baba O'Reilly - The Who
3. Tequila - The Champs
4. After the Thrill is Gone - The Eagles
5. Scary Monsters - David Bowie
6. Dance on My Own - Robert Plant
7. Grain of Salt - Toby Keith
8. Pumping [My Heart] - Patti Smith
9. Spaghetti Western - Brad Paisley
10. The Caterpiller [Flicker Mix] - The Cure

Happy Veterans' Day

To all veterans out there, whether you served in peacetime or in war, my heartfelt thanks and wishes for a great day.

And if any of my old buddies from the 47th Field Hospital in Ft. Sill, OK are out there - hooyah!

Round Up

I am impressed how everyone has more time than I do to blog. Of course, I have been busy with preparations to make my relocation out of California to Tennessee (fueled even more by this last election), stuff at work, stuff with kids' school, and stuff with my parish. But a few random thoughts . . .

Orange County Halloween Mass

I am happy to say that I have been given reassurances that such idiocy will NOT happen at my parish. I am UNHAPPY to say it does not surprise me, both because it occurs in Tod Brown's diocese and because south Orange County - where Aliso Viejo is located - is populated by people who want a "feel good" avergae lifestyle. This is not to suggest they're hedonistic. South Orange County has a number of new, hip evangelical "mega-churches" where the message is prosperity is a sign that God loves you and the "focus" is only on the "positive" aspects of Christianity, and everyone drives away in their Lexus or Benz SUVs feeling, well, just so gosh darned good about themselves, and about that Jesus fellow, who is a kindly, loving god (small "g" on purpose) who doesn't see the harm in a little fun at Halloween. Why, I'd bet he (again, small "h" on pupose) would show up in costume , too . . . maybe something with a robe . . . .

(I remember attending a service at something called "The Unity Church" which billed itself as a Christian denomination. I noticed something missing from the building - no crucifixes, and also no crosses. I asked the pastor (a woman) why this was so, and she earnestly explained that they did not want to "focus on the nagtive aspect of death," instead "keeping their eyes on the Resurrection." )

Halloween at My Parish

The kids at St. Joseph School had their annual Halloween parade, what with being allowed to change into costumes after instruction was completed for the day and march around the schoolyard. Not the church.

What did we do as a church? What was appropriate - Masses on November 1st for All Saints Day and a special Mass on November 2nd for All Souls Day.

Elections

Well, at least Arnold got in . . .

On the plus side, this means I get another good laugh at Christmas when my congresswoman, Loretta Sanchez, sends out another one of her stupid "holiday" cards. The "pussy on fire" one from 2004 remains the all-time classic.

CMA Awards

Not enough awards were given to Brad Paisley.

Time to go get ready for court . . .

A Proper Answer

Told to me today by a bailiff (female) at the courthouse whose husband is a Marine and this bailiff can take down a miscreant litigant in a Noo Yawk second (I know, I've seen her do it).:

According to her, Katie Couric was interviewing a Marine Corps sniper. She asked him, "What do you feel when you fire your weapon to kill a living human being."

He answered, succinctly, "Recoil."

Not Satire, Just Sick

I heard that Bill Maher made an idiot of himself by dressing as the late Steve Irwin, complete with a bloody barb in his shirt.

Disgusting. This evening, as is my tradition, rather than decorate my house with ghosts, goblins, and gore, I erect a traditional altar for Day of the Dead. The response is overwhelmingly positive.

This year, I included a picture of the late Steve Irwin and the kids happily pointed him out, and were glad to honor him. Remarkably, the parents did too, and not a small number stopped, crossed themselves, and said a quick prayer for the Crocodile Hunter's soul.

All Hallows Meme

Father Fox over at Bonfire of the Vanities taggedthe first five who read his meme, and since there were 4 comments, I figured I would be number 5 and respond. Plus, it's darn neat anyway.

If you were invited to a Halloween/ All Saints Day Costume Party, which saint would you dress up as and why? (The Blessed Virgin Mary, the Mother of God, is not an option.)

Hmmm, I would have to go as one of the martyrs so I have a chance at winning original costume - perhaps St. Sebastian with arrows sticking out of me or St. Lawrence with a bottle of BBQ sauce.

Okay, but to be serious, I would dress up as St. Joan of Arc because (a) I'm female, and (b) she was my aptroness long ago when I wore a uniform in Uncle Sam's Army.

Which saint or other person would accompany you to the party?

St. Thomas More, so we could stand around and complain about clients and court appearances. Lawyers love doing that.

What famous quote would help others identify you?

Well, if I'm going as St. Joan of Arc, I suppose it would have to be, "Is it hot in here or is it just me?"

Describe your costume.

Full armor, geared for battle.

Which movie or film best depicts the life of this saint?

Passion de Jeanne D'Arc, filmed in 1928.

What is your favorite book written about this saint or that he or she has written?

I don't know what has been written about St. Joan of Arc, but if we're talking about St. Thomas More, in addition to A Man for All Seaons, there is also The King's Good Servant But God's First by James Monti.

I tag anyone who aspires to sainthood.