Sunday, October 4, 2020

Pope Francis' New Encyclical, "Fratelli Tutti," Signed Atop Francis of Assisi's Tomb /// Dog Attack

 

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Dear Tig,

Sorry to hear of your dog scare.

Last night, while walking just gone midnight, I too was terrified by a canine. 

I was passing through a dark stretch of lane overhung by trees, when - without my glasses on - I half saw, half heard, something racing straight at me about thirty yards away. 

It was making a weird sound - somewhere between anger and hurt.

On an otherwise calm, peaceful night, I was totally freaked out, reflexively hunkered down thinking it would lunge at me, but maybe with arms out in front of my body - and semi-crouched - I might fling it off to the side.

Of course all this took very little clock-time.

But time dilates in these intense moments, and as the creature dashed closer I could see its muscular form and hear the ever louder sound of its gutterance, claws scratching the asphalt.

At the last second, it swerved to my right, close enough for me to see it was a pit bull, or pit bull mix.

It slowed down and came to a stop about 15 yards behind me, watching, panting - me wondering what was next. 

But it was soon clear it had no intention of resuming "hostilities" so I walked on, expecting to see an "owner" down the road, or some other pertinent indication.

There was none.

Just quiet night.

Under my breath, I resumed singing Ricky Nelson's "Garden Party."

(I am reminded of Gregory Bateson's insight: "Natural History is the antidote for piety.")

***

Here are the "Fratelli Tutti" articles I mentioned. (BTW... I didn't email them to you, but rather posted them to Facebook):

National Catholic Reporter - "'Fratelli Tutti' challenges our country and our church": https://www.ncronline.org/news/opinion/distinctly-catholic/fratelli-tutti-challenges-our-country-and-our-church

National Catholic Reporter - "Pope's post-COVID encyclical envisions a less populist, less capitalist world 'Fratelli Tutti' challenges unfair wealth distribution, just war, death penalty": https://www.ncronline.org/news/theology/popes-post-covid-encyclical-envisions-less-populist-less-capitalist-world

America Magazine (The Jesuits' flagship publication) "Pope Francis closes the door on the death penalty in ‘Fratelli Tutti’", by James Martin S.J., arguably, the brightest "public" light  among American Jesuits: https://www.americamagazine.org/politics-society/2020/10/04/pope-francis-closes-door-death-penalty-fratelli-tutti

(If you don't know "The National Catholic Reporter" and "America," I think they promote some of the best, most conscionable reporting in the United States. And the topics they choose are consistently top-notch.)

Finally, here's my cut-and-paste blog post of an excellent article about Amy Coney Barrett, also from NCR:
A good article by the "National Catholic Reporter" about Amy Coney Barrett's nomination.
Excerpt: "I also want to challenge the idea that Barrett is a person of impeccable character. Watching her stand beside, and shower praise upon, the president in the midst of his concerted effort to undermine confidence in our democracy, mindful of the hypocrisy the Republicans are demonstrating in moving forward with this nomination and the long-term damage it will do to the fabric of our democracy, I most certainly call her character into question. Like Sen. Mitch McConnell, she is overlooking everything that is egregious and anti-democratic about this president and this moment in order to snatch some power."
"Amy Coney Barrett: Am I Missing Something?"

NCR Online
Don't You Wish Trump Had Picked A Methodist For The Supreme Court?
  • Excerpt (from conclusion): "When news leaked that Amy Coney Barrett would get the nod, and people started to call, my first thought was, "Why couldn't he have picked a Methodist!" The fact that Barrett would join four other Catholics in the conservative majority of the court will alter the way our fellow Americans view the church in ways that are regrettable. She may be able. She may have the nicest temperament in the world. I just wish our church did not produce so many conservative jurists committed to a legal theory that is hooey."
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On Sun, Oct 4, 2020 at 5:09 PM Nancy H wrote:

I didn’t receive it. I only got something re: George Will.

I am shaking right now - a dog lunged and barked at me.  After my experience, I get soooo scared. 

💕 
Tig

Sent from my iPhone

On Oct 4, 2020, at 1:05 PM, Alan Archibald <alanarchibaldo@gmail.com> wrote:
Beautiful!

Earlier today I posted three different articles about Pope Francis' new encyclical "Fratelli Tutti," which - as you probably know - he drove to Assisi (on his first post-pandemic outing - to sign atop Francis' tumb.

I encourage you to check them out.

Love

Alan

On Sun, Oct 4, 2020 at 2:55 PM Nancy H wrote: 
St Francis is the Patron Saint of Italy 

Sent from my iPhone

Begin forwarded message:
From: Alessandro Maria Vestrelli
Date: October 4, 2020 at 9:54:54 AM PDT
To: Nancy H

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Inviato da iPhone


 

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