Sunday, December 3, 2023
In bed at 9, awake at 6;30, up at 6:40. Let Lilly out into drizzly 38°, high of39, wind off the lake at 10 mph, 5-11/18, 0.25" of rain in the last 6 hours, 0.1" expected today. Sunrise at 7:05 at 120°SE, sunset at 4:17 at 240°SW, 9+11. Solar noon at 11:41, altitude 25°
Treadmill; pain. Woke up w/o noticeable pelvic or back pain. A year ago last night, I had some very nasty CPP which I wrote about in that day's journal. This current problem has been vexing me since last November. In that time, I've changed from being a man who is old into an old man. Breakfast: Sleepytime herbal tea, GrapeNuts w/ fruit; Lunch: Cotto salami w/ havarti sandwich; Dinner: meatloaf, potato, corn. CPP/IC seems to be better today, spasms less intense, less painfu, less frequent. Dietary changes? No coffee, carbonated beverages, zinfandel? or no relationship? 00:00 & 0.00
I'm grateful for central heating and indoor plumbing. The last time I used an outhouse was at Tom Olson's cottage outside of Waupaca. Correction: it was in the Dominican Republic on our lawyers' retreat with Andy Alexander. It's not a great experience at any time, but especially in a cold winter. At Tom's cottage, we also had no running water, but rather a hand pump located nest to the sink in the kitchen. As winter sets in in earnest here at the 42nd parallel, I'm very grateful for my indoor bathroom and for our gas furnace in the basement.
LTMW at chickadees arriving at the short tube feeder a few minutes before sunrise and wondering again how their little bodies produce enough force to cause the heavy feeder to rock like a pendulum in the wet, heavy air. Newton's Second Law is F=ma, or force equals mass times acceleration. What is the mass of a chickadee's body? Most chickadees weigh half an ounce or less, 9 to 14 grams and the internet tells me they fly at 20 to 30 miles per hour and faster during mating season, With the limited perspective afforded by my window, they seem to be almost supersonic as they speed toward the feeders and then WHAM stop on a dime. Isn't this extraordinary, how all these birds fly fast enough to provide lift and forward propulsion and yet can stop on a dime? I take it that this is because, at least in large part, their body masses are so slight, but it still seems extraordinary to me. Maybe I'm just easy to astonish.
Yesterday was a very, very busy day at the feeders with what appeared to be competing flocks of red finches, goldfinches, and English sparrows, and maybe some song sparrows or pine siskins. Today is starting to look like another busy day.
Scandal at St. Monica and St. Eugene. I had thoughts of my dear, dear sister as I read in this morning's JSOnline about the suspension and investigation into the pastor at these two North Shore parishes. It seems Fr. Mark Payne has co-owned a condo with another man since 2003 and that the man has described them as 'a couple' on social media. Payne says he hasn't broken his priestly vow of chastity but he has been relieved of his duties, including as 'judicial vicar' of the archdiocese, pending the outcome of the investigation. Kitty has a freind in Phoenix, a priest who shared an apartment with another man who was indeed his partner. They were both in their 60s. The archbishop there stripped the priest of his priestly faculties and withdrew all diocesan support from him, leaving him without any substantial resources to support him in his old age. Kitty told me that he was a wonderful priest, a good man, very caring and 'pastoral' as they say. But once there was a hint of scandal, he was on his own.
So many thoughts came to mind as I read the story. Among them was that the parishioners were informed of the shocking news by the archbishop's "vicar for clergy," reminding me of Fr. Al Veik who lived at the House of Peace and served as the archbishop's "vicar for religious." It took me a while to understand that the main job of these "vicars" was to deal with priests, deacons, friars, and nuns with sex and mental health problems, some with criminal liability implications and all with financial implications of some sort. My ignorance and naivité about such matters ended up costing me my position at the HOP. I was much too candid with Al about my disgust over the pedophilia and other sex scandals exploding throughout Holy Mother Church after the Boston Globe series in 2002. I remember sending him an email for some reason in which I lamented the street signs hanging from lamposts around the Cousins Center urging viewers to 'Celebrate the Church as Teacher." How foolish and impolitic I was. Yond Cassius has a lean and hungry look. He thinks too much; such men are dangerous. I was 'on the outs,' not 'a member of the club.' Little did I know of how commonplace sexual behavior problems were and are within the professionally-religious. It's no surprise now, but how profoundly naive so many of us Catholics were before the news broke. How naive most Catholics still are about the inner workings of the Church, a naivité fostered by the Church's zealous secrecy about much of its business, especially internal disciplinary stuff. My successor at the HOP, Br. Mark Carrico, ended up leaving the position as executive director to concentrate full-time on counseling fellow Capuchins (and probably others) with sex problems.
I still remember the entire melody and almost all the lyrics. Pathetic. Lord, what fools these mortals be. A Midsummer Night's Dream.
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