2018 - Already? Always on the Eights?

2018, already???????

Silly question.

Time does not fly; it bolts by.

•  In, 1958 I was in 1st Grade at Little Flower Grammar school
• In 1968, I was a junior in high school, dropped out of baby-priest school ( St. Augustine Minor Seminary), working at Chicken Unlimited and dating gorgeous young ladies
• In 1978, I was in my third year of teaching at Bishop McNamara and dating the woman who would actually marry me and carry all three of our children - Mary Elizabeth Cleary
• In 1988, married for four years with a three year old, I resigned from Bishop Mac and took a job at La Lumiere School in LaPorte, Indiana
• In 1998. I lost my lovely pal, partner and guiding light to a lousy brain tumor
• In 2008, I was working at Leo High School as Director of Development and struggling with my demons thanks to a loving family
• In 2018, I am back in the classroom at Brother Rice and still chasing away the demons - with three grown and successful children, a gorgeous granddaughter and a patient, lovely woman

That's a lot of blood under the bridge.

2018!  Let's see what you got, Big Boy!

• I need to pray all day. 
• Watch my temper.  
• Put disappointments in proper perspective.  
• Remember it is not all about me 
• Try and help others.  
• Avoid "Irish Alzheimer's”  the disease where an individual forgets everything except the grudges. 
• Get my hair cut
• Vote in the GOP Primary on March 20, 2018 and louse up Bruce Rauner's comfortable life
• Watch more high school sports
• Save money
• Eat more greens
• Listen to more great music

The eights were always pretty heavy.

Heavy lifting in life, requires bending the knees.

Let's see how it goes.  

Thanksgiving - "these Things I Remember , , ,"

 Where Thanksgiving began for me - 1755 West 75th Place, Chicago 60620

Psalm 42:4

These things I remember and I pour out my soul within me For I used to go along with the throng and lead them in procession to the house of God, With the voice of joy and thanksgiving, a multitude keeping festival.

Thanksgiving is very special and it always has been.

I am blessed to be teaching again after two decades of helping to raise funds at Leo High School.  One of the classes that I teach at Brother Rice is Old Testament.  I got into teaching through the religion department at Bishop McNamara in Kankakee in 1975.  The education circle of my life has closed, but loops off in a new directions as life has a habit of doing. Old Testament passages are not set-pieces but living reminders of God guiding the way to better living.

The Book of Joshua which my guys are reading over the five day break from classes is not just a chronicle of battles and Jewish ninja operations in the land of Canaan, but path to the pattern fulfilled by Joshua bar Joseph, during reign of Tiberius Caesar in Roman occupied Judea (formerly known as Canaan).  This Joshua ( Jesus in Arameric) explained the Covenant - thou shall not kill also means to love your enemies.  And the walls come tumbling down.

I used to come home from Kankakee for Thanksgiving on Greyhound and Amtrack, until I could afford a car.  I'd carry my banjo and guitar with my changes of clothes, because I would be playing Irish tunes with my cousins at Reilly's Daughter in Oak Lawn on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday and maybe Saturday ( unless Boz got sick of us and hired Berwyn Moose).

I'd take the the CTA from 95th & the Dan Ryan to Oak Lawn, where my folks had moved from Little Flower.  Little Flower was where all of my Thanksgiving begins.

We lived in a Georgian at 1755 W. 75th Place with a tiny kitchen, but a pretty substantial dining room.  Relatives came and we ate like we were going to the chair.

• Turkey with Sage and Sausage Stuffing
• Baked Sweet Potatoes with marshmallows
• Turnips
• Green Bean  casserole 
• Swedish Potato Sausage from the Swedish Deli at 76th & Bishop
• Mashed Spuds
• Cranberry Sauces (canned for kids and real for human beings)
• Milk from Hamilton Dairy at 75th & Paulina
• Sparkling Burgundy from Sol's Liquors at 79th & Marshfield
• Pecan Pie, Pumpkin Pie and Apple Pie

Before all of that Mom would take us to morning Mass at Little Flower along with our neighbors, while Dad finished his shift at Illinois Medical Hospital.

We would be reminded of everything we should be thankful for - 

• Our Country - we beat it out of Ireland
• Our Faith -we have been Catholic for thousands of years
• Our Freedoms - we had no one telling us who we were
• Our Health - kids rarely died of anything anymore
• Our Wealth - about that!

Yeah, we were loaded!  Dad worked three jobs with the State, the Beverly Theatre and David Berg packing house in Pilsen.

We really were loaded. We had everything!

Dad and his brothers fought for our freedom to practice our religion in this great country where we could go to the dentist, Dr. Anthony and eat real food from National Tea, Kroger, or the Jewels and make a future for ourselves. 

In the 1970's I'd make almost as much money playing Irish tunes with my cousins, Whitey O'Day and the inimitable Terry McEldowney than I would in two weeks of teaching religion and English at Bishop Mac.  I'd feast at the house in Oak Lawn, grab my instruments and head up to Reilly's Daughter and in the late 1970's I would be accompanied by the beautiful red head who would marry me and mother three beautiful children.

The loops of the circles in life would take me and mine from Kankakee to LaPorte and Griffith, Indiana and back to the south side of Chicago.  My children are wonderful adults now and their mother is home with Christ, my Dad and hundreds of Gunkels, Donahues, Hickeys, Brennans, Winters, Murphys, Garveys, & etc.

For that and this Thanksgiving Day, I shout "With the voice of joy and thanksgiving, a multitude keeping festival."

"Dig Two Graves" Southern Illinois Gothic and a Wonderful Movie

I like good movies.  Therefore, this is not a traditional review.  Dig Two Graves is a gem:

Starring: Ted Levine, Samantha Isler, Danny Goldring, Troy Ruptash, Mark Lancaster, Dean Evans, Bradley Grant Smith, Kara Zediker, Ryan Kitley, Sauda Namir, Ann Sonneville, Mikush Lleshdedaj  

A supernatural thriller about the generational violence that plagues a small, backwoods town, set in the 1970s, Dig Two Graves asks “how far would you go to save those you love?” After 13-year-old Jacqueline Mather (Samantha Isler) loses her brother in a mysterious drowning accident she is soon visited by 3 moonshiners who offer to bring her brother back to life but at a grim cost. As the dark history of her grandfather, Sheriff Waterhouse (Ted Levine) is unearthed the true intentions of the moonshiners come to light. FaceBook

Last night, I was treated to a screen full of familiar sights and scenes from Southern Illinois: the great people of Illinois, Giant City State Park - great limestone canyons spiked with trees, deep mysterious quarries and most especially for me the school - grade school in Grand Chain, it chilled me.


The old Gresham Chicago Police District ( now Dudley Beauty College) at 85th & Green was about as cheery. It is in this Fritz Lang nightmare of a school that the young protagonist Jake comes to aid of the bullied target of doom.  No, spoiler this old boy.

Instead, I wish to recognize the high quality/low budget genius who commanded a crew of talented actors and masterful technicians -Hunter Adams.

His movie is a feast for the senses - all but the tongue. The snakes, coon, squirrel, otter and deer drying in the smoke filled cabin and caves of the mysterious strangers might be a bit for delicate appetites, but these flourishes spice the Gothic magic of Dig Two Graves.

The dialog is authentic to speech of real people and not Ryan Goslings, or Meryl Streeps.

What the actors bring to the script is magic - especially  Chicago veterans Ted Levine, Danny Goldring and the exquisite Kara Zediker, in the role of a woman who looses two children in 90 minutes of drama.

I am prejudiced, as I had the pleasure of teaching Ms. Zediker English and American Literature at Bishop McNamara High School and proudly watched her wonderful career.

Kara's expressive beauty captures the bone chilling nightmare of mother and daughter who outlives her children  and manages to capture a youthful resilience that will carry her family beyond its tragedies.

Young Samantha Isler reflects that feminine verdure of Kara Zediker's throughout the drama.

This drama is as dark as a winter afternoon in Cobden and Hunter Adams crafts natural and supernatural imagery that would shame Mary Shelley and Horace Walpole and get a sturdy tip of John Ford's Stetson.  Witness these scenes especially the lightning scene  right out of a John Ford Western.




Enjoy Illini Gothic.  See Dig Two Graves.

I am Having a Ball in the Classroom at Brother Rice High School

I am hardly back in the saddle again, but for the past two weeks I have had more fun than a man deserves serving as a substitute teacher at Brother Rice High School.

I began teaching English in 1975 and continued joyfully for twenty years, but obligations as father and husband required that I leave the classroom for the more lucrative position of Director of Development.

This is a new position in education and rather important one at that, particularly in private and Catholic education. The Director of Development  is generally the chief fundraising officer answerable to the President and the Board of Directors. bring in new streams of cash from grants, individual donations and sometime special events.  I ran  two special events at La Lumiere School, one a success and the other barely broke even, one special event at Bishop Noll Institute that brought in  $10,000 when the goal was $20,000 and no events at Leo High School that could be termed 'special events' in the traditional sense - elaborate dinners, or Star focused concerts. Thank God and Bob Foster, my CEO for fifteen of my twenty years at Leo.

I write a good grant and I can be a pretty good person to put the bite on a person with the capacity to make a difference,

I was a Department of one at Leo.  I tracked gifts, wrote letters, appeals, went out to call upon donors, researched new sources, courted new sources and hit on news sources - sometimes with success and more times than not received the " while your mission is a truly deserving one, at this time, we would like you and your mission to help young urban men receive a faith-based education in a safe environment to go and . . ."  Stuff like that, or a nicer version.

Leo High School has a unique culture that is male, honest, uncompromisingly straight-forward, tough, results oriented and proudly successful. Fools might be suffered gladly, but will have only a blink on their resumes and CVs, if Leo Men have any say in the matter.

There is no BS, so don't attempt any.  BS is largely the domain of Director's of Development in too many schools and DDs, or IAs,* do all pie-chart and Stephen Covey fog-horning all too often, net work for new jobs and then job hop all over the philanthropic landscape - many ending their days as consultants with Institutional Advancement companies.

To me the job was an extension of my vocation as a teacher - do my homework, try to explain what exactly needs to get done and remain honest, help the students first, the parents second, the Alumni next and of course myself.  I had a ball.  I raised some money. I started boilers on winter mornings and drove a van and picked up students as well. Sold Beanie Babies and Ty Warner Products as well as sweatshirts, T-shirts, hats, blankets and do-dads to the Alumni.

I missed teaching. I asked my old high school Buddy Kevin Burns to give me a shot and he did.  Kevin is President of Brother Rice.  Thanks, Kev!

Now, I am trying to get my sea-legs back.  You do not plunge back into a room full of adolescent males going through four stages of human growth, as well as academic placements, five to six periods a day, at age 64 and expect to greeted as Good Old Chips!  When I was 22, I needed to earn the trust and respect of young people only a few years minor to me and that was a job of work.

I have witnessed career "re-treads' give teaching a try after successful careers in management, sales and engineering and most ended with middle aged men and women running out the door with their hair on fire and a shout of "Mail Me my Damn Check!"

Teaching is and should be a bitch and a half.

Come prepared - do your homework, expect to be challenged about everything, remember that these are kids and not your own and that you're here to teach something - not change their lives or add to your Face Book friends trove.

Kids smell fear and BS from a great distance.  Be afraid, a healthy anxiety is a good thing, but never try to BS your way through anything.  If you do not know something, admit it and tell them you will find out and then deliver immediately.

I have taught English, History, Spanish and Band to no ill effect.  Frankie, Antonio, Reggie, Packy, Liam, Josh and Mr. Veal** have yet to take offense to my methods, or my  lessons.

I have been blown away by the wonderful manly deportment, friendliness, general knowledge and musicianship of the young Crusaders.

The band is something else and reminds me of the Bishop McNamara music program when it was under the direction of Kevin McNulty and Joel Hawkinson.  Concert band, Philharmonic, Choral and beginning band are all in task and on message.

The halls are empty of students when class begins and I have yet to witness any tardiness, absenteeism, or ungentlemanly behavior whatsoever.

I took a number of photos with my Old Guy phone and they have yet to appear in my e-mail box.

Safe to say.  I will need Frankie, Antonio, Reggie, Packy, Liam, Josh and Mr. Veal to give me a hand. I had to use stock photos on this go-around -sorry. I love teaching again.

Thanks Crusaders!


* DD - Director of Development; IA Institutional Advancement person

** Mr.Veal is a trumpet man who broke his left wrist in last week's Loyola game.

I reconnect with some Funny Little People at the Downtown St. Paddy's Day Parade

You will always run into funny people at public events . " Funny How?  Like a clown?  "  Sometimes.  Funny can be  like the inebriated goof who had begun his day with big brimmin' cup full of Happy Cossack Vodka and wanted to know what "Bik Showders Fun us a Boud?"  and shortly careened away prior to an answer.

Funny.  I imagine the balance of his Saturday, which no doubt ended before noon parade step-off, was equally hilarious and joyful for himself and those folks he gladdened the day.

Then there were funny trades men and rivals from Catholic Schools north, south and west.  There are no Catholic High Schools within Lake Michigan.  

Shortly before the Leo Contingent of the Big Shoulders Fund Marchers stepped north on Columbus Drive, I noticed the Stockyard Kilty Band.  This year we mourned the loss of Leo Man Dave McKinney '46 was a founding member of the bag-pipe band.  I mentioned to our guys that a Leo Man was instrumental in the training of generations of pipers.  and into the mix of black and gold tartans strolled two of the Funny Little People.  

When I was baby teacher at Bishop McNamara High School in Kankakee, IL, I played banjo and guitar with the Sons of Reilly's Daughter as part of MadCaps - an annual November All-School Fund-raiser that helped keep the revenue up and tuition down and doors wide open.  We were a hit - playing Irish songs, Italian songs, Polish Songs, Hillbilly songs and telling dirty jokes within the parameters of good taste and Catholic dignity . . .most of the time.  However, the show stopper was an anonymouspair of hilariously costumed characters who busted in on our show and danced up a storm.  They were known only as the Little People and they were funny.  It turned out that the Funny Little People persons were one of my students and the little sister of our band Director Kevin McNuty.  Sarah McNulty and Dave Gregoire made a modest industry from a great concept.

In 1976, Dave Gregoire and Sarah McNulty came up with an act for a local fund-raiser. They were inspired by Dave’s original 1st place Halloween costume. A few years later, Dave and Sarah were stitching together sophisticated characters who could lip-sync, show off their dance moves, and make people laugh at nightclubs, sporting events and a few private parties. Eventually, Dave and Sarah quit their day jobs, and by the mid ‘80’s hired about 10 more performers, mostly relatives and friends.

These are some funny people in the best of possible definitions.  Here is Big Shoulders Fund's James O" Connor meets the founder and the creative force behind the Funny Little People.

Leo President Dan McGrath is a fabulous wit and a gentleman Ryan " Hilarity!" Hodo in the grey Hodo Bros.Hoodie and Nick "Funny Attendance" Hyland to McGrath's right are part of the Canaryville Round Table/

These guys present what passes for wit on Sangamon

None of them think I'm Funny . . . well, 'funny lookin'!'

Religio Medici: Dr. James R. Kennedy M.D.at Home With Christ - Rest in Peace? That Will Be a Tough One.

I thank God, and with joy I mention it, I was never afraid of hell, nor ever grew pale at the description of that place. I have so fixed my contempla- tions on heaven, that I have almost forgot the idea of hell; and am afraid rather to lose the joys of the one, than endure the misery of the other: to be deprived of them is a perfect hell, and needs methinks no addition to complete our afflictions. That terrible term hath never detained me from sin, nor do I owe any good action to the name thereof. I fear God, yet am not afraid of him; his mercies make me ashamed of my sins, before his judgments afraid thereof: these are the forced and secondary method of his wisdom, which he useth but as the last remedy, and upon provocation;— a course rather to deter the wicked, than incite the virtuous to his worship. Religio Medici - Sir Thomas Browne 1635

 Dr. James R. Kennedy is an esteemed assistant professor of gross anatomy  at Loyola's Stritch School of Medicine. A retired surgeon, Kennedy is a 1960 graduate of the Stritch School of Medicine and has taught at the school since 1989. He has been on the medical staffs of St. Mary's Hospital and Riverside Medical Center in Kankakee and since 1989, has volunteered as a surgical consultant, medical student supervisor and physician recruiter for Loyola's cooperative program with St. Jude Hospital in the West Indies.  Loyola Stritch School of Medicine Award 2000

 Elizabeth “Betsy” Finneran Kennedy ’59SMC and Dr. James R. Kennedy ’57 of Kankakee, Illinois, will be presented the Rev. Louis J. Putz, CSC, Award. The Kennedys have established a well-baby clinic, a Montessori school, day care centers and youth swim teams for under-served families. They spent 10 years as medical missionaries in Saint Lucia, British West Indies, and provide service to the United Way, Kankakee Valley Theatre, Amateur Athletic Union, the American Cancer Society, Red Cross and the Diocese of Joliet. Notre Dame Distinguished Alumni Award 2005

Not even close. Neither will be this that follows.

The Gates of Heaven, if they ever really close, banged wide open yesterday when a soul left the body of a fine man in a hospice care center in Michigan City, Indiana, yesterday.

Dr. Jim Kennedy is a great man.  He grew up in Joliet, Illinois, the son of a lawyer for Greyhound Bus, who sent its fleet to the Jim Crow south to accommodate Freedom Riders and later U.S. Marshals. Jim Kennedy went to Notre Dame where he played football on the reserves under Terry Brennan and excelled as a student. More importantly, Kennedy wooed away the beautiful Betsy Finnerane of the Bronx, NYC who had been dating some poor schmo by the name of Phil Donahue, who ended up with a TV show of some kind.

 Graduating in 1957, Jim Kennedy was accepted to the Loyola University School of Medicine, where he took his Medical Doctorate and then residency at Cook County Hospital and managed to keep the arm of Betsy.  Kennedy was called into his country's service as Naval surgeon, serving with the Fleet Marine Force.

Now, it gets good,  Kennedy returned to Cook County Hospital and won the reputation as a great surgeon and general practice all purpose medicine man.  At Cook County Hospital Kennedy became friendly with the Chief Engineer and fierce defender of unborn Larry Hickey.  Bud Hickey ran all of the power plants and operations of this hospital and later butted heads with the Marxist Dr. Quentin Young over abortion.  Kennedy and Uncle Bud saw eye to eye on human life. Dr.Jim and Betsy Kennedy began their own Pro Life model in the 1960's by bringing eleven (11) beautiful, talented and much loved children into the world.


The Kankakee Kennedy's at Hoosier Hyannis Port ( Long Beach, IN - Stop 28) Even then the Chicago costs of living must have been epic; the Kennedy's moved to Kankakee, Illinois.



In 1975, I signed a contract with Father Ken Yarno, CSV to teach and coach at Bishop McNamara High School and among the freshmen students was Jim Kennedy,  a tow-head with great basketball chops and razor wit.   Dr. and Mrs, Kennedy liked what I was doing for their son.  We became friends.  Dr. and Betsy were everywhere.  Betsy could bury any NFL roster Endomorphs with her lightening pace and Mary Poppins work ethic in a week.  Doc worked two hospitals and on his days off he attended burn clinics.

I met my future bride when she was helping Betsy with the kids. Betsy shoved Mary Cleary under my nose at every opportunity, but I was serial dating at the time.  A year later, Mary's charms, grace and sarcasm and Betsy's raps on the back of my head -"What's wrong with you?" - took hold.

Mary's grandfather happened to be the first surgical patient Dr. Kennedy operated upon in St. Mary's Hospital. Oliver Duval was a epic-ly evil-eyed, mean old bastard of Frog Eater.  He had penchant for swallowing peaches whole, it seems, and the pits did no good to the Old French villain's GI tract. When young Dr. Kennedy, fresh from Cook County ER, was served up Oliver on gurney - the Herscher farmer pulled up his gown and emitted a fart of Gargantuan proportions in salutation - " How's Those Peaches, Irish?" They remained an emergency room Roland and Oliver with Oliver blowing the trumpet. " Here's another kiss for you Kennedy!"

Dr. Kennedy often walked to his rounds from his modest home in east Kankakee's St. Theresa's Parish to St. Mary's and even Riverside Hospital.  A solid stretch of the legs of three to four miles.  One evening following a shotgun duel in St. Anne, the ER at St. Mary's and attending physician were overwhelmed and panic set-in.  A nurse on duty that night told me that Dr. Kennedy appeared as if by magic and pulled everyone together and no one died. Deus ex Machina?  Nope. Dr. Kennedy.

My catalog of stories is as thick as a Calcutta phone book.  Dr. Kennedy supervised the care of my wife when she was stricken with brain cancer. Betsy and Doc never left our sides through the two years of agony. For that I am most thankful.

Dr. Jim Kennedy went home to heaven.  He trained two of my best pals, Dr. Rick Clark and Dr. Mark Manning, to be Kennedy-esque doctors- Rick is an Internal; Medicine Honcho at Resurrection in Chicago and Dr.Maj. Mark Manning, MD, USAF(ret.) maintains surgical practice in Del Rio, Texas and over the border. Dr. Kennedy admitted students to Loyola's Medical School when the ravages of Parkinson's Disease prevented a genius with scalpel from practicing his art.  Kennedy demanded that students admitted to Loyola Med have CVs that witnessed commitment to others.  " You maintained a 4.0 GPA from high school through college, but you never played a sport, performed in a band, acted in a play, volunteered to help the poor?  You will do fine at University of Chicago or Northwestern; best wishes for a great medical career."

That is the religion of a doctor - a Catholic Doctor.  Try and take it easy, Doc. I talked to Betsy this morning and she said for you skip morning rounds and sleep-in. 

Actress Tamberla Perry - Mike Houlihan Protege Stars in the Goodman Theatre's -Meet Vera Stark

Meet Tamberla Perry!

I have a thing about Playbills, the glossy and ad thick handout featuring the current production of any performance art production.  I find the nearest receptacle and pitch the booklet.

This quirk of mine goes back to the days of my youth when I worked as a janitor ( Local 25) at Theodore Thomas Orchestra Hall (1904-2013), now known as Symphony Center.

After each CSO, Harry Zelzer production ( Gordon Lightfoot, the Clancy Bros. & Tommy Makem, Cleo Laine, Richard Tucker, Danny Kaye, or Peter Max & the Young Rascals) not to mention CPS high school graduations, my comrades and I were required to sweep the hall from stage through the gallery by lifting the seats, picking up the napkins, Junior mints, orange juice boxes and tons upon tons of Playbills and depositing them into the 55 gallon plastic garbage cans.  It was a job.

Thus, from that time forty plus years ago, I hold onto a proffered Playbill no longer than CTA President Forrest Claypool holds a political sinecure.  Gone, in a nano second.

Playbills make wonderful keepsakes.  Keepsakes pile up.  I never know what to do with the book that I can not read, while at the performance, and care not to read after the show.  I 86 it.

I wish I had not done so with the Playbill I tossed at the Goodman Theatre yesterday, prior to witnessing some great theatre.

An elegant and stunning female woman and I attended the matinee performance of By the Way, Meet Vera Stark. The play by Lynne Nottage is running until June 2, 2013 at the Goodman.
Kara Zediker and Tamberla Perry in Vera Stark


One of the principles, rather the co-star of the production was an Honors Studnet of mine at Bishop McNamara High School - Kara Zediker (BMHS 1987).  Her Mom, Carole " Cookie" Zediker was a colleague and her Dad Phil Zediker  uttered, "Interesting," every time  I opened my yap.

Phil is a prominent psychiatrist.

 Kara is a supremely talented actress, singer and dancer who has made scores of films hundreds of TV appearances and trod the boards with the likes of John Malkovich while with  Steppenwolf Theatre in the 1990's. Kara plays Gloria Mitchell in Vera Stark, a fictional America'n film's Sweetie-pie of the 1930's. Kara plays up-from nothing gran dame with spot on vocal inflections, poignant facial deliveries and a silky sense of the stage. I was not surprised, because this beautiful little thespian has delighted me every since her grammar school baby-steps with the Paula Aubrey School of Dance, wowing the crowds at BMHS with her Ensign Nellie Frobish in South Pacific and favorite Zediker role extant - Mammy Yokam in L'il Abner.

Kara went onto Chicago's Columbia College, where her talents were plucked by the late John Hughes who put Kara in Uncle Buck. Kara was  member of Steppenwold and the old Goodman on Monroe, over by the Art Institute - to wax urban provincial.  From there, Kara went onto movies and TV



After the packed matinee crowd bolted down the hall to grab all of the tables at Petterino's, my sexy and chic theatre companion and I waited at the Security desk to catch-up with Kara.  We did the Hollywood smooches and then the two talented and toothsome women gabbed like Mother McAuley Alumnae, while I played with the change in my pockets. Then,. . .then we were joined by Vera Stark and her arch rival Anna

Mae, played with intelligent gusAmelia Workman.Ms. Workman and the cast, aside from Tamberla and Kara played dual, or triple roles - here she is as a lesbian feminist cinema critic.

to by the stunning

Four gorgeous talented women within an arms reach of this 79th Street Mick troll.  God is Great!

Tamberla Perry was stunning on stage, but in person she could make Chris Matthews shut up.   I gushed out my praise on all three young ladies and asked them about their Chicago roots. Kara mentioned that I work fro Leo High School and the already luminescent Ms. Perry lit up with proud recognition - " The Pride of 79th Street!'  Yes, Mam.

Again the ladies chatted up the arts and the young actresses were called to a cast meeting.  Ms. Sullivan tucked her Playbill into her purse.  We parted from the cast with sweet sorrow . . .on my part.

Petterino's was booked.  We opted for Atwood's in the Burnham Hotel - she the duck breast; me the halibut.

Hours later the thoughtful and beautiful Ms. Sullivan gave me a call.  " Had you not tossed away your Playbill, Mr. Hickey, as is your habit, you would know something that I know," she coquetted.

" Honor bright?"

"Yes, of course, I am not the perpetual eight year old in this relationship. . . ," no pique, just fact.

" Spill it, Sister."

" Did you know that Tamberla Perry, Vera Stark, was in the cast of Tapioca, by Friend Houli? . . .this from the Playbill you so scorn ,  "On film, Mrs. Perry has appeared in Tapioca, Puzzled Love and Chasing Robert, and her television appearances include Boss, Chicago Fire and as the Illinois Lottery hostess on WGN-TV. Ms. Perry is a company member of MPAACT."

" Well, I'll be dipped and rolled. . ."

" Yes, and you should be . . .'

"Friend Houli?  What's he turned Quaker?"

" That will be enough for today, I think. Get a good night's sleep, my dear."

I was yet gobsmacked by the information.

This exquisite looking and talented girl worked her chops for Houli?  Playbill said so.

Martin Marty's Fedora “How can Catholic education be saved?” - Play Small Ball

I read an interesting article by University of Chicago scholar Martin E. Marty. The article rather whimsically treats Catholic Schools as reified artifacts - a fedora e.g.  things that fade out of fashion and necessity.   I'm no scholar, but I have taught and worked in Catholic high schools since 1975.  So, since we are doing metaphors, Catholic schools remain the Cadillac of American education; back in 1975 more Americans could afford a Caddy.

I taught at Bishop McNamara High School in Kankakee, Illinois. The Clerics of St. Viator(CSVs) operated this co-educational high school under aegis of the Joliet Diocese.  There were five Viatorian priests in the Administration and teaching staff and there were also nine Sisters of Notre Dame(CNDs)  in teaching and clerical positions.The balance of the faculty were lay persons.  Together we served the 400 young men and women from diverse backgrounds.  The school was mirror of Kankakee County - heavily French with African Americans and Dutch Protestants filling out the demographic.  The students were the sons and daughters of farmers, factory workers, tradesmen, white collar workers, doctors, lawyers and a couple of bankers.

1975 saw the fall of Saigon and my baby steps in teaching.  The American economy began to tip due to OPEC and Jimmy Carter responded by manfully donning a sweater.  Kankakee had been home to many big sized businesses, Roper, AO Smith, Armstrong Tiles & Pharmeceuticals.  These operations as well as the foundries, metal fabrication and pallet operations provided a robust employment.  Tuition, which would be considered invisible by today's Catholic school prices, was set at $ 787 per year, sans fees and books.

I was paid a salary of $ 6, 800, with medical and allowed to pay into a retirement plan.  My salary every two  weeks amounted about $ 264.00 every two weeks.  I paid $ 225 a month for an apartment near the school, as I did not own a car.  I walked for two years.  Things were good. I received a modest raise each year according to the Levels and Steps Salary Scale of the Joliet Catholic Schools.

The economy broke bad. The Shah was bounced, America held Hostage, OPEC kicked sand in our eyes and Jimmy Carter paddled away from a rabbit.  Malaise.



AO Smith and Roper went to Mexico and so did the secondary industries.  Our parents were laid off.  One gentleman, Mr. W, had three kids in Catholic schools and was a shift manager at Roper in 1977.  In 1979, he was bagging groceries at Grocery World and Mrs. W. babysat. The kids all graduated, but they had moved from four bedroom bi level home in the  the very upper middle class west  side  Kankakee Parish of St. Martin of Tours to rental slab home in Bradley, IL. The W Family were heroic.

Other families just could not hack it and parted for the Kankakee, Bourbonnais, Momence, St. Anne and Herscher School districts.  The enrollment and the tuition revenue plunged. The faculty went without raises, but kept the school operation first rate. The athletic and academic programs blew away the competition from the tax-fueled public schools all over the county and beyond.

In 1981, due to declining vocations, the CSVs ended their operational ties to the school.  Shortly thereafter the CNDs did the same.  More lay persons swelled the salary slot in the budget ledgers.  That same year the school and the parents initiated the Negotiated Tuition program to keep as many of the students in the school.  Parents agreed to bring in their W-2 forms and negotiate tuition, or opt to meet the $1,400 tuition.

Regardless of the struggle, Catholic families sent their sons and daughters to Bishop McNamara.  The school held on.  After three years, the negotiations ended and tuition was set once again.  No miracles.  This was small ball*.

The faculty was an immensely talented body of teachers who sent Kankakee kids to Yale, Brown, Rutgers, University of Chicago, West Point, Annapolis, and the Air Force Academy, as well as Illinois, Purdue, DePaul, Loyola, ISU, EIU and Olivet.

Graduates stood out - Lori Hoekstra became a producer for Saturday Night Live, Letterman and now manages Norm McDonald, Kara Zediker is a movie star, America's first Casualty in the Operation Iraqi Freedom was Capt. Ryan Beaupre USMC (dec.) and there are so many more like  Napoleon Harris and Ron Young in civil and public service. There is also a thick handful of Catholic priests brothers and nuns who graduated from Bishop McNamara at the end of the last millennium.

No miracles.  This was small ball played out with huge sacrifices.  In piece linked to Marty Marty which uses the metaphor of Fedoras for Catholic schools misses a point. I continue to work in Catholic schools; did I mention I work at Leo High School?

Fedoras can still be purchased at vintage boutiques and they tend to cost a hell of lot more than the original price.  Fedoras might not be worn by a huge male demographic anymore.  Some folks worry that a Catholic education might become available only to the elite, the affluent and label conscious - like Notre Dame University. Catholic schools exist because of Catholics.  Catholics who take of precious things - faith, family, and freedom are not fads.

Fashion - even grown men wearing bow-ties- fades.  Fads even faster.  Catholic education is no fad; no matter how much public school educators try ape the school traditions - a Cadillac is no Prius. Catholic schools like the Dodo bird?  Like the Fedora, Marty?

I don't believe that to be the case at all.  I work at a school that 'smart' people insisted would close 'next year' with the same passion and precision that a Cubs fan sees a Cub World Series trophy.  The Cubs won one in 1908; Leo has been closing since 1967.

Here's your Fedora; see you next year Marty!.

* Catholic League football is remarkable for slugging it out yard for yard and eating the clock as well pounding to the goals.  However, small ball is more of a  baseball term:"When Paul Richards took over as the manager of the Chicago White Sox in 1951, his team had few power hitters, so he decided that he needed to manufacture runs by emphasizing speed as well as a strong defense.^[6] The White Sox became a contender and eventually, the team known as the Go-Go Sox won the American League championship in 1959 by relying on speed and defence."

CLASS 2A SECTIONAL SEMIFINALS HERSCHER, IL - Leo 65, Bishop McNamara 57, OT

Leo Varsity # 13 -Sophomore Martez Hampton played last night like legendary Leo coaches Jimmy Arneberg, Tom O' Malley and Jack Fitzgerald were on his butt.

The Leo Lions

1 James Shields G Jr. 5-6
3 Tybias Scott G Sr. 5-8
4 Sean Moore Jr. G Jr. 6-3
5 Blake Wilson F Sr. 6-3
10 Marshon Tucker (C) F Jr. 5-9
11 Lantz Roberts G Sr. 5-9
13 Martez Hampton G So. 6-3
15 Luther Woods F Sr. 6-6
20 Jarrod Cooper G Sr. 6-1
33 Russell Woods PF Jr. 6-8 215
34 Karon Braggs (C) F Jr. 6-3
42 Kaylon Rimpson F Jr. 6-2
55 Lazarick Johnson F Jr. 6-4

Head Coach - Mr. Noah Cannon

Bishop McNamara Fighting Irish
2 Delano Samuels Senior G 5'10 155
3 Keyon Thomas Senior PG 5'8 155
10 Jonnie Evans Junior PG 5'9 165
12 Mitch O'Brien Junior G 6'0 165
14 Rashad Springer Junior F 6'5 175
20 Te'Andre Watson Junior G 6'2 155
22 Erron Hall II Senior G 6'2 170
24 Jamar Rivera Senior G 6'3 165
25 Luke Jarvis Senior F 6'5 175
32 Jay Slone Junior F 6'3 180
55 Michael Hoekstra Junior C 6'7 205

Head Coach: Justin LaReau


I picked up the Southtown Star a few minutes ago to see if they had a story on the great game played in Herscher, IL for IHSA 2-A Sectional between Chicago's Leo High School Lions and the Fighting Irish of Bishop McNamara Kankakee, IL.

Nope. Swell coverage of New Trier, which was located north of Madison Ave. last time I looked. New Trier, as I recall is in Winnetka, with a campus Northfield.

The Leo Scores were available.

I witnessed a great game in Herscher, Illinois last night. I taught at Bishop Mac from 1975-1988 and know many of the parents of kids on the Fighting Irish roster, having had the poor kids in my English classes. I saw the once beefy Kyle Turro, an outstanding football player, know lithe of frame due to parenting five bairns himself. I saw Julie Mowrey, now a teacher at MAC and the stunning Donna Douglas who continues to look like a prom queen/volleyball stand-out. Dave Hoekstra, who suffered my American and British Lit torments salved by my late wife Mary's art instruction in the 1980's, is the proud father of Mac's Center Mike Hoekstra who dominated the boards all night long. There was Scott O'Brien and his mom watching hot shooting Guard Mitch O'Brien. Scott was a great Mac player himself.

Bishop McNamara controlled the game under the boards and from the free-throw line, as well as outside shooting. Leo was plagued by the invisible cover over the hoops all night it seemed and our free throw shots were colder than a mother-in-law's kiss. Leo President and hardwood veteran of our three-floor gym, Dan McGrath kept the stats - " We are 2-10 in free throws."

Leo brought a Fan bus packed with kids and Leo Alumni and their spirited joyful noise got our guys to dig deeper and close the deficit with the fiery will of LION!

With two minutes to go, led by the outstandingly aggressive play of Kieron Bragg(34), Jarrod Cooper (20), Martez Hampton (13) and the star of the comeback Tybias Scott (3) Leo tied the Irish at the buzzer.

I missed most of the Leo dominated OT 4minutes, because one of our most loyal Alums lost a valuable item that fell under the Herscher bleachers. As Director of Development, yours truly crawled under the stands in a futile search and was joined by decorated Vietnam Veteran and Leo Hall of Fame-er Jack Farnan. Herscher High School football coach John Wakey and I shared remembrances of days past amid the gum, pop, popcorn and snot rags, " Hickey, you ever learn anything about football?"

Not a whit, John, but thanks for asking. Always a sound and healthful thing to be reminded of one's less than formidable gifts. John Wakey is a man and a half and credit to the teaching professional. We climbed out from under the stands without finding a very precious item lost. With prayers to St. Anthony it will turn up.

Leo controlled the OT. Bishop McNamara is a magnificent team and a great school. I spent some of the happiest years of my very happy life there. The Lions managed to score more baskets in the Over Time.

The Lions were tested by the Fighting Irish. The Finals are Friday in Herscher.

Actress Kara Zediker - A Great Talent from Kankakee, Illinois

One of the great rewards of a teaching career is seeing the lives developed by students who endured your time with them.

Kara Zediker and her brother John were two wonderful youngsters and are now very successful and splendid young adults. Kara is an actress and John is a CEO for a private company and works on the Du Page County Board. Their folks are Carol, "Cookie," and Phil Zediker one of the great husband and wife teams - Phil is a psychiatrist and Cookie taught with my wife Mary and me at Bishop McNamara High School.

Kara was a member of the Paula Aubrey Dance Studio while a student and acted in every play and sang at every opportunity. Kara is a very pretty kid happy in her own skin - her best role was as Mammy Yokum in the musical Li'l Abner, though she could just as easily filled the role of Daisy May.

Kara and my wife Mary, an art teacher, were great pals. Mary was always the invited guest and I got dragged along to dinners and outings. More so, like the dusty twerp in James Hilton's novel, my wife made me look better and kept the students from hiring a retired Scout Sniper. I was and continue to be a huge pain in the ass. Imagine being a 14-18 year old kid stuck in a desk with me for 50 minutes, or more. I do not know how they did it.

Kara and John were both superb students and very popular kids as well. Kara studied at Columbia College here in Chicago and was selected to act with Goodman Theatre and Steppenwolf and bravely acted with John Malkovich in a perfectly horrible play -A Slip of the Tongue*. She also had roles in The Babe with John Goodman and Uncle Buck with John Candy.

Kara plays the lead in a short film to be released in 2012 and plays an Italian woman in a period piece called No God, No Masters about the 1919 Palmer Raids against Italian immigrants.

Here is a trailer for Wedensday's Child The story of a young girl who discovers that her entire nine year existence has been a series of experiments for books written by her parents, and the drastic action she takes to force them into admitting the truth.

Wednesday's Child from Mike Kwielford on Vimeo.

here is Kara as a nurse from a recent episode of Without a Trace-



Phil and Cookie raised two great kids. Kara is an especially talented young lady. Houli! Remember Kara for your next film!


John Zediker - http://www.dupageco.org/CountyBoard/Members/12024/

Kara Zediker-http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0954150/


*

Past Threatens Nation`s Freedom In `Slip`
February 07, 1992|By Lawrence Bommer.
It was inevitable: A play has emerged depicting Eastern Europe after the fall of the Iron Curtain. Opening Sunday at the Steppenwolf Theatre Company,

``A Slip of the Tongue`` is a world premiere by Dusty Hughes that takes place in an Eastern European country both before and after the revolution of 1989. Its hero, Dominic Tantra, is a leading dissident writer who has spent years in exile in a rural area.After the fall of his repressive government, he returns to the capital city, where he`s given all the privileges he`d been denied. Conflict arises when Tantra, who wants to forget about the past, discovers that the movement that he was a part of and suffered for has become preoccupied with retributive justice. The story focuses on Tantra`s relationships with four university students.

Playing the lead role in Simons Stokes` staging is Steppenwolf stage and screen star John Malkovich. Other cast members are French actress Clotilde Courau, British actress Lizzy McInnerny, Chicagoan Kara Zediker and Lithuanian actress Ingeborga Dapkunaite.

``A Slip of the Tongue`` runs through March 22 at 1650 N. Halsted St.;

312-335-1888.

The Media Is Jasper Hoegen-Vander - Locker Inspection and The Herman Cain Lynching

Jonathan Mumbles Martin - MSNBC Manure Salesman with a Mouthful of Samples


At the end of the school year, there was always locker inspection. At Bishop McNamara High School in Kankakee, IL, sometime in the late 1970's, I taught (for want of a better term) young gent by the name of Jasper Hoegen-Vander. Jasper was, I believe, the only student in my career whom I failed for the entire year. Jasper completed nothing - not a homework assignment, not a quiz, not an essay and certainly not an exam. Jasper had and did nothing.

I met with Jasper, talked with his parents, brainstormed with my Department Chair, Guidance Counsellor, and Principal and could not motivate Jasper to do anything. I had taught his older brother Perry, a great athlete, student leader and scholar who went on to University of Illinois. Jasper's folks owned a produce farm in the Dutch colony of Wichert, IL between St. Anne and the Indiana State line. Jasper, it seemed would have been fully content to be Robert Frost's Hired Man until the day he cast off his mortal coil.

On Jasper's last day of four years of complete inactivity at Mac, I asked the lad to do something - anything on a piece of paper that could justify my giving him a Gentleman's D for the year.

"Anything? Like how stupid and boring you are?"

As you wish, Jasper, anything.

"How about how fat and slutty your Mom is?"

One man's opinion might suffice.

For forty five minutes we carried on with this Bizzaro World Socratic Method - Jasper posing ever more gloriously obscene and offensive questions concerning my ontological* place on our planet. On paper, nothing.

All of my other students, six sections of a score or more, had handed in blue books and were cleaning out their lockers for the summer.

Jasper, it is getting on to four o'clock and you have not even put your name on the paper.

"Are you looking on my test,Man? That's cheating. What are you a cheat? Did you cheat your way to the top?"

My position is far from the top, Jasper, and I have to conduct locker inspection.

" Hope you'll find some cool stuff? Bag of dope for you to smoke? That how you got to be such a dope?"

Jasper, hand in your paper.

"What about locker inspection?"

That last question became the stuff of legend. For the balance of my career at Bishop Mac, which ran from 1975-1988, colleagues would ask that question, whenever something absurd was posed by someone at faculty meetings. " We should modify the curriculum to reflect the contributions of political prisoners to our way of life - Thoreau, Gandhi, the Soul on Ice Negro,. . .Theodore Cleaver" would be met with a universal chorus of "What About Locker Inspection?????!!!!!!!!!!!!"

When I heard and later read about the Politico C-4 getting fused by Jonathan Martin all I could say was "What about Locker Inspection?"

Jasper's question floated out into the ozone.

Locker Inspection? What does that have to do with anything?

"I'm asking the question, Mr. A$$hole ( Jasper, to say the least, understood the social proprieties)? WHAT ABOUT LOCKER INSPECTION???????"

It rang loudly through the halls.

Jonathan Martin is a journolist MSNBC regular mumbling manure salesman with a mouthful of samples. Jonathan's lynching of Herman Cain sparked me to again ask, "What about Locker Inspoection?"

Jonathan Martin is Jasper Hoegen-Vander Lite.

Herman Cain is a very nice, black man who is married to a very nice woman and he is also a GOP Presidential Candidate who happens to be more popular than our first Bi-racial President. That will not stand. Jonathan Martin is asking the very same questions of the American Body Politic and Candidate Herman Cain as Jasper HoegenVander posed to me in an all but empty classroom in Kankakee.

Take a look.



If Herman Cain is as MSNBC insists a Minstral Performer, a Racist Joke and a Sexual Harasser, why is Mumbles Martin asking "WHAT ABOUT LOCKER INSPECTION!"

Like Jasper, Jonathan Martin has got nothing.

Unlike Jasper, Jonathan Martin is unwilling to spit it out - a manure salesman with mouthful of samples.

De Gustibus Non Est Disputandum.






*Ontology (from onto-, from the Greek ὤν, ὄντος « being; that which is », present participle of the verb εἰμί « be », and -λογία, -logia: science, study, theory) is the philosophical study of the nature of being, existence or reality as such, as well as the basic categories of being and their relations.

The Rising Amoral Majority and the Conscientious Objectors

There was a move to 'do away' with all grades, back in the 1970's. It was laughed out of the faculty meeting. Grades matter. The world works by fractions and whole numbers and algorithms get grants. Kids need feedback - you can not mix ammonia with bleach unless you want to make mustard gas and if you do, you are in violation of the Geneva Convention. The idea of nixing grades was the advent of the "who's to say" movement that has fundamentally changed American life. When idiots are tolerated with courtesy and their point of view is considered, you are helping make mustard gas for mental defectives or amoral monsters. I began teaching in the late 1970's at Bishop McNamara High School in Kankakee, Illinois. There were grades and there were rules.

The rules tended to connect with the Latin plurale tatum ( noun that only appears in plural - e.g. scissors, trousers & etc.) - Mores. Mores are the accepted norms of a society. We no longer toss the chamber pot full of solid and liquid waste into the gutter, unless it happens to be a publicly funded art display.

When I was a baby teacher we a had zero tolerance for cigarette smoking in the school. One of the more onerous tasks incumbent upon a teacher was checking the stalls of the Men's room near one's classroom. I had the misfortune of catching one of my favorite students nailing a Marlboro, having been excuse for nature's call from study hall. I 'busted' the guy. It was his fifth smoking violation. He was expelled - no kidding. He finished his last two years at Kankakee Eastridge Campus, opened a bar, and is now a member of the Kankakee County Board. He understood the mores and now drafts the policies for the whole County.

School Dress was clearly defined. Violations of school dress could lead to a suspension. In the 1980's the biggest headache was getting guys to eschew wearing Urbane Cowboy Hats and wearing socks. Why anyone but an ambulance chaser would wear a cowboy hat plumb evades me.

Harvey Cox wrote a book at that was embraced by Vatican II charged clergy and some laymen, The Secular City was call for religion to become more secularized and urban - big city. The idea behind this daffy tome was that conservative Faiths - mainline Protestant and especially the Roman Catholic Church were harming human beings with attention to the rules.

Remember Birth Control? That is about as morally a hot-button-issue question today as would be 'You think men will fly?' No. Not on their own. Birth Control pills were the gateway drugs for abortion. Abortion and Euthanasia are the endgame of Planned Parenthood. Condoms, AIDS, HIV prevention all became hugely important when teenagers were encouraged in the classroom, on TV, in fashion and even in Church to explore their sexuality.

Tiny little girls were encouraged to dress provocatively and accept sexuality like it was a Happy Meal toy.

Now nearly forty-years after my initiation in the world of education things have . . . evaporated. Mores mean little, until they conflict with accepted agendas. Then as the New York Times argues in its lisping TV ads -'There's no debating it.'

Amoral does not mean immoral. An immoral act occurs when a person transgresses the laws, customs and norms. It might be considered immoral to engage in sexual relations with a raccoon, but who's to say? Capt. Ahab of Melville's Moby Dick was amoral - he cared not for God or Man. He hunted the White Whale. Matters not, because high school students no longer study, et alone read Moby Dick, Beowulf, Oliver Twist, Vanity Fair, Paradise Lost, Henry V, Richard III, Canterbury Tales, or Huckleberry Finn. No codes, norms or rules to study.

Amoral means the lacking of, or a total absence of any mores. An amoral person could care less. He/she is going to do exactly what he/she wants to do. He or She is going to do whatever feels or seems good to them and damn the costs - justify. Attribute opposition to later-day taboos - Racism, Sexism, Homophobia, or Stupidity. They are all such Rubes!

Bullying no longer means beating the living shit out of an underclassman. Bullying is code for homophobia. Bullying can be a T-shirt, a glance, a frown, an essay against Gay Marriage, a thought.

Marijuana is illegal in every country in the world - even Holland. It is tolerated. Tobacco is not.

Public lewdness is a matter for the ACLU. Lady Gaga has an HBO special.

Abortion is legal. Anti-abortion attitudes are not tolerated. Marriage between a man and woman is for the purpose of creating a family. . . for now. We are told that human kind has evolved away from marriage, but that Gay Marriage is crucial.

Perhaps we are headed for an Amoral Majority. When we must all agree that nothing really matters, we are going to experience the most intolerant and oppressive time in human history. Values, standards, grades, rules, norms and laws agreed upon are what keeps us human.

Who's to say has had its day . . .please, God.

Here's some examples - why should tax-payers be required to pay for abortion? Because it is legal?

Re: “Fungible funds and Planned Parenthood,” April 29 letter to the editor.

I submit that in order to address the issue of fungibility in tax funding for Planned Parenthood, an entirely different tack be taken.

For those who object to their tax dollars potentially funding abortion either directly or obliquely, let’s create a waiver, analogous to conscientious objector status. This waiver would give them an exemption for their portion of tax monies that would go to family planning programs. To keep people from using this loophole just for a tax break, the family planning conscientious objectors would be audited regularly (similar to the audits proposed for Medicaid recipients to ensure that no federal funding is being used for abortions). They would be required to make pertinent medical records available to the IRS on a regular basis. They would have to obtain their own reproductive health care and screenings from private providers that do not receive federal funding.

If they or anyone in their household seeks an abortion, their conscientious-objector status would be revoked and their back tax breaks would have to be repaid to the IRS. That should square things up.

Jean Wall, Denver

This letter was published in the May 4 edition Denver Post.

Here's a most Orwellian prontend of things to come and already here:

Army: court-martial Chaplains for "religious, conscience" objection to homosexuality.
3/24/2011 9:00:00 AM
By chaps@prayinJesusname.org -PrayinJesusName.org

The U.S. Army has officially threatened military chaplains they must either embrace the new openly homosexual military, resign from service, or face court-martial for their "religious, conscience" objections. The Pray In Jesus Name Project has obtained leaked copies (unintended for media disclosure) of a private briefing given to chaplains, threatening them with court-martial unless they compromise their Christian message.

Christian Chaplains who speak out against homosexual sin can be accused of "harassment" by homosexuals and face disciplinary action simply for voicing their religious views outside the "context" of their religious ministry.


[Chaps' interpretation: The phrase "vocational reflection" is not-so-subtle code language meaning "reconcile with homosexuality or find another line of work." The phrase "do NOT tolerate harassment" is code language for "don't speak against sin, for ANY reason, or you the Chaplain will be disciplined for quoting the Bible, and the homosexual protected."] More fine print from the text from the Army's presentation is directly quoted as follows:


ARMY: "You may hear the language, 'Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual', or 'GLB' at certain times in reference to homosexual Soldiers. As of today the Army has not directed the use of the any specific reference term but has accepted the usage of these terms."


ARMY: "You may, in appropriate circumstances and within the limitations of law and policy, express your moral or religious beliefs regarding sexual orientation. However, you may NOT make statements detrimental to good order and discipline and must obey lawful orders. You do NOT have the right to refuse duty or duty assignments based on a moral objection to another's sexual orientation."


[Chaps' Interpretation: the phrase 'appropriate circumstances' will soon mean ONLY in the context of Sunday chapel, thus Chaplains can be punished for private counseling, or speech outside of chapel, or speech inside chapel on Monday through Saturday, just as I was punished in writing 3 times for quoting the Bible in optional Saturday chapel services.]


ARMY: "You remain obligated to follow orders that involve interaction with others who are homosexual even if an unwillingness to do so is based on strong, sincerely held moral or religious beliefs. As expressed in the Manual for Courts-Martial regarding a Soldier's obligation to obey orders: 'the dictates of a person's conscience, religion, or personal philosophy cannot justify or excuse the disobedience of an otherwise lawful order.'"


[Chaps' Interpretation: the phrase 'lawful order' will mean ANYTHING ANTI-CHRISTIAN COMMANDERS WISH and judges will back up the Commander, not the Chaplain. I know from personal experience, when a Navy Judge said my Navy Commander could punish me, a chaplain, for disobeying "lawful orders" because I was quote "worshiping in public."]


Bottom Line: Army Chaplains will now be punished at court-martial for "disobedience" of "lawful orders" if they dare to express their religious views about homsexual sin outside of Sunday chapel.


MILITARY CHAPLAINS FACE CHARGES OF "HATE SPEECH"


The Pray In Jesus Name Project was featured in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette last week, with YOUR fax petition campaign to Congress getting noticed. Reporter Ann Rogers interviewed military chaplains who fear persecution by the Obama Administration, especially now that open homosexual service is being fast-tracked in violation of the rights of many Christian troops.


"The majority of 3,000 chaplains are theologically conservative Christians, many of whom worry that they will be accused of hate speech if they preach that same-sex relationships are sinful," the paper reports.


"The Pray in Jesus Name Project, which supports conservative chaplains, has called the Pentagon guidelines the 'plan to purge Christians' from chaplaincy.


"'Now the Obama Administration is officially on record pressuring chaplains to quit the service if they cannot 'reconcile' with homosexual sin that violates their Christian conscience,' said a petition on its website.


"The 'purge' is a clause that says chaplains have an option to leave the military that isn't open to others who object to serving with gay troops. They can ask their faith group to withdraw its endorsement, which would trigger a discharge.


"Retired Brig. Gen. Douglas E. Lee, a former Army chaplain who endorses for six conservative Presbyterian bodies, is less alarmist, but shares the concern that protection of religious freedom may erode.


"The fundamental issue for us is morality, but the debate is being purposely framed as a civil rights or a discrimination issue," he said.


"Homosexuality is 'just another sin that affects soldiers, airmen, guardians and Marines. However no other category that we would declare as sin is ... claiming civil rights to be a serial adulterer.'


"Any charges of hate speech will 'depend on how the chaplains handle themselves,' said the Rev. John Gundlach, a retired Navy chaplain and endorser for the United Church of Christ, which affirms gay sexuality."


Charges of hate speech against military chaplains? Even the pro-homosexual liberals admit the charges are coming. The full article may be read here. But suffice it to say we need to petition Congress to protect our Christian troops and Chaplains right to open religious expression, the same way the Obama Administration is now flaunting open homosexual expression.


The Obama Administration has now begun writing policies that will result in discharge of Christian Chaplains and troops who cannot "reconcile" with homosexual sin. Below are four shocking proof examples revealing how the purge has already begun, and why we must fight back NOW by demanding Congress investigate and pass strong laws defending our troops right to religious freedom starting with H.R. 268 which has not yet passed in 6 years, clearly defending military chaplains' right to pray publicly "in Jesus name."


1. Report: Chaplains who can't "reconcile" with homosexual sin will be separated.


The newly released Pentagon plan to purge Christians entitled "DADT Report: Support Plan for Implementation" specifically requires Christian chaplains to "reconcile" with homosexual sin or face administrative discharge. It repeats twice on pages 30 and 57: "If a chaplain is unable to reconcile serving with or caring for gay and lesbian Service members with his or her faith, the chaplain may request that the relevant endorsing agency withdraw its ecclesiastical endorsement for him or her. This would trigger an administrative separation under DoDI 1304.28." Wow. Now the Obama Administration is officially on record pressuring Chaplains to quit the service if they cannot "reconcile" with homosexual sin that violates their Christian conscience. This "plan" alone should alarm the new conservative Congress to the need for bold protection of Chaplains' rights. Let's help...


2. Chaplains will have religious "freedom" only in context of Sunday chapel.


The Pentagon report dubiously promises to protect Chaplains' freedoms, "in the context of their religious ministry," claiming they won't need to change their sermons, counseling, prayers, or worship. But speaking from personal experience as a former Navy chaplain, I can decode the secret word "context" to mean chaplains clearly WON'T have religious freedom outside of that "context." As proof, in my case the Navy twice declared the only safe religious "context" was ONLY inside a Sunday chapel. As a chaplain I was punished in writing three times for quoting the Bible EVEN inside chapel, but since the optionally-attended worship service was held on a Saturday, not a Sunday, Navy investigators sided with the Commander who punished my sermons. Later a Navy judge ruled that my Thursday prayers outside the White House were "not public worship" which was only safe in the context of Sunday chapel, instead finding me guilty of the misdemeanor crime of "worshipping in public" in uniform which he said was NOT protected by federal law, so my commander could order me to stop "worshipping in public" in uniform. Say what? Because my prayers in Jesus name were not said in the proper "context," they were properly punished, the Navy judge ruled to punish the chaplain.


3. Battalion Commander relieved of duty for refusing to "endorse" open sin.


One Senior Officer in the Army National Guard has already been relieved of his battalion-level commanding officer job after stating his conscience would not allow him to participate in "re-education" training that will soon force young Christians to learn how to respect homosexual sin. "Today is my last day in command," the career Army officer told WND.com, anonymously for fear of losing his retirement. "From now on I'll be a staff officer without a bunch of people working under me, so I won't have the moral conflict with having to enforce this new policy on them...When I retire I will speak on the record. I don't know how much I can do before that. Sooner or later I'm going to get told to shut up. If I continue to make statements, it might become a witch hunt. I don't want to lose my retirement unless it comes to the point they tell me I have to attend the [pro-'gay'] training."


4. Left demands punishment of Christian Colonel who is taking a stand.


Atheist bloggers and anti-Christian complainers are demanding punishment for one heroic career Army officer, Lt. Col. Stacy L. Maxey, who said he will exercise his legal right to take a stand for Jesus against homosexual sin by publicly expressing his Christian beliefs.


In a letter to Stars and Stripes entitled "Won't Choose To Deal With It," Lt. Col. Maxey took a stand, and wrote:


"So let me see if I understand this: The Defense Department is proposing to let people who choose to live a homosexual lifestyle serve 'openly' in the armed forces, but won't allow Christians such as myself the freedom to 'openly' share the good news of Christ with our co-workers - as the faith we've chosen requires?


"DOD officials plan to tell servicemembers who have a problem with those living a homosexual lifestyle to 'learn to deal with it,' but they are prepared to counsel and/or slap Christians with paperwork if someone feels "offended" by our witness? Wearing sexual lifestyle choices on your sleeve is OK, but not your faith?


"Military chaplains who teach that homosexuality is antithetical to and incompatible with Christianity (which it is) can either muzzle their objections or 'leave,' but gays will be permitted to parade their lifestyle choices in front of all?


"Bottom line: So I'm free to express myself if I'm a homosexual, but not if I'm a Christian? What disgraceful hypocrisy.


"Here's the truth: I will continue to witness to who I want, when I want and where I want. My commitment to my God supersedes my commitment to the DOD and, if officials are upset about that, then I guess they can 'learn to deal with it.'


"Department of Defense? More like the Department of Double Standards."


Priests in Catholic High Schools are trageted by Gay Fascists.

INDIANAPOLIS, Indiana, March 29, 2011 (LifeSiteNews.com) – A Catholic priest has come under fire from homosexual activists for “anti-gay indoctrination” after he taught his students what the Catholic Church teaches about homosexuality in his high school course on gay “marriage.”

Equality Matters, a media and communications group for homosexual rights, on their website accused the chaplain of Indianapolis’ Cardinal Ritter High School of “spouting a stream of homophobic and offensive falsehoods about same-sex marriage and gay people in general to a classroom full of students.”

Fr. John Hollowell, chaplain and teacher at the private Catholic high school, had posted the videos of the lectures on YouTube and his personal blog last week.

In the lectures he explains Catholic teaching on homosexuality. However, his presentation was denounced as “anti-gay lecturing” by the media watchdog group, who said that the priest “calls homosexual acts ‘an abomination’, advocates for ex-gay therapy, and rails against same-sex adoption and marriage by comparing homosexuality to alcoholism and prostitution.”

The priest is currently in Rome and says he won’t be able to respond to the accusations until his return.

In the videos, however, Fr. Hollowell is seen challenging his students to think about and discuss the “difficult” issues of homosexuality and homosexual “marriage.”

He points out that the Bible, in Leviticus 20:13 and other places in the New Testament, calls “homosexual acts” an “abomination.” “You have two options,” he says, “God is cool with homosexuality, homosexual acts, I should say … or what the Bible and the Church say about it is correct … There’s no middle ground on that issue.”

The priest refers to the Catechism of the Catholic Church, the official book of the teachings of the Church, which states that homosexuals “must be accepted with respect, compassion, and sensitivity,” and condemns any form of “unjust discrimination” against them.

However, the Catechism also states that homosexual inclinations are “objectively disordered” and homosexual acts are “acts of grave depravity.” “Under no circumstances can they be approved,” it says, explaining that people with the homosexual inclination are called to chastity.

Fr. Hollowell points out that human beings are able to choose either to act or not to act on given inclinations. Those who experience homosexual attraction, he said, are called upon to refrain from acting on their inclination. Just because someone has an “inclination to something” (for example, drinking alcohol, homosexual acts, etc.) does not make them “less culpable for acting on it,” he said.

Equality Matters claims that 70 percent of Catholics and the majority of Americans now believe that messages such as Fr. Hollowell’s lead to higher rates of homosexual teen suicide.

Hollowell, however, argues that the position he advocates is one of compassion. “If you’re struggling with homosexual attraction, the Church’s first message is compassion,” he told his students, “helping them overcome it is not the first inclination.”

Programs such as Courage are in place to help people “who want it,” he said, “we’re not out there telling people they need to change.”

Fr. Hollowell also described the “key Catholic social teaching” on homosexuality and its relation to the “common good.” By common good is meant “what every human person does affects me and affects everyone else,” said Fr. Hollowell, explaining why students should be concerned about homosexual “marriage” legislation in other states. “The Church sees society as one body, therefore all are affected,” whether we realize it or not.

Food for thought . . . more probably fuel for the fires?