Bishop Bernard James Sheil the Victim of Co-Opting Clowns and Cardinal Cody

There ain't no clout, when your clout is dead. That is a Chicago Commandment. Shakman Decree killed clout in Chicago - "hey, can you help me? - " Not a chance;Tell me about it, walking. Shakman, Dude! No Bosses. Hit the door."

There is no Shakman anywhere else, but Chicago, Cook County and the dumber parts of Illinois. Shakman helped Michael Shakman amass millions of dollars and soulless people get elected, prevents any possible human contact in government and is destroying public service. Shakman like abortion is what passes for progressive thought.

Clout means assistance from someone at a personal level. Clout is a good thing. Goo-goos hate Clout. I have yet to experience a Progressive who ever took an active empirical interest in another carbon life-form. I have been told that they are out there, but, Dog My Cats, I have yet to meet, learn by word-of-mouth, read-about, or tripped over a Progressive (a devout disciple of John Dewey/Hegel/Jane Addams/Roger Baldwin/Margaret Sanger)who would ever dig-in past the pocket lint and fugitive Breath-Savers and claw up a nickel for another human being. I get out a lot too.

Good Works are not Programs. Programs are bureaucracies run by managers with staffs and salaries. Programs are tax-generated by cash. Cash can not do good works; metaphysical impossibility.

Progressives rail against good works, especially good works by public persons. Public Persons who do good works are called Bosses. Bosses are targets of Federal, State and local investigations by Blue Ribbon Goo-goo panels comprised of academics and political outsiders. Political outsiders are people who never do anything for anyone but themselves and call that civic virtue. Rather, Goo-goos badger their enthralled editorial boards, community activists and political suits into legislating programs that cost tax-payers but create armies of dependants. No saloon-keeper alderman can match a loudmouth with a microphone, TV time and politicians who already rented out their souls and principles.

Today, I am reacting to a reaction to my post on Bishop Sheil. Bishop Sheil is out of the general public collective memory. Shiel was co-opted to death, by the Church and the Progressives. As I noted in my previous post, Bishop Sheil was ecumenical long before Vatican II.

Born in a mixed black-white, Catholic-Jewish, Irish-Polish neighborhood on Chicago's West Side, Sheil was lace-curtain Irish. His grandfather had been an alderman, his father was Democratic leader of the 14th Ward. Entering St. Viator's College in Bourbonnais (a later pupil: Fulton J. Sheen), Sheil was ordained in 1910 and assigned to a middle-class parish. He caught Cardinal Mundelein's eye, however, and began to receive promising assignments. He served as chaplain at the Cook County jail, as an assistant at Holy Name Cathedral and was named chancellor of the archdiocese in 1923. A year later, on his first visit to Rome, he was received by Pius XI, and in 1928 he was consecrated bishop.

I got an interesting e-mail from of pal, Elias Crim, who forwarded me a note from a gent who reacted to my recent offering of Bishop Bernard James Sheil. This person noted that a Jewish branch of B'Nai B'rith had established programs similar the CYO ten years before Bishop Shiel put his ideas into action.

This was the Old Testament preceding the New Testament.

The B'nai B'rith Youth Organization began in Omaha in 1924 and spread rapidly, reaching Chicago within a year. Very quickly BBYO became organized in Jewish neighborhoods throughout Chicago, with prominent basketball and boxing programs, in particular.

There were (and are) a boys' arm, called Aleph Zadik Aleph (a/k/a "AZA", using Hebrew letters in Greek fraternity style), and a girls' arm, B'nai B'rith Girls (BBG). Heavy on sports, after-school programs, service projects, and dances, with a typical American emphasis on self-government (teens conducting business meetings with parliamentary procedure, electing officers, publishing newspapers, sending delegates to regional, national, and, by the 1940s, international conventions, etc.)

Bishop Sheil liked that model a lot.

Sheil knew what he was doing, it seems because he had some great roots dug out of the Nebraska soil and brought to Chicago, where Catholics and Jews crowded together around Halsted Street. The athletic/social activity element founded in Faith must have had an impact upon Sheil to be sure.

Catholic Social programs were well established before the arrival of George Cardinal Mundelein, but it was by Mundeleins fiat that talented underlings like Bernard Sheil and Msgr. Hoban were directed to actively improve direct Catholic Action.

The origin of the CYO in 1930 was certainly the most impressive and most dangerous to Progressives. Action was a reflection of Faith and not taxes - bureaucratic programs would sanitize Action of Faith.

The Catholic Church, no stranger to politics, had ambitious clergy who were willing to advance themselves over the bones of good people.

I offer two pieces taken from Time Magazine that are the post mortems of the CYO and Bishop Shiel.

One is from 1954:

Christmas in Chicago used to include one famed celebration. Among as many as 800 children, ecstatic before a mountain of toys and candy-crammed paper bags, workers of the Catholic Youth Organization would labor happily to distribute presents and keep order. And in the middle of the maelstrom would move the founder and father of C.Y.O., The Most Rev. Bernard J. Sheil—a firm-faced Friar Tuck kneeling nimbly beside the toddlers, leading other children by the hand, talking to twelve-year-olds with the dignity becoming their years. To Bishop Sheil, the C.Y.O. Christmas Party was a symbol of his life and work—cheerful, practical action among the big-city poor.

But this Christmas there will be no party. The toys people have offered so far have been rejected or sent to some other charity. The second-hand paper bags C.Y.O. staffers saved all year to fill with candy were thrown away unused. The staff itself was decimated and depressed; Bishop Sheil of Chicago never goes to the C.Y.O. offices any more.

"The Thing You Desire." The Christmas party is only one of many good things that began to vanish from the archdiocese after Shell's dramatic resignation as C.Y.O. director-general last fall (TIME, Sept. 13). He never told why he resigned, nor did his superior, Samuel Cardinal Stritch, but the reason is becoming as plain as the old Water Works on Michigan Avenue. Bishop Sheil, a generous and sometimes over-generous man, had undertaken a great number of ambitious projects and had spread his resources thin. His long-standing liberalism and impatience with reverse-collar bureaucracy had brought him enemies. By the time Bishop Sheil made his well-aimed attack on Joe McCarthy (TIME, April 19), which earned him considerable dislike in some places among the Roman Catholic clergy and laity, the reaction of a few big financial contributors was enough to cause serious trouble. When money sources on which he relied to meet the bulk of the C.Y.O.'s million-dollar budget began to dry up, the cardinal's office began to move in on the C.Y.O., and Sheil quit.

"The C.Y.O. will continue to benefit from your counsel," said Cardinal Stritch to Bishop Sheil publicly, "and will become the thing you desire." But today the C.Y.O. and much of the "empire" of do-good organizations he created are being whittled away.

The Casualties. Of 27 major activities related to C.Y.O., twelve are dead or have been served with a death warrant, four have been transferred to other agencies, two have been cut down and turned over to Catholic Charities, four have their fate in doubt. Among the casualties: If Sheil Institute, a commercial college. Attended mostly by young adults with daytime jobs, it required all students (15% Negro, 30% non-Catholic) to take a course in business ethics along with their other work. It will close in January. ¶ The Sheil School of Social Studies, set up to provide adult education in the liberal arts and philosophy. It has been attended by some 20,000 in its eleven years, was at its record enrollment of 700 when it closed last fortnight. ¶ The Sheil Social Service, which collected food and clothing for poor children, closed in September. ¶FM station WFJL, which promoted religion along with its boxing matches, closing December 31.

Read more: http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,821045,00.html#ixzz1MnOCx96M

The political clout of Bishop Sheil died along with the mortal husk of George Cardinal Mundelein in 1939. Cardinal Stritch began to undo many of the direct actions for social justice established by Bishop Sheil. Following WWII, the boys who had boxed at CYO came home, established the greatest standard of living the world has ever seen and no longer needed a leg up in life. They had the G.I.Bill, the Taft Hartley Act and the most robust labor movement on earth. The CYO?

Well, another Prince of the Church followed Cardinal Stritchs successor Albert Cardinal Meyer - the ecclesiastical mirror of the political Governor Pat Quinn or Senator Dick Durbin. John Cardinal Cody was akin to Mayor Rahm Emanuel -change came hard, fast and impersonally.

When he moved to Chicago last year from New Orleans, the Most Rev. John Patrick Cody brought along a well-founded reputation as a tough clerical administrator who likes to cut out deadwood. Last week Roman Catholic Cody lived up to his no-nonsense fame by firing one of the patron saints of Chicago-style liberalism: Auxiliary Archbishop Bernard J. Sheil, pastor of St. Andrew's parish and founder of the vast Catholic Youth Organization.

A fire-eater who publicly denounced the "phony antiCommunism" of Joe McCarthy in 1954, Sheil is now 78 and subject to ailments (most recently a broken ankle) that have kept him from performing pastoral duties. Cody visited Sheil with the suggestion that he let a younger man take over financial administration of the parish. Sheil at first consented, but then told a newsman: "I didn't retire. This is a removal." Cody expressed his regret that the matter had been made public—and coolly named a new pastor of the parish.

Since Cody had already replaced 35 other overage pastors, many Catholics agreed that he could hardly fail to seek Sheil's retirement as well. Nonetheless, there were plenty of complaints about the abrupt manner of the dismissal from priests and laymen who felt more comfortable under the free-and-easy regime of the late Albert Cardinal Meyer.

Chicago's Catholics freely credit Cody with a number of notable reforms: he has modernized the archdiocesan seminary, raised the salaries of lay teachers in parochial schools, let assistant pastors elect two representatives to Chicago's influential board of priest consultors (previously all members had been appointed by the archbishop). By the same token, Cody is something of an authoritarian; both his priests and his parishioners complain that his communications, far from being two-way, consist of his sending the word on down. Last month an ad hoc committee organized three meetings attended by 400 Chicago clerics, recommended that priests have a greater share in formation of archdiocesan policy and that assignment procedures be revised. In effect, the committee formed the closest thing yet to a union of priests.

Read more: http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,835601,00.html#ixzz1MnYkQLjt

Clout is direct action to do good. When your clout is dead, and nothing is deader than dead clout, the game is over.

The Church and Government chose programs over personal acts of good.

Clout is as dead as the CYO.

In the Old Man-Killing Parishes - The Death of My Irish Cousin Larry Hickey

HICKEY (Crinnie, Castleisland, Co. Kerry*) May 15, 2011, Laurence (Larry), (peacefully), beloved husband of Mary (nee Keane) and much loved father of Bart, Marina, Helen, Noreen and D.J.; sadly missed by his loving wife and family, sons-in-law, daughter-in-law, grandchildren, brothers, sisters, all extended family, relatives and friends. R.I.P. Reposing at Tangney's Funeral Home, Castleisland this (Monday) evening from 4.30 o'c. to 7 o'c., followed by Removal to Castleisland Parish Church. Requiem Mass tomorrow (Tuesday) at 11 o'c. Burial afterwards in Kilbanivane Cemetery, Castleisland. House private please.

When I got home from Leo High School last night, my son Conor interrupted his study of The Principles of Air and Ventilation Systems for his class at Local 399, to tell me that my cousin Larry Hickey had died. There are a number of Larrys, as there are a wealth of Pats, Mikes, Barts, and Sylvesters. Conor said, " Larry of Crinna." He was not a 399 Hickey, nor am I. Larry was a dairy farmer on an ancient family farm that sits on a mountain above the town of Castleisland, County Kerry Ireland. I am one of the very few Hickeys without an Engineer's license, or a membership -card in Local 399. I was determined 'useless' at a very early age and consigned to a vocation that did not require attention to mechanical detail and the sweat of the brow. " Jesus, Man! You had better get into a college or you'll sh-tarve,so!" was the dictate of my grandfather

Local 399 of the International Union of Operating Engineers was started by my grandfather sometime after the 1912 stockyard strikes. Many of the engineers were from County Kerry, Ireland and it was a lousy job back then - hauling coal and shoveling cinders for the packing houses of Cudahy, Armour, Swift and the smaller concerns.

Today, it is a skilled trade that requires a command of operating systems that maintain the quality of air, water and gases required to heat, conduct clean air and provide air conditioning. The trade evolved. Where once brute strength and a willingness to suffer and strain within furnaces to clean out cinders and ash, shovel coal, maintain boilers and then battle company goons for a few quarters a day were all that were required of young immigrant fresh from the bogs of Kerry. Today a sharp and scientific understanding of air and water systems as well as brute strength and a willingness to fight for one's job with skill, a sound work ethic and attention to detail is necessary.

The Kerrymen who remained in Ireland, when my grandfather left at fifteen years of age, were the elder sons who would inherit the patch of land in the name of the family. The youngsters emigrated to England, Canada, Australia, Hong Kong and America.

Larry was the eldest son, of an eldest son - my grandfather's older brother Bartholomew son of Barthlomew, or Bateen -'little Bart.' Larry was a big man like my grandfather Laurence ( Larry), but a gentle and soft-spokenly understated man where Grandpa Hickey was a pioneer Rage-aholic and an unparalleled blaspheming wild bog-man. He was a powerful gent even well into his seventies and could lift a long coal shovel from the tip of the pole with his arm parallel to the floor and bring the flat end to perfect geometric tangent and all at arm's length. Try doing the same that with the end of push broom.

Larry of Kerry operated the ancestral farm on the side of a mountain - Crinnie, or Crinna. He raised dairy cattle and formed a syndicate with his neighbors that eventually became Kerry Ingredients - Kerry Gold butter, cheese, and dry products. Larry did well.

When my wife died, I took Nora and Conor to visit Crinna ( Crinnie Mountain) and Conor helped Larry's son Bart work the cattle and dig in the bogs. Irish turf was burned in the hearth and in the cast-iron stoves for warmth and cooking fuel. Cutting and Footing turf, or digging the product which was spade-shaped into ingots of flecked black peat and dried on pyramidal reeks, made the early Kerryman engineers adepts at handling the coal shovels and could work like automatons for hours. My grandfather's greatest compliment would go, not to one who acquired a university degree, won medals in a war, hit a homerun in little league, or ran for office. His only encomium was " That man can dig, so."

Here is Tom Lally cutting the turf -



And "Your man" footing the cut turf -



Cousin Larry could dig! He had powerful hands and sinewy forearms. He could operate farm machinery. Develop and maintain a business and household budget. Understand the Irish economy and EU dairy futures and be a sweet-natured and generous soul into the bargain.

Larry visited Chicago in 2007 and that was the last time that I spoke with this lovely man.

I re-read Seamus Heany's wonderful poem The Tollund Man in tribute to Larry.

The Tollund Man concerns an archaeological dig in the Jutland region of the Baltic. A perfectly preserved corpse was taken from the Jutland bogs - a Viking. The soupy bog preserved something of a person whose soul no longer drove his muscle and bones.

This Memento Mori poem is wonderful. Our families are wonderful. Life is wonderful.

The Nobel Prize Winner's Poem about the Tollund Man

Heaney purposely writes that he will go to Aarhus to see the Tollund Man even though he knows that he is on display in Silkeborg. But in Heaney's opinion "Aarhus" goes better with the metrical feet.
Here is the original poem in English
I
Some day I will go to Aarhus
To see his peat-brown head,
The mild pods of his eye-lids,
His pointed skin cap.

In the flat country near by
Where they dug him out,
His last gruel of winter seeds
Caked in his stomach,

Naked except for
The cap, noose and girdle,
I will stand a long time.
Bridegroom to the goddess,

She tightened her torc on him
And opened her fen,
Those dark juices working
Him to a saint's kept body,

Trove of the turfcutters'
Honeycombed workings.
Now his stained face
Reposes at Aarhus.

II
I could risk blasphemy,
Consecrate the cauldron bog
Our holy ground and pray
Him to make germinate

The scattered, ambushed
Flesh of labourers,
Stockinged corpses
Laid out in the farmyards,

Tell-tale skin and teeth
Flecking the sleepers
Of four young brothers, trailed
For miles along the lines.

III

Something of his sad freedom
As he rode the tumbril
Should come to me, driving,
Saying the names

Tollund, Grauballe, Nebelgard,
Watching the pointing hands
Of country people,
Not knowing their tongue.

Out here in Jutland
In the old man-killing parishes
I will feel lost,
Unhappy and at home.

*Castleisland is often considered the Gateway to Kerry, as the main road to all towns in Western and Southern Kerry passes through here - the N21 from Limerick continues on to Tralee while the N22 goes to Killarney and other towns in Southern Kerry.

The Glenaruddery mountains to the north and the Stacks to the west define the beginning of the 'Vale of Tralee', at the mouth of which Castleisland is situated. Most of the land around Castleisland is pasture for dairy stock, with bogland located at various locations around the town, particularly to the east and south.

It is in the barony of Trughanacmy.

•County Kerry is the most western part of Europe.
•The current popoluation is about 140,000. Just before the famine it was 293,880 .
•Thousands of years ago Ireland had two glaciers. One that carved out Kerry and one that covered the rest of Ireland.

http://www.agoodconfession.co.uk/My%20Ireland.html

IMF Chairman DSK: Frog One's Guide to Wooing Women

A Saudi, a Russian, a North Korean, and a Frenchman were
approached by a reporter. "Excuse me, what is your opinion
about the meat shortage?"

Saudi: "What's a shortage?"

Russian: "What's meat?"

North Korean: "What's an opinion?"

Frenchman: "Excuse me?? What's excuse me?"

One victim of IMF Chair Dominique Strauss-Kahn* described his advances upon her as those of a Chimp on Speed. Does this Minky have a License?

Aside from their love of Jerry Lewis movies; aversion to soap, water and Burma Shave; Rousseau, Malraux, and movies about nothing I am a Franco-phile. I dig the Foreign Legion, Maurice Chevalier, Leslie Caron and French cuisine. My favorite character in the French Connection was Frog One the dope slinger and mollusk slurping French Dandy.

New York has Frog One's twin in custody for raping a hotel maid. In deferece to his Nation, let's assume that he is guilty until proven innocent.

A New York cop buddy of mine e-mailed me his thoughts on love making. They always sound nice in French.

Voila!

My friends, no one lures a woman into the web of love like Frenchman.

Use these charming bon mots to woo a lovely girl and have your wicked way with her!

(Mes amis, ne leurres une femme dans le web de l'amour comme le Français.

Utilisez ces bons mots de charme pour séduire une belle jeune fille et d'avoir votre mauvaise voie avec elle!)
En français, s'il vous plaît.


1.Venez sur le bébé laissez les bons temps rouler!

2. Je suis seulement en ville pour quelques jours, donc let's rock de la casbah!

3. Quittez que sourire et déposer votre linge!

4. Q. Vous savez à quoi ressemblerait beaucoup sur vous?
A.Me.

5. Je parie que vous avez mis dehors comme une machine à pop!

6. Bracelet en sœur! Rocket Man a décoller!

7. D'accord, Venez en travers ou je casse le bras et de notation de crédit pour ce continent tout entier méchant!

Before we look at the charges against this beaut allow me to ask,


Q. How many jokes are there about the French?
A. One, the rest are true


*

This is the Manhattan criminal court complaint in the case:

Detective Steven Lane, shield 03295 of the Detective Borough Manhattan Special Victims Squad, states as follows:


On May 14, 2011, at about 12:00 hours inside of 45 West 44th street in the county and state of New York, the defendant committed the offences of:

1. Criminal sexual act in the first degree (2 counts)

2. Attempted rape in the first degree (1 count)

3. Sexual abuse in the first degree (1 count)

4. Unlawful imprisonment in the 2nd degree-DNA-eligible MISD (1 count)

5. Sexual abuse in the 3rd degree-DNA-eligible MISD (1 count)

6. Forcible touching-DNA-eligible-MISD

The defendant engaged in oral sexual conduct and anal sexual conduct with another person by forcible compulsion; the defendant attempted to engage in sexual intercourse with another person by forcible compulsion; the defendant subjected another person to sexual contact by forcible compulsion; the defendant restrained another person; the defendant subjected another person to sexual contact without the latter's consent; and in that the defendant intentionally, and for no legitimate purpose, forcibly touched the sexual and other intimate parts of another person for the purpose of degrading and abusing such person, and for the purpose of gratifying the defendant's sexual desire.


The offences were committed under the following circumstances:

Deponent states that deponent is informed by an individual known to the District Attorney's office that defendant 1) shut the door to the above location and prevented informant from leaving the above location; 2) grabbed informant's breasts without consent; 3) attempted to pull down informant's pantyhose and forcibly grabbed informant's vaginal area; 4) forcibly made contact with his penis and informant's mouth twice; and 5) was able to accomplish the above acts by using actual physical force.


Now. get to translating Breakfast Clubbers!

I wonder how long it will take Woody Allen, Alec Baldwin, and Sean Penn to raise money for his defense? Un, Du, Tois

Before PC Killed History, There Was Fighting Bishop Bernard Sheil

"You should know, that I wasn't ordained a Catholic priest in order to become an archbishop." Bernard Sheil to a banker who tried to threaten Sheil for speaking out on American Labor

Bishop Sheil was instrumental in the development of Leo High School in 1921. He was Cardinal Mundelein's eyes on the street. The Cardinal's tough guy athlete got things done by doing. He brought people into the ring with him to mix it up for a better world and the school dedicated to the Pope of the Working Man -Pope Leo XIII was his baby.

Yesterday, three college football coaches visited Leo - Yale, North Dakota and Eastern Michigan - in order to recruit some of our guys. The coach from Eastern Michigan was a huge young guy who played for the Phoenix Cardinals and now coached. Three fourths of his time is spent finding the righ student athletes for his program. All three coaches visited Mount Carmel, St. Rita, Loyola and Fenwick because young men from Catholic schools bring more to the table - they belong.

Athletes and Scholars are very similar in their drive and commitment. Catholic grammar schools and high schools, more than any other visible aspect of the Roman Catholic Church in America, reflect what is most enduring - that sense of belonging. It is wonderful to watch thirty fifth graders parade from Kennedy Park in their St. Cajetan Warrior jerseys. You do not join a team; you belong to it. You do not attend a school; you belong to the Lions, The Mustangs, the Caravan and the Meteors.

I had an interesting talk with the coach from Eastern Michigan* - no longer the Hurons - the Eagles. PC killed the sense of belonging to a school situated on the Huron River in Michigan. So, since 1991, history has been buried. Catholics bury important links to history as well. We had better quit doing that. Bishop Sheil would want us to keep our memories sharp - keep the guard up.

Bishop Sheil was an athlete who pitched a no-hitter for St. Viator College, a Roman Catholic Seminary in Bourbonnais, Illinois ( alma mater of Bishop Fulton J. Sheen), which is now Olivet Nazarene University. Shiel pitched a no-hitter against the University of Illinois and later sparred with capitalists and Communists to achieve a just wage and human working conditions.

The Catholic Church gave up St. Viator's to a small Protestant dnomination from Texas. The Nazarene Church flourished and their college in Bourbonnais is that denomination's Notre Dame. Bernard Shiel became a Catholic priest, when being a Catholic meant putting own's money where one's mouth was. I grew up at the end of that era - post Vatican II. The Mass went from universal Latin to English and lost the beauty, majesty and mystery that should be fundamental to the Sacrament of the Eucharist. Liturgy was now vernacular - conducted in English, Spanish, Polish, Croatian and even Tagalog. Priests faced the congregation and Consecration of the Eucharist took a backseat to Father's lecture on Social Justice.

Social Justice had been taught in Catholic Schools and it was hands-on - CISCA -Catholic Intra Student Catholic Action. Catholic Action meant getting involved in the Faith. Helping the poor, the orphaned, the widowed, the imprisoned, the sick, the disabled and the disenfranchised.

Officially founded in 1930, the Catholic Youth Organization (CYO) built upon previously initiated Holy Name Societies in parishes throughout the Chicago Archdiocese. Centralized in a downtown office and led by the legendary and controversial Bishop Bernard J. Sheil, the CYO sought to combat delinquency, Americanize ethnic Catholics, and bridge social divisions during the Great Depression. Whereas previous Americanization efforts of Cardinal George Mundelein had met with meager success, the CYO fostered widespread Catholic unity even as it furthered the Church's inclusion in the mainstream culture. The CYO offered a wide-ranging system of social services, community centers, and vacation schools; but its greatest publicity resulted from an extensive and comprehensive sports program that claimed the world's largest basketball league (430 teams) and an international boxing team. Such CYO ventures included American Indians, African Americans, Asians, and Jews, which catapulted Bishop Sheil to national prominence as a social activist and labor leader.

Gerald R. Gems

From grammar school through parenthood, Catholics belonged to the Church - they did not only attend Mass on Sunday. Whether it was a sport, a fine arts initiative, a novena, or a dance, Chicago Catholics belonged in and to every aspect of community life. Little guys and girls who played on CYO teams also joined devotional sodalities and later brought that commitment to their studies and careers.

Like St. Viator College, that sense of belonging seems to have been the price of new relevancies of Vatican II. Words not Deeds trumped everything.

The CYO became irrelevant to universal social change. CYO like too much of the Catholic Church in America was co-opted.

Social Justice was youth oriented and found outlets in athletics that brought blacks and white, better-off and destitute kids together for boxing, football, basketball, swimming and track and field. This was the CYO the Catholic Youth Organization developed by Father and later Bishop Bernard Sheil, who pitched a no-hitter against University of Illinois for St. Viator College.

Bernard James Sheil is almost forgotten today. History has burned in the Orwellian memory-hole over the last thirty years. America is seriously dumbed down. Bishop Sheil's Wikipedia passage is such thin gruel it is not worth a glance. Bishop Sheil's life is in the dusty covers of old books and the files of the Archdiocese of Chicago Archieves.

Sheil was ecumenical and catholic long before Pope John XXIII called all of the red hats and mitres to Rome. He was a priest in tradition of stockyard pastors like Monsignor Dorney who walked up and down Halsted and physically threatened pimps and saloon keepers, as well as read them off from the pulpit. Sheil, like Father Dorney who was called the King of the Stockyards, respected and obeyed by labor leaders, packing house owners and parishioners of St. Gabriel Parish, took the Gospel outdoors. Not only that, Sheil made things happen. He worked both sides of the ideological street, while working with Saul Alinskey he balanced things with Joe Meegan of the Back of the Yards Council. While fighting for social justice, Bishop Sheil confounded Communism for the snake oil that its is. The Lefties hated Sheil and they helped bury his deeds during the triumph of political correctness.

For a Progressive there is no forgive and forget. There is only forget and damned such that everyone forgets what happened ten minutes ago.

Sheil was so effective that Franklin Delano Roosevelt kept in touch with Bishop Sheil all through his Presidencies.

Most of all, unlike later day priest-prophets, Sheil used the media and did not become its tool. Sheil dug into his cassock pockets and showed up early to set-up chairs.

With his (Sheil's) own inheritance from his father and $10,000 from Utility Man Budd, Sheil set out to lure off the streets young potential gangsters—white and Negro, Protestant, Catholic and Jew—with a social and athletic program that kept moralizing to a minimum. Boxing was the major attraction. When some high-minded people clucked at the stress on boxing, Bishop Sheil's reply was: "Show me how you can inspire boys away from the brothels and saloons with a checker tournament and I'll put on the biggest checker tournament you ever saw."

Today the bishop has a staff of 500 to help him run the C.Y.O.. which spent $1,500,000 last year in Chicago alone on such projects as two large community centers in Italian and Negro neighborhoods, medical, psychiatric, child-guidance and remedial-reading clinics, a radio station, and an orientation program for Puerto Ricans. There are hundreds of other C.Y.O. centers throughout the U.S. and abroad. . . .
Bishop Sheil made himself just as unpopular with fringers on the right as with those on the left. At one forum on Christian-Jewish relations he was viciously heckled by a delegation of Christian Fronters, and a virago pushed her way towards him as he was leaving. "I'm a Catholic!" she screamed. "You're not a Catholic—you're a nigger-lover and a Jew-lover. You call yourself a bishop. You're not a bishop, you're a rabbi." And she spat in his face.

Bishop Sheil did not move a muscle. "I thank you. madam, for the compliment of your action and your words." he said calmly. "Rabbi? That is what they called our Lord."

Time Magazine 1953.

Words matter to ninnies. Action and Deeds mark a human being's impact.

Bishop Sheil took action. He was an athlete who understood balance - the Gospel must be accepted and put into action in the same way that a boxer mixes the doctrine of assault and defemse in its proper prroportion. There are no Bishop Sheil's in the ring these days. However, there are three Catholic priests who act like Bishop Sheil - Father Dan Mallette, Father George Clements and Father John Smyth - like Sheil they are too real to get promoted.


*The controversy over the nickname continues to this day, as many former students and faculty were angered that a unique name like Hurons was replaced by a common name like Eagles, especially for reasons of political correctness. Some alumni have even refused to donate money to the school until the name Hurons is restored. An official chapter of the EMU Alumni Association, the Huron Restoration Chapter, seeks to bring back the name and claims to have the support of Chief Leaford Bearskin of the Wyandot Tribe of Oklahoma and former Grand Chief Max Gros-Louis of the Huron-Wendat Nation of Quebec.[6]


http://www.encyclopedia.chicagohistory.org/pages/220.html

http://books.google.com/books?id=xdV_JV1fbZMC&pg=PA94&lpg=PA94&dq=bishop+sheil+and+the+cyo&source=bl&ots=fhBqBZbpLG&sig=mGcbd8ww4X4LE83tWMa3OaN8NUo&hl=en&ei=61nSTefRMobk0QHowIzECw&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=7&ved=0CDoQ6AEwBjgK#v=onepage&q=bishop%20sheil%20and%20the%20cyo&f=false

Warm Wishes On A Frosty Inaugural Morning to Mayor Emanuel

I really like Rahm Emanuel's pre-inaugural weekend of pulling weeds and tilling Chicago soil in Englewood. The Mayor-elect brought his children into the labor that was so much more than a photo-op. Mayor-elect Rahm Emanuel stood in the elements among the people he will serve.

Politics is an art and very vicious one at that. However, I know many public men and some women who manage to remember exactly where they come from and whom they serve. These are public servants and not power players. They have happy home lives and their children grow up unspoiled and un-Entitled. They learn about service and some follow their parents into public life.

They do not step to the front of the lines. They don't flash Dad's Office and never say " Do You Know Who I Am?" These children of public persons learn to try out for the teams on their own merit, wait their turns, pitch in and help, serve their neighbors and help those in need.

Happiness comes from leading a life that recognizes something larger than oneself. Happiness has nothing to do with velvet ropes, or VIP treatment. Happiness comes from making a better world than the one that welcomed you.

Today, Mayor Rahm Emanuel will be sworn in as the forty-seventh Mayor of Chicago ( 1837-2011) - The Harrisons pere et fil and the Daleys Dad and Lad were the longest serving Mayors and Davis Orr served but eight days.

The people of Chicago welcome Rahm Emanuel to lead this city. I wish Rahm Emanuel only best for his term of office, but more so, I wish his wife and children peace and happiness during these heady days to come.

Chicago Is Hardly "Braced" for Mayor Rahm - Always Another Bus!

I read the New York Times early this frosty May morning with GREAT interest. Well, not really. I read it in the same way that I read the Tribune and the Sun Times, but the New York Tines has much more to read. The New York Times is interested in Chicago and Chicago's mayor because the New York Times is interested in President Obama. You see what happens in Chicago, plays national. Chicago is the epicenter of the less than storm-like Obama 2012 Campaign.

Rahm Emanuel is the Obama 2012 Campaign writ small. Rahm Emanuel won the Fifth Floor on LaSalle Street the day that Daley fil called it Qs.

Rahm was bankrolled. He was so thick with the long-green difference that he became a life-long, gangway and alley rat kid of the neighborhoods. One can purchase street-cred, as has middle class Momma's Boys like Sean Puffy P-Diddy What's-his-name. He is as street as ARMANI. I do not believe for a minute Rahm went skeechin down snow packed Chicago streets from the bumpers of Buicks and Pontiacs, but he is now Chicago's Mayor. Good luck to him.

The New York Times however is telling the world that Chicagoans are 'bracing' for Mayor Rahm. News to me.

I know that my nephew was preparing Millennium Park for the inaugural events and the possible arrival of the Vice President or possibly a surprise - Oprah Style - drop-in by President Obama. Like those old Dean Martin Shows - Old Buddy President Obama walks out from behind the curtain and the audience hoots approval.

Nope the New York Times is telling Chicagoans that we are worried that Mayor Rahm might be a temp - he might have eyes on bigger prizes. Oh, Say it ain't, veridical, Mayor Emanuel!

Chicago, it seems, wants to be convinced. Inside and outside the political sphere here, people say they presume that Mr. Emanuel, known for his ambition and drive, will be on to some bigger, fancier chapter eventually. One guessing game among political analysts even before the swearing-in: will it be a presidential run or a governor’s race that eventually woos him away?

Chicagoans could care less. We've seen this movie already. We have been "Get Ready for Surprises." WE got jazzed about Obama Presidency - huge Chicago payoff that; We got psyched about the Olympics 2016 - that went down faster than the Eastland. We are Chicagoans - we have the Cubs. We voted huge for Blago and were shocked when he turned out to be exactly who he has always been. We are numb with expectations.

Chicagoans get behind action - The Blackhawks of 2010. That gets us excited. Sox fans buy season tickets and split them with brothers and cousins. We will see. Chicagoans do not brace. Tourists brace. We stick heads outside and dress for the weather.

As to politics - Ed Burke gets re-elected because he delivers to the 14th Ward and makes things happen in the City Council. City Council Gofers like Joe Moore, Rico Muniz and other reform camera hogs go hat in hand to Ed Burke and then bad-mouth him for services rendered. That is Progressive Reform.

We are not bracing; we are leaning back in the recliner with a big-ass bowl of stove top cooked hot buttered popcorn and channel surfing. This form of political self-medication is exactly what a bone-weary and muscle-taxed Big Shoulders City needs. Chicagoans know that, it not only snows in January, but also in April and May. They do not get their shorts in knot over the weather, CTA schedules, or politics.

Another bus is always coming and Rahm is driving this one.

Too cold and sleeting to go Grant Park. We'll catch it on WGN. There's always another bus.

Eder Cruz Leo 2011 - The Highbeam Cutting Through the Pfleger Pfog

Eder Cruz flanked by Aurora Latifi and Margarita Silva of Leo High School


On April 21st, I posted the announcement of Eder Cruz Leo 2011 selection as one of 31 Illinois recipients of the Bill and Melinda Gates Millennium Scholarship. The Gates Millennium Scholarship follows the recipient for his or her post-secondary education: college, post-graduate ( Law, Medicine etc.)

Eder Cruz transferred to Leo High School from Cristo Rey in his sophomore year. For two years Eder was the only non-African American student here at Leo High School.

Tomorrow's Mark Brown column is a look at this remarkable young man. Mr. Brown does a splendid job in telling about the school that helped a tough, earnest and thoughtful young man. Albanian born math teacher, Mrs. Aurora Latifi, Spanish teacher Ms. Margarita Silva and Guidance Counsellor Ms. Kaitlyn Kurta are three special ladies who were particularly important to Eder in his quest for success. Leo High School is generally known as a Catholic school with a particularly high testosterone level, but it is the young women who are making real impact on our guys.

Since mid-March, Leo High School's true story has been fogged by the media concerning an Archdiocesan personnel matter between the Cardinal and Father Pfleger of St. Sabina's Parish. The story went viral and national and Leo was tagged as struggling, troubled and in Father Pfleger's words "literally failing." The fact of the matter the taggers of those terms have no skin in the game at Leo High School - not Michael Pfleger, not Jay Levine and not Phil Kadner. Not one of the foggy narrative taggers, took the time to phone, much less visit the Leo Leadership: President for Institutional Advancement Dan McGrath and Principal Phil Mesina. No one the taggers talked to Leo Alumni President John Gardner, or Leo Advisory Board President Bob Sheehy. No tagger gave a call to Leo Men with much monetary and spiritual skin in the game like Frank Considine '39, Bill Koloseike '45, Andy McKenna '47, Dick Landis '47, Don Flynn '56, Bob Foster '57, Terry Sherman '64, or Joe Powers '70.

Mark Brown visited Leo. Mark Brown helped cut through the Pfleger Pfog narrative.

Eder Cruz leaves a great deal of skin in the corridors of Leo High School. Eder Cruz is a game changer.

Click my post title for Mark Brown's great Pfog Cutter.

By the way, Yale University is dropping by Leo High School at 9AM to talk to another Leo Man - a game changer of the Class of 2012.

Sue the Pope(s)! Bottom Feeder Jeffrey Anderson Trolls for Game at the Top

Attorney Jeffrey Anderson, who has made multiple efforts to lodge a sex-abuse lawsuit against the Vatican, has filed a new suit charging that two Pontiffs--Popes John Paul II and Benedict XVI--should be held responsible for the abuse committed by a former Chicago priest, Daniel McCormack.

Jeffrey Anderson went from living out of his Volkswagon in the 1980's to suing the Vatican. Timing is everything. Jeffrey Anderson first sued a Catholic Church when his client a homeless lost soul urinated in the vestibule. Jeff settled his nuisance claim out of court. That was this ambulance chaser's epiphany - the Catholic Church is loaded; bring suit - will travel.

This moral and ethical equivalent of homophobic nutback Preacher Terry Jones, has made millions and a public relations empire. No fool he, Anderson uses SNAP to troll for anyone who wishes to make a claim against the Catholic Church. Jeff Anderson sucked onto the Chicago Archdiocese, while he was looting the Joliet, Illinois Diocese - the time of Dan McCormick case. Anderson is now linking that pedophile convict priest to the Vatican.

Here is the essence of this advocacy ambulance chaser:

Anyone who thinks Jeffrey Anderson is in it just for the money is nuts. Sure, he's made a fortune suing the Catholic Church over old cases of alleged priestly abuse, but money alone cannot account for his latest vendetta. Now he's engaged in a media ad campaign to find anyone who claims he was abused by a priest, regardless of how flimsy the evidence or when the alleged act occurred. It matters not a whit whether the priest is long dead and cannot defend himself.

In one sense, Anderson is doing us a favor: the cat's out of the bag. His integrity is shot. Any lawyer who would conduct a public relations hunt for one class of people to sue is not interested in justice. Quite frankly, if Anderson were concerned about all victims of abuse, he would not exclusively target alleged Catholic ones.

Imagine for one moment if a lawyer launched an advertising campaign pledging to find every last person who was ever abused by a public school teacher. Or imagine a campaign that sought to locate only those persons who were victimized by an Orthodox rabbi? The mind boggles just thinking about it. Anyone familiar with the data on sexual abuse knows that a) the Catholic Church never had a monopoly on this problem to begin with and b) it has less of a problem today than any other institution, secular or religious (the average number of credible accusations made against over 40,000 priests in the last five years is 8.6).

Anderson's mad quest for new Catholic victims is of a piece with his pathological fixation on the Catholic Church. We've been on to his game for many years; his latest gambit should convince everyone of his real motive. It is not justice that drives him and his army of lawyers--it is a debased appetite to get the Catholic Church.

It's time for a Catholic revolt. While all sexual abuse must be condemned unequivocally, all attempts to shake down one segment of the population must also be condemned. Bigotry has no legitimate role to play in the pursuit of justice.

(emphasis my own)

This guy and Terry Jones are brothers under the skin.

You will find Jeffrey Anderson where there is a buck, a microphone, TV camera, and a cast of anti-Catholic bigots - MSNBC, Huffington Post e.g.!

http://www.bishop-accountability.org/news2003_01_06/2003_04_16_Schimke_TrueBeliever.htm

Irish Mob Shuts Down Chicago Code on Fox -"T'was Pure Bollocks and a Shower of Shite!"

Fox has given "The Chicago Code" the ax after one season Chicago Tribune 5/11/2011

The only show that gives an address as somewhere on West Harlem and had about as much to do with Chicago Corruption as Rahm Emanuel has to do with Reform has been strangled in the cradle. Fox went all Planned Parenthood on this Bitch!

Or, it may have to do with long green tentacles of the fabled Irish Mob.
From the Cellphone WIRE:

Dermot -“Tadgeen, Old Son! Howerya?”

Tadgh -“Grand, thanks, Dermie,notabodda.”

Dermot - “Your wan over there told me the craic. She said your man went mental and badgered up the whole feckin place and all within.”

Tadgh - "Cross Bitch she is, so fer tellin ye. Your man wasn’t serious –the yokes still breathe; he was just taking the piss to make Rupert look an eejit.”

Dermot -"Fair play to him. Rupert's the Wanker of Oz,so he is; it's the Yanks fair swallow this Chicago Shite-gruel."

Tadgh -“I can’t believe the weather. Ah but sure you know yourself like.”

Dermot - “Brilliant!”

Tadgh -" The Show is dead then."

Dermot- "A good word never broke a tooth."

Tadgh - "Roll me over Romeo."

Dermot - "There you go."

Tadgh - "Say it again."

Dermot- " I said, Oh, Oh Domino."

Tadgh - "Slan"

Dermot -" Slan Abhaile (Slan Awalla)

Tadgh - " I'm home, so, ye eedjit. T'was you that called."

Michael Pfleger Biographer Tells Everyone to "Shut Up"

I have not had anything to say about Rev. Michael Pfleger - not my rice bowl. That is until today, when Michael Pfleger's biographer, one of hundreds of talented journalists in Pfleger's PR quiver, told America to shut up. I have much to say about Leo High School, which was impugned by and concerning Rev. Pfleger's most recent and public Via Dolorosa ( March 15- May 11 2011).

Leo High School was founded by Msgr. Peter Shewbridge in 1921 at the direct order of George Cardinal Mundelein - build a central Catholic high school for boys. St. Leo the Great Parish leading the newer surrounding parishes of St. Sabina, St. Kilian and Little Flower raised the funds for the school designed by Daniel Burnham's right-hand man, architect Joseph McCarthy. Cardinal Mundelein staffed the school with Irish Christian Brothers and laymen. The school opened in 1926 and Francis O'Neill was the first student to register. Mr. O'Neill turned 100 in February and more than seventy young men including a couple of white kids from Canaryville enrolled as freshman 2012.

Leo High School immediately developed a reputation for tough discipline, exacting scholarship and an athletic reputation that continues into this new century.

Thousands of Leo graduates came from St. Sabina Parish. Hundreds of St. Sabina bred Leo Men pour precious dollars in support of the school. They do that because of Robert W. Foster who single-handedly kept the doors of Leo High School open from 1991 until his retirement in 2009. Principal/President CEO Bob Foster had taught history, government, served as guidance counsellor, athletic director, football coach and school leader beginning in 1962, with brief absence from 1965-1970, returning in that year and continually serving the Leo students and our neighbors along 79th Street. Bob Foster was one heroic man serving a much larger mission. Leo High School continues thanks to Bob Foster, but without his physical presence. Bob Foster always taught, 'the individual is nothing; the mission is everything.'

The mission continues as it had after Leo High School was no longer directed by the pastor of St. Leo Parish, the racial demographics changed from white Catholic to African American, received no further subsidy from the Archdiocese per Cardinal Bernardin's directive, the departure of the Irish Christian Brothers in 1991 and the retirement of the legendary Bob Foster. There has been a huge bump in the mission's road, through no fault or participation of the school whatsoever. In fact Leo High School was never privy to any conversation about Leo High School's serving as a component in a hot-button personnel matter.

Leo High School has suffered the collateral damage from the Father Phleger flap. Leo High School was tagged with a narrative spun by ABC 7's Jay Levine and picked up by too many news persons who never bothered to contact Leo Leadership, let alone pay this great school a visit.

This morning I read a guest article for US Catholic by Robert McClory. I have never seen Mr. McClory here at Leo, let alone around 79th Street from Peoria west to Father Phleger's Throop Street. McClory is Pfleger's biographer and has a book out on sale - this current personal journey for Michael Pfleger can not hurt sales.

That same personal journey has caused an unnecessary bump for Leo High School. In fact the very words of Father Pfleger on the NPR chat-fest with Tavis Smiley and Cornell West, Leo High School was impugned as "literally failing."

The fact of the matter Father Pfleger has not been to Leo High School - like his biographer. He would have known that even in a lousy economy an inner city Catholic High School for young men with a student population of African Americans and a trio of Mexican Americans, raised many, many, many dollars, partnered with an NFL legend, raised ACT scores by 2 percentage points across the board, tested and enrolled the largest in-coming freshman class in 12 years, expanded its advisory board, netted new Non-Alumni support, place graduating seniors in the best colleges around the country, and announce Eder Cruz as a Gates Millennium Scholar for 2011.

Why Father Pfleger would say that Leo High School was literally failing? He has his reasons I suppose.

Back to Mr. McClory. Mr. McClory has a dog in this fight and it certainly is not the young men of Leo High School. Mr. McClory has a book out and a subject-client in Father Pfleger; yet, Mr. McClory demands everyone else to "shut up."

The context is this- Mr. McClory wants a total victory for Father Pfleger - that means making Cardinal George look weak by rescinding his suspension for Father Pfleger. McClory tells his national readers what he believes to be his straight dope on the conflict and also demands that Cardinal George mistrust his lying ears.

Hopefully, reason and hope will prevail when George, now back from John Paul II's beatification, and Pfleger meet again. George's suspension of Pfleger was based on what the cardinal thought Pfleger had said on a radio show. In fact, Pfleger said something quite different. Regardless, Pfleger's crime was that he did say that under certain circumstances, he might leave the priesthood and seek ministry in another (non-Catholic) church. And that is what really rankled George.

Like Cardinal George, thosands of Leo Alumni, all of Leo's staff, many of our parents, our students and evn the Associated Press, I heard exactly what Father Pfleger said to Tavis, Cornell and all of us out in radioland. Robert McClory is pretty bold there, but he is out of line in this summation:

Meanwhile, it would be especially helpful if the hordes of Catholics and bloggers who have never visited St. Sabina or driven around the neighborhood, never talked to Pfleger or listened to one of his sermons, never met or conversed with Sabina parishioners would just shut up and stop bloviating on a subject they know nothing about.

That did not stop Robert McClory. Speak up, folks! This is still America.

Robert McClory is author of Radical Disciple: Father Michael Pfleger, St. Sabina Church and the Fight for Social Justice (Lawrence Hill, 2010). He is also professor emeritus at Northwestern University's Medill School of Journalism and a regular contributor to U.S. Catholic.

Nice Suit! They Got One in Your Size? Caws from Crow - Cheryl Crow

cartoonsbyhenry.com
"I do think that if it were any other president, I might feel different about it. But he's one of the most conscious people I've ever met . . ." Cheryl Crow on Gayle King's Show

Cheryl Crow recently compliments President Obama as the most conscious man she knows. That's all?

Miss Crow is one of those Sirens who charm goatish chaps like myself until until she unzippers her teeth. Beauty fades, but stupid is forever. This same social activists entertainer worries about toilet paper carnage. Huge buzz kill!


The most conscious people ? - the trick is coming too after sawing wood for a straight eight.

Some of the most defective intellects on two legs and across the tax spectrum manage to achieve consciousness.

Other compliments she might have tossed to the Osama Killer.

Hey, He keeps a neat wallet.

Mr. President , do you have a mirror in your pants because I can see myself in them.

The Man can Blink!

Watch him drink a glass of water . . .just watch him! It's awesome

He puts his socks on one pants at a leg.

He uses one sheet . . .One Sheet People!

He's feeling lots better than Osama bin Laden, 54, Saudi founder of Al-Qaeda, planned September 11 attacks, shot in the head.

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?

James J. Shields (May 10, 1810 – June 1, 1879) - Illinois Giant

James J. Shields: Tyrone Native
Served America Well—and Often
By Pat Hickey
Special to TheWildGeese.com

No textbook tells the story of James J. Shields, the man whose perch in the Capitol is coveted by admirers of Ronald Reagan, but his personal story and resume are among the most impressive of any American, in any era.

Shields' attainments are even more remarkable when you consider his modest start. He arrived in America in the 1820s a penniless Irish Catholic immigrant, without a friend or patron.


By the time he died in 1879 at age 73, Shields had ably served as a soldier, a teacher, a lawyer, a judge, an Illinois Supreme Court justice, and a state auditor. These were in addition to his service as a state representative, a brevet major general in the Mexican War; military governor of Tampico, Mexico; territorial land agent; U.S. senator for, respectively, Illinois, Minnesota, and Missouri; and brigadier general of Union troops.

Shields possessed "a compelling personal story," in the words of today's political speak, one that made him a national hero 150 years ago. Today he is perhaps most generally known as a footnote to history the only man who ever challenged young Abraham Lincoln to a duel.


The Tyrone-born Shields associated with other prominent Americans, as well. He was a loyal and constant friend of Lincoln nemesis Senator Stephen A. Douglas, cordial with General and President Zachary Taylor, Maj. Gen. Winfield Scott, and Senator Henry Clay, and was the commanding officer of Capt. Robert E. Lee in America's war with Mexico. Shields was, by all accounts, a courageous soldier, suffering wounds to his lungs at and legs in Mexico, and shoulder and arm at Kernstown, Va., where he defeated legendary Confederate commander "Stonewall" Jackson.

Shields is an enduring presence in Chicago, where Shields Avenue runs alongside Comiskey Park, the home of the White Sox. Clearly, Illinois, which selected Shields' statue for its first entry into the Statuary Hall in 1893, understood his contribution to the state and the country.

The Irishman served Illinois from the time he arrived in America in 1822 or 1823 until he resigned his commission in the Civil War. He continued to serve his adopted country until his death in 1879.

Additional Resources

According to a monograph published by John Edgar Shields of Gaithersburg, Md., Shields can trace his origins to a general who died in the service of King James II at the Battle of the Boyne in 1690. He was born to Catholic parents Charles and Anne (McDonnell) Shields, on May 6, 1806, in Altmore, on the outskirts of Dungannon.

Most of Shields' biographers and acquaintances agree that he was educated by a "hedge" priest and later in a Protestant academy. He had a good classical training and was at home with Latin, Greek, Irish, Spanish, and French, in addition to English. He learned military tactics and swordplay from the Duke of Wellington's pensioners in and around Dungannon.

Outraged, Shields challenged Lincoln to a duel.
Some accounts, including William Condon's "Life of Major General Shields, Hero of Three Wars and Senator from Three States" (Chicago: 1900), state the young Shields went to sea and was shipwrecked and injured in Scotland prior to his arrival in America, providing a suitably harrowing start for such an adventure-filled life.

Shields eventually settled in downstate Kaskaskia, Ill. Here he taught school to French-speaking settlers, as well as American, and studied law. He put his martial skills to use in the Black Hawk War of 1832. Later that year, he gained admittance to the state bar and began a career in law and politics.

It was then that Douglas became Shields' life-long friend and political partner. This was the Age of Jackson, and most men in the West were Democrats, including Douglas and Shields.


In 1836, Shields was elected to the Illinois legislature. The Whigs there, including Abraham Lincoln, opposed Jackson's policies, setting the stage for Shields' entry into the national stage.

In 1839, Douglas helped Shields gain appointment to the post of Illinois state auditor. Shields insisted that debtors pay the state's bank the face value on money they owed it and not the devalued price. This stance angered Lincoln and the Whigs, but saved Illinois from economic ruin.

By 1842, Mary Todd, who had flirted with the handsome Shields, had refocused her attention on Lincoln. With Julia Jayne, she apparently collaborated with her future husband in crafting a series of demeaning articles about Shields written under a nom de plume. Outraged, Shields challenged Lincoln to a duel. (See sidebar.)

En route to the dueling ground, Lincoln apologized to Shields, and tried to never speak of the affair again.

In 1845, at Douglas' recommendation, President James K. Polk appointed Shields Commissioner of the Land Office in Washington. Shields in this role allocated public lands for railroad use, ensuring that the railways would continue to ably serve the rapidly expanding nation.


In Mexico, Shields served as governor general of Tampico. (Coincidentally, Ronald Reagan was born in Tampico, Ill.) Shields was wounded and nearly died at Cerro Gordo. An Irish-born Mexican army surgeon saved Shields' life by prodding a silk handkerchief through the sucking chest-wound with a ramrod. Shields recuperated and led the New York Irish and the South Carolina Palmettos to victory at Churubusco, Chapultepec, and Mexico City.

J. Sean Callan, in "Courage and Country: James J. Shields More Than Irish Luck" (1st Books Library, 2004) recounts Shields' rescue of two women in the siege of Mexico City. A popular street ballad of the 1850s refers to the exploit, when Shields, defying orders, entered the capital with a squad of volunteers, and rescued both women:

Of the all the conquering siege had brought,
More bravely against the Foe,
Than General Shields for Women wrought
Defying Mexico

Brevetted to major general, Shields returned to Illinois a hero of national renown. Polk appointed him Territorial Governor of Oregon in 1849, but Shields declined the office to run for the U.S. Senate from Illinois. The Illinois assembly elected him, but Shields' enemies and the Whigs refused him his seat, saying he had not met the time requirement for citizenship. The assembly, dismissing the claim, again elected Shields, who became the state's first Catholic senator.

Shields in California
James J. Shields arrived in the Los Angeles area in the summer of 1860, spending about a month there before moving to San Francisco on Aug. 1, 1860. For a time he lived in an apartment on the northeast corner of Mission and Brady. He later rented a law office on the northeast corner of Montgomery and California. On Aug. 15, 1861, he wed Mary Ann Carr in the city's St. Ignatius Church. Two Jesuits, Fr. Maraski, assisted by Fr. Colby S.J., officiated. Judge Calkery was best man and Susie Sweeney was bridesmaid. St. Ignatius was destroyed in the aftermath of the earthquake in 1906. Shields left San Francisco for the war Dec. 11, 1861, and returned in March 1863. He left the Golden State for good in mid-1865. (Source: J. Sean Callan, "Courage and Country: James J. Shields More Than Irish Luck")

Shields' devotion to Douglas left him vulnerable in Illinois, though. The Kansas-Nebraska Act, brokered by Douglas, unleashed a hunt for escaped slaves in so-called "Free States," stalling secession but enraging Northerners. Lincoln and Democratic rival Lyman Trumbull worked to unseat Shields. Trumbull replaced Shields in the Senate, and Shields left Illinois, settling in Minnesota Territory, where in 1857 he was elected U.S. Senator.

California was Shields' next stop. After Minnesota's Republicans defeated him at the end of his two-year term, Shields moved west. He wedded Mary Anne Carr, the daughter of a friend from County Armagh, and the marriage produced five children. He was appointed railroad commissioner for California, and also established a gold mine in Mazola, Mexico. The launch of America's Civil War in April 1861 returned Shields to uniform.

Lincoln appointed his old foe and friend brigadier general, and within a year Shields, though severely wounded, handed "Stonewall" Jackson his only defeat at the hand of the Union Army, at the Battle of Kernstown. Lincoln approved Shields' appointment to major general, but Secretary of War Edwin Stanton, Trumbull and other enemies in Congress, blocked the promotion.

Suffering from his many war wounds and the rebuff offered by men who never saw combat, Shields resigned and returned to California.

In 1866, Shields and family moved to Carrollton, Mo., where he lectured and practiced law. In 1879, he was elected by the Missouri legislature to complete the term of a senator who died, and Shields represented a third state in the Union he fought to preserve. Due to ill health, he refused renomination and died June 1, while giving a speech in Ottumwa, Iowa.

In 1893, a bronze statue of Shields, in his major general's uniform, was placed in the Capitol, where it resides, albeit somewhat less securely, today.

Chicago native Pat Hickey grew up not far from "35th and Shields." He is director of development at Leo High School, once a largely Irish-American Catholic high school for boys whose students are now entirely African-American.


Women, Politics Lay Behind Shields-Lincoln Duel


Library of Congress
Lincoln, as he appeared about the time of Shields' challenge.
The duel between Abraham Lincoln and James J. Shields was to take place by the Mississippi River near Alton, Ill., on Sept. 22, 1842.

Earlier, there appeared in the Sangamo Journal, a Whig newspaper based in the state capital, a series of letters, under the nom de plume "Rebecca," attacking Shields. Shields' honesty, courage, integrity, and national origin were treated with abuse and sharp wit.

As state auditor, Shields had taken positions very much at odds with Whig policy, particularly irking rising Whig star and state representative Lincoln.

An 1898 book titled "Abraham Lincoln's Stories and Speeches," written and edited by J. B. McClure, suggests Shields was the victim of joshing rather than libel, receiving such jibes from "Aunt Becca" as: "Jeff tells me the way these fire-eaters do is to give the challenged party the choice of weapons, which, being the case, I tell you in confidence, I never fight with anything but broomsticks or hot water, or a shovelful of coals or some such thing; the former of which, being somewhat like a shillelah, may not be so very objectionable to him."

Shields demanded of the editor the name of the letters' author and was told it was Lincoln. The McClure book states that future wife Mary Todd was the author, with Lincoln shouldering the responsibility. Some historians, though, suggest that Lincoln collaborated with Todd and Julia Jayne on the letters.

Shields then confronted Lincoln. Though illegal in Illinois, the challenge had its own forward momentum, and the newspapers of the time publicized the pending duel for weeks. It would have been difficult for any man, let alone a politician on the rise, to back down.

As the individual challenged, Lincoln had the choice of weapons and chose large cavalry broadswords. Seconds argued the protocols, while cooler heads attempted to prevail. Shields would not be mollified, however. At one point, looking to deter Shields, the 6-foot 4-inch reached with his broadsword and cut a length of branch from a tree, showing Shields how his 7-inch height advantage provided an edge.

Eventually, though, bloodshed was avoided and Lincoln apologized, with Lincoln and Shields becoming friends.

Carl Sandburg, in his biography of Lincoln, treats the affair as a shabby episode in Lincoln's otherwise exemplary life. Sandburg states that a legend arose that Lincoln, when challenged, demanded as the dueling weapon "horse dung at five paces." The story, while apochryphal, suggests that Lincoln was embarrassed by the affair. During the Civil War, an officer asked the president of the duel, and an angry Lincoln advised him to never speak of it again. — Pat Hickey

RELATED RESOURCES
Books

Biographical Directory of American Congress, 1774-1961. U.S. Governmental Printing Office, Washington, D.C.
Callan, J. Sean, "Courage and Country: James J. Shields More Than Irish Luck," New Authors Publishing, 2004 (Author's Note: Callan's treatment of the circumstances of the Lincoln-Shields duel and the psychological ramifications for both men is fascinating. Callan provides a wonderful account of Shields in the Civil War, as well.)
Condon, William Henry, "Life of Major General James Shields, Hero of Three Wars and Senator from Three States," Chicago: Press of Blakely Printing Co. c. 1900.
Dictionary of American Biography, Vol XVII. 106-107.
Historical Encyclopedia of Illinois, Newton Bateman and Paul Selby, eds. Chicago, Munsell Publishing Co., 478-479. 1900.
Journal of the American Irish Historical Society, Vol. IX (1900), Vol. XIV (1915).
Sandburg, Carl, "Abraham Lincoln: The Prairie Years & The War Years," One-volume edition, New York: Harcourt Brace & Co., 1954.


Online

Shields statue story - Chicago Sun Times
Biographical Directory of the United States Congress on Shields
Catholic Encyclopedia on James Shields
The Lincoln-Shields Duel (excerpted from "Abraham Lincoln's Stories and Speeches," published by Rhodes & McClure Pub. Co., 1897.
Mexican War
The National Statuary Hall Collection
These stories were produced by Joseph E. Gannon and Gerry Regan, and edited by Gerry Regan.

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