Written on 12:54 PM by Jack B.
Well no, not that Jesus! I'm talking about Pope Benedict's book: Jesus of Nazareth. I pre-ordered it from Amazon and just got an e-mail that it's been shipped. I'm actually excited, this is the first book I've pre-ordered (months ahead of time) since God knows when but I really wanted to read it for myself before the professional "reviews" started coming in and shaping my opinion before I read it. I've read several of the Pope's books (written when he was Cardinal Ratzinger) and I've never read anyone who can speak about theology so clearly and so understandably.
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Written on 2:45 PM by Jack B.
Celibacy is a discipline, not a doctrine of the church. Since it's not a doctrine there is no need for a scriptual basis for it. Eastern-Rite Catholics (Ukrainians, Maronites, etc.) united to Rome have a married priesthood and the Vatican has allowed exceptions for Protestant pastors who convert to Catholicism and want to become priests to do so and remain married. However there are exceptions to both rules - if the wife dies, the husband cannot remarry, in the Eastern-rite you cannot marry AFTER being ordained a priest (only before) and married men cannot become bishops. Celibacy has a long and noble (and not so noble) history dating back to the early church but in the priesthood in the Latin Rite Church it became mandatory for clergy in the 11th Century or so in an attempot at reforn. The Pope could change it tomorrow - but he won't. Married priests are not a panacea - married men can become sexual predators as well as celibate ones and mainline Protestant clergy (Methodists, Anglicans) with married priests aren't exactly having a vocation boom.
Having said that Milingo deserves the heave-ho. These men he "ordained" are members of schismatic churches who don't recognize the Pope and have different doctrines. They are NOT Roman Catholic - and now neither is he.
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Written on 11:01 AM by Jack B.
My sisters were baptized and entered the Catholic Church this Easter Vigil. In addition the older of the two, the pregnant one, got married after Mass. Of course she was already married (since last year) but the first ceremony was (literally) a drive-by type in Las Vegas. This was the “religious” wedding.
Anyway, this Easter Vigil was a particularly long one - especially since they were getting baptized in a section of the Bronx (St. Brendan’s Parish) that I had never been in before. Took almost two hours to get up there to begin with so basically the whole preparing for the vigil thing was a day long event.
I was there, my parent were there as was my 86-year old Grandmother and my aunt (Mother’s sister), my older sister’s in-laws and some of their friends. Since my mother, grandmother and aunt are Jewish I wondered if they got bored or not and it didn’t help that it was unbearably hot inside the church. I was otherwise occupied with the little video camera trying to get footage of the baptisms, confirmations and weddding ceremony (I wasn’t that successful, I think).
It was a good turn-out, and the church was packed. St. Brendan’s is a largish modern building, built in the shape of a boat (i.e. for St. Brendan the Navigator) in a largely hispanic neighborhood although the parish itself is very integrated with large helping of Irish and Asian congregants. It’s interesting to go to a church you’ve never been in before and see what community life is like.
The service was conducted in both English and Spanish, with readings and hymns alternating in both languages. The church choir was very good. There were three priests and a deacon officiating - which in an age where priests are scarce is quite a feat. The Vigil Mass lasted over 3 hours so it took a lot of stamina, many others handled it better that I did. My sister Dee-Dee’s godparents were her in-laws, my sister Erica’s were her former boyfriend’s parents (who she has remained close to). At confirmation time (when they get their baptismal name) Erica got my father to be her sponsor (although getting him to go to church was a miracle in itself). The baptismal names they chose were Teresa (after St. Teresa of Avila) and Maria (after St. Maria Goretti). The main priest singled out two particular new Catholics - young African-American boys who attend the local Catholic school - who apparently decided on their own to convert to the Catholic Church. In a time when Cardinal Egan is preparing to close a bunch of Catholic schools, it was a good example of the evangelizing good (in addition to educational) that a Catholic education can produce. The Father also pointed out about three or four rows of young people (i.e. teenagers and 20somethings) who had been on Easter retreat the previous 3 days and would continue till Easter day itself, sleeping on the floor of the school auditorium, fasting and praying. They had apparently performed an out-door reinactment of Calvary on Good Friday as well as demonstrating (with signs) for pro-life causes (against the Iraq War, abortion, euthanasia, poverty). Got to admit I was impressed.
The wedding itself took all of 5 minutes (and another couple also said their vows). By that time everything was over it was 11:30 at night. Then we went to get pizza (hey, my sister was paying who am I to complain). No one noticed it at the time but pizza of course is made with leavened bread and this is Passover season, when leavened bread is a no-no. Oh, well there goes my fast. By the time I got home it was Easter Sunday already....and a few hours away from Easter Mass itself. Oh, well there goes my sleep.
I’m still not quite sure why my sisters converted. Neither has ever been particularly religious. My older sister married into a very Catholic Puerto Rican family that goes to Church every Sunday, and she’s expecting a baby girl, so that might have something to do with it. But the younger one converting was even more complexing to me. She actually traveled to the Bronx (where she does not live) to go to RCIA every Wednesday, which is very bizarre if you knew her and her fondness for clubbing or hanging out with her friends at pool halls and places like that. These two used to mock me unmercifully when we were younger and we first got EWTN and I would watch Mother Angelica and Father Pablo Straub (he of the giant crucifix while preaching) constantly. Not to mention my reading of the Bible, the writing of John Paul II and other Catholic books...and now...now they are more Catholics than me (i.e. I would rather watch Mass on TV than actually go to it). God truly does work in mysterious ways.
P.S. In case no one noticed the tie I was wearing in the picture above. Here's a close-up. Notice the praying hands holding a cross, surrounded by a big red heart. Yep, its a really tacky tie. I never wore it before although I've owned it literally for years. I mean, really, when would you get the opportunity to wear a tie like this? It was given to me by the younger of my sisters as either a birthday or Christmas present (I forget which). I think she meant it as a joke. The joke's on her - I finally have a reason to wear it - at her baptism. I was actually surprised by how much attention it got - the first thing my sisters said when they saw me was - "What are you wearing?"
P.S.S. Since Julie D. mentioned it in the comments, perhaps I should clarify that being raised in a mixed-religion household, my family celebrated both the Jewish and Christian/Catholic High Holy Days. So during Passover, my mother and sisters and I would try to avoid leavened bread and ate a lot of matzoh (which are really good and don't have a lot of calories). We weren't always too good at it but we tried. At the same time we went to church with my father (usually) during the Christian Holy Week. These days, I still try to observe the Passover fast but as mentioned above I'm not always successful.
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Written on 2:02 PM by Jack B.
Unlike others who have been blogging constantly since before and after the death of Pope John Paul II, many of whom have had some poignant and touching thoughts, I have been searching for words to describe the passing of this great and good (the two are not always mutually exclusive) man. Mostly I've just been soaking up the coverage and experiencing this historical moment. One that may, perhaps, come once in a lifetime - the passing of someone who both a saintly figure and a major figure on the world stage.
Pope John Paul II has been the only pope I've ever known. I was alive for some of the reigns of Paul VI and John Paul I but I was too small to remember them. They seem like figures of history, just two-dimensional figures photographic images. John Paul II seemed very real. I felt I knew him better than some members of my family. So perhaps the reason I haven't been able to deal with it is because it's still hard to believe he's dead. Sick as he's been, John Paul has always seemed so indestructible. When I heard he'd been given "Last Rites" I didn't think much of it. He'd been sick before and recovered. He would again. Then the next day I wake up to find out he'd had heart failure and was in grave condition. I still couldn't believe it - not until I saw the immense crowds outside St. Peter's praying for his recovery. A recovery that they knew would not be forthcoming. The world was on a death watch and the media did what it does best - basically advertising it as such. "Don't turn the channel," they seemed to say "the Pope might die at any moment". I admit to being to being one of those sucked in to the non-stop coverage.
I'm not one an old-fashioned deist who believes God created the world and that's it. But I'm not convinced either that God is as active in the affairs of man as some might think. After the mess man has made of things over the past few centuries I wouldn't be surprised to find out the Creator of the Universe is more interested in observing the progress of microscopic bacteria on a planet in another galaxy than the meddlesome, sometimes selfish, sometimes bloodthirsty descendants of Adam. Sometimes though I think HE does like to send his ungrateful creations on Earth a message (whether we heed it is another matter entirely). Sometimes these messages can be rather obvious (think of The Great Flood or the Exodus from Egypt), sometimes simple but with great meaning (think of Christ) and sometimes seemingly complex but in reality so clear that only the hard-hearted and self-absorbed (which is unfortunately a lot of people) can't see it. The life of Karol Wojtyla is one of those last kind of message.
But then I look at what's going on now these past few days since the Pope's death and when I see the outpouring of genuine love (and some phony love too no doubt) for a man said (by his critics) to be an out-of-touch autocrat in a so-called archaic church on the decline it brings to mind many questions:
- If Catholicism is dead or dying (especially in Europe) as some tell us
Like I said, sometimes God tries to tell us something.
But the BIG question is: How many of us are listening?
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Written on 10:54 PM by Jack B.
Via Amy Welborn's Open Book is this Dallas Morning News article by Christine Rosen (registeration required - use Bug Me Not) about "an eerie similarity to their rhetoric and tactics" between the pro-embryonic stem cell movement and the eugenics movement.
The Eugenics movment has always interested me since I did a paper in an anthropology class on the population control movement and was stunned to find out many of the racist and bigoted origin of the movement which ultimately culminated in the Nazi horrors. At that point the eugenics advocates stopped calling themselves and just referred to themselves as "population control" advocates. Underneath though they remained the same bunch of rich WASPs whose goal was to eliminate from the earth as many dark-skinned non-Protestant people as possible. To this day such white American billionaires such as Warren Buffett, Ted Turner and Bill Gates are among the greatest benefactors of "population control" in the 3rd World (i.e. Africa, Asia and Latin America) and such largely white American foundations such as The Ford Foundation and The Packard Foundation and The Rockefeller Foundation continue to give grants to organizations determined to have "population control" and "reproductive freedom" throughout the world. And one of the most-die hard eugenists was Margaret Sanger, one of the founders of Planned Parenthood which continues her "work" to it's day. While Dawn Eden at The Dawn Patrol has been viligant in exposing some of Planned Parenthood's more modern excesses, the roots of what made that multi-billion dollar (and government funded) organization what it is today can be traced back to the eugenics movement (though of course they deny it).
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Written on 12:18 AM by Jack B.
I confess that I never thought Cardinal Ratzinger would ever be pope. To me John Paul II (the only pope I've ever known) was a force of nature - every time he got sick I always thought he would recover, I never actually imagined him dying no matter how much weaker and immobile his body became. He just seemed so alive to me. So I thought John Paul would definitely live more than two years and that by then Ratzinger would be 80 and not even a cardinal-elector anymore. Even when many made him the odd-on favorite going in I couldn't quite believe it.
Don't get me wrong. I've read some of Ratzinger's writing and find him brilliant, and to me in video clips or pictures he doesn't come off as a reactionary but as a very shy humble man (although I haven't been able to get the quote from Kathy Shaidle at Relapsed Catholic about him having a "resemblance to Mr. Burns and Nosferatu, along with his Stalag 13 name" out of my mind since I read it). I would have rejoiced at his election - I just didn't think it would actually happen.
Then when it did I just couldn't get used to it. The only man I'd ever seen in my lifetime wearing the white pope suit was John Paul II. Benedict XVI just looked like the old Cardinal Ratzinger dressed up in John Paul's clothes. I still had a problem calling him Benedict too.
Yet yesterday as I watched the installation mass live for the first time I saw him not as Joseph Ratzinger, Head of the CDF, but as Pope. Holy Father. Vicar of Christ on Earth. It's as if he himself at age 78 has changed, his demeanor, his posture. Of course this is how people who knew him say he's been all along but that's not how I've seen him or read him portrayed as in the last 20+ years - and it came a shock (a pleasant one) to me. His homily was particularly moving because with the decline of John Paul, I had ceased listening to JP2's actual homily over the last few years (which he had a more and more difficult time getting out) - to me John Paul himself was the homily. His body language, his strength, his determination spoke to me more than a thousand words about the Gospel message. I found myself watching him rather than listening to him (then reading the homily later). But with Benedict (who doesn't exude that dramatic actor's flair of his predecessor) I found myself listening to the Pope's words and found them poetic, encouraging, (and though the media would probably hate me for saying this) true.
Lines like:
The Church is alive – she is alive because Christ
is alive, because he is truly risen. In the suffering that we saw on the
Holy Father’s face in those days of Easter, we contemplated the mystery of
Christ’s Passion and we touched his wounds. But throughout these days we
have also been able, in a profound sense, to touch the Risen One. We have
been able to experience the joy that he promised, after a brief period of
darkness, as the fruit of his resurrection.
and
And there are so many kinds of desert. There is the
desert of poverty, the desert of hunger and thirst, the desert of abandonment,
of loneliness, of destroyed love. There is the desert of God’s darkness,
the emptiness of souls no longer aware of their dignity or the goal of human
life. The external deserts in the world are growing, because the internal
deserts have become so vast. Therefore the earth’s treasures no longer
serve to build God’s garden for all to live in, but they have been made to serve
the powers of exploitation and destruction. The Church as a whole and all
her Pastors, like Christ, must set out to lead people out of the desert, towards
the place of life, towards friendship with the Son of God, towards the One who
gives us life, and life in abundance.
and My dear friends – at this moment I can only
say: pray for me, that I may learn to love the Lord more and
more. Pray for me, that I may learn to love his flock more and more – in
other words, you, the holy Church, each one of you and all of you
together. Pray for me, that I may not flee for fear of the wolves. Let
us pray for one another, that the Lord will carry us and that we will learn to
carry one another.
and This is what they say: for a fish, created for water, it
is fatal to be taken out of the sea, to be removed from its vital element to
serve as human food. But in the mission of a fisher of men, the reverse is
true. We are living in alienation, in the salt waters of suffering and
death; in a sea of darkness without light. The net of the Gospel pulls us
out of the waters of death and brings us into the splendor of God’s light, into
true life. It is really true: as we follow Christ in this mission to be
fishers of men, we must bring men and women out of the sea that is salted with
so many forms of alienation and onto the land of life, into the light of
God. It is really so: the purpose of our lives is to reveal God to
men. And only where God is seen does life truly begin. Only when we
meet the living God in Christ do we know what life is. We are not some
casual and meaningless product of evolution. Each of us is the result of a
thought of God. Each of us is willed, each of us is loved, each of us is
necessary.
and And so, today, with great strength and great conviction, on
the basis of long personal experience of life, I say to you, dear young people:
Do not be afraid of Christ! He takes nothing away, and he gives you
everything. When we give ourselves to him, we receive a hundredfold in
return. Yes, open, open wide the doors to Christ – and you will find true
life.
These are not the words of a reactionary. These are not the words of someone who someone who want to turn the clock back. These are not the words of any of the insulting labels then have been attached to this man since his election. These are the words of a shepherd. A disciple of the Man from Galilee. Someone who can step into the Shoes of the Fisherman. These are the words of a Father, a Papa, a Pope. And so now Cardinal Ratzinger has been replaced in my mind with Benedict XVI and I doubt I'm the only one. I think it will be increasingly difficult for the media to continue to paint him with a cold and harsh brush.
I don't know how long Benedict XVI will be pope. Probably at his age he's expecting a short reign himself but I think he's exactly what we need in the present moment just as John Paul II was. So for the Church's sake (and thus the world's) I can only say "Sto Lat, Papa Benedetto!" - may he live a hundred years.
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Written on 11:27 PM by Jack B.
Of course you have Against the Grain by the folks behind the Ratzinger Fan Club
Then we have The Pope Blog which is still in business into the new pontificate.
Romanitas which succeeds the Papabile blog (now that the conclave is over of course)
B-16 Reporting on the Pontificate of Benedict XVI
Pope Benedict XVI edited by Michael S. Rose of Crux News which also has posted one of my new favorite quotes (in a humorous way)- in this story by the NY Times (who else?) called For America's Divided Roman Catholics, a New Disagreement (registration required - use bugmenot.com). Here's the passage with the money quote:
R. Scott Appleby, a historian on American Catholicism at the University of Notre Dame, said many Catholics were dismayed, stunned and depressed at the selection of Cardinal Ratzinger.
"This is their worst nightmare come true," said Professor Appleby, who predicted that the selection could lead to a "winnowing" of the American church.
Boo Hoo, Mr. Appebly (who you may remember was one of the laity invited to speak at the USCCB meeting in Dallas about the sex abuse scandal). I weep for you and your "many Catholics" - NOT!
Until the election of Benedict XVI I hadn't quite realized the resentment about the traditional teachings of the Catholic Church that were out there (well I knew there was in the Mainstream Media but I didn't think they would be so blatant about it) even among some so-called Catholics. They were really biding their time until JP2 died I guess and now that they didn't get what they wanted they're whining like a bunch of babies (except at least actual babies have the excuse of being infants).
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Written on 10:19 PM by Jack B.
Here we have two men - Karol Wojtyla and Josef Ratzinger - born of traditional enemies (Poland and Germany), lived through the same cataclysm but seeing a different side to it (WWII). One grew to priesthood in a totalitarian atheist Poland, the other in an increasing decadent and secular West Germany, one an extroverted actor and "philosopher-king", the other an introverted academic who tended to work behind the scenes. One always presented as optimistic, the other as forbidding (no matter if it was the truth or not). One regarded as a living saint by even many of his enemies, the other as the "Grand Inquisitor" of legend by his.
Two men. One right after the other, from differing environments and perspectives but with the same worldview, who came to know and rely on each other. Seeing a kindred spirit, seeing the same forces at war in the world even when the world told them to "shut up" or to "get with the times". Two men who came at just this time when their particular talents needed them most. Wojtyla may always be seen as John Paul II, Benedict XVI may always be seen as Cardinal Ratzinger - but both Vicars of Christ, Successors of Peter, literal "rocks" (like the Catholic Church itself) holding firm while the rest of the world drifts, falls and topple. I'm not much into this Holy Spirit thing (just look at John XII or Alexander VI) but more and more I think there's something to it.
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Written on 1:07 AM by Jack B.
Other have explained it for better than I ever could. Others have made the case to keep her alive. Others have made the better arguments in her defense. Others have more information and more facts.
“What shall I do, then, with Jesus who is called Christ?” Pilate asked.
They all answered, “Crucify him!” Matthew 27:22
I can only go by what I feel. What I see right in front of me. I cannot forget the allegations of abuse and infidelity against Michael Shiavo - after all he is the one making the decision about whether to kill her. I cannot forget that Michael Shiavo now has a "fianceé" AKA concubine with whom he has been living for years and has two children with - hardly the despairing, pain-wracked faithful husband. I cannot forget that Michael Shiavo got hundreds of thousands of dollars (the balance of which he still stands to receive on Terri's death) in malpractice money on the condition that Terri received therapy - something she has never gotten. I cannot forget that Michael Shiavo left Terri to rot in a hospice for years without even getting daylight, without letting her get a PET scan or MRI and not paying attention to her medical care all the while the same hospice (in a direct conflict of interest) is connected with his lawyer George Felos, the man who has gone to court to have Terri killed and the man to whom most of her settlement money has gone to (in lawyer fees) instead of her therapy, and who is also a vocal supporter of legalized euthanasia. I cannot forget that Michael Shiavo only remembered that Terri (in her 20s when she got ill) had apparently told him he didn't want to be kept alive if something happened only years later after her accident and AFTER he got the settlement money for her rehab (rehab that never happened) and that is apparently on his word and his word alone that she is being killed. Many others dispute her saying that or that she would ever say that. I for one cannot forget any of that even if all the people crying for Terri to be killed have conveniently ignored it. Just as they have ignored the fact that that Judge Greer who oversaw the case for years NEVER even saw the woman he sentenced to death and blatantly ignored a Congressional subpoena in order to carry HIS wishes out. Or the fact that this Judge Greer will not even let people come in and give her water MANUALLY and feed her by hand, not even let her mother slip a chip if ice on her tongue - why not if he is sure she can't swallow? Why put her through such a hideous death? Especially where there are so many people (thousands by now) who would be willing to feed and comfort her all the days of her life. But no one seems to ask these questions. Michael Shiavo says she has to die, Judge Greer concurs and America cheers them on.
When a man ceases to believe in God, he doesn't believe in nothing. He believes in anything - G. K. Chesterton
But the worst people in all of this are not those who have actively sought Terri's death but those not connected with the case - the majority of Americans according to all the TV polls - who are not only standing by and doing nothing but urging the machinery of death on. The media with their misinformation and outright falsehoods, the politicians using this as another game of ideological "gotcha", the talking head lawyers who have become like the judges who condemned St. Joan of Arc - twisting the law to suit a desired outcome. And the great mass of humanity who say "well I wouldn't be want to kept alive like that" or "I wouldn't want my loved one to be kept alive like that", not even taking note of the fact that this case isn't about them or even any of their family. It's about a distinct individual, Terri Schindler-Shiavo, a fellow human being. An innocent woman whose only crime was picking a louse for a husband and then getting ill. She is not terminal. She does not have any disease. She was not on a respirator that kept her body going. The feeding tube has been off for days and she didn't stop breathing. She is just brain damaged (not "brain dead" or in a "coma" or any of the other lies the media has been spewing). She just cannot swallow food and so it must be fed to by artificial means. She is not going to die of any illness. She is starving to death. I repeat - she is starving to death! Think about how hungry you or I get when we go without drink or food for just a few hours, think how our stomachs rumble and start to hurt. Then multiply that pain by a week - a week without food. Our bodies dehydrating, our stomachs turning in on itself. Think about the pain and the agony. Then think about not being able to cry out or get relief and knowing the people around you in a hospice, the government and even your "husband" are the ones doing this to you. Think of the pain - and Terri does indeed feel pain. If you pricketh her, like Shylock, she bleeds ... and feels it. And even when people come to try to feed you by hand, to get a sip of water on your tongue - is that allowed? No. These people are arrested. We would not due to an animal or a condemned criminal what Americans of all stripes are saying should be done to Terri Shiavo. We would shoot a horse rather than let it go on in pain, we would put a dog or cat to sleep rather than let it suffer. The Scott Petersons of the world, the murderers of women and children, will live for YEARS on Death Row on the government dole while they get appeal after appeal. If they don't end up dying of natural causes in prison (as many "condemned" people end up doing) they too will get a painless death by the prick of a needle - a far cry to what they did to others. But an innocent person like Terri whose only crime was being weak and helpless? She gets the most inhumane, most painful death possible - something along the lines of what we charged the Nazis with at Nuremberg - FORCED STARVATION.
"When they came for the Jews, I did not speak up, because I was not Jewish. When they came for the Catholics, I did not speak up because I was not Catholic. And, when they came for me, there was no one left to speak up." - Martin Niemoller
What has happened to my country? What have we become? Why are we so callous? All I hear of how "it's a terrible situation" and "I'm sorry she had to die like this" but people are not sorry at all. It seems there's a real hunger for Terri to die among the media talking heads or the lawyers and pols who talk so clinically as if she's not a real human being. I've heard words like "vegetable" being tossed over and over again. As if she's not even human, not even alive. Not deserving of life. "If she's not going to get well, what's the point" they say or "there's no hope for recovery" so kill her, let her die, she'll be better off. Who are they to say these things? When do we judge people by how useful they are, how healthy they are - are these the requirements to be worthy to live? An infant cannot feed themselves, they cannot speak, they must be taken care of - Terri is like a infant now. Should we start killing babies? Maybe in the Netherlands they do that, maybe in Europe they do, but in America? The dehumanization of a person is the first step to their destruction. After all, if a person is not a human being if they are an inanimate "vegetable" with no brain, what difference would it make? It would just be like killing a roach or a rat. This is the thinking that got us slavery, this is the thinking that got us the Armenian Genocide, this is the thinking that got us the Holocaust. Once we have dehumanized a whole class of people - they are ripe for the kill and subjugation. Terri has been dehumanized. She has been found by the powers that be to be less than perfect and thus than worthy of life. And no one cares. In fact they support the FORCED STARVATION (it can never be said enough) of a helpless woman. I am afraid. Afraid for Terri, afraid for me if I should ever be helpless or weak or disabled. Afraid for us all. If they can do this to one person based all on a single statement of hearsay by someone whose motives aren't suspect (AKA Michael Shiavo), what's to prevent the forced starvation and painful death (imposed by the state) on someone else. Maybe one day you or me?
The MORAL TEST of any society is how is treats its weakest: children, elderly, sick, needy and handicapped. - Senator Hubert Humphrey
Today we are all Terri. If she dies, a little piece of us will die as well. We will become no better than the Dutch who today shamelessly kill "damaged" newborns. We will become like the ancient Spartans who would often leave "damaged" children out to die because they were not perfectly formed. We will have become like the parents of Blessed Margaret of Castello who was born blind, hunchbacked and dwarfed. She was walled up within the family castle in one room for much of her early life unable to see anyone other than a priest, later when her parents took her to a shrine in Castello for a cure that didn't happen they just left her there. She was still a child at the time. It was the poor and downtrodden, the homeless and abused like Margaret herself who took her in - otherwise her name and fate would have been lost to history.
After this, Jesus, knowing that all was now finished, said "I thirst." John 19:28
This is the Passion Week of Terri's God, Jesus of Nazareth, the Christ who was tortured, scourged and crucified for the sins of the world and then resurrected on the third day, defying death itself. Terri's Passion mirrors his and is an even more startling re-enactment of what Jesus went through than any Mel Gibson movie or local Passion Play. Barring a miracle Terri is going through her agony now, her own crucifixion by the state that can have only one final outcome. I hope and pray that HE is with Terri on her Calvary, whatever happens.
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