Yesterday I almost forgot that on March 19th we Catholics honor St. Joseph.
I'm only sorry that we don't make a more to do about it. It seems that St.
Patrick gets more respect than the foster father of Jesus, but of course, I
feel that now it is more a day of parades and green beer and Irish pride.
I guess St. Joseph doesn't mind a bit. He after all was the foster father
of Jesus and you can't beat that - now can you?
And as some people bury a statue of St. Joseph to ask help to sell
their home - I think I might try it to have whoever stole my Blessed
Virgin Mary statue from in front of my house 2 nights ago -return it. How
sad. If they are Catholic - how can they expect her blessing on theft?
If they want to sell her - she is not in prime condition- having been first
on our parents' grave in the 70's till I had to remove her because of a
new policy - no statuary on the graves. She then found a place in front
of my house for the past 30 years. She actually had been stolen once
before but somehow returned one day. I'm hoping the same thing will
happen this time - that someone's conscience will be pricked and she'll
be back where she belongs.
This morning Father mentioned during the children's liturgy how glad
he was that winter was finally over -though he noted we still may have some
small snow showers tonite. That's okay by me. March means spring and
officially it's here today - March 20th. And then how nice -- Father is carrying
on the former priest's yearly tradition of announcing spring with a small glass
of "Snow Drops" which is on the altar. He said that when we see them
poking up through the snow we KNOW THAT SPRING IS HERE.
Re the paring down of too many Catholic parishes and not enough priests
to minister to them as well as the result of people moving out to the burbs-
minimizing financial offerings, we are disappointed that my church -St. Cyril
and Methodius may lose its name. We are being merged with St. Rose's.
Somewhere I read that the nationality churches are being phased out. I think
that is so incredibly sad. These ethnic churches from the latter 19th century
and early 20th century are a page of precious history. We never learn until
its too late. When they demolished the Slovak St. Andrew's 2 years ago - even
the City of Cleveland realized that a beautiful piece of architecture was gone
for ever. Now, this may happen to other churches of the German, Italian,
Irish, Polish, Bohemian, Hungarian, Lithuanian and other ethnic groups. I am
incredibly saddened by this. Somehow, I don't think the church handled this
well. If there is a shortage of priests, then they should have looked into either
women priests, married priests, or a combination of both. Re finances, I believe
that the churches themselves would have soon realized that unless they found
ways to keep up with expenses that THEY THEMSELVES WOULD ARRIVE AT THE
CONCLUSION THAT THEY NEEDED TO CLOSE OR MERGE. I wonder how Jesus
would have handled this problem.
Yesterday I visited the Bin - a place of great food though expensive with a lot of
vegan (though largely processed) choices for me. Sadly, my budget is now going
to limit me to a once a month visit. So, today I was able to make my version of
pepperoni pizza. On top of pieces of wheat sandwich bread I ladled a spoon of
spaghetti sauce. Then a layer of fresh spinach leaves followed by a slice of vegan
mozzeralla cheese, 4 vegan pepperoni, a dash of Italian herbs and a sprinkle of
olive oil. Into a 400 degree oven for a few minutes and vola - "my" pizza slices.
Later I decided the slices were rich enough to make them into sandwiches and
so another slice of wheat bread turned them into just that. They say if you
know enough about cooking or, in my case, watched enough cooking shows, you
can whip up almost any dish from the ingredients you have on hand. Well, I didn't
have a pizza shell so I used wheat bread which turned out for me a delicious
cruelty- free "pizza."
Today Care 2 had some wonderful new ideas as they always do plus inspirational
thoughts by people like Deepak Chopra. And as far as "green" ideas, I was
surprised that our local electric utilities may give us a green choice. I have to
read more in this regard but it seems that with a small added on charge we can
pick "green" energy. That sounds good to me. The proponents of "clean" nuclear
energy are pushing their choice. How can anyone feel safe with a clean energy
that has so many safety concerns?
And lastly, tomorrow an invitation from PETA to join in protesting a near-by
fur store. I am saddened that it is still operating because I know that years
ago people from a local animal rights group had protested its existence. Well,
I think I should go- though marching in front of a store for 2 hours is not easy
for this senior citizen. Other times I didn't feel obligated because the places
targeted were too far from me. But this one is in my neighborhood. I hope
that I don't back down. That would be inexcusable- even at my age because
of my concern for the animals who are needlessly and often cruelly shorn of
their fur - largely for vanity. Today there are so many warm cruelty-free coats
to buy that I hope one day this message will get through to the people who still
sell fur.
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