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McGreevey Prays for Craig

Grrr . . . Jim McGreevey does not get it. Not one bit!

In today’s Washington Post, McGreevey launched his prayer for Larry Craig. In this twisted, sordid piece of garbage, McGreevey attempts to explain that Craig did nothing wrong and lashes out at those “who judge him harshly” as not recognizing “the worth and dignity” of admitted criminals.

McGreevey takes us through the sordid details of how he used his public position to get out of legal trouble:

I pulled into the rest stop, parked my car, flashed my headlights, which was “the signal,” and waited. Glancing in my rearview mirror, I saw a state trooper approaching. I desperately tried to convince the trooper of my innocence, showing him my former prosecutor’s badge, a gift from the office when I left. The trooper radioed his office and returned. “I never want to see you here again,” he said. I survived for another day.

Remember, McGreevey is enrolled in an Epsicopal seminary to become a priest.

But where the former governor of New Jersey really demonstrates his naïveté is when he discussed his conscious decision to lead a life where he cruised for men. He states:

The danger of this decision is the implicit shame it carries.

On the contrary, the danger of living the life he chose is exposing two wives and two children to death. Picking up strangers at highway rest stops as he admitted to earlier, McGreevey brought whatever those folks had to share into his family, the family he used as a prop in his political career. Do what you want to yourself, but by doing so and then exposing your wives (the Catholic faith apparently wasn’t good for you on more fronts than just homosexuality) and ostensibly to your children is reckless. That sir, is the danger of leading the life you selected.

Not all homosexuals pick up men in this fashion. You did. Stop hiding behind the gay community at large to remove the stain of your actions. They deserve better than that.

Likewise, Senator Larry Craig is not just a pitiful man who is misunderstood. He decided to make the same kinds of reckless decisions you did and thus exposed his family to similar health issues. Once caught, he admitted to a crime, pleaded down to a lesser charge (I wonder if that is because of the public office he has). That is why he is judged, Mr. McGreevey.

McGreevey is corrupt thoroughly. Even without public office, he is seeking approval. Despite his claim that public opinion no longer matters to him, McGreevey is desperate to re-make himself. Why else would he publicly submit a letter to a newspaper more than a thousand miles away from Idaho? Had he sought to merely counsel Craig, he would have been far more discreet . . . much like he was when he cruised the highway rest stops.

How can the Episcopal Church think this man is a suitable candidate to preach the Word of God, let alone be a spiritual guide to parishioners?

Posted in New Jersey, Politics, Religion | 1 Comment »

Would You Trust Counsel from Father Jim?

Who would have thought that Dina Matos McGreevey would speak such wisdom?

In order to be a leader, whether it’s a leader of a state, a nation or a church, you need to have some sort of moral compass

Her estranged husband, former New Jersey governor, Jim “I’m a Gay American” McGreevey, has enrolled in an Epsicopal seminary. A priest is a spiritual leader, one who guides parishioners. That relationship is predicated on the priest having guidance to offer.

In McGreevey’s case, that guidance includes corruption from the governor’s mansion, tried to appoint his boyfriend as head of homeland security, is on a federal wiretap using a codeword to announce a deal was agreed to, hired young men for his staff at extraordinary salaries and told them to write their own job descriptions, cruised for sex with men in public bathrooms, finagles his way back on the public payroll and pension roll by teaching an ethics class, hangs a 50″×40″ photograph a naked man above his bed and then has his daughter view it, wrote a book that documents how he lied to his wives and to the entire state of New Jersey and how his lies influenced policy, and is amid a bitter divorce suit with his estranged wife.

What guidance do suspect he will impart upon parishioners? Would you trust counsel from Father Jim?

Posted in New Jersey, Politics, Religion | No Comments »

Inconsistent?

A long time ago I was this close || to purchasing a premium membership for Ambrosia. As I recall, she was struggling to pay for one and seemed to be a level-headed person. I inquired as to how to do so, but let it lingered and by the time I remembered it, she had scrounged up the money herself.

Tonight a post of hers stood out to me.

Truth is relative.

I definitely do not hold that to be true. While I recognize that what I perceive is not always the truth, I do believe truth is static and can be known (at least in most cases).

What I find most alarming, however, is that in Ambrosia’s sig file she has the following quotation:

Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and lean not on your own understanding; In all your ways acknowledge Him, and He shall direct your paths.

Of course, that is from the Bible; Proverbs 3:5,6 to be exact.

I find it inconsistent that someone who quotes the Bible on every post then turns around and states truth is relative. Are we not to trust that the Lord is truth? Or is it that He is relative?

To so casually dismiss the pithy proverb to score a point is disingenuous.

Posted in GPS Games, Geocaching, Religion | No Comments »

Conversion & McGreevey

When Gert and I were married the ceremony was in the Episcopal church. I was reared Episcopalian and that was the church we had attended when we dated. The Episcopal faith was always explained to me as being a slightly more liberal Catholicism. The most notable difference was that Episcopalians permitted divorce.

Then in my youth, the Episcopal faith permitted female priests. Again, that is something most folks can accept and it never seemed a huge issue to me.

Of course, I knew the Catholic faith was steadfast in its faith. When I attended a Catholic school, I was told directly I was not welcomed at the alter. And that began a struggle that I now understand, but fought to understand for a long time. Catholics do not permit any non-Catholic to receive communion in their church. Episcopalians are much more welcoming in this manner. My friend Oli had no issue receiving communion at the Episcopal school we attended, but I was not welcomed to do so at his wedding. It seemed, well, a hardcore policy.

After Gert and I were married we continued to attend the Episcopal church. About a year later, we began discussing our family plans. That discussion brought us to religion. Gert is a Roman Catholic and she expressed her desire to return to her church. That then had an impact on our family discussion. How were we going to raise our children?

For a while, we went with the idea that Mommy would attend one church and Daddy would attend another and that the children would split their time between the two. We were naive in that thinking.

Gert began attending some Catholic churches in the area to see where she was comfortable. She struggled finding such a church. She was going to just go to the church she grew up in, but admittedly that was now a bit far given where we purchased our home. Eventually she tried the “big” Catholic church in town and liked something about it. She liked it enough to invite me.

The Episcopal church we attended was in dire straits. It was a small congregation (albeit larger than the 15-person congregation of another church I attended when I first came to town) and it was not able to pay its way. That meant the diocese subsidized the church. Fortunately, the church had a retired priest as an interim. He joked when he hit the decade mark about what interim meant. Father Vanaman was a good man who provided lots of counsel to me. He, like almost everyone else in the church, was elderly. As Gert and I contemplated our family plans, we did recognize that our children would not have a wonderful children’s program available.

So I visited the Catholic church with Gert and was very much impressed. Those who know me know I like my church service “churchy” and Father Carmel is the epitome of that. Incense, a thick Italian accent, pomp and circumstance. The church had it all. Furthermore, there is a Catholic school associated with this parish.

I had been investigating my faith at this time. What did I believe in? What was important?

It just so happens that the Episcopal church was amid a significant change in what it believes at this time. The church was set to confirm Gene Washington as the bishop of New Hampshire. Bishop Washington was openly gay.

I do believe in tolerance and forgiveness. I do not, however, believe that a church should uphold this behavior as exemplary. A bishop is the definition of a role model. Washington did not meet that criteria for me.

Father Vanaman and the rest of our congregation were adamantly opposed to the church’s action here. As a matter of fact, many Epsicopalians throughout the United States were. It was not long before a fractured church was seen. The larger Anglican church was equally dismayed with this decision too and pressure was applied. To no end, it turns out as Robinson was confirmed and the Episcopal church adopted language that made it very clear it had broken with the Anglican church.

As for me, I sought the counsel of Father Vanaman and Father Carmel. After much research, discussion, and prayer, I decided to convert to the Catholic faith. I enrolled in RCIA and further investigated my faith. Due to another issue beyond my control that I will not detail here, it was a long process. But eventually I made it!

What has happened to the Episcopal church? Apparently, it is now the sanctuary for gay community. Former New Jersey Governor McGreevey announced that he converted to the Episcopal faith from Catholicism last Sunday. Furthermore, McGreevey is entering the a seminary to become an Episcopal priest.

This is wrong on so many levels. McGreevey is the poster boy for political corruption. He was driven out of office because of his lies. He announced he was “a Gay American” and left his wife to shack up with a man. They hang a 50×40 photograph a naked man above their bed for his daughter to view. McGreevey then airs all his corruption for all to see, continues to battle his estranged wife, and somehow gets a gig to teach an ethics class at a state university to pad his pension. Now he wants to be a counselor to others, the religious leader of people’s faith. And the Episcopal church seems willing to let him have a go at it.

The Episcopal church has changed and for me I found a home where I am comfortable. There is no way I could rectify my faith with this week’s announcement from McGreevey.

I pray for the man, but I do not respect his decision.

Posted in New Jersey, Religion | No Comments »

Dot . . . Dot . . . Dot . . .

Suicide prevention training, as I mentioned here, is indeed mandated by New Jersey. Just another example of non-academic time and expense in the public school system . . . Speaking of the NJ public school system, there appears to be one district $8 million in the hole . . . Pope Benedict is not compromising the Catholic Church’s teachings. Bravo! . . . This proposed law makes no sense. Requiring kegs to be tagged with ID tags to trace who purchased it at an underage drinking party misses how minors obtain alcohol. This will only cause the price of kegs to rise . . . Former Governor McGreevey thinks he’s going to get sole possession of his daughter with Dina? The man lied to his family and his state. The man has been living with another man while he is still married (who cares about the legality, it does not set a good example) and while he hawked a book that detailed his lack of morals. I don’t think he stands a chance . . . the next fad in public education: project-based learning. This is whole language with a new wrapper. I’ll say it again: pick an approach to a discipline, purchase the materials and make a 20 year commitment to it. That will lower cost of education. Supervisors seem to exist only to purchase a new textbook/program every five years. Someone needs to ask these folks why they recommended a book five years ago that is all of a sudden no good for to teach our students . . . Enlighten makes some good points about public employees’ health benefits. I am not onboard yet, but am moving in that direction . . . Twitter is slow/unavailable tonight . . . btw, I am not in favor of schools tracking children’s weight/BMI on the report card. I am a traditionalist: schools are for academics and a smattering of other activities to provide a liberal arts background. Outside that, schools and teachers are ill-equipped to provide services such as food, clothing, healthcare, and every other topic politicians and Joe Schmoe tell public schools to address . . . This is old news. Interestingly, I will most likely be purchasing an analog television this weekend . . . My response to Cate got lost somewhere. She asks an interesting question: will food blogs spell the end of cookbooks? Short answer, No. But ultimately, I believe sites like GroupRecipes will cut into the sales. Print media are under siege from the binary community. Other than novels, isn’t most text better served electronically? . . . Bill Frist thinks Fred Thompson should run for president . . . oh btw, Governor Corzine tells us that NJ has $175 billion in unfunded liabilities . . . Aha! I just recently was talking about this cacher and whether he would release another in his series. He has. Hmmm . . . less than 528 from the road hardly highlights this 50-mile trail . . .

Posted in Education, Entertainment, GPS Games, Geocaching, New Jersey, Politics, Religion | 1 Comment »