Moral Breakdown Can Lead to Islamic Takeover

This post is from, Dr. Christine A. Mugridge, a friend in Rome working on various communication projects for the Catholic Church.

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I saw this article and felt it was important enough to share - perhaps it will give us insight into how far Europe is falling into its post-Christian troubles. I feel that the Netherlands are like the "canary in the tunnel" for us ... We in the US talk about tolerance and dialogue for example on our Catholic campuses - we have a false understanding of dialogue altogether. A sad example of this point is the Notre Dame president's insistence on allowing the play "The V Monologues" on campus. This is not dialogue properly understood. The Holy Father in Rome is engaged in active dialogue and scientific/theological reflection. Yet, I can't imagine the Vatican allowing a "gay club" or allowing the performance of such a play on its premises in the name of "diversity and dialogue". The issue of political "tolerance" today is too often a catch-all word to allow the legalization of immorality. As we can see from the prophetic writings of P.Paul VI in Humanae Vitae - immorality is a slippery slope which leads society to further falling into a degraded state of life, contrary to the dignity of the human person made in the image and likeness of God.

Many countries in Europe have a history of religious persecution against Christianity, against the Catholic Faith. Now, that faith is asleep and a rise of a false notion of "freedom" has dominated society and a cultural take-over of a society in a "post-Christian era" has happened already. But, peoples' hearts long for the Truth and religious definition. If the Church doesn't fulfill this need as is her mandate by Christ - there are other religious groups that long to capitalize on it. The murder of the screenwriter in the Netherlands shows us that these groups are not playing around. We need to pay attention to the downward spiral of the a-moral cultural trends circulating the world. The key point here in this article is that a Cardinal is speaking so bluntly about the topic. He's in the thick of things - he should know!

Dutch Cardinal: Moral Breakdown Has Left Holland Open to Islamic Takeover [UTRECHT, The Netherlands] November 18, 2004 (CWNews.com)

Cardinal Adrianis Simonis of Utrecht believes that the "spiritual vacuity" of Dutch society has left the Netherlands open to an Islamic cultural takeover.

"Today we have discovered that we are disarmed in the face of the Islamic danger," the cardinal told the Italian daily Avvenir. He pointed out that even some young people who were born and raised in the Netherlands have become militant Muslims. The rise of Islam, Cardinal Simonis said, is related to "the spectacle of extreme moral decadence and spiritual decline that we offer" to young people.

"Nowadays political leaders ask whether the Muslims will accept our values," the Dutch cardinal observed. "I ask, 'What values are those? Gay marriage? Euthanasia?'"

If those are the reigning moral principles on which today's society is built, Cardinal Simonis continued, he rejects them as emphatically as Islamic leaders.

The cardinal said that he did not intend to take an extreme position, insisting "fundamentalism is always a problem." But on the other hand, he said, a society must be based on a common understanding of public order and morality. "It isn't enough to learn our language," he said.

The problem for the Netherlands, the cardinal continued, is a "lack of identity." The time is long past, he observed, when Christians "would fight and die for their faith." Today Islamic radicals are prepared to fight, as was evident earlier this month when the noted screenwriter Theo van Gogh was assassinated by Muslim zealots. Cardinal Simonis added that he still holds out "hope that these tragic facts will force us to recover our identity."

Commenting on the Dutch tradition of tolerance, Cardinal Simonis observed that the notion of "tolerance" as it is understood there today is a recent development. "For three centuries, Catholics were barred from public office," he noted. The current penchant for "tolerance," he said, "came later, after a common loss of faith-- roughly 40 years ago."

Today Dutch society is known for its permissive attitude toward social issues, with laws that allow euthanasia, same-sex marriage, widespread use of recreational drugs, prostitution, and adoption by homosexual couples.

Cardinal Simonis said that the best prospect for recovery would come if the younger generation returned to Christian traditions. "That is my hope, and I do see signs that young people are rediscovering the faith," he said.

(article excerpt end)

Dr. Christine A. Mugridge
Rome, Italy
www.SacredArtsCommunications.org
Editor of: God's Call To Women

Black Genocide

Many times I have thought that had I been born in the South a few decades earlier, I would have been impelled by every fiber of my body and soul, to fight with my life for the civil rights movement. I am embarrassed with shame that blacks have been treated with the worst kind of prejudice and hatred.

And so I am numbed with disbelief by the embrace of many, many African Americans who have so readily accepted abortion as some sort of weird solution to their situation, when abortion is from it's very root a racist ploy by political and white racists to rid the earth of black people. Watch the video on the web link below.

Dr. Alvia King speaks out regularly against black genocide and here's the website that says it all. What follows is the opening text from BlackGenocide.org run by Rev. Clenard Childress. Jr. Why aren't more black ministers.... what are not ALL black ministers preaching this message?

Between 1882 and 1968, 3,446 Blacks were lynched in the U.S. That number is surpassed in less than 3 days by abortion.

1,452 African-American children are killed each day by the heinous act of abortion.

3 out of 5 pregnant African-American women will abort their child.

Since 1973 there has been over 13 million Black children killed and their precious mothers victimized by the U.S. abortion industry.

In his Letter from a Birmingham Jail, Martin Luther King said, "The early church brought an end to such things as INFANTICIDE." What would Martin Luther King say to the church today?

The Rev. Jesse Jackson once said:

"That is why the Constitution called us three-fifths human and then whites further dehumanized us by calling us 'niggers'. It was part of the dehumanizing process. The first step was to distort the image of us as human beings in order to justify that which they wanted to do and not even feel like they had done anything wrong. Those advocates of taking life prior to birth do not call it killing or murder, they call it abortion. They further never talk about aborting a baby because that would imply something human. Rather they talk about aborting the fetus. Fetus sounds less than human and therefore abortion can be justified".

Jackson's massive flip-flop on the abortion issue is further proof that his political future is far more important to him than are his principles. With 1/3 of all abortions performed on Black women, the abortion industry has received over 4,000,000,000 (yes, billion) dollars from the Black community.

Reason and Faith ON-THE-AIR

Beginning tonight, I start a radio series that deals substantially with the book I've been writing and which has been released chapter-by-chapter on Catholic Exchange.

John Kruse has invited me to be on his show every weekday (M-F) to discuss logic, fallacies, culture, movies, the debate over God's existence, evolution and intelligent design. And that's just in the first hour. (Just kidding.) We'll actually pick one sub-topic per week, or roughly speaking one chapter of my book-in-progress (Reason & Faith: Why Trying To Fly With One Wing Makes Culture Dizzy) each week. I'll be on for just 10 minutes on Mondays (about 9:47 PM), Wednesdays (9:05 PM), and Fridays (9:05 PM), but on Tuesdays and Thursday I'll be in-studio for the whole hour (9:05 PM - 9:55 PM).

The John Kruse Show can be heard on terrestrial radio (1400 AM WDTK, in the Detroit area, Eastern Time 9 PM-10 PM) or over the Internet (live streamed) by going to www.WDTKAM.COM and clicking on the LISTEN button at the top left of the page. Mac users need to click on the smaller "Mac User" button and allow the software to place a link in your iTunes application. After than you just need to open iTunes and click on the WDTK link.

WDTK is a 1000-watt, 24/7, conservative talk radio station in Detroit with nationally syndicated hosts all day and night, except for this one hour of local programming. John's show comes right after Dennis Miller, and just before Michael Savage.

You can read ahead of the show and keep pace with the book's chapters as I write and post them at www.REASONandFAITH.net. Or click on the image.

John Tesh: ALIVE music & dance

Years ago I was involved as the director of a television pilot that tried to take various artistic disciplines and incorporate them into a Christian worship experience. We didn't succeed for a matter of time and budget. But now comes John Tesh with an awe inspiring television production ALIVE: music&dance. Tesh has taken Christian worship music and married it with ballet, lyric dance, and hip hop in a benchmark production that should get all Christians (especially Catholics) to sit up and take notice.

Nineveh's Crossing is proud to be selling both the DVD and CD at lower than normal prices. The project airs on PBS, March 1, 2008, but should be a hit for home media.

We have clips and more detail about the project at our site. Click either of the images or this link: ALIVE: music&dance page.

Check it out.

Best Adult Formation Practices: A Catholic Tent Revival

A few weeks ago, Catholic lay evangelist, Bill Wegner was in town giving a mission to hundreds at Our Lady of Good Council. Bill goes to St. Veronica's in Howell, NJ where I had interviewed his pastor, Fr. Brendan Williams, about the best practices of adult faith formation that he had learned and experienced in his life and ministry. We took advantae of Bill being in town, and did a one hour interview of him for use later in our Best Practices television series. At Nineveh's Crossing's Best Practices page we posted a 4 min clip of Bill's interview in which he describes his annual tent meeting set up -- and an evangelical altar call at a Catholic funeral. The clip is in a better form at Nineveh's Crossing, but I'll also post it here as well.

THERE WILL BE A TEST: Evaluating Your RCIA Instruction

This is the third in an irregular series on Catholic Faith Formation Best Practices

Of the many volunteer jobs I've taken to promote the Church, one that I found most interesting was chauffeuring a well-known Catholic convert and evangelist from appointment to appointment. One day, I drove him to a television station where he was interviewed by his bishop about his conversion to Catholicism. On air, the bishop said he assumed the evangelist came into the Catholic Church because of the beautiful and holy example of the many Catholic laity the evangelist had met over the course of his life. Diplomatically, my evangelist friend said nothing, because nothing could have been further from the truth.

In my ten years as a Catholic, I have met a number of priests, bishops, writers, and other Catholic leaders who agree that the knowledge of the typical Catholic layperson about his or her faith is disgraceful. Like my evangelist friend, many of us converts to Catholicism came into the Church in spite of the poor formation of the Catholics we knew, not because of them. We came into the Church because of the consistency of Catholic teaching with the Bible and history.

There are many historical reasons why American Catholics are so poorly catechized, and I'm sure someone has written the book. There is, however, one thing RCIA and CCD instructors can do today that, if they are not doing it now, will dramatically improve their efforts at catechetical instruction overnight. While this essay does not allow enough space to explain this technique in detail, it will provide an introduction and a free resource to get you, as instructors and coordinators, started.

There Will Be A Test

Fr. James Cronk would occasionally scan the class, look us in the eyes and gleefully announce: "Just remember, there will be a test." As a candidate for entering the Church, I was attending my first RCIA[1] program. It took a while before we understood Fr. Jim's meaning, its truth, and how it applied not only to each of us in the class, but to him, and all RCIA coordinators, instructors, facilitators, priests, and bishops. Yes, there will be a test — and, I might add, it will be scored.

In the adult corporate training and communication industry — where I spent the better part of three decades as a producer and creative director — my group's paychecks were tied to how efficiently, effectively, and productively the students under our care were educated. Our results were never based on our senses or feelings, or someone's subjective opinion. Our clients, who collectively were spending millions of dollars, wanted more assurance than my cocky, nodding head.

So, we evaluated our training in several different ways and, based on the results of those tests, we modified our methods and techniques. In a temporal sense, we were very successful and our business lucrative as we worked with a breadth of demanding customers from the NASA astronaut corps to Harley-Davidson dealers to the heads of the major automotive companies and their divisions. The point of our evaluation effort was to ensure the return on investment (ROI) that our customers were making.

Lest you think that such ROI accountability doesn't fit the world of Christian discipleship, I will remind you of Christ's parable of the talents, and what happened to those who did not return double the investment of their master. There was a test... and, those who failed it "...were cast into utter darkness" (Matt. 25).

Four Levels, Two Groups

In the instructional design industry there are four levels of instruction, evaluation or testing referred to simply as Levels 1, 2, 3, and 4. At each level there are two different groups being evaluated: (1) the instructional designers and instructors; and (2) the participants.

Levels 1 and 2 are conducted at the time of the instruction's delivery — either at the end of a single class session, or, in the case of longer instructional periods, occasionally throughout. Level 1 evaluates the instruction from the student's perspective and Level 2 evaluates the student's comprehension from the instruction's perspective. (Notice that the instruction has two parts: (a) the instructional design that includes the structure of the content, presentation method, and overall methodology, and (b) the instructor.

Levels 3 and 4 are conducted later. Level 3 testing is typically administered a month after the class ends, and, like Level 2, evaluates the student's knowledge or comprehension. Level 4 is the most difficult and expensive to administer because it attempts to evaluate, a month to a year out, the student's change in behavior as it relates to the instruction. That is nearly impossible because of the many variables in the student's life that can affect behavioral change.

Ultimately, there are two goals in these evaluations. The first and primary purpose of the evaluations, is not to grade the student's performance, but to improve the instruction. Yes, that's right. Unlike the grades you received in elementary school, high school and college, these evaluations place the learning onus on the instructional designers and instructors. The second purpose, of course, is to test the student's progress at learning.

The Problem from My Seat

I converted to Catholicism from Evangelical Christianity in 1997-1998. Because of my professional interest in learning and education and because of various Church requirements and suggestions, I've been involved in several RCIA, CCD, and other Catholic educational efforts. Distressingly, my direct observations in too many of these programs have revealed the absence of the most basic communication protocol.

I have been in Catholic education classes where you could not understand a word of what the instructor was saying, or the level of the reading material was inappropriate for the class, or the instructional methodology used for a class of 7th graders was geared to that of an alert, motivated adult on Double-Jolt Cola.

I have also attended far too many sessions where the instructor had a degree in theology but had few facilitation skills and put the class to sleep. In all of these cases, regardless of the sincerity of the instructor or the accuracy of the theology presented, the instruction might as well have not occurred.

If we're concerned about passing on the faith to the next generation — partly at least through classroom instruction — then it is imperative that we teach in a way that learners can and will learn. Just "showing up," sincerity, and prayer are no substitutes for basic instructional and communication skills.

What Should Be Done NOW

As we approach the end of another year of RCIA instruction, now would be a good time to administer an important piece of this evaluation strategy — the Level 1 evaluation. At the same time, a Level 2 test can also be administered. Although the Level 2 evaluation is often seen as intimidating or offensive by students, and while many RCIA instructors may feel that such testing demeans the students and treats them like middle school children, the fact remains that testing helps the students understand what's important and helps them learn.

For instance, if before the instruction you were to administer a pre-instruction test of the critical learning objectives, regardless of how well or poorly the students do on the pre-test, they would know what was important to remember when the instruction occurred. This kind of "pre-testing" serves an important instructional objective — it helps the student establish the "hooks" upon which to "hang" the information when it comes.

Then, if the same Level 2 test is administered after the instruction, several wonderful things occur. First, the instructional designers and instructor can compare the pre- and post-tests to see if learning, at least in the short term, occurred. Second, if there is not a dramatic improvement in the scores, then careful investigation into the instruction needs to be made; and that is when the Level 1 evaluation is most helpful. By itself, though, the Level 1 evaluation provides great benefit to class coordinators, developers, and the instructor.

The Level 1 Evaluation

A Level 1 Class Session Evaluation that can be used for RCIA instruction can be found by scrolling to the bottom of Nineveh's Crossing's Home page [http://www.NinevehsCrossing.com]. Look for the link to "Best Practices for Faith Formation."

The Level 1 Evaluation found there can be used after each class session or whenever the content, instructor, or venue changes. Level 1 is often called a "smile" sheet because its primary purpose is to discover how satisfied the students are with the instruction as it was presented. In order to get high grades on a Level 2 evaluation (student head-knowledge of the content), a high Level 1 is absolutely necessary. If the Level 1 evaluation scores low, it is not possible for Level 2 to be high, unless the student learned the material somewhere else. If students are to learn in a classroom situation, there first has to be good communication, and the Level 1 evaluation can help religious education directors achieve that.

The Level 1 Evaluation, referenced above is a short questionnaire with 12 questions that provide both quantitative and qualitative answers. After asking for basic information about the date, class, instructor and topic, and reminding the student that there are no wrong answers on this "test", the following questions are presented. The first eight ask students to Disagree or Agree on a 1-5 scale with statements about their learning experience, with opportunity of explaining their ratings on the back of the form. The statements include:

1. This session was of interest to me and met a need in my life.

2. I could see and hear the instructor and visual aids well.

3. The lesson was presented at a level that I understood.

4. The instructor was well prepared to teach this lesson.

5. The instructor's appearance and attitude were engaging.

6. The classroom was comfortable and conducive to learning.

7. The reading material that supports this session was helpful.

8. I would encourage others to take this session.

Questions 9 through 12 ask for open feedback about what in the class needs to be deleted, added, used less, or used more, to help improve the class session.

Administration of this Level 1 Evaluation at every session, and then paying attention to and possibly implementing the suggestions you get, will dramatically improve the effectiveness of your instruction to the next generation of Catholics.

A free PDF Download of the above evaluation with completion instructions — ready to hand out — is available at http://www.NinevehsCrossing.com. Scroll to the bottom and click on the BEST PRACTICES link.

By the way, there is a Level 5 Evaluation for Christians. It's the "test" Fr. Cronk was reminding us about. It takes place at the "Pearly Gates," and it will be scored.

[1] RCIA stands for Rite of Christian Initiation for Adults, a series of parish classes held from September to Easter that intend to teach adults all things Christian and Catholic in order to prepare them to enter the Church at the Easter Vigil through the reception of three sacraments: baptism, confirmation, and communion. RCIA participants are generally composed of three types: catechumens (the unbaptized), candidates (baptized but unconfirmed), and sponsors (Catholics who assist the catechumens and candidates through the six month process).

AGAINST WAR, BUT MORE AGAINST THOSE THAT WANT TO DESTROY THE U.S.A.

Like many of us, I have strong political sensibilities, especially during this particular election year. I am an independent, and in the past have split my vote. I tend to look carefully at a politican's values and policies and compare them to Catholic and Christian teachings. They've never aligned perfectly, but we're not electing the pope, but someone who will be a defenders of our liberty, seek long-lasting peace (not short-term peace at any price), and have a high moral character.

CLICK on the image to the right, or the link below for a flash, web video of some value. The front part of this flash video says a lot about what my major issue is for this election. The protection of our citizens against those that have demonstrated the ability to kill and destroy us. After the beginning litany of remembrances of the attacks against the U.S., this video stats committing alarmist fallacies that are not true. But the up front list of attacks by radicals against us, is true, and the threats continue against us and our allies.

usawakeup.org

I cannot understand the policies of some candidates (like Obama) who advocate the retreat from the battle against those Islamic extremists who have repeatedly demonstrated their passion for the destruction of Western Civilization.

SIDE BAR: I have a pet theory that Obama only joined a Christian Church (a very liberal one, I might add, and one that I suggest he is not involved in) as political cover for his pubic endeavors. I take note that he refuses to recite the pledge of allegiance, wear an American Flag pin on his lapel, and now his wife comes out that the only thing she is proud of America for is the support for her husband's campaign. Whoa! I think he's part of a Islamic sleeper cell, but I hope I'm wrong.

(Posted days later: I may be wrong in the paragraph above, but perhaps only the proper nouns are wrong. Read this from Ronald Kessier)

It is true that Western democracies are not perfect. There are many times when I am embarrassed to be American. As I have thought about leaving for another country to live, and as I have visited a few, I keep coming back to the hope we have as American's and the greater liberty and freedom to express and seek the truth as we understand it, HERE, as opposed to anywhere else, even the U.K. and Canada, or the down-under continent.

So, perhaps we're left with the best of not perfect.

But, back to my objection about those that have advocated a pull out of Iraq and other places where we are defending our life and those of other countries. Why candidates like Obama seem to be so oblivious to the explicit and multiple attacks against us, not by a country but by a worldwide cult, is beyond me. I can only explain their declaration of pulling back from this war as a political gambit to secure power for their own aggrandizement. Surely Bush is not prosecuting this war for his own popularity. If he was, he would have pulled out long ago. Obama and others who declare a pull out can't be ignorant of the threat, so that leaves several other conclusions about their position, and none of them seem to fulfill the President's job of defending our interests and the lives of our citizens.

The WakeUpAmerica video, cited at the beginning, is a bit alarmist (at the end). But the up front litany of attacks on us by our enemies should remind us that something is more important than the color of a man's skin. It should be his (or her) policies to lead the military to protect us...and much of the world that otherwise would have little or no protection.

The other things that baffles me is why African Americans would support any candidate who's policies by enlarge have reduced the number of African American citizens by millions, through abortion. By the numbers alone (3 black babies are aborted for every white baby, I am told -- am I wrong?) abortion is a racist practice, just as it was advocated by those that founded Planned Parenthood to clean out the "weeds" in our midst. Why would blacks vote for a candidate of any color, who would advocate for this kind of genocide that can only be described as racial suicide. And why Christians would vote for the continuation of such genocide, regardless of how much they think Bush lied about the war effort, is beyond explanation.

In fact, I have only heard platitudes and NEVER one explanation. I've heard people say "I trust Obama totally" but never a logical reason why they trust a man who advocates the killing of their babies. The only reasons I hear are "Bush lied" .... which is not a reason, but a slogan. Bush has tried to ENLARGE the African American population by trying to get rid of abortion. The Democrats want to continue to marginalize and DECREASE the black population by encouraging the killing of their own kind.

Praying for LIFE and America.

Injustice in Michigan

Related Links: Marxism in Michigan

Over the last few months I've been helping a person who has been falsely accused by the local prosecutor. I know my friend has been falsely accused because I am intimately involved and party to the situation. Last week my friend was summoned to court, and asked me to respond to the charging 2-page petition. I wrote 12 pages and sent to the defense attorney. I have never seen anything so shoddy, evil, and malicious...and coming from the Oakland County Prosecution's office that is sworn to uphold and protect the constitution and the laws of the State of Michigan. I could never come to that conclusion except the petition claims to communicate the facts about situations in which I was present, and in fact my name is used. Of course, I am misquoted, etc.

I have a second friend that committed suicide last summer under what many of us believe was a coerced confession, if in fact my friend confessed to anything. The notes and diaries that were left behind gave no indication of any guilt or malady. This second friend was meek, mild, and trusting. The detective involved has a reputation of being mean and ruthless. My friend could easily of collapsed under such a tyrannical treatment as has been reported to me.

I watched a YouTube video of a 14 year old boy being harassed during interrogation by detectives regarding the murder of a girl. The poor boy maintained his innocence, but the detectives lied about how they knew he did the deed, and were generally trying to break him down under false pretense. He didn't break, but 10 years later was put away for 9 years in prison for the murder. Just recently DNA confirmed that he was all along telling the truth and they let him out of prison. Life ruined.

Tonight, I read the blog of Daniel Turner, a local man who fought off sexual molestation charges twice in a year. Finally, after he had mortgaged his house to defend himself, lost his job, and local reputation as a terrific soccer coach of a kids league, the cops and prosecution declared it was all a mistaken identity and let him go free, without so much as an apology. Of course his life is ruined.

Then, a close friend told me of a man who is in prison for sexual abuse because a young mentally disturbed girl accused him on the testimony stand. Although she has a record of a troubled youth, and the man has none, her solo testimony about a single event that supposedly happened 2 years ago, has put him away for life. She's reported by some to be vindictive. He has maintained his innocence. The cops could find no collaborating evidence from his home, relatives, or other witnesses. Yet the court's found him guilty and he's not in solitary confinement because if he was out of his cell the other prisoners would kill, a convicted, but I believe innocent man.

And let's not forget Mike Nifong.

If I wasn't involved with my friend, I'd think little about any of this. But I see what it's doing to my friend's family, and my friend. It's horrible. My friend is at times irrational, but why not when the last year's events, at the hand of the Oakland County Prosecutor's office as been so irrational and lacking in justice. It's as if the 94 assistant prosecutor's have nothing else to do, but to create work in order to save their jobs.

If you know of other stories of people that were falsely accused here in Michigan, especially Oakland County, and whose life has been ruined because of overzealous cops, and ambiguous prosecutors, please contact me.

Let's get some laws and procedures on the books that will prevent false charges so easily without strong collaborating evidence.

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One person wrote, and put me on to The Innocence Project. A great website for all of us to visit. The videos are engaging -- interviews with men and women wrongly convicted. Click on the image of their home page above.

I also saw a quote that was valuable, and describes myself. "Another key to happiness: Refuse to be upset with injustice unless you're ranting only 5% of the time and working constructively 95% of the time to correct it."

The following is quoted from: http://www.lawmall.com/abuse/

The criminal prosecutors achieve or expect to achieve fame, fortune and power by racking up criminal-case victories regardless of the guilt or innocence of the accused under existing principles of law. They readily learn that the way to become elected or appointed to Congress, the state or local Legislature, a judgeship, district attorney or U.S. Attorney position or other governmental office, is to get and publicize convictions, and to maintain that they are just in spite of overwhelming evidence to the contrary in too many cases.

The consequences for the overzealous prosecutor is too often the sought-after fame, fortune, power and political position, but the victims (including virtually everyone in the community) are left to pay the bill for wrongful incarceration, excessive criminal proceedings, destroyed families, wrongfully-confiscated property depriving a newly-accused defendant of the funds to defend himself/herself, wrongfully-impoverished families requiring governmental assistance, loss of skilled workers, loss of voters needed to strike a more just political balance in the country, and various other consequences which need to be explored by the press and book authors.

Here's a few sites of interest:

http://www.publicintegrity.org/pm/default.aspx

http://www.innocenceproject.org/

http://www.lawmall.com/abuse/

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prosecutorial_misconduct

The Other Frontier of Iraq

Today, Pam and I took in an opportunity to participate in the first Iraqi Cultural Week of the Iraqi Artists Association, held at Madonna University (Livonia, MI), the local Catholic University run by the Felician Sisters.

We were invited by a past film student of mine, Weam Namou -- an accomplished author, columnist, poet, and hope to be soon filmmaker —oh, yeah...and most importantly a new mom.

What is of interest about Weam, to me, is that she is an active mainstream Iraqi-American writer, who approaches the intersection of those two cultures from a Chaldean (Iraqi Christian, e.g. Catholic) perspective. If you don't know, Chaldean Catholics are the minority group of Christians in Iraqi; and just as a reminder, the first Biblical characters from the books of Moses [Abraham. Adam, Even, Noah, the stories of the tower of Babel, Nineveh (Hear! Hear!) and Abraham] were Iraqi.

Today, at the event, I had the privilege to talk for a few minutes with Amer Hanna Fatuhi, a featured artist, lecturer and historian. We talked about what Americans "don't know" about Iraq. What they think they know centers around the war and the radical elements that hold the whole region hostage. The Other Frontier of Iraq (the name of the artist exhibition this past week and next at Madonna) is attempting to communicate with Americans about the richness that is the soul of Iraq and it's ancient civilization, Mesopotamia. "By sharing their visual arts, music and writing, a group of talented Iraqi descendants create a dialogue between the East and West in the hopes of improving communication and understanding." (Hint to our good Iraqi hosts: The music session today was great, and I really enjoyed myself and meeting you. But I did not understand a word you said or sang when you were speaking/singing in Arabic (?). If you want to communicate to Americans on American soil, and as many of you are American citizens, please, speak to us in English, or hand out the lyrics in English. I would have loved to have had a translation so I could have followed along. No, please don't sing your traditional music in English—that would be horrible. But an interlinear translation would be fabulous.)

I've never taken much to the minor chord based music that comes out of that region, but today a talented quintet and vocalist did a fine job of introducing us Americans to the "deep-rooted Iraqi music, which goes back more than 7,000 yeas and is part of the ancient Mesopotamian heritage. The embedded video clip (shot from the hip) will give you a taste of this fascinating music that should remind us Bible folk what Abraham listened to for enjoyment.

There's not enough room here to share all I learned today, but here are some links that I recommend following up on.

First, the two published short novels by Weam. Pam and I read aloud The Feminine Art to each other over a year ago. Great story, and wonderful metaphors about an extended family of Iraqi-Americans trying to play match-maker for a rebellious Iraqi-American young man, and the cultural challenges the whole family faces. The Mismatched Braid, Weam Namou's second novel, sits here on my desk, and Pam and I hope to read it soon. It too is about the attempts of romance, as a young man flees Iraq and Saddam's military, ends up in Greece where he attempts to win the love of his American cousin who comes to Greece for a semester, in an attempt to make it to America. Weam reminds us that "the first writer in recorded history was Enheduanna, a woman from ancient Iraq, 2,000 years before Aristotle.... and that man's most important invention, the wheel, was devised in Mesopotamia, as was plumbing, the plow, and the sailboat."

Weam is also a published poet and columnist, and president of the Iraqi Artist Association... who is too busy to blog. Our loss. I tried today to convince her otherwise.

Amer told me today -- as he took notice of Pam's small gold crucifix necklace -- of how, in Iraq, just recently, his sister-in-law was confronted by a radical Muslim who demanded that she remove the crucifix from her neck. Amer's sister-in-law said that she would not deny the love and devotion for her Lord Jesus Christ. When the man threatened to blow her head off, if she didn't comply, she told him to go ahead and shoot her, because she would never deny Christ. The man shot his sister-in-law in the head...killing her instantly. This is the fate of Iraqi Catholics today. Pray for them, and the repose of Amer's sister-in-law's soul. You can read more about Amer and his fabulous art at the Mesopotamia Art Gallery.

Now, two quick notes I can't pass up. Madonna University is on a square mile of property that the Felician Sisters purchased who knows how many millennium ago, just a few miles from where we live. My daughter, April, proudly received her B.A. in English Literature and Early Childhood Development from Madonna. On that property is their huge mother house, a hospice, a childcare center, a major hospital with a heliport on top, a retirement community, and the large and respected Catholic University, Madonna. Now, the second story. Pam, my wife, teaches in the public school only a few miles away. One day, a 7th grade girl came up to Pam -- who had been talking to her Life Skills class about going to college and mentioning the local schools that were a possibility -- and the girl says to my wife, "What I can't understand is why the Catholic Church would name one of its universities after a rock star."

And on that note, I'm going to bed.

Mother Angelica - Nun, Saint, CEO

I just finished Raymond Arroyo's MOTHER ANGELIA: The Remarkable Story of a Nun, Her Nerve, and a Network of Miracles.

I'm late reading this remarkable book about a even more remarkable woman. I guess I didn't expect much more than platitudes of an employee about his employer. Big mistake.

The book reads more dramatically than the best crime mystery. And there are crimes in this book, if not by the liberal bishops of the Catholic Church (why can't the Vatican dismiss them as rebellious children they are) or the mafia syndicate bosses Mother gets to fund and build her projects.

But led of God like none other, she is as John Paul II called her has he gripped her face and wimple "The Grand Chief! The Grand Chief!" He couldn't straighten out the liberal church in America, but the nun with only a high school education could.

During the last 1/2 of the book, I felt that if the Catholic Church hierarchy and it's membership in America was 1/2 as true to Christ's calling as this woman was, the anti-Catholic bigotry by some few radical Protestants, and ignorant pagans, would be silenced. The American Catholic Church, in many ways, deserves the bad press it gets. I saw it growing up in Dearborn, MI, I've experienced it in the halls of conferences with arrogant priests who refuse to wear collars, and I've read the columns, and heard the homilies that sound more like moral relativists and Protestants than men of God who have promised obedience to the Pope, and we've all seen it in the recent priest scandals. Now, come the stories surrounding Mother Angelica that reinforce my own experiences.

It is sad, but joyous at the same time. The parallel between some of the American bishops the Pharisees in Jesus' time are perfect. If you don't think the Pharisees exist today, read it here. Aroyyo mentions names, and properly so. But, the joyous part of this book, is to see God mightly at work with someone the world would normally think totally incapable of doing it. God likes using people with little education and making them smarter than the rest of the world. I can say that, I have a earned Ph.D., and I don't think I'm 1/12 as smart or led of God as people like Mother Angelica or my good friend Steve Ray (who, although he has only a formal high school education has written a book being used by seminaries.)

There's a big lesson in all this. Obey God. Give yourself totally to him. Be smart. Study where you can, and learn lessons. And, as in Mother's case, see the great value of physical suffering. If Christ had to suffer the way he did to change the world, doesn't it make sense that we have to be open to it as well.

Read this book. It should change your life, or give you hope. If it does neither, you're dead.