A visit to John Paul’s chair

My usual road trip takes me right by the little town of Panna Maria, the first permanent Polish settlement in Texas and probably the U.S.

After reading a Dallas News article (Sorry. I had trouble linking it.) on the town’s connections to John Paul, I decided to visit yesterday on the way to Corpus Christi. With his passing, I felt it was a very appropriate thing to do.

I went into the sanctuary of their Immaculate Conception Church to pray. There was a picture of John Paul on the right side. The chair he used during his 1987 trip to Texas was to the left of the altar.

The sanctuary as a whole is beautiful. A small triangular stained-glass window of the Holy Spirit as a dove above the altar especially stands out. I highly recommend a visit to anyone driving through the area (just north of Karnes City. There are signs from highway 123.).

I had a nice time of prayer, thanking God for John Paul and praying for other matters. For most of the time, I was the only one in there. Then I went to the visitor center across the street and bought a photo book and a jar of blackberry jam from the nice older lady there. It was a nice visit.

Another Episcopal Effort to Keep People in the Dark

The Bishop of Alabama censors and cancels a Sunday school class on developments in the Anglican Communion.

Do I sense a pattern here?

Executive Council meeting will be closed.

Well, well. The ECUSA Executive Council meeting which will decide whether to send representatives to the Anglican Consultative Council will probably be a closed meeting.

(Remember that the Primates have requested that the Episcopal Church withdraw from the ACC.)

Maybe there are legitimate reasons to close this meeting. But I doubt it.

Executive Council meetings are usually open in accordance with ECUSA policies. The timing of closing this one couldn’t be worse. It feeds the rampant (and justified) mistrust in ECUSA and makes a joke (again) of all the talk about openness and inclusiveness we hear over and over again from Griswold and company.

If a closed Executive Council defies the Primates and sends representatives to the ACC, all hell is going to break loose.

Something overlooked about John Paul II . . .

Something about John Paul II that hasn’t gotten much note – he resisted the tyranny of both Nazism and Communism.

The 20th century is rife with public figures who opposed one but had a blind spot for the other, mostly those who opposed Nazism but had a soft spot for the Communists and their aims.

But not John Paul.

As a Pole, he saw the evil of both firsthand. And he resisted both.

And he was on the bad list of both, to the point where his life was at risk from both time and again. It’s only by God’s providence that he lived to become pope, much less to the age of 84.

In his putting his life on the line to oppose both of the great 20th century totalitarian evils, John Paul II towers above the sad and often shameful history of that century.

Pope John Paul II R.I.P.

A great man now hears the words he has longed for:

Well done, good and faithful servant. Enter into the joy of your Lord.

Chris Matthews on MSNBC

Chris Matthews just gave an excellent heartfelt tribute to the Pope on MSNBC. Considering what a hardened political operative he is, it was something. His voice was even cracking.

He's doing Hardball later from Rome. That might be worth watching, FYI.

Pray for Pope John Paul II

His condition has worsened severely overnight.