Wednesday, June 17, 2009

Amazing Letter from Arizononian Janet Contreras to the Federal Government

"I'm a home grown American citizen, 53, registered Democrat all my life. Before the last presidential election I registered as a Republican because I no longer felt the Democratic Party represents my views or works to pursue issues important to me. Now I no longer feel the Republican Party represents my views or works to pursue issues important to me. The fact is I no longer feel any political party or representative in Washington represents my views or works to pursue the issues important to me. There must be someone. Please tell me who you are. Please stand up and tell me that you are there and that you're willing to fight for our Constitution as it was written. Please stand up now. You might ask yourself what my views and issues are that I would horribly feel so disenfranchised by both major political parties. What kind of nut job am I? Will you please tell me?

Well, these are briefly my views and issues for which I seek representation:

One, illegal immigration.....

Two, the TARP bill, I want it repealed and I want no further funding supplied to it. We told you no, but you did it anyway. I want the remaining unfunded 95% repealed. Freeze, repeal.

Three: Czars, I want the circumvention of our checks and balances stopped immediately. Fire the czars. No more czars. Government officials answer to the process, not to the president. Stop trampling on our Constitution and honor it.

Four, cap and trade. The debate on global warming is not over. There is more to say.

Five, universal healthcare. I will not be rushed into another expensive decision. Don't you dare try to pass this in the middle of the night and then go on break. Slow down!

Six, growing government control. I want states rights and sovereignty fully restored. I want less government in my life, not more. Shrink it down. Mind your own business. You have enough to take care of with your real obligations. Why don't you start there.

Seven, ACORN. I do not want ACORN and its affiliates in charge of our 2010 census. I want them investigated. I also do not want mandatory escrow fees contributed to them every time on every real estate deal that closes. Stop the funding to ACORN and its affiliates pending impartial audits and investigations. I do not trust them with taking the census over with our taxpayer money. I don't trust them with our taxpayer money. Face up to the allegations against them and get it resolved before taxpayers get any more involved with them. If it walks like a duck and talks like a duck, hello. Stop protecting your political buddies. You work for us, the people. Investigate.

Eight, redistribution of wealth. No, no, no. I work for my money. It is mine. I have always worked for people with more money than I have because they gave me jobs. That is the only redistribution of wealth that I will support. I never got a job from a poor person. Why do you want me to hate my employers? Why ‑‑ what do you have against shareholders making a profit?

Nine, charitable contributions. Although I never got a job from a poor person, I have helped many in need. Charity belongs in our local communities, where we know our needs best and can use our local talent and our local resources. Butt out, please. We want to do it ourselves.

Ten, corporate bailouts. Knock it off. Sink or swim like the rest of us. If there are hard times ahead, we'll be better off just getting into it and letting the strong survive. Quick and painful. Have you ever ripped off a Band‑Aid? We will pull together. Great things happen in America under great hardship. Give us the chance to innovate. We cannot disappoint you more than you have disappointed us.

Eleven, transparency and accountability. How about it? No, really, how about it? Let's have it. Let's say we give the buzzwords a rest and have some straight honest talk. Please try ‑‑ please stop manipulating and trying to appease me with clever wording. I am not the idiot you obviously take me for. Stop sneaking around and meeting in back rooms making deals with your friends. It will only be a prelude to your criminal investigation. Stop hiding things from me.

Twelve, unprecedented quick spending. Stop it now.

Take a breath. Listen to the people. Let's just slow down and get some input from some nonpoliticians on the subject. Stop making everything an emergency. Stop speed reading our bills into law. I am not an activist. I am not a community organizer. Nor am I a terrorist, a militant or a violent person. I am a parent and a grandparent. I work. I'm busy. I'm busy. I am busy, and I am tired. I thought we elected competent people to take care of the business of government so that we could work, raise our families, pay our bills, have a little recreation, complain about taxes, endure our hardships, pursue our personal goals, cut our lawn, wash our cars on the weekends and be responsible contributing members of society and teach our children to be the same all while living in the home of the free and land of the brave.

I entrusted you with upholding the Constitution. I believed in the checks and balances to keep from getting far off course. What happened? You are very far off course. Do you really think I find humor in the hiring of a speed reader to unintelligently ramble all through a bill that you signed into law without knowing what it contained? I do not. It is a mockery of the responsibility I have entrusted to you. It is a slap in the face. I am not laughing at your arrogance. Why is it that I feel as if you would not trust me to make a single decision about my own life and how I would live it but you should expect that I should trust you with the debt that you have laid on all of us and our children. We did not want the TARP bill. We said no. We would repeal it if we could. I am sure that we still cannot. There is such urgency and recklessness in all of the recent spending.

From my perspective, it seems that all of you have gone insane. I also know that I am far from alone in these feelings. Do you honestly feel that your current pursuits have merit to patriotic Americans? We want it to stop. We want to put the brakes on everything that is being rushed by us and forced upon us. We want our voice back. You have forced us to put our lives on hold to straighten out the mess that you are making. We will have to give up our vacations, our time spent with our children, any relaxation time we may have had and money we cannot afford to spend on you to bring our concerns to Washington. Our president often knows all the right buzzword is unsustainable. Well, no kidding. How many tens of thousands of dollars did the focus group cost to come up with that word? We don't want your overpriced words. Stop treating us like we're morons.

We want all of you to stop focusing on your reelection and do the job we want done, not the job you want done or the job your party wants done. You work for us and at this rate I guarantee you not for long because we are coming. We will be heard and we will be represented. You think we're so busy with our lives that we will never come for you? We are the formerly silent majority, all of us who quietly work , pay taxes, obey the law, vote, save money, keep our noses to the grindstone and we are now looking up at you. You have awakened us, the patriotic spirit so strong and so powerful that it had been sleeping too long. You have pushed us too far. Our numbers are great. They may surprise you. For every one of us who will be there, there will be hundreds more that could not come. Unlike you, we have their trust. We will represent them honestly, rest assured. They will be at the polls on voting day to usher you out of office. We have cancelled vacations. We will use our last few dollars saved. We will find the representation among us and a grassroots campaign will flourish. We didn't ask for this fight. But the gloves are coming off. We do not come in violence, but we are angry. You will represent us or you will be replaced with someone who will. There are candidates among us who will rise like a Phoenix from the ashes that you have made of our constitution.

Democrat, Republican, independent, libertarian. Understand this. We don't care. Political parties are meaningless to us. Patriotic Americans are willing to do right by us and our Constitution and that is all that matters to us now. We are going to fire all of you who abuse power and seek more. It is not your power. It is ours and we want it back. We entrusted you with it and you abused it. You are dishonorable. You are dishonest. As Americans we are ashamed of you. You have brought shame to us. If you are not representing the wants and needs of your constituency loudly and consistently, in spite of the objections of your party, you will be fired. Did you hear? We no longer care about your political parties. You need to be loyal to us, not to them. Because we will get you fired and they will not save you. If you do or can represent me, my issues, my views, please stand up. Make your identity known. You need to make some noise about it. Speak up. I need to know who you are. If you do not speak up, you will be herded out with the rest of the sheep and we will replace the whole damn congress if need be one by one. We are coming. Are we coming for you? Who do you represent? What do you represent? Listen. Because we are coming. We the people are coming."

Monday, June 15, 2009

Now What?

My graduation is coming up this December, and when a milestone is approaching in your life, you can't help but think about your future. I'm at a point where I'm thinking about what to do with my life come 2010. I was so sure up to about a month ago what I wanted to do. I was going to leave Miami to attend graduate school and then move back to teach.
However, about a month ago, the leaders (a couple) of the youth group at my church approached me and told me that they would like for me to become the new youth group leader at St. Kevin's within the next couple of years. I have always wanted to go into youth/young adult ministry. However, that would be in conflict with my plans for graduate school outside of South Florida.
I really don't know what to do right now. I want to do so many things. I want to do something that will extend God's mission to proclaim the Gospel - not necessarily with words, as I reflect on the words of St. Francis of Assisi: "Preach the Gospel at all times, and when necessary use words."
Do I lead my youth group, and try to help teenagers find Christ in their troubling lives?
Do I focus on academics (i.e. grad school) and be Christ to my peers?
I pray that God helps me find the first step towards what, ultimately, is my purpose. Here are some things that I have been praying and reflecting about:

1) I would love to go away from Miami for graduate school, because:
a) The experience should be very rewarding.
b) It looks good on a resume to have different degrees from different
schools.
2) I would love to continue my research, and become a scholar in History.
3) I would love to get some certification/training in ministry, preferable
youth/young adult ministry.
4) I would love to be a writer by trade, one day.
5) I would love to work in media (print or radio) to express my views and have
discussion about politics, because I love politics, though I have no desire to
join the political arena.

I don't know which one of these things, or which ones, or if any of them is where God will lead me. Whatever I do, I really want to make an impact on people's lives. I want to be an example of Christ to the world. Does it mean that you will ever see me giving a sermon at a church? Probably not. I am not one who is that fond of speaking to immense crowds at this point. But wherever the LORD leads me, I hope I can reach heaven one day, stand before Him, and say "I have used every gift that you bestowed upon me. Nothing has been wasted."

Wednesday, June 3, 2009

Belated Greetings...

Happy Pentecost Sunday!

This past Sunday, we celebrated the birth of the Church's life and mission and the indwelling of the LIFE and POWER of God's Spirit in every Christian. The Holy Spirit is the soul of the body of Christ, our guide, the unifying force, the life-giver and sanctifier. The Father revealed the Son, and the Son came to give us the Holy Spirit! Let us pray for unity and renewal for all.

Amen

Monday, June 1, 2009

Certain of Uncertainty

"In these matters, the only certainty is that nothing is certain."

Spoken by the Roman philosopher Pliny the Elder nearly two millenniums ago, those words have echoed in my head throughout the day as I began to ponder more and more about the effect that Father Alberto Cutié has had on the Christian community the past month or so. Ever since the news first came out that photographs were taken of him with his, now, fiance I have had a conflicted mind, heart, and feelings. I just have not been able to make any sense of the situation as far as what I think is the right course of action.

At first, I felt like what he did was insane. I was a supporter of clerical celibacy, as I still am as I read what St. Augustine once said about it:

"As for the proud minister, he is to be ranked with the devil. Christ's gift is not thereby profaned: what flows through him keeps its purity, and what passes through him remains clear and reaches the fertile earth...The spiritual power of the sacrament is indeed comparable to light: those to be enlightened receive its purity, and if it should pass through defiled beings, it is not itself defiled."

However, I realized soon afterwards that though I believe it is true, it should not necessarily be a requirement. You can read my thoughts about that here.

My new found feelings went into an extreme this weekend when Archbishop John Favarola issued a press release. There were certain phrases he used that really rubbed me the wrong way - so much that my status on Facebook read: "Gabriel Medina thinks John Favarola should step down. How's that for controversy?" Some of those phrases included that Father Cutié was now "professing an erroneous faith." No authentic Christian denomination, in my opinion (and I'm sure in God's opinion) is erroneous. There definitely may be erroneous elements to all of them, but that includes some erroneous aspects that lay within the Catholic Church as well.

Another phrase that irked me was that Father Cutié "may have abandoned [the parishioners of his former church]...but the Catholic Church will never abandon" them. Excuse me? You are telling me that the Catholic Church will never abandon me? This Catholic Church that has strayed from God's teachings so many times in the past? This Catholic Church that supported the Spanish Inquisition? This Catholic Church that supported the Crusades? This Catholic Church that felt it should lay its hands in all political matters and allow corruption from the fall of the Roman Empire through the end of the 18th century? This same Catholic Church that continues the awful act of excommunication?

While I am a Catholic, the term Catholic does not mean that I will not make the mistake of believing a man will not abandon me, be he Father Alberto Cutié or Pope Benedict XVI himself. I'm a Catholic because it is my best tool to maintain a strong relationship with the one who truly will not abandon me - the LORD.

However, when I got home from FIU this evening, I finally had a chance to read this article from the Miami Herald about Father Cutié's first mass with the Episcopal Church, and did not like what I read. Apparently, Father Cutié has been thinking about leaving the Catholic Church for a long time, but still continued on as usual. The fact that he had doubts is not what troubles me, it's the fact that he was having pre-marital relations with this woman, and it was for that reason alone that he knew things had to change, and that's what irks me about his decision. So many people leave different denominations for one small thing or the other.

"I don't agree with my church's view on abortion, so I'll join the United Methodists."

"I don't agree with my church's view on female ordination, so I'll join the Episcopal Church."

When you are switching denominations so frequently, it almost seems as if you are looking for a God who conforms to your views, rather than conforming to the views of your God. Which one of those do you think makes more sense in the greater scheme of things?

I brought up Pliny the Elder's quote at the beginning of this blog because I do not know how to feel about the Father Cutié situation anymore. There are so many conflicting feelings in my heart and mind. But, perhaps it's best to leave it alone, just like I hope the Catholic Church will. Just let him go. Stop talking about him. Stop continuing this distraction that leads the discussion away from the LORD and towards a man who is merely...well...a man.

Father Cutié has made his decision. Let's forget about this mess already.