Author: Jim Bowman

Jim Bowman covered religion 1968-78 for the Chicago Daily News, since then has written books, articles, etc., mostly on corporate history but also on religion (Company Man: My Jesuit Life, 1950-1968), and more recently on politics (Illinois Blues: How the Ruling Party Talks to Voters -- Lulu.com, Kindle). Longtime Oak Park, Illinois, resident, he lives now on Chicago's North Side, where four of his and Winnie's six children live close by.

Pius X on a church without rules

He had a way with words.

St. Pius X

St. Pius X
“…the great movement of apostasy being organized in every country for the establishment of a One-World Church which shall have neither dogmas, nor hierarchy, neither discipline for the mind, nor curb for the passions, and which, under the pretext of freedom and human dignity, would bring back to the world (if such a Church could overcome) the reign of legalized cunning and force, and the oppression of the weak, and of all those who toil and suffer. […] Indeed, the true friends of the people are neither revolutionaries, nor innovators: they are traditionalists.”

Post-Vatican Two liturgical reform slammed by then-future Benedict XVI

It’s a loser, said the cardinal.

“The liturgical reform, in its concrete realization, has distanced itself even more from its origin. The result has not been a reanimation, but devastation. In place of the liturgy, fruit of a continual development, they have placed a fabricated liturgy. They have deserted a vital process of growth and becoming in order to substitute a fabrication. They did not want to continue the development, the organic maturing of something living through the centuries, and they replaced it, in the manner of technical production, by a fabrication, a banal product of the moment.”

(Ratzinger in Revue Theologisches, Vol. 20, Feb. 1990, pgs. 103-104)

The ineffable arrogance of the we-know-best school. Fixer-uppers interrupted the process. Didn’t even just speed it up. Nagging suspicion: They knew what they were doing.

New York Sun talks sense about Trump at G20

​Brexit:​

​. . .
the real elephant in the room at the G20. The Europeans are smarting from the British decision — made by the people and ratified by the Mother of Parliaments — to secede. Europeans seem determined to take out their humiliation on America. The best strategy for Mr. Trump and our own Congress would be to get on with our tax reform so that American profits trapped overseas can be brought home to ignite the jobs boom for which Americans voted in 2016.

​Yes, yes.​
​

More for the Illinois maw as solution for budget problems? Sure, it’s the Democrat way . . .

Illinois’ budget impasse is over, but financial challenges remain — even with new tax hike​​

​No. ESPECIALLY with the new tax hike.​

​High marginal tax rates can discourage work, saving, investment, and innovation, while specific tax preferences can affect the allocation of economic resources. But tax cuts can also slow long-run economic growth by increasing deficits. The long-run effects of tax policies thus depend not only on their incentive effects but also their deficit effects.

​And you did not read this in a daily newspaper or on network TV . . . ​

Gay priest and friends run wild down the street from Pope Francis

Pope Francis said to be fuming after priest arrested. [Not surprising.]

Vatican rocked: Police raid drug-fuelled gay orgy at cardinal’s apartment

Vatican police have raided a cardinal’s apartment where a drug-fuelled homosexual orgy was taking place.

Police entered an apartment at the former palace of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith (or Holy Office) last month, not far from the Vatican City.

The occupant of the apartment is alleged to be a priest who serves as a secretary to cardinal Francesco Coccopalmerio, the head of the Pontifical Council for Legislative Texts and a personal adviser to the Pope.

The occupant of the apartment is alleged to be a priest who serves as a secretary to cardinal Francesco Coccopalmerio. Photo / Getty Images
The occupant of the apartment is alleged to be a priest who serves as a secretary to cardinal Francesco Coccopalmerio. Photo / Getty Images The allegations of the orgy were first published by newspaper Il Fatto Quotidiano.

According to the paper, neighbours became suspicious before complaining about irregular behaviour of those coming and going at the apartment. [!!]

When police showed up at the apartment, they reportedly found drugs and a group of men engaged in sexual activity.

The priest was then arrested and taken for questioning.

Il Fatto Quotidiano suggested that Pope Francis was infuriated by the news and may force Coccopalmerio into retirement.

The alleged orgy is symptomatic of a difficult period for the Pope. Four years into his papacy the Catholic Church appears racked by conflict and scandal.

Critics blame the Pope’s choice of personnel: cardinal George Pell, appointed to clean up the Vatican’s murky finances, has taken a leave of absence to defend himself against sex abuse charges in Australia.
Source: http://www.nzherald.co.nz/world/news/article.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=11886097

All for nought. Junk status looms for Illinois.

Moody’s clears the air: Illinois under review for possible downgrade to ‘junk’ status because of debt crisis

Though the Illinois House of Representatives appears close to overriding Gov. Bruce Rauner’s veto of a tax hike budget plan, and thereby ending Illinois’ more than two years without a full-year budget, Moody’s Investors Service has said it might still downgrade the state’s credit, largely due to Illinois’ unsustainable debt.

Moody’s Investors Service issued a statement July 5 explaining that Illinois is in a deep debt crisis, which the tax hike passed by the General Assembly won’t resolve. Moody’s is reviewing Illinois’ debt and might downgrade the state’s credit to “junk” status even if lawmakers override Gov. Bruce Rauner’s veto of the tax hike and budget proposal and they become law. That’s because the tax increase and budget proposal passed by the legislature don’t tackle the state’s core problems; they merely address the symptoms.

. . . . more more more . . .