1. Pope: learn from indigenous peoples how to care for creation – Vatican Radio

It is necessary, he said, to learn from these peoples how to relate to nature in the quest for a sustainable model “that can be a valid alternative to the race for profit that exhausts natural resources and damages the dignity of peoples”.

2. The Pope on salvation by works

Catholics, Protestants often say, believe in salvation by good works.  This engenders the reply from thoughtful Catholics, no we don’t!  You have to have grace.  In fact, we even believe in justification by faith, just like you Lutherans do, as proven by the accord we signed with liberal Lutherans.  Since there is now no real disagreement, there is no need for the Reformation divisions.  You can come back to Rome and enjoy being under Pope Francis.

But Pope Francis keeps preaching that salvation is, in fact, by good works.  He is reported to have said recently that it’s better to be an atheist than a bad Christian.  Now this is not exactly what he said, according to ChurchPop; in context he was referring to Christians living a “double life” of sin and piety, which creates a “scandal” that makes outsiders think it would be better to be an atheist.  But read his sermon yourself to get a sense of where he stands on the importance of good works for salvation.  Note how he warns against “excessive confidence” in Christ’s forgiveness.

3. Pope: Ideological faith adores a ‘disincarnate’ god – Vatican Radio

(Vatican Radio) The compass of the Christian directs him to follow Christ crucified, not a disincarnate god, but God made flesh, Who bears in Himself the wounds of our brothers. That was the message of Pope Francis at the morning Mass at the Casa Santa Marta on Thursday.

4. Pope on Ash Wednesday: Feeling suffocated by sin? Let God save you

ROME – At Ash Wednesday Mass, Pope Francis spoke about the bad habits, negativity, and sin present in our lives which cause us to be choked off from the life-giving breath of God – supernatural grace.

“The breath of God’s life saves us from this asphyxia that dampens our faith, cools our charity and strangles every hope,” he said March 1. “To experience Lent is to yearn for this breath of life that our Father unceasingly offers us amid the mire of our history.”

Livin’ high on the hog:

The Congressional Black Caucus PAC (CBC PAC) spends lavishly on upscale resorts and hotels, catering at exclusive restaurants, and on fundraising and Broadway tickets, according to a review of campaign finance records.

The CBC PAC, which is the fundraising arm of the Congressional Black Caucus, puts far more money towards administrative and fundraising purposes than it donates to candidates, the intended purpose of the political action committee.

Bad, bad, bad.

What Donald Trump and Pope Francis actually have in common

(a year ago):

 Both are outsiders bent on shaking up their establishments. . . . There are rhetorical similarities too. . . .   Trump addresses potential voters in a vivid and snappy way, using simple words and arresting statements. Much the same could be said of Francis.. . .  both know how to make headlines. . . .  And both men promise to empower those who feel excluded  . . .  Francis and Trump prioritize an iconoclastic style over substance — or coherence.  The basis of their appeal is a mistrust of institutions, which is widespread and increasing.  . . .

Etc.

What Trump and Francis have in common  (two weeks post-election):

[Both] have a fondness for . . .  name-calling that’s rare among presidential candidates and popes. . . .  Trump calls people ‘‘low energy’’, ‘‘liar’’ and ‘‘loser’’, while Francis prefers ‘‘Pharisee’’ and ‘‘self-absorbed Promethean neo-Pelagian’’ (though he’s not above ‘‘whiner’’ and ‘‘sourpuss’’ as well).

But their . . . language reflects a shared mastery of the contemporary media environment, in which controversy and unpredictability are the great currencies, and having people constantly asking “Did he really just say that?” is the surest ticket to the world’s attention.”

Pope Francis does not use theological terms in their traditional meanings, so he has to be understood in a different way. When the Holy Father uses “grace”, “conscience”, “absolute” or “heresy”, he does not mean what the theological tradition means by them.

He quotes another writer:

 “When [Trump] makes [exorbitant] claims . . . the press takes him literally, but not seriously, but his supporters take him seriously, but not literally.”  . . . .  [Catholics, on the other hand] take the Holy Father both seriously and literally . . . [and] are not used to taking the pope seriously but not literally.

Etc.

How Are Pope Francis & Donald Trump Alike? (five days later):

[Trump is] redefining almost every day what we can expect from a president, but also putting at risk some fundamental assumptions about American political life and the way a president behaves.  . . . .

Pope Francis does this when in his letter on married life, “Amoris Laetitia,” he employs “indirectness” where Catholics expect “formal words” that are “supposed to be supernaturally preserved from error” — not “winks and implications,” a NY Times columnist wrote acerbically.

A commenter got this writer’s approval as “insightful.”

Both [Trump and the Pope] are dramatic and emotional, not intellectual: we are used to thoughtful and intellectually solid even — if you disagree — justifications from conservatives and popes and you are not going to get that from either.

Lots more from this writer, for whom both Trump and Pope Francis are thoroughly objectionable.

. . . To Counter Higher Labor Costs.

In yet another awkwardly rational response to government intervention in deciding what’s “fair”, the blowback from minimum wage demanding fast food workers has struck again. Wendy’s plans to install self-ordering kiosks in 1,000 of its stores – 16% of its locations nationwide.

Another law of economics asserts itself. Sorry, folks.

Not my ancestor!

Bowmanville, a small neighborhood in the Lincoln Square community area, was first developed in 1850s by a local inn keeper named Jesse Bowman.

Not one to follow the rules, Bowman “made the cart paths and forest near present-day Foster and Ravenswood Avenues his own,” laying claim to many of the plots of land in the area without actually owning them.

“He then sold the land — that wasn’t his — to unwitting buyers,” and disappeared before the new “owners” discovered that he did not actually own the land he had sold.

I swear!

Using “Send tab URLs” Google app, BTW. Neat.

On Tue, Feb 28, 2017 at 10:02 AM, Jim Bowman wrote:

1. Smartphones Have an Unexpected New Rival – Bloomberg View
https://www.bloomberg.com/view/articles/2017-02-07/smartphones-have-an-unexpected-new-rival?cmpid=socialflow-twitter-business&utm_campaign=socialflow-organic&utm_content=business&utm_medium=social&utm_source=twitter

2. The ‘Longshoreman Philosopher’ Saw Trump Coming in 1970 – WSJ
https://www.wsj.com/articles/the-longshoreman-philosopher-saw-trump-coming-in-1970-1488144135

3. How to Get 10,000 Fans Webinar
https://intentionalblog.com/Webinar/

4. Instapundit
https://pjmedia.com/instapundit/

5. News from The Associated Press
http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/U/US_TRUMP_SPEECH?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2017-02-27-17-08-54

Each worth a thousand words.

Oak Park friend Jerry sent me this.

University Of Michigan Student Group Demands Safe Space – No Whites Allowed

I replied:
Had not seen it, Jerry. Thanks. Comes from treating all students as privileged by age, plus purely pragmatic response pattern by administrators, who if they had convictions, would not be acting on their strength. Another ripple from the campus cesspool.

——-
Occurs to me there’s another angle: a) the radicalization of college students, in this case blacks and b) the non-assimilation of radicalized and many other American blacks, who are simply not comfortable with whites.

My congratulations to black teachers and other leaders who try to counter this. Shelby Steele comes to mind, but there are others, of course.

Cardinal Burke a thorn in Francis’ side. Francis moved him from important Vatican job to being cardinal-“patron” of the Knights of Malta, where he made more trouble, reportedly in regards to distribution of condoms as part of one or more of the Knights’ aid programs around the world. (Burke’s against condoms.)

Now Francis has “de facto” bounced him from that job, replacing him with someone else from the ranks of higher clergy. Francis had already sought and got the resignation of Burke’s man as Knights’ top executive.

Francis’ Year of Mercy past, he expends no mercy on Burke, who clearly annoys him no end — including publicly questioning the orthodoxy of a key part of Francis’ latest pastoral letter about married life, the part about receiving of Communion by the divorced and remarried.

Meanwhile, his appointee to do something about Vatican finances, an Australian cardinal, has not only been accused at home of mishandling clergy abuse, but has also lost the services of an outside auditing firm at the Vatican, in which case Francis joins the short line of popes losing to curia veterans, his predecessor Emeritus Pope Benedict being just ahead of him in that unhappy line.

It’s been a long time since we saw the like of all this.