Everyone undoubtedly sees the resignation of Pope Benedict XVI and the election of Pope Francis I through different prisms. The broader view takes in much more than whether he will listen to Chicago’s nuns. A narrower view was taken by the Sun-Times editorial board, which said precisely that: A hope that will Francis I will listen to Chicago’s nuns . . .
It’s the first thing that came to their minds, I guess.
* The liquor commissioner item:
Anan Abu-Taleb, on that day featured on Wed. Journal front page as alleged ineligible for village board presidency he seeks in the April 9 election, said he would divest his liquor-licensed restaurant if elected.
To whom? asked forum moderator Dan Haley, Wed. Journal publisher, with view to former village attorney’s that-day published opinion that his whole family could not be owners either. “Not your business,” said Anan, repeating this when Haley registered surprise and repeated his question. Anan was not budging.
Haley to Anan’s opponent, John Hedges, a sitting board member: Are you satisfied with that? To which John: If he divests from his family, yes.
Anan: I said I would no longer be the owner if elected. To which John, in shrugging tone, quietly: Then it’s an issue.
* The tax fraud conviction:
Anan admitted to tax fraud 23 years ago to the…
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You were rejoicing in the good news out of Rome? Here’s a very pessimistic commentary.
Thomas More Law Center at work.
This Baptist’s ancestors came here in 1626 to escape government control and persecution of religion.
Ongoing coverage of the Oak Park (IL) village board president’s race before the April 9 election day . . .
. . . it was forum #2 featuring the two candidates for village board president, sitting board member John Hedges and Oak Park Avenue restaurateur Anan Abu-Taleb. Let’s take it from the start.
Anan A-T: We have to change perceptions of Oak Park among developers. They see OP as “undecided,” too fussy and hard to deal with. A developer has to move fast. “I speak their language,” am aware of the importance of “cash flow.” OP has its “head in the sand” about this problem, should take a “more aggressive” sales approach.
John Hedges: We develop in Oak Park “for the community, not for the developer.” In Oak Park a project requires “a lot of input” from citizens. “We cannot [simply] give the developer his way.”
A: Yes, we are different in Oak Park, as John H. said, but we have to show OP’s value to the developer. (sell him)…
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Pope Francis on same-sex marriage:
“Let’s not be naïve, we’re not talking about a simple political battle; it is a destructive pretension against the plan of God. We are not talking about a mere bill, but rather a machination of the Father of Lies that seeks to confuse and deceive the children of God.”
Pope Francis: “A child conceived by the rape of a mentally ill or retarded woman can be condemned to death.”
So there is a death penalty.
[A] recent challenge from his opponent in the race, current Village Trustee John Hedges, about a possible conflict of interest has created some buzz.
That could be, but it is certainly true that this article created much buzz, in the shape of 39 comments, most of them dismissing the problem or offering solutions short of the candidate’s resigning if elected or divesting himself of his restaurant.
One or more comment correctly absolves the opponent, John Hedges, of raising the issue against Abu-Taleb — at the March 1 forum, the only forum so far in a campaign that is to end April 9.
Rather, the issue was raised in a question from the floor and was dealt with summarily if not satisfactorily by Anan A-T, who said (a) he had checked with lawyers who gave him an opinion he…
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The Holy Spirit, breathing where he wills, does not always work miracles:
. . . some particularly awful popes have given the Holy Spirit a run for his money. Popes did more than Martin Luther, John Calvin and King Henry VIII put together to spark the Reformation. Pontiffs have launched stupid wars and pointless persecutions. They have fathered households full of bastard children, disrupted the normal religious lives of Catholics in entire countries for wholly political reasons, and gorged themselves on the indulgences of the faithful. These are the men, critics of the Catholic Church are going to ask, invested with infallible authority?
It may be, this time around, after two great popes, we get a non-great one — “just a firm hand at the helm of Peter’s barque,” says Phil Lawler, quoted by Jeremy Lott at Real Clear Religion.
And the old saying, “God writes straight with crooked lines”? Maybe. Who on earth knows?
Blithe Spirit 