At Mar-a-Lago this weekend President Donald Trump was filled "with fury"
says The Washington Post, "mad — steaming, raging, mad."
Early Saturday the fuming president exploded with this tweet: "Terrible!
Just found out that Obama had my 'wires tapped' in Trump Tower just
before the victory. Nothing found. This is McCarthyism!"
The president has reason to be enraged. For what is afoot is a loose but
broad conspiracy to break and bring him down, abort his populist
agenda, and overturn the results of the 2016 election.
Last week, the blogsites Adelante la Fe and Rorate Caeli
posted an interview with Bishop Athanasius Schneider that, thanks to
the wide coverage it received, is likely already familiar to most of our
readers.
Much indeed has been written about the many good things that His Excellency had to say.
In this post, however, I’d like to focus on what Bishop Schneider strongly implied – the way in which churchmen commonly offer public criticism of their confreres.
In the present case, the “target” is no less than His Humbleness, Francis.
Take a look at the following excerpt taken from the interview (~2
minutes in length). It includes part of Bishop Schneider’s response to a
question about the proper Catholic approach to Francis. In other words,
while he may seem to be speaking in general terms; he is not.
California-based Great Books program enters deal involving Hobby Lobby property
Like bookends on the shelf of its celebrated Great Books program, Thomas Aquinas College will soon have campuses on both the West Coast and the East.
The pioneering Catholic college, based in Santa Paula, California, is announcing today that it plans to open
a new campus in Massachusetts. It has entered into a preliminary grant
agreement with the National Christian Foundation (NCF) to accept its
gift of a former secondary school campus in Northfield, Massachusetts.
TAC will assume ownership of the 217-acre property on May 2 and open its
doors to students on this branch campus in the fall of 2018.
Prior to May 2, the college will complete its assessment of the physical plant at the new site and continue its efforts to obtain necessary permitting.
During these days of transition in government,
temperance in expectations is a wise policy based on
experience. Calvin Coolidge said, "It is a great
advantage to a president, and a major source of safety to
the country, for him to know he is not a great man."
The Yankee farmer was frugal with words, but they were not
cheap. No fawning reporters claimed that his sober speeches
sent a tingle up their legs. Magazines did not hail him as
“The Second Coming,” and he would have thought
it absurd to promise that his presidency was “the
moment when the rise of the oceans began to slow and our
planet began to heal.” Thus, he did not disappoint.
In his own instance, Coolidge’s
competence was as great as his humility. True to his
dictum that “One of the greatest favors that can be
bestowed upon the American people is economy in
government,” the nation during his administration
enjoyed unprecedented prosperity, decreased income tax (he
thought that the national average income tax of $300 was
outrageous), a federal budget surplus, unemployment down to
3 per cent, a decline in racial strife, and a boom in
technological patents and progress.
Coolidge became president at the unexpected
death of Warren G. Harding, who thought of himself as a
significant orator. But that splendid curmudgeon, H.L.
Mencken, said of Harding’s rhetoric: “It reminds
me of a string of wet sponges, it reminds me of tattered
washing on the line; it reminds me of stale bean soup, of
college yells, of dogs barking idiotically through endless
nights. It is so bad that a sort of grandeur creeps into
it.”
On the other hand, Coolidge spoke very well
indeed. He was the last president to write his own speeches.
Though the media caricatured him as “Silent
Cal,” he gave more press conferences than any
president before or since.
On the 150th anniversary of the Declaration of
Independence, Coolidge said that equality, liberty, popular
sovereignty and the rights of man “belong to the
unseen world. Unless the faith of the American people in
these religious convictions is to endure, the principles of
our Declaration will perish.”
Our nation has been given a remarkable chance,
through all its government branches, to set what is right,
and to fix what is wrong. The prayer of our nation’s
first bishop, John Carroll, in 1791 is offered again in this
new
year:
“We pray Thee O God of might, wisdom, and justice!
Through whom authority is rightly administered, laws are
enacted, and judgment decreed, assist with Thy Holy Spirit
of counsel and fortitude the President of these United
States, that his administration may be conducted in
righteousness, and be eminently useful to Thy people over
whom he presides; by encouraging due respect for virtue and
religion; by a faithful execution of the laws in justice and
mercy; and by restraining vice and immorality.”
Chief Justice Roberts, President Carter, President Clinton, President
Bush, President Obama, fellow Americans, and people of the world: thank
you.
WE, the citizens of America, are now joined in a great
national effort to rebuild our country and to restore its promise for
all of our people.
Together, we will determine the course of America and the world for years to come.
We will face challenges. We will confront hardships. But we will get the job done.
Every
four years, we gather on these steps to carry out the orderly and
peaceful transfer of power, and we are grateful to President Obama and
First Lady Michelle Obama for their gracious aid throughout this
transition. They have been magnificent.
Today’s ceremony,
however, has very special meaning. Because today we are not merely
transferring power from one Administration to another, or from one party
to another – but we are transferring power from Washington, D.C. and
giving it back to you, the American People.
For too long, a small group in our nation’s Capital has reaped the rewards of government while the people have borne the cost.
Washington flourished – but the people did not share in its wealth.
Politicians prospered – but the jobs left, and the factories closed.
The establishment protected itself, but not the citizens of our country.
Their
victories have not been your victories; their triumphs have not been
your triumphs; and while they celebrated in our nation’s Capital, there
was little to celebrate for struggling families all across our land.
That all changes – starting right here, and right now, because this moment is your moment: it belongs to you.
It belongs to everyone gathered here today and everyone watching all across America.
This is your day. This is your celebration.
And this, the United States of America, is your country.
What truly matters is not which party controls our government, but whether our government is controlled by the people.
January 20th 2017, will be remembered as the day the people became the rulers of this nation again.
The forgotten men and women of our country will be forgotten no longer.
Everyone is listening to you now.
You came by the tens of millions to become part of a historic movement the likes of which the world has never seen before.
At the center of this movement is a crucial conviction: that a nation exists to serve its citizens.
Americans want great schools for their children, safe neighborhoods for their families, and good jobs for themselves.
These are the just and reasonable demands of a righteous public.
But
for too many of our citizens, a different reality exists: Mothers and
children trapped in poverty in our inner cities; rusted-out factories
scattered like tombstones across the landscape of our nation; an
education system, flush with cash, but which leaves our young and
beautiful students deprived of knowledge; and the crime and gangs and
drugs that have stolen too many lives and robbed our country of so much unrealized potential.
This American carnage stops right here and stops right now.
We
are one nation – and their pain is our pain. Their dreams are our
dreams; and their success will be our success. We share one heart, one
home, and one glorious destiny.
The oath of office I take today is an oath of allegiance to all Americans.
For many decades, we’ve enriched foreign industry at the expense of American industry;
Subsidized the armies of other countries while allowing for the very sad depletion of our military;
We've defended other nation’s borders while refusing to defend our own; And spent trillions of dollars overseas while America's infrastructure has fallen into disrepair and decay.
We’ve made other countries rich while the wealth, strength, and confidence of our country has disappeared over the horizon.
One
by one, the factories shuttered and left our shores, with not even a
thought about the millions upon millions of American workers left
behind.
The wealth of our middle class has been ripped from their homes and then redistributed across the entire world.
But that is the past. And now we are looking only to the future.
We
assembled here today are issuing a new decree to be heard in every
city, in every foreign capital, and in every hall of power.
From this day forward, a new vision will govern our land.
From this moment on, it’s going to be America First.
Every
decision on trade, on taxes, on immigration, on foreign affairs, will
be made to benefit American workers and American families.
We
must protect our borders from the ravages of other countries making our
products, stealing our companies, and destroying our jobs. Protection
will lead to great prosperity and strength.
I will fight for you with every breath in my body – and I will never, ever let you down.
America will start winning again, winning like never before.
We will bring back our jobs. We will bring back our borders. We will bring back our wealth. And we will bring back our dreams.
We will build new roads, and highways, and bridges, and airports, and tunnels, and railways all across our wonderful nation.
We will get our people off of welfare and back to work – rebuilding our country with American hands and American labor.
We will follow two simple rules: Buy American and Hire American.
We
will seek friendship and goodwill with the nations of the world – but
we do so with the understanding that it is the right of all nations to
put their own interests first.
We do not seek to impose our way of life on anyone, but rather to let it shine as an example for everyone to follow.
We
will reinforce old alliances and form new ones – and unite the
civilized world against Radical Islamic Terrorism, which we will
eradicate completely from the face of the Earth.
At the bedrock
of our politics will be a total allegiance to the United States of
America, and through our loyalty to our country, we will rediscover our
loyalty to each other.
When you open your heart to patriotism, there is no room for prejudice.
The Bible tells us, “how good and pleasant it is when God’s people live together in unity.”
We must speak our minds openly, debate our disagreements honestly, but always pursue solidarity.
When America is united, America is totally unstoppable.
There should be no fear – we are protected, and we will always be protected.
We
will be protected by the great men and women of our military and law
enforcement and, most importantly, we are protected by God.
Finally, we must think big and dream even bigger.
In America, we understand that a nation is only living as long as it is striving.
We will no longer accept politicians who are all talk and no action – constantly complaining but never doing anything about it.
The time for empty talk is over.
Now arrives the hour of action.
Do not let anyone tell you it cannot be done. No challenge can match the heart and fight and spirit of America.
We will not fail. Our country will thrive and prosper again.
We
stand at the birth of a new millennium, ready to unlock the mysteries
of space, to free the Earth from the miseries of disease, and to harness
the energies, industries and technologies of tomorrow.
A new national pride will stir our souls, lift our sights, and heal our divisions.
It
is time to remember that old wisdom our soldiers will never forget:
that whether we are black or brown or white, we all bleed the same red
blood of patriots, we all enjoy the same glorious freedoms, and we all
salute the same great American Flag.
And whether a child is born
in the urban sprawl of Detroit or the windswept plains of Nebraska,
they look up at the same night sky, they fill their heart with the same
dreams, and they are infused with the breath of life by the same
almighty Creator.
So to all Americans, in every city near and
far, small and large, from mountain to mountain, and from ocean to
ocean, hear these words:
You will never be ignored again.
Your
voice, your hopes, and your dreams, will define our American destiny.
And your courage and goodness and love will forever guide us along the
way.
Together, We Will Make America Strong Again.
We Will Make America Wealthy Again.
We Will Make America Proud Again.
We Will Make America Safe Again.
And, Yes, Together, We Will Make America Great Again. Thank you, God Bless You, And God Bless America.
