One of the things that people find annoying at Mass is the people who leave early...usually right after receiving Communion. I understand that the church is packed, parking is a pain, and the game (whichever sport that may be) starts 20 minutes after Mass; but going to Mass is a committment of one's faith not an extra that is squeezed between a night out and a day of vegging out. It's disrespectful to God, the presider, and the gathered parish community.

So I was pleasantly surprised when I attended a recent Mass and heard the presider say:

"Out of respect for our Lord and for the Lord's people gathered here today, I ask you all to stay until the Mass is finished."

I found his statement to be thought-filled, respectful, and in keeping with the spirit of the Liturgy. People leaving early is something all parish priests have to deal with. As I am still discerning a calling towards the priesthood along with my vocation to the Capuchin Franciscans, innovative and respectful priests such as the one who presided on this occassion inspire me to continue considering a life as a priest.

After the blessing, he pleaded again. "Before you go," he called to the people trying to sneak out, "Stay a while! Grab a hymnal...and join the rest of us in song for the Christmas Season." Unfortunately we were sitting too far up front to see how many people were trying to leave early.

It was a respectful and challenging attempt to reach out to parishioners...definitely something for me to remember for later days.

For we their praises sing
For the glory and fame they've bro't us
Loud let the bells them ring
For here they come with banners flying
Far we their praises tell
For the glory and fame they've bro't us
Loud let the bells them ring
For here they come with banners flying
Here they come, Hurrah!
-University of Michigan Fight Song

Shout with joy to the Lord, all the earth;
break into song; sing praise.
Sing praise to the LORD with the harp,
with the harp and melodious song.
With trumpets and the sound of the horn
shout with joy to the King, the LORD.
Let the sea and what fills it resound,
the world and those who dwell there.
Let the rivers clap their hands,
the mountains shout with them for joy,
Before the LORD who comes, who comes to govern the earth,
To govern the world with justice and the peoples with fairness.
-Psalm 98

I am a huge fan of college football, especially the Michigan Wolverines. I've loved football since I was old enough to run around with a ball, and even when I lived in Iowa I cheered for the Wolverines. Even though my family is from the South Bend, IN area, I am a vehement fan of Michigan, and proudly display my support...especially at the beginning of the season when Michigan plays Notre Dame.

I'm sure most Catholics wonder why a Capuchin friar would even root for a team over Notre Dame. (I often joke that the reason I didn't join the Dominicans was because they weren't comfortable with me not being in league with ND football.) I happen to feel that if Divine Preference is involved, then God probably loves Michigan football more than Notre Dame's program. I have no real evidence, but it feels good to me.

Perhaps my experience is a revelation of a greater truth. Let's use Saturday night (a great night of football for me!) as an example:

On Saturday Michigan beat Notre Dame (Yay!) after a poor showing last year. On top of that, USC beat Ohio State (anytime Ohio State loses is a de facto win for Michigan). Both games were intense and close. As I watched "my team" triumph, I was invigorated with energy. I talked with other people while only partially paying attention; I'd run from the dinner table to check the score every 10 minutes; since I had to cook Saturday night, I got a radio for the kitchen so I could listen to the play-by-play. I went so far as to tell guys in the community: "The most important thing I have to do today, after attending Mass, is to watch Michigan play Notre Dame!"

As I watched, I saw many of the things I'd seen so many times: cheering and elated fans for the winning team while the losing team had people crying and holding each other from the loss. I watched fans with their hands together, looking up at the sky, as the final seconds determined who would win. I watched kickers point to the sky after making a field goal and look to the ground when they missed. And I listened to Matt Barkley, freshman QB for USC, give an interview after the game in which he first praised God for the joy and the thrill of the victory that night.

What I'm talking about is nothing new in the realm of sports. We've watched baseball players do the sign of the cross as the come up to bat, we've seen keepers kiss and "bless" the posts before soccer [football] games...the use of prayer and religion on the field is nothing new. I tend to be understanding of this: if they are praying for strength to overcome adversity. While a sport often has an opponent, the drive most athletes have is to perform at their best, be mentally and physically prepared, and to block all things from their mind except the task at hand. I pray for many of those things each day, except I don't go play 60 minutes of professional soccer or football afterwards.

What I question is the intentions of fans, myself included. Watching football can be a means for disconnection within the family, or a way to spend a day in front of the TV instead of doing something productive or active. In this country, the popularized view of a football fan is an overweight middle-aged man who looks too out-of-shape to ever play the game again.

Whether I cover myself in paint, tail-gate to every game, or am able recite my team's offensive statistics for the past 4 seasons, I don't really know "my" team. They are just big guys in pads-when the game is done, I go back to my life. And perhaps that is my biggest concern with the energy put into the game.

Looking at how I and others watch our beloved teams, there seem to be 4 key elements:

1. A personal investment, emotional or otherwise, in the success or failure of the team.
2. A display of commitment to the team, personal or public...especially in times of great success or continuous loss.
3. Public witness or defense of the team; (Last year I watched Michigan vs. Notre Dame at a bar full of Fighting Irish alumni.)
4. Support of the team can be a focal point for energy. In spite of other issues going on, team support can override everything else, especially if one has a lot of personal investment.

A person who fulfills these guidelines with regards to sports is often considered a "die-hard fan." In spite of the eccentricity, their "sometimes crazy" devotion is accepted.

A person who fulfills these guidelines with regards to the poor, marginalized, and underclass is often considered a "hippie" or maybe a "Communist." Those especially eccentric are often written off as idealists. Before I get too political or preachy, the overarching problem I saw was the sense of solidarity for a fleeting game (evident even within myself) versus those issues that exist within our community.

And maybe I am reaching to make a parallel. Comparing my undying devotion to the Michigan football team is a different matter than my relatively low concern with sex-trafficking and child labor around the world. Watching the Michigan vs. Ohio State game is on my calendar, but I have no idea what needs exist for the local homeless/hungry contingent in Pittsburgh. One set of events is not on par with the other...are they?

I offer, if only as a self-reflection, that the investment I have in any event can be seen by how I feel. I've want to cry when I see "my team" lose...just as I've wanted to cry when I watched a friend "fall off the wagon." I felt a disconnected kinship with the players as they embarked on their season, just as I've felt that same kinship with guests of the Community Meal or inmates at the jail. But most of all, I've felt the exhilaration of listening and being involved with the victories...just as I watched this past Saturday.

So perhaps that's part of my call: to be a fan for the poor, the marginalized, the hungry, and those that have been cast aside by society. And perhaps my jersey is simply a brown robe with a hood, and outdated but significant sign of who I support in this life. Or perhaps...I'm stretching just a little.

Hail to the victors, whomever they may be.

All logos are property of The University of Michigan and Ohio State University.

For most people, July 4th is a time of celebration. And since it hasn't completely turned into a day/weekend of binge drinking (e.g. St. Patrick's Day or Cinco de Mayo), something tells me that many people feel there is an importance to the date that supersedes us as individuals. It's a day that we can celebrate our freedom from oppression from the British rule...

...and then use that power to enslave, eradicate, displace, conquer, acquire land, then expel the indigenous...all in the name of Manifest Destiny.

I struggle with the sins of founders, and recognize the imitation of other leaders to achieve what we have through the same means. We wonder about the evils committed today, yet explain away the evils of our forebearers. In 100 years from now, will we forget the drive to end abortion, saying only: "That's how things were back then." In 100 years, will our descendants see any kind of evil in stem cell research with human embryos, or will we tell ourselves: "Yes it was bad, but look what we've done with that knowledge!" I realize I am making broad arguments, but I wonder if we as a country have found a way to explain away our bad deeds...so we can feel proud to wave our flag and to love our country.

All of this can surely be debated, however it is not the prime example of why I do not share in the usual July 4th celebrations:

When I was 16, my mother and I went downtown to see the fireworks on the 4th of July. It was our first year in Grand Rapids, MI...a much bigger town than Davenport, IA. I wasn't the out-spoken challenger of authority that I am now; I spent most of my childhood as a quiet poor kid surrounded by wealthy white kids...some of which had no problem telling me where I "belonged."

That evening when we got downtown, we found a place to sit and watch the fireworks. This (white) couple behind us starts making comments.

"Why do they always get in the way?"
"Why do illegal immigrants need to be here on the 4th of July?"
"I bet they don't even speak English."

There's two ways to experience this sort of thing. Being a quiet kid, I chose to not do anything. Underneath, I felt horrible...even guilty for having been "in their way."

My mother, on the other hand, whipped around and tore into the couple. Ironically enough, it was a middle-aged family with their 7 year-old son listening intently to the argument that now ensued. I remember hearing the man threaten to throw my mom into the fountain that was nearby; I remember the wife to tell her to "Shut up!" I remember the boy watching intently...all while the "Star Spangled Banner" played and the sound of fireworks filled the sky.

"United We Stand." No thanks, I'll pass.

Unfortunately, I've been forced to view my world without the rose-colored glasses. And if by reminding people of our past transgressions as a country labels me as "unpatriotic, unthankful, or even un-American," it won't be anything I haven't already lived.

May your day be spent with friends, family, and those you love.

-V

Rich Reinhardt is one of my postulant brothers in the same level of formation as I am. He is also the director of the New Sanctuary Movement in Milwaukee, WI as an outreach to immigrants in this city. Working with the grass-roots group Voces De La Frontera, he has done major work in advocating for the cause of undocumented immigrants living in the U.S.

This evening he gave me a fact sheet that addresses many of the concerns that people in this country have about immigrants living in the U.S. borders. I decided to share this with all of you, in hopes that many myths surrounding immigration policy can be shown false and true dialogue can begin on the topic of immigration reform.

Myths and Facts on Immigration

"The great enemy of truth is very often not the lie - deliberate, contrived, and dishonest - but the myth - persistent, persuasive, and unrealistic."
-John F. Kennedy

MYTH: Increased border enforcement is the solution.
FACTS:

1. From 1986 to 1998, border patrol's budget increased six-fold and the number of agents doubled.
2. During the same time period, undocumented immigration doubled.
3. "Tougher enforcement" that pushes people to cross remote desert has lead to a humanitarian crisis on the border.
4. Experts, including the U.S. Government Accountability Office, have concluded that the continual and exponential increase in border-deaths which began the mid-1990's is directly related to an increase in U.S. border enforcement/border militarization. From 1995-2004 between two and three thousand bodies were found along the U.S.-Mexican border.
5. Causes of death for immigrants crossing from Mexico range from exposure and hypothermia to murder by vigilantes.

MYTH: Immigrants don't pay taxes.
FACTS:

1. Immigrants pay income, property, and sales tax using an ITIN (individual tax identification number.)
2. They pay between $90-$140 billion a year in federal, state, and local taxes.
3. They contribute $189 billion worth of wages recorded in the suspense file over the 1990's and two and a half times the amount of 1980's.
4. They contribute $6-$7 billion in Social Security tax revenue and about $1.5 billion in Medicare taxes per year.
5. While, as above, immigrants pay $90-$140 billion in taxes, immigrants receive only $5 billion in benefits, mostly through K-12 public schools and emergency medical care.
6. "Our assumption is that about three-quarters of other-than-legal immigrants pay taxes." (--Stephen C. Goss, Social Security's chief actuary, using the agency's term for undocumented immigrants.)

MYTH: Immigrants take jobs from American workers.

FACTS:

1. Immigrants have no net impact on unemployment rates. In states with the highest concentration of undocumented people there are actually lower unemployment rates.
2. Immigrants help create jobs through consumerism in automotive sales, electronic sales, restaurants, etc.
3. The Pew Hispanic Center has reported that, "Rapid increases in foreign-born population at the state level are not associated with negative effects on the employment of native-born workers.

MYTH: Immigrants don't want to learn English.
FACTS:

1. Demand for English classes at an adult level far exceeds the supply.
2. Within 10 years of arrival, 75% of immigrants speak English well.
3. 98% of Latino/Hispanic immigrants say it is important to teach their children English.
4. The rate at which immigrants today develop proficiency in English mirrors that of 19th and 20th century German, Italian, and Eastern European immigrants.
5. 91% of second-generation immigrants and 97% of third-generation immigrants are fluent or nearly fluent English speakers.

MYTH: Immigrants increase the crime rate.
FACTS:

1. Immigrants commit fewer crimes than native born Americans.
2. From 1994 to 2005 violent crime decreased by 34% and property crime by 32% as the immigrant population doubled.
3. First-generation immigrants are 45% less likely to commit violent crimes than Americanized, third-generation immigrants.

Sources

This fact sheet borrowed heavily from the website of Justice for Immigrants: The Catholic Campaign for Immigration Reform (under USCCB). Their website is www.justiceforimmigrants.org. Most of the original sources can be found there.

www.immigrationpolicy.org/index.php?content=B070201

I just got back from ministry at St. Ben's and I am mad.

Seriously, I am f'ing pissed.

Twice this day people tried to use my status to make me feel guilty, and that is something I cannot stand. Just because I am a Catholic, a Christian, a Latino, a friar, a man, or whatever is used to define me does not give anyone the right to either make assumptions about who I am or the right to tell me what I should be doing. That is a strict rule of mine. I will gladly explain how I live my life, and how I make the choices and decisions that I do. I'll even tell you the benefits and consequences that you face if you are in a similar situation. However your life is your own to live, and whatever choices you make are your own, and whatever choices I've made belong to me.

Before this turns into a long ramble of me venting my own frustrations, let me explain the happenings of today that caused me to get so riled up.

Today while doing paperwork in the office, I got a call from a gentleman calling from California.

"Is this the St. Benedict the Moor Mission?" he asked me. No one calls us St. Benedict the Moor unless it's official (church) business or it is in regards to money.

After I ask how I can help him, he asks me: "So this is the home of the Storm Novena?"

If you know what the Storm Novena is, then great! If not, don't feel bad. I didn't either. I'll take time later to explain the history of it and its relationship to the St. Ben's Church. For the sake of this discussion, I will tell you that it is a novena that was prayed by the kids here at St. Ben's. It was a prayer with open arms done 9 times during the day in front of the Blessed Sacrament. It was written in the 1940's, and hasn't been used in quite a long time. When I give talks about St. Ben's, the Storm Novena is not something I mention, nor is it something that comes up.

As I tell this guy that I am unaware of this novena he's talking about, he proceeds to talk to me like it's my first day there at the parish. I've busted my ass talking, helping, working, and trying to understand the social aspect of trying to be the caring person I've been called to be, and some ass calls the church for the first time because of a prayer that's from 70 years ago and feels he has the right to tell me that I need to know the history of the church!

I could have said all of that to him. I could have told him that he has no clue what St. Ben's is, why it is a mission and not just a church, and that if I wanna pray, I go to the prison and pray. However part of me doesn't want to spoil his dream. He feels so inspired by this prayer that he chose to call from California.

Damn me for caring about other people!

About an hour later, I had a gentleman call asking about the bus ticket program. Giving out bus tickets is serious business; we're the only place in town that gives them out on a regular basis. Since a bus ticket is the new commodity of the poor, there are certain restrictions and stop-gaps in place to make sure it doesn't get disorderly, misused, abused, or confused. Still, some people try to get around the system.

This person calls and wants to talk to the person who handles the distribution. I tell him that he's not in yet, and asked if he'd like to leave a message on his voice mail. He then starts to give me a story and tells me he needs bus tickets. Being an ex-salesman, I know the difference between a story and "a story." As a salesman, I'm not the only one who's good at lying. Many of my buyers had no qualms lying to my face about things, a unique skill that's carried over from my previous life.

I tell him he needs to be here and in line to get tickets, and if he's not here, then he needs to talk to the man in charge during the Community Meal. He starts to get loud with me, and wants to know my name. I tell him I am Br. Vito. He tells me that if I were a God-fearing man...

And that's the last of what I remember him saying.

And then I went off.

When my life is finally over, and I have to stand before God and attest for what I've done in my life, I know that I will have to explain for my personal transgressions. What I will not allow is for other people to tell me or manipulate me through the use of my faith, my role as a friar, or through my sense of duty.

(break)

Coming back to read this post hours later, I don't feel the anger I did earlier. However I do recognize that "hot button" that is within me. If there's one thing I've learned from today is that not everyday do you feel appreciated by your work. Sometimes you feel used or misunderstood. In a way it's quite ironic: coming from a work experience where I was never taken at face value, you'd think I'd deal with these issues better than others.

(As promised, I will talk about the Storm Novena later.)

Yesterday in my post about speaking for St. Ben's Community Meal, I used a picture that was taken from another website. People do take my pics all the time, I don't stress about it. Within hours of posting, I received this email:

Mr. Martinez,

FYI, you cannot simply go around the internet and take copyrighted pictures form anyone’s website and use them on your own. The image you use in this post http://vocationstory.blogspot.com/2009/02/featured-speaker-capuchin-postulant.html was copied from my website, www.RestaurantCoachingSolutions.com .

I own the reproduction rights to this image and the copyright by law. Please remove it from your website immediately.

(Signed) Jeffrey Summers, President

This is my response:

Mr. Summers:

Your email is filled with a great sense of irony, so much so that it seems almost prophetic. A marketing guru attempting to admonish a religious brother on the question of what is "right." I don't claim to be of a higher authority, but if you'd read my profile, you'd know that we have (had) similar career paths.

I have spent my own time equating success with wealth and money. I've read my share of Og Mandino, Zig Ziglar, Harvey MacKay, and Joe Verde to focus on car sales. I grew up in Grand Rapids, a city where half the population tries to sell the other on the Amway (Quixtar) program, so everyone can be "independently wealthy." I've met hundreds of gurus, writers, speakers, internet sites, and magazines all trying sell the same thing: "If you do exactly what I say and exactly how I tell you, you can be successful." It's the same solution every salesman offers.

Perhaps the "real world solution" that should be offered is the plain truth: "No amount of money will make you happy if you're not happy with your life." You won't sell as many audio CD's and it might cut down on the number of paid seminars you get invited to, but you'd be doing people a favor instead of teaching them to keep pursuing money in hopes of finding a false happiness.

In all seriousness, I do apologize for leeching your bandwidth in use of the previously stated picture on my blog. It would be better for me to have simply copied and uploaded it directly. For that I recognize and accept my error in judgment.

As for the use of the picture in my articulation of working at a soup kitchen, I have removed it because it has served it's purpose. Many times I talk about how people focus on themselves, without actually giving thought to the homeless and poor. Having renounced all sense of personal property as a Capuchin, I sometimes forget that people still think in individualistic terms. Your email has served as a greater image of what I do at St. Ben's Community Meal than any photo ever could....challenging people on what they think society and success should be.

Perhaps the greater irony is that we are both speakers of the same topic: feeding others. The difference is that you choose to focus on how to keep making money in a declining economy, and I talk about how to keep feeding hungry families in the same milieu.

In closing, I want to thank you for your email, even if your purpose was not to initiate such a huge response. You have given me a glimpse of a past life I happily gave up, and this has shown me how much my life has changed in the last 2.5 years. I'm sure you are a good man who loves his family and works hard for those he loves. My current work with the poor and marginalized has given me a glimpse of what is important in life, and I refuse to compare the taking of a picture to the other injustices I see every day. I pray you may see my point of view.

Peace and all good to you and your family,

Br. Vito Martinez, OFM Cap Post.
St. Joseph Province of Capuchin Franciscans

Jeffrey Summers is the President of Restaurant Coaching Solutions, an online marketing expert for people looking to become more successful in the restaurant business. If you're interested in learning more, you can go to his website...or if you ask nice I'll give you his cell number~.

Sometimes living in community makes me have to take sides on topics that I never truly considered before. As a Capuchin, my actions speak not only for myself but for the community and the Order I belong to. Therefore there are times when some actions come into conflict with other members of the Capuchin Franciscans.

One of my chores for the friary is being "the buyer." As the buyer, It's my job to make sure that we have all the necessities, toiletries, and food needed. When a list is compiled I run to the store to purchase what is needed. Because I live in a house with 13-14 other men, buying small things at the local grocer aren't as affordable. It's far easier and economical to buy in bulk.

Unfortunately, others don't share the same point of view.

One particular friar in the house is feels a special need to support the local grocer. The store name is Lena's, and it's an African-American owned grocery store that's been in Milwaukee for 35 years. Before the postulants arrived into the house, he was the buyer and spent most of the money buying things at that store. Since we've moved in and the eating habits of the house are changed, he still thinks we should be shopping at the local grocer for our food needs.

Now I have an understanding of "Buyer Responsibility." I support free-trade/equal-exchange coffee, I don't buy anything from Wal-Mart or Sam's Club, and I will happily buy from a local grocer than a large location when the situation fits. As a Capuchin, I have to figure in factors such as cost to the house, are we living within our means, are all the nutritional needs of the people in the friary being met, and most importantly are we buying efficiently like a home chef would.

But now and again I will get into discussions with this one friar as he tries to make this issue of Lena's his primary focus. While I entertained his argument from the first few months, we got into a heated discussion over it today. He's spent a lot of time doing help in the African American community, both here and in Detroit, Gary, IN, and other places in the U.S. And that is where he's coming from. For me, I've lived in a single-parent household where my mom found it hard to find a place to insure her and me when I was a child. Our experiences are very different, and while I felt it unnecessary, we had to discuss the ethics of buying food for the friary.

If I've learned one thing, it's that we cannot be altruistic in our shopping habits. Some places are "greener" than others, some have better treatment of their employees, some have better prices from better sources, and some have loyalties to specific people in the local community. To try and appease all those aspects is futile; the best I can do is focus on what I feel is important and try and be respectful of other's interests.

So now that friar buys fruits, vegetables, and meat from the local Lena's while I buy the staples for meals, and all the extra things needed in a household. It's a good arrangement...until the next argument arises.

I realize that I am in a church that stands divided amongst itself. With the results of this term's elections less than a few hours away, I can look back and really see the polarization that exists, and the problems in dealing with that rift.

I belong to a church who's leaders plead for it's followers to vote solely on the issues of abortion and same-sex marriage. This is the stance of many bishops, in spite of the fact that 12.5 million people are illiterate in this country, the fact that your child has a 40% chance of being offered drugs in the 9th grade of an average public school, and we spend billions on a senseless war that has already been cited: "Post war findings do not support the 2002 National Intelligence Estimate (NIE) assessment that 'Iraq has biological weapons'" source

I belong to a church that teaches charity and justice to all people, yet when I look out into the see of faces during a Mass, they are always one color. Even at integrated parishes, each "group" attends their own Mass; a contradiction in the idea of being the unified Body of Christ.

I belong to a church that reaches out to the needs of the poor and needy, but those people refuse to accept our theology with regards to Christianity. Whether it be from not understanding our Catholic Tradition, being disgusted with the treatment of priests acting immorally with children, or feeling neglected for so long from the Church, many of the people we serve feel unwelcome or distanced.

I belong to a church that continues to change, both for the good and for the bad. There are people who are still stuck in the 60's, trying to radically change things to a more modern approach. We've gone from the "Father, Son, and the Holy Spirit" to "Creator, Redeemer, and Sanctifier," all in the name of inclusive language.

I belong to a church that struggles between the legalistic and hierarchical structure that has kept things going for so long, and the inner conscience that drives their sense of right and wrong. Until the end of time, this battle will continue to wage between what is "canonically correct" and what is "of pure conscience and of the Holy Spirit."

I belong to a church of elitist white suburbanites, dirt-poor illegal aliens, old European immigrants, young people rediscovering Traditional Catholic roots, liberal post-modernists, social activists, gay/lesbians dealing with faith, social conservatives, and guys like me who try to find that one, holy, Catholic, and apostolic church in the midst of all these people.

As this election day comes to an end, I think about all these people who make up the Catholic Church. Perhaps the example we've seen play out for the past two years is something we need to look at with regards to our church. Are we willing to denounce those whom we call brothers and sisters in Christ because of our perspective on what is "right and proper?"

I like to think that the divisiveness that exists is the opportunity that God has given us to practice the Gospel as Jesus lived it. If, by some miracle of charity, we're able to set aside our differences and become one Church that is unified in spirit and not just in observance to the succession of St. Peter, perhaps that is when we'll no that we really "get it."

Vote for the candidate that most reflects your sense of self. May we be blessed with the opportunity to turn back from some of the earlier mistakes, and use that chance to become closer as a nation and as a church.

After seeing the ads for Ben Stein's movie Expelled, I was intrigued and had to check this movie out. Rather than wait until the video came out on DVD, I went to the movie theater for the first time in years. I grabbed a bucket of popcorn and a box of Junior Mints and plopped down in my seat just as the previews ended.

The basic theme of the movie is to show a divide that exists in modern science: the split created by the idea of Intelligent Design. Ben Stein meets with scientists from different colleges and different academic backgrounds who have been ostracized, lost tenure, and even lost their job for referencing Intelligent Design as a plausible alternative to the creation of life.

I really expected more out of the movie, not in the way of apologetic debate, but in presenting arguments as to why these scientists felt that Darwin's Theory of Evolution was not the "perfect answer" that all the other scientists had accepted. In my experience, knowledge is the greatest tool when discussing philosophy, science, and religion; and when an argument is presented without bias, without insult, and without redundancies, most people will listen. However Mr. Stein makes it known that he is Jewish, and while he doesn't pro port one religion over the other, he makes his case for the Judeo-Christian God of the Bible.

Attention: Spoiler Alert!!!

The movie is filled with information as well as good-natured humor. The Berlin Wall is the common symbol used throughout the movie. It's a parallel with the divide that has been erected in science regarding the subject of how life began on this planet. He starts by interviewing various professors and academics at the Smithsonian, Cornell, and various other colleges in the U.S. None of the scientists make a full-blown argument for creationism, however they each state that Darwin's Theory has become outdated and it is now lacking. By taking this position, either in the classroom or in their respective published journals, action has been taken against these professors for their opinions.

I felt the movie set the stage for the ultimate in scientific hypocrisy, and had it stayed on topic, the message would have been far more forceful. They even referenced the movie "Inherit the Wind" where a Southern court is the stage for the topic of teaching evolution in the classrooms. Expelled touches on the backlash of the scientific community refusing to listen to opposing arguments when not long ago science was under fire for the same thing: attacking the status quo thinking.

Unfortunately the movie does not elaborate the particular issues that some scientists have with Darwin's Theory, nor does it go into any great detail regarding the argument for Intelligent Design. At first, I thought it even more intriguing; they were trying to be unbiased. Some arguments were brought up, such as how the possibility for 250 proteins (the minimal amount needed to sustain the simplest form of life) to "just come into being" are about 1 in a trillion trillion, or 1 in 10e36. Another argument comes from the discovery of genome, and being able to decode the information held in complex DNA strains.

However after these two arguments, which were briefly discussed, the movie takes a drastic turn for the gutter, or for the gut. "What's wrong the harm in accepting Darwin's Theory of Evolution?" Ben Stein asks rhetorically during the film. The next thirty minutes is spent on Hitler, the Nazis, and World War 2 where Ben compares the atrocities committed during the Holocaust to the application of Darwin's Theory. I find this second act both amusing and annoying. The comparison that is made completes my argument that throughout history it is not religion that causes people to kill or go to war, but ideology which is used to motivate or incite a group to rise against another. Before finishing the assault on Darwinism, they also brought up the subject of eugenics and Margaret Sanger, the founder of planned parenthood. Again, I think Hitler was evil and Ms. Sanger had some pretty screwed up ideas about why birth control should be used, but what does it have to do with intelligent design???

The final part of the movie includes a one-on-one with Ben and the "leader of darkness" Richard Dawkins. In a bit of wordplay Ben gets Dawkins to admit that some theories regarding Intelligent Design are plausible, such as the idea that life may have been planted here by another race.

The movie ends rather anti-climatically with sound bites of Reagan saying "Tear down this wall." in reference to the Berlin parallel used during the movie. Most people clapped when the movie was over, as if they'd just watched something informative or self-affirming. I left immediately, feeling I'd wasted 7 bucks in the hopes of seeing something that would actually present a plausible idea to the scientific community. I agree with most of the ideas presented by Ben Stien and the scientists he interviewed, but I didn't go see a movie to hear things I already believed in; I expected actual discourse on the topic. Perhaps I simply expected something different than a Michael Moore'ish presentation of a scientific debate. While I learned a few things from the movie, I'd be reluctant to ever watch it again.

"Now is the time to make justice a reality for all of God's children."
-Martin Luther King, Jr.

This is not a photo of a 3rd world country. This is the Pine Ridge Reservation, located in the southwest corner of South Dakota. One of the largest reservations in America, it is also the poorest, in spite of the new casino. Tuberculosis and diabetes is 300% higher than the national average, with 50% of adults over 40 having diabetes. 8 out of 10 households are affected by alcoholism.

The boy in the photo most likely lives in a house without electricity, running water, or proper insulation. He will be lucky to ever find work in his lifetime. And according to statistics, he will not live past the age of 47.

When Martin Luther King, Jr. Day comes around, I always here people who think it's a wasted holiday; an excuse for government workers to take another paid day off. During this holiday, I'm reminded of kids like the one in the photo above, who may pass through this life without a second thought from the rest of us.

If we indeed are all God's children, I pray that we will start treating each other as such.

"If you want peace, work for justice." -Pope Paul VI

I have been busy, yet during the day I've found an interesting way to learn more about my Catholic faith while defending it against those that either don't understand or refuse to call me a Christian. Yes, I'm talking about the egalitarian site known as C.A.R.M.org

C.A.R.M. stands for Christian Apologetics and Research Ministries. The site's creator, Matt Slick, is the sole manager of the site. C.A.R.M. contains hundreds of pages about Christianity, defending one's faith against atheists, and the fundamental flaws with denominations such as the Later Day Saints and the Jehovah's Witnesses. It is an attractive site full of knowledge.

I first found the site last year when I became interested in the topic of Apologetics. I wanted to be able to defend my faith. I wanted to learn more about being Catholic. It seemed that C.A.R.M. was the perfect place to learn.

Of course, a Protestant website is a Protestant website, and I soon learned the utter disdain Matt and the other visitors had for Catholics. I couldn't understand why people would hate another so much based on their religion, despite a few theological differences.~

Despite the attitude that the site patrons have for me, I still continue to visit the website and the chat room to talk and learn from Evangelical Protestants. I've learned quite a lot, but probably not what Mr. Slick intended.

I wanted to list all the hate, personal attacks, self-righteousness, and absurd logic I've witnessed at the site, but God didn't make any of us perfect. We all have our flaws and imperfections. So rather than bash the website, I will give them my gratitude. Were it not for the questions raised while visiting www.carm.org, I would have never taken the initiative to look and truly understand some of the Church's doctrine. Because of them I've studied the CCC, I've read the Summa, and I've grown stronger in my Catholic faith and spirituality because of what I've seen. Most importantly, I've become more accepting of those, even outside my faith. We are all God's children, and even though some of us are not on the same page, we are all fruit of the same wondrous Creator.

If you ever get a chance to visit the site, I wholeheartedly encourage you to visit. As a result, you will learn more about your faith than you ever thought you'd learn.

And if you happen to stop into the Chat Room, keep an eye out for me. I still go by the same handle I've used for years: Severian

People assume the car business is a lot like they see on A & E. You find a customer looking for a car, you show them an expensive car, agree on a price, and after you shake hands, your customer hits the gong after buying an '04 Charger.

Unfortunately, this business is more than dream cars and slick talk.The reality is that no everyone has perfect credit like on "King of Cars." People with bad or no credit are exempt from this wonderland of car buying and must fend for themselves against a swarming pack of sub-prime lenders, eager to put the customer into anything with four wheels.

My three years in the car business have always been in sub-prime lending. I take pleasure from helping people who wouldn't normally be able to finance a vehicle. Many of my customers come to me depressed, dejected, and cynical. They've been "pre-approved" five times before sitting down at my desk. They're just waiting to hear those familiar lines:

• "I can get you approved if you have a co-signer."
• "Do you have $2000 for a down payment?"
• "You're approved for $3000, but we don't have any cars that cheap."

In those years, I've created an equilibrium between morality and salesmanship. I'm still good at what I do, yet I'm honest enough to sleep well at night. I've rationalized charging 21% interest on a car loan, I'm not surprised to see an '03 Ford Taurus with 120,000 miles, and when a customer objects to their vehicle choices, I kindly remind them of their credit situation.

Most times, I don't feel like The Chopper. I feel like Kurt Russel,
wearing a checkered jacket and luring people to the lot with a dollar bill at the end of a fishing pole.

I've never sold a Hummer,a Cadillac Escalade, or one of those fully loaded Dodge Chargers you see at Tobwin Dodge. My cream puffs are Pontiac Grand Am's, Oldsmobile Alero's, and the occasional Ford Explorer. A few years ago, we were elated to have a '99 Dodge Durango hit the lot. I took a deposit on it before it was even ready to sell.

I've never had a customer with a 700+ credit rating. As a result, I've never sold a vehicle at or near Blue Book value. I've never given "$1000 for your trade, no matter what you owe!!" And only once in my life have I ever done a deal with zero money down. I stand at the edge of a cliff each day; one wrong step and I could lose all my scruples.

I swim with the sharks, compete to sell the most cars. For years, I fooled the others into thinking I was one of them, ready to strike any helpless prey. But after years of pretending, my disguise is wearing thin. Co-workers see how I struggle to "bend truths" or "overcome objections." I wince at training rhetoric such as: "Do what you have to do to put those people in a car," or "Buyers are liars. Put your selling shoes on!"

My drive, other than being debt-free before entering a seminary, is knowing that even in this polluted shark-tank, God exists. God exists because I try to be truthful to my customers, and I tell them how expensive it will cost to finance a car. God exists because people at my desk don't see me as another salesperson, they see me as someone who is trying to help. God exists because I've had customers hug me and cry on my shoulder, overwhelmed to be given a chance when normal banks tell them they aren't good enough. God exists because each time I sell a customer, I'm reminded of my own second chance.

So for those who feel a prospective priest has no business selling cars, please take your guilt elsewhere. We're all full up here.

After serving 8 years, Dr. Jack Kevorkian, a.k.a. "Dr. Death" walked as a free man in Coldwater, MI yesterday. Reports say his declining health condition was a significant part in his parole. Read the complete story here...

For most fence-straddling Catholics, assisted suicide is an attractive dish on the cafeteria of morality. "If God is good, why would he allow suffering? Why should someone in pain continue to live? Why should we artificially prolong the life of someone who is already going to die?" Since the question of continuing care is still new, many people are unsure where exactly the church stands on these issues.

Fr. Kevin O'Rourke, OP, JCD, STM is an author, esteemed college professor, award-winning expert in the field of bio-ethics, and he can still tell a good Irish joke at age 80. A modest Dominican friar, it's easy to see that Fr. O'Rourke knows his stuff. Starting off as dean of the Aquinas Institute of Theology, he was moved to tackle the issues of medical ethics after Roe v. Wade. Whether you're looking for the "proper Catholic position" on a medical topic or you just want to hear a good story, Fr. O'Rourke is your man.

While popular media tends to polarize the argument of continuing medicine, the question of assisted suicide is not as two-sided as the esteemed Dr. Kevorkian would have us believe. Fr. O'Rourke states that "...much of the disagreement and misunderstanding in regard to ethical decisions often seems to stem(sic) from a lack of clear distinctions."(source) In his essays, Fr. O'Rourke explains how complicated the situation actually is, and where Catholic doctrine fits in:

• there is no difference between active or passive euthanasia. Since the purpose of both are to end human life, both forms are unethical and therefore require no distinction

• the concepts "grave burden" and "quality of life" apply not just to a patient's physical state, but to their emotional, psychological, and spiritual state,

• euthanasia has become more acceptable to society because of factors like prolonged medical treatment, the recognition of physiological burden only, not understanding God and suffering, and a sense of "control," that a customer has the "right" to choose if they want someone to help them die.

And that's where we must give props to Dr. Kevorkian: for packaging such a controversial topic in a way the American public likes..."It's your right to choose." In a world where we can't control the price of gas, the politicians we elect, or the popularity of Paris Hilton, someone tells us "We have the right to die!" and we cheer this new martyr before realizing how morbid the message actually is.

Before planting your foot down on either side of Dr. Kevorkian's crusade, get the straight dope from another doctorate holder.

Essays by Fr. O'Rourke, O.P.

Ready to join in the action, as seen on the Travel Channel? Maybe you're only looking to gamble a little bit, but don't want to spend the gas money driving 100 miles to the casino. Perhaps you're feeling bad about only putting $5 in the collection basket this week.

If you need a place to gamble without the guilt, you need only visit your nearest church or bowling alley. As a charity fundraiser, poker has become more popular than the colloquial bake sale, golf outing, or those really expensive candy bars that your kid brings home, eat, and make you pay for after finishing off the box.

The recent popularity is not without merit.

As an example of traditional fundraising, the ASPCA homepage has a great "how to" page about setting up a bake sale for your local animal shelter. Here are just a few of the topics covered:

• "You will need a lot help with organizing your bake sale, collecting donations, selling baked goods, collecting money, serving goods, setting up and cleaning up, and delivering donations to the shelters."



• "Ask each baker to write out the name of the dish they made and a complete list of ingredients. This is important because some people are very allergic to foods commonly found in baked goods, such as coconut, nuts and strawberries. "



• "It’s important to get the word out about your sale. Make posters asking people to donate baked goods, as well as posters that announce the day of the bake sale. Place posters in schools, community groups, local stores and any clubs you may belong to."



• "Divide baked goods by type, such as cookies, cakes, flavors, and serving size. You may need to set up several tables to give you space to separate cakes and other items."

Contrast that list against companies like Boston Charity Poker, where the game plan is simple: book the company for an event, and let them do the rest. Even if a charity outsources their fundraising, a church can still make $1000-$2000 in one night. There's no licenses to worry about, no extra donations required, no allergies to warn of. Charity poker is a "win-win combination," according to Hollywood Poker.

But what does the Big Guy upstairs have to say about all this? How am I, a Catholic seeking the proper path, to know if gambling for fundraising is in line with the teachings of our faith? There seems to be a grey area regarding gambling and fundraising.

This spring, Bishop Bouchard from Alberta, Canada spoke out strongly against using gambling funds to pay for Catholic schools. In a pastoral letter he states, "...it is not morally possible to actively seek funds that one knows are derived from legalized gambling as it is currently operated in Alberta. Ignoring those victimized by gambling or even worse profiting from their suffering is foreign to the gospel. Because Catholic institutions and organizations are closely associated with the Church's mission to witness, to evangelize and to instruct, I am directing that, within a maximum of three years, Catholic parishes, schools, and other organizations cease to actively pursue revenues that are derived from gambling." (source)

Luckily for Bishop Bouchard, Catholic schools in the Alberta province are partly subsidized through property taxes.

I attend St. Mary's Church; a poorer, inner-city parish. The church needs to pay operating costs, but the church roof and steeple are in dire need of repair. The bill to fix the roof is estimated at $1.5 million. The demographic of St. Mary's parishioners is middle to lower class, with a large Hispanic population that steers away from events outside of Mass. Raising funds is a serious task for this church.

The parishioners, along with the parish priest, have embraced charity poker as a way to breathe life back into a dying parish. While many of the attendees don't actually belong to the parish, the revenue generated makes Texas Hold 'Em a monthly fundraiser for churches such as this.

The question of charity gambling and church fundraising will continue to be a paradox to Catholics, and a source of ridicule for Evangelicals. Are we perpetuating a disease in this country by the use of poker, or are we simply doing what is required to raise money?

In search of a moral answer, I've become involved in fundraising for my church. Whether I'm a poker dealer or just wearing a funny hat, I feel I'm fulfilling some role in my community. In the end, I'm just trying to help out.