St. Mary's Summer School of Faith 2023 with Charles Craigmile

I'm a huge fan of Charles Craigmile's theology classes, and have followed him about 10 years now.  I'm usually a little behind. I just found the 2023 list of classes, but haven't watched them yet.  I wish St. Mary's would put the classes on a podcast, although he also has good visuals.

In 2023, Charles Craigmile presented a series of sessions at St. Mary’s in Lake Forest as part of their Adult Education program1. The sessions covered various topics related to the Catholic faith and were held weekly on Tuesday nights. Here are some of the topics that were covered: 

https://youtu.be/d9qpfZBFUU4?si=Y8GNDtyxN0ThOvAC  2023 Summer School of Faith

The Identity and Mission of the Catholic Church
Grace & the Sacraments and the Spiritual Life
Living a Moral Life and Contemporary Moral Issues (marriage, divorce, contraception, abortion, IVF, homosexuality, etc.)
Last Things: Death, Judgment, Heaven & Hell

Collecting My Thoughts: Summer School of Faith 2022, Vatican II

Restoring the sacred in a secular age.  Series for 2019   https://youtu.be/AcS6WXVr6GU?si=jykqmBkfm2WrC7QW

Collecting My Thoughts: Summer School of Faith-Sixth, 2018-Charles Craigmile, Culture Lost, Culture Reclaimed

Preparing to be called to account--Maria Von Trapp

 Last night we watched the movie, "Sound of Music" the fictional account of the Trapp Family singers starring Julie Andrews. Christopher Plummer who played the father, died this past year, and I looked up the actors who played the children.  Two of them have died within the last 6 years. The music is charming and has aged well.

Movie vs. Reality: The Real Story of the Von Trapp Family | National Archives

'The Sound of Music's von Trapp kids: Where is the cast now? (nypost.com)

The November 2021 Magnificat magazine featured an essay written by the real Maria who died in 1987.

"I was alone in the hospital in Vienna, my family hundreds of miles away.  As I lay there with eyes closed, waiting for death, I heard the doctor say to the nurse that it wouldn't make any sense to try to contact the family.  It was definitely too late for them to reach me.  Although the doctor talked in a whisper, I could hear him very clearly.  All my senses seemed to merge and concentrate into the one sense of hearing.  I noticed that while I was opening my eyes wide, I could see nothing, although it was 10 in the morning.  Sight was gone.  I heard the rustle of the sheets as the nurse removed them from the foot of my bed, and I heard her hand gliding over my feet and her voice when she said, "Her feet are already cold," but I couldn't feel it.  touch was gone.

"Am I dying?" I wanted to ask, but I couldn't move, couldn't speak.  And then hearing also stopped, and there was a silence more intense than any silence I can remember.  The body might have been helpless, but the soul was wide awake and in full possession of its faculties.  Undisturbed by the outside, memory was keener than ever before.  And in this anguish of a last agony the soul passed once more through its past life, seeing everything so much more clearly.  Although nothing is to be seen, the soul senses very sharply the presence of an evil power which wants to influence it to give up: the sins are too many and too horrible to allow any hope.  But it also senses another spiritual power present.  It may be the guardian angel soothing the soul, reminding it, though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow: reminding the soul of the bottomless mercy and love of the heavenly Father whom it is to meet very soon now.

And then?  Well, I did not die.  But for the rest of my life I shall be grateful for those most precious moments.  Afterwards I found out that this seems to be a general occurrence and not just my private experience.  They say the sense die slowly, one by one.  Therefore, we should take great care what is said and done in the presence of the dying.  While they are fighting their last decisive battle, it would mean such a help if they could hear us talk to them about the mercy of God, about having trust and confidence.  One day we shall have to take that same step too.  This might be the best preparation.  And when everything is over and one of our beloved has died, we should remember the words of the Revelation of John:  I heard a voice from heaven saying, "Write this: Blessed are the dead, who die in the Lord henceforth." "Blessed indeed," says the Spirit, "that they may rest from their labors, for their deeds follow them." (Rv14:13)."

Maria von Trapp (from Let Me Tell You about My Savior, New Leaf Press, 2000)

Update:  When I posted a link to this on Facebook, the "fact checkers" placed a warning label on it!  

C.S. Lewis on the times we live in

Written by the famed Anglican author C.S. Lewis in 1948. Very applicable to today:

“How are we to live in an atomic age?’ I am tempted to reply: ‘Why, as you would have lived in the sixteenth century when the plague visited London almost every year, or as you would have lived in a Viking age when raiders from Scandinavia might land and cut your throat any night; or indeed, as you are already living in an age of cancer, an age of chronic pain, an age of paralysis, an age of air raids, an age of railway accidents, an age of motor accidents.’

In other words, do not let us begin by exaggerating the novelty of our situation. Believe me, dear sir or madam, you and all whom you love were already sentenced to death before the atomic bomb was invented: and quite a high percentage of us were going to die in unpleasant ways.

It is perfectly ridiculous to go about whimpering and drawing long faces because the scientists have added one more chance of painful and premature death to a world which already bristled with such chances and in which death itself was not a chance at all, but a certainty.

The first action to be taken is to pull ourselves together. If we are all going to be destroyed by an atomic bomb, let that bomb when it comes find us doing sensible and human things—praying, working, teaching, reading, listening to music, bathing the children, playing tennis, chatting to our friends over a pint and a game of darts—not huddled together like frightened sheep and thinking about death. They may break our bodies (a microbe can do that) but they need not dominate our minds.”

Living Bulwark (swordofthespirit.net)

Franklin Country death rate from Covid: .0066

I've been looking at the Ohio "Dashboard" for Covid this morning. The state fatality rate is .012 from Covid with 922,143 cases and 11,695 deaths. If your loved one has died of Covid, that's 100% for your family, however, closing down the state and listening to terrifying news every evening for .012 death rate seems callous for the rest of us, especially the elderly who can't see their families, and the young adults whose careers and businesses have been shattered.

Now a look at the counties. Huge differences in cases and death rates. Our three largest counties are

Franklin (Columbus, the largest, has gained 13.2% since the 2010 census), death rate .0066

Cuyahoga (Cleveland which was the largest in the 2010 census, but has lost 3.5% in a decade) death rate .013

Hamilton (Cincinnati) death rate .0069

Franklin Co. had the most cases, and the lowest death rate.

I looked at the race/age/poverty figures, and Cuyahoga (Cleveland) is older, with a larger minority population, and higher poverty rate. I'm no expert in statistics, but the spread between the races appears much smaller than the age spread. Because the co-morbidities increase with age, this could be the reason. In developing countries, for instance, the death rate is lower than the U.S. and Europe even though they don't have as good a health system. They have younger populations. (And maybe they were allowed to use HCQ?)  My friend Anna Loska Meenan, a retired physician, says India’s death rate is a fraction of USA, and they can buy HCQ over the counter.  Trump was right and was demonized by the media and the medical establishment.

https://coronavirus.ohio.gov/wps/portal/gov/covid-19/dashboards?

Johns Hopkins has to discipline young researcher

Using statistical analysis, a senior lecturer from Johns Hopkins University (JHU) has demonstrated that COVID-19 has resulted in no excess deaths, yet the university has censored the article online. And the fact checkers are all over this. She concluded that the deaths of “older people stayed the same before and after COVID-19.” This finding was contrary to expectation: “Since COVID-19 mainly affects the elderly, experts expected an increase in the percentage of deaths in older age groups. However, this increase is not seen from the CDC data. In fact, the percentages of deaths among all age groups remain relatively the same.”

So in a rush to woke, JH has pulled her article and declared it “was being used to support false and dangerous inaccuracies about the impact of the pandemic. " The author was "just" a master's candidate in economics, not a "real" doctor. She didn't do it right. One more career down the drain in the fight for truth. Even science can't compete with woke.

If you've never visited an elderly friend or relative in the winter/spring season of flu, you perhaps don't realize that nursing homes often have quarantines and that perhaps 50,000 in the over 65 population died from the flu in 2017-18. Also, the elderly die disproportionately from falls, and pneumonia. I can see that the lockdowns in retirement homes, and with relatives taking extra care of their elders, deaths from other causes may be down even if Covid deaths are up. Many more children died of the flu in 2017 than of Covid in 2020. Again, that may be the extra precautions and schools closing.

Not a single business was closed during the flu season of 2017-18, and the economy roared. But I do think we'll have an excess number of deaths due to all the missed doctor's appointments and vaccinations in 2020, also suicides and depression which can lead to fatalities.

Putting COVID-19 in perspective. . .

"CS Lewis wrote this in 1948 after the dawn of the atomic age:

“In one way we think a great deal too much of the atomic bomb. “How are we to live in an atomic age?” I am tempted to reply: “Why, as you would have lived in the sixteenth century when the plague visited London almost every year, or as you would have lived in a Viking age when raiders from Scandinavia might land and cut your throat any night; or indeed, as you are already living in an age of cancer, an age of syphilis, an age of paralysis, an age of air raids, an age of railway accidents, an age of motor accidents.”

In other words, do not let us begin by exaggerating the novelty of our situation. Believe me, dear sir or madam, you and all whom you love were already sentenced to death before the atomic bomb was invented: and quite a high percentage of us were going to die in unpleasant ways. We had, indeed, one very great advantage over our ancestors—anesthetics; but we have that still. It is perfectly ridiculous to go about whimpering and drawing long faces because the scientists have added one more chance of painful and premature death to a world which already bristled with such chances and in which death itself was not a chance at all, but a certainty.

This is the first point to be made: and the first action to be taken is to pull ourselves together. If we are all going to be destroyed by an atomic bomb, let that bomb when it comes find us doing sensible and human things—praying, working, teaching, reading, listening to music, bathing the children, playing tennis, chatting to our friends over a pint and a game of darts—not huddled together like frightened sheep and thinking about bombs. They may break our bodies (a microbe can do that) but they need not dominate our minds."

— “On Living in an Atomic Age” (1948) in Present Concerns: Journalistic Essays

Life is a risk

Just so you know--life is dangerous.

Number of deaths for leading causes of death:

Heart disease: 647,457

Cancer: 599,108

Accidents (unintentional injuries): 169,936

Chronic lower respiratory diseases: 160,201

Stroke (cerebrovascular diseases): 146,383

Alzheimer’s disease: 121,404

Diabetes: 83,564

Influenza and Pneumonia: 55,672

Nephritis, nephrotic syndrome and nephrosis: 50,633

Intentional self-harm (suicide): 47,173

Just so you know (because the media haven't told you) many people with heart disease and cancer, stroke and diabetes, haven't had their needs met because hospitals and medical staff were chasing Covid19 cases that didn't arrive. You can expect these numbers to increase because early treatment is essential

Bookworm says:

“It turns out that not all of us are news junkies. She [clerk in the grocery story who still has a job] didn’t know what was going on in California or Michigan or any other state that has placed people under lockdown in their own homes.

“How can they do that? That makes no sense. People have bills to pay. We have to work.”

Her words struck me strongly because I’ve been struggling to articulate the different emotional responses I’m seeing from the left and the right when it comes to responding to the Wuhan virus. The leftists are saying that the lockdown should continue for another year or two, and are accusing those who want normal life to return of being living embodiments of the Grim Reaper, determined to kill everyone through their greed, carelessness, and a refusal to recognize facts that can derive only from watching Fox News."

Bookworm (and although anonymous, I think the writer is a she) goes on to opine about liberals and how they feel about death.

"Consistently, lefties are driven by a raw emotional fear of death that the more sophisticated later dress up as sophisticated reasoning about controlling a pandemic. The sophistication is a veneer, though, because the fact that the models have all proven wrong is irrelevant. Their lizard brains are activated and won’t be calmed until the disease risk is reduced to zero."

". . . the leftist fear of death drives everything. It’s what allows their leaders to manipulate them about climate change (never mind that people ultimately do better in a warmer world), about guns (never mind that guns in America save more lives than they take), about organic v. non-organic food (never mind that if all farming were organic people would starve), socialized medicine (never mind that socialized medicine gives people access not care), about serving in the military (never mind that if we are undefended, many more can die in a sustained attack against America), and so on."

http://www.bookwormroom.com/2020/04/19/the-different-mindsets-political-parties-have-towards-the-wuhan-virus/

Annie’s gone, but we’ll see her again

She was 48 with a husband and children and a large family of parents, brothers and sister, and many nieces and nephews. Her cancer was very advanced when they found it, but she battled far longer than anyone expected.  I’m sad about Annie, I haven't seen a firm confirmation, but I think she died a few hours after her brother arrived yesterday and the whole family gathered in her hospice room. I'm crying, yes, but the sadness is more for us. Our little family. Perhaps that's selfish, but I know her mother would understand.  We’ve wept together. They've had a year more than they thought was possible, and I pray we have that, too. Ann's kids are teens, and sometimes teens need their moms more than babies do who eat sleep and poop as some say. It's such a confusing time in life.

I watched my dad after his mother's funeral (he was 70) and knew then there was never a good time to be an orphan. Not 7 and not 70.  But he was 83 when his sister (my aunt Marion) died and he sobbed and sobbed in the back of the room at the funeral home away from everyone. Big tough Marine. All my high school dates were afraid of him.  He said  because she was the oldest girl, she was the "little mother" of all the other 8. It still makes me cry to think of it; she was always there to welcome me home.

We know we're all in God's care, we're baptized, we've made a personal commitment, but the other side is still scary because we don't know what to expect. Like the baby in the womb--we suspect there's something else, we can hear music, talking, feel movement, we wiggle our toes and touch our nose--but it seems so unrealistic to think there's more than we know floating around with everything taken care of.

There is.

Yes, it’s true.

Being with the dying

There was a catch in her voice.  “Do you know any Scripture I could read to the dying, you know, for comfort?” I told her I would check with the pastor, and get back to her, although I knew I could Google it.  Google tells all.  All except how to sit by the side of your dying daughter and think about life without her.  All except how to live one’s few remaining years without her who used to be your future, the one who would have told sweet stories at your funeral,  settled your estate and gone to the cemetery to leave flowers.

http://www.holyredeemerhealth.com/hospice-support/being-with-the-dying/

Probate in Ohio—Elder Law

The executor or administrator takes care of the following tasks:

• caring for all property of the decedent;

• receiving payments due the estate, including interest, dividends and other income;

• collecting debts, claims and notes due the decedent;

• determining the names, ages, addresses and degree of relationship of all heirs;

• determining the names, ages and addresses of all beneficiaries, if there is a will;

• investigating the validity of all claims against the estate and paying all outstanding obligations including federal, state and local estate and income taxes;

• planning for federal and state taxes and preparing and filing estate tax returns when required;

• carrying out the instructions of the probate court pertaining to the estate and distributing the assets of the estate to the heirs.

The probate court judge and support staff supervise the work of the executor or administrator.

These actions may require the preparation and filing of numerous legal documents, the provision of notices, hearings in court, an appraisal of the assets of the estate, an inventory of the assets, completion of final income tax returns and possibly gift and estate tax returns, an accounting of funds, final transfer of all assets to beneficiaries, termination of the probate proceeding, and discharge of the executor or administrator by the probate court. Because of the complexity of these procedures, the assistance of an attorney usually is needed.

If the total value of all property in the decedent’s individual name is $35,000 or less, the estate can be relieved from some of these administrative requirements. Where the decedent’s spouse is entitled to receive all of the estate’s assets, the amount that can be relieved from formal administration is increased to $100,000.

Non-probate assets include: insurance policies, IRAs and pensions that are payable on death to a beneficiary; and a home, car or bank account that the decedent owned jointly with rights of survivorship. In many cases, the bulk of a decedent’s assets may be non-probate assets. The administrator must identify non-probate assets for tax purposes, but these assets are not otherwise included in the estate for which the administrator is responsible.

Duties of the Executor

What are the duties of an administrator (executor)?

The basic duties of an administrator and an executor are:

1. Inventory and appraisal. The administrator must identify and determine the fair market value of all financial assets and property that were owned by the decedent at the time of death.* The administrator must file an inventory listing all of the decedent’s probate assets and their date-of-death values with the probate court within three months of the administrator’s appointment, unless an extension is granted.

If the value of an asset is “readily ascertainable” (for example, shares of stock in a publicly traded company or the balance in a bank account), then no professional appraisal is required; however, items such as jewelry, art objects, antiques, real estate and any other possessions whose value cannot be readily established must be appraised by a qualified person.

2. Collecting assets. The administrator must collect all assets of the decedent. This is very important (especially to prospective heirs) because it is these assets that will be distributed to the heirs after debts and taxes have been paid. Complications can arise in this process if assets legally owned by a decedent are in the possession of someone else at the time of death, or if property belonging to the decedent has been concealed or misappropriated by a third party. [. . .]

3. Payment of debts and expenses. Creditors (people to whom the decedent, or his or her estate, owe money) have six months from the date of death to present their claims against the estate. In most cases, any claim not submitted within six months is barred forever. Claims must be in writing and sent directly to the administrator or mailed to the decedent’s address, and must be received by the administrator within six months. In addition to ordinary bills the decedent owed at the time of death, other debts typically include expenses to keep up property; local, state and federal taxes; hospital and funeral expenses; and expenses of administration including probate court costs, bond premiums and fees charged by appraisers, attorneys and the administrator. [. . . ]

4. Distribution of assets. When all debts, taxes, costs and expenses of the estate have been paid, the administrator must distribute the balance of the estate to the decedent’s heirs according to a strict formula spelled out in Ohio’s statute of descent and distribution. Because an administrator may be held personally liable for an error or excess distribution to an heir that cannot later be recovered, legal advice should be obtained before making a final disposition of estate assets. Sometimes an administrator will make a partial distribution of certain assets before all claims have been received. In such cases, it may be prudent to advise persons receiving early partial distributions that they may be required to return money or property to the estate if it is needed to satisfy valid claims.

 

What will you want?

What do Catholics believe happened at the Cross and Resurrection?

On the way home from the coffee shop this morning I was listening to a discussion of death and judgement by two Catholics. Frankly, I can't imagine why Catholics even talk about Jesus--the Christian life and faith seem to be one of pleading, pleasing, payment and purgatory. I'm not sure what they think happened on the cross, but whatever it was, it wasn't good enough to have the assurance in this life of eternal life. There is a rule for absolutely everything, and the church has written and defined the rule based on the flimsiest scriptural evidence.

Repeal the Death Tax--from 0 to 35% in 2011

"America’s family businesses and farmers were hit by a large estate tax increase, from 0% to 35%, at the beginning of 2011, making planning and passing on farms and businesses to the next generation even more difficult. As it stands, more than 70% of family businesses do not survive to the second generation, and a full 90% of family businesses do not survive to the third. In 2011, the political landscape has changed but family businesses are still struggling, family farms are liquidating, and even more jobs are at stake."

I didn't realize the death tax had made such a comeback. Why does the Obama administration hate small businesses and farmers so much? Easy. They are the backbone of the economy, and he wants it to collapse. So when conservatives say we want him to fail, we mean we don't want him to collapse the economy with oppressive taxes and regulations that destroy businesses and jobs.

My mother and her siblings inherited their parents' farms in Illinois and Iowa when they died in 1963 and 1968, however, the taxes then were so oppressive, most of the land had to be sold in order to pay the taxes.

"As part of the tax deal struck at the end of 2010, Congress set the death tax at 35 percent with a $5 million exemption for 2011 and 2012. The death tax did not apply in 2010 because the 2001 and 2003 tax relief abolished the harmful tax. Even though the death tax is resurrected, the new rate and exemption levels represent a substantial improvement from where the death tax was in 2000 before the tax cuts: 60 percent with just a $1 million exemption. Despite the positive advances the death tax is back in place and therefore has resumed destroying jobs and slowing the economy."

Death Taxes

The D Word

Carlos Alcala who writes for McClatchy had an article in today's Dispatch about the reluctance to use the D (death, dying) word. My goodness, I wrote about that thirteen years ago. I even wrote a poem about it because I like to write about words, fudge phrases, jargon, new words, vocabulary and euphemisms. My concern is not the euphemisms, but that now more and more people don't even get a verb!

Today in the obituaries

Dying for a Verb
By Norma Bruce
September 28, 1997

Emmy Lou departed this world;
Frank entered his eternal rest;
Polly is at home with the Lord.

Ray’s gone to his home in glory;
Ted is asleep with the angels;
Ann Louise simply crossed over.

And I am left to wonder why
They sent him off without a verb--
“Ralph David, May 15, at home.”

When my earth's book is overdue,
Please open heaven’s library;
Let me live in God’s promises.

When finally I fold this tent,
Lease me a heavenly mansion
Renewable eternally.

When I slip out of the saddle,
Boost me up high to ride bareback
On a steed into the stronghold.

When the last crumbs have been swept up,
Seat me at the banquet table
To listen with the disciples.

When the final ticket’s been bought,
Give me the best seat in the house
To hear the angels’ choir sing.

When I’ve gathered up the harvest,
Fill my buckets, silos and bins
To overflowing with God’s love.

When the bow breaks in the treetops,
Bear me up on wings of eagles
Never faint, tired or weary.

Pine box, urn, or fancy casket,
Paragraph, note or just a line;
Don’t send me off without a verb!

Forgetting

There's an old country song that goes something like, I've forgotten more about him than you'll ever know. At my age, forgetting (the past) and forgetfulness (in the present) are problems. The memory tapes are full, and to my knowledge there's no way to jettison the old stuff to make room for the new, and in order to even keep the past, you do need to occasionally revisit it. This morning I was reading something dated November 17. "That's Patrick's birthday," popped into my mind. Then I began to doubt. No, it was November 14; or was it the 18th? Patrick died 44 years ago, but he was my baby--we had such a brief time together, and you'd think I'd never forget his birth date, but apparently I have. It wouldn't be hard to look it up, but messy files isn't my topic today; forgetting is.

The past is forgotten primarily by the passage of time, but happy times also start to replace the unhappy memories like a difficult pregnancy and loss of a child in order to build new memories. Both my adult children have November birthdays so I think Patrick's date would come and go and eventually, I paid no attention to it. Alcohol also destroys the memory, as does dementia--those aren't my problem.

Time doesn't always do it if you refurbish and polish the memory like prayer beads. Years ago we "fixed up" a widower we knew with a delightful, handsome divorcee whom I knew through work. I think she was in her late 50s or early 60s, and he was about 70. Both had been single many years and had grown children--I think his wife had died of cancer about 25 years earlier. During dinner I began to spot the problem--he wouldn't stop talking about his deceased wife. It was embarrassing. I talked to my co-worker the next day and she said it continued even when he took her home and she invited him in. He had allowed neither time nor happy memories to chip away at the painful memories of his wife's death. I also considered the possibility that he used this to assure he'd never need to follow up on a social contact!

Some of the happiest second and third marriages I've known are cases where the two bereaved spouses were friends before their loss--each knew the others joys, sorrows, illnesses, children--they had shared memories. I also know a few where this didn't work out at all--resulting in a quick divorce or annulment. Memories are wonderful props for living, but sometimes you need a brick or two replaced, or some new mortar, or maybe a whole foundation.