and then I wrote...

... about some miscellaneous matters.

It was interesting, as a practicing Catholic, to hear in the wake of the pope’s death all the suggestions being made about the direction the Catholic Church should take.

The gist of most of the suggestions was that the church should become less Catholic and more catholic. With the capital C or the lower case c, the words have different meanings. The C word means the “ancient, undivided church” claiming apostolic origin, disciplines and sacraments. With the small c, the word means liberal in beliefs, tastes and views.

Pope John Paul II was a capital C Catholic. The lower c catholics called that conservative.

A network television pundit Sunday told us that the “cafeteria” Catholics in the United States want a more liberal pope, one who will okay artificial means of birth control, abortions, married clergy (both men and women) and outlawing of the death penalty. In other words, someone who is not a Catholic.

It was also suggested the next pope should be someone from Africa or Asia or South America, since the church is expanding in membership in those areas while numbers are dropping in the U.S. and Europe. But the “universal” church isn’t universal these days, in the wake of the Second Vatican Council.

It will be interesting.

Reading the long, sad, complicated story of that young girl killed by a convicted sex offender in Iowa indicates the poor kid never had a chance. With her mother dating the sex offender’s brother, also a convicted sex offender who allegedly also abused her, her family life must have been hell. Iowans have taken action. Locking the barn door after the horse is stolen by publishing names of other sex offenders. Seeking ID cards for all children, so bodies can be more easily identified by fingerprints.

That will do it, sure!

Oh! And it may be tough to convict the brother of the accused because the girl his brother killed won’t be around to testify against him! As that Russian comic says, “what a country!”

And, Iowa Democrats say there may be no real legislation coming out on sex offenders because the Republicans want to re-instate the death penalty, which is “dead” on arrival. Nice play on words there.

I could live without the death penalty, but only if the convicted killer was reminded daily of what he or she did. That is, a private cell with no interaction with others. Three life-sustaining minimum meals a day, with no steak and no turkey at Thanksgiving. Minimum exercise sufficient to keep muscle tone, but no weight training. No television, just an AM radio. No window on the world, just a view of an inside corridor. No law library privileges. No conjugal visits, and very limited family-only visits otherwise. In other words, crime AND punishment.

Speaking of clever use of language.

Coaches are fond of saying there is no “I” in the word team. Hmm! I wanted to make that a small letter in quotes, but my computer won’t let me! Anyway, the headline writer for the Gazette’s sports section had a good one today: “No ‘I’ in Illini” it read. In other words, an unselfish team.

Speaking of the computer’s ability, it was once again refreshing to notice it changed itself from standard time to daylight saving time. Too bad most clocks and watches and radios and, whatever, don’t do the same. Did you get reminded again of just how many time keepers you have around? But I have one satisfaction. The clock in the car, which I never somehow got around to changing, is correct again!