Weekend Wrap Up Of Odds and Ends

/ramble on
I found out a few days ago that the priest at my church while I was in college died last week. I was thinking about it for a number of reasons. First I ran into him a few years ago at the driving range I go to most Saturdays and Sundays so when I went there this weekend, I was reminded of that meeting. We spoke for a while and I walked away thinking what a decent guy he was. The one story I have about him was while in college I use to mow the lawn at the church and I had interviewed for an after school job with an actuarial firm. I had told him the interview had gone really well and I was fairly confident I would get the job. For the next week or so every time I saw the priest he would ask about the job but the answer was always I had not heard yet. Finally I called to ask and was told I had not got the job. I was fairly disappointed but was more upset that they did not have the decency to call and let me know. So the next time the priest asked, I told him how I had called and was told I did not get it. He looked at me and in as serious a voice as I have ever heard told me to go home, call them up and "you tell them to go to hell". Kind of took me back a bit. Never heard that kind of talk from a priest even though I had gone to a parochial high school. Was kind of my first priests are just like the rest of us moment.

The other thing I remember was a sermon he had given having to do with the Catholic - Protestant violence in Northern Ireland. He was born in Ireland but told the congregation that he always refused to give any support to the IRA because of the violence they caused. Now to me that conflict is not really a religious conflict but a fight between two countries over land, one side just happens to be largely Catholic, the other Protestant. I could be wrong on this but that is my take on it. I bring that up because of the violence in Iraq. For the most part it is not Iraqis or Islamist fighting U.S. soldiers, it is Shia fighting Sunni. Earlier I was trying to think of another example of a religion, in this case Islam, fighting itself and the only thing I could come up with was Northern Ireland, but it is not like the Catholics are bombing the heretic Protestants over religious issues so I am not sure that example counts.

That brings me to another topic in this long ramble of a post, Catholics as Christians. I saw the phrase "Christian and Conservative" on an internet post recently and for some reason that strikes me as Catholics need not apply. I am sure that is not the case but for some reason that is the way it does and I do not know why. I know I consider myself both Christian and Conservative. Up until a few years ago, I had never heard of anyone ever say Catholics are not Christians. Maybe I do not get out enough but 40+ years worth of being a Catholic before I heard that some people actually believe that. In fact I remember taking the entrance exam for my high school and the hardest question on the test was what religion are you? I sat forever thinking Catholic or Christian, to me they were the same. Literally flipped a coin and wrote down Catholic. Divine intervention? Maybe.

Back to the driving range... putted ok, the greens have not been in great shape lately. Thought it may have been a result of the "Women's Day of Golf" the other week but that does not appear to be the case. Chipped fairly well, hit the driver really well, OK, well for me, hit everything else left. I was once told the path to hitting a draw is through a hook, not sure where the path ends from a dead pull.

Memorial day... remember to thank a vet and why not send a care package to someone serving overseas.
/ramble off