Connecting with our Lord.

If you are anything like me, your days are packed. Going from one class to another, to the gym, to extracurriculars, what-have-you. We are so busy, its absolutely unbelievable. So its very difficult for us to take time out of our day to connect with Jesus, because we're always in "on the move" mode. 

I think prayer before a meal is a very easy and nonobtrusive way to check in with Jesus. Before you eat, cross yourself and just think to yourself, "Lord, forgive me for not checking in sooner. You are the spirit of my life, the thing that keeps me going. I know that without you, I could not have achieved anything that I have. I trust you and love you. Be patient with me. Amen." That's all it really takes. But, if you eat at least twice a day and pray before you sleep at night, then that means you've connected with Jesus at least three times that day. Not half bad!

The ideal, of course, is to make Jesus the central focus in your life, to make him the foundation upon which we have built ourselves. Most importantly, it is crucial that we develop a personal relationship with the man who is our savior. How can He save us if we don't connect with him? How can He help us, guide us, strengthen us if we don't actively bring him into our lives. Then, not only will be have the confidence that comes from walking with the Lord, but we will also be able to give some of that magic to those around us. Jesus rubs off on people :-)

Just remember: He wants to have a relationship with you. Yes, YOU! And he's waiting for you to talk to him, and he wants you to know his story.

Bloc Voting? religion and the role it plays in the next election

When you believe in a certain faith - and particularly identify and connect with a particular sect within that faith - there are certain tenets that you have to buy into. For example: In order to be a Mormon, you kind of have to believe that the President in Salt Lake City is a living prophet. If you're a Catholic, you believe that the Pope is the Vicar of Christ. There are certain parts of the religion that, although not the one of the more central tenets in the faith, are still important to believe in.

In the Roman Catholic faith - which is the primary topic of this blog in general - we believe in the hierarchy of the Church. From the laity to the Pope, everyone has a place and a role in the religious community. The main purpose of the mid-level bureaucracy in the Church - the bishops - is to provide leadership and instruction for a large populace. Most of the time, bishops can be rather docile. 

During election season though, the bishops come out with the big guns. As I've said before, Catholics make up a quarter of the total population of the national, and we are by far the largest religious group in populous (and pivotal in an election) California, Texas, Ohio, and Illinois. This puts the Catholics, and in particular the bishops that lead them, in a very powerful position.

This year, the message of the bishops is incredibly clear: the abortion issue is absolutely critical. We must vote with the intent of ending abortion in the United States of America, and we must vote for the candidate who would do that.

By law, they are not allowed to endorse one candidate or another. But they've learned how to toe the line. And they're message is so obvious a blind man could see it: vote McCain.

Roman Catholics are supposed to listen to their leaders, particularly their religious leaders. And no doubt, many of us will. But I am ignoring they're suggestion and voting for Barack Obama (in fact, I already have), and I'd like to tell you why.

Sen. McCain has spent 26 years in the Senate, and there were several years when Bush was first elected when the Republicans held the House, the Senate, and the White House. But they didn't outlaw abortion. They had the opportunity. They could have done it. But they didn't. Why? 

This is my theory. The Republican party, although its base is made up of evangelicals, has moved farther and farther away from the interests of its base over time. While the Republican party used to favor small businesses and lower taxes for the common man, they have turned to protecting giant corporations and giving tax cuts to the top 2% of the wealthy. The fact is, the Republican party does not support Christian values, such as the care for the poor and needy. The only things the Republicans have in common with Christians are two social issues: abortion and gay marriage. 

It is my belief that over the years the Republicans have come to take advantage of this. They have abused it, even. It is their platform upon which they run, but they have never come close to fulfilling their promises. Why? Because if they did... what would they have to run on? The Christians would realize that the Democratic party, which supports the poor and is against the death penalty, has more in common than the Republican party does. And the GOP can't let that happen.

That was a very long way of getting to my main point. I'm voting for Obama because he and I agree on more issues. I agree with McCain on abortion, but I doubt his commitment to banning it. I quite simply don't trust John McCain to keep his word. And I don't trust his judgement. Picking Sarah Palin, a two year governor from Alaska, was the worst choice of a running mate he could have possibly made. She would be only one heart-beat away to having the nuclear codes and having to protect our country. I don't trust a hockey mom / moose hunter who has no foreign policy experience to do that. I believe Obama has the brains and the diplomatic capability to protect our nation with more than a wall of dead American soldiers in Iraq, and I believe he can turn this economic "crisis" upside down. He makes me believe in America again, and he makes me excited to be apart of remaking this country, a country that has lost its identity by being split in two by partisan politics.

This is not my usual post... I usually try to be more objective when I'm writing, but as my goal was to state my opinion, I don't feel as bad.

A Roman Catholic's Debate: Obama or McCain?

Roman Catholics make up just over 25% of the population of the United States of America, and increasing every year. We're already the most influential voting bloc in the nation, commanding about 1/3 of the vote in key swing states like Pennsylvania and even more in places like Ohio and Florida. Do I even need to mention how many of us there are in California and Texas? Didn't think so.

But as we approach this coming election, our traditional strength as a bloc has drastically diminished as we find ourselves being split over the best candidate for president. Its not an easy choice. John McCain doesn't exactly have "Help the Poor" written all over him, whereas Barack Obama's beliefs about abortion are enough to push many Catholics to his opponent: about half of them, to be precise. So I decided it would be wise if I went through the beliefs of each candidate and compared what they stood for with the Church's doctrine.

Let's start with Senator Obama:

I'll get the obvious one out of the way right now so its not haunting readers while they're reading this: he is against a constitution ban on abortion. He supports Roe v. Wade, and has no intention of attempting to overturn it. He has stated that he personally does not like abortion and sees it as a great tragedy of our nation. Senator Obama believes that we need to have systems in place that give parents other options other than abortion. He believes that adoption is too difficult here, and that we don't have a support system to aid single parents in caring for their young children while working or continuing their education. He's said that the current administration, although claiming to be against Roe v. Wade, has not taken steps to really address the issue of why teen pregnancy has increased the way it has.

The Church is completely and utterly against abortion (for those of you who do not know, Sen Biden is a Roman Catholic but is for abortion rights). According to our doctrine, life begins at conception. It is not acceptable to vote for a candidate that is pro-abortion rights.

That seems like a pretty immovable obstacle, but actually Barack Obama agrees more with the Catholic Church that his opponent, John McCain, does. On issues like the Iraq war, immigration, health care, and even - dare I say it - the reduction of abortion rates Barack Obama walks in step with the Roman Catholic Church. We'll talk about whether that's enough to convince Catholic voters.

Shall we move on to the veteran senator from Arizona?

Senator John McCain, as we have previously stated, agrees with the Pope about abortion. That fact alone has won him more Catholic votes than he really deserves, because apart from that fact, there's not a whole lot about his that makes us say, "Alleluia". His views on poverty and the distribution of wealth in particular go against the grain of the Church. He supports the death penalty and the Iraq War, both of which the Pope is adamantly opposed to. 

So how are we to decide? Unfortunately, Pope Benedict is not running for president. So we're going to have to make due with what we have.

What we're seeing here is a split in the Catholic bloc according to something that run vastly deeper than party politics. 

Allow me to explain. There is a fairly obvious and subtle separation between Catholics in the American Church. Its so subtle that most non-Catholics are incapable of seeing it, because both kinds practice their religion the same way. We all go to Mass, which is fairly generic where ever you go. But its in the subtle application of our faith that there is a difference.

The difference is largely generational. The younger generation and splintered into what we now call progressive Catholics. This group is generally characterized in the following ways:

• Very environmental.
• Very mindful of human rights.
• Believe that salvation can be found in Christian churches outside the Church, but that the Church is the true source of saving grace (this the Church's official statement on the topic, in case you were curious)
• Tend to be more comfortable expressing a belief that diverts from the Church's teaching, but continue to be faithful Catholics.
• Supports increased involvement of the laity in the church.
• Don't always send their kids to Catholic schools.
• Less involved in the debate around gay-rights and abortion.
• tend to vote Democratic, supporting the party's policies of caring for the poor, the distribution of wealth, and government programs.
• vote based on the collective issues rather than a single issue.

Conservative Catholics have a lot in common with progressive Catholics. There are a few very minor differences, however.

• Less interested in the environment.
• Extremely focused on social issues like abortion and gay-rights when thinking about politics.
• Salvation comes through the Church alone.
• March in step with the Church on all issues.
• Supports increased involvement of the laity within the church, but not active in pursuing it.
• Children attend Catholic schools, even if the parents have to taken out a second mortgage.
• Extremely involved in the debate of social issues.
• tend to vote Republican because of social issues.
• Single issue voters.

Looking at the two, one would think that they have nothing in common. You couldn't be more mistaken. They are brought together through their mutual faith in Jesus Christ and the church He himself founded in us so many centuries ago. But you can now easily see how the Catholic vote is split in this election. Its come down a choice between a Pro-Life, Pro-Death Penalty candidate and a Pro-Abortion, Pro-Poor candidate. What are we to do?!

All the candidates - their running mates included - are Christians. Only one is a Catholic, but even he supports abortion rights, so it is unlikely that his name on the ticket will by itself attract many voters. Of course, there are many other issues involved in this election that we haven't talk about because the Church doesn't have an opinion on them, such as foreign policy strategies and taxation. And for those undecided Catholic voters, those issues may be what comes down to.

It is now my time to present my opinions on the subject, and I'm going to assume that since you've read all the way down to this point that you are interested in what I have to say. But that's not what the point of this entry was. Perhaps at another time I'll talk about who I'm voting for, but I don't want to influence anybody right now. Let people make their own decisions, and once they have, let them come and ask me where I stand.

I hope this was useful. Best of luck for the election. Maybe the candidate chosen by God win.

God bless all of you,

Gawane89

PS: If there are any statistical mistakes in this blog please please please post a comment and I will be sure to alter this entry as soon as possible. Just paste in your source and if its legitimate, then I'll make the alteration.

Thanks!

A layman's view on the economic crisis

Everyday I check my email and see the half-dozen New York Times updates and a frown jumps onto my face. "Great," I think sarcastically to myself, "I'm glad things are working out."

Its very hard to think positively about the economy today, especially as a college student. It doesn't make the prospects of getting a job out of college look any easier (although suddenly grad school looks like a much wiser option than jumping into the work force right away). The fact is, the American economy just isn't what it was in the 90's; anybody with half a brain can see that, which is why Sen. McCain's comments about the strength of our economy makes one skeptical.

But we're not talking politics. We're talking jobs. How many jobs are going to be available in the coming years? In which sectors? Which areas of the economy are doing well. The entire thing can't be tanking, can it?

These are questions that everybody is asking. And nobody really knows the answers. Its a pretty good guess that service-sector jobs are going to be fairly stable, but for how long? People are only going to pay for people to low their lawns when they have the money to afford it. They aren't going to go out to eat if they're trying to save money for gas. They're going to be less willing to turn over their investments to the giant financial institutions if the places are going bankrupt. 

You see the trend? Consumer good purchases go down. Investments go down. Service sector labor falls due to lack of customers. The entertainment industry suffers. People lose their jobs. They lose their homes. People start raising chickens in their backyards. Great Depression. Suddenly it looks really good to live on a farm, because at least you can feed yourself.

It seems over dramatic, and maybe it is. There isn't a single expert that thinks this debacle is anywhere near over. Most think it'll only get worse.

Today, Wall Street suffered another massive blow, this after the news that the federal government was going to step in - the largest bailout in history - and save them all. 

Is bailing these companies out the right thing to do? Are they really going to drag us all down? Is it smart to save institutions that have obviously failed? Just think of it as Business Darwinism: those who fail fall off the train, while those who hang on survive. Maybe we should be looking at this as a weeding out of the unwise investment bankers from our economy. Can't be anything wrong with that.

Except that billions of dollars of the nation's dollars have been entrusted to these businesses. The house-slump knocked a lot of people down, and now - with people losing their investments left and right - the last thing we need to do is hold that down there.

I'll let you decide the right way to go about this. I'm no expert, and I'm not going to assume for one second that I have all the answers. But this November, we should choose our candidate based on the man with the plan, not on who we like more.

Your thoughts?

Introduction to me

Hello World!

A couple little tid-bits about me would probably be appropriate, I think; as you're reading my blogs, it might help to have some kind of idea of where I'm coming from, what my background is, etc.

First things first: the title of my blog is immensely important. "Kyrie Eleison" means "Lord have mercy" in Greek. I am a devout Roman Catholic, and my faith is central to my life and my view of the world, and the title of my blog is supposed to be representative of that. 

Secondly: my username. "Gawane" is one of many, many spellings of the name of the famous Sir Gawain from Arthurian legend. He is in my opinion the perfect example of chivalric duty, the ideal of masculinity, and the essence of social justice. His shield carried the Pentagram (see profile picture) and represented with its five points five sets of five virtues. The poet and author of "Sir Gawain and the Green Knight" describes Gawain's pentagram:

And I intend to tell you, though I tarry thereofor,

Why the Pentangle is proper to this prince of knights.

It is a symbol which Solomon conceived once

To betoken holy truth, by its intrinsic right,

For it is a figure which has five points,

And each line overlaps and is locked with another;

And it is endless everywhere, and the English call it,

In all the land, I hear, the Endless Knot.

I'll probably be writing a lot about the great Sir Gawain later on, maybe even posting some literature about him for the curious to read.

I'm sure I'm preaching to the choir when I say this: please, please, please keep your comments respectable and appropriate. I will not tolerate unnecessary language or the disrespect of other people's feelings, opinions, and beliefs. This is a form of conversation and, hopefully, understanding. Certainly you are at complete liberty to disagree with me - and if you do I encourage you to voice your opinions by commenting or by posting a blog of your own on the subject - but please do not resort to insults or degrading comments. It is not only incredibly immature and rude, but it doesn't help us get any closer to understanding one another's perspective on the issue. In fact, it will only make me less willing to listen to you, and I'll probably just delete your response anyway. So please, whatever you say, please say it in a respectful manner. 

OK, now that THAT is out of the way, I would like to say that I'm very excited about this blog, and I hope you enjoy it as much as I do! I've got lots of different topics that I can't wait to talk about and I'm looking forward to hearing your responses.

Have a wonderful, and God bless you.

Gawane89