CATHOLICS UNDER ATTACK BY THE FBI!

Monday, February 19^th, 2023

Baton Rouge, Louisiana

 CATHOLICS UNDER ATTACK BY THE FBI!

Did you know that traditional Catholicism is under attack by the FBI for being extreme, and festering terrorism?  That’s right! The FBI issued a memo warning of extremists who are infiltrating “radical – traditionalist Roman Catholic organizations known primarily for the love of the Latin Mass.”  I thought this was a joke when I first heard about the FBI’s latest blunder.  But I kid you not. Such a memo was actually issued by the organization that is supposed to be there to protect, and not to intimidate.

So according to the FBI, if you practice traditional Catholicism and enjoy attending a traditional Mass in Latin, you could be considered a criminal or even a potential terrorist.  How absurd and how dangerous.

I studied Latin in high school and college, and really love the language. And although I am not Catholic, I do from time to time enjoy attending the Mass in Latin at St. Agnus Catholic Church in Baton Rouge. Louisiana has a large Catholic population. The traditional Latin Mass is performed in cities throughout the state including many churches in New Orleans, as well as other churches in Lafayette, Baton Rouge, Thibodeaux – Houma, Lacombe and Covington just to name a few locations.

Performing a traditional Mass in Latin has been the norm from early Christian church history based in Rome, and reflects ancient roots of rich symbolism that originate at the very foundation of Western culture.  But the FBI apparently thinks that there is something sinister an evil in those who prefer the more tradition Mass. 

The FBI memo goes on to say: “Among those beliefs which distinguish the bad Catholics from the good ones are a preference for ‘the Traditional Latin Mass and pre-Vatican II teachings.’” (Isn’t that the language of white supremacists in the past who talked about the good ones and the bad ones?)

The good news is that attorney generals all across America, including Louisiana’s Jeff Landry, have stepped in to challenge the anti-Catholic bigotry of the FBI. Twenty state attorney generals have demanded the FBI ceased and desist: “the investigating and surveilling Americans who have done nothing more than exercise their natural and constitutional right to practice their religion.”  This group goes on to charge that “anti-Catholic bigotry appears to be festering in the FBI, and the Bureau is treating Catholics as potential terrorists because of their beliefs.”

Three cheers for this group of attorney generals. They have stated that if they are forced to, they will bring lawsuits against the FBI and the Justice Department.  “We are the chief legal officers of our respective states, charged not only with enforcing the law, but also with securing the civil rights of our citizens.  The FBI must immediately and unequivocally order agency personnel not to target Americans based on their religious beliefs and practices.”

If the FBI can target citizens who enjoy and participate in traditional Catholic Latin Mass, then you wonder who’s next? What about traditional Baptists, particularly in the South, as well as conservative evangelicals?  Where does the illegal meddling of the FBI end?

The good news, at least for the short term, is that because of a major outcry by those who believe in religious freedom, the FBI has rescinded their memo.  Let’s just hope it’s not temporary. It became obvious that this entire investigation was a witch-hunt and a pretext to persecute law-abiding citizens whose only crime is to practice their choice of religious expression. There is a strong statement here. We have witnessed a testimony as to just how corrupt the FBI has become.

Peace and Justice

Jim Brown

Jim Brown’s syndicated column appears each week in numerous newspapers throughout the nation and on websites worldwide. You can read all his past columns and see continuing updates at http://www.jimbrownusa.com. You can also listen to his regular podcast at www.datelinelouisiana.com.

 

DEALING WITH A DREADED DISEASE!

Monday, February 13^th, 2023

Baton Rouge, Louisiana

DEALING WITH A DREADED DISEASE!

I returned a message from my friend I've known for many years. He was calling to tell me goodbye. He told me he was in the early stages of Alzheimer’s and didn't know how his memory will hold up in the weeks to come. What do you say to a colleague in such condition?  Apparently, a number of people just wake up to the fact that they have been captured by Alzheimer’s and take a last gasp to put their life in order.

I was touched indirectly, but somewhat forcefully by the ordeal of CBS Sunday Morning reporters Barry Peterson and his wife, Jan. The married journalists were living and working in Asia, until Jan's diagnosis with Alzheimer’s at age fifty-five cut their close relationship short.  Barry was a guest on my nationally syndicated radio program on several occasions.  We talked at length, both on and off the air, of the trails he faced taking care of and loving his wife, and trying to figure out what his own life would become in the years ahead.

“The hardest thing was watching her disappear a little more,” Barry said. They discussed what Barry’s life might look like without her. “She was very adamant that if something happened to her, which I didn't think was going to happen, that I should go on and have the rest of my life,” he said.

As Jan’s condition worsened, Barry was alone, and he had to make a difficult decision. “I really felt that for my survival, my sanity, my desire to have conversations with someone that really understood the process, that I needed to reach out and I did,” Barry told me. Here’s how Barry delt with the difficult problem of being a caregiver and also trying to carry-on a separate relationship. He met Mary Nell Wolff. 

Friends encouraged Mary Nell to go on Match.com. She said she later got a message from Barry, who shared his story about his wife's illness. With Barry traveling the world for work, Mary Nell took on caregiving responsibilities for Jan. “I felt at peace the moment that Jan and Mary Nell bonded,” Barry says. “I didn't not love Jan, and I was not going to in any way abandon her, but I loved Mary Nell at the same time,” he explains. “And Mary Nell now loved me, and Mary Nell loved Jan.”

Barry shared his experience in his book called “Jan's Story.” Jan passed away in 2013. He said if you can understand the love he shared with her and Mary Nell, “then you have understood the matrix of what love is like with Alzheimer’s for people who just want to survive.” 

Each time Berry appeared on my radio program, I was stunned at the number of messages, calls, and emails that I received. So many people wanted to share their stories of dealing with Alzheimer’s as a caregiver supporting someone who was suffering from the disease.

Following one of the appearances by Barry on my radio program, I stopped in at local hardware store that specialized in radio cables and microphones. I gathered the few items I needed, then went to the cash register to pay for my acquisitions.  As I handed over my credit card, the salesman asked if he could visit with me for a while. “Of course,” I said.

He told me that he has been a caregiver for his wife who has had Alzheimer's for the last 12 years. He was taken by my interview with Berry and told me how much it meant to him that I would brooch such a difficult subject. As he shared more about his wife’s deteriorating condition, tears filled his eyes, and he finally lay his head on the counter and cried and cried.  I did my best to console him, but it was obvious that I could do little more than standby and watch him as all these pent-up feelings came out.  I still call him from time to time.

Finding a cure is not close at hand.  This chronic disease often begins years before it is diagnosed. Oh, scientists will eventually find a cure.  Sadly, it will be a good way into our future.  But we have to continue to hope.

Peace and Justice

Jim Brown

Jim Brown’s syndicated column appears each week in numerous newspapers throughout the nation and on websites worldwide. You can read all his past columns and see continuing updates at http://www.jimbrownusa.com. You can also listen to his regular podcast at www.datelinelouisiana.com.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

WE ALL NEED HEROES IN OUR LIVES!

Monday, February 6^th, 2023

Baton Rouge, Louisiana

 

WE ALL NEED HEROES IN OUR LIVES!

 

I’m a Tina Turner fan, but she got it wrong in her hit a few years back called “We don’t need another Hero.” The song goes on to say:

 

We don't need to know the way home, ooh
All we want is life beyond Thunderdome.

 

A full life needs hope, inspiration, an understanding of the value of charity, and a following of the precepts of what is honorable.  So yes Tina. We do need heroes.

 

I found my first hero when I was eleven.  We visited as a Saturday morning ritual.  I would leave my house at 8:30 am, mount my prize possession: a Red & Black Schwinn Deluxe Hornet Bicycle.  Then it was a five-block ride to the local Sears store. My mother, bless her soul, had given me a nickel to buy a bag of popcorn on the first floor of the store.  Then it was up the stairs to the TV department when all the new sets were on display.

 

No, we didn’t have our own TV at home.  None of the kids in my neighborhood did. So when I arrived at the displays of new black and white TVs, I propped down in a corner to watch my hero, the king of the cowboys, Roy Rogers.  He fought the bad guys in each episode, riding the western plains on his golden palomino horse Trigger. 

 

Author Bob Greene, who was a past guest on my syndicated radio show, pointed out to me that, besides his weekly fight for law and order, old Roy was also full of sage advice.  In one episode titled “Uncle Steve’s Finish,” Roy warns young boys not to idolize flashy con men.  “He found out that there’s the wrong kind of hero worship, and that his father the schoolteacher was a much better man and his uncle the outlaw.” Who could disagree.

 

Then in another Saturday show called “M Stands for Murder,” Roy advised how greed can ruin a person: “He didn’t want some money. He wanted all of it. You know, that’s the funny thing about greed. It’s sort of grows on you. It starts out when you’re young by wanting somebody’s baseball bat or football that doesn’t belong to you, then later on wanting somebody’s job. First thing you know, you’re wanting everything in sight.”

 

There is sound cowboy advise in just about every episode.  In “Quick Draw,” a man bemoans that he might be a coward because he was reluctant to fire his gun.  Roy comforts him by saying: “You’re not a coward. You just won a great victory over yourself. Maybe now you’ll know what guns are really for. To protect, not to kill.”

 

And in “The Scavenger,” my cowboy idol imparts the importance of generosity when he tells a skinflint: “The church needs a new steeple and the school could use a new library. Wouldn’t you rather the people remember Moses as the grand old man whose money did so much for the town?”

 

Roy rode the western plains with his cowgirl wife, Dale Evans, emoting this kind of wisdom on Saturday mornings, show after show.  I continued to watch my idol until his series ended in 1957.  I sure miss those peaceful Saturday mornings, my black Schwinn bicycle, the nickel popcorn, and getting an education about upbeat and optimistic living from my first hero, Roy Rogers.

 

It's hard to be a real hero today because such heroes are often denigrated by cynics, including the media. Politicians succeed by tearing others down. Investor ray Dalio points out: “The cynics are people who haven’t accomplished much themselves and stand on the sidelines while criticizing the heroes who are on the field of battle.  Politicians are now more polarized than collaborative, more inclined to hurt each other than to be respectful, and more likely to vote along party lines than vote based on principles about what’s right and wrong.”

 

Heroes are more important that ever today.  Not just to help us survive, but to help us to thrive and bring out the best in us.  Yes Tina, we do need heroes.  And thank you Roy Rogers for being my inspiration over these many years.

 

Peace and Justice

Jim Brown

Jim Brown’s syndicated column appears each week in numerous newspapers throughout the nation and on websites worldwide. You can read all his past columns and see continuing updates at http://www.jimbrownusa.com. You can also listen to his regular podcast at www.datelinelouisiana.com.