The Hate Mongers Take Aim at Elena Kagan

Though I have been a student and teacher of American History for some years, I have to confess that I am not a political junkie. nor do I following the daily reports about the workings of our Supreme Court. Like all citizens, I am interested in those men and women who are nominated by the President to a lifetime position on the Court.

Prior to her nomination, I had no idea who Elena Kagan is or of her history of work within the academic field of law.

We all knew that the retirement of Justice Stevens would be taking place relatively soon. I believe that Justice Stevens has served the Court with honor and dignity. His retirement is well-earned and it has been my sincere hope that his seat would be filled by another honorable person.

When President Obama announced Dr. Kagan's nomination to the Court, I knew that the political pundits would start to their pro and con posturing regarding Dr. Kagan's qualification.

What has surprised me the most about the various responses about Dr. Kagan's nomination has been the campaign to label her as a lesbian. Some of our homophobic bloggers have incorporated in their own blogging rants, cartoons of Dr. Kagan with "lesbian overtones" as vile as how the Nazi's once did cartoons and drawings of the Jewish people.

These behaviors are simple examples of the ever growing social and moral illness that encourages hate and rage against someone when there is nothing of worth to critique and review.

I am interested in learning about Dr. Kagan's professional qualifications to serve on the United States Supreme Court.

Anything else is a waste of our collective time - no matter how many thousands of words are spewed with hate and ignorance.

Sincerely Yours,

+James Alan Wilkowski
Evangelical Catholic Bishop for the Diocese of the Northwest
Chicago, Illinois

http://www.evangelicalcatholicchurch.org/northwest.htm

Jesus v. Bloggers

While I don't wish to become preoccupied with the matter of anonymous trash bloggers soiling the Internet, I was thinking - during my drive from my residence to the 3:00 PM Mass at Holy Family - about the endless grief Jesus would have had to endure had anonymous bloggers been around to trash him on the Internet.

I can imagine the Blog Headlines:

Illegitimate Son of Carpenter's Wife Son of Satan

Road Bums Grift for Food and Lodging

Jesus Gets Hot Oil Rub-down From Whore

You all get the idea? I bet you can picture some loon sitting at their computer to shrieking their hatred onto the net - just for the sake of doing so and knowing that they can hide their true identity and avoid moral responsibility.

I have been saddened to watch a colleague-in-ministry undergo a hideous series of vulgar attacks by an anonymous blogger. He and I have spoken about this exercise in sickness and I have been impressed with his attitude - "the truth will always break through the darkness of evil."

We both agree that if Jesus begun his public ministry in this time in history - the sickness of some bloggers would make the passion of Jesus pale by comparison.

It at time that I believe the best course of action to take is to deeply take into heart the words of Jesus himself: "Father, they do not know what they do."

Sincerely Yours in Christ,

+James Alan Wilkowski

Evangelical Catholic Bishop for the Diocese of the Northwest
Chicago, Illinois

www.evangelicalcatholicchurch.org/northwest.htm

A Reminder to British Petroleum: Clean Up Your Mess

I realize that I am speaking to the choir when I say that the disaster created by British Petroleum has caused great harm to the safety of our planet.

I am not an expert in the field of oil drilling. I would hope that the experts in their field can come up with a solution to cap off this well and stop the oil for flowing into our ocean.

BP has been very quick to say that they wish to take responsibility for the disaster - but only to a certain limit.

I am sorry to point out that BP cannot hide behind "limits."

They are the cause of this mess and it is their mess to clean up. No matter how much it takes.

Sincerely Yours in Chirst,

+James Alan Wilkowski

Evangelical Catholic Bishop for the Diocese of the Northwest
Chicago, Illinois

www.evangelicalcatholicchurch.org/northwest.htm