Occupy Archdiocese of Oklahoma City

I have made a page for my famous (well, some might say infamous) Better Times Printable Flyers for Free Distribution. These are the flyers I suggest that you download, copy, and then pack away in a box in the bottom of your closet just in case all of our efforts fail and American civilization goes crashing onto the Ash Heap of History.

Sure, lots of organizations have plans for disaster relief. But having worked professionally for a short time in conventional disaster relief, it is evident to me that all of our contingency plans are based on bringing resources in from elsewhere to help and reconstruct the damaged area.

What happens if its a continent-wide collapse disaster? Well, here are your contingency plans for that, free for the taking and copying. The point is to download and copy now, in advance of the collapse onto the ash heap of history. Of course, I devoutly hope this never happens, and contribute a considerable amount of effort to stopping that eventuality, but it sure seems to me that our on-going slide onto the ash heap of history not only continues, but seems to be accelerating.

Everyone needs instructions as to what to do when civilization collapses. here they are, for free, and you can make copies for your neighbors. In such a situation, your neighborhood won't save itself and the government won't save you because it will be on the ash heap of history. Get the instructions while, as they say, "the gittin' is good."

You can skip the FB page and go directly to http://www.energyconservationinfo.org/printflyers.htm .

Better Times Printable Flyers for Free Distribution Free downloadable flyers to print for use in grassroots response in the event of large, society challenging disasters like the collapse of civilization.

A Prayer to the Blessed Oscar Romero of El Salvador

+ Blessed Romero,
During a time of grave evil you spoke with courage to rebuke the powerful, pleading with them to cease their violence, and repent of their murders. You called upon the rich to end their greed, to embrace just economic systems, and to relinquish their power. In solidarity you comforted the poor, gave them hope and strength, and witnessed the crimes against them, always speaking truth, justice, mercy, and love.

Teach us to understand our complicity with the sins of empire.Help us end our support for the structures of sin that bring violence and injustice into the world. Be our guide as we build structures of justice, mercy, love, and beauty.

O God, who by the preaching and teaching of Oscar Romero
has given us an example of love and fortitude in the face of violence and greed, grant that we who reverence his life and ministry may also imitate his fidelity to truth, justice, and peace. Soon come the promise of Mary, that all tyrants will be cast down, the proud scattered, the lowly exalted, and the hungry filled with good things. through Jesus Christ our Lord, Amen.

Printable version, 4 to a page to make a prayer card at http://www.justpeace.org/romeroprayer.pdf

www.justpeace.org

http://w2.vatican.va/content/francesco/en/apost_letters/documents/papa-francesco_bolla_20150411_misericordiae-vultus.html

Misericordiae Vultus - Bull of indiction of the Extraordinary Jubilee of Mercy (11 April 2015) Bull of indiction of the Extraordinary Jubilee of Mercy, 11 April 2015

Some music for the season. . . my Lenten playlist.

http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLn3SPyPZf417cSDrMCXgxnTjAf4kYJyEW

lent

Here's a comment on the election from the Most Reverend John Michael Botean, bishop of the Romanian Catholics of Canton, Ohio, the only United States Catholic Bishop to flatly forbid his people from participating in our unjust war on the people of Iraq in 2003. Gotta love a bishop who quotes "On the Turning Away" by Pink Floyd. His 2003 pastoral letter is at http://www.justpeace.org/botean.htm .
+++++++++++++++
Re US elections: Dorothy never voted. Phil Berrigan used to say, "If voting changed anything, they'd make it illegal," and it seems they very nearly have, at least for some.
Last night should, in my opinion, not be seen as conferring any legitimacy, let alone a mandate, on a "filthy, rotten system."
Meanwhile, it's still God's world, though perhaps we do need to consider how to love more actively in it (at least I do). I offer Pink Floyd's advice for reflection today.
+jmb
"On The Turning Away"
"On The Turning Away"
On the turning away
From the pale and downtrodden
And the words they say
Which we won't understand
"Don't accept that what's happening
Is just a case of others' suffering
Or you'll find that you're joining in
The turning away"
It's a sin that somehow
Light is changing to shadow
And casting it's shroud
Over all we have known
Unaware how the ranks have grown
Driven on by a heart of stone
We could find that we're all alone
In the dream of the proud
On the wings of the night
As the daytime is stirring
Where the speechless unite
In a silent accord
Using words you will find are strange
And mesmerised as they light the flame
Feel the new wind of change
On the wings of the night
No more turning away
From the weak and the weary
No more turning away
From the coldness inside
Just a world that we all must share
It's not enough just to stand and stare
Is it only a dream that there'll be
No more turning away?

www.justpeace.org Ed note: Bishop Botean is the only Catholic Bishop in the United States who has declared without ambiguity that the Iraq War is an unjust war. Below is the text of his declaration, issued March 7, 2003. He is bishop of an Eastern Rite diocese in communion with the Holy Father.

http://www.bobwaldrop.net/?p=1749

The blunt truth about the present situation. | Bobaganda! For irrational reasons, I always experience a surge of hope just before elections. Somehow, I expect something magical to happen. Maybe all the independents and minor party candidates will win — Congress would be MUCH more interesting and helpful and productive if it was Libertarians and Constituti…

This is my election day prayer, written in 1998.

A Prayer for Election Day
+ Lord God of all creation, You rule and judge all nations,
You scatter the arrogant of mind and heart, You cast down
rulers from their thrones and raise up the lowly.

Today we elect those who will serve in our government:

– the voices that call us to go this way or that way are
confusing,
– the signs of these times that we must discern are tragic
and unjust,
– the culture of death that afflicts all people is powerful.

Open our eyes to see your Reign in history, our hearts to
share your love with all people, our ears to hear the cry of
the widow, the orphan, and the stranger among us.

Send your Holy Spirit upon the people of this land: Teach
us to make wise and prudent decisions. Increase our faith
and hope. Help us to live the Gospel we profess.

May all who are elected this day: do justice, love
goodness, and walk humbly before You and all people,
caring for people and Creation, and having prudent care for the future.

We ask for these blessings, confident in your providence
through all time, calling upon Mary our Mother and all the
saints who have served the cause of justice, through your
Son, Jesus Christ, Redeemer and Savior, Amen.

Oral arguments are proceeding "even as we FB" before the Nebraska Supreme Court as to whether their governor had the authority to circumvent the normal approval process for the Keystone Pipeline. The lawsuit against the decision was filed by landowners adversely impacted by the proposed route. A lower court ruled earlier in the year that said decision was unconstitutional, and the route approval must go through the normal process, which will take about 7 months and involve their elected public service commission.

Please pray that the decision will be to uphold the lower court's ruling. Catholics may have recourse to this prayer invoking St Kateri Tekawitha's intercession in this matter.

http://www.justpeace.org/kateripipelinenovena.html

Novena to St. Kateri Tekawitha to stop the construction of the Keystone Pipeline and end the Tar...

An interesting commentary on our social darwinists economic and political policies.

Subversive Orthodoxy Meets the Libertarian Preferential Option for the Rich The writing of the last series of post has got me thinking about what I find so irritating about the notion of what’s been alternatively called a Tea Party Catholicism, a Neo-Conservative Catholicism, or a (classical) liberal Catholicism.

In the 1930s, the United States practically closed its doors to Jews attempting to flee the incipient N**i genocide. Now we are doing the same by turning our backs on the Christians and other Iraqi religious minorities displaced by ISIS.

I am not calling for more war. War is what brought us to the present situation. War will make the situation for Iraq's religious minorities even worse.

I am calling for a major humanitarian airlift to bring those people to the United States and other safe havens. Soon. We have the air craft. Let's put them to work.

We have routinely ignored the appeals from the bishops of Iraq since the 1990s, when our embargo caused the deaths of a million Iraqi civilians, while we as a nation "partied on" through the 1990s. And we still honor war criminals like Bill Clinton, Al Gore, Barak Obama, and George Bush. If there was any justice in the world, these bloodthirsty lunatics would be in prison for the rest of their lives for their crimes against the Iraqi people. But there isn't justice, and so our own home grown terrorists and war criminals go free and unpunished for their crimes.

http://www.catholicculture.org/news/headlines/index.cfm?storyid=22374

Iraq: patriarch appeals to ‘conscience of the world,’ says US actions, Muslim leaders’ words not... “It has become obvious that Iraqi Christians along with other minorities have received a fatal blow at the core of their lives and their existence whether through displacing more than 100,000 Christians by force, or looting their possessions, money, and documents, or occupying their houses for just…

Great article. Best quote -- "Intentional evil must be fought by intentional disciples."

Those of us in Oklahoma City remember that after the bombing of the federal building in 1995, someone put up billboards all around the city with this quote from the Epistle to the Romans -- "Do not be overcome with evil, but overcome evil with good." That was the birth of my Catholic Worker vocation, although I didn't quite understand that at the time.

James Foley, Martyrdom and the Subversive Freedom of Prayer UPDATED A great deal has been written about the late James Foley, his beheading at the hands of a barbarous Islamic State: the moving response from this band of Syrians, the Jesuit education which, along with the example of his family kept him grounded in his faith; his own words on the power of prayer, wri…

http://www.justpeace.org/novenaofnovenas.htm -_August_2

Most Glorious Virgin Mary, you were chosen by the eternal Counsel to be the Mother of the Eternal Word made flesh. You know that our thoughts on earth are sometimes full of fear and uncertainty. Send us the gift of counsel to teach us how to discern God's will and to guide us in all we do.

Matthew Talbot, you were born into poverty, among a marginalized people, and you went right to the edge as an alcoholic. In these times, the strong prey upon the weak and violence, despair, alienation and oppression rule the hearts of many. We pray that your example of solidarity with the poor will inspire us to follow your path and open our hearts, minds, and homes to welcome those who are in need. Intercede before the Throne of Grace for all who are bound in addiction to money, power, violence, illicit s*x, drugs, or alcohol.

Lord, in your servant, Matt Talbot you have given us a wonderful example of triumph over addiction, of devotion to duty, and of lifelong reverence of the Holy Sacrament. May his life of prayer and penance give us courage to take up our crosses and follow in the footsteps of Our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. We ask this through the same Jesus Christ Our Lord. Amen."

A Novena of Novenas for Justice and Peace God, come to my assistance. Lord, make haste to help me.+ Let us pray together in peace, in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.

Today's EDITORIAL CARTOON by Darrin Bell: "So Many Want to Automatically Deport the Central American Refugee Children"

See more cartoons at http://www.darrinbell.com

A reflection at the end of the first Novena of our summer of contemplative prayer and action.

Hope and Despair. | Bobaganda! for the redemption of structures of violence, oppression, exploitation, and despair with beauty, goodness, mercy and peace.

http://www.bobwaldrop.net/?p=1675

US Catholic Bishops signal the prolongation of their Republican captivity. | Bobaganda! Your holidays and festivals I detest, they weigh me down, I tire of the load. When you spread out your hands, I close my eyes to you; though you pray the more, I will not listen. Your hands are full of blood! Wash yourselves clean! Put away your misdeeds before my eyes; cease doing evil, learn to do…

The world will be saved by beauty!

http://leonardoboff.wordpress.com/2014/05/19/beauty-will-save-the-world-dostoyevski-tells-us-how/

“Beauty will save the world” - Dostoyevski tells us how We learned from the Greeks, and then it was passed down through the centuries, that all beings, no matter how different they may be, have three transcendental characteristics (they are always prese...

An immigration investigation throws a spotlight on a bloody and violent war financed and encouraged by Presidents Jimmy Carter and Ronald Reagan against the people of El Salvador. Will Jimmy Carter will ever publicly confess his willing participation in the murder of the poor in Central America?

http://ncronline.org/news/accountability/former-salvadoran-defense-minister-faces-deportation-us-role-killings-torture

Former Salvadoran defense minister faces deportation from U.S. for role in killings, torture |... Linda CooperJames Hodge | Apr. 17, 2014PrintemailPDFA former Salvadoran defense minister faces deportation after a U.S. judge in Miami found that atrocities committed by troops under his command were not fully investigated, much less prosecuted. Those atrocities include the killings of Salvadoran…

Justice and Peace meditations for Holy Week. . . from the Oscar Romero Catholic Worker House of Oklahoma City.
http://www.justpeace.org/hlywk.htm

Holy Week Home Page

Such a travesty of justice. Sister Rice and two companions made it through FOUR FENCES and were able to pour blood and paint a slogan on the side of the building, before the government security forces knew they were even there. What was the building? Oh, it was the storehouse for highly enriched weapons grade uranium. She should have received a medal for exposing the security weakness before Al Queda decided to make a withdrawal. instead, under TERRORISM laws, she is sentenced to three years in jail, and her two companions were sentenced to FIVE YEARS. So it goes as we slide our way onto the ash heap of history. We are still murdering and crucifying our prophets. Kyrie eleison.

Elderly nun sentenced to nearly three years for Tennessee nuclear break-in KNOXVILLE, Tennessee (Reuters) - A U.S. judge sentenced an 84-year-old nun, Sister Megan Rice, on Tuesday to 35 months in prison for breaking into a Tennessee military facility used to store enriched uranium for nuclear bombs.

Time for solidarity folks. The move by OKC authorities to label DISSENT and PROTEST as TERRORISM is itself a TERROR ATTACK on our Civil Liberties. Here's a statement from Stefan Warner, one of the protestors that Oklahoma City is branding as a TERRORIST, together with a few choice comments by moi. Oklahoma oil companies are already making off with more than $350 million/year in taxpayer subsidies for their operations. We need to stand together to keep them from also destroying our Constitutional rights to protest and speech. Take a few moments and write some letters, make some calls, send some emails, tell your friends -- especially those who live out of state. MAKE INJUSTICE VISIBLE!

http://www.bobwaldrop.net/?p=1587

Dissent is Not Terrorism! Except in Oklahoma City. | Bobaganda! The Great Plains Tar Sands Resistance is doing great work opposing the industrialization of rural Oklahoma and the construction of dangerous pipelines through farm country. As many of you know, I was arrested earlier last year for chaining myself to an excavator. I know it seems like a useless activ...

Send this one around, folks, it is a keeper. It's my new most favorite movement hymn. I want to get the music and do this at my church. With violin, accordien, cello, guitar, piano.

American Noel, Dave Carter and Tracy Grammer

http://vimeo.com/34204199

The pictures may break your heart though.

American Noel Dave Carter & Tracy Grammer's song "American Noel" on the album "Wonderland" captures the essence of Christmas 2011 for far too many. I was inspired to pull images…

Looks like Pope Francis is still determined to make ever more serious waves. He has issued a new apostolic exhortation -- "The Joy of the Gospel" --

http://www.vatican.va/holy_father/francesco/apost_exhortations/documents/papa-francesco_esortazione-ap_20131124_evangelii-gaudium_en.html

I haven't read it but -- Daniel NIchols of Caelum et Terra blog sent out these passages from it this AM --

189. Solidarity is a spontaneous reaction by those who recognize that the social function of property and the universal destination of goods are realities which come before private property. The private ownership of goods is justified by the need to protect and increase them, so that they can better serve the common good; for this reason, solidarity must be lived as the decision to restore to the poor what belongs to them. These convictions and habits of solidarity, when they are put into practice, open the way to other structural transformations and make them possible. Changing structures without generating new convictions and attitudes will only ensure that those same structures will become, sooner or later, corrupt, oppressive and ineffectual.
202.The need to resolve the structural causes of poverty cannot be delayed, not only for the pragmatic reason of its urgency for the good order of society, but because society needs to be cured of a sickness which is weakening and frustrating it, and which can only lead to new crises. Welfare projects, which meet certain urgent needs, should be considered merely temporary responses. As long as the problems of the poor are not radically resolved by rejecting the absolute autonomy of markets and financial speculation and by attacking the structural causes of inequality,[173]no solution will be found for the world’s problems or, for that matter, to any problems. Inequality is the root of social ills.

203. The dignity of each human person and the pursuit of the common good are concerns which ought to shape all economic policies. At times, however, they seem to be a mere addendum imported from without in order to fill out a political discourse lacking in perspectives or plans for true and integral development. How many words prove irksome to this system! It is irksome when the question of ethics is raised, when global solidarity is invoked, when the distribution of goods is mentioned, when reference in made to protecting labour and defending the dignity of the powerless, when allusion is made to a God who demands a commitment to justice. At other times these issues are exploited by a rhetoric which cheapens them. Casual indifference in the face of such questions empties our lives and our words of all meaning. Business is a vocation, and a noble vocation, provided that those engaged in it see themselves challenged by a greater meaning in life; this will enable them truly to serve the common good by striving to increase the goods of this world and to make them more accessible to all.

204. We can no longer trust in the unseen forces and the invisible hand of the market. Growth in justice requires more than economic growth, while presupposing such growth: it requires decisions, programmes, mechanisms and processes specifically geared to a better distribution of income, the creation of sources of employment and an integral promotion of the poor which goes beyond a simple welfare mentality. I am far from proposing an irresponsible populism, but the economy can no longer turn to remedies that are a new poison, such as attempting to increase profits by reducing the work force and thereby adding to the ranks of the excluded.

end quotes.

To which, all I can say is -- WOW!

Evangelii Gaudium, Apostolic Exhortation of Pope Francis, 2013 Evangelii Gaudium, Apostolic Exhortation of Pope Francis, 2013

Today is a big day with three major events/deadlines:

1. Today is the final day to comment on the proposed FDA regulations for growing and selling fresh produce. Please comment! Every comment helps! Please send a copy of your comments to your congressperson. If the site is down, keep trying, as the FDA comment site has been flaky all week. Details and links at http://archive.constantcontact.com/fs162/1105008617348/archive/1115638646310.html

2. At 5:30 PM, we meet at The Dorothy Day Center and St. Charles Community Organic Garden to load the truck that will move the food to Epiphany for bagging and distribution tomorrow morning. This will take about an hour, less if more people show up.

3. At 7 PM, there is a free presentation by one of our nation's leading authorities on permaculture: Gardening Like the Forest: Home-Scale Ecological Food Production
Friday, Nov. 15, 2013 from 7-9 pm. Chapel at Oklahoma City University, 2501 N. Blackwelder.

And of course, tomorrow, Saturday, at 9 AM, we are meeting at the Church of the Epiphany, 7336 W Britton Road, park in West Parking Lot, enter at Family Life entrance, to bag and distribute groceries to 350 households for Thanksgiving. Everyone is welcome and needed.

An NCR story on Cardinal Turkson's speech at the World Food Prize, while us rag tag Occupy the World Food Prize folks were demonstrating and getting arrested outside. He spoke truth to power.
http://ncronline.org/blogs/eco-catholic/turkson-addresses-world-food-prize

Turkson addresses World Food Prize | National Catholic Reporter Megan Fincher | Nov. 12, 2013Eco CatholicPrintemailPDFDes Moines, IowaLunch at the World Food Prize conference featured salad with soybean-oil dressing, soy-fed chicken and soymilk parfait -- all the product of genetically modified seeds and sponsored by several soy industry groups. As Cardinal Pe...

It's time to stand in solidarity with farmers and farms! This news if for everybody everywhere in the United States. If we all don't act now, before November 15th, the FDA may adopt regulations that could destroy our developing local ag systems. Click, like, share, comment! Thanks!

Quick action needed! Protect your rights to grow, sell, and buy food from local farmers. There remains time to impact what is about to happen -- but to counter-act the influence of Big Ag interests which are supporting this process, we have to have tens of thousands -- hundreds of thousands -- of comments rejecting this meddling with local agriculture systems. We have to get our repres...

Letter to Archbishop Coakley about the Syrian Escalation and his duty to prohibit participation in it, plus the statement of the Trappistine Nuns of Syria.

http://www.justpeace.org/syrianappeal.pdf

http://ncronline.org/news/spirituality/pope-francis-ecclesiology-rooted-emmaus-story

Pope Francis' ecclesiology rooted in the Emmaus story | National Catholic Reporter Thomas Reese | Aug. 6, 2013PrintemailPDFAnalysisDuring his July 22-29 visit to Brazil, Pope Francis's homilies and addresses had a simplicity and directness that inspired the faithful with confidence in God's love, hope for reform and love of neighbor, especially the poor. But two of his speeches…

http://www.lewrockwell.com/2011/08/gary-g-kohls/the-destruction-of-the-catholic-capital-of-japan/

The Destruction of the Catholic Capital of Japan – "Why should veterans (who largely have abandoned the Christian faiths of their childhoods) embrace a religion that has blessed the wars that ruined their souls?"

http://millennialjournal.com/2013/07/30/pope-francis-top-5-justice-quotes-from-world-youth-day/

Pope Francis’ Top 5 Justice Quotes From World Youth Day One of the most powerful themes of Pope Francis’ pontificate has been the importance of working for social justice. His emphasis on Catholic Social Teaching has continued at World Youth Day this we...

"Pope of Mercy."

http://ncronline.org/blogs/all-things-catholic/one-word-describe-pope-francis-papacy-date

The one word to describe Pope Francis' papacy to date | National Catholic Reporter John L. Allen Jr. | Aug. 2, 2013All Things CatholicPrintemailPDFIn most respects, Alitalia flight 4001 from Rio de Janeiro to Rome on Sunday night was nothing to write home about. The seats in economy class were fairly uncomfortable, and the food was merely adequate. The main course was a lukewarm...