Tom Faranda's Folly

Today - 20th anniversary - the death of Mother Teresa

Now of course St. Teresa of Calcutta.

The Jesuit publication America has re-posted a # of features from past issues about her - just go here -

What was so extraordinary about this “saint of the gutters?” How could someone revered as a saint not feel God’s presence for long periods of her life? Mother Teresa seems to have anticipated these questions: "If I ever become a saint -- I will surely be one of 'darkness.' I will continually be absent from Heaven — to light the light of those in darkness on earth."

Asian Review: Japan prepping to evacuate it's citizens from So. Korea

UPDATE: Email comment: "And then they have to evacuate their citizens from Japan."

Wow and double wow.

TOKYO -- As tensions on the Korean Peninsula reach new heights with Pyongyang's latest nuclear test, Japan is planning for a possible mass evacuation of the nearly 60,000 Japanese citizens currently living in or visiting South Korea.

 

New Appalachian Trail speed record; crushing the old one(s)

Wow an unsupported "hike" that wiped out both the supported and unsupported records. McConaughy is a former Boston College cross country and track runner. he's in his mid-20's now and averaged 48 miles a day.

Joe ‘Stringbean’ McConaughy, a well-known speed hiker, set a new record on the Appalachian Trail today. He hiked the 2,190-mile route in an unofficial fastest known time (FKT) of 45 days, 12 hours, 15 minutes.

And this from the Washington Post -

A former Boston College cross-country runner has traversed the 2,190-mile (3,524-kilometer) Appalachian Trail in record time after a sleepless, 37-hour sprint to the top of Maine’s Mount Katahdin.

His unofficial time beats the previous best by about 10 hours and McConaughy says he did it without outside help. He says he mailed his food and supplies before starting in Georgia.

The Seattle native used global-positioning data and social media time stamps to back his claim. The Appalachian Trail Conference doesn’t keep official records.

CNN: President Obama's letter to President Trump

Quite interesting. Gracious. 2 and a half minute video.

 

Abortion clinic converted to Catholic health clinic for uninsured.

Thanks to Ed Mechmann for sending this around. "Life from Death."

“I think it is a turn from desperation to great hope and transformative hope going forward,” Art Bennett, president and CEO of Catholic Charities of the Diocese of Arlington, told CNA of a new free medical clinic set to open in November, replacing a long-standing abortion clinic.

As the clinic opened its doors day after day for years, local Catholics began to regularly pray outside the building all year round for the victims of the abortions, for the clinic workers and owners, and for an end to the abortions there.

In 2013, two members of the pro-life community visited the clinic and struck up a friendship with the owner, her son, and one of the contracted abortionists. In their regular clinic visits, they learned that the owner, now a widow, was not opposed to leaving the practice but felt trapped since operating the clinic had been her livelihood for years. If she left the clinic, her son would need support as well.

They tried to find a job for her son, while realizing that they would need to raise a significant amount of money within three months to purchase the clinic and buy her out so she could retire. For such an urgent task, one of the men received a key piece of advice – pray to the Blessed Mother. He began to pray a 14-day rosary novena.

Members of local parishes began discreetly spreading the word among their church communities. A coalition of local entrepreneurs also banded together and began raising money.

Donations poured in, and in less than three months, the community raised all the money required to buy out the clinic, which closed at the end of September 2015. The owner, who had been a baptized Catholic, eventually repented and came back to the faith.

However, the community was faced with the question of what to do with the former clinic building. The idea formed to turn it into a charitable medical clinic.

There was a “great desire that something redemptive would happen here,” Art Bennett told CNA. He had been approached about possibly establishing the health clinic, and local community members “wanted it to be a place where people would find hope and healing.”

Over the next two years, parishioners of nearby parishes and the diocese worked to make the dream a reality. In August 2017, Bishop Michael Burbidge of Arlington gave the approval for the new clinic, and Catholic Charities announced that it would indeed open in November.

“Mother of Mercy Free Medical Clinic” will offer a range of general family practitioner services free-of-charge, with physicians and nurses volunteering their time and effort. It will have a target demographic of uninsured persons, which number around 8,000 in that part of the county, Bennett said.

The clinic will also provide referrals to nearby Novant Health for other services for qualified patients, and a physician network has been set up to see patients with more serious medical problems at a reduced or free rate.

Bennett hopes that the clinic will serve as a “transformation” of the community from having an abortion clinic to providing free health care for those who need it. Another free health clinic in the area had closed, he said, and that was a further impetus for Catholic Charities to fill the gap.

Promoting human dignity and upholding the common good will be two pillars of the clinic’s mission, he said.

“By offering this service, we’re not only acknowledging the dignity of the individual,” he said, but also “helping the common good, helping people overcome problems so they can flourish and lead a better life.”

The clinic will also put into practice the corporal works of mercy.

“Most of the work we did on this was done during the Year of Mercy, mapping it out, doing the research, so we think this is a fruit of the Year of Mercy,” he said.

They also see a Marian connection. The abortion clinic closed after the countless rosaries that were said for life, and the new clinic is named for the “Mother of Mercy.”

“Mary, with her maternal care for people, particularly those who are most vulnerable, we thought that that was a nice integration,” Bennett said.

The clinic was “brought in to bring a better future to this location,” he told CNA, a future that would include “hope and healing and transformation.”

“This has been quite a transformation.”

Wow. Japan considering pre-emptive strike on North Korea

Scary. And troubling. From the AP (Associated Press).

TOKYO (AP) -- Japan is debating whether to develop a limited pre-emptive strike capability and buy cruise missiles - ideas that were anathema in the pacifist country before the North Korea missile threat.

 

 

today 72nd anniversary of Japanese surrender

And the end of WW II. A one minute video. my father was in the Pacific that day - the Philippines.

 

Anthony Bourdain - "the worst mistake when cooking steak"

A one and a half minute video.

 

Farandaville applauds: "Woman saves pet chinchilla from flood"

Our three chinchillas also applaud and whistle!

 

The website "Politico" shows it's class by making fun of Houston folks

They tweeted this around and then deleted it. But too late! It lives forever on the internet -

Ann Althouse posted some commentary on her blog about the picture, off the Washington Post -

Via Aaron Blake (at WaPo) who identifies 4 problems:

1. The "crassness" of making fun of people who are suffering.

2. The stark and negative stereotypes. (The "dismissive" attitude toward Christianity especially bothers Blake.)

3. The assumption that because it's Texas, people are conservative, when, in fact, Houston skews strongly Democratic.

4. The idea that "people who believe in smaller government and lower taxes believe everything should be privatized and that the government shouldn't be counted on to do anything."

Here's the second-highest-rated comment at WaPo:

I disagree completely. The cartoon epitomizes the essence of the rabid right-wingers ruling Texas, who insist that government IS the problem... until they need some government help. The hypocrisy of religious right fanatics like Cruz is so thick you could cut it with a spoon. Meanwhile, the PumpkinFührer in the White House hasn't drained the swamp, he's made it much, much worse. And remember, these are the same fanatics who insisted that President Obama was planning a forceful takeover of their State to remove all their guns. Personally, that would not have been a bad idea.

Yes, classy. hopefuly the highest rated WaPo comment wasn't this stupid or hateful.