The LuLac Edition #5, 306 April 22nd,, 2025

 

POPE FRANCIS

I naively thought Pope Francis was out of the woods. We prayed for him in every part of the Holy Week Tridium. After a fulfilling Easter weekend, I was stunned when I heard he has died during the night, I was stunned.  Pope Francis died of a stroke and irreversible heart failure, Vatican doctor Andrea Arcangeli said in a death certificate released on Monday for the 88-year-old pontiff.

The certificate, which was published by the Vatican, said the pope had fallen into a coma before his death early on Monday.

All that stated, Francis was a transformative Pope.  He was the first Latin American Pope and did things very differently, much to the chagrin of the church traditionalists who were championed by the previous Pope Benedict. Francis was a pope of firsts – the first pontiff from the global south, the first Jesuit to be chosen as leader of the Catholic Church and the first to call himself Francis. Before taking up office, he had never lived or worked in Rome. A disruptor and outsider to the church’s establishment, his reforms faced strong resistance from powerful minorities within Catholicism and political forces without.

To most believers, he will be remembered as a pastorally sensitive leader who sought to re-connect the church with the essentials of the Christian faith. Francis sought to follow his namesake, St. Francis of Assisi, the 13th-century Italian friar renowned for poverty, peace, and care of creation.

He made defense of the planet, the plight of migrants and building peace through dialogue the pillars of his papacy and sought to live out his vision of a humbler church, opting to reside not in the Vatican’s Apostolic Palace but in its guesthouse, Casa Santa Marta.

On the night of his election on March 13, 2013, Pope Francis set the tone for his pontificate.

“Let us pray for the whole world, that there may be a great spirit of fraternity,” he said from the balcony of St. Peter’s Basilica.

He stayed true to those words, encouraging all people, no matter their religion or race, to remember their common humanity. Francis was a bridge builder, seeking to work with all faiths and denominations.

He inherited a Vatican in crisis. Benedict XVI had taken the shock decision to resign after being unable to implement reforms of the church’s central government, the Roman Curia. Abuse scandals had rocked the church, while regulators had identified serious failures.

Francis spent his final days in service of the church, participating as much as he could in the celebration of Easter, the high point of the Christian calendar. He was unable to lead the main Holy Week services but appeared in a wheelchair on the balcony of St. Peter’s Basilica in Rome to wish worshipers a happy Easter Sunday..

The next Pope most likely will be a reaction to his leadership. In my lifetime there have been 7 Popes. The eighth will most likely be a reaction to Francis’ down home style more open pastoral views which was in stark contrast to the more conservative papacies of Benedict and John Paul II.

 

OF BATHROOMS, SEX AND PORN

THE MAGA OBSESSION

Senaator Dave Argall (Photo: Snook News) 

I always noticed that when some people point out other human’ personal habits or predilections they violate the basic human tenant of “minding one’s own business”. It seems to me that this era of the Republican party has been a champ at this. During the Clinton administration, when Bill strayed publicly the loudest cries came from the GOP. Gingrich dumped a second wife for a third, Bob Livingston his successor had issues as well as a Florida Congressman from Florida for abuse of young men. Yet they pilloried Clinton and then when his wife Hillary ran for President, GOP women attacked her for “not standing by her man”.

Then there was the bathroom issue about what sex was going to the john even though there have been unisex bathrooms for years. They made a huge scary campaign to parents about this. Hey, I don’t know about any of these Republicans but when I use a men’s room or any public bathroom, I’m in and out and if a gun were put to my head, I couldn’t tell you who the hell else was in the facility.

Then there’s women’s right. The ability for a woman to make a choice. My take on abortion is the Clinton doctrine, safe, legal and rare. But these Republican MAGA men want to go into the private bedrooms of folks and tell them how to **ck! 

Don’t even get me started on the attitude toward same sex couples. It’s okay for the GOP to condemn that UNTIL one of their kids comes out. Then in the case of Dick Cheney and former Senator Rob Portman, it became “never mind”.

So it was no surprise the other day when State Senator Dave Argall. According to Skook News State Senator David G. Argall is facing backlash following an inappropriate question he posed to a middle school aged student during the Schuylkill County round of the National Civics Bee on Wednesday evening.

The event, held at Penn State Schuylkill and organized by the Schuylkill Chamber of Commerce, was meant to highlight civic engagement among young students—but one exchange has now taken center stage for all the wrong reasons.

students from across Schuylkill County and nearby regions submitted essays on how they would use civics to improve their communities. The top twenty finalists were selected by a panel of volunteer judges, which included Senator Argall, to present and defend their essays in front of a live audience.

One sixth-grade student presented on the controversial topic of book banning, impressing the audience and judges enough to make it through two rounds of competition. But during her defense, Senator Argall posed a question that has sparked widespread criticism.

According to the student's mother, who shared her account on social media, Argall asked her daughter whether it would be "appropriate to give pornographic magazines to kindergarteners"—a question the mother described as "wildly inappropriate and ridiculous." The student, caught off guard, reportedly asked for clarification, to which Argall replied, "naked pictures of people."

The mother’s post continued: “Her paper had nothing to do with pornography… This discussion has no place at the Civics Bee. I am further appalled and furious that I now have to explain pornography to my 4th grader who was there to cheer on her sister.”

Porn? How does one go from book banning to pron? This is an educated man. He knows titles of books that were banned, but porn? Then when asked for a clarification he went into the naked pictures thing. I get the anology he was trying to make but that would have been more appropriate for a college student  or  an adult, not a 12 year old girl.

He later made his own admission of the misstep with this statement. “During last night’s local round of the National Civics Bee, I posed a question as a volunteer judge to a participant that was not age-appropriate for this setting. I apologize to the young lady, her family, and all the participants who worked hard to get to this point, with excellent presentations by the students who submitted entries on book bans and many other important subjects. I was attempting to ask if some books and magazines are not appropriate for some age groups, a subject which has received considerable attention in the General Assembly in recent years. In hindsight, my obvious mistake was in citing an example that was itself not appropriate for this age group, a mistake which I will not make again.”

Okay, unlike the other Republicans he owned up to it. But again you have to wonder why when they get confused, attack or just are plain mean spirited, you have to wonder why they go to the preference, the bathroom, gender and now porn as the default. Yet Democrats and Independents are portrayed as having less than pure moral values by hypocrite Republicans. This is a pattern that is curious. (Skkok News, LuLac)

 

THE PRICE 

EVENT 

The races for Luzerne County Council are gearing up and last Wednesday another big event was held.  I had the opportunity to go to a Jonathan Johnny  Price for council at the wonderful Redmill in Pittston. It was a  good crowd,  good food and good Democratic fellowship.  Price is a very passionate young man who I think is going to do great things for the county if given the chance.   

Also at the event was state representative Jim, Haddock conferring with one of his constituents. 

Polly Delaney, as well as Roxanne  Rambis were chatting about all things political during this time.  These two West side ladies are outstanding Democrats and more importantly, staunch Americans. 

I had the opportunity to chat with attorney, Laura Dennis, and she is running for the magistrate seat in the Wyoming area district. My sister taught Laura in grade school and she constantly reminds me of that which is really wonderful since my sister was a great first grade teacher.

I actually reunited it with an old St. John the Evangelist classmate and Anna Rose Scalvo formally Mullcahy and we had a very nice talk too.

I also had the opportunity to meet Emily Singh who is also running for county council and we discussed many things about the political landscape, clothing and fitness.

Here’s a photo of the Democratic candidates running this year in the primary.

 All in all it was a great time and of course Jonathan’s father Bob was there with his camera taking some great shots. 👔