A Thanksgiving Day Marred by Police Brutality Reveals Another Aspect of the Culture of Death
which was never just about the murder of millions of children in the womb. More fundamentally, the "culture of death" reflects a certain attitude toward the human person. We are fools if we thought the arrogant and calloused attitude toward the unborn would not also be aimed at the rest of us.
What happened to Newman was not unusual. It could easily happen to any one of us anywhere at any time. Typically, an incident like Newman's can cost the victim thousands of dollars in medical expenses and legal fees. It establishes a criminal record and damages his or her reputation. It can cause psychological trauma and feelings of anger and hatred. It also destroys the bonds of trust between the public, the police and government.
This is not a healthy or acceptable way for us to live, and we must not tolerate it. If we want to be truly free and secure and live in peace, then we must demand that all laws and modes of governance are based on objectively verifiable standards which all of us can assent to through the use of reason. In addition, we must completely reject subjective or relative standards as the basis for our laws and their enforcement.
Jerald Newman, his wife and their grandson will never forget this past Thanksgiving Day. They will possibly be scarred for life as a result of this incident. We pray that the Newmans experience healing, and that their grandson will not grow up fearful. We also pray for the strength to combat all forms of injustice and evil when they confront us. Let us also ask Saint Michael the Archangel, the patron saint of police officers, to help them stay true to their oath to serve and protect the public.
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Michael Terheyden was born into a Catholic family, but that is not why he is a Catholic. He is a Catholic because he believes that truth is real, that it is beautiful and good, and that the fullness of truth is in the Catholic Church. However, he knows that God's grace operating throughout his life is the main reason he is a Catholic. He is greatly blessed to share his faith and his life with his beautiful wife, Dorothy. They have four grown children and three grandchildren.
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Pope Benedict XVI's Prayer Intentions for January 2013
General Intention: The Faith of Christians. That in this Year of Faith Christians may deepen their knowledge of the mystery of Christ and witness joyfully to the gift of faith in him.
Missionary Intention: Middle Eastern Christians. That the Christian communities of the Middle East, often discriminated against, may receive from the Holy Spirit the strength of fidelity and perseverance.
Keywords: Jerald Newman, Thanksgiving Day, Arizona, Walmart, Police Abuse, Michael Terheyden
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Bulbajer: I thank you for your response. I think it is wonderful! when people of different perceptions and of the same Faith can come to a fair understanding and meeting of the minds. What you and Pete and I have done, is to share their own authentic Truth, politely, as brothers and a sister of Christ. That is what this thread is all about. Adult Christian Love and Understanding. "Where two or three are gathered in My Name, their I am in the midst of them." Yes, we all show Love/Charity in different ways. As far as parties are concerned...I think each True Catholic, that is, those that adhere to what Holy Mother Church teaches, wants the same thing. Blessings...
Judy and Pete Brady, thanks for your responses. I may have said this before, but I think one of the reasons liberals like me fail to realize that conservatives care about the poor just as much as we do is because it's generally not part of your politics. For many liberals, helping the poor is a political issue (although whether liberal policies end up helping the poor is certainly questionable). Is that fair to say? I guess I sometimes forget that there's more than one way to help the poor.
Bulbajer: Prayers and Blessings of Peace & Joy & Love are being sent your way. I want to thank you for your response. Not only to me, but to everyone who reads these posts as well. It was your authentic Truth. Nothing wrong w/that. I wrote on another post "Pelosi". that since Obama has come in to Office, there are now two forms of progressives. The second form which has come more into play is the Radical Progressive, and as you said, contains Marxism=No Love. How sad! Even the Ancient Greeks, Plato esp. knew Love. The four different stages, phases, steps of Love, including agape, was known even then? Correct me if memory serves me wrong. I say this, because it seems to me, that this Love is what saints had. What Jesus Himself had. I personally, do not believe, that liberals, (we will leave progressives out of this for now), have more love-generosity, than moderates or conservatives. They each, in their own hypothesis, (I hope most of them anyway) do and give according to what they have and been taught, and hear, and their own conscious=cognizant, informed, perceptive, aware, intentional, awake, sensible, etc. tells them. And, if they are not giving enough, I pray that they learn to. That they also give of their Time, which is counted as nothing but Love, (so here we might get into discussion w/opinionated Marxists and some others); Prayers, counted as free time again and no monetary value; Fasting, also free, and counts as nothing; then of course there is alms giving,-does that count as nothing too? I know you know how many Extra offerings there are. Then there are outside donations to missions. I support them as well. Our Church collects special drives for St. Judes. The Community Chairty in town, not connected w/churches. The Knights. The Catholic Daughters, etc. So, I think some of us are doing our share. For Catholics to reach into community is also good. You must think liberals do more $. I disagree. If they Watched where every penny went, instead of waste spend waste, I and others, would be more open to their plans. Being older than you, and a Dem. that changed to a Rep., to an I., i can tell you that the parties themselves, have to me, changed over the years. I have seen: Dems. spend spend spend into a mess and it took Rep. to get us out of that mess.
Repeatedly! We have and Must look for a Balance to keep our Gov. Existing while having Some programs...Not Wasteful ones. S.S., M.C. have to stay. They would have no problem if Obama did not borrow-steal millions billions from them, and wants to do it again. He is not helping the poorest of the poor! Balance is hard to find w/a corrupt Media & Gov. " Let Love Enter In To All Our Hearts." Love, Prayers & Blessings
Bulbajer: Season's Greetings. I can't speak for all conservatives but for myself I give to close to seventy charities in addition to the Sunday collection and second collections. Those additional givings approximate 5 percent of my income, and go to Catholic organizations that help the poor, worldwide relief, etc. to such organizations as Christian Appalachian Project, Doctors without Borders, CNEWA, five Native American Indian Schools run by various Catholic missionary orders. When disaster strikes i've provided considerably more than my usual to relief groups like Catholic Relief and Cross Int'l. I've also volunteered to serve the poor at our local food kitchen. I don't say this to toot my horn but to dispel the error that conservatives don't care. Certain surveys say conservatives as a whole do care and do give. Policywise I have consistently said that to really help the poor Get Rid of the FED!
I probably worded that comment a little too strongly, and I certainly generalized about conservatives. It's ironic that I'm becoming more careless with my comments as we get closer to a time of joy. Sorry for my impoliteness.
Judy, as a liberal I feel I have to respond. First of all, I agree, there will never be a heaven on earth. Second, I'll admit that love doesn't play nearly as big a part in liberalism as we liberals like to imagine. The Marxism that some of the more left-leaning feel drawn to flat out rejects love. But there's no reason we can't try to make our world a better place. Will it ever come close to Heaven? No. Should we ever think of it as Heaven? No. But we also shouldn't limit our efforts just because we know we can't get it 100% right. We can reduce the amount of poverty in the world, despite the enormous obstacles in front of us. I'm not saying that liberalism has necessarily helped reduce poverty - in some cases, it's made human rights situations in general much worse. But I sure as heck don't hear many self-proclaimed righties giving much thought to helping the poor, other than the dutiful, God-ordered weekly donation at church. Mr. Conservative doesn't give a *&%# if Joe Schmo is in deep financial trouble due to no fault of his own - as long as he's a Christian and has the right to buy a shotgun if he wants to. After all, God will take care of him.
You are right Pete Brady. We will never have Heaven on earth. Though some Progressives-Liberals would have us think otherwise, for that is there core belief. I do not think that they could imagine total "Love"; "Father, Son and Holy Spirit" in the scheme of everyday life. I sincerely hope some do. Do you think "Love" would mob the stores to create such havoc?
Mr. Terheyden, your comments and insight should be the "Gospel Reading" for the current and next President! God Bless You!!
Good one, Judy. And you're right, I don't think anyone can say the "Our Father" and not realize that "Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven" is pretty much a call to action in applying our Catholic faith. But - just as a thought, not a theological postulation that I'm not qualified to make - heaven on earth is not achievable. For one, I don't think that the Ten Commandments are applicable in heaven because to be in Heaven one has to be perfect, perfect in "Love." And that manifests itself in perfect adoration of love of God the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. The Ten Commandments are meant for man's imperfect life on earth. But how we approach the kind of "love" we should have on earth (as if it were heaven) is, I believe, summed up in the thought that "God loves a generous heart." And that would be a "generous heart" in all things. Something, frankly, that even though I try I come up short on.
Pete Brady: Succinctly, I agree w/you as far as human rights are concerned. However, in case you haven't noticed this is Not Heaven. We are suppose to be trying to build a heaven on earth...and as you see, we are still in its infancy, and going backwards? on all counts. The Complete Justice System needs Overhauled. The Media needs to be dissolved and started from scratch. Our Government needs a complete Re-vamp. The Souls of some of the Sick of our nation need to be Healed...and that's not counting those like me who are ordinary pew Catholics trying to go to confession before Holy Days, trying to be humble, peaceful, kind, etc., and not always succeeding, but trying to make the ascent nonetheless. This incident was horrific. I wonder how many in that whole entire scenario would do things differently? I wonder how many will learn from this terrible lesson of life? You and I judge from books, news, etc., in the comfort of our chair. Police are taught to judge for the betterment of society. To protect the lives of others first, then their own. Maybe this man is a bad apple. Maybe not. He did have his training. I was Not there. I did not walk in his shoes or that of the injured man. As In the case of Rodney King Jr., I will leave it up to an examination of his peers who knows the procedure he was to follow. Bashing the guy's face in, I sincerely question. There are REALLY TOO MANY bad guys out there. Police Do put their Life on the Line. God Bless Them and may St. Michael be w/more of them. Blessings...