Yep: 100 Wins in 10 Years!!!

Yep, The Cougars did it. They got their 100th win in 10 years, the first ten years. The number 5 nationally ranked team did it by defeating the number 6 nationally ranked team. USF beat St. Xavier 42-13. St. Xavier was the first team the Cougars ever beat and now for a little gestalt....ta,da, they are the 100th. History is made!

Now, on to the playoffs!

100 Wins in Ten Years?

Well, today we play St. Xavier University. They are from the south side of Chicago. My wife has heard my mantra. “They only recruit football players from a 40 mile radius because when your a Catholic college from the south side of Chicago 40 miles is more than enough”. They impress me, they are great. I will be one of the few people at the game today that will be happy no matter who wins. If we when, yeah, that is really what I am hoping for. If they win, well, I’m from Chicago. If we can’t win then better them than anybody else.

Still, today is an exciting game. It is the last game of the regular season. We are ranked number 5 nationally in the NAIA and St. Xavier (also the Cougars) is number 6. We both lost only one game. We both lost to Ohio Dominican this year. We lost to Ohio Dominican 30-20, St. Xavier lost to them 42-41! Home field advantage during the playoff season is at stake for this game.

However, there is something else just to make the game more interesting. Should we win today it will make history, not just NAIA history but all college football history. We will be the first team to win 100 games in 10 years. All under the leadership of coach Kevin Donley. The first year we won 2 games. After that we were at least conference champion every year. The last three years we went to the National Championship. 2001 was the last year we lost more than one game in a season. The loss to Ohio Dominican this year snapped a 54 game winning streak.

However, this one is even more personal. We have played St. Xavier four other times and won each time. However, they are a powerful, excellent team (did I mention they are from CHICAGO!). They were our first win as a team, it would be nice if today they were also our 100th win.

100 wins in 10 years, that would be an accomplish that is staggering. It is also simply impossible to say it without smiling. Go ahead, try it.

Lector: Take Two

Well, I did it again. I was the Lector at church. This was only my second time. I was far more familiar with what I was supposed to do. Still, just as nervous. My ears rang, my face was red but when it was over I was happy to have been part of the Mass.

Our cathedral is beautiful. Father Jim is an articulate, devout priest. However, the best part for me was the first reading. It was beautiful. It was a reading from the Book of Wisdom 11:22-12:2

Before the Lord the whole universe is as a grain from a balance
Or a drop of morning dew come down upon the earth.
But you have mercy on all, because you can do all things;
And you overlook people’s sins that they may repent.
For you love all things that are
And loathe nothing that you have made;
For what you hated, you would not have fashioned.
And how could a thing remain, unless you willed it;
Or be preserved, had it not been called forth by you?
But you spare all things, because they are yours,
O LORD and lover of souls,
For your imperishable spirit is in all things!
Therefore you rebuke offenders little by little,
Warn them and remind them of the sins they are committing,
That they may abandon their wickedness and believe in
You, O LORD

Mission San Juan Capistrano

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CqrIxMFb24U
San Juan Capistrano

Well, Cathi is back from California. I missed her. I am happy she got to vacation with her friends and celebrate a birthday. I am happy she got to see L.A., Hollywood, San Diego, Venice Beach and Tijuana Mexico. Still, I missed her and I am glad she is back.

Cathi took a tour of the Mission of San Juan Capistrano. This is the 7th mission in California and was a Franciscan Mission. Spain and then Mexico had 21 such mission in California. The Spanish established them to curb the rising influence of Russia in North America. The Franciscans used the mission to convert the Indians.

The missions were confiscated by the Mexican government. When California became part of the U.S. the missions were given back to the Catholic Church by Abraham Lincoln.

Cathi said she loved the place. It was tranquil, fragrant, and beautiful. We plan on eventually visiting the missions together, as a pilgrimage.

Cathi brought me back a small statue of St. Francis receiving the stigmata. Two years ago I stood at the site at Le Verna where that occurred. That saint continues to influence the world. But then, at a time when we are killing our planet and killing one another we need that saint.

I will have more about her adventures once her photos come back. In the meantime I have to listen to her tell me how the food here just doesn’t have as much flavor as the food in California. She is correct of course, except when I do the cooking!

Levi Kreis: We're Okay

Love Em or Judge Em?

Recently a colleague told me about his encounter with a number of young men and women. He said these were remarkable folks, bright, responsible, and well-rounded. The kind of folks parents hope their kids grow up to be. All that they had in common was that they were gay, lesbian or a friend of someone who was gay or a lesbian. Oh, and that they had all experienced homophobia. What especially bothered me about this story is that many of them had been harassed in the name of religion.

Now I get that theology and dogma is not the product of individuals, you can’t just believe what you want and then say it is the church. I get that. I also know there is a distinction between theological responses and pastoral responses. Pastorally we are called upon to do one thing, love. You want to disagree with these folks than do so. However, that is not an excuse to not love or at least tolerate and certainly it is not an excuse to be cruel and judgmental.

I find myself wondering why ABOMINATION is always written in capital letters. I find myself wondering why it is written at all. Whenever I see that word on a placard I am pretty sure the holder is focusing on someone else.

I like St. Paul who said, "This is a faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners; of whom I am chief .“—I Tim. 1:15. Paul was talking about parent-killers, prostitutes and slave traders and still described himself, not them, as the chief sinner.

Jesus hung around with the folks who struggled in life, the folks who lived hard and didn’t look or smell nice. Francis sought out the lepers and Paul found a warm welcome not from the elite in Athens but by the less desirables of Corinth. So who are we to be judging? We are supposed to be caring.

The people who inspire me the most are the folks who get their hands dirty, who do the real work of finding Jesus in the trenches, not the burbs. Mother Teresa and Albert Schweitzer come to mind. And now I want to be very clear, I am not comparing GLBT folks with prostitutes. I am talking about people of faith who “faith” through acts of love instead of pointing fingers. I am thinking of my friends Jim and Judy in Thailand who have made it their life work to help get young girls out of prostitution. I am thinking of Emmaus Ministries in Chicago that works to aid male prostitutes. Not judging, just loving.

The problem with folks looking at someone else’s sin is they ignore their own. How can I know that your sin is greater than mine? Why would I spend time focusing on that instead of caring about you or at least caring about me?

Why would I even think that one aspect of an individual is the sum of the person? What does attraction tell me about charity, politics, responsibility, intelligence or anything else about a person?

Francis got it right, we are all brothers and sisters, all of us. So, how should we treat our brothers and sisters?

Bill Sullivan: Right Man, Right Job

Well, I’m feeling kind of proud. My old shelter manager from Hurricane Katrina is doing what he does best, bringing order and compassion to chaos and hurt. Bill Sullivan has responded to Hurricanes Ivan, Charley, Katrina, and Rita. Bill is the DeSoto County Red Cross branch manager.

Well, he is in California responding to the wildfires. However, he isn’t just in California, he has been appointed the National Red Cross assistant mass care administrator in the San Bernardino headquarters. He is responsible for the running of 14 Red Cross shelters in San Bernardino, Riverside and Orange counties.

According to Red Cross reports, the wildfires have burned more than 500,000 acres of Southern California. Bill described the fire as a “super firestorm, like a train coming in on fire." Bill is aware he is working in a desert, a desert drier than normal. The area is covered with natural kindling, the Santa Ana winds may pick back up, the situation is dangerous.

I worked with Bill in Citronelle Alabama. He was a joy to work for. I know Bill to be a funny, compassionate, problem-solver. He is a team player who focuses on the task and not on who is getting the credit or the glory. I am sure he is the right man for the job.

And now I hear he is mixing it up with the Hollywood stars, you go Bill! He coordinated with some stars during the relief effort. That includes Mario Lopez, who is currently known from "Dancing with the Stars" but is also familiar to many folks who have watched "Saved By The Bell." He also worked with Elizabeth Rohm from “Law and Order” (O.K., so I am a little bit jealous!)

Bill Sullivan you are one lucky man, but then, you earned it. I wish I was there working along side of you. Keep up the good work, people are depending on you.