I think this week I’ll pass along little bits of news you may have not heard of before. Nothing earth shaking, but of interest to me at least.

• In Philadelphia there is a Memorial Chapel to honor the deaths of four chaplains in the U. S. military that gave their lives by giving up their life preservers on a ship sinking in the North Atlantic in early WWII. The Lawrence American Legion has donated to their support in the past. Well, I get a request for donations from them yearly. Nothing strange there, but this year they added something new. For 2023 they are having a Benefit Golf Outing as a fund raiser. Again, nothing strange or new there either. However, as I looked over the information sheet about the golfing it listed the stuff you get for taking part: the green fees and cart, a bag of swag (?), lunch and dinner, snack and drinks, happy hour with cigar, dinner, raffle and prizes. “Wait a minute” . . . this is the first time since the fight against smoking became so successful years ago that the promotion of any kind of smoking by handing out a “cigar” at a public event was ever done. At least that I know of.

It’s been years since I had a cigar, maybe worth the whole trip?

• Did you know that the national bird of Australia is the mosquito? No, that was just a joke from someone who just visited there and had a bad experience with mosquitos.

• Did you know this week is “Community Newspaper Week?” I think it used to be called “National Newspaper Week, but I’m not sure. With the advent of all the Social Media sources in the last generation, some have said newspaper are a thing of the past. From what I’ve seen, a number of “National” newspapers have gone under, but community newspapers are doing well and I’ll continue to support them. National papers have seemed to become ‘political agents’ rather than just ‘newspapers.’ I contend that community papers record births, deaths, and all that other stuff in between.

• “Pray For Rain.” “I told my folks that it is certainly good and important for us to pray for rain. I also told them to pray for Our Lord to ‘rain down’ graces and strength into our souls to help us face the challenges of the drought and to ask for trust in God’s care to get us through whatever difficulties we encounter. It is so beautiful to see the strong faith that our farmers have as they come to pray at Mass.” From the Rev. Matthew Gutowski of St. Wenceslaus parish in Dodge.

• Favorite Sports Team, you ask? For baseball, mine was always the Brooklyn Dodgers, even after they moved to Los Angeles. They always seemed to be the team to love. Especially after all those World Series losses to the Yankees. They were consistently successful and no one ‘loved’ to hate them like that other team from New York. Now . . . I’m not so sure. It seems the Dodger owners or managers are caught up in today’s political confusion. The team that once defied racists by playing the first Negro (Jackie Robinson) have now given into anti-Catholic bigots (in the name of “inclusion”). They announced a “Pride Night” during June. The Archdiocese of Los Angeles, and others, protested which led to the night being rescinded. However, then came the “push-back” and the Dodgers thought it best they sponsor the night, rather than just play baseball. The LGBTQ groups included a group called “Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence.” Their acts and words targets the Catholic faith and in a word they were blasphemers. Can you imagine a group that mocked a Protestant group, a Jewish rabbi, or Muslim group? Why the Dodgers let them mock the Catholic Church is unknown to me. I still enjoy the history of the Brooklyn Dodgers, them “Bums” as they were known, but I’m not so sure now.

• Recently heard on a golf course: “How did you shoot today?” The reply came back: “I wanted to shoot my age . . . but I wound up shooting my weight.”

• Early summer is sort of wrapped up in U. S. patriotic history, with Memorial Day, Flag Day, Juneteenth, and the Fourth of July coming. Seems that June 6th (D-Day) and June 21 are overlooked by many. Many folks remember D-Day History, but June 21 . . . why is that mentioned. That day, June 21, 1788, is the day the state of New Hampshire became the ninth and last necessary state to ratify the constitution of the United States, making the document the law of the land. Seems that after the War for Independence from Britain, the 13 states adopted Articles of Confederation and it soon became apparent they just were not working. As such, the 13 states called a Constitutional Convention and after three months, the new Constitution was created calling for a stronger federal government with a system of checks and balances. It would not take effect until nine of the 13 states would ratify it. New Hampshire was that ninth state. It is interesting to realize the Constitution did not include many of the items we take for granted today. States promised to pass what is called “The Bill of Rights” as soon as the Constitution was passed . . . and they did it. Today, the U. S. Constitution is the oldest written constitution in operation in the world.

• July 4th, 1776 . . . the date the Declaration of Independence was signed. A different event.

• Let’s not forget the international scene. The War between Russia and Ukraine took an interesting turn this week with part of the Russian force pulling out of Ukraine and confronting the Russian government. TV news gave almost 24 hour coverage on this event. And . . . it was an interesting and important event. However, the TV coverage did not have much, if anything, about the killings of hundreds of Catholics in Africa. Many more deaths and much damage done because of religion than that done in Russia.

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