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SOMETHING TO THINK ABOUT

     As if the awful mess in our church isn't enough to discourage us and make the Holy Spirit work overtime, we have the spectacle of the confirmation of Judge Brett Kavanaugh to the U. S. Supreme Court.  

     I met my first Supreme Court justice in 1969, when I was a Dominican student brother who traveled with a group of Protestant seminarians to Washington, DC, as part of a political theology course.  Somehow an appointment was made possible at the Supreme Court and we met Justice William O. Douglas, one of the giants of the Supreme Court.  I still remember my awe in meeting him and later in walking into the hearing chamber.  I almost wanted to genuflect!  Later on I met another justice, Thomas Clark, after I returned to law school and felt the same awe in his presence.  The tawdry political spectacle we are witnessing with all the different interest groups screaming at one another is truly depressing.  I was appalled when Judge Garland was denied a hearing and I am equally appalled by the rush to approve Judge Kavanaugh.  The whole process is threatening the balance of powers in our political system.

     I guess I'm more sensitive because my own father was a judge.  I grew up in a law family.  I knew a number of Louisiana judges on all levels, district, appellate and Louisiana Supreme Court.  I had the privilege to be present when my father was a substitute justice at the latter once day.  I knew one or two federal judges in Louisiana as well and heard them speak with deep respect for my father.  To see the judicial system so dishonored by the current spectacle, added to the discouragement of the church troubles makes for a difficult time .  I'm sure I'm not the only one who feels this way, though.  We have to pray hard! These are not cheerful thoughts, but...... IT'S SOMETHING TO THINK ABOUT

IT HAS BEEN SAID:   "The more excellent a man is, the more he is to be blamed for deliberate sin: for his more able to resist, has more to be thankful for, has a special duty to avoid particular sins (judges are there to guard justice and priests to guard chastity), and gives the greater scandal."

St. Thomas Aquinas, SUMMA THEOLOGIAE, I-II, Q. 73, a.10