OCCUPY AND BLOGGER'S BLOCK

The two iconic churches, Trinity Church Wall Street in New York, pictured to the left, and St Paul's Cathedral in The City of London, pictured below, have been much on my mind for the past several days.  The famous churches are coincidentally(?) located in the financial districts of the two great cities.  What I've thought of is the face-off between the churches and the Occupy groups in both cities. After a period of time, the authorities in the churches decided that the Occupiers had to go, and the groups were forcibly removed.  The right choice for the churches, to come down on the side of the 99%, seemed stark and obvious to me, but both chose to move against the Occupiers.  These are churches, for heaven's sake, the Body of Christ.

Occupied Bishop George Packard, a retired bishop in the Episcopal Church, gets it.  He joined the Occupiers and has been arrested twice in connection with Occupy protests.

Giles Fraser, former Canon Chancellor of St Paul's Cathedral, gets it, too.  He resigned his position when the authorities in the church decided to remove Occupy London protestors by force from the grounds around the cathedral.  He now serves as priest-in-charge at St Mary's Newington, a parish in one of the poorer neighborhoods in South London.

The Occupy movement is by no means finished.  Just because the groups are not occupying parks and squares in their tents or marching in protests every day does not mean that they have disappeared.  Disdain for the elite and their absorption in prospering themselves and their near total disregard for the common good will not go away.

Now that this post is written, perhaps I'll be able to move on to other subjects besides the 'Story of the Day'...not that there's anything wrong with the stories, because if I didn't like them, I would not post them.   


Photo of Trinity from Wikipedia.
Photo of St Paul's from Cathedral & History.

UPDATE: An Occupy.com Profile: Bishop Packard

BLOGGER'S BLOCK?

Is there such a thing? I don't know, but I'm having a hard time writing and posting lately, even posts that are mostly quotes and a link. It doesn't help that I've been heavily involved in the maintenance of me with various visits to doctors, tests, etc., really boring stuff, but stuff that's got to be done. I'm past the family physician, the blood work, the eye specialist, and the audiologist, with only the dentist and the mammogram left to pursue. Imagine how I look forward to the white-knuckle time in the dentist's chair and having my breasts squeezed by a heartless machine. I haven't had the courage to even make the appointments yet, but I will, and soon.

Tomorrow, Grandpère and I are off, bright and early, to New Orleans for sweet William's Grandparents' Day at his school with a mass scheduled at nine o'clock in the morning. Groan...not for spending the morning with William, but for the early hour. Why not an afternoon mass and visit?

Yesterday, on the way to New Orleans for my appointment with the ophthalmologist, I listened to a gorgeous CD of arias sung by the late Swedish tenor, Jussi Björling, titled "The Ultimate Collection", which was a gift to me from Cathy, my friend, fellow-traveler, and fellow survivor of MadChauffeur's driving. On the way home, I listened to The Low Anthem's "Oh My God Charlie Brown Darwin", different music, but satisfying, too. (Added: Can you believe my mistake?)

Since I was stuck in 5 mpr traffic due to road work for miles on the way to NO, I was grateful for the presence of Jussi's lovely voice. I was also 30 minutes late for my appointment, but everyone in the office was quite nice about my tardiness.

Catharsis! The post was good for me. Was it good for you? Nevermind. Don't answer the question. I probably should have written and saved what's here permanently to draft form and never let it see the light of day, but here it is, for all the world to see. Perhaps, I'm now unblocked. We shall see.