“Do not fret because of evildoers
or be envious of the wicked, 
for the evildoer has no future hope
and the lamp of the wicked 
will be snuffed out.”
Proverbs 24: 19-30

Before and after whatever he experienced during World War II, “Big Mike” was BIG. Memories of more than fifty years ago are that from the time he woke in the morning until well after sunset his home was filled with music - Frank Sinatra or Italian opera. 

The United States Capitol’s Statuary Hall will host a special February 30^th ceremony at which Dr. Moelarrycurly Joeshempjoe will present (dis)Honorary Doctor of Theological Ignorance degrees to a member of the United States House of Representatives and a US senator. 

I still laugh about Blanca’s introduction to an “American” Roman Catholic version of one of  Christianity’s oldest prayers – dating at least to the early third century and Hippolytus’s Apostolic Tradition.

(For almost three decades, Father Skipper celebrated Christmas Eve Mass for a community of family and friends gathered in his parents’ home. Rather than to give a “sermon,” it was his custom to offer an original short story What follows is the introduction and one of those stories. Please accept it as a small gift during this Christmas season.)

(We hope you will accept the following
small offering as an early Christmas gift.)

Have you ever wondered about God?

I don't mean prayed. 

No man is an island,
Entire of itself;
Every man is a piece of the continent,
A part of the main.

“We are going to do things to Nigeria that Nigeria
will not be happy about and may very well 
go into that now disgraced country 
with guns-a-blazin’.”
President Donald J. Trump
November 1, 2025

“If the Nigerian Government continues to allow the killing of Christians, the USA will immediately stop all aid and assistance to Nigeria, and may very well go into that now disgraced country, ‘guns-a-blazing,’ to completely wipe out the Islamic Terrorists who are committing these horrible atrocities.”
President Donald Trump
“Truth Social” post, November 1, 2025

“The love of God, the love for one’s neighbor…
All religion is found there…
How to get to that point?
Not in a day since it is perfection itself:
it is the goal we must always aim for,
which we must unceasingly try to reach
and that we will only attain in heaven.”
Charles Eugèn Vicomte de Foucauld de Pontbriand 

Get ready!

Two American Catholic priests – Anglican/Episcopal and Roman – are about to hail the wife of a North American Orthodox Church priest who has been named a saint (She has been named a saint; not her husband.) and a newly declared candidate for sainthood from the Democratic Republic of Congo, while resurrecting a song from 1945.

Despite some folks’ accusations, I’m not a “bleeding heart liberal.”

I believe some men and women “should never see the light of day in the ‘free world.’” 

“Free world” - a prison term that needs no explanation.

O Sweet God Almighty, what is this world coming to     ?!?! 

The overweight (and he really is overweight) guy is an electoral miracle worker.

Except that…

He isn’t!

“Hear this, you foolish and senseless people,
who have eyes but do not see,
who have ears but do not hear…”
Jeremiah 5:21

It was not quite fifty years ago – a fact established by the number of folks who complained that I did not celebrate Mass “in Latin, the way it’s supposed to be.”

Ordained maybe five years, I lost it!

It still tops the list of the most unforgettable moments of the pontificate of Jorge Mario Bergoglio.

In the Roman suburb of Corviale and after celebrating Mass, Pope Francis met with and answered questions from the neighborhood’s children. 

Ohhhh! How we wish this were true!

Respectfully (and this is the kindest phrase we can find), Florida Surgeon General Joseph Lapado is a horse’s patootie.

From The Los Angeles Times (“ChatGPT pulled teen into a ‘dark and hopeless place’ before he took his life….” August 28, 2025):

“Adam Raine, a California teenager, used ChatGPT to find answers about everything, including his schoolwork as well as his interests in music, Brazilian jiu-jitsu and Japanese comics.

Please!

Really, please!

If you’re any age between conception and 140-years-old, don’t come to Florida!