- Saint comes from the French "saint(e)" which
came from the ancient Latin "sanctus" which means holy person.
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- In the Catholic faith they have this process of deciding
who is to be named a saint. It is really quite tedious and not an easy
club to enter. Usually a bishop proposes a name to the Vatican and an extensive
search is done. First there's "venerable". This requires that
candidates be found to have lived a life of faith and morals with heroic
virtue. The next step is Beatification (Blessed). Now this requires an
extra ordinary event to be recognized as miraculous. Finally, Canonization.
This requires yet another extraordinary event. People are encouraged to
pray to this person for some miracle--which if I understand it--they will
make intercession for you. Now this isn't Scriptural but we won't go into
that. Examples would be: A person blind from birth suddenly seeing. An
amputated limb--growing back. Cancer totally disappearing from one's body
with no medical explanation. Raising the dead, walking on water etc. It
has to be impossible things.
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- I was raised a Catholic, but somehow just couldn't adapt
myself to all the rules, regimentation, and mean nuns. I thought they were
pretty miserable for being Brides of Christ. Sister Richards, was a big
hulking woman, who was always banging some kid's head against the blackboard.
Sister Agnesine, told me I was a leader of people but the wrong kind.
Everything was learned by rote and I knew all the answers . The answers
were Simple Simon and quite stupid. When Father Kirk asked me "Why
did God make you?" I should have answered: "To know Him, to love
Him, to serve Him in this world and to be happy with Him in the next."
Instead I replied, "How should I know? I'm only seven and He hasn't
told me yet". Wrong answer.
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- Still and all I almost became a nun. If not for avocados
and bananas I'd probably be in Africa. The good nuns, to influence me
with what they thought was my 'calling' invited me to visit the convent
for lunch. They showed me the little cubicle bedrooms. One single bed,
one chest of drawers, and the obligatory huge crucifix. The living room
was no better, with a Victorian sofa, a threadbare rug, some folding chairs,
pictures of Mary, and some Saint with a bleeding heart. No TV. I guess
I was really supposed to be impressed with the dining room. They informed
me that when I made my final vows, I too would have flatware with my
own initials. Then lunch. They all hovered around me in the kitchen like
black crows on a clothesline. I got the idea that this was a special introductory
fare. They set this bowl in front of me filled with sliced bananas, avocado,
cherries, pineapple and apples. The juice was the color of bile.
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- They hovered anxiously watching my every bite. I kept
telling myself, "Don't throw up here--keep swallowing". That
ended my calling! My dad worked at the mill. We ate spaghetti, Spanish-rice,
chicken backs and chuck roast. Stuff that didn't resemble an autopsy. That,
and always being picked to lead the procession of kids in church with the
crowning of the statue of Mary in May, turned me off to religious life
. Because I was always the midget kid--I got to be first. The organ would
sound and down the aisle we'd march with huge bouquets. I remember thinking,
"If they knew how much I hated Mary they wouldn't have me leading
this parade". It wasn't really Mary (I didn't know her) that I hated,
but the stupidity of it all. Mary stood on a pedestal of the earth, at
the left hand side of the ornate altar. She was just an oversized carnival
statue in my mind. Two of her fingers were missing, her lower lip was
cracked, and her eyes resembled two dead maggots tinged with blue. I wondered
why all this pageantry and fuss for a cheap lump of plaster of Paris. Poor
Joseph on the right hand side never got noticed at all. It didn't help
matters when the priest started swinging this noxious incense in a toxic
cloud around us and I dutifully vomited on Mary's chipped toes and all
over the earth. I realized early on that I heard wrong.
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- Now sainthood in the real world; outside of pews-candles-black
crows-monotonous prayers-novenas-rosary hour-and stations of the cross,
is a lot less demanding. Heck, you don't even have to be religious. There
are also different categories so you have a better chance. The only "miracle"
required is that you have some extraordinary talent or a good agent. Some
are just chosen for their persona or through connections. Become a star
athlete in baseball, basketball, football, tennis, golf, swimming, or hockey
and you're automatically revered and given exalted status.
- Music is another good entryway. The more bizarre the
better. Rappers-heavy metal-or screeching bands, get sainted by certain
segments of society. Country-Opera-Folk-Symphonies-concert pianists-etc.,
have their own cult following. These are all lower saints. They're only
recognized by their adoring fans. Movie stars and TV stars fare better.
They get a lot more audience. But this realm of sainthood is fleeting.
As long as you have the look, body, breasts, and ass to go with the part,
you're on top. A few character actors last it out, but after that Oscar
given out of pity is attained it's pretty much over.
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- We're pretty darn fortunate to be living in a time when
a big time saint is in the process of being canonized. All that stuff about
high morals-virtue-and faith isn't a worry. The media, per the orchestrated
public relations extravaganza, has already informed the masses of the newly
anointed one. Yes, President Reagan, unexpectedly passed over, on the
eve of D-Day. I think that qualifies for a "miracle". Perfect
timing. Thankfully they had his D-Day speech of 20 years ago on hand to
show over and over again. His "Tear down that wall Mr.Gorbachev"
was heralded as the best miracle of all. I was thinking how we could have
saved 13 trillion dollars, if only someone had thought to say this before.
Sometimes the simplest thing is the obvious answer! There would have been
no duck and cover, no bomb shelters, no summits, no Cuban missile crisis,
no hizzy fit of Khrushchev, pounding his shoe at the UN screaming, "We
will bury you."
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- And now holy week in June. Ronald Reagan; lifeguard,
sports announcer, GE spokesman, Screen Guild Actors President, Governor,
and President, joins the sainted ones of FDR-Lincoln-Jefferson and Washington.
Even better, because most past Presidents are written out of history books---
except for a brief listing. Sure Lincoln has his statue in Washington D.C.,
and President Washington is remembered by a gigantic phallic symbol, but
nothing like what Mr.Reagan will get. I bet they take out Jefferson from
Mount Rushmore and replace it with the Gipper. Airports, schools, government
buildings, highways, space shuttles, new planets etc. There'll be no limit
to his remembrance. Thousands upon thousands are filing by his flag draped
coffin giving homage. I wouldn't stand in line four hours at my own funeral.
Dead is dead. He sure as heck wouldn't have attended theirs.
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- Mr. Reagan:Father, grandfather and President. His daughter
Patti remarked in '91 "The mark of this family is that everybody is
distanced from everybody else. There was no glue in this family."
Michael and Maureen, were children from Mr.Reagan's first marriage. Michael
was adopted. Reports tell of Reagan attending Michael's graduation (early
60s) from boarding school. After giving the commencement speech he failed
to recognize Michael saying, "My name is Ronald Reagan, what's yours?"
Ron (born of Nancy and President Reagan) known as the favored child, told
a PBS interviewer that he had never had a real conversation with his father.
Michael in a 1988 memoir wrote that he spent his childhood seeking affection.
He complained that he and Maureen (now deceased) were raised by nannies
and maids. After their parents divorced they were sent to boarding school.
Maureen was seven and Michael was five. It was only when Michael was 14
and returned to live with his father that the children from the second
marriage learned that they had half-siblings . "Patti (Nancy and President
Reagan's daughter) was introduced to us siblings on a need-to-know basis"
Maureen wrote in her memoir. Because their parents had only gotten as far
as to tell Patti about Michael, Maureen had to break the news that they
were sisters. Maureen recalled that Patti, then seven, ran crying from
the room. Reporters were the ones who told Nancy and President Reagan
that Ron had married.
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- Michael criticized Nancy for spending more time with
her foster grandparent program than with his children. He said he had not
been invited to the White House. Nancy issued a statement through the White
House press office: "Everybody loves each other". Ron the youngest
dropped out of Yale to become a dancer with the Joffrey Ballet. Concerned
about insinuations that Ron might be gay, Reagan told reporters, "He's
all man---we made sure of that". President Reagan saw AIDS as the
result of breaking the ten commandments. Thus nothing was done for eight
years to stop the spread. Saints are like that. Just no gray area.
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- Mr.Reagan's testimony before the House Un-American Activities
Committee (a friendly witness) will probably miss the talk shows. Mr. Reagan:
" Well sir my testimony must be very similar to that of Mr. Murphy.
There has been a small group within the Screen Actor's Guild which has
consistently opposed the policy of the guild board and officers of the
guild as evidenced by the vote on various issues. That small clique referred
to has been suspected of more or less following the tactics that we associated
with the Communist Party." One doesn't know what "tactics"
identified those targeted as communists? I would suspect that dissent,
questioning and disagreeing might qualify. Didn't matter. It was the Red
Scare. National paranoia was rampant. McCarthy, whom Reagan co-operated
with (as did Nixon) was vicious, manipulative, a browbeater and racist.
Hundreds of professional lives were destroyed by blacklisting. If one refused
to answer claiming their rights were being violated...they too made this
blacklist. Families were destroyed-lives brought to ruination-people were
beaten, and some committed suicide. The files were opened on these hearings
last May. The 5000 pages showed no uncovering of spies nor any conspiracy
theories. Many that McCarthy destroyed were expendable people; file clerks,
engineers, and mid-level bureaucrats, along with Hollywood suspects. Senator
Carl Levine, remarked upon the public exposing of these files, that they
bear parallels of today's fear of terrorism. A reminder of tools used to
quiet dissent. President Reagan when questioned during his Presidency
about the blacklisting claimed that no blacklisting went on. The names
of those revealed in the files and their stories tell otherwise.
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- I imagine other documentation for Reagan's sainthood;
will pass over his 35% in defense increases (1.6 trillion in five years).
This resulted in numerous social programs being tossed to the curb. More
weapons. Cut out 3 million children from lunch programs. More weapons.
Forget the 340,000 CETA jobs for the unemployed. Handicapped children,
another place to cut costs. It's always the poor and powerless who suffer
any cuts-slashing-or discontinuation of programs. Many of those around
in the Reagan years have been promoted in the Bush era. The fiasco in Iraq
was spawned long before the implosion of the towers. The Iraq War, not
connected except by subtle innuendo, has our military defense budget more
bloated than ever. Kids can't read with $56 billion being spent on education,
but we can sure show the world who's boss, with expenditures of some 5
billion monthly on war. Lest we forget (beatification can do that), in
1981 Reagan sent Donald Rumsfeld, his Middle-East Advisor to Iraq. This
resulted in Reagan selling Saddam "dual use" items, including
helicopters and chemicals. He also armed the Mejahedin in Afghanistan,
that eventually evolved in the Tailiban. Wars have long echoes. Irangate
is old news. The great thing about lesser or greater saints is that they
don't subscribe to any code of justice. Not like out in the real world.
A buddy gets in a fix in Foggy Bottom and a pardon sees him on his way
to bonuses and promotions. Sure Ollie lied to Congress and shredded documents.
Now he's a talk show host and a regular on the Public Relations expert
circuit. Get caught with a joint and a kid out here isn't eligible for
any pardon. It gets pretty confusing trying to follow; who we hate, who's
the enemy this week, and who we'll be arming next week? The Reagan administration
was selling arms to the Islamic Fundamentalist government of Iran in order
to gain the release of the hostages. Something Reagan said he would never
do. Bargain that is. Like today, people seemed to be on different levels
running their own show. Most likely Reagan was the only one telling the
truth during the hearings. He really didn't know. Or didn't remember knowing?
So then the profits from these sales were used to supply the Contra guerillas
in Nicaragua. Today (we don't get this news) Nicaragua is held in the clutches
of the IMF. This impoverished country of five million with 60% of its
children under five, suffering malnutrition, is a perfect example of the
of global governance. Columbia,Chili, El Salvador,Argentina, Venezuela,Brazil-etc.;
there's black gold, gas, timber in those rich lands. The people? Be they
nuns, priests, peace activists, children,mountain village folks; all
are mostly voiceless-powerless-and no match for corporate armies. We even
train their own people in the School of the Americas in Fort Benning,
Georgia, Then we send them home to kill their own. It appears that you
can train people to eat their own! Those managing the global plantation,
meanwhile, are slurping down their martinis-scotch-and tumblers of vodka,
on exclusive Sea Island-Georgia, with minions of more hired mercenaries
protecting their plots and plans.
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- Millions unemployed, soup kitchens overflowing, shelters
turning hundreds away or building tent cities; and they're down there
stuffing themselves on prime rib, stuffed shrimp, specialty beef (no mad
cow here), glazed hams, and fresh organic vegetables. Goblets of rare
wines and cognac has these hucksters wallowing in the trough of the world's
resources drunk and well satiated. Soldiers meantime sent off to foreign
lands, to help secure the plunder, are dodging bombs, walking around in
cheap Chinese made boots, and gorging themselves on MREs. Sea Island
Resort, is air conditioned. Soldiers in Iraq are suffering in 130 degree
heat. These much lesser saints, dead or alive, will get some cheap medal
of thanks. Maybe.
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- Saints in the secular world are afforded materialistic
excesses. The religious ones need to prove poverty and denial. The Reagans
wasted no time in setting the tone for palatial living. They held an $8
million dollar inauguration/ball with 40,000 guests. We paid of course.
Nancy wore a $10,000 gown and ordered new dinnerware, at a $1000 a setting.
The President, home for his meal, would whisper to Nancy of the story
he told (over and over), of the welfare queen and her two books of food
stamps. This robbing the government would have to stop! Nancy, dewy eyed
and adoring would congratulate the Gipper on his astuteness in emptying
the institutions. Ah memories. Sainthood memoirs will surely preserve
these moments. The laughter as they walked the plush carpeted hallways,
Ronnie with a chill, has Nancy throwing a cashmere shawl around his shoulders,
as he rehearsed his lines, about how "The homeless are homeless by
choice. They love the great outdoors." The successful secular saint
needs to project that homespun-apple pie--life's a beach kind of attitude.
People don't mind so much that; deregulation,defense spending,S&L scandals,and
arms dealing, will leave them destitute, as long as they're made to feel
good about it. Reagan missed his calling as one of those positive; I'm
OK, You're OK, We're all OK speakers. Reagan Land, was that forever utopia
of a joint, Prozac, or just enough beer to get you feeling mellow. He made
everyone feel so damn proud and patriotic. No heroes no saints now except
dead ones.
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- While most of us can never hope to attain the status
of Saint Ron of the Wall--there is a glimmer of hope. Not in the secular
but religious. It appears that the requirements of morals-virtue-faith
and a couple miracles to your name, have been found too stringent for
most to meet. I heard that Dorothy Day, who began her adult life as a
Communist, is being considered for sainthood. She had an abortion, was
divorced and had a child out of wedlock. She once said "A woman does
not feel whole without a man" and so hitched up with an ex-peasant
Frenchman. Becoming a Catholic and founding The Catholic Workers, with
her Frenchman, makes her eligible. If Dorothy can do it there's hope for
the likes of us. "Saints should always be judged guilty until they
are proven innocent". Orwell "Saint: A dead sinner revised and
edited". Ambrose Bierce
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