The Fifth Week of Ordinary Time

 

Welcome to the Fifth week of Ordinary Time.

Please open your Hymnal to page 3 and join in our processional  “O Lord Please Don’t Burn Us” Verse 1

O LORD, please don’t burn us,   Don’t grill or toast your flock,

Don’t put us on the barbecue,  Or simmer us in stock,

Don’t braise or bake or boil us,  Or stir fry us in a wok. 

Thank you for that Raucus rendition it warmed my heart as I crowd surfed to the pulpit.  Now please open The Holy Text volume 1 to episode 22 page 303 where the prophets say: 

Radio Announcer: And now the BBC is proud to present a brand new radio drama series, "The Death of Mary, Queen of Scots." Part One: The Beginning.

Man's voice: Yoo arrr Mary, Queen of Scots?

Woman's voice: I am!

(sound of violent blows being dealt, things being smashed, awful crunching noises, bones being broken, and other bodily harm being inflicted. All of this accompanied by screaming from the woman.)

Announcer: Stay tuned for part two of the Radio Four Production of "The Death of Mary, Queen of Scots", coming up...almost immediately.

(music then sound of saw cutting, and other violent sounds as before, with the woman screaming. Suddenly it is silent.)

Man's voice: I think she's dead.

Woman's voice: No I'm not!

(sounds of physical harm and screaming start again. then music fades up and out)

Open your hymnal to page 36 and join us in singing “Always look on the Bright Side of Life”  Verse 3

So always look on the bright side of death,  (Whistle)
A-Just before you draw your terminal breath,  (Whistle)
Life's a piece of shit (Oooh),  When you look at it
Life's a laugh and death's a joke, it's true (Oooh)
You'll see it's all a show (Oooh),  Keep 'em laughin' as you go
Just remember that the last laugh is on you (Oooh)

Now please open The Holy Text volume 2 to episode 45 page 334 where the prophets say …

Nurse	Oh doctor, I've just shot another patient. I don't think there's any point in your seeing him.
Doctor	You didn't kill him, did you?
Nurse	'Fraid so.
Doctor	You mustn't kill them, nurse.
Nurse	Oh, I'm sorry doctor. It was just on the spur of the moment. Rather silly really.
	She exits, taking a sword from the wall. Through the next bit of the scene we hear screams off.
Williams	I'm sorry about the carpet, doctor.
Doctor	Mr Williams, I'm afraid I can't give you any marks, so I won't be able to recommend you for hospital. Tell you what - I'll stop the bleeding - but strictly speaking I shouldn't even do that on marks like these...
	The nurse enters covered in blood.
Nurse	There are no more patients now, doctor.
Doctor	Oh well, let's go and have lunch, then.

Homily  Parishioners, this week I thought I would look into a different problem facing America and to a different extent the entire world – Education.  The simple reality is that by all measurements, the American Educational establishment, at all levels, is failing (https://www.justfacts.com/education#coll_spend).  While certainly not an “America only” problem, the scope of America’s problem is revealed when looking at standardized test results from the industrialized countries of the world (https://www.iea.nl/studies/iea/timss).  In simple terms while scores are generally down world wide, America is also falling behind in comparison with the other countries of the world from the top ten to now middle of the pack (out of 64 countries participating). 

The problem is rather simple, Unions are interested in getting more members and getting their members more pay, which then allows the unions to charge more dues and convince more people to join the union.  What they are not interested in is any sort of oversight of what they do in the class room.  As an example of union “endeavors” here is a pdf of direction for preparing for immigration raids (https://www.aft.org/sites/default/files/media/2017/im_uac-educators-guide_2017.pdf?link_id=0&can_id=c947832415eb2d29d7806ff134cda396&source=email-aft-michigan-presidents-update-477&email_referrer=email_2555111&email_subject=aft-michigan-presidents-update), another calling for activism for water bill caps (https://www.miwaterplan.com/?link_id=6&can_id=c947832415eb2d29d7806ff134cda396&source=email-aft-michigan-presidents-update-477&email_referrer=email_2555111&email_subject=aft-michigan-presidents-update )  Of course an obligatory call for political action committee donations was also presented.  All of these and more came in the weekly “newsletter” from the state Teachers union. 

You should notice that NONE OF THAT is actually about teaching!  If we were actually interested in improving teaching … a Reporter named John Stoessel released a story almost 20 years ago on how that works (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xvCf0BfqVk8).  If you take the 7 minutes to watch the video you will see that teacher Unions, by blocking the removal of “failing teachers”, have largely created the failing system of education in America today.  The off task endeavors of current teaching unions simply exacerbate the system in our schools. 

Instead of actually fixing the problems, the teacher’s unions maintain that what we need is to bog down into the weeds even more pursuing ever small fractions of a percentage of the students in schools, despite growing evidence that such “teaching” is itself failing.  As an example here is a study that shows D.E.I. “instruction” causes negative reactions in participants (https://networkcontagion.us/wp-content/uploads/Instructing-Animosity_11.13.24.pdf).  Imagine that, telling people they are racists and bigots because they do not believe what you believe causes negative reactions in those told, sounds pretty elementary! 

Amen

Please join us in our recessional on page 3 of your hymnal “O Lord Please Don’t Burn Us” second verse. 

Oh Please don’t lightly poach us,  Or Baste us with hot fat,

Don’t fricassee or roast us,    Or boil us in a vat,

And please don’t stick thy servants, Lord,  In a Rotissomat.