Traveled south to Dade City, Florida where I interviewed Fr. Edwin Palka at St. Rita’s Church. A good percentage of the church is Hispanic, and a good percentage of those are illegal. When I asked, on average, how much these illegals make, Fr. Palka replied: “Not much. I’ve been in their homes.” He said it’s not uncommon for two Hispanic families here to live in one small mobile home. And what’s more, every additional penny is sent down to relatives in Mexico who have even less.
2/25/05
My wife Liz and I did the “Bobby D” Show on WKKO in Ocala, Florida today. A caller said (as is the sentiment among many) that there should be no leeway for Mexicans who are illegal. Liz responded that we had gone to Juarez, Mexico several years ago to research Hispanic immigration issues, and saw abject poverty in the extreme. Dirt street after dirt street of whole families living in cobbled together shacks with no running water, no electricity, no sewers… The children were hungry, very hungry. Some of the parents leave their children behind, risk dangerous border crossings, work from sun up to sun in our fields for virtually nothing… and at that, still take the savings to send to their wife and children — so they can eat. I then said to the caller that I wondered how Jesus would deal with the situation? Offer them no leeway?
2/24/05
Went to hear a talk by Dr. Chuck Baldwin in Ocala, Florida today. He was the Campaign 2004 Consitution Party vice-presidential candidate. Dr. Baldwin, who is a well-known Christian pastor, said both major parties are “owned by big money interests.” He also said most pastors in the U.S. are preaching a “prosperity mentality” and not dealing much with the Pro-Life issue, the homosexual issue… While I believe this as well, during the question and answer period I told Dr. Baldwin I didn’t believe in several of the Constitution Party platform points. For one, part of the Party’s Foreign Policy statement reads: “We would end all aid to foreign governments.” So, for instance, there would be no governmental aid to Africa for the AIDs epidemic, no governmental aid to the Indian Ocean tsunami victims… I said that while the Constitutional Party, apparently, adheres to the teachings of the Bible, this didn’t seem to match up with the spirit of Jesus’s message about stridently trying to help the disadvantaged.
2/23/05
Interviewed Teresa Pinkos, who is the director of the “Maria Goretti House” (for women in crisis pregnancy) in Ocala, Florida. Opened in 1997, some 65 women have found shelter, and love, here. The House is non-profit and staffed by area volunteers (primarily volunteers from Queen of Peace Church in Ocala). It’s genesis: A parishioner had come to Queen of Peace’s Fr. Patrick O’Doherty and said there was a need for a home to be established for these women. Without pausing, Fr. O’Doherty told the parishioner to: “…find a house.” He did. And the $130,000 to purchase the home, and get it ready, was raised shortly after.
2/20/05
Met with Gail Zach, 50, who is the vice-president of Ocala, Florida’s Queen of Peace Pro-Life Group. She told me she had an abortion on May 16, 1978. She was 22-years-old at the time, newly married, and she and her husband were concerned about whether they could afford the baby — and deal with all the new responsiblity the baby would bring. Gail said she was told at the abortion clinic that the fetus was nothing more than a “blob of tissue.” So she had the abortion and didn’t think much more about it — until she saw the movie Silent Scream. “Then I knew what I’d really done,” Gail lamented, in tears. Now she’s down every week in front of the Ocala Women’s Center protesting and trying to plead with the women going in: not to make the same mistake.
2/17/05
Interviewed Christina Dovkowski in Bellvue, Florida. She has started a “Pro-Family Group” at Queen of Peace Church in Ocala. She has a Masters in Pastoral Studies and her and her husband Bob teach Marriage Preparation, including Natural Family Planning, to all couples who will be married at Queen of Peace. The Pro-Family Group also publishes a monthly newsletter, complete with a “Saint of the Month” feature. This group is also an umbrella for a Home Schooling Group (10 families, 36 youth) at Queen of Peace.
12/14/05
Interviewed Emerson Clauss ,who told me about an exciting church initiative called: “Trinity Villa” in Ocala, Florida. Several years ago, Blessed Trinity Church here — out of a profound sense of bringing more social justice into the world — bought an old aprtment complex, fixed it up, and now rents units out (at very affordable costs) to low income people and families in need. For many, this allows them a much better chance to get on their feet, or to just get by. Clauss, who was on the Blessed Trinity Parish Council at the time the idea was developed, said the project has been a tremendous success.
2/12/05
Interviewed Trinity High School teacher Jeff Bennett who is helping get an Amnesty International Student Chapter started at his school in Ocala, Florida. He said the focus of the group is to help students become more aware of human rights violations (child labor, unjust imprisonment, torture…) around the world. And as they become aware, to speak out through: the media; letters to Congressmen or Heads of State, and so on, to stand up for those unjustly afflicted. Bennett said it’s sad, but so often in the insular culture of our country, American youth “…don’t want to sully their heads with global issues.”
2/10/05
Queen of Peace Church in Ocala, Florida hosts a 12-Step Group for homosexuals called: “Courage.” It is a support group for gays wishing to live a chaste life in line with Catholic Church teacing on homosexual acts. (The Church teaches the homosexual act is intrinsically disordered; but Catholics are not, in any way, to discriminate against those that have homosexual feelings.) Queen of Peace’s Fr. Patrick O’Doherty, who told me he is quite supportive of the Courage Movement (his is the first church in the diocese to have a group), said: “The Bible clearly teaches, from start to finish, that homosexual intercourse is wrong.”
2/8/05
I interviewed Mary Cassidy, vice-president of the Legion of Mary at Queen of Peace Church in Ocala, Florida. One of the things this chapter is doing is regularly visiting those in area jails and prisons. Ms. Cassidy said they take Communion to those incarcerated, conduct regular prayer groups, sometimes just lend a sympathetic ear. “Many find Christ in jail… after they’ve hit a bottom,” said Ms. Cassidy.