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.
2/6/05
The kids have been bugging me about getting a pet on the road (apparently the bobble head dogs were getting old). A few states back in Texas, a lizard jumped up on our Sarah’s hand while the kids were playing in the grass. Apparently some lizards are friendly. Being from Ohio, I didn’t know that. Anyway, after a litany of: “Can we keep her dad? Can we?!!!,” I relented. I mean how much maintainence can a small lizard be, right?… So now having gotten “Lizzie” (Pretty creative name, huh?) a small terrarium, we put some “reptile pellets” in, and after a couple days — we were starting to see Lizzie’s ribs. She apparently didn’t like the pellets… Then someone at PetSmart informed me that if a Lizard has been in the “wild,” they’ll only eat things like small crickets. And the store just happened to sell “cricket farms” — complete with a cricket terrarium, hatching tubes, feeding pellets… “A cricket farm?” I asked.
2/4/05
Stood in solidarity with a Queen of Peace Pro-Life Group in front of the Ocala Women’s Center. (The group soberly refers to it as the: “Ocala Abortion Mill.”) “People can give a lot of compelling reasons (rape, poverty, abusive homes…) to have an abortion,” said John Ryan, who has been coming to protest with his wife Eileen: for the past 21 years. “But the solution can never be killing a tiny, innocent, defenseless human being.” Fr. Patrick O’Doherty was also down on the street protesting. He told me that he believes, not only is abortion wrong, but if you vote for a Pro-Choice candidate, you are an: “accessory.”
2/3/05
At an Intercessory Prayer Conference in Ocala, Florida today Mother Nadine Brown, who is the foundress of the Intercessors of the Lamb, said Mother Theresa saw the United States as the “most spiritually poor country” in the world. She said we were too busy, there was too much noise (TV, radio, computer…) all, for the most part, serving to shut God out. A priest, also at the conference, said we live in a culture that promotes the “workaholic attitude.” (And on that note, I’ll stop for today.)