Abraham Lincoln

Two reckonings of Abraham Lincoln, one through great African-Americans and one through the man who murdered him.  

Reckoning 1

7 Degrees

Seventh Degree: Abraham Lincoln
Abraham Lincoln is a president that all Americans are proud of.  Republicans, Democrats, Tea Partiers, Lefties, Righties, Women, Men, Blacks, Whites, Browns, etc. all love Abraham Lincoln.  Here are two videos about Lincoln, one from the right-ish and one from the left-ish.

Watch the full episode. See more Bill Moyers.

Sixth Degree: Frederick Douglas and Booker T. Washington
It pains me to put these two great men on one degree.  They deserve their own degree.  But you see, their paths cross a few generations down the line with their great-great grand children.  To read Nettie Douglas' letter to her great grandfather, click here.  

Fifth Degree: Nettie Washington Douglas and her son, Kenneth B. Morris Jr. 
Mrs. Douglas presented 4th Degree, Joe DiMaggio with the first Booker T. Washington half-dollar in San Francisco in 1950.

"I let no man drag me down so low

as to make me hate him." - Booker T. Washington

American Slavery Still Exists!
Watch a video of Mrs. Douglas and Mr. Morris discussing modern slavery here.
To see a video with comments by Ashley Judd and other celebrities click here.
For a CBS morning show spot on human trafikking in the Us click here.  

Slavery is mentioned in the bible.  You may remember the section about "slaves, obey your masters."  It's a shocking phrase.  In this post I found a website that ranted against the Catholic Church for supporting slavery in its history.  I was actually a bit surprised that this site didn't dig up more.  To my eyes, a dozen phrases spoken or written in 2000 years of popes is not a lot of evidence.  

We all know that some popes are more holy than others.  By the grace of the Holy Spirit, the church has survived some dark years.  What's really amazing is how consistent the teachings of the church are in spite of its 2 millenia of history peppered with a few unholy popes.  The United States is not even 250 years old and its history is liberally peppered with poor presidencies.  What we agree on is that the United States is a great country and she is worth fighting for.  As Catholics, we know that our church is that of Jesus Christ and worth fighting for.  We fight with ideas, we fight with our bodies, we fight with our resources, but ultimately, we fight with love.  

For the official Catholic word on slavery, click here.  

Degree: John Wilkes Booth, assassin of President Lincoln

6 degrees

Descendants of  Fifth Degree, John Wilkes Booth are maintaining that Booth lived for 40 years after the assassination.  Here is a link for an episode of "Decoders" from The History Channel.  I hope you enjoy the video.

Dr. Samuel A. Mudd
"His name is Mudd," the probable
origin of that idiom.

Fourth Degree: Dr. Samuel A. Mudd

Weather you believe that Booth died in a barn just after the shooting, or that he lived in obscurity for decades thereafter, there are elements of the shooting that are beyond doubt.  A jump from the presidential box or a fall from his get-away horse caused Booth to break his leg the day of the shooting.  His injuries were too severe for him to dismount on the way to medical attention.  

The couch on which Booth was treated by Dr. Mudd

As Booth wound his way from Ford's Theater with his co-conspirators, he sought remedy for his painfully broken leg.  In the wee hours of the morning, he came to the house of Dr. Samuel A. Mudd.  Mudd, a southerner who was raised on a tobacco plantation, set the leg, cared for the wound and sent Booth on his way.

Dr. Mudd's aid and comfort to the assassin is the origin of the term, "Your name is mudd."

Third Degree: Roger Mudd
Decades later, in February of 1928, a distant relative of Dr. Mudd, Roger Mudd was born in The District of Columbia.  This Mudd grew up to be a journalist on the order of Walter Cronkite.  Here he is in his most famous interview, with
Second Degree, Senator Ted Kennedy.

First Degree: Pope Pius XII
Young Ted Kennedy received his first communion from Pope Pius XII.  It appears from her veil and white dress, that his sister did as well.

The Kennedy family were very wealthy, but devoted to public service.  Living out their Catholic faith has been inconsistent in their family, as it is in most Catholic families.  The virtue of marital fidelity is hard to come by in the Kennedy men, but modesty was common among the women.  All Kennedys seem to have a deep sense of public service and need to sacrifice for their countrymen.  Indeed, one would be hard pressed to find a family who has lost more of its members to assassination than the Kennedys.   

Eunice Kennedy at the center of a candid photo from Jack and Jackie's
wedding day.  

The most saintly Kennedy in my opinion is the late Eunice Kennedy Shriver.  She lived a beautiful life, never bowing to popular will, but only to the will of God.  She is most popularly known as the founder of Special Olympics.  This alone is accomplishment for a lifetime, but she did much more than that.  For a list of her awards and honors is here.  

Commentaries and Tiger Woods

Photo by CNN
Tiger apologizing

This post is made up entirely of ideas.  There are NO points of actual contact.  Each contact simply expounds on the next contact.  The goal here is to help you in your journey through Advent.  It's a mini-Lent you know.


Fourth Degree: Tiger Woods
Tiger comments on his own behavior in this video.  He apologizes for repeated, opportunistic adultery over the course of their relationship.  It was objectifying of women and of himself.  The problem probably began with Tiger objectifying his wife.  In this season of Advent, it's a good time to reevaluate our marriages and look at one another with love instead of objectification.




Third Degree: Brit Hume
On an opinion segment on Fox News Sunday, Brit Hume commented on Tiger Woods' spiritual life and family life by means of faith.  Here is Keith Olbermann and Dan Savage commenting and Brit's remarks.  It is very funny in spots and some great points are made.



Second Degree: Father Rober Barron comments on Jesus through the first chapter of Matthew.  Think of this as you enter the Christmas Holidays.



1 Degree: Jesus and Peter
We know that Jesus instituted the papacy through Peter.  Here He also addresses our topic at hand.  He tells a parable that encourages us to go to confession (a great idea during the Advent Season).  Then we have Peter telling Jesus that he's not worthy and is sinful.  Jesus calls him to be a fisher of men.



0 Degree: John Paul II
Before he was shot, before he was ill, before all the troubles in his papacy, but certainly not in his life, he came to the US.  Some thoughts from JP2 to help you begin the Advent season.


* please note that journeying toward John Paul is not always going "up".   John Paul was a sinner and imperfect like the rest of us.  As I noted in the title of the blog, we want to be 0 degrees from Christ.  That is the ultimate goal.  

Jerry Lewis

Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis

Jerry Lewis is an icon of physical American comedy performance.  He was a role model for Jim Carey and scores of other great comedians of the 20th and 21st Century.  But in 100 years, Mr. Lewis will be more remembered for opening our hearts than for his comedy.  

This weekend is the annual MDA Labor Day Telethon.  Last year's telethon raised over 60 million dollars for muscular dystrophy and ALS research.  Jerry Lewis has been a champion for the young victims of these diseases for decades.  

Please give generously to Jerry's Kids this weekend!  Click Here to donate.

5 Degrees

I could have done this in fewer degrees by going through celebrities who have appeared on the Jerry Lewis telethon.  I chose a different way that I think will entertain and delight you!

Fifth Degree: Eleanor Gehrig

Eleanor Gehrig and Jerry Lewis

Scanning the MDA site, I was surprised to find that ALS, Lou Gehrig's Disease, is under the MDA umbrella.  It has been for years.  Thanks to the dedication of Gehrig's widow, Eleanor, the effective treatment and cure for ALS is much closer.  Read about the Gehrig connection to Jerry's Kids by clicking here.

Joe DiMaggio and Lou Gehrig

Lou Gehrig played his entire career for the New York Yankees.  His official website has wonderful video and information about his life and career.  That site is also a good place to see his "Luckiest Man" speech which is currently not available on youtube.

Sweet Fact about Lou Gehrig: When he gave his "Luckiest Man" speech, he knew full well the devistating nature of his illness.  In those days it was common to withhold disgnosis and prognosis from patients.  (Now, such a practice is not only unethical, but illegal.)  Lou knew, and he kept the fact that he knew from his wife out of love.  He wanted her to think that he was blissfully unaware.  I learned this watching History Detectives on PBS.  For a transcript of that show and the site for that episode, click here.

Fourth Degree: Joe DiMaggio

January 15, 1954

I think it's safe to say that the Yankees and their immediate families knew each other in the 1920s and 1930s. While Lou was slugging out a lifetime (15 years) .340 batting average and almost 500 home runs, he played with Joe DiMaggio.

This funny-lookin', first generation, Italian-American guy from Martinez, California, somehow managed to snag the most beautiful woman in the world.  In January of 1954 he married Marilyn Monroe.  To read the original story from the archives of the San Francisco Museum, click here.

Third Degree: Marilyn Monroe

The connection to the third degree is titillating and painful.  You see, Ms. Monroe was one of a collection of women who invaded the Catholic marriage bed of John F. Kennedy.  There seems little doubt that this was the case.  Here is lovely Marilyn singing her famous Happy Birthday to JFK.

Second Degree: President John Fitzgerald Kennedy

Kennedy and his wife met the pope on a couple occasions during his brief presidency.  Jaqueline had a private audience with the pope, speaking in French with the Holy Father.  For more photos and loads of interesting facts and circumstances, visit the John F. Kennedy Memorial Library in Boston.

Paul VI and John Paul II

First Degree: Pope Paul VI

Pope Paul became pope during the second Vatican council.  Less charismatic than his predecessor, Pope John XXIII, he never enjoyed the same popularity.  He wrote Humanea Vitae and other influential and beautiful encyclicals.  To show love for this man and their commitment to the real teachings of Vatican II, the next popes took both their names, John Paul!

Hey, Lapsed Catholics!!!!

8 pages, that's it.  Just 8 pages and I won't pester you any more this week.  Read Humanea Vitae (in English, not Latin), and open your mind to it.  Just read it and let it sit in your heart.  I swear you won't regret it.  It is a prophetic writing about the sexual revolution.  Just give it a read.  It's always good to be able to argue both sides of an issue to fully understand it.  Read the whole thing here.  

Roger Federer

Roger Federer and his wife meet the pope

2 Degrees  

Swiss Guard

Being Swiss in the Vatican usually means you're wearing  a colorful costume designed by Leonardo Da Vinci.  Swiss and Catholic, Roger Federer arrived in Rome clothed in humility before the Holy Father despite having won over 60 major tennis titles. The following account of the meeting from Monsters and Critics is Federer's memory of the encounter.


 'It was a very emotional day,' said Federer, who battled for one hour, 50 minutes as a home crowd fired up his unheralded opponent.

'It was very nice and a big honour to meet the pope,' said the Swiss. 'They told him who I was and we shook hands and exchanged a few words in German.'

Federer admitted that he couldn't deduce how much the new pontiff actually followed the sport, but in the heat of the moment, it didn't seem to matter.

'It was special of course, I am Catholic. This was just the perfect day.'

After this morning audience, Federer went on to win the match that had brought him to Italy.  Swiss mojo, it's a beautiful thing! 

Roger to Benedict XVI to John Paul II!

Amazing Roger Federer trickshot on Gillette ad shoot @ Yahoo! Video
William Tell was also Swiss!