Catholic Time
A new part of the Swing and Sway show has to do with everything in life and what life has to offer. One of the strongest Religions, even though it did not get it’s due until Joe Kennedy got the Mob involved in Cicero County, IL, or… Chicago as the actual place has the most famous part of the name.
Joe for some wacky reason had friends in the Mob. Now, when you are bootlegging during the 20’s and 30’s, a time when it was illegal to sell or drink any type of alcohol, you wonder why Joe got involved with buying and selling liquor when that should have been the furthest thing from his mind. But as we folks today have come to know, the bootlegging he performed for the entire time it was “Off the Table” as far as being legal, he had a shit ton of booze all over the place. He was one of the great “Heads” of this “Thing.”
Would I ever think to say that this is not the greatest act for a Catholic to have done at that time, I would not think it as that would be to basically say he was not a Wonderful Catholic and going the way of the “Lie.” A lie is not the best thing for a Catholic to use in speech, but worst when it is attached to actions that were not legal as that would not have been spoken anywhere in Church each Sunday… except for 1 sacred place: The Confessional Booth. Only there, can whatever was done by you, be confessed in a booth that has 2 doors and a divider that allows for speech and somewhat of a look can get through. In one door goes the Priest and the other… the Church goer that has something that is burdening his person or “Soul” as they might put it.
To all appearances, Joe became one of the more wealthy men in the World at that time due to non-Catholic means. So, he is the 1st part of “Catholic Talk.”
As sorry as I am to say it, there is only 1 other section of CT… The Immaculate Conception.
I heard about it since I was a kid and other Catholics attended CCD, which like Hebrew School in New Jersey, happened when regular school was not in session and was for Jewish Kids until 13 years old: either: Bar for boy or Baht for girl and: Mitzvah at the end of both which a Mitzvah is a good deed. In the case of the 2 words put together, the old Jewish Tradition, like “Fiddler on the Roof” there is the song “Tradition.” A lot of Jewish stuff is exactly that as there is nothing for a Jew to do to be a Good Jew… but having one of those Bar or Baht Mitzvah things at age 13, in theory, made you a “Man” or “Woman.” In our Society in the USA, show the Cop your Bar Mizvah photos and see if that gets you off for drinking and driving…. drinking is now age 21 in NJ and most of the USA.. if not all of it… and driving in NJ is age 17 and you have to get a “Learner’s Permit” and practice and pass an exam written and driving when you are 17 or older. Luckily, this is not Jewish Time, or I would have a lot of “Splainin” to do for those that watched “I love Lucy.” Ricky was Cuban and said that instead of “Explaining.”
Don’t even ask why me, a now non practicing Jew who Knows more Jew stuff than a lot of American Jews and now, because of who was a dear friend that was a Deacon in his Church, attended 6am Mass every day and studied the Bible and Roman Catholic dictates and decisions that the Pope in Vatican, Italy made and then… upon new Pope, changed. My friend as an example would never eat anything but “Fish” on a Friday night. A Pope in the past made that the rule, then another one said, “Only in the Lent period due you have to eat only Fish on Friday Nights.” My friend refused to do as the new Pope said and only ate Fish every Friday, even though the law had changed. He was a real Roman Catholic who prided himself on knowing anything there was to be known by studying and applying it all. I was best man at his wedding. We had a Special addition to the regular Catholic Service, a Mass directed at a special statue of Mary that took 1/2 hour of extra time. This is serious Roman Catholic Acts.
He wanted me to not only know what the “Immaculate Conception” was, but also wanted to be sure that I knew that most Catholics that did not take it as seriously as he did, would not know the correct answer to what it was.
I gave the standard answer: it is the Conception of Jesus as he was born by God and Mary and maybe even a Holy Ghost that may have helped the operation. That last part is all me trying to be funny.
He looked at me very seriously and said: it is the conception of “Mary” who is the only one in the World who was born “Without Original Sin.”
Since he told me that around 40 years ago, I have asked anyone who said they were Catholic, either Roman or Irish as they both are based upon the study of Mary more than Christianity.
Out of the hundreds of times I have asked the question, I have only gotten 2 right answers per my friend’s teaching. Both were learned Christians and older than I, and had studied for long periods of time on their own. Most attended Mass at least 4 to 6 times per week which is also unheard of… like my friend going to 6 AM Mass. I would be 1/2 asleep and believe that anything could have been said during the service.
I do not know if he is right. I just know that every time I asked it, the answer always was quick. There was never a thinking period from 1 way or the other.
Also, he never told me that Jesus was born with sin. One might suspect that if God was 1/2 of the mixture that made Christ… how much sin could there be? But to look at how much Mother Mary means (I almost went into the Beatles “Mother Mary Comes to me…” Le it Be), I could certainly understand that she is the purest Woman in Mankind. The End.
