Trillium in the wild
Actually I think it’s in a large wooded park on The Planet Ann Arbor.
This is my small tribute to Pope Francis. I turned on the kitchen radio this morning and the first thing I heard was something about “funeral plans”. They were done talking about the pope by that time but I somehow knew immediately that’s who it was.
I am not Catholic but I sometimes joke that large Catholic families are one of my lots in life (engineers being another). My grandfather and a Catholic buddy/co-worker of his bought adjacent beach properties on Lake Superior when they were young. Their children grew up together and then their grandchildren. I’m one of the grandchildren and our families have remained friends throughout our lives.
My best friend throughout grade school was Laurie, who went to the Catholic school a few blocks away from Stinkin’ Linkin’, my public school. We met up after school many days and every Saturday morning was spent in her bedroom, “cleaning” it. Y’all know that didn’t really happen and her mom would eventually boot us out to “terrorize” the neighborhood. An occasional activity being sliding around on the floor under the pews at St. Joe’s collecting holy cards for Laurie’s collection.
And then I married a Catholic guy, one of 10 wonderful siblings. They welcomed this old heathen with open arms.
So I am not Catholic but I’m kind of familiar with the drill of being a Catholic kid.
I liked Pope Francis. In my opinion, he was a person who did follow Jesus’s teachings. I’m pretty sure he didn’t agree with abortion or gay marriage or [pick an issue]. But he seemed to care about people who *had* abortions or married partners of their own sex, etc. Human beings are extremely complicated and sometimes have to make very difficult decisions. All people deserve to be treated with compassion and dignity. I think that was one of his main messages. I don’t have to be Catholic or even religious to agree with that.
God speed, Jorge Mario Bergoglio.
April 21st, 2025 at 6:41 pm
I admired him and agree that he followed Jesus and not simply the rules of the church. He seemed like a compassionate and thoughtful person. I’m hoping the next Pope isn’t a right winger but the way the world is trending…ugh. I have a type also: bearded electronics guys who worked for Boeing on the military side and are lapsed Catholics. I’m sure you remember that John and Henry briefly worked together and went to the same Catholic high school (Kennedy HS); John was a year ahead of Henry. Patt was an electronics guy too but hated working on TVs when he got out of the military; construction and building things were much more his jam.