7 Quick Takes Friday #55

See more 7 Quick Takes Contributions at Jennifer Fulwiler's Conversion Diary.

It is so nice to have my computer back and to start catching up on so much that I could do with an old, borrowed one. I seem to have missed the 7 QT last week so I will combine them for this week.

1. A while back I reported on allegations of sexual misconduct made against our priest. The police have exonerated him, and in spite of repeated, highly publicized pleadings from SNAP for others to come forth with their own allegations, no one has. Fortunately, the rest of the people in the two parishes involved are honest. Now, however, the accuser, who hired a big-city lawyer used to squeezing money from the Church whether or not the claims were factual (one research report indicated that 50% of the claims made by this firm were false allegations and one cardinal actually sued for false claims and won) and mistakenly clearly thought that this would be a dandy way to get some money from a small-town Catholic diocese that was assumed to be easy to frighten, has filed a civil suit, not having got one penny from our bishop. He has included the bishop in the lawsuit (I assume because the bishop did not "pay up" as he expected) and the police department, too. Talk about a world gone crazy! I built a website about our priest's situation for our parish where efforts to help, latest information, and research information on false allegations in general can be shared: www.in-support-of-fr-ed.com. As I told our bishop, having been extensively abused myself, I would be the last person to support a real perpetrator of such atrocities (and I know that sometimes it is the least likely person who does such things), but this case is clear. (It helps that I know something about the accuser's real motive but cannot share that until it comes out in court.) The accuser needs prayers, not money, and the anger being expressed by SNAP about this situation does not come from God; it is a selfish and vengeful anger, directed at a hurt that members of SNAP experienced from priests other than our priest. SNAP, too, needs prayers.

2. We closed on a neat house at the end of February and moved last week, the only week I have been home since closing -- I was not even present for the closing. The house overlooks our valley. It has five bedrooms, which is larger than anything we have ever owned. After the kids grew up, I never thought I would want to take care of a large house again, but it was really the view and the fact that it is nonetheless walking distance from the mission that sold me on the house.

3. We had a strange interaction with a rooster when we moved out of our old house. (A reminder here: roosters have the right of way in San Ignatio and are protected by law.) He followed us up onto our deck, pecked at our door, making it sound like he was knocking, and then beat on the window. (You might have to make the picture larger to see him.) He remained there for as long as we were cleaning and even after we left. We wonder if he might have made friends with our cats and wondered where they had gone. In any event, it was a Hitchcock-like experience.

4. Before we could finish unpacking, I headed out on a fascinating business trip to Fayetteville, North Carolina. Now, Fayetteville is not fascinating. In fact, I commented to someone that it looked like it had fallen on hard times, but he laughed and said that it has looked this way for as long as he can remember.

5. We are holding a reverse evaluation (something I introduced) for our southeastern branches. This is where workers get to tell their managers (anonymously through representatives from the various branches) what they do or don't do that make it difficult for them to do good work. It is a very effective way to improve organizations.

6. Tonight I had dinner with the son of friends from Army days. He is now in the Army, a captain, serving at Ft. Bragg. We went to the Mash House and had a great steak meal and even better conversation, catching up on years and years. The last time I saw him, he was in elementary school and was visiting us in California with his parents (whom I have seen since). He immediately crawled behind our sofa and refused to come out for hours. He says that he remembers that. He also remembers that while back there, he found some things under the couch to try putting into the light socket back there. Really?? There are times that, as parents, one prefers not to know what is going on if one does not have the opportunity to intervene. This must have been a case of divine protection because we had no idea what mischief he was up to.

7. Nikolina has been making progress as she approaches her second birthday. She is not walking yet -- still working on learning how to use her braces. Savvy, though, she is. Shane reports that she has figured out how to navigate his iPhone. He gave it to her for a little toddler game with sheep and chickens jumping around, and she pushed the home key and was able to navigate two screens over, click into a specific folder and then open the Netflix app so she could play her favorite movie(s). Just wait until she is three years old!

Tomorrow I head out for Qatar -- some international meetings there at which I need to present. I have no idea whether or not someone will be picking me up at the airport when I arrive at 1:00 in the morning, but I am hoping for the best. Will report on what actually happens next week. In the interim, I wish all a great weekend and good week.