Cromey Online

The writings of author, therapist, and priest Robert Warren Cromey.

Thursday, November 19, 2015

RUNNING FOR PRESIDENT

If I were running for President, here are the critical issues I’d work for:


1.    I want government supported medical care for all people in the United States. That includes, aliens, visitors who are in the US for any reason.

2.    I want to prevent the US military to go to war. I want a full-fledged good intentioned discussion, negotiations and engagement with any enemy that threatens our nation. I want to stop the US government, the CIA or any other arm of this country to interfere in the internal matters of other nations. We are not the police of the world.

3.    All American secret prisons, torture schools in and out of the country will be closed and dismantled.

4.    I demand a good faith investigation and agreement to make capitalism work in such a manner that the people in America have equitable pay.

5.    Roads, highways, airports, railways subsidized by the government are to be in good repair and safe.

6.    All media must abide by a fairness doctrine when presenting the news. The airwaves are owned by the citizens not big corporations.

7.    All aspects of business, government and especially law enforcement must cooperate to assure peace and safety for people of color.

8.    The tax code must be revised and simplified.

9.    Prison reform must be hastened and thorough.


10.Capital Punishment is to be abolished in all states.

Wednesday, November 18, 2015

US - GET OUT OF MIDDLE EAST

The bombing and killings in Paris last Friday have left me numb. I worry that I too have succumbed to the lack of empathy for the pain and sorrow of the people of the world. I choose to blame the imperialistic doctrines of the United States in the Middle East and around to world for much of the terrorist response. Poverty, famine, environmental disasters, homelessness have resulted from capitalist invasions of poor countries where the few become incredibly rich and poorer much poorer. Our passion for oil may be the most egregious. Our oil companies have invaded and bribed local governments so that we can all the oil we want. Certainly the US adoration of Israel at the expense of the Palestinians has been a great part of the hatred of the US by the Arab world.

I salute the President for going slow on using US troops much further into those Middle Eastern countries. I wish we would get out altogether and let those countries find their own way.


I have reluctantly left moderation in favor of the radical view of letting those countries fight it out for them selves.

Monday, November 16, 2015

WOMEN WHO KNEW JESUS

Women Who Knew Jesus
Bonnie Ring
AuthorHouse 2015

Dr. Ring has done the church a great service in writing and publishing Women Who Knew Jesus. She paints beautiful and touching pictures of twenty women who were powerful influences on Jesus and the church as a whole. Women depicted in the standard readings Sunday by Sunday are secondary characters basking in the aura of Jesus. Dr. Ring brings them forward as characters proclaiming the gospel of good news by their actions, words and lives. The healing of the bent over woman, the woman taken in adultery and even in the dream of Pilate’s wife, women are real people and not just foils for Jesus’ ministry.

Preachers can learn a great deal from this book about the theology and ethics of Jesus. Lay people can immerse themselves in Biblical reflection of complex material, which the author helps unscramble. Clergy and lay people can delve deeply into meditative guidance Dr. Ring provides in this 247-page book.

The scholarship and work that the author has put in is evident on every page and also in the extensive bibliography she has provided at the end of the book. She is daring in taking the position that the beloved disciple John is really Mary of Magdala.

I wish Ring had continued adding her personal experiences throughout the book as she did in some early chapters. A very small quibble is that I wish better illustrations were chosen. The pleasant ones used are too 19th century sentimental.

(Full disclosure. I have been acquainted with Dr. ring since the early 1980s. She was a clergy volunteer for a while when I was rector of Trinity Episcopal Church, San Francisco.)


Robert Warren Cromey is a priest retired and lives in San Francisco.



Wednesday, November 11, 2015

VETERANS NEED OUR FORGIVENESS


Veterans Day reminds me to remember the military and civilian dead in all our wars. I do remember and pray for all those men and women on all sides who lived and died in World Wars I and II and the subsequent foolish wars since WW II ended. The arrogance, fear and racism of our political leaders and many citizens of the United States have contributed to the killing and maiming members of the military. We need also to remember the millions killed and maimed civilians cynically called “collateral damage” by our leaders. Prayers of forgiveness should be added to our thanks for those who served.