Daily Archives: July 16, 2024

It’s been quite the day for me. I started off in eastern Kansas where I was happy to attend the first profession of three young women entering religious life. I even got to meet a Cardinal who’s name rhymes with smirk.

From there I continued on to Kansas City where I would be staying the night. I had booked myself into the Sheraton Hotel in an area called the Crown Center. I chose this hotel because I am fascinated by disasters. As in I could watch disaster videos until the cows come home. There’s something deeply intriguing to me about watching things go wrong and then investigating why. Also, the fury of nature or the massive failure of physical materials when they give way to elemental forces usually due to the hubris of man is captivating to me.

So why this hotel?

Well, this hotel opened as a Hyatt Regency in 1980. It was magnificent. In particular, the lobby – which featured a four story atrium with “floating” (suspended) catwalks criss-crossing in the air – became a local hotspot. The hotel had begun hosting tea dances on Friday nights in that lobby. These dances, featuring big band music and merriment, attracted hundreds of locals.

And then it happened.

On a fine summer evening those catwalks collapsed and killed 114 people. See below.

When I checked in tonight, my son and I headed to our room high above the city. He turned on the TV and pulled up a video of the disaster. See below.

When the video started I froze in my tracks. That anniversary is now. I will of course say prayers in the lobby for the souls of the departed.

But of course the biggest takeaway?

STAY CONFESSED.

Listen, I’m going to say this again. I posted about this a few weeks ago.

I truly like JD Vance.

And I truly like President Trump.

I’ve always liked Trump from the time I was a kid growing up outside New York. He was in the news every day and you just couldn’t help but feel an affinity for him.

We’ve been over this before. Did he screw up on the Coof? Yep.

But something changed on Saturday – for all of us.

I prayed very hard for my former president.

I knew he’d survive, it wasn’t that.

I prayed that almost losing his life would wake him up – that he would contemplate his own mortality enough to start lurching toward the Catholic faith.

And Vance? Here’s where it gets interesting.

I hope both men on the ticket see this.

Senator Vance, I saw your answer to Kristin Welker on Meet The (de)Press(ed) about the abortion pill.

You’re a Catholic now. You’re my brother in the faith. For that reason I have an obligation to correct you. This is serious stuff and claiming a need to win an election matters not when it comes to defending the innocent and defenseless. You know this. You’ve fought for the forgotten man in Ohio. Don’t forget the unborn.

Brother JD, I like you. I even love you with Christian charity. I’m praying for you to get this one right because I believe you could do great things for this once-great land.

And Mr. President? You have Catholic advisers. Seek out the ones who call themselves “trad” and lean on them. Your life almost came to an end and I along with millions of Americans shed a tear of joy that you were spared. Ask those advisers about Fatima and July 13th (which is my anniversary, by the way). I know the significance. Our Blessed Mother gave us some important info that day. Her Son, Our Lord Jesus Christ spared your life that day.

Please, sir, don’t let that moment of saving grace die in vain Fight. Fight. Fight for all of us, especially the unborn.

God bless you both and may God bless America!