Let me first provide a disclaimer so that you can read this column with my perspective in mind, which may not be your perspective of the events. Disclaimer: I have an admittedly conservative political and theological viewpoint.

PRITZKER—DCFS has received a lot of negative press lately from deaths to some of the child wards in its care. There are thousands of children in the care of DCFS and its contract agencies. The vast majority of the caregivers and caseworkers are decent and well caring individuals who seek to do the best they can under often times very difficult placements. They are not perfect, but neither are the life situations that they are mandated to address and provide correction for. Recently, Gov. Pritzker was on the newspaper front pages showing training sessions for caseworkers who supervise the care of neglected and abused children in Illinois.  The training and funding is appropriate. The problem is that the state is symbolically voicing its support for the lives of these children while at the same time Pritzker is very much pro-abortion. I simply cannot make the image of pro-abortion and pro child safety services gel together. It does not compute.

CHER—Cher is an iconic Hollywood personality, living in the Los Angeles area. By all accounts she is of a very liberal persuasion and certainly not a Trump supporter. Trump is pushing for greater border security and not allowing undocumented people to enter the United States. A real issue for the federal government is what to do with all of the illegal immigrants crossing our southern border.  When Los Angeles was discussed as a resource for these illegal immigrants, Cher voiced her opposition. Cher is widely quoted for having said that Los Angeles already has 50,000 homeless living on its streets and simply doesn’t have room for more people in the city.  From what I have read, Cher certainly supports the influx of illegal immigrants into this county, only not in her backyard. Hollywood loves the rose colored glasses, just not reality in their neighborhood. 

BERNIE—Give Bernie Sanders credit, he just did a town hall meeting with FOX News. Bernie is a liberal’s liberal and has historically advocated increased taxation on higher income citizens. That is all the rich, save Bernie. It seems that Bernie has made significant money in the last few years in the 6 and 7 figure range. When asked if he wanted to pay more taxes, he gave an artful dodge. Bernie stated he has paid the taxes he owed and it is the super rich such as Amazon and others that really should be the target of tax increases. Bernie wants to nail the rich, save Bernie gets a pass. Love that man’s thinking. 

NOTRE DAME—Notre Dame Cathedral is the symbol of the Catholic Church in France and to a large extent, it also reflects the secular pride of the French. This magnificent and huge cathedral was severely damaged by fire. While I tend to believe that the secular had overtaken the theological aspect of Notre Dame, I was impressed by the response of both church members and the French public. It appears that a few French billionaires have now pledged in excess of $300 million for the rebuild effort. There is currently a massive effort in France to raise the funds to do the rebuild. More importantly, a catholic priest was on the news explaining that it was a building that burned, and that the church is people and the people are still there. The response to the tragedy appears to be real and responsive to both a theological and secular need. The response at Notre Dame is in shar contrast to the previous three responses.  Sometimes it takes a tragedy to truly bring out the goodness in people to serve their fellow man.

Clinton Presbyterian church—From Catholics to Presbyterians, it must be my day to go back to my theological training of yesteryear. April 15th is simply a day that I despise. You either have to file your tax return or file that extension. Either way, you are forced to acknowledge the authority and power of the federal government. I ventured to the post office in my usual April 15th dour mood. What is good about April 15th? The ladies of the Clinton Presbyterian Church is the answer. These fine ladies were giving all that entered the post office or went through the drive through a plastic bag with two cookies inside. Stapled to the bag was a business card providing the times of service at the church and this all too honest encouragement, “HOPE YOUR DAY ISN’T TOO TAXING” What a wonderful way to soften the pain of paying taxes. Thank-you ladies.