Obama: How’s business? Business Owner: “Terrible since you got here”

(Battleground Watch) Here is the tweet sequence on the exchange this afternoon in Cleveland, Ohio where the shopkeeper tells Obama his appearance is killing his business:

Pool: Obama asked the proprietor at Rolston Poultry how business was going.

“Terrible since you got here,” the man said.

— Zeke Miller (@ZekeJMiller) October 5, 2012

Pool:Potus didn’t appear amused by the sentiment.

— Zeke Miller (@ZekeJMiller) October 5, 2012

Cue the face saving forced smile just like in the debates when tried to catch himself:

Apparently the TV pool report says the exchange was in jest.

— Zeke Miller (@ZekeJMiller) October 5, 2012

Something tells me this wasn’t “ha, ha” funny but more teeth grimacing gallows humor funny:

Ok, we can confirm this was not “ha, ha” funny. Direct from the restaurant/deli:

Reached by phone, a person at Rolston’s who did not give his name explained to POLITICO that the presidential visit had put a dent in sales.

“I couldn’t sell chicken for an hour. Now I can sell chicken. I got to go,” a man said before hanging up. He did mention that he shook Obama’s hand.

Link:

• Obama: How’s business? Business Owner: “Terrible since you got here"

The Persecution of Bishop Lennon

CLEVELAND - A large portion of the congregation at St. Casimir's Catholic Church walked out on Bishop Richard Lennon as he said the parish's final mass...

As Bishop Lennon approached the podium, many people stood and turned their backs on him and walked towards the rear of the church. They then paused and sang a Polish anthem.

"It's terrible, terrible, terrible," said Eleanor Stanish, a long-time parishioner who hoped to have her funeral said some day at St. Casimir's. "I don't know what's wrong with that bishop."

Bishop Lennon has made it a practice to say the final mass at a church that is closing. He expressed his sadness at this day, and a few people offered words of understanding. One man said, "If you got to close it, you got to close it. All the families are moving out."

But many others expressed anger - especially because some people claim to still have an appeal pending with the Vatican to keep the church opened. "This church is still on appeal," one woman shouted at Bishop Lennon. "You have no business being here." - Source

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In his final words to the St. John congregation, Lennon said, "You are greater than any temple, church or cathedral that can be built by human hands."

Some in the protest group -- including Nancy McGrath of Endangered Catholics, a local coalition fighting the closing of churches -- said they would find another way to further the fight.

Before they were escorted out, Lennon approached the group sitting in pews and asked them to "kindly leave the church."

That request instigated a heated exchange as the protesters accused Lennon of trading "souls for cash" and of not including parishioners in the consolidation decision. - Source

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"Bishop Lennon is an uncaring, inconsiderate and coldhearted person. He is not worthy to lead the Cleveland Catholic Diocese...

I will not lose my faith in God, but Bishop Lennon is making it very difficult to have faith in the church itself." - Source
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"Today is a special day, a day of sadness, a day of wonderment and a day of anger for some," Lennon said in his sermon. "This is a story of God and men and women working together for over a century. May we rely on God in these days of darkness and sadness."

During the service, uniformed Cleveland police officers watched over the bishop. One followed him down the main aisle during the final procession. Then, flanked by officers, Lennon left the church and walked in the rain through a back parking lot, ignoring the protest signs - "Dis-Membering in Process," "This is Not God's Plan," "Keep Our Church Open."

Protesters Marta Fordos of Fairview Park and Hanna Gereby of Cleveland ran after Lennon, catching up to him. "I'm sorry you have to ruin our churches," snapped Fordos. "Judas!"

Lennon, his eyes downcast, did not respond, continuing his wet march toward his car. - Source

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I empathize with these people who will have to move from the parishes they've been at for their entire lives, where they were baptized, married, where funerals took place, but part of me would like to see Bishop Lennon present a slide show to them following the final Masses and the protests, showing the murders of Christians in Iraq, India, and other parts of the world, and perhaps describe the lives of the Saints and how they suffered, putting things in perspective for them.

Cleveland, OH: Miracle for John Paul II’s Beatification?

From CNA via Fr. Z:

‘Miraculous’ recovery from ‘non-survivable’ gunshot wound could beatify Pope John Paul II

Cleveland, Ohio, Apr 4, 2009 / 01:55 pm (CNA).- A man who suffered a "non-survivable" execution-style gunshot to the head during a mugging in Cleveland has had a "miraculous" recovery possibly due to the intercession of Pope John Paul II. If the late pontiff is credited for the miracle, it would lead to his beatification. [This from the beginning reminds me of some of the amazing stories I read when I was doing the Studium at the Cong. for Causes of Saints. Amazing and inexplicable things. Amazing.]

Jory Ably, 26, suffered the gunshot would five weeks ago. Doctors at the Metro Health Medical Center declared it to be a "non-survivable" injury, ABC’s Good Morning America reports.

Hospital chaplain Fr. Art Nedeker administered Aebly with the Sacrament of the Sick, asking Pope John Paul II to pray for Jory and to protect him. [This is an important element: There has to be a specific intention to pray for the intercession through that specific person. This usually requires the suggestion and prompting of someone who knows about the cause and then how to report it.]

Fr. Nedeker explained that the Pope had promised him [!] he would always pray for the patients at the hospital and blessed a dozen rosaries with special patients at the hospital.

The priest gave Aebly the last of the rosaries [This is sounding to me more and more to a serious cause for a miracle.] that had been blessed by the Pope, after which Aebly consistently improved.

He was released on Tuesday, two days before the fourth anniversary of Pope John Paul II’s death.

Dr. Robert Geertman, a neurosurgeon involved in Aebly’s treatment, told Good Morning America his patient’s survival was "one in a million."

"My jaw was on the floor after a day or two of seeing he is hanging on. …I’d say it’s pretty miraculous," he said at a press conference days after the shooting.

At the press conference announcing Aebly’s release, Fr. Snedeker said:

"I stand before you today and can say, to my mind, Jory is a miracle." [At the level of the Congregation all the medical records would be reviewed.]

Aebly himself credited his recovery to "the many prayers from family, friends and co-workers" and others.

His mother Deb Wolfram told the press conference she believes in "the power of prayer" and said she believed people’s prayers helped her son through his ordeal, Good Morning America says.

A Vatican official reported that the investigation into the alleged miracle could take time. [Of course!]

"We cannot predict a precise schedule," Monsignor Angelo Amato, prefect of the Congregation for the Caucus of Saints told ANSA. "All stages, including the examination of the miracle, have to be conducted in a particularly thorough way."

Approval of the miracle could lead to Pope John Paul II’s beatification, leaving one more miracle before he can be canonized.

"Here is what happens.

When people think there was a verifiable miracle, they start a cause, like a court case.

All the "proofs" must be gathered… documents and testimony gathered according to a procedure.

Once everything is gathered in the place where the alleged miracle occured, it is sent to Rome.

The Congregation verifies that the procedures were followed correctly. Then they look at the theological aspects of the claim: can it be demonstrated that the people prayed to X or asked for a miracle through X, etc. It has to be explicit and not just mixed in with "Jesus, Mary, Joseph and X, Y, Z all the saints and angels!" Often there is an image or relic or project to pray to X.

In the case of a cure (there are other kinds of miracles too!) the healing or change in condition must be sudden, complete and lasting. That must be demonstrated by proofs. The medical records are studied by a panel of doctors and other necessary experts. They look into the diagnosis and prognosis and then what happened in stark scientific terms. They determine if what happened can be explained by the science they know.

With a miracle, the Congregation has to look at the evidence and then determine that what happened. within moral certitude, through the intercession of X, the condition was grave/dire/serious and there was a sudden complete and lasting change that cannot be explained.

What I like about this case is that there was a priest who knew what was going on and there was an object associate with John Paul II and his own remark. The person’s prognoss was very bad and the healing was sudden and complete and seems to be lasting and they can’t explain it."

• Link

Father Valencheck's New Assignment

"On Monday, the Most Reverend Richard G. Lennon, Bishop of Cleveland called me to his office at the chancery to inform me that he is transferring me from the Church of Saint Clare to Saint Sebastian in Akron, Ohio...

I try to remind you from time to time that you readers are in my prayers. Today I ask you to pray for me that I might worthily serve God and this diocese in my new role.

God bless."

• Houston: The Toothpaste is Out of the Tube