Biblical Poem for October 10, 2022: Jonah and Saint Teresa of Avila by Patrick McCaskey

Jonah, (c.350-400), Photo by Fr. Lawrence Lew, O.P.
Vatical Museum, https://flic.kr/p/kXU52M

 

Jonah and Saint Teresa of Avila

 

Luke 11:29-32

 

From the Navarre Bible commentary,

We know that “The Ninevites did penance

because they acknowledged the prophet

Jonah and accepted his message.

Jesus is greater than Jonah…Christ’s life

And preaching are a call to conversion.”

 

From the Magnificat, we know that

Saint Teresa of Avila advised,

“Let nothing disturb you, let nothing

Frighten you, all things are passing away:

God never changes.  Patience obtains all

Things.  Whoever has God lacks nothing; God

Alone suffices.”  This is holy advice.

 

My sister Anne’s middle name is Terese.

 

Patrick McCaskey

 

Patrick McCaskey is a Vice President and Director of the Chicago Bears, Chair of Sports Faith International, and Chair of WSFI Catholic Radio 88.5, as well as poet and the author of our Sports and Faith Series. He is also a grandson of George "Papa Bear" Halas.  McCaskey's latest book is Tuition Rebate.   Patrick McCaskey's Poems About the Gospel and Poems About the Gospel II are books for all seasons where readers can find a few words of encouragement in every poem--both books are available from Amazon.

Copyright 2022, Sporting Chance Press, Bring good things under your roof with Sporting Chance Press.

 

Image: Photo by Fr. Lawrence Lew, O.P., Jonah (c.350-400) from Vatican Museum, https://flic.kr/p/kXU52M

 

My Brown and White

 Note: I am reprising this review that Mr. Potocki and Mr. Stadler were so kind to write a few years ago. 

HERE'S THE BOOK REVIEW THAT WAS ON THE MOUNT CARMEL HIGH SCHOOL WEBSITE.

The Brown and White

THE BROWN AND WHITE

Jon Potocki '65 and Terri Stadler '65 review The Brown and White by Lawrence Norris's '71: 

This "fictionalized memoir" brought the alums back "home" and proved to be a thoughtful fictionalized account of life at Mount Carmel in the 60's. Thomas Wolfe, the early 20th century author said, “You can’t go home again.” But both of us recently had a close encounter with the Southeast side of the 1960s in Chicago. We just finished reading The Brown and White, a “fictionalized memoir” written by Lawrence Norris, a 1971 graduate of Mount Carmel. We were so impressed with the author’s stories that neither of us could put it down. Because of its storied format and short chapters, we both finished it in a matter hours (and as John proudly proclaims, ‘not bad for a guy who was in the lowest section for all four years’).

The book was written about a student, the author, and his freshman year at a fictional all-boys HS, “St. Mary’s,” on Chicago’s south side (September 1967 to June 1968). The encounters he writes about between the upper classmen and the new freshmen included many experiences that many of us actually had during our first year at Carmel: being called “Bennies,” being the brunt of the upper classmen’s jokes and high jinx, etc. 

Although the book is a fictionalized account, most of us tried to identify every character in the book with someone from our first year at Carmel, 1961 – 1962. Growing up on the South Side of Chicago was and still is a special kind of life. 

The book takes its title from the brown and white school bus that the student rode and centers on the many experiences that he had coming and going to school in the turbulent late sixties: passing the (Aquinas, Mercy, Longwood, St. Francis, Loretto) girls who were waiting for their CTA bus, getting harassed by the residents in the “bad” neighborhoods that they drove through, all the while looking out for something or someone special passing by in a car. 

The book contains various “hooks” that caught both of us as we scurried through its pages. First, the complex and confusing social aspects experienced in the Chicago during the Sixties (i.e., race relations, assassinations, the Viet Nam war, sportpractices, football games and girls) contributed to the personal development of each and every student at the school in the book, as well as our own. Second, for many us, there was one person at Carmel who had a lasting impression on each of us. In the book, a guy named Willie, the bus driver of the Brown and White, was the adult who had a special impact on the author and the other bus riders. As an unlikely adult, he would have a major role in two of the students’ lives. Third, the portrayals of each fictional teacher triggered our own imaginations, trying to identify each of them. Finally, family played a major roll for the author and for us. Whether ours were a loving and thoughtful family or one filled with dysfunction, the book captured this critical element in the development of each of us. 

Finally, we both identified with the book’s main character in numerous ways. His freshmen experiences, in many ways, were our freshmen experiences. We think that anyone who reads this book will feel the same tug back to their freshmen year at Carmel. Mount Carmel High School, then and now, is more than just a school. It is what our society today needs: the challenges of pursuing hard work, following direction, obeying authority, developing right relationships among all students and teachers (regardless of race, academic capability or social background), and being presented with the opportunities to grow physically, mentally and morally/spiritually. The book is all about this growth for the author, and in turn, invites us to reflect on our own growth that we experienced at Carmel. 

Mr. Norris did a great job with his book. We believe that new students and alumni should all read this fine work. It will bring back some fond memories for many alumni and contribute in many ways what the brown Our Lady of Mount Carmel Scapular is really about for new students. If you work hard as a boy you will leave a man: Ready to think of others in a challenging world where inclusiveness benefits all, where Our Lady of Mount Carmel points us to her Son, the God who lives with us and in us today, just as we learned in the Sixties hanging around the Chicago’s south side. 

The Brown and White can be purchased on Amazon by clicking here.

Biblical Poem for February 8, 2022: Jesus Christ Stresses Purity of Heart by Patrick McCaskey

 

Photo by Fr. Lawrence Lew, O. P., Benediction in
 Blackfriars priory church; https://flic.kr/p/87eU4H

Jesus Christ Stresses Purity of Heart

 

          Mark 7:1-8, 14-15, 21-23

 

From the “Workbook for Lectors” we know that

“Jesus prefers to associate with

An amiable, if somewhat unti-

dy, group rather than…critics with clean hands.”

 

Jesus declared that all food is clean.

Sin begins in the interior life.

Jesus healed with just one look of true love.

Bing Crosby sang “True Love” to Grace Kelly.

 

God restores our heart with a tender gaze.

We can do the same the rest of our days.

Husbands can give their wives the look of love.

Parents can look at their children with love.

 

Jesus Christ looks at us with compassion,

Even if we do not like poetry.

 

Patrick McCaskey

 

Patrick McCaskey is a Vice President and Director of the Chicago Bears, Chair of Sports Faith International, and Chair of WSFI Catholic Radio 88.5, as well as poet and the author of our Sports and Faith Series. He is also a grandson of George "Papa Bear" Halas. Surprising, inspiring, and all very human, Patrick McCaskey's Poems About the Gospel and Poems About the Gospel II are books for all seasons where readers can find a few words of encouragement in every poem. Poems About the Gospel is available from Sporting Chance Press, Amazon and select bookstores like the Little Way in Crystal Lake. Poems About the Gospel II is exclusively available from Amazon.

Copyright 2020, Sporting Chance Press

Image: Photo by Fr. Lawrence Lew, O. P., Benediction in Blackfriars priory church; https://flic.kr/p/87eU4H

Ride the Brown and White with me; I've saved you a seat...

The Brown and White is a literary work. But just as no prophet is accepted in his hometown, no writer thinks his writing is very good until he hears it from others. That may seem like a general statement that may not be correct in our very critical time, but I think the substance of it is true. We all need people to encourage us. Writers are no different. There are no books that suit everyone's taste. But if you can write one that hits the write spot for the audience you seek, it is a winner. 

Encouragement comes in many different forms. 

Since The Brown and White was a fictional memoir that features (anonymously) my famous high school and my classmates from the late 1960s, it was important to get some feedback from classmates. Oddly enough, I heard from some of the guys a couple classes ahead of mine first. The loved the book and had me come out to regularly scheduled get-together at a Chicago Tavern to talk about the book. It was a little scary, but definitely fun. 

I saw my classmates later at a school banquet. Several came up and told me they loved the book and had no idea that I could capture the times so well. As a student, I was often more of a good witness than one of the more active players in high school. I was not on the football team; I was on the track team. I was in second honors, not first. But I did ride the legendary Brown and White bus to school and had many memories from those experiences that I worked on over and over again for 30 some years. I certainly put in the time on this book. 

There were many special families in those days with fathers and mothers who sacrificed most everything for their kids. Siblings fought each other at home and supported each other in public. I included those memories. In that sense it is a book about family.

There were comic characters and tremendous teachers at school. I put a spotlight on some of them. In that way it is about interesting people in authority. 

Many of my classmates were disappointed that I have used a fictitious name for the school and created a fictional memoir rather than a biography of sorts. The answer to that is simple: I wanted to capture the times for everyone who lived through them and many others so the memories could be theirs as well. A book about a named high school might be more interesting to alum, but a book about a kind of prototype high school has a chance of reaching many more people. Take "Gease" for example. I am still hoping for Hollywood! 

The Brown and White is a short book and is easy to read. When you read it, you can add a lot of our experiences between the lines as I take you along on the Brown and White. Go through all the emotions with me as ride the bus together. I've saved you a seat. 

In the last couple months, I have seen a little uptick in sales. Maybe it's the traction I've been waiting for.... 

My Books, The Brown and White, Selling Now!

At Sporting Chance Press we have a few new titles that I have been promoting, but much to my surprise when I checked sales recently, the book that is selling the best right now is my own book, The Brown and White. I did not start my company, Sporting Chance Press, to promote my own work. As a matter of fact, I have no plans to publish The Brown and White, but things changed and it's time came in 2016. Based on these sales, I thought I should post something to hopefully keep the trend going. 

Here's my Catholic TV Interview for the Brown and White on YouTube, which came out about the time the book published.

Amazon's listing.

I can tell you that I worked very hard on this book over several decades. Why did it take so long?  I really can't give you a good answer to that, but I was motivated to write the book when I felt like I wanted to memorialize the times, the students in the era, and neighborhoods of Chicago.

Brown and White Publisher Has Published Second Poems About the Gospel by Patrick McCaskey

 Poems About the Gospel II, now available from Amazon, features another 150 short works written by Patrick McCaskey. Like our Poems About the Gospel (published in 2020), each poem provides the author's own take on an individual passage of one of the Evangelists that are often read at Mass and other Christian services. The poems reveal the thoughts and feelings of a modern man responding to the Gospel with faith, humility, and humor. The author’s poems remind us that the Christian faith is just as alive today as ever, and the inspired writings live alongside all our foibles and culture. The author’s sense of reality rushes in at unexpected times with a “time out” for humor. Readers are struck with all the author’s variety of thoughts that fall as they might, but never take away from the faith distilled. A 45+ year veteran and Vice President of the Chicago Bears, Patrick McCaskey is the grandson of founder George Halas. McCaskey has written many books on sports and faith. He serves as Chairman of Sports Faith International an initiative which recognizes people who are successful in sports while leading exemplary lives. The author also chairs WSFI Catholic Radio that broadcasts to northeastern Illinois and southeastern Wisconsin.

Four New Books from Sporting Chance Press

Four New Books from Sporting Chance Press

Available at sportingchancepress.com and Amazon.com.

Baseball’s Winning Ways is written for enjoyment, inspiration, and information by the author of The 10 Commandments of Baseball, J. D. Thorne. Baseball’s Winning Ways examines baseball eras and their backgrounds, along with profiles of great current and past players. The drama of the game, its history, baseball superstitions, statistics, and the story of trading cards are presented clearly for readers from age 12 on up. The central theme of the book is baseball’s principles that are essential to the best baseball programs. The author points out that baseball promotes certain virtues that are so important today. These are the values that parents, grandparents, teachers, and coaches want to pass down to the next generation. $20, ISBN: 978-1-7345863-3-6 (Pub. 11/2020)

Papa Bear and the Chicago Bears’ Winning Ways by Patrick McCaskey tells the dramatic story of George Halas and his crucial role in professional football–all written for middle grades readers. Papa Bear’s leadership took professional football from its beginning into the modern age. In Papa Bear and the Chicago Bears’ Winning Ways, highlights of history are presented with vintage photographs so readers are not only exposed to the story of football, but they get American history as well. Halas’s important words of wisdom, his winning ways, are also explored and are tied into Ben Franklin’s self-help methods for young people. $12, ISBN: 978-1-7345863-1-2 (Pub. 8/2020)

Poems About the Gospel feature 150 short works written by Patrick McCaskey. Each poem provides the author’s own take on an individual passage of one of the Evangelists that are often read at Mass and other Christian services. The poems reveal the thoughts and feelings of a modern man responding to the Gospel with faith, humility, and humor. The author’s poems remind us that the Christian faith is just as alive today as ever, and the inspired writings live alongside all our foibles and culture. The author’s sense of reality rushes in at unexpected times with a “time out” for humor. Readers are struck with all the author’s variety of thoughts that fall as they might, but never take away from the faith distilled. A 45+ year veteran and Vice President of the Chicago Bears, Patrick McCaskey is the grandson of founder George Halas. $20, ISBN: 978-1-7345863-2-9 (Pub. 11/2020)

Sportsmanship is the most ambitious book in Patrick McCaskey’s popular Sports and Faith Series. First, readers are treated to a Chicago Bears Calendar of historical events that celebrate Bears’ history for each day of the year. Next, chapters feature interesting stories, sports segments, personal reminiscences, faith experiences, and the author’s humorous musings. Reflecting the practice of classic sports journalist memoirs, McCaskey has frequently written about his favorite athletes and coaches. In Sportsmanship, the author adds a new twist to this practice by including a chapter on favorite writers who have inspired him.  Towards the end of the volume are McCaskey’s speeches that have been used at social and civil events, presentations to churches and schools, and all types of occasions relating to his passion, the Chicago Bears. $20 ISBN: 978-0-9819342-4-2 (Pub. 2/2020)