Da Techguy's (no longer backup) Blog

Then children were brought to him that he might lay his hands on them and pray. The disciples rebuked them, but Jesus said, “Let the children come to me, and do not prevent them; for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these.”

After he placed his hands on them, he went away.

Matthew 19:13-15

There was a slightly comic moment last week at mass.

At the point where the Our Father (or as our Protestant Brother’s call it the Lord’s Prayer) was stated there was one voice that was much louder than the rest.

It was a boy about four or five years old who said it with such gusto that the entire church could hear it. Both my wife and I smiled and after Mass before grappling with a crowded parking lot she talked to his mother (and I his father) about how it brought a smile to our faces before I ducked into the confessional for a quick confession.

The reason why the parking lot was so full and the reason my confession was so quick was because Father was flat out. Apparently two Baptisms were scheduled for after mass one at 11 & one at 11:30 so as the time was tighter than normal he asked the 1st family to show a tad early and the deacon asked the 2nd to show a tad late.

There have been baptisms after mass almost every week lately so much so that the absence of them at yesterday’s mass stood out.

But while there were no new Baptisms the little boy who had been loud the previous week was there in the pew ahead of me along with his three sisters and two older brothers with his parents flanking him taking up the entire pew. He was not as loud but just the sight of him kept the smile up.

And when I turned to greet others (the sign of peace is not longer explicitly done due to COVID but everyone turns and waves anyways) it was clear that their pew was not the only one filled by a family with four or more children.

Some are annoyed by the crowd these baptisms make in the parking lot or the large amount of kids, I’m not.

I would like my parish to still be there in my old age and the bottom line is that if the people at your church do not take the time to “be fruitful and multiply” as scripture says there won’t be a church in a generation.

Sign one: Crossed Arms at Communion

By Christoper Harper

A new study shows that the pandemic may not have caused as many deaths as previously reported, but the research was quickly suppressed by Johns Hopkins, the source of the information.

The study, which was published by Dr. Genevieve Briand at Johns Hopkins University, noted that there were some significant errors in the reporting of COVID-related deaths.

See the initial study and subsequent disclaimer at https://www.jhunewsletter.com/article/2020/11/a-closer-look-at-u-s-deaths-due-to-covid-19

It is already well established that COVID-19 is most dangerous to those over the age of 65 and have preexisting conditions. There has been a mortality rate of 2.1 percent in the United States, with elderly individuals making up over half that number. 

However, according to the study, the number of deaths in the United States show no significant change and even mirror past trends of seasonal illness. 

According to the CDC’s data from the last six years, total deaths have remained relatively constant, and increases can be explained by various factors such as a larger population. The spikes in fatalities in 2020 are consistent with historical trends, only topping 2018 by 11,292 deaths. There have been more than 260,000 deaths attributed to COVID-19 in the United States.

Perhaps more important, the spike in recorded COVID-19 deaths seen in 2020 has coincided with a proportional decrease in death from other diseases. 

According to a graph in the study, deaths labeled under COVID-19 increased while deaths labeled under other causes decreased. It is important to note that this sample only applies to the month of April as the author noted these were the weeks with the highest reported deaths until recently. 

In the week ending April 18, for example, the number of people who died of heart disease, cancer, respiratory illness, and other diseases dropped by 2,540. The number of COVID deaths increased by 2,561. A similar trend occurred the next week, with a decrease of deaths from various illnesses other than COVID by 1,605, while the number of COVID cases increased by 1,651. 

Furthermore, Briand’s research noted that the number of deaths has remained relatively constant through all age groups. COVID death statistics seem to mirror the normal distribution of death among various age groups, lending credence to the contention that many fatalities were recategorized as COVID deaths. 

“All of this points to no evidence that COVID-19 created any excess deaths. Total death numbers are not above normal death numbers. We found no evidence to the contrary,” Briand maintained.

Although the study only analyzed the month of April when COVID was at one of its highest levels, the data seem to support the argument that the pandemic may have been overblown.

Now that the COVID scare has put Joe Biden into the White House, it wouldn’t be surprising if there somehow was a recalculation that Joe came to the rescue. There wouldn’t be a need to scare people!