Mountain Views News, Combined Edition Saturday, November 16, 2019

10

Mountain Views-News Saturday, November 16, 2019 

CAT OF THE WEEK


PIPER & PIPPIN ARE PURR-FECT!

Looking for a “twofur”? Young 
siblings, Piper & Pippin, age 8 mos., 
are absolutely purr-rect! Piper is the 
little female, a calico. Just look at her 
cute nose--so unique! Pippin is a male, 
wearing his handsome black & white 
tuxedo coat! Both are super sweet, 
purr purr-fectly, cuddle cutely, and 
play hard. Adopt them both together. 
They will come spayed/neutered, 
current on health/vaccines, and microchipped. See their video and 
more pix at www.lifelineforpets.org, Young Cats page. Contact us 
at 626-676-9505 or info@lifelineforpets.org.

Pet of the Week

 
Meet sleek, gorgeous house panther Griffin 
(A478533)! If you haven’t had a black cat in your 
life, what are you waiting for? Two-year-old 
Griffin is one of the kitties in our communal 
cat room. When he first got to the shelter he 
was pretty shy, but now he has a blast playing 
with wand toys and LOVES eating treats. And 
if you come visit him, you may see him curled 
up in one of the cat trees with longhaired tortie 
Mimi, which is the cutest thing ever. Anyone 
with two or more cats dreams of the day when 
their cats cuddle, and if you get both Griffin 
and Mimi, you won’t have to dream! Adopt 
Griffin, and you’ll immediately become a mini 
panther convert!

 The adoption fee for cats is $90. All cats 
are spayed or neutered, microchipped, and 
vaccinated before being adopted. 

 New adopters will receive a complimentary 
health-and-wellness exam from VCA Animal 
Hospitals, as well as a goody bag filled with 
information about how to care for your pet.

 
View photos of adoptable pets at 
pasadenahumane.org. Adoption hours are 11 
a.m. to 4 p.m. Sunday; 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Tuesday 
through Friday; and 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday.

 Pets may not be available for adoption and 
cannot be held for potential adopters by phone 
calls or email.


LOOKING FOR A 
BEST FRIEND?

Mick is an endearing and strapping 10-year-
old Bullmastiff pooch sporting a soft tan coat, 
expressive brown eyes and a lovely silver face. 
This one-of-a-kind boy had quite the pair of 
floppy ears at one point but, sadly, he recently 
lost one of them. Mick weighs about 80 pounds, 
and is an easy-to-walk companion due to his 
relaxed nature. He is also very patient and a 
breeze in the bathtub! This sweet pup really 
enjoys people companionship and is trusting, 
tender and loving with everyone he meets. 
Mick is one of those special and inspirational 
pets that leave everlasting paw prints in the hearts of all who meet him. If you are that special 
person or family, please come meet him and be prepared to be touched by his kindness. His 
adoption fee is $145, which includes neuter surgery, microchip, first vaccinations and a free 
wellness check-up at a participating veterinarian.


THE PRIEST THAT STIMULATED 
OUR THINKING

CHRISTOPHER Nyerges

 
[This is part of a work-in-progress book about the author’s childhood and teens. Nyerges 
is the author of several books such as “Extreme Simplicity,” “Enter the Forest,” 
“How to Survive Any-where,” and others. He can be reached at www.ChristopherNyerges.
com.]

Once I began attending John Muir High School, I was no longer getting the 
Catholic religious instruction that I got from classes at St. Elizabeth’s in grades 
1 through 8, and at St. Francis high school in the ninth grade.

Our local parish church, St. Elizabeth, offered Monday night classes for Catholics who were 
at-tending public school, and my mother encouraged me to go, just like my older brothers had 
done. Did I say “encouraged”? Let’s just say I had no other choice. The classes were called CCD, 
which I believe meant Confraternity of Christian Doctrine. For me, this meant I could get out 
of the house on Monday nights and maybe meet girls. I would usually go up to St. Eliza-beth’s 
school with my brother Richard and friend George, and sometimes with others.

We’d go to the 7th grade classroom and a priest or lay teacher would engage us in discussions of 
issues of honesty, relationships, politics, etc., all with the intent to get us to think in terms of how 
problems and issues can be seen, and resolved, in the context of Catholic dogma and theolo-
gy. In the beginning, I spoke very little, afraid of my own shadow. But when I began to answer 
simple questions when no one else spoke up, and the priest seemed delighted and surprised at 
my answers, I continued to override my feelings of stupidness and self-consciousness and would 
en-gage the priest in discussions and lively questions that everyone else at least found entertain-
ing. I don’t recall all of the specific topics we discussed, but one time, the priest asked us what 
was the most important single factor in a relationship. No one said a word. I finally said, “being 
honest,” and the priest said “You hit the nail on the head.” He then spoke for the rest of the night 
about being honest.

Often, I would share some fact, or have some query, which would objectively contradict what 
the priest had previously told us. I do recall that some of the subjects generally dealt with 
bio-logical evolution, abortion, the possibility of reincarnation, the possibility that the English 
transla-tions of the Bible could have some errors, and other topics. The priest encouraged us 
to ask ques-tions, and I began to look forward to these “lively discussions.” Though the priest 
always tried to bring it back to Catholic dogma and belief – which was the stated purpose of 
the classes – he did so in a very dynamic way so that we were never being dryly taught “church 
doctrine” but were guided to see some of these issues in the light of traditional church beliefs. 

Word got around to my mother that I was “debating with the priest.” I don’t know who would 
have reported that to my mother, or what they actually said. I presume it was a second or third 
hand report by another student who told their parent about the discussions, who told another 
parent, who knew my mother and told her, most likely in a very distorted way.

“How dare you talk back to the priest?” she said one day, without even asking me for an expla-
nation or asking me my side.

“What? When did I do that?” I replied.

“I heard that you were telling off the priest. What makes you think you know more than the 
priest?” she yelled. 

I attempted an explanation, but all she knew is that I didn’t sit there in the classroom meekly and 
say “yes, father” to the priest. It was near-heresy to question anything that the priest said. She 
never accepted my explanation, and would bring it up for years later, pointing out my arrogance 
to think that I could actually “talk back” to the priest, as if that’s what I was really doing, which 
I wasn’t. 

I never forgot this incident, realizing that when it came to the Church, my mother had some 
very strong viewpoints. In this case, she would not let facts get in the way of what she determined 
had actually happened.


Mountain Views News 80 W Sierra Madre Blvd. No. 327 Sierra Madre, Ca. 91024 Office: 626.355.2737 Fax: 626.609.3285 Email: editor@mtnviewsnews.com Website: www.mtnviewsnews.com