by Al Staggs

(from "A Pilgrim in Rome: Cries of Dissent")

Like drug lords of Mexico or Colombia

these titans of business

own huge estates,

private jets and

priceless works of art.

Yet, unlike the drug czars,

they are not committing crimes,

for all that they have amassed

has been obtained legally

through our system of Capitalistic Enterprise

which rewards the richest

at the expense of everyone else.

The magnates have no fear

that their financial interests

will ever be endangered,

for those who make the laws

that maintain this Capitalistic Enterprise

are in the pockets of those magnates who hold the purses.

No violence can be attributed to this elite class.

Weapons are not needed

to secure and maintain their opulent lifestyles.

There is immorality in the System

but the Press will not print it,

the Media will not report it,

the Government is hamstrung by deep-pocketed lobbyists,

and the Church is complicit in this injustice.

Instead of working to rectify the System

that has created a bottomless pit of poverty,

the Church passes out holiday charity baskets

and deludes itself into thinking

that this is enough to fulfill the teachings

of Jesus, the One who was born in poverty

and died in poverty.

The clergy do not wish to offend

those wealthy parishioners who give fat checks

for buildings and budgets

and they certainly do not want to risk losing their tax-free status

by speaking directly to the sin

that is the foundation of all evil

in this society that has lost its soul

to Mammon.