May 4 John Payne d. 1582 c. 1970

Thommy and John

good morning, i love you

here's a job to aspire to - - denouncing Catholics for fun and profit; or, as in 16th c. england, for the bounty. [a bit of a Judas job. the bounty, today, might not be cash. it's more likely to be social status; acceptance with a clique; protection by a potentate. when you denounce your own Catholicism, for any of these or other reasons, you're doing little different than john eliot did to john payne. and when you denounce your own Catholicism you're also dissing your family, your father, grandfather, uncle, aunt, cousin, the entire lineage of love given to you at birth....

John Payne [aka john paine] was probably a convert - and for him, unlike others whom you might know, for John Payne, the coversion was real and it stuck.

in 1574, John Payne went to Douai, where he was ordained in 1576. each of us has our vocation. esconced in our faith, we seek God's will. and, as much as we pray like Jesus did at gesthemene, please father let this cup pass, but not my will, your will be done, whatever our vocation is, we know we have the grace and God's other gifts to pursue and achieve that vocation. for John Payne, his vocation included the priesthood, the living his faith in public, in front of the congregation, standing out and standing up for God, Father, Jesus, Spirit, and for the church. and such a vocation in sixteenth century england meant an exile for education and the risk of martyrdom....

John Payne, newly ordained priest, was sent back to England. that's why he went away to become a priest, so he'd be sent home to be a priest at home, for those he loved the most, to serve those who said they loved him dearly.... John Payne, and his companion st cuthbert mayne [yes it matters with whom we pair up!] were successful in the service of the Catholics in england.

it took the english authorities only a year to capture Jon Payne, the papist priest.[yep, whom you represent, whom you support, whose word you deliver can, and often when your right, will, invite the wrath of the nearest potentate.... ya know? ].... he was released with the condition he get out of dodge and get off the island. the better part of valor, to live and preach another day.... he went back to england in 1579. persist in your faith - go beyond the believing and do..... it did not take long this time to get caught.... as time goes on, the tolerance from the anti-catholics is less and their response more fierce. when you persist in our faith, the reaction from the anti catholics crescendos quickly.

John Payne was imprisoned and tortured in the Tower ... for NINE MONTHS! it would have been longer but the authorities ran out of patience, acknowledged John Payne's power of faith, maybe they were running out of prison space or torturers - - whatever, John Payne was condemned to die: to be hung, drawn, and quartered.... how are you imprisoned by and tortured by the anti catholics in your life. call on John Payne or John Houghton or any of the hundreds of english martyrs who withstood much more and witnessed wtih the grace God also gives you. yielding to the unbelievers, submitting to the tortures of the anti catholics is not why God created you and gave you his only son, and imbued in you the grace of baptism and the spirit of confirmation.....

be a better Catholic, not a john eliot .....

i love you
dad