The FP Interview: Ono Ekeh of Ono's Thoughts

FP: Who is Ono Ekeh of Ono's Thoughts?

OE: I have a wonderful wife and two little daughters, 3 1/2 and 2. I currently own a St Martin Catholic Books and Gifts, . I love science fiction a have a science fiction novel called Table of the Lord and I am currently working on a dissertation in Theology from Catholic University of America.

My parents are Nigerian and I have lived in Nigeria in the past. (BTW, all you ever need to know about Nigerians is that there is not one Nigerian on the face of this planet who believes s/he is inferior to anyone else. Given that attitude, I married a Texan: it's good to meet one's equals every now and then:).) I grew up Catholic but left the Catholic Church at the age of 13. I became virulently anti-Catholic. I returned to the Catholic Church when I was 25/26. I will be 35 later this year. Please restrain yourselves, no presents please just buy my novel.

I am a political junkie, a proud Democrat, I love the Bible, and I miss being a Pentecostalist.

FP: When and why did you start your Blog, Ono's Thoughts?

OE: I started my blog in 2002. I had no specific plans for the blog, it was meant to be a place to write down my thoughts about things and keep me in constant writing mode.

FP: I love this quote on your Mantle: This blog is in honor of John Kerry…Somewhere, in an alternate universe, President Kerry is signing unversal healthcare legislation…(Sigh.) you worked for hard for Sen. Kerry and I understand paid a personal cost with your employer…Can you elaborate.


OE: I have been a John Kerry supporter for years. The most striking thing about him is his sincerity and honesty and coupled with his common sense approach to governance, I think he would have made an exceptional president. I felt this strongly about Kerry when he started the ground work for his campaign in early 2003. I had never before been involved in politics but I felt that I had an opportunity to work and possibly elect a man who would be that once-in-a-lifetime historic president and so I jumped into the campaign with both feet.


In August of 2003 I created the Catholics for Kerry Yahoo Group. At the time Kerry was dropping in the polls and it wasn't a very active group. I believed that John Kerry embodied the ideals of most people of faith of goodwill and I was concerned that the single-issue abortion votes would try to obscure Kerry's overall resonance with Christian values. I was also disturbed by the emerging harsh rhetoric from Catholic Bishops on the issue of gay marriage. Two actions in particular sickened me.

The first was a picture and news account of Archbishop Sean O'Malley and other Catholic right wing folks, protesting in front of the Massachusets legislature building. I could understand that Bishop would want to make the Catholic position clear, but to actively agitate in a political manner on something that had nothing to do with the church was awful.

The second thing was a letter put out by Bishop Wilton Gregory, then President of the USCCB. In that letter, he condemned gay marriage but went even further. He said that an Catholic politician "who does not actively oppose" gay marriage committs a mortal sin. That was a serious lapse of judgment on the part of an otherwise very intelligent and understanding man or it was pure madness in my opinion.

What particularly upset me was that he didn't restrict his condemnation to those who actively supported gay marriage legislation (even such a condemntation and threat is wrong). Rather, the only choice he leaves is active opposition to gay marriage legistation: no abstention, etc. In my view that crossed the line and as a result I wrote up a short critical piece and uploaded it on the Catholics for Kerry group site.


Sometime in either late 2003 or January 2004, Tim Drake the editor at the National Catholic Register, a right wing Catholic magazine, contacted me for an interview. He sent the questions by email and I responded to them. One of the questions was about my occupation, to which I responded that I was a small business owner. I also worked at the USCCB at the time but I had always kept my professional life separate from my political activities. Even my fellow Kerry volunteers did not know I worked for the Bishops.

The Register did not run their story but apparently Tim Drake passed on my interview, or parts of it or something, to Deal Hudson, right wing editor of Crisis magazine and a George Bush operative. Hudson then sent out the story to his mailing list. I think this was in late February 2004.


Following Hudson's piece, USCCB departments were flooded with calls calling for my resignation. I believe Bishop Gregory also got flooded with calls and emails. Anyway, three weeks later, I was aksed to resign.


FP: As a moderate Catholic, how do you feel about the new Pope? Are there any reasons to be hopeful that we non-Catholics might not be aware of?

OE: In the eyes of many people, I think I am considered a liberal Catholic. A designation I gladly accept. I am not a fan of the new Pope and unlike many other Catholics, I don't believe that this selection or that of other Popes has anything to do with the Holy Spirit. On a scale of 1-10, 10 being the highest, my approval is 1.65. The present Pope's supporters have argued that he has been unfairly tainted by people who know little about him. That really is not true. I have read works by him as have very many of his critics. It is often pointed out that he is personally sweet, witty, humble and charming. That is little comfort to me because by all accounts, George W. Bush, who I consider one of the worst five presidents in US history, is probably one of the most affable, funny, and charming people you could meet. However, this affable and charming man's policies and inaction have caused the deaths of thousands and hurt millions more.


Pope Benedict may surprise people by some liberal moves but overall, his papacy will be a conservative one. I have read many of his recent homilies and pronouncements closely and he is setting up to proceed with an agenda that he's had for a long time and it is a very conservative agenda. If we are honest with ourselves, it is clear that Ratzinger wanted and hoped that he would be Pope. It is clear that he campaigned for consideration and made all the right moves that maximized his chances. Pope Benedict is not a tabula rasa, the Cardinal that railed against the deficiences of non-Catholic Christianity and other religions and against he dictatorship of relativism, did not dissappear with the appearance of Pope Benedict.

The previous pope along with the present one were and are determined to squash the liberal movement that came out of Vatican II in the 60s. IMO, towards the end of John Paul II's reign, he saw an opportunity to crush what was considered the remnant of that movement. I think Pope Benedict would move along similar lines and then try to redefine Vatican II in more conservative terms.The mistake they've made is that a whole new crop of liberal Catholics and theologians have arisen under the radar and while the hierarchy takes aim at the liberals of the Vatican II era, they remain completely unaware of shifting tectonic plates under their feet.

FP: You wrote about a racial insult made about you by a supposedly progressive monk-did that guy ever apologize? Are there any other particular struggles faced by African American bloggers?


OE: The monk in question is actually very, very conservative (I think) and I understand that insulting people, especially women, was not uncommon for him. In a certain post he lumped black people together with animals and other things and I objected to that post on my blog. In reponse to my objection, he called me an "oreo cookie." Unlike the word "nigger," which, while it has general overtones, is intensely personal, "oreo cookie," is broadside on all black people. I understand the term to mean, black on the outside but white on the inside. Basically, blacks are incapable of cogent thought, culture, articulation, etc, and blacks who exhibit such characteristics are white whannabees. On his website he took down the post and noted that he was told that some of his posts were harsh and so he removed them. He later shut down the blog and said that if he had offended anyone he apologized. His posts in general were extremely offensive and so I'm not sure if that was directed at me. Either way, it is an inadequate apology because he apparently lays the fault for offense at the readers and not himself. A true apology would take responsibility for the deed done and exhibit contrition or remorse, something Catholic clergy are not great at.


FP: You have published a novel as well as scholarly work. Do you make any distinction between your “real writing” and your Blog writing-- do you ever still think of it in that way?

OE: Blog writing is different because you realize that people are reading it and you are part of a general conversation. With blog writing you have to be more careful with what you say because your words become absolutetized and identified as your full position. Also, your enemies can sift, cut and paste with abandon in order to misrepresent you.

With my novel, I can explore ideas without committing to them and that's what I enjoy about writing fiction. As for scholarly writing, I am currently writing a dissertation on Edmund Husser, a 20th century German philosopher and John Henry Newman, an English 19th century thinker. I hardly ever write about that on my blog because it gets so technical and common words have different meanings. I wrote a paragraph the other day for my dissertation and re-read it. I concluded that it was complete gibberish. The sad part was that it actually made sense, but that's philosopy. To say "up is not down" is a proposition worthy of a treatise in the mind of philosophers. (And we wonder why we are called nerds.)

FP: I take it you are a big movie go-er given your many film reviews. What are your favorite films of all time?

OE: My top 5 favorite movies of all time in order are:

1. Ben Hur
1a. Jesus Christ Superstar
2. Small Soldiers
3. The Apostle
3a. Glory
4. Saving Private Ryan
4a. Dave
4b. Princess Bride
5 Shawshank Redemption
5b. Spy Game

(My math is just fine thank you.)

FP: Who are your favorite thinkers and writers in the area of politics, religion and theology?

OE: John Hernry Newman

Edmund Husserl
Blessed John Duns Scotus, a 13th century Franciscan theologian and philosopher.

I read George Orwell's 1984 at least once a year.


FP: Many people feel frustrated by both the perception of religious people and the Bush Administration--what can they do to change things?


OE: Only time will solve this. What has to happen is for the Catholic and Christian Right to define themselves as extremists, which they are already doing. At the same time, on the left, we have to learn to be more comfortable talking about our faith. For example, when John Kerry was a young man he thought about the priesthood, every young Catholic man has entertained such thoughts. He went through a crises of faith during Vietnam and fell away from his faith. This happens to 85% of Catholics. He then returned to his faith and has been a praticing Catholic ever since.

Now, while a conservative will have no problem opening up to the world the internal dynamic of his/her faith life, liberals like Kerry are uncomfortable revealing these personal details and then people assume that there are no details. But I think it would be quite a story if Kerry told us why he stopped believing in God during Vietnam and what made him come back. That's a conversion story that is powerful and would resonate with many people.I don't think liberals have to get phoney, but we have to speak honestly about faith and its place in our lives. That's how we'll take back religion.

FP: Are there a couple of posts you are most proud of?

OE: I can't think of what any posts that I am most proud of, but I did a quick search and here's a couple that I invite you read.
There's this post where I'm doing what I do best, droning on and on.

Also here's a post reflecting my love for bad movies