There’s been a lot going on in the news lately. I’ve realized I can either get frustrated by it, or learn to chuckle, take a deep breath and realize that God has everything under control. I’ll choose the latter by proposing a few whimsical questions. I probably don’t have the answers. I know God does.

Every summer since I’ve been teacher I learn something new about myself. So here’s question one: To all teachers who are off all summer with your kids — amidst the fights, interruptions and home projects, I’m starting to wonder if it’s all it’s cracked up to be. Many days it is. Others it’s not. I’m beginning to believe God uses summer vacation to test my patience. I’ll be back to see my spiritual advisor again soon — probably to confess the same things I always do.

Question two — to the media that covered the South Carolina shootings. Why do you blame a flag on the shootings rather than the insidious intent of the person who did it? Why do you continue to make celebrities of people like Dylann Roof, pasting their faces all over the news — thus giving the next low-life an avenue to his own fame? I understand your sensitivity regarding the flag. Nor do I wish to offend anyone. Just be careful, lest too many people become offended by you. I have an idea: how about instead of blaming everyone else for the evils of society, you start blaming the absence of God in the lives of the people that commit them?

Question three – to Pope Francis. Your Holiness, many things are happening in our world today. On the compendium of importance, thousands of Christians are being butchered each day, the traditional family is under scrutiny, and relativism and secularism have now reached epidemic proportions. Why an encyclical on global warming?

Question four — to my friends who are in support of the recent Supreme Court decision on gay marriage. I know many of you have big hearts. Just wondering if you’ve considered a few other possibilities. Let’s talk about polygamy. After all, shouldn’t whatever “consenting adults” want, out of love, be legal? Who are you to tell me I can’t marry as many people as I want? What about siblings? If the litmus test of what’s moral in God’s eyes is now what’s trending on Twitter, let’s go all the way.

Question five — to all parents trending on Twitter. Let’s make it easy on ourselves. Instead of tapping into parental wisdom to make rules, let’s just bring everything to a vote. “Hey, kids, what time should your curfew be? No curfew? You guys must know what’s best, you voted for it!”  While we’re at it, we should rewrite Exodus, too. Something like: “And it came to pass that Moses, as soon as he came nigh unto the camp, saw the referendum and the popularity of same-sex marriage. And he held the tablets in his arms and said, ‘I must not be up on the latest trends. God needs to get with the program and understand kids today. I think this is a social revolution.’” Then, the prophet cast off his garments, saying, “Hey, lead me back to the mountain so I can tell God to get with it.”

Maybe these quips lead to more questions: Since when does the majority determine the will of God? And since when have spiritual leaders been called to follow the crowd? I thought they were called to lead the crowd.

Some believe that if we Catholics did a better job of loving we wouldn’t be in this predicament. Perhaps. But maybe we need to recognize that no matter what we do, people will do what they will. If you need proof of that, look no further than Jesus. It’s not that he didn’t “love enough,” but he couldn’t reach Judas.

The more our culture moves away from a God-sense, the more likely it is to blame its ills on everything except the absence of God. I’m hopeful someday that will change. Until then, we can only continue being that loving presence of Christ that He expects us to be. And leave the rest to God.

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Paul Stuligross teaches theology at Livonia Ladywood High School and is a former police officer.