Tim Funk

@ScottJenningsKY @CNN You keep casting Joe Biden as too old and mentally unfit. But you never mention the mental lapses and advanced age of your former boss, Sen. McConnell. I expect more fairness — and less rank partisanship — from a political analyst.

Asked for a 2025 prediction today on @cnn, I made one in the hopes of willing it into reality: that the hostages in Gaza will be released. Bring them home.

Rep. Tricia Cotham campaigned Tues with Tim Moore, who engineered her party switch. Cotham won but Dems gained a House seat to (barely) break the supermajority: “It’s been a tough, competitive race.” By @renLarson_ @timfunk for @TheAssemblyNC. #ncpol theassemblync.com/politics/democ…

In battleground North Carolina, the ground game has changed in this election year. Read all about it in ⁦@jimmorrill⁩’s typically savvy report for ⁦@TheAssemblyNC⁩. #ncpol theassemblync.com/politics/gotv-…

Check out my new story for ⁦@TheAssemblyNC⁩ re: how the national GOP chairman’s “party of faith” claim is bumping up against the lurid sins of Trump, Mark Robinson. #ncpol theassemblync.com/politics/micha…

Even as a grad student, GOP Chair Michael Whatley was interested in the interplay of politics and religion. In his 90-page dissertation, he wrote about how “religious and political power were intertwined and inseparable.” By @timfunk for @TheAssemblyNC. theassemblync.com/politics/micha…

GOP chairman Michael Whatley’s ‘Party of Faith’ Has Problems At The Top. Namely, Donald Trump and Mark Robinson, who don’t exactly practice what is preached in the Bible. My latest for ⁦@TheAssemblyNC⁩. #ncpol @me.com&utm_source=The+Assembly&utm_campaign=2036952174-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_2024_10_20_11_27&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_-2036952174-%5BLIST_EMAIL_ID%5D&mc_cid=2036952174&mc_eid=5db69e74c0" target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener">theassemblync.com/?np_newsletter…

After he embraced Christianity in the late ‘80s, Mark Robinson says his behavior “did not immediately reform.” Six men say he frequented video-porn shops in the ’90s and early 2000s. By @jeffreybillman & @JoekillianNC with Don Carrington & @timfunk. #ncpol theassemblync.com/politics/nc-el…

@BrianMcLaughl @SecretFire79 Making these kinds of dismissive and sexist and ageist comments are loving your neighbor?

@SecretFire79 The priest needs to bless the deacon just to read the Gospel, but aunt Gertrude and her 5 bingo buddies can literally hold and touch the Eucharist hundreds of times and that’s fine?

This needs to stop

@SecretFire79 Thank God your Medieval view re: the role of women in the Church is today seen for what it is: misogyny. And I believe God rejoices when we lay Eucharistic ministers share the Body and Blood with our brothers and sisters.

@ScottJenningsKY Scott, did Donald Trump not confuse Nancy Pelosi and Nikki Haley? How is that not as indicting as Biden saying Putin and Trump instead of Zelensky and Harris? Are you a cool-headed political analyst or an overheated partisan spokesman? twitter.com/ScottJenningsK…

Omg

@HouseGOP And Donald Trump thinks Nikki Haley is Nancy Pelosi…

"I wouldn't have picked Vice President Trump to be Vice President..." - Joe Biden thinks President Trump is his Vice President.

“Stein can win North Carolina even if Biden loses it by a couple of points. But if Biden loses it by too much, then it’s awfully hard for Stein to overcome that.” How Jewish Democrats Are Navigating A Difficult Year. By @timfunk for @TheAssemblyNC. theassemblync.com/politics/nc-el…

@ScottJenningsKY Watched you on CNN’s Inside Politics. You say White House has lied to us about Biden’s fitness behind the scenes. This fellow Kentuckian wants to know: Are you saying the same thing about your old boss, Mitch McConnell? Have the Senate Republicans lied to us about his fitness?

He is a compulsive liar whose White House has been ordered to call unflattering, real videos of him “cheap fakes.” But sure. Tell the truth. Go off.

Talked to Charlotte’s ⁦@WFAE⁩ this AM re: my latest story for ⁦@TheAssemblyNC⁩. Give it a listen. And read my story, too: theassemblync.com/politics/nc-el… #ncpol wfae.org/politics/2024-…

How the sausage is being made from @timfunk #ncpol

My latest for ⁦@TheAssemblyNC⁩: Dem gov candidate Josh Stein and other Jewish politicians in N.C. thread the needle to keep traditional coalition as #Gaza war continues. #ncpol theassemblync.com/politics/nc-el…

NEW: As the war in #Gaza continues, gubernatorial candidate Josh Stein and other Jewish politicians are subtly maneuvering to hold their traditional coalition together. By @timfunk for @TheAssemblyNC. #ncpol theassemblync.com/politics/nc-el…

@Joeinblack Sorry, but I think you worship Rules instead of Jesus. Rather than help the family grieve, you watch the clock? I thank God my Jesuit parish refuses this dry unfeeling version of Catholicism.

It might be the time for the Eulogy talk at Catholic funerals. To be clear at my parishes, I ask people to not you do eulogies. If they fight me, I let them win. Fighting with people in grief never ends well. With that, here’s some thoughts on eulogies at Catholic funerals. First of all, there is a cultural problem with most eulogies. Catholics don’t do funerals to honor the dead, though many Americans do. Catholics do funerals for two reasons: 1. To pray for the soul of the deceased. 2. To ask God to strengthen our hope in the resurrection. The dead are usually honored during the mass, but that is not the goal. The goal is to raise peoples hope in Jesus, not in the good life of a human. To be blunt, humans cannot earn heaven, but many eulogies unintentionally tell people they can. A great way to think about it is this: a person doesn’t go to heaven because they do good things, but people who are going to heaven do good things. That might sound minor, but theologically there’s a huge difference between those 2 ideas. Beyond that, with more and more Americans being unchurched, more and more people walk into church with no clue how to act and nothing shows it more than what people say at eulogies, what they talk about and what they value in the deceased person. It’s really, really hard to offend me, but most of the times that it happens is at eulogies. To be clear, I don’t act offended, people don’t mean to be offensive, but it pierces the heart to hear some of the things people say about the dead while they are standing in a Sacred place doing a Sacred thing. Finally & frankly, most people are not good public speakers. I’m a good public speaker, but I work very, very hard at it. I spend at least an hour a day working on my homily for Sunday. Even with that, it’s tough. Most eulogies are frankly not well done. They’re overly long, with a lot of mumbling, or with folks doing a kind of public therapy while standing up there. Part of being a good public speaker is being aware of time. The funeral ritual itself is about 50 minutes. Funerals with eulogies tend to be about 80 minutes. This is not an exaggeration. If you’re not a public speaker, and the priest tells you that the eulogy should not be more than four minutes, most people intend to comply with that. They simply have no idea how much content that is. So, they get up and they talk and they talk and the schedule (which is always tight for a priest, Church & funeral home) ends up unnecessarily blown up. Eulogies can be a lovely thing, but it is my opinion that they are best done at funeral homes or gravesides, not in a Catholic Church. Thus endeth my lecture.

Join me and a trio of thoughtful Charlotte clergy this Saturday (March 16) for a discussion of Christian nationalism after a 4:30 pm screening of a new documentary feature film — “God + Country” — at ⁦@IPH_clt⁩, Charlotte’s only art movie house. independentpicturehouse.org/movies/god-cou…

Check out this video of The New Yorker’s @Paul_R_Elie, who spoke recently at Charlotte’s St. Peter’s Catholic Church on everything from Pope Francis to Thomas Merton/Dorothy Day to pilgrimage to the Jesuits. Get a deeper understanding! youtu.be/NYvF0A0Jkx4?si… via @YouTube