Short subjects for this blog post today. The first two are personal.

My dear bride Betsy met today with an orthopedics physician’s assistant, who showed us a fresh x-ray of her leg in which she broke two bones in a fall two weeks ago. The bones are healing nicely, knitting together as nature must have intended. She was also fitted with a new leg brace that will permit her to flex her knee slightly, offering some relief from having to keep the leg fully extended constantly. The PA predicted that the breaks in her leg will be healed in about four more weeks.

The compassionate, competent care of medical professionals and support staff deserve our respect and appreciation. It’s easy to be grouchy when we are sick or injured and are required to wait long hours to get the attention we need. Thanks to all those who care for us in times of need.

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Ted Copenhaver, my sister’s husband, departed this life earlier this week. He was 91. Ted earned his MD degree at Johns Hopkins at the top of his class and was offered an opportunity to create a gynecology division from scratch at a prestigious medical center in the Boston area. He developed it into a world-class program, performing countless delicate surgical procedures. There’s no telling how many lives he saved. When I had rheumatic fever as a teenager, he sat at my bedside and taught me to play chess. He and my sister married in 1950. Rest in peace, dear doctor.

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I have always admired the Jesuits for their strong emphasis on and support of excellence in education. Now I salute a particular group for their courage in standing up for their values. In last Saturday’s New York Times, I read of Brebeuf, an independent Jesuit preparatory school in Indianapolis, whose leaders have defied the archdiocese by refusing to fire a teacher who is in a same-sex marriage.

The Times’ report states that the archdiocese learned of the teacher’s marriage two years ago and asked the school at that time not to renew the teacher’s contract. The Roman Catholic church does not recognize same-sex marriages. School officials have resisted the pressure from the archdiocese.

The school now has learned that the archbishop, Charles C. Thompson, would issue a decree stating that the school would no longer be recognized by the diocese as a Catholic school. According to the Times report, the decree would have little effect on the function of the school, which has a coed population of about 800, about half of whom are not Catholic. It is not connected financially with the archdiocese.

School officials said its mission and operations would not change.

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History will remember the children at the border, our nation’s shame. Let us remember them when we vote, and vote we must.