A Long Island Catholic
Random observations from a "Revert" to the Catholic faith.
Sunday, December 04, 2011
I am just not able to keep up with blogging - my wife and I had a baby! It would be hard to keep up with all the positive things going on right now in the Diocese of Rockville Centre even without feeding and diapering, etc.... Here are just a few:
The seminary program for the 3 dioceses of Brooklyn, NYC and Rockville Centre is merging together with the seminarians all training together at St. Joseph's Seminary in Yonkers (called Dunwoodie for the neighborhood). Immaculate Conception seminary in Huntington will remain open for retreats, masters programs, and educating permanent deacons. This move was entirely expected and has mostly to do with practicality. With the number of seminarians in NYC, Brooklyn and Rockville Centre, there is no need for 2 or 3 individual seminaries. Of course, Dunwoodie has always had an orthodox reputation while Huntington did not. Overall, this will be a very positive move for seminarians, who will now study together with much larger groups at Dunwoodie and also in Douglaston, where pre-theology and undergraduate men will study. As reported all over the place, the number of seminarians is up right now so these kinds of moves are part of some very good trends within the Church.
On the topic of Immaculate Seminary in Huntington - Peter Kreeft will be speaking there next Sunday:
"A Refutation of Moral Relativism"
Lecture by Peter Kreeft
Sunday December 11, 2011 at 3 PM in the Seminary Auditorium
Pre-Registration is Requested
Please contact Beverly Malone in the Development Office
Phone: 631-423-0483 x102
E-mail: bmalone@icseminary.eduSaturday, October 15, 2011
The above link is to a good article in Newsday on Bishop Murphy but does not include many details on how he will reshape the Diocese. I have said before I think Bishop Murphy has been a great Bishop and his 10 years have pushed or pulled the Diocese of Rockville Centre in the right direction:
- Pushing Telecare to have more Catholic programming
- Starting the Tommorrow's Hope Foundation for Catholic schools
- Insisting parishes balance their budgets
- Being much more generous towards the Traditional Latin Mass
- Reforming the Pastoral Formation Institute
- Encouraging faithful and orthodox programs
- Overseeing some changes in the seminary
- "Murphy said with satisfaction that the number of parishes running deficits is down to 24 from 83 two years ago." I wish the Diocese would publish this info somewhere, I think it is good to know the financial health of the parishes. Murphy was quoted once as saying the Church sometimes takes on too much and I totally agree. We have to be fiscally prudent and that often means cutting back and cutting out many things. We simply do not have the numbers of people and the money that was around in previous decades.
- "The bishop also is weighing a shift at the Seminary of the Immaculate Conception in Huntington. Starting next year, seminarians could be sent to St. Joseph's Seminary, also known as Dunwoodie, in Yonkers, leaving the Huntington facility as a pastoral training center for ordained priests and lay people." While it has been public knowledge for some time that the seminaries would form some sort of collaboration, this is the first time I have seen it mentioned that the seminarians would be sent to Dunwoodie. Overall, I think this is good. Immaculate Conception has never had a great reputation compared to other seminaries as far as orthodoxy was concerned and this might be just what is needed.
Tuesday, September 27, 2011
He will be at the StarFish CoffeeHouse & Kitchen
Join us for a meet & greet
Monday, September 19, 2011
ROCKVILLE CENTRE, N.Y. – September 19, 2011 – Pope Benedict XVI today named the Most Reverend Peter Anthony Libasci, 59, to be the new Bishop of the Diocese of Manchester, New Hampshire. The appointment was announced in Washington, DC today by Rev. Msgr. Jean-Francis Lantheaume, ChargĂ© d’Affaires at the Apostolic Nunciature to the United States. Bishop-designate Libasci will succeed Bishop John Brendan McCormack.
Bishop-designate Libasci will be installed as the tenth bishop of Manchester at Saint Joseph Cathedral on December 8, 2011 at 2:00 p.m. E.S.T.
Since his ordination as bishop on June 1, 2007, Bishop-designate Libasci has served as the Episcopal Vicar for the Eastern Vicariate of the Diocese of Rockville Centre. Bishop-designate Libasci is also bi-ritual and celebrates the Divine Liturgy in the Byzantine Ruthenian Catholic Church.
This is great news for New Hampshire and sad news for Long Island. He is now the second bishop sent out from Rockville Centre in the 10 years Bishop Murphy has been our shepherd, the first being Msgr. Robert Guglielmone who is now Bishop of South Carolina. Which reminds me to congratulate Bishop Murphy on his 10th Anniversary as Bishop of Rockville Centre. He was installed just days before 400 of his flock was murdered and has done a wonderful job leading the Diocese.
Sunday, September 11, 2011
Ten Years After
"I've received a fair amount of email this past week, inquiring about whether I planned to write something on the tenth anniversary of Black Tuesday: September 11, 2001, when Islam openly declared war on the United States. Yes, I said Islam, not "terrorists," "extremists," or "fundamentalists." We have it on the authority of a head of state -- Recep Tayyip Erdogan of Turkey -- that there is no "moderate Islam;" there is only Islam. Any number of imams, mullahs, ayatollahs and so forth have said the same -- and have proceeded to justify the atrocities of Black Tuesday as a response to the "humiliation" Muslims have endured at America's hands.
What humiliation? Daring to rise and progress out of the seventh century. Proclaiming a doctrine of individual rights beyond what their scriptures allow. Treating persons of all races, sexes, and faiths as possessing a perfect right to be as they are and believe as they do. Letting women read, drive, and go about in attractive clothing, unaccompanied by a male chaperone.
We "humiliate" Muslims and Islam by being Americans: believers in freedom, a secular state, and an objective rule of law and justice."
And muslims continue to act like muslims:
4 terror suspects arrested in Sweden
"The head of the Swedish Security Service, Anders Danielsson, warned last week that "Islamic terrorism is still the biggest threat against Sweden."...
"Stockholm was hit by a suicide bombing in December. The attack on the capital, Sweden's first suicide bombing, wounded two people in a district full of Christmas shoppers."
...
After the Stockholm bombing, Swedish Security Police said the country had almost 200 Islamic extremists who advocate violence, but said there was no indication their number is growing."
...
Swedish authorities are investigating involvement in radicalism by Taimour Abdulwahab, the weekend's suicide bomber.
His emails before the bombings said that one reason for the attack was Sweden's tolerance of Lars Vilks' newspaper cartoon of the prophet Mohammed as a dog, authorities said. Abdulwahab, 28 -- who had lived in Iraq, Sweden and the English town of Luton -- also cited the presence of Swedish troops in Afghanistan.
That cartoon of Mohammed, published in 2007, was also cited in the new report as an example "of local events that may fuel radicalism globally."
Tuesday, September 06, 2011
"A New Jersey mom still grieving the death of her beloved teenage daughter says she was ordered by callous bosses to quit discussing the child after co-workers complained -- and was even forced to yank the girl's ballet slippers and photos from her cubicle."
.....
"Two years earlier, Ingraham's daughter, Tatiana, 17, had died of leukemia, and shortly after, the devastated mom began decorating her desk with pictures of the child. She also kept on hand a pair of the girl's ballet slippers as a touching reminder. But Ingraham's co-workers whined that over the next two years, the married, inconsolable mom became an office pest with her tears and depressing attitude and that -- gasp -- it interfered with their work.
Ingraham's boss allegedly told her that he had received complaints about her conduct and her "uncomfortable" interaction with other workers.
One co-worker had even griped: "What else can we say [to her] that we have not said already?"
Monday, September 05, 2011
Solemn High Mass
St Patrick's Roman Catholic Church
On the Feast of the Holy Name of Mary, September 12, 2011, at 7:30 pm, the Canonry of Saint Leopold will offer a Solemn High Mass to honor Our Lady and to commemorate the 328th anniversary of the victory of the Austrian Imperial forces over the Ottomans at the Battle of Vienna on the slopes of the Kahlenberg.
The Kahlenberg (Bald Mountain) and its environs are the home to parishes and vineyards belonging to Stift Klosterneubur...g. During the Siege of Vienna in 1683, two Canons of Klosterneuburg played important roles: a Laybrother (Chorfrater) named Marzellin Ortner rallied the townsfolk to defend the Abbey and the town of Klosterneuburg; a priest, Dom Wilhelm Lebshaft, served as chaplain to the town’s militia. Keeping Klosterneuburg free aided in the Liberation of Vienna, which was made possible to a large extent thanks to the troops of the King of Poland, Jan III Sobieski, hailed by the Pope as the Savior of Christendom in Europe.
The Solemn High Mass will be celebrated in the Extraordinary Form. The Prior, the Very Rev'd Dom Daniel Nash, will serve as priest, the Rev'd Fr. Matthew Kauth, as deacon, and the Very Rev'd Dom Elias Carr, as subdeacon. With appropriate ceremonies and fitting music, the liturgy should offer worthy worship to Holy Trinity.
Amy Bonaccorso interviews the 3 priests who now oversee St. Patrick and St. Rocco in Glen Cove.
Part One
Part Two
The new Missal to be used at the beginning of Advent will be an improved translation for the most part. Although I prefer the current version in certain places, i.e. by the power of the Holy Spirit he was born of the Virgin Mary and became man, the 'cut and paste' job done after the Council is in great need of revision. Fr. Z at WDTPRS has hit the nail on the head with his continuing column looking in depth at the prayers of the Mass in their original latin, the literal translation, the current translation and in the new translation. He has shown clearly all that was taken out and all that was dumbed down and how much we are missing in these prayers. Overall, this is a giant leap forward for the 'reform of the reform'. I often think Fr. Z's column should be published in parish bulletins because these prayers are very important but probably very overlooked parts of the Mass.
Chant Cafe has a post: "Five Changes to Expect with the new missal"
Wednesday, May 25, 2011
Sunday, January 16, 2011
Dissent and the Catholic press
The above column by The Long Island Catholic editor Rick Hinshaw is excellent and reminds me how much I have enjoyed the Diocesan paper over the past year or so. The paper is no longer the milquetoast paper it once was but instead has slowly become more outwardly Catholic and orthodox, even proudly so. Here is a snip from the column:
"TLIC has always made room for letters expressing a wide array of opinions — on social and public policy issues, as well as on internal Church matters and worship — as long as they are not in direct conflict with the fundamental teachings of the Church.
There, it is true that we must make a distinction — because, as a diocesan newspaper, we are, first and foremost, a teaching instrument of the Church. Obviously, we cannot force — and would not want to force — anyone to believe what the Church teaches. But we do have a responsibility to offer our readers — whether they ultimately accept or reject what the Church teaches — a clear understanding of what it is they are accepting or rejecting. "
Monday, January 03, 2011
"Today , the Nassau County Department of Health has notified the Diocese of Rockville Centre that those who received Holy Communion on December 25, 2010 during the 10:30 AM and Noon Masses at Our Lady of Lourdes Roman Catholic Church, 855 Carmen Avenue, Massapequa Park were potentially exposed to the hepatitis A virus."
Friday, December 24, 2010
Monday, December 20, 2010
On Sunday afternoon I drove to Brooklyn to take the tour of Most Holy Trinity run by Urban Oyster. This parish was my family's parish from at least 1880 to around 1930. It was where my grandfather was baptized and where he married my grandmother. The parish merged with a nearby parish St. Marys some years ago. I was happy to see two things:
- The parish is still an active parish serving Catholics in the area and not just a relic of 'time gone by'.
- The parish Church was renovated but not ruined with many original parts of the Church refurbished rather than tossed away.
The facade - I did not even get the giant towers in so check out the extensive parish website for photos of them. The tops are covered in copper which was coated with brown material to match the rest of the towers. This was due to the towers literally falling apart.
The sanctuary with high altar - the top of the table altar is just visible.
Closer view of the high altar (where my grandparents wedding Mass was offered!)
The pulpit -
This one shows the Sanctuary from the triforium level (a cool hallway that goes around the upper part of the Church just underneath the high stained glass windows.
You can see the triforium level in this shot, it is where the spotlights are:
No Church is complete without gory statues - these are of St. Lucy (with eyes on a plate) and St. Rocco and they came from St. Mary's.
This is Fr. Dore in the Rathskellar, notice the beer steins and barrels in the wall above the fireplace -
Sunday, December 05, 2010
Urban Oysters is offering a Holiday Tour of this historic Church with the profits going to Trinity Human Service Center. I have my ticket already and can't wait to see the beautiful high altar and the authentic German rathskeller in the Rectory. This Church was a big part of my family's history a century ago and I am very happy that it is still a very active parish. The parish's excellent website includes a long history section with this description from a priest who visited Most Holy Trinity in 1843:
"The forenoon and afternoon service as here established by the custom and piety of the people, I must confess, is most edifying, The High Mass is a choral mass, all in Latin, sung in quartet by beautiful and youthful voices, lasting fully an hour. People here seem to be accustomed to long sermons; one can hardly be long enough. [ed. LOL] Vespers are sung beautifully in Roman Choral Chant by the whole congregation, who also sing the Ora Pro Nobis when the Litany is chanted. Benediction is given only once according to French custom, the people singing the responses in Latin, For this purpose they have special Vesper booklets with a German translation. Chanting is quite a favorite service with the people and adds not a little to the attraction and edification of the service.
One of the most discussed liturgical principles is that of Actuosa Participatio - translated commonly as 'Active Participation' but which is more accurately translated as 'Actual Participation'. Vatican II called for actual participation at Mass but so did Popes and writers decades before the Council. I will never forget my shock at seeing the very first words of my father's 1943 Missal written in bold letters: Pray The Mass. I also noticed that I had to pray a lot harder at the traditional latin Mass than I did at the normal parish Mass. There are still some who wrongly believe Catholics at the traditional latin Mass are somehow not actually participating because there is more silence at this Mass. The fact is people actually participate when they listen attentively, pray the prayers and say the responses at Mass, whichever form of Mass they are attending. Michael P. Foley wrote about "Getting Active Participation Right" at InsideCatholic and ends with this insight:
"The bottom line, then, is that we should stop counting articulated syllables and ritual gesticulations and instead acknowledge that a true and actual participation in the august mysteries of the Eucharistic cult, regardless of the form of the rite, has more to do with a soul in devotion than a body in motion."
Seattle's new bishop: No room for clerical error
The above link is to one of the most arrogant, small minded, ignorant articles regarding a Bishop I have read in awhile. I guess I should be thankful it is regarding a Diocese on the other end of the country. Here is a snip:
"He'll need to adapt to our way of doing business here: Everybody gets consulted about everything. Barriers get bypassed. St. James Cathedral has hosted burial services for an Episcopalian congresswoman (Jennifer Dunn) and a gay state senator (Cal Anderson)."
...
"But as many of us came here from someplace else, traditions were left behind. In his current posting as Bishop of Joliet, Bishop Sartain comes from one of the places we've left behind. "
Friday, November 26, 2010
"GLEN COVE — The Canons Regular of St. Augustine, a religious order of priests from Austria, will soon establish its first American house with three priests who will staff the parishes of St. Patrick’s and St. Rocco’s here starting next June.
Although the Canons are from Klosterneuburg, near Vienna, the priests who will live here are all Americans, two of them originally from the Rockville Centre Diocese."
Wednesday, November 17, 2010
"The Provost of the famous Augustinian Canonry of Klosterneuburg, Abbot General of the Austrian Congregation of the Canons Regular of St. Augustine and Abbot Primate of the Confederation of the Canons Regular of St. Augustine, Rt. Rev. Bernhard Backovsky announced this Monday, Feast of St. Leopold, founder of Klosterneuburg, the happy news that the Augustinian Canons of Klosterneuburg are going to make a foundation in the United States of America. Three of the canons are going to take up residence in the diocese of Rockville Centre (NY) next summer and to be in charge of two parishes. "
I do not see any notice of this on the DRVC website but this note from the pastor at St. Patrick Church in Glen Cove talks about the Canons. St. Patrick is the oldest Church in the Diocese of Rockville Centre and happens to be the Church where my Irish ancestors were married in 1867.
Thursday, November 04, 2010
Friday evening, November 5,2010 @ 7:30 PM
Nassau Community College Center for Catholic Studies
Lecture by Msgr. Daniel S. Hamilton, Ph.D.
Responses: Christopher Poulios, Ph.D. & Rev. Robert George Stephanopoulos, Ph.D.
Sunday, October 24, 2010
This NY Times article headline made me laugh, but overall it is not a bad article. My comments are in red:
"Pressure is on to change the Roman Catholic Church in America, but it's not coming from the usual liberal suspects. A new breed of theological conservatives has taken to blogs and YouTube to say the church isn't Catholic enough."
The NY Times is really up to date, this paragraph could have been written 4 or 5 years ago.
"John Allen, Vatican analyst for the National Catholic Reporter, has dubbed this trend "Taliban Catholicism." But he says it's not a strictly conservative phenomenon — liberals can fit the mindset, too, Allen says. Some left-leaning Catholics are outraged by any exercise of church authority."
Allen as usual is a fair liberal - this is a good point that many liberals fail to admit.
"The work of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops is another frequent target."
Is should be - there have been some things within the USCCB that were rightly criticized.
"The rise in lay conservative fervor comes at a time when the need for activism would seem less urgent. The U.S. hierarchy has seen a wave of retirements in recent years that has swept out leading liberals. The men taking their place are generally more traditional and willing to take a harder line against disobedient Catholics, from politicians to parishioners. "
This is true and a good thing. It also makes me wonder why some are still so negative - things ARE better today than just 5 years ago!
"Critics of the bloggers contend the activists are motivated mostly by politics, not theology. The blogs feature nearly as many attacks on President Barack Obama as church leaders. "
Another good point and one that I have made before. The President may not be another Reagan, but he also is not dumb, nor a terrorist, nor another Hitler/Lenin/Castro as I have read on Catholic blogs. I like Mark Shea's commentary on politics that best - he criticizes all groups when needed. He points out when people put their conservative or liberal ideology above Christian principles.
"Many of the conservatives most active online had spent years raising the alarm about dissent on their own in their local dioceses without much effect. Now, they feel they are finally being heard online. "
Another good point that is often left out of the criticism of Catholic blogs. Blogs were and are a platform where faithful Catholics can be heard, which was and is often not the case in parishes and dioceses. Then again, we need to be careful not to become 'sour faced saints', simply criticizing everything around us like the two old men in the balcony on the Muppet Show.
Speaking of Catholic blogs - the Catholic Blog Directory I created has been maintained by Andrea since I was engaged to be married. It has been around 5 years now and the directory has grown to over 2,200 Catholic blogs. I am glad Andrea has done such a great job and that the directory includes all types of Catholic blogs.
Monday, October 18, 2010
"Dr. Mildred Jefferson, a prominent, outspoken opponent of abortion and the first black woman to graduate from Harvard Medical School, died Friday at her home in Cambridge, Mass. She was 84. "
..."In a 2003 profile in The American Feminist, an anti-abortion magazine, Dr. Jefferson said, “I am at once a physician, a citizen and a woman, and I am not willing to stand aside and allow this concept of expendable human lives to turn this great land of ours into just another exclusive reservation where only the perfect, the privileged and the planned have the right to live.”
Monday, October 11, 2010
Friday evening, November 5,2010 @ 7:30 PM
Nassau Community College Center for Catholic Studies
Lecture by Msgr. Daniel S. Hamilton, Ph.D.
Responses: Christopher Poulios, Ph.D. & Rev. Robert George Stephanopoulos, Ph.D.
Nuns see orders diminishing on LI
"Sister Mary Loyola Engel is 102 years old and has been a nun for 80 years. She remembers when healthy numbers of young women entered her congregation, which founded the Mercy Medical Center in Rockville Centre.
But no one has entered the Congregation of the Infant Jesus in 40 years. The youngest member today is 61."
Syro-Malankara Church welcomes new bishop
"UNIONDALE — Amid the blare of horns and the clanging of cymbals, Syro-Malankara Catholics from around the country rejoiced as they welcomed a new shepherd for their flock. At a ceremony at Bishop Kellenberg Memorial High School here, Bishop Thomas Mar Eusebius was installed as the first leader of the newly-formed Exarchate for the Syro-Malankara Catholic Church in the United States. "
The above snip is from The Long Island Catholic where Bishop Murphy's column also focuses on this good news. Relations with the Eastern Churches has improved over the past 50 years and hopefully this trend will continue. Here is the link to the website of the Syro-Malankara Church and Here is a quick clip of the Bishop being lifted up in a chair by priests - I wonder if more video of the Mass is available?
From Bishop Murphy's column:
"If on Sunday afternoon October 3, you had been at Kellenberg Memorial High School in Uniondale you would have witnessed a remarkable event. Our Holy Father Pope Benedict, responding to a request from the leadership of the Syro-Malankara Catholic Church, established a new exarchate or diocese for the Syro-Malankara faithful who live here and throughout the United States. At the suggestion of the Major Archbishop or Catholicos, His Beatitude Moran Mor Cleemis, the pope appointed a new bishop, Thomas Mar Eusebius, as the first Exarch or bishop for this Church who was given additional duties as official visitator of the Catholicos for members of the Church in Canada and Europe."
"Indian Christian tradition has long held that the Apostle Thomas evangelized India before being martyred. Thus India claims true apostolic foundation from Thomas as Rome does from Peter and Paul. The “Thomas tradition” has been carried through the centuries with a liturgy that is the same Mass as we have in the Latin Church. Yet the liturgy has its own forms of prayer and ritual that reflect the Thomas tradition and the Indian context that these Churches have lived for as long as there has been Christianity in that country. Through the centuries, theological differences brought about some divisions. Both the Syro-Malabar and the Syro-Malankara exist side by side. Both are eastern Syrian, similar in theological tradition to the Maronites of Lebanon, but each maintains certain particular characteristics. A great and holy Bishop, Mar Ivanios, brought the small group of Syro-Malankara back into communion with the pope in 1930 and thus we have today the flourishing Syro-Malankara Church in South India with this new branch of the vine of Christ established here on Long Island for all the United States."
Saturday, October 02, 2010
"Father Francis Keenan died of a brain hemorrhage Sept. 20. The Marianist priest, who had taught at Kellenberg High School since 1987, had a special place in his heart for the comic strip character "Ziggy," a nationally syndicated cartoon by Tom Wilson."
The above quote is from a News12 report on the students at Kellenberg High School who got Tom Wilson to send a Ziggy sketch in memory of the beloved priest. Before he went to Kellenberg, Fr. Keenan was at Chaminade for many years and was my Senior Religion teacher. After he moved to Kellenberg I enjoyed seeing him explain to people in a homily how he had to adjust to female students after all those years of teaching only boys. When a female student went to his office distraught over a bad grade she started to cry, and Fr. said he just sat there really scared, not having any idea what to do. Of course, he soothed her mind as he often did with all students. Students also created a Facebook appreciation page and there are some really nice comments about him. The official Marianist obit is here. He was a gentle soul and good Christian priest.