The Church of the Masses blog has a link to a Wall Street Journal article on Mel Gibson's Jesus movie. The article is written by EWTN's Raymond Arroyo. The film has created a buzz among both Christians and those that hate Christians (or maybe just Christianity). The most information on the film including photos, interviews, articles can be found here.

I can appreciate the struggle of parents who take their little ones to Mass and struggle to not disturb those around them. It is ironic that those who need the graces of the Mass the most are least able to have quiet, uninterrupted Mass time. When I was young our parish had many Masses in the school auditorium because the Church was too small. I understand that my father was once told by a man next to him that if he didn’t take me out of there he would be punched in the nose. Apparently I was trying to balance a penny on my nose or something. (This was when I was a young kid, I swear). When my parents told me this story, they did not seem to think the man was out of line. One parish I went to had a babysitting service run by volunteers. Many churches have crying rooms and this seems to be a good solution. Of course teaching children how to behave in Church is very important but if the Church does not seem to a child like a special place then it is hard for them to understand how to behave. When there is no artwork, bright lighting, nothing colorful or special about the place, then children act as they would anywhere else. I am amazed at the number of children I see at the traditional latin mass and also how well behaved they are. If I had gone to this Mass when I was a child I probably would have behaved better. Maybe.

I don’t always agree with the Catholic League for Religious and Civil Rights but they do a great job. This group has a strong Chaminade connection too. The chairman of the Board of Directors is Fr. Eichner who for years ran Chaminade and now runs Kellenberg High School. At one time, Chaminade was the only high school in the country to have a chapter of the League. The League was not well known when I went to high school and at one time it looked like it might fold. When Fr. Eichner and staff got to work trying to find a person to run it, they ended up finding Dr. William Donohue. Could they have done any better?? Bill Donohue made the League nationally known, more than tripled the membership and turned the League into the defacto “Catholic” source for the media when they wanted opinion. They also amaze me by accepting sincere apologies from offenders and being quite gracious. Their newsletter shows them to be one of the few civil rights groups with a sense of humor. Their latest edition is great, with writing on the hypocrisy of Hollywood with regard to child molesters, the bigoted and angry Jimmy Breslin, and Bill Donohue on Phil Donahue’s show:

Phil: “Also with us is William Donohue, who wants you to know he’s not related to me. It’s very important for him that you know that.”

Bill: “Not biologically or ideologically.”

Wednesday morning, on the way to work I saw a car crumpled up on the side of the road, with the front half completely off. Everyone at work mentioned how awful the accident must have been. Today, I read that the car was driven by a student at Chaminade High School, who died a day after the accident. Please pray for him and his family.

Ok- here goes the non-critical, positive blogging for Lent! Let's see...went to Mass last night, I'll skip mentioning that. The Long Island Catholic diocese paper came today....some nuns are having a Spring Equinox Gathering at their retreat house....ok moving on..3 people wrote to support a priest in the local paper, oh wait this was the priest who supported VOTF but was caught using the parish computer to search for porn, ...ok look...I am going to forget Church stuff tonight and just blog on the weather... Most of the snow had just melted and today we got 4 inches more, and tonight it is all ice...I'M GOING TO BED.

I received a cool email from a Gen X couple who have a website, check it out: Revolution of Love

My posts have become too negative. One reason I made this blog was to share my very positive experiences in the Church, especially in 16 years of Catholic schools. I think for Lent, I will give up negative, critical posts along with coffee. Here is one last rant before Lent:
One attitude that bugs me in many Catholics is this sense that money is bad. Making a lot of it, having a lot, the Church having a lot, all that makes some people crazy. I have a positive view of money that probably comes from growing up middle class and in the 1980’s. Of course, social justice is a huge part of Catholicism, and the plight of the poor is always foremost. But it is through education and yes, wealth-building that the poor can rise. Talking negatively about money will make people feel guilty about having it, and I don’t think it makes people more holy. I get tired of hearing priests and nuns talk about not getting attached to material goods when I have never met a practicing Catholic who is too attached. I think some people, especially those who grew up poor, have a real problem when they end up making good money or see others do well. I always figure amassing wealth is a good thing, as long as it is done legally, ethically and you don’t become attached to it. If I was a billionaire, the enormous good I could do with my loot would be incredible. The best example of this is Thomas Monaghan. What a blessing he is to the Church!

This critique of a book review is awesome!!! The book is Colleen Carroll's The New Faithful which I have read and enjoyed. The review is from a "Jesuit" "Catholic" "Theologian" and is simply "Crap". Another example of the tired, pathetic writing of 60's leftovers that made me so sick of America and Commonweal. It is this type of nonsense that is "narrow" not traditionalism. The one true point in the review is that the group Carroll writes about is a sub-group. Most young people are not jumping on the orthodox bandwagon, but that is because most young people are not very involved in religion to begin with. Carroll says as much in her book, pointing out that she is not writing about the majority of young people but about a trend among many of them. My favorite part of the review is this: "Other theologians have confirmed to me that their graduate students are familiar with “conservative” authors, Catholic apologists like Scott Hahn, Mark Shea and Patrick Madrid, whose works their professors wouldn’t dream of reading." In this one sentence, the Jesuit both confirms Carroll's main point in the book (which he is trying to debunk) as well as shows liberal professors to be narrow, close-minded dopes who refuse to read work that might challenge their pre-conceived ideas. I thought Jesuits were supposed to be smart? .

According to today’s bulletin, the parish collection last Sunday was almost $3,000 less than last year. I have not given a dime to my parish for about 2 weeks now and have now figured out what needs to happen before I donate any more:

The Diocese

1) Msgr. Hayde, the director of Liturgy, needs to be fired
2) The traditional Latin Mass needs to be moved to a parish setting
3) All child molester priests need to be defrocked or die
4) All payments to child molesters must end

The Parish

1) A crucifix has to be put in the Sanctuary
2) Images of Mary and Joseph, of any sort, must be put in the Sanctuary
3) The practice of using glasses for distributing the Blood of Christ must end


Until all these conditions are met, I will not give any money to my parish (I have never donated anything to the diocese). There are plenty of good Catholic things to give money to, such as:

Ave Maria University
EWTN
The Legion of Christ
Franciscan University of Steubenville

I just came back from the traditional latin mass. Due to the action taken against our bishop by some attendees, the diocese had some woman, their spokesperson and some priest there to berate us all. The priest actually celebrated the mass and used his homily to criticize the traditional latin mass. They also told us that the bishop, who was so kind to the boy-rapist Rev. Paul Shanley, has decided not to move the mass from the current location, which is home to 5 child molesters. The old woman who spoke before the mass actually had the nerve to say they hope to keep a "dialogue" with us. I guess the bureaucrats in our diocese consider dialogue to include them telling us we should not be doing anything unless it fits in with their agenda. Next week I am going to St. Agnes in Manhattan for 11 am traditional latin mass and then to New Jersey for the Latin Mass Magazine conference. The great Michael S. Rose is one of the speakers.