Saturday, November 01, 2003

Mepham Coaches Urged to Resign
District warns Mepham football coaches they may lose jobs


What took them so long????? The important thing is that the principal should be fired. It is fact that he knew one of the players was violent before the camping trip and still allowed him to play football, still allowed him to go on this trip.
Go to Church of the Masses and read the post on priests who insist on being called "Joe" or such. This is another generation gap thing in the Church. Fr. Todd Reitmeyer comments in this post about being given slack for insisting on being called Father. I don't want to call a priest Larry or Bud or Nancy. The post by Barbara Nicolosi is so good I want to quote it all but I will stick with:

"When Mary Magdalen recognized him Easter morning and called him “Rabboni!” he didn’t say, “Hey Mary, chill. Everybody calls me Jesus."

and

"You are a priest, and that dignity supercedes your Joe-ness."

Some more vacation reading:

It's Getting Better All The Time 100 Greatest Trends of the Last 100 Years--
I took this out at the library to thumb through and make me feel good. Basically, according to the Cato Institute, most things in life are better today than they were in 1900. For instance, infant mortality rates are lower than ever, people are living longer, less people are smoking, more people have high school and college education, and perhaps most importantly, more people take a bath or shower daily than ever before. This was my feel-good book.

Disco Bloodbath A Fabulous but True Tale of Murder in Clubland--

I am not including this link because this book was written by a monster about a monster. It is about Michael Alig, a clubkid who killed and dismembered a drug dealer. Macaulay Caulkin played him in the movie Party Monster. I read stuff like this once in awhile for cheap thrills and to be reminded of just how messed up people can become.

The Habit: A History of the Clothing of Catholic Nuns--

Some interesting history and nice photos, it was a pleasant look at Nuns through the ages.

Friday, October 31, 2003

Christians Arrested in Egyptian Crackdown on Converts

Link via Catholic and Enjoying It!

More tyranny and torture from the "Religion of Peace". I hope that Christians the world over will figure out how to assist our brothers and sisters in the Sudan, Phillipines, Egypt, Indonesia, and elsewhere who are being persecuted by Muslims. I am in the middle of reading 1000 Years for Revenge International Terrorism and The FBI, The Untold Story by Peter Lance. One of the things this author contends is that "al Qaeda, with the exception of Osama bin Laden himself, who is a Saudi of Yemeni origin, is dominated completely by radical Egyptians". See this interview.

Thursday, October 30, 2003

The Long Island Catholic has an article on Sister Mary Gabriel from the Sisters of Life. Sister was one of the organizers of the young adult retreat I attended.

"Along with vows of poverty, chastity and obedience, Sisters of Life take a vow to protect all human life, especially mothers, children and the unborn. Among other ministries, they counsel women who have had abortions and women who are at risk for an abortion. They also share one of their residences, Sacred Heart of Jesus in New York City, with mothers who choose to keep their babies. They direct the Family Life/Respect Life Office for the Archdiocese of New York and evangelize locally and nationally. They have four residences, two in the Bronx, one in New York City and the fourth in Yonkers. The congregation will host a “Come and See” at Our Lady of New York in the Bronx on November 28-30. For more information call vocation director Sister of Life Veronica Mary at 718-863-2264."
I was listening to Howard Stern a little this morning (I know, I know) and Quentin Tarantino was asked his opinion on Roman Polanski getting an oscar. Tarantino's response was: well he isn't really a rapist and the 13 year old girl was "into it". Good for Stern and Robin for pointing out the absurdity of this whole argument. I guess Hollywood has no room for zero tolerance when it comes to Michael Jackson, Chuck Berry, Jerry Lee Lewis, Paul Reubens, Woody Allen, Roman Polanski and Victor Salva.

Wednesday, October 29, 2003

I read a book review in America Magazine that contained this stunning paragraph:

"The Inner Experience is a significant addition to Thomas Merton’s (1915-68) books in print. In this text Merton, the most prolific and widely read Christian spiritual author of the 20th century, gives an orderly approach to his thought on contemplation available in no other text. Further, the first four chapters are a superb general introduction to Christian spirituality—amazing, since the text was written in 1959, several years before the spiritual renewal prompted by the Second Vatican Council (1962-1965)."

Whaaaa??? it is amazing that someone wrote a superb general introduction to Christian spirituality in 1959????? Before a supposed "spiritual renewal"??? What planet is this reviewer living on? I have not read America for years and after reading through several recent issues at the library, I see I have not missed much.
Speaking of the jocks/rapists at Mepham High--can we please get priests to stop mentioning sports at Mass? I don't mean during their homily, I mean at the beginning of Mass or at the end. The priests know if they make a joke about the Yankees, Jets or Notre Dame they can get a cheap laugh from some of the people and it just seems dumb. It seems this occurs more frequently and it is like nails on a chalkboard to me. It just seems to be a case of the priests being desperate to prove they are regular guys, but I don't think it is appropriate at Mass.

Tuesday, October 28, 2003

Nassau Community College Center for Catholic Studies

On Friday afternoon, November 7th, 2003 from 3:30 PM to about 5:30 PM, Mr. Rick Hinshaw will lecture on the topic: The Prudential Application of Catholic Social Thought: Welfare, Health Care, and Drug Law Reform. The lecture will take place at Nassau Community College in Rooms 252-3 of the College Center Building. There will be a period for audience questions. Coffee and cookies at 3 P.M. All are invited, free of any charge. Mr. Hinshaw currently serves as the Communications Director for the Nassau County District Attorney's office and is a regular columnist for the Long Island Catholic newspaper. He formerly was a staff member for both the New York State Conference of Catholic Bishops and the Catholic League for Religious and Civil Rights. If more information is needed, feel free to contact the Director of the Nassau Community College Center for Catholic Studies, Dr. Joseph A. Varacalli, at varacaj@ncc.edu
I met another blogger at the Faith on Tap meeting last night! Aristotle from Confessions of a Recovering Choir Director stopped in to say hi before heading to a meeting. I am sure we will meet again-St. Blog's is a heckova parish! The meeting itself was good-Fr. Harvey was no nonsense and refreshingly blunt. I thought he did better in the Q & A segment than in the lecture itself. He answered some touchy questions with compassion. I wish there was more time for Q & A because many people had questions on the difficult topic of homosexuality and the Church. Father had to catch a train back to Manhattan so he had to leave at 9:30 sharp. He did mention Beyond Gay, the book by another blogger David Morrison at Sed Contra.
This article proves everything I have believed about the situation involving the brutal rapists at Mepham High School. I blogged about the large and growing Jewish population in the area, and how they use the schools for education instead of bullying, and how the coach and principal have known about violence from the dumb jocks before the trip to camp. I hope people don't forget this incident and it haunts the people of Mepham High and Bellmore for decades to come.

Monday, October 27, 2003

I love the Curt Jester's slogans for the Catholic Church. My favorite is "2000 years of annoying people". I think I mentioned before that one of the professional writers in St. Blog's should write a book containing various posts from different blogs, perhaps grouped together by topic. There is a large variety of personalities and viewpoints in this parish and some great writing. Humor would be a large chapter!
In case anyone is wondering why I am blogging during the day, I am actually on vacation. I was supposed to be on a great cruise put together by St. Raphael's Catholic Singles, but it was cancelled. They never said why, but I suspect they did not have enough paying customers. I was given a full refund but I never got around to making other plans for the week. I can't stand it, I just can't stand it! Later tonight I will be at Faith on Tap at the Wantagh Inn. Fr. Harvey, founder of Courage, will speak on the Church and Homosexual people-I hope the Baptist Church from Topeka Kansas don't show up to protest.
We're not in Kansas anymore

Members of a Baptist Church from Topeka Kansas (actually just the minister's family) protested at Mepham High School today. This is the school where at least 5 football players raped and tortured smaller, younger players at a camp. Dozens of other jocks stood around and watched. These wacky protesters should go back to Kansas and stop calling themselves Christian. The reaction of some Mepham people are just as wacky though:

"Parents of students at the school said they were also outraged by the protest and felt the constant attention was stalling effort to move on. 'It's a terrible incident and it happened and we have to deal with it,' said Nancy Sheridan, whose daughter is a senior at the high school, 'but it is already October and we haven't moved forward yet."

Seems many "just want to move on already". People, this was a MAJOR crime and is the latest in a long line of crimes committed by jocks --remember the 5 Glen Ridge High School football players who gangraped a mentally challenged teen? Remember the 5 lacrosse players at St. John's University who gang raped a student?? Remember the jocks at Columbine High School who harrassed and assaulted the 2 students who later went on a shooting spree??? After the public exposure of this horrible crime, people have been threatened not to talk, police have been ignored, school officials were slow to act. Before anyone "moves on" we need to stop this behavior and people need to be punished severely. The coaches and principal should be fired for allowing a known violent thug to attend an overnight camp and to continue playing football. School districts all over the country need to stop giving jocks special treatment and all violence in all schools needs to end. Then we can move on.
I visited some relatives over the weekend and went to a lovely Church with many paintings and statues. The outside of the Church had a cornerstone with the date 1915 but the inside looked brand new. The whole interior was restored and had a great high altar, paintings on the ceiling, detailed stations of the cross. The liturgical "experts" would say all this would distract people from the action of the Mass but this was not true. The art lifted my spirit up while the true distractions were the cantor's style and the sloppiness of the altar boys--sneakers and jeans and wrinkled garb.
More on the retreat --

First, please pray for a young man who attended who feels a call to the priesthood. Also, prayers would be appreciated for a man who is torn over his beliefs. He was raised Catholic, became a Baptist in his 20's and now feels pulled towards the Church. He told me he attends his Baptist church on Sunday, but a Catholic Church during the week. He was very sincere and searching, and thankfully, he spent a lot of time talking with a couple of the Friars and the Sister of Life. He was very impressed with them and hopefully they were a help to him.

The retreat was filled with charismatic-type elements--the music was praise and worship, many of the young people raised their hands when singing or praying, and many more sat on the floor during Adoration or even prostrated themselves before the Blessed Sacrament. At first I did not know what to make of this, my friend said she watched me during the first song at the beginning of the retreat to see my reaction. Honestly, I like some of the praise and worship stuff, and some of the songs were quite inspiring. I also have to say that I like sitting on the floor of the chapel for Adoration more than in the chairs. Overall, the retreat made a great impression on me and many others so regardless of style or personal preference, the retreat was a success. The Friars have a knack for balancing enthusiastic praise with traditional devotions and it worked!