Newsday's Dick Ryan

After admitting to massive fraud that included inflating their circulation to increase advertisement rates, one would think Newsday would wise up. This opinion piece proves they will not. First, I neglected to blog something that struck me as weird - a couple of weeks ago I noticed a little news blurb on the Long Island Voice of the Faithful's upcoming convention. The thing that was weird was that it seemed like a straight advertisement for the event, complete with phone numbers, cost, etc.. I knew the paper supports VOF so I dismissed it as typical Newsday garbage, but then the other day there was yet another news blurb on the event, again reading as if it was written by a VOF staffer. These were in the news section not the advertisement section. Now Newsday is giving this event prime advertisement space as Dick Ryan promotes this "convention" on the op-ed page.

The title screams that Bishop Murphy is "silent" and yet he has been speaking about the problems in this Diocese from when he first got here. Dick claims VOF should invite the Bishop to this conference. He amazingly claims "Murphy is not very good at public appearances". I have seen the Bishop speak several times now and he comes across as very warm, friendly and funny. When he speaks he also comes across as very intelligent and honest. Dick claims that there was a "pre-Vatican II commandment to "pray, pay and obey". This is nonsense although that attitude might have existed in some Irish families like Dick's. Dick also wants to hear from the Bishop about the "shrinking number of priests and vocations"? Is Dick deaf? The Bishop has been talking vocations and the priest shortage since day one. In fact, Dick should know the number of seminarians here has doubled in the past two years - mostly due to some good changes in the seminary. Dick claims Bishop Murphy "remains aloof, out of sight and, yes, out of touch"? I have personally seen the Bishop at least four times at events and at each one he goes out of his way to personally greet everyone he can and listen and talk to them. He seems to be everywhere in the Diocese and I don't see how he is at all out of touch. He has been working hard to clean up the mess left behind by Bishop McGann. Dick seems to think if people don't pay attention to VOF or show up at their little meetings at the local Unitarian hall, then they are out of sight or aloof. That is crazy. I care very much about the Church on Long Island but I don't care at all about VOF. My advice to my fellow Catholics here is: don't be a Dick. And check out The Long Island Press, where an excellent letter to the editor defends Bishop Murphy. Although the Long Island Press is new and not perfect, at least you can trust its balance more than Newsday. As well as its circulation figures!