Theological Question of the Day:

I am a Mets fan, and therefore a Yankees hater. I am enjoying the current dismal performance of those darn pinstriped millionaires. The team owner, George Steinbrenner, known as "The Boss" among other four letter words, owns Bellamy Road, a favorite to win the Kentucky Derby. Is it wrong for me to want this horse to lose just because of its semi-relationship to the New York Yankees?

Great post from a Sean, who grew up in Massapequa and may be someone I know from childhood-

"I'm a bad Catholic, not because the Catholic Church is wrong. It's because I don't follow their teachings, and if I don't like it, I can find a church that will be nicer to me."

Nassau County Executive Tom Suozzi will propose spending $3 million to reduce abortions. When Suozzi was mayor of Glen Cove he did assist Momma's House and is on their honorary board of trustees.

Look at what Newsday is reporting -

That image on an underpass some believed looked like Our Lady of Guadalupe was covered by someone with black shoe polish and a swastika. The state highway department considered that to be graffiti so they covered it with brown paint. People somehow removed the paint and the image is now back, intact.

The editor of the Jesuit magazine America is quitting, perhaps due to revelations of complaints filed in Rome.

Fr. Gommar DePauw, RIP

Fr. DePauw was the first Catholic priest to establish an independent chapel to celebrate the traditional Latin Mass. The Ave Maria chapel in Westbury was established in 1968. Mel Gibson worshiped there once. He sounded like a priest way ahead of his time, may he rest in peace.

Twenty-first Annual

SPIRITUALITY CONVOCATION

Date: May 21, 2005 9:00AM - 4:00 PM

Place: Auditorium of Archbishop Stepinac High School
950 Mamaroneck Avenue, White Plains, NY 10605

The Archdiocese of New York will have Fr. Benedict Groeschel speaking on The Eucharist and The Legacy of John Paul II!! As if that is not enough they will also have Dr. Scott Hahn speaking on The Lamb's Supper!!

I learned about this from St. Blog's commentator KH, who will be there representin' The Montfort Academy, an all-boys Catholic high school in Westchester.

My parish has really decorated the sanctuary this Easter with more plants and flowers than ever before. The funny thing is that right in back of the altar, in the center is an arrangement of big plants with flowers all around them. The tabernacle is to the right, as it has been since our Church was renovated. These flowers and plants with candles on either side are now the focus of attention. This arrangement has taken the place of a high altar and tabernacle, it even looks to me like a high altar or how a high altar would be decorated for Easter. Our parish sometimes puts wreaths on the walls down the center of the Church, or in Advent, banners with the “O Antiphons”. These wreaths and banners are placed between the stained glass windows kind of where statues or icons of saints would be. I once walked into a parish where the two alcoves on either side of the back wall of the sanctuary had potted plants on a shelf. These alcoves were obviously built for Mary and Joseph and it was jarring to see the plants because my mind immediately pictured Mary and Joseph. I think what happens here is that Catholics have a notion of how a Church should be setup and are decorating them in an “old-fashioned” way perhaps without even realizing it. Something tells people (probably ladies of the parish) that the main focus should be in the back center of the altar and that something should be on either side, and something should be on the walls down the center of the Church. Even though our Churches have been renovated and changed, our minds still point us to the traditional arrangements. I know my mind is telling me the tabernacle should be in the center at the back of the sanctuary on a high altar, with Mary and Joseph on either side, and saints on the walls. I wonder if the people doing the decorating think like me, or if they just do this subconsciously?

Help send Aristotle the Recovering Choir Director to World Youth Day!

cantemusdomino.net
Donate to the Juventutem/ WYD 2005 Fund Drive

Beaten Priest Prays for Attackers

THE AMAZING REVERT

I just found two posts from September 2003 that had predictions by me - both of which were amazingly accurate. The first prediction was about the Passion of the Christ movie - click here to be amazed! The second was about Pope John Paul II and I am glad I wrote my thoughts because they came absolutely true. The post is here but I will quote myself -

"Wouldn't it be great if the Pope announced he could no longer travel but invited people to visit him in Rome. And after so many years of giving so much to people, we could then visit the Pope by the millions. Imagine millions of people streaming into Vatican City, setting all kinds of records, to pay tribute to John Paul the Great. "

-Gen X Revert (September 13th, 2003)

Thomas Woods has a new book out - How the Catholic Church Built Western Civilization. I have heard this Long Islander speak twice and have enjoyed his writings. His output is simply amazing. He once mentioned he was working on a book about persecution of the Church from the French Revolution to present, which I am looking forward to reading. I asked him when we can expect this to come out but it sounded like other projects were taking priority, so I will buy a few of his books and wait.

Reality TV in monastery changes five lives forever

An amazing story via Angry Twins. I always thought that monasteries should have a program for college age students to live as monks while attending college. The students would do better in college due to the disciplined lifestyle, the monastery would be given workers and some fresh blood, and vocations might follow. For students that don't become monks, they would take some great lessons with them throughout life. Portsmouth Abbey has an intern program that looks good.

Sodakmonk has been shut down, apparently Father felt some readers were offended by some posts. I appreciated Sodakmonk's humor and sarcasm, just as I like the Angry Twins. Hopefully we will see more writing of this monk in the future.

Missing Bride May Still Face Charges

She had better be charged - she caused lots of pain and misery by lying! Filing a false police report is a crime and it should be prosecuted. What kind of a person puts their family through the misery of thinking she was dead for 4 days? You want to cut the stress of your upcoming wedding? Cut the guest list down from 600 and the number of bridesmaids down from 14 to 2. Geez!