Thursday, January 19, 2006

Want some insight into Msgr. McDonald, the new seminary rector? Matt Abbott quoted a letter written by him in 2004:


Straight Guy with the Catholic Eye: Priest’s ‘Letter to Freshmen’

And here he is writing a letter to America magazine responding to an article (scroll down)

And finally, a Long Island Catholic article from 2004

Wednesday, January 18, 2006

Bishop William Murphy Names New Seminary Rector

This is good - Msgr. McDonald is known for his orthodoxy. His parish is where a Novus Ordo in Latin is celebrated with chant (The Recovering Choir Director used to be in the choir there). Also, this parish has offered to be the host of the traditional Latin Mass for the Diocese so it can be celebrated in a parish Church. The interim administrator, Fr. Pereda, offers the traditonal Latin Mass for the Diocese in a chapel of a former school. Msgr. McDonald does not have the usual academic credentials for being a seminary rector but that is not necessarily a bad thing. He is known for encouraging young men to consider the priesthood. He will be able to keep the seminary on the path it has been on for a few years now. They now have Msgr. Fink as the spiritual director, who is also excellent, so things are looking up there.

Newsday's take

Monday, January 16, 2006

There are now 729 Catholic blogs in the Catholic Blog Directory and you can now see where many of these blogs are written! Click here to see the Directory broken down by location, starting with states in the USA and then by other countries.

[Cliff Clavin voice] It's a little known fact that the US state with the highest number of Catholic blogs is California - 38!

Sunday, January 15, 2006

Ok class, time to compare and contrast:

The Catholic League's view of The Book of Daniel

Vs.
At least he wasn't using a cell phone -

"Suffolk County police had to use their own patrol cars to stop an unconscious driver in Medford Friday afternoon.....officers broke into the car where they say they found a crack pipe"
"At her inauguration Monday, Nassau County District Attorney Kathleen Rice said the public "bestowed upon me a trust that I will not take for granted." But by the end of the week, she had already undercut that promise. Rice is making a mistake in hiring her brother's wife as a $95,000-a-year executive assistant. "

Dennis Dillon made a reputation for himself by being completely above the board and by keeping political patronage out of the DA's office. Dillon was a blessing for Nassau residents: a life-long democrat who switched parties simply because of his deeply held beliefs on abortion. He was not a loyal democrat or republican but that made him a great DA and a great person. People in Nassau understandably felt the need for change after having the same DA for 30 years. Now, we end up with a typical politician as DA - someone who hires their own relative. Newsday also informs:

"Rice, who pledged during the campaign not to make any political appointments, also hired Jeff Stein, former executive director of the Nassau Democratic party and the Democratic elections commissioner, to be her chief of administration. Rice defended that decision, saying Stein chose to leave politics behind."

Based on these two appointments by Rice, I wonder whether we will go back to the bad old days of political corruption in Nassau.