Of interest to Long Island Catholics, and others:

Tuesday, October 10th, 2006 11:30 AM

Nassau Community College

Dr. Alveda King, niece of the late Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. will lecture on "Keeping the Dream Alive". The lecture is at the Multipurpose Room of the College Center Building. The lecture will argue that the civil rights and pro-life movements are intimately related. Dr. King is the Outreach Coordinator to the African American community for Priests for Life. The primary sponsor of this event is the NCC Respect Life Committee, and the NCC Center for Catholic Studies is the co-sponsor along with the NCC Catholic Club.


Saturday, October 28th, 2006 10:00 AM

Nassau Community College

Conference featuring the (very) Honorable Denis Dillon, former District Attorney of Nassau County who will speak on "The Obligations of the Catholic Politician". Mr. Dillon certainly has stood up to his obligations as a Catholic official! There will be a luncheon following the conference. I would not want to miss this for anything, but unfortunately it happens to be the day I will be going to see Les Miserables on Broadway. I have wanted to see this musical for years and never got the chance when it was running.


Both of these events are free of charge, and you don't need to reserve a seat.

The story of the Amish people reaching out to the family of the man who killed five young girls is really incredible. They are really showing Christian charity and love toward the family, and toward each other.

"I asked various Amish friends what message do you want to communicate to people around the world and they said: We want them to understand how rich and deep our friendships and family relationships can be, and while we don't have insurance and we don't enjoy many modern conveniences, we have the richest treasure in the world, and that is brotherly love," Furman said." (CNN link)

2 days, 3 teacher sex scandals on Long Island

Oct. 5th - another teacher caught with child porn, a special ed teacher named Jeffrey Burke.(News12 Long Island link)...

Oct. 4th - the story was about Michael Kelly Reiner, a teacher at a school for the gifted. (Newsday link) Police found:

"569 still images of child pornography and 68 videos on three of Reiner's nine computers that they have analyzed so far. They also found 2,000 stories on the computers that relate to sexually abusing, torturing and eating children."

The Newsday article quotes parents who are backing Reiner, saying he never committed any acts against their children!

Oct. 4th - Long Island teacher says Mom OK'd sex with her daughter

Meanwhile, child porn charges against former teacher John Mark Karr were dropped today. (Cnn link) This is a good time to point out that Carol Shakeshaft, a professor at Hofstra University here on Long Island has long been calling the situation involving teachers much worse than the sex scandals in the Catholic priesthood. It is time for a nationwide audit, like the one done in the Church, covering the past 50 years of all public schools.

Meanwhile, some good news: it looks like the John Mark Karr case has brought some badly needed pressure on the child sex trade. Cambodia is supposedly cracking down on foreigners who go there to have sex with children. (Time.com link - don't click this article if you have a weak stomach) I really believe the exposure of the Catholic priesthood's pedophile problem could have been the start of a worldwide awakening to this problem. We can all hope.

So now former congressman Mark Foley is saying he was abused as a teenager by a clergyman. This whole cycle of violence thing just goes on and on... which is why it is so good to see the Catholic Church clean up its act, or more precisely to have its act cleaned up. When we can honestly say that abuse by clergy is very rare we will no longer see huge numbers of adults with problems caused by clergy. And, as the Catholic Church scandals became so public, it has turned a light on other areas, such as schools, where abuse is also rampant. This is why I don't despair even 5 years after the whole situation became exposed, ultimately, the Church is stronger and society is way better off.

Slacker!

Now this is what is wrong with America today - inability to follow through -

"A male walked into a Bank of America branch on the Port Jefferson Station-Terryville border today shortly after 11 a.m. and handed a teller a note announcing a bank robbery. But, Suffolk police said, the man ran out before he could collect any money."

From Newsday

The Long Island Catholic is looking for an editor and has placed ads in the National Catholic Register for a few weeks now. This is a good sign, hopefully whoever gets the job will use the Register as a model for the LIC.