The Nassau Community College Center for Catholic Studies Presents
Liturgical Reform: Pluses and Minuses
November 8

Garden City, NY – The Nassau Community College Center for Catholic Studies is honored to present a lecture by Monsignor George A. Graham, Ph.D., J.C.D., on the debate surrounding liturgical reform in the Catholic Church of the United States from the mid-twentieth century to the present. Liturgical Reform: Pluses and Minuses will take place on Saturday, November 8 at 11:00 a.m. in the College Center Building.

Monsignor Graham is president of the New York Regional Chapter of the Society of Catholic Social Scientists, Judicial Vicar for the Interdiocesan Court of Appeals for the eight Catholic dioceses of New York State and a member of the Liturgical Commission of the Catholic Diocese of Rockville Centre.

This event is free and open to the public, but requires both registration and a parking permit. To register and receive a permit, contact the NCC Office of Lifelong Learning at 516.572.7472.

I hope to be able to attend this lecture as it is my particular area of interest - Liturgical reform.

William Walsh cover-up unraveled quickly, cops say

Police reveal details about arrest of husband in Leah Walsh case



The above link is from Newsday on the sad case of a Long Island teacher of autistic students who was found murdered. Her husband was arrested and charged with her murder.

The Long Island Catholic had a short article on the Seminary program for college age men. The program is rightfully called 'one of our best kept secrets' and it should be better known:

"Douglaston — For college-age men considering a vocation to the priesthood, the Cathedral Semi-nary Residence here offers “the best of both worlds,” said Father Brian Barr, diocesan vocations director.
“They have a foot in both worlds,” Father Barr said of about 25 men from the Rockville Centre and Brooklyn dioceses who are living at Cathedral Residence while studying at St. John’s University or another local college. “They can have a normal college experience while beginning their formation for the priesthood. They can be with other guys who have that same goal,” said Father Barr, who is also director of campus ministry. Six men from the diocese are in the program here."

This is the type of program that the Dioceses (Brooklyn and Rockville Centre) should be promoting more. If the program were done well, the men could be prepared for the seminary and priesthood, and if this vocation were not for them, then they would be prepared to be Christian gentlemen. It is a win-win situation and should have a hundred young men or more.

"To find out more, contact Father Brian Barr at the diocesan vocations office at 631-424-9888, or vocations@drvc.org."

From Newsday: The Academy of St. Joseph in Brentwood is closing due to lack of enrollment.

"The only all-girls Catholic high school in Suffolk County, a hidden gem housed in majestic buildings on a lush 211-acre campus in Brentwood, is closing its doors. The Academy of St. Joseph, whose history dates back 153 years, lacks the students and money to make running it financially feasible, Sisters of St. Joseph of Brentwood president Sister Jean Amore said yesterday. The school will shut down in June."

This is sad news but common around the Northeast, with declining enrollment and escalating costs it is just too difficult to keep many Catholic schools open. Of course, many religious communities stopped focusing on education and orthodoxy in the 60's and 70's and that too hurt their ability to remain vital and growing, in turn affecting their apostolates, so that also has played a role.

The Diocese of Rockville Centre announced a short time ago that retired priests of the Diocese would be moved to a new residence on grounds operated by the Dominican Sisters of Amityville:

Dominican Village to Become New Residence for Retired Diocesan Priests

They currently live at the former St. Pius X High School which closed in 1983. The St. Pius alumni run a website here. The press release mentioned that the residence for priests was to close when the preists move, so I assumed the entire St. Pius property would be sold. Today, Newsday reports the health care clinic operated by Rotacare on the property was told it would have to leave so it seems the property will be sold. This all makes sense for the Diocese to sell off this property but I do wonder what will happen to the Mass in the Extraordinary Form that is currently offered in the chapel? Perhaps it will be moved to a parish which would be great.

In the past, rumors suggested Bishop Murphy would be moved to a bigger Diocese, if this does happen -

Will one of these men be the next Bishop of the Dioecesis Petropolitana in Insula Longa?

Bishop Peter Anthony Libasci


Bishop Paul Henry Walsh

Just askin'

Crime and Justice on Long Island


Marty Tankleff, who spent 17 years in jail on charges of killing his parents and then had his conviction vacated, has started the Fortress Innocence Group. The goal is to help those who are wrongly convicted, a very worthy cause.



Pamela Gluckin, the Roslyn School embezzler is up for parole after serving only 2 1/2 years of a 3 to 9 year sentence. She should not be released yet considering all she stole, another year or two would be appropriate.

I found this explanded story of Seattle nuns returning to the Catholic Church after decades as schismatics on the blog The Black Cordelias. The nuns who returned are now the Sisters of Mary Mother of the Church. I had known about this situation but did not know of the role of Mother Teresa's Missionaries of Charity:

"Last July, 15 nuns from a schismatic convent in Washington state rejoined the Catholic Church. They left the motherhouse of the Religious Congregation of Mary Immaculate Queen (CMRI), located on the outskirts of Spokane, to form a new congregation: the Sisters of Mary, Mother of the Church. They formally renounced their state of schism, made a profession of the Catholic faith, became a private association of the faithful under the care of Spokane Bishop William Skylstad, and recognized the legitimacy of the popes from Paul VI through Benedict XVI.
Their former order, which still has approximately 35 sisters, holds to the sedevacantist position that popes elected since John XXIII are invalid and that Vatican II was a heretical council. "

"In June of 2006, Sister Nirmala sent four of her sari-clad sisters to start a new foundation in Spokane and told the Missionaries of Charity novices to begin praying to Mother Teresa to help bring back the schismatic nuns of the CMRI order. There were exactly 32 Missionaries of Charity novices in the US at the time and 32 CMRI sisters stationed at the Mount. The novices’ prayers began to bear fruit.
Sister Alinda, the superior of the MC nuns in Spokane, went up to the Mount shortly after arriving. She continued to visit six more times in the first few months, after her arrival. On her last visit, the sisters at the sent her home with a large concrete statue of Our Lady of Grace for the garden of the MC convent. As she left the CMRI convent, Sister Alinda says she whispered to the Blessed Mother statue, “OK, I am taking you down the hill today, but now you have to come back here and bring the CMRI sisters down the hill with you."

Also found via the blog The Black Cordelias:

"More than 80% of the prisoners in the concentration camps are not Jews but Christians, and the best tribute to the spirit of Germany's Christians comes from a Jew and agnostic (TIME, Sept. 23) — the world's most famous scientist, Albert Einstein. Says he:

"Being a lover of freedom, when the revolution came in Germany, I looked to the universities to defend it, knowing that they had always boasted of their devotion to the cause of truth; but, no, the universities immediately were silenced. Then I looked to the great editors of the newspapers whose flaming editorials in days gone by had proclaimed their love of freedom; but they, like the universities, were silenced in a few short weeks. . . .

"Only the Church stood squarely across the path of Hitler's campaign for suppressing truth. I never had any special interest in the Church before, but now I feel a great affection and admiration because the Church alone has had the courage and persistence to stand for intellectual truth and moral freedom. I am forced thus to confess that what I once despised I now praise unreservedly."

The above excerpt is from a fascinating article in Time Magazine, Monday, December 23, 1940

Good News in the Diocese of Rockville Centre

The Recovering Choir Director gives an update on Gregorian Chant classes held at St. Matthew's in Dix Hills: "The last two Wednesdays have seen the class grow from four to almost twenty willing participants."

I have to ask: How many unwilling participants are there Aristotle? Seriously, this is a great development in the continuing 'reform of the reform'. It is so good to see Vatican II being implemented concretely on Long Island.

"116. The Church acknowledges Gregorian chant as specially suited to the Roman liturgy: therefore, other things being equal, it should be given pride of place in liturgical services."
--SACROSANCTUM CONCILIUM