Saturday, October 19, 2013

Another home grown terrorist on Long Island

"To his Long Island family, Marcos Alonso Zea was an honor student, aspiring teacher and good Catholic.

To leaders of a mosque he visited, he was a young convert in a traditional gown who called himself "Ali."

To the FBI, he was a terrorist in the making, intent on joining al-Qaida and waging "violent jihad."

Zea, 25, grew up in Brentwood, raised by immigrants: a mother from Guatemala, Sandra; and a father from Colombia, Alvaro. The family, including Zea and several siblings, regularly attended St. Anne Catholic Church, his parents said.

After graduating from Brentwood High School in 2006, Zea took classes at Dowling College and Suffolk County Community College's Brentwood campus, where he earned a liberal arts degree in August 2011, officials said.

"He wanted to be somebody important in life," Sandra Zea said Friday in Spanish, referring to her son's teaching aspirations.

He completed a teaching course last December, she said, proudly displaying the certificate during an interview at the family's tidy home in a working-class neighborhood of Brentwood.

But Marcos Zea was also increasingly fascinated with Islam. Prosecutors say he converted in 2009."

Read the rest of this very sad story at Newsday.

Catholic dorms

Catholic dorms to debut at two secular universities

I am sure there are some positives and negatives to this idea.  The positives would include groups supporting each other in living a Catholic life, the negatives would be a 'ghetto' mentality.  It makes sense to me to do this type of thing because college is a very impressionable time and having a group to help you through it is valuable.   A great idea for higher education at Catholics schools would include the 'households' setup to foster a community environment at the Franciscan University of Steubenville.   



Closer to home there is a new community residence for young adults at the former seminary in Huntington:

WHO can become members?
Catholic Single Professionals between the ages of 22- 35 who:
  • may be interested in deepening their faith.
  • doubt whether they want to remain Catholic.
  • want to learn more about the tenets of the Catholic Church.
  • are looking for a challenge.
  • are looking for a home.
  • are looking for community.
  • are looking to integrate faith in the workplace.
  • are discerning God’s will for their lives
WHAT Can members expect?
  • Daily Morning & Night prayer.
  • Daily Mass.
  • Regular access to Confession & Spiritual Direction.
  • Adoration.
  • Availability of affordable on-site masters programs from ArchNY
  • Shared Meals & Fellowship
  • Events meant to stimulate thought and discussion about the meaning of life/Catholic identity.
  • Opportunities for ministry and mission work
  • Flexibility and freedom around professional and academic schedules.
WHERE are we located? 
  • Former Seminary of the Immaculate Conception – Huntington, NY
  • 220-acre waterfront property
  • Close to beaches and parks
  • One hour east of NYC, close to Long Island Railroad
WHEN can I move in if accepted? 
  • Applications are accepted on a rolling basis and include an interview. Once accepted, arrangements can be made for move-in.
WHY should I consider the Domus? 
  • Pope Emeritus Benedict has called us to open wide the “doors of faith”, to re-encounter Christ Jesus and to solidify ourselves in knowledge and understanding of our faith
  • Blessed John Paul II has called us to a New Evangelization, to go out and be the salt and light that our world, especially our Catholic brothers and sisters need
  • Jesus Christ has commanded us to “Go out and make disciples of all nations…” In our often indifferent and misguided world, having community to strengthen us and temper us to be intentional disciples is needed more than ever.

Friday, October 18, 2013

Giant Statue of Jesus Christ Erected in Syria

Let's hope this will have a positive effect:

"A sculpture ensemble depicting Jesus Christ called ‘I have come to save the world’ has been erected on top of a 2,000-meter high mountain in Syria. 

The statue has been placed on a historic pilgrim route from Constantinople to Jerusalem, at the Cherubim Monastery in the community of Saidnaya at an altitude of 2,100 meters above sea level, the Moscow Spiritual Academy, which supported this peacekeeping project, said in a statement. “The ensemble with the blessing Christ in its center, seen from Lebanon, Jordan, Palestine and Israel, is designed to bring peace, mutual understanding, and hope for common salvation to a region engulfed in the flames of war,” it said. 

 The warring parties suspended hostilities and were watching the statue’s installation, which took three days, it said." 

- See more at: Gateway Pundit

Archaeological dig reveals Franciscan mission on Georgia barrier island

From Catholic News Service:

"For Bishop Hartmayer, the trip had a twofold purpose. He wanted to see the mission site where fellow Franciscans first brought Christianity to the New World. As bishop of Savannah, he is now in charge of advancing the sainthood cause of the Georgia martyrs, five Spanish friars who were murdered by American Indians in 1597. Two of them met their deaths on St. Catherines, two near present-day Darien and a fifth on St. Simons Island.

In March 2007, Conventual Franciscan Father Conrad Harkins, then vice postulator of the martyrs' cause, took 500 pages of documents supporting the case for their canonization to the Vatican.

Thomas, who has spent more than 40 years excavating in the Southwest and Southeast, said the more he studies the missions, the more he becomes fascinated by the contrast between the missions in the Southwest and those in the Southeast. He has come to think of the Franciscan missionaries at St. Catherines as 16th-century "Peace Corps members."

"Basically there was an alliance between the church and the Indians that preserved the Indian culture," he said. Instead of forcing religion on the American Indians, the Franciscans brokered an agreement with them that kept the Indians' way of life while incorporating the teachings of Christianity.

"There is no way that two barefoot friars could have stood up to 300 armed warriors," had the Franciscans chosen a confrontational approach, Thomas told the Southern Cross, Savannah's diocesan newspaper.

The narrative about the killing of the priests, first written in 1619, has maintained that the friars were slain because they protested the fact that an Indian leader wanted to take more than one wife.

Thomas believes there was more to the story and that the five Franciscans were victims of a conflict between warring Indian factions fighting for power."

Stephen Colbert at the Al Smith Dinner

From the Christian Post:

"NEW YORK – Comedian Stephen Colbert cracked jokes at major Catholic figures such as Cardinal Timothy M. Dolan and Pope Francis during Thursday's Alfred E. Smith Memorial Foundation Dinner, which raised $3 million in charity for children.

Colbert, a Roman Catholic who teaches Sunday school, declared himself "America's most famous Catholic" in his opening remarks, according to The Associated Press, then turned to Dolan, the Archbishop of New York and president of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops:

"I know what the cardinal is thinking: 'Stephen, pride is a sin.' Well, Cardinal, so is envy, so we're even."

....
 
"Colbert further joked that Dolan had a chance to be elected pope when Catholic bishops were electing a new leader earlier this year at the Vatican, "but he blew it in the swimsuit competition."

The comedian also focused on Pope Francis, bringing up the humble and modest nature the new Roman Catholic leader has been praised for. He joked that if the pope had planned Thursday's dinner, "we wouldn't be in white-tie at the Waldorf - we'd be in sweat pants at the corner booth of the IHOP."

Whispers in the Loggia has the full audio.

Thursday, October 17, 2013

ST IGNATIUS OF ANTIOCH; MEMORIAL: OCTOBER 17

From the blog Into The Deep:

"Today Oct. 17, the Roman Catholic Church remembers the early Church Father, bishop, and martyr Saint Ignatius of Antioch, whose writings attest to the sacramental and hierarchical nature of the Church from its earliest days."

.....

"Ignatius' letters passionately stressed the importance of Church unity, the dangers of heresy, and the surpassing importance of the Eucharist as the “medicine of immortality.” These writings contain the first surviving written description of the Church as “Catholic,” from the Greek word indicating both universality and fullness."

Tuesday, October 15, 2013

Tablet Forum on C. S. Lewis

The writings of C.S. Lewis will be the topic of the next Tablet Forum to be held on Friday, Nov. 1 at 7 p.m. at Christ the King R.H.S., Middle Village.

The forum will feature the showing of the film, The Life and Work of C.S. Lewis, and a talk by James Como, chairman and professor of the Department of Performing and Fine Arts at CUNY’s York College, Jamaica.

He is the author of three books on C.S. Lewis.

Admission is by ticket only. Tickets are free and can be requested by sending an e-mail to ewilkinson [at] desalesmedia [dot] org.

Convent Fire was Possibly Arson

Possible Hate Crime, Arson in Staten Island Convent Blaze


"NEW YORK –– A convent and chapel in New York City were the site this weekend of a suspicious fire, which injured two nuns and four firefighters. Sister M. William McGovern, provincial superior of the Daughters of Divine Charity community on Staten Island, said the fires were “a true tragedy.”
“The historic portion of our home — with our chapel, sacristy, archives and provincial offices — was destroyed and is now a crime scene,” Sister William said.
Early in the morning of Oct. 12, firefighters responded to fires at St. Joseph Hill Convent and Chapel. According to multiple local news sources, Sister Regina Gegic and another older sister were staying in the building when the fire started. Sister Regina was forced to leap from the second floor of the building to escape the flames.
Sister William said Sister Regina “is in intensive care at Staten Island University Hospital,” with injuries sustained from the fall. The other sister in the building at the time of the fire was not reported to have been harmed."

Bishop Daly, RIP

Bishop Daly passed away yesterday, October 14, 2013.  He was 92 and had been retired since 1996. 

Here is an article on him from a couple of years ago:

Bishop Daly:  Still Living the Gospel Call at 90

Monday, October 14, 2013

A Catholic for 10 Years

JoAnna Wahlund, a blogger (with a 1 week old baby) who converted 10 years ago reflects on what she loves most about being Catholic:

What a Difference a Decade Makes


Women's Conference 2013

Long Island Catholic Women's Ministry

Saturday October 19th, 2013
8am Registration
9am-4:30pm Conference


Seminary of the Immaculate Conception
440 West Neck Road
Huntington, NY 11743

All details can be found here