Retired Priest from Merrick killed by impaired driver

"Family and parishioners of a Merrick church are mourning the loss of a retired priest who delivered a sermon on Jesus' life and resurrection, then died hours later on Good Friday in a crash allegedly caused by an impaired driver on the Southern State Parkway.

The Rev. T. Chacko Mammen, 69, was driving west in his GMC sport utility vehicle when a Honda driven by Christopher Gomez-Almendarez, 23, rear-ended his vehicle about 12:10 a.m. near Exit 30 in North Massapequa, State Police said. The GMC careened onto the shoulder and hit a tree. Mammen was rushed to St. Joseph Hospital in Bethpage, where he was pronounced dead, police said."

                         



This is a tragic loss for his family and for the Mar Thomas Church - this is a Church not in communion with Rome but with its origins going back to St. Thomas the apostle.  God Bless his family and his parish.

More Podcasts of interest to Catholics

I was listening to the Tom Woods Podcast episode on the Notre Dame Cathedral with guest Denis McNamara, professor at the Liturgical Institute at Mundelein Seminary and author of How to Read Churches .  He discussed Catholic architecture and also happened to mention another podcast called The Liturgy Guys.  Their most recent episode was about interesting rubrics in the Triduum so of course I had to listen to it.  I will have to check out more of their podcasts.

Holy Week terrorism suspect arrested

 

"According to Spanish federal police, Spain’s National Intelligence Center and the Moroccan secret service, 23-year-old Zouhair el Bouhdidi was planning detonate explosives during Holy Week processions in Seville, the city in which he lived.

The arrest took place after the Spanish authorities informed the Moroccans that el Bouhdidi had traveled to Morocco, allegedly in preparation for the attack, according to Spanish newspaper El Confidencial."

Fr. James V. Schall, S.J., has died at the age of 91

 

Carl Olsen writes an obit at Crisis Magazine.  He neglected to mention the Ignatius Press book Another Sort of Learning which I have in my library and now I will have to read it again.  Fr. Schall wrote about his book in 2009 here at The Catholic Thing and it sounds very timely even 31 years after publication.

 

"This book is designed to bypass the colleges without denying their existence. I have always thought that anyone can get an education if he can read, something I learned from both Samuel Johnson and my friend Anne Burleigh. Reading has the great advantage of making an end run around academic correctness, wherein little theoretic order is to be found. Reading can take us to things that no one in the schools tells us about. The problem is, as always, “What to read?”

Twenty Parishes will get new pastors in the Diocese of Rockville Centre

The full list is at The Long Island Catholic. 

Notre Dame Cathedral

Various people have suggested that the rebuilding effort of the great Cathedral should be combined with a rebuilding of the Catholic faith in France and Europe.  Hopefully, this huge tragedy will be the impetus for real renewal.  Others have pointed out how universal is the appreciation for this great beauty of a Church- even among those who are indifferent or hostile to religion, Christianity, or Catholicism. 

Steven Schloeder commented on his facebook page a great thought as a Catholic architect, ending with this very true bit:

"Consider the Los Angeles Cathedral. It already looks like a wreck. No one would care if it got destroyed. No one loves it. No one thinks it a sign of God's effusive beauty and glory and goodness and order.

Yet Notre Dame de Paris made us weep for its loss. What a contrast."

This is good news:

Donation Pledges Roll In For Notre Dame's Reconstruction

Rod Dreher: 

Notre Dame Fire: A Sign For Our Time

The 10 Worst Catholic Church Songs of All Time

The above link takes you to an enjoyable video of The Catholic Talk Show. I am finding that as blogging has become almost dead, the podcasts and vlogs are providing the same thing I used to find with Catholic blogs:  Great conversations, funny and orthodox but irreverent discussions on Catholic stuff.  This topic of awful Catholic music has been discussed for years yet we still hear the same music at most parishes.  Some of the songs discussed in this episode might make fine folk music on its own but the music is not made for congregation singing and is overwhelmingly sappy and thus, not right for Mass. 

O’Malley blesses Marathon runners in first Mass at restored Cathedral of the Holy Cross


"The stately cathedral’s faded red carpet is gone, as are the steps into each pew that sometimes tripped congregants. New stone tiles that were handpicked by O’Malley gleam, and the aging pews have been refinished and fitted with new kneelers. When more than 50 runners gathered at the altar for O’Malley’s blessing, they stood on steps of shining marble.

“It’s a dream come true,” O’Malley said of the restoration in an interview after the Mass. “This is a great old cathedral, and there was a lot of benign neglect over the years. But, as in all of these old churches, if you don’t make the sacrifice to preserve it, eventually you’re going to lose it.”

New Pastors

St. William the Abbott in Seaford is getting a new pastor:  Fr. Joseph Fitzgerald.  He is also the Vocation Director for the Diocese of Rockville Centre.  He was profiled in the National Catholic Register a few years back -

From Olympic Athlete to Diocesan Priest

Snip:

"I entered Immaculate Conception Seminary in Douglaston, N.Y., on Aug. 30, 2001, which was my 30th birthday. Shortly after that, and only a few miles away, the 9/11 attacks on the World Trade Center occurred. That was a very jarring time. It showed how goodness and hope, as expressed in the vocation to the priesthood lived out, were sorely needed.

I was ordained on June 9, 2007, and now as a diocesan vocations director, I want to encourage other men to share in this life of generosity and love that the priesthood allows. "


St. Frances De Chantal, right next door in Wantagh, is also getting a new pastor:  Fr. Seth Awo Doku who is currently at St. Agnes Cathedral.

"Fr. Seth N. Awo Doku was born and raised in Ghana. He wanted to be a priest at age 12. After graduating High School, he attended the minor seminary prior to his philosophical and theological formation, and was ordained on July 21, 1990, for the Archdiocese of Accra. He served in two pastoral assignments before proceeding to The Catholic University of America in Washington, DC, to do graduate studies. He earned the Licentiate Degree in Liturgical Studies in 1999 and returned to Ghana, where he served as the Director of Liturgical Services of the Archdiocese of Accra and also as a pastor. In 2004, he returned to the Catholic University of America to complete his studies, obtaining the Doctorate Degree in Liturgical Theology. "