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America's most vibrant parish?

This article by Rachelle Linner is in the Feb. 27th, 2004 edition of Commonweal and mentions Gen X Revert. One interesting thing mentioned is that, while there are priests and brothers blogging, there is not one woman religious. I would love to see one of the nuns in a good, vibrant order blogging (Dominicans of Nashville, Daughters of St. Paul, Mother Angelica's order, etc... The closest we have is Barbara Nicolosi of Church of the Masses as she was with the Daughters of St. Paul for awhile. The modern nuns of course are too busy smearing blood on missile sites and praying to the Four Winds. Perhaps the Curt Jester might create a "blog by a modern sister"!

My first thought on reading this column was that I had read it before. It had the standard notion of blogs being tilted toward the "conservative", rather than "orthodox", but either way it is true. The author gives the standard line: blogs are "conservative" or "traditionalist" and therefore "cynical", "judgmental" and "corrosive". This type of thinking is why Commonweal does not have the growing readership that First Things, Crisis, etc.. have. "Liberal" Catholicism is truly a dead end road, offering nothing different from liberal secularism. The few blogs that offer this are reactionary and simply contrarian to the dominant blog outlook. Any new idea or reform is shot down by those who fear a return to "the pre-Vatican II" way. This article is simply the latest in a tiring litany of writings by people whining of the "traditionalism" of Catholics today. Mel's movie brought this stuff to a fever pitch. The attempt by Catholic bloggers and other Catholics to reconnect with their tradition and culture is a positive thing that has been trampled on by too many within the Church. The author of the article ends with a quote from Flannery O'Connor that is meant for the "conservative" or "traditionalist" bloggers but which applies equally to the author and the Commonweal readers:

"Human nature is so faulty that it can resist any amount of grace and most of the time it does"

I would suggest that many a grace has been resisted by Catholics over the past 30 years - including those who equate "traditionalist" with negative and corrosive.

Total as of March 11th, 2004: $232,379,231

On the all time domestic gross list, the movie is now #38

Man Killed During Initiation at Masonic Lodge

"PATCHOGUE, N.Y. — A man was killed during a Masonic initiation ceremony when another member fired a gun loaded with real bullets instead of the expected blanks and shot him in the face, police said Tuesday."

At the exact time this man was being initiated into the Masons, I was entering the Knights of Columbus.

Heyyyy Now!

Thanks to Come On, Get Lively I found The Catholic Book Collector blog. Thanks to this new blog I found out George Weigel has a new book out: Letters to A Young Catholic (Art of Mentoring). This is the latest in a series of "Letters to A Young" books and it looks great.

Seamless Garment idea debated


"Jesuit Father John Conley opened Molloy College's spring lecture series Feb. 26 with a critique of the seamless garment of life, a concept developed by the late Cardinal Joseph Bernardin of Chicago."

Against the Grain pointed to a funny post from a good blog called Protocols. Protocols in turn pointed to Jewsweek and their obsessive coverage of TPOTC. The author of this article from Jewsweek seems to understand some things many people do not:

"Foxman's actions were also ill-advised because they have managed to alienate many Christian friends of the Jewish people along the way. In repeatedly characterizing a film that is based on the literal Gospels as anti-Semitic, Foxman has unavoidably also implied that the Gospels are anti-Semitic. Whether or not this is fair or true, it was bound to be hurtful to many Christians. And what useful purpose at this point in history is served by characterizing the Gospels as anti-Semitic? In addition, many find it jarring to hear Foxman presuming to tell them how Christian doctrine requires them to act in respect of the movie. Imagine the Jewish reaction if Christians started telling the Foxman that his organization's positions were not consistent with Jewish doctrine, for example on abortion rights (liberal) and gay marriage rights (pro)."

This is good stuff. The author of this article, Daniel Barenholtz seems most focused on the free publicity that Foxman gave the film. The title of the article is "How not to choose your battles". My hope is that Bill Donohue and the Catholic League will read and learn from this article. They tend to do the same as Foxman whever an anti-Catholic movie comes out.

A. O. Scott in the New York Times:

"The convergence of ancient religious traditions and postmodern pop culture challenges some of the most basic assumptions that many of us who write about popular culture bring to our work. ."

I wonder what those assumptions would be and whether having them would be the same thing as being prejudiced.

You can take what the critics have been doing and turn it around as well:

Was Jami Bernard's 1 star review in the NY Daily News an honest criticism or was it the result of some prejudice? I am not claiming she is anti-Christian, just that her review might be. All the attacks on Gibson, his film, and its fans could feed into the very anti-Christian culture we live in. If any violence breaks out against Christians by anti-Christians, as it did during the French Revolution, World War II, or in the Soviet Union, then the blood will be on Jami Bernard's hands. See how easy it is to do this? Also, note the examples I give of anti-Christian violence are much more recent, by centuries, than the ones given by Foxman, Hikand, Cork, Friedman, Boys, etc... The truth is that now that I have seen the movie I can understand how people might not enjoy the film. I can understand some of the negative reviews, the ones that talk of character development, violence, etc.. But most reviews have not been like that- most talk about the Bible, the controversy, etc.. I really do believe this is the result of anti-Christian bias on the part of many people.

You can read the Dolorous Passion of Christ online. If you want to read the book get it from Tan Books and Publishers. Also, Ignatius Press is offering The Ultimate Passion Book Set. The set includes On the Passion of Christ by Thomas a Kempis, A guide to the Passion: 100 questions about Mel Gibson's Passion of The Christ, and The Passion: Photography from the movie.

Another bigot can see into the future and claims people will be killed as a direct result of Mel Gibson's movie:

"Sometime later this year, perhaps next, we will hear news reports of Jews being killed by angry young men. It may be in France, Germany, perhaps in the former WARSAW countries. The killers will have recently seen Mel Gibson’s The Passion of the Christ. And their defense will be vengeance, because after all, Jesus himself blamed it on the Jews. They just heard it with their own ears."

The stupidity is overwhelming in the post. One thing that is mentioned, and incorrectly, is the scene where Jesus is building a table "for a rich man". Before I saw the movie I read about many scenes on the internet including this one. People commented that it reminded them of an altar. Therefore, when I saw this scene I thought of that. The scene is shown from inside the house and table is arranged as an altar would be in a Church. Jesus shows Mary how people might eat at the table with chairs but since he has not made them yet, he crouches a little and puts his arms on the table. This gesture is familiar to anyone who attends the traditional Mass, or even if priests are traditionally minded. Right at the words of consecration, the priest leans on the altar in a similiar way to Jesus. Mary does this too, but at the side of the table, Jesus is in the middle as a priest would be. She also brings him water so he can wash his hands. It is a little foreshadowing that is done well.

The Passion of The Christ

Well tonight I got to see it- my first impression is that I think I expected too much. With all the stuff I read about people being very moved and "experiencing" the movie, I just did not come out of the theater feeling especially moved. This might be due to the fact that I turned away at many violent parts and may have missed some things. (I pretty much fast forwarded through Braveheart and Gladiator). Also, I have never been especially emotional in regards the Passion or spiritual things. The movie was well done and Jim Cavaziel was excellent as Jesus. The violence was a bit much at times, but not as wild as some critics made it seem. I could have done with less slow-motion and less subtitles. The ending seemed tacked on and I did not think it was done to the best effect. Overall though, the movie was very well done and I think I will see it again to see if I can get "into it" more the second time. Thank you Mel Gibson!

Random Thoughts:

The thing that annoyed me the most about the hype of the movie was that it really brought out the fact that many people are very anti-Christian. The letters to the editor in the major papers, some movie critics, the "professional" scholars, and some activists all seemed angry that a devout Catholic would dare to make a film. I have seen angry letters and columns bashing Christianity, Mel Gibson personally, the Gospels, etc.. At times it is amazing how far people would go to try to try to justify their own hatred and bigotry. One person wrote "Go away Mel Gibson and take your piety with you". I am glad The Passion of The Christ is doing so well because Gibson deserves a success after all that he has been through. The one thing that people agreed after seeing the film tonight is that people who claim the movie is anti-semitic or that it will lead to violence are just way off base. No one could think of why it would be seen as anti-semitic at all, but all agreed it was very anti-Roman in a way. Even there, it is not truly anti-Roman because it showed sadistic Roman soldiers, as everyone knows those guys were brutes and it does not follow that all Romans were brutes. I think some people who made accusations about the film are living on a different planet or in a different century or something. Now that I have seen the film it will be even more interesting to see the columns and the letters to the editor, etc..

I thought my occasional (recently more frequent) attendance at the traditional latin Mass would help me to understand a few phrases from the movie. Of course, the parts of the film that would have been in the Mass were in aramaic not latin. Oh well. I did notice that the subtitle translated the line as "for many" not "for all", which is a big argument in some places.


Contrary to Roger Friedman's claim that it would be hard for me to find the movie, since I live on the south shore of Nassau County, it only took me about 11.0 minutes to get to the theater. And this one was not the closest theater showing the movie! And this was in incredibly thick fog as well!!

By the time I post again I will have seen The Passion of The Christ. I am very glad the film has provoked discussion and that it is doing well. I hope that it will help in my Lenten journey but am not sure I will be able to get past the blood and violence. I hope it is as good as people say it is.

New Blog!

I never seem to find a Catholic blog before anyone else so this may be a first? Nicole, a recent "revert" started Reversion 2.0 and in the first post she asked for guidance. If you can offer any please stop by her site. Reverting Rocks!! Ugh I can't believe I just wrote that.

Chris is asking me to name the top 3 lies told by the critics of Mel Gibson's movie that have me acting like a pit bull on crack. (Those are my words not his/her) As requested here are the top three:

1) That the movie will cause violence- if you want examples of anti-semitism and violence check out the middle east. Devout Catholics ain't blowing up people and such. Some quotes of people claiming the movie WILL cause violence (I skipped the many, many quotes of people who slyly questioned IF the movie could cause violence):

"When violence breaks out, Mel Gibson will have a much higher authority than professors and bishops to answer to." [emphasis added] The New Republic, July 28, 2003 - August 4, 2003, "Mad Mel," by Paula Fredriksen

"More people will see this film in three months than ever saw the passion plays in Europe through all the centuries. We know those plays rationalized anti-Semitic behavior. We fear this will, too." Detroit Free Press, February 7, 2004; Abraham Foxman

"Of great concern to the Anti-Defamation League [with regard to the film] is the possibility that individuals are more likely to be targets of attack, simply because they are 'different." Seattle Times, February 6, 2004; ADL Fundraising Mailer, quoted by David Klinghoffer

"In an interview about the film, Foxman added, '[Gibson is] hawking it on a commercial crusade to the churches of this country. That's what makes it dangerous." Los Angeles Times, January 23, 2004; Abraham Foxman

"We have good reason to be seriously concerned about Gibson's plans to retell the Passion. Historically, the Passion—the story of the killing of Jesus—has resulted in the death of Jews." New York Post, June 21, 2003; Letter, Ken Jacobson

All of the above quotes came from the Catholic League website. Unfortunately letters to the editors of the major New York papers that I read are not available online and I don't have to time to look for them anyway. However, I remember reading one letter that said "I am SURE this movie will cause bloodshed" and many others have been just as bad. The smarter critics have backtracked from what they originally have said also. Now many are saying the film may not cause bloodshed but may contribute to anti-semitism.

2) That the movie is anti-semitic. This is of course open to interpretation but that is not what many have said. They have flat out called it anti-semitic. Check the same Catholic League website for plenty of quotes on this also.


3) That the movie was not distributed in Jewish or upscale neighborhoods, and would be hard to find in Nassau County. Once again the Catholic League proves this false, but I also pointed out the lies involving Long Island here and here. Since I live here and know what I am talking about, this is the easiest lie to refute. You have to wonder how people can print stuff that is simply not true and never even print a correction.

The above does not mention the attacks on Mel Gibson personally, including the recent rant that he liked to tell jokes, that he "rejects Vatican II teachings" whatever the heck that means, that he dares to kill cattle on his ranch, that he won't discuss his father's big mouth and nuttiness so he must agree with him, that he has the nerve to want to make money on his film, etc.. People have also written extensively how this movie is setting back Jewish-Christian relations, whatever that means, even though it is the actions and words of the movie's critics themselves that is causing harm. Also, people keep claiming that the movie is not 100% scripturally accurate but I don't see where it was claimed to be. Gibson has said from the beginning that he based some of it on Emmerich's writings.

Some small lies:

"The Passion" is now the most expensive vanity production in history." -Roger Friedman again, Please see this article and this one to see how much garbage was packed into Friedman's articles.

"Mel Gibson's "The Passion of the Christ" is the most virulently anti-Semitic movie made since the German propaganda films of World War II."--Jami Bernard in the Daily News

As I have pointed out on my blog, the reactions of people indicate a lot of anti-Christian bias. Paul Vitello started interviewing people who watched the film but then stopped because their answers did not conform to any of the preconceived notions he had. People have come out of this film not hating, not doing violence, etc.. And it is very easy to find the film on the north and south shore of Nassau County contrary to Roger Friedman's lies, but it is not easy to get a ticket since it is so popular. I tried once and could not get in, but now I have tickets for tommorrow night. I will go and while I may not "enjoy" the movie, maybe even miss half of it because I can't stand seeing violence, I will be glad to support a Catholic who poured his heart into creating a work of art. I will also be glad to know I am pissing off so many anti-Christian bigots just by making this movie so successful.

I usually don't pay much attention to people that are too partisan. However, partisan politics aside, Ann Coulter wrote one of the best articles yet on The Passion Of The Christ. Her slash and burn style can be tiresome when she is bashing liberals or even anyone who might believe helping some people might just be a good thing, but here it is absolutely perfect!

Just some of the great lines:


"In fact, Jesus' distinctive message was: People are sinful and need to be redeemed, and this is your lucky day because I'm here to redeem you even though you don't deserve it, and I have to get the crap kicked out of me to do it. That is the reason He is called "Christ the Redeemer" rather than "Christ the Moron Driving Around in a Volvo With a 'Be Nice to People' Bumper Sticker on It."

"The other complaint from the know-nothing crowd is that "The Passion" will inspire anti-Semitic violence. If nothing else comes out of this movie, at least we finally have liberals on record opposing anti-Semitic violence. Perhaps they should broach that topic with their Muslim friends."

And now for something a little different: (humor-impaired Christians should not click this)

Jesus Demands Creative Control Over Next Movie

"I never should have given Mel Gibson so much license," said Christ, the Son of God. "I don't like to criticize a member of the flock, but that close-up of the nails being pounded into My wrists—that was just bad."

From The Onion of course

Believe it or not there are some non-Mel Gibson related things going on in the Catholic world:

Firstly, KH, who lurks in the St. Blog's comments (in a good way) introduced me to The Children First Foundation. This group promotes adoption and is working to get Choose Life license plates approved in New York and New Jersey. These plates are already on the road in 10 states and they help raise money for pro-life causes such as crisis pregnancy centers. More info at Choose-Life. The establishment of thousands of prolife centers around the world is the best thing that could have happened to the prolife movement. This is a positive agenda that will not involve damaging lawsuits, arrests, etc... Of course, it should be controversy free, who doesn’t want to help pregnant women? A couple of years ago the NY attorney general Elliot Spitzer tried to attack prolife centers at the behest of pro-choice groups but backed down. Prolife centers should be professional, fully staffed and financially strong. Right now there is a need to get sonograms in as many as possible. Adoption should be a major priority of all Catholics. Deal Hudson of Crisis magazine wrote an article describing he and his wife’s experience. Unfortunately, they found the local Catholic Charities unhelpful and bureaucratic. A friend suggested a local Baptist agency and they were great. Catholics should take the pro-choicers at their word and make it an easy choice by providing enough services and support that no woman would ever feel pressured to “choose” abortion.

Secondly, there will be a Life Fest on Saturday, April 3rd at Fordham University. Click on the link and see the impressive list of speakers and events. This looks like it will be huge!

Thirdly, Dr. William Donohue, President of the Catholic League for Religious and Civil Rights, will be speaking on "The Controversy Over Mel Gibson's The Passion of the Christ" for the Nassau Community College Center for Catholic Studies on Friday evening, April 16th, 2004 from 7 to about 9 P.M. in Building K, ballroom, at Nassau Community College in Garden City, New York. Coffee and cake at 6:30 PM All are invited, free of any charge.
Oops that last one was Mel Gibson related but it should be great.

The Passion of The Christ is the #1 movie today!

"Mel Gibson's (search) gamble on "The Passion of the Christ" (search) paid off enormously, riding a storm of religious debate to a $117.5 million haul in its first five days, according to studio estimates Sunday."

I have not seen it yet but everyone I heard from who has seen it can barely describe what an incredible experience it is.

So, in my lifetime I have seen the Chant album hit number one, and now a movie shot in Latin. What was that the Liturgists have been telling us for years..oh yeah, chant and latin is out because people need to have things brought down to their level.

Zev Chafets, in the NY Daily News writes a column on The Passion of The Christ that contains lots of common sense:

'Passion' is really pro-Israel

"But I'm a Jew, not a Christian. And despite what many Jewish critics seem to believe, "The Passion" wasn't made for us. Or about us.

Judging from the reactions I see on TV, a lot of Christians - Protestant and Catholic alike - come out of the theater deeply moved by Gibson's movie. This reaction infuriates some Jewish scholars and activists. Gibson's distorting history, they charge. He lets the Romans off too easily. He puts the blame on the Jews. By which, of course, they mean: on us.

These Jews need to relax.

Gibson is telling a 2,000-year-old story. Most Christians are smart enough and reasonable enough to understand the distinction between Caiaphas and Jerry Seinfeld. It is insulting to suggest otherwise."

I wonder if his Daily News colleague Jami Bernard read this column. She said the Passion movie "is the most virulently anti-Semitic movie made since the German propaganda films of World War II."

Jami Bernard, the movie reviewer in the NY Daily News:

"In 18 years as a professional movie critic, I've never gotten the response that I had this week to my one-star review of "The Passion of the Christ."

She writes about some of the hate mail she has received, which I am sure is nothing compared to what the Catholic League has received. She also writes this interesting line:

"What interests me as a movie critic is the profusion of people who do not understand or care how to evaluate a movie."

But read her original review and see how she evaluated the movie. Did she evaluate it as a movie or as a religious statement that she did not like? Many of the reviews I have read have not focused at all on the acting, lighting, music, story development, all of which are fair game. They have focused on the controversy of a devout Catholic making a filmed Passion. Her review was probably the most extreme example of this.

More terrorism in the Phillippines:

"The Muslim extremist group Abu Sayyaf (search) claimed responsibility Sunday for a ferry explosion and fire that killed at least two people, though 180 more were missing, according to a radio report."

Pray for our Catholic brothers and sisters in the Phillipines, who have had to deal with this terrorism for years. And while you are at it, pray for our Catholic brothers and sisters in Haiti - President Aristide fled the country today.

Victims break their silence-

"Capturing the Friedmans" may win Oscar

"In 1987, Gregory was one of the 17 boys who told Nassau law enforcement officials that they had been abused at the Friedmans' home on Piccadilly Road. Of these, 13 would later testify before a grand jury to substantiate criminal charges against Jesse Friedman, his father, Arnold, and another teenager, Ross Goldstein, 17. As their separate trials approached in 1988, father and son both changed their pleas from not guilty to guilty. So did Goldstein.

Now, in a turn of events none of the young men who testified would have foreseen, "Capturing the Friedmans," a controversial documentary about the case that has already won critical and commercial acclaim, makes them feel as if they're portrayed as liars."


Zero Tolerance for child sex abuse does not apply in Hollywood you see...

Holy Hypocrisies!!

Go read this article from Time Magazine on the Passion of The Christ right now. This is good stuff- I can't believe someone actually admitted this in print. Thank you Richard Corliss.

I went to see The Passion of the Christ tonight but it was sold out. Both the 8 pm and the 10 pm. Oh well, I will see it another time-glad to see the movie is doing well.

The Passion of The Christ

The reactions of people to the film are very telling. Most people come out of the theaters and praise the film, or the experience of seeing the Passion in a graphic (perhaps too graphic) way. But the anti-Christian bigotry comes out in full force with this movie! Thankfully the Catholic League has been keeping tabs. To read the letters to the editor and some of the columnists makes me realize just how bigoted people are when it comes to Christianity. A good example of this is Paul Vitello, a nasty bigot who writes for Newsday. He has bashed the Catholic Church for years and seems angry and upset that Mel Gibson is using film to portray the Passion. He watched the film and afterwards interviewed people for his column:

"People were saying interesting and heartfelt things, to be sure: One woman said the film reminded her that the Catholic Church was "not about priests, but about Jesus Christ," a reference to the pedophilia scandals. Another woman said Mel Gibson's "The Passion of the Christ" was "the most moving thing I've ever seen." Period.
But I stopped interviewing them because the controversy surrounding this movie is not about what people will say after seeing the movie."

So, after viewing this movie which many have said will cause people to become violent, he finds that people have positive and moving reactions instead. This causes him to........stop interviewing them. Because hey, if what you believe about Christians is not confirmed by the facts, then you must shift gears and come up with another excuse to hate them and the art they produce.

He continues:

"In Gibson's movie, the faces of the Jewish high priests are devious-looking, brutish and unambiguously murderous. Aside from two lesser figures in the Jewish crowd who protest, there is not one priest allowed to show a shadow of doubt, or humanity.... too many of them, from where I sat, bore facial features considered by anti-Semites as stereotypically "Jewish" - hook noses and other such features straight from the book of hate. What was that all about, Mel Gibson?"

Yeah Mel, how dare you find these actors with these features? Where the heck did you film this thing, Italy??

"Why - while we're asking questions - was the role of Satan given to a woman? She appears in key scenes throughout the film. She entices Jesus to renounce his destiny and save himself. Was Satan a woman at the time? I never knew this about her, though woman-bashing has always been part of the fabric of the church, especially in Mel's ultra-conservative branch."

Remember the saying "there are no stupid questions"? Well there are, and this has to be the stupidest of all questions ever asked.


"Does any religious Christian need to be told again what happens at the end of each of the four Gospels - and to be told it by a man who denounces the modern church and all the reconciling spirit it stands for?"

This bigot has bashed the Church for years and now he bashes someone who supposedly renounces it?? This is another positive aspect of this movie- it is bringing out all this bigotry in a way that puts the bigots on the defensive. Finally we can have a movie that we can support and the anti-Catholic bigots have to whine and complain. It will be interesting to see how these same people react the next time an anti-Catholic movie comes out. Especially if that movie is put out by one who "denounces the modern church and all the reconciling spirit it stands for".

All three major New York papers today had stories on The Passion of The Christ:

(anti-Catholic rag) Newsday

NY Post

Daily News

All three include pictures or blurbs about Kellenberg High School's pilgrimage to the movie. Students (who chose to do so) walked 3 miles from the school to the movie.

"They came in waves, hundreds at a time walking three miles in the winter chill, their foreheads daubed with ash as they crowded normally empty sidewalks on their way to see a movie.

The film was Mel Gibson's "The Passion of the Christ," which opened at theaters across the country yesterday, and the walkers were students at Kellenberg Memorial High School.

Altogether, about 1,500 students from the Catholic school in Uniondale made the trip in two batches, 700 for a morning showing at the Loews Roosevelt Raceway Theater and 800 for an afternoon screening there.

"Let this be a pilgrimage of faith with Jesus, and not just another movie," said Brother Ryan Sheehan, during a prayer earlier at the school's auditorium."

Big Turnout for 'Passion' Opening

Mel Gibson's The Passion of the Christ

Sometimes I wish I could blog from work. Waiting for my breakfast this morning I stood reading the NY Post's front page story of reactions to The Passion of the Christ. First, the "experts" "review" the movie. I read a lot of movie reviews and they always tell the story of the movie, how the acting is, how the story and dialogue is, the quality of the music and lighting, etc... The Passion reviews, are different, they sound more like historical and theological criticisms. This is just weird. They also focus on the violence, which I could understand because it does sound relentless.

Jonathan Foreman says the movie is a "product of a distinctly perverted sensibility", but "Nor do I believe it will provoke pogroms, if only because the film is probably too slow to work as rabble-rousing propaganda, whatever the intentions of its maker"---emphasis mine. He goes on to describe small details in the film that he claims are historically inaccurate.

Lou Lumenick gives a more positive review but also compares Gibson to Leni Riefenstahl who made positive films about Hitler.

The Post also had two pages of average people quoted after watching the film. These non-experts said:
"I'd give it 10 stars. It's one of the best movies I've ever seen in my life," said Maritza Castro, 32, who had tears streaming down her face as she left a preview screening for church groups at the Magic Johnson Theater in Harlem. "

"Yanira Gonzalez, 39, hugged her husband, Pete, outside the Magic Johnson Theater.
"It was very powerful. If you don't know Jesus, by the time you finish watching this movie, you definitely will," she said."

Guess whose opinions I trust?? And check out the photo of the young couple hugging each other after the viewing. Obviously this film is dangerous!

Then at lunch, I read the reviews in the Daily News and Newsday which were more of the same. I guess it was too much to hope that the bigotry would be put aside and the reviewers would give professional reports on the movie. Jami Bernard in the Daily News says:
"Mel Gibson's "The Passion of the Christ" is the most virulently anti-Semitic movie made since the German propaganda films of World War II." but "once you strip away all the controversy and religious fervor - is a technically proficient account of the last 12 hours in the life of Jesus of Nazareth."

See that? the damn thing has "religious fervor", no wonder it must be stopped!!

Of course the Catholic League is on the case and in a wonderful press release, points out the opinions of these same reviewers on past violent, bloody films.


So let me get this straight, the movie is no good because it does not stick to the Bible, is too violent, historically inaccurate, contains 'religious fervor' and is anti-semitic? Little to no mention of acting, lighting, music, plot, action, etc.. These reviews have made up my mind about a few things:

1) I am going to join the Catholic League
2) I am not only going to see the movie on Friday night but also pay for extra tickets just to help sales
3) I will never listen to any complaints of "anti-semitism" ever again
4) I am going to attend the traditional latin Mass on Sundays

#1 and # 4 were both in my head for awhile and these reviews just made me determined to do them. # 2 and # 3 only occurred to me after reading the reviews

Check out this page to see what one Catholic school is doing with Mel Gibson's The Passion of the Christ.

Yesterday was a relatively nice day so I figured I would go to Huntington and stroll around the village with my girlfriend. Huntington is a village on the north shore that in some ways is like Greenwich Village: nice shops, artsy-fartsy stuff, nice bars and restaurants. My girlfriend had never been to Book Revue which is one of the few large, independent bookstores still doing well. I knew we would enjoy a leisurely few hours in the store browsing the shelves and having coffee at the bookstore cafe. Little did we know that we would get there just before Sean Hannity was to give a talk and booksigning! There were hundreds of people there and half the store was basically blocked off by the crowd. I had no desire to stay and hear the talk so we will have to go back some other time, first making sure there will no be celebrities there. Had I known he was going to be there I might have arranged the day differently and gone to see him. Sean Hannity is a Long Islander and has been rather successful. I appreciate the fact that he is publicly Catholic and has spoken favorably of his Catholic upbringing and education. Many bloggers commented favorably when Sean went on his Foxnews show with ashes on his forehead last Ash Wednesday.

Catholic Bloggers in Brooklyn

Pete Vere of Envoy Encore and Catholic Light invited locals to join him this past Friday night since he was in town for an Order of the Alhambra meeting. I made the trip to Brooklyn and joined Aristotle the Recovering Choir Director, Patrick the Extreme Catholic, St. Blog commentators Rosemarie (of Mystical Rose) and BenYachov and their 2 wonderful children. It was a very nice time, filled with talk of things Catholic, the blogosphere, etc.. Patrick gave out brochures for the Catholic Evidence Guild which was founded in London but recently renewed in New York by Fr. Benedict Groeschel. For a brief minute I was even able to wear Pete Vere's infamous fez. The night was enjoyable and I hope there will be more St. Blog meetups such as this.

Catholic officials find textbooks wanting

"A church committee that studies the material found that some of the textbooks avoid saying adultery and premarital sex are sins. Others depict the Bible as little more than a history book, the group says.

That's not all: It claims one textbook explains that Jesus' miracles were the result of luck. "

Coverage of anything Catholic is so biased and silly that I am surprised anytime you read a real report. This article just gives the facts of the committee's report, and even mentions Ignatius Press.

Report: Gibson Expands 'Passion' Screens

"LOS ANGELES -- Mel Gibson is adding 800 theaters to the debut of his controversial Crucifixion drama, "The Passion of the Christ," next Wednesday. "

I am going to see this movie just to support a man who is getting tons of grief just for creating something based on his faith. It better be good, I don't like the sound of how violent it is.

Father Benedict Groeschel is back in New York!

Thanks to A Catholic Blog for Lovers (Most Pious Blog 2004!) for pointing out this Daily News article about The Passion of The Christ that mentions the good brothers at Chaminade and Kellenberg here.

"It's a meditation on our own inhumanity to each other and how this doesn't destroy God's love," said the Rev. Philip Eichner.

Eichner heads up Kellenberg Memorial High School in Uniondale, L.I., where more than 1,000 upperclassmen plan to go on a 2-mile "pilgrimage" to see the movie on Ash Wednesday.

Eichner, who saw a cut of the movie last summer, thought it was a powerful spiritual statement, despite the violence. "We want our students to see that redemption," he said."

"Brother Thomas Cleary, dean of students at Chaminade High School in Mineola, L.I., said his students had read all about the film and were eager to see it.

About 50 members of the school's Catholic League chapter will go with faculty to see the movie, and Cleary expects the movie will be a hot topic of discussion during one of the school's retreats scheduled for Ash Wednesday."

Fr. Eichner was the president of Chaminade when I attended the school, and Brother Cleary, who graduated a couple of years ahead of me, was in college when I was there. They are Marianists of the Province of Meribah which was formed in the 1970's by some Marianists of the Province of New York. The community has flourished since then. If anything I write on this blog is good it is due to the education I received from the brothers, and anything bad is my own fault.

Two interesting things in The Long Island Catholic today:

George Weigel on Andrew Greeley and Young Fogeys

And an Open Letter from Bishop Murphy on the history of accused priests in the Diocese since its founding in 1957. I find these statistics to be the most interesting:

The percentage of accusations by the decade in which the incidents occurred are:
7% during the 1950s;
26% during the 1960s;
29% during the 1970s;
23% during the 1980s;
14% during the 1990s;
1% during the 2000s.


1.6% of priests serving the Diocese in the 1950s;
4.0% of priests serving in the 1960s;
3.6% of priests serving in the 1970s;
1.7% of priests serving in the 1980s;
1.0% of priests serving in the 1990s;
0.6% of priests serving in the 2000s.

So this means the real major problem occurred in the 60's and 70's. The report does not say it, but the percentage of child molestation claims against priests since Bishop Murphy has been here = 0.00%.

Bishop William Murphy disclosed yesterday that 132 persons said they were sexually abused by 66 Catholic priests and religious brothers since the diocese was founded in 1957.

"The 42 priests accused represent 2.08 percent of all the priests who have ever served in the diocese. The alleged abuse incidents peaked in the 1970s when 29 percent occurred; 26 percent occurred in the 1960s and 23 percent in the 1980s, the report said. "

That is pretty much what I figured, most of the abuse occurred in the 60's and 70's. The report does not say it, but none of the abuse occurred under Bishop Murphy's tenure here. So far I have seen a lot of the figures broken down, but none that break down the sex of the abuse victims. I would like to know what percentage were boys and what percentage were girls.

Church of the Masses points out a couple of great articles (Here, then a followup) slamming Roger Friedman's Foxnews thingy1 and thingy2 on The Passion of The Christ distribution. How do people get away with printing such garbage?? I think blogs have a higher level of fact checking! David Poland said Friedman should be fired and I thought that was a bit much but look at this:

"Mel Gibson couldn't find anyone to make "The Passion of the Christ," so he put up $25 million of his own money to produce it."
-I don't think he ever looked for anyone to make it-he produced it from the beginning by choice?

"The Passion" is now the most expensive vanity production in history."
-Dead wrong

"The theaters they have chosen in Jewish areas are minimal — none, for example, on Long Island near Valley Stream and the Five Towns or Great Neck and Roslyn — but screens in more friendly places like Merrick, Lynbrook and Seaford."

-EXXXXXXCUUUUUSE ME????????

Towns where the movies is showing compared to the towns he cites:

Lynbrook is 12 minutes (4.77 miles) from the Five Towns area
Lynbrook is 5 minutes (2.20 miles) from Valley Stream
Port Washington is 17 minutes (5.28 miles) from Great Neck
Port Washington is 13 minutes (4.38 miles) from Roslyn

And: The movie is showing in Seaford, which is in between Massapequa and Bellmore, both of which have large Jewish populations. Also, Merrick is both heavily Jewish and upscale. Who does Friedman's fact checking--The former minister of information from Iraq???

"They have booked "The Passion of the Christ" at the Metro on Broadway and West 100th Street — a grimy two-screen house used for second runs and considered a throwaway by distributors. Ironically, it stares at two Orthodox synagogues that reside within a block. It will be interesting to see how the movie plays in that neighborhood. "

Across from two Orthodox synagogues....but I thought it was not showing in Jewish areas??

Are people in other parts of the country aware that the Statue of Liberty has not been open since September 11th, 2001? Read the details about the campaign to raise the money needed to re-open the statue here.

Coach Charged In Assault of Student

"I think I am somewhere between Howard Stern and St. Francis of Assisi on the scale of morality"

-Mel Gibson

My favorite line from a GREAT interview.

Apologia pro Murphy

I have used this humble space to “defend” Bishop Murphy in the past. The attacks on the bishop come mostly from dissenters and Catholics who know very little Catholicism so I mostly ignore them. However, recently even some good Catholics have joined in the bashing. It is unfortunate that many good Catholics put him in the category of “bad shepherd” as Mark Shea did recently. I am not one to defend bishops or to care too much about what they do. I think the notion that bishops can “control” the actions of their priests right down to making sure they say their prayers and are in bed by 9 pm is nuts. If there is a Bishop whose actions are to be deplored in this Diocese it is Bishop McGann, but he has gone to his reward. Murphy seems to get attacked mostly for not allowing Voice of the Faithful to meet on Church property, and for coming from Boston. I don’t have a problem with either of these things. The fact is: Murphy is as close to a Bruskewitz or Chaput as we are likely to get. And compared to previous leadership, we are very lucky indeed. When Bishop Murphy first came here (a few days before 400 of his flock were killed by Crusading Muslims), he announced that if the seminary were not run according to the dictates of the Church, then he would shut it down. This was music to Catholics’ ears since for years this seminary was notorious for faulty teaching. There have been some changes made in the faculty that I take as good signs. Bishop Murphy has also allowed the Traditional Latin Mass to be offered weekly rather than monthly, which is a huge shift from previous policy. Bishop McGann invited Fr. Richard McBrien to speak to all the priests, while Bishop Murphy invited Fr. Benedict Groeschel. Of course, Murphy has to deal with the dozens of staff members left over from the McGann days and this has slowed the progress considerably. But the fact remains that progress has occurred. A bishop is not the be-all and end-all that some seem to think he is. The fact is that the bishop provides leadership and the people do most of the work. In this diocese the people have failed just as much as the bishops.

LIers Torn Apart Over Haiti

Please pray for peace in Haiti. There are many Haitians here on Long Island and they are nice, hard working, lovely people who also happen to be some of the most devout Catholics I have ever met.

Roger Friedman on the Foxnews website says: "Theater-goers will also be hard-pressed to find 'The Passion of the Christ' in Nassau County, Long Island on either the south or north shore". Since I live here and plan to go with a group of people I checked to see if this were true. Turns out I have a choice of going to Glen Cove, Lynbrook, Merrick, Port Washington, Seaford, or 2 different theaters in Westbury. Glen Cove and Port Washington are both on the north shore and Seaford, Lynbrook and Merrick are both on the South Shore. Westbury is right in the middle. None of these places are more than 30 minutes away from me. 2 of them are within 15 minutes from me. The movie is also showing in Farmingdale where I usually go to see movies, and this is only 15 minutes away but in Suffolk County.

Amy Welborn links to an article on traditional Catholics, focusing on an SSPX chapel in LA. The reporter is one of many who are shocked, shocked! to find that traditional Catholics are not wackos living in bomb shelters but normal people with faith trying to raise families. The article has some interesting things in it, including quotes from people who claim to go to the chapel after experiencing horrible corruption in the Church proper. This would include the pastor of the SSPX chapel who was in a seminary in the late 1970's. My favorite part of the article is:

"The thing is, all the fuss over the Gibsons can distort what Catholic traditionalism is about. Mel Gibson is Southern California's only traditionalist star, but he isn't Southern California's only traditionalist. In some 20 or so chapels such as Radecki's, spread out from San Diego to Santa Clarita, hundreds of faithful congregate for the Latin Masses on Sundays and send their kids to traditional Catholic schools during the week. They're young and old, black and white, Latino and Asian, rich and poor. They are a fractious bunch—these are, after all, folks who have taken the radical step of breaking away from Rome—and they differ somewhat in their takes on the pope, the "conciliar church" (as they call mainstream Catholicism), and each other. At the same time, they're united in their disdain for the new Mass and for what they perceive as a grievously liberal Catholic Church.

It can seem like an unforgiving way to live, a lifestyle completely unsuited to our times. But the funny thing is, when you talk it through with people such as Father Radecki, you start to understand where they're coming from. Press accounts about Hutton Gibson notwithstanding, most traditionalists don't seem to be conspiracy theorists, or kooks. They're strict and rigid, but they're not nuts or hostile. They're just very traditional people who want to pray and live in a certain, just-so way. They find a way to make it work in the modern world."

Et tu Fox News?

The Catholic League sends me an email alerting me to this silly article by Roger Freidman on the Foxnews website. I am sure they won't mind me posting the entire press release:

FOX NEWS TWISTS FACTS ON GIBSON FILM


The Fox News Channel website has an article today by Roger Friedman that takes Mel Gibson to task for selectively distributing “The Passion of the Christ.” After detailing where the movie will be shown, he then says Gibson “consciously created a divisive atmosphere for the presentation of his film.” He also charges, “All this seems designed to keep ‘The Passion of the Christ’ out of neighborhoods that are considered Jewish, upscale, or liberal.”


Here’s how Catholic League president William Donohue responded:


“Roger Friedman says the movie will be shown in two Chicago theaters; in fact it will be shown in seven. He says it will not be shown in the L.A. neighborhood of Century City; in fact it will be shown at the AMC in Century City. He says it will not be shown in the ‘wealthier and trendier parts’ of Los Angeles; in fact it will be shown in Marina del Rey, Burbank and Santa Monica. He says it will not be shown in New York’s Upper West Side; in fact it will be shown at 86th and Broadway. He says it will be shown only in the ‘fringe areas’ of the Upper East Side; in fact it will be shown at 86th and 3rd and 64th and 2nd. He says it will be shown at one theater below 34th Street; in fact it will be shown at three. He says it will be hard to find in Nassau County, Long Island; in fact it will be shown in seven theaters there. He says that theater- goers will be ‘hard pressed’ to find it in ‘either the south or north shore’ of Long Island; in fact it will be shown in towns like Glen Cove and Port Washington on the north shore and Merrick and Seaford on the south shore. He says those who live in Westchester will also find it difficult to see the movie; in fact it will be shown in Larchmont, New Rochelle and Yonkers. And so on.


“Taking a course in Geography 101 might cure some of Friedman’s problems, but it would not be enough. That’s because his forced conclusion suggests something else is at work: to say that Gibson is intentionally keeping the film away from Jews and the rich is not only flatly wrong, it smacks of malice. We look for Fox to correct itself.”

Just Do It!

That is the slogan for Nike, the company that paid millions of dollars to St. John's University in exchange for the school forcing all athletes to wear clothing with the Nike symbol. At the time of this contract, a student sued the school claiming Nike's labor practices violated the teaching of the Catholic Church and that he was forbidden to write an editorial in a school newspaper about this . (The lawsuit was dismissed). I wish the president of St. John's, Rev. Donald J. Harrington, would follow Nike's slogan and just do what he said he would: get rid of the men's basketball program altogether. He was quoted as saying that if the mess surrounding the team could not be fixed, then he would just do it. The overemphasis on sports, especially mens' basketball, combined with the underemphasis on the Catholic identity of the school, has resulted in a university that is not worth supporting. As a graduate of St. John's I hope the school could do away with the expensive basketball program and concentrate on the two things I always felt was needed most of all:

--strong academics

--strong Catholic culture


On the other hand, since the school is barely Catholic, I don't care too much what does on there. I will continue to support real Catholic colleges and universities such as Franciscan University, Christendom, Magadelen, Thomas Aquinas, and the new Ave Maria. Incidents such as the one involving the St. John's basketball players (and the lacrosse players when I was a student) just prove how off track St. John's and other so called Catholic universities are.

After attending the Latin Mass Magazine conference last Sunday, I was once again struck by how much I agree with traditionalist Catholics. From Open Book comes the news that a Catholic Church was allowing Buddhists to chant and sell books in a Basilica. A first hand account is here and it is must reading. A group of Catholics, members of an SSPX parish, went in and prayed the Rosary in an attempt to stop this nonsense. The SSPX priest was asked to speak and he did so beautifully. What a witness to the Faith! What a sad thing to see people who stopped a travesty be attacked by good Catholics who yell that they are in schism! Meanwhile Mel Gibson, reportedly an independent traditionalist, is putting his faith into the public eye in a huge way. Why? Why is it that the traditionalists seem to be the ones on the front line? Why is it that they fight against horrors in the Church and are then attacked by people who 3 years ago were supporting pedophile priests? Why is it that I can attend my local parish never knowing what nonsense I will have to endure but every single time I attend the local "indult" traditional latin Mass I experience nothing but beautiful Liturgy? It seems to me that the so called traditionalists are leading the way to restoring the sacred in the Catholic Church and instead of attacking them we should be thanking them.

Keep checking The Passion of the Christ website for the list of theatres showing the movie. At first only 1 movie theatre in all of Manhattan was listed but now there are 7. Long Island had 4 theatres listed originally, but now the number is 13.

I added Otto-da-Fe to my bloglist, which I have been meaning to get around to doing. There is a post there today about Newsday being accused of inflating their circulation to charge advertisers more. There is a $100 million federal racketeering lawsuit filed against the paper. I saw this today and was tempted to post about it, since the paper is so anti-Catholic it would give me some of that schadenfreude stuff. I worked as a temp at Newsday during my college years and one job I did there was to scan barcodes from the returned "unsold" papers. I was amazed at how many unsold papers there were but the charges are just charges, and my gut tells me the case may not go anywhere.

I went to the Latin Mass Magazine conference in Montvale, New Jersey yesterday with fellow blogger Aristotle of Confessions of a Recovering Choir Director. The conference was good as usual, with intelligent speakers and great food. I was a bit disappointed in Michael Davies' talk however, since he mostly mentioned sad statistics on the state of the Church. He did mention some good things that have occurred in recent years but overall the forecast was rather gloomy, and the info was nothing new. I did manage to purchase two of his books and get them signed. He was a bit perplexed by my polish surname, apparently the English don't normally string a few constanants together --they really should try it. The books are Lead Kindly Light The Life of John Henry Newman and Saint John Fisher ($10 each!!!). This year's conference did not have the oomph of last year, which featured Chris Ferrara and Michael S. Rose, but it was nonetheless stimulating.

Finally! I have mentioned Dave Armstrong's Biblical Evidence for Catholicism as an important website in my return to the faith. His store of information is incredible, and he unknowingly introduced me to Chesterton, Belloc, Newman, etc.. I always wondered if he would blog, and now he has:

Cor ad cor loquitur

Check out the love poem of an atheist by Carl E. Olsen of Envoy Encore

I take no pride in saying I graduated from St. John's University. Academically and spiritually it is not a good school. While I was a student there, several lacrosse players were accused of raping a woman in one of the jocks' apartment. Tonight, on the way home from work I heard that 3 of the school's basketball players are now accused of rape. This is a good reason why Franciscan University of Steubenville gets my donation money and not my alma mater.

Update: Now the woman who made the accusation has been charged with lying. St. John's is still not a good Catholic school though.

Good News (from Long Island!!!)

Forget the boobs who sang at the Superbowl. (Sorry) Fr. Charles Mangano and his sister Laurie have made albums and sang in concert many times for charity. Their Christmas show at Westbury Music Fair raised $70,000, half going to Little Flower Children's Services and half going to The Life Center of Long Island. The Life Center is expanding into my neighborhood and that brings up an interesting story. It seems a pro-life elderly gentleman had the misfortune of living in a run down house in a commercial area. In the shopping center right across from his house, a Planned Parenthood opened. The man makes sure a pro-life organization gets his house: The Life Center of Long Island who renovate and expand it. They are almost ready to open a center for women which will include a sonogram machine! Of course, Planned Parenthood is not happy, this article describes just one of the moves they made to try to stop The Life Center from opening in Massapequa.

"Religion of Peace"

Hundreds Trampled to Death at Hajj Ritual

Homicide Bombers Strike Kurdish Party Offices in Iraq

STOP IT FOR THE LOVE OF GOD!!!!!

Our Diocese, which Bishop McGann almost destroyed, is having a Synod called by the much better Bishop Murphy. The first step is to have listening sessions in each parish, with people writing down their opinions about various aspects of the local Church. ALL opinions are put on the website for all to see. This is a completely useless waste of time! The saying is true: Opinions are like buttholes, everyone has one. The opinions are horrible and many times not even literate. The only thing this is doing is showing the ignorance of Catholics on Long Island.

Worst example so far (From the section on Liturgy):

"We need larger Communion hosts. I get hungry in Mass and the hosts are really good so I think we need larger ones. It will help keep people interested because when someone is hungry all they do is think of eating and not about Church when they are hungry in Church. They should also come in different flavors."

WooHoo!

The Passion of the Christ is coming to a theater near me. I have a choice of Lynbrook, Stony Brook, Rockville Centre, or Westbury. Although I am disappointed that it is not at as widely distributed as I thought it would be. It is only showing in 1 theater in Manhattan!! It is also rated R "For sequences of graphic violence".

MEDIA SPIN OVER “THE PASSION”

“In short, there are no liberal critics of ‘The Passion’; there are only ‘conservatives’ who like it. Similarly, those who complain about anti-Christian films are anti-Semitic, and those who like good Christian films are also anti-Semitic. The upshot is that most Americans are anti-Semitic. Either that or those who hate Christians have no problem getting a job in the media.”

A local "Parish Voice" of the Long Island Voice of the Faithful had a meeting at a local park. A priest from New Jersey spoke, blah blah blah. The date of this meeting? January 22nd. Well it's not like any Voice of the Faithful would have anything else to do that day.

DEMAND FOR “THE PASSION” TICKETS EXPLODES

Memo to Bill Donohue: This type of stuff works both ways: although I think you are the best, when the Catholic League protests a movie too loudly there are those that are encouraged to see the thing.

4th Mepham Football Player Arrested

FINALLY!

"Earlier this month, a Pennsylvania judge sentenced Phil Sofia, 17, to a four-month stint at a boot camp and his accomplice Ken Carney, 16, to a juvenile detention center, also for four months. Tom Diasparra, 16, who cut a plea deal with prosecutors, got probation and was freed.
The three were accused of taking part in the brutal hazing attacks on two 13-year-olds and a 14-year-old in August. The victims were sodomized with pine cones, golf balls and a broomstick dipped in Mineral Ice.
Sources said authorities expect to arrest a fifth attacker in the coming weeks."



A 4th jock from the Mepham High School football team was arrested in the rape and torture attacks that occurred in August 2003. Rich Guccione was his name and he would have been arrested earlier but the paperwork was lost! The article states that a 5th suspect is expected to be arrested soon. This will probably be Nick Paris. Guccione and Paris were known on the web as suspects since at least November. Why did it take so long for the police and prosecutors to charge these guys when there were Mepham students publishing their names on the internet for months???? It can't be that hard to get high school jocks to talk.

Bishop Murphy Hears the Voices of His Priests

Good piece printed in Newsday's editorial section by the Diocese of Rockville Centre's spokeswoman, Joanne Novarro. Another article in the paper today announced that Novarro has quit this job, understandably, she needed some quiet time with her family.

Many bloggers have posted the comments of the new Cardinal Gustaaf Joos who said that most gays were sexual perverts and only a small percentage true homosexuals. But most did not mention his more interesting comments:

"Asked about the merits of democracy, he said, "Politics, democracy. Don't make me laugh.
"The right to vote, what is that all about? I think it is curious a snot-nosed, 18-year-old has the same vote as a father of seven. One has no responsibilities whatsoever, the other provides tomorrow's citizens."

He should have his own tv show.

Today I attended the traditional Latin Mass - I thought the post-Communion prayer was nice:

"Quos tantis, Domine, largiris uti mysteriis: quaesumus; ut effectibus nos eorum veraciter aptare digneris."

"Grant, Lord, that we who by Your generosity are admitted to frequent these great mysteries, may be made fit to profit by them as we ought."

Air Force Honors Slain Chaplain

"Yesterday, Air Force members from the 514th Air Mobility Wing at McGuire Air Force Base in New Jersey dedicated an administrative building to Penzes, who served them as a reservist and chaplain for 28 years. It was the first time the U.S. Air Force had ever dedicated a building to a chaplain, said Brig. Gen. Christopher Joniec, who unveiled the plaque that will honor Penzes."

Fr. Penzes was the Catholic priest shot to death by a sick man who was not taking his meds. It was a horrible situation, Fr. Penzes was a good priest and a wonderful elderly woman attending Mass was also killed.

Mel Gibson's Passion of the Christ made the front page of the NY Daily News today:

Love, hate & furor
Controversy grows over Mel Gibson's 'Passion'

"Against unbelievable odds, "The Passion of the Christ" is now shaping up to be the hottest ticket in the history of Hollywood when it finally hits theaters on Ash Wednesday, Feb. 25."

That statement is a bit over the top!

"The New York-based Catholic League bought 1,200 tickets at $9.75 apiece and will make them available to members for $5."
"We could probably sell 10,000 of these tickets," said Catholic League President William Donohue. "The reason I'm subsidizing it is to make a point - it's important to see this movie. And it's to drive Mel's critics crazy."

Bill Donohue is so refreshingly blunt!

"There were rumblings that Gibson's labor of love was a $25 million vanity project, something along the lines of John Travolta's "Battlefield Earth."

Heaven Forbid!!

Fr. Benedict Groeschel

When I began my journey back to the faith, I read a couple of books by Fr. Groeschel including the excellent The Reform of the Renewal. His intelligence and humor really impressed me. The first discovery I made of something orthodox and local was the Americans United for the Pope lectures at Kellenberg High School. At the second lecture I attended a man spoke briefly about a retreat he was running in the high school retreat house which would be led by Fr. Groeschel. He would be there the entire weekend so I could not pass up this opportunity. He was excellent and just as funny and intelligent as expected. I have since spent two weekends on retreats with him and heard him speak a few more times at the school. In December he had another retreat at the school but I passed it up since I had already been to two retreats and had some things I needed to do. I did however make plans to hear him speak on that Sunday, but alas, it snowed heavily and my friend and I decided not to risk the drive. Now of course we wish we had risked it since my friend has never heard Fr. Groeschel in person. Now that he has had this serious accident, I am realizing just how much he has meant to my spiritual journey. Here are some things from Fr. Groeschel that have stuck in my mind-please keep in mind these are mostly from my memory so they are paraphrases and may not be 100% accurate:

Gen X Revert: “How are you Father?”
Fr. Groeschel: (shrugging shoulders) “Ehhh…I’m old”

From Arise from Darkness:

“No one lives the Christian life perfectly. In my life I've known dumb Jesuits, confused Dominicans, proud Capuchins, rich Franciscans, and Salesians who can't stand small children. I've known merciless Sisters of Mercy and uncharitable Missionaries of Charity and foolish Daughters of Wisdom.”

On being called a “conservative” priest: “I don’t want to conserve anything …I want to blow the whole thing up!”

On dressing for Mass: “The middle class dress like they are going to the beach and the upper class dress like they are coming from the beach”

On meeting Mother Theresa for the first time: “I thought she was so ugly she was almost cute”

On his funeral: “If people at my funeral talk about me like I am already in Heaven, or the music is too sappy, I am going to get up out of that coffin and scare the daylights out of everyone!!”

On hearing, along with a Rabbi friend, at an outdoor Easter service, a minister preach that whether the physical resurrection of the body actually happened is not important: “I wanted to push the minister over the cliff, but then thought of the headlines- Priest Kills Minister While Rabbi Looks On”.

On Youth 2000: “I belong to Youth 1950”

On his community: “Our median age is 37 and if I drop dead tonight it will go down to 25”.

On translation: “In the old canon we said ‘From the rising of the sun to its dimunition,( to its setting)’-a beautiful poetic phrase, now we say ‘From East to West’. Whenever I hear that East to West I think of I-80!”

On the younger guys of his community: “The younger men in this community are so good I feel like I don’t deserve them. One guy I teach is so good, so holy, that on the Feast of the Immaculate Conception I wish him a Happy Name Day”.

On Reform from Scandal to Hope: “The fact is that the great majority of laity are more traditional and devout than they have been permitted to be by those who saw renewal as the principal object of Christian life.”

On the scandals from Scandal to Hope: “Does all this scandal shake your faith in the Church? I hope so, because ultimately your faith should not be in the Church. Ultimately our faith is in Jesus Christ, and we accept the Church. We support the Church. We believe in and belong to the Church because Christ established it on His apostles.”

The Off the Record blog of the Catholic World News has a post about Bishop Murphy and his meeting with his priests. This line is so very true:

"Rockville Centre is a remarkable diocese. With 1.5 million Catholics, it should be a showcase of ministry in the Catholic Church."

I have said this before on this blog, our diocese should be one that is pumping out Catholic priests, nuns, brothers and lay leaders like crazy. There is no reason why the Diocese of Lincoln, Nebraska should have more seminarians than us, considering they have a fraction of the Catholic population! We are an example of how dissent and poor leadership can ruin the local Church. And there is great potential in this diocese. (more on that later)

One thing I disagree with in the post is the take on Bishop Murphy's new bishops residence. He took over the top floor of a 3 story building that was being renovated. This renovation was going on before he ever got to Long Island and it involved many buildings on the grounds of St. Agnes Cathedral, which used to house a high school. It just makes sense for the Bishop to live here rather than in the $950,000 home that Bishop McGann lived in. This home had been left to McGann by his family and was located in the residential area of Rockville Centre. When the Diocese sells this thing, it will pay for the renovation or at least cover most of the cost. Maybe our bishops residence should not have expensive furniture and a large industrial kitchen for large dinner parties, but I don't see why not. Would decor by Ikea make us any holier?? I am sure the Bishop could have lived in the Cathedral rectory and maybe that would have been my choice, but this residence issue is not worth much debate. Bishop Murphy is not perfect, but he is the most orthodox Bishop this Diocese has ever had, at least in my lifetime. I have seen some improvement under Murphy and this improvement is what really causes Bob Keeler, Dick Ryan, Voice of the Faithful and the like to moan and complain.

Distributism

I became aware of Distributism.org from El Camino Real and enjoy reading the site. I agree very much with some of the ideas presented but disagree with others. The first quote on the home page is awesome:

"If working people can be encouraged to look forward to obtaining a share in the land, the consequence will be that the gulf between vast wealth and sheer poverty will be bridged over, and the respective classes will be brought nearer to one another."

--Rerum Novarum by Pope Leo XIII, 1891

From what I can see this idea exists in reality in the USA where home ownership is at an all time high. The ability of people to move from being uneducated and poor to being educated and middle class is greatest here. My own grandfather never went past the 6th grade, dropping out of school to help support his family by working in the family bar. Today many of his grandchildren are college educated and most own homes. The ability to own a house and some land is greater here than perhaps any other country although house prices have increased beyond the reach of many younger people within the past 10 years. This is especially true here on Long Island where houses are regularly sold for more than $200,000. The idea in life is to allow the greatest number of people to own houses and some property, which distributism advocates.



The definition of Distributism on the website is good: “Distributism is an economic system in which private property, (especially the 'means of production'), is well distributed, in which as many people as possible are actual owners.” Again I can whole-heartedly endorse this idea. In fact, the rise in the number of employee owned companies is a testament to this idea. I can remember the buzz generated a few years back when Home Depot became real popular with its program of employees owning stock in the corporation. I think the major obstacle to this is the reality of human interaction. Even if I owned several thousand dollars worth of stock in my company, would I really be willing to stand up at a meeting and give strong opinions?? How long would I last when my ideas butt up against another employee’s ambitions? I have personally seen people buy stocks and become more interested in the economy and the direction of businesses so I know that ownership does mean something. The ideal is to have as many people as possible own their own businesses. As far as property goes, especially in developing countries there has to be a way not only for people to own it, but also the education to manage it or produce from it.


The section of the website I have the most difficulty with is the section on the practical suggestions to making distributism happen. I see no good coming from abolishing all government relief and pension programs –as flawed as many of these are, they have made some strides in lessening poverty. Social Security for example has meant that the elderly are no longer the severe poor and most severe poor are no longer elderly. I see no point in allowing a person to only have one bank account. Also, while usury is an evil, not all lender institutions and lending of capital is usurious. I like the idea of guilds but they will become corrupt like unions have and then they are no better than that which they were meant to replace. All in all, I love the site and the ideas of distributism are fascinating but I think the whole philosophy needs to be updated for the modern economy. Distributism was a good answer to the communist challenge but we now live in a post-communist world. I am very much interested in seeing capitalism reformed so that all may live in a society where it is possible, even easy, to become a saint. Distributism is not the sole answer, but a good start.

The fourth suspect in the Mepham High School rape and torture case is looking for a lawyer now. Meanwhile, another 3 football players from another Long Island school were arrested for violent crimes. Their names are: Joseph Barracato, Daniel Dunphy, and Rocco Tenebruso. Remember what I posted about the culture of Long Island and the failure of Catholics to influence it??

Good news on Fr. Groeschel!

Manuel Vega, Creator Of 'Toucan Sam' Icon RIP

"Vega, who spoke Spanish and English, felt a special connection to the many Latino students in the area, Hartman said. In 1967, Vega became the district coordinator of art and created the annual district arts fairs. More than 30 years later, the fairs still display the talents of Brentwood students every spring."

YES YES YES!!

Mr. Hiss at Otto-Da-Fe has a great post about Bishop Murphy and his critics.

Bishop Murphy met with almost 200 priests yesterday

I don't have much to say about this. It was organized by some of the more liberal priests so I thought it stunk from the beginning. I would guess that nobody mentioned the horrible things that went on in the Diocese of Rockville Centre while Bishop McGann was here. I am just glad there has not been a single priest accused of molesting a child while Bishop Murphy has been here and hope the liberal priests were able to vent their frustrations at losing power, so we can all go back to ignoring them.

I don't know why the Long Island Voice of the Faithful is so concerned with being banned from meeting on Church property. Their February meeting will be held at the Unitarian Universalist Congregation at Shelter Rock in Manhasset, which, considering the type of theologians they promote, seems a perfectly appropriate place.

Browsing the blogs today I noticed that Amy Welborn has shut off her comments in the Life is so complex post to give everyone a rest. I just read through the 106 comments and it is a challenging thread. Rod Dreher, a writer I first encountered when he worked for the NY Post, has commented many times about his dismay over the situation involving Fr. Weinberger in Dallas. Some take him to task over his general attitude in regards the institutional Church. I have to say that I respect and admire Rod Dreher (who is the same age as me, according to one of his comments), both for his writing skills and his public conversion to Catholicism. I think he is right to focus on the corruption within the Church and to be angry about it. However, I also agree with Mark Shea who can't figure out why his children need to be concerned with what a Bishop does. I too, have only met a Bishop in passing and would not see the need to teach children about how corrupt or wrong a Bishop is. Fr. Groeschel is also mentioned and perhaps unfortunately, due to his current situation. Fr. Groeschel is another person I admire and respect a great deal. I heard him speak several times since October, 2001 and found that I disagreed with some of what he had to say regarding the media focus on the child molestation within the ranks of the priesthood. I also noticed a change in his talks about it over the course of the past two years-I think he came to realize the true scope of the problem. Fr. Groeschel is a great priest and has worked hard for reform in the Church. Rod Dreher is a great writer who has also worked hard for reform. The two have the same goals and they could actually learn a lot from each other. The whole thread is a tough one because it focuses on the response of Catholics to the corruption of the Catholic Bishops and people within the Church. Although tough to read, stuff like this is very valuable.

Speaking of challenging ideas:

I will be attending the Latin Mass Magazine conference in Montvale New Jersey on Feb. 8th. (Conference info is not on their website-they probably do not need to advertise as the first two conferences were very well attended. Michael Davies will give one of the talks. Anyone in the area would be advised to attend as the first two were excellent. I hope to hear challenging talks by the speakers as I did the first two years. I thought of this conference while reading the Open Book post because Rod Dreher sounds like the traditionalists at times. They too see the corruption in the Church, perhaps more acutely than most Catholics. I also thought of the conference because one talk at the conference fits right in with the Fr. Paul Weinberger situation:

“Obedience: Wielding a Virtue as a Weapon” by “Father X”.

Now that Ken Carney, Phil Sofia, and Tom Diasparra have been sentenced for leading the rape and torture of younger football players in the Mepham High School football camp, I would like to ponder a few things. Am I the only one who thinks the culture these guys grew up in helped lead to this crime? I do not know the faith or upbringing of Sofia and Diasparra but I do know that Carney's father's funeral was held at St. Barnabas Catholic Church in Bellmore. Ken Carney had been in trouble before and was the ringleader of the assaults. The father had been in and out of jail and died at the age of 40, rumored to be suicide due to distress over his son's crimes. I wonder if these three young men, or any others in the neighborhood ever heard anything about morality or justice or judgment. I wonder if they had been raised with a sense of right and wrong, or if they grew up hearing the “God loves everybody no matter what you do” type of theology. Quite frankly, I am not surprised at anything people do around here because I never thought Long Island had many nice people on it. That sounds harsh but truth is truth. What is worse is that Long Island has more than a million Catholics on it, meaning that the culture of the island should reflect Catholicism to a large degree. I think the failure of the Church to teach its teachings, and for us Catholics to live out those teachings, are what causes this culture to stink. And that can lead to things like Mepham, which is a real shame.

From an email:

Sunday, January 18th, 1:30 - 4:00 pm


This Sunday, at the Church of Holy Innocents on West 37th Street in Manhattan, there will be a Holy Hour beginning at 1:30 pm, the praying of the Rosary at 2:30 pm, and Mass at 3:00 pm, all offered for the intention of Fr. Benedict Groeschel's return to good health.

Fr. Groeschel was scheduled to give a talk and celebrate Mass at Holy Innocents this Sunday. Let's continue to pray for his recovery!

GEN X REVERT - BLOGOVERSARY!

January 18th, 2003 = 1 year

I forget exactly how I discovered it but when I saw Gerard’s list of Catholic Blogs I became hooked on reading them. I then started to comment on many of them and eventually figured I needed to start a blog of my own since commenting was just not enough. I noticed that the blogs in St. Blog’s sometimes contained comments from people who are less than happy with their Catholic upbringing or the horrible “Situation” of corruption in the Church. I had 16 years of Catholic school and never a bad experience in the Church. By starting my own blog I thought I could share the positive things I have found with others and counter the negativity I read. In this aspect my year of blogging was a miserable failure. I fell into the trap of reacting to other posts, news stories, and info on the net and mostly the reactions were critical or negative. I think this is still valuable but I wanted my blog to be positive and it has not always been. For my New Year’s resolution I am going to try to make it more positive, not by ignoring bad stuff or by never criticizing, but by trying to again share some of my positive experiences as a Catholic. I don’t know how much longer I am going to blog, it is still fun but I don’t think I have many profound things to say. I try to stick to areas of life involving Catholicism specifically and leave out other interests. (I am a big Rolling Stones fan-which you might guess from the way I introduced myself in my very first post).

The St. Blog’s parish is filled with wonderful people who can write so well and really make you think. I am going to post some of my old posts just because I find them interesting to re-read a year later. Unfortunately all my old comments are gone since the first commenting system suddenly went awol. I then replaced the second commenting system when it broke down too often. That system just went out and now I am back with Haloscan. In the 1 year of blogging I have only had one troll place a stupid comment about not liking Catholics which I deleted. I am insulted by this because I would have thought I would have attracted more angry anti-Catholics. Oh well, I guess my writing is not strong enough or my opinions good enough to be attracting trolls. It has been fun doing this and I have appreciated any comments left by readers. I especially like the fact that I have met people (real live people!!) through this blog, which just blew me away. I don’t read many blogs outside the parish but from what I can see, the most popular blogs are political in nature. Politics bores me-if religion is the last refuge of the scoundrel, then politics is the first. From what I can see, St. Blog’s parish has the most humorous, most deep, most thoughtful and thought-provoking bloggers around. I am proud to be a very small part of it.

Fr. Glenn Sudano will call in to EWTN Live tonight to speak about Fr. Groeschel.

The article from Crisis Magazine with an inside look at the Long Island Voice of the Faithful is now online. I found this out by going to the Catholic World News blog. Check it out for yourself and tell me if you agree the author was very fair, balanced, and did a good job exposing the bias of a group that COULD do some good things in the Church. If only they were orthodox....

One thing that I would like to point out: the article mentions Richard McBrien being invited to speak to the group. Bishop McGann, the bishop who shuffled abusive priests around and lead the diocese when most of the abuse occurred, also invited McBrien to speak. This was at a meeting of all the priests of the diocese many years ago. Why would a group want to follow the same path of the Bishop who was responsible for the mess the diocese is in?? Interestingly, Bishop Murphy, the Bishop under whom there has been no cases of abuse by priests, invited Fr. Benedict Groeschel to speak to priests soon after he came here.

Please pray for Fr. Benedict Groeschel last night (Sun) he was in a car accident in Florida. I have read his books, attended 2 retreats with him, and heard him speak many times, he is one of the best. He is also a wonderful guy to talk to - a very good spiritual leader. He is in critical condition, please pray.

Mepham Sentencing Set for Next Week

"The three Mepham High School football players who admitted to sexually assaulting younger teammates will learn their fate at a court hearing in Pennsylvania next week, sources said yesterday."

This local case of rape and torture has brought national attention to the violent crimes committed by high school jocks. Fortunately that may bring pressure on schools to do something about this common problem.

Parents begin to fight back against hazing

"My wife teaches at a Catholic school," James Meeker says. "I'm captain of an American Airlines widebody, and went to the Air Force Academy. I've coached kids. I've been president of the PTSA. If we're getting blown off by the school district, what chance do single parents have?"

N. Massapequa mother accused of killing her baby may have killed another child

This is one of the reasons that members of the ambulance medical technicians unit of the Nassau County Police department started the Children of Hope Foundation. I think it would be a good idea to link the Children of Hope site. Their profile follows:

"We were founded by members of the Ambulance Medical Technicians of the Nassau County Police Department. After a series of cases of infanticide in Nassau County, the emotional impact began taking its toll, on ourselves as well as the community. We sought a level of closure, peace and hope. Looking after these unfortunate victims of a society gone astray through a dignified burial gave us a sense of healing from this pain. We turned our focus toward the despondent people who would commit such a horrible desperate act. Our effort to enlighten these people to other means of solving their problems is the driving force of the Foundation. Although this is a huge undertaking, we believe that doing nothing, as more infants are found abandoned shortly after birth, would be a far greater tragedy."