Requiescat in Pace

NYPD Detective Patrick Rafferty, 39

NYPD Detective Robert Parker, 43

"The partners were slain when a career criminal allegedly grabbed Parker's gun and shot them in the chest in East Flatbush. "

Police find man they say carjacked vehicle in Massapequa with toddler inside

This is very close to home.

Newsday Drops Bomb, Falls To 18th Among Dailies

"Prepare for more surprises. Tribune's new figures for Newsday and Hoy regard the circulation numbers for the 12-month period ending Sept. 30, 2003 and the six-month period ending March 31, 2004. But the Press investigation suggests the fraud goes back more than a decade and that the newspapers' final circulation revision will eclipse even Tribune's most recent restatement. "

The Long Island Press is enjoying exposing the dishonesty and corruption at Newsday. I am enjoying this also. This paper is incredibly anti-Catholic and I am glad to see them fall. The only reason Newsday has the circulation it has is because it is a monopoly here on Long Island. There is no other daily paper and this island has a population of 2 million well-educated readers.

You know you are a Catholic Nerd when you spend 30 minutes on the elliptical machine at the gym because the TV in front of it is showing Robert George on CSPAN II. He was giving a speech at Ave Maria Law School and it was difficult to hear him over the booming music, but the speech was on politics and the Catholic Church. He is now doing Q & A.

HOLY OUTRAGE

"Under a new clause added to handbooks distributed last week at the archdiocese's 289 schools in Manhattan, The Bronx, Staten Island and upstate, students and parents must agree to not sue the archdiocese, their parish or school over disciplinary and academic measures such as expulsion or being held back."

This is much ado about nothing. At my Catholic high school students and parents have to sign a statement saying they read the student handbook. The handbook is sent to every student every year and unless they have that signed card the first day, the student would not be allowed to take classes.

A Catholic Blog for Lovers has an amazing picture of Notre Dame cathedral, freshly washed.

Grieving a fallen Marine

"In a homily during a funeral at St. Agnes Cathedral, in Rockville Centre, the Rev. James Williams lauded Winchester as a "real man," who demonstrated moral courage by backing up his convictions with actions, and not just empty promises."

"I liken his sacrifice to that of Jesus," said Williams, Chaminade's president, who was Winchester's religion teacher during the Marine's first year in high school."

"Those who believe in God know that evil and death do not have the final say."

Pope John Paul II, September 12th, 2001

Muslims love to kill people don't they?

"In a chilling parallel to the Madrid train bombings, Muslim fanatics linked to al Qaeda set off a huge car bomb yesterday outside the Australian Embassy in Jakarta, killing nine people and wounding 182."

Palestinians: 15 killed in airstrike

"Israeli helicopters fired four rockets at a camp in Gaza City where they believed Palestinian militants were training, killing at least 15 people, Palestinian medical sources told CNN."

I used to support the Palestinians and still consider Israel to be illegally taking the land they lived on for centuries. However, when Palestinians danced in the streets on September 11th, any support I had for them disappeared completely. Now, I consider them to be just like any other muslims terrorists.

Stunned Russians observe day of mourning

"On Sunday, Channel One showed the detainee looking frightened as he was manhandled by masked law enforcement officers and swearing to Allah that he didn't shoot women and children."

Doesn't matter dude, even though I am sure he is lying. The death penalty is justifiable in this case and hope that it is painful and broadcast to all the muslim nations.

"Interfax said the alleged leader of the hostage-takers, an ethnic Ingush named Magomed Yevloyev, had not been found among the dead. Yevloyev is believed to be the leader of the strict Wahhabi sect of Muslims in Ingushetia."

The press is finally admitting this was the work of muslims. I don't think it would have taken so long for the press to give the religion of children-killers if they were Christians. Of course, Christians don't kill children in the name of Christ, or blow people up in the name of Christ, or hijack airplanes in the name of Christ, or rape 15 year olds in the name of Christ, or behead people in the name of Christ, or do suicide bombings in the name of Christ, or kill Olympic athletes in the name of Christ, or slaughter guys in wheelchairs in the name of Christ, or mail anthrax to people in the name of Christ.

Lt. Ronald Winchester, RIP

"A Long Island Marine who was a star football player at Chaminade HS and the Naval Academy was killed by a roadside bomb while guarding convoys in Iraq, his family said yesterday.
Lt. Ronald Winchester, 25, who had 93 people under his command, was only eight days into his second tour of duty in Iraq when he was killed Friday, his father said. "

It is almost that time of the year again when we remember when followers of the heresy of islam slaughtered thousands of innocent people in this country. Hopefully it will not be difficult to find a Catholic Mass offered for the hundreds of Catholics killed on September 11th.

Finally, a newspaper publishes the truth about terrorism in today's world:

"It is a certain fact that not all Muslims are terrorists, but it is equally certain, and exceptionally painful, that almost all terrorists are Muslims."

"The hostage-takers of children in Beslan, North Ossetia, were Muslims. The other hostage-takers and subsequent murderers of the Nepalese chefs and workers in Iraq were also Muslims. Those involved in rape and murder in Darfur, Sudan, are Muslims, with other Muslims chosen to be their victims.
Those responsible for the attacks on residential towers in Riyadh and Khobar were Muslims. The two women who crashed two airliners last week were also Muslims.
Bin Laden is a Muslim. The majority of those who manned the suicide bombings against buses, vehicles, schools, houses and buildings, all over the world, were Muslim."


This writing must be from a right-wing Christian paper right? No, it is from the pan-Arabic newspaper Al-Sharq Al-Awsat.

Cleric supports targeting children

"An extremist Islamic cleric based in Britain said yesterday that he would support hostage-taking at British schools if carried out by terrorists with a just cause."

Does this surprise anyone? Just a reminder: you can read all about islam in the great Hilaire Belloc book: The Great Heresies

The BBC can't figure out whether the terrorists who killed hundreds of children were muslim or not???

The Dawn Patrol, A Saintly Salmagundi and Michelle Malkin.com are just 3 blogs that note the inability of the press to call the terrorists who killed hundreds of children what they are :

MUSLIM EXTREMISTS

Jihad Watch links to an AP story that finally admits the whole children-killing episode is a muslim push to do away with the infidels, just as they have been doing for 1500 years:

"Rebels linked to the school hostage-taking seek independence from Russia and most want to make Chechnya a sovereign Muslim nation."

This is the same thing that is happening in Nigeria, Sudan, the Phillipines, and it won't stop until the whole idea of a "muslim nation" is totally destroyed in everyone's mind.

WHEN THE KILLERS COME FOR THE KIDS

Good article by Ralph Peters.

"Those Muslims who preach Jihad against the West decided years ago that killing Jewish or Christian children is not only acceptable, but pleasing to their god when done by "martyrs."
It isn't politically correct to say this, of course. We're supposed to pretend that Islam is a "religion of peace."

3 YEARS AGO

Report: More than 200 dead after troops storm school

Once again the religion of peace is treated differently by the press. Most stories about these fundamentalist muslims killing children either do not mention they are fundamentalist muslims or downplay it. The above link to the CNN report mentions the word muslim only once - "rebels have been fighting Russia and demanding independence for the Muslim-majority republic." The violent and inhumane people who would not even allow food or drink for the children are never described as muslims, they are described as "hostage-takers", "armed militants", "rebels", "terrorists", and "suicide bombers". Perhaps these terms are more accurate than "devout muslims" but if these horrible, evil people had been Catholic or Christian then you can be sure there would be mention of the Pope, Jerry Falwell, and the words "fundamentalist Christian" about a dozen times. There is only a hint of the connection to the 1500 years of violent muslim behavior in this section:

"Valery Andreyev, head of the local branch of the FSB intelligence service, said 10 of the dead hostage-takers were from Arab countries, after Russian troops stormed the school earlier Friday."

Many the souls of the children and adults killed because of these islamicist monsters rest in peace.

UPDATE: the number of dead is now up to 322

After seeing so many stories for so many years about Muslims killing, torturing, kidnapping, blowing up, hijacking, slitting throats, and beheading, it is nice to see a story like this:

NEPALESE RIOT VS. MUSLIMS

"Crowds stormed the main mosque in Katmandu and charged through the streets chanting, "Down with Islam" in protest yesterday against the murders of 12 Nepalese in Iraq.
Protesters attacked the mosque, set furniture and carpets on fire and tore up a copy of the Koran before police drove them out."

22-0

For a Mets fan those are beautiful numbers!

'Passion'-ate Day One DVD Sales

"Other accolades accorded The Passion of The Christ include: It is the #1 R-rated film in history; the #1 February release in history; the #1 non-English film ever released in the United States; the #1 independently distributed film in history; the #1 film in the U.S. for the first 23 days after its release; the #1 5-day per screen average ($41,295) and it tied for 5th fastest film to get to $100 million. "

Why does Notre Dame want Tariq Ramadan to teach at their school?

Daniel Pipes points out:


He has praised the brutal Islamist policies of the Sudanese politician Hassan Al-Turabi. Mr. Turabi in turn called Mr. Ramadan the "future of Islam."

Mr. Ramadan was banned from entering France in 1996 on suspicion of having links with an Algerian Islamist who had recently initiated a terrorist campaign in Paris.

Ahmed Brahim, an Algerian indicted for Al-Qaeda activities, had "routine contacts" with Mr. Ramadan, according to a Spanish judge (Baltasar Garzón) in 1999.

Djamel Beghal, leader of a group accused of planning to attack the American embassy in Paris, stated in his 2001 trial that he had studied with Mr. Ramadan.

Along with nearly all Islamists, Mr. Ramadan has denied that there is "any certain proof" that Bin Laden was behind 9/11.

He publicly refers to the Islamist atrocities of 9/11, Bali, and Madrid as "interventions," minimizing them to the point of near-endorsement.

Intelligence agencies suspect that Mr. Ramadan (along with his brother Hani) coordinated a meeting at the Hôtel Penta in Geneva for Ayman al-Zawahiri, deputy head of Al-Qaeda, and Omar Abdel Rahman, the blind sheikh, now in a Minnesota prison.

Mr. Ramadan's address appears in a register of Al Taqwa Bank, an organization the State Department accuses of supporting Islamist terrorism.

Check out the THE CASE FOR CATHOLIC RESETTLEMENT discussion at El Camino Real.

Then, for a change of pace, check out the hilarious Campaign Trail posts on Catholic Ragemonkey.

MSGR. GEORGE A. KELLEY, RIP

"Msgr. George A. Kelly, one of the founders of the Fellowship of Catholic Scholars, and a longtime critic of dissent in the church, died Aug. 13 after a yearlong bout with cancer. "

Msgr. Kelly wrote The Battle for the American Church and many articles in solid magazines. I saw him speak at Nassau Community College where he started his talk with the line "Sometime, after Vatican II, the Church went to hell" with perfect timing. He was at St. John's University in Queens for many years which should cut his time in purgatory considerably. Requescat In Pace.

If we have St. Blog's awards again this year I believe Sal Ravilla at Catholic Light will have the best parent-related and/or toast- related categories all wrapped up in this gem.

Sex-charge principal on the run

"The assistant principal accused of molesting teenage boys at a Manhattan high school has jumped bail and fled the country as more charges stack up against him, prosecutors said yesterday."

Robert David Lion Gardiner (of Gardiner's Island), 93 died yesterday RIP

I missed my chance to become the 14th Lord of the Manor!! This guy was eccentric, extremely rich, owner an island, saw his wife only occasionally, and had his own wing at his church. Typical Episcopalian :)

Muslim scholar denied U.S. visa

"Acting at the request of the Department of Homeland Security, the U.S. government has revoked the work visa of a Muslim scholar who had been scheduled to teach at the University of Notre Dame this fall. Tariq Ramadan, a Swiss citizen who has been criticized for links to Islamic militants and for remarks branded anti-Semitic, was supposed to begin teaching on Tuesday, the first day of the fall semester."

So Notre Dame wants to spend its money by hiring an anti-semitic Muslim scholar? I am just glad it is not a Catholic school or this would be a scandal!

Yesterday I attended Mass at my local parish. I had considered going to the traditional Latin Mass but decided against it because I wanted to stay closer to home due to a family situation. There were two things I noticed that made me think I made a bad choice:

1) The Opening Prayer - one thing I love about the prayers of the traditional Mass is that they are so concise and pack a lot of theology into them. They are amazingly relevant to my life and the life of anyone struggling in this world. Instead, the opening prayer at Mass was weird and actually made me think that there was nothing Catholic about it -

"Father, help us to seek the values that will bring us lasting joy in this changing world. In our desire for what you promise make us one in mind and heart. Grant this through..."

With the exception of "Father" is there anything in this prayer that could not or would not be said at a Unitarian meeting or the United Nations?

2) The Voice of the Faithful have new tactics - they put a handwritten sign up in their windshield and park so everyone going into Church can see it. Also, the lectors for the past two weeks have been wearing their VOF button. It has a symbol with sort of a cross on it. They wear it like a political badge as they process up to the altar.

It is things like this that keep me wondering why do I go back? There is nothing like this at the traditional Mass, just prayer, very Catholic prayers.

Saudi Arabia launching campaign to improve image in the United States

Let's face it: America had more reason to bomb Saudi Arabia than to bomb Iraq. They looked the other way for years while Al Qaeda was built up, they have taught hatred and racism in their schools for years, they allow no freedom of religion, women are second class citizens who cannot drive cars alone or vote. 15 of the 19 September 11th hijackers were Saudis. The wonderful writer and researcher Daniel Pipes can fill in more details about the Saudis -

The Saudis' Covert PR Campaign

Khobar Massacre: "Don't be afraid, we won't kill Muslims"

Make The Saudis' Pay for Terror



And some of my own research:

Saudi Arabia's religious police stopped schoolgirls from leaving a blazing building because they were not wearing correct Islamic dress (15 girls died in the fire)

The US State Department's Report on Saudi Arabia's Freedom of Religion (or lack thereof)

Who could forget- Saudi Religious Police Say Barbie Is a Moral Threat (This is real, not from The Onion)

But don't take it from me - check out the blog of The Religious Policeman from Saudi Arabia

I saw Neil Simon's Rumors at Hofstra University Friday night. I don't do theater much but this was fun and I may have to go more often.

Since I am in a Long Island state of mind - I searched for other blogs from Long Islanders:

Lenndevours (I eat. I drink. You read.) This blog focuses on food and wine, two of my favorite things. Long Island has some great wineries "out east", many of which offer tours and tastings. (If you want a good fruity wine for the summer try Pindar's Summer Blush)


Don't bother me with trifles - great name, apparently a Long Island mother.

The Same Boy You've Always Known - heavy on music.


That is about it - I don't blogroll local bloggers because Gen X Revert is really about Catholic stuff but occasionally I like to read and post about Long Island. If there are any other Long Island bloggers out there, let me know.

Update: I just found Long Island Scene which is not a blog but a resource center for Long Island stuff.

Billy Joel: The Downeaster Alexa

I was a bayman like my father was before
Can't make a living as a bayman anymore
There ain't much future for a man who works the sea
But there ain't no island left for islanders like me


News12 Long Island is doing a series on why young people are increasingly leaving Long Island. The easy answer is this: HIGH COST OF LIVING. Even an educated, successful person can find it difficult to live here. The houses are too expensive, taxes too high, and the price of everything from milk to gas to car repair is higher than most other places. Besides the economic factors, Long Island used to be a great suburb to grow up in, with low crime, ample parklands, and pretty towns, but increasingly is nothing more than a collection of ugly stripmalls and Uber-Marts. We used to snobbily look down our noses at Queens and Brooklyn for more than just their high crime rates. They also had constant traffic, noise, limited parking, and streets lined with garbage blowing in the wind. With the exception of crime, which is still very low on Long Island, we can't claim those other things are "city problems" anymore. Much of Long Island is starting to resemble the city with graffiti everywhere and constant traffic. So many Long Islanders are moving to Florida for the lower cost of living and better landscape. I see myself someday moving elsewhere as I just don't see the Island as being as unique and special as it once was. I actually grew up across the street from a small farm - it was sold and two houses were built when I was young. I loved to drive around when I was 18 and just got my driver's license but today I find driving here a chore I avoid. We don't have too many nice villages either and it is too difficult to get to the ones that exist, such as Huntington. Many people moved here from Brooklyn and Queens to escape the problems of citylife but now Long Island is not the promised land anymore. One can only move east to a certain point before one ends up in the ocean. I hope Long Island can stem the tide long enough to redevelop and plan its growth out so it remains a good place to live. Ironically NYC can show us some ways, since it has turned around in many positive ways.

Bishop Murphy Announces Marianists Will Direct St. Martin De Porres Elementary School

Wow, this was a surprise! I have mentioned this community of religious brothers and priests several times on this blog as they educated me at Chaminade High School. I am sure they will infuse new life into this elementary school but hope their community is not being stretched too thin. It will be interesting to see if the falling enrollment will be reversed as a result of the brothers running this school, as this is what happened when they took over a diocesan high school and created Kellenberg High.

Ted Kennedy's name was on the No-Fly List in error. I guess it should have been on the No-Drive List instead.

It's My Blog And I'll Link To Myself If I Want To....

Suit says Tassone cut 178 checks to pay about $1.1M in bills and, as arrest loomed, tried to hide $300G

This is the latest on the Roslyn school district chief who embezzled millions. Since this blog is mostly about Catholic stuff, I refer readers to my previous post on this scandal and the similiarities with the Catholic Church's scandals.

Cool! I did not know this but Dappled Things mentions the Blogger Navbar that is suddenly at the top of all blogs. It seems the search box is tied to the current blog so you can search for something on Gen X Revert, i.e. if you put in "Jimmy Breslin", three previous posts regarding this bigot will be displayed. Note the correct spelling is "Breslin" not "Old Drunk".

I need to go to confession.

America's top party schools named

Where are Steubenville? Christendom? Thomas Aquinas? Are these not the ultimate party type schools?

I have added e-skojec and Catholic Ragemonkey to my blogroll.

Mother Angelica celebrates 60th Anniversary of entering religious life

Julie of The Theoscope enters religious life

Music for The Passion of The Christ via Church of The Masses

"The album features newly recorded original songs sparked by the experience of seeing the film, andfeatures the diverse lineup which includes tracks by Steven Curtis Chapman,MercyMe, Third Day, Kirk Franklin featuring Yolanda Adams, Charlotte Church, former Creed singer Scott Stapp; Lauryn Hill; P.O.D.; Brad Paisley& Sara Evans; Third Day - MxPx featuring Mark Hoppus and others."

I had no idea Scott Stapp had left Creed -why is it that good bands always seem to break up? Anyway, the CD sounds good and you can hear Stapp's song from it on his website. The lyrics are especially interesting. Notice the attitudes of the artists that this movie has inspired are not of the anti-semitic type envisioned by the movie's ranting critics?

Bob Murphy memorial service at St. Patrick's Cathedral

"A man who said the movie "The Passion of the Christ" prompted him to confess to strangling his girlfriend pleaded guilty Wednesday."

One arrogant and nasty blogger who has bashed the Passion movie and its "supporters" once posted about this man when he originally went to court and pleaded innocent. Since said blogger believes the movie is dangerous and will lead to violence, the idea that the movie had only positive effects blew his fragile mind. Therefore when the guy pleaded innocent in court the blogger implied that this meant the movie did not really affect this person, and the movie's supporters were all wet. Of course, pleading innocent is a standard defense move - if a defendant does not plead the judge will usually enter his plea as innocent. I wonder if this blogger will print this latest development. I doubt it. This blogger once posted a clergyman's criticism of the Passion movie months after it was written in which the clergyman predicted violence. I commented that posting this prediction months after the movie was out just made the prediction look more foolish. After all, there was no violence associated with The Passion of The Christ. This comment vanished from the site.

(I think the Catholic League should update their Body Count - it is now 6 months after the Passion and the body count is : 0)

Culture of What?

"In a particularly chilling revelation, Peterson told Frey he never wanted children of his own and planned to get a vasectomy, Frey said. "

IRS to scrutinize pay of charities' execs

"The U.S. Internal Revenue Service said Tuesday some 2,000 charities will be reviewed under a new IRS enforcement effort to see if they're overpaying their executives. "

I support any review of how charities operate but I don't understand exactly how the IRS can say a charity is overpaying their executives? How much is too much? I suspect this will lead to a media expose on the pay of charity execs and possibly even resignations. I recently happened to be checking out some things on Guidestar and was amazed at how much a leader of one Catholic organization made. Even though this leader does an excellent job, the salary may still raise eyebrows among even the group's most supportive supporters. I also fear such a high salary, even if justified, may leak out to the press and just plain look bad.

Fr. Groeschel on EWTN tommorrow

EWTN Global Catholic Network has announced that Fr. Benedict Groeschel, CFR, will be a special guest of Fr. Mitch Pacwa, SJ, host of EWTN Live, on his next program, airing Wednesday, August 11th. Father Groeschel will appear on the program via satellite from his residence in Larchmont, NY.

A New Era of Christian Persecution

If it were another group being slaughtered rather than Christians, then the media would be covering it extensively.

Archbishop serves up passionate defense of faith

This story, discovered via Seattle Catholic, is about Archbishop Dolan speaking at Theology on Tap in Milwaukee. He sounds like he is perfect for this type of event:

"I’m here (at the pub) all the time anyway … now I can write it off on my taxes"

And

"If our faith was in priests, we wouldn’t have survived Holy Thursday. Less than a couple hours after Jesus ordained the first priests, one of them sold him for 30 pieces of silver. One betrayed him three times. And eight ran off when he needed them most ... one of the first 12 stuck with him. That ain’t a good rate … less than 8 percent, less than two hours after the church began."

Our local version of this type of thing is Faith on Tap and it has been going well. Our next session is August 30th at 7 PM and is about everybody's favorite novel: "Decoding the DaVinci Code" with speaker Dr. Jane Gilroy. We also hope to have our Bishop Murphy speak this year. I think he will come across well just like Archbishop Dolan.

Cacciaguida linked to this Newsday article:

"Conservative Catholic groups share reverence for doctrinal orthodoxy"

He is right to say the article is surprisingly better than it might seem from the headline. But there was this jawdrop from a "theologian" Paul Lakeland:

"With the Latin Mass, you had people praying rosaries and reading about the saints because they couldn't follow along," said Paul Lakeland, a theologian at Fairfield College in Connecticut. "The new Mass was created for participation -- to keep people's focus on the Eucharist."

I have attended the traditional Latin Mass many times and have never seen people praying rosaries or reading about the saints during the Mass, but I have seen this before the Mass or afterwards. Perhaps things were different before the 60's but I doubt that things were as bad as some say they were. I have noticed people reading the parish bulletin during the novus ordo Mass which I think is worse than praying a Rosary or reading about the Saints. The next part of this quote is something traditionalists would jump on and with good reason: "The new Mass was created for participation". I thought the Mass could be developed naturally over centuries but that no one, not even the Pope had the right to "create" a Mass? And if the Mass was created to "keep people's focus on the Eucharist" then so far it has failed miserably. I don't like to nitpick one quote from somebody but a Google search will quickly show what Lakeland's agenda is:

"keynote speaker Paul Lakeland, professor of religious studies at Connecticut's Fairfield University, told the Newton gathering that Catholics were "suffocating from structural oppression" and advocated the abolition of the College of Cardinals, the ordination of women as deacons and lay participation in the election of bishops.
And, Lakeland predicted, future priests would consist of "some married, some not; some straight, some gay, some women, some not."

Shame on me!

I have had the pleasure of attending several events run by Dr. Joseph Varacalli and his Center for Catholic Studies at Nassau Community College. He does an excellent job running a Catholic studies program at a secular college. I have failed to mention two published articles of his-

The Pertinacious Papist summarizes his article "Policy Suggestions for the Church" taken from the June 2004 Homeletic and Pastoral Review which is not online.

The talk he gave at the local Faith on Tap group is available online at the top notch website Catholic Educator's Resource Center - "The Cultural and Political Impotence of Catholics in Contemporary American Life"

Some reason from Reason Magazine:

"The world has never been overpopulated with humans in any meaningful sense. It seems, though, that it is overpopulated with theoretical fears of overpopulation."

CIA Asks Bush To Discontinue Blog

I was glad to read El Camino Real and see that I am not alone in finding it hard to get upset over illegal immigration. I find most immigrants from Latin America and the Caribbean are good people (and very Catholic) and just looking for work. If we are going to push to deport people, lets try to make it these types of people. Meanwhile some sort of legalization, such as a worker program is needed. Reading this article was great:

"When about 60 Peruvian immigrant victims of human trafficking were discovered in three Suffolk County houses earlier this summer, the Church on Long Island responded.

"Catholic Charities arranged for them to have medical examinations, mental health counseling, and provided items like clothing. While federal officials were doing background checks, we needed to find temporary housing for them,” Mrs. Maquilon said. She found great openness among families and institutions, including the seminary."

“In June, I received a call from Catholic Charities to ask if we would take some of the refugees,” said Msgr. Francis Schneider, rector of Immaculate Conception Seminary. “I replied that we would do the best we could to help as many as we could.” They took in 23 men for three weeks.“Each one had a private room and we had a lounge area set up for them where they could watch TV and talk,” Msgr. Schneider said. “They joined us in the dining hall for meals, eating with the seminarians, students in the master’s degree program, and the seminary faculty and staff.

“Many of them also joined us for daily Mass,” Msgr. Schneider said."

From the Long Island Press:

Newsday Writes Tribute On Judge Who Will Hear Its Case

Newsday wrote a real nice piece on Leonard Wexler who got a purple heart 60 years after he was wounded. This is all good, however:

"What Newsday's story failed to mention, however, is that Wexler is the judge set to preside over the $600 million lawsuit filed against the paper on behalf of advertisers claiming circulation fraud. Wexler's name is clearly stated on the first page of the complaint filed in the U.S. District Court. The document is available to the public. Newsday's editorial staff, which is conducting its own investigation into the paper's circulation misdeeds, almost certainly has a copy. "


This is why Long Island needs another daily newspaper - Newsday is anti-Catholic, biased in its reporting, and can't be trusted. But if you want to know what is going on here, you have no choice, and when Newsday is good, it is real good. I am a reader, and the other NY papers just don't cut it. They have more pictures of Britney Spears than informative articles. The Long Island Press is a free Village Voice wannabe that occasionally has some great stories, but is generally a paper for finding out what local band is playing in what local watering hole. Hopefully it will grow to become real competition for Newsday. Bill Donohue lays the smackdown on the paper in a recent press release: NEWSDAY SCANDAL REVEALS HYPOCRISY . Awesome thing is that much of it sounds like it could have been written by the bigot Jimmy Breslin (although unlike his writing this stuff is true):

"Here’s the way they do business at Newsday: they count dead people as subscribers; they deliver papers to burned down houses; they drop off bulk copies to dealers who have said they don’t want them; they cook their internal corporate reports; and they even alter affidavits by distributors to pump circulation figures. The extent of corruption is so common that they have even developed their own jargon: ‘Code 51’ means to continue delivering newspapers to customers who have cancelled their subscriptions or have stopped paying.

“The person in charge of the business side of Newsday, Ray Jansen, has been forced to retire early. James Klurfeld, editor of the editorial page, said today of Jansen that ‘nothing missed his gaze.’ Nothing? It gets better. Klurfeld then says of Jansen that ‘His power of observation was almost uncanny, as if he had X-ray vision.’ To make matters worse, Klurfeld tells us that Jansen ‘rose through the ranks of the advertising department’ and that his ‘talent was on the business side.’ He obviously doesn’t connect the dots—he has just indicted Jansen. "

**I dropped my subscription to Newsday months ago, but continued to receive the paper every Friday free of charge for a time.

Update: I just saw on Drudge that the Dallas Morning News also inflated their circulation and an executive there has resigned.

JIMMY BRESLIN'S DAUGHTER IS DEAD AND IT'S ALL YOUR FAULT

Jimmy Breslin: Caught in a lie again

Muchas gracias to commenter AZ, who gave me the above link about the anti-Catholic, bigoted, angry, foul-mouthed, drunk, childish Breslin and his horrible writing. I recently posted about Breslin's lies when he was caught printing something about what a minister said, only to have it publicly admitted by Newsday that the minister had not said such a thing. I first posted about Breslin the first week of blogging when I stumbled upon an old story about him calling an Asian woman a "yellow, slant-eyed c---". Nice guy huh? The interesting thing in the current article is that Breslin brings up the recent death of his daughter. I posted about the death of his daughter recently also because I found it ironic that the man who called an Asian "yellow slant-eyed c---" would have a daughter who received a degree in Asian studies. I heard a priest say (and this is true, not made up) that Breslin was upset with the Church back when his first wife died, and the priest prayed the prayer at the funeral, "forgive her her sins". Obviously, he can't deal with death, first his wife, now his daughter. How exactly the Catholic Church is to blame for these deaths, I don't know. But no Jimmy, people will not leave you the "----" alone as you ask, because you are a bigot and just because you aren't mature enough to handle the fact that people die, does not mean you can lie. Deal with it. In the meantime, perhaps your current wife (the one you use to drive you around since you can't drive) would also help you write since you can't seem to get things straight.

Vatican Sets Up Sports Department

If their baseball team were made up of all Cardinals over 80, they could still beat the Mets.

Scandal, what scandal?

"Investigators - using cell-phone records and stakeouts - also uncovered 17 inappropriate relationships between students and school staffers, up from 13 the year before."

RIP

Mets announcer Bob Murphy died - I have great childhood memories of summer ball games on the radio with Murphy's "It's a beautiful day for baseball!". He was a great radio announcer who actually described the game rather than spout out opinions like many of the announcers do today.

The Statue of Liberty opened for the first time since the September 11th attacks, but you can only go as high as her feet.

Diogenes at Off the Record has been posting an interesting series regarding Catholics and their charitable giving. This time, he/she posts about the head of a Marianist University and what she did with $1,500. I think it is a good time to remind readers that the Marianist community that operates Chaminade High School and Kellenberg High School here on Long Island, broke away from the New York province in 1976 and formed their own province. I believe they did this to remain focused on operating schools locally. I don't know all the details but I do know that their community has flourished since then. Vocations have been steady and they remain a young, vibrant community. They still focus on operating schools and they do this well. The schools are solidly Catholic, although the most hard core traditionalists might not appreciate them entirely. Their ability to break away from the Marianist structure and still remain Marianists helped to inspire the founders of the Franciscan Friars of the Renewal, who attempted to do the same type of thing without luck. The Friars ended up having to form a completely separate community and today they have a good relationship with the Long Island Marianists.

German leader acknowledges Polish suffering

"Schroeder became the first German chancellor to attend an anniversary of the two-month uprising, which ended with 200,000 Warsaw residents dead and most of the city systematically destroyed by the Nazis.
He bowed on the steps of the Warsaw Uprising Memorial as a lone trumpeter played taps. Just before, sirens sounded across Warsaw at 5 p.m., the hour the uprising began on Aug. 1, 1944. "

Muslim fundamentalists take note - what you do today, such as attacking Churches, will haunt your granchildren 60 years from now.

Clerical Family Ties

One of the great shows of the 80's was Family Ties. The original concept was brilliant: married hippies end up with a son who is supremely conservative. The parents and son, Alex P. Keaton, have a love for each other that transcends their ideology. Their different outlook on life lent itself to comedy -(when the show got serious it bombed - remember Alex's torment over the death of a friend that had never been mentioned before?) Well, perhaps the time has come for a similiar show based on the situation in rectories today. (See the article A New Breed of Priest (via ut unum sint), or the classic Young Fogies by old priest Fr. Greeley)
The show would take place at a suburban rectory and show what happens when a recently ordained 20-something is assigned to a parish with an aging ex-hippie type priest. Look at how each deal with engaged couples, Liturgy, busybody parishioners, finances, politics, etc.. This show could have potential if it were done correctly - both priests would have to be stereotypes but still be good guys. They couldn't hate each other but simply see things differently, and each would learn a bit from each other.

Jones Beach is 75 Years Old

Newsday, the anti-Catholic rag, is at its best when it covers local stuff like this. I live just a 15 minute drive away from this great treasure. I am not much of a beach person, but I can remember going to Jones Beach at night as a child, walking with my family along the boardwalk. The hot summer nights were bearable thanks to the cool ocean breeze. There was live music, dancing, ice cream, and miniature golf. There was one summer when I would have weekdays off and I spent some time at the beach walking a mile or two on the sand, and then laying out in the sun. It is quite nice there during the week, the weekend can be a bit too crowded. I still will ride my bike or rollar blade on the bike path that terminates at the beach. The beach also provided employment for my grandfathers on both sides - one worked there on the maintainence crew and one worked building the beautiful water tower, a works progress gem. I hate to sound too cynical, but with the traffic, high cost of living, and endless series of strip malls, Long Island is losing some of what makes it special. At least we still have Jones Beach, a world class beach that has maintained it's beauty.

The Buttafuocos, Amy Fisher, and Forgiveness

Remember Amy Fisher, the Long Island teenager who shot Mary Jo Buttafuoco (wife of her lover Joey) in my hometown of Massapequa years ago?  Well, she has written an autobiography.  I will wait for the snickering of my few readers to quiet down.  Most people have thankfully forgotten the sordid details, but once in awhile Joey Buttafuoco makes the news, usually by being arrested.  I grew up in Massapequa and while Joey is not typical of the guys in this town, his type is not too difficult to find.  (I don't mean Italians mind you, I mean stupid, obnoxious, uneducated morons.)  Anyway, Amy Fisher has actually been writing a column for the Long Island Press for awhile now.  I have read it occasionally and it does not impress me but a couple of times it has given me more of a positive impression of Mrs. Fisher.  She once wrote an article that was so good I tried to find it in the online archives of the newspaper.  The article came out a little after Joey was once again arrested for something or other.  Amy Fisher wrote about how stupid she was as a teenager to be doing anything with this jerk.  She mentioned, without sounding self-centered or arrogant, that since the shooting and her time in jail, she has turned her life around.  She is married, with children, and working steadily.  She has never been in any trouble and has apologized to Mary Jo.  She has worked to try to steer young girls away from the path that she went down.  She mentioned, without sounding smug, that Joey has done nothing good since his time in the sun.  He was arrested for insurance fraud, arrested for soliciting prostitutes, been divorced, “acted” in cheap films, and tried to take part in a celebrity fight against a woman.  The article was so good, it actually made me feel a bit for Amy Fisher, not sorry for her, but feel that she was a good person who made some awful and stupid decisions.  I am not one to “forgive” easily.  I don’t have a particularly rosy outlook on people and their “mistakes”.  But I agree with Mark Shea who has stated on his blog that the most scandalous dogma of the Church is never mentioned in the press:  FORGIVENESS.   I know it is up to Mary Jo to forgive the woman who shot her, but I believe she already has.  Usually when you hear Amy Fisher's name, there are usually some nasty adjectives and rolls of the eyes.  I have heard people say they won’t buy or read The Long Island Press because Amy Fisher writes for it, and I don’t claim she is a model person for Catholics, or anyone else.  But if we really believe in redemption and penance, then Amy Fisher (not a Catholic) would serve as a pretty good example.  Believe it or not.

Amish in the City

"That, of course, sets up the premise of "Amish in the City," which is to see what happens when a bunch of narrow-minded, shiftless, materialistic ignoramuses are brought together under one roof with people who live a life characterized by deep faith and strong tradition.
 
Good review, I may watch this show after all. 

Tragic!

Edwin Hernandez, a Suffolk County police officer died in a car crash while driving home from work.  He was the cousin of WKTU DJ "Vic Latino", and he had two children and two grandchildren.  Please pray for him and his family.

Good job!

I just happened to pass St. Raphael's parish on the way home from work tonight and decided to stop to see their new Church.  I was impressed as I pulled into the parking lot, it looked like a Church from the outside!  When I walked in, the first thing I noticed was the large crucifix right behind the altar.  There were a few people inside and I spotted the tabernacle to the right, in a small chapel with clear windows all around it.  The tabernacle is visible from all around the Church which is good, and it wasn't until I sat in a pew and looked at the sanctuary for a minute that I noticed the monstrance on the altar with the Blessed Sacrament exposed.  I just noticed on the parish website they have Adoration from 1-7 pm on Tuesday.  The back wall of the sanctuary looks like some kind of stone.  There is a statue of Mary off to the left side, with nice blue stained glass behind her.  The stained glass windows are nice too.  Overall, not a bad job at all!  I wish their website had some more pictures of the Church, especially inside photos, but I will post the link once I see them. 

Move to make 9/11 day of service

"One Day's Pay, a nationwide non-profit organization that facilitates volunteering in memory of the Sept. 11 victims, has launched a campaign to recruit 2 million volunteers to go out on the next anniversary of the attacks to read to the blind, cook for the homeless or tutor children."
"To support the program, Sen. Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) and Rep. Peter King (R-Seaford) introduced resolutions in Congress last week to ask President George W. Bush to declare Sept. 11 a day of national service."

I would like to see this happen -  it is the best way to remember this vicious attack and respond.   I would like to add that the President should start a trend of pardoning criminals on this day (after the Justice Department investigates each case and recommends the pardons).  Let us remember this day by showing mercy to our own people and give them an opportunity to rejoin society and help make America stronger.  This day should also be a day of cleaning up parks, planting trees, restoring monuments, etc..  It goes without saying it should also be a day of prayer. 

Fr. Groeschel

The retreat this weekend was good.  I will blog later about it.   One of the highlights had to be this morning when we were just about to start eating breakfast, Fr. Groeschel comes walking down the hallway towards the dining room.  He was walking with a cane and had a bump on his head and a glove on one hand.  Other than that he looked pretty good.  Everyone got up and went to the door and started clapping.  This was the first teaching retreat weekend without him giving the opening talk.  After the clapping died down, he said, in a hoarse voice but with perfect timing:  "Living proof that only the good die young!!!!".  He then told us how one of the Friars was told in the hospital to make the funeral arrangements because they did not expect him to make it.  Someone said yesterday was Fr. Groeschel's birthday so we all sang happy birthday to him.  He said he came to Kellenberg for the Youth 2000 Mass (he was supposed to give the homily) and he just wanted to stop in and say hello to us.  He then did something I never saw him do before, he got a little choked up. 

 

Update:  The amazing thing about this weekend was that you had two totally different retreats going on at the same time and on the same high school grounds and everything seemed to go smoothly.  We had a lovely teaching retreat, with about 25 people, which is about half the normal size, perhaps due to Fr. Groeschel's absence this year.  The Youth 2000 New York had 600 young people and there was a giant tent set up on a field with the Blessed Sacrament exposed for adoration.  This Diocese is slowly on the way to repairing the damage of the past by hosting events such as these.  (See "McGann's Mess" by Dr. Thomas Droleskey for a very pessimistic view of things, I see things improving steadily).  As one priest said, who would have thought 20 years ago, that a traditional Latin Mass would be offered in the school's chapel, while outside hundreds of young people were adoring the Blessed Sacrament?  I got to eat at a dinner table with Msgr. William Smith and hear a bit of his wonderful humor.  Fr. Pereda, who celebrates the traditional Mass I sometimes attend, gave an interesting and inspiring talk on the Latin Mass.  I wasn't sure how he would come across and I think he was very impressive to the group.  He was intelligent, interesting, and very funny.   I had no idea he had such a great sense of humor since his personality is thankfully not on display while celebrating Mass.  He celebrated the traditional Mass in the school's very modern chapel, meaning that perhaps for the first time in years (?) there were two approved traditional Masses offered in this diocese on the same day.   I did not stick around long enough to hear the responses of the people to this Mass.  These are good faithful Catholics that attend these retreats but not necessarily traditionalists.  I would have liked to have heard some of the reactions, but I stupidly left right after the Mass. 

Speaking of Retreats

As I pack to go on a retreat weekend as posted, I see today's Long Island Catholic article on the various retreat houses in the Diocese.   

"What we’ve done here is focused our work through the lens of the new cosmology,” explained Dominican Sister Honora Nolty, executive director of the retreat center. “We’ve become an eco-spirituality center."

 

Fr. Groeschel used to have a popular annual retreat at a retreat house on Long Island (not one mentioned in the article)  but stopped because he did not like what was going on there.  It was his desire to see an orthodox retreat center on Long Island that led to the Lay Preachers establishing an adult program at Kellenberg.  I go to nights of recollection and retreats there and would highly recommend them to anyone.  Unless of course you are into the new cosmology.....

Requiescent in Pace

'Selfless' constable mourned

"More than 2,000 attended Brooks' funeral Mass at St. Martin of Tours in Amityville yesterday morning. The retired New York City police officer, 44, was shot to death Friday while working his one-day-a-week job as a Babylon bay constable."
 

A Tale of Two Retreats

I will be on retreat this weekend - a teaching retreat at Kellenberg Memorial High School's retreat facility.  This retreat is run by a couple of retired NYC police officers who started an adult retreat program with the help of Fr. Benedict Groeschel.  (For the whole story, see A Spirituality for Police Officers .)   This is the first time that Fr. Groeschel will not be giving the opening talk at this unique type of retreat.  The retreat is geared towards learning stuff instead of spirituality and the teaching is all solid.  The speakers are:  Msgr. George Graham, Msgr. William Smith, Fr. Andrew Apostoli, Mr. Tom Cook, and Mr. John Moreno.  In a separate part of the school's beautiful campus, there will a Youth 2000 New York young people's retreat.  The homilist at the closing Mass at the young people's event will be Fr. Groeschel!  I will have to see if I can sneak over to the event on Sunday morning to see if I can say hi to him, but chances are he will spend the time with the kids and rightfully so.  What a blessing to be able to see Fr. Groeschel again though.   And this may be the first time he is out and speaking since the accident?? 

But, as the commercial says, Wait  - There's More!!  This teaching retreat I will attend will include a final talk by Fr. James Pereda, who will speak on the traditional Latin Mass.  He asked for and received permission to offer the traditional Latin Mass after the talk on Sunday.  So I will be attending a traditional Latin Mass at the same time and almost in the same place as Fr. Groeschel will be giving a homily at a Novus Ordo Mass.  On the grounds of a large high school that is unapologetically Catholic.  Things are looking up in this diocese!

A commentator in the Scandal Time post below calls me an [nasty name].  I liked that because sometimes I enjoy being an [nasty name].  But today, I realized I am an ungrateful [nasty name], and that is not cool.  Here I am posting on horrible things in the Church and I just realized today how lucky I have been since my reversion (and before)  Here is why:  I spent a good amount of time at the bookstore today skimming through two books: 
 
Father Joe:  The Man Who Saved My Soul
 
The Miracle Detective:  An Investigation of Holy Visions
 
I like to skim books at the bookstore because if I bought every book I was interested in I would need a warehouse to keep them in.  I still have many books on my shelf that I have not had the time to read, so I skim.  In skimming Father Joe, I found the story to be funny and heartwarming.  The author, Tony Hendra is a writer, known for his work at National Lampoon.  Hendra was 14 when he groped a married woman, whose husband then insisted he see Father Joe.  Hendra was so impressed by this Benedictine monk, that he trained to become a monk himself.  He was encouraged to go elsewhere though, but he kept visiting and writing with Father Joe throughout his life.  Through failed marriages, agnostic periods, and substance abuse, the author was wisely and lovingly counseled by Father Joe.  He takes his son to visit Father Joe when the priest was dying of cancer.  I was imagining how this might make a good movie.  The scene of Tony Hendra visiting the monk's grave and singing the Salve Regina for him almost made me tear up a little.  (I am not emotional at all).  How wonderful this book would come along at this time when Catholics need stories of great priests to refresh our confidence!  The thing is that I have never met any "bad priests".  The priests and brothers and nuns that taught me were wonderful, so I should be grateful, as is Hendra.
 
Skimming The Miracle Detective really hit me hard though.  The book itself is interesting as an agnostic author who writes for Rolling Stone investigates various Marian apparitions and how the Church "handles" them.  He is respectful and even drawn to the faith in the process of writing the book.  But for me, the author's interview with Fr. Benedict Groeschel at the end of the book really made me realize how lucky I have been.  He is informed about Fr. Groeschel by two priests at the Vatican who speak very highly of the priest.  One calls him a saint, one calls him "Groucho Marx in a habit".  (I think they are both right).  The author writes about how difficult it is to get in touch with the friar.  He is told he only answers phone calls about 2 hours every other week, so he calls several times.  He recounts attempting to speak to someone in Fr. Groeschel's office who doesn't seem able to carry on a conversation.  (He later learned Groeschel ministers to the mentally ill and they act as his assistants).  When he does meet him, he learns that his reputation as a funny, brilliant and holy man is well-deserved.  The author is impressed by Groeschel and I realize that I have had the opportunity to hear this great priest speak several times.  I have even been on two weekend retreats with Fr. Groeschel giving almost all the talks and celebrating Mass the whole weekend.  The book makes Fr. Groeschel out to be one of the most impressive priests (intellectually and spiritually) in the Church today and here I am (me!) able to meet and learn from him.  
 
 
This weekend I will be attending the "teaching retreat" run by Lay Preachers that Fr. Groeschel helped establish at the Kellenberg High School retreat house.  This is the first time that Fr. Groeschel will not be giving the opening talk for the retreat.  Fr. Pereda, the priest who celebrates the weekly traditional latin Mass in the diocese, will be speaking on the latin Mass.  He asked for and was given permission to celebrate the Mass at the end of the retreat.  How fortunate I was to come back to the Church at this time, and in this place. 

Fiend robs nun's rosary
 
"A nun wearing her white habit was viciously mugged on a Brooklyn street yesterday morning by a thug who knocked her to the ground and stole her purse and rosary beads, cops said."

Tell me if any of this sounds familiar to Catholics: 
  
Former school chief's mixed message  

   
The Roslyn school district on Long Island has quite the scandal on its hands.  It started out in 2002 when the chief financial officer Pamela Gluckin was discovered to have stolen money from the district.   Did the school district notify the police or the DA?  No.  They allowed her to quietly retire after she paid $250,000 back to the district.  They thought this was the amount she stole, but it turns out to have been much more than that.  Why would the school district do this and keep it secret?  Because an outside attorney told them they had no obligation to notify anyone.  How did the school superintendent and school board explain Gluckin's sudden departure?  They told parents she was ill.   This year an anonymous letter was sent to the Nassau District Attorney's office and other officials that exposed the 2 year old theft and the district's coverup.  What was the reaction of the school superintendent to this letter?  He dismissed the allegations and accused the letter writer of sloppy accusations.  The superintendent,  Frank Tassone, was believed by parents because you see, he was very charismatic.  But some people were concerned because Tassone was more concerned with finding out who sent the letter rather than addressing the accusations it contained.  Eventually it was discovered that Tassone had billed $800,000 to a company that was owned by his roomate, Stephen Signorelli.  It turns out that Tassone was using school district money to live a posh lifestyle.   He even bought a home with a 32 year old man, Jason Daugherty in Las Vegas.    The superintendent has now been arrested for allegedly stealing more than $1 million over 27 months. 
 
 Some more things about the situation that seem familiar to me come from this New York Times article:   Shattered Impressions of a School Superintendent.  In it I learned that: 
 
"Until several months ago, many people in this affluent village said, it would have been unthinkable to imagine Dr. Tassone in such a context. He was a progressive leader who spoke of social justice, made condoms available in the high school and built a community service program founded on the concept that the privileged class should give something back. " 

"Dr. Tassone's fall from grace has unleashed a torrent of anger in Roslyn"

" 'Call me Frank,' " Paul Burros, a Roslyn resident, recalled Dr. Tassone saying when he met him at a school district gathering four years ago."

Idiots
 
Television network admits it lied about unauthorized biography
 
"The Sci Fi Channel admitted that it lied last month in claiming it was at odds with filmmaker M. Night Shyamalan and was making an unauthorized biography about his "buried secret."
 
This article does not say if M. Night was in on the hoax.  There was a great Crisis magazine article about the Catholic element in Shyamalan's films but I can't find it, but he is my favorite movie maker around today.   And of course, he is a Gen-Xer!

WOW   
 
Blogger has added some nice features to the basic blogspot!  Now I can choose different colors, change the font, or pick a different size!      
 
 

Scandal Time
 
1)  Roman Catholic Faithful strikes again - a priest they exposed has finally been removed from his parish.  (Link via Open Book)  Once again RCF has done a great service to the Church and once again, they have had to fight against bishops and parishioners in order to accomplish this service. 
 
2)  The Catholic Church's Abu Ghraib   (Warning:  graphic and disgusting pictures that would make Howard Stern puke) - Michael S. Rose has once again been proven right - seminaries do have a serious problem with corruption.
 
3)  Investigators charge father flimflam spent money on luxuries
 
4)  Charges vs. priest grow  - a priest in Scranton accused of sleeping with a teenage boy, again from Open Book.
 
The priesthood needs to be completely gutted to make sure to get rid of these corrupt, evil men.  The Bishops such as John Steinbock, Kurt Krenn, and Reggie Cawcutt should be the first to go.  It is not enough to throw these men out of the priesthood, they need to be completely removed from any financial support from any diocese.  Let them avail themselves of the Church's many soup kitchens and thrift shops and halfway houses and live out the rest of their lives in true poverty.  Mercy can be shown but so can tough love! 

Nab L.I. man in beating of Sikh

"A Long Island man who emerged from his daughter's christening party to allegedly taunt and beat a Sikh priest was arrested yesterday in what police say was a bias attack.

"Yesterday, Maceli was defended by his stepfather, Vic Cosentino, who said the Sikh men were "defiant and arrogant."

Cosentino, 58, said about 180 people had attended the party for Maceli's 3-month-old daughter's christening. As guests spilled out, Cosentino said, one tipsy guest slurred the Sikh pair, prompting an angry retort. Maceli, who was still inside the hall, was told there was a confrontation and went running outside."


Here is my take: Many of the people I have met in my life who call themselves Christian are not real Christians. They are cultural people whose Christianity is as deep as a puddle. The desire to be connected to a culture with rituals such as Baptisms, Weddings, etc.. is so great that they go for the parties but the religious aspect is not even an afterthought. Although this may spiritually and theologically incorrect, I sometimes think the Church would just be better off without these people. It is hard to belong to a Church with phonies and dopes in it, but as the saying goes: The Catholic Church is for sinners and saints, for respectable people the Episcopal church will do.

More on Anti-Catholic Newsday

"Newsday was hit with a one-two punch yesterday, when it was publicly censured by an industry watchdog for inflating figures and slapped with additional allegations of fraud in a lawsuit by angry advertisers."


Read all about Newsday in my archived post.

Answered Prayer?

There was an insert in the Sunday bulletin at my parish that informed us the sanctuary was basically falling apart. Our small country Church had been given a much needed expansion and renovation in 1981 and the sanctuary was made of plywood covered by carpet. The pastor has wisely decided to solicit suggestions as to what else could be done with the Church. There is a survey to fill out and I intend to make the following points:

1) The sculpture of the risen Christ should be replaced with a crucifix.

2)The tabernacle should be moved to the center in back of the altar and placed on an altar instead of a wood stand.

3)The carpet should not be replaced but a floor of marble or some good material should be put down.

4)The two blank white walls on either side of the tabernacle would be perfect to have artwork depicting Mary and Joseph. Mary is currently relegated to a side alcove and Joseph is nowhere to be found.

5)Artwork depicting saints should be placed along the (bare) walls of the Church.

6)Our parish had 9 members killed on September 11th. Some form of appropriate artwork should be installed in the Church to encourage prayers while remembering these attacks.

7)The sanctuary should be unmistakeable Catholic and also beautiful. No expense should be spared to make it so (if this had been done the last time, this current work would not be necessary).

Years ago my brother was married in a "old-fashioned" Church in Pittsburgh. My relatives attended from various states, and to this day will comment on how beautiful the Church was. My sister was married years before my brother and her wedding was in my parish Church. To this day no one has ever commented on the Church. It is not as bad as some wreckovations but it is not particularly Catholic and not at all beautiful or inspiring. I hope that this new renovation works out well!

Hamilton vs. Burr (again)

Rival clans to relive Hamilton-Burr duel

How Then Shall We Live?: One

Excellent post at man with black hat. Read the whole thing which ends with a question about the Catholic town and University being planned in Florida.

"Would a banker be willing to see a bricklayer as his neighbor? Or will Ave Maria simply become a suburban retirement village (This is Florida, remember?) for 20,000 frustrated Republicans, who want to drive their SUVs a few blocks to daily Mass?"

Update: I just read the rest of the blog and this is the first installment in a series on Ave Maria. I find the idea of building a town revolving around Catholicism to be fascinating. There was of course the disaster of the traditionalist project in Shohola, PA where the Society of St. John tried to build a Catholic hamlet. A good Catholic Long Islander, Vincent Cioci, was originally involved in the planning of this town until he found out about financial improprieties. Then it turned out the priests behind this project were child molesters. Now, there are questions about Ave Maria from good, orthodox Catholic such as Janet Smith and Michael S. Rose. The whole fiasco with the Giant Greenhouse/Church shows that even good intentions do not always equal good results. Still, the idea of putting Catholic principles into action is one that excites the imagination and heart. Perhaps it is just as well to think of the entire Church as a city. We have to treat each other as neighbors, resolve disputes, and strengthen our various apostolates, while still making sure the roofs don't leak.

Crackdown on sex fiends

"Within the past year, federal agents have rounded up 3,247 sex offenders as part of a sweeping Department of Homeland Security crackdown targeting pedophiles, international sex tourists and Internet predators, officials said yesterday."

"Ficke urged anyone with information about child predators within the United States or U.S. residents who travel abroad to have sex with minors to call 1-866-DHS-2ICE."

Discourage Dissent

This letter was printed in the paper of my Diocese, The Long Island Catholic:

"Editor: The June 30 edition of your paper included a Catholic News Service report on a recent meeting of the Catholic Common Ground Initiative at Catholic University of America. John Allen, Catholic correspondent for the National Catholic Reporter, spoke. He reportedly advised that Catholics should begin dialogue among themselves on such issues as women priests and birth control, saying also that “such conversations are not going to start with the Vatican.”

Those remarks encourage dissent from authoritative teachings of the magisterium of our Church and are especially harmful at this time. We’re in a crisis augmented in large measure by dissenters who confused both priests and laity. When the American bishops met with the Pope as misdeeds of prelates and priests were recounted daily in the media, our Holy Father advised them to “return to your dioceses, confront dissent, and teach the full Catholic teaching on morality, especially sexual morality.”

Keep in mind also the teaching of Vatican II in “Lumen Gentium,” the Dogmatic Constitution on the Church, that “the faithful … are obliged to submit to their bishops’ decision made in the name of Christ, in matters of faith and morals and to adhere to it with a ready and respectful allegiance of mind. This loyal submission of the will and intellect must be given in a special way to the teaching authority of the Roman Pontiff, even when he does not speak ex cathedra.”

After all we’ve been through, let’s stop tolerating those spreading dissent and confusion."

Denis Dillon
Rockville Centre


Is this the same Denis Dillon who is the Nassau County District Attorney?

From East London skinhead
to internationally-known Catholic author

"Twenty years ago he was a radical activist, a skinhead, and the editor of two hate-filled, extremist magazines. Today, Joseph Pearce is the author of several critically acclaimed, best-selling biographies of great nineteenth- and twentieth-century Christian authors. He is also the co-founder and co-editor of an international magazine dedicated to reclaiming Catholic culture, and is writer-in-residence and assistant professor of theology at Ave Maria University in Naples, Florida."

Joseph Pearce is one of my favorite authors and his conversion story is wonderful. I have all his books except for the latest one on Oscar Wilde, which I will purchase soon.

Bizarre

"Now, a Brooklyn pastor, his wife and a church deacon are going to trial, charged with conducting a bizarre ritual that called for slicing up the deacon's wife's feet and setting them on fire."

HAPPY JULY 4TH!!

I had hoped to get my Cardinal Ratzinger Beer Stein in time for the 4th, but it will probably arrive on Tuesday. Oh well, I am still looking forward to quaffing a few beers and putting some hot dogs and hamburgers on the bbq. The family will converge here from out of state which will be great.

Update: Got the Stein on 7/7/4 but have yet to break it in.

Prayers answered


"Some of them had not been allowed to attend Mass in four years. On Sunday, Msgr. Thomas Molloy of St. Luke's parish in Brentwood presided over a religious service in Spanish for them in the hallway of a hotel in Suffolk County. As tears trickled down the faces of many of the immigrants lining the walls, they and immigration service agents, who are guarding them, were overcome with emotion.

"I never thought I would see an INS agent cry," Molloy said. "But they were, too."



Yes they came here illegally, and illegal immigration does cause problems in the US. But I hope the people of Long Island will open their hearts for these people and give them whatever they need. I am glad to see Catholic Charities helping these Catholics.

Teacher Accused of Sleeping With Student Not Anomaly


"Lafave is not alone, according to the study, "Educator Sexual Misconduct: A Synthesis of Existing Literature June 2004," prepared for the U.S. Department of Education (search) by Charol Shakeshaft of Hofstra University and Interactive, Inc. Huntington, N.Y."

This Long Island professor was mentioned by the Catholic League in their special report on Sexual Abuse in Social Context: Catholic Clergy and Other Professionals. I especially like the quotes about her report from this World Net Daily article:

"She notes the recently released study by the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops found 10,667 young people were sexually mistreated by priests from 1950 to 2002.

She compares that with her extrapolation from a national survey for the American Association of University Women Educational Foundation in 2000, which would indicate roughly 290,000 students experienced some sort of physical sexual abuse by a public school employee from 1991 to 2000."

"That is a single decade, she points out, compared to the approximately five decades covered by the Catholic report."

And here is the kicker:
"Initially, Shakeshaft understood the report was to lay the groundwork for a broad national study on sexual abuse in schools, but last May she was told to retool the report and officials say they have no more plans at the moment to study the issue."

A few things need to be said:

- the problems within the Catholic Church should have led to a real national push to end abuse of children, but some prejudice was involved that kept people from seeing how much wider a scandal child abuse really is in society.

- Priests are held to a higher standard, either because of prejudice or because people understand the nature of the priesthood. For Catholics, Priests should be held to the highest standard.

- I don't believe that the coverups, and shifting around of abusers was as great in schools as it was in the Church.

- I thought the national study going to 1950 in the Church was overkill but anything to clean out the rot is fine. The same should be done with the public school systems.

- The Church is better today because of the two year and ongoing "enema" so let the public school system, athletic organizations, military, and other groups experience some of this cleansing.

Tom Monaghan and Fr. Fessio do the right thing and scrap the plans for a Giant Greenhouse in Ave Maria, Florida. I was so disappointed to see such a dumb idea attached to what sounds like a wonderful, orthodox University, I just had to express my displeasure by sending them an email. Apparently I was not the only one. I am glad to see that Fr. Fessio and Mr. Monaghan woke up and realize this was not a great design for a Catholic Church. Ok, we have all seen much, much worse, but this was Ave Maria we are talking about.

Cardinal Arinze strikes again!

I found this article from the Heart, Mind, and Strength blog. In the Jubilee Year I attended a Mass celebrated by Cardinal Arinze and was impressed by his humor and piety. Since then, I have been even more impressed by quotes I have seen in the papers. He always sounds intelligent, blunt, humorous, and orthodox. I wonder if the Ratzinger Fan Club will consider adding a mug with Arinze's mug on it. Or perhaps we will see the Cardinal Arinze Fan Club established! Better yet, maybe we should wait....

"Young women do not want to join a group of old women who seem to be confused [about their mission]. Young men do not want to join a diocese where the priests seem to be angry."

"He compared nuns who did not want to wear religious garb to a flight attendant for Alitalia who wanted to wear the uniform of American Airlines. "What do you think Alitalia is going to say? Let's dialogue?" he asked, to laughter from his audience."

Maine Catholic and Beyond

I just reluctantly removed this great blog from my blogroll. I like to keep the list down to a small number of blogs and use it to browse through St. Blog's. If I use Gerard's list I end up spending way too much time online. I kept this blog on the right for months even though it has not been updated since April 19th because the blog was great and Chris was my age and his interests were similiar to mine.. A couple of times his comments or posts caused me to rethink my sometimes harsh view of people in the Church. His last posts talk of serious difficulty and I hope and pray he is well. I will pray for him and ask that anyone reading this does the same.

Sisters of Life

I just saw the last few minutes of the Solemn Mass of Establishment for the Sisters of Life at St. Patrick's Cathedral. EWTN was replaying this but it took place on March 25th, 2004. This order of sisters was established by Cardinal John O'Connor in 1991 and are devoted to the protection of all human life.

Reno 911!

I was just given the DVD of the first season. This is currently my favorite show on tv. You can only get a small sense of why from these quotes (warning: lots of comedic cursing). The show is a takeoff of the Fox show Cops and involves lots of improv. Because of the improv, the show is kind of uneven, with some of the jokes and skits falling flat. But when it is funny, it is side-splitting. All the actors are talented and funny, most of them play several roles (and they are fellow Gen-Xers).

Deputy Travis Junior: "I actually wanted to be in the FBI for about 20 minutes after I saw that movie with Jodie Foster and that guy who eats people in his basement, but I was really stoned at the time. And to be honest with you, for about 20 minutes, I also thought about making a dress out of people's skin."



Deputy Trudy Wiegel: "If I'm addicted to anything, it's sparklers."



[the cops are in a doctor's office in their underwear]
Doctor: Uh, none of the tests required you to disrobe. I'm not sure why you're all sitting here in your underwear.
Deputy S. Jones: Dangle was in his underwear when we all got here.
Deputy Travis Junior: Yeah, what's the deal, Dangle?
Lt. Jim Dangle: I don't feel the need to explain myself.

Act One's goal to offer support for Christian filmmakers

I had no idea that Barbara Nicolosi of Church of the Masses and Act One was "recently" in my backyard giving a talk for Legatus. I am glad to see Legatus is on Long Island.