Some good news here - the last edition of the Long Island Catholic had an article by Dr. Janet Smith and mentioned that her column is a new edition to the paper.

I am back from the honeymoon, actually have been back since Sunday. I am getting the new place ready now and starting work on setting up our home. The wedding Mass was beautiful, the reception was nice, and the honeymoon cruise to the Southern Caribbean was great. I think I will love being married. More later.

AMAZING

I am so grateful to Catholic Match (formerly St. Raphael's), the site where I met my fiancee. I can't believe that I found a nice, sweet woman and fell in love. I am so lucky in so many ways. This blog was started so I could speak of my good experiences in the Church, my journey back to the Church and my thoughts on the Church today. I never meant for it to be a place to speak of my personal life and I could never really speak about some of the experiences I have had on my journey through life. Let's just say I am been through hell. It is quite amazing to look back and see what I had to go through to get to this place. And now some music from Aerosmith:


I kept the right ones out
And let the wrong ones in
Had an angel of mercy
To see me through all my sins
There were times in my life
When i was goin' insane
Tryin' to walk through the pain

When i lost my grip
And i hit the floor
Yeah, i thought i could leave
But couldn't get out the door
I was so sick n' tired Of livin' a lie
I was wishing that i would die

[Chorus]
It's amazing
With the blink of an eye
You finally see the light
It's amazing
That when the moment arrives
You know you'll be alright
It's amazing
And i'm saying a prayer
For the desperate hearts tonight

That one last shot's a permanent vacation
And a how high can you fly with broken wings
Life's a journey - not a destination
And i just can't tell just what tomorrow brings

You have to learn to crawl
Before you learn to walk
But i just couldn't listen
To all that righteous talk
I was out on the street
Just tryin' to survive
Scratchin' to stay alive
[Chorus]

Desperate hearts, desperate hearts


"to all of you people out there
Wherever you are - remember:
The light at the end of the tunnel
May be you - goodnight"


That about says it. And now I will be busy with wedding stuff so probably won't be blogging for awhile.

St. Raphael...pray for us

St. Charles Lwanga and Companions...pray for us

Saint Servulus...pray for us

St. Martin of Tours...pray for us

The Franciscan Friars of the Renewal are involved with a great charity:

Light of the World Charities

"The organization regularly sends surgical teams to third world countries to help meet the medical needs of the poor. In addition, the organization has brought individuals to the United States to have medical and surgical procedures performed. "

St. William the Abbot...pray for us.

St. Therese of Lisieux...pray for us

Congrats to Domenico at Bettnet.com on the birth of his daughter Isabella Marie!

With two weeks to go I am going to start preparing....

St. Paul...pray for us

Catholic investigates stripper at party, hazing

"If the evidence demonstrates that any of our current students willingly participated in these activities, appropriate disciplinary action will be taken,'' athletic director Michael Allen said in a statement."

I wonder if confession will be mentioned?

With all my anti-dumb jock comments on this blog, I think it should be pointed out I am against jocks acting dumb, not against jocks per se. I am watching Mike Sweeney from the Kansas City Royals on EWTN right now and he seems like a classic good guy jock. There are many women and men that are jocks, and good people. I just think there is something wrong with our culture where jocks are treated like royalty even if they are royal screw-ups. Hopefully, this attitude will change and I believe that sites like badjocks.com can help.

Please visit MikeSweeney.org

Link Removed after some consideration

Catholic University Women's Lacrosse Team Initiation Party 2006

This site combines two of my favorite things to point out to people: Dumb Jocks and Fake Catholic Schools. From Badjocks.com, this site shows the initiation of dumb jocks at a supposedly Catholic University. These "women" hired a male stripper and acted like, well, dumb jocks with no brains, no taste, no dignity. In other words, typical dumb jocks and typical "Catholic" University students.

Operation Rescue founder Randall Terry has converted to Catholicism.

This reminds of a story Msgr. Lisante told during a homily one Sunday. He was a pro-life leader in the Diocese and was working an event with Terry. Randall asked Msgr. Lisante to lead the group of Christians in prayer, but requested it "not be too Catholic". Lisante said he began right away with "Hail Mary full of grace...."

Diocese of Rockville Centre Using Debut of “The Da Vinci Code” Movie as a Teachable Moment

My parish in Seaford is mentioned, and I will try to attend the film showing there - "The Da Vinci Deception: Fact vs. Fiction".

Via Whispers in the Loggia

Sirius Radio is going to have a Catholic Channel! This is good, although you never know how these things will work out. I am more excited to hear that Relevant Radio is coming to Long Island. A source told me there will be some local programming (think they will want a Gen X Show??). I have always enjoyed radio shows, especially when sitting in traffic, or when going to bed at night. Catholic radio could be good especially with interesting talk shows and interviews.

Should I comment on Pat McDonough's column in Newsday about The DaVinci Code?

"Perfect timing for 'The Da Vinci Code'
Post-crisis Catholics, questioning celibacy and marginalization of women by the church, will flock to theaters

No, I will just link to much better articles by Amy Welborn.

BOGO Wines

I read about this company in the National Catholic Register and have just ordered some wine now. I will let readers know how the wine is but the reviews look good. For each case of BOGO wine sold, the company donates money to adult stem cell research. The Thomas Hartman Foundation For Parkinson's Research is one of the organizations supported. BOGO stands for Buy One Give One, and the wine is sold in twin packs.

5/10/06 Update: I have become an affiliate to help advertise this wine.

David Blaine didn't make the world's record for holding his breath underwater. However, I believe he still holds the world record for most annoying human being.

Wedding Music

Entrance Hymn: Jesu, Joy of Man's Desiring

Post-Vows: Litany of Saints

Alleluia: Celtic

Offertory: Ave Maria (Schubert)

Agnus Dei: Chanted, latin

Communion: How Beautiful (Twila Paris)
Panis Angelicus (Franck)

Recessional: Joyful, Joyful, We Adore Thee

Nothing out of the ordinary really, except perhaps the Litany. Eucharistic Prayer I will be used. There is going to be enough incense to choke a horse!

Cabbie Charged With Hate Crime

I am always saying that Long Island is a white trash heap. Here is yet another story that backs this up.

from Newsday.

Shocked I tell you! Shocked!

A Kennedy involved in a car accident?? A Kennedy getting special treatment from the police?? A Kennedy with substance abuse problems?? A Kennedy entering rehab??

If only Rose had married a good man....

Students from Kellenberg and Chaminade High Schools (of Prom-cancelling fame) went to Israel with students of the Islamic and Jewish faiths. The experience was filmed for a documentary that should be interesting.

RIP

Earl Woods, Tiger Woods' father passed away yesterday. It would seem from his son, he was a good man, a good father.

Luck of the Half-Irish

The music selections for our Nuptial Mass should be finished soon, and I will post them. We are very lucky in many ways - the priest will be great, the church is beautiful, the music at the parish is excellent, and many people who we were not sure could make it are indeed coming. No major disasters have occurred in over a year of planning. Things are going well, almost too well for me. An example or two: When I called to make the final payment on the honeymoon cruise, the travel agent told me the cruise line had cancelled our reservation because they never received the deposit. He was sure he put it on my credit card, and the cruise line never told him or us they were cancelling our cabin. It turns out the charge was approved but the cruise line never charged the card in error. I never noticed the charge was not on my credit card statements. So, my agent pushed for an upgraded cabin (same exact cabin but two decks higher) and got it for a reduced rate for his trouble. This was great. Another example was the catering hall, which is great but has a small cocktail hour room. We went there the other day for something and there was all kinds of construction going on. It turns out they are doubling the size of the cocktail hour room, improving the disabled access ramp, and paving the parking lot. It should all be done in time for our wedding. Third bit of luck - there was a Long Island wide disaster drill to be hold on our wedding day and it has been changed to another weekend.

The Voice of the Faithful of Long Island: (my responses in bold)

"We are quite sure that Jesus would be outside the cathedral with the LIVOTF members and not inside the cathedral with Bishop Murphy."


Gen X Revert is quite sure that Jesus IS inside the cathedral - that is what makes me a Catholic and not say, a protestant.


"Phyliss has the credentials but is not permitted to preach because she is a woman"

No, I can't preach either and I am a man. Only a priest can say Mass which includes giving a homily.

"I'm not sure I believe that the hierarchy is on its way out. It has much too many followers throughout the world."

Those followers are called Catholics, and we have seen many who don't believe in the hierarchy come and go.

"welcome to the newest Religious Order of the new century. Welcome Brothers and Sisters to the Religious Community of VOTF"

Is the Kool-Aid free my sister?

Diocese of Rockville Centre news -

Rev. John J. McCartney has been named pastor of St. Matthew in Dix Hills, effective the end of June. He was an associate at St. James in Seaford where I just attended Mass. This is important here because St. Matthew is the default "traditional" parish on Long Island. Fr. McCartney, who is always in a cassock, has said the parish would retain its traditional nature under his watch. The previous pastor at St. Matthew, Msgr. McDonald, is currently the rector at the seminary.

A Long Islander was recently arrested for meeting what he thought was a 13 year old girl for sex in a cemetary. This charming fellow has raped before:

"Officials say Fischer was arrested a month ago for allegedly raping a 16-year-old girl and is under investigation for the rape of another 16-year-old. "

Has anyone learned anything from the Catholic priests sex abuse scandals?? More importantly will the lessons learned be applied to the society at large?

Focus on dog's owner in attack on boy

From Newsday, this story involved grandparents walking their 4 year old grandson and all were attacked by 3 vicious dogs. The 4 year old is in intensive care, and the grandfather is also in the hospital because of chest pains brought on by the attack. The dog owner has for some reason not been arrested yet, although his dog was to be kept inside or locked in a kennell after previous violent activity. Hopefully, the dog owner (Edward Kelly) will be arrested, the dogs will be put to sleep and the victims will recover quickly enough to sue this guy out of the neighborhood.

"On their inaugural show on WFNY/92.3 (Free FM) yesterday, Opie and Anthony struck a restrained note, minding their language and making nice with a Catholic advocate who played a role in keeping them off the New York airwaves for the past four years."

I heard the interview this morning on my way to work. They really were nice to Donohue who got lots of talk time on the show. He had no problem with the duo returning to "regular" radio and even slammed Howard Stern on his old station, from Stern's old studio. They credited Bill Donohue with making it real easy for O & A to come back and seemed genuinely appreciative.

Long Island Voice of the Faithful had their annual convention yesterday. Speakers included a former priest, Eugene Kennedy.

"The world of hierarchy has come to an end," said Kennedy, a professor emeritus at Loyola University of Chicago."

It is sad the group can get together 500 people to hear nonsense like this. There are so many good speakers who can truly talk about Church reform.

This was news to me:

"The latest casualty comes with the announcement that WLIE/540 AM, a station carrying business talk programs, has been sold to a Catholic broadcasting company for $14 million."

WLIE is a local radio station, the call letters refers to the Long Island Expressway. If this is going to become a Catholic station they might want to consider changing the call letters.

UPDATE: In doing a search, I just found out it was relevant radio that bought the station!! This is great. I listen to Relevant Radio when I am visiting family in Pittsburgh and would love to be able to hear it on Long Island. There is a dispute over the sale but hopefully Long Island will have a good Catholic radio station soon.

Relevant Radio

What a shock - the Duke University lacrosse players accused of rape include a Long Islander. I had actually predicted this already to people. It doesn't surprise me at all that jocks have been accused of rape, doesn't surprise me at all that one of them has an arrest record for assault, and definately doesn't surprise me that at least one was from this white trash heap called Long Island. But it does surprise me that the media is actually covering the story. Usually, when jocks are accused of anything it is treated as "not a big deal" and forgotten. So, once again we see a team behave like animals, getting strippers at a party, boozing it up and causing all kinds of trouble for a University. I wonder if Duke will eliminate their lacrosse team, as St. John's University did years after several players were accused of rape.

How did this happen? I have been on mailing lists for years due to my subscribing to Catholic magazines, or supporting certain groups, but recently I received junk mail that was totally different. I received a fund raising letter from Voice of the Faithful in Massachusetts! A week later I received a survey from FutureChurch. (LOL) I must really be getting old to get this type of junk mail. Anyway, I am sending back the VOTF form with this response:

"I only support traditional Catholic organizations. The Long Island chapter of VOTF supported the pervert Fr. Papa who was caught with child porn cookies on his computer. Why should I support you when you stand with priests like that? I will support Roman Catholic Faithful, Stephen Brady's group, which has had great success in fighting perverts in the Church. VOTF will never be for Gen-Xers, sorry."

The FutureChurch thing is an entire survey with plenty of room for comments. The survey indicates that FutureChurch has suggested or is using a strategy of "Encouraging women not to attend Church on a given Sunday". Why do these people bother? If you throw out the whole "Lead us not into temptation" thing, what is the point?

VOTF is a sad collection of mostly older and very sincere Catholics with their hearts in the right place, but FutureChurch is just a joke. Both are led by people who are leading them away from Catholicism.

The ancient coptic text of the "gospel of Judas" sat for years in a safe-deposit box in Hicksville, Long Island. You can read about the various gospels not found in your Catholic Bible by clicking here.

Behold! The New and Improved Catholic Blog Directory

I had always done the directory manually and recently found I didn't have the time needed to update it. Andrea was someone who emailed me with some more blogs and also notices that blogs had been defunct or moved. I asked her if she wanted to take over maintaining the directory and thankfully she agreed. She has already managed to highlight new blogs which is something I had always wanted to do. Enjoy!

Tradition in Action posts this picture, which they say is then Cardinal Wojtyla in shorts and T- shirt (they call it fishnet) in 1975. Apparently this is horrific to them, but I think it is a nice picture.

Congressman Peter King Vs. The Catholic Church

Peter King is actually a fellow parishioner of mine. I met him once at Dunkin Donuts and shook his hand. He is one of the very few politicians I like and respect. This time, King is wrong. Bashing the Church over pedophile priests because many of its leaders are opposed to harsh measures against illegal aliens? Then bring up nasty nuns from the 50's? I still like the guy, but he should stick to trying to find a solution to the very real problem of border security vs. our need for labor. My neighbor: if you can work with Bill Clinton to bring about peace in Ireland, surely you can work to make this nation secure and still open to all who sincerely want to work. Slapping the Church for whatever reason is bad politics, and is beneath you.

"You are young, and the Pope is old, 82 or 83 years of life is not the same as 22 or 23. But the Pope still fully identifies with your hopes and aspirations. Although I have lived through much darkness, under harsh totalitarian regimes, I have seen enough evidence to be unshakably convinced that no difficulty, no fear is so great that it can completely suffocate the hope that springs eternal in the hearts of the young. You are our hope, the young are our hope."

Pope John Paul II
2002 World Youth Day, Toronto

Today was the first anniversary of Pope JPII's death. His influence is still quite strong in the Church. Just this weekend, I attended a "Created and Redeemed Seminar" by Christopher West in which there were 8 one hour sessions discussing the Theology of the Body. This is just one of the many huge contributions of JPII to the Church. West is a great speaker, although the seminar was a bit too much for one day. I found out West is my age (36) and he makes many references to movies and music of our time. He is funny and interesting, and well worth listening to.

"Johannes Paulus Magnus Oro Pro Nobis"

oook...

"Britney Spears will soon be giving birth again _ in Brooklyn, as a sexy sculpture that has drawn thousands of hate e-mails."

"This is a new take on pro-life. Pro-lifers normally promote bloody images of abortion. This is the image of birth," Daniel Edwards said of his work, to be unveiled at a Brooklyn gallery in April, months after Edwards' sculpture of Ted Williams severed head stirred up an artistic storm."

Here we go again, jocks accused of rape. Whether this is true or not, the fact is they hired strippers to come to their house, making Duke University look bad, etc..

All-American Hamburger in Massapequa

All-American Hamburger in Massapequa is a family-owned fast food joint that is a local landmark. Apparently, there was a rumor that spread that the family was selling out to a chain, but this is untrue. The distributionist in me loves family-owned businesses and the Massapequan in me loves the burgers, fries, and shakes at this place.

Best.Fastfood.Ever.

Curtis Sliwa and John Gotti Jr.

"It's a disgrace to see my church giving Holy Communion to a man who helped lead a reign of terror," said Sliwa, 51, who is also Catholic. "What is the message? You kill, you maim, you commit crime, and you gain sanctuary. It's shameful."

"The bottom line is he is allowed to worship in any Catholic church," said Sean Nolan of the Diocese of Rockville Centre. " Any Catholic is welcome."

[It is Sean Dolan, can't any reporter get a name right????]

I hate to say it, but Curtis is wrong this time. Gotti has a right to attend Mass like any other person. Sliwa is angry and understandably so, he was attacked by goons who shot him and justice has been denied. But if the Church kept sinners out, what purpose would it serve?

Religious group claims Diocese of Rockville Centre is hoarding money

The Voice of The Old Faithful (VOTF) are at it again. They are spending thousands of dollars on an ad campaign to say the Diocese should give away more money. They base this on an audit done by CPA Dick Grafer, who used to work for Arthur Anderson, the firm that did a bang up job taking care of Enron's finances. (Good job!) This audit was done months ago, but VOTF is starting this campaign now as the Diocese is in the middle of their annual fund raising. I don't have a problem with the Diocese having lots of money on hand, since they employ thousands of people, so I once again fail to see the point of VOTF's crying. It seems to me that the Diocese is in better hands today than years ago, and that it is managing its money carefully. However, Catholics should know and understand how their money is being used, and the Diocese should keep the Gospel in mind above all else. There are a lot of things I too would like to see the Diocese do with their money but no one asked me since I never worked for a firm that was convicted in the Enron scandal:

Destroy many of the ugly, non-Catholic Church buildings built during the 1970's-1990's and rebuild beautiful Catholic ones.

Create an educational endowment fund to make Catholic schools affordable without 8 billion cookie sales.

Fund pro-life groups such as Mommas House, Birthright and The Life Center of Long Island so they too don't have to beg for money every 5 seconds.

Endow the seminary so finances aren't a problem for seminarians.

Start a loan program or credit union for Catholics who can't afford living on Long Island, which would be almost all Catholics.


I am sure discussing how the Diocese spends its money is a good thing for Catholics. But I don't think the VOTF is being helpful at all by approaching the issue this way. All large organizations, religious or otherwise, need to have large cash reserves. After all, we would not want one of Long Island's biggest employers to end up like Arthur Anderson:

"From a high of 28,000 employees in the US and 85,000 worldwide, the firm is now down to around 200 based primarily in Chicago. Most of their attention is on handling the lawsuits."

Confitemini Domino, quoniam bonus: quoniam in saeculum misericordia ejus.

My fiance and I will be attending the traditional latin Mass this Sunday. It will be a High Mass and her first experience with the Missal of 1962.

UPDATE: 3/13/06, in response to comments:

My fiance liked the Mass, which was at St. Pius X chapel in Uniondale, it is the so called "indult" Mass. The Mass is always at 11 AM and alternates between High and Low, with refreshments served after low Masses. The Mass was only allowed once a month there under Bishop McGann. But Bishop Murphy allowed the Mass to become weekly. Hopefully, the Mass will eventually be moved to a parish, so Ecclesia Dei can be fully implemented. There should be a parish here on Long Island modeled after St. Agnes in Manhattan or St. John Cantius in Chicago, one that has reverent Masses using both the traditional and normative missals (not to mention Baptisms, weddings, funerals, etc.. ). This would help Catholics rediscover their heritage and foster vocations. Many Catholics here on Long Island end up going to independent and "unapproved" Masses because of what they experience in parishes. The Diocese needs to do more to keep traditionalists at home here. This somewhat out of date listing of traditional Masses on Long Island shows there are several traditionalist groups here on Long Island, but only 1 Diocese-approved Mass. (The list is out of date because both Msgr. Soave and Fr. DePauw are deceased).

Some Long Island traditional Catholic facts:

Fr. DePauw is considered the first Catholic priest to have established an independent chapel for the traditional Mass- 1968!! Mel Gibson once attended Mass there.

"Bishop Clarence Kelly" is one of the priests who broke from the SSPX.

The SSPX has a chapel in Farmingville.

Two well known "traditionalist" Catholics from Long Island are Dr. Thomas Drolesky and Dr. Thomas Woods Jr.

It was a traditional Catholic Long Islander, Vincent Cioci, who helped to expose the corruption of the Society of St. John in Shohola, PA.

"First, you should know that Yanni has injured his finger, after allegedly slapping his girlfriend around. With any luck, this should keep him away from a keyboard for quite a while."

JanJan, at With Issue

"More than 20 years after the Rev. Walter J. Ciszek' death, preliminary steps towards his canonization as a saint of the Roman Catholic Church are complete. The Diocese of Allentown forwarded documentation to bolster the cause of canonization to Rome."

You can read all about Fr. Ciszek here or even better, buy the wonderful book "With God In Russia" from Ignatius Press.

From the I'm Stuck On An Island With Morons File:

Man accused of hitting toddler while shouting ethnic slurs in Patchogue

A Bellport High School custodian was arrested Tuesday and charged with molesting a little girl.

Christopher Parrino, 37, confessed in January to driving with Pelosi to the East Hampton home of millionaire financier Theodore Ammon on the October 2001 night Ammon was killed.

Police say it appears the baby was thrown from a car window on Sunset Drive and was run over several times before the remains were discovered



I really wish I could write a book about all the evil, horrible, nasty, racist, lying, conniving, shallow, envious morons I have met here. Don't get me wrong, I know plenty of nice people too, but Long Island sometimes seems to just be one big Jerry Springer Show reject depot. Let me put it another way: I used to work with Joel Rifkin, the serial killer who killed 19 prostitutes, and he wasn't so bad compared to some people I have met.

Diocese of Rockville Centre stuff:

Bishop William Murphy issued a new pastoral letter entitled, “United in Heart and Mind.”

Bishop Murphy was an excellent speaker at Faith on Tap last Monday. He has announced in his pastoral letter that the Diocese will have its first Eucharistic Congress starting on June 3. There will be a Diocesan pilgrimage to the Shrine of Our Lady in Eastport to start it off. It will not be possible for me to attend since that happens to be the date I will be gettin' hitched.

Diocese of Rockville Centre Conducts Conference About Human Sexuality

Christopher West will be doing his two day Created and Redeemed Seminar at Kellenberg. I will be able to attend this with my fiance. It is almost impossible to describe the difference in the Diocese today than when I first was returning to the Church (around 1999-2000). Those who live in Dioceses with lots of dissent, corruption and official silliness, take note: things can improve rather dramatically within a few years. (LA Catholics I am talking to you, keep hope alive! Keep hope alive!) Ok, it's late I am going to bed.

Seminarians gone wild! (well just Gerald Alba dancing a bit)

via Angry Twins

Bleg

I would love to have some suggestions of good hymns for my Nuptial Mass. Panis Angelicus and Ave Maria are already included but I could use a couple more. The opening hymn and closing hymn are needed, although Jesu, Joy of Man's Desiring will probably be used.

Please contact the President and get him to stop the takeover of American ports by an Arab company from a country connected to terrorism.

The White House
1600 Pennsylvania Avenue
NWWashington, DC 20500

Comments: 202-456-1111
Switchboard: 202-456-1414
FAX: 202-456-2461

comments@whitehouse.gov


via Michelle Malkin

This is jihad people.

Hitler's Relatives Live on Long Island!

This was fascinating and I had never heard of this before seeing it on the History Channel tonight. The men's father changed his last name and it seems they want to remain anonymous, but this was fascinating to me.

3 YEAR BLOGIVERSARY!

January 18th, 2003 was the date of my first blog post, . I forgot my blogiversary until finding an old post about Fr. Benedict Groeschel. It was Jan. 2004- around my first year blogiversary and I want to re-post it now. The "friend" mentioned is now my fiance, who told me she remembers reading this post and being angry at me for calling her "my friend".

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.”

Need Midget for wedding

Wedding planning is tough work.

Nuns doing the Conga!

Remember when Kellenberg High School, a Catholic school here on Long Island, made headlines for cancelling their prom? Well, Kellenberg and Chaminade (which also dropped its prom) just had a Junior/Senior Prom, see the pics in the link above.

The Extreme Catholic is coming to my town!

Patrick Sweeney will give a talk at Faith & Reason Bookstore at 742 N. Broadway in North Massapequa. The talk will be on "How Catholics Can Teach the Faith and STILL Keep their Friends" . Mr. Sweeney, besides being a blogger, also works with the Catholic Evidence Guild. The talk is this Saturday, February 11th at 1 PM, I plan to be there.

Just when I thought it was safe to read the newspaper again, Bettnet.com points out Paul Vitello's column in the NY Times about Bishop Murphy reorganizing the religious formation offices of the Diocese of Rockville Centre. Vitello used to be a commentator, not a reporter, for Newsday but left when Newsday downsized. Newsday had to downsize because they were caught inflating their circulation and overcharging advertisers. The result was millions of dollars in payoffs and the dissappearance of many long time Newday writers - Jimmy Breslin, Paul Vitello, Ed Lowe - none of whom had much use for the Catholic Church, all of whom were old. The article by Vitello sounds like the same tired old nonsense that used to be so much a part of Newsday:

-The Diocese of Rockville Centre used to be run by people who loved children and small animals, were open-minded, tolerant and peace loving people. People like Bishop McGann, Bishop Emil Wcela, Dick Ryan, and Robert Keeler were changing the nasty Catholic Church by applying the great documents of Vatican II and had to do it all while being oppressed by the Vatican and those damn young traditionalists, with their yearning for Latin Masses and other nonsense.

--Women had started to become very powerful in the Diocese in these enlightened times but this frightened the conservatives so they put a stop to this.

-Then, when the child molesting priests were exposed throughout the country it brought about the great Voice of the Faithful movement, which would usher in an unprecedented era of giving money to the poor.

-Now, Bishop Murphy (and those damn youngins'!) is messing up everything by clamping down, in a Stalin-like way, on poor defenseless Church workers - mostly women.


This tired old story is wrong of course, and here is why:

The fact is, Bishop McGann, Wcela, Keeler, and Ryan were the ones who befriended some of the very priests who later who exposed as being child molesters and corrupt. It was this "enlightened" era that allowed the corruption to flourish, it was Bishop McGann who shifted these molesters around.

Women have been the majority of "Church workers" for 30 years, but there are dissenters and orthodox ones, and the dissenters ruled. The PFI and other Diocese organizations did not teach orthodox Church teaching, but a blend of feminist propaganda, dissident theology, and just plain nonsense, all wrapped in a feel-good package.

The Voice of the Faithful have been underwhelming in their ability to raise money and donate to the poor. They are constantly referring to the writings of Richard McBrien, Bishop Gumbleton, and Joan Chittister and then wonder why no young people join them.

It is Bishop Murphy who is leading the Diocese to renewal. He has tried to dialogue with people, but he is talking orthodoxy, and most of the complainers haven't heard this stuff in 25 years here.

Vitello attempts to connect the generation of Catholics who grew up after Vatican II with those that sounded the alarm about child molesting priests, and on Long Island this is simply not a total connect. He then tries to say that this reorganization will turn back the clock so that Catholics will not think, women will not teach, and this is nonsense.

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Bishop revamps religious ed
Restructuring of instruction for adults, children in LI diocese prompts some fears of conservative shift

Carol Eisenberg reports on another great move by Bishop Murphy in Newsday. I especially like what the spokesman for the Diocese, Sean Dolan had to say:

"The rationale for doing this is we have 1.4 million Catholics on Long Island. In any given year, 20,000 baptisms take place. The committee given the responsibility for looking at these offices, was asking, 'Why are only a fraction of those baptized people going to Mass?'"

"There will be stronger accountability. We want to ensure that everyone involved with the Office of Faith Formation does buy into the fact that they are teaching the Magisterium of the Catholic Church."

The National Catholic Register featured an article on Prolifesearch.com, which is a search engine powered by Google. The money generated by ads on the site is donated to pro-life organizations. I just made this the homepage for my mother, and will us it myself. The article should help spread the word about this cool site. They also have a blog of course. So far, almost $9,000 has been donated to the following organizations:


Priests for Life
Human Life International
American Life League
EWTN
Population Research Institute
Project Rachel
Sisters of Life
Human Life Alliance
The Women's Center of Chicago
Children of the Rosary

Eric Scheske of The Daily Eudemon writes a column on blogs for the National Catholic Register. He mentioned the St. Blog Parish webring, Parish Directory and also mentioned my Catholic Blog Directory.

Dr. Philip Blosser, the Pertinacious Papist, has posted about Dr. Joseph Varacalli and his new book, The Catholic Experience in America. Dr. Blosser points out Dr. Varacalli is

"Professor of Sociology and Director of the Center for Catholic Studies at Nassau Community College-SUNY. He was co-founder of the Society of Catholic Social Scientists, first Editor-in-Chief of the Catholic Social Science Review, twice a Board of Directors Member of the Fellowship of Catholic Scholars -- whose meetings are truly enjoyable affairs -- and the 12th recipient of the Pope Pius XI Award for the furthering of a true Catholic social science as called for in Quadragesimo Anno."

Obviously, Dr. Varacalli is a scholar and has done much work "in the field". I haven't read The Catholic Experience in America yet, but I read his Bright Promise, Failed Community: Catholics and the American Public Order and it was very good. Besides his academic credentials and great work for the Church, he is a true gentleman. At a conference of the Center for Catholic Studies at Nassau Community, featuring Cardinal Avery Dulles and others, he greeted my fiance with such warmth and good wishes for our upcoming marriage, it absolutely made her day.

DEUS CARITAS EST

The encyclical is out!

Want some insight into Msgr. McDonald, the new seminary rector? Matt Abbott quoted a letter written by him in 2004:


Straight Guy with the Catholic Eye: Priest’s ‘Letter to Freshmen’

And here he is writing a letter to America magazine responding to an article (scroll down)

And finally, a Long Island Catholic article from 2004

Bishop William Murphy Names New Seminary Rector

This is good - Msgr. McDonald is known for his orthodoxy. His parish is where a Novus Ordo in Latin is celebrated with chant (The Recovering Choir Director used to be in the choir there). Also, this parish has offered to be the host of the traditional Latin Mass for the Diocese so it can be celebrated in a parish Church. The interim administrator, Fr. Pereda, offers the traditonal Latin Mass for the Diocese in a chapel of a former school. Msgr. McDonald does not have the usual academic credentials for being a seminary rector but that is not necessarily a bad thing. He is known for encouraging young men to consider the priesthood. He will be able to keep the seminary on the path it has been on for a few years now. They now have Msgr. Fink as the spiritual director, who is also excellent, so things are looking up there.

Newsday's take

There are now 729 Catholic blogs in the Catholic Blog Directory and you can now see where many of these blogs are written! Click here to see the Directory broken down by location, starting with states in the USA and then by other countries.

[Cliff Clavin voice] It's a little known fact that the US state with the highest number of Catholic blogs is California - 38!

Ok class, time to compare and contrast:

The Catholic League's view of The Book of Daniel

Vs.

Long Island Episcopalians' view of The Book of Daniel

At least he wasn't using a cell phone -

"Suffolk County police had to use their own patrol cars to stop an unconscious driver in Medford Friday afternoon.....officers broke into the car where they say they found a crack pipe"

"At her inauguration Monday, Nassau County District Attorney Kathleen Rice said the public "bestowed upon me a trust that I will not take for granted." But by the end of the week, she had already undercut that promise. Rice is making a mistake in hiring her brother's wife as a $95,000-a-year executive assistant. "

Dennis Dillon made a reputation for himself by being completely above the board and by keeping political patronage out of the DA's office. Dillon was a blessing for Nassau residents: a life-long democrat who switched parties simply because of his deeply held beliefs on abortion. He was not a loyal democrat or republican but that made him a great DA and a great person. People in Nassau understandably felt the need for change after having the same DA for 30 years. Now, we end up with a typical politician as DA - someone who hires their own relative. Newsday also informs:

"Rice, who pledged during the campaign not to make any political appointments, also hired Jeff Stein, former executive director of the Nassau Democratic party and the Democratic elections commissioner, to be her chief of administration. Rice defended that decision, saying Stein chose to leave politics behind."

Based on these two appointments by Rice, I wonder whether we will go back to the bad old days of political corruption in Nassau.

Mike Hayes, the Associate Director of BustedHalo.com thinks the Vatican should be protecting Pope John Paul II's assassin from danger -

"If the Vatican is not involved in securing his safety then maybe they should be. I think John Paul II would probably pick him up from the prison himself if he were alive today. And yet I believe unfortunately that Agca's life indeed will come to an end soon. Could the Vatican have prevented this loss of life? "


This is quite a stretch from saying the Pope forgave the man to saying the Vatican should be responsible for his safety.

Tommorrow's Hope Foundation

Bishop Murphy and Sr. Joanne Callahan started this foundation to support the Catholic elementary schools of the Diocese. Parishes will have a second collection on one Sunday a year and half the money will go to the Foundation and half will go to the parish or regional school. This is a good idea but one that is about 20 years late. Having bake sales and car washes to raise money does not cut it anymore when you are talking multi-million dollar budgets. I am a supporter of Catholic schools, but only when they actually teach the faith and when they are viable. Tommorrow's Hope will give out scholarships to students based on need, which is important since Catholic schools are no longer affordable for most. Since Long Island generally has good schools, the Catholic schools have to be very good to survive. I am sure many Catholics would love to send their kids to Catholic school but can't afford it. This Foundation should help.

The figures: 58 Catholic elementary schools

22,000+ students

GEN X Schält

La GEN X Invierte

La GEN X Retournent

La GEN X Ritorna

via Google Translate

Parents pledge fair play (Newsday article)

The article doesn't mention it but this event took place at Chaminade High School. All parishes in the Diocese of Rockville Centre have to abide by a new "Fair Play Agreement" for sports. This Fair Play Agreement sounded like a great idea when I first heard it, but this article makes it sound wimpy -

"If a parent got into a shoving match with a referee or another parent, for example, the fair play coordinator would diplomatically remind them of their pledge to uphold good sportsmanship.

In that case, the coordinator would hand the disgruntled parent a form to write his complaint, and the matter would be discussed at a later meeting. "

What??? Here is a better idea - if a parent got into a shoving match with anyone - the police are called and the parent is arrested. That parent would be banned for life from being anywhere within 500 feet of a Catholic Youth Organization event and would be forced to go to professional counseling. I mean the situation in school sports is already out of hand, and this is the land of the "Mepham High School Football Rapists" - Ken Carney, Phil Sofia, Rich Guccione, and Phil Diasparra in case anyone forgot. So, I think the approach should be much stronger to prevent any violence, or any silly behavior on the part of anyone around sports. Zero tolerance is good for child molesting priests, and it should be the idea in sports as well.

"Ayman al-Zawahiri -- Osama bin Laden's right-hand man in the al Qaeda terrorist network -- was the target of a CIA airstrike Friday in a remote Pakistani village and may have been among those killed, knowledgeable U.S. sources told CNN."

This would be good news. The war on terror must be fought in small battles like this, with the Just War Theory applying.

I have been following the story of George Smith, the man who dissappeared on a Royal Caribbean cruise ship on his honeymoon. (My honeymoon will be on a Royal Caribbean cruise.) This past weekend I read a transcript of the entire story from MSNBC's Dateline. Tonight on MSNBC, Rita Cosby (she seems nice and compassionate, but that voice sounds terrible!) had some more info that came out today, such as that Smith's new wife was so drunk she had to be helped to her cabin by two ship employees, and that the men who were hanging out with George Smith were accused of rape by another female passenger. The case is very interesting, and confusing. I hope for the families' sake, the case is solved soon. In reading all about the case, it is still not clear who may have done it, as it seems everyone involved is suspect in some way.

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

I attended Mass at my local parish on Jan. 1st. The celebrant wore gold vestments and used Canon I. The music was quite good, with a trumpeter making the Christmas hymns more glorious. The Church was nicely decorated with trees, wreaths, and pointsettias, making me more excited about the upcoming renovations.

As of tommorrow, I have exactly 5 months to go until my wedding day. The plans are going well, although we still have to solidify the music selections. Within the next few weeks we will meet with the priest celebrant.

Thanks to Dappled Things, I found this fun romp of a blog: Fireside Chat with the Rector.

Not a Culture of Life:

"PATCHOGUE, N.Y. -- A 37-year-old man was charged with child endangerment after one of two toddlers he was baby-sitting was found drunk, authorities said. "

"MILWAUKEE - A prosecutor began reviewing possible charges Thursday against five juveniles in the brutal mob beating of a man yanked from his car while driving through a north side neighborhood. "

"Great Falls, Virginia - The man responsible for fatally shooting four people, including his mother, on Christmas before taking his own life also shot at two houses four days earlier, police said Thursday. "

"New York - A stray bullet fired in the air outside a Queens apartment complex killed a woman standing at her fifth floor window, police said Thursday."

I am updating the Catholic Blog Directory. Unfortunately, I cannot highlight new blogs added, but I thought I might put a couple of interesting ones here:

Fay's Catholic Thoughts is by a Chaldean Catholic, born in Iraq and now living in Texas.

Live Jesus! is the blog of a monastery of Visitation nuns in Georgetown.

Merry Christmas!

This is one of the most arrogant things I have seen:

"More than one commentator has mentioned that, as Pope Benedict XVI takes on his new task of being Pope for the whole Church, he brings with him much baggage from his past position as Prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith. The press and theologians all over the world have carefully scrutinized that baggage over these years. We all wish the new Pope well as he sorts out how the new role to which he has been called differs from the old he leaves behind. We want him to keep in mind that the new role has a pastoral claim on him that the old often hid." [emphasis mine]

-Rembert G. Weakland, May 17, 2005

What do you mean "we" cowboy? This former archbishop has more baggage than all of JFK airport! The man took money from his Catholic Diocese and gave it to a male lover. He hid this fact for approx. 20 years while lambasting orthodox Catholics such as Mother Angelica. Gimme a break.

Parish Renovation

I attended a meeting today to hear a presentation on our parish's upcoming renovations. The good, bad and ugly:

Ugly:

• The new altar follows the latest fad: square table look with 4 legs. (Boo!)

Bad:

• The tabernacle will stay on the right side, rather than the center, where it belongs.
• Still no sign of Mary or Joseph in the Sanctuary.
• The Priest's chair is at the back wall, instead of the side, where it belongs.

Good:

• Goodbye carpeting! Hello tile/marble floors!!
• Goodbye electric organ! Hello antique pipe organ!!
• Goodbye Risen Christ sculpture on center back wall of Sanctuary! Hello CRUCIFIX! (Yeah!)
• Risen Christ sculpture sent to the side wall of the Transept, which is now blank. New sculpture will be added to other side wall.
• Stations of the Cross will be put on new backing and spread around the Church, rather than on one spot on 1 side wall.
• Addition built on the entrance of Church will mean a large narthex for chatty people to chat. Also, handicapped accessible bathroom added so people won't have to go to the basement, to go.
• Old marble altar will be used to create a new Marian Shrine, where currently there is simply a statue of Mary.
• Baldachino will be built over the tabernacle, making it more prominent.

I am overall very happy about this renovation. Although by the time this is all finished I will be married and living elsewhere, this is the parish I was baptized and confirmed in so it is important to me. I wish there had been a little more attention to the traditional look of the parish, but this renovation will still correct some of the mistakes of the huge expansion/renovation done in 1982. The Church then was made plain and bare and this renovation will add artwork that will correct this problem. The pipe organ and tile floor with marble should make it feel and sound more like a Church. The Crucifix is the best aspect of this project. The word Wreckovation was coined because of the changes done to parish Churches in the 70's and 80's but I think it is time to coin the word Correctovation to describe the latest changes being done.

While typing this post on such an upbeat note, I happen to turn on Drudge and Peggy Noonan is now talking about her new book John Paul the Great. This has been a good night.

Newsday has a story about a situation in the wealthy neighborhood of Manhasset:

"When the Rev. Nick Zientarski invoked the name of Jesus Christ during his traditional blessing of the official Christmas tree lighting in Manhasset last week, he had no idea he had signed on as a soldier in the culture wars over Christmas.

Even as he spoke, the Roman Catholic priest said he could hear North Hempstead Supervisor Jon Kaiman angrily objecting behind him, "this is inappropriate." Then, Kaiman got up and told the crowd, "I just want to make it clear that this is in no way a religious ceremony."


I met Fr. Zientarski when he was a seminarian on a retreat. He seemed like a solid JPII type of guy with a great attitude about things in the world and in the Church.

"She tried to break it to me gently and then, just as she was about to tell me, I said 'I was aborted, right?' She said 'Yeah, you were.' And my reaction was 'Well, at least I have cerebral palsy for an interesting reason.' "

Amazing story found via Off the Record.

Fired nuns speak out

3 older nuns were replaced as campus ministers by younger "peer ministers" while a 73 year old nun at one campus was kept in place. The 3 fired nuns are claiming age and gender discrimation. What is really going on is part of a larger story within this diocese and the Church in general. The job shifting really doesn't have to do with age and gender so much as orthodoxy and tradition. The Diocese is trying to reach the young college age students and keep their faith alive. The nuns, from interviews in the past, seem to be concerned with interfaith services, social justice and counseling. The Catholic teachings and traditions did not have a special place of value at least from I have read. The Diocese seems to want to focus on the type of ministries that have worked throughout the country, with a focus on Church traditions, sacraments and teachings. Although I am very sympathetic to anyone who loses their job, the 3 nuns will not be in danger of being homeless, as their orders are able to support them and they will find work. Although I am very interested in seeing this Diocese overcome its horrible past under Bishop McGann, I would hate to see the Church treat people as corporate America treats people. So, although this sounds like a good move on the part of Fr. Barr, I had hoped the nuns were treated fairly. One fact that I have not seen before confirms that the Church has been more than fair:

"Moreover, Dolan said, the bishop, who met with the sisters in September, offered to rescind their terminations, keep them on the diocesan payroll and the diocese would find them a job -- but not in campus ministries."

"It's really not rescinding if you're not offering us a position within campus ministries," Riordan said. "This is the job we wanted to do and we didn't want to take away other people's jobs in the diocese."

This sounds just like Bishop Murphy - he would rescind their terminations, keep paying them and find them other jobs. What could be more Christian than that? That is certainly not treating these nuns like "dirt" as one of the nuns claimed. It sounds like the Bishop bent over backward to help the nuns out, but they just couldn't take being replaced. I could understand the feelings involved, but ultimately this is going to help keep campus ministry in line with the New Evangelization.

"Father James Williams hasn't forgotten his own prom at Chaminade High School.

'Afterward, we went to the diner, and then we went home," he said. "I think we went to the beach the next day.'

Ah, innocent youth, circa 1987!"

Ellis Henican in Newsday on the Chaminade non-prom story.

The other story in today's Newsday quotes junior Sean Rober, the blogger at Fac ut Gaudeam.

"Why the Pope is better than Elton John" at Relapsed Catholic

Newsday.com has on the front page: No Prom for Chaminade High School

Amy Welborn linked to Fac ut Gaudeam on the cancellation of Chaminade High School's proms.

Dan at Shrine of the Holy Whapping (a fellow Chaminade grad), asks the $1,000,000 question -

"This culture of unmediated affluence is in some sense a dark side of the "American dream" removed from recourse to the moral and social teaching of the Church. In that sense, this particular issue ought to raise some thoughts among Catholics about why the Church in the Northeast is so dessicated compared to the Midwest and some parts of the South. Did the same comfort and affluence help to foster the general stifling of a distinctively Catholic culture and of evangelical zeal after the second generation or so of immigrants?"

While I applaud the schools for dropping the prom and trying to fight the culture of excess, I hope Kellenberg and Chaminade can come up with an alternative event. As Andrew Cusack comments on the post at the Shrine, students need to be taught how to behave at a formal event. For Chaminade men, a formal dance is especially important, what with being cooped up with no female students for 4 years! Anyway, both Kellenberg and Chaminade have Senior Proms that will continue - students from both schools go to a local nursing home and host a formal dinner/dance with the elderly residents. The students host the event and act as dates for the seniors. It is a popular event and I have yet to hear of any stories of excessive spending on food, limos or drink.

This post on Liturgy by Fr. Jay Scott Newman is just awesome. I found it via Off the Record.

"Remember that every liturgy leaves chronological time and enters kairotic time. In chronos we say Good Morning; in liturgical kairos we say Dominus vobiscum. If we do not depart from the texts of the Church, then we stand a fair chance of taking the people with us into the never ending liturgy of the New Jerusalem. This is also why SLOW walking, talking and gestures are important. Same with hiding street clothes under sacred vesture. Ditto for the athletic shoes of the altar boys."

I have attended very few Novus Ordo Masses where the above type of stuff is understood. Please go and read the entire post, it is very good.

CIA Realizes It's Been Using Black Highlighters All These Years

This headline from The Onion is funnier than the actual article.

Tommorrow night is the Faith on Tap session featuring John Zmirak. Any locals in their 20's or 30's might wish to attend. Those from NYC can take the LIRR and get off at the Wantagh RR Station, and the Wantagh Inn is right across the street. This time Mr. Zmirak will speak on his book - The Bad Catholic's Guide to Good Living

I created one of those Frappr! maps but not for Gen X Revert readers. It is for my Catholic Blog Directory and I am encouraging all Catholic bloggers to put their pin on the map so it will become a map of Catholic blogs.

If you have a Catholic blog and it is listed on the Directory, please add your pin, thanks.

8th Commandment 101

Kellenberg High School became somewhat famous when it announced it would no longer sponsor a senior prom. Now, some Kellenberg students make the news again -

"Two teenagers videotaping a school project caught a convicted thief on camera allegedly stealing money from a church in Malverne. "

I'd say give those kids an A+.

Tassone's domestic partner asks for "marital privilege" in court

"Two months after former Roslyn Superintendent Frank Tassone implicated his longtime companion in an $11.2-million embezzlement scheme, the partner says Tassone would be violating "solemn" vows they made during a commitment ceremony in the Caribbean if he testifies against him."

From Newsday, a list of stories on this scandal

The scandal at the Roslyn school district involved several figures stealing millions of dollars over the course of several years. The school district discovered assistant superintendent Pamela Gluckin had stolen some money and allowed her to pay it back and quietly retire. The school district did not tell anyone, not even the police for fear of scandal. Sound familiar Catholics? The scandal broke when an anonymous letter was sent indicating what had happened. It turned out a lot more money was stolen than the district realized. The scandal involved many people and shocked this very wealthy neighborhood. The people involved were absolutely selfish- Frank Tassone gave up information on his homosexual lover, the former assistant superintendent Pamela Gluckin gave up information on her own son (John McCormick) and niece (Debra Rigano), and the district auditor (Andrew Miller) tried to cover up the embezzlement by altering documents. He ended up losing his entire business. What were these people thinking? Is Long Island so filled with trash that important jobs can't even be filled with honest, decent people? Gluckin was the most conniving, even keeping records on all the rest so that when the crimes were uncovered she would be able to give up the others in exchange for a lighter sentence. It makes you wonder how the people in this very good and very wealthy school district could be so clueless about the character of the people they trusted. I mean I really don't find it too hard to tell when a person is a liar, a professional charmer, two-faced, etc... Newsday should do a story on the people who knew these crooks, worked with them, dealt with them to see how so many people could miss so many clues.

From the minutes of the Long Island Voice of the Faithful regional meeting (9/8/5):

"VOTF will continue to “sing a new Church into being.”

I prefer the old Church thanks.

The chief engineer at the television station of the Diocese of Rockville Centre was arrested. He was accused of setting up a company to do the maintenance work around the station's tower and this work was never done. Telecare paid for this work for several years and the engineer, Joseph Kosik collected the money. Telecare said this was discovered after a routine audit that occurred soon after a new priest took over the station. This is the second time I have seen someone arrested after a "routine audit" after a leadership change. The last time was when Holy Family parish in Hicksville got a new pastor and two men who were long time employees of the parish were discovered to have used the parish's credit cards for all sorts of personal uses. The Diocese needs to keep good control over what goes in the seminary, the priesthood but also all the various apostolates.

This would probably also be a good time to ask whether it is worth having Telecare around. It is nice to have a place where people can see what is going on in the Diocese, but perhaps the network should stick to showing EWTN mostly and just produce a couple hours of local Catholic programming a week. EWTN has succeeded because it is not Catholic Lite, it is fully Catholic. Sadly, this cannot be said about Telecare.