There are some good things going on for Catholics on Long Island:

Saturday, October 11th - 1:30 PM Nassau Community College

Russell Shaw presents his book, Nothing to Hide: Secrecy, Communication, and Communion in the Catholic Church (Ignatius Press, 2008)

1:30 P.M. in the Multipurpose Room of the Nassau Community College Center Building. The event is free of any charge and there will be a coffee and desert table, after the talk, for members of the audience. The local NCC Barnes and Noble affiliate will be selling copies of his book for those interested.
In order to attend the event, however, registration is required and a parking permit must be secured.



Wednesday, October 1 or Thursday, October 2, St. Matthew's in Dix Hills

Beginners' Gregorian Chant Lessons will be offered, free of any charge

Any and all laypeople interested in learning about Gregorian Chant and are willing to take up their responsibility for singing it at Mass are welcome. No prior experience in Gregorian chant is necessary - in fact, such experience may over-qualify you - but the ability to carry a tune will be a big advantage.

See this page for more info.


Theology of the Body with Dr. Janet Smith

12 weekly sessions will be offered with Dr. Janet Smith CDs on the Theology of the Body in Farmingdale. If interested & for more info, please contact Rich at this email.

Enron

I recently read Conspiracy of Fools: A True Story about the corruption and eventual downfall of Enron. It was an excellent and interesting read, and I discovered there were a couple of Long Island connections with the largest collapse of a US company ever. The book portrays Andrew Fastow as the ultimate slimeball who figured out ways to make money by creating separate businesses that would interact with Enron in a way that made Enron look like it was making more money than it really was. Fastow was the head of some of these companies while also the CFO of Enron, a conflict of interest that was basically ignored by Wall Street analysts, banks, Enron executives and the Board of Directors. Fastow made millions - possibly $60 million - through these separate companies. Fastow and Michael Kopper come across as the real scammers in the Enron story, and it is sad to see they both struck deals with the government and received lesser sentences than they should have.

The Long Island connection to Enron? Kopper was born in Woodmere, and Cliff Baxter, an Enron exec described by the whistleblower Sherron Watkins as "one of the few good guys in this whole thing" came from Amityville. Baxter committed suicide as Enron fell apart and his funeral was at St. Martin of Tours - where this blogger was married. (BTW - this is a weird place to mention this, but St. Martin of Tours is one of the most beautiful Churches in the Diocese of Rockville Centre.)

This book (and dvd Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room) reinforced what I have experienced in my life when it comes to corruption and evil - people are able to get away with almost anything when there is a culture of greed, looking the other way, egoism, shallowness, and fear. Enron was almost a textbook example of this - I would hope people would learn from its fall, but I know that most will not.

Chapel at St. Anthony's blends old and the new

From Newsday, what looks to be an excellent new chapel:

"In a school that stresses academics and athletics," said Brother Gary Cregan, the school's principal, "I wanted to sound out a loud statement that says God before all."

"A student's mother, Rose Russo-Barbour, of Old Brookville, found a 16th-century European altar which, with all of its history attached, sits as a focal point in the chapel.

"The limestone that craftsmen used to line the walls and floors came from a mountainside in Kurd-controlled northwest Iraq, Cregan said."

Msgr. Lisante and Our Lady of Lourdes

Newsday published a couple of articles about a situation at Our Lady of Lourdes in Massapequa Park and their new pastor Msgr. Lisante. The second article can be read here. The controversy boils down to: Msgr. Lisante had invited Fr. Blockley - a priest from the South Pacific to assist in the summers for the past eight years at Lisante's former parish -St. Thomas the Apostle in West Hempstead. When Msgr. Lisante was made pastor at OLL Blockley was invited to help out this summer. Fr. Blockley however was not in good standing with his Diocese and did not have his Bishop's permission to be here. Bishop Murphy expelled Blockley from the Diocese of Rockville Centre. Meanwhile, there was a statue of Our Lady of Fatima that was removed from the left side of the sanctuary after 25 years and this also caused an uproar. I have a few observations:

1) Shame on Msgr. Lisante for not following the procedure for bringing in outside priests to the Diocese. This is standard procedure and especially important after the priest scandals exposed in 2002. When tens of thousands of Catholic mothers, fathers, and grandparents have to attend classes on prevention of child abuse in order to volunteer at parishes, all because of the actions of priests and bishops, it is simply incredible that a priest cannot follow procedure. And shame on the parish of St. Thomas the Apostle for not discovering the status of Fr. Blockley sooner and exposing it. While Fr. Blockley is not accused of anything (he seems to be on the outs with his bishop on issues not relating to children or anything criminal), it is very important to make sure priests are in good standing.

2) The removal of a statue from a sanctuary is usually not a good sign. There are those who would love to remove any sign of traditional Catholicism in our Churches but I thought this had pretty much ended in the 1990's. However, OLL was always a weird looking Church - a modern design with traditional things thrown in there by people attempting to make the Church look Catholic. The result was a hodgepodge, so having the statue moved may not have been so bad.

3) The Newsday article mentions bloggers associated with the parish so I did some digging around and discovered Save Our Lady of Lourdes. From this blog I learned a couple of more things: Apparently, chairs were put in front of the altar and the altar crucifix was removed. If this is true then this is a shame. I was never fond of the sanctuary of OLL or the Liturgies celebrated there. But the altar crucifix was a positive. Chairs do not belong in front of any altar and most parishes with this arrangement were corrected in the 1980's and 1990's.

4) Msgr. Lisante is a good priest and very personable. I hope his abundance of talents can help him lead the parish of OLL and pull the parish together. So far, if he has authorized or done these changes, he is off to a very bad start.

5) The Save Our Lady of Lourdes blog has some excellent posts on restoring traditional aspects of parish Churches. It rightly calls for a complete overhaul of the sanctuary. I hope Msgr. Lisante will look into some of this, although I don't think he is of the Benedict XVI mindset of the 'hermeneutic of continuity' when it comes to Liturgy and Church design.

Speaking of the Voice of the Faithful:

Diocese of Rockville Centre's cash reserve rapped

"A clash between a dissident group of Catholics and the Diocese of Rockville Centre over how much the diocese has in the bank - and what it ought to do with the money - reflects a national church debate over how to best use its funds.

Although the diocese disputes the figures, the Voice of the Faithful asserted last week Rockville Centre has what the group calls a "jaw-dropping" $268 million in cash reserves."

VOTF does this almost every year - accuses the Diocese of having too much money, as if that would be a bad thing. It is almost comical how desperate they are to drum up publicity for their ageing, failing group. They are relying on the outside opinion of Richard Grafer, a retired accountant who used to work for Arthur Anderson, the firm responsible for overseeing the finances of Enron. We all know how great they did with that job.

Voice of the "Faithful" Long Island is holding their annual conference. People making up the panels at this conference will be from groups including:

FUTURE CHURCH

CALL TO ACTION

'nuff said.

I was the driver last night taking my wife and two other friends to the Bruce Spingsteen concert at Giants Stadium. On the way there we heard the reports of a propane truck overturned RIGHT ON the exit ramp to the stadium. Fortunately we were able to figure how how to get onto the exit for Route 3 from the Turnpike and make our entrance from there. The concert was delayed an hour due to the mess so we ended up getting home very early this morning. It was a fun night though. Bruce and the E Street band kicked off with a spirited version of Summertime Blues. They also did Blinded by The Light which I have always hated but this version was good. They ended with Jersey Girl and then Rosalita.

UPDATE: I forgot - after Rosalita they did the terrific Irish sounding American Land. Click here for the lyrics.

From Newsday:

Another adult stem cell breakthrough!


"Harvard University researchers have made motor neurons, the brain cells that degenerate in patients with Lou Gehrig's disease, from skin cells taken from two elderly sisters with the condition.

The advance, published yesterday in the journal Science, used a technique developed during the last two years that gives adult cells the same power as those from embryos to turn into any cell type in the body. "

How many more times is this going to happen before people wake up to the fact that moral stem cell research is possible and already fruitful?

‘Summorum Pontificum’ one year later:Diocese expands ‘wonderful opportunity’ for traditional Latin form of Mass

"Since Pope Benedict’s “Sum-morum Pontificum,” an apostolic letter which allowed for regular celebration of the extraordinary or traditional Latin form of the Mass in parishes and other Church settings, St. Matthew’s Church in Dix Hills and Our Lady of Lourdes Church in Massapequa Park have instituted such celebrations — once a week at St. Matthew’s and twice a week at Our Lady of Lourdes."

"He also noted that the diocese sent Father Eric Fasano, former associate pastor of St. William the Abbot Church in Seaford who has been assigned to studies in canon law in Rome, and Father Walter Kedjierski, associate pastor of Our Lady of Victory Church, Floral Park, for training at Our Lady of Guadalupe Seminary in Denton, Nebraska. The seminary is operated by the Priestly Fraternity of St. Peter. The fraternity is a society of apostolic life founded by Pope John Paul II that trains priests and fosters celebration of the Mass and administration of the sacraments in the older form. “Personally, I consider it a wonderful opportunity and a privilege to celebrate the form of the Roman rite that nourished the holiness of the saints and of all the faithful for so many centuries,” said Father Fasano. “What a blessing, to experience the Mass as my own parents did in their childhood.”

This is wonderful news to have two young priests trained to offer the Extraordinary Form.

Andrea Duda has advised me of this milestone:

The Catholic Blog Directory just passed the 1,500 blog mark


WooHoo!

Researchers to test stem cells to treat Crohn's

"The stem cells are drawn from the bone marrow of adult donors and processed into an infusible preparation. "These are not embryonic stem cells and therefore are not involved with the ethics issues" that have colored the stem cell debate, Richards said."

----Newsday

There have been so many things done recently with adult stem cells!

From Newsday:

Prosecutor: Rosary bead ties driver to fatal Dix Hills hit-run

"Prosecutor Glenn Kurtzrock said that, while there were two eyewitnesses to the collision, victim Patrick A. Haley's rosary beads alone could show the circumstances of the June 3 crash.

"They were right next to where he was hit," Kurtzrock said of the religious beads. "The string was broken, and there was a line of beads going for some distance in the direction that his body was thrown in. And then they found one of the beads on her windshield".

Bishop Murphy ordained 9 new priests and surprisingly, 8 out of the 9 have been assigned to Nassau parishes with only 1 going to Suffolk.

The newly ordained priests will serve as associate pastors at the following parishes.
Father Allan Arneaud: Maria Regina, Seaford
Father Lachlan Cameron: St. Rose of Lima, Massapequa
Father Christopher Costigan: St. Bernard, Levittown
Father Robert Holz: St. Christopher, Baldwin
Father Robert Ketchum: Holy Name of Mary, Valley Stream
Father Gonzalo Oajaca-Lopez: St. Anne, Brentwood
Father John McCarthy: St. Agnes Cathedral, Rockville Centre
Father Allan Sikorski: St. Mary, Manhasset
Father Thomas Tassone: St. Aidan, Williston Park

God Bless our new priests!

via The Long Island Catholic:

Confirmations conferred in traditional Latin liturgy

"They were not yet born — nor had their parents probably met — when the new liturgy was introduced in the 1960s, but a dozen teens and pre-teens last Sunday were happy to receive the Sacrament of Confirmation in a Latin ceremony.Bishop William Murphy conferred the sacrament last Sunday at St. Agnes Cathedral here for a group of children and one adult whose families regularly attend an approved Tridentine (traditional Latin) Mass offered each Sunday at St. Matthew’s Church in Dix Hills."

I am not sure, but it looks like the top picture in the article shows Bishop Murphy administering the ol' slap of the face, another great Catholic tradition tossed aside in the 60's! Darn hippies ruined everything!

Recently I have started watching Jon & Kate Plus 8 about a couple who had twins, and then sextuplets. I find it fascinating to see the 8 children and the very laid back father in everyday life.

"I will never forget this day as long as I live. There were seven sacs with four yolk sacs, or babies in four of them. At the count of four, I was scared. At five I started crying and at six I was shaking absolutely sobbing. Jon had turned form the screen, he couldn’t look anymore. I have never seen him so close to tears in my life! The doctor “reassured” us by telling us we would talk about reduction. I pulled myself together and stared right at him and said “We’re not doing reduction!” After the ultrasound he called us into his office and tried to convince us that reduction was the thing to do. Again, we refused! That weekend, Jon and I spent our time staring at the walls (literally) and crying. It was the worst weekend of my entire life! On Sunday, Jon took the girls to church and asked if he should tell anyone. I told him to tell a few people so we could get prayer started for us. Before he was home form church, the phone started ringing. Everyone was so encouraging and offered their prayers and help. I began to feel that we could do this! With God’s help, of course! "

I did some chores early this morning and was back home at 11 AM watching the ordination of 9 men to the priesthood for the Diocese of Rockville Centre. The 9 men were called forward after Msgr. McDonald publically announced their worthiness, and Bishop Murphy began a homily on the priesthood. The screen went fuzzy as Telecare lost transmission and the ordination was apparently not able to be witnessed by so many viewers.

After having dinner out tonight and driving home in a downpour, I turned on Telecare again and the homily is being shown right now, so hopefully I will now get a chance to see the ordination. I attended the ordination of deacons a few years ago, watching the beautiful ceremony from the front row, but I have never seen an ordination of priests before. Please pray for these men, that they become holy priests and serve God well.

UPDATE: They are now praying the Litany of Saints as those to be ordained are prostrate in the aisle of the cathedral. The Litany is not the more modern one ( this is nice - we included this in our wedding Mass), but the more traditional one with no music. Although I like the modern version, this Litany sounds very solemn and is very moving also.

From the blog For God, For Country, and For Yale, I discovered the website The Art of Manliness. One of the articles there "Rediscovering the Barbershop" describes my exact situation. Snip:

"Every time I go to the barber shop I just feel manlier. I don’t know what it is. Perhaps it’s the combination of the smell of hair tonics and the all-man atmosphere. But more so, it’s the awareness of the tradition of barbershops. Barbershops are places of continuity; they don’t change with the shifts in culture. The places and barbers look the same as they did when your dad got his hair cut. It’s a straightforward experience with none of the foofoo accouterments of the modern age. There are no waxings, facials, highlights, or appointments. Just great haircuts and great conversation."


I went to a barbershop with my Dad when I was a kid. I am not sure why but at some point I started going to a chain unisex salon and was usually unhappy with my cut. There was always a long wait, usually with few choices in reading material to pass the time -most of the magazines were for women, and the haircuts ranged from bad to ok, depending on what woman cut my hair, all for a high price. A couple of times I got my hair washed in a sink by a woman who had "European Style" armpits. Finally, I looked around and settled on a barbershop that turned out to be right down the block from where my grandparents used to live. What a difference! The magazines were for men, the guys doing the cutting were manly men, all from some indeterminate country where men are still men (I still can't figure out what country it is and don't really care). They shave my neck with a straight razor, trim my eyebrows so I can see, and slap a hot towel on my face which is awesome. Someday I will get up the nerve to have a real shave with a straight razor, which is a specialty of theirs. At Christmas time there was a small table set up with some complementary cookies, wine, and vodka! I will never go back to a salon.

The Long Island Catholic has a special section on the 9 men who will be ordained for the Diocese of Rockville Centre this June 14th.

Worst Book By a Catholic Priest. Ever.

God Underneath by Edward Beck

A few weeks ago, I had managed to lock both my wife's car keys, as well as her spare car key in her car. This meant we had to wait for my father in law to come home from Mass since he also has a key, so we had some time to kill. I picked up this book and started reading and it was just sad. Fr. Beck is a Passionist Priest and his book made me wonder if he wished he had done something else with his life. He tells of the ordination Mass for two of his classmates and him and how he really wanted to have a friend of his who sings and plays guitar to sing at this Mass and insisted this be allowed. His classmates did not really want this and when they tell him their opinion and remind him that the Mass is not just for him it makes Fr. Beck burst into tears. For his first Mass he invites a female friend to both read the Gospel and give the homily. He somehow "forgets" to mention this to the pastor of the parish and when she comes forward to receive the pastor's blessing before reading the Gospel the pastor, totally caught off guard, correctly says oh no and does the Gospel reading himself. The woman then gives the homily, in violation of Church teaching that lay people do not give homilies. Fr. Beck frames this story as rudeness on the part of the pastor, who he says later apologizes. Fr. Beck does not seem to think asking a lay person to proclaim the Gospel and give a homily without telling anyone what he is doing is not rude. These two stories pretty much sum up the book, all the world is filled with people who are not kind and considerate enough to allow Fr. Beck to do his thing. Liturgy, retreats, music should not be about worshiping God, but about Fr. Beck, friend of Carly Simon, showing the world how compassionate Fr. Beck is. He presents himself as a knight in shining armor coming to the rescue of those poor Catholics oppressed by the rigid orthodox clergy. This is a silly, sad book.

BustedHalo.com interviews Bob Sheppard, longtime Yankee announcer who has been sidelined this year due to illness. He was my speech teacher at St. John's University and one of my favorite teachers. He comes across as a Catholic gentleman in class and in this interview.

Found via Whispers in the Loggia

I found another Long Island Catholic Blog!

The Family Denn

The author is apparently a former copy editor of my favorite Catholic newspaper: National Catholic Register.

My wife and I attended the reception for the opening of the "Catholics in New York 1808-1946" exhibit at the Museum of the City of New York last night. It was enjoyable with perfect weather to enjoy some wine and Brooklyn Lager outside under a tent. The Museum is right across the street from the northern part of Central Park. I spotted Fr. James Martin, Fr. George Rutler, and Bill Donohue among the crowd. My wife and I, after enjoying some wine and cheese, went into the exhibit while most of the crowd was coming out to hear Cardinal Egan's talk. This enabled us to browse the exhibit with plenty of room to check out all the objects. The exhibit itself was a bit small but interesting. There was a great vestment on loan from St. Patrick's Cathedral, pictures of First Communions and a very intricate chalice. A ceramic dish featured an Irish priest who preached temperence (insert own joke here). Interestingly, this small dish was exhumed from the part of lower Manhattan made famous in the movie Gangs of New York and was the only remaining artifact from that exhumation as the rest were all stored at the World Trade Center and were destroyed on 9/11. Another section featured the Catholic orphanages, Catholic social groups, and of course, the Catholic politicians of the "old days". The exhibit, which runs until Dec. 31st., is worth a visit and there are upcoming events related to it at the link above.

China's 1-child policy causes extra pain

"In Wufu, a farming village two hours north of the Sichuan provincial capital of Chengdu, most of the dead students were a couple's only child -- born under a policy launched in the late 1970s to limit many families to one offspring. The policy was meant to rein in China's exploding population and ensure better education and health care."

Bishop to ordain 13 to permanent diaconate

Cablevision to buy Newsday

Cablevision is somewhat of a monopoly on Long Island although Direct TV, Dish Network, and Verizon have begun to cut into their share. Newsday is a monopoly with no real competition. For the past few years Newsday has been gutted following their inflated circulation scandal, with most columnists gone and the paper a bit more thin. Even with Newsday's (past) virulent anti-Catholic bias I have always enjoyed reading the paper. The Daily News and NY Post is for pictures and sports and gossip, but for real reading, Newsday is the paper. It is a shame how much is missing these days so hopefully this new ownership will pump new life into the paper, without changing its focus on real news.

Catholic League: Hagee Apologizes, Controversy Ends

“The tone of Hagee’s letter is sincere. He wants reconciliation and he has achieved it. Indeed, the Catholic League welcomes his apology.
What Hagee has done takes courage and quite frankly I never expected him to demonstrate such sensitivity to our concerns. But he has done just that. "

This is nice - although I actually enjoy when rural 'bible Christians' rail against the 'Whore of Babylon'. It is so Flannery O'Connor.

Bishop Murphy has issued a Pastoral Letter - DO THIS IN MEMORY OF ME (Warning: PDF File)

PASTORAL LETTER OF THE BISHOP OF ROCKVILLE CENTRE TO
THE PRIESTS OF THE DIOCESE REGARDING THE PROPER
CELEBRATION OF THE EUCHARIST AND THE DISTRIBUTION OF
HOLY COMMUNION

I first read about this in Newsday on Friday (Grrrrr....can't a blogger in this Diocese get a sneak peak once in awhile?). The pastoral letter essentially eliminates weekday communion services. St. Blog's has had some interesting reactions - most have been positive. The interesting thing is that I read about this letter in the Newsday article and then on several Catholic blogs, but only now when I read the actual letter did I realize it referred to weekday communion services held in place of Mass. Basically, Bishop Murphy's point boils down to:

"The reception of Holy Communion is never just passively “getting” or “receiving” Holy Communion. Instead, the reception of Holy Communion is the culmination of participating in the celebration (offering of the sacrifice). There is an inherent interconnection between sacrifice, Real Presence, and Communion. We should never sever the connection between receiving the Sacrament and celebrating the sacrifice; the
two go hand-in-hand. Receiving the Sacrament is the culmination of participating in the sacrifice. In this sense, “receiving it” is a reciprocal reality: we receive Christ and in so doing, Christ receives us and presents us to the Father in the Spirit."

"In the popular mind, all too often the purpose of Mass is still seen as an action simply to consecrate hosts; some people think their participation in the Eucharistic Prayer is all about watching the priest and then receiving Holy Communion. They do not understand the need to offer themselves with Christ to the Father in the Spirit during the Prayer, nor
do they understand that their parts in the Prayer (Introductory Dialogue, Sanctus, Memorial Acclamation and Great Amen) are the outward signs of their participation in the entire Prayer."

"In light of this clear instruction, after having heard the advice and counsel of the Advisory Committee on Canonical Affairs and brought this matter to the Diocesan Presbyteral Council for their discussion, counsel and advice, I, as Bishop, am declaring that no weekday Celebrations of the Word with the distribution of Holy Communion will be allowed in this Diocese thereby bringing our Diocese into conformity with the liturgical norms of the Church."

Bishop Murphy then encourages the Liturgy of the Word in parishes where daily Mass is not able to be offered due to lack of a priest. He also encourages parishes without daily Mass to publish the daily Masses offered in surrounding parishes. Both of these are very welcome suggestions. I have always thought of the Liturgy of the Hours as one of our best kept secrets.

Shoutouts

I thought it would be good to give some shoutouts to good things I have recently seen within the Church:

The Long Island Catholic - this paper of the Diocese of Rockville Centre has improved greatly over the past year. I find the overall feel of the paper to be a bit more proudly Catholic and more interesting even inspiring, with none of the timid feel of the past. Also, the new columnists (who are also bloggers) such as Mary Ellen Barrett and Alice O'Brien Gunther are refreshing voices.

Bishop Peter Libasci - with Bishop Murphy healing from some health problems, Bishop Libasci has seemingly taken on extra roles. He has been doing a lot lately and by all accounts has made quite an impression.

Telecare - I have criticized some of its programming and "Catholic lite" style as opposed to say, EWTN, but Telecare has done a good job with Pope Benedict's visit. Msgr. Vlaun, Sr. Mary Alice Piil and Joe Perrone were interesting as they hosted much of the coverage. I did not get to see much of the coverage however since I left for Pittsburgh from JFK just a few hours after Pope Benedict arrived there, but from what I saw, it was good. Also, I see Telecare is showing the videos from CatholicsComeHome.com that I have posted about - great to see.

EWTN - what can I say, Raymond Arroyo and Fr. Neuhaus are the perfect tag-team Church events.

The Center for Catholic Studies at Nassau Community College - I have neglected to mention so many of the great events hosted by the Center that I am truly ashamed. Next up is June 21, 2008 - Saturday afternoon Lecture/Panel Discussion /Luncheon: "Communicating the Truth About the Perils and Promises of the Contemporary Bio-Tech Revolution: A Crucial Task for the Catholic Community".

St. Anthony's High School - from the choir that sang at the Traditional Latin Mass at which Fr. Pereda was honored as a Msgr. to the great new chapel they are building this school is truly showing what it means to be Catholic.

I am sure there are many others that could be mentioned but these were just off the top of my tired head.

It seemed the Mass at St. Patrick's Cathedral was pretty reverent with good music. Did anyone else see the Secret Service guy push Mother Theresa's nuns away from the Holy Father during the recessional?? It looks like our country is being kept safe from enthusiastic nuns! Anyway, I look forward to Pope Benedict's visit to Ground Zero tomorrow.

Speaking of the Pope's visit, it looks like there will be protests (Zzzzzz) -

THE POPE IS COMING TO AMERICA...
And We’ll be Ready to Protest the Vatican’s Oppressive and Theocratic Agenda for Our Country and the Rest of the World!

Newsday commissioned a poll regarding the Pope's visit that provided results that sound awfully like the exact stance of the liberal editorial board of Newsday. Amazing.

The article on the survey quotes an ex-priest. Amazing.

The survey says Catholics do not agree with the Church on stuff. Amazing.

Haven't we heard this before?

Half of those responding to the poll are Catholic and half are non-Catholic. Of the Catholics:

"Some 69 percent think priests should be allowed to marry, 71 percent think women should be allowed to be priests and 77 percent think laypeople should play a greater role in the church."

Of course, with the catechetics, liberal leadership, and seminary teaching the way it was for most of the 70's and 80's and 90's this is not surprising. I would bet if you surveyed 1,000 Catholics most would not be able to give the theological reasoning behind the discipline of celibacy, the male priesthood, or the roles of lay people in the Church. This just means the Church has still more work to do undoing the damage done of the past 30 years.

This survey is just a local example of the typically shoddy work reporters will do for the Pope's visit. The standard treatment over the past 20 years has been the Pope is popular but Catholics do not agree on X, Y, and Z. Still, I would imagine it is not easy for journalists to cover another Papal visit, especially since Pope Benedict is not the "popular" world figure Pope JP II was. This visit especially might prove to be more "inside baseball" for Catholics. For the best coverage of the visit, check out Pope2008.com, a blog by Tim Drake at the National Catholic Register online.

They caught the man who torched Our Lady of the Miraculous Medal Church in Wyandanch, the parish with the largest outreach program on Long Island. Every parish has an outreach program, one of the good things to come along in the Church since the 1970's, and OLMM's program was devastated by this act of arson. Bishop Murphy authorized a collection to be taken up in all parishes to help rebuild. One of the men who received assistance from the parish was behind the arson. The pastor of OLMM was quoted in Newsday:

"I don't know what would ever have driven him to do a thing like that," Brisotti said yesterday at the church, where black scars are visible outside the rectory."

It is called evil Fr. Brisotti, and you do a good job fighting it, but it is always going to be there.

(montage by Mr. Devlin)

Joannes Paule Magne, ora pro nobis

April 2nd, 2008 - the 3rd anniversary of his death.

In lieu of actually burying St. Joseph upside down:

St. Joseph please help my wife and me as we attempt the sale of our co-op and the purchase of a house. Let us do all this without driving each other crazy, Amen.

Deacon Don Zirkel was arrested at the Smithtown Mall, he says for only wearing an anti-Iraq war tee-shirt. There are currently 331 comments on the Newsday story from all different points of view.

"On Saturday, Zirkel, 80, was at an anti-war rally outside the mall in Lake Grove, wearing a white T-shirt splotched with red and emblazoned with a simple message about the fatalities of the Iraq war: "4,000 troops, 1 million Iraqis dead. Enough."

Zirkel said he was at the rally to support the anti-war protesters. "I was an encourager. I was an affirmer," he said.

During the rally, Zirkel and his wife went into the mall's food court for coffee and French fries. After he declined mall security's request to either turn the T-shirt inside out or leave, he said police put him in a wheelchair and escorted him from the mall. Suffolk police charged him with criminal trespassing and resisting arrest."

Msgr. Lisanti to become the new pastor of Our Lady Of Lourdes in Massapequa Park?

Post-9/11 Life:

Winners of Pope Tickets Must Pass Security Checks (Newsday)

Nipple Rings Cause Airport Security Issue (Msnbc)

If you plan on going to see the Pope you might want to leave the nipple rings at home.

From MSNBC:

Natural birth control well-received, study says
Using beads to keep track of fertility was effective, inexpensive option

"A "natural family planning method" in which women use a set of beads to keep track of their fertile days is effective and widely acceptable to women and their partners, according to a new study conducted at 14 sites in six countries.
"I'm really convinced that this is a method that needs to be part of an informed choice approach to family planning," Dr. Victoria Jennings, director of the Georgetown University Institute for Reproductive Health in Washington, DC, told Reuters Health. "Women have lots of options and they need to be aware of this one."

"Ninety percent of both men and women in the study said they felt the SDM was easy to use, and that they would recommend it to others."

"Bob Sheppard, the Yankees' public address announcer since 1951, will miss the final opener in Yankee Stadium's history as he recovers from health issues that have limited his workload over recent months. "

Mr. Sheppard was one of my favorite teachers at St. John's, a real gentleman. I hope he has a speedy recovery as I am sure he misses his work.

I added The Deacon's Bench to my sidebar Long Island Catholic Blogs, (which includes a few from Queens and Brooklyn). This is a great new blog that I read from Deacon Greg Kendra of Our Lady Queen of Martyrs Catholic Church in Forest Hills. Deacon Greg will be chanting the beautiful Exultet tonight

The Winners of the 2008 Catholic Blogs Awards have been announced! What Does The Prayer Really Say? swept many of the categories. I didn't win anything in this contest but it was probably because I stumbled when trying to answer the question: why can't one-fifth of Americans locate the US on a map.

The Long Island Catholic has been printing columns by Catholic teenagers recently. (Most have been from Catholic school students so the paper put out a call for public school teens to write.) This week the teen writer describes her and some friends meeting the Sisters of Life and preparing food for an upcoming profession of vows ceremony. Her wonderful column describes her impression of the Sisters, the Mass and vow ceremony, and the Church of St. Vincent Ferrer in Manhattan. St. Vincent is supposed to be one of the most beautiful in the city, I have to get to see it soon! The column is well worth a read:

Of sweet potatoes, roller hockey and joy-filled faith

Speaking of the latest Long Island Catholic edition, Kathleen Gallagher writes about the New York State Catholic Conference making a video to educate people about (former) Gov. Eliot Spitzer's radical Reproductive Health and Privacy Protection Act. This act would require Catholic hospitals to provide abortions by making abortion a "fundamental right". The video was produced by Telecare (good job!) and put on You Tube. Gallagher's article mentions what she calls the "viral effect" of the blogosphere as the You Tube video was posted or linked to on the blogs (here is the link). She says:

"In less than a week, our video had enjoyed more than 8,000 views, or “hits” as they are known in the business. We received phone calls and e-mails from all over the country about our video, from Catholics and non-Catholics alike. We were written up in The New York Times and the Daily News. The original message of our video spread like wildfire, far beyond the borders of the Church’s typical communication methods. I had never experienced the “viral effect” of the Internet quite like that before."

We Catholic bloggers have experienced this effect for years but preferred to call it "releasing the power of the blogs" a term which I believe is attributed to Mark Shea, who is one of the most popular Catholic bloggers. The Catholic blogs have had some impact in concrete ways and the NYS Catholic Conference was very wise to tap into this great communications tool. "St. Blogs Parish" has been a great tool for Catholics to spread the word as well as spread The Word since 2002. Some examples of what the article calls the 'viral effect' would be:
removing pro-abortion links from a Jesuit University
linking to a video of a Bishop in California treat a woman rudely for kneeling for communion
pointing out the anti-Catholic nature of the movie The Golden Compass
pointing out the USCCB's positive review of the Golden Compass and Brokeback Mountain
spreading the word about a movie Mel Gibson was making about Christ's Passion a year ahead of its release
spreading the word about Summorum Pontificum a year ahead of its release

There were many more I cannot remember and I am too lazy to link to any of these right now. But the Church is wise to use "St. Blog's" because it has proven to be a good way to spread good or bad news.

Here is another blog by a Catholic on Long Island:

Tales From The Bonny Blue House

The author is Mary Ellen Barrett who writes a column for The Long Island Catholic.

Governor Eliot Spitzer (aka Client 9) has been caught in a prostitution sting:

"The meeting apparently lasted from 9:36 p.m. ET, when Kristen arrived, until 12:02 a.m.
Kristen collected $4,300 from Client 9, according to the FBI affidavit."

You have to feel for his wife and 3 teenage daughters, and prayers for the entire family would be appropriate. The very pro-choice governor might want to consider some other ways to spend 2.5 hours and $4,300.

Spitzer could have:

Donated $1,400 to Birthright
Donated $1,400 to Momma's House
Donated $1,500 to Life Center of Long Island

Plus he could have spent 1 hour volunteering at Momma's House in Jericho perhaps doing some work around the house, and then another 1 hour and a half at the Life Center of Long Island doing various things to help women in need.

Long Islander quote of the year:

"I have a general disgust for Catholic architecture since the 1950s,” he said recently."

-Brother Gary Creegan, Principal of St. Anthony's High School

This quote comes to you via this NY Times article regarding St. Anthony's new chapel that is being built. I found this via New Liturgical Movement. There are many of us that share Brother's digust. I am glad to see this chapel being built and hope this serves as an example for many other schools and parishes.

Click to Enlarge

Can anybody tell me what the deal is with the drawing? It appears to be a Last Supper-like depiction, but with all girls? It is strange to me - especially because it is a First Holy Communion Remembrance certificate from 1933!

More info: This Remembrance certificate is by the Edward O'Toole Co. in NY which was a successful Catholic goods business. There is now a Theresa & Edward O’Toole Foundation that was apparently started with this company's profits.

UPDATE: This is not a photo as I first wrote, but a drawing.

A new local Lutheran church is being started to try to attract younger, more diverse and unchurched people.

From Newsday:

Lutheran Church's Ablaze! to attract members

"Instead of robes and vestments, Harmon said, "We'll wear a jacket and polo shirt. We'll probably have more of a band, music that is more in tune with what people are hearing today."

"We want to tear down barriers that unchurched people feel keep them from coming to church."

"There are more and more congregations that will see their Sunday morning and their other activities during the week populated by people who are not just old white guys."

In the interest of ecumenical dialogue I would like to point out that if you want to attract people other than "old white guys", wearing polo shirts and jackets is.....probably not the best idea. That sounds like the official uniform of old white guys. Churches that are "diverse" tend to have congregations that dress in suits and dresses. Also, having a band to provide music that is 'in tune with what people are hearing today' would be quite interesting, considering some of the songs on the pop charts today. I don't want to put the people behind this effort down, but whenever I hear about efforts to attract younger, more diverse people to Church, it tends to be a bit off.

Anthony, a reader of this blog, kindly emailed me to advise Bishop Murphy would be coming to the Traditional Latin Mass in Uniondale on March 9th. I was reminded of his email when I spotted it on the Bishop's schedule in The Long Island Catholic. He will be there to confer the honor of Msgr. on Fr. James Pereda.

UPDATE: I just spotted this same news on Creative Minority Report, with the added note:

"On June 15, 2008 at St. Agnes Cathedral the Most Reverend William Murphy, Bishop of Rockville Centre, will confer the Sacrament of Confirmation according to the Traditional Form."

More Blogs by Catholics on Long Island

Alice Gunther, who writes a column for The Long Island Catholic, has a blog called Cottage Blessings.

MacBeth's Opinion is written by a Catholic homeschooling Mom.

CATHOLICS COME HOME.ORG

I found this site via Charlotte Was Both and it looks good. I particularly liked the Epic and Movies videos. This group is involved in the New Evangelization and attempts to create more of us "Reverts". I wish them luck and hope Dioceses will take avantage of this apostolate. If Catholics are the largest group of Christians in the US, then the second largest group would have to be lapsed or former Catholics.

Found via Ten Reasons -

This report of the National Council of Churches shows the 25 largest Christian denominations in the US. The Catholic Church is the largest Christian Church and grew by .87 percent. The report also states:

"Jehovah's Witnesses and the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, regarded by many Christians as cults, reported the largest membership increases in a year, according to the National Council of Churches' 2008".

The Mormons (Latter Day Saints) have large families so that would probably explain their growth. The Jehovah's Witnesses however simply do the evangelical work that Christians are called to do. It is easy to make fun of them for their door to door work, (see Barats & Bereta video The Good Word) but apparently it does work. Around here they are very successful with evangelizing minorities. At the train station my wife and I sometimes use there is usually a nice, elderly gentleman handing out Watchtowers. It is too bad their theology is so unorthodox. The Catholic Church has a long way to go with evangelizing, and in most cases, "re-evangelizing". Meanwhile, growth is not happening in some Christian groups:

"The greatest losses in membership were reported by The Episcopal Church, which dropped 4.15 percent in members, and the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), which decreased by 2.36 percent. Both denominations are currently wracked by theological differences and the issue of homosexuality."

5 Year Blogiversary

I forgot that January 18th, 2008 was my 5 year blogiversary. As I said last year - "Any moron can have a blog, it takes a special one to keep it going for 5 years!"

Here are my previous Blogiversary posts.

I once expressed mild disappointment on my blog that the days of the large stadium Masses celebrated by a Pope were not over. During John Paul the Great's reign there were ceremonies that raised eyebrows on those of us concerned with the dignity of the Liturgy and Papacy. My post caused an anonymous commenter to say:

"I think you come across a little arrogant and disrespectful in being "holier" than the Pope regarding the sacredness of an outdoor mass."

Well, that anonymous commenter might be interested to learn that the Pope appears to "holier" than the Pope as well -

Benedict XVI on vast, outdoor Masses: “there is a problem”

"How do we reconcile the treasure of the liturgy in all its solemnity and with the sentiment, emotion and excitment of masses of young people called to participate in it?"
Benedict XVI responded immediately that, in effect, there is a problem: "Liturgy in which masses of people participate", he said, "is a big problem."

The American Papist explains better than I can regarding why many of us, including Pope Benedict XVI, may have no problem with large outdoor Masses in some cases, but want to ensure that they are dignified and maintain the proper Liturgical atmosphere. I am glad to see the Pope and Marini II are doing what they can to restore reverence in Papal Liturgies.

The Voice of the Faithful Long Island continue to live in their own world:

This is a Most Important Year in the Life of LIVOTF!

Changes are already here…
Our Catholic world is changing before our eyes…
The Pope is coming to the United States…
Nothing will be the same…
We must prepare ourselves for what is coming…
We must be ready to take charge!!!

Fr. Mason, pastor for 31 years at Our Lady of Lourdes in Massapequa Park, is retiring. There are Catholics outside its boundaries who go to OLL as well as Catholics within its borders who go elsewhere. I know good Catholics on both sides of this divide and do not know much of the details about what went on at this parish, but I know years ago there was quite a divided battle there. Hopefully, the new pastor will be able to bring all sides together somehow.

UPDATE: In reading the bulletin, OLL is having the Legionaries of Christ give a Lenten evening of reconciliation this year. I have seen a couple of events by the Legionaries of Christ recently in DRVC. This is new because this growing religious community was (I believe) banned under Bishop McGann. I have long thought it would be great to have the LOC take over a parish here on Long Island. They would no doubt gain seminarians for their order, as well as inspire men to the priesthood for the Diocese. They are headquartered in CT. just a couple of hours away, and have a huge place in Westchester, even closer. Perhaps OLL can become a LOC parish? This would be great for the Legion as well as the Diocese.

This is the time of year when those who attend Sunday Mass faithfully each week get bombarded with appeals for money for the Diocese of Rockville Centre. While the various budget lines of the DRVC include some important things, I don't understand why the importance of the fund raising campaign has to be emphasized every year. At every Mass. By every priest. Since the people who bother to show up for the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass each week hear this appeal every year I really do not see how running down the list of things the Diocese does will help bring in more money. Here is what I would say if I were a priest at one Mass per year:

"The Diocese is having its annual appeal for funds to run its various programs. Please give if you can, as the Diocese needs money to run the Tribunal, Seminary, and other Church necessities. See the bulletin for details. Whether you give or not will not affect your eternal salvation one bit, however, and since I was ordained to the Holy Priesthood to care for immortal souls, I will not spend any more time on this. Thank you"

This would be followed by thunderous applause, which I would discourage of course, and then approximiately 5 minutes after Mass I would be sent off to some mission in Alaska or something.

Karl Ehrhardt, 'Sign man' of Shea Stadium, dead at 83

Patrick Archibold at Creative Minority Report has posted excerpts from two of Fr. McCartney's columns in the bulletin of St. Matthew's Church in Dix Hills.

In this column, Fr. McCartney he takes on people who do not provide funerals for their Church-going relatives:

"However, as pastor, I will refuse any request for a priest to go to a funeral home and do a small prayer service instead of a funeral Mass. It is simply wrong to manipulate religion like that. The Catholic Church cannot force people to have funeral Masses, but at St. Matthew’s any funeral service outside of Mass will only be done as the Church intends: by bringing the body to the church and conducting the prayer service there. Let the non-practicing family sit in God’s house, in the presence of the Blessed Sacrament, and stare into the darkness of their own unbelief. If I am the one to throw some Catholic sand in the secular eye, I am only too happy to oblige."

And in this one, he takes on parents' lack of understanding of the importance of religious education:

"[Note to enraged parents: A voicemail in an hysterical tone of voice beginning “I am absolutely furious at you . . .” does not improve the likelihood of your call being returned.]

One parent called me to say she objected to her child being assigned a Confirmation name. I told her that we do not assign Confirmation names at St. Matthew’s, nor in any Catholic Church, for that matter. She insisted. It went on and on. After investigation, it turned out that the 7th Grade students had been asked to write a report on some assigned saint whose life they had to research. It had absolutely nothing to do with the Confirmation name, but still took several hours to unravel. And no apology.

More often, I find, are the truly bizarre complaints: “Why does my child have to memorize the Act of Contrition?” “I don’t want my child to have to do any homework from religious education; he’s too busy already.” “You don’t really expect us to come every week, do you?” “My child doesn’t have to go to confession, she hasn’t committed any sins.” “What’s the big deal if he got a zero on the test, it’s not like it’s the S.A.T. or something.” I am not joking here. These are actual questions posed to me by some St. Matthew’s parents. The purpose of our Catholic Faith is to help people get to Heaven. Its purpose is not to allow people to have nice parties after Baptism, Communion, and Confirmation.

At the end of our lives we will all face an exam. Each and every one of us will be judged personally by Jesus Christ on the practice of our Catholic Faith and the actions of our lives. Believe me, that test is going to be much more important than the S.A.T."

Fr. McCartney's purpose in these columns is to focus on "what it means to be a “practicing Catholic,” and we have seen how secularism, its attitudes and its apathy, has been creeping into the Church." Patrick Archibold comments in reading the obnoxious things some parents have said and done it would be hard for him to have the patience to be a priest and deal with this stuff. I concur, and would add that priests are in a no-win situation with many parents regarding religious formation and the sacraments. They have to battle the secular attitudes of many people who use Baptism, Holy Communion, Confirmation, and Matrimony as excuses to party with no regard for their religious nature. But they must provide these sacraments none the less. The Church needs priests strong enough to do battle with these people without losing patience and by insisting that the religious nature of these sacraments are taken seriously. Often the priests who do this will be labeled "intolerant" or "mean". If you read the columns by Fr. McCartney, you will notice an intelligent, firm, but loving approach that is both reasoned and blunt.

Father Bill Brisotti, Long Island's Daniel Berrigan

This was a nice profile of Fr. Brisotti, a liberal priest of the Diocese of Rockville Centre. The only two things I did not like: 1) Brisotti was arrested for protesting the Shoreham Nuclear Power Plant. There are plenty of things to use civil disobedience for but I think the opening of a Nuclear power plant, even if ill advised, is not one of them. 2) Bill Donohue was quoted making a dumb statement about Fr. Brisotti's trips to Cuba:
"He added that traveling to and assisting "fascist" Cuba "calls into serious question what kind of moral compass that person is working with."

Donohue should realize that Pope John Paul II also visited Cuba and making a humanitarian visit to a country does not mean necessarily supporting its facist government.

From the blog WTF Over -

An article on the talk that chairman of the Joint Chief of Staff Peter Pace gave to the student body at Chaminade High in Mineola:

"Marine Gen. Peter Pace came to this Catholic school to honor Lance Corporal Farinaro, the first Marine to die following 2nd Lt. Peter Pace’s orders. The four-star general keeps a picture of the young lance corporal under the glass on his desk in the Pentagon to remind him of the sacrifices young servicemembers make.

Rev. James C. Williams, the president of the school, invited Pace to address the 1,700 students of the all-male school.

“This is selfish on my part to want to come here to Chaminade,” Pace told the students. “I’ve been invited to several Gold Star Masses and have not been able to attend. I did not want to leave active duty without coming to the place from which the single most influential military person in my life graduated.”

The lance corporal’s death also had a profound impact on the young lieutenant. “We were on patrol one day outside Da Nang, and Guido was killed by a sniper,” Pace said. “As I stayed with him, a sense of rage came through me, and as the platoon leader, I started calling an artillery strike on the village where the round had been fired.

“My platoon sergeant, who was my age – 21 or 22 -- didn’t say anything at all,” Pace said. “He just looked at me. And I knew in the look that he gave me that what I was doing was wrong.”

Pace called off the strike and led the platoon to do what he should have done in the first place – a dismounted sweep of the village. “We found nothing but women and children,” he said. “Had that artillery strike been conducted, I do not know how I could have possibly lived with myself.”

The lesson for Pace was immediate. “Regardless what you do in your life, hold on to your moral compass,” he said. “When you are emotionally least capable of defending yourself is when the biggest challenge will come. If you don’t have an idea of what you will let yourself do and what you will not let yourself do, you may find that you have done something that you would never believe yourself capable of doing.”

He said his epiphany came in combat, but it doesn’t have to. “I learned that day, to think through what was going to be happening each day thereafter, and to think through what I would allow myself to do and not do,” he said.

It could come in a meeting, a test, a temptation, whatever. “If you have thought through who you want to be at the end of each day, you will see that person,” he said. “But, if you have not, you may not like the person you end up being.”

Faith intact after Wyandanch church fire

"Smoke had blackened every pew in his church, flames had devoured all the food he'd gathered for charity, and hose water had drowned his kitchen. But the 65-year-old Wyandanch priest remained undaunted yesterday.

"We're going to rebuild here," said a red-eyed Rev. Bill Brisotti as he surveyed damage to Our Lady of the Miraculous Medal Roman Catholic Church. "Out of bad things, good things come."

The apparently accidental fire injured no one but caused as much as $1 million in damage to the church and its related buildings on Straight Path late Sunday. It also destroyed an outreach center that church officials said provides around 1,000 homeless and low-income residents with food, clothing and fuel each month. The congregation will worship in the parish hall, which was undamaged."

The John White case

Racism and Justice on Long Island

A rumor spreads that a black man threatened to rape a white girl, the rumor is untrue. A crowd of angry white men drive to the black man's house with a baseball bat in the car, they scream racial epithets at the black man and his father, and threaten him. Does this sound like a story from the 1920's or 1940's somewhere in the South? It actually happened on Long Island in 2007!

Any Long Islander with a brain knows that if a mob of angry black men showed up at the house of a white man in Suffolk County and screamed and threatened him, the police would immediately arrest the black men. So, the question is being asked, by Al Sharpton among others, why weren't the members of the white mob arrested? Sharpton is as right in this case as he was wrong in the Tawana Brawley case.

Having grown up on Long Island I know all too well the racist attitudes of many people, both black and white. I have heard a white women scream at a black woman in an office - "Black people were told to overpopulate the world by their black preachers!!" I have seen in that same office in Garden City a black woman get debited for being 1 minute late, punching in at 9:01 AM and having her paycheck docked for that minute. The white Italian man who sat next to her routinely showed up late and his latenesses were "squashed" by the assistant director of this department. In other words, his punch times were altered to take away latenesses so he was not always debited for latenesses which sometimes were as much as 25 minutes. I have heard racist statements by enough white people here in my lifetime to not be fooled by those who scream that "race is not a factor in this case".

Happy New Year!

The Diocese of Rockville Centre, God willing, will see 9 men ordained to the priesthood in June of 2008.

Two locals bloggers are back!

Aristotle at The Recovering Choir Director, who has also created the website: The New Pro-Life Strategy

Patrick at Extreme Catholic

Merry Christmas!!

Prayers were answered for Leticia's daughter who was released from the hospital on Christmas Eve.

I was glad to spend a 4 day weekend with family. I was also glad for gifts which included these great books:

Jesus of Nazareth by Pope Benedict XVI

Christians in China A.D. 600 - 2000

Schulz and Peanuts: A Biography

Former British Prime Minister Tony Blair has entered the Catholic Church

Open Book has a roundup of reactions, most focusing on his record on Life Issues as a politician. I like former Anglican, now Catholic priest Fr. Dwight Longenecker's opinion:

"I don't think it's fair to take easy pot shots at Blair because of his previous views on abortion, gay rights etc. We should give everyone the benefit of the doubt and give him a warm welcome. People do change their minds about certain issues, and instead of criticizing we should give converts time and space."

In today's Newsday I was surprised to read two Letters to the Editor referring to a column by Rabbi Marc Gellman on "cafeteria Catholicism". (Rabbi Gellman now writes the God Squad column exclusively due to Msgr. Hartman's Parkinsons, although he has left his friend's name on the byline). The column is here:

God Squad: 'Cafeteria Catholicism' doesn't work

A snip: "Here are the reasons why Cafeteria Catholicism has no future and is a bad idea: First, in the cafeteria, you could leave behind the beliefs you most need to move closer to Christ and to the Church. You've actually done that in your selections. Abortion, for example, which you've left off your plate, is wrong not just because it's condemned by Catholic teachings. It's wrong because it is the taking of a human life, and that life is sacred; its claim trumps even the most agonizing sacrifices of the mother in helping bring a child into the world."

The first letter writer praises the column and notes the irony of someone outside the faith understanding the failings of cafeteria Catholicism better than many within the faith. The second letter is by Deacon Don Zirkel, who seems to totally misunderstand the term "cafeteria Catholic" and proclaims he is one:

"I feel blessed to be a Catholic and to recognize the generous service of many Christians, although I am troubled by some treatment of women and gays, and the attempted cover-up of the sexual abuse crisis."

Deacon Zirkel does not seem to realize the Rabbi was pointing out the folly of picking and choosing teachings, which has nothing to do with failings of individual Church members. The sex abuse crisis for instance can be condemned harshly by Catholics who fully accept the Church's teachings and doctrine. As a member of the clergy, Deacon Zirkel should more carefully read something before responding.

Zenit summarizes the recent Doctrinal Note on Some Aspects of Evangelization issued by the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith:

'Missionary Mandate of the Church is to Evangelize'

"3. Today there is "a growing confusion" about the Church's missionary mandate. Some think "that any attempt to convince others on religious matters is a limitation of their freedom,"

Anyone who reads books written by Catholic converts or who browses Catholic blogs, has read stories of people asking for help in converting only to be told they can stay in whatever church they are currently attending or being discouraged by misinformation or ignorance, or worse. The 70's and 80's were low points in apologetics and evangelization but many protestants, including many clergy, converted starting in the 80's and have been a notable force in renewing apologetics and evangelization. They are a big influence and inspiration to many cradle Catholics. I recently purchased Nothing But the Truth by Karl Keating and he writes about all of these things. The lack of apologetics and evangelization by Catholics was part of the sad shape of the Church over the past 35 years, although this too has changed for the better recently.

Related: an article in The Long Island Catholic about Evangelization in the Diocese of Rockville Centre.

"The Church also can look at practices like the rosary or eucharistic adoration that seem old to people who grew up a generation or more ago in the Church, Bastien said, but are novel to younger people. “Of course, the way they do it today might be different, not as quiet.”
Smith pointed out that XLT, a form of eucharistic adoration that includes lively music, has a great deal of appeal for teens. “The music is important in a lot of what we do for young people.”

Voice of the Faithful Long Island continue to show their complete ignorance by inviting clueless speakers such as Paul Lakeland. Here is some of his "wisdom" he imparted to the foolish old folks of VOTF:

"Demand access to the Eucharist, for it is your right! Do not participate in para-liturgies in the absence of a priest."

"The single best thing that we could do for the Church would be to remove the Bishops and replace them with well trained Sisters. "

"He feels that VOTF’s aim to keep away from doctrinal issues is naïve. "

I have a better idea: VOTF should accept all the doctrines of the Catholic Church, the liberal bishops should be replaced by orthodox ones, and people should attend Masses on all Sundays and Holy Days, even it means traveling to overcrowded Churches. Here is another idea: Instead of spending $6,000 on a full page ad in Newsday, VOTF should donate all that money to the Sisters of Life, or the Franciscans Friars of the Renewal, or Aid to the Church in Need. But the most interesting part of Lakeland's talk had to be this statement:

"By way of introduction, he reviewed problems plaguing the Church: the sexual scandal, shortage of priests, financial problems and poor ecclesiastical leadership. Recent news from Rome such as more frequent celebration of the Latin Mass is hardly encouraging."

HUH?! Why is the celebration of the Latin Mass hardly encouraging with regard to the problems of the Church. More reverence in the Liturgies, more holiness in priests, and more of a traditional understanding of Catholicism is exactly what is needed. Lakeland, and VOTF just do not get it.

The Golden Compass

Apparently the author of the books that spawned the movie The Golden Compass is an anti-Catholic bigot and a subversive atheist. The movie reviewers at the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops gave the movie a positive review despite the author's publicly stated intention:

"He told the Sydney Morning Herald in 2003, for example, that "my books are about killing God," and that he was amused that American Christians have been more critical of J.K. Rowling's Harry Potter books than His Dark Materials.
"I've been flying under the radar, saying things that are far more subversive than anything old Harry has said," Mr. Pullman said.
He has stated a number of times that he wrote His Dark Materials in part to counter the Christian themes and values woven into C.S. Lewis' literary children's classic, The Chronicles of Narnia."

American Papist has been following the story and reports that the USCCB has now withdrawn the movie review. This is yet another story that confirms that pressure from people (The Catholic League, bloggers, etc..) is still needed to get the Bishops to do the right things. Both Thomas Peters at American Papist and Amy Welborn at Charlotte Was Both have asked whether the USCCB needs to have a movie reviewer, and both have mentioned that Stephen Gredanus already does a better job than the people paid by the USCCB.

Rite of Dedication of St. Therese of Lisieux, Montauk, NY

The above link takes you to a 30 minute YouTube video from WVVH-TV Hamptons Television® showing clips of the Dedication Mass of the new Church in Montauk. The parish Church was originally built in 1935 and closed in 1995 due to damage from salt air and harsh winds of the nearby Atlantic Ocean. It took several years to build the new Church due to those same harsh conditions. Shortly after the dedication Mass, the pastor of the parish Msgr. Peter A. Libasci became a bishop.

My post on the two corrupt priests who tried to get out of serving their jail time by claiming to be too sick caused "Mr. T" to lash out again on this blog in the comment section. This time he accused me of being ignorant about things in the Church, a gossip, and of using slander. I deny all three and post a lengthy reply below. Mr. T. is representative of certain Catholics, mostly of an older generation, who are full of fear whenever younger Catholics speak of tradition. My advice to all these Catholics: remember the words of a President of your generation: You have nothing to fear but fear itself. For those who are appreciative of the cleaning out of the corruption and dissent in the Church, who love the renewed sense of tradition on display everywhere: remember the words of a President of my generation: You ain't seen nothing yet!

Mr. T's comments in italics, my response below:

"12/4 - you say I have no faith in the USCCB"

Wrong – I said “Although I don't put much faith in the USCCB, I wish Bishop Murphy the best in this responsibility” Seems like you are simply seeing what you want to see…Everything you write next does not change the fact that I have little faith (which is different from none) in the UCCB

“I trust that is base on personal, direct experience. Did you know that in the United States, but for the American Bishops, there would be significantly less lower and middle income (affordable) housing. That post Katrina, US Catholic Charities distirbuted more DIRECT aid and faster than any agency other than FEMA.”

Yes, I don’t put much faith in the USCCB since for years it was run by the “liberal” faction of bishops, for lack of a better word. This organization put out positive reviews of Brokeback Mountain and The Golden Compass, but mild and weak statements of policy, and watered down theology. The things you mention are wonderful, but nothing I have ever said on this blog has anything to do with this stuff. I post mostly on liturgical and criminal matters, as well as education and vocational stuff. Also, is Catholic Charities run by the USCCB? - I thought it was an independent charity. Still do not see slander or gossip…

“That there voice has been the only leading voice for the unborn and the elderly.”

That is hard to believe – the ONLY leading voice?? What about Priests for Life? What about Operation Rescue? American Life League? Feminists for Life? Still do not see slander or gossip…


“They failed to deal appropriately with the sexual abuse crisis, but again I believe they felt constrained by Canon Lawyer and its protection of the clergy. They have been more aggressive since in dealing with a horrible disorder that affected a limited number of priests. However, one is too many.”

I am one of those rare people who care less about the Bishop’s handling of priest abusers than the abusers themselves. I really object to your term “horrible disorder” to describe grown men who molest young boys and girls or teen. I see it as sin, not a disorder – although some of the men may have been sick. Still, my blog focuses mostly on the corrupt (such as Michael Jude Fay) or perverts (such as Paul Shanley) not the sick types who were truly contrite. You should also notice my blog focuses a lot on crime and corruption in general – I have posted more about the Mepham High rapes and the Roslyn school district scandals than most places on the net. So, if you weren’t so angry you might notice a pattern of hating crime and injustice, not of bias against priests. Still do not see slander or gossip…

106 "typical of Bishop Wcela's "smug and condesending attitude toward tradition" When was the last time you engaged in personal, face to face dialgoue with Emil Wcela who many and I mean many would say is one of the simplest, holiestm gentlest priests on Long Island.”

When was the last time you engaged me in personal face to face dialogue? Everything I have read by Bishop Wcela on traditional Catholicism has been smug and condescending. If Bishop Wcela writes publicly in America Magazine I can write on this blog criticizing what he writes. Just as you can criticize what I write. This is not slander, I am commenting on his writing. Why do I need to have spoken to him in person? I met him once, and heard him speak and along with other younger people was not that impressed. Still, I was grateful he gave the talk he did. I am sure if he wanted to talk about Church stuff we would have a nice conversation. I would want him to know how much younger people want tradition that was thrown overboard in the 70’s and how that is a good thing, not a bad thing. I am sure we would agree on some things and disagree on others. I am sure he could teach me a lot on scripture. I have never commented on his personal holiness. Still do not see slander or gossip…

"11/17 - sidebar comment in church to your wife about "child molesting priests" causing the emptiness in pews.”

This was in response to a pastor (of a parish where 3 priests have been removed) saying ‘that there were less people coming to Mass these days, less people giving money, and he didn't think there was anyone to blame for this’ I mean come on, do you have to have a crystal ball to see why so many would be hesitant to give money? This was the purpose of the priest’s talk by the way, it was not the homily. Still do not see slander or gossip…

"As a parent, practicing Catholic, a sinner, I would rather paint myself with the brush of sin than some broad statement about a whole class of people.”

Are you the same Mr. T. who said “you and your kind”????? As in “Oh yes, the restoration of the Tidentine Mass will heal all your woes. If you and your kind are fruits of that, the future is far worse than the past.” Still do not see slander or gossip…

"Would you care for more comments on what I consdier ignorant and slander?”

I would settle for just 1 example because so far… Still do not see slander or gossip…

"Contribute to the healing, not the pain.”

From what most people tell me that is what I am doing, now why don’t you take your own advice instead of ranting against the traditional Mass? Still do not see slander or gossip…

"Some priests caused scandal. Most did not.”

We are in complete agreement here. Still do not see slander or gossip…

"Highlight in your blog a priest (other than one simply saying a beatiful Tridentine Mass) bearing the heat of the day...like Fr.Frank Pizzarelli caring for 1,000's of kids, Fr. John Cervini giving his life and health to the missions in the Dominican Republic,Fr. Gene Murphy caring for the sick at Winthrop Hospital for decades,or the late Fr. Larry Penzes who served his country in the military, minististered to all with kindness and gave his life as he celebrated holy mass...the novus ordo holy mass.”

I have mentioned good priests and good things in this Diocese, but your anger seems to blind you from seeing them. Please click on the category on the right that says: Diocese of Rockville Centre and you will see some of them. Still do not see slander or gossip…

"Who cares about the Pope's MC and what vestments B16 is wearing. The gospel focuses on action and the men I mentioned have lived the gospel.”

Many Catholics care, because they understand the importance of taste and tradition. Still do not see slander or gossip…

"And, as I have told you in the past tens of thousands of people would completely find offense in your assessment of the ministry of one John McGann, whom I am certain you never spent five seconds speaking to or praying with.”


You are wrong, I served Mass for Bishop McGann and was confirmed by him. So, I have spent more than 5 seconds speaking to him and praying with him. I am always uncertain of people that are so certain of things.

I can’t understand why anyone would be offended by my assessment of Bishop McGann’s leadership of this Diocese. Catholics are not mindless sheep you know, we can disagree with priests, nuns, bishops and even the Pope on simple matters. I disagree with the direction he and his staff took. I do not believe his actions helped foster vocations, or orthodoxy on this island, but I do not find him to be unusual in that regard. Nor do I think that made him a bad person. Nor would I list him as one of the country’s worst bishops in any regard. I like the direction Bishop Murphy is taking this Diocese, but I am not offended when people criticize him. Criticism is not something that offends me, unless it is mean or ignorant.

I do get offended by priests who rape children, or spend other people’s money on their lovers. I find offense in violent criminals and liars. I find offense in people that lie or steal. I find offense in killing and raping. I simply do not understand why anyone would be offended by someone’s opinion, unless it was evil or hateful, which this blog has never been. I do not slander or gossip, nor do I lie. I am always careful of what I say, even when I criticize, which I do not do often. Recently I upgraded my blog and was able to tag each post with a label to put them all into categories. Doing this enabled me to read old posts that I had forgotten about. The ones that were angry posts were always about a bigot (like Jimmy Breslin) or about a violent criminal (like the Mepham High rapists) or a jerk (like Roslyn School District thief Pamela Gluckin). And yes, many were on corrupt priests or bishops, that is to be expected from someone who loves the Church and whose blog concentrates on Catholicism. I guess I have a high sense of justice, or a low tolerance for evil. The only posts I have ever thought of deleting or changing while labeling all the posts were the ones on islam. I reread them while organizing the categories and thought they may have come close to the line from righteous anger to hate a few times, but this has never been true of my posts on any Church stuff.

Conclusion – I do not see gossip or slander on my blog, but if you want a place where corruption in the Church is ignored or tradition is disparaged, then you are not going to like it here.

Judge sentences Darien priest to just over three years in prison

The above link refers to the priest Michael Jude Fay from Connecticut, who stole money from a parish and spent it lavishly with his gay lover. He tried the same trick to get out of prison that a priest of the Diocese or Brooklyn tried: claiming he is close to death from terminal cancer.

"I beg for your mercy not to send me to prison, Fay told the judge. I am already in prison and I beg you to let me die with the medical dignity my doctors and nurses provide."

Fortunately, this judge was smart enough to ignore this trick. Check out this quote from an article about Fay:

"Fay learned he had prostate cancer, but Patafio and other parishioners said he cited problems from the cancer to avoid duties he disliked. He called it playing his "cancer card" they said."

This is exactly what another priest Barry Ryan tried to pull - See my post here. Ryan claimed in 2004 he was too sick from terminal cancer to go to jail, and then ended up moving to Missouri in 2007, resulting in a warrant for his arrest. He finally began serving his jail time in Oct. 2007:

"Ryan, 58, was formally sentenced in 2004 after pleading guilty to criminal sexual act charges. But because he was in the advanced stages of terminal liver cancer, Suffolk County Court Judge Ralph Gazzillo agreed to put off sending Ryan to jail for seven months."

Three years later, Ryan was still alive and his illness had stabilized, but Ryan had moved to Missouri, according to prosecutors."

Ryan appeared frail and gaunt when he was brought into the Riverhead courtroom in a wheelchair Monday. But while informing Gazzillo of the various medications he required, Ryan spoke far more clearly than the whisper he used three years ago at his sentencing."

From Catholic.org:

A nice story on a former Long Islander who is bringing a Mexican art to Churches in the US.

"A self-described handyman who built his own house on Long Island and said he knows “all the trades,” Donaldson is focused today on transforming religious pictures into magnificently painted tile scenes, eight of which are mounted on and around the courtyard walls of Santa Cruz Parish at 6th Avenue and 22nd Street in Tucson."

Bishop Murphy Elected Chair of USCCB Domestic Policy Committee

"The Domestic Policy Committee is a standing committee of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops. It coordinates the USCCB's policy development and advocacy on major national issues including: health care, welfare reform, violence and the death penalty, poverty, civil rights, housing, homelessness, hunger, rural life, economic justice, labor and employment. It has oversight of the USCCB Department of Social Development and World Peace with regard to these issues. "

Although I don't put much faith in the USCCB, I wish Bishop Murphy the best in this responsibility. Perhaps a good tool he can use for this work is the Encyclopedia of Catholic Social Thought, Social Science, and Social Policy.

The Curt Jester has a great post on the media coverage of the Pope's new encyclical Spe Salvi. First, he lists headlines that seem like they are typical Curt Jester spoofs, but they are real headlines he is listing. Then, he quotes Tom at Disputations who spoke about the Ginger factor:

"The Ginger Factor, named for a well-known "Far Side" cartoon, is a measure of the ratio of words said to words understood. A dog named Ginger, for example, only understands the word "Ginger" in the sentence, "Okay, Ginger, if you get into the garbage one more time, you'll be spending the night outside." I think most people, not just benighted reporters, experience a high Ginger Factor with most papal encyclicals"