From the New York Times:

As Girls’ School Plans Closing, the Tears Flow

I was emailed by the author of this article to ask if I had any insights to offer before its publication. I advised her I did not have any real useful information or insights but appreciated being asked. After reading this and a couple of other articles on the closing I was even more aware of how sad this is: the school was open since 1856! I feel especially bad for the students there.

A snip from the article:

"Administrators of the academy, run by the Sisters of St. Joseph, said that they had been struggling with low enrollment for nearly 20 years and that aggressive fund-raising and recruitment efforts had proven insufficient. This year’s freshman class has 37 students, down from about 150 in the early 1990s."


An article in The Long Island Catholic adds:

"Brentwood — Years of dwindling enrollment have culminated in the decision to close the Academy of St. Joseph here at the end of the school year, ending a 152-year tradition and closing the only all-girls’ Catholic high school in Suffolk County.The decision has been “extremely difficult on the students and families,” said Sister of St. Joseph Jean Amore, the congregation’s president. “It is extremely difficult for the Sisters of St. Joseph as well.”

"We tried everything,” she said, to keep open the school which serves about 340 students. Grades kindergarten-eight are co-ed; the high school is all girls. The Academy of St. Joseph was founded in Brooklyn in 1856 when Sisters of St. Joseph came from Philadelphia to start a school. The original school was also the convent and, as more sisters joined the order, the convent and school moved to Queens. In 1896 they moved to the current location in Suffolk County, on a campus that also includes the order’s motherhouse.

“Although the Congregation of the Sisters of St. Joseph has subsidized ASJ over the years, it cannot continue to do so,” read a letter sent by the school’s administration to all parents October 29. “Also, in justice, faculty salaries should be significantly improved in light of current economic pressures. In addition, the Member Board feels that a more serious concern is the difficulty of providing all options, enrichment opportunities and special programs that a diverse population needs and deserves.”

Mary Ellen Barrett of Tales From The Bonny Blue House has a new article in The Long Island Catholic on keeping holy the Sabbath:

Sacred Sunday

It is a response to the Long Island Press article I posted about here.

The Nassau Community College Center for Catholic Studies Presents
Liturgical Reform: Pluses and Minuses
November 8

Garden City, NY – The Nassau Community College Center for Catholic Studies is honored to present a lecture by Monsignor George A. Graham, Ph.D., J.C.D., on the debate surrounding liturgical reform in the Catholic Church of the United States from the mid-twentieth century to the present. Liturgical Reform: Pluses and Minuses will take place on Saturday, November 8 at 11:00 a.m. in the College Center Building.

Monsignor Graham is president of the New York Regional Chapter of the Society of Catholic Social Scientists, Judicial Vicar for the Interdiocesan Court of Appeals for the eight Catholic dioceses of New York State and a member of the Liturgical Commission of the Catholic Diocese of Rockville Centre.

This event is free and open to the public, but requires both registration and a parking permit. To register and receive a permit, contact the NCC Office of Lifelong Learning at 516.572.7472.

I hope to be able to attend this lecture as it is my particular area of interest - Liturgical reform.

William Walsh cover-up unraveled quickly, cops say

Police reveal details about arrest of husband in Leah Walsh case



The above link is from Newsday on the sad case of a Long Island teacher of autistic students who was found murdered. Her husband was arrested and charged with her murder.

The Long Island Catholic had a short article on the Seminary program for college age men. The program is rightfully called 'one of our best kept secrets' and it should be better known:

"Douglaston — For college-age men considering a vocation to the priesthood, the Cathedral Semi-nary Residence here offers “the best of both worlds,” said Father Brian Barr, diocesan vocations director.
“They have a foot in both worlds,” Father Barr said of about 25 men from the Rockville Centre and Brooklyn dioceses who are living at Cathedral Residence while studying at St. John’s University or another local college. “They can have a normal college experience while beginning their formation for the priesthood. They can be with other guys who have that same goal,” said Father Barr, who is also director of campus ministry. Six men from the diocese are in the program here."

This is the type of program that the Dioceses (Brooklyn and Rockville Centre) should be promoting more. If the program were done well, the men could be prepared for the seminary and priesthood, and if this vocation were not for them, then they would be prepared to be Christian gentlemen. It is a win-win situation and should have a hundred young men or more.

"To find out more, contact Father Brian Barr at the diocesan vocations office at 631-424-9888, or vocations@drvc.org."

From Newsday: The Academy of St. Joseph in Brentwood is closing due to lack of enrollment.

"The only all-girls Catholic high school in Suffolk County, a hidden gem housed in majestic buildings on a lush 211-acre campus in Brentwood, is closing its doors. The Academy of St. Joseph, whose history dates back 153 years, lacks the students and money to make running it financially feasible, Sisters of St. Joseph of Brentwood president Sister Jean Amore said yesterday. The school will shut down in June."

This is sad news but common around the Northeast, with declining enrollment and escalating costs it is just too difficult to keep many Catholic schools open. Of course, many religious communities stopped focusing on education and orthodoxy in the 60's and 70's and that too hurt their ability to remain vital and growing, in turn affecting their apostolates, so that also has played a role.

The Diocese of Rockville Centre announced a short time ago that retired priests of the Diocese would be moved to a new residence on grounds operated by the Dominican Sisters of Amityville:

Dominican Village to Become New Residence for Retired Diocesan Priests

They currently live at the former St. Pius X High School which closed in 1983. The St. Pius alumni run a website here. The press release mentioned that the residence for priests was to close when the preists move, so I assumed the entire St. Pius property would be sold. Today, Newsday reports the health care clinic operated by Rotacare on the property was told it would have to leave so it seems the property will be sold. This all makes sense for the Diocese to sell off this property but I do wonder what will happen to the Mass in the Extraordinary Form that is currently offered in the chapel? Perhaps it will be moved to a parish which would be great.

In the past, rumors suggested Bishop Murphy would be moved to a bigger Diocese, if this does happen -

Will one of these men be the next Bishop of the Dioecesis Petropolitana in Insula Longa?

Bishop Peter Anthony Libasci


Bishop Paul Henry Walsh

Just askin'

Crime and Justice on Long Island


Marty Tankleff, who spent 17 years in jail on charges of killing his parents and then had his conviction vacated, has started the Fortress Innocence Group. The goal is to help those who are wrongly convicted, a very worthy cause.



Pamela Gluckin, the Roslyn School embezzler is up for parole after serving only 2 1/2 years of a 3 to 9 year sentence. She should not be released yet considering all she stole, another year or two would be appropriate.

I found this explanded story of Seattle nuns returning to the Catholic Church after decades as schismatics on the blog The Black Cordelias. The nuns who returned are now the Sisters of Mary Mother of the Church. I had known about this situation but did not know of the role of Mother Teresa's Missionaries of Charity:

"Last July, 15 nuns from a schismatic convent in Washington state rejoined the Catholic Church. They left the motherhouse of the Religious Congregation of Mary Immaculate Queen (CMRI), located on the outskirts of Spokane, to form a new congregation: the Sisters of Mary, Mother of the Church. They formally renounced their state of schism, made a profession of the Catholic faith, became a private association of the faithful under the care of Spokane Bishop William Skylstad, and recognized the legitimacy of the popes from Paul VI through Benedict XVI.
Their former order, which still has approximately 35 sisters, holds to the sedevacantist position that popes elected since John XXIII are invalid and that Vatican II was a heretical council. "

"In June of 2006, Sister Nirmala sent four of her sari-clad sisters to start a new foundation in Spokane and told the Missionaries of Charity novices to begin praying to Mother Teresa to help bring back the schismatic nuns of the CMRI order. There were exactly 32 Missionaries of Charity novices in the US at the time and 32 CMRI sisters stationed at the Mount. The novices’ prayers began to bear fruit.
Sister Alinda, the superior of the MC nuns in Spokane, went up to the Mount shortly after arriving. She continued to visit six more times in the first few months, after her arrival. On her last visit, the sisters at the sent her home with a large concrete statue of Our Lady of Grace for the garden of the MC convent. As she left the CMRI convent, Sister Alinda says she whispered to the Blessed Mother statue, “OK, I am taking you down the hill today, but now you have to come back here and bring the CMRI sisters down the hill with you."

Also found via the blog The Black Cordelias:

"More than 80% of the prisoners in the concentration camps are not Jews but Christians, and the best tribute to the spirit of Germany's Christians comes from a Jew and agnostic (TIME, Sept. 23) — the world's most famous scientist, Albert Einstein. Says he:

"Being a lover of freedom, when the revolution came in Germany, I looked to the universities to defend it, knowing that they had always boasted of their devotion to the cause of truth; but, no, the universities immediately were silenced. Then I looked to the great editors of the newspapers whose flaming editorials in days gone by had proclaimed their love of freedom; but they, like the universities, were silenced in a few short weeks. . . .

"Only the Church stood squarely across the path of Hitler's campaign for suppressing truth. I never had any special interest in the Church before, but now I feel a great affection and admiration because the Church alone has had the courage and persistence to stand for intellectual truth and moral freedom. I am forced thus to confess that what I once despised I now praise unreservedly."

The above excerpt is from a fascinating article in Time Magazine, Monday, December 23, 1940

Good News in the Diocese of Rockville Centre

The Recovering Choir Director gives an update on Gregorian Chant classes held at St. Matthew's in Dix Hills: "The last two Wednesdays have seen the class grow from four to almost twenty willing participants."

I have to ask: How many unwilling participants are there Aristotle? Seriously, this is a great development in the continuing 'reform of the reform'. It is so good to see Vatican II being implemented concretely on Long Island.

"116. The Church acknowledges Gregorian chant as specially suited to the Roman liturgy: therefore, other things being equal, it should be given pride of place in liturgical services."
--SACROSANCTUM CONCILIUM

From the Long Island Catholic:

Local priests react to violence in India

"As new reports of Hindu extremists attacking Catholics reach the U.S., Indian priests serving on Long Island are hoping that U.S. Catholics and other Christians will become aware and vocal in defending their fellow Christians in India.
According to Catholic News Service reports and information from a Web site of the Indian bishops, about 60 Christians have been killed, 300 villages have been destroyed, 50,000 people are left homeless, more than 18,000 have been injured, including priests and nuns, two women were gang raped, and more than 150 churches and other church facilities have already been destroyed while still more were vandalized or desecrated.“It is terribly troubling,” said Father Augustine Fernando, associate pastor of St. Kilian’s Church in Farmingdale and a native of India. He has been in touch with priests from his home diocese and has gotten information from a Web site of the Indian bishops’ conference. He is hoping that Americans will become aware and raise their voices."

One of the causes of the violence may the fear of losing out to Christianity:

"There has been a surge of Indians who have joined the Catholic and other Christian Churches, Father Sabhasundar said, but he denies that the Catholic Church has made any special effort to draw Hindus. Rather, the Catholic Church and other Christians offer health and other services to people of all faiths.“They find dignity and equal-ity in Christianity,” Father Sabhasundar said, and many are drawn to the teachings of Jesus. This is particularly true of “outcasts,” those who are excluded from the traditional Hindu caste system."

For those who have never seen my Gen X Catholic poem ala Allen Ginsberg, here it is:

Catholic Howl

I saw the best Catholics of my generation destroyed by madness, starving
hysterical naked,
dragging themselves through the streets at dawn looking for beautiful Liturgy

Coolheaded hipsters burning for the ancient heavenly connection to the
Trinity,
Who passed through universities without ever learning Aquinas, among the scholars of Kung,
who were expelled from the seminary for questioning heterodoxy,
who cowered in rooms with no crucifixes, burning their Missals in
wastebaskets and listening to the Feminist Theology through the wall,
who got busted in their dorms reading Wojtyla,
who purgatoried their torsos night after night
with endless tales of bitter old nuns,
who chained themselves to altar rails for the timeless reception of the Eucharist,

who sank all night in submarine light of renovated Churches, listening to the
crack of doom from the folk group,
a lost battalion of Thomistic conversationalists,
screaming whispering facts and memories and
anecdotes of lecher priests, pedophiles, perverts
whole intellects who vanished into nowhere leaving a trail of missed vocations,
who wandered around and around at midnight wondering where to go for Adoration, and went, leaving no broken hearts,
who studied Newman,Stein, St. John of the Cross
because the teachers would forbid it,
who loned it through the streets of Georgetown seeking visionary angels like Fessio
who lounged hungry and lonesome through USF seeking Chesterton or Augustine or
Waugh, and followed the brilliant Spaniard to converse about Opus Dei
who disappeared into the Traditionalist groups,
who reappeared on the Florida Coast building Ave Maria
with big pacifist eyes sexy in their dark skin passing out Catholics United for the Faith leaflets,
who kneeled for communion and shrieked with delight for
committing no crime but their own desire for orthodoxy

who journeyed to Denver, who prayed With Chaput,
& waited in vain, for the New Evangelization

who fell on their knees in hopeless cathedrals praying for each other's salvation

who threw potato salad at Jesuit lecturers on Dogma and subsequently
presented themselves on the granite steps of Groeschel’s Friary with
shaven heads demanding true religious life.

II

What sphinx of cement and aluminum bashed open their skulls and ate up
their brains and imagination?
Moloch! Heterodoxy! Filth! Ugliness! Bare Churches and stupid theology! Boys sobbing childhood molestation
Moloch! Moloch! Nightmare of Moloch! Moloch the heavy judger of orthodox seminarians!
Moloch the incomprehensible dissidents! Moloch the soulless Liturgies! Moloch whose church buildings are empty!
Moloch whose love is endless questioning and changing! Moloch whose soul is America and National Catholic Reporter!

Necessary Heartbreak

Product Description

Do you believe that time heals all wounds? Michael Stewart doesn't. Twelve years later, he's still struggling with the demands of being a single father. His life revolves around his daughter Elizabeth, a precocious girl who's growing up much too fast. Michael is all too aware of time lost, and time still slipping away. But fate, or perhaps something more divine, has other plans for Michael. When he and Lizzie stumble upon a root-cellar door in the floor of an old church, they discover that it's actually a tunnel leading back in time to first century Jerusalem during the tumultuous last week of Christ's life. With the help of Leah, a newfound friend, they try desperately to escape, avoiding menacing soldiers at every turn, including one determined to make Elizabeth his own. Trapped in the past -- both literally and figuratively -- Michael comes face to face with some of his most limiting beliefs, and realizes he must open himself up to the possibility of a deeper faith in God, people, himself, and love before he can find his way home. Michael Sullivan is the author of several books for young readers. He lives on Long Island with his wife and two daughters.

I was sent a copy of this book by the author, who happens to be a fellow Long Island Catholic. I advised the author, M.J. Sullivan that I do not read fiction, something my wife, a former adjunct English Lit professor tells me I should do. I am glad he sent the book to me as I enjoyed it. This was a quick and interesting read about a Long Island father and daughter that find themselves in Israel at the time of Jesus. The story moves quickly and I found it was not easy to put the book down. The author is a sports writer who has written books for young readers about Chris Mullin (St. John's University basketball star) and Darryl Strawberry ('86 Met!) and others.

I Hate Politics

I hate politics and will be glad when the Catholic blogs will be back to posting reasonable, thoughtful, educated posts on topics of interest to me. Like 13th Century Liturgy. Anyway, I can now post something about the Presidential Election of 2008 :

Obama and McCain Yuk it Up at Al Smith Dinner

It is great to see a Catholic event that raises money for charity and hosts some big political figures. I enjoyed hearing clips of both candidates joking although neither one of them is naturally funny, the writing was good. It was good to see both laughing amid the seriousness of the election.

From The Long Island Press:

Soccer Moms vs. God

"One Rockville Centre mother, Sue Cavallo, who spent this past Sunday morning-as well as many other weekend mornings-on the football field at Oceanside High School, says football gives her son an "easy out" from church, especially if he throws a "hissy fit" and she doesn't want to deal with it.

"Quite frankly, I'm a parent and I should put my foot down," says Cavallo. "But if there is a call between church and the game, the game comes first."

The 44-year-old accountant is not alone in that school of thought. Many of the parents the Press spoke with at weekend games said that between homework, school clubs and sports, there's really no time for church."

Wow, that is an honest quote - admitting that she does not do what a parent should do, that Church comes after sports, and that her jock son throws hissy fits. I am surprised to see honesty from a Long Islander. The Diocesan spokesperson is quoted:

"The Diocese does not have an official policy regarding Sunday sports, but Dolan says that as a rule the parishes push to schedule sporting activities after noon on Sundays.

"[The Diocese] is not out of touch, we're not suggesting people stay home all day on Sunday, but there has to be a balance, and the Eucharist has to be a central part of Sunday," says Dolan, who adds that after Mass, families should bond, not just run off to a game or a practice."

And the Press actually found two reasonable parents (also rare on Long Island):

"Catholic churches have many different masses to attend, either during the week or weekend. If I were to say I do not go to Mass anymore because my kid has games on Sunday, I would just be copping out," says Gregory Muller, a soccer dad from Coram."

Of course the Masses during the week do not count as Sunday obligations so they are irrelevant but there are an average of two Masses on Saturday night at parishes across the island that do count for Sunday. So, it would be really pushing it to say you could not play sports and attend Mass at all.

"So, is there a happy medium? Could the fictional opening scenario end with the Soccer Moms lining up to slap hands with Team Mass after the game and everyone having a milkshake and a slice before going to worship? Optimists such as Sachem soccer mom Lindsay Gorman say, "Yes." But there is work that needs to be done on both sides.

"We've become very good at working around it. Sunday morning Mass becomes Saturday evening Mass-it's a balancing act," says Gorman."

The article also notes an incident that shows that Long Island parents of jocks have still not changed much even after the Mepham High football player rapes:

"Commack Soccer League president Rich Hollingsworth sent out a mass e-mail notifying parents that the camp would be canceled because it was accidentally scheduled on the holiday. The Press obtained the thread of e-mails, in which one parent replied back from an e-mail account identifying itself as Frank Daurio's (several sources involved confirmed that the e-mails came from Daurio, and the replies are addressed to Daurio). The e-mails are published here verbatim:

Daurio: "I just found out tomorrow's Soccer Camp is canceled because some immorally self-centered person (or group of people) decided it was unfair for people to play soccer when their kid wasn't going to because they happen to be Jewish."

Daurio continues in this vein. An unnamed parent replies that while he or she can understand Daurio's frustrations, his tone could be deemed anti-Semitic. Another unnamed parent chimes in with "backup" for Daurio and writes:

"The cancellation of today's soccer camp due to the selfish behavior of two Jewish women (we know who you are) is unacceptable. All of our kids were looking forward to the event. This includes many Jewish children. As we all know many Jewish in this area are not religious and don't practice so you hurt your own people as well. Frank Daurio's e-mail this [morning] stated what many think but won't put to pen. Why is it that Jewish people throughout the centuries have been persecuted and why does NY get such a bad rap around the country? Is it because of this type of behavior?"

Yes, sports can play a good role in raising healthy children, teaching team work and dedication to a task, cooperation and good sportsmanship, but they often do not. The problem is that the culture takes sports too seriously and excuses bad behavior on the part of jocks and their parents. I won't even get into the fact that most of these white parents have no real hope of seeing their children play professionally in a real sport, something I have often heard mentioned in bitter, racist ways.

I have completed Russell Shaw's book Nothing to Hide and have a few thoughts. (I am now engrossed in Havana Noctune about Cuba before the revolution).

Shaw's book puts forth the idea that the communication in the Church should be open and free flowing and cites examples of abuse of secrecy. His overall idea is very good and is a great example of a faithful Catholic who sees things in the Church that need reform and lays out the case for reform. This should be the path those who advocate changes in the Church should follow.

A good point Shaw made in the book is - the ignorance of Church members is not a reason to keep information from them but a challenge to explain and teach that info. In other words the fact that many of us do not understand financial statements does not mean they shouldn't be published but that they should be explained and made as clear as possible. The 'they won't understand' mentality is a self-fulfilling prophecy.

Shaw also believes the Diocesan newspapers should be opened up to being more than just 'house organs'. I would like to see these papers become more like the National Catholic Register in terms of quality and coverage. But I also see a need for these newspapers to be 'house organs'. It is interesting to note Shaw's desire to see these papers become 'vehicles for public expression' considering his negative views of blogs, which are almost the online version of the letters to the editor section. Overall, this book is an excellent look at an aspect of the Church that could be improved greatly.

Product Description
'Shaw, widely known Catholic writer, speaker and former communications director for the U S Bishops, discusses the abuse of secrecy in the Church, the scandals it has caused and the serious problem of mistrust that exists in the credibility of the Church. Not concerned with the legitimate secrecy that is necessary to protect confidentiality and people's reputations, Shaw is rather concerned here with the stifling, deadening misuse of secrecy that has done immense harm to communion and community in the Church in America. '

I went to the Russell Shaw lecture today at the Center for Catholic Studies at Nassau Community College. Shaw discussed his book on the misuse of secrecy in the Church, carefully noting the legitimate uses of secrecy such as the confessional, or private matters. His book and lecture noted that secrecy props up clericalism as those in charge keep information from the average Catholic creating a sense of insiders vs. outsiders. A good point was Shaw's contention that clericalism is not limited to the clergy and is even evidenced by the over emphasis on 'lay ministry', something I have noted many times. The lack of communication within the Church negatively affects the Communio which is a major part of the Church's mission. During the question and answer session I asked Shaw about the new forms of communication used by Catholics today such as EWTN which televises the bishops conferences and blogging. Shaw was pretty positive about EWTN and Raymond Arroyo but very negative on blogging which he didn't seem to find useful at all. I understand his view on blogging but hope that he can find some good in the Catholic blogosphere. Shaw has the attitude found among many mainstream media types, that blogs are not 'real journalism' which is true enough. Shaw ended with mention of the Apostolic Visitation of US seminaries which was supposed to be a major part of the result of the infamous Dallas meeting of Bishops in 2002. After the whole priest sex scandal exploded the visitations were a major part of reform, and Shaw noted how the entire thing went on and finished without any public notice. There were no major reports giving findings, or announcements of steps taken to improve any flaws in the system. This was a great point that shows that as much as has changed, some things have remained the same in the Church. This was an interesting talk and I can't wait to read the book.

Be it ever so humble, there's no place like Shea

My brother sent me the fascinating article linked above about the closing of Shea Stadium. I didn't get to a ballgame at Shea Stadium at all this year so I didn't get to say goodbye to the stadium that was a nice part of my life. I went there many times as a kid, with friends, with family and later as an adult with my wife (then girlfriend) and my niece. I can remember sitting in the upper deck (red seats) as part of the Mets fan club and then moving down to the better seats after a few innings. There were always plenty of unused seats pre-1986. Hopefully, I will get to see a game at the new stadium but it will not be the same.

Reminder: this Saturday is Russell Shaw's talk:

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.

From the Deacon's Bench - a Time Magazine story on young nuns from 2006:

Today's Nun Has A Veil--And A Blog

"Over the past five years, Roman Catholic communities around the country have experienced a curious phenomenon: more women, most in their 20s and 30s, are trying on that veil. Convents in Nashville, Tenn.; Ann Arbor, Mich.; and New York City all admitted at least 15 entrants over the past year and fielded hundreds of inquiries. One convent is hurriedly raising funds for a new building to house the inflow, and at another a rush of new blood has lowered the median age of its 225 sisters to 36."

This is old news to those of us who have followed the young traditional/older liberal split in the Church and religious life.

The article also quotes a native Long Islander:

"For those who are called, there is a real falling in love. You are filled with a joy and desire to be with God," says Sister Mary Gabriel Devlin, 32, vocation director at Sisters of Life. "Their families are not experiencing this, so it can be hard for them to understand."

One of the blogging sisters is mentioned:

"There are people out there who wonder what being a nun is like," says Sister Julie Vieira, 36. "These are people who were exposed to stereotypes of nuns and don't understand how we really live." So last summer Vieira began a blog titled A Nun's Life, in which she has chronicled her days as a sister of the Immaculate Heart of Mary and also a conventional-dressing, apartment-dwelling, master's degree--holding production coordinator at the Loyola Press, a Catholic publisher in Chicago."

You can see a huge list of Blogs by Religious on the Catholic Blog Directory. Overall the article is nice, although it contains this (understandable) error when discussing veils:

"Decreed unnecessary by Vatican II and shed happily by many older nuns, the headdress is for many of today's newcomers a desired accessory. "A lot of my older sisters would never wear the veil," says Sister Sarah Roy, 29, who is the only member of her Sisters of St. Francis of the Immaculate Conception in Peoria, Ill., to do so. (The others wear a simple dark dress adorned by a pin.) "

Of course Vatican II did not decree any such thing, although many nuns did happily shed their veils or modified them.

From Newsday (not The Onion) -

Study: Stem cells derived from men's testicles seem to work as well as embryonic stem cells

"Using testicular cells isn't the only promising method that avoids embryos; there have been impressive experiments in reprogramming ordinary body cells into stem cells by slipping certain genes into them."

Gives new meaning to the phrase "grow a pair" don't it? The breakthroughs in non-embryonic stem cell research are impressive indeed.

From MacBeth's Opinion, an article in the NY Times on Chaminade High School:

At a Boys’ Catholic School, Tradition Fuels Demand

"UNLIKE most Roman Catholic schools in the New York area, which embrace students regardless of their religion, Chaminade High School here requires a baptismal certificate to register.

“No exception,” said the Rev. James C. Williams, a cherub-faced priest who is the school’s president. “We advertise that pretty clearly because this is who we are. I don’t have room for all the Catholics who want to be here.”

"Chaminade, founded in 1930 and now the Island’s only all-boys Catholic school, has thrived by staying unabashedly Catholic and traditional."

Actually the school is not particularly traditional in many ways, but it is solidly Catholic.

High school football hazing scandal could lead to charges

Here we go again, just like the Mepham High Football rape, etc... When are people going to learn?

"According to state police reports, a group of juniors assaulted several younger teammates over two days, holding the victims down while a broomstick was forced into their rectums over their athletic shorts."

This is rape, just like at Mepham High. The students who did this have very serious issues and need to be in jail, and in therapy.


"Police didn't find out about it from school officials; instead, a state trooper whose son is on the team learned of the allegations through his wife, a camp volunteer."

Why were the police told immediately? What did the coaches, school officials, parents and jocks know and when did they know it?

"The alleged ringleader was expelled. The others, some of them veteran players of the highly successful team, were suspended through the end of the school year."

This is good, but these football players committed violent acts and the police and courts should be doling out the punishments, not just the school.

"Several residents expressed disbelief, frustration and embarrassment over the case, along with anger - some directed at the coaches, some at the media inquiring about the scandal."

No one should be angry about the media inquiring about this crime - that is their job and it helps to expose the truth. That is how Mepham High became famous and only then did action get taken.

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