Religious group claims Diocese of Rockville Centre is hoarding money

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

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

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

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

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

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


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

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

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

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

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

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

Some Long Island traditional Catholic facts:

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

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

The SSPX has a chapel in Farmingville.

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

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

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

JanJan, at With Issue

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

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

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

Man accused of hitting toddler while shouting ethnic slurs in Patchogue

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

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

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



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

Diocese of Rockville Centre stuff:

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

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

Diocese of Rockville Centre Conducts Conference About Human Sexuality

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

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

via Angry Twins

Bleg

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

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

The White House
1600 Pennsylvania Avenue
NWWashington, DC 20500

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

comments@whitehouse.gov


via Michelle Malkin

This is jihad people.

Hitler's Relatives Live on Long Island!

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

3 YEAR BLOGIVERSARY!

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

Fr. Benedict Groeschel

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

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

From Arise from Darkness:

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

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

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

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

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

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

On Youth 2000: “I belong to Youth 1950”

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

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

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

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

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

Need Midget for wedding

Wedding planning is tough work.

Nuns doing the Conga!

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

The Extreme Catholic is coming to my town!

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

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

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

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

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

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


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

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

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

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

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

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

ST. BLOG'S SUPERBOWL

PITTSBURGH

Ales Rarus, group
Auto De Fe, Jason
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Legens et Cogitans, Frederick Gruber
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Bishop revamps religious ed
Restructuring of instruction for adults, children in LI diocese prompts some fears of conservative shift

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

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

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

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


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

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