Speaking of Retreats

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

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

 

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

Requiescent in Pace

'Selfless' constable mourned

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

A Tale of Two Retreats

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Nab L.I. man in beating of Sikh

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

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

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


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

More on Anti-Catholic Newsday

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


Read all about Newsday in my archived post.

Answered Prayer?

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Hamilton vs. Burr (again)

Rival clans to relive Hamilton-Burr duel

How Then Shall We Live?: One

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

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

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

Crackdown on sex fiends

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

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

Discourage Dissent

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

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

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

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

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

Denis Dillon
Rockville Centre


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

From East London skinhead
to internationally-known Catholic author

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

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

Bizarre

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

HAPPY JULY 4TH!!

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

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

Prayers answered


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

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



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