From Seattle Catholic comes news that the White House snubbed Rocco Buttiglione possibly to please "old Europe" on behalf of the State Department. Although this may just be Robert Novak's conjecture, it is worrisome. The EU is doing everything it can to forget its Christian heritage and to push the religion of secular humanism.

We Catholics should hope Malta can continue to fight the good fight within the EU. The small island nation is mostly Catholic and abortion is illegal. This does not sit well with the "old Europe types" in the EU but Malta so far has been able to stick up for itself. Hopefully, "new Europe" countries such as Poland will be able to remind the EU of the Catholicism that is at the heart of its history.

For the locals: Ed Lowe joins the Long Island Press.

This weekend was spent getting a Christmas tree, shopping, and wrapping. Fortunately, it ended on a high note: a performance of the Christmas portion of Handel's Messiah at St. Ignatius Martyr Church in Long Beach. One of the tenors was none other than the Recovering Choir Director. A special treat was a performance of Bach's Magnificat in D major and needless to say, there were no backing tracks used at this concert.

Bishop Trautmann has been named the head of USCCB Liturgy Committee which is bad news for anyone concerned about true Catholic Liturgy. Amy Welborn at Open Book has listed the committee Trautmann has put together and it includes Bishop Emil Wcela of the Diocese of Rockville Centre. Bishop Wcela is a typical liberal bishop who considers "inclusive language" to be a main issue facing the Church over the past twenty years. He has pushed his liberal agenda for years, while ignoring corrupt priests, which by his own admission included a couple of his close friends. (His article published in America magazine - "The Abuse Scandal: What Did I Miss?- March 15th, 2004 is not available online for free.) How this man can be trusted with something as important as Liturgy is beyond me. It was rumored that Bishop McGann, the bishop who ignored the priest-molesters for over twenty years, wanted Wcela to be his successor. Thankfully the Vatican had other ideas and went off Long Island to find more orthodox bishops. So now there is one last chance for Wcela to have some influence in the Church - which is bad.

December 7th,1941

September 11th, 2001

Never forget these two dates and what they mean. Never forget the people who were murdered on these two dates. Ever.

Pete Vere was quoted in the NY Post today (credited as a "Maple Leafer") in a small blurb about the pro-Bush supporters in Canada. It was actually the beginning of this article from the Weekly Standard.

Report: LI, Fla. dioceses settle sex abuse suit

"Rockville Centre sent Fitzgerald to Florida in 1989, purportedly because of his allergies, without disclosing multiple complaints against him.

On Long Island, Fitzgerald served in the Westbury parish, where another priest had complained that Fitzgerald was fondling young boys. Fitzgerald eventually was transferred to Dix Hills, where he was placed in charge of that parish's youth ministry."


FYI - that "other priest" who complained about Fitzgerald is an orthodox priest who is now at perhaps the most conservative parish we have. He was put in Westbury right out of the seminary and also complained when yet another priest at a different parish he served was molesting boys. Because of his experiences he went on leave for a year and lived at his parents' house- many pastors would not take him in because he was labeled a "trouble maker". It must have been hell to be an orthodox priest in this diocese in the days of Bishop McGann. Thankfully things have changed significantly.

I have been working on updating my St. Blog's Directory (check it out) and hope to have a database of the blogs that I can put into columns for easier searching. I am learning more about Catholic bloggers out there. For instance, Steve Ray of Defenders of the Catholic Faith in addition to being a top notch apologist, is also the founder and owner of a huge office maintenance company.

I have a fascination with the locations of varous parishioners of St. Blog's. I hope to be able to put the directory in a chart form that can be searched or sorted by location. I try to get the info from the blogs so if any info is incorrect please let me know. I am not done adding locations to the directory but surprisely, so far, the state that has the most Catholic bloggers is........ (Howard Dean screaming voice)


CALIFORNIA!!!
A voice from eden - San Francisco
Ad Altare Dei - Santa Barbara
Basia me, Catholica Sum
Between Heaven and Hell
Catholic L.A. - Los Angeles
Church of The Masses - Hollywood
Converted Journey - Brentwood
El Camino Real
Erik's Rants and Recipes
Lex Communis - Fresno
Philothea Rose at Home
Revolution of Love
The New Gasparian - Newark
Veritas. Quid est veritas? - San Francisco

Yesterday I went to Mass at St. Patrick's Cathedral and then to the Radio City Christmas Spectacular. It was a nice way to start off Advent.

Diocese plans for future of Catholic elementary schools

Catholic elementary school enrollment is down, while Catholic High School enrollment has risen. This is simply due to the high cost of Catholic schools. Many people send their children to public elementary schools (most of which are very good here on Long Island) because it is just too much to live here and pay for Catholic schooling. There will probably be more closings and consolidations of elementary schools which makes sense. The second collection and foundation are good steps and hopefully the school situation here will stabilize. Meanwhile, everything should be done to make the parish religious education system top notch.

You scored as Catholic. Welcome to the One, Holy, CATHOLIC, and Apostolic Church! You my Friend are a Catholic. You have a strong sense of something outside of yourself and feel drawn to answer profound questions to satisfy your desires. You recognize that truth isn't self-centered or about inventing something new, but rather following the road map of your heart to a bigger picture. You are probably baptized. Catholic 100% Christian 80% Jewish 45% Cult 40% Anarchist 20% Buddhist 15% Religion created with QuizFarm.com

Woohoo!

My Directory of Catholic Blogs

By creating this directory, I have found some Catholic blogs I had never seen before and am once again amazed at the variety at St. Blog's. For example, Our Homeschool was just added today and the blogger bio reads:

"In my teens I was a liberal Democrat, a practicing Wiccan, and fiercly pro-choice. Wicca went first when I began a relationship with Christ. After experiencing an abortion I began looking into the pro-life side. I found the argument persuasive, and since then have read more and more that has led me to the conclusion that it is wrong to murder the pre-born. Then I began looking at all sorts of issues more conservatively, especially when I had a family of my own. I have come from the other side, and am usually unimpressed with the arguments. I used to use them myself, and have found that most of them don't hold up under scrutiny. I do love a good debate though."

"Now I am a faithful Catholic, and a happy wife and homeschooling mom."

These type of conversion stories abound in St. Blog's and they are all inspirational to a cradle Catholic like me.

Amazing

I kept the right ones out
And let the wrong ones in
Had an angel of mercy to see me
Through all my sins

There were times in my life
When I was goin insane
Tryin to walk through the pain
When I lost my grip

And I hit the floor
Yeah, I thought I could leave
But couldn't get out the door
I was so sick and tired
Of livin a lie
I was wishin that I would die
It's amazin
With the blink of an eye
You finally see the light
It's amazin
When the moment arrives
That you know you'll be alright
And I'm sayin a prayer
For the desperate hearts tonight

That one last shot's a permanent vacation
And how high can you fly with broken wings?
Life's a journey, not a destination
And I just can't tell just what tomorrow will bring

You have to learn to crawl
Before you learn to walk
But I just couldn't listen to
All that righteous talk
I was out on the street just tryin to survive
Scratchin to stay alive

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!!!

Tim Drake's new book "Young and Catholic" sounds interesting. I think a long time ago he asked for young Catholics to email him their stories and thoughts and I think I did. I can personally attest to the accuracy of the book's premise and look forward to some uplifting reading.

Gerard Serafin's death made me realize how grateful I am for his wonderful list of blogs. I used this list to surf St. Blog's and appreciated the fact that I continually could find new blogs here. (The St. Blog's webring list is random and some blogs are not updated) Although I have my favorites on my blogroll, I occasionally would try to find a blog I had never seen before and found some gems thanks to Gerard. I have always wished it was in alphabetical order so I could find things easier. I have now done this and put it on a separate blog. I took out some blogs that were not updated recently or that I could not get into, and also added some more. If anyone knows any Catholic blogs out there please let me know so I can add them. I have been using this list to surf around lately and if it works out I will continue to use and add to the list.

I just got home from Book Revue, the largest independently owned bookstore on Long Island. I heard Nelson Demille talk about his just published book Night Fall and my girlfriend had her copy signed by him. He is a fellow Long Islander and Night Fall is a novel based on the Flight 800 crash that occurred off the Long Island coast in 1996. About 200 witnesses claimed they saw a light, like a missile, shooting up towards the plane but the government agencies all concluded it was a spark in the main fuel tank that caused the explosion. Some people are still not convinced and believe it was terrorism, with the intended target being the El-Al flight that was right behind Flight 800's path.

I have never read his stuff, but my girlfriend is a big fan and she must have great taste right? Anyway, an interesting thing about the book is that some local people who donated enough money to certain charities were able to be characters in the book. This is a cool way to help raise money for good causes, including my alma mater, Chaminade High School.

Cardinal Arinze on the Eucharist, the Priest and the Laity

"Arinze said his home diocese in Nigeria has a combined 300 men in preparation for the priesthood in philosophy (pre-theology studies in the minor seminary) and theology (major seminary studies), a comment that drew nods and smiles from the Nigerian nuns sitting in the front row.

The Diocese of Rockville Centre has doubled the number of men it has in formation for the priesthood, Bishop William Murphy said in his closing comments.

"In 2002, we had 17 men in formation for the priesthood," Murphy said. "Just two years later, we have 34."

Check out this interesting correction in today's Newsday:

"A Tuesday story on new warnings about side effects of Mifeprex or RU-486, an abortion pill, incorrectly described the drug as a way to prevent pregnancy after unprotected sexual intercourse. The pill is actually designed to end a pregnancy by causing physiological reaction that causes a non-surgical abortion."

Kathryn Lively's APPLICATION TO DATE MY DAUGHTER is great.