Commuter discovers dead newborn on Hicksville train platform

From News12 Long Island

"Police report the umbilical cord was still attached and there was no obvious cause of death. They say an autopsy will commence shortly to determine if the boy was stillborn or killed after birth. "

There is no reason for this to ever occur. Years ago, a local gentlemen named Tim Jaccard, who is an EMT, founded the AMT Children of Hope Foundation to put an end to this tragic stuff. Like many EMTs he grew weary of finding dead newborns and started the Foundation to pay for funerals of newborns the Nassau Police found. He soon shifted the focus to trying to prevent the need for funerals at all. Due to this work, "New York was the first state to enact a "Safe Haven" law with allows a birth mother to relinquish custody in a safe manner, and not be criminally liable for abandonment. Although most states have their version of this law, the idea of giving up your unwanted baby instead of causing it's death gives those in desperation another option."

Tim is a Knight of Columbus from the Council I used to belong to and has done a great job with this Foundation, please spread the word about the AMT Children of Hope and if your state does not have a Safe Haven Law, get started on getting a law passed.

I will pray for two things regarding Pope Benedict's trip to Turkey:

1. That muslims will not kill him, which is a very good possibility since muslims are very intolerant and violent
2. That if muslims do kill him, that this will begin a great turning away from the false religion of islam throughout the middle east.

Cardinal Arinze has declared that Pro Multis must be translated as "for many" instead of "for all". In most languages this has always been so, but in English the translation was "for all" and from what I have read, the mis-translation was deliberate. So now that the correction was finally made, after almost 40 years, we can once again thank the traditionalist Catholics for making this an issue when so many others would have just ignored it. This is a nice first step - one thing corrected, about 35,000 more things to be done. Of course, if the words of the consecration were prayed in latin, none of this would have ever been an issue.

Fr. Thomas Saloy, a priest at Queen of the Most Holy Rosary Church in Roosevelt, was arrested

From News12 Long Island

"The FBI arrested a Roosevelt Catholic priest at his home Friday, charging him with possessing more than 1,300 pictures and videos of underage boys.
Thomas Saloy was serving at Queen of the Most Holy Rosary when investigators say they found child pornography on his personal computer. "

Roman Catholic priest
child pornography
teenage boys

Why are these 3 phrases so connected, so many times?? Let's hope this man is locked away for a long time, and defrocked, and not put on priest welfare like so many others.

Just last Sunday we had gone to Mass at Our Lady of Grace in West Babylon. We usually don't go to this parish, but at this Mass, instead of the priest giving the homily, the pastor, Fr. Vin came out and spent a good 10 minutes talking about how people need to give more money to the parish. He said the financial report was in the bulletin and it was not a good picture. He spoke about how people need to get over their hurt, their anger, because it does no good spiritually. He said that there were less people coming to Mass these days, less people giving, and he didn't think there was anyone to blame for this. I muttered "How about child molesting priests" which earned me a wicked stare and shutup look from Mrs. Gen X Revert. I tend to mutter a bit too loud sometimes, but I couldn't believe this man said he couldn't find anyone to blame for the situation in the Church today.

As we were getting in the car my wife asked me what happened in this parish as it sounded like a big deal, and I replied probably some child molesting priest used to be there. I looked it up, and sure enough there were two former priests of this parish on the Bishop Accountability website , Fr. Angelo Ditta and Fr. Andrew Millar. And now, we can add a third priest formerly of Our Lady of Grace - Fr. Thomas Saloy. So, if the pastor still can't find anyone to blame for the empty pews, the anger, the hurt, and the lack of support, perhaps he should look a little harder.

A parish in Sound Beach got swastikas painted on their doors. This type of vandalism is not uncommon in white trash suburbia unfortunately, but the blogger at Eternity Road has a long post that wonders about a lot more than just this vandalism.

Do go read Fran’s Sunday Ruminations: Prophets, Jesters, And Destroyers

Will The Pope Relax The Condom Ban

Newsday pubished yet another article about the Catholic Church that is just plain stupid. Most of their anti-Catholic loser columnists were let go after the paper was exposed inflating circulation figures, causing millions to be paid out to advertisers that were victims of the fraud, but the paper still can publish crap. Jimmy Breslin is semi-retired, meaning he occasionally will sober up long enough to put pen to paper, mostly to complain about George Bush, something NO other writer does. Ed Lowe is now writing for local papers that have smaller readerships combined than most major blogs. Paul Vitello is writing for the NY Times, working out of Garden City, where he has lunch in the basement of an office building in Garden City looking as haggard as ever. Marie Cocco fell off the face of the earth, while the former editor of Newsday has been convicted of child porn charges. Anyway, the column is just bad, and written by a, wait for it, ..."former religious brother". The actual argument in theology for condom use in marraige or to stop the spread of aids is a serious one, that deserves real writing. This column is just garbage. The opening sentence is straight from the 70's:

"The Catholic Church laid down a tough, absolute law in the 1968 encyclical "Humanae Vitae": no condoms, no abortion, no contraceptives. Never."

The rest of the column is just as silly, stupid, and predictable. At least if they are going to continue to give a forum to people who don't like the Church or her teachings, they should find writers like those in American or Commonweal, who can at least present their arguments intelligently.

causa nostrae laetitia

A Catholic blog by a fellow Long Islander!! Leticia Velasquez, a frequent letter writer to the Long Island Catholic, Newsday, and commenter on this blog, has a great blog with a great name - it means Cause of Our Joy. She also has pictures of the Heart of St. John Vianney at Cure of Ars as well as Dr. Alveda King at Nassau Community College.

So far, the Catholic bloggers on Long Island I know about are:

Fac ut Gaudeam

causa nostrae laetitia

Eternity Road

HEADLESS STATUE IN GODLESS CATHEDRAL!

I am so proud of myself for thinking of that headline. HeeHeeHee. For those who don't get the reference, a little NY Post history.

I just finished watching Munich, the story of the Israeli hunt of the terrorists who killed the athletes at the 1972 Olympics. The first half was excellent, a stirring depiction of the "unofficial" team that took out 5 terrorists. The second half was an attempt to show internal moral conflict which official accounts say the team did not actually struggle with.

The Long Island Catholic is one of many Catholics newspapers that carry Fr. John Dietzen's column of questions and answers. I find Fr. Dietzen's answers infuriating, and I don't seem to be the only one based on the letters to the editor the LIC has published. I have also found some other letters written in response to his column on the internet, here for example. In the Amazon reviews for his book of Q & A, a couple of reviewers, including Rich Leonardi of Ten Reasons, spell out why I can't stand his column. They say it better than I could:

"There is something rather weak and unsatisfactory about it. One cannot say that he is unorthodox exactly. Rather, there is something half-hearted in his presentation of the more controversial teachings of the Church. One gets the impression that he is uncomfortable answering certain questions." - S. M. Barr

"This book is 500 pages of unenthusiastic, incomplete, often erroneous explanations of the Catholic faith. For starters, Dietzen frequently begins sentences with 'Catholics believe' or 'the Church teaches', especially when he is presenting a truth of the faith deemed controversial. "
-Rich Leonardi

Every answer he gives that I have seen in the Long Island Catholic is so lukewarm, so weak, that it just makes me want to yell, say what you really believe!! This is the kind of thing that is not attractive to so many young people. I know that harsh and unbending people in the Church can also turn people away, but it is more likely the Fr. Dietzens that have done the most damage over the past 40 years.

Gerald at The Cafeteria Is Closed links to Miss Kelly, who is parish-hopping. I did this for awhile when I was first reverting. I was looking for a Church that looked like a Church, a priest that was reverent and a parish that really reflected Catholicism. I attended Mass at 40 different parishes and found some of the same things that Kelly and Gerald found. The nice thing about the Diocese of Rockville Centre is that there are literally dozens of parishes within a 30-40 minute drive. I did end up going mostly to my own childhood parish, which I came to appreciate more, and now I attend my wife's parish, even though we don't live in its boundaries.

The worst experience I had in parish-hopping was at one parish where the priest would process down the aisle during the opening hymn, then instead of beginning the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, he would ask if anyone was celebrating a birthday or anniversary. People would shout out their answer and then everyone would applaud. It was juvenile, and totally inappropriate, I felt like I was in the 2nd grade. I also was in a couple of parishes where instead of a homily, a priest would talk about the annual fund raising appeal or a particular group in the parish. This is sometimes necessary, but it should never replace a homily totally. I am very picky when it comes to Liturgy and don't see why it is so hard for parishes to make it reverent and prayerful.

My wife and I went to see Les Miserables last night. I am not much of a broadway musical person, but when PBS first broadcast the Les Miserables 10th Anniversary Concert I became hooked. This concert featured the "dream cast" including the original Jean Valjean - Colm Wilkinson, Michael Ball's Marius and Lea Salonga as Eponine. Last night I got to see one of the dream cast - Jenny Galloway is reprising her role as Madame Thenadier. As I said, I am not a musical type of person, but I have listened to the CD and watched the video so many times I know all the words. It is a great story, awesome music, and a pretty Catholic theme of grace and mercy to boot. I never got to see Les Miz while it was on Broadway so when I saw they were bringing it back for six months, I knew I had to get tickets. Daphne Rubin-Vega's performance as Fantine was the only negative, her voice is just not right for the part. The whole night was awesome though.

The Wikipedia link on Les Miserables is quite comprehensive, but I found one error-

The first high school in the United States to perform the school version of Les Miserables was Holy Trinity High School right here in Hicksville, Long Island. Cameron Mackintosh chose the school and was there for the premiere performance. Holy Trinity is known for its extensive performance arts program.

For our honeymoon we took a cruise to the southern Caribbean. One of our favorites islands was the colorful island of Curacao. On the trolley tour we took there was a stop at the Pietermaai Cathedral. I took a picture of the statue of Dr. Hernandez, a Venezuelan considered a saint by locals, with some attributing miracles to him.



Click on the picture to enlarge.

Amy Welborn wrote a great post regarding Joseph Bottum's piece in First Things on Catholic Culture in America. The post and the piece are both excellent and should be read entirely. To focus on just one thing mentioned - the removal of the Friday fast (abstaining from meat) was called a mistake. Welborn says it was "an important touchstone for Catholics" and Sandra Miesel comments that there is "no reason why Catholics can't do it voluntarily". This is true - I don't eat meat on Friday, and also don't take communion in the hand. I receive communion only from priests and deacons and I always bow during the incarnation lines in the Creed. Unfortunately these things are not done by most Catholics and so there is no sign of unity there. Not eating meat Friday may not seem like a big deal, but the point is that it was a sign of unity, and the ending of the fast was a part of the collapse of Catholic culture.

I found another Catholic blogger from Long Island - Francis Porretto blogging at Eternity Road where he writes about politics but occasionally religion.

I lived my whole life in Nassau County, home of such sleazy people as Joey Buttafuoco, the Mepham High School rapists (Ken Carney, Phil Sofia and Phil Diasparra), and the Roslyn School District crooks (Pamela Gluckin, her neice and son, and Frank Tassone and his lover . But when I married I moved further east to Suffolk County, home of some of the worst, most sleazy politicians ever. This place just had to rename an airport terminal because it had the name of a crook on it (Peter McGowan). The former Republican Party chairman here (John Powell) was arrested in a stolen car chop shop racket. Today, Newsday reports on the latest aspect of the Smithtown Town Supervisor scandal. (This kind of reporting is why I love Newsday despite its history of anti-Catholic bigotry)

From Newsday:

"Smithtown Supervisor Patrick Vecchio's son -- who was fired from the Suffolk County Water Authority last summer after an inquiry blamed him for a costly E.coli panic on Fire Island -- is not the only family member who was able to land and hang onto a patronage job despite a troubled work history, records show.

Bernadine Kinder, who is married to Vecchio, was caught stealing early in her tenure at Suffolk Off-Track Betting, according to OTB records. She not only kept her position, that same year she was promoted to branch manager, a job where she handles thousands of dollars a day. And she got the job in OTB in 1998 despite having been fired from a secretarial job in Suffolk District Court for excessive absences and unsatisfactory job performance, court personnel records show."

Talk about SLEAZY. She stole money and then gets promoted! How do these criminals get away with this stuff? Oh, that's right, they are white so it is ok. If these were black people or immigrants that would be another story. Or perhaps we on Long Island have to work so hard to keep up with the incredibly high taxes we don't have the time to notice or care? Please also notice that Kinder and Vecchio Jr. both failed to graduate from college?

Bizarre followup to the heart of St. John Vianney at Cure of Ars Church in Merrick:

Homosexuality pamphlet pulled from Church shelves

The pamphlet in question was from the Catholic Medical Association and can be read online here. My suggestion to the pastor Fr. Charles Mangano would be to order some pamphlets from Courage as replacements.

Traditional Catholics on Long Island

There is yet more talk of the Pope giving more freedom to Catholic priests to celebrate the traditional (Tridentine) Mass. Amy Welborn is looking to define the terms correctly as the media can be unreliable when reporting on such 'inside stuff' in the Church. Here on Long Island, if priests were given the ability to celebrate the traditional Mass I am sure there would be a couple of (probably younger) priests who would jump at the chance but only a couple. Most Catholics approve of the changes in the Mass and simply want more reverence and dignity, as well as a return to tradition in hymns, sermons, architecture, and devotions. As a service to Long Island Catholics, let me point out some facts about the traditional latin Mass here on Long Island. (Note: I have attended the traditional latin Mass perhaps a couple of dozen times, but most Sundays attend a local parish and assist at a "Novus Ordo" Mass.)

The Mass is celebrated every Sunday at 11 am at St. Pius X Chapel in Uniondale. This is located at 1220 Front St. in Uniondale, right off Merrick Avenue. Booklets are provided that have all the prayers of the Mass in Latin and English so you can follow along. The first and third Sundays of the month are low Masses and the second and fourth Sundays are high (sung) Masses. After the low Masses there are some refreshments served in the cafeteria next to the chapel. Most of the Masses are offered by Fr. James Pereda, although other priests have filled in for him on occasion. The only priests that I know have celebrated the traditional Mass on Long Island are Fr. Pereda, Fr. Robert Hewes, Msgr. George Graham and Fr. Steven Scarmozzino. The Mass at St. Pius X Chapel is the only approved traditional Latin Mass in the Diocese of Rockville Centre. There are chapels and independent Catholic priests who celebrate the Mass but this is the only Mass approved by the Diocese. I hope that the Mass will be moved to a parish some day so that more people may be exposed to it, and those who wish to have traditional baptisms, weddings and funerals may do so. A traditional parish with both traditional and Novus Ordo Masses would be great, ala St. John Cantius in Chicago.

The fact is, Long Island is steeped in history when it comes to traditionalism. Fr. Gommar DePauw was probably the first Catholic priest in the country or world to start a traditionalist movement, even before Vatican II was over. He started the Ave Maria Chapel in Westbury for traditional Catholics. He died in 2005 and I don't know if there is a Mass at the chapel today.

The Society of St. Pius X (SSPX), the organization started by Archbishop Lefebvre, has a chapel in Farmingville called St. Michael the Archangel, which opened in 1983. In fact, the original headquarters of the SSPX in America was in Oyster Bay Cove.

The priest who led things there, Fr. Clarence Kelly, was expelled from the SSPX and founded the SSPV, which is now headquarted in Oyster Bay Cove.

There are also a couple of independent priests who offer the traditional Mass around the island as well. Again, the only Diocese of Rockville Centre-approved traditional Mass is the one at the St. Pius Chapel in Uniondale. There used to be one held in Cutchogue also when the traditional Mass was only twice a month, but I am not sure if that Mass is still there. My hope for the traditional Mass would be:

• The Diocese of Rockville Centre allows this Mass to be moved to a parish, where it would part of the regular Mass schedule on Sunday.

• The Diocese also allow traditional Sacraments for those who desire them.

• Those who wish to attend a "Novus Ordo" Mass with chant propers, some latin prayers and a traditional atmosphere have a place to do this.

• The Vatican and SSPX work to some sort of reconciliation, such as the proposed personal prelature idea.

• The so-called Reform of the Reform continue so Catholics can pray the "Novus Ordo" Mass in a more traditional way.

UPDATE 10/23/06: Per the comments, the traditional Latin Mass is also offered on the first Sunday of the month at Sacred Heart Church, Main Rd in Cutchogue

Lazyboy's Rest Stop

The above link is a great find of mine: an anti-Catholic treasure! Here is the author's description of Catholicism, which all of us can instantly recognize:

"Roman Catholicism is a religion of dominance. It maintains control over its one billion subjects through a system of promises and threats. Those who adhere closely to the multitude of rules governing every aspect of religious belief and practice are rewarded with the favor of the RCC ruling class, dispensed in the form of grace, doled out as one gives a treat to a well-trained pet. Failure to live according to Rome's stringent and ever transmuting laws can result in sanctions ranging from repeating a few canned prayers through denial of admission to the church's sacraments to confiscation of property, torture and death, depending upon the severity of the failure and the degree of temporal power enjoyed by the RCC.

It astonishes me that anyone under submission to the Romish potentate would fail to diligently strive to learn all the rules and ways of the RCC so that he might avoid running afoul of her judicial process. "