Betty Hutton, 86, died on March 11th.

"But her personal life was rocky at times, including four failed marriages, financial problems and difficulties between her and her three daughters. In a 1980 AP interview, Hutton said she had kicked a 20-year addiction to pills. "Uppers, downers, inners, outers, I took everything I could get my hands on," she said.

She credited a Rhode Island priest, the Rev. Peter Maguire, with befriending her and turning her life around. She converted to Roman Catholicism. In 1986, she earned a liberal arts degree from Salve Regina College, in Newport, Rhode Island, commenting that she liked college because "the kids studying there accepted me as one of them."

Francis Porretto at Eternity Road is some writer! I especially enjoy his Sunday Ruminations -

"The Long Island "coot" is a hardy species, and over time can be educated to the hazards of his style of shopping. This specimen was from Connecticut, where they're frailer, slower, and apparently have no convenience stores.

GRRR! By the time I'd paid for my newspaper and was back in my car, I was ready to declare war on the whole world. At least on Connecticut, which has deserved it for a long time now.

This is not the way I like to feel upon returning from Mass. "

Do go read the whole thing.

Simon says "Racism"

So, a man is caught in Nassau County on video tape giving a "vicious two-handed stick attack to the face" to someone. There were plenty of witnesses and the man's address is well known. This was on Saturday but no arrest has been made?

"A spokesman for Nassau County District Attorney Kathleen Rice said Friday that "no decision has been reached" about whether to bring charges against Simon.

"We are going to review the tape," spokesman Eric Phillips said."

Why the delay in bringing charges? Could it be.......that the attacker was white? That he was a jock? That hockey is a sport very popular amoung white people such as cops and fireman, who often get free tickets to Islander games?

In the Light of the Law blog points out a very serious error in one of the God's Squad's answers. Since this involves a strictly Catholic issue of Holy Communion, all the blame goes to Msgr. Thomas Hartman. A "Eucharistic Minister" (sic) claimed an Alzheimers patient couldn't be given communion because communion "depends on a cognitive understanding of what is being received."

Msgr. Hartman agrees with this "Eucharistic Minister" and Ed Peters points out just how wrong Hartman is, from a canon law standpoint. Holy Communion does not depend on an understanding of what is being received, and it is sad that Msgr. Hartman's column for years has given people incorrect answers. (This column was not yet printed in Newsday, where the God Squad column appears locally.)

If you missed Dawn Eden at Faith on Tap last month, you can see her at the Faith and Reason Bookstore in my hometown - Massapequa! Directions are here.

Dawn will give a talk and sign books from 1-2 PM.

Rudy says it's a family affair

Rudy Giuliani has been married three times, and very publicly cheated on his wife. He apparently has strained relationships with his son and daughter. People outside of New York do not realize how strained his support was just before 9/11, despite his success as mayor. Like most Long Islanders I respected what he did to make the city a better place, but was anxious to see him go towards the end because he just seem to implode into this horrible jerk. He then redeemed himself with his heroic leadership on and after 9/11.

While I have always applauded his fight against the mafia, his attacks on crime in NYC, his stance against anti-Catholic bigotry, and his actions on and after September 11th, I cannot see supporting his run for President. He is 100% pro-choice, and lead a very questionable life. Catholics should be careful not to equate conservative or republican politics with the faith. Although the right wing has been much more hospitable to Christian people and values than the left, it still worships the same god as the left: power.

The Long Island Catholic has a new editor - Rick Hinshaw. Let's hope he uses The National Catholic Register as a model for how a Catholic paper should teach the faith, inform, enlighten, and inspire.

Double Whammy!

I got to hear Dawn Eden at Faith on Tap tonight, who gave an excellent talk on her book The Thrill of The Chaste. The crowd loved her - especially her recounting the experience of getting fired from the NY Post and when she read excerpts from her book. It was a decent crowd of about 50 people, although there would have been more if the weather had been better. Dawn had to catch a train and the Mrs. and I wanted to get home, so there wasn't much time to talk, but we will meet again.

I also got to meet Leticia of causa nostrae laetitia which was a great surprise. She picked me out of the crowd because she claimed my wife and I "looked like newlyweds" which amused us greatly. She shared some good news about films that are coming out and are family friendly, you can read about one here. Again, there wasn't much time to talk but I am sure our paths will cross again.

UPDATE 3/2 - Leticia has a good description of Dawn's talk at her blog here.

The Baby Who's Not Supposed to Be Alive

Great story about the youngest premature baby to survive, at 21 weeks and six days old. The doctor who delivered the baby is quoted in this Newsweek article:

"Sometimes you just can't explain these things," Lievano said. "Science only takes us so far. There are a lot of us who think God helped us out here, that this is a miracle. Somehow we were allowed to do something that was bigger than all of us."

Biking militants die when bomb explodes prematurely


"Three Islamic militants died in eastern Pakistan when a powerful bomb they were transporting by bicycle accidentally exploded Saturday near a bustling cattle market, police said."

Enough with Anna Nicole Smith already. She was a self-important, greedy, stupid, uneducated, white trash, gold-digging, drug-taking, boob-enhancing, shallow, egotistical, failed actress, failed model, silly, superficial jackass.

And Howard K. Stern is even worse.

AP IMPACT: Records show tremendous growth in teacher sex cases

"An internal state Education Department report obtained by The Associated Press under the Freedom of Information Law shows "tremendous growth" in so-called moral conduct cases against teachers over five years. "

--Printed in Newsday

Now, correct me if I am wrong, but I would think the number of such cases against Catholic priests has greatly decreased over the past 5 years. It seems to me most (but not all) Catholic priest-perverts have been fired and Catholics have made great strides in fighting perverts in their Church. Yet lawsuits that accuse dead priests of abuse 50 years ago are allowed to go to court? Shouldn't people then be able to sue school districts accusing dead teachers from 50 years ago? Or would that be stupid and unfair?

And along the same lines, shouldn't Newsday and The New York Times be running stories of teacher abuse over the past 50 years every day on the front page for a year?

Anyway, here is a link to the Abuse Scandal 5 Years Later Update at NPR (National Public Radio, not National Catholic Register or National Catholic Reporter) One major glaring omission from this 5 year update is in the Where Are They Now story - there is no mention of Paul R. Shanley, a major figure in the scandals in Boston.

Monday, February 26th, 7-9 PM

Guest Speaker - Dawn Eden, author of The Thrill of The Chaste

Faith on Tap is held upstairs at The Wantagh Inn, located right next to Mulcahy's, across from the Wantagh Railroad Station. The talk will start around 7:30 PM.

Long Island crime news

There were four men who robbed the family home of a young father named Dane Aulak in Medford. Dane Aulak's brother managed to get a gun from one of the robbers and shot two of them. Both of them died. One of the robbers shot Dane Aulak to death.

According to police, Dane Aulak was a drug dealer and one of the men who broke into his home was a customer of his. This man is Eric Calace, the grandson of wealthy Long Island developer Arthur Calace.

So, a drug dealer is dead. Two armed robbers are dead. Two men are going to be charged with burglary and second-degree murder. A young child has no father.

I hate it when that happens.


Man Returns From Visit, Trips on Corpse

Vincent Cioci, RIP

My mother knew him when he ran the Neighborhood Network in Massapequa and said he was the nicest guy. Vincent was a traditional Catholic who helped expose the corruption of the Society of St. John in Shohola, Pennsylvania. He moved upstate but was still involved in his Fuel Consumers Group, which helped keep the cost of home heating oil down for Long Islanders. It is a shame that he died so young.

A decent column by Fr. DeGrocco is in this week's edition of The Long Island Catholic. He writes about the Introductory Rites and I hope every parish takes note of these two important points:

"Notice, however, that the entrance hymn is definitely not supposed to be a greeting for the priest presider! An instruction such as, “Please stand and greet our celebrant by singing …” is entirely inappropriate."

AND


"....secular or casual greetings that emphasize a mere human exchange (such as “good morning”) are inappropriate."

Crisis Magazine published a study ranking Dioceses in the USA according to various criteria. The Diocese of Rockville Centre came in second to last. But the largest dioceses all did poorly according to this report, which makes me wonder how the size was factored into the figuring. I would also like to have seen Mass attendance, number or percentage of fallen away Catholics, and number of baptisms and weddings counted as well. I think it is possible to know the "health" of a Diocese and I would not consider DRVC to be less healthy than Rochester. I also think DRVC is a lot healthier today than it was 10 years ago, but it would be hard to prove it with statistics. Overall, the report did not interest me much at all.

More letters have been published regarding Fr. Dietzen's column in the Long Island Catholic. I will simply refer readers to this post, which sums up my feeling on Dietzen's writing.

St. John’s Officials Nix Controversial Play

Eve Ensler's infamous play will not be performed at St. John's University in Queens, of which I am a graduate. This is good, and surprising, news.

"The Rev. James Maher, vice president of student affairs at the Jamaica Estates campus, said the university took great care in weighing the issues, “and concluded that the performance, by its very nature, was unsuitable subject matter in keeping with Catholic teachings and our Vincentian mission.”

Despite turning down the play, Maher said St. John’s supports raising awareness and education about violence against women “and we will continue to provide resources to this end with programs and services each year.”