THE SOCIETY OF CATHOLIC SOCIAL SCIENTISTS

THE 15TH ANNUAL MEETING

Friday and Saturday, October 26-27, 2007

The St. John’s University School of Law
8000 Utopia Parkway
Jamaica, Queens, New York 11439

This is going to be a huge event with dozens of panels and speakers. Anyone who wants to attend has to pay a $50 registration fee. You can email me for the details of how to register. I am not a member of the Society, however, I will be in a panel discussion on Catholic blogging. I will post more on that another time. Here are the panels on Friday:

Panel One: Italian American Catholic Studies

Panel Two: University Faculty for Life and Its Long Island Chapter: Goals, History, Activities, and Future

Panel Three: Eastern Catholicism in the United States

Panel Four: Key Issues Affecting the American Family, the Church, and the Nation

Panel Five: The Contributions of Dietrich von Hildebrand

Panel Six: The New Evangelization in the U.S

Panel Seven: The Contribution of Francis Canavan, S.J.

Panel Eight: Contemporary Catholicism Around the Globe

Panel Nine: “Today’s Culture and Its Effects on Psychotherapy Practice”

Panel Ten: Edith Stein: Saint and Feminist

Panel Eleven: Topics in Economics and Catholicism: I

Panel Twelve : Humble and Heroic: The Academic Career of Salvatore J. LaGumina

Panel Thirteen: Catholic Contributions in Providing Diversity Within Public Higher Education

Panel Fourteen: Evangelization Efforts in the Dioceses of Rockville Centre and Brooklyn

Panel Sixteen: The Campaign for the International Right to Abortion in International Institutions

Panel Seventeen: The Legacy of John Paul II

Panel Eighteen: Toward A Theology of Work

Panel Nineteen: Catholic Social Teaching Applied: Some Irish Contributions

Panel Twenty: Abortion, Contraception, and the Future of the Catholic Church in the United States: The Need for a Comprehensive and Authentic Program in Catholic Education and Communication

Panel Twenty-One: The Society of St. Vincent de Paul—Embracing All Works of Charity: Blessed Frederic Ozanam’s Legacy

Those are the panels for Friday after which the Keynote Address will be given by Dr. William Donohue of The Catholic League. Following that will be remarks by Archbishop Charles Chaput of Denver. Later I will post the panels for Saturday.

Mullah Brother, meet Brother Death

"Berader, also known colloquially as Mullah Brother, was close to Taliban leader Mullah Omar. His death will come as a major blow to the Taliban hierarchy and follows the deaths of senior commander Mullah Dadullah Lang in May and the arrest of Defense Minister Mullah Obaidullah in Quetta, Pakistan in March."

The Divine Gift of Motherhood

Another Long Island blog found via Leticia Velasquez

Via Newday, another example of killing by followers of islam:

"Islamic militants were behind two deadly explosions that killed at least 44 people and wounded scores more Saturday night in southern Indian city of Hyderabad, Indian officials said Sunday."

Religious women lost prophetic place, but can regain relevance, Gen X nun says

“We are on the verge of extinction, not because of some cataclysmic event, but because for the last 30 years or so, we have slowly removed ourselves from church circles, and have failed to recognize when we were no longer needed as a work force, that perhaps the spirit had a new call for us.”

That quote is from Sr. Laurie Brink who spoke at the LCWR Assembly, that is the Leadership Conference of Women Religious, a group of mostly old nuns who for the most part gave up being Catholic nuns years ago. Sr. Brink spoke positively about a group of former nuns who left the Catholic Church, which is all you need to know about her and this assembly.

This group is not to be confused with the younger, more orthodox group, the Council of Major Superiors of Women Religious. See this post at The Cafeteria if Closed for a brief shot of both groups.

A great post on immigration at Relapsed Catholic

I believe there is a serious problem with immigrants today committing crimes, as anyone who follows the news can see. But the immigrants of old (Italians, Irish and Jewish) were probably worse. The "discrimination" they faced was exaggerated, and probably based on their own bad behavior. I have often said that if I met my ancestors, I would probably not like them and they would not like me. People who are uneducated, whether immigrants or not, often exhibit nasty and self destructive behaviours and are very insecure, leading them to be full of hate. They always blame others for their own problems as well. The problem years ago and today, is not with immigration, it is with the uneducated. The solution is for all to become as educated as their abilities will allow. Higher education must be made more affordable and all parents must value education highly. And everyone must understand that crime, especially violent crime, must not be tolerated.

This should be good - CNN is doing a 3 night series on "God's Warriors"
One night each is going to feature Jewish, Muslim, and then Christian "Warriors". I wonder how the so called warriors of the Christian and Jewish world stack up against muslim warriors. I haven't read too many stories of Jewish or Christian people killing, kidnapping, and bombing in the name of their religion.

Amy Welborn has a new blog - Charlotte was Both, and continues to find interesting Church links. She links to a great news story on the Bishop of Burlington, VT offering a Mass "in the Extraordinary Form" at the Cathedral. You can watch the new video here.

Crooner 'with a calling' sings Elvis ... in Latin

"In yet another testament to the irrepressible influence of "The King," fans can croon along to the broody "Nunc hic aut numquam" ("It's Now or Never"), shake hips to the slightly scary sounding title "Nunc Distrahor" ("All Shook Up"), or just have fun with "Ne Saevias" ("Don't Be Cruel")."

Well, at least he understands what many in the Catholic Church do not:

"Latin is an eternal language and therefore I believe it is important to document Elvis' songs also in this eternal language," said Jukka Ammondt, known by his stage name Doctor Ammondt."

From Newsday:

A player for the Long Island Ducks was arrested (and suspended) after "charging the mound and injuring two players with his bat". The Long Island Ducks is a minor league baseball team that has been an awesome success story here in Suffolk. Frank Boulton, the owner of the team, tried to bring a minor league team to Long Island years ago, first in Nassau where the politicians were less than helpful. His Albany-Colonie Yankees moved to Norwich, CT when they could not be brought to LI, but years later the Ducks were created and the games have been sold out since. Two of my family members made a living in minor league baseball for some years and I always enjoyed going to the games. The Long Island Ducks stadium is nice, clean, and the games are fun to go to, even for families. This is why this incident is so bad. I have mentioned my annoyance before when jocks do not get charged with crimes when they commit them on the field, so I am glad to see the player was arrested.

From Newsday:

Woman sues ex-partner for contracting herpes

The boyfriend told this woman he had herpes but said she could not catch it from him, and she believed him. There are three things this woman needs: google, self-respect, and a clue.

"Last week, Pollock, 49, of Long Beach, filed a lawsuit against her ex in Nassau Supreme Court, charging that the disease he gave her will make it difficult ever to be intimate with a man again.
"He took away the most precious thing I had -- the ability to love and be loved," she said."

This woman has two children and claims she cannot love and be loved? How sad.

Friday and Saturday, October 26th - 27th, 2007

The Society of Catholic Social Scientists is holding their 15th Annual Meeting -Conference at St. John's University School of Law in Jamaica (Queens), NY. (I probably would have preferred Jamaica the Island but oh well). There will be dozens of panels on many aspects of Catholicism and below is just a partial list of speakers and panel participants:

Rev. Joseph Koterski, S. J.
William Donohue
Ronald Rychlak
Gregory Popcak
Kenneth Whitehead
Sister Margherita Marchione
Paul Vitz
Dawn Eden
Archbishop Chaput

The conference is going to be a major Catholic event. I was honored to be asked by Dr. Joseph Varacalli to organize a panel discussion on "The Impact of Catholic Bloggers". Because you must pay to be part of the conference, and there are no fees being paid to anyone, I figured I would ask local bloggers first. Dawn Eden and Leticia Velasquez were asked and agreed to be the panel. I have been putting together my thoughts on Catholic blogging and, in true blogger fashion, will be blogging about our panel as it develops. I will also post more information on the conference and panels since there are so many great topics and speakers.

This Associated Press article on Rudy Giuliani's faith (or lack thereof) mentions his life long friend Msgr. Alan Placa and also Stephen Dillard's Catholics Against Rudy.

"Rudy Giuliani evokes his Catholic upbringing as he campaigns for president, yet he refuses to say whether he is a practicing Catholic."

Bishop to Honor Lay People with New St. Agnes Medal at September Prayer Service

"One individual or married couple from each parish in the diocese has been chosen.Bishop Murphy announced the creation of the medal at a January 21, 2007 Mass opening the anniversary year of the diocese. Pastors from 133 parishes were asked to nominate lay people who unselfishly donate their time to their parishes."

Someone came to this blog after doing a google search for"where was the toll booth from the godfather filmed". I see Wikipedia has it filmed at the Meadowbrook Toll Plaza, but according to other sources it was filmed in an abandoned runway at Mitchel Field. Mitchel Field is correct, because if you watch closely as Sonny is driving around the bend to the toll booth, you can see the antenna of Telecare, the Diocese of Rockville Centre's television station, located on the grounds of what is now Kellenberg High School. This is right across from the former Mitchell Field. Long Island is a good place to film mobster's deaths -
Bobby Bacala's death in the "Blue Comet"episode of the Soprano's was filmed in Trainworld in Lynbrook. Trainworld is the go to place for model trains of all types, as Bobby obviously knew.

Now that I have solved that mystery of where Sonny was shot, how about someone answering how Sonny could get shot up by men from all different angles, but the fake toll booth collector ducks below the window and doesn't get hit?

I updated the template on this blog and am in the middle of categorizing my posts. I seem to have lost my Haloscan comments though...

UPDATE: Thanks to Christopher of Catholics in the Public Square for posting the directions on how to get back my Haloscan comments. Ironically, his assistance in the comments box was now deleted when I got the Haloscan back.

I Heart the 80's

My wife and I went to see The Police last night at Madison Square Garden. The crowd was nice, not always a given when going to a rock concert. All were in the mood to hear the music of their youth, and all enjoyed it very much.

Karen Marie Knapp, RIP

Mark Shea reports Karen died last night. Karen's From the Anchor Hold was one of the first blogs I read when introduced to St. Blog's through Gerard Serafin, RIP. She had occasionally commented on my blog in the early years. Gerard and Karen were certainly major influences in the Catholic blog world, not only as early bloggers, but as constant positive forces in a sometimes cantankerous parish. They were both gentle souls, both not in great health, and both major contributors to the "St. Blog's Parish" spirit. May Karen rest in peace, and may she intercede in heaven for all us bloggers so that we may be worthy of Christ.

Ned Flanders Vs. Mel Gibson?

Fr. John Zuhlsdorf at What Does The Prayer Really Say? posts a memo from the Bishop of Steubenville to priests in his diocese regarding Summorum Pontificum. The memo is sadly fearful and negative towards SP and includes a questionnaire priests who wish to celebrate the Extraordinary form of the Liturgy must fill out. Since Steubenville is home to the Franciscan University of Steubenville, the comments section quickly became home to various stories and comments on that school, until Fr. Z shut the comments down and told all to move along onto other things. The comments bring up a number of interesting things that have much to do with the situation in the Church today.

Basically, Steubenville is a small but growing Catholic college, that was pretty much the center of the "charismatic" movement in the 80's and 90's. The charismatic movement started in 1967 in Pittsburgh which is not far from Steubenville. The president of Steubenville, Fr. Scanlan, embraced the movement and that is widely credited with saving the University and keeping it afloat. Today, FUS is one of the schools considered really "Catholic" by most and therefore a top destination for theology majors and those serious about their faith. (A side discussion for many is whether the campus should become more "great books" oriented or more academically challenging) With the reputation for orthodoxy and strong faith life on campus, orthodox Catholics flock to FUS or send their children there. Now, there is a tension between more tradition minded students and faculty and those who favor the more charismatic aspects of the school. This tension is particularly seen in the discussion on Liturgy, and this same tension also exists in many parishes and dioceses. The split between the charismatic and traditional Catholics is not a bad thing, since each faction can generally co-exist peacefully.

As this article from Feb. 2000 by John Allen in the National Catholic Reporter points out, the tension has existed for years, and it continues as the charismatic influence is dwindling and the traditionalist influence is growing. The article is good although of course written with the standard liberal bias. The interesting thing about this intra-Church tension is that it is between two perfectly acceptable, good, and orthodox groups. Although each group has its cranks and crackpots, they are as a whole faithful Catholics. Quite a change from the previous years of Catholics fighting those within the Church who pushed for the Church to change her teachings.

Ever notice how mafia figures always claim to be too sick to go to jail when they are old? Apparently, molesters pull the same trick. Barry Ryan, a former priest who molested a 5 year old boy in Suffolk County, after the boy's family allowed Ryan to stay at their house while he was suffering from cancer, has moved to Missouri.

Newsday reports:

"That prompted Suffolk County Court Judge Ralph Gazzillo to issue a warrant for the priest's arrest, a move that was praised by the victim's family."

This is August 2nd, 2007.

But notice what this article from 2005 says -

"Gazzillo sentenced Ryan to the negotiated sentence of 2 years.
But Ryan is not expected to see the inside of a prison, said Rosamaria Abbate, the Suffolk prosecutor who handled the case.

His terminal illness may take his life before the date he is supposed to go into custody, which Gazzillo set for July 7, 2005."