The Latest Church Scandals, The Latest Grand Jury Report, etc...

Cardinal McCarrick, Cardinal Cupich, Cardinal Wuerl - they are all the same.  So many Catholics are asking what they can do, one thing is:  Do not give any money to the Catholic Church until they bring back ordination of married men to the secular priesthood.  Or simply do not give any money to it period.  Give Francis what he wants:  a poor Church.  

Police: Members of a family bombed 3 Indonesian churches

"Coordinated suicide bombings carried out by members of the same family struck three churches in Indonesia's second-largest city Sunday, police said, as the world's most populous Muslim nation recoiled in horror at one of its worst attacks since the 2002 Bali bombings.

At least seven people died at the churches in Surabaya along with the six family members, the youngest of whom were girls aged 9 and 12, according to police. Another 41 people were injured.

Indonesia's president condemned the attacks as "barbaric."

  

National police chief Tito Karnavian said that the father detonated a car bomb, two sons aged 18 and 16 used a motorcycle for their attack, and the mother and her two daughters wore explosives."

New Pastors Assigned

From the Diocese of Rockville Centre's website:


Bishop Robert Coyle - Pastor of the Good Shepherd in Holbrook

Father Gilbert Lapp -  Pastor of the Church of St. Frances Cabrini, Coram

Father Joseph Scolaro - Pastor of the Church of Notre Dame, New Hyde Park

All are effective June 27th.

Suspected Killer of Long Island Deacon Arrested in Memphis: Police

They caught the guy who did this horrible murder of a good Deacon, Patrick Lodgson RIP.

"The 70-year-old Logdson was the program manager at Anthony House, where he lived to serve others, people who knew him said. Patton was one of three people living at the home at the time; it helps those who struggle with drug addiction or homelessness." ....

"St. Vincent de Paul of the Diocese of Rockville Center, which ran the Anthony House, said in a statement in November: "Even at the time of his death, [Logsdon] was carrying out the Gospel message of caring for the poor as he has done faithfully for 33 years."

Weigel and Dreher and Parishes

I just listened to a short interview with the great George Weigel on the Catholic Answers Focus Podcast.  He discussed his newest book entitled The Fragility of Order (Ignatius Press).  Weigel mentioned disagreeing with Rod Dreher's The Benedict Option and proposed that rather than separating or retreating into intentionally set apart groups Catholics need to shore up the Dioceses, parishes and colleges that have always made up the Church.  This is interesting to me because I attended Catholic schools my whole life, but my child is attending public schools and just completed the first year of 'Religious Education' at the local parish.  My wife and I discussed the big difference between our having a religion class on a regular basis, in addition to religious activities and sacraments as part of the regular school day, and my child going to an 'extra' class one night a week after a long day of school and homework.   He will not get a fraction of the religious education as well as the contact with the Catholic culture (such as it was and is) that we received in Catholic schools.  When I started this blog I was not married and had no children so I could attend various intellectual, educational and spiritual programs but now, I would be lucky to attend one lecture somewhere.   It is the same for most people.  The parishes really are the places where Catholics will meet the faith and pass it on to the next generation (or not).


 Weigel also mentioned that rather than counting Mass attendance on a Sunday and comparing it to the same Sunday of the previous year, a better way of evaluating the vitality of a parish is in how many baptisms and weddings there are and how many adults enter the Church at the Easter Vigil.  This reminded me of another Podcast I listened to recently (The Untitled Catholic Podcast) where a local priest mentioned St. Patricks in Smithtown where 24 people received Sacraments at the Easter Vigil!!!

From the Knights of Columbus:

Long Island’s newest council is named after a young man known for his love of life and love of Christ

"Though Joe had high hopes of taking his First Degree, he never did. He died unexpectedly on Jan. 16, 2015, due to an enlarged heart.

But the legacy of this devout yet fun-loving young man lives on in the newest council on Long Island: Joseph Mario Reali Council 16261. A 2016 Star Council, it has attracted approximately 60 Knights since it was chartered two years ago.

Many of the members knew and loved Joe, whose life continues to inspire their mission. Louis Onglengco, 23, recalled looking up to Joe, who trained him as an altar server and helped him on the football field when they were growing up.

“I joined the Knights of Columbus to help the Church and because Joe Reali was a great role model to me,” Onglengco said. “I wanted to be just like him.”

FSSP Ordinations
 
"The priestly ordinations for the Fraternity of St. Peter will take place on Saturday, May 26th, 2018. Ten men will be ordained by His Excellency the Most Reverend Alexander K. Sample of the Archdiocese of Portland in a Pontifical Mass to be held at the Cathedral of St. Cecilia in Omaha, Nebraska at 10 o’clock in the morning."



Speaking of Bishop Sample the Catholic Herald in the UK notes:


Video: Archbishop’s sermon praising Old Rite goes viral

 
"Young people are drawn to the Traditional Latin Mass by its “beauty”, “sense of mystery” and “transcendence”, Archbishop Alexander K Sample has said.

Speaking during a Pontifical High Mass in the Extraordinary Form at the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception in Washington DC, Archbishop Sample praised Pope Benedict XVI for the “great gift” of Summorum Pontificum – the document that allowed the traditional Mass to be more widely celebrated – and said the “reverence and sacredness” of the old Mass would enrich the Novus Ordo.

The Archbishop of Portland, Oregon also noted how many young people were in the congregation, saying: “You are a sign—a great sign—of encouragement and hope for the Church tossed about these days on the troubled waters of secularism and relativism. As they say: you ‘get it.’"

You might have forgotten that in 2012  Pope Benedict XVI created the Personal Ordinariate of The Chair of St. Peter, but it is seems to be humming along quite nicely. 

IN THE UNITED STATES AND CANADA



Based in Houston, Texas, the Personal Ordinariate of the Chair of Saint Peter has more than 40 Roman Catholic Parishes and Communities across the U.S. and Canada.

1. 1 Bishop
2. 1 Ordinary Emeritus
3. 70 Priests
4. 8 Deacons
5. 16 Candidates for Priesthood
6. 5 Seminarians
7. 41 Parishes & Communities

 

Monks of Tibhirine, depicted in ‘Of Gods and Men’, to be beatified

From The Anchoress (Elizabeth Scalia) who raves about the film.  I need to see this.


"The seven Cistercian monks of Tibhirine had been abducted in March 1996 in their monastery of Our Lady of the Atlas, 80 km south of Algiers. Their death was announced on May 23 by a statement from the Armed Islamic Group (GIA). The heads of the Trappist monks were found on May 30, 1996, without the mystery of their death being fully clarified."

Bishop Barres to ordain five men to priesthood on 6/24

Mass of Ordination
Saturday, June 24, 2017
11:00 a.m.
Saint Agnes Cathedral
29 Quealy Place
Rockville Centre, New York 11571

Those being ordained are: Rev. Mr. Michael Bissex, Rev. Mr. Liam McDonald, Rev. Mr. Michael Plona,
Rev. Mr. Christopher Sullivan and Rev. Mr. John Wachowicz.

Read more about those to be ordained here.

In case anyone was wondering that happened to the Uniondale property that used to be St. Pius X High School, and the retirement center for priests of the Diocese of Rockville Centre, and the site of the Traditional Latin Mass:  it is now in the good hands of the Greek Orthodox who will use it for a home for the elderly and will use the chapel.  DRVC sold it to them for $7 million.  This is good for  everybody.

A Mass of Thanksgiving in Honor of Servant of God Msgr. Bernard J. Quinn

Saturday, April 1st at 11:30 AM at St. Brigid in Westbury

Principle Celebrant:  Msgr. Paul Jervis, Postulator
Homilist:  Fr. Alonso Cox, Vice-Postulator

Our Sunday Visitor had an article tracing the accomplishments of Msgr. Quinn in 2010 that can be found here.


"With the impending 1929 economic depression brewing, the poorest among the black families were not able to provide for their children. Father Quinn bought property in Wading River, Long Island, to establish an orphanage for these children. But he met with violent opposition from the KKK.  

The action of the Klan members had been prodded by white community residents who objected to an orphanage for black children in their hamlet, with its scenic farmlands and wooded, undulating landscape that overlooked the Long Island Sound. 

Threats on His Life 

The orphanage that Father Quinn first erected in 1928 was burned down by the KKK. They waited, and after the priest rebuilt the orphans’ home in 1929, they again totally incinerated it. The diocese was silent throughout Father Quinn’s ordeal.  

Also, New York’s Governor Alfred E. Smith, a Catholic and the Democratic Party’s 1928 U.S. Presidential Candidate, kept a low profile, for he had enough anti-Catholic detractors and was unwilling to become even more unpopular by intervening on behalf of Quinn’s black orphans."

Under threats to his life, Father Quinn stood up to his foes by defying them again in rebuilding the orphanage. He was ready to pay the ultimate price with his life for his orphan children as he had pledged to his parishioners, “...I would willingly shed to the last drop my life’s blood for the least among you.”  

Father Quinn was, however, more valuable to them alive than as a martyr. With St. Thérèse’s intercession, hostility toward him ceased abruptly. He succeeded in establishing his orphanage, fittingly named The Little Flower House of Providence, which was dedicated on Oct. 26, 1930. This institution, later incorporated into the Little Flower Children and Family Services of New York, is still thriving. "

The Bomb That Never Detonated

Fr. James Schall on Paul Erlich's ridiculous book The Population Bomb.  An Excerpt:

"Back in the early 1970s, in the heyday of unceasing rancor over Humanae Vitae, a great number of books were published that prophesied disaster for the human race. Among the most famous was Paul Ehrlich’s widely read The Population Bomb. At that time, we were given various apocalyptic scenarios about the end of things caused by our own uncontrolled breeding. We were soon to starve to death. The world, then with a population of around three billion, was running out of food, clothing, gas, and just about everything else. Things could only get worse. Resources were “limited”; no more new ones were imaginable. The Catholic Church was often singled out as contributing to this approaching demise of the human race since she taught that the world was made for man. Her weird stance on human breeding was “irrational”. Her views on marriage and children were said to go against the principles of, you guessed it, “modern science”.

The main group did not readily buy these forebodings were the economists, or at least the free market ones." 

Traditional Latin Mass at St. Agnes Cathedral in Rockville Centre

St. Patrick's Day Friday, March 17 at 4 PM

Fr. Ryan Creamer will offer a Sung High Mass (1962 Missal) on the feria Friday in Lent, the Commemoration of St. Patrick, Bishop and Confessor (III Classis)

Hundreds gather to mourn murdered priest Father Jacques Hamel

"Hundreds of mourners crammed into Rouen Cathedral in northern France on Tuesday for the funeral of the elderly Roman Catholic priest knifed to death at a church altar by two Islamist militants.

Father Jacques Hamel was leading morning mass in the nearby industrial town of Saint-Etienne-du-Rouvray last Tuesday when the attackers stormed in, forced the 85-year-old to his knees and slit his throat while chanting in Arabic."

Paris terror arrest after gas tanks found in Notre Dame car

"Paris police have arrested a man on the terrorism watch list after his car was found near the Notre Dame Cathedral with seven gas cylinders inside.
The Peugeot 607 was found with its hazard warning lights flashing and without number plates, police said.
One of the canisters, on the front passenger seat, was empty, and there were no detonating devices inside.
In November, 130 people died in Paris in a series of terror attacks carried out by so-called Islamic State (IS)."

I have not posted one of these notices in a long time but I am pleased that Faith on Tap is still going on at the Wantagh Inn!  I attended in the 'early years' and was one of the people who helped to organize it.  I have aged out but I bought a house nearby so I hope to drop in one day and see how it has aged. 
 

 

St. John Cantius chosen America's Most Beautiful Church
Finally an election I can care about - all located at Art and Liturgy! 
The contest was modeled after the college basketball 'March Madness' and not surprisingly, the Diocese of Rockville Centre did not have single entry in the Northeast bracket. 


"The Rev. Joshua Caswell, a priest with the Canons Regular, the religious order housed at St. John Cantius, said he believes the contest provided a pleasant distraction for Catholic faithful.
"Beauty matters," he said. "Our culture is starved for beauty.

"He admits he didn't think about the importance of the contest at the time. But as St. John Cantius advanced to the "Theological 32," the "Stunning 16," and the "Ecclesiastical Eight," he was in it to win it, as were other competitors, he learned."
Here is the website for St. John Cantius.
And here is the website for the runner up - The Cathedral of the Madeleine in Salt Lake City.

Mother Angelica, RIP


I have not been blogging regularly since 2013 and since that time we also lost Fr. Benedict Groeschel, another great Catholic figure, who also could alternate between being cutting (in the best way) and hilarious.  I met Fr. Groeschel many times in person but never met Mother Angelica but they both appealed to me as orthodox speakers in a heterodox Church / World. 

Mark Shea remembers her and the time he was on her show here at his National Catholic Register blog.

Snip:

"I was honored with the chance to do her show once and she made an immediate conquest of me. She could whipsaw from being a sweet old lady (she took my hands in her soft grandma hands and graciously welcomed me, "Oh hello dear! It's so nice to meet you. How *are* you?") to being that tough nun who scared the daylights out of every third grader. Only she didn't take it out on callers. She took it out on priests and bishops who needed a little Catherine of Siena treatment from a tough nun with soft grandma hands."     

For the best treatment of Mother Angelica and EWTN, see Raymond Arroyo's book - Mother Angelica:  The Remarkable Story of A Nun, Her Nerve, and a Network of Miracles

Is Dorothy Day Suitable for Canonization?


The above link is to an article written in Crisis Magazine by Fr. Brandon O'Brien, a priest of the Diocese of Rockville Centre who was ordained in 2013.  He seems to take the 'nope' position to the headline question:


"Dorothy Day’s cause is different. In light of Day’s positions concerning some of the most horrific and deadly events of the twentieth century, she is anything but an “attractive possibility” for sainthood. In her lifetime, Day publically advocated various Communist regimes linked to the Soviet Union. Western intellectuals who supported these regimes knew that they consisted of anti-Catholic, atheist governments whose public policy was the firing squad. Often, as was the case with Spain, these regimes were even condemned by the Church’s magisterium. If Lumen Gentium is a blueprint for the modern Christian’s path to holiness and sanctity, it would appear that Day’s support for a Spanish government condemned by Pius XI is not in keeping with the exhortation that Christians “follow in [Christ’s] footsteps and conform themselves to His image seeking the will of the Father in all things.” Her tacit approval of the violence of Castro’s atheist regime in Cuba is also a stumbling block to the call for Christians to “manifest to all men the love with which God loved the world.”


This article comes right on the heels of this announcement from the Archdiocese of New York:

"The Cause for Dorothy Day’s possible eventual beatification and canonization moved into a new phase today as Cardinal Timothy Dolan, the Archbishop of New York, opened the canonical Inquiry on the life of the Catholic Worker movement founder, gathering evidence to determine if Dorothy Day lived a life of “heroic virtue” in the eyes of the Church. "