More Buddhist Catholics

I've written many times about the scandalous activities of the disobedient Jesuits of Mt. Manresa, particularly their long-time, regularly scheduled Zen meditation classes which were conducted by a "resident sensei". As recently as December 2011 this group was holding sessions at Mt. Manresa. Therefore I was very surprised to read in the Advance that the group had moved their classes to Wagner College. I wonder why. Did someone in authority finally have the guts to put an end to this disgraceful collaboration?

Postscript: as it turns out, no, there wasn't a sudden revival of orthodoxy at Mt. Manresa, just greed: the reason the Zen meditation group moved was because Mt. Manresa tripled their rent, while the space at Wagner College is being provided free of charge.

Naughty, naughty!

Nick Williams- tattooed, chain-smoking former lead singer of the Anteaters, recently hosted "The NY Pin Up Club: A Night of Burlesque" at The Full Cup in Stapleton. The NY Pin Up Club has been producing retro-themed photo shoots and performances for five years, "celebrating the classic charm" of old time strippers and porn models like Lily St. Cyr and Bettie Page. For $10 admission, the event promises "Fancy cocktails! DJs! Nick's body art! Semi-nudie networking!" Oh, by the way, the erotic evening's impresario, Mr. Williams, is also the "long-time music minister for Our Lady Star of the Sea"!

Rest in peace, Brother Jordan

Although I didn't know this priest, I just wanted to link to his obituary, which describes an extraordinary life in service to the Church. After teaching in high schools for many years, he suddenly up and moved to teach in Kenya where he served impoverished children from the streets of Nyeri. Our Church has so many heroic priests and nuns like this whose deeds go untold and mostly unnoticed, except by the Heavenly Father and the countless lives they touch.

Grim prospects

I recently wrote a letter (well, filled out an online petition) to Congressman Michael Grimm, protesting the President's recent birth control mandate. I just received a response from the Congressman, detailing his disapproval of the Administration's new rules, and describing his actions in opposition. To wit, he and other pro-life members of Congress got together and came up with the pathetically futile idea of writing a letter to Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius urging her to "reconsider" the rule and "respectfully" requesting that she suspend the mandate. What a bold and resolute pro-life warrior we have in Congress!

Local priest put in jail by the aspiring Diocletian in the White House.

The Rev. Denis Wilde, Associate Director of our local Priests for Life, has been arrested for praying in front of the White House, in a protest against the Obama Administration's unconstitutional birth control diktat.God! What heroes walk among us! I encourage all to listen to the Rev. Wilde's sermons and interviews, which are available on the Priests for Life website.

Buddhist-Catholic or Catholic Buddhist

There was an interesting obituary in the Advance recently, which exemplifies the utter lack of strength and fidelity in our local Catholic church. An old woman died who, although a graduate of a Catholic high school and Catholic college, is described as "a member of Manhattan’s Jewel Heart Buddhist Center and the Gurdjieff Foundation, where she taught classes in meditation." She was not described as belonging to any parish, yet she was given a funeral Mass at St. Peters church, with burial at St. Peter's cemetery. It is possible that on her deathbed she could have disavowed her heathen and New Age beliefs, but if that were the case then why would those affiliations be trumpeted in her obituary? I guess the message that Monsignor Dorney is sending is that one can be a Buddhist and Catholic at the same time. Does our church stand for anything anymore? Why do these hollow men who lead us seem to be desperately attempting to remake our Church into a syncretic and universalist sect? Why are our priests so scared of being Catholic?

Reconciliation Monday

The Monday before Christmas was designated Reconciliation Monday by the Archdiocese. The Archbishop requested that every parish offer the Sacrament from 2 to 8pm that day. The Advance reported as a fact that every parish would do so on that day. I went looking to partake of Confession that evening after work but encountered at least 3 dark, locked-up parishes before finally finding one that was interested in saving souls. Are Staten Island priests too lazy to cooperate with the Archbishop's initiative? I just don't get it. Even the one parish I found that was open made no mention of the fact on their outdoor bulletin board. I guess it's yet another Catholic event open only to those "in the know".