Lord

The heart of the Christian community is our Triune Lord: Father, Son, Holy Spirit. Geography, history, and numbers are not the heart, but probably I will type mostly on these topics. As the internet already provides many encouraging spiritual guides and discouraging contentious forums, I intend to offer neither.
-----
To find a parish, enter a keyword in the search box at the top left, or look through the labels and links down the right-hand column. The posts themselves follow the Blogger format of newest items on top.
-----

Sunday, December 23, 2018

Fr. Willard Jabusch, hymnist

Today we sang at communion "See How the Virgin Waits," with a Slovak folk melody. It saddened me to discover that its composer, Fr. Willard Jabusch, of Chicago, died this December 8th, age 88. You may read an obituary in the Chicago Tribune HERE. Many hymns he authored were based on hymns in Christian cultures in other lands and languages. 
---
Some of his eighty hymns are listed HEREHis talent helped us worship and praise.
---
Today's hymn is certainly an appropriate Advent song. I have not yet discovered whether it is also a translation from Slovak or whether he has Slovak ancestry. Please comment below if you know!
---
May the choirs of angels welcome him.

Saturday, December 8, 2018

Collection for Retired Religious

This Sunday, December 9, 2018, parishes will receive collections for the Retirement Fund for Religious, as organized in the diocese of Rockville Centre. Some years back, there was a fund for two dioceses, Brooklyn and Rockville Centre. It appears from the brochure and letter from Bishop John Barras that the funds will be send onward to the USCCB for its National Religious Retirement Office. Congregations of female or male religious apply for specific grants from the NRRO. The website retiredreligious.org contains an Annual Report and Financial Statements that details the distribution. (I complain that some praiseworthy charities fill their annual reports with photos and narratives, but avoid listing details of distribution. The NRRO link is outstanding for its explanation of distributions.)
---
I generalize that most congregations that built colleges or academies are better off financially than those that earned stipends by teaching in parishes or doing more localized work. In the Direct Care Assistance table, the fourth column states the percentage of the congregation's (or province's) retirement needs not funded. Some U. S. religious orders, congregations, or provinces are listed in a separate section, titled Congregation Contributions.  
---
A state-by-state listing within the Direct Care Assistance table offer important information, namely the number of members. Knowledge of the provincial structure of the larger congregations is helpful in reading these numbers.
---
As for Long Island, these member numbers are given for 2017:
Brentwood Josephites, 460 Sisters.
Amityville Dominicans, 367 Sisters.
Huntington, the Missionary Sisters of St. Benedict, 33 Sisters.
Daughters of Wisdom, 72 Sisters.
Ursulines of Tildonk, Blue Point, and Jamaica, 36 Sisters.
Halifax Sisters of Charity, 53 Sisters.

Sunday, September 30, 2018

Sent forth by God's Blessing

For recessional today, 9.30.2018, our cantor announced "Sent forth by God's Blessing," which I find a remarkable and beautiful choice. Even the melody sounds like people walking out into a new day with purpose. 
---
Please note these three links:
A biography of Omer Westendorf from a Collegeville website.
And a reference to one of his pseudonyms, J. Clifford Evers, HERE.
And an extensive obituary from the Cincinnati Enquirer of 10.23.1997. 

Sunday, September 9, 2018

Catholic Faith Network

The television department of the diocese of Rockville Centre has been renamed Catholic Faith Network at http://www.cfntv.org/  The mailing address is Post Office Box 158, Uniondale, NY 11553. Its studio is adjacent to Kellenberg Memorial HS, which was built as Maria Regina HS about 1966, and yielded to St. Agnes Cathedral HS in 1984. The antenna can easily be seen next to the Meadowbrook Parkway.  The studio address is 1200 Glen Curtiss Blvd., Uniondale NY 11553.

Monday, August 27, 2018

Catholic HS Entrance Exam, October 27, 2018

Regarding entrance to a Catholic high school in Nassau or Suffolk County, New York, the deadlines are fast approaching.  Please see the website linked HERE for a list of deadlines and other information about taking the test.  The website includes applications for the exam with or without a request for exceptional treatment "with accommodation." The on-line registration form is linked HERE, the fee $60. It would appear that the registration due date is October 3rd.
---
There are seven Catholic high schools in Nassau County and two in Suffolk County. One entrance exam counts for all. An eighth-grader may apply to three schools.  
---
The CHSEE website this year has changed the round-number enrollment for Chaminade from 1,700 (listed for several past years) to 1,650.
However, Holy Trinity, Hicksville, uses a suspect round-number of 1,000 for enrollment. There is no harm publicizing the exact enrollment as of a specific date. Enrollment per grade level would also be informative.
Kellenberg Memorial in Uniondale reports an enrollment of 2,150, but does not state whether that figure includes grades 6 to 12 or only the high school.
Our Lady of Mercy Academy, Syosset, reports 114 graduates in June, 2018, and an enrollment of 415 young women, both credible numbers.
Sacred Heart Academy, Hempstead, reports an enrollment of 890 young women.
St. Dominic's College Prep HS, Oyster Bay, reports an enrollment of 410.
St. Mary's HS, Manhasset, gives a round-number enrollment of 600.
----
I wonder about the ratio between the number of test-takers and seats available in the nine high schools, especially since we do not know how many eighth-graders paid for the test in 2017. 

Friday, May 11, 2018

Ascension

Some parishes in central Europe celebrate Jesus's Ascension with a statue hoisted roofward. The link below shows the sequence in Ansing, Bavaria.
Link HERE.
---
On YouTube, Ascension Thursday in Mittenwald, Bavaria, link HERE.
---
The Gregorian chant Introit is "Viri Galilaei ... why are you looking?" from Acts 1.
---
As entrance hymn, our parish sang "Hail the Day that Sees Him Rise," by Charles Wesley, its five stanzas clearly rejoicing over the rising to heaven more than the rising from the tomb.
---
A verse of Psalm 47 is found in the seldom-heard Introit, but we sang six verses of it as the Responsorial Psalm. Likewise, Wesley's hymn echoes the same prayers and praise.
---
At Communion, we sang Robert Dufford's "Be Not Afraid." I then realized that the hymn is not especially a funeral hymn but rather one of instruction to the Apostles at the Ascension. (Am I correct?)
---
The recessional was written by an upstate New Yorker, Leon M. Adkins. "Go, make of all disciples" clearly references today's Gospel.

Tuesday, February 20, 2018

Auxiliary Bishop Robert Coyle

The diocesan website news on the appointment of Bishop Robert Coyle as an auxiliary bishop of Rockville Centre provides this biography. The following paragraph is excerpted from the site of the Archdiocese for Military Services, USA.

Bishop Coyle was born September 23, 1964, in Brooklyn, N.Y. His parents, Robert and Kathryn Coyle, currently live in Cold Spring Hills, N.Y. The product of a life-long Catholic education, Bishop Coyle graduated from St. Edward Confessor Elementary School, Syosset, N.Y., in 1978; St. Mary’s Boys High School, Manhasset, N.Y., in 1982; Fordham University, with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Economics, in 1986; and Immaculate Conception Seminary, Huntington, N.Y., with a Master of Divinity in 1991 and a Master of Arts degree in Theology in 1998. He was ordained a priest on May 25, 1991 for the Diocese of Rockville Centre, N.Y. by Bishop John R. McGann at St. Agnes Cathedral.

His is Titular Bishop of Zabi, perhaps in modern Algeria.

The diocese of Rockville Centre apparently now has five Auxiliary Bishops, three active, two retired.

---
In early May, 2018, Bishop Barres appointed him pastor in Holbrook, as announced on the diocesan website:

ROCKVILLE CENTRE, N.Y. – May 9, 2018 – The Most Reverend John O. Barres, Bishop of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Rockville Centre, made the following appointments which are effective June 27, 2018:
Most Rev. Robert J. Coyle 
Most Reverend Robert J. Coyle will serve as pastor of Church of the Good Shepherd, Holbrook.  In addition, Bishop Coyle will oversee the work of the Diocesan Pastoral Council. 
Bishop Coyle returned to serving the People of God in the Diocese of Rockville Centre on April 2, 2018.  Since then, he has already performed 15 confirmations across the diocese.  Previously, Bishop Coyle served as Episcopal Vicar for the Eastern Half of the US, Archdiocese for the Military Services.
“Bishop Coyle’s global leadership in the military in service to the men and women who defend our country is a great asset to the Church’s mission on Long Island and to parish evangelization at Good Shepherd parish,” said Bishop Barres.