Easter Vigil at St. William the Abbot

Fortunately for me, the Easter Vigil on April 4, 2026, was televised. There is a single camera, facing the altar from a viewpoint above the center aisle near the fifth pew. The screen was dark until the Pastor and the Pascal Candle approached the altar and the candles of the congregation has been shared.

= = =

What happened next caused me to post this news. The director of music, Jennifer Hegmann-Palmentieri sang the Exultet magnificently. The Exulet is a joyous proclamation with origins about the 7th century. It is rich in thoughts, including O Felix Culpa and the allusion to the toil of bees as described by Virgil. 

- - -

From Holy Saturday 1951 to 1955, I attended lengthy Holy Saturday Masses at 6:30 a.m. when the celebrant mumbled nine readings facing the altar. In 1955, Pope Pius XII reintroduced the older nighttime Vigil, but still in Latin. It was joyous, as we young De La Salle Brothers had our freshman Catholic University classes in Troy, New York. The celebrant of this momentous change was Father Aidan Carr, OFM Conv.

---

The language of the Easter Vigil changed to English about 1970.

Hymn, Softly and Tenderly

Today is All Souls Day.  At communion, the congregation sang "Softly and Tenderly, Jesus is Calling," composed by Will L. Thompson in 1880. Thompson lived mostly in Ohio.   He was a prolific writer  of hymns. Please see the Wikipedia article about his life. 

---

The Church of  Christ has independent congregations, not parishes.     

School enrollment

A formerly-printed weekly magazine, U. S. News and World Report, sponsors various annual "best" lists that are coveted. The following list somewhat follows the presentation of Catholic school enrollment in Nassau County, but adds information from other sources.. There may be errors. Enrollment figures are for Pre-K-8 unless specified otherwise. I present this in size order. I used to count heads in graduation photos, but nowadays the photos disclose less. The word "best" is used only in the public school reporting. I presume the variations within the ranks of non-public schools make the term "best" problematic, as comparing apples and oranges.

Bishop Kellenberg Marianist, 2,549 in grades 6-12.

Chaminade Marianist HS, Mineola, 1,703 boys.

Holy Trinity Diocesan HS, Hicksville., 1,300.

Sacred Heart Academy, Henpstead, 735 high school girls.

St. Martin Marianist, Uniondale, 341.

St. Anne, Garden City. 350.

St. Rose, Massapequa. 282.

Notre Dame, New Hyde Park, 284.    

Our Lady of Victory, Floral Park, 282.

Long Beach Catholic, 255.

St. Elizabeth Ann Seton, Bellmore. 242.

St. Brigid, Our Lady of Hope, Westbury. 231.

Our Lady of Lourdes, Malverne. 230.

Holy Family, Hicksville. 204.

St. Dominic, Oyster Bay. 201.

Maria Regina, Seaford. 171.

St. Edward, Syosset. 162.

Holy Child, Old Westbury 159.

St. Aidan, Williston Park. 150.

-- --

Enrollments in 2019 are reported HERE.

 

Hymn: Taste and See

At Communion time this morning in our parish of St. William the Abbot, the congregation sang the hymn "Taste and See the Lord is Good," based on Psalm 34:8. It was composed by Dr. James E. Moore, jr., a Black Catholic from Virginia, and from Cincinnati's Athenaeum seminary, where  he taught music. From 1984, Dr. Moore lived and taught in Vienna, Austria. He died there in 2022.

---

Please see entry at Black Catholic Messenger.

----

List of seven hymns he wrote at Hymnary.org.

---

Wikipedia entry HERE.

DRVC assignments 6.24.2025

The new or modified assignments of the priests and deacons of the diocese of Rockville Centre effective 6.24.2025 are on eight pdf pages. Please note that this is not a complete list of  personnel, as it lists changes. I have been unable to write a link, so go to the drvc.org website and search for assignments.

---

I am also having difficulty printing all eight pages from Adobe Acrobat.

---

St. Joseph's parish in Garden City gained a bishop for its new pastor, namely auxiliary bishop Andrzej Zglejszewski, who will remain Episcopal Vicar for the Western Vicariate and Vicar for Worship. 

---

In the City of Glen Cove and nearby Glen Head, Dom Gabriel Roch is pastor of three parishes, St. Patrick, Glen Cove, where he and his community reside, St. Rocco, Glen Cove, and (apparently recently without a resident priest), St. Hyacinth, Glen Head. The newest church structure is St. Hyacinth, the Latin version of the Polish name Jacek. On weekends, St. Patrick's has five Masses, including one in Spanish. St. Rocco has five Masses, including one in Italian and one lingua latina, usus antiquior. At St. Hyacinth, there are no weekday Masses, but there are three weekend Masses, including one in Polish. That seems to add up to thirteen weekend Masses offered by Canons Regular from Klosterneuburg, lower Austria. 

---

St. Bernard's, Levittown, has a new pastor, Rev. John D. McCarthy. See video HERE.

---

Two Polish churches in Nassau County will share a priest of the Archdiocse of Lublin, Poland. The Rev. Jerzy Bres will live at St. Ladislaus, Hempstead, but also attend to St. Hedwig, Floral Park. There are six weekend Masses at St. Hedwig and other priests on the staff.  At St. Ladislaus, two weekend Masses are in English, one in Spanish, and one in Polish. The given name Jerzy has roots in Latin and Greek Georgios, farmer.

Baptismal Statistics

 I must praise the Catholic World Report for its extensive article on 2024 baptismal statistics. The author has mined the data from the Annuarium Statisticum Ecclesiae. I suspect that the data are mostly reliable, but a few years back I encountered an incredible statistic submitted by a Suffolk County parish school, declaring that for three years in a row the school's enrollment was 300. The school soon closed.

The King of Love My Shepherd Is

Today is Good Shepherd Sunday because of its Gospel. Our offertory hymn at St. William's was "The King of Love My Shepherd Is," composed in 1868 by Sir Henry Williams Baker, 1821-1877.

Eastern Rite parishes in Nassau County

Several Catholic parishes in Nassau County, Long Island, have their own Eastern Rite exarch or bishop rather than the Latin Rite bishop of Rockville Centre. Two are Ukrainian.

---

At 275 Ellison Avenue, Westbury, is the church of St. Andrew Apostle, a Byzantine Catholic Church belonging to the Ukrainian Exarchy (diocese) of Passaic, New Jersey. The parish website is linked HERE. The pastor is Fr. Nicholas Daddona. The Byzantine-Rite church in Smithtown belongs to the same exarchy.

---

At 718 Front Street, Hempstead, is the church of St. Vladimir, belonging to the Ukrainian Exarchy of Stamford, Connecticut. An old article in the Long Island Herald offers a photo of the iconostasis and much information. 

---

At 1500 De Paul Street, Elmont, is located a cathedral of the Syro-Malankara Eastern Rite. It is the former parish church of the Roman Rite parish of St. Vincent de Paul. Its center is in Kerala, India. Please see Wikipedia at this link. 

Bishop Barres visits Seaford

Bishop John Oliver Barres offered the 9 a.m. Mass at St. William the Abbot, Seaford, March 2, 2025. He thanked Father Joseph Fitzgerald for his work and extended his role as pastor for a second six-year term. The bishop also said that Fr. Fitzgerald will be a chaplain at the Olympic Games that open in Los Angeles July 14, 2028.

---

Today's selection of readings and the responsorial psalm exemplifies the rich introduction of the three-year cycle effective Palm Sunday, 1970.  Psalm 92: Lord it is good to give thanks to you.

Hymn, Crown Him with Many Crowns

Today, the Feast of Christ the King, the pre-recorded Mass from the Passionist Fathers, had as recessional the hymn "Crown Him with Many Crowns, the Lamb upon his Throne." The hymnist is Matthew Bridges, 1800-1894, who penned this hymn after he embraced the Roman Catholic church around 1846.

Hymn, We Gather Together

On Sunday, November 10, 2024, the entrance hymn was "We Gather Together to Ask the Lord's Blessings," strong in purpose and of fascinating history. Our translation may have been done by Theodore Baker, 1851 - 1934.

In the Spanish-ruled Netherlands of 1597, Adrianus Valerius, Dutch Protestant, wrote it to celebrate a military victory. Spain forbade Protestant religious celebrations. Careful! The various English translations are inexact. The Dutch hymn begins, "Wilt heden nu treden, perhaps "Will you now take steps..."

Please see the Wikipedia article linked HERE.

From Valley Stream to Boston

The large archdiocese of Boston will receive a new archbishop in October, namely Rev. Richard Henning, native of Valley Stream and Holy Name of Jesus parish.

The cathedral is close to downtown Boston, at 1400 Washington Street. (Careful! Boston has several Washington Streets!)

The four-storey chancery in the south suburb of Braintree was a 2007 acquisition. The donor, Tom Flatley, charged the archdiocese $100 for the sale! In my opinion, the location is good only for those who have the use of a car. The nearest T station is more than two miles away. Yet, I admire the gift. It is about ten miles south of the cathedral. 

https://bostoncatholic.org/directions-to-the-pastoral-center

Holy Games before Paris Olympics

 Father Joseph Fitzgerald in Paris for the Holy Games.

Link HERE.

Also https://churchleaders.com/news/490554-olympics-get-underway-french-catholics-hold-prayer-vigil-for-athletes-rns.html

Reassignments of priests in DRVC

The Rockville Centre diocesan website has THIS LINK to seven pages of priest appointments, generally effective the end of June, 2024.

---

In Nassau County, I see new pastors at Hewlett-Cedarhurst-Inwood, Bellmore, New Hyde Park, Roslyn, and Valley Stream. A priest from Poland will administer both St. Ladislaw, Hempstead, and St. Hedwig, Floral Park.

---

There are many appointments of parochical vicars (otherwise called assistants or curates.)

---

Little by little, I will attempt to explain the abbreviations used by religious orders and congregations.

First of all, O.P. stands for the Order of Preachers or Dominican Friars, who are taking charge of St. Barnabas parish, Bellmore.

The new pastor at St. Mary, Roslyn, is a priest of F.M.H., Franciscan Missionaries of Hope, based in Nairobi, Kenya.

The auxiliary bishop Luis Romero, is M. Id. the Idente Missonaries founded a hundred years ago in Spain by the layman Fernando Rielo. Bishop Romero is now administrator at Our Lady of the Miraculous Medal in Wyandanch. In the late 1940's, Mom brought us walking from friends on Winter Avenue to OLMM.

Appointed as parochial vicar to Our Lady of Mercy, Hicksville, is Rev. Regimond Benedict, O.I.C., the initials of the Order of the Imitation of Christ, an Eastern Rite Catholic from India. His rite appears to be Syro-Malankara, as in Elmont. It seems that both Catholic and Orthodox groups exist with the name and history of the Order of the Imitation of Christ.

Two priests are listed as C.M., Congregation of the Mission also called the Vincentians.

One, assigned to Huntington Station, is from South India. The other, assigned to Sea Cliff and Glen Cove, is from Poland. I find it remarkable that the congregation founded by St. Vincent de Paul in Paris now sends Polish and Indian priests to the dioceses of  Brooklyn and Rockville Centre.

Hymn at Pentecost

Our music director made several good choices for Pentecost today. Among the songs at Communion was "Breathe on me, breath of God" by Edwin Hatch. An excellent commentary, courtesy of Methodists, is linked HERE.

Hymn for Transfiguration

Today's Gospel was from Mark 9, an account of the Transfiguration. Peter said, "Rabbi, it is good that we are  here." Our processional hymn today was Joseph A. Robinson's " 'Tis good, Lord, to be here." I wonder whether the composer was this Joseph Robinson (1815-1898)

Syro-Malankara Catholics in Elmont

Please note this event at what was (or still is partially) the Parish of Saint Vincent de Paul in Elmont.

The Syro-Malankara rite is Catholic and in the USA has its own bishop or Exarch.

Order of Preachers to Bellmore

Bishop John Barres has given care of St. Barnabas Parish, Bellmore, to the Saint Joseph Province of the Dominican Friars.

Please see this report from the Friars.

Syosset's Our Lady of Mercy Academy will close

Sad to report. but Our Lady of Mercy Academy in Syosset will close permanently at the end of June. Please see news reports in Newsday of 1.9.2024 and various parts of the school's website https://olma.org/about/closure-faq/

The cause of the closure is low enrollment. According to Newsday, peak enrollment of 525 was attained in the 1970's. This year's freshmen number 37. I note that Syosset's population was largely Jewish, now becoming more Asian. To the north, St. Dominic's offered a Catholic high school. To the south, Holy Trinity Diocesan High School in Hicksville draws numbers.

I tend to trust James Conant's 1959 opinion that a high school should have at least 100 graduates per year in order to offer a broad curriculum.

When the darkness closes in, Come Lord Jesus

Meri Dell Ridge wrote this morning's entrance hymn, "Come Lord Jesus." It begins, "When the darkness closes in."  M. D. Ridge lived 1938-2017.

Link for her biography HERE.

I cannot link the text, but it shows up in missals published by the Oregon Catholic Press.