When you get to be at a certain age like me, sleep is important, but you cannot always count on it. Sometimes I feel tired and go to bed rather early then at one, two o’clock I wake up feeling rested and I can’t go back to sleep. So what do you do? That is where radio comes in; if there is something nice it can soothe the night away. Some people in such circumstances can pray and I do try to elevate gentle thoughts to God, but engaging in prayer is just too hard for my psyche. Others switch on the light and read. It doesn’t work for me. We are all different. So I just lie there quietly and while the body is resting my mind listens to the radio until I fall off again. I used to like certain stations and certain programs but in the last couple of years they have become too rough and ideological for me and a lot of them sound pompous and noisy. I like calm and intelligent conversation.
Then in February came an answer to my prayers in the person of Doug McIntyre. Check him out on Red Eye Radio. I know little about him because I have not bothered researching him. He speaks a lot about LA so he must have lived and worked there for many years but he also sounds very familiar with New York’s politics so I don’t know. He is a conservative but a moderate one. Here moderate means one that can give reasonable, acceptable explanations for his positions. He is intelligent and like me sees both sides of an issue; in every controversy like education or health care there are always two sides and if you spew out ideology and talking points and never address the good points of your opposition how do you expect to win their respect? He sees the same corruption, the same sell out to big interest? On both sides of the political fence and calls it out. He is scholarly; he knows history, literature, art and music. He speaks respectfully of the President even when he does not share the same view. So now when insomnia hits me there is an intellectual companion on the airwaves.
This past week I was asked by my vicar Msgr. Modugno to hold the monthly clergy meeting here in our rectory as an emergency. No problem I said. So we had all the priests here on Wed. for a meeting and a good meal after it. I was glad. I love the other priests. They are a fine bunch and they take care spiritually of East Harlem. I always ensure they get a good meal and enjoy a few nice hours together.
Normally we are able to talk about pressing pastoral issues, this time we had a consultant talking about our electric bills and how to save money, things I have already dealt with long time ago. I mentioned the lift, you know the new chair lift in front of the chair, they had noticed it and of course were curious to know how it worked and how much it cost, so I told them story of the Bernstein family and Julia Vega which you all know. There was great interest. Well, the chair lift could be something that other churches could easily replicate. Msgr. Modugno for instance said that something like that would be the perfect solution for his church; he says it is nice, good looking not bulky and although expensive it is within the reach of their pockets. He asked me to forward the contacts.
During the meal we talked a lot about Bishop Fulton Sheen. Some of the priests had met him at a big retreat in the Philippines years ago. Msgr. Modugno talked about the occasion when Bishop Sheen was preaching inside St. Patrick’s Cathedral and he had some of those moments of rhetorical genius for which he was well known all over the world, he said something like this in his inimitable delivery: If you open wide the huge portals (doors) of this great Cathedral you’d see there outside this hallowed temple, Atlas, the ancient titan on whom befell the task to hold the entire planet Earth on his shoulders. So he is there in his titanic pose. You might think as you look at that figure that the weight of the world may be buckling his knees as one is tilting, more bent than the other but you would be wrong because the great Atlas, one of the great cyclops, titans, is not buckling under the weight of the world but he is bowing down and showing reverence to the Tabernacle and the One who dwells in the Real Presence.
Bishop Sheen was unique, the greatest televangelist. The US Post office said that one day they delivered 10,000 letters, an unbeaten record for an ordinary citizen. Unfortunately due to jealousies among the hierarchy the beloved bishop had to put up with a lot of small-mindedness and in the end, abysmally, the Catholic Church was not able to put anyone in his shoes and so that inheritance was frittered away. His television programs had huge audiences, ratings even when he came up against the greatest of his days. Well with time the Protestants took over televangelism and we were left out in the cold.
Here are some of his zingers. Every mother, when she picks up the young life that has been born to her, looks up to the heavens to thank GOD for the gift which made the world young again. But here was a Mother, a Madonna, who did not look up. She looked down to Heaven, for this was Heaven in her arms. A heckler asked Bishop Sheen a question about someone who had died. The Bishop replied, “I will ask him when I get to heaven.” The heckler replied, “What if he isn’t in Heaven?”The Bishop replied, “Well then you ask him.” We do not need a voice that is right when everyone else is right. We need a voice that is right when everyone else is wrong.
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–During Lent every year we hold the Stewardship Appeal (formerly Cardinal’s Appeal). The goal assigned to our parish is $24,500, (1/6th of annual Sun. Collections) using same formula for all parishes. I intend to have an in-pews appeal next weekend. We have always been able in the past to reach the goal and even though the economy is bad I hope that we’ll do it this year too. To do that I need the cooperation of all of the parish. Even of those who perhaps have sat on the fence in previous years. The Arch. is engaged in a lot of re-thinking and re-organization and needs our help. There are envelopes at the back that you can use to send your contributions directly to the Arch or to pass them on to me and I will gladly forward them. This of course includes me. If all participate it becomes less onerous for everyone. If you truly love your priests, your parish, you meet the goal because if we don’t we’ll never hear the end of it and it will all be my fault; they will be thinking that I am a lousy pastor, not able to inspire and motivate you. That is how it works in the real world. Help us out!!
–Well my Lenten resolution about alcohol has been shot. I have had to attend too many social events. But I don’t mind because I am still sticking to the idea of an alcohol free Lent in this important sense that when Easter comes round out of 50 days maybe I’ve had 40 alcohol free days. I used to take a nightcap before I go to bed but not now. I am on pure water. I don’t touch sodas either since I read that they might be connected with pancreatic cancer. Must say, my body (and mind) feels better.
– There is no question that Archbishop Dolan is directing the senior bodies to focus attention on the problems facing our Archdiocese. Some hints from the Feb meeting of the Senate, the senior body of priests. Msgr. Mustaciuolo presented the financial aspects of the report, “Pathways to Excellence”. It will take two to five years to implement the plan. At the same time parish planning will also be taking place under the leadership of Bishop Sullivan. Monsignor stated that it is hoped that there will only be one set of school closings, which will be announced in February of 2011. However, before we arrive at that point much work has to be accomplished. Already the Education Department has a lot of data concerning all of the schools. The process of saving and improving our schools will start in September of 2010. At that time a panel of pastors with schools, as well as pastors without schools, together with business people and those who served on ARAP (the panel that advised the Archbishop on Parish Planning), will suggest a list of those schools which should be closed and/or merged. This process will last from September to November. During November 2010 the pastors of those targeted schools will be contacted and worked with. Beginning in December 2010 and January 2011, principals, teachers and parents (of the targeted schools) will be involved in discussions concerning their schools. It is hoped that by discussing the collected data, concerning their school, the principal, teachers and school parents will decide their school should be closed and/or merged. It is expected that by the end of February 2011 the process will be complete and those schools to be closed and/or merged will be announced. It is hoped that by this process all interested parties will have had their voices heard and will have participated in the process. Monsignor stated that the decision to close a school should come from the local level and not be imposed from downtown. As soon as we make the decision on the closing of schools, we then go to the regional vicars about clustering schools and how many do we need in each vicariate. Each cluster will form a board of pastors, principals, business and other laypeople, to advise the pastors of each school. 
These boards will only be advisory and not for governance. After a short break to enjoy the archbishop’s birthday cake, Dr. Timothy McNiff then handed out copies of the report, Pathways to Excellence. He stated that he would like the 54 strategies found in the study, to be implemented within the next three years. We need, he stated, to get and train the right adults in this ministry, primarily principals, but also the teachers. He noted that 41% of Catholic School teachers are not certified in religion. Dr. McNiff hopes that the members of the council will read, and study, the Pathways to Excellence report so that when he returns to the senate in April a fruitful discussion will ensue. Moving from this topic, Dr. McNiff added that it is his goal to have 80 principals and 500 teachers in a database so that pastors who need principals and principals who need teachers can avail themselves of qualified candidates for teaching positions. At this juncture there are about one hundred teachers in the database. Also, he mentioned that a lot of data is collected using the standardized tests. Dr. McNiff stated that we need to use the data gleamed for better classroom instruction. Built into next year’s academic calendar will be two “data days” to train teachers to interpret data from the standardized tests and the ITBS tests. These two days will be used in helping the teachers focus on the academic program within each school. Also, Dr. McNiff mentioned that there are five teams helping schools with marketing themselves. He also mentioned that a study was conducted by Notre Dame University concerning education, demographics and ethnicity. One of the findings of the study was that if the number of Hispanics (3%) who presently attend Catholic Schools were to double to 6%, every seat would be filled in Catholic Schools.
–Father Baker, the representative from South Manhattan, went on to say that the area around Tomkins Square Park has enough churches. There are many churches within a few blocks of where the reconstruction of Saint Brigid’s is taking place. It is the feeling of the priests of the area conference that the dispersed parishioners who already have made a home in new parishes will leave and return to the restored Saint Brigid’s. This will leave already weakened and half-filled churches even more distressed. Father Baker voiced the concern that the only reason Saint Brigid’s is being restored is because a benefactor is donating millions of dollars towards it. Where are the priests to staff it going to come from short as we are? The area conference would like to participate in the process. The Archbishop said absolutely.