Fordham Law School Special Forces Lawyer will be deployed to obliterate any infidel or non believer who dares think that Nassau OTB must be open 365 days of the year without religious preference.
U.S.
U.S. Bishops Seek to Match Vatican in Shifting Tone
NEW
ORLEANS — They are rethinking what kinds of houses they live in, and
what kinds of cars they drive. They are wondering whether, in
anticipation of the 2016 presidential election, they need to rewrite
their advice to parishioners to make sure that poverty, and not just
abortion, is discussed as a high-priority issue. And they are trying to
get better about returning phone calls, reaching out to the disenchanted
and the disenfranchised, and showing up at events.
Fifteen
months into the pontificate of Pope Francis, the Roman Catholic bishops
of the United States find themselves unsettled in ways large and small,
revisiting both how they live and what they talk about in light of the
new pope’s emphasis on personal humility and economic justice.
Over the last several days as the bishops gathered here for their semiannual meeting, they grappled with the substantive and stylistic implications of a still-new papacy.
After several of their colleagues faced recent criticism for lavish houses,
several bishops said in interviews that they were paying new attention
to their own spending, mindful of the pope’s decision to eschew the
apostolic palace for a small suite in a Vatican guesthouse, and aware that their parishioners are concerned about how the church uses its money.
“They
have a justifiable demand that we not spend extravagantly on ourselves,
but that we share those goods with others, and he’s really forced that
issue,” said Bishop Blase J. Cupich of Spokane, Wash. Bishop Cupich
noted that he owns no furniture and lives in a room at a seminary, and
he said he is re-evaluating his diocesan budget to make sure it
emphasizes assisting the poor.
Bishop
Gerald F. Kicanas of Tucson said he, too, thinks about Francis as he
shapes his agenda, which, he said, now focuses on poverty, homelessness,
addiction, violence and immigration. And, he said, he is mindful of his
own spending.
“We
have to have a home, have to have a car that’s not going to fall apart
in the middle of the desert, but within reason we have to live simply,”
he said. “The Holy Father is such a model of trying to live with
simplicity, and that is working its way into the lives of bishops.”
Spending
was clearly on the minds of the church’s leaders, some of whom live in
grand homes and preach in landmark churches built decades ago as
testaments to Catholicism’s acceptance and success after a period of
discrimination in the United States. Asked a general question about the
pope’s impact on bishops, Cardinal Donald W. Wuerl, the archbishop of
Washington, responded with a defense of the upscale hotel where the
bishops were meeting, the Hyatt Regency New Orleans.
“We
have to meet at a hotel that’s big enough to hold us,” he said. “We
have to meet at a hotel that’s big enough to allow media to attend.”
The
shift in tone at the Vatican has been disquieting for some bishops. The
archbishop of Indianapolis, Joseph W. Tobin, recently told a group of
theologians, “What I’ve seen is how disruptive Pope Francis has been
within the hierarchy of the United States,” according to The National Catholic Reporter.
“I was talking to a couple of brother bishops a while back and they
were saying that bishops and priests were very discouraged by Pope
Francis because he was challenging them.”
But
the bishops are clearly watching with interest. “Priests and bishops
are paying close attention to what he’s saying, and reading it,” John
Garvey, the president of the Catholic University of America, said in a
telephone interview. Mr. Garvey said he was struck by how often church
officials mentioned to him something the pope had only just said. “I
don’t remember hearing that in the past about Benedict and John Paul.”
The
business of the bishops’ meeting — presentations about clergy sexual
abuse and assistance to victims of flooding in the Philippines, as well
as about the church’s battles against same-sex marriage and in favor of
religious freedom — was planned months ago.
But
on Thursday morning, the bishops also spent several hours discussing
poverty and the relationship between marriage and economic well-being,
both topics chosen to reflect the pope’s priorities. Helen M. Alvaré, a
law professor at George Mason University, told the bishops that the
Francis papacy was “an inflection point in the life of the church.”
The
bishops’ willingness to adapt their agenda to reflect that of Francis
will most likely be tested next year, when they must decide how to
update their quadrennial guide for Catholic voters. The American
bishops, almost all of them appointed by Pope John Paul II or Pope
Benedict, are a conservative group who have emphasized opposition to
same-sex marriage and abortion in recent years and have been unable to reach a consensus on economic issues.
On Wednesday, they began a discussion, which will continue through next
year, about whether and how to incorporate the priorities of Francis in
the 2016 version of the guide, which is called “Forming Consciences for Faithful Citizenship.”
“We
need to keep talking about the hot-button issues that we’ve been
talking about for a long time, but not just those issues,” Archbishop
Gregory M. Aymond of New Orleans said in an interview. He added, “We
don’t, perhaps, at times talk enough about the poor, about the economy,
and we don’t perhaps talk enough about reaching out to those with
disabilities, those whose voices are not heard.”
Archbishop
Aymond said he has tried to address this in one small way himself, by
returning phone calls and letters, and by reminding himself, “people
shouldn’t always have to go through several others to get to us.”
Archbishop
Joseph E. Kurtz of Louisville, Ky., the president of the United States
Conference of Catholic Bishops, told the gathering that, if the voters’
guide is not revised, “it will not include anything of the teachings of
Pope Francis.” And Bishop Robert W. McElroy, an auxiliary bishop in San
Francisco, suggested that the document’s discussion of evil, now focused
on abortion and racism, should be revisited in light of the pope’s
description of economic inequality as a social evil.
Cardinal
Daniel N. DiNardo of Houston, who has been leading the bishops’ effort
to consider reworking “Faithful Citizenship,” said the document would
not shy away from the abortion issue, which he called “very important,
crucial, significant, one of the chief issues” and “nonnegotiable.” But,
he said, to reflect Francis’ agenda, the bishops would also “want to
make sure we speak very insistently about the role of poverty, about the
role of the economy.”
Archbishop
Charles J. Chaput of Philadelphia is leading the bishops’ most
Francis-friendly effort — to persuade the pope to visit that city next
year, when a large gathering of Catholic families
is planned there. Archbishop Chaput said he already had “good reasons
to believe” the pope would come to the event. But just in case, the
entire bishops’ conference agreed to send a letter to Francis, inviting
him to attend, and, in the process, to make what would be his first trip
to the United States as pope.
HI-
Thanks for
the help. The item’s below. I’d be happy to mail you a copy,
if you give me a mailing address.
Claude
Solnik
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913-4244
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Home > LI
Confidential > Stop
scratching on holidays
Stop scratching on holidays
Published: June 1, 2012
Off Track Betting in New York State has been racing into a crisis called shrinking revenue. Some people have spitballed a solution: Don’t close on holidays.
New York State Racing Law bars racing on Christmas, Easter and Palm Sunday, and the state has ruled OTBs can’t handle action on those days, even though they could easily broadcast races from out of state.
“You should be able to bet whenever you want,” said Jackson Leeds, a Nassau OTB employee who makes an occasional bet. He added some irrefutable logic: “How is the business going to make money if you’re not open to take people’s bets?”
Elias Tsekerides, president of the Federation of Hellenic Societies of Greater New York, said OTB is open on Greek Orthodox Easter and Palm Sunday.
“I don’t want discrimination,” Tsekerides said. “They close for the Catholics, but open for the Greek Orthodox? It’s either open for all or not open.”
OTB officials have said they lose millions by closing on Palm Sunday alone, with tracks such as Gulfstream, Santa Anita, Turf Paradise and Hawthorne running.
One option: OTBs could just stay open and face the consequences. New York City OTB did just that back in 2003. The handle was about $1.5 million – and OTB was fined $5,000.
Easy money.
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