nassau otb cannot close on roman catholic easter sunday in oreference to orthodox easter sunday
Pope Francis during the opening of the Diocesan Pastoral Conference in Rome earlier this month. AFP/Getty Images / ALBERTO PIZZOLI Photo Credit: AFP/Getty Images / ALBERTO
Claude Solnik
Long Island Business News
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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.
Something new is happening in the Catholic Church. Its relationship with LGBT people in some parts of the country is changing.
Last month, Cardinal Joseph Tobin, the archbishop of Newark, welcomed a large group of LGBT people to his cathedral. “I am Joseph, your brother,” he said, echoing words from the Old Testament. A Mass was then celebrated for the congregation of LGBT people. Under his predecessor, Archbishop John Meyers, such a Mass would have been close to unthinkable.
A few months earlier, Bishop John Stowe of Lexington, Kentucky, spoke before New Ways Ministry, a group that ministers to and advocates for LGBT Catholics. In 1999, New Ways was subject to a condemnation by the Vatican’s Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, and its two founders, the Rev. John Nugent (now deceased) and Sister Jeannine Gramick, were censured. That a sitting bishop would address the group is a sea change.
And earlier this month, a book I’ve written on the need for the church to reach out to LGBT people more compassionately was endorsed by two cardinals — Newark’s Cardinal Tobin and Cardinal Kevin Farrell, who heads the Vatican’s office on the laity, family and life. For good measure, Bishop Robert McElroy of San Diego also endorsed the book.
How has this happened? As I see it, there are two answers.
The first is obvious: Pope Francis. We cannot underestimate the impact of his response to a question about gay priests: “Who am I to judge?” Later, when pressed, he said his comments referred to gay people in general.
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During his visit to the United States in 2015, he met with a former student, a gay man named Yayo Grassi, and his partner. The pope’s words and actions betoken a friendlier attitude in the church, even if he has not changed any church teaching. And each of the clergy I have mentioned — Cardinals Tobin and Farrell, Bishops Stowe and McElroy — were appointed by Francis.
The second reason why some in the church are taking a fresh look at its relationship with LGBT Catholics is happening in the grass roots.
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