My World of Religion, Politics, Entertainment and Social Issues

  Dear Blog Visitors:   2014 will be a major year for transformations in Rochester. At the secular level, we will have a new mayor and administrators in City Hall. At the religious level, we will have a new Roman Catholic Bishop. Concerning City Hall, I spent 23 years there, retiring in 2011 as supervisor of the City's accounts payable operations. I got to see much, in terms of day-to-day operations. My initial hope was that incoming mayor Lovely Warren would retain at least some of the talente ... d department heads that were put into place by her immediate predecessors. While some positions were retained, there were multiple replacements as well. In retrospect, Lovely Warren had a good transition team, and I am impressed with choices she made. At the same time, I hope those not retained will be able to find employment soon, since they are extremely talented individuals. I was happy to see that Charles Benincasa is being elevated from his position as City Tre...

    Dear Blog Visitors:   When I was ordained a married priest by a married archbishop in 2006, it was in recognition of the fact that I had the same graduate theological degrees as my celibate counterparts, and that sex and gender restrictions sadly prevented many qualified individuals from entering a vocation they were called to. I was very pleased to learn that Pope Francis has been named Time Magazine's person of the year. He has the potential to make the Roman Catholic Church a more welcoming a nd inclusive institution than what was experienced under his immediate predecessors. It is my hope that in light of the shortage of celibate priests, Pope Francis will authorize the inclusion of women and married men at the altar. Since the imposition of mandatory celibacy in 1139, there have been many scandals in the church, inclusive of the sexual abuse crisis that peaked in 2002. Women and married priests who have found the means to become ordained have fou...