My World of Religion, Politics, Entertainment and Social Issues

Dear Blog Visitors: If you have followed my occasional commentaries related to classical music, you are aware that I was very sad when Christopher Seaman announced he was stepping down as music director of the Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra. However, I was delighted when it was announced he would be named conductor laureate of the RPO, which means he will return to guest-conduct the orchestra once per year. I attended the Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra's season-opener last night, with its new maestro, Arild Remmereit, at the podium. The combination of the concert and pre-concert chat gave the audience added confidence that the RPO is in good hands with Remmereit. I applaud Maestro Remmereit for his decision to feature women composers as part of this season's repertoire. He explained this as a risky decision, for this has never been done in the RPO's long history. If last night's concert was any indication, Remmereit's decision has strong approval from...

MY BLUEPRINT FOR THE CITY OF ROCHESTER By Raymond A. Grosswirth I want to begin by thanking a few of my Facebook friends, who have e-mailed me messages designed to encourage me to consider running for Mayor of Rochester. While I am flattered that anyone would even think of me in a mayoral position, I simply must state that I have no intention of placing my hat in the ring. Furthermore, I don’t meet the legal requirements for a candidate, as specified in the City of Rochester’s Charter. Specifically, a candidate for the Mayor of Rochester must have been a resident of the city for at least two years immediately preceding the election. (Although I spent most of my life within city limits, I have been a resident of the town of Henrietta, New York for the past 17 years.) While I have been grateful for my Civil Service employment at City Hall for the past twenty-three years, I am also looking forward to my retirement in May of 2011. Could I be coaxed back to City Hall to work in an app...

THE ABOVE RECORDING WAS MY FINAL APPEARANCE ON WAXC AS 'THE WIZARD OF PUN' (AIRED IN 1978). THE ABOVE RECORDING FROM 1976 WAS ONE OF MY APPEARANCES AS 'THE WIZARD OF PUN' ON RADIO STATION WAXC. IN THIS EPISODE, WE COMMEMORATED THE 100TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE TELEPHONE. Dear Blog Visitors: I thought I would take a break from my routine blog posts to give you a glimpse into my past life as a radio personality. In brief, I was known as 'The Wizard of Pun' on Rochester radio station WAXC from 1975-1978. It was with great joy that I recently reflected on my three years in radio for the purpose of adding to an on-line radio archive. If you click onto the audio player above, you will hear two of my appearances on WAXC as 'The Wizard of Pun.' The first selection is the final episode, which aired in 1978 (includes a recent reflection on my three years with WAXC); the second episode, from 1976, was in commemoration of the 100th anniversary of the telephone. It ...

Dear Blog Visitors: I want to take this opportunity to wish Scott Caton well as he prepares for his ordination to the priesthood in 2011. In preparation for his ordination, he will be serving in the transitional diaconate at Blessed Sacrament Church in Rochester. What makes this particular ordination unusual is that Scott is a former Protestant minister who converted to Catholicism, and he is married with six children. I want to be sincere with my welcome to him, because after all, he may help to prove a point I have been trying to make for over twenty years - namely, that Holy Orders and Marriage are entirely complementary. On the negative side, Scott's admission to the Roman Catholic priesthood highlights a double-standard that is operative in the church. In brief, if a married Protestant minister converts to Catholicism, he is allowed to become a Catholic priest if Vatican approval is granted. If, on the other hand, a married Catholic seeks Holy Orders, he faces condemnation...

Dear Blog Visitors: As I move closer to retirement from my secular job (Accounts Payable Supervisor for the City of Rochester), the number one question I am constantly asked is: "What are you going to do in retirement?" A corresponding question I am often asked is: "Are you going to start your own church?" Starting a church is a daunting task for anyone who is called to active ministry, so I don't realistically see myself doing that. If, on the other hand, a faith community calls me forth, I will certainly enter into a dialogue to see if there is a potential meeting of the minds and spirit. At present, I am not leading a faith community. In fact, there are some Sundays I am so exhausted from my secular job, that I simply find the need for solitude. (After racing against the clock the rest of the week, I occasionally need a Sunday to recharge my batteries.) When I do attend liturgies, it can either be at a diocesan parish, Spiritus Christi Church, or any num...

Dear Blog Visitors: If you are a regular visitor to my blog, you are certainly aware of my ministerial activities. For the most part, any ministries I partake in are voluntary. The one exception is my role as a wedding officiant, for which I charge a standard fee of $100.00 (to cover preparation, meetings with couples, rehearsals and ceremony). My primary source of income comes from my secular job, which I have held for the past twenty-one years. In the context of this government job, I thought I would share with you a brief essay I wrote, in advance of a feature article that will appear soon in Rochester's Democrat and Chronicle. In this article, the newspaper will be focusing on charges from the public that are often articulated, whereby some tax-payers feel government employees have better benefits and salaries than those in the private sector, and there is occasionally an assumption that workers in the private sector work harder than government employees represented by unio...