The Church I Sometimes Attend

Well, I used to attend it occasionally, but after renewed news about cover-ups of abuse in the Catholic Church in Ireland, I stopped attending mass there and just kept attending the meetings of the Catholic Lesbian Group. I've had made some nice friends and I certainly have lots in common with them.

The Lesbian Group is a nice, smart, fun loving group of women, and the topics of the meetings are interesting. I shared with the members of the group my memories of marching out of Saint Francis Xavier in NYC-this particular church-with Dignity, after the late Cardinal O'Connor decreed that Dignity could not meet there. We had a candlelit march from the church to the LGBT community center. This was about 25 years ago at the height of the AIDS epidemic. My friends scoffed and said, this church welcomes it's gay and lesbian members. This couldn't happen now. So I was surprised to get the following e-mail:

Hello, friends.

The Catholic Lesbians Ministry needs to meet this Friday, May 21, 2010, 7:00 pm–8:00 pm, and then join the Gay Catholics Ministry from 8:00 pm–9:00 pm in the Mary Chapel .

Father Joe Costantino, SJ received a letter from Archbishop Timothy Dolan saying that the LGBT Ministries cannot participate in the Pride March under the Church of St. Francis Xavier's banner. We need to prayerfully discern what we will be doing together.

Tomorrow, I will confirm a room for our meeting and will pass that information on to you. Meanwhile, below is a reminder about why we march.

Thank you.

Actually, I'm not so surprised. I feel like this group has been flying under the radar for a number of years and there's a new sheriff in town-the Archbishop. And he has a few agendas, and we're one of them. So sad.

Friday Five My Late Great Ancestors

My Late Great Ancestors


Sophia posted this interesting FF:

"I moved across country for a college teaching job last September, and my mother came to visit for the first time last week. We had a fantastic genealogical adventure tracing the family roots of her father's grandfather, who moved away from this state sometime between 1887 and 1891.

We drove a few hours to their county armed with some names and cemeteries, and wondered if we could locate anyone. It turned out there is an awesome local history room in the public library, with a very skilled librarian library, and with her map and a pile of copied records we struck gold! We found, cleared, deciphered and took pictures of old weathered stones marking members of several family branches in four tiny country cemeteries--the one above is my fourth great grandma. Of particular RevGal interest, we spoke with a friendly and helpful pastor at the United Methodist Church (window above) on the site of the Presybterian church my fifth great-grandpa helped found in 1814!"


1. Do you have any interest in geneaology?

I do have some interest in knowing about my predecessors and have thought about getting my chromosones tested. There is a popular geneaology siterun by--run by Mormons-but I have been loath to search there as I heard that they believe in conversion, without permission and even after death! (Correct me if I'm wrong about this.)

2. Which countries did your ancestors come from?

Italy and Croatia/Austria.

3. Who is the farthest back ancestor whose name you know?

Only my grandparents.
I may be related to Hans Asperger-the little professor, the person who first noticed the syndrome known as Aspergers Syndrome. I mean to look this up after I retire-which is not anytime soon.

4. Any favorite saints or sinners in the group?

Only my grandparents, aunts and uncles and you and find both there.

5. What would you want your descendants to remember about you?

That I did the best I could.

Update on the latest PROJECT!

We selected a contractor yesterday. It's number 3, Tim. He was always number 1, but was unable to start until after Memorial Day which, since it's the "the Palace by the Sea" will leave us in construction until oh say...mid July? Or later?

Well that's the update.

What's New?

Me and the Little Woman Getting Ready for Work at the Beach Palace

I know I haven't been much posting to my blog lately, I seem to be mired in work and my other full time job, getting the lovely place by the sea renovated.

On the first front:

It's hard to talk about here as I've linked my blog to Facebook and now can't figure out how to unlink. I have be-friended some work friends as well as my boss, who was a personal friend and now is my boss/friend. Yet, many people read Facebook and never bother with the blog. So if you have any tips about how to unlink, I would appreciate. Just a note that work has been difficult for the last 6-8 months and getting worse. A lot of it has to do with the NYS budget. They are now talking about furloughs-days off without pay (just what I need after a major spending spree) and something called "order of selection," which is where we serve only individuals who are the most severely disabled. Which would cut out the garden variety people with substance abuse, depression, learning disabilities etc. Sigh! This is kind of moot to me as I am feeling not so much like the supervising counselor that I am, but much more like an overpaid clerk (and overworked) these days. Enough of that until I am unlinked...

As for the palace by the sea. We have now interviewed 5, count em 5 contractors! Each one more expensive than the last and it is now May 1. We have not hired one. I have started referring to them as numbers. I was referring to them as the mafia guy-no kidding , the drunk, the-well you get my point, but the number system seems better. Just like Dr, House and his 13. Add to this, my beloved has trouble making up her mind and we spent one Saturday (3 hours) in an appliance store while she decides between two kinds of wood-we had done this before. expand this to the spread sheet for refrigerators. Well you get the point.

I'm an introvert and I rely on my every other Mondays off to recharge. Well we've been using those to do house stuff.

Thanks for listening to my whining. I'm sure things will get better at least with the palace by the sea, but for now. things are not looking so great.

Friday Five-What is there to Smile About?

Jan posted this Friday Five "With the end of RevGalBlogPals' third annual Big Event, I am wondering who went and what it was like. There must be a lot of smiling from the Big Event! Hopefully, the rest of us are not frowning either.

So let us know how your past week was for you."

Write five different aspects of the week
OR answer the following questions:

1. When were you smiling lately?
I'm smiling mostly when I get home from the job that has become deadening lately...

2. What happened unexpectedly to you this past week?
Nothing. I had two-or was it three? trainings 9 meetings (including today-and I may be forgetting some) and a desk filled with work that should have been done.

3. How was a catastrophe averted (or not)?
I found the files!

4. What was the most delicious thing you ate?
Not lately. Lots of cafeteria food. I call it the Ptomaine cafeteria.

5. Did you see any good movies or read any books or articles?
Actually I read Jeffrey Deavers latest Katherine Dance book (on the subway back and forth to work) I think the name was Roadside Crosses. Highly recommended. Woman lead and info about grief.and trauma in a mystery.

Sorry for the down FF, but my life is a little overwhelming these days. Work, with the NY budget cut, has become unbearable and the little beach place, such a hassle that I am completely stressed~

Friday Five- Packing

Songbird in Packing for the BE and posted this FF :

With that in mind, here are five questions about packing to go on a trip.

1) Some fold, some roll and some simply fling into the bag. What's your technique for packing clothes?

I used to work with veterans and they all rolled, but I never got the technique down, so I definitely fold. I'd like to try the roll sometime. I once went to Marth Stewart.com and she has this comlicated process for folding. I had to print it and keep referring back, so tedious...

2) The tight regulations about carrying liquids on planes makes packing complicated. What might we find in your quart-size bag? Ever lose a liquid that was too big?

Just my Bumble and Bumble hair styling cream, tooth paste and drugs. All other products come from the freebies at the hotel.

3) What's something you can't imagine leaving at home?

iphone and books.

4) Do you have a bag with wheels?

We have bags that roll on the long side of the rectangle with four wheels and fold for a NY Apartment. Buy them online. Expensive but worth it.

5) What's your favorite reading material for a non-driving trip (plane, train, bus, ship)?

The latest gory mystery of course.

Friday Five- First Friday

It seems almost irreverent to post a Friday Five on Good Friday, so I will try to treat it with some respect. I am still mulling over the darkness of last nights Tenebrae Service, the silence as we left was profound, and although I travelled home with others we did not speak, there was a holiness about it.....and yet we know that holiness was born of horror!

So as we enter into this darkest of days I offer you this Friday Five:

1. Of all the gospel accounts of the crucifixion, which one stands out for you, and why?

Unfortunately, like you RevGals. I don't know the gospels well enough to compare them. So, no

2.Do you identify with any people in this account, how does that challenge you?

I've always identified with Mary Magdalene as she-as I see it-was the only female apostle.

3. Hymns or silence?

I grew up singing in the choir through all three hours of the vigil, so hymns.

4. Post a poem or a quote that sums up Good Friday for you?


5.Is there a tradition you could not be without, a tradition that makes Good Friday, Good Friday?

Honoring it in some way, these days. I took off today. Usually I participate in the stations of the cross across 42nd St, People pause at places that do something to harm people, recruiting station, Dow, etc. Kind of a social comment combined with Good Friday.

Dog and Deer- cheered me up

Friday Five- Movies

Jan posted this nice and early Friday Five about Movies:

Whenever daughter MJ comes home on breaks from college, I get to go to movies, which has me thinking about motion pictures. Plus, it is fun to watch rented dvd's at home, which my husband prefers.

Share your preferences, opinions, and recommendations about movies!

Choose 5 types of movies to discuss:

I love movies, but rarely see them. It seems like our life is so busy, or should I say disorganized, that we most often watch TV. We probably go to more plays, or the ballet than the movies. I'd like to change this so I intend to buy the discount tickets that my union offers as an incentive.

• drama- I guess my second favorite- I loved up in the Air.
• comedy- Ok, I like Comedies, Romantic Comedies, but why don't they make girl and girl?
• foreign- sometimes
• children's- When I was a kid, my mother would take me and this is a nice memory.
• Lesbian Gay theme- Once a year in June we have the New Festival a Gay and Lesbian Film Festival in New York and I buy a membership because I finally can see films that mirror my life! I love it.
  

Bonus: Tell about the first movie you ever saw and/or the last one!

Ladies of Olivia

Which is how we are addressed by Tisha the Cruise Director. We are sailig the Western Carribean with Olivia Cruises, originally Olivia Recording Studios, the ones who recorded and distributed Chris Williamson, Meg Christian, Holly Near and wonderful women of the early feminist movement starting in 1975. I remember buying my first Meg Christian album at the Oscar Wilde Memorial Bookstore about 1975 and having a whole world of music addressed to me! It was amazing. Love songs, songs of my fight and struggle. What a time and Olivia recorded it. Last night Meg Christing made a rare appearance to sing again and her voice was pure and true. She is recording again and she sang songs old and new. She brought back memories and she is addressing our lives again. Wow what a feeling to be in an theatre at sea, in a room full of wonderful women listening to this icon speaking to our lives.