Actually, disease spread has been understood for centuries, though imperfectly (and we hardly have a perfect understading of the Coronavirus). Epidpemic and pandemic are both words coined by Hippocrites in the 4th century BC! LOL, the masks worn by doctors treating black plague victims would be very helpful to any health care professional today! Hospitals were invented by Catholics and so was modern medicine. Medical teachers and students at Bologna began to open human bodies, and Mondino de Luzzi (c. 1275–1326) produced the first known anatomy textbook based on human dissection.

The liturgy of the Catholic Church has never been suspended like this before. This was not out of ignorance or out recklessness but was because of faith. A priest would annoint someone dying of the black plague and would take precautions. The same is possible today but priests, if you can find one, are barred from the death beds.

Anyway your anti Christian animus with limited knowledge is crippling.

I don't know. The Catholic Church was like the first to shut down. Historically, it had never shut down. Indeed, the conduct of Christians during the Plague of Cuprian in the 3rd Century is considered one of the explanations for the triumph of Catholicism over the Roman Empire. Is that blood on its hands or belief in its mission?

It's apostasy. I noticed a change about twenty years ago- Mass being canceld if it snowed, being told to stay home if you had a cold. In the 1940s and 50s, Italy had terrible polio epidemics. Everything would be shut down except the churches which were open 24 x 7. That's faith.

This virus is scary but it is not very edifyng that the priests have all locked themselves into their rectories. So we have priest as homosexual predator and now we have priest as chicken little. I guess now we know that the sacraments are not essential. A Chrisian is suppossed to live each day as if it were his last. Death is ever suppossed to be ever before us. A priest since he has no wife or family is suppossed to be enabled to live in a detached and selfless manner.

For sure, precautions need to be taken, social distance maintained, numbers limited. But locking churches. Forbidding the sacraments? If this is half as bad as we think, then all of us should be going to Confession now.

LOL, Francis says he wants his priests to smell like sheep. What they all smell like instead is of disinfectant. So the dead die alone wiithout viaticum or annointing, the sinners are left in their sin, the hungery are denied the food of everylasting life.

Thank God, the Amazon delivy gal, the postman, the Walmart stock boy, the policewoman, fireman, nurse, LPN, janitor in the hospital, and doctor are made of finer stuff!

US is definitely behind the eight ball in testing. CDC screwed up there.

Yes, you're probably right that this is all above the County level. It seems like the CDC was asleep at the switch and should have had testing kits out everywhere six weeks ago.

I read somewhere that if it reached epidemic levels here and based on projections of what happened in Asia, demand for ventalators would oustrip what we have by 10 to 1 or something like that.

This is a good question .;

No, I think the virus is a real threat and politics should be set aside!

Choir auditions are continuing for Cantantes In Cordibus. This group of men and women is directed by Simone Ferraresi, a gifted composer and pianist. http://home.simoneferraresi.com/ The choir sings every Sunday morning at the Jersey City Latin Mass, currently at 8:30 am at Assumption Church which is at the corner of Pacific and Lafayette. Rehearsals are after Mass from 10:30 to 11:30. This takes up your entire Sunday morning but in a very rewarding manner. Signt reading ability is not a prerequisite though it is highly desired. The repetoire of the choir is the entire body of sacred music from the early medieval period until the present. However, the choir focus more on the Renaissance composers. Indeed, the choir has justed started to learn Monteverdi's Messa da Cappella of 1641. Call Dan Sexton at 201 406 9960 for more information.

TMorning DJ Jeff Spurgeon of WQXR has a feature called “Out the Door Dedication”. (WQXR is the classical radio station in NY.)
He gave a shout out yesterday morning for this Mozart Mass in Jersey City!

Btw, there are no tickets needed for the concert or the Mass. People have been emailing the director, Simone Ferrasi and PMing me for tickets. All are welcome, as they say!

Btw, there are no tickets needed for the concert or the Mass. People have been emailing the director, Simone Ferrasi and PMing me for tickets. All are welcome, as they say!

Oh, my mistake, Sutherland. I misread the website! Thank's for the correction.

I found the info below when I googled it the Cathedral Carol Service.

People really enjoy the Carol sing on December 11th. It is done by candlelight etc. and the choir really is excellent. I believe it is structured like the Anglican Service of Lessons and Carols. That is a lovely Protestant service, but it is not a Catholic liturgy! Moreover, the Carol Service is scheduled for December 11th, the middle of Advent when Christmas music traditionally would not be allowed. They did not even wait until Gaudete Sunday (the third Sunday of Advent when some pre-Christmas joy is expressed in the liturgy). These are concerns that would not matter to the vast majority of people and, in fact, probably seem a tad insane to the unitiated.

Anyway, the info is below. I see there does not appear to even be a midnight Mass!


Christmas at the Cathedral
Friday, December 6, 2019, 8:00 P.M.
Navidad Latina 2019
The Cathedral Spanish Choir, under the direction of Olfary Guitérrez, joins forces with singers and instrumentalists from other Latin American communities of the Archdiocese of Newark to present a program of Christmas music.

Free-will offering


Wednesday, December 11, 2019, 8:00 P.M.
Thursday, December 12, 2019, 8:00 P.M.
(Doors open at 7:00 P.M.)
The Forty-Ninth Annual Candlelight Carol Sing

The ambiance of candlelight and season décor, along with the Cathedral Choir, organ, brass, percussion, and thousands of participants combine to create an event that must be experienced.

Free-will offering


Sunday, December 22, 2019, 7:00 P.M.
Handel’s Messiah

George Frederick Handel’s beloved oratorio. New Jersey Symphony Orchestra, Roderick Cox, conductor, Montclair State University Singers, Heather Buchannan, director.


For more information, visit njsymphony.org/messiah or call 1.800.ALLEGRO (255.3476).



Sunday, March 15, 2020, 4:00 P.M.

Dear Mr. Sutherland:

Thank you for your enthusiasm! Do have any details about any of these other Masses? For example, what Mass Ordinary is to be sing at Midgnight at the Cathedral. Or anywhere closer to home?

Thanks, in advance.

Yours,

Mao

Based on the Nativity story in the Gospel of Luke, Christian tradition holds that Jesus was born at night. Midnight Mass is celebrated on Christmas Eve in commemoration of his birth. The idea of Jesus being born at night is reflected in the fact that Christmas Eve is referred to as "Heilige Nacht" ("Holy Night") in German, "Nochebuena" ("the Good Night") in Spanish and similarly in other expressions of Christmas spirituality, such as the song "Silent Night, Holy Night."

Christmas Midnight Mass is one of Christianity’s earliest traditions. Around the year 380, a woman named Egeria made a pilgrimage to Jerusalem, keeping a journal of the customs and liturgies she saw there. She witnessed the Christians celebrating the birth of Christ beginning with a midnight vigil in Bethlehem, which was followed by a torchlight procession to Jerusalem.

When the basilica of St. Mary Major was built in Rome around 430, Pope Sixtus III included a replica chapel of the Bethlehem cave where Jesus was born. He instituted the celebration of a midnight Mass in this chapel. Many Christians still cherish this custom as one of the holiest nights of the year.

There will be no Latin Mass at St. Anthony's. The Latin Mass ended at St. Anthony's about ten months ago for reasons that are somewhat obscure. It has, however, continued on all Sundays and Holydays at various churches around town (e.g. St. Paul's Greenville, St. John the Baptist, and Assumption. Right now it is regularly at Assumtion at 8:30 am on Sundays and 7:00 pm on Holy Days. You can follow the community on its website.
https://latinmassjc.com/

Assumption does not have the grand altar that St. Anthony's has, but it's acoustics are much better!


Hope to see you there!

A Concert by Cantantes In Cordibus, directed by Simone Ferraresi will give on Chrstimas Eve at 11:30 PM at Assumption Church, 344 Pacific Avenue, Jersey City, NJ 07304. http://home.simoneferraresi.com/ The concert will feature chorale and instrumental works from the Medieval period until the present. There is parking in the lot adjacent to the church. The Church is three blocks from the LIberty State Park Light Rail.

At Midnight, the First Mass of Chrstimas will begin. The Rev. John Perricone will offer the Mass. The liturgy will be offered in the Extraordinary Form and will be in Latin. Taditional Hymns such as Adeste Fideles will be sung. The propers will be sung by the men's schola under the direction of Dr.Joseph Orchard.

The Mass Ordinary is the last Mass competed by Mozart, his great Missa Solemnis in C K 337. he Missa in C major (‘Missa solemnis et brevis’, K337) is the last Mass-setting written for Salzburg, and indeed the last Mass which the composer completed. It bears the date March 1780 as does the Epistle Sonata (K336) which, almost certainly, is a companion piece. Masses in Salzburg are usually described either as ‘longa’ (‘long’) or ‘brevis’ (‘short’) but this setting is yet another form. It is ‘brevis’ in that it is quite efficient, but Mozart also uses the title ‘solemnis’ (‘solemn’) indicating its suitability for a grand occasion and highlighting the augmented instrumentation. The Mass is scored for strings (without violas) and has three trombone parts doubling the alto, tenor and bass parts of the chorus, but it is further enhanced by trumpets, timpani, oboes and bassoons.

The first three movements of K337 are in a style of which the Archbishop would most certainly have approved. The ‘Kyrie’ has a rather subdued opening but one which is solemn and penitential (not always the case in settings from this period). The ‘Gloria’ stands in contrast with its bustling instrumental writing and energetic choral parts and moves through the text at some speed. Only in the final ‘Amen’ does Mozart allow himself a little liberty with two coloratura sections for the soprano soloist. The ‘Credo’ continues the energetic mood and uses a rondo-like form with Mozart repeating an infectious swinging motif throughout the movement. After the ‘Credo’ things begin to change as Mozart starts to assert his own musical priorities as well as perhaps making a pointed gesture at Colloredo. The Archbishop had no time for fugues in music which could be lengthy and involved repetition of the text: he also disliked extended solos such as those sung by great divas in the opera houses. The ‘Sanctus’ begins in a solemn style but leads to a rather cheeky ‘Osanna’. For the ‘Benedictus’ there is a real change of direction as Mozart uses a serious-sounding fugue in A minor and unusually makes no use of the soloists before the return of the ‘Osanna’. This taxes the skills of even the most accomplished choirs and, Cantantes In Cordibus has been hard at work mastering it.

Even more mischievously, Mozart writes a gorgeous aria in the contrasting key of E flat major for the ‘Agnus Dei’, one that belongs more to the world of opera than to that of church music, and which also features an obbligato organ part and exquisite oboe and bassoon writing. The Dona Nobis Pacem will have you wanting to almost waltz your way up to Holy Communion on this night celebrating the hypostatic union iof the Incarnation of Our Lord. And since He is the Prince of Peace, we all pray , indeed, dona nobis pacem!

What did Fr. Quinn say? In the paper I thought he said something like: "THis is painful for us, but that person is welcome here anytime.:

I don't know. Can't one say: that person unless he's criminally insane should be punished and held accountable. Then we can welcome him.

Thanks Sutherland for posting and expressing outrage.

It had been a felony under the common law to desecrate a Christian symbol. Where these laws still exist, they havebeen extended to other religions as well. Desecration of Christian symbols, particularly Catholic sacred objects, is rapidly rising throughout the West. The almost total lack of response to this by the neighborhood or the larger community is informative (and even in France supression of the facts). There is a large shrine to Our Blessed Mother on the corner of Lafayette and Pacific Avenue. People in the parish view it as well neigh miraculous that it has never been touched during all the years when Lafayette was dangerous and drug riven. It survived poverty and crime but will it survive prosperity and hipsters?

Is that personal to me? If so, why and isn't that broad minded and neighborly? Or is it a general mythantropy and part of the anti human movement?

haha. But you mean plus one to the skunks.

I had noticed over the summer that the skunk population of the Lafayette neighborhood has gotten out of control. I see them in the evening walking up and down Lafayette Street and Halladay, going up and down people's steps. I also see them around the gazebo in the park. Multiples at the same time!
This all became very personal when my wife and dog got skunked this morning in our backyard.
I called City Hall this morning and asked for Animal Control. A nice woman answered. Her name is Brittany. I told her what I was calling about and she said, “Yes, we are aware of it. There have been many calls.”
“Great!”” I though, there must be a plan. So I asked to be updated on what the City has been doing. The answer: “Nothing.” I was incredulous. Then I got a gentle lecture. I was told that skunks are wildlife and they have a right to live. I was further told that the Animal Control “does not trap healthy wildlife.” It was further explained that Jersey City’s animal control is humane
I was incredulous and exploded. This is insane. We are a densely populated city. These animals have no predators and will get at of control. Skunks are particularly good at being vectors for rabies. https://www.nj.com/middlesex/2019/05/r ... sex-county-this-year.html
We had already had a raccoon problem. Raccoons enter homes and cause havoc. We also have a possum problem.
Where will this lead?
I asked the humane young lady about rats. They are wildlife. What happens to them. She said, “Pest Control handles them. So I called City Hall and asked for Pest Control. I got directed right back to the nice humane lady. I explained and apologized.
I called City Hall back and explained that there is supposed to be another office that handles the eradication of rats even though they are wild life and it is not Animal Control but might be Pest Control. I was transferred again to a voice mail of a guy who did not identify himself or the office.

Good luck as yoiu enter your sixth year, North River Sing!

Another opportunity to sing locally is available with Cantantes In Cordibus, a choir that sings at the Latin Mass which is held every Sunday morning in Jersey City. The repertoire of this group is the sacred music from the early Medieval period to contemporary. The propers of the Mass are sung in the Gregorian Chant settings of the Liber Usualis. Mass settings range from Gregorian Chant, to Renaissance Polyphony, to classical settings of Mozart and Haydn, etc. Right now we sing at the 8:30 am Mass at Assumption Church at 344 Pacific Avenue. Warm ups are at 8:00. Post Mass rehearsal at 10:00 am. Our director is the very talented Simone Ferraresi, who is also a pianist and composer. http://home.simoneferraresi.com/
Call Dan for more information at 201 406 9960

Looks great! Thanks for doing this!

And I echo the others on this posting: from personal experience over her tenure at McNair, I found Mrs. McCabe to be intelligent, committed, kind, empathetic, flexible, creative, and dogged in her work. She is both an intellectual and an educator. At the same time, in an environment that can be draining, she sought to encourage balance and perspective among the students.
I have had kids in the school since 2008. I have personally observed the deterioration of the school in the following ways:
1. Loss of talented, intelligent and committed faculty members;
2. Increase in faculty members and staff who have no intellectual ability or even interests and are even proud to boast about how they do nothing but get high salaries and benefits.
3. Increase in politicized faculty members-both for local and union issues as well as national and global issues.
4. An increase in outrageous and unprofessional behavior of staff and teachers who enlist students in their insubordination and disregard for standards.
McNair Academic will be history unless this is all reversed. The Board of Ed simply will not be satisfied with running failing schools at every level until it destroys McNair which has always stuck in its craw (notwithstanding the occasional plaudit). What a shame. I feel terrible for all the families with young children in the city- but especially the poor and first generation college bound. One can accomplish great things after graduating from St. Peter’s College or NJCU. But it is a lot easier to get on the road to greatness when one goes to MIT, Harvard, Yale, Princeton, Columbia, Penn, Cornell, Stanford, Berkeley.

If this is true, it seems further evidence of the serious erosion of McNair's identity. My impression is that Mrs. McCabe took over at a critical time when the founding lights of McNair were retirning. Excellent teachers like Mr. Delo, Mr. Selby, Mr. Royster have left and been replaced by typical mediocrities. The departure of the old administration with the retirement of Slatery who had found a way to resist the constant gravitational pull of the JCBOE who resented it as elitist and constantly undermined it (except when basking it is amazing achievements). McNair may never have lived up to the hype, but it had managed to launch who have done amazingly well. My impression is that the negatives- disregard for the substance of education and over emphasis on test scores and Aps has increased while the faculty become increasingly self-absorbed, seeing themselves primarily as a bargaining unit for life time employment. Mrs. McCabe is bright, articulate, and kind woman who threw herself in to the job. Reign of terror- if anything , she lacked the necessary resolve to punish and retaliate against insolent and insubordinate employees.

Dear User1111

Maybe you are younger than most here. Don't waste your youth.

But if you are young, I am surprised that you had not heard that Walt Whitman has been #canceled because of his racism.

Mao

Drip drip drop drop in the destruciton of education. I have three kids- two out of McNair to Ivies and the low-information quotient of their minds coming out is emblematic of generation. The progressive mantra starting with Dewey that Rouseau like, society has nothing to hand on to children and we just need to give them space to make their universes continues. Yet not completely- programtic left leaning requirements keep being added. I first discovered this when my oldest son went on a "Holocaust Tour of Europe" courtesy of the Board of Ed. It seemed like a good think until I read the curriculum which adopted hook line and sinker the highly controversial thesis of Daniel Goldenhaagen (unlike the established scholars (all of whom are also Jewish) of the Holocaust who saw National Socialism as post Christian or anti Christian resurgent paganism, Goldenhaagen saw Nazism as the inevitable and natural culimination of Chrstianity. While a balanced curriculum might include the Goldenhaagen thesis alongside of the others, the NJ curriculum presents it is dogma.

As for private education, it mostly just follows track. My little one is at OLC where the curriculum is just common core mediotcrity. You need a very independent and vigourous private school to swim against this current.

How absurd! Let's look to the kleptocracy that is Newark to justify raising council salaries.

Rent control is theft and POTUS should address this by requiring just compensation for those whose property is seized through these approaches.

Moreover, rent control only exacerbates the problem.https://www.econlib.org/library/Enc/RentControl.html

Local government used to be the practical government, almost nonpartisan. Why is it so insane now?

How sensitive Murphy is! So sensitive that, after prayer, it is now legal in NJ to off one's eldelry parent. And funding "Planned Parenthood" [sic] was his first bill. And he has spent what seems like most of his energy trying to overcome resistance by the Black Caucus to pot legalization.