The anti Christian animus (and ignorance) exhibited by Brewster et al is, I think, the type of "soft persecution" of Christianity that the study means. It is is a bit of a stretch in a way- Christians in America certainly are not being beheaded as in Islamic countries, or put in internment camps as in Marxist states (N. Korea, China, Cuba, Venezuela). But the Enlighten critique of Christianity in many forms is now a sort of base prejudice.
The sexual abuse scandal is particularly interesting. While a few of the cases occurred under the pre Vatican II Church where a few notorious pedophiles flew under the radar and, as pedophiles do, were outsmarted based on institutional weaknesses, the overwhelming number of victims occurred in the new Church of Vatican II which largely tries to ape the larger world and accept its values. Chastity, virginity, penance- were forgotten and our shared values of concern for the poor, downtrodden, forgotten etc became all rather than only a part of the religion. Half celibates left for marriage. A certain portion that remained holy orders started watching TV and there were no longer any regulations- they could dress like laymen, travel on vacations etc. The habits of monks were denigrated. Is it any wonder that religious began acting out sexually?
In the early 1970s, the Catholic Traditionalist press, e.g. The Remnant, was apoplectic that certain priests were predatory homosexuals seeking to seduce adolescent boys. Cardinals and bishops were implicated, e.g. Cardinal Bernadine, Bishop Hubbard, etc. Letter writing campaigns were organized. Press conferences were called. Nothing happened! Instead, the press lionized these churchman who were all arch liberals. That is why Spotlight, the movie, and the like, is such BS. Yes, the Times did a service bringing light to the victims- but it was after years of being complicit in the cover-up. Moreover, when people began to put 2 + 2 together so that they saw that this was a homosexual phenomenon, not a pedophile phenomenon, the NY Times et al, got very defensive and skittish.
This continues today. Pope Francis is an enable of predatory homosexual priests of the first order. These degenerate men are now in power all throughout the Church and are engaged in a Stalinist campaign to destroy anyone who tries to stop them.
Francis ' household is run by Monsignor Ricca a convicted predatory homosexual and patron of gigolos. The famous "who am I to judge" statement of the Pope was made when reporters asked how he could have such a man run his household. Think of it. Ricca controls everyone who comes and goes at the Casa Marta. He is also in charge of the Vatican Bank. Other high profile predatory homosexuals (or protectors of same) include Cardinals McCarrick, Daneels, Mahoney, Kasper, Marx. LOL, Cardinal Daneels is on video tape haranguing a young man for the temerity to bring criminal charges against his uncle who as bishop had sodomized him as a teenager! The MSM will not talk about this because all of these church men deny Christ and everything Christ means. They are the trojan horse that has destroyed the church.
Penultimately, just for context, Stalinism killed many times more people than were victims of any Christian persecution. http://waitbutwhy.com/2013/08/the-dea ... comparison-breakdown.html

A respected estimate of the vicitms of the Spanish Inquisition is 30,000. His work on The Spanish Inquisition is published by Yale University Press (Fourth Edition, 2014). Kamen?s research has led him to conclude: ?We can in all probability accept the estimate, made on the basis of available documentation, that a maximum of three thousand persons may have suffered death during the entire history of the tribunal? (p. 253). Kamen?s estimates may be too low, but they represent the general perspective of contemporary scholar. On the other hand, Stalin is estimate to have had 20 million victims. http://www.nytimes.com/1989/02/04/wor ... as-victims-of-stalin.html. Now the most recent stats I can find for Christians is 2013 1,123 Christians were reported to have been killed during the 12 months ending Oct. 31, 2013. https://www.worldwatchmonitor.org/2014/01/2935607/
Finally, on the sexual abuse of minors, it is all so curious. Our culture does all it can to destroy the innocence of children. The very idea of what psychologists used to call the latency period, or period after infantile sexual development and before adolescence is now ridiculed. Children, we are told, will decide their own sexual ethic and parameters among themselves. Along the way, they will be surrounded by hypersexualized models (Disney princesses) and play with dildos mandatged middle school sex ed. The age of consent is being lowered to 14!https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2 ... cia-hewitt-age-of-consent Our heads spin at homosexual sex scandal after scandal- from Sandusky (who actually was probably a true pedophile), to Canadian Youth Hockey, to pro football in England (soccer), to American Little League, etc.
Anyway, this is pissing into the wind because the antichristian have an incredible inability to admit their prejudice.
For anyone interested in more on the homosexual infiltration of the Catholic church consider Saint Damian's The Book of Gommorah, and, more recently, Randy Engel's Rites of Sodomy and Goodby Good Men by Michael Ros

Epiphany High Mass at 7:00 PM
St. John the Baptist, 3026 Kennedy Blvd., Jersey City, NJ 07306.
Journal Square.

For the `12 day of Christmas, Sung Mass in the Extraordinary Form will be offered at 7:00 PM for the Solemnity of the Epiphany, tonight, Friday, January 6th.
The Mass setting is Byrd?s Mass for three voices. Propers will be sung from the Liber Usualis and traditional carols and motets will be sung.

Musicologist Brian Robbins explains:
The three unaccompanied masses Byrd composed during the 1590s are masterpieces of late Elizabethan polyphony. The Mass for Three Voices (1593-1594), like its companions for four and five voices, is a setting of the sections of the Ordinary: Kyrie, Gloria, Credo, Sanctus, and Agnus Dei. Byrd wrote the work for use by Catholics during a period when celebration of the mass was strictly forbidden. Still, Catholics (or recusants, as they were then known in England), continued to perform their central act of worship under cover of strict secrecy. Byrd's masses were therefore composed for practical use and conceived expressly for small-scale, furtive performances. After moving from London to Essex in 1593, Byrd himself may have been involved in such acts of worship at the nearby home of Sir John Petre, a notable member of the Catholic community and a friend and patron of the composer.
The Mass for Three Voices is the briefest of Byrd's three masses, almost certainly because the opportunities for passing thematic material from one voice to another are restricted by such a small number of parts. There is no evidence that Byrd had a particular vocal disposition in mind, and the mass works as well for soprano, alto, and tenor as it does for alto, tenor, and bass, or even tenor, baritone, and bass. Such flexibility is obviously logical, given the conditions under which the work was originally intended to be sung. In each of his masses, Byrd was careful not to make the vocal writing too complex; the scoring in the present work is mainly syllabic, with little complex melismatic writing. Still, within such apparent austerity, Byrd produces many wonderfully expressive moments, with key passages in the text highlighted to great effect.

This feast was kept in the East from the third century and its observance spread to the West towards the end of the fourth. The word Epiphany means manifestation, and just as at Christmas, it is the mystery of God appearing in visible form; only no longer does He show Himself to the Jews alone but ?on this day" it is ?to the Gentiles that God reveals His Son" (Collect). In a magnificent vision, Isaias beheld the Church as typified by Jerusalem, whither should flock kings and nations, the ?multitude of the sea" and the ?strength of the Gentiles,? coming from afar with countless caravans, singing the Lord?s praises and bringing Him frankincense and gold (Epistle). ?The kings of the earth shall adore Him, all nations shall serve Him" (Offertory). In to-day?s gospel we see this prophecy fulfilled.

While at Christmas we extolled the union of our Lord?s divinity with His humanity, at the Epiphany we honour the mystic union of souls with Christ. ?This day a star led the Wise Men to the manger; this day water was turned into wine at the marriage feast; this day Christ chose to be baptized by John in the Jordan for our salvation, alleluia." So we read in to-day?s liturgy which thus connects this feast with that of the Octave Day and of the Second Sunday after the Epiphany.

At St. Peter?s, where are the relics of the Church?s first visible head, the liturgical celebration of the entry of the Gentiles into the Church takes place. ?In the adoring Magi,? says St. Leo, ?let us acknowledge the first-fruits of our own calling and faith; and let us commemorate with hearts full of joy the foundations of this our blessed hope. For from this moment we have begun to enter our heavenly patrimony.?

Ecce advenit Dominator Dominus: et regnum in manu ejus, et potestas et imperium. * Deus, judicium tuum Regi da: et justitiam tuam Filio Regis.
Behold the Lord the Ruler is come: and dominion, and power, and empire, are in his hand. * Give to the King thy judgment, O God, and to the King?s Son thy justice.
(Malachias 3:1 and Psalm 71:2 from the Introit of Mass)


Deus, qui hodierna die unigenitum tuum Gentibus, stella duce, revelasti: concede propitius, ut qui jam te ex fide cognovimus, usque ad contemplandam speciem tuam celsitudinis perducamur.
O God, who by the direction of a star, didst this day manifest thy only Son to the Gentiles: mercifully grant, that we, who now know thee by faith, may come at length to see the glory of thy Majesty.
(Collect)


Omnes de Saba, venient, aurum et thus deferentes, et laudem Domino annuntiantes. * Surge et illuminare, Jerusalem, quia gloria Domini super te orta est.
Alleluia, alleluia. Vidimus stellam ejus in Oriente: et venimus cum muneribus adorare Dominum. Alleluia.
All shall come from Saba, bringing gold and frankincense, and publishing the praises of the Lord. Arise, be enlightened, O Jerusalem, for the glory of the Lord is risen upon thee.
Alleluia, alleluia. We saw his star in the east, and are come, with our offerings, to adore the Lord. Alleluia.


Continuation of the holy Gospel according to Matthew.
When Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Juda, in the days of King Herod, behold there came wise men from the East, to Jerusalem, saying: Where is he that is born King of the Jews? for we have seen his star in the east, and are come to adore him. And Herod, hearing this, was troubled, and all Jerusalem with him. And assembling together all the chief priests, and the scribes of the people, he enquired of them where Christ should be born. But they said to him: In Bethlehem of Juda: for it is written by the Prophet: And thou, Bethlehem, the land of Juda, art not the least among the princes of Juda: for out of thee shall come forth the captain that shall rule my people Israel. Then Herod privately calling the Wise Men, learned diligently of them the time of the star, which appeared to them: and sending them into Bethlehem, said: Go, and diligently enquire after the Child: and when you have found him, bring me word again, that I also may come and adore him. Who, having heard the king, went their way. And behold the star, which they had seen in the east, went before them, until it came and stood over where the Child was. And seeing the star, they rejoiced with exceeding great joy. And entering into the house, they found the Child with Mary, his Mother, (here, all kneel,) and falling down, they adored him. And, opening their treasures, they offered him gifts, gold, frankincense, and myrrh. And having received an answer in sleep, that they should not return to Herod, they went back another way into their own country.
(St Matthew 2:1-12)

The Catholic Encyclopaedia on the Epiphany: http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/05504c.htm

Dom Gueranger on the Epiphany: http://liturgialatina.org/lityear/christmas/epiphany.htm

Meditation from Bishop Challoner for the Epiphany: http://www.liturgialatina.org/challoner/jan1.htm#6

Yes, I don't really undersand it- that is the two extra hours early in the morning that no one knows about. And apparently the guy is never late. I remember years ago, we got the city to open it at 6 for Masters and he was late every other day.

As far as I know, the Masters Team has not gotten off the ground. However, the pool, if you can believe this, is open at 5:00 am every day and has been for years. It seems it was sort of informal at first because the mayor liked to swim at this time and now is official. It's very handy. Several of the refugees from Stevens' Masters are now there at 5:00 on the dot. That is too early for me.

Also, sometimes they have two or three lanes rented out to Scarlet Age Group team.

Dear JCGUy-

Yes- theoretically under the Bishop. But Newark under the "arch conservative" Meyers had Fr. Iwanowski as the head of liturgy for the Archdiocese. Therefore, complaints about disregarding norms for confession were very unlikely to find a hearing. Indeed, Fr. Tom disgarded posture norms- at one point forbade kneeling. He anticipated the current Pontiff's suggestion of open communion by inviting the entire neighborhood to Holy Communion.

And now with the new Cardinal Archibishop, it is likely that things are going to get much much more interesting.

Yours,

Mao

Dear JC GUys-

Apologies for offense. The parish is fine. My remark was just a bit sardonic. While the Church is one, in reality most parishes present a sort of Therapeutic Deism and the liturgy is sort of a horizontal type of congregational meeting related to the traditional forms of Christian worship, East and West. I think there is a tendency to deny many Catholic dogmas as well as moral teaching by many priests and lay collaborators even while being entirely well meaning. Fr. Tom Iwanowksi seemed to me to deny the need for Confession before COmmunion (one of my children had been enrolled there and there was to be no confession before First Holy Communion). LOL, the nun there told my friend who had been heroically holding back from having sex with his gorgeious faince that they needed to have sex before the wedding to make sure that they were compatible). Etc. Etc.

Anyway, as James Joyce said: the Catholic Church is here comes everybody!

Merry Christmas!

Mao

Sorry- I thought the categories I describe were descriptive and did not mean to be obnoxious. Ideally, what communities do is have a pool at 90 for that list of persons. It is smaller and shallow for that purpose. There are already about a half dozen pools in the city that fit this description. They are in public schools and these programs could be done there.

Btw, the pool has been at 84 which is just barely bearable for lap swimming. Thanks Pershing!

ALso, the age group team that is swimming there now welcomes out of towners. Bravo Rosemarie. This is a great asset for the city.

Yours,

Obnoxius Mao

Bumping this up for Christmas Eve.

Merry Christmas to all!

Prope est Domine!

That is the 9:00 PM HIgh Mass at St. ANthony's with choir etc in Latin.

I would agree that OLC is great for those who are nonreligious.

Btw, St. Bridget's is now a night club (already mentioned that St. Peter 's is a cafateria). The Latin Mass, btw, has moved from Holy Rosary next door to St. Anthony's. On Christmas, the high Latin Mass is at 9:00 pm while the low Mass will be at 9:00 am.

While the Church is suppossed to be universal, we know that centrifigual forces have resulted in a wide variety these days.

If you want to experience the ageless glory of what was recognized everywhere by everyone as what constitutes a Christmas Mass prior to 1970, check out the 9:00 PM High Mass. Btw, there is a concert before the Mass begining at 8:30. The choir btw is the best in the Archdiocese and the equal to some of the best across the river.


Here's a description:

A Glorious Baroque Christmas Eve
Once again, St. Anthony of Padua, in downtown Jersey City invites the entire community to a Christmas Eve Mass of glorious music and pageantry.
Mass will commence at 9:00 PM in the historic church at the corner of Sixth Street and Monmouth and will feature Claudio Monteverdi's Messa da camera a quattro voci in F major (published in 1641 in his collection of pieces, "Selva Morale et Spirituale"). This beautiful and moving setting will be sung with the accompaniment of basso continuo (organ and cello). Monteverdi is considered a crucial transitional figure between the Renaissance and the Baroque periods of music history. While he worked extensively in the tradition of earlier Renaissance polyphony, such as in his madrigals, he also made great developments in form and melody and began employing the basso continuo technique, distinctive of the Baroque
The Mass will be sung by the resident choir, Cantantes In Cordibus, under the direction of Simone Ferraresi, noted pianist, composer, and teacher. http://home.simoneferraresi.com/ Maestro Simone has meticulously sought to follow the performance notes of the original 1641 folio. The Propers for the First Mass of Christmas will be chanted by the Men?s Schola under the direction of Dr. Joseph Orchard. Motets by Lauridsen and Victoria as well as traditional carols will be sung.
The Mass, itself, will be preceded by a musical preclude that begins at 8:30 PM and will feature other baroque favorites such as Vivaldi?s Gloria and excerpts from Handel?s Messiah. A brass ensemble will also enrich the evening at different points such as with the flourish from Monteverdi?s Vespers of 1610

Where Have All the Christmas Decorations Gone? A Meditation on Joyless Secularism
iStockphoto/JamesBrey
8
By DENNIS PRAGER Published on December 20, 2016 ? 25 Comments

Dennis Prager
Where I live (near Los Angeles) you can drive for blocks without seeing a single home with Christmas lights, let alone a manger scene or some other religious decoration. And you can drive miles and see fewer than a dozen.

I grew up in Brooklyn, New York, in an area where most residents were either Italian or Jewish. So many homes had Christmas decorations that you could almost be sure that if the home wasn?t decorated, a Jewish family lived in it. And while I was ? and remain ? a committed Jew, I loved ? and still love ? those decorated homes. It makes December special.

But today, December is not special in large swathes of America. Secularism has taken its toll. And the lack of color this time of the year compared to decades ago perfectly exemplifies some of its consequences.

Secularism literally and figuratively knocks color out of life.

What secular joys can compare to a family putting up Christmas decorations and a Christmas tree, going to church together, singing or listening to Christmas carols and engaging in the other rituals surrounding Christmas?
Without God and religion there is, of course, much to enjoy in life. You can enjoy Bach without believing in God (though Bach would not have composed anything if he didn?t believe in God); you can enjoy sports, books, travel and so much more.

What Secular Joys Can Compare?
But there is a monochromatic character to life without God and religion. And you can literally see it this month. When I compare blocks of homes without Christmas decorations to blocks filled with homes with Christmas decorations, I think of my trips to the Soviet Union and other communist countries. One of the first things that struck any visitor from the West was how gray everything looked. There was essentially no color ? just as today?s decoration-free homes appear.

Secularism in the West has a deadening effect. It tends to suck the joy of life out of individuals and the larger society. It is particularly noticeable in young people. Secular kids are more likely to be jaded and cynical than kids raised in religious Christian and Jewish homes.

(Conversely, secularism has an enlivening effect in fundamentalist Muslim countries, which tend to suck the joy out of life even more so than secularism does in the West. That?s one reason one can root for secularism in Iran and against secularism in the West.)

What secular joys can compare to a family putting up Christmas decorations and a Christmas tree, going to church together, singing or listening to Christmas carols and engaging in the other rituals surrounding Christmas? None.

The same question can be posed to Jews. What secular joys compare to having Shabbat meals every week with family and friends, or building a sukkah (the holiday booth) with your children for Sukkot (the Feast of Tabernacles)? None ? for adults or children.

A Christian caller on my radio show told me about his son-in-law who doesn?t celebrate Christmas but does celebrate ?the first snow.? With all due respect, celebrating the first snow, or the winter solstice, does not bring the joy to an individual?s life or a family?s life that celebrating Christmas brings.

The indoctrinated ? better-known as the well-educated ? have been misled to believe that because secular government is good and theocracy is bad, secularism must be good. But it isn?t.

Secularism not only knocks out joy but also destroys ultimate meaning.

Secularism?s Lack of Meaning
Without God and religion, life is ultimately no more than random coincidence. You and I have no more meaning or purpose than puffs of clouds. The only difference is that clouds don?t need to believe that they have meaning.

This lack of meaning in secular society is the reason for the development of the post-Christian isms and movements in the West. They give people meaning. Marxism, communism, fascism and Nazism ? not to mention all the nonviolent but socially destructive left-wing movements of our day ? are all secular substitutes for what religion once gave: meaning.

Secularism also destroys moral absolutes. Without God and moral revelation, morality is entirely subjective ? ?What you or your society says is good is good, and what I or my society says is good is good.? Is it any wonder that the most secular institution in the West, the university, is also the place of the greatest amount of moral idiocy?

Secularism also destroys art. Contemporary art museums are filled with nihilism and talent-free meaninglessness masquerading as art. And worse, they are increasingly filled with the scatological. One of the Guggenheim Museum?s latest featured works is a solid-gold toilet that?s usable by visitors. It?s titled ?America? so that one can literally urinate and defecate on America ? and feel sophisticated while doing so.

America is a society in decline because Americans have abandoned the religious foundations of their country. The colorless and joyless Christmas manifested in the increasing number of homes without Christmas decorations is a clear and dispiriting example.



Dennis Prager?s latest book, The Ten Commandments: Still the Best Moral Code, was published by Regnery. He is a nationally syndicated radio show host and creator of PragerUniversity.com.

COPYRIGHT 2016 CREATORS.COM

Garden State's Most Famous Violist to Play!

The Mass will be doubled with his Viola de Gamba and Mr. Hutchinson will enhance the concert and hymns as well.

http://blog.nj.com/iamnj/2007/08/roland_hutchinson.html

Capital One's Jersey Avenue branch has eliminated all tellers and all banking now has to be done through ATMs. For good measure, the whitewashed the lobby so that the old murals of life in Hudson County is gone. This is the latest "service upgrade" from this bank.

I guess it's the future.

A Glorious Baroque Christmas Eve
With apologies to the never-Chrsitianity crowd, this is an unabashed announcment about a sectarian event that everyone is invited to.
Once again, St. Anthony of Padua, in downtown Jersey City invites the entire community to a Christmas Eve Concert followed by High Mass. There will be glorious music and ancient pageantry.
The concert starts at 8:30 pm and Mass will commence at 9:00 PM in the historic church at the corner of Sixth Street and Monmouth and will feature Claudio Monteverdi's Messa da camera a quattro voci in F major (published in 1641 in his collection of pieces, "Selva Morale et Spirituale"). This beautiful and moving setting will be sung with the accompaniment of basso continuo (organ and cello). Monteverdi is considered a crucial transitional figure between the Renaissance and the Baroque periods of music history. While he worked extensively in the tradition of earlier Renaissance polyphony, such as in his madrigals, he also made great developments in form and melody and began employing the basso continuo technique, distinctive of the Baroque
The Mass will be sung by the resident choir, Cantantes In Cordibus, under the direction of Simone Ferraresi, noted pianist, composer, and teacher. http://home.simoneferraresi.com/ Maestro Simone has meticulously sought to follow the performance notes of the original 1641 folio. The Propers for the First Mass of Christmas will be chanted by the Men?s Schola under the direction of Dr. Joseph Orchard. Motets by Lauridsen and Victoria as well as traditional carols will be sung.
The Mass, itself, will be preceded by a musical preclude that begins at 8:30 PM and will feature other baroque favorites such as Vivaldi?s Gloria and excerpts from Handel?s Messiah. A brass ensemble will also enrich the evening at different points such as with the flourish from Monteverdi?s Vespers of 1610.

IMMEDIATE NEED FOR FRENCH TEACHER

French teacher sought for McNair Academic High School, in Jersey City to begin when school resumes on January 3, 2017. . Consistently ranked in the top 50 public secondary schools in the country, the school is located in the gentrified downtown Hamilton Park neighborhood which is easily accessible from Manhattan and Hoboken by PATH or ferry. The candidate must either be certified or have at least an AB degree or its equivalent and be willing to obtain certification through the alternative route. http://www.state.nj.us/education/educators/license/alternate.htm McNair Academic students are among the most motivated and diverse students that one can encounter. The candidate must be able to teach all levels from elementary French through the AP course. The salary and benefits are excellent in the Jersey City School system with the average salary (which includes all levels) is about $74,000 and includes great benefits including pension and health care. Contact Dan Sexton at DanielSextonEsq@gmail.com for more information.

Dear Brewster:

Thanks for your post.

The pilot on our units does not stay lit. Rather, one lightst the pilot through an ignition button and then one turns on the fireplace. Is there also a turn off mechanism for the fire if oxygen is low?

Incomplete combustion sounds right. Is it possible that a change in the atmosphere in the house which is now sealed significantly tighter than before, changed the efficiencey of the combusion? I should say that the soot was very very subtle and only in the corners of the room. What else might compromise the combustion? Do these simply wear out and need to be replaced?


Mao

Yes- I put them in five of the fireplaces in my house. I recommend them with the caveats mentioned below.
I purchased inserts that went right in to the fireplace. Initially, I had the flu opened. A draft would develop and most of the heat would go up the chimney. I was also concerned that my chimney needed to be relined. Then I closed over the flu with some flashing. The increase in heat generation was amazing. Turning on the fireplace would warm up the room in a matter of minutes. It is hard to figure out but I think it allows us to save on heating as we keep the house at like 60 degrees and then turn on the fire to warm up a room when we're in it.
Things seemed to go well for about nine years. Then a year ago, there were suddenly soot stains from the fireplace in the parlor and in the tenant's unit. It is sort of a mystery. Our best guess is that we got new windows and a set of interior doors for the front door so that the house was now sealed while it was sort of a sieve before. We think this changed the process as there would not be the endless supply of oxygen. So going on this supposition, we now crack open a window just a tiny bit when the fireplaces are on. We also have carbon monoxide monitors.
So far there has not been any soot but we really have not had it on that much.
There seems to be an intense debate about these online. Bob Villa of This Old House approves of them. Others vociferously warn of all kinds of dangers.
Good luck!

Any word on where the shelter will be relocated? The issue is that anywhere withing striking distinace of public transportation will also be going upscale in Jersey City or Hoboken. To a certain extent, the Salvation Army around the corner might be able to take up the slack.

What the Archdiocese should be doing in light of the explosion of growth in that neighborhood is:
1. Improve the programs at St. Lucy's Shelter;
2. Re-open St. Lucy's Church. The population within the geographic boundaries of St. Lucy's is poised to increase 10 x what it used to be. Of course, that won't happen because the Archidiocese is in liquidation mode.

Why gross? (Serious question)

I hope this law is changed. It makes no sense and invites fraud.

Looks great. Hope it is a success.

My wife thought she had seen something about a French conversation meetup but I don't see one listed. Does anyone have any information in that regard?

Dear Leo168:

1. There are accepted guidlines for lap pools. Temperatures should be between 78 and 82. See prior post that give cites to AMerican Red Cross, FINA, NCAA, etc.

2. There has never been a Jersey City Age Group Team. The Pirranhas has been around. But that is a summer swim team that had periodic winter practices. It was not part of USA Swimming and the practice schedule did not allow the development of swimmers. The only meets were intra club. There have been Age Group Teams around,e.g. Stevens Sharks (until Stevens closed it). Muhommad runs a team called Scarlet out of various different pools. He does a great job I think. It has never been based at Pershing though he does get some time there from time to time.

3. Yes, there was a Masters Team when Schundler was mayor. Not since that I know of. Anyway, its not possible now unless they lower the water temp.

Mao

Good man. Brave to the end. Requiscat in pace!
Funeral, btw, Saturday at St. Joseph's 10:35

These are the same folks from White Star, are they not?

Well it is seems Rosemarie and Jaime are trying to convert Pershing Field pool from a hot tub for arthritics and infants to the fitness facility it is built for by

1. lowering the water temperature to acceptable levels;
2. Starting an age group team for the kids;
3. Starting a Masters Swim team for adults.

My sense is they are working against a small but entrenched interest group that is hooked into the mayor's office or the director's office.

Will pass on any info that I get. Some people from Stevens Masters were told that there is massive resistance from the "exisiting constituency." As in my previous rant, the exisiting constituency is a relatively few floaters who, however, have the mayor's office on speed dial. So if you're interested and would support either an age group team, a masters team, or a facility that is appropriate for fitness swimming (as oppossed to therapeutic uses), make yourself heard.

Rosemarie Nunez is running Pershing Field under the Division direction of Jaime Gordon. Under this team there is now an Age Group swim team for kids. In the suburbs, you might pay $3k for this. The price here is just $450!

They are also working on a Masters Team. Stay tuned! It would practice at 6:00am.

There is still the water temperature issue. The goal is to keep it at 83 to please everyone. The City needs to buy a new thermostat. Let's hope this happens.

Web Master, please don't fold this into last week's post which was a negative rant. This is positive!

FYI- was in the pool yesterday with my three year old and the water was perfect for lap swimming- water 82, air, like 75.

There is a report that a Masters Team will be starting up there in the next two weeks at 6:00 am and that the water temperature issue is solved.

But the warm water is actually fine for teaching your wife to swim...

Cheap! I think they raised it from $75 a year to $100 for individuals and there is a great family rate. Drop in is $3 I think.