2/12/08 Greenwich Time News Links

THE PICTURE:

Carl Mecky as Abe Lincoln and displays how the 6-foot-4 inch president handled an axe during a Lincoln workshop for kids at the Bush-Holley Historic Site in Cos Cob Wednesday. (Bob Luckey/Greenwich Time photo)


THE GREENWICH TIME TOP STORY:

Greenwich historical site brings Lincoln to life
GREENWICH - Of the nation's 44 presidents, only a handful have left legacies known to even the youngest Americans. One is President Abraham Lincoln, who was born 200 years ago today.
To celebrate the man who ended American slavery and preserved the Union, the Bush-Holley Historic Site in Cos Cob is hosting a three-day vacation workshop on Lincoln. The workshop concludes Friday......
Full Story

Children brush up on tooth skills
Chocolate may be better than sticky fruit-flavored snacks, but both can create cavities. These were the hard truths that Sabrina Romero, 6, learned at the town Health Department's "Whole Tooth and Nothing But the Tooth" program held Wednesday at the Boys and Girls Club of Greenwich on Horseneck Road.
Full Story

Board of Ed contractors reviewed
Budget officials have asked the school district to take a closer look at how it spends money on consultants and private contractors to identify potential savings in the education budget.
Full Story

Budget crisis endangers firehouse
Set against the backdrop of layoffs from the town work force, the fate of a project to build a new firehouse on upper King Street has become clouded by questions of staffing levels there.
Full Story

Greenwich woman faces more charges in investment scheme
A Greenwich woman charged this summer for her alleged involvement in a million-dollar investment scheme was hit with additional changes in federal court in White Plains, N.
Full Story

GHS junior to lead fundraising walk
Despite undergoing extensive treatment for leukemia, including chemotherapy and spinal taps, Greenwich High School junior Brad Davis still found time and energy to raise more than $35,000 for pediatric cancer research through his foundation, the BRAD fund.
Full Story

Teacher job fair casts wide net
School officials say they hope to cast a wider net for teaching talent by opening their second annual recruitment fair, which last year targeted only minority educators, to all job applicants this year.
Full Story

In town
Audubon seeks bird counters Audubon Greenwich, 613 Riversville Road, seeks bird watchers to join the 12th annual Great Backyard Bird Count from Friday through Monday.
Full Story

Body dragged nearly 20 miles by van
NEW YORK -- A van traveled for nearly an hour over busy New York City roads before its driver discovered the horrific cargo it had dragged almost 20 miles: the partially scraped-away body of a man who was plowed over by an SUV just before he got caught under the van.
Full Story

Record numbers frisked by NYPD
NEW YORK -- Newly released figures show New York City police stopped, questioned and frisked a record-high 531,159 people last year.
Full Story

Year of the bull
Year of the Ox The Japan Society of Fairfield County welcomed 2009, the Year of the Ox, with a traditional Oshogatsu Festival.
Full Story

Lawmaker pushing capitol to conserve
Rep. Beth Bye, D-West Hartford, and a task force were working on a list of ways for capitol employees to conserve paper, water and electricity when inspiration struck in the form of the latest copy of the Connecticut general statutes.
Full Story

Senate OKs WWE chief for school board
The state Senate voted 34-1 Wednesday to approve World Wrestling Entertainment CEO Linda McMahon to Connecticut's school board.
Full Story

Schools Will Ignore Behavior Problems Instead Of Nipping Them In The Bud:

Emotionally disturbed children will not get behavior management in a positive and productive way......

Rell pushes delay of school suspension rules
One of the "unfunded mandates," passed in 2007, requires that school administrators provide in-school programs for suspended students.

Greenwich schools Superintendent Betty Sternberg, former state commissioner of education, said the intention is good but "this is one of those situations, not unlike No Child Left Behind, where there's too much specificity and requirements."

While the law was debated, superintendents complained about the cost of hiring more teachers and finding more classroom space to meet the requirements. But lawmakers passed the bill out of concern that suspended students were sent home, often unsupervised, and missing valuable instruction.....

Brunswick basketball tops Hopkins to earn top seed in FAA
A 17-point halftime lead was the difference for the Brunswick basketball team Wednesday as they defeated Hopkins 64-50 to clinch the top seed in the Fairchester Athletic Association playoffs......

Full Story

MORE SPORTS HEADLINES:

UConn women beat St. John's
UConn men top rival Syracuse
Trinity Catholic blanks Immaculate
Boys hockey box scores

My cheapie valentine
Ah, Valentine's Day is almost upon us. It's a time for romance, enchantment ... and spending a lot of money. Seriously, do you know how much dinner and a movie can cost these days?

Full Story

Marketing agencies must adapt
Direct marketing agencies in the region are feeling the pressure from their clients to find novel and economical ways to promote their businesses as the economy continues to stagger.

Full Story

MORE BUSINESS HEADLINES:

Study: Off-shore trend faltering
Stamford man creates anti-Ponzi scheme software
Creditors sue Catterton over Archway bankruptcy
Business briefs

The higher the temperature, the cooler the temper
Amateur gardeners like me get a bit impatient around this time of the year. I tend to get somewhat ornery, nasty at times, crabby at others and downright awful to be around.

Full Story

GREENWICH TIME EDITORIAL:

Editorial:

Indulging in some questions about religious belief

By Jerry Dumas
Posted: 02/12/2009 07:38:48 AM EST

I've got to admit I had completely forgot all about indulgences, plenary or otherwise, as an underpinning of Catholic belief.

As a once strikingly upright and eager-to-learn Catholic boy (morbidly questioning in dark of night) in 1940s Detroit, I was pointed to as a prime example of what all fine boys should be -- scrubbed, bright-eyed, unwavering (even if my mother was Lutheran and her father a white-whiskered German minister). I was even awarded a small, silver trophy for having never missed Mass once in eight years. I didn't deserve that triumph; it was all a matter of luck -- good health, and being hauled out of bed. When asked today what my religion is -- which I hardly ever am -- my reply is that the Catholic Church is the church I frequently do not attend.

But now the news is out, on Web sites and in newspapers: Indulgences are back. I hadn't known they were gone. As a wary, good, slightly suspicious Catholic youth, I never gave them much thought, once I found out what they were.

First of all, you had to believe, once you were informed about them, in heaven, purgatory and hell. If you didn't believe in those three areas, then indulgences didn't matter. Purgatory is where you go if, after you die, you are deemed not bad enough for hell and not good enough for heaven. When asked how long one might expect to spend in purgatory, nobody, neither priest nor nun, could ever say.

"But like what? A hundred years? A thousand? Ten thousand?".....

.....The Lutheran Church originated because Martin Luther, a priest, protested the sale of indulgences -- the rich could buy into heaven, and the church could get rich. (The church outlawed the sale of indulgences in 1567.) As a Catholic boy, I thought old Martin was completely right, but didn't go far enough. He should have said the whole idea of indulgences, paid for or prayed for, was silly, and asked whose idea it was.

So we all forgot about this business for a while. But Pope John Paul II got them going again, and his successor Pope Benedict is really pushing them.

I like what one Catholic woman said who was baffled by the return of a practice she never understood in the first place. She asked, "What does it mean to get time off in purgatory? What is five years in terms of eternity?" Exactly what we boys asked, an eternity ago.

Bishop Nicholas DeMarzio said, "We want people to return to the ideas they used to know."....

HEY WAIT A

NEW YORK "TIMES"

MINUTE

THIS GREENWICH TIME EDITORIAL REMINDS ME OF OF NEW YORK TIMES ARTICLE I READ THREE DAYS AGO.....

PLEASE SEE:

NY Region /The New York Times

Feb 9, 2009

Indulgences are being offered at churches in New York City

By PAUL VITELLO

The announcement in church bulletins and on Web sites has been greeted with enthusiasm by some and wariness by others. But mainly, it has gone over the heads of a vast generation of Roman Catholics who have no idea what it means: “Bishop Announces Plenary Indulgences.”

First of all, you had to believe, once you were informed about them, in heaven, purgatory and hell. If you didn't believe in those three areas, then indulgences didn't matter. Purgatory is where you go if, after you die, you are deemed not bad enough for hell and not good enough for heaven. When asked how long one might expect to spend in purgatory, nobody, neither priest nor nun, could ever say.

In recent months, dioceses around the world have been offering Catholics a spiritual benefit that fell out of favor decades ago — the indulgence, a sort of amnesty from punishment in the afterlife — and reminding them of the church’s clout in mitigating the wages of sin.

The fact that many Catholics under 50 have never sought one, and never heard of indulgences except in high school European history (Martin Luther denounced the selling of them in 1517 while igniting the Protestant Reformation), simply makes their reintroduction more urgent among church leaders bent on restoring fading traditions of penance in what they see as a self-satisfied world.

“Why are we bringing it back?” asked Bishop Nicholas A. DiMarzio of Brooklyn, who has embraced the move. “Because there is sin in the world.”

Like the Latin Mass and meatless Fridays, the indulgence was one of the traditions decoupled from mainstream Catholic practice in the 1960s by the Second Vatican Council, the gathering of bishops that set a new tone of simplicity and informality for the church. Its revival has been viewed as part of a conservative resurgence that has brought some quiet changes and some highly controversial ones, like Pope Benedict XVI’s recent decision to lift the excommunications of four schismatic bishops who reject the council’s reforms.

The return of indulgences began with Pope John Paul II, who authorized bishops to offer them in 2000 as part of the celebration of the church’s third millennium. But the offers have increased markedly under his successor, Pope Benedict, who has made plenary indulgences part of church anniversary celebrations nine times in the last three years. The current offer is tied to the yearlong celebration of St. Paul, which continues through June.......

"But like what? A hundred years? A thousand? Ten thousand?".....

....“It’s what?” asked Marta de Alvarado, 34, when told that indulgences were available this year at several churches in New York City. “I just don’t know anything about it,” she said

The return of indulgences began with Pope John Paul II, who authorized bishops to offer them in 2000 as part of the celebration of the church’s third millennium. But the offers have increased markedly under his successor, Pope Benedict, who has made plenary indulgences part of church anniversary celebrations nine times in the last three years. The current offer is tied to the yearlong celebration of St. Paul, which continues through June.....

......Octavia Andrade, 64, laughed as she recalled a time when children would race through the rosary repeatedly to get as many indulgences as they could — usually in increments of 5 or 10 years — “as if we needed them, then.”

Still, she supports their reintroduction. “Anything old coming back, I’m in favor of it,” she said. “More fervor is a good thing.”

Karen Nassauer, 61, said she was baffled by the return to a practice she never quite understood to begin with.

“I mean, I’m not saying it is necessarily wrong,” she said. “What does it mean to get time off in Purgatory? What is five years in terms of eternity?”......

.....“It faded away with a lot of things in the church,” said Bishop DiMarzio. “But it was never given up. It was always there. We just want to people to return to the ideas they used to know.” ....

QUESTION NUMBER 1:

Shouldn't Hearst Newspapers And Jerry Dumas Have Given Credit To The New York Times And Paul Vitello For The "Original Work" Which Appeared In The Paper Of Record Three Days Ago

Or

Is The Rumor True That The "Fox News Wanna Be Of Lower Fairfield County", AKA, The Greenwich Time Is Not Allowed To Credit The New York Times In A Positive Way?

The Fact Is That The New York Times Has A Higher Penitration Rate In Greenwich Time. Which Means That More Households In Greenwich Get There News From The New York Times Instead Of The Greenwich Time.

Take A Drive Down Just About Any Residential Street In Greenwich And Count The Number Of New York Times Sitting In Driveways As Opposed To The Greenwich Time.

Or Better Yet Walk Down Greenwich Avenue Early One Morning And Do And You Will Get A Count Of Close To 10 To 1.

It Looks Like That Greenwich Time Editorial Board Members Like Jerry Dumas, Like Most Other Greenwich Residents Get Thier News From The New York Times

That's Why Greenwich Residents Get So Excited When They Are Featured In The New York Times Instead Of The Greenwich Time.

A Cuople Of Month's Back Ex-Greenwich Time Editor And Now Columnist Bernie Yudin Wrote About Greenwich Bloger Chris Fountain His Blog Called For What Its Worth Got A Bump Of About 100 Visitors.

But When A New York Times Columnist Mentioned the Same Blogger And Blog A Couple Of Weeks Later Chris Fountain Ended Up With Over 3,000 Unique Visitors In One Day.

Question Number 2:

Why Is This Even A Greenwich Time Editorial?

Are Catholic Churchs In Greenwich Pushing This Indulgence Idea?

Or

Was There No "Local" And "Hard Hitting" Greenwich Time Editorial For Today And Local Cartoonist Jerry Dumas' Weekly Column Thrown Up As An Editorial At The Last Minute?

By The Way:

Being A Somewhat Devious Seven Month Old Christian The Idea Of These Get Out Of Hell Free Indulgences Were Very Appealing To Me.

So I Went To My Church, Harvest Time Church, To Get Some.

I Was Told If I Could Find Indulgences In The Bible, That The Church Leaders Would Give Me As Many Indulgences As I Wanted

I Am Still Reading .....

================================================================

Please send your comments to GreenwichRoundup@gmail.com or click on the comments link at the end of this post.