Monthly Archives: June 2009

Community Bookstore

June 2 at 7 pm: Ben Greenman at Community Bookstore

Hey, I just heard from Park Slope's Ben Greenman and he's going to be at the Community Bookstore tomorrow night reading from his new, much-praised book, "Please Step Back."

The Community Bookstore is on Seventh Avenue between Garfield and Carroll Street. There is sure to be wine and refreshments.

New Yorker editor and author Ben Greenman, whose new novel "Please
Step Back" is earning acclaim for its vivid depiction of the life of a
funk-rock star in the turbulent America of the 1960s, reads from his
work tomorrow night, June 2, at 7 p.m. at Community Bookstore in Park
Slope. All are welcome to attend.

The book has already earned advance praise from authors like Walter
Mosley and George Pelecanos, as well as in many print and broadcast
media outlets. Here are some recent highlights:

*"Please Step Back" was selected by Time magazine as a Book of the Week.
*It appeared in New York magazine's coveted Approval Index
*It earned a starred review from Publisher's
Weekly, along with enthusiastic coverage from the Village Voice, Time
Out New York, the Miami Herald, and other publications.
*Greenman appeared on the national radio shows "Studio
360" and "The Michael Eric Dyson Show."

For more information on the book or to interview the author, please contact Lauren Cerand at lcerand@gmail.com or visit pleasestepback.com.

Brooklyn Blogfest

Tonight: How To Blog at BAX / Drop in Tonight If You’re Interested

Due to the great success of my HOW TO BLOG class at the Brooklyn
Arts Exchange I am doing it again. I hope those who participated before
will continue and new people will join, too.

Learn how to blog with Only the Blog Knows Brooklyn, a
hands-on workshop for anyone interested in becoming a blogger and those
who already blog but want to know more.

Learn from a pro.

This
course will cover technical issues but also creative and conceptual
ones. We will also discuss blog design, how to write a great blog post,
top ten tips for new bloggers, search engine optimization, social
networking platforms and more.

You don't need to know a thing about blogging. All you need is the desire to blog!

Monday nights at 7 p.m. on June 1, June 8 and June 15 at BAX on Fifth Avenue and 8th Street.

ACCESSBAX WORKSHOPS FOR THE CURIOUS, CREATIVE ADULT

HOW TO BLOG

with Louise Crawford, Mondays, June 1, 8, 15 from 7-9pm. To register call (718) 832-0018 or email
info@bax.org more>>

Religion

Michele Somerville: “The Scenario at St. Saviour is a Sad One”

6 Comments
Michele Madigan Somerville,
an OTBKB reader, responds to OTBKB's recent posts about the controversy at Saint Saviour
Elementary School. Somerville is an award-winning poet. Her book, Black
Irish, is forthcoming from Plain View Press. A short essay by Somerville will appear in the New York Times' online Op Ed series,  "Happy Days."


I’m a member of a
neighboring Brooklyn parish with no children attending St. Saviour School. 
As a former educator who taught for three years in parochial schools, I know
that that when they do it well, Catholic schools do a very good job of educating
children, Catholic and otherwise, for a fraction of the resources public schools
send.  I take special pride in the Roman Catholic school model, because, in
my experience,  at least in NYC, the diocesan schools have embraced the
diversity of the city and have, in many ways, excelled the public schools
in this regard. 

 
The scenario you describe at St. Saviour is a sad
one.  If your characterization of Father Murphy is accurate – if indeed he
does not visit the school,  if he truly described visiting the school “as a
drain”–  then he is falling woefully short in answering the call to
priesthood.  The chief obligation of a priest is to serve as model for
Jesus on earth.  A pastor who is indifferent to the children in his school
is failing to reflect Christ’s love and conducting himself in a disgraceful
manner.  Being a Roman Catholic pastor is a hard job.  Perhaps Father
Murphy is ill-suited for this work, or burned-out.   Father Murphy has
the right, in a technical sense to hire and fire as he sees fit, but he has a
moral and ethical obligation to stand before his fellow members in the Body of
Christ — the St. Saviour School community –and explain this decision in a
loving and respectful way.  It is possible,indeed it is likely —
that he was simply ordered to fire this principal. It is
also quite possible that he
has been explicitly forbidden to speak candidly about
this. Unfortunately, this is how things the Catholic Church often
operates. 
 
Even wonderul pastors like my own are being
forced  to make dramatic cuts. Parishes have been hit by the financial
downturn.  The diocese has been laying the groundwork preparatory to school
and parish closings for a few years now.  Many of our churches are over a
hundred years old and are architectural masterpieces containing priceless
art.  The cost of maintaining these buildings threatens to bankrupt even
the most prosperous of parishes. 
 
This current fiscal crisis casts a new light on the
time-honored custom of withholding of contributions as a means of protesting
policy.  It may good for parishioners to bear in mind that in some cases,
those who wish to do so can direct collection dollars to the school and not the
church by noting this preference on their checks. (Churches are supposed to make
every effort to honor this.)  During this time, when so many churches and
parish schools are closing, it is crucial that active Catholics advocate and
protest judiciously and with caution.      
 
Perhaps your pastor imagines contracting a more
malleable, less expensive principal may be a good way to cut costs. 
Perhaps Fr. Murphy is taking the lead from public schools wherein there is a
trend to hire less experienced (younger) educators because they
come cheaper and are more malleable.  Perhaps the pastor has a different
direction in mind for the school.   It sounds as if your pastor simply
may not want a school in his parish.   
 
Parents of children enrolled in these schools need
to be aware that a parish school operating without its own pastor’s full support
and protection is extremely vulnerable at this point in time.  Protest and
demonstration can only work up to a point in any dispute with the RC church
because in the end, it is always the bishop’s call.  Fortunately there are
priests (bishops included) nuns and lay Catholics who are open to what their
fellow Catholics think and feel. I exhort all involved in
this conflict to keep abreast of local church politics to whatever extent
is possible as they work toward keeping St. Saviour School vital. Members of
Saint Savior’s Parish Pastoral Council may a good resource in this struggle
because often parish council members gain a sense of what the
direction of the diocese is before the rest of the parish can know.
 
 
I also hope that teachers and especially students
are taking part in the letter writing campaign and in the protest. Teachers are
the best resource for what the problems in school administration might be. As
for the  children; there is an extremely valuable
lesson in this. These children need to know that the church belongs
as much to them as to any bishop.  My sense is that Bishop Frank
Caggiano, who according to one of the pasrent's letters, handles school
matters, is an unusually soulful (pun intended) and highly intelligent
bishop, and one not likely to be “drained” by interaction with the children
of your school. I expect that you will receive thoughtful response from him on
this matter in good time.
 
I wonder whether these diocesan powers that be are
aware of how many Catholics leave the church as a consequence of the kind of
disrespect the families at St. Saviour are currently enduring. The
diocese and pastor of St. Saviour Church may have the power to hire and lay
off the school principal, but that the church belongs, nonetheless, to those
families and that parish community.
 
I will keep St. Saviour School Community in my
prayers.
 
Michele Somerville

Religion

Saint Saviour Controversy: Parish as Feudal System?

2 Comments

100_0181 After two weeks of waiting, Saint Saviour Elementary School parents are finally receiving individual written responses to the letters they sent to Thomas Chadzutko, the Superintendent of Schools for the
Diocese.

In their letters, parents expressed their disappointment with the plan by Saint Saviour pastor Father Murphy not to renew the contract of James Flanagan, the school's principal, who has run the school for 26 years.

"While we appreciate Chadzutko's acknowledgment and response,
unfortunately the message contained therein only serves to frustrate us
more," one parent wrote to OTBKB.

In his letter, Dr. Chadzutko confirms that, despite his title as Superintendent of
Schools, he can only provide guidance to Mr. Flanagan, as Mr. Flanagan is
employed by the Parish and not his office. 

Dr. Chadzutko also told the parents that he shared the parent's concerns with with Father Murphy. "We suspect that, as
with all of the parents, alumni and parishioners who have shared their
concerns with Fr. Murphy, Dr. Chadzutko's concerns also fell on deaf
ears.  It seems implausible that, in this day and age, a Parish can
be run like such a feudal system, with the Pastor as overlord
and his parishioners as serfs, meant to pray, pay and
obey," says this same parent.

The parents are hoping that Bishop DiMarzio and Aux. Bishop Caggiano will address their concerns after they review the situation.

Music

OTBKB Music: Monday Recommendation

Tony Scherr small For tonight, I'm suggesting two acts and a venue and they all defy
simply being pigeonholed: Tony Scherr and Flutterbox at Jalopy.

Tony seems to be playing around town (Brooklyn and Manhattan)
constantly and is a session musician as well, having played with the
likes of Bill Frisell, John Scofield, Norah Jones, Ana Egge, Jesse
Harris and the Ferdinandos, The Wollesens, Ursa Minor and Slowpoke. 
Monday night is Tony's open ended residency at Jalopy, and frequently
Tony (playing guitar) will be joined by Rob Jost on bass and Anton Fier
on drums.  You can expect that Tony will have some interesting songs up
his sleeve.

Opening for Tony will be Flutterbox, which is Neill Furio on bass and
Janine Nichols (I spotlighted Janine previously here) on vocals.  They're
not quite what you'd call rock 'n' roll, but they are interesting,
ethereal and improvisational.  They also have fans ranging from Terry
Adams, Bill Frisell, Beth Orton and Nick Cave.

Finally the venue: Jalopy.  It's a performance space, an instrument
shop, and a music school.  It's location might be Red Hook or might be
Carroll Gardens, it depends who you ask. It's not all that far from the
Smith-9th Street Station and it's the only club I know with a great
view of the Brooklyn Battery Tunnel.  And yes, it has seats.  Plenty of
them.

Jalopy, 315 Columbia Street, 9pm ($5)

 –Eliot Wagner