Catholic Pastor Embattled By Picketers

THE NEW YORK TIMES, July 28 — While there may be an incipient priest shortage in America, some parishioners in New Jersey are mighty dissatisfied with their new pastor, according to The New York Times.

The paper reported that a group of some 30 discontented parishioners of Our Lady of Mount Carmel Church in Newark, N.J., have begun to picket the church's Sunday Mass — to protest Father John Perricone's use of traditional liturgical options.

These include facing the altar, rather than the congregants, while saying the Mass, whispering the words of consecration, declining to use extraordinary ministers of the Eucharist and employing Latin phrases at certain points in the Mass.

The Times did not point out that all these practices are legitimate under the liturgical guidelines of the Novus Ordo Missae, the Vatican II reform of the liturgy. The story received very prominent coverage, leading the Metropolitan section of the paper.

While Father Perricone was using options permitted by Vatican II, certain parishioners are suspicious. They know by reputation that the priest, who served for several years in the neighboring Archdiocese of New York, is an advocate of the wider use of the traditional Latin liturgy, as codified at the Council of Trent.

Pro-Life Democrats Not Welcome on Web

THE ROCKDALE CITIZEN (Ga.), July 20 — Political columnist Mark Shields called the Democratic National Committee to task for hypocrisy for its refusal to include links to Democrats for Life on its otherwise exhaustive Web site — even though such a link was requested by 17 Democratic members of Congress.

Shields cited language in the Democratic Party platform that says: “We also recognize that members of our party have deeply held and sometimes differing views on issues of personal conscience like abortion and capital punishment. We view this diversity as a source of strength, not a sign of weakness.”

In their letter to Democratic National Committee chairman Terry McAuliffe, the House members protested that their exclusion from the party's site meant that “members of the Democratic Party who are opposed to abortion and capital punishment are being denied their right to be heard.”

Study Connects Daycare to Aggression in Kids

THE WEST BEND DAILY NEWS (Wis.), July 22 — A recent edition of The West Bend Daily News cited a study by the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development linking aggressive behavior in young children with the amount of time they spent in day care instead of with their mothers.

Researchers found that the small percentage of children who exhibit violent behavior are typically those who have spent unusually long hours at day care centers.

The report cited is the Study of Early Child Care and Youth Development, which surveyed 1,200 families during 12 years.