Ahh sure an begora the Fifties are alive and well in Flushing Queens. We went, health problems aside, with our old firends to their local parish st pats dance. It was a hoot. They had some young Irish step dancers preform, who were very good and colorful. But, to my eye, only one of them “look” irish. If you lined them up and said pick out the irish girls, then you’d have been hard pressed to do it. One girl looked definitely Italian. But, if they think they are, then they are. I like Riverdance; so you can imagine that I liked them. There was a pipe band. And some speeches. And a politician. (Amazing how they can always find a camera and local voters!)
Out of the evening, I came away more convinced of the sad fact that activities such as this are a dying breed. Just in the last decade, events at this parish have gone from overflowing, (my friend would call several months in advance and say I have to buy tickets now), to smaller and smaller venues. I see this as everyone converting to the state religion of secular humanism with it’s apathetic sacrament of tv. Catholic education can not compete with the “free” edcuation provide by the taxpayer. And the total loss of stature of all Churches in the paradigm. In the France, symbolized by the Three Musketeers, the King was balanced by the Cardinal. We are losing that balance. In New York, the Irish fraternal societies were overflowing. The parishes were vibrant with activity. It’s a losing battle. But, I can’t see what replaces it? People sitting in their homes, cacooned, watching tv? Maybe the Matrix story is right.
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Reinke Faces Life 