Why Baseball Needs a Salary Cap

I am a Yankee fan.  Let me get that out of the way right from the start, though if you've followed this blog for any length of time you've picked that up already.  I don't care about competitive balance, per say, and I'm not sure the cap brings as much balance as is advertised.  The salary cap in football has not prevented the Detroit Lions from stinking for, oh let's say, the last 50 years or the Steelers from consistently fielding a contender, spare a few seasons in the 80's.  It's worked better in the NBA, but you still have the Lakers and Celtics back on top, just like 1966 and 1986.  Good organizations find a way to use the system they are forced to work in to their advantage, and no amount manipulating from above will cover up incompetence.  But what the cap does is forces stars to be spread around.  Fans follow their team, but they also follow stars.  LeBron James didn't go to Miami to be a star, he brought his star from Cleveland.  Melo has made a name in Denver.  Again, Shaq was bigger than life before going to LA.  In baseball since only a few teams can afford the top flight talent, the big names are all in New York, Boston and St. Louis, and lately Philadelphia.  Chicago should be on that list, but their pro teams have a habit of acting like they're in a small market city.   If there are more known stars left in the playoffs fans are more likely to keep watching once their teams are eliminated.

I love the story of the San Francisco Giants.  A group of cast offs who played together, with a lot of heart, and this morning they are the World Series Champs.  But who knows any of them?  Maybe people know Tim Lincecum, but Buster Posey?  Did anyone know that Edgar Renteria and Juan Uribe were still in the League? People stop watching because they don't know the players.This is why the ratings are down.

The myth in baseball right now is that the big bad Yankees buy the Pennant every year, which is bunk.  Take way the '96 to 2000 seasons, and the last thirty years has seen a wide variety of Series participants from all sorts of places and with a range of payrolls.  An All Star line up does not guarantee success.  If that were the case the Yankees would have dominated the 80's, and would have won more than the two Series' that bookended the last decade.  The Yankees would need a time of adjustment, but if their corporate management is as competent as it seems, they will adjust to the new reality of a salary cap.   Would they be as dominant? Probably not.  But they would still be in the mix more times than not.  And when the Giants, Rangers, Marlins and Tigers make it to the big show, as they inevitably do, people will still be watching because there will be a Star or two that they know and would have followed through the season and the playoffs.

Football is king, and that's just the way it is.  But baseball can make a rebound if it sets up a system that spreads the stars and the spotlight around to league more evenly.

All Saints-All Souls

The month of November brings us colder weather, trees shedding their leaves and afternoons that darken earlier and earlier.  It is a time when the vibrant life of spring and summer gives way to the cold sleep of winter.  In the midst of nature’s seasonal dying it is easy to become depressed.  People often suffer from depression during the winter months, when sun light is scarce.  But the Church gives us two major feasts to remind us that, while all thing die, God is the God of the living, and we should always have hope in Christ’s promise of eternal springtime.

Today, November 1^st, is the Solemnity of All Saints.  While there are hundreds of saints that the Church has canonized and remembers on particular feast days, heaven is filled will billions of unknown souls who followed the Gospel faithfully and heroically.  Maybe they lived in far off places and were not well known during their lives.  Maybe they weren’t members of large religious orders who could promote their cause for canonization.  But their names are known to God, and live with Him now.  They came from all walks of life: rich and poor; married and single; priests, nuns and brothers. But no matter what station in life they came from they loved Christ and served Him heroically in their neighbor.  They remind us that we are all called to be saints.  If we are baptized then we too have this vocation and capacity.  Holiness is for all of us, not just for the few.  We too are called to be saints.  

November 2^nd is the Commemoration of the Faithfully Departed.  A person who has died with their sins forgiven is assured of eternal salvation.  But sins have a negative effect on the soul, much like a scar disfigures our body.  We must first undergo a purification before entering into the presence of God.  If we have not gone through this purification on earth, then we do so after death.  The Church has traditionally called this purification Purgatory.  We base our belief in this purification, in part, on the practice of making sacrifices for the dead found in the Old Testament (2 Macc. 12:46) and the words of Jesus (Mt. 12:31) and St Paul (1 Cor, 3:15).  We on earth can help these souls along on their way to heaven by our prayers and sacrifices.  We should take consolation in knowing that every Mass is offered for the dead, even if they are not mentioned in the official intention.  And if we are not sure if a loved one needs our prays, offer them any way.  The Holy Spirit will “redirect” those intentions to someone who does need it.

November brings us closer to the death of winter, but Christ brings us the hope of eternal life.  If we have lived heroically, or if we have failed often but have turned back to the Lord for forgiveness, let us rejoice that we have a loving God who wants us to live with Him for eternity.  He gives us all we need to reach the heights of heaven, our true home and eternal Springtime.

Installation Homily

(I still may make some changes, and I'm sure I'll ad lib a bit, but here is the basic text of my homily for today's installation Mass)

Bishop Cruz, Bishop Marconi, my brother Salesians and the community of St. Anthony’s Church. 

My sisters and brothers, we live in uncertain times, to be sure.  The economic downturn of the last few years has shaken our trust in the private and public institutions that we have always relied on to assure our financial stability.  The ongoing threat of terrorism, while maybe not the overwhelming preoccupation it was a few years ago, is still real, as we have been reminded over the last few days by the various stories of plots by those who seek to do our country harm.  In two days our nation holds elections that have been both highly anticipated and controversial, with rampant speculation over what changes the results will bring.

We have also seen changes on the local level.  St. Anthony’s School, which educated generations of our children here in the Berg has become Our Lady of Guadalupe Academy, a cosponsored school.  In the past year we suffered the loss of Mr. Al Raggani who for years assisted our pastors in the administration of parish resources.  We come together today to celebrate a change of pastorship.  Certainly a joyful time, but one that brings a degree of uncertainty.  The one benefit we have in holding this instillation now, after I’ve been here for a few months, is that we’ve already begun to get to know each other.  It’s not easy stepping in after someone as well loved as Fr. Pat Diver, and I am grateful for his support and we are all blessed by his presence today.  In truth I can say that you have all made me feel at home already.

In these months, talking with many of you, especially the long time parishioners of St. Anthony’s, I’ve heard a great deal about the changes to the neighborhood of Peterstown.  While your love for the Berg is unshakable, many wonder about what the future of both the community and the parish will bring.  None of us can tell the future, least of all me.  But in listening to the Word of God this morning we can hear the Lord speaking to us, telling us not to worry about things we cannot control, but rather to focus ourselves on the high calling we have received as disciples of Christ Jesus.

In the second reading from the Second Letter of St. Paul to the Thessalonians, the Church of Thessalonica  has been shaken by the false preaching of those who say that the Second Coming of Christ is just around the corner.  This worry over the end of the world distracts the Christian community from doing God’s will in the here and now.  Paul tries to convince them that such worrying is useless, and in the end counter productive.  As Jesus tells us in the Gospels, no one knows the time or the hour of his return in glory.  It is for us to be always ready for this event by avoiding sin and being faithful to our baptismal call to holiness, so that the day of his eventual return doesn’t catch us off guard like a thief in the night. 

St. Paul is telling us, just as assuredly as he was the Thessalonians, not to worry about things that we have no control over.  Do not be disturbed by rumor or gossip.  Don’t let headlines distract you, don’t let change shake you.  You have received a calling greater than you can imagine, the call to glorify God by the holiness of your lives.  It’s this that you need to be concerned with, and nothing else.

For ourselves we can add to that list of distractions anxiety caused by change.  We here at St. Anthony’s we have a great heritage.  We think of the Salesians who served here over the years; Fr. Mani, Fr. Zuliani, Br. Jerry Harasym, Fr. John Mazziello and Fr. John Murphy, whose pioneering ministry among the Hispanic community in Elizabeth influenced so many, including our own Bishop Cruz, just to name a few of the dedicated sons of Don Bosco that have served here.  We have a great past that we cherish and inspires us.  It’s tempting to see things changing around us and become anxious about it.  When we are use to things being done in a certain way we can become resistant to altering the routine.  If the changes are radical enough it can seem like the world is ending.  We can be preoccupied with the challenges before us and become discouraged.  But St. Paul is reminding us not to be anxious, but focused; focused on the call to holiness we received at baptism.

But what exactly is this call I’m talking about, what does it mean?  If we turn our attention to the Gospel reading from Luke we will get an idea.

As we pick up the story this morning, Jesus is in the midst of his journey to Jerusalem.  We have been walking with him for several months now by way of the Sunday readings.  As soon as Peter made his profession of faith in Jesus as the Messiah of God in Luke chapter 9, our Divine Lord, resolutely determined as the scripture puts it, begins his journey to the Holy City to fulfill the mission given him by His Heavenly Father.  Along the way he heals, preaches, expels demons and reminds his followers of the cross that awaits him in Jerusalem.

At the heart of Jesus’ mission is the call to repentance and the gathering of God’s people into one community.  Three weeks ago we heard to story of the ten lepers being healed.  Let us recall that the one who returned to give thanks to Jesus was a Samaritan; an outsider, one who was not a member of the chosen people.  Here, as in other parts of the scripture, Christ is letting his followers know that God’s promise is not confined to one nation.  It is a universal call, and all people of all nations and languages are to be gathered into His fold.  They are to abandon their limited vision and open their hearts to the great plan God has in store for them and the world.

Today we hear about Jesus passing through Jericho, continuing his journey to Jerusalem.  There is a large crowd gathered, like in every other town he’s visited.  Among the multitudes is a man named Zacchaeus, a member of the house of Israel, but like the leper from a few weeks ago, an outsider nonetheless.  He is a tax collector, someone who works for the Roman occupiers and a makes a profit by extorting his own people.  Luke tells us he is “short of stature,” and so climbs a tree to get a better look at Jesus, whom he was “seeking to see.”  Considering how he made his money it’s not too hard to imagine that he retreated to the tree tops because he would not have been welcome on the street, among the people of Jericho.  But he comes anyway because something in his heart tells him that he’s been living the wrong way.  But he dares not come close, maybe out of practicality, maybe out of fear.  So he climbs the sycamore tree simply hoping to catch a glimpse of this Jesus who he had undoubtedly heard so much about.  

But beyond his expectations Jesus stops looks up and calls Zacchaeus down.  Christ will stay with him today.  This tax collector, a social leper in the eyes of his neighbors, too is a Son of Abraham and needs to take his place once again among the people of God.  For his part Zaccheaus is resolved to reform his life, paying back four times over those he has extorted, the Roman penalty for such a crime, as well as giving half his possessions to the poor.  While the crowd has a hard time accepting this, Jesus doesn’t back down.  Salvation has come to Zacchaeus’ house  because the Messiah came to seek and to save what was lost.  He came to gather all people into His Father’s community, gentiles like the Samaritan leper, as well as this lost sheep of the House of Israel.

As a parish our call, our mission if you will, is the same as our Divine Savior’s.  Our call is to be a sign of God’s Kingdom here in Peterstown.  It is a universal Kingdom that welcomes those who are lost, on the outside, and invites them back.  We invite them  back to be reconciled with Christ and His Church through the Sacrament of Penance.  We invite them, as our Lord did with Zacchaeus, to listen to their hearts that are telling them that the passing pleasures of this world will never satisfy, but only leave us hungry for something more.  We need to be the messengers that that “Something More” is communion with Jesus Christ through his community.

It is a community that doesn’t make distinctions, but welcomes people from all places and tongues because they too are children of the Church.  We understand that we are all united by the same Blood, the Blood of the Lamb that was shed for us on the cross.  We share the same waters of baptism that free us from sin and join us to Christ’s Body, the Church.  We share the same Eucharist, the memorial of Christ’s passion, death, and Resurrection.  The Eucharist that is his very presence with us and unites us in charity here on earth and is a foretaste of the heavenly banquet we will all share.

My sisters and brothers, we do live in a time of change, but we are not fearful or anxious.  We indeed have a great heritage.  But we are brave and forward looking.  We don’t seek to recreate the past but to build for the future.  We don’t look back at the good old days in order to bemoan the present.  We see the reality of our neighborhood as it is.  We see the needs of the young people on our streets now.  We see our community as it is, not how we may wish it was, and we know that it is Christ Jesus who is our strength.  It is Christ who is our light.  It is Christ who is our rock.   If we are true to the call He has given us, no challenge will be too great and no obstacle to difficult to overcome.  If we remember that Jesus Christ is our unity there will be no change too radical to distract us.

World Series Game 2

I've been working on the sermon for Sunday, and I need to distract my self a little at this point, so I'll turn to last nights game.

Once again your intrepid reporter had to use creative measures to circumvent the Fox / Cablevision black out up here (Thank you Applebee's for having Direct TV).  As a side note, I'm really not sure who's right or wrong on this one, and I'm at a point where I just don't care anymore.  There has to be a better way of resolving this than punishing the people.

So I picked up the game in the 7th inning, and as I'm driving along Route 9 it was still a tight contest.  By the time I walked between the car and the restaurant the whole thing had unravelled quicker than Charlie Sheen at the Plaza.  The Texas relievers couldn't find the plate with a G.P.S., then once they recalculated the light hitting Giants started playing T-Ball with them.  Now they decide to fall apart? They couldn't have done it last round against the Yankees?

 ***

The ratings are down again for the Series, which comes as no surprise.  There's a debate over how the 3 million households blocked from getting Fox in New York/New Jersey/ Philadelphia have impacted the numbers.

The Yankee haters in the media like ESPN's Jim Caple go on and on about how it's good for the game that new teams get into the Fall Classic, which in one sense is true.  But numbers don't lie; unless New York, Boston, St. Louis and maybe Atlanta are in the mix somehow, people outside the participating cities don't watch.  Only geeks like me will sneak out of the house to catch a couple of innings between two teams they care little about just because they love baseball. I mean the game was beaten in the ratings by a new sitcom featuring William Shatner, who long ago gave up acting for self parody.  I shutter to think about what happens Sunday when they go up against the NFL.  Roger Goodell isn't givin' em' a pass like he did last year.  No, my friends, this week it's Steelers vs Saints, and I can hear Faith Hill warming up her vocal cords already.  I'd be shocked if Bud Selig watched the Series over that match up.   We'll find out what America's Past Time is for real once the overnight's come out Monday.

Random Notes

*We broke 1,000 page views all time this week (1,114, since July to be exact). A relatively small number, to be sure, but we're also up a hundred plus views this month over last.  I owe a lot of the recent bump to Padre Steve posting me on Da Mihi Animas last Saturday.  A big thanks to him for the shout out.

*In spite of the Fox / Cablevision World Series black out here in the Metro Area I was able to catch a couple of innings the game last night.  I've always been amazed at the "too much rest" excuse when a pitcher gets knocked around after a long layoff.  It happens a lot, so there must be something to it.  But I also think it's hard for any pitcher, even Cliff Lee, to pitch lights out every time out.  Your due for a clunker eventually.  The Giants were able to convert patience and working the count into hits like the Yankees didn't.  New York made Lee throw pitches, they just were never able to take advantage of it.  San Fran was also able to knock him out in the fifth, before he usually catches his "second wind."

*Speaking of Lee, I love the way he and his agent are down playing the way some rowdy Yankee fans treated his wife during the ALCS.  If it was my wife getting beer thrown on her and taunted I'm not sure I'd be taking it in stride the way he is.  Oh, the filthy lucre makes cowards of us all.

*This will be my last post for a few days.  I'm being installed as pastor on Sunday, and there are a lot of details to attend to.  But I do plan on posting my sermon on Sunday morning.

Preaching is a spoken art form, and I usually don't write homilies out, even in Spanish.  The Holy Spirit never stops inspiring, even in mid sermon, so He shouldn't be stifled by a script. But I don't want the nerves of the moment to distract from the message. So, until them, pray for me, I'll be praying for you!

Bulletin Letter for Sunday, October 31

After a long wait the day of my formal installation as your pastor has arrived.  It is with deep humility that I celebrate this day with you all. It would be a mistake to think that today is about me though. We have a great parish community here in the Berg, and it’s a day to celebrate St. Anthony’s; to remember the past and work together to build a solid future.

I think of the great men who came before me; Fr. Dominic Battistello, Fr. A.J. Lewis, Fr. August Bosio, Fr. Alvin Manni, Fr. Joe Maffei, Fr. Vince Zuliani, Fr. Don Delaney and, of course Fr. Pat Diver (and this is only a partial list of our previous pastors!).  I also am reminded of Fr. John Murphy, still so deeply loved, who pioneered the mission among the Hispanic community here in Peterstown. When I contemplate these men of God who dedicated their lives to the Salesian mission here at St. Anthony’s it reminds me that I’m truly standing on the shoulders of giants.  It’s like something Ronald Reagan said about the presidency; no one owns the office but is its protector, insuring that the past is respected and that the future is provided for.  Then, when his time of service comes to an end, he hands the burdens of responsibility on to another.  I am but a part of that line of service that will continue long after my time here ends.

This is also a day to celebrate St. Anthony’s.  Yes we remember the past, but we must believe that the best days of our parish lie ahead of us.  Our future will not be secured by trying to recreate the past, instead we need to look at the reality of the Berg as it is now and respond to the present reality with courage and faith.  This can only happen if we all work together with one, single minded goal; the spread of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. 

In today’s Gospel reading from St. Luke Jesus calls Zacchaeus to turn from a life of sin to full communion with the faith community.  Zacchaeus had this desire in his heart already, but needed the invitation for the Lord to come down from the tree and repent.  How many in our neighborhood, especially young people, are living without Christ in their lives, but have the desire for something more burning in their hearts?  Maybe all they need is the invitation from us to return to the fold.  May we be that welcoming community in the name of the Lord.

It is in this spirit that I formally assume the responsibility of being your pastor.  My goal is to build on the foundations made before me, and to also look ahead to the growth of our community into the future.  This is not something I can do alone.  I will need the help of the entire St. Anthony’s community.  In the end, it’s your parish, and I know that with the grace of God greater things than we can possibly imagine are possible. 

Two Witnesses for the Eucharist

 (This is my letter from last week's bulletin that I forgot to post)

In the month of October we celebrate two feast days that point us to the importance of the Eucharist in the life of the Church.  On the 17^th we celebrated the memorial of St. Ignatius of Antioch, and on the 19^thwas the feast of the North American Martyrs.

Ignatius was the bishop Antioch, in modern day Turkey, who was arrested and sent to Rome to suffer martyrdom around the year 110 AD.  Rather than taking a direct rout to Italy, the ship carrying him sailed close to shore and made many stops along the way.  This was not so unusual, since sea travel was dangerous and hugging the coast was the norm, but that he was greeted by so many while at port was a bit out of the ordinary.  While these friends could have secured his freedom by way of bribes, he begged them not to interfere with what he saw as his mission to witness to Christ with is life.  He also wrote numerous letters to the various Christian communities.  In them he urged unity with their local bishops, especially in the celebration of the Eucharist.  He stressed that the Eucharist is the “flesh of our Savior Jesus Christ,” and that the faithful should avoid teachers who taught otherwise.

St. Isaac Jogues (1607-1646) was a French Jesuit who went to North America as a missionary to spread the Gospel to the indigenous peoples of what is today northern New York State and Canada.  He is remembered along with eight others who gave their lives to spread the Good News in the New World.  He was captured by a band of Iroquois Indians, and during his captivity was viciously tortured.  His captors may not have known much about the Faith, but they knew enough about the Mass to bite off several of St. Isaac’s fingers.  At that time a priest could only hold the consecrated host with his thumb and index finger, and with out then he was not allowed to offer the Mass.  Eventually St. Isaac escaped, with the help of some Protestant merchants, and returned to Europe.  Pope Urban VII granted St. Isaac permission to offer the Eucharist in spite of his injuries because “it would be unjust that a martyr of Christ should not drink the Blood of Christ.”  Isaac returned to North America and suffered martyrdom a short time later.  He went to his death with strong faith in the Gospel he preached and the sacraments that he celebrated and suffered so greatly for.

In the case of both these saints we see a great love of Christ, and a great love of the Sacrament of unity that is Christ’s Body and Blood.  Sts Ignatius and Isaac died centuries apart and in vastly different places.  But both died believing the same thing: That Christ is truly present in the Eucharist to unite us and help us grow in charity, and that this gift needs to be spread.  Let us renew our love of this sacrament and faith in Our Lord’s True Presence in it.