Posts Tagged ‘fitchburg’

Fuzzy Wuzzy has an issue…

Posted: October 17, 2009 by datechguy in Uncategorized
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…that is if he wants one:

Community leaders gathered at the Montachusett Regional Planning office on Friday to talk about the importance of reaching the “hard to count” population living in the area, including low-income residents and illegal immigrants, in the upcoming 2010 census.

Oh we are going to count illegals in the census? The story is titled:

Low-income, illegals must be counted, say local leaders

the mayor’s position?

Wong said she, or a representative from her office, will be part of this year’s Complete Census Count Committee, to provide census workers with relevant information on city demographics, in order to be sure as many people as possible are surveyed.

I think it would be very interesting to see if the mayor directly says that illegal immigrants could be counted rather than deported. Mr. Ford the head of the Minority Coalition in Fitchburg reaction was predictable:

“You’re a human being in that town that affects everybody else’s style of living,” said Ford. “It doesn’t make sense not to count them.”

Yes you do effects peoples style of living, you siphon tax dollars and services from local state and federal government that could be used for oh I don’t know Turning on the street lights. There’s are different words you can use to describe illegal actions to secure tax money from taxpayers. The word I’d use is: “fraud”.

We have a large amount of drug dealers and gangs here in Fitchburg too, they also affect people’s style of living. They provide police hours, a desired service, they spend money in hardware stores for spraypaint, perhaps we shouldn’t arrest them either.

At least one Fitchburg pol sees some trouble with this:

(State Rep)DiNatale said asking illegal immigrants to participate in the census in order to increase federal funding for the population creates a bit of a conflict for him.

Someone needs to ask the mayor directly if she supports counting illegals locally, if she says yes then there is a ready made issue for candidate Michael “Fuzzy” Voisine.

Mayor Wong is considered up and coming in the local democratic party. A few months ago I said the following:

Right now I’m leaning toward the incumbent but it isn’t a clear cut choice for me. The Mayor is a highly educated person who has a lot of theory behind her and is a very hard worker, but Fuzzy has the actual practical experience in real life that is vital on the local level.

If this is the sign of what we’ll be seeing as she rises then I guess my vote is becoming more clear but not in the direction it once was.

The Latin Mass just a few blocks away, who knew?

Posted: October 1, 2009 by datechguy in catholic, local stuff
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Just across the river and the bridge that spans from where I live is Water Street. It’s was once the Italian section of town known as “The Patch”. It is also the place where there are three Catholic Churches all within 600 yards of each other. The First is Immaculate Conception parish located right on the river and one of the most beautiful churches in the area. The second is St. Bernards, the oldest Catholic Church in Fitchburg. The Third is my parish St. Anthony di Padua, which just celebrated its 100th anniversary last year and is still about 50% made up of the children and grandchildren of the Italian Americans who founded it.

As you can see from the google map link barely 1/2 a mile separates the three.

With three parishes so close it is VERY likely that at least one and more likely two of us will get the chop with next years parish closing. Immaculate Conception buries more people than they baptize so it doesn’t look good for them.

St. Anthony’s & St. Bernard’s morning mass are at 7 a.m., due to the schedules of the wife and kids 7 a.m. is more tricky for me so for the indulgence I mentioned yesterday I went to Immaculate Conception as their thrice weekly morning mass is at 8:15.

A few weeks ago someone mentioned to me that they offer the mass in Latin there. I’m 46 so I have no living memory of it. (My mother tells me St. Anthony went to English before I was born. I’ve always wanted to attend one. It is a connection to centuries of Catholic tradition and history, both of my boys either took or are taking Latin in high school and frankly I’m curious.

So today after earning the Plenary indulgence for the Mother in law (if that doesn’t get you in her good graces nothing will) I asked the priest if the Latin Mass was offered. (I know the web site says so but it looks like that web site hasn’t been touched since the day it went up). To my surprise Fr. Thien confirmed it.

And apparently if I had been paying more attention I would have known it already. Fr. Z’s blog mentioned it here, and commented on the first Latin mass celebrated in June:

It is one thing to have A MASS celebrated, even at a convenient time and place. It is entirely another to have the whole life of a parish and access to all the sacraments with the older forms – in a community of people who have the same aspirations – opened up for you.

La Solette Journey Covered it as well.:

Father will hear confessions at 7:30am before Mass, and the Rosary will be prayed aloud at that time. Father will also hold spiritual conferences and traditional devotions, and administer the Sacraments according to the Extraordinary Form of the Roman Rite.

Hmmm his name is Melanson, I used to live near a bunch of Melansons when I was 5 years old.

Ad Majorem Dei Gloriem covered it too:

“I think it’s fair to call this the beginning of the restoration of the immemorial Holy Mass codified by St. Pius V to the church of the Immaculate Conception. I’m glad to say that our (my family’s) hopes were high, but we were entirely unprepared for the palpably sacred ambience that persisted in the church throughout the sacred liturgy and which accompanied us right out the door and into the church hall (where I spent most of my time talking about the Mass, I think). It brought back a flood of memories of the best days I’d seen when I was a boy and the blessed years we had the privilege of going to Mass at Holy Trinity in Boston (where our two girls were baptized). I had the distinct impression that Father, the altar servers, and the choir were actually praying (not acting out roles) as they solemnly carried out their offices with unaffected reverence.(emphasis mine)

That is the single most powerful statement that I’ve ever heard said about a mass. If that is not a reason to attend I’d like to know what is.

Ironically I would not have been able to attend that first mass even if I knew about it since I’m involved in a monthly parish activity at St. Anthonys that takes up my mornings on the last Sunday each month (all are invited).

While writing this post I called my 84 year old mother and told her about it, she mentioned how when she was younger everyone wanted it in English because the didn’t want to learn Latin but is very interested in going this week. She also reminded me of the fact that our pastor will be leaving for Italy for a week starting Friday and neither her nor my boys are serving this month.

If that’s not a sign I don’t know what is, so I think I’ll be attending Immaculate Conception this week and might consider going once a month for the Latin Mass.

This is a lesson. I should pay more attention to my own neighborhood instead of always concerning myself with the events of the world or the blogoisphere.

Question: What is the most embarassing thing for a pol?

Posted: September 28, 2009 by datechguy in local stuff
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To come in 11th in an 11 man field in a primary when the top 10 advance:

City Council President Stephan Hay garnered the most votes in Tuesday’s preliminary election while Pacific Street resident and perennial candidate Ronald Dionne lost the chance for his name to appear on November’s ballot, according to unofficial results announced Tuesday night.

How bad was it? This bad:

Only 173 residents cast a vote for Dionne, less than 3 percent of the total vote.

Overall, 6,093 residents voted on Tuesday, according to unofficial election records.

And the title of the story?

Dionne loses preliminary

That’s gotta smart.

Hey that was a fine use of the $25,000 that election cost, it’s not like we need the money to get streetlights on or something.

Then again there are some who think streetlights are no big deal. After who ever heard of a city paying for streetlights? If we conservatives don’t like it we should pay for it ourselves!

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