Stephen Yusko's Blog

  Spiritual & Emotional Pain - A Diocese in Turmoil  March 30, 2021         Dialoguing with the Diocese of Rockville Centre is very challenging these days. Ask any parish ministry leader, priest, or deacon, and you will find in private, a common response: “…the diocese is not effective at communication”. In non-church speak, his excellency seems to be circling the wagons, and rather not dialog directly, at least with this Rogue Deacon.    “However, the hierarchy's ability to brush dirt under the carpet is noteworthy.” Bishop Barres delivered a scripted video this past Autumn about the diocese's "Reorganization" by filing Chapter 11 Bankruptcy, an inevitable move, not driven because of lawsuits from the sexual abuse scandal, but in my opinion, from the actions of the men responsible for the well-being of the diocese, Bishop Barres and former Bishop William Murphy (Cardinal Law's right-hand man in Boston during the "Spotlight" scandal). It is due to t

Quit Trying to "sell" me Something Looking back I realized how long I've been in the "Selling Game". As my years begin to sneak up on the milestone of sixty, I feel qualified to spot a pitch artist at work.  Pitch Artist The seeds of sales development goes back to seventh grade at St. Martin of Tours Catholic grammar school and Sister Xavier's class. The venerable Sister stood at about five foot two, and no one dared to see if she had eyes of blue, but for sure she ruled her classroom with an iron fist, and what seemed to be an iron ruler.  As a youngster trained to respect authority, with a deep fear of the religious habited nuns who, in the case of Sr. Xavier seemed to be beyond my ability to calculate age, I endeavored to win her over. Most everyone in the class was well behaved or worked hard not to get caught by "Xaiver" for even the slightest infraction.   I remember the specific cadence of her walk down each row of desks, h

Deacon's Corner for February 2, 2018  In Sunday’s scripture readings we see how Job “sings the blues” (JB 7: 1-4,6-7). The great lament on the drudgery of life. My mind wanders to early mornings on the Babylon LIRR platform as commuters face another cold Winter’s trek into the “city” and what could be just another day of toil. The hope of an eventless train ride is dashed, as the announcement crackle s over the platform speakers and cries out yet another train delay. Job speaks to our lament of today, “Is this as good as it gets” ? We often feel the longing for something more! Parish life can be the center of activity for us, whether in our Sunday worship, bringing the kids to religious education or tending to our prayer life and spiritual well-being.  For others, particularly the millennials, being drawn to have the Parish of St. Joseph as the central place in their lives can be chalked up to wishful thinking. Bishop John Barres calls us all toward Dramatic Miss