December 2006

A couple updates from the Christmas T&G.

Cirignano hearing Feb 20:

Larry Cirignano, the Catholic Citizenship executive director who pushed a protester to the ground during a Dec. 16 anti-gay marriage rally here, will appear before a clerk magistrate on Feb. 20 on a charge of assault and battery.

Also, there’s a settlement of the lawsuit against the Library for its lending policy towards the homeless. For more info, see our podcast with all the background you’d ever want.

I’m not sure how a couple of legal stories end up in Monday’s paper. Wouldn’t these announcements have come out on Friday?

In this nativity scene, a very old Joseph holds a lantern.

My grandparents bought this olive wood nativity scene in the Holy Land, back in the day. Joseph has a walking stick. There’s one shepherd, in the background, holding a sheep. No shepherd’s crooks.

The sheep on the left side of this beautiful nativity scene seems to be standing on its front legs, trying to kick Joseph in the knee.

The dove on Joseph’s crook is a nice touch. It’s only in the last three days that I’ve realized that Joseph is often depicted in nativity scenes holding a shepherd’s crook. Is this supposed to be some piece of gear he found lying around the barn?

M Iafrate has a nice version of the Christmas carol “Hardrock, Coco, and Joe” (mp3).

WCCA funding battle: This week Worcester Magazine and the Telegram & Gazette came out in support of WCCA, Worcester’s public access cable station. WoMag: “Public access television is both often boring and fundamentally important; and WCCA has distinguished itself in the breadth and accessibility of its offerings at its three-studio Main Street location.”

Hospitality: Catholic Worker opens in Erie.

City Council pay raise: Worth quoting in full:

Official Vote to approve 9-3. Voting against Lukes, Rosen and Palmieri. Watching the meeting tonight District Councilor Haller mentioned that she had spoken to people throughout to the Distict and received “overwhelming” support in favor of the pay raise.

Larry Cirignano flip-out: Telegram says, “Police have filed a criminal complaint against the executive director of Boston-based Catholic Citizenship on allegations he pushed a female counter-demonstrator to the ground during an anti-gay marriage rally Saturday outside City Hall.” Bay Windows has one of the longest stories out there. Additional details from BlueMassGroup’s David, Michael Ball, Edge Boston, and probably a dozen other blogs.
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My mom “got this at the Goodwill” for $1. It was missing almost all of the figurines. In the spirit of Joseph himself, a king has stepped into the father role.