An Ad campaign that includes a picture of a church with a velvet rope accompanied by a slogan "Everyone's on the list," will soon be scattered across the diocese.

CBS reports residents are 'chuckling' because the ads look like they could be for a new cool night club.

Another ad in the series reads, "It's never just a selfie", and shows an image of Jesus in the background of a picture of a woman taking a selfie.

Yet another, "His line is always open," shows a smart phone perched on a Bible.

Monsignor Kieran Harrington, Vicar for Communications for Catholic Diocese of Brooklyn calls the ads "relatable".

"We wanted to look and see what is it people understand," he said.

"We really just wanted to be in front of people and kind of knocking at the door saying, ‘listen you are a part of community, we love you, and we want you to be with us' and that is the whole nature of the campaign," he told Fox News.

The Diocese of Brooklyn launched the campaign to remind parishioners they have somewhere to go for the holidays, reaching out to young people with social media and technology.

Reaction among Catholics is mixed.

"I don't know how to call it other than a materialistic hustle, and that's taking away a piece of the message that is part of the reason people come," Charlie Peterson said.

"I think it might be in poor taste," however, "They are talking, and maybe even posting about it," John Michael added.

Monsignor Harrington told Fox News that young people are responding.

An estimated 1.4 million Catholics live in Brooklyn and Queens, but only 250,000 go to mass every week.

"It's a knock on the door to let people know they have a family here that very much wants to see them," Monsignor Harrington said.

Sources

• CBS
• Crux
• Fox News
• Image: Crux

A printed copy could not be located.

During an almost three hour ceremony, Mangano address a standing-room-only audience and recalled his rise to the county's highest office.

Describing Nassau County as the best place on earth and said the next four years will be "full of challenges and opportunities".

Mangano, a former janitor during his student years, promised to continue help the cleanup after Superstorm Sandy, redevelop the Nassau Coliseum, transform the shuttered Social Services building in Garden City into a new Family Court, and construct a new crime lab.

No mention was made of buying a Bible for the County nor whether the purchase would be a 'challenge' or 'opportunity'.

Debate continues online over whether or not an iPad and Bible app should qualify as a replacement for the real thing.

Sources

• Long Island News Day
• Image: 9 to 5 Mac

Joseph Amodeo told The Associated Press on Saturday that he quit the junior board of the city's Catholic Charities after Cardinal Timothy Dolan failed to respond to a "call for help" for homeless youths who are not heterosexual.

"As someone who believes in the message of love enshrined in the teachings of Christ, I find it disheartening that a man of God would refuse to extend a pastoral arm" to such youths, Amodeo said in his letter to the charitable organization last Tuesday.

New York Bishop of Brooklyn Nicholas DiMarzio has signalled a new era in Church-State relations by calling for sanctions consequent to the gay marriage bill passing.

DiMarzio has called on members of his diocese "to not bestow or accept honours, nor extend a platform of any kind to any state-elected official in all the parishes and schools for the forseeable future.

"Republicans and Democrats equally share responsibility for this ruinous legislation and we as Catholic should hold all accountable for their actions," he said.

While the vote did not surprise him, also steadfast in his opposition to same-sex marriages is Archbishop Timothy Dolan.

Saying he felt a bit down after the passing of the gay marriage bill Dolan said, "I think society and culture is at its peril if we presume to tamper with what has been given and already cherished through the history of civilization," Dolan said after services at St. Patrick's Cathedral in midtown.

Dolan spoke compassionately to the gay community saying: "I love you very much. If anything I ever said or did would lead you to believe that I have anything less than love and respect for you, I apologize."

However a senior adviser to the Vatican and theology professor in Detroit blasted the Catholic governor of New York for his strong stand on gay marriage.

Professor Edward Peters of Sacred Heart Major Seminary said Cuomo should be punished for his "brazen" violation of Catholicism by being denied Holy Communion.

He's also calling for the Catholic Church to investigate Cuomo for violating Church law, calling the politician's action a "danger" for faithful Catholics.

"I see no way, absent a public reversal of his public conduct, that Andrew Cuomo may present himself for holy Communion," Peters wrote Sunday on his blog. And, "I see no way that a minister of holy Communion may administer the sacrament to him."

Retailers, however, are reportedly heading for a windfall. Wedding chapels, caterers, hotels, florists and banquet halls are all likely to benefit, experts say.

"This could be a real windfall for stores to take advantage of. The gay population in metropolitan New York is as affluent as you get," said David Wolfe, creative director at The Doneger Group Inc., which advises the retail industry.

Weddings are big business. The average cost of a US wedding is $26,500 - part of an $84 billion nationwide market, according to Conde Nast publishing's bridal group.

Sources

• Washington Post
• NY Daily News
• Detroit Free Press
• NZ Herald

Opponents of same-sex marriage have vowed to fight back and outlaw gay marriage as they did in California and Maine.

The National Organisation for Marriage (NOM) has said it will spend at least US$2 million in 2012 to campaign against Republicans who switched sides.

"Politicians who campaign one way on marriage and then vote the other, need to understand: betraying and misleading voters has consequences, too. We are not giving up, we will continue to fight to protect marriage in New York," said NOM president, Brian Brown.

"The Republican Party in New York is responsible for passing gay marriage, and sadly it's the families of New York who will pay the worst price of the new government-backed redefinition of marriage."

Tony Perkins, head of the Family Research Council accused NY Republicans of taking bribes over the matter.

"Enormous political coercion has resulted in a profound failure of moral courage in the New York Senate. A clear majority of the people of New York oppose counterfeit 'marriage,' but Gov. Cuomo and anti-family lawmakers have shown that their allegiance is to a small but vocal minority seeking to redefine marriage and family," he said in a statement. "The so-called religious protections that were tacked on to the bill will ultimately do nothing to protect the religious rights of New York citizens. As we go forward there is little doubt that the "incentives," some taxpayer funded, used to sway votes, especially Republican ones, will be exposed."

New York's Roman Catholic Church has campaigned openly against the legality of same sex marriage.

The bishops are concerned that marriage will be ridiculed and the Church may face government sanctions for continuing to teach about one of the cornerstones of civilisation, the traditional view of marriage.

"The passage by the legislature of a bill to alter radically and forever humanity's historic understanding of marriage leaves us deeply disappointed and troubled," said the New York Catholic Bishops in a statement.

While reminding people to treat homosexuals with respect, dignity and love, the bishops strongly affirmed that marriage as the joining of one man and one woman in a lifelong loving union that is open to children, ordered for the good of those children and the spouses themselves.

The Republican-controlled state senate voted 33-29 for a bill that had earlier been approved by the lower house, which has a Democratic majority.

The state, the most populous US state to allow same-sex marriage, does not have a residency requirement for getting married and the new law takes effect after 30 days.

"Now that we've made it here, we'll make it everywhere," said prominent activist Evan Wolfson.

Sources

• NCR - Statement of the Bishops of New York State
• NY Archbishop Timothy Dolan's blog
• NPR
• BBC
• Washington Post
• Washington Independent
• Image: Washington Post

Friday night's victory for gay marriage advocates was the product of changing public attitudes, and a political campaign that was more sophisticated, better funded, and armed with more tenacious muscle — in the person of Gov. Andrew Cuomo — than a similar push that failed just two years ago.

Advocates spent more than $1 million trying to persuade legislators, much of it in the last two months. They targeted their publicity campaign at a dozen vulnerable or fence-sitting senators. Most of the cash came from what one lobbyist called an "unlimited" source: wealthy contributors in Manhattan and nationwide.

The Human Rights Campaign, part of a coalition of gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender groups, delivered more than 53,000 post cards and made more than 11,000 phone calls from constituents to their senators. Phone banks ran twice a week, one featuring former first daughter Chelsea Clinton. She was just one of a string of celebrities, from Lady Gaga to former New York Giants great Michael Strahan, who peppered the public with gay marriage messages.

Gay marriage advocates hired 30 full-time field organizers to press their case. Other critical hires were lobbying firms that specialized in Republican politics, a mix that opened doors in the Republican-controlled Senate.

The opponents of gay marriage weren't unarmed, just less so. For example, while groups opposed to gay marriage spent less than $100,000 on a TV ad buy in June, the gay marriage coalition spent more than $400,000, according to the Human Rights Campaign. A $1 million commitment from a national group opposed to gay marriage just didn't seem to register as loudly in Albany.

Continue reading how gay marriage became NY law

Source

• Image: Reuters