Raised by the Church picked up by NYT

Posted on November 6th, 2011
by FUPress

by Edward Rohs and Judith Estrine

The New York Times
BOOKSHELF

By SAM ROBERTS
Published: November 4, 2011

In “Raised by the Church: Growing Up in New York City’s Catholic Orphanages” (Fordham University Press), Edward Rohs, a state mental health worker, recalls an odyssey that began when he was 6 months old and his unwed parents left him at the Angel Guardian Home in Brooklyn to be raised by the Sisters of Mercy. He couples a moving first-person account of coping with a system that separated orphans by age and gender with a historical perspective on child care in the 19th and 20th centuries.

“I remember being lonely,” he writes, “but I was never alone — not ever.” Being an orphan was Mr. Rohs’s secret until he shared his experience at an alumni awards ceremony at Fordham University, where he was honored for his social work. He “saw jaws drop and tears shed” and decided to make his unpublished memoir public with the help of a writer friend, Judith Estrine.

St. Patrick's Cathedral and 'Fifth Avenue Famous'

Posted on February 10th, 2011
by FUPress

Salvatore Basile, the author of Fifth Avenue Famous: The Extraordinary Story of Music at St. Patrick’s Cathedral, was recently interviewed by Christopher Purdy on Ohio’s WOSU Public Media station, Classical 101 FM.

Basile, a cantor and historian at St. Patrick’s Cathedral, talks about his book, as well as, the Pontiff’s visit to St. Patrick’s in 2008 and Cathedral life in the days immediately after 9/11.

Here is the podcast.

Salvatore Basile, the author of Fifth Avenue Famous: The Extraordinary Story of Music at St. Patrick’s Cathedral, was recently interviewed by Christopher Purdy on Ohio’s WOSU Public Media station, Classical 101 FM. Basile, a cantor and historian at St. Patrick’s … Full Story →

Church Divas, Big Money and Big Music!

Posted on November 29th, 2010
by FUPress

TWO chances to see and hear the inside story on church divas, big money and big music!
Talk with visual presentation by Salvatore Basile, author of Fifth Avenue Famous: The Extraordinary Story of Music at St. Patrick’s Cathedral,

Monday, November 29, 6:30 p.m.
New York Public Library
Mid-Manhattan Branch
455 Fifth Avenue (at 40th Street)
Talk and book signing
(as part of the exhibition Three Faiths: Judaism, Christianity, Islam)

Monday, December 6, 6:00 p.m.
New York Public Library for the Performing Arts
40 Lincoln Center Plaza
Talk and book signing
FORGOTTEN SHOWBIZ: New York’s Extravagant Sacred Music Scene in the Gilded Age—
And How Tossing Out the Ladies Ended it All (as part of the exhibition Life Upon the Wicked Stage)

For more information on Salvatore Basile and his book, visit his blog . The blog contains ruminations on everything from cookbooks to the publishing process of Fifth Avenue Famous.

TWO chances to see and hear the inside story on church divas, big money and big music! Talk with visual presentation by Salvatore Basile, author of Fifth Avenue Famous: The Extraordinary Story of Music at St. Patrick’s Cathedral, Monday, November … Full Story →

St. Patrick's Cathedral Choir Performs in Rome

Posted on November 5th, 2010
by FUPress

Photo credit: Michael Bodnyk

Salvatore Basile, author of Fifth Avenue Famous: The Extraordinary Story of Music at St. Patrick’s Cathedral blogs on his recent trip with St. Patrick’s Cathedral Choir to Rome:

Fresh off the plane from Rome yesterday. I was quite proud of myself, thinking that I’d handled the problem of jet lag extremely well—until later in the evening when I was on the phone with a friend, describing the Papal audience in St. Peter’s Square, and heard myself saying, “Then they moved us into the front row, and it provided that real bachelor’s-party atmosphere.”

(No, I have absolutely no idea where that mental overlap came from.)

Allow me to explain. The St. Patrick’s Cathedral Choir has just returned from its participation in this year’s Festival Internazionale di Musica e Arte Sacra, a series of musical performances which took place throughout Rome’s major churches. It was a singular invitation (we were the only Americans asked to participate) that placed us on the program with such colleagues as the Vienna Philharmonic. But while the Wiener Philharmoniker gave a single performance, the Cathedral Choir had a more intensive schedule, singing not only a full-length concert, but five Masses, three of which took place in St. Peter’s Basilica . . . and to top it off we wound up, er, being asked (!!) to provide music for Wednesday’s Papal audience. Further details on that experience later.

Personally, it was my first time in Europe, and an astonishing introduction. I just wish it had happened in time to make it into Fifth Avenue Famous.

Salvatore Basile

Tune in tomorrow for more on Sal’s trip to Rome!

Salvatore Basile, author of Fifth Avenue Famous: The Extraordinary Story of Music at St. Patrick’s Cathedral blogs on his recent trip with St. Patrick’s Cathedral Choir to Rome: Fresh off the plane from Rome yesterday. I was quite proud of … Full Story →

Interview: Legacy of Bob Drinan

Posted on November 5th, 2010
by FUPress

Tim Reidy, the Online Editor for America Magazine, sat down with Ray Schroth, S.J., on Election Day, to discuss his new book, Bob Drinan: The Controversial Life of the First Catholic Priest Elected to Congress. Here is the interview:

Yesterday was the official pub date for Fr. Ray Schroth’s new biography of Robert F. Drinan, S.J.–the controversial Jesuit priest and congressmen–and NCR has already weighed in with a positive review. As the review notes, the most intriguing question raised by the book is whether Drinan, who served in Congress from 1970 until 1980, had official permission to run for office:

Schroth masterfully lays out the many internal maneuvers that cleared the way for Drinan’s candidacy in the first instance. These involved his immediate Jesuit superior in New England, his two local bishops in Boston and Worcester, Mass., and the Jesuit superior general in Rome. Each successive candidacy seemed to involve more intricate negotiations than the one preceding. To say that the approval for Drinan to run was a gray area seriously understates the case. In fact, whether or not Drinan had the proper authorization became an issue in a number of his re-election campaigns.

Read more on the America Magazine blog, In All Things
Listen to the podcast.

Tim Reidy, the Online Editor for America Magazine, sat down with Ray Schroth, S.J., on Election Day, to discuss his new book, Bob Drinan: The Controversial Life of the First Catholic Priest Elected to Congress. Here is the interview: Yesterday … Full Story →