rant · moment 1 of 10
Year of Our Lord: Catholic Long Island Christmas and Easter Memories
from Who's Gonna Fix Our Lives · #16
Audio-only archive episode — no video to seek.
3 minTim riffs on the meaning of 'Anno Domini,' then recounts elaborate Christmas Eve and Holy Thursday Catholic services on Long Island, the brutal Passion of the Christ screening with praying old women, and religion teacher Lisa D'Amato traumatizing kids by telling them dogs don't have souls and divorced parents are going to hell.
- 0:39Tim explains the phrase 'the year of our Lord' and what it meant hearing it in church.
- 1:08St. Paul's in Hicksville was a wealthy church on Long Island where Tim's family attended Christmas Eve mass.
- 1:22The church would go all out on Christmas Eve, dimming lights and having someone bang on a drum during the readings.
- 1:48Tim asks about Thursday night Holy Thursday mass before Good Friday, describing the Easter vigil as very dark.
- 2:11His grandmother took him to see The Passion of the Christ at Sacred Heart church; the graphic flogging scene caused old women in the audience to pray audibly.
- 2:41Lisa D'Amato, a religion teacher in town, was an extremely strict fundamentalist with no nuance in her teaching.
- 2:58Parents called Tim's grandmother complaining that Lisa D'Amato told their children that divorced parents would go to hell or purgatory.
- 3:11Lisa D'Amato told a child whose dog was hit by a car that the dog has no soul and isn't in heaven, making the kid cry.
- 3:26Tim's grandmother confronted Lisa D'Amato about her harsh approach, questioning why she was terrorizing fourth graders.
Lisa D'AmatoThe Passion of the ChristSt. Paul'sLong IslandSacred Heart Island Park