Where have you gone Joe DiMaggio? Check the pews at St. Patrick's

Deacon's Bench ^ | March 8, 2009 | Deacon Greg Kandra

[NYer]

From our Sports Desk comes this tidbit, from the enterprising investigative journalists who run Page Six of the New York Post.

It's about Joe DiMaggio and the Catholic Church, and it ran on March 8, the 10-year anniversary of Joltin' Joe's departure for the Great Dugout In The Sky:

"Few people knew how devout a Catholic he was," DiMaggio's longtime friend Dr. Rock Positano tells Page Six. "But he was essentially banned from the church after his divorce from Dorothy Arnold. And he was scolded by Bishop Fulton Sheen for marrying Marilyn Monroe. Sheen told Joe after the marriage dissolved, 'You had no right marrying her in the first place.'

"DiMaggio told Sheen where to go and scolded him that he had no right to tell him who to marry and never spoke to the bishop again," Positano says. "But despite that bitterness, Joe never left or turned his back on the Church. He loved to celebrate in St. Patrick's Cathedral and felt this place was more sacred than the Vatican."

DiMaggio thought people wouldn't recognize him when he quietly entered through the cathedral's discreet 51st Street door in sunglasses. But "one day he was recognized, and after a shout-out by John Cardinal O'Connor, he was given a rousing applause in the middle of Mass by all the parishioners," Positano recalls. "I quipped to him, 'Nice disguise, Joe, you really fooled them.' "

Another time at Mass, as parishioners turned to each other to offer a sign of peace, he extended his hand to a man who sat at his left. "The man said, 'Mr. DiMaggio, may the peace of Christ be with you,' and then immediately added, 'Would you mind signing this picture for me?' "

Positano relates: "Joe was flustered and flabbergasted, but [so as] not to make a scene he took out his Sharpie pen and told the fellow, 'I don't think Pope John Paul would be too happy if he knew I was signing my name across his forehead.' Then Joe turned to me and said, 'Doc, this is the last time I'm wearing sunglasses in church.' "

As another tried-and-true New Yorker likes to say: Only in New York, kids.

[NYer]

Something on the lighter side.

[truemiester]

Heck of a ball player. One of the all time greats.

[earlJam]

Kramer: I just saw Joe DiMaggio in Dinky Donuts.

Jerry: Joe DiMaggio? In Dinky Donuts?

[Frantzie]

Poor Joe - Marilyn Monroe was an airhead plus far worse but I cannot post those comments here.

[dangus]

Bishop Fulton Sheen was absolutely correct that DiMaggio never should have married Marilyn Monroe. There’s a difference, however, between, “So, big deal that whore is dead; you never should have married her in the first place!” and “Your suffering must be very great. You must know that Christ intends something better for you.” I would certainly hope that Bishop Sheen knew better than to say something like the first.

[AnAmericanMother]

Abp Sheen was a very sensitive man and a good counselor.

I am as sure as I can be (without having been there) that he approached the topic sensitively.

But, of course, somebody who is already laboring under a guilty conscience may HEAR something that wasn't SAID. Happens all the time.

[Larry Lucido]

http://www.eatdinkydonuts.com/

[RobbyS]

He could do it all: hit for average, for distance, for the money, could run and throw with the best. Ifhe had been left-handed, he would have hit at least a hundred more homeruns. As for Monroe, my guess is that the girl was a little bit nuts.

[the invisib1e hand]

"DiMaggio told Sheen where to go and scolded him that he had no right to tell him who to marry and never spoke to the bishop again," Positano says. "But despite that bitterness, Joe never left or turned his back on the Church.

Despite the sky being not blue, it never ceased being blue.

[Salvation]

Great post.

I wonder if he died being reconciled with the bishop.

[fortunecookie]

I am as sure as I can be (without having been there) that he approached the topic sensitively. But, of course, somebody who is already laboring under a guilty conscience may HEAR something that wasn't SAID. Happens all the time.

Yes, I agree. It's hard to imagine Bishop Sheen using harsh words. But neither would he pass on the opportunity to counsel someone in error. I hope, too, that Joe could reconcile himself with Bishop Sheen and the church, his reaction to the Bishop's words seem more like a comment made by someone irritated as his guilty conscience is exposed.