[Desdemona]

I have a lot of sympathy for the author's premise. I grew up and live in a city that still has, for better or worse, Catholic enclaves, mostly Italian and German, with the Spanish still having the Sociedad in Carondelet. The Irish moved west, as we say here, but still have a big presence in Dogtown. We still have street festivals for Mardi Gras, St. Patrick's Day, one of the big ones on The Hill, and more. Yes, it's fun, but underneath it all is the humming love of Christ. Life revolves around the Church (and that does hack off the unreligious among us). My own Great Grandmother and her sisters and sisters-in-law had specific prayers they said on their way out of Mass. That wasn't passed down, exactly, and I wish it had been. Families are so spread out and we're so busy, the teaching inside the home that used to happen, doesn't. I agree. We're forgetting where we came from and that's not good. I actually am on the side that believes the enclaves were deliberately destroyed, but that's not exactly a popular theory.

One of my favorite shows to watch right now is Cake Boss about the Italian bakery in Hoboken, NJ and mostly because watching the passing down of what they do is so authentic and the sense of family is so strong. Aside from that, they're Italian and half of what makes Italy such a great place to go is the people. They make things fun. But they never forget God.

I would add that I find American Catholics not from the enclaves or New Orleans or New Orleans Lite (that would be here) to be a bit puritan in their disposition particularly about alcohol. I seriously wonder where that came from as it's NOT a traditional Catholic way.

[Clemenza]

That would be Carlo’s Bakery, one of a handful of old school Italian businesses that survived the gentrification/yuppification of Hoboken. Well worth a visit, although it is very crowded on Saturdays and Sundays.

[Tax-chick]

I’m sympathetic, too. However, I can’t see ethnic culture as key to Catholicism. Cultural practices arise in specific circumstances, and they change or decline as the circumstances change.

My family’s life revolves around our church, too. However, our specific expression is anchored in the Bible and in church and community service, rather than in the culture of our ancestors. Certainly there’s nothing in Northern Ireland that I need, except maybe Bushmill’s.