Ecclesia Petropolitana, 50 Years On

Long Island's Newsday is running an intense special package full of bells-and-whistles to mark the golden jubilee of the US' first suburban diocese, Rockville Centre, which marks the anniversary tomorrow.

Many forces, seen and unseen, have shaped modern Long Island -- Gold Coast wealth, East End beauty, all that pavement, all those malls. For cultural resonance, however, nothing can match the Roman Catholic Church, and its agent here, the Diocese of Rockville Centre, which Sunday marks its 50th anniversary.

As William Levitt, Robert Moses and other giants of our parents' time built new communities and lasting edifices of public works, the Diocese's generous flock raised churches, schools and hospitals. The power of their faith literally fashioned much of today's Long Island.

Included in the mix of slideshows and things viral is an interview with Bishop William Murphy, which includes his take on the long-running feud with the diocese's chapter of Voice of the Faithful. "I've done everything I possibly can to reverse it," he said, "and I'd do anything more that could be legitimately done.

"I'm very sad about it."

Speaking of the Boston-based Voice, its coffers are running low and, AP reports, its leaders are "infighting."

-30-