This post goes back 4 years to 2018.  But these issues have not changed much:

Blogfinger promotes the choir festival in the Great Auditorium. Paul Goldfinger image ©

Ocean Grove United marches in OG.. Blogfinger photo ©

By Paul Goldfinger, MD, Editor @Blogfinger

When the CMA was forced to give up governance to Neptune in 1980, an alliance was formed between the CMA and the Neptuners.  As a new way of life was forged in town, secular residents were left behind.

When the Pavilion battle of 2007 occurred involving the CMA and the gay community over the use of the Boardwalk Pavilion for a Civil Ceremony, I became aware of the conflicts that were revealed.  Blogfinger, founded in 2009, tried  to offer balanced reporting, but it was difficult because the CMA never spoke up publicly in its own defense.

We were put in the position of dealing with angry, sometimes vicious, comments against the CMA in our blog, but we shielded the CMA from those which were over the top, because we were sympathetic to their quest for religious freedom, and because their  presence in the Grove seemed to be a positive influence to the life styles of those who live here and visit here. And, any comments that violate our rules are automatically rejected.

I became interested in the balance that might exist between the CMA and the residents.  But  it became clear that the CMA had little interest in the townspeople of the Grove.   I interviewed President Scott Rasmussen around 2011 and I asked him what would the relationship be between the townies and the CMA. His answer was terse: “We will continue with our mission and not get involved with the town in general.”  And that is how things progressed.

Blogfinger tried to give the CMA a fair shake as demonstrations erupted over Sunday speakers in the Great Auditorium  It seemed like there was a clash between several civil rights:  freedom of religion, freedom of speech, and freedom from discrimination towards gays.

After Sandy, Blogfinger posted nearly 50 articles going into 2013/14 trying to promote FEMA funding for our boardwalk, more than any other media outlet. We learned that FEMA officials were reading our posts.

We also ran the BF Film Festival as a fund raiser for the Together Fund. All profits went to them.  They never mentioned us on their Wall of Fame in Auditorium Park

But in recent years, we have noted a pulling away of the CMA towards their own interests and away from the town community. We have seen a significant reduction in secular programming in the GA, a movement by the CMA towards more year round programs that would bring ever larger numbers of religious tourists into town, a recent threat to sue the town if permit parking were allowed, the unrelenting and perhaps illegal promotion of Asbury Park south at the  North End, the sharp increases in some ground rents, the failure to protest illegal zoning changes, and other indicators including today’s refusal of the CMA  (Rev. John) to help advertise the 7th Annual Town-Wide Yard Sale in their program book and on the electric sign.

Blogfinger has freely and enthusiastically promoted CMA activities for nine years—religious and secular, with articles, music, interviews, videos and photographs. We never charged them for that free advertising which offered them exposure to our thousands of readers, most of whom are from the Grove or related to the Grove, and we never received any thanks for those activities.

So we were shocked  and offended  today when they refused to help us with a simple request:  assist us with the Town-Wide Yard Sale promotion.

I communicated my disappointment to Rev John, but he was alarmingly indifferent.  After all, as the Godfather said, “One hand washes the other.”  And I also know that the CMA needs all the friends that it can get.

THE CAMBRIDGE SINGERS AND JOHN RUTTER   “A Gaelic Blessing.”