Father Peter D. Goldbach

Father Peter D. Goldbach, C.M., a Vincentian priest for 69 years, died April 30. He was 101.

Born in Brooklyn, he attended Mary Immaculate Seminary in Northampton, Pa., and was ordained June 3, 1944  at the  Cathedral of SS. Peter and Paul, Philadelphia.

He joined the faculty of St. John’s University in 1955. He taught philosophy and theology and then served in various administrative positions in St. John’s College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, in campus ministry on the Staten Island campus and in enrollment management.

Until a few months ago, he regularly heard confessions on the Jamaica campus and actively participated in the life of the John B. Murray House, the Vincentian Residence on campus, before moving to St. Vincent’s Seminary in Germantown, Pa.

He is survived by his brother Thomas of Cambria Heights.

A funeral Mass was celebrated May 3 by Bishop David M. O’Connell, C.M., of Trenton, N.J., at St. Thomas More Church on St. John’s University’s Jamaica campus.

Interment followed at the Vincentian Community Cemetery, Princeton, N.J.

Vincentian Father Donald J. Harrington announced his resignation May 3 as the president of St. John’s University. He had been president at St. John’s for 24 years. His resignation takes effect July 31.

In a letter announcing his resignation to St. John’s faculty and students, Father Harrington said, “I do this with the firm conviction that the vision I held for this institution has largely been fulfilled.”

A statement from St. John’s board of trustees chairman Peter D’Angelo said Father Harrington’s tenure has been “a period of unrivaled growth, expansion and achievement for our university. He has been a transformative leader who guided this institution, nurtured its community, cultivated excellence and generated unprecedented levels of enthusiasm and support.”

St. John’s also built its first dormitories on its campuses in the New York boroughs of Queens and Staten Island and established a campus in Manhattan.

However, Father Harrington alluded in his own statement to “the difficulties for everyone during the past year.”

New York magazine published unflattering stories about a series of business ventures involving Father Harrington and his chief of staff, Rob Wile. And a former St. John’s dean and chief fundraiser, Cecilia Chang, stood trial on charges of defrauding the university and forcing international students to do personal work for her. Chang committed suicide the day after she took the witness stand in her own defense.

St. John’s University, Jamaica, senior women’s basketball guards Nadirah McKenith and Shenneika Smith became the first-ever WNBA draft picks in program history Monday. McKenith was picked up by the Washington Mystics No. 17 overall, and Smith was taken by the New York Liberty with the 25th pick.

“This was an extraordinary night for two of our young ladies, Nadirah and Shenneika, who became the first-ever WNBA draft picks in our program history,” remarked head coach Joe Tartamella. “It was also a special night for our community and women’s basketball program as a whole, and I couldn’t be prouder of these two young ladies. I have had the opportunity to not only watch these two play as young players in high school but also be someone who was able to recruit them over time, and then to become their head coach as well. It is something special to me, and I really have a lot of pride that I was able to watch these two young ladies grow up before my eyes. It just shows how special St. John’s is and what our players can be capable of as part of our program.”

St. John’s Nadirah McKenith (Photo by Diana Colapietro, The Torch / St. John’s University)

McKenith was selected by the Mystics with their second pick in the draft.

“Nadirah has the ability to be a leader, and she brings an extremely talented skill set to the point guard position for Washington and I hope she is able to contribute for them in whatever capacity they need,” Tartamella said. “She couldn’t be more excited to have the opportunity to be able to prove herself at the professional level. This has been a dream of hers for her whole life and I am so happy that she is going to be able to do it, and we wish her the best as she gets ready for camp.”

Smith was taken by the hometown Liberty in the third round. The Liberty traded with the Mystics for the third-round pick earlier in the day on Monday.

“Shenneika gets the opportunity to stay home in New York, which is great for her and will be one of the pluses for New York if they do feel that she will be able to contribute to their team,” Tartamella said. “She has obviously been a tremendous scorer for us over time but also can defend and play at multiple positions. They are getting a very versatile and athletic player, who can score the ball, which is always important at the professional level. Her versatility will be her strength, and that will be a key factor in getting her on the floor for the Liberty.”

The Phoenix Mercury had the No. 1 pick in the draft. They selected Baylor University, Waco, Texas, forward Brittney Griner.

St. John’s has had five players in the past five years sign professional contracts overseas. McKenith and Smith’s former teammates Da’Shena Stevens and Centhya “Coco” Hart both played professionally this season, with Stevens in Switzerland and Hart in Germany. Tiina Sten (Class of 2008) played in the same league as Hart during the 2012-13 season in Germany. In addition to Stevens, Hart and Sten, Joy McCorvey (Class of 2010), previously played in Germany with the DBBL’s TUS Jena Burgaupark Lady Baskets and Monique McLean (Class of 2009) played for the Greek franchise, Olympiakos.

“Tonight speaks volumes of where our program is headed and our ability for our program to have players that will have the opportunity to get drafted into the pros,” Tartamella said. “That is something that we have always been trying to build toward as a program over the last few years and this just shows what our players are capable of and we are really proud of the fact that we got not just one but two players go in the same draft.”

Joan Flynn Celebrates 50 Years Serving Brooklyn Diocese

DeSales Media Group and The Tablet were proud to honor Joan Flynn for her 50 years of service to the diocese at a special luncheon for family, friends and colleagues at Michael’s Restaurant, Marine Park, on March 13. Among the guests were her former boss, Frank DeRosa, retired public information director for the Brooklyn Diocese, and his wife, Liliane, and Flynn’s good friend, Msgr. John J. Bracken, diocesan director of patrimony. Flynn, who continues to work part-time at The Tablet, said she has loved serving the diocese and has never had a day that she didn’t look forward to her work. Above, she is seated at right, surrounded by her family members.

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Catholic musician and worship leader Bob Rice (www.bobrice.com) is performing an Easter Concert on Friday, April 12, 7:30-10 p.m. at Presentation B.V.M. Church in Jamaica. On Saturday, April 13, he will join parishioners for a Healing Service, 7:30-10 p.m. For details, call 718-739-0241.

News about drug and weapons trafficking often makes its way into the media, but there is a far more appalling type of buying and selling on the rise: human trafficking.
The Vincentian Center for Church and Society at St. John’s University, Jamaica, in collaboration with the New York Coalition of Religious Congregations to Stop Trafficking of Persons and LifeWay Network, will address this human rights issue in relation to the travel industry at an upcoming conference: Human Trafficking: Whose Business Is It? The Travel Industry’s Role in Ending Modern-Day Slavery, April 6, 9 a.m. – 3 p.m. in the D’Angelo Center, Room 416.
The keynote presenter will be Sandi D. Mitchell, formerly of Sabre Holdings, a global technology leader. Discussions will follow.
The donation for the day is $20 and includes continental breakfast and box lunch. The student rate is $5. You must register by April 3. To register, contact Mary Ann Dantuono at 718-990-1612 or dantuonm@stjohns.edu.

Catholic Charities Brooklyn and Queens is proud to announce the opening of its Behavioral Health Center Outpatient Clinic at 161-10 Jamaica Ave. in Jamaica – the newest addition to its behavioral health programs in Brooklyn and Queens.
The new center offers individual, group, marital and family therapy to adults and children, ages five and older, who are struggling with mental illness.
For details, call 718-704-5488 or visit www.ccbq.org.

Dance the night away with Msgr. Perfecto Vazquez and Cursillistas at the Cursillo Movement’s 50th Anniversary Dinner Dance, April 5, 8 p.m. at the Grand Prospect Hall, Park Slope. Tickets are $120 per person. For tickets or details, call Alex Gonzalez, 646-773-9810, or Clara Rodriguez, 917-482-8904.

This week, we offer our Tip of the Tablet TALK Top Hat to two worthy recipients.
The first goes to the students, families and faculty of St. Joseph the Worker Catholic Academy, Park Slope, who raised $500 for autism awareness this Lent. Proceeds went to the Mid Hudson Valley Camp, which serves a diverse population of children with special needs.
The second goes to the San Pasquale Benevolente Society of Airola for its generous $2,500 donation to Nativity B.V.M. – St. Stanislus Bishop and Martyr parish, Ozone Park.

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iPads Arrive in Bayside

iPad technology is changing the way teaching and learning occurs in the classroom.

More than 600 people attended a farewell Mass and reception for Father Thomas Leach, pastor of Our Lady of Grace Church, Gravesend, on Jan. 27. After serving 12 years at the parish, Father Leach is moving a few neighborhoods over to serve as pastor of Mary, Queen of Heaven parish, Old Mill Basin. At the farewell celebration were the parish Scouting families, troop leaders and parish Deacon Phil Siani. Father Leach received citations from Councilman and parishioner Domenic Recchia, Assemblyman Bill Colton and State Sen. Marty Golden. The parish welcomes its new administrator, Father John Tino.

Save the date! NET-TV’s own David Bisono, host of Too Blessed to Be Stressed, and founder of the Catholic youth movement, Jovenes de Valor, will be giving a Lenten reflection at Sacred Hearts and St. Stephen Church, Carroll Gardens, Feb. 21 at 7 p.m. His talk is the first installment of the parish’s 2013  Lenten Speaker Series: Companions on the Journey. The series continues with Rita Sherman, The Passover from the Jewish Perspective, March 7; Rose Allocca and Marie Bannister, Lay Spirituality and Ignatian Spirituality in Everyday Life, March 14; and Deacon Anthony Bowen, The Journey to Holy Week, March 21. All talks begin at 7 p.m. For more details, call the parish at 718-596-7750.

Uncovering the Dangers of the Porn Industry Through Its Survivors is the theme of the next Theology on Tap NYC, Feb. 27 at Connolly’s Bar (Klub 45 Room), Manhattan. Speaker: Sean Finnegan, producer of the documentary, Out of Darkness, which was screened at WYD 2011 and broadcast on NET-TV. Arrive for the Happy Half-Hour at 7 p.m. Talk begins at 7:30 p.m. For  more details, visit www.totnyc.org.

Public health leaders who aspire to high-level positions in health organizations, research and academic institutions, or the private sector need look no further than St. John’s University to get the credentials they need to achieve their goals. The university has just announced the launch of its master of public health degree program, which will focus on the core competencies of public health, and will prepare graduates to provide practical solutions to public health problems in local and global communities. For more information, visit www.stjohns.edu/mph or contact Heather Mavronicolas, program director, 718-990-8456 or mavronih@stjohns.edu.

Calling all artists, professionals and amateurs alike! Next month, the Cultural House of St. Joseph, based at St. Rose of Lima parish, Parkville, will host an exhibit of art work under the theme: Varying Paths of Faith, in honor of the Year of Faith. For submission guidelines, deadlines and exhibit details, visit www.stroseoflimabrooklyn.com and click on “St. Joseph’s House.”

Tablet TALK Quote of the Week: “Humanity is never so beautiful as when praying for forgiveness, or else forgiving another.” — Jean P.F. Richter

During Catholic Schools Week, the Student Council at St. Francis of Assisi School, Astoria, hosted a Change Challenge to increase awareness of the need to serve others. In this challenge, students brought in pennies to collect points for their class. But the fun began when they brought in silver money and dollars to lower the points of other classes. This friendly competition raised over $1,000, which was donated to the Robin Hood Foundation to help victims of Hurricane Sandy. (Photo courtesy of St. Francis of Assisi School)

by Marie Elena Giossi

Despite cold temperatures, warm smiles surrounded Bishop Nicholas DiMarzio as he blessed an outdoor statue of Mary, Mother of God at St. Margaret Church, Middle Village, following 5 p.m. Mass on Saturday, Jan. 26.

Located on the Juniper Valley Rd. side of the church, the five-foot six-inch statue, carved in first-grade white Carrara marble with a chiseled finish, depicts the Blessed Mother embracing the Baby Jesus, who rests His hand upon His Mother’s heart and His head gently upon her cheek.

Outside St. Margaret Church, Mike Repole hugs his grandmother Assunta Guarnaccia at the new statue of Mary, Mother of God in Middle Village. (Photos © Marie Elena Giossi)

In blessing the statue, Bishop DiMarzio complimented the “two beautiful faces” and reminded those gathered to always look to the Blessed Mother “as a model of holiness.”

“We are blessed to have our bishop to inaugurate this statue, and we’re blessed to have this statue here,” Msgr. Steven J. Aguggia, pastor, announced to the congregation during Mass.

“You see already how beautiful it looks,” he said. “Everyone who passes the church will see our devotion to the Blessed Mother.”

Msgr. Aguggia thanked Mike Repole and the Repole family foundation, Nonna’s Garden, for donating the statue. He also recognized the woman for whom the foundation is named, Assunta Guarnaccia, 87, a longtime parishioner at St. Margaret’s, who was sitting in the front pew.

“Nonna’s Garden is about family, friends, faith and giving back,” said Repole, who explained that the foundation supports the Catholic Church, education and poor and sick children.

“My grandmother nurtures her garden the way she nurtures her family – with tons of care and love,” added Repole, a successful business owner and entrepreneur who started the foundation seven years ago.

He says his grandmother, or nonna in Italian, is his “inspiration and mentor.” Widowed at 37, she raised three children in a poor Italian town “with faith, love and trust in God.” She continues to instill those values in her five grandchildren and seven great-grandchildren.

The newly installed icon was inspired by an image of the Blessed Mother under the title Sedes Sapientiae, or Seat of Wisdom, which Guarnaccia selected. The family commissioned an Italian sculptor to create four statues in the image’s likeness.

Repole said donating the statue is his way of giving back, in his grandmother’s honor, to the religious institutions that nurtured and molded him. Now a parishioner at St. Edward the Confessor, Syosset, L.I., he was raised in Middle Village and is an alumnus of St. Margaret’s School; Holy Cross H.S., Flushing; and St. John’s University, Jamaica.

Just before Christmas, the statues were given to all three of his alma maters. Holy Cross and St. John’s are planning dedication ceremonies in the spring. The fourth statue has already been installed at the family’s summer parish in Rhode Island.

“I hope the statue is inspiring for the Middle Village community,” said Repole, who hopes residents will make use of this peaceful place for prayer.

by Jim Mancari

In its over 100-year history, the NCAA has undergone extensive reforms since its early days, especially in forming conferences, acquiring lucrative sponsorships and agreeing on television deals.

However, in the NCAA’s history, one practice has remained constant: Student athletes play for free.

Each year, more than 400,000 student athletes compete on nearly 18,000 teams at over 1,000 schools across three NCAA Divisions: DI, DII and DIII. The schools involved bring in huge sums of money each year from their athletic programs, especially those schools that advance to national championships.

Members of the Long Island University, Brooklyn, men’s basketball team. (Photo by Jim Mancari)

It’s easy to think that since these schools make so much money that the athletes — the actual performers in the athletic competition — would be entitled to a share of the earnings. But as it stands, the NCAA views student-athletes as amateurs who represent their school, not themselves, during athletic contests.

So let’s delve into the question: Should college athletes be paid?

Paying Student-Athletes

Though a scholarship covers the cost of attending the university, many student-athletes are living below the poverty line, since they have no other source of income. As part of their scholarship, student athletes may not hold part-time jobs, since the focus is solely academics and athletics.

Mel Davis, a former St. John’s University, Jamaica, basketball standout and NBA player, suggests that each athlete be paid a standard figure of roughly $250 per month. Though he says it may be tough especially since some athletic programs lose money each year, he does think a firm system can be adopted.

“While they’re here, their quality of life can be so much better,” Davis said. “But I also think with the NCAA and the money that’s coming in, you can offset that.”

A 2010 study at Ithaca College, N.Y., reported that even athletes at revenue-generating schools pay an average of nearly $3,000 in annual school-related expenses not covered by their scholarships. Meanwhile, universities receive hundreds of thousands of dollars whenever one of their teams appears in a nationally televised game based on the television contracts and sponsorships.

“There’s a big pie of money, and I think you have to give these kids a piece of that pie,” said Stephen Boyd, former NFL linebacker and head football coach at Chaminade H.S., Mineola, L.I.

The NCAA makes more money in ad revenue per year than the NFL makes during its entire postseason, which includes the Super Bowl — the largest sporting event in the country.

Many supporters of paying college athletes claim the students can rightfully be viewed as employees of the university based on time commitment. Especially during championship season, student athletes may miss weeks of class for travel, games and media appearances.

“If we were to define what an employee does as opposed to a student, I think that not all athletes, but some athletes, should correctly be viewed as employees,” said Dr. Richard Southall, director of the College Sports Research Institute at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill.

A Labor Rights Issue

An issue that has been debated recently is whether student athletes should receive free-market labor rights instead of pay. In this scenario, only the athletes playing revenue-generating sports at revenue-generating schools would receive a fair-market wage for the use of their image and likeness.

Dr. Boyce Watkins, a scholar in residence in entrepreneurship and innovation at Syracuse University, is a leading advocate of student-athlete labor rights.

“Most people would never accept the labor terms that we force athletes to live under,” Watkins said. “They wouldn’t accept getting $25,000 a year when they’re doing a $1 million job.”

Watkins said he would support the NCAA’s idea of student athletes as amateurs if the university and the coaches also did not make any money from athletics.

It’s no secret that football and men’s basketball are the two revenue-generating sports in the college ranks. According to a September, 2011 study conducted by the National College Players Association and the Drexel University, Philadelphia, Department of Sports Management, the average college football player is worth $120,000 per year to his university, while the average men’s basketball player is worth over $265,000 per year.

Student athletes in sports other than football and men’s basketball may not agree with seeing just those athletes being paid, but since their sports generate little to no revenue, there would be no argument for these athletes to be paid.

“When field hockey starts to generate $20 million a year for the school, then field hockey players can make the same amount as basketball players,” Watkins said.

The NCAA’s Stance

The NCAA and its member institutions stand by the principle that student athletes are amateurs and are therefore not compensated. Erik Christianson, director of media and public relations for the NCAA, says the “student” always comes before the athlete in the NCAA’s structure. In fact, only 1.7 percent of college football players and 1.2 percent of men’s college basketball players become professionals each year, so the NCAA stresses the importance of earning a college degree and using sports as a way to do so.

While it seems that all schools profit from their athletic programs, a 2010 NCAA report showed that the athletics revenue outweighed expenses at only 12 percent of the nation’s schools. The sports programs at other schools are subsidized by their respective institution’s annual budget.

“For those few programs that are generating more revenues than expenses, those monies are used to help to support the entire athletics operation,” Christianson said.

In DI and DII sports, many athletes receive full or partial scholarships to attend the school, which many detractors of paying college athletes consider compensation enough.

“We are students; we’re not professionals,” said God’sgift Achiuwa, a senior men’s basketball player at St. John’s. “I think the school has done enough by giving you a scholarship.”

Feasibility Not There

Even supporters of paying college athletes realize that the issue will not be solved overnight.

“Title IX says that for everything you do for a male sport, you have to do for a female sport,” said Jim O’Connell, national college basketball writer for The Associated Press. “So not only would we have to pay the football and basketball players, now you’re bringing in all these other male and female teams.”

“What are you going to do, pay the football players $200 per week and pay the soccer players $50 a week?” Boyd said. “I don’t think you can do that. If you’re going to do one-for-one you have to do one for all.”

It would likely be impossible to pay all 400,000 student athletes an equal amount of money even with the money the NCAA makes each year. Christianson said the practical reality of paying student athletes breaks down “rather easily” once all the factors are considered.

Still, supporters of labor rights argue that the market dictates what each collegiate athlete is worth. It’s once again a mere fact that football and men’s basketball are the revenue generating sports and should thus be paid accordingly, labor rights advocates claim.

“The only way that this issue is ever going to be resolved is if the athletes themselves stand up and demand their rights,” Watkins said.

In the end, the model of paying all college athletes is not quite there, and the logistics of labor rights haven’t been figured out. But as the NCAA’s revenue continues to increase, this is an issue that will gain traction until something is done.

“There are so many different problems and situations,” O’Connell said. “You probably can’t even come up with them all.”

by Jim Mancari

When most Americans visit Africa, they go to experience the vast wildlife by enjoying an African safari.

But for St. John’s University, Jamaica, soccer alumna Raelynne Lee, it was a safari of service that led her to the vast continent across the Atlantic.

As part of the St. John’s campus ministry, the former Red Storm midfielder volunteered for a three-week service trip to Kenya from Aug. 9 to Sept. 2. She said her first visit to Africa was the experience of a lifetime, and she’s already looking forward to her next visit.

Raelynne Lee (Photo courtesy St. John’s Athletic Communications)

Volunteering her time is nothing new to Lee, 23. She grew up in Lake Stevens, Wash., as a youth group member at St. Michael’s parish, Snohomish, and Holy Cross parish, Lake Stevens. She participated in book drives, food drives and a variety of other service projects.

“It was always a big part of my life,” Lee said. “It was something that I always felt drawn to. Those experiences stemmed my desire to go to a Catholic institution because I knew that I’d be able to have that youth-group aspect more easily accessible and have those volunteering experiences readily available.”

Sure enough, Lee earned an athletic scholarship to play soccer at St. John’s and joined the team during the fall 2007 semester. She played four seasons for the Johnnies and tallied eight goals and seven assists in 73 games – all while dedicating hundreds of hours to community service.

“Being on a team, you learn so many different values that you can take with you in every aspect of life,” Lee said.

Lee is now in her second year of a master of arts program in global development and social justice at St. John’s. Ever since high school, she wanted to bring her talents overseas to Africa to encourage other youths to take service trips there.

“I really was intrigued by Africa and how different of a continent it is from every other,” Lee said.

Lee was one of two St. John’s graduate students in the campus ministry to be selected in November, 2011 by the Vincentian Lay Missionaries (VLM) – an organization that works with the Daughters of Charity in Ethiopia and Kenya – to make the journey. She said God had answered her prayers of wanting to do volunteer work in Africa.

Though she was sponsored by the St. John’s campus ministry, Lee organized fundraisers to pay for the vast amount of supplies she needed for the various children’s programs she would run. The Red Storm women’s soccer team was very generous in ensuring she had all the necessary goods.

After seven hours on a plane to Amsterdam, the Netherlands, and another seven-hour plan ride to Nairobi, Kenya, Lee arrived in the Kenyan city of Chepnyal, which is the most rural of the VLM sites in Kenya. In total, four volunteers visited the VLM site in Ethiopia, while Lee’s group in Kenya was comprised of nine volunteers.

Lee had grown accustomed to the idea of living simplistically through her other service trips as an undergraduate, but it still took some time to adjust to the Daughters’ simple way of life. The volunteers lived in a house powered by solar energy and had to be weary of their usage of electricity.

Raelynne Lee hikes with her group in Kenya. (Photo courtesy Raelynne Lee)

Chepnyal is located in the northwestern region of Kenya where the base elevation is 6,000-7,000-feet in the mountains. August is the winter season in Kenya, with temperatures in the 60-80 degree range but with much rain.

During her stay, Lee had a busy schedule in organizing children’s camps for the Pokot Tribe in Chepnyal. The kids were off from school, so they had a chance to relax and be kids, since their everyday lives differ greatly from those of American children.

Each day, Lee and the volunteers led a group of 150 grade-school age kids in making arts and crafts projects and enjoying indoor and outdoor activities at St. Mary’s Nursery on the Daughters’ compound. Young local women served as interpreters between the volunteers and the children. Though the Kenyan national language is English, the children communicate in their native dialects of Swahili until they gain a command of English.

Though it took a few days, the children warmed up to Lee once they started feeling comfortable around her. They always were eager to show her their artwork, dance with her or sing worship songs with her.

“I always am going to feel like I am a part of the Pokot Tribe,” Lee said. “I’m going to miss the children there and the helpers who served as translators. The whole Pokot Tribe and the Daughters were so welcoming. They were happy to have us there and happy with anything we did.”

Arts and crafts projects were part of the group’s indoor activities. (Photo courtesy Raelynne Lee)

Lee said that St. John’s allowed her to live out the Vincentian ideal of service, a core value of the university.

“From the start of her career, it was obvious Raelynne was a perfect fit with the vision of our university and the values of our soccer program,” said Ian Stone, St. John’s head women’s soccer coach. “The coaching staff and players have always held a deep respect for Raelynne’s ability to connect with people on a very compassionate level. She’s an inspiration by showing the large impact young adults can make in today’s world.”

Lee said she received a spiritual boost during her trip to Kenya, which transformed her relationship with God. This is likely just the beginning for Lee, as she will continue to spread her talents on a global level.

“I always say with these experiences that you get so much more than you give,” Lee said. “That was definitely true with this experience.”

B/Q CHSFL Varsity Standings (As of Oct. 9)

Parentheses denote league record.

AAA-AA Division

Holy Cross H.S., Flushing: 3-2 (2-2)

Xaverian H.S., Bay Ridge: 1-4 (1-3)

AA-A Division

St. Francis Prep, Fresh Meadows: 4-1 (4-0)

Bishop Ford H.S., Park Slope: 3-1 (3-1)

Christ the King R.H.S., Middle Village: 2-3 (1-3)

Religious liberty is facing such grave threats in the United States that Catholics must take immediate and courageous action to defend fundamental values in the public forum and in the privacy of the voting booth, according to speakers at a Sept. 20 forum.

Almost 500 people assembled at St. John’s University, Jamaica, heard impassioned calls to educate themselves about the erosion of long-guaranteed rights, form their consciences to reflect basic moral issues and agitate with compassion and civility to protect religious freedom.

Speakers at the conference on religious liberty included, from second left, Eric Teetsel, Dr. Robert George, Marjorie Dannenfelser and Alan Sears. (Photo by Ed Wilkinson)

“Our religious liberty is under assault like never before in America, in ways that are chilling, that are alien and unimagined on these shores,” said Alan Sears, president of the Alliance Defending Freedom in Scottsdale, Ariz. “If we fail to stand, if we fail to fight, if we fail to refuse to comply, our God-given liberty … will be but a distant memory.”

The forum, titled “The Manhattan Declaration Crosses the River,” was based on the Manhattan Declaration, a 4,700-word joint statement signed in November, 2009 by more than 140 Christian leaders, many evangelical and Catholic, pledging renewed zeal in defending the unborn, defining marriage as a union between a man and a woman and protecting religious freedom. To date, more than 532,000 people have signed the declaration, including 52 Catholic cardinals and bishops.

Eric Teetsel, executive director of the Manhattan Declaration, said religious freedom was enshrined in the foundational documents of the country and guaranteed by leaders until recently. In urging listeners to sign the Manhattan Declaration, he said, “We will render to Caesar what is Caesar’s, but we will not render to Caesar what is God’s.”

Sears said legislative threats to religious liberty and the sanctity of life and marriage are an attempt to place “legal limits on the love of God.” He called the Obama administration’s health plan “a dictatorial mandate, unprecedented in our nation’s history.”

He said policies enforced by myriad czars at all levels of government make people choose “between God and their livelihood, between their education and their faith and between their family’s financial security and their beliefs.”

Sears said the debate about the definition of marriage is “a key to a legal Pandora’s Box,” whose opening will unleash demands for public support, silencing of the opposition and punishment for those who do not comply.

“We’ve already seen many heroics acts of courage by lay men and women, by bishops and religious leaders who have responded to the threats that are of our time,” Sears said.

Sears said that he and the signers of the Manhattan Declaration “will not comply with any edict that … will force us to bless immoral sexual relationships or treat them as marriages,” noting that New York state has redefined God’s creation of family and marriage.

“We must assure our families and neighbors that we will never allow any government to tell us the limits of God’s love,” Sears said.

In a nationwide poll conducted last summer by Alliance Defending Freedom, more than 60 percent of Americans believe that marriage is only between one man and one woman and should not be redefined.Sears said that based on these results, the cause for religious freedom is “still winning.”

William Mumma, president of the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty, said the nation’s founders believed in the primacy of conscience but also were pragmatic men who recognized that any government set up in opposition to the religious convictions of its people “fatally loses its moral legitimacy.”

“If the law is not rooted in the moral law, the American people will not reject God, they will reject the law,” he said. “When the law sets out to destroy religion, it enters into a murder-suicide pact. The government may murder religious liberty, but it can’t kill religion.”

Mumma said the action of the current administration, as exemplified by its defense of the HHS mandate, shows “Religion is not the accidental victim of the government pursuing some other interest you might quarrel about. Religion is the target.”

Tipping Point in Life Movement

Marjorie Dannenfelser, president of the Susan B. Anthony List, said, “We are at a tipping point in this greatest human and civil rights movement of our day, the pro-life movement.”

She called election day the turning point between expanding or contracting the human community. Dannenfelser said the tradition of pro-life Democrats, such as the late Pennsylvania Gov. Robert Casey, has been eroded. “You can’t build human rights on the broken rights of other human beings,” she said.

She said President Barack Obama disappointed Catholic supporters who believed in 2008 he would respect and seek common ground among people of different beliefs.

“He (Obama) proceeded to march abortion through every department of the administration and made it clear he would do nothing to undermine reproductive rights,” she said. “He’s gone from seeking common ground to rejecting anything that a civilized human being would endorse.”

Dannenfelser said communities suffer from the loss of people whose lives are aborted. “If an individual does not show up, the community does not flourish. Even one missing person is a tragedy. Four thousand every day is inconceivable, as is the suffering of the mothers” of these unborn children.

She said public opinion can be moved toward a just cause if people make a connection to the victim and move an issue from theory to reality. “The Manhattan Declaration is important because it’s personal. We are now being required to pay for the deaths of unborn children (through the HHS mandate).” Moreover, she noted that the HHS mandate would further pare down the human family by requiring the church and pro-life groups to be complicit in abortion and other immoral acts.

Princeton University professor Dr. Robert P. George, a drafter of the Manhattan Declaration, said that if “religious freedom is a right, it’s a right for every human being. If religious freedom is in jeopardy for any person, it’s in jeopardy for all.”

While he acknowledged there are other key issues in today’s world, he explained that the declaration identifies those that are most pivotal.

If people don’t stand up in defense of “foundational, civilizational values” on issues such as abortion and euthanasia, “what will justify our care for the environment, or the economy or anything else,” he asked.

“We have to get the foundational issues right, on which everything else fundamentally depends,” he said.

He urged attendees to continue educating themselves, take their beliefs to the public sphere and use the power of the vote.

“It seems that there is one political party that wants to mandate controls over how we feel about God and people and all of the beliefs that we were brought up with, and there’s another party that seems to profess supporting that,” said Frank Hohenstein, a parishioner at Holy Trinity, Whitestone, for the last 10 years. “It’s a shame that politics has come to a point where people have to choose whether they want to support religious beliefs or not.”

Hohenstein said he hoped that the audience would walk away from the discussion with a better education in regard to religious freedom and religious liberty.

“I think that it’s time that every Catholic gets involved with the real meanings of what our faith is about and how it should play a role in day-to-day living when it affects so many people,” he said.

Haitian born Marie-Guilleme Elie, a parishioner and catechist at Our Lady of Refuge, Flatbush, said the day helped clarify issues on which she wanted “to be more educated. There are things we don’t understand that we have to tolerate.”

Chief among her concerns is the spiritual and emotional welfare of children being raised by persons in same-sex relationships.

She planned to take what she’d learned and “talk about it further” with her students, parishioners and fellow board members of Brooklyn Congregations United.

Ridgewood resident James Lam planned to spread awareness about the issues to friends and associates via e-mail.

“E-mail is the most powerful tool,” said Lam, a parishioner at St. Matthias. “The secular world uses it to promote garbage. Now we have to stand up and speak.”

“If more people learn about how our religious liberty is being stepped on, they’ll vote their conscience and vote … to keep our religious freedoms,” said Maryann Moran from St. Sebastian, Woodside.

She attended the conference to better understand the issues, especially as the presidential election approaches.

“We can’t continue the way our freedoms are being slowly but surely eroded,” Moran said.

Bishop DiMarzio was the main celebrant of a Mass at St. Thomas More Church at St. John’s University that opened the conference on religious liberty. (Photo by Ed Wilkinson)

In his homily at the opening Mass, Bishop Nicholas DiMarzio of Brooklyn said, “We believe in divine revelation and recognize that we have an obligation to completely give ourselves over to the plan of God.

“For us to simply pick and choose what is convenient about the message of the church and Christ’s teaching would be inauthentic,” he said.

“Those who hold otherwise are wrong about the teaching of the church and about the development of our understanding of human life. They are wrong objectively. But to judge them is not our task.”

The bishop urged participants to “vote a Catholic and Christian conscience that is well-formed.”

He was a host of the event, sponsored by the diocese, the Becket Fund, Priests for Life and the Knights of Columbus New York Council.

Contributing to this article were Beth Griffin of Catholic News Service, and Marie Elena Giossi and Jim Mancari of The Tablet.