Suggestions for Parishes
Dear Editor: I would like to offer two pieces of advice for parishes in our diocese.
First, the priest or Eucharistic minister should offer the host immediately to wheelchair-bound communicants, instead of letting them wait till the rest of the congregation go ahead of them. It is a fitting Christian witness to be cognizant of the needs of those who suffer disabilities.
They should go first; the rest of us should go last.
In the readings for this Sunday, Oct. 17 (Mark 10:35-45), Jesus describes the gospel ideal of service, putting the needs of others first. We should be living out what we hear.
Second, because the church is rightly concerned about evangelization, when a new family moves into the parish and registers, they should get a phone call or a greeting card of welcome. Just sending new parish families the Sunday collection envelopes sends a cold message.
Mercedes Gallese
Rockaway
Lack of Unity and Civility
Dear Editor: Remember Joe Biden’s speech on Inauguration Day, about how he was going to unite the country and restore civility and decency after President Trump’s lack of decorum?
Well, recently some activists chased Senator Krysten Sinema (D-Ariz.), who along with Senator Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.), is presently a hold-out to Biden’s $3.5 trillion infrastructure bill, into a bathroom stall and harassed her while she was doing her personal business.
The media, who failed to condemn this obnoxious act, promptly asked the president for his reaction. Rather than emphatically denouncing such behavior in a presidential manner, he just smiled and replied that that’s the cost of doing business in politics and not having adequate security.
Way to go, Joe — very empathetic and presidential. And in that $3.5 trillion bill is a very disturbing item that would force your bank, credit union, or other financial institution to report annually on all individual and business transactions of $600 or more, the purpose being to use this information to catch wealthy tax cheats. No wonder they are hiring so many more I.R.S. agents.
Since when is having $600 wealthy by middle-class standards? If that isn’t bogus, what is? It’s just another attempted power grab to obtain information, for what purpose? So much for civility and decency and looking out for the middle class. This is something you’d find in George Orwell’s 1984 or from a page in Putin’s playbook.
Thomas and Constance Dowd
Oakland Gardens
Speaker Pelosi’s Hypocrisy
Dear Editor: It’s strange that Nancy Pelosi’s primary challenge for good stewardship is to “act on climate change” (“Pope Meets Pelosi,” Oct. 16).
She states that the climate crisis “is all about the children … where they can thrive and reach their fulfillment.”
Nowhere in her list of “challenges” is there room to recognize the dignity and divinity in the most vulnerable of humanity — the unborn, and in some cases the newborn, who are left to die.
Talk about hypocrisy.
Geraldine Gazzara
Flushing
R.I.P. Colin Powell
Dear Editor: We have truly lost a great man in Colin Luther Powell. He was a politician, diplomat, statesman, and four-star general. He was also the first African American secretary of state. He was born in Harlem and grew up in the Bronx and never forgot his roots. A true New Yorker.
As a young officer in the Army, he served two tours of duty in Vietnam and understood the terrors of war. I myself served in the United States Navy during the Vietnam era and was proud to have done so.
I am a member of the American Legion Post #103 in Douglaston and am a member of the Catholics War Veterans in Glen Oaks Village.
These organizations are dedicated to helping veterans who are hurting. Colin Powell was also dedicated to helping fellow veterans who are suffering from the effects of war. As such we have lost a brave and courageous soldier.
Colin Powell, my heartfelt prayers go out to your family, friends, and a country that has loved you.
May you rest in peace for a job well done.
Frederick R. Bedell Jr.
Bellerose
