NYC Budget Cuts
Dear Editor: Mayor Adams has just announced that he is unveiling the first of three rounds of 5% cuts to the New York City budget.
This he said is due to the billions of dollars to take care of the tens of thousands of asylum-seekers who flooded the Big Apple.
The many departments that will be affected include the Education Department, Sanitation Department, and our Police Department.
Let me mention that I am 74 years old and am extremely fearful of these cuts that endanger my life as well as my fellow NYC residents.
So, I say to Mayor Adams, find an answer that does not endanger all of our lives and does not deprive our children of a proper education.
Frederick Bedell Jr.
Bellerose
A Lesson in Love and Service
Dear Editor: As I watched the coverage of the memorial of the late first lady Rosalynn Carter, two things struck me deeply.
First was the deep and profound love the Carters had for one another. Married for 77 years, never a hint of scandal, they were totally in love with each other.
Most marriages don’t make the 10-year anniversary. Jimmy Carter, the former president who is 99 years old and in hospice care, insisted on being at his wife’s memorial. That’s true devotion and abiding love.
The second thing that struck me was their life was about servic to their country and underdeveloped countries. Mrs. Carter dedicated her life to serving those who needed mental health care.
Together they built homes for Habitat for Humanity side by side.
If this isn’t faith in action I don’t know what is. If this isn’t doing to the least of my brethren, I don’t know what is. If Jesus wasn’t welcoming Rosalynn Carter into heaven a few days ago I don’t see a chance for too many of us regular folks.
May she sleep with the angels and may her dear husband be not far behind.
Maria F. Mastromarino
Manalapan
In Support of Humanity
Dear Editor: Palestinians are not Hamas, and Hamas does not represent them.
Palestinians are not the enemy of the Jewish people.
The Jewish people’s story of strife over the centuries is long and Israel has the right to exist in peace.
However, a free state for all the Palestinians must not remain a never-ending road map process.
The peace process over the years has been ignored by the international community, with ever more settlements, ever more eviction, and endless occupation by the occupying power.
A two-state solution, if necessary, must be imposed and implemented now before Israel risks becoming an apartheid state.
The late Archbishop Desmond Tutu, the South African activist who fought to end apartheid, warned in August 2014: “The crisis we are witnessing in Gaza today is not a Jewish or a Muslim crisis. It is a human crisis.’’
Anthony Vivona
Ozone Park
Accessibility for Churches
Dear Editor: Regarding your front page story (“Advocate Calls for additional Accessibility for Churches,” Dec. 2) I would like to include my Parish: Holy Family in Fresh Meadows, Queens, to the disability accessible churches.
Our parish has a large parking lot with several handicapped parking spaces next to the side entrance to the church.
As you enter the church from that entrance, the first pew is reserved for people with disabilities.
At Communion the priest goes to that first pew to give Communion. All with disabilities and their caregivers are welcome .
Joseph A. De Innocentiis
Fresh Meadows
Editor’s note: The Tablet is happy to report that many parishioners have written in saying that their parish is accessible. Stay tuned for an updated list of accessible parishes in the diocese.
Dare to Be Catholic
Dear Editor: Catholic social teaching condemns the use of nuclear weapons, as they indiscriminately kill children, the disabled, the elderly.
But not all say no to the “mere” possession of them. While it received scant attention in the U.S., the U.N. Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear weapons, signed by 93 nations was signed by the Vatican but not the U.S., which is increasing its nuclear stockpile.
Thanks to the article (“US, Japanese Bishops Hail UN Summit on Prohibiting Nukes,” Dec. 2) by John Lavenburg, The Tablet, self-labeled “The Pro-Life Newspaper,” we can, if we dare, forsake American simplicities and pursue Catholic Christian depth.
James R. Kelly
Bay Ridge