Caring for Caregivers
Dear Editor: Your recent article (“Group Shines Light on Challenges of Caring for Elderly Relatives,” Jan. 21) really spoke to me because I was the caregiver to my parents for the past five years.
My father passed away in February 2020, leaving me alone to care for my bed-bound mother with Alzheimer’s. I wish that there was a group of caregivers who I could have spoken with who were going through the same thing as me.
If you ever hear about a group in the Queens area for caregivers, please post it in The Tablet.
I would love to pass on the knowledge and resources I have received over the years. My role as a caregiver ended in July, but I am still looking to help other caregivers on their journey.
Nikola White
South Ozone Park
It Takes a Village
Dear Editor: “It Takes a Village” was the title of former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s book, which dealt with cooperation between people of different backgrounds to make their village a better place, pointing out that big changes can’t be accomplished by one or two people alone.
Now, I see in The Tablet (“Diocese Taking First Steps Toward ‘Walking With Moms in Need,’ ” Feb. 18) that our nation’s bishops and cardinals are applying the same idea, which is based upon an African saying or proverb (appropriately enough during Black History Month) to provide care for new and expectant mothers.
Their program, called Walking With Moms in Need, aims to rebut the charge that pro-life people were really just pro-birth, abandoning the women once they had given birth. In keeping with the “whole village” concept, this program is scheduled to involve participation by every parish in the country, much as was done with the recent synod.
One of the program’s aims is to remove a key reason why women seek abortions: no one is around to help them with practical support during the difficult months of pregnancy and the very expensive times when the child is here.
I praise this initiative and especially want to call attention to the efforts already underway in our own diocese, according to the article, which everyone should read.
Garrett Dempsey
Whitestone
Lenten Regulations
Dear Editor: For Lenten regulations, instead of abstinence being defined as meatless, I think it would make more sense that a day of abstinence is one in which meals are simple and do not include elements of expensive cuts of meat or fish nor foods that are considered treats like pizza, tacos, etc.
Mary Lou Galgano
Jackson Heights
Thank You, Father Lauder!
Dear Editor: A special thanks to Father Robert Lauder’s recent Faith & Thought columns for bringing our attention to the recent book of Father Henri Nouwen, “Life of the Beloved: Spiritual Living in a Secular World.”
Material wonders and stunning scientific achievements ring hollow in the depths of the human heart that skirts the profound and yearning hole in the human heart.
God gave us the gifts to find Him, and only He can fill that emptiness with His profound and unconditional love.
Even with life’s trials, we are indeed fortunate when we manage to get a glimpse of that divine love in action and respond to it.
How to bring that unconditional love more to the front of our messy lives in a secular world is a major endeavor that we must learn to uncover and act upon.
Looking forward to reading this outstanding book.
Helen Mele
Whitestone