A Very Bright Christmas
Dear Editor: “Christmas has arrived!” shouted a child as the elevator door opened. Volunteers welcomed guests to a hallway covered with Christmas wrapping paper. Several moms and children with masks on waited their turn to go inside, to choose a toy, and to receive a take-home plate with food and cookies.
Our program, which is the prison ministry at St. Augustine’s, focuses on services to families and children in an attempt to repair families broken by the impact of incarceration. Christmas provides us with an opportunity to heal the emotional pain caused by losing a parent to the prison system and to heal the trauma of growing up in poverty during a festive holiday.
As we had done last year, each family arrived at a specified time, everyone wearing a mask. Every child got to choose a toy and then was given a plate of food to take home. Over 50 children and their moms came to the party.
We could not have done this without help. The contributions to The Tablet’s Bright Christmas Fund helped bring Santa to the families of our clients.
Thank you, everybody. We hope you will join us again next year.
Ellen Edelman
Families, Fathers & Children
Cheers for Gil Hodges
Dear Editor: As a student during the 1950s at St. Rose of Lima Grammar School in Parkville, Brooklyn, my husband, Anthony, was told by his teacher, Brother Samuel (Priests of the Sacred Heart), that whoever got Gil Hodges’ autograph would have no homework for a week. So, young Anthony (a diehard Dodger fan) jumped on his bike and rode across Brooklyn and rang the doorbell at the Hodges’ home on Bedford Avenue. A young boy answered the doorbell and called his dad.
My husband said that when Mr. Hodges came to the door he just stared at his hands, which he thought were as big as a baseball mitt. He said Mr. Hodges was very gracious and gave him the autograph which guaranteed him no homework for one week.
Dolores Tricarico
Brooklyn
Noncitizen Voting Law
Dear Editor: Hope in the new mayor being fair and unbiased is quickly fading in certain circles as Thomas and Constance Dowd pointed out in the Readers’ Forum (Jan. 22). He doesn’t seem to get it that he was elected to represent all New Yorkers, not only the undocumented immigrants. Citizens have rights too.
Many have worked hard for many years to become citizens and regard it as a cherished privilege. I don’t see how many of the illegals could live here, raise their children, and give back to neighborhoods in 30 days. Even if they are not permitted to vote for president or other federal or statewide offices.
I wonder if Mayor Adams realizes that he is a public servant, in office by our command.
I applaud his attempt to straighten out the police department but there are many other issues for which he pursued the office of Mayor of New York City.
Geraldine Gazzara
Flushing
Editor’s note: The new law only allows legal permanent residents of New York City to vote in local elections.
St. Vincent’s and AIDS
Dear Editor: I recommend that people should read the “Hidden Mercy” by Michael O’Loughlin, reviewed by John Lavenburg (“Looking Back on The Church and the 1980s’ AIDS Crisis,” Jan. 22).
The book tells the story of the Catholic Church’s sometimes erroneous response to the tragic HIV/AIDS epidemic of the 1980s.
I want to give a much-deserved “shout-out” to the great part played in the AIDS struggle by the dedicated Sisters of Charity and the equally caring and essential work of the medical and support staff at St. Vincent’s Hospital in Manhattan. Located right in the heart of Greenwich Village, which itself was home to one of the largest gay communities in New York City, “St. Vinny’s” became home to the first and eventually the largest AIDS ward on the east coast while still continuing to function as a major trauma center.
Just one of the many outstanding people who cared for Catholic AIDS victims was Father Mychal Judge; the same dedicated priest who would later lose his own life on 9/11. That was a lesser-known part of his ministry.
Now, sadly, St. Vincent’s is just a memory; it closed in 2010.
Garrett Dempsey
Whitestone
COVID-19 Treatments
Dear Editor: It’s so upsetting to read about the news concerning COVID-19 treatments because this is a problem created by our own government and big pharma.
They have made COVID-19 a political game.
I also find it totally reprehensible that New York State and New York City “advise doctors to consider race and ethnicity when determining what patients receive COVID-19 treatments.”
What in the world has this country evolved to in the name of democracy. God help our future citizens.
Paul P. Manheimer
Oakland Gardens
