Futures in Education
Dear Editor: It was wonderful to be part of the Futures in Education Annual Scholarship Fund Dinner.
I think it’s important to remember how Catholic schools started, and why they started.
The schools were in the parishes for all children whose parents wanted them to have a Catholic education, regardless of whether they were able to afford it.
Futures in Education makes this possible for almost one third of the children in our diocese.
It was energizing to be with so many cheerful givers. I especially was touched by the speeches about how Futures in Education makes a difference in the lives of individual families.
Catherine Donohoe
Fresh Meadows
8th Graders Making a Difference
Dear Editor: Our eighth-grade class at St. Adalbert Catholic Academy noticed our school did not have a speed bump while all the surrounding public schools did.
We tossed the idea around and decided to contact the DOT about giving us one. We made it our service project for the year.
They responded that our street wasn’t busy enough.
We did not give up. We sent an additional email, asking why Catholic school students weren’t being protected.
Today, nine months later, they are outside putting a speed bump in front of our school. We did it.
We have secured a safety measure for all students, one that will be here long after we graduate next month.
Michele Cardona
Elmhurst
Jesus Understands
Dear Editor: In response to Deborah O’Connor’s letter (“Respect for the Eucharist and the Mass,” April 27), I agree in part that it is distracting when a child is crying or making a lot of noise in church. It is disturbing you, not Jesus, nor is it disrespectful to Him.
Most churches have a “cry room” where parents can hear Mass and not worry about disturbing the people around them. That is where those parents should have taken their child out of consideration for the rest of the congregation. The room is usually soundproof.
The child, in no way, disrespected the Eucharist or the Eucharistic act. The child is being a child as God intended him or her to be. The parents should have been a little bit more considerate of your spiritual needs.
Maria F. Mastromarino
Manalapan, NJ
Praising Nurses
Dear Editor: National Nurses Week begins each year on May 6 and ends on May 12.
According to the United States Health Resources and Services Administration, there are 2.8 million registered nurses nationwide.
Our nurses have been through a lot during COVID-19 and have been called heroes, which is quite true.
I know this is only numbers, but I know firsthand all the good things nurses do.
They truly go beyond the call of duty. I was operated on in North Shore Hospital for an aggressive prostate cancer and was looked after by the most caring nurses at that time.
They were most concerned for my well being and healing.
In the next three years I had four more operations and again was looked after by most caring nurses.
Now that was seven years ago and at 75 years old I’m still around.
In my opinion when you have caring nurses it can go a long way in the healing process.
So, let me praise all nurses who work hard and who are so dedicated to their patients. Let me say, “Kudos to you wonderful nurses.”
Frederick Robert Bedell Jr.
Bellerose
Biden Silent on Campus Protest
Dear Editor: Not a peep from President Joe Biden to renounce what is happening across the country at our elite colleges to address the blatant antisemitism occuring there.
While he is busy forgiving student debt to attract the younger generation, which is unconstitutional, he neglects to enforce the Civil Rights Act of 1964 explicitly denouncing antisemitism or discrimination of any kind.
And anyone with an ounce of sense knows that this crowd isn’t just students but radical protestors paid for by “charities” and a host of others who enjoy tax favored status courtesy of the IRS.
How much of this charity work qualifies for such an exemption?
And shouldn’t the IRS and DOJ be looking into this rather than going after innocent soccer moms and disgruntled Catholics?
Thomas and Constance Dowd
Oakland Gardens
Editor’s note: President Joe Biden denounced the “ferocious surge of antisemitism” on campuses during a speech at a Holocaust remembrance ceremony on May 7.
