What’s Next?
Dear Editor: It’s humanitarian for Catholic Charities to help out migrants (“Migrant Crisis Brings Scrutiny to NY’s Status as ‘Sanctuary City’,” May 13), but shouldn’t the organization also ask President Biden to fix the immigration problem?
Many of these migrants leave their country thinking that the U.S. will offer them riches, which is simply not true.
Giving migrants a few necessities doesn’t answer the “What’s next for them” question in which the answer is, sadly, no hope.
I keep an eye on a locatioon where migrants gather for day labor. There used to be maybe 10, but now there are over a hundred.
Isn’t this unfair, as they are hired for minimum wages with no benefits?
It would be more humane to fix the immigration issue than offering some charity and then thinking the problem is solved.
William Carroll
Woodside
The Unfortunate Truth About Suicide
Dear Editor: In response to a letter (“Thoughts on Suicide”) in the April 29 edition, I lost my younger brother two years ago this May to suicide.
He was not only my brother but also my best friend.
He went through years and years of therapy, medications, and dozens of ECT treatments on his brain.
Many, if not all, of these unfortunate people, are in such pain that they only just want it to stop. The walls have closed in on them, and they feel absolutely no way out. I always made it a point of telling my brother when we spoke, “I love you.”
He also went to Mass each week. For people who are not confronted with such pain, it is simple to say, “They should think about what happens after they do it.”
Personally, I come from a time when suicide was thought of as a mortal sin and not treated well by the Church.
Nobody knows what the Lord will say when they meet him, but I do know that Jesus healed many people suffering from demons of the mind and is all about love and forgiveness.
It is my belief that He will not hold anyone suffering from mental illness accountable for their actions.
Christopher Murray
Montauk
A Tale of Right to Life
Dear Editor: I read with terrible sadness the article, “DeSantis Blasted on Death Penalty Ruling,” in the April 29 edition of The Tablet.
Governor Ron DeSantis is a Republican, the party that proclaims to be Right to Life. Yet, he signed into law a bill that would now just require at least an 8-4 majority for a death sentence instead of a unanimous vote by the jury.
DeSantis has his eye on a presidential run. Does he think this will make him more popular? It may, in certain states, where people still feel that an eye for an eye is justice. Murder is a terrible crime, I’m not defending or debating the sin. What I’m saying is a life sentence fits that crime.
This man, with the sweep of his pen, is affecting lives. I don’t want that person ever to think he can have that much power in our country.
Maria F. Mastromarino
Manalapan, N.J.
A Wonderful Teacher
Dear Editor: Thank you for featuring the beautiful article (“Many Birthday Wishes for the Oldest U.S. Nun”) on Sister Francis Dominici in the April 29 edition of The Tablet.
One thing that wasn’t mentioned was her long teaching career at Dominican Commercial High School. She was my algebra teacher at Dominican Commercial in the early 1950s.
Sister Francis was a wonderful teacher and always sweet and happy. We all loved her.
Helen Burns
Middle Village
A reponse to William Carroll Woodside,
I think we sometimes miss the point of migration. If every migrant believed that there was little hope there would be no United States today. My parent’s parents came here for a better life. They also knew that the better life might not happen for a few generations. My father (all 117 lbs) carried 50 lb bags of root vegatables on his back 12 hours a day 6 days a week. He had to leave school in the 3rd grade. He and my mother raised 3 sons and 1 daughter. If money were thier measure of success they failed. But if pride in ther children’s success was the measure they left this world very rich and successful. My grandparents left a country where the potato blight almost killed them to a country where potatos were avialable to all. The streets may not have been “paved with gold” but their stomachs were full and their grandchildren got an education to fulfill the migrant dream. It ain’t easy but it gets better…