Aid to Ukraine
Dear Editor: All four of my grandparents came from Ukraine at a time when they were fleeing Russian oppression. I am Ukrainian.
Russian oppression is as real now as it was then. When my grandparents came, they came looking for the freedom that was here; they contributed to that freedom by helping to build a better America.
Their hearts would break if they were alive now to see what is being done in the country they left, because in many areas there’s not much left but rubble and mine fields.
Not for a moment can I understand why some members of our government want to stop or limit the aid that we as a free country are giving to a country that wants to be as free as we are, using us as a model.
No matter what your national politics may be, the international impact of the war being waged by Russia in Ukraine is beyond imagination.
We are free, and the people of Ukraine are fighting every day for a democratic freedom like ours; they need our help, and there can be no moral justification for withholding that help. We may have to sacrifice a budget; they are fighting for their lives and their country and for their very existence and identity.
How, in God’s name, can we refuse them?
Father Michael Perry
Douglaston
Dropping the Bomb
Dear Editor: Many Americans get so angry if anyone mentions that the dropping of the bomb on Japan was morally wrong.
My dad, a proud U.S. veteran of the Second World War, always felt it was wrong targeting innocent lives. The great Archishop Fulton Sheen, as patriotic as you can get, felt it was America’s descent into relativism — that the end justifies the means, that there are no absolute truths.
All the “what if” thinking cannot rationalize the fact that innocent lives were brutally taken.
Two personal experiences where modern science predicted disability for unborn babies and abortion was recommended only for the babies to be born healthy proves the saintly bishop was a prophet of our time.
Of course we were a noble people during that war, bringing liberation to millions of people.
However, according to the wisdom of our Catholic Church that was founded by Christ himself, innocent people cannot be targeted.
As my dad and Archbishop Sheen knew, we are Christians first and Americans second.
Robert Sorgini
Astoria
Thanks to a Reader
Dear Editor: I’m thrilled and humbled. Thank you so much Theresa Pinto. It means so much to me that my column struck a chord with you (“Response to St. Joseph’s Hall,” Sept. 16).
My time at St. Joseph’s Hall was a very special event in my young life and left a great impression. I believe it helped to shape me into the person I am today. I also believe it helped to make me a much better teacher and a better mother.
I will always be grateful to the Sisters of Charity for what they taught me as I worked among them, and I will never forget the children who touched my heart in a very special way.
Maria F. Mastromarino
Manalapan, NJ
Open Letter to Gov. Hochul
Dear Editor: I’m sure you are aware of the recent closing of a Target store in Harlem due to safety threats to employees and shoppers.
Last year, retailers and supermarket workers went to Albany and asked legislators to address this problem.
Currently, there is a retail-theft task force bill awaiting your signature. We strongly urge you to sign it and make it a priority to urge the Senate and Assembly to support it as well.
The retail workers braved the pandemic and showed up for work every day.
It’s up to us to protect them and their jobs now at this most critical time. Not addressing the crisis is just an open invitation for this type of criminality to spread across our city and state.
It must stop now.
Thomas & Constance Dowd
Oakland Gardens