Praise for Bishop Raymond Chappetto

Dear Editor: I would like to praise Auxiliary Bishop Emeritus Raymond Chappetto for his dedication to the Church and the community of Floral Park.

I knew him when he was Msgr. of Our Lady of the Snows Parish.

He showed my wife, Eva, and me much kindness in the face of the problems and troubles we were having.

He always greeted us with a hello and asked how we were doing. He also visited my wife when she was in the hospital.

Bishop Chappetto would remember my name and say that my wife and I were in his prayers.

As grand Knight of the St. Anastasia Knights of Columbus, Bishop Chappetto attended an event at St. Anastasia. He said to someone there that Fred and he have a history in the church at Our Lady of the Snows, as well as in the Bellerose and Floral Park community.

Thank you, Bishop Chappetto!

Frederick Robert Bedell Jr.

Bellerose

The Right to Live Free From Gun Violence

Dear Editor: Another mass shooting, this time into a Catholic church filled with elementary school children (“Annunciation Pastor Calls First Mass After Shooting a ‘Humble Beginning’, ” Sept. 6).

Two youngsters are dead, more than 17 injured, families are devastated, and a city is in shock — not because these shootings are so rare, but because no one thought it would happen inside a church filled with children.

Reports of the tragedy were filled with thoughts and prayers, flowers, ribbons, and notes of condolences. What could possibly be missing?

Where is the rage against guns? Where is the outcry for more aid to those with such a proclivity to violence?

What could be more helpful to end this gun culture — thoughts and prayers, flowers and ribbons, or serious, immediate, rational gun control?

Yes, this is the time not only to talk about, but also to DO something to put a stop to this American carnage.

Recently, Pax Christi Queens, a local group of the international Catholic peace movement, completed a study of the book “American Carnage: Shattering the Myths That Fuel Gun Violence,” by Thomas Gabor and Fred Guttenberg.

This book should be compulsory reading for all Americans, whether they believe any of the 37 myths refuted in this well-documented book, feel impotent against our culture of death and injury, or simply want to know how to talk to others about the myths and why they are faulty.

We all have the right to live free from gun violence, and the book ends with “A Declaration of the Right to Live Free from Gun Violence,” but that won’t happen if we stop at each mass shooting with thoughts and prayers, flowers and ribbons.

Besides them, we need to demand reasonable gun control, and we need it now.

“War does not solve problems, but rather it amplifies them and produces deep wounds in the history of people that take generations to heal.

“No armed victory can compensate for the pain of mothers, the fear of children, the stolen future.

“May diplomacy silence the weapons! May nations chart their futures with works of peace, not with violence and bloodstained conflicts!” (Pope Leo XIV, post-Angelus, June 22, 2025).

Rosemarie Pace

Middle Village

Editor’s note: The writer is the coordinator of Pax Christi New York State.

Dear Editor: I would like to remind the leaders of our Church that when God called on Michael the Archangel (the patron saint of police officers) to drive Satan and his followers from heaven, he armed him.

The devil’s messengers are evil.

Do not deprive good people of the means to protect God’s children.

Arthur James

Breezy Point