Summer Jobs for Youth

Dear Editor: The article “Summer Jobs Disappear for Youth” by Father William J. Byron, S.J., (Aug. 11) made me recall that while growing up in Bergen County, N.J. my friends and I worked almost every summer from our early teens.  

The Record, the county newspaper, ran free classified ads for kids each spring for many years, and through them we would offer our services mowing lawns, general cleanup, or whatever; girls often solicited childcare positions.  I recall tying my father’s hand lawnmower to the back of my bike and going miles away for customers. 

As older teens, we developed our own leads and were able to work as caddies, in factories, or for legitimate landscapers, then later in college as ditch diggers for the gas company. Some classmates worked in service stations pumping gas. 

Times are not kind to today’s kids in this kind of endeavor: many parents may be reluctant to permit kids to offer services to strangers in Brooklyn and the number of alien workers, mostly without documentation, push the native teenagers out of summer work. 

Robert Petty 
Bay Ridge

Communicating with God

Dear Editor: Some time back I remember reading in The Tablet how annoying cell phones are when they go off during the Mass.

In my church, Our Lady of Perpetual Help in South Ozone Park, Queens, we have placed in English and in Spanish at eye level, but above the holy water fountains this statement: “If you want a good communication with God, turn off your cell phone and get connected with the Holy Spirit.”

I enjoy reading The Tablet every week.

Ann L. Doody
South Ozone Park

Political Action Needed

Dear Editor: In regard to the issues that are pending (such as abortion, same sex marriages) wouldn’t it be wise if priests or laymen could speak out in churches, and have a petition stating our stand on these matters?

Politicians only respond to numbers, and this would be beneficial.

Celeste Cangelosi
Brooklyn

Editor’s Note: We already do that. Either join the political advocacy group in your parish or log on to www.nyscatholic.org.

Summer Reading

Dear Editor: I would like to recommend two books to your summer readers: “Saints to Lean On, Spiritual Companions for Illness and Disability” by Janice McGrath, S.S.J., and “Everything Is Grace, the Life and Way of Therese of Lisieux” by Joseph F. Schmidt, F.S.C.

Maria A. Messina
Flushing

Belgian Jesuit Missed

Dear Editor: Father Joseph Janssens, a Jesuit priest from Belgium, who teaches religion in Rome at the Pontificia Universita Gregoriana, has been assisting during the summer months at Our Lady of the Miraculous Medal Church in Ridgewood for more than 20 years.

This year, Msgr. Edward Ryan, the pastor, advised us that the order would not give permission for Father Janssens to come to us because it had other work for him to do there.

The parishioners at OLMM are very sorry – Father Joe would always be available to all during the summer months – he truly enjoyed parish work. He would walk through the streets during the evenings and speak with the residents and children and the fact that he knew many different languages certainly helped.

We miss you, Father Joe, and do hope that perhaps next year things will be different and you will once again be back with your summer family in Ridgewood.

JoAnn Cooney
Ridgewood

Atypical Feature Movie

Dear Editor: For moviegoers who are tired or bored with the summer multiplex experience, may I recommend for their consideration a modest little musical film in current release simply entitled “Once.”

The picture tells the story of a middle-aged street singer in Dublin, who while performing, meets a young Czech woman. They soon discover that they share a mutual interest in writing. He lives at home with his elderly father, and works in his dad’s small repair shop, while dreaming of a career in the music business. She is separated from her husband and lives with her mother and two-year-old daughter. In several of the film’s many fine scenes, the young woman establishes the moral tone which guides her relationship with the musician.

Released by 20th Century Fox, the film is surprisingly atypical of what we have come to expect from most major picture companies.

“Once” is a sweet, tuneful, little Irish charmer well worth your time and attention.
“Once” is rated “R” by the Motion Picture Association of America for “some problem language.”

Ed Caulfield
Brooklyn

The Right to Life

Dear Editor: State Sen. Serphin Maltese has embarked on a campaign to restore the death penalty in New York State.

A letter to his Queens County constituents, focusing on the murders of law enforcement officers, is emotional and, in some measure, appealing; however, to make one exception is to open the gate to a flood of others. I know that as surely as I am bound by affection to my two nephews who are New York City policemen.

As a member of the Steering Committee of New York State Religious Leaders Against the Death Penalty, I want to remind readers that Sen. Maltese’s proposal goes against the teachings of the Catholic Church and ignores the commandment:

Thou shalt not kill. The death penalty disrespects the teaching of our Church: its popes, bishops, religious leaders and informed laity. Many other faith traditions are in solidarity with us.

As difficult as it may be, God calls us to resist acting from our baser instincts of fear and vengeance and to cling to choices reflective of God’s grace. No one, neither individual nor state, has the right to kill. To deny this is to accept irrationality. Our law does not allow us to rob the robber or rape the rapist. Why should it allow us to kill the killer? Are we not called to a higher standard of behavior than that of those whom we condemn?

The late Pope John Paul II clarified the Catholic Church’s official teaching by insisting that the only time the government can take a life is when there is no other way to prevent the killer from killing again. Life in prison without parole satisfies that condition insofar as it is humanly possible to do so. The European Union, composed of nations from which many of our ancestors came, will not allow membership to any country that has the death penalty. It would exclude, for example, China, Iraq and the United States.

We urge you to pray over this issue and, if you are in agreement with our position, let your state senators know you oppose the reinstitution of the death penalty.

Sister Camille D’Arienzo, RSM

Glendale

Latin as the Vernacular

Dear Editor: I think the title of the letter (June 23) should have read “The Beauty of Latin.” You see Latin was the “vernacular” of the Roman Rite of the Catholic Church.

At a time when world travel has become so common, it is indeed ironic that the Church should see fit to practically delete its use. For anyone who traveled, it was always comforting to be able to participate in the Mass in a language familiar to them, whether in Europe or the Americas.

Latin was like the metric system – beautiful – for those who took the time to understand it or who used their missals. For just as the metric system is feared by those who are ignorant of its beauty, so also in many instances the same can be said of Latin.

I think that if Latin was reintroduced with the same reverence used prior to its general exclusion, Mass attendance would increase. The world needs a continuance of a liturgy that was used for hundreds of years. It was comforting to the weary traveler as well as the newly converted. It set liturgy apart from the common vernacular.

Thomas C. Cullinane
Bayside

Restore the Fairgrounds

Dear Editor: I was surprised to read that the N.Y. S. Pavilion has made a global list of most neglected sites. On June 6, the World Monuments Fund, a Manhattan based non-profit organization, released its list of 100 of the world’s most endangered sites. The pavilion is on this list and the 43-year-old relic, which is an icon to most of us in Queens not to mention the world, is in serious peril. There are other structures on this list such as China’s Great Wall, Spain’s Aqueduct, the Taj Mahal, Machu Picchu in Peru and the list goes on.

As for myself and others who were there for the 1964-65 World’s Fair, we hold fond memories. Now there are those who consider the N.Y.S. Pavilion an eyesore. I consider it a piece of history. But more than that the site symbolizes the way we were and our hopes and dreams for a bigger and brighter future for humanity.
Mayor Bloomberg wants to make our parks beautiful and more enjoyable. Let’s start with Corona Park and the N.Y.S. Pavilion.

Frederick R. Bedell JR.
Bellerose