OPINION
Rose goes postal with Cabrini tribute
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COURIER L 38 IFE, NOV. 22-28, 2019
A rough knight: Medieval swordsman slashed
on L train!
Some wacko slashed a modern-day knight in the face aboard
an L train in Williamsburg on Nov. 8, after the chivalrous
straphanger prevented him from assaulting another man.
@BrooklynPaper
LAST WEEK’S TOP STORY:
What do you think of our
postal service? For most, the
response would be pretty
negative and include some
choice words that can’t be
printed here. However, in a
cynical attempt to pander to
the Italian-American community
and Catholics in
his district, Congressman
Max Rose has proposed renaming
the Dyker Heights
Post Office after Mother
Cabrini.
A saint should be revered
and not relegated to
having their name slapped
on an aging and architecturally
bland federal building.
To add insult to injury,
this proposal seems to have
been made for purely political
purposes.
For background, this all
began when the She Built
NYC Initiative was created
in 2018 to erect public
monuments or statues
to honor women’s history.
There was an open call for
nominations and Mother
Cabrini soared to the top, as
Catholics pooled their votes
to promote their beatific
icon. However, New York’s
First Lady Chirlane Mc-
Cray, who led the effort, rejected
the saint for some unknown
reason. This spurred
a firestorm with Italian-
Americans and Catholics.
Mother Cabrini, a Roman
Catholic nun, became
the first naturalized citizen
of the United States to
be canonized by the Church
in 1946 by Pope Pius XII.
She founded the Missionary
Sisters of the Sacred Heart
of Jesus and became the patron
saint of immigrants.
Saint Frances Xavier
Cabrini (1850-1917) arrived
in New York City in 1889 and
against all odds established
schools, orphanages, hospitals
and churches for newly
arrived Italian immigrants,
including in Brooklyn.
It was obvious to many
that Mother Cabrini should
have been included on this
list of women to be honored.
Indeed, a bi-partisan group
of elected officials in Brooklyn
let the Mayor know that
they objected to her exclusion
and pushed for a statue
at a fitting location.
Never missing an attempt
to throw salt on the wounds
of our Mayor, on Columbus
Day, Governor Cuomo
committed the funding for
a statue of Mother Cabrini
and created a commission
with the sole purpose of doing
so. Certainly building
one near an institution she
established in Kings County
would make lots of sense.
Enter Max Rose. Instead
of fully focusing his effort on
this worthwhile endeavor,
he introduced his pandering
post office idea. What
makes this act so cynical
is the fact that his congressional
district, which takes
in all of Staten Island and
portion of southwest Brooklyn,
has one of the highest
concentrations of Italian-
Americans in the country
and, sadly, the naming of
the post office is simply an
ill-conceived and not very
subtle attempt to win their
vote.
What makes this situation
all the more troubling
is the negative reputation
that post offices have and
their general state of disrepair.
Think about it;
when was the last time you
strolled into a Post Office
and exclaimed “My, what
a beautiful, clean and well
run facility.” In fact, just
this past June Congressman
Rose complained about the
Dyker Heights Post Office
specifically and their truck
f leet parking on residential
streets in a letter to the NYC
Department of Transportation
Commissioner.
Perhaps Max Rose’s actions
are an attempt to
make up for an unflattering
and culturally insensitive
portrayal he and an
aide gave after attending a
Federation of Italian-Americans
organization event in
Dyker Heights recently. As
reported in New York Magazine
last month, after leaving
the event he asked “Have
you ever seen so many men
kissing other men before?”
When his aide made an offcolor
joke, Rose told him
“Listen f--knuts, you have
to say off the record first, do
you know that?” Obviously,
the New York Magazine reporter
was in on the joke.
As a Catholic, proud Italian
American, and someone
who has represented
elected officials of both political
parties in the neighborhoods
of Brooklyn let
me offer some free advice
to Congressman Rose; New
Yorkers are smart, so don’t
attempt to pander to them
and if you do, follow the lead
of Governor Cuomo and support
a fitting memorial to
Mother Cabrini.
Bob Capano has been an
adjunct professor of political
science for over 15 years, and
has worked for Brooklyn Republican
& Democratic offi -
cials. Follow him on twitter @
bobcapano
THE RIGHT
VIEW
Bob Capano
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