WWW.QNS.COM RIDGEWOOD TIMES JUNE 27, 2019 13
LETTERS AND COMMENTS
TIME FOR
MARRIAGE FOR
THE CLERGY
It is high time that the hierarchy of
the Catholic Church in Rome face the
hard facts that until the law forbidding
Catholic priests to marry is changed,
there will continue to be a marked and
serious shortage of priests throughout
the world.
It makes absolutely no sense at all for
the Church hierarchy to continue this
inane and ridiculous edict. In other
faiths, there are married clergymen
and women, and marriage should
also be permitted for the clergy in the
Catholic Church.
Catholics in the U.S. are becoming
increasingly frustrated and fed up with
the Church’s overall conduct — the sex
abuse certainly is and continues to
be right at the top of the list of issues
angering the faithful. Also, there was
a lot of physical and verbal abuse of
students by some nuns, brothers and
priests who taught in the Catholic
elementary and secondary schools, as
well as in some of the seminaries.
The Catholic Church really needs
to get its act together, from the Pope
on down. As a Catholic, I am totally
fed up and disgusted by the lack of
empathy that the Catholic Church
has not shown regarding all of these
issues. It has addressed the sexual
abuse by the clergy of children, but has
not done nearly enough dealing with
that issue, in addition to the others
aforementioned above.
John Amato, Fresh Meadows
BE
COMPASSIONATE,
BE ACCEPTING
Pope Francis has said, “If a person
is gay and seeks God and has good will,
who am I to judge?” Pope Francis has
also said that there is a need to be more
compassionate toward LGBT people.
There is a need to welcome LGBT
people in our churches and not to
exclude them from God’s mercy. Well,
I totally agree.
Back in the 1970s, I had rented a room
from two gay men. I saw fi rsthand
their love for one another. I had also
once had dated a girl whose mother
was gay and whose mother showed
a generous kindness toward my two
sons and bought them two small bikes
for Christmas, which I couldn’t aff ord
at the time.
Those who are diff erent than us
from a sexual point of view should be
accepted, for they have such love in
their hearts and we should show them
love and compassion. We are all God’s
children, and are all brothers and
sisters that our heavenly father loves.
Frederick R. Bedell Jr.,
Glen Oaks Village
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OP-ED
Let NYC take back its transit
BY COREY JOHNSON
We’ve all been there: Stuck in a
crowded subway car due to
“signal problems,” or sitting
on a bus moving so slowly that you
might as well have walked.
Frustration with our mass transit
system is a New York state of mind
we’re all unfortunately accustomed to,
but I truly believe it doesn’t have to be
this way.
The vast majority of the problems
with our system can be summed up in
one word: accountability.
There isn’t any.
The MTA is a state authority
controlled by the governor with its
own budget that’s approved by a bunch
of board members most New Yorkers
have never even heard of.
It’s confusing, which is the point.
How else could the people in charge
avoid blame and responsibility when
things go wrong?
The buck has to stop with someone,
and it has to be someone who knows
if they don’t get it right their job is on
the line.
This is why I support municipal
control of the subways, which would
mean accountability will fall squarely
on one person: the mayor of New York
City.
It means we run our subways, we
run Staten Island rail, we plan our bus
routes – right now the city doesn’t even
do that – and we control the toll money
from the seven bridges and tunnels
currently run by the MTA.
I know what you’re thinking. That’s
all well and good, but how does that
help my commute?
Those signal problems making you
late for work all the time?
That is what happens when no one is
responsible.
It’s the result of decades of misplaced
priorities.
Our subways’ signals date back to
the 1930s.
They’ve never been upgraded
because the MTA’s governance
structure incentivized short-term
glamour projects over the long-term
investments we really need. It’s
painting the outside of a house that’s
falling apart inside.
And the result? We allow a 21stcentury
system to operate with
infrastructure that was built in the
1930s like it is now.
What about our slow buses?
Municipal control would help get
our buses moving again because for
the fi rst time ever, the city – and not
the state – would be able to quickly fi x
routes that aren’t working and work in
close coordination with the Department
of Transportation, which is currently
under our control.
That means better, more cohesive bus
service that gets New Yorkers where
they need to be faster.
It makes no sense that different
entities are covering both now.
Municipal control isn’t just more
accountable. It’s more effi cient too.
Making municipal control a reality
won’t be easy, and it won’t happen
overnight. But this is worth fi ghting
for. We have to think big to solve the
problem of how we move around our
city. We can’t let fear of the politically
diffi cult stop us from taking on this
challenge. We have to get New York
City moving again.
I’m ready to fi ght for this for as long
as it takes to make it happen. I hope
you’ll fi ght alongside me.
Corey Johnson is the New York City
Council Speaker.
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