10 The Courier sun • APRIL 17, 2014 for breaking news visit www.couriersun.com Queens priest seeks to preserve ancient language By ERIC JANKIEWICZ of the Middle East spoke in the early Christian years. Much like Latin, the spoken language has since faded The Rev. Joseph Palackal saves more than souls. into history. The parochial vicar at St. Stanislaus Kotska Church “In Kerala, the language was kept in a time capsule,” in Maspeth is trying to save the ancient language he said, explaining that Christians in Kerala, unlike of Aramaic, said to be spoken by Jesus and early those in the Middle East, weren’t persecuted and could Christians. thus speak the language freely. “And so I’ve been trying This summer he plans to revisit the unlikely home to record as many people as possible who have knowledge of the last Aramaic speakers — in the southern Indian of the language.” state of Kerala, where many Christians trace the origin The trick, Palackal said, is finding people who were of their faith to Thomas the Apostle. born no later than the 1950s and attended the local “Few people know this, but up until recently church, where Aramaic was used for songs and worship. Christian Indians held religious services in the ancient People born after that time wouldn’t have been language Aramaic,” Palackal said. He explained that since the 1960s the churches in India held mass in the ancient language that much exposed to the language because the church adopted the local language of Malayalam. “So it is a very time-sensitive project and I have to hurry before all those who remember the language are gone,” Palackal said, explaining that he tracked down Indians who were part of the Syro-Malabar Church, the largest of the St. Thomas Christian denomination, which has its own forms of worship and theology. Many were able to sing the Aramaic religious songs of their youth. Palackal hopes to have enough recordings of the language, which is preserved through religious song, to submit it to the Library of Congress. And if he succeeds in his quest, the movie “The Passion of the Christ” won’t be the only place where Aramaic is heard or appreciated. “It’s like a gold mine of musical melodies,” he said. “And if I don’t do it, no one else will. It will be a complete loss for humanity.” St. John’s selects new president, first layman in university history BY LIAM LA GUERE lguerre@queenscourier.com/@liamlaguerre After a major scandal that rocked the school and a yearlong search for a new leader, the St. John’s University Board of Trustees a n n o u n c e d Dr. Conrado Gempesaw as its 17th president. Gempesaw is the first layman who will serve as president of St. John’s, a private Catholic university with three campuses in New York City and others in Europe. Gempesaw, provost and executive vice president for academic affairs at Miami University in Ohio, has over three decades of academic experience and will start at St. John’s on July 1, replacing Interim President Rev. Joseph Levesque. “In Dr. Gempesaw, we have found a visionary leader who understands and embraces St. John’s mission as a Catholic and vincentian university, and has the skills necessary to realize our goals for the future,” the Board said in a letter. “We are confident he will help St. John’s continue its remarkable transformation from a commuter school into a global educational institution with enhanced and expanded facilities and new academic initiatives, while maintaining its mission of providing a world-class affordable education.” Photo courtesy of Miami University St. John’s University Board of Trustees announced Dr. Conrado Gempesaw as its 17th President. Father Donald Harrington, the former St. John’s president of 24 years, announced he would step down last year in May, following immense media pressure over gifts he received from former dean Cecilia Chang, who was facing charges of embezzling $1 million from the school. Chang ultimately committed suicide before the end of her trial, increasing the attention on Harrington and his chief of staff, Robert Wile, who also resigned. DOE votes to bus over 200 Woodside students to Astoria BY ANGY ALTAMIRANO aaltamirano@queenscourier.com @aaltamirano28 A group of Woodside parents have lost the fight to keep their children close to home. The Department of Education (DOE) voted Wednesday, April 9, to temporary relocate 250 students from P.S. 11 in Woodside to P.S. 171 in Astoria for the next three years. The relocation of the students, expected to begin for the 2014-15 school year, comes as the School Construction Authority (SCA) plans to build a brand-new mini-building addition to P.S. 11 with a capacity of 856 seats. “I have maintained that the expansion of P.S. 11 is a necessary investment in our children’s education and is vitally important to alleviating our overcrowded schools,” Congressman Joseph Crowley said. “However, I am disappointed and troubled by the DOE’s lack of foresight to avoid this terrible situation.” Crowley added, “The DOE’s poor planning and judgement will now place a significant burden on 250 of our youngest students and their families. Our children only get one real opportunity at a great education and it is unfortunate our city cannot do right by them.” Seven members of the Panel for Educational Policy (PEP) voted in favor of the proposal, while two were against and one abstained from voting. Since December, parents and elected officials fought to keep the students closer to their Woodside homes and last month asked the DOE to consider renting space in the nearby former St. Teresa School building. But P.S. 11 parents say the DOE told them the former Catholic school would not be practical for the students due to lack of adequate resources at the site. “Where there is a will there should be a way,” said Martin Connolly, whose youngest son is expected to start kindergarten at the school next year and faces being bused to Astoria. “We are just disappointed. At the moment we are just accepting the situation.” “We are now looking very seriously at our son’s future,” the father of three said. Connolly also has two other children currently at P.S. 11, a daughter in second grade and son in kindergarten. “After extensive outreach to the community, we decided to move forward on delivering a state-ofthe art addition to P.S. 11 that will enrich students’ academic experience and reduce overcrowding,” DOE spokesman Harry Hartfield said. The Department of Education voted on the temporary colocation proposal that will send P.S. 11 students, such as incoming kindergartener Enda, to P.S. 171 in Astoria for the next three years. THE COURIER/Photo by Angy Altamirano
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