May, 2012

I was talking to my friend and neighbor, a woman about my age, married with school-age children, when she said "It takes a village to raise a child."  Not being fond of either Hillary Clinton or her book, I quickly pointed out that the book was a rapid-fire summary of programs throughout the country.  Little thought was put into analysis.  "Oh no," she said,  "not the book.  That's an old African saying."  And she is right.    When we were children - growing up in opposite sides of the state: She in an African-American Buffalo neighborhood with a Baptist single working mother and me in a white "North Country"   semi-rural   neighborhood with Catholic  parents and siblings.  My parents were married and my mother was a stay-at-home mom.  What we had in common was a neighborhood that knew everyone - adults and children alike.  If we were not where we belonged, skipped school, damaged property, were disrespectful etc. we knew that our parents would be told.  Heaven help us if we were disrespectful to our neighbors.

I am home most of the time when my children are and I know some of their friends and acquaintances, but not all of them.  Today children (from four to eighteen) roam from block to block without their parents' knowledge, with no one checking on them, and with no rules.  I could not pick out the parents of many of these children in a police line-up, because I have never met them.  They just wonder around.    My friend and I both keep our kids at home unless we bring them to a specific place.  We ask who the children are who stop by and where they live.  We regularly send children home when there is a problem.  But this all begs the question, "How do we get back the respect and control that our parents had?"

Dealing with bullying requires a two-pronged approach: Prevention and Response.  Generally prevention refers to efforts at modeling appropriate behaviors to children - sensitivity and respect for others. Response teaches children how to behave when confronted with bullying behaviors.  Here are some excellent web-sites to get you started:

Excellent for Response and Recognition and has short web-based videos using animated characters.  This is a National Institute of Health site.

Excellent for teaching Respect and has a series of lesson plans for younger elementary and older primary/middle school children.  Program was created Peter Yarow and features Peter, Paul and Mary videos/songs.  Operation Respect.

This program also is geared at Prevention by teaching Respect:  Peacebuilders. 

“I leave peace prints.” “Nonviolence begins with me.”
- Sister Karen Klimczak, SSJ                                                                                                                                                                              Patricia Dyer, MSN, MAPM

St. Lawrence Parish  (4/8/2012), Pathways Grant Study Day added and Easter pictures, Blessed Trinity (5/21/2012), and St. Martin de Porres' Parish (4/8/2012)  pages have been updated with recent photographs and news.   

unprecedented public miracle, the Miracle of the Sun, which occurred at precisely the moment Lucia said it would. More than 70,000 people, including Masons, communists and atheists, saw the sun, contrary to all cosmic laws, twirl in the sky, throw off colors and descend to earth. The event was reported in newspapers around the world, including the New York Times."  Another devotion is popular in one of our cluster parishes.  " St. Lawrence Church is the only national site of the Congrega di Maria Santissima Dell’Incoronata which is known locally as the Congrega Society. During the years the devotion to Our Lady has continued to be celebrated in Buffalo, New York and in Pescasseroli, Italy. The main function of this society is to honor the Mother of God under the title of “Crowned Virgin” through prayers and sacrifices. Presently, we have members from all parts of Western New York including people from our own parish. All persons interested in the devotion are welcome. ... Historical facts, folklore, spiritual, cultural and pastoral stories of the miraculous surround the devotion to Our Blessed Mother. The love for the Blessed Mother has been passed down for centuries and this is part of our Catholic faith, our Catholic heritage and documented in world history.The devotion to the Crowned Virgin also known as the Black Madonna is prevalent in Italy in Pescasseroli in the province of Abruzzo and in Foggia the region of Apulia. Much devotion is given to the Crowned Virgin in Pescasseroli."  You can read more about the origins of the local devotion on the St. Lawrence website.